A Religious Orgy in Tennessee (19 page)

JUDGE RAULSTON:
I will pass on each question as asked, if it is objected to.

DARROW:
Mr. Bryan, do you believe that the first woman was Eve?

BRYAN:
Yes.

DARROW:
Do you believe that she was literally made out of Adam's rib?

BRYAN:
I do.

DARROW:
Did you ever discover where Cain got his wife?

BRYAN:
No sir, I leave the agnostics to hunt for her.

DARROW:
You have never found out?

BRYAN:
I have never tried to find.

DARROW:
You have never tried to find?

BRYAN:
No.

DARROW:
The Bible says he got one, doesn't it? Were there other people on earth at that time?

BRYAN:
I cannot say.

DARROW:
You cannot say? Did that never enter your consideration?

BRYAN:
Never bothered me.

DARROW:
There were no others recorded, but Cain got a wife. That is what the Bible says. Where she came from, you don't know. All right. Does the statement “The morning and the evening were the first day” and “The morning and the evening were the second day” mean anything to you?

BRYAN:
I do not think it necessarily means a twenty-four hour day.

DARROW:
You do not?

BRYAN:
No.

DARROW:
What do you consider it to be?

BRYAN:
I have not attempted to explain it. If you will take the second chapter—let me have the book. The fourth verse of the second chapter says, “Those are the generation of the heavens and of the earth, when they were erected in the day the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” The word “day” there in the very next chapter is used to describe a period. I do not see that there is necessity for considering the words, “the evening and the morning” as meaning necessarily a twenty-four hour day in the day when the Lord made the heavens and the earth.

DARROW:
Then when the Bible said, for instance, “And God called the firmament heaven, and the evening and the morning were the second day,” that does not necessarily mean twenty-four hours?

BRYAN:
I do not think it necessarily does.

DARROW:
Do you think it does or does not?

BRYAN:
I know a great many think so.

DARROW:
What do you think?

BRYAN:
I do not think it does.

DARROW:
You think these were not literal days?

BRYAN:
I do not think they were 24-hour days.

DARROW:
What do you think about it?

BRYAN:
That is my opinion—I do not know that my opinion is better on that subject than those who think it does.

DARROW:
You do not think that?

BRYAN:
No. But I think it would be just as easy for the kind of God we believe in to make the earth in six days as in six years or in six million years or in six hundred million years. I do not think it important whether we believe one or the other.

DARROW:
Do you think those were literal days?

BRYAN:
My impression is they were periods, but I would not attempt to argue as against anybody who wanted to believe in literal days.

DARROW:
Have you any idea of the length of the periods?

BRYAN:
No I don't.

DARROW:
Do you think the sun was made on the fourth day?

BRYAN:
Yes.

DARROW:
And they had evening and morning without the sun?

BRYAN:
I am simply saying it is a period.

DARROW:
They had evening and morning for four periods without the sun, do you think?

BRYAN:
I believe in creation as there told, and if I am not able to explain it, I will accept it.

DARROW:
Then you can explain it to suit yourself. Mr. Bryan, what I want to know is, do you believe the sun was made on the fourth day?

BRYAN:
I believe just as it says there.

DARROW:
Do you believe the sun was made on the fourth day?

BRYAN:
Read it.

DARROW:
I am very sorry. You have read it so many times, you would know, but I will read it again.

BRYAN:
I believe they were made in the order in which they were given there and I think in dispute with Gladstone and Huxley on that point—

DARROW:
Cannot you answer my question?

BRYAN:
—I prefer to agree with Gladstone.

DARROW:
I do not care about Gladstone.

BRYAN:
Then prefer to agree with whoever you please.

DARROW:
Cannot you answer my question?

BRYAN:
I have answered it. I believe that was made on the fourth day, in the fourth day.

DARROW:
And they had the evening and the morning before that time for three days or three periods. All right, that settles it. Now, if you call those periods, they might have been a very long time.

BRYAN:
They might have been.

DARROW:
The creation might have been going on for a very long time?

BRYAN:
It might have continued for millions of years.

DARROW:
Yes, all right. Do you believe in the story of the temptation of Eve by the serpent?

BRYAN:
I do.

DARROW:
Do you believe that after Eve ate the apple, or gave it to Adam, whichever way it was, that God cursed Eve, and at that time decreed that all womankind thenceforth and forever should suffer the pangs of childbirth in the reproduction of the earth?

BRYAN:
I believe what it says, and I believe the fact as fully.

DARROW:
That is what it says, doesn't it?

BRYAN:
Yes.

DARROW:
And for that reason, every woman born of woman, who has to carry on the race, the reason they have childbirth pains is because Eve tempted Adam in the Garden of Eden?

BRYAN:
I will believe just what the Bible says. I ask to put that in the language of the Bible, for I prefer that to your language. Read the Bible, and I will answer.

DARROW:
All right, I will do that: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman.” That referring to the serpent?

BRYAN:
The serpent.

DARROW:
“And between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” That is right, is it?

BRYAN:
I accept it as it is.

DARROW:
Did that come about because Eve tempted Adam to eat the fruit?

BRYAN:
I believe it is just as the Bible says.

DARROW:
And you believe that is the reason that God made the serpent to go on his belly after he tempted Eve?

BRYAN:
I believe the Bible as it is. And I do not permit you to put your language in the place of the language of the Almighty. You read that Bible and ask me questions and I will answer them. I will not answer your questions in your language.

DARROW:
I will read it to you from the Bible: “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” Do you think that is why the serpent is compelled to crawl upon its belly?

BRYAN:
I believe that.

DARROW:
Have you any idea how the snake went before that time?

BRYAN:
No, sir.

DARROW:
Do you know whether he walked on his tail or not?

BRYAN:
No sir, I have no way to know. [Laughter.]

DARROW:
Now, you refer to the cloud that was put in the heavens after the flood, the rainbow. Do you believe in that?

BRYAN:
Read it.

DARROW:
All right, Mr. Bryan, I will read it for you.

BRYAN:
Your Honor, I think I can shorten this testimony. The only purpose Mr. Darrow has is to slur at the Bible, but I will answer his questions. I will answer it all at once, and I have no objection in the world. I want the world to know that this man, who does not believe in a God, is trying to use a court in Tennessee …

DARROW:
I object to that.

BRYAN:
 … to slur at it, and, while it requires time, I am willing to take it.

DARROW:
I object to your statement. I am examining you on your fool ideas that no intelligent Christian on earth believes!

JUDGE RAULSTON:
Court is adjourned until nine o'clock tomorrow morning.

*
James Ussher (1581-1656) was an Irish bishop and scholar; his calculations of biblical dates were incorporated into an authorized version of the Bible.

*
A version of the King James Bible, first published in 1909, that included chronological annotations by Cyrus I. Scofield.