original state of the earth, and no further notice is taken of these luminaries until the fourth day is described, and not, I conceive, as being then created, but as having their regular functions assigned to them relative to the earth. It seems that at the comLencement of this process the earth was a dark, chaotic mass, completely covered with water, and encompassed with air. The breath of God, a form of expression denoting an abundant treasure of air, brooded upon the face of the water. This incumbent air must have been a comparatively dense fluid, and perfectly still, before the properties of elasticity and expansion were given to it, to counteract the earth's gravitating power, which must have been coeval with its existence; and before the laws of humidity and motion were superadded, for accomplishing the uses designed by Unlimited Intelligence. The first employment of the Divine wisdom and power was causing light upon the earth: God said, Let there be light, and there was light. It is not conceivable that the Creator spoke this or any other sentence to himself, or uttered such words to any lifeless substance which he had previously made; but this is obviously a most sublime mode of declaring the production of light by almighty energy, as the instantaneous effect of the Divine volition. That this might have been caused without the sun's beams, as Mr. Frend suggests, [Mon. Repos. XVI. 647,] cannot be denied, but it is not probable that such was the light here intended. So great an abundance of the electric fluid and of hydrogen might have been evolved from the world, as would have served for irradiating its surface for all the duration that the six days comprise ; but this could not strictly have constituted the day. God saw the light that it was good, and separated the light from the darkness; and he called the light day, and the darkness he called night. It was, therefore, by the rays of the sun that the Almighty caused the earth to be enlightened, and heated for exhalation, or extended the solar light through the etherial region of ninety-five millions of miles. Thus he commanded the exercise of that power, which he afterwards established as a great law of nature, which illumines our world, and is essential to its being a fit dwelling-place for living creatures. ; The second day's work is thus described: Let there be an expanse amidst the waters, which may divide the water from the water. This has been supposed to imply that the writer was so egregiously deluded as to conceive the heavenly canopy, to which was applied the term firmament, from the Latin translation of the Greek word spewμa, in the Septuagint, to be a solid, bespangled arch or vault, sustaining a reservoir of water for supplying rain to the earth but such an irrational conceit was, Í imagine, as distant from the mind of Moses, as it is from the astronomy of the present age. The Divine enactment, denoted by the words, Let there be an expanse, seems to have been the spreading upwards the vast volume of air which lay brooding on the face of the water, so as to form an elastic, expanded atmosphere as now existing, and which God called heaven, which must mean the lower heaven. This expanse is said to be amidst the waters, and such is the reality; for, besides the visible aqueous vapours that compose the floating clouds, the atmosphere holds, as a component part, a vast quantum of liquid in gaseous solution, its particles being extremely attenuated by the chemical union of caloric; which is rendered evident in dry, sultry weather by a metallic surface, reduced to a temperature below that of the atmosphere, when the surrounding air will, by parting with a portion of its caloric to restore an equilibrium in the metal, release the liquid, which will appear in a state of condensation. And if so small a quantity of air is found to have contained so much moisture, what a vast abundance of volatilized water may be supposed to occupy the immense circumference of the atmosphere, encompassing the globe to the height of many leagues, and which gives to the clear sky its beautiful azure aspect. If all this rarified vapour were to be condensed by Omnipotence, and united with the oceans of the earth, there would then be water enough to drown the whole world, for it would bring the earth back to its primeval state, before the copious evaporations reduced the terraqueous waters, and charged the atmosphere-as a single The third day's account presents the disposal of the waters that remained on the face of the earth after the atmosphere had been sufficiently replenished with moisture, and determining what portions of the world should be the dry land. Let the waters below the expanse be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear. And let the earth bring forth grass, &c. It may be properly supposed, that on this day there was not merely a separation of the land and water, which of itself would have left the latter a stagnant mass, except as it might be disturbed by gales of wind, but that the ocean was saturated with salt for securing it from putrefaction, and its regular motions begun; and that the land was made fit for the uses intended, those occult principles ordained which guide chemical affinities and combinations in the formation of secondary rocks, crystallizations and minerals; fertility given to the soil of the earth; and the laws of vegetation established, which direct the various selections of proper muci- The narrative given of the fourth thesis, declaring particularly what were the luminaries which the Most High had made, and the respective uses assigned to them in the great machinery of the universe. Even upon the hypothesis that the Jewish prophet intended here to speak respecting the original creation of these lights in the heavens, the importance of the subject would sufficiently account for such a recurrence to it by a repetition of the assertion, no less true than grand, that the hosts of heaven were all the work of the one infinite and everlasting Being. But as he does not here employ the verb 2, as in the first verse, which signifies bringing into existence, but another word, which means to prepare, on which there will be occasion to insist further under another passage, there is good reason to conclude that to speak of their creation was not his design, but only of their allotted functions with respect to the earth. Ver. 16: God prepared, or adapted, two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars also. That is, the sun to regulate the day, and the moon, and also the stars, to regulate the night, by causing their rays, whether primary or reflected, to reach the earth, which could no more have been without being caused by the Divine power, than these luminaries could have created themselves. The word, in ver. 17, which is translated set,-God set them in the firmament of heaven,-seems, according to this version, to import that these shining bodies were studded in a concave solidity, or at least that they were then first placed in their respective stations; but this is not its true signification. This verb, 15, means gave or appointed, and being thus read, it is in full accordance with the foregoing remarks concerning their prior creation. And God gave, or appointed, them in the expanse of the heavens, signifying that he decreed what offices they should perform to the earth, which is supported by the prophecy of Jeremiah, xxxi. 35, where the same Hebrew verb is used, and properly construed-Thus saith Jehovah, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night. And the same sentiment is expressed by the Psalmist, though he VOL. XVII. 20 employs another word, Psalm lxxiv. 16, Thou hast prepared the light and the sun. It has been already observed, that the light of the sun was brought to the earth on the first of the six days, and motion must have been then given to it to produce the alternations of morning and evening, or of day and night, which the Creator was pleased to ordain, apparently for measuring the periods of his own proceedings, to become the subjects of future record, that the generations of men may know who hath done all these things; but on the fourth day he permanently. established the great laws of nature, by the operation of which the transmission of light from the sun is continued, and the lunations are governed which cause the solar rays to be reflected on the earth at stated times, and occasion the ebbing and flowing of the tides of the ocean. By the appointments of this day also the diurnal rotations of the earth were perpetuated for continuing the changes of day and night; and its annual revolutions for producing the alternate seasons of the year, and marking the progress of time, which could not have been the order of nature if the world had remained stationary as when it was first commanded into existence, or if the Divine power had not superadded to the creation of the earth the cardinal laws of nature, which impel its daily motion and annual course. The fifth day's work was the formation of sentient creatures; fishes to occupy the waters; and the feathered race to fly in the atmosphere, called the expanse of heaven. Anterior to the foregoing adjustments and preparations there was not a spark of animal life connected with this rolling planet; not a single rational inhabitant to survey and admire the beauteous works of God; not a quadruped trod the ground, not a bird winged the air, nor a fish finned the water; not even a reptile nor an insect existed in either province of nature; but all that had been hitherto created was unperceptive, inanimate matter, and but for the vivifying energy of that Being who is alone eternal and self-existent, the world must have remained in lifeless silence for ever. Ver. 20: And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open expanse of heaven. It is observable in the Scriptures, that the term heaven has several distinct significations, which are worthy of being noticed. These are three: the highest or third heaven, which is the celestial abode of the Almighty, or where his glory is more immediately manifested; 1 Kings xxii. 19; Job xxii. 12; 2 Cor. xii. 3: called also heaven of heavens, 1 Kings viii. 27. The second heaven, which is the magnificent region of the planetary orbits and of the fixed stars, which are called the host of heaven, and the ordinances of heaven, Deut. xvii. 3; Jer. xxxiii. 25. And the lower heaven, in which are clouds, rain, dew, snow and winds; Dan. vii. 2; Gen. vii. 11, xxvii. 28; Isaiah lv. 10; Dan. vii. 13; and in which the fowls fly as their proper element. A due attention to these distinctions is needful for understanding the several uses of the term in this chapter, as in the 1st, 14th, 15th and 17th verses, it means the second heaven, or all the luminaries which it contains; and in the 8th, 20th and 30th, it signifies the lower heaven, or, as it is translated in the last of these verses, the air, with all that appertains to it as a necessary appurtenance of the earth. The atmosphere and waters having been supplied with suitable tenants, it remained on the sixth day to provide appropriate animals to inhabit the dry land. Ver. 24: And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, and cattle after their kind, &c. Whether the divers sorts of creatures were produced for these different departments of nature, the water, the air, and the land, by the transformation of materials previously existing, or by being immediately created, which the Hebrew suggests to have been the case with some, they ininister to the glory of the Supreme Being, whose plastic might instantly produced what his incomprehensibly intelligent and benevolent will designed. Their production in such innumerable genuses and tribes, all so admirably framed in their ana tomy, so aptly compacted in their forms, exquisitely organized in their systems, and endowed with senses, instincts and sagacities so accurately adapted to their various stations; fitted for securing their safety and supplying their wants, and suited to the enjoyment of the life they received; together with the enactment of the laws of their respective natures for perpetuating the existence of each species of these sensitive beings through all successive ages-most strikingly evince the infinite skill, beneficence and power of their great Creator. And last of all were mankind brought into existence in the Divine image, male and female created he them, in whose formation were combined the most eurious organic constructions and wonderful contrivances belonging to those animals which had been before produced. And, in addition to the excellencies of their corporeal frames, they were endued with intellectual faculties, that not only qualified for all beneficial temporal purposes, but were also susceptible of high improvement; such as capacitate the human race, in every age, for contemplating and adoring the perfections of their glorious Maker, for reflecting on their peculiar moral obligations, cherishing a consciousness of responsibility, and anticipating immortal life. Invested with these mental powers, were the first parents of mankind distinguished for a most decided pre-eminence over all other animated natures, in dignity, adaptation for usefulness and capability of happiness, and constituted the glories of God's terrestrial creation. The whole of this account of rendering our world a proper abode for living creatures, and especially for the human race, unquestionably written in that early period when knowledge had made but small advances towards the comparative maturity of the present age, is so consistent with the appearances of nature, so analogous to principles which the understanding and experience of cultivated ages have demonstrated and confirmed, and so far superior to every representation of the origin of nature given in remote times by unassisted reason, or philosophical science in the mere light of nature, that I conceive there cannot be a more rational conclusion than that it was the result of a divine communication to a favoured prophet. This belief, too, is so much in harmony with the divine legation of Moses, with the sanctity of the Jewish dispensation, and with the heavenly authenticity of the Christian revela» tion, that it is, in my view, highly ing or preparing. Thus, in this book desirable it should have a firmly-esta- of Moses, Gen. vi. 14, Make thee an blished credence in the minds of all ark of Gopher wood; and ch. xxxv. 3, the adherents to Christianity. If we I will make there an altar unto God, conclude the Mosaic narrative, or the same verb is used, and obviously what is commonly esteemed such, to in the sense of making fit or fashionbe incompatible with the system of ing; as the materials already existed nature as elucidated by science, must which were to be fashioned into new not that confidence in the truth of its forms, or prepared for the specified theology be greatly enfeebled, which purposes. The word having this siga belief in its historical accuracy will nification in the Decalogue makes at least tend to strengthen and con- it confirmatory of what has been adfirm? And viewing this account as vanced respecting the six days, and false in its detail, how are we to re- the employment of the Divine wisdom gard the language of the Decalogue and power in these first divisions of given to the Hebrew nation, as pro- time. In six days Jehovah prepared, ceeding from the Supreme Potentate, or adjusted, the heavens and the earth. wherein his resting from his six days' This Hebrew verb appears also in work is assigned as a reason for the Gen. i. 31, and repeatedly in the besanctity of the seventh, which was ginning of the second chapter, and in appointed to be the Sabbath? Exod. the 3d verse both of these words are xx. 11: For in six days Jehovah used, and so as to shew their distinct made heaven and earth, and the sea, significations; He rested from all the and all that in them is, &c. If the works which he had created and prerepresentation in the first chapter of pured. They appear likewise in the Genesis, concerning the divine trans- prophecy of Isaiah with the same actions during six days be fictitious, meanings; ch. xlv. 18: Thus saith which it certainly must be, if not cor- Jehovah, who created the heavens, rect in its philosophical statements, God himself, who formed the earth then the declaration here evidently and prepared it. And Jeremiah, using alluding to it, and not merely imply the latter word, says, ch. x. 12, He ing its verity, but positively adopting hath prepared the earth by his power, it as sacred truth, must also be of the he hath established the world by his same spurious character. On the con- wisdom, and stretched out the heaven trary, if, as Moses asserts, Exod. xx. by his discretion. 1, God spake all these words, then the relation given of the six days and their occurrences, must be a description of certain facts and realities, which cannot be disbelieved without the authenticity of the whole Levitical economy being rendered disputable, and the credibility of the gospel re velation being seriously affected and impaired. But it may be alleged, as a supposed refutation of the theory which I am attempting to support, that in this passage of the Decalogue, as it stands recorded in Exodus, Jeho vah is said to have made the heavens and the earth in six days. It is to be again remarked, that though made is the word used in the English Version, yet the Hebrew verb, so translated in this and various other instances, is not, as in Gen. i. 1, 72, which means to create in the strictest sense, or to bring from nothing; but mur, as in the 16th verse, which signifies to make in the sense of fashion Moses does not, indeed, declare that he received the knowledge which his account conveys immediately from God, nor to whom it was originally imparted; but this silence cannot be justly considered as sufficient to invalidate its divine authenticity. If the narrative contain what may be fairly deemed internal evidence of divine inspiration, this is equivalent to any assertion to that effect, if not of greater validity, especially when corroborated by other sacred documents. With such testimony, which is not wanting if the foregoing observations be well-founded, it is perceived as the pole-star of revelation, not only elevating the intellectual views with regard to the wisdom, goodness and power of the one eternal Deity, as employed in the creation of the universal system with its countless worlds, and in the excellent adjustment and preparation of our own for the uses intended; but it further prepares the |