FORM OF ADMISSION.

The Committee of Bills and Overtures recommended

the following:

"In view of the want of uniformity in the formulas used by the churches, under the care of the General Assembly, in the reception of members, this Assembly propose and recommend a summary of the doctrines taught in our Confession of Faith, together with a form of covenant, and send the same down to the several Presbyteries, with directions to them to send their answers to the next General Assembly.

"That a Committee, consisting of three ministers and two elders, be appointed to draft such summary of doctrine and form of covenant, and report to this Assembly as soon as convenient."

The report was adopted, and Drs. GRIDLEY and LITTLE, with Mr. SNYDER and Dr. PAUL and Mr. HOLT, were appointed the Committee. For want of time, they were directed to report to the next Assembly.

SLAVERY.

A memorial was referred to the Committee of Bills and Overtures, from the Presbytery of Franklin, on the subject of slavery. The Committee recommended the following resolution, which was adopted, we believe, unanimously:

"Resolved, That this Assembly, while extending to the memorialists assurances of Christian consideration and regard, can answer their prayer only by referring them to the acts of past Assemblies, as being, in our judgment, all that the General Assembly can properly do on the subject of the memorial."

The Assembly devoted half an hour before each norning session to devotional exercises, and also cele

brated the Lord's Supper in connection with many Christians of different churches.

The Assembly accepted an invitation to make an excursion to Lake Forest. This is the site of the proposed Lind University. It is expected that at this beautiful spot on Lake Michigan, there will grow up a male and a female academy, a college, and a theological seminary. Mr. Lind, of Chicago, gave $100,000 for this purpose, and the property of the company is valued at more than the same sum. It is expected that many citizens of Chicago and Milwaukee will purchase sites here for summer residences. It is twenty-five miles from the former, and fifty miles from the latter place. The site, especially in comparison with the flat country in that region is remarkably fine.

Another excursion was made by the Assembly to Onarga, on the Illinois Central Railroad.

The Assembly also accepted an invitation to a social interview at the mansion of William H. Brown, Esq.

The next place of meeting was unanimously appointed to be at the Central Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, Delaware.

ARTICLE V.

THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT OF CREATION, SCIENTIFIC.

[The editors do not become responsible for the opinions in this Article. It presents a bold, spirited and interesting view of the subject. It does not apologize for inspiration, nor is it willing to admit that the sacred writer presents a merely phenomenal view of creation. It holds that Moses describes the scientific facts just as they occurred, and that the nearer geology and astronomy approach the truth, the nearer they will come to this master description of creation. Every one must be interested in such a method of treating this important subject, whether they may be able or not to agree with the author in his theory or in his details.EDITORS.]

THE various methods by which theologians and geologists have sought to reconcile "the testimony of the rocks,” and our version of the first chapter of Genesis, may all be reduced to two, or perhaps, three general schemes. The first one supposes, that between the first verse and the second, there was an undefined and enormous interval of time, in which the various geological changes, such as we now find upon the earth, took place; that the earth was then brought into the chaotic state described in the second verse, and then it was, in six days of twenty-four hours each, prepared for the habitation of man, who was at that time placed upon it. This was the plan of reconciliation of Dr. Chalmers, and with a single exception that of Dr. John Pye Smith, who thought that the chaos described in the second verse and the work of creation, in the rest of the chapter, extended over but a small part of the earth's surface, and that outside of that area, the rest of the earth continued to enjoy the light of the sun, and plants and animals lived, and grew, and have continued by an un

broken series of generations to our own times. The progress of geological discovery has caused the scheme of Dr. Chalmers to be laid aside, for it does not meet the wants of the case, and that of Dr. Smith is opposed to the record of Moses in making no provision for the creation of the heavens.

The second method supposes, that the days were periods of great and indefinite extent, each embracing vast ages, in which the various geological changes occurred. With some few modifications this is now adopted by the great majority of modern geologists. There is little, if any, doubt that so far at least, as the length of the days is concerned, this scheme is strictly in consonance with the meaning of the Scriptures. Almost all geologists and theologians, however, commit the mistake of confining this description of the creation to the earth alone, although the sacred narrative as plainly asserts that "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and at its close declares, "thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them."

Prof. Barrows, in commenting upon this verse says, that "Tuch remarks, that this is the only passage in which the word hosts includes earthly objects along with the heavenly host. It denotes the orderly marshalling, and arranging of all created things in heaven and earth." We have a right then to require that any system of interpretation which shall be presented to us for adoption, shall account for the heavenly bodies, as well as the earth, and it will not do, as we shall soon see, to confine the sole description of their creation to the work of the fourth day. Such an interpretation must not only accord with geology, but likewise with astronomy. It must, in short, be so read as to give us an account of the creation of the heavens, as well as of the earth.

Before proceeding to examine and determine the meaning of the Mosaic record, we may premise, that that interpretation which, fairly made, according to those rules by which we interpret all language, shall best harmonize with all the facts, is most likely to be the true one, even though it may be very different from the one which we have been accustomed to regard as correct. If it best agrees with all the phenomena we ought not to reject it on account of novelty, and assume that it cannot be true, because so many learned and wise scholars, on whose opinions we have been accustomed to rely, have given a different reading. It may be, that they have never examined it from the right point of view, to attain the knowledge of its meaning.

We will now proceed with our undertaking. Verse 1st. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Prof. Lewis has employed a large part of the sixth chapter of his Six Days of Creation, in proving that the word translated create, does not mean, to bring into existence from nothing, but rather to arrange matter previously existing. It seems, however, more reasonable to think that it was the design of Moses, to teach, in opposition to those who believed in and taught the eternity of matter, that it was created by the power of God. In fact, the absolutely literal translation of

which means the

the verse conveys exactly this idea. In our version, the particle substance of, is not translated; were it rendered, the verse would read thus: "In the beginning God created the substance of the heavens and the earth." The authorities for this reading are many and important. Dr. Wilson, in his Easy Introduction to the Knowledge of Hebrew without the Points, in a note on this word says, "This particle following an active verb, and going before a noun which has the servile prefixed,