Then God said, "Let the waters underneath the heavens he gathered toward one place, and let the dry [land] appear ;** and it was accordingly : and God called the dry [land] Eabth, but the gathering of the waters be called Skas; bo God saw that [it was] good. Then God said, "Let the earth sprout the npront [(grasses)], the plant [(annuals)] seeding seed, the frtiit-tree [(of woody stem)] bearing ftuit after its kind — in vhich [is] its seed upon the earth;** and it was accordingly; for the earth sprouted the sprout, the plant eeedhag seed after its kind, and the tree bearing fruit— in which [Is] its seed *^v its kind : so God saw that Qt was] good. Thus [there] vas evening, and [there] was morning-— [the] third day.
Then God said, " Let [there] be lights in the firmament of tile heavens, to divide between the day and the night ; and let them he for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years ; e^en let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens* to dve light upon the earth :** and it was accordingly; so (^ made the two great ligfata— the greater light [(sun)] to role the day, and the sipaller light [(moon)] to mle the night '-•ho the stars : and God appointed them in the firmament
of the heavens, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide between the li^t and the darkness; so <^od saw that [it wa«] good. Thus [there] waa evening, and [there] was morning— [the] fourth day.
Then Qoi said, " Let the waters swarm [with] the swarm of the living creature, and let the bird fly upon the earth — upon the face of the firmament of the heavens :** so God cre- ated great [sea-] monsters, and every living creature that creeps, [with] which the waters swarmed, aft^ its kind ; also every winged bird after its kind : so Crod saw that Dt was] good: and God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, and mul- tiply, and fill the waters in the seas ; and let the bird multi- ply on the earth.* ' Thus [there] was evening, and [there] was morning— [the] fifth day.
Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, beast [(large quadrupeds)], and rep- tile [(short-l^ged aninmls)], and [(every other)] living [thing] of the earth, iiter its kind ;** and it was aocordingly ; for God made the living [thing] of the earth after its kind, and the beast after its kind, and every reptile of the ground after its kind : so God saw that [it was] good. Then God said, " Let us make mam in our image — according to our likeness [(the exact reflection of the divine [mental] lineaments)] ; and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the bird of the heavens, and over the beast, and over all the earth, and over every reptile that creeps upon the earth ;** so God created mankind in his [own] image, in the image of God he created him, [yet] male and female he created them : and God Messed them, when God said to them, " Bo fimitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it ; and have domin- ion over the fish of the sea. and over the bird of the heavens, and over every living [thing] that creeps upon the earth :** for God said, "Lo! I have given to you every plant seeding seed, wliich [is] upon [the] &ce of all the earUi, and every tree in which [Is] the flruit of a tree needing seed ; to you it shall be for food, also to every living [thing] of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to every [thing] creeping upon the earth in which [exists] a living creature, [even] every green plant for food.** And it was accordingly ; so God saw every [thing] that he had made, and lo! [it was] very good: thus [there] was evening, and [there] was morning— the sixth day.
Now were finished the heavens, and the earth, and all their army [of stars] ; for God finished on the seventh day his work which he had made, and [therefore] ceased on the seventh day At)m all his woric which he had made. Then God tdessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because on it be ceased Ughabdth, rested)] fh)m all his work which God created in making.
The statements contained in this passage are thought by a certain class of semi-infidel philosophers to be in conflict with the conclusions of modem science, espe- cially astronomy and geology. We are sure, how- ever, that the works and word of God can never be otherwise than in harmony, and if any conflict ap- pears, it must be in consequence of the unskillf ulness or erroneous system of the expounders, either of the book of nature or of revelation. The difficulty con- sists in the alleged contradiction between the phih' logicai "interpretation** of the sfusred record and the scieiUific or hittorical exposition of the facts. In this, as in all similar instances of apparent discrepancy, it is no disparagement of philology that it is obliged to modify previous interpretations on account of new light from collateral branches of knowledge ; the same course has always been pursued, e. g. in the verifica- tion of prophecy, where history has necessarily come in as a supplementary aid in fixing a definite mean- ing to what before was dark and general. This, it \A true, would not be allowable if the scriptural state- ments in question were explicit and in detail, or if they were couched in the precise terms of modem sci- ence ; but it is a legitimate method of interpretation in the case of such brief and popular phraseology as we often find in the Bible on subjects adverted to for collateral purposes. It is therefore only necessary to show that the essential meaning of the text, when explained according to the analogies of the ums lo- quendi of an unscientific ]}eople, should not conflict, 08 to the real facta involved, with the conclusions of late scientific investigators. See Interpbbtation. There are three principal modes in which this ad- justment has been attempted with regard to Mo- ses's account of the creation. (1.) Some regard chap- ter i of Genesis as a general statement of the origi- nal formation of all created things, including that of man as a race, in the several varieties scattered over