eented e.s h11ving refitctl from l1is creative Now, whether the ngctation of the thir<I lnbours, must likowiso be ll natuml or solar clay is to be s011gl1t for in the carLonifero11s da.y ; nnd if eo, it is proper to observe what formations of the Palreozoic age (Hugh )I ille,r), follows. It follows (l) tha.t the events re- or, 1ts is more probable, in the age which saw corded in the first fh-e verses of Genesis the formation of the metamorphic rocks mnst bo compressed into a einglo dnr of (Dawson), the order disclosed is precisely twenty-foul' hours, so thnt no gap wil re- that which the Mosaic narrative affirms was 1111tin into which the ehort-dny nclvocates observed-first plants, then fish and fowl, may thmst the ~eologic n~es, which is for and finally animals and man; so that if tliA them an imperntive necessity ; (2) that the . testimony of the rocks be admissible at a II world is only 144 hours older than man, upon the subject, it is unmistakably in which is contrary to both science and revela- favour of the long-period day. 7. The opinion tion ; (3) that the statement is incorrect that of neither Jewish nor Christian anti']nity God finished all his work at the close of the was entirely on the side of the natural-clay sixth day; and (4) that the fossiliferous re- theory. Josephus and Philo lent their sane, mains which have been discovered in the tion to the other view. Origen perceive,! earth's crust have either been deposited there the difficulty of having a first, second, and since man's creation, or were crr.ated there third day, each with an evening and a morn- at the first, both of which suppositions are ing, without the sun, moon, antl stars, an<! untenable. But now, if, ou the contrary, resoh-ed it by saying that these celestial the language signifies that God laboured in luminaries were appointed "oii,c,n ••c apxa, the fashioning of his cosmos through six Tij, 71pipac ,rai T,',c vv,cTo,, ,D.\' ,;, ,-,;v successive periods of indefinite duration apx11v Tii!; 71pipa,; ,rai Tijc vvcroc" (' Com. in (olamim, mous), and entered on the seventh Genesin,' i. 16). An~ustinc si!!'.:!,:rly ,nites, day into a corrcspondinaly Jong period of "Qui dies eujusmotli sint, aut perdifficile sabbatic rest, we can hold the opposite of nobis, aut etiam impossibile est cogitarc, every one of theso conclusions, and find a quanto magis dicere . . . . Illornm al~tem convincing argument besides for the observ- priores tres sine sole peracti sunt, ']Ui quarto ance of tlle sabbath in the beautiful analogy die factus refcrtur" (' De Civitate Dei,' lib. which subsists between God's grent week of xi. 6, 7). Bede likewise remarks, "Fortassis olamim and man's little week of sun-mea- hie d.iei nomen totius temporis nomen est, sured days. 6. Geology declares that the et omnia volumina seeulorum hoe vocal.,ulo earth must have been brought to its pre- includit." 8. Heathen cosmogonies may also sent condition through a series of labours be appealed to as an indirect confirmation of extending over indefinitely long epochs ; and, the preceding e\idence. Egyptian, Persian, notwithstanding the confident assertion of Indian, and Etruscan legends represent tho Kalisch and others that it is hopeless to elaboration of the world as having been harmonise science and revelation, the cor- accomplished in a series of ages of prolongetl respondence between the contents of these duration. "Gou created in the first thou- ~eologic ages e.nd those of the Mosaic days saml years heaven and earth ; in the second 1s so surprising as to induce the belief that the vault of heaven ; in tho third the sea the latter were, like tho former, extended and the other waters of the earth ; in tho leriods. First, according to geology, travel- fourth the sun, moon, and stars ; in tho l ing backward, comes the Cainozoic era, with fifth the inhabitants of the air, of the water, the remains of animals, but not of man ; and of the land; and in the sixth man," is next is the Mezozoic era, with the remains of the creation story of Etruria ; and althon;::h fish and fowl, but uot of animals ; and under- in itself it has uo validity, yet, as a trml i- neath that is the Pnlreozoic em, with its car- tional reflection of the Mosaic narrative it jg boniferous formations, but still with tracos not entirely destitute of "·eight. of aquatic lifo at its beginning and its end.
110:iIILETICS. Ver. 4.-1'/te value of lir;lit. I. A DIVINE CREATURE, 1. lfysteriouslyfctshionecl. Philosophers can nnalyse hght, unfold the seven prismatic hues that lie concealed in its pure bosom, theorise with much exactitude conceming its transmission, calculate its incredible velocity, elucidnte the laws of its dispersion, utilise the wondrous potencies that are trensured up in its mystic beams; but they can neither make light nor explain its production. Notwithstanding all the restless a<.:tivity of modern 11cientific discovery, Jehovah's two intcrrogntions (Job xxxviii. 19, 24) remain un- answered "Where is the way where light dwelleth ? " and, " By what w~y i~ the light parted, which s-catt~nth the cast wind upon the earth?" 2. E'xY[uisit~.'!I 14 THE DOOK OF GENESIS. [CR. l. 3-li,.