ine not wanting indirect corroboraLions of pica! cl1matcs to prevail ~n,\ tropical \'f';cd~- I.ho truth of tho Mosaic narrative from both tion to abound, both of which have g.,-aclnally it and geology. According to the sacred disappeared from tho polar regions in con- writer, tlie presently existing atmosphere, the eequoncc of the sun's diminished heat. It distribution of land nnd water, tho succession remains only to note that lhe Chaldeon of dny and night, nnd the regular alternation Genesis preserves a striking reminiscence of of tho seasons, wore established prior to the this day's work ; the obve1·se of the fifth introduction of animal lffe upon the earth ; creation tablet reacling- and Sir Charles Lyell has demonstrated nothing more successfully than the dominion 1. It was delightful, all that was Ji.,ed by of " existing causes " from the Eozoic era the great gods. downwards, and the sufficiency of these 2. Stars, their appearance (in figures) of causes to account for all the changes which animals he arranged. have taken place in the earth's crust. Again, 3. To fix the.year through the obsen·ation of their constellations. geology_ att~sts_ the prevalence on our ~lobe 4. Twelve months (or signs) of stnrs in in prelustonc times of a much more uniform three rows he arranged. and hicrh temperature than it now possesses, 0 5. From the day when the year commeme~ 80 late as the Miocene era a genial tropical climate having extended up beyond the unto the dose. Arctic circle, and in the earliest eras of the 6. He marked the positions of the, 1nn- history of the globe, in all probability, the dering stars (planets) to shine in their courses. entire sphere being so favoured with exces- 12: TI1~ god Uru (the ~oon) •he c;used ·to sive heat, Different causes have been sug- gested for tllis phenomenon ; ns, e. (!,, the rise out, the night he overshadowed, greater heat of the cooling globe (the earliest 13. To fix it also for the light of the night, until the shining of the day. geologists), a. different distribution of land and water (Lyell), va1iations in the eccen- . . . . . . . . tricity of the earth's orbit (Herschell and 19. When the god Shamas (the sun) in the Croll), cl1anges in the earth's axis (Evans, horizon of heaven in the east. Drayson, Bell), and the greater intensity of the 20. . . . formed beautifully an,1 . • sun's beat (Sir W. Thomson, ' Trans. Geolog. 21. . . to the orbit Shamas was perfected. Soc.,' Glasgow, 1877). The Biblical nana- "It appears that the Chaldean record con- tive, by distinctly teacl1ing that the sun was tains the review and expression of satisfac- perfected on the fourth day, renders it intelli- tion at tho head of each tablet, while tl,,, gible that his influence on the surface of the Hebrew has it at the close of each act " eurth wns t11en at its greatest, causing tro- (' Chalclean Genesis,' pp. 69-73).
HOMILETICS. Ver. 16. -Tlie cele.stial lwninarie.~. I. Display the DtVI:'.'.;E w1s001I. "The heavens declare the glory of God" (Pa. xix. 1). M. Comte belie.ed they declared no other glory thun that of Hipparchus, Kepler, Newton, and their successors. Nc\\"ton ngreed with the Hebrew poet (vid. Expos. on ver. 16). The astronomical argn- ment in behalf of tht'ism has ahvays been impressive, if not absolutely eoncln- sive. Certainly, granting the Divine existence, nowhere does God's glory shine out more conspicuously ; nnd perhaps the attribute which most imperiously arrests attention is that of wisdom. This would seem to be the aspect of the Divine glory which n contemplation of the midnight heavens discovered to the writer of Ps. ci,-. (vid. ver. 24, which is introduced after a poetic version of the fourth day·s work) and of Ps. cxxxvi. (vicl. ver. 7 in the same connection; cf. Prov. iii. 19; viii. 27; Jer. Ii. lo). Many things about the orbs of heaven evince their Creator's "·isdom: these specially-1. Their formation, ns explained by the highly credible teacl1ings of physical astronomy, 2. Their t•arieties--consisting of sun, moon, planets, comets, nebulm. 3. Their motions: in elliptical and parabolic orbits. 4. Their dispositions: the suns, moons, nnd planets in systems; the stars in constellations, clusters, gala:xies. II. Attest the DIVINE GOODNESS. Displuyed chiefly by the threefold pnrpose tho celestial orbs were designed to serve :-1. To give light 11pon tlie eartlt. Even the sta,•s could scureely be dispensed with without u sense of loss. Feeble us their light is, owing to their immense distance from the earth, they ure yet invaluable to voyagP-rs nnd travellers (Acts uvii. 20). Still less could the moon's light, so pale 11h11 ailvery in its whiteness, bo spared. The night without its chaste be:1111s would 24 THE BOOK OF GENgsrn. [en. r. J.t-10.