8. For the true and genuine signification of the word ", IOM, DAY, in the recital of the sacred historian, I must refer the reader to Note [I], "On the Mosaic Days of Creation," subjoined to this volume; in which he will find ample and demonstrative proof, that it must be understood in its simple and ordinary sense, of the time of twenty-four hours; and, that it cannot be interpreted otherwise, unless by setting up arbitrary and illegitimate invention as a rule against the united testimonies of established language and sound philosophy. An artificial perversion of the true sense of the word, constitutes the only obstacle to a clear and ready apprehension of the important facts imparted in the record.

II. Having thus determined the interpretation of the terms of the article, let us next consider the instruction which it conveys to us.

In this first sublime and comprehensive article, embracing the "creation of the heaven and the "earth," the sacred historian summarily comprises the history of the first formation of the entire mineral substance constituting the solid body of this Globe; produced "at the beginning," (as Newton speaks) and in one moment of time," (as Bacon speaks) by the mode of "creation; and, with the

size, figure, properties, and proportion to space, "which most conduced to THE END for which God "created it." We hear of no further operation, or process, respecting the first formations of the

mineral part of the globe; in that creative moment "His hands prepared the DRY LAND," in perfect adaptation and subserviency to the final causes which, in two days, were to reveal themselves. It was created entire and complete, in its substance, form, texture, and arrangement; although it was enveloped by a fluid resting upon, and flowing over, every part of its compacted surface, which formed for a very short time the bed or bottom of an universal sea. There was no intermixture of that water with the particles composing the hard and solid body beneath, no confusion of the two elements; but, the marine fluid was totally distinct from the terrene solid, and did not continue long enough upon a considerable portion of it, to penetrate far into its internal substance. That dry

and solid body-, Enpa, was concealed by the cloak of waters, and total darkness encompassed that cloak; so that the spheroid, speaking relatively and optically, was invisible or unapparent; and, being as yet a mere mineral mass, it was barren of all external production, and was therefore unfurnished or ungarnished.

But it was the design of God, first, to render it visible; and next, to furnish it. He, therefore, first of all, commanded the existence of light; and immediately, there was light! At the same time, He divided the light and the darkness; that is, He established, and gave first operation to, the laws of proportion and succession between the measures of the two; and, having given origin and action to

those laws, they accomplished, in their due course, the First Day.

In this brief, but pregnant description of effects, the historian records, by necessary implication, the history of the commencement of TIME, by the ordination of the instrumental causes which were to produce the first diurnal measure and succession of darkness and light; for time, as Philo truly remarks, signifies nothing else but "the successive "distances of days and nights, effected by the motions

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of the heavenly bodies:” συμπας ὁ χρονος ἡμερων και νυκτων εστι διαστημα!:—διαστημα της του ουρανού κινησεως εστιν ὁ χρόνος. The historian relates, that God first produced the effect of light; which effect following the darkness, and these succeeding to each other from thenceforth in regular diurnal alternations, shew that the instrumental causes which were to perpetuate the effect, were then first put in action. As he describes optically, and solely with a view to the practical and sensible apprehension of the facts which he relates, his description is confined to effects; but, it is for the common knowledge and experience of his readers to refer those familiar effects to their plain and obvious causes. And so his ancient Hebrew readers failed not to refer them; who needed not that he should tell them, that the light of which he spoke proceeded from the same physical cause from which they knew that they derived their daily light: rav

φως ήμερας ενιαυτου αφ' ήλιου— the light of every

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day of the year is from the Sun':" and they accordingly understood, as of course, that it proceeded from the Solar fountain of light, though not expressly stated by their historian. Ignorance, on the one hand, and hypothesis and system on the other, have variously contrived to perplex or pervert this simple recital; but, sound learning, sound criticism, and sound philosophy, will receive and apprehend it according to the simplicity of description in which it is delivered. This subject we shall have occasion to examine more particularly, when we come to consider the historian's record of the transactions of the fourth day of creation; on which day, the sun and moon were first revealed in their relative functions of RULING the day and the night.

The sublimity of the clause in which the creation of light is related by Moses, has long been a subject of critical remark and admiration; and, the more that amazing operation is contemplated, the more will the mind be affected by a sense of that sublimity. The recent enlargement of the sphere of our acquaintance with the solar body, obtained by the observations of the late Sir William Herschel, contributes greatly to augment the force of that sentiment, by the distinctness which it imparts to the conception. That illustrious astronomer discovered, that the body of the sun is an opaque substance; and, that the splendid

Ecclesiasticus, xxxiii. 7.

matter which dispenses to the world light and heat, is a luminous atmosphere1 attached to its surface, figuratively, though not physically, as flame is attached to the wick of a lamp or a torch. So that the creation of the solar orb, as a part of " the "host of heaven," does not necessarily imply, the creation of light; and, conversely, the creation of light, does not necessarily imply, the creation of the solar orb: and the same principle applies to all the sidereal fountains of light which embellish the heavens, and which we denominate the fixed stars. In the first creation of " the heaven and the

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earth," therefore, not the planetary orbs only, but the solar orb itself was created in darkness; awaiting the light, which, by one simple divine operation, was to be communicated at once to all. When then the Almighty Word, in commanding the existence of light, commanded the first illumination of the solar atmosphere, its new light was immediately caught and reflected throughout space by all the members of the planetary system. And well may we imagine, (to speak by the animated figure of the inspired poet,) that in that first, sudden, and magnificent illumination of the universe, "the morning stars sang together, "and the Sons of God shouted for joy!"

But, that great cause of light, though physically co-existent with its effect, was optically non-existent with relation to the earth covered by the waters;

1 Phil. Trans. for 1795, p. 46; and for 1801, p. 265. 2 Job, xxxviii. 7.