world, moreover, was not an existence wholly good: it is hard to conceive that the monster forms which existed were suitable companions for holy, happy angels, or that the bonebreaking and fierce devouring by these creatures belonged to a pure and peaceful existence. Nor was it separated from the present world by utterly destructive catastrophes: it contained all those plants, animals and men whose remains, so strangely revealed to us, are brought from one common grave. Extinct species are so mingled with those now in existence that the two worlds overlap each other, indeed are not two worlds, but one; for there is no trace of any chasm, deep and wide, engulfing that first or former creation in utter destruction; no universal break found in which the old world passed away and the new began. These statements, of honest and wise opponents, are very strong proofs that the Day theory is inadequate, unscriptural and unscientific. Some further consideration may lead such as hold that theory gladly to abandon it for one that contents piety and satisfies intelligence: one that unites the view of the prophets with the requirements of modern science. In an apparent vision, or narrative, or dream; or by whatever means we possess the memorial of creation whether as picture for the seer to look on, or as history for the prophet to write; it is certain that the whole representation, if Divine, would in its very nature transcend physical science. It must be borne in mind that the Hebrew language has no scientific terms; so that, whether dealing with science or prophecy, symbols must be used. It also seems natural that the word "Day" should be used. What so natural as the use of a word which includes the work of man, for containing and describing the work of God, and for a symbolical measure of time? Fitness and simplicity, moreover, would take evenings and mornings for divisions; darkness and light for pauses and operations in the sublime scene. As past, present, and future are distinctions for man's use only, and can have no real meaning in reference to Deity, they are often ignored in Holy Scripture. The prophet not unfrequently speaks of the future as actually present, apparently, perhaps really, unconscious that centuries have passed away, or will 2 pass away before the prediction can be fulfilled (Is. ix. 13; Jer. xlix. 28-30; Is. xxxiv. 5, x. 34, xi. 1). In The prophets did not always understand their own x writings (Dan. xii. 4; Eph. iii. 5; 2 Pet. i. 19-21). many holy reflections, Divine realities are clad in garments of imagery (Ps. xix. 1-6). The Tabernacle was a figure of good things to come (Heb. ix. 8, 9). The sacrifice of Isaac had a deeper meaning than Abraham knew of (Heb. xi. 17-19). The child promised to Ahaz (Is. vii. 14); the man of sorrow, in whose hand the pleasure of the Lord was to prosper; and who, though dying, was to prolong his days (Is. liii. 10). All these are examples and proofs that the Word of God is high and deep, full of mystery to feed the curiosity, exercise the powers, encourage the hope, and augment the wisdom of men and angels. They may help us to understand the true meaning of the language in which the Mosaic account of the creation was revealed. There is a correspondence traceable between the first three and second three of the days in which God created the heaven and the earth. The first, second, and third days answer, severally, to the fourth, fifth, and sixth days. On the first-there is light, on the fourth-light-bearers; on the second-the waters are separated and the firmament is constituted, on the fifth-the waters and firmament are occupied by fishes and birds; on the third-dry land appears, on the sixth-it is replenished. A comparison of one part of Scripture with another also suggests that the idea of completeness and perfection is presented by use of the number seven in the Mosaic record. The seventh day, or Sabbath, is the key-note in every gut. Hebrew observance; the factor in all sacred times and things; ruling days, months, years, and jubilees. It is part of the civil and of the ecclesiastic law. It concerns master and servant, the home-born and stranger, the harvest and the beast of the field. There are seven spirits, seven stars, seven angels, seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials. It is the representative symbolic number, the subject for precept, the rule and measure of observances, possessing internal properties and external associations. Internal-as the symbol of Divine and human labour and rest. External-as to periods and numbers, impressing times and seasons with a seal of sanctity. The seventh month ushered in the Feast of Trumpets. Seven weeks were the interval between Passover and Pentecost. The seventh year was Sabbatical. Seven days were the measure of feasts, of the time occupied by priestly consecration, and removal of legal uncleanness. The sprinkling of purification was seven -whether with water or blood. The arms of the golden candlestick were seven; the chief vessels of the Tabernacle were seven; and there are sacred sevens for forgiveness, for perfection, for interpretation of prophecy. Through God's creation, sevens express the arrangements of nature, the laws of labour, the sanctification and division of time, and form part of God's commands (Gen. ii. 3; Ex. xx. 9-11, xxxi. 12-17). It may then be inferred that the Scriptural account of creation was intended to be regarded as pictorial, symbolical, mystical. Now, consider the various uses of the word "day." Fuerst observes in his Lexicon, that Day only exists in derivative senses, and is used to signify a period. Eating the forbidden fruit, and the consequent liability to death, are called one day-the day of death (Gen. ii. 17). Day of the Lord is a period of mercy, or a time for the acting of Godpower. Day of vengeance is time of punishment. Day of judgment is the crisis of doom. Day of rest is a figure of repose after the creative act, and a symbol of the great duration of our own rest in Heaven (Heb. iv. 9). Origen says "a whole age is a day." Day is time of life, one who has a hard time, heavy time, nay Di (Job xxx. 25). Day is time of light, Dii, in the sense of light being day (Gen. i. 5). Day is present time (Ps. ii. 7); "This day," now Day is before now 1 הַיוֹס יְלִדְתִּיךְ ",have I begotten thee » Di. (Is. xlviii. 7). No man is able to determine the duration of the first three days, light and darkness depending upon conditions with which we are unacquainted; and what about day in the arctic regions where there is a six months' night? That the ordinary time 1 "De Oratione," p. 249. Duration Not Determinable. 133 was not meant, seems clearly indicated by all the days being called one" the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens" (Gen. ii. 4). To insist upon twenty-four hours. as the limit, now that we have exacter knowledge, both of Scripture and Science, is to make knowledge useless. The light was day, the darkness was night. In contrast with this, evening and morning are used to designate the creative period; and on the seventh day, as if to show that the Sabbath day is not yet ended, neither evening nor morning is mentioned. Evening and morning, speaking exactly, do not include a day, do not mean darkness and light, but the creative period—the period of strong and beautiful world-building process: "it was evening and it was morning day one." The extent of duration must be fixed according to the nature of the realities signified. Take a few examples"Thou art to pass over Jordan this day," the day meant a time not ending till after the death of the speaker (Deut. ix. 1). The day of temptation (Ps. xcv. 8) was a period of forty years. In Joshua iv. 6, "the time to come" is literally to-morrow. years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night," seem to tell us that if Moses wished to indicate long age-periods, he would use the word-days. We may conclude that "the days are representative terms, on the same scale as work and rest. . . All alike denote Divine realities, answering to human ones in precisely the same manner. As truly as God's work is similar to our work, and His rest to our rest, so are His days to our days."1 When in the cosmogony, we read of six days, we have no more right to suppose that in six periods, every one of twentyfour hours' duration, God made all things; than we have to suppose that He literally gave Hebrew names to things, and rested; but we are to understand that He created all things. in such periods of time as might to man's finite mind be most fitly represented by six days." In Ps. xc. the words "A thousand Two difficulties now meet us I. If the days mean vast periods, a great space should be. 1 "The Week of Creation :" Geo. Warrington. occupied by plants only, then by plants and fish, after that by plants, fish, and other animals in layers, answering to the time of their creation; but no such separateness exists - the organisms overlap both in place and time. 2. If day means age, the ages would, according to the figure used, be separated by long intervals of darkness destructive to life. As to the darkness, a sufficient reply has already been given Evening and morning, of the Divine account, do not mean day and night. Light is called day, not as meaning twenty-four hours, but that which was produced by operation of the Holy Ghost; and the darkness is called night, to denote that chaos out of which light was brought. Anyone of sufficient attention may observe that, in the fifth and in the eighteenth verses of the first chapter of Genesis, day and night are spoken of separately, and in contrast with the evening and morning in verses 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31. In fact, as in Daniel viii. 26, "the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true; for it shall be for many days." As to the other objection-The creative process of plants and animals was by orderly advance to the higher organisms; and is rightly represented, as it would appear to man, in succession. There was a time when no life existed, then came the rudimentary plants, then moving creatures of the water, and after that land animals. The preparation for and initiation of all life was, doubtless, by somewhat similar and, to a certain extent, simultaneous operation. Life, in the sea, did not wait until vegetation had done a perfect work; nor had the sea become full before the land began to be inhabited. There were no grand tenantless forests on the shores of vast dead seas; wherever nutritious plants grew, there animals existed. This fact explains and justifies the Scriptural use of the word "day;" in one sense, the almost simultaneous origination of initial creative processes is represented; and, in another sense, the vast ages of orderly progressive evolution are comprehended. The real difficulty arises out of the fourth commandment"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work, But the seventh day |