228 On Jameson's Preface 



been only included in the Mosaic account of the six days of cre- 

 ation ; it cannot be philosophically applied to that term of time, 

 after " the beginning," in which the earth continued to be "with- 

 out form and void," and during which, "darkness was upon the 

 face of the deep ;" because that time was before the great scheme 

 of creation had been completed, — before the universe was fram- 

 ed — before the ^'two great lights" were "made." — Is it not 

 probable that, while the earth continued in this state, it suffered 

 no revolution at all ? — there was no day, nothing by which to 

 measure the length of time during which it so existed. — How 

 indeed shall the finite comprehension of man soar so high as to 

 "the beginning?" by what means shall he ascertain its limit ? 



Surely it is far more reasonable, and even less presumptuous, 

 to conclude that no limit was intended to be implied by Moses, 

 in that term ; and simply to believe, that, the earth being with- 

 out form, and void, and in darkness, (without presuming to say 

 how long it thus existed,) it pleased the Creator at a certain pe- 

 riod, and in his own good pleasure, that "his spirit should move 

 upon the face of the waters," — that the "two great lights and 

 the stars" should he "made," — and, in a word, that the uni- 

 verse should receive its impulse and its laws ! 



And as the account of Moses declares that previously to the 

 Completion of the wonderful scheme of the universe, by the cre- 

 ation of the sun, the moon, and the stars, the earth existed, how 

 is it possible for us to assign a term for its duration in what may 

 thence be termed its isolated state ? What reason is there that 

 we should not adopt the belief of its having thus existed " thou-s 

 sands of years that preceded the history of man?" 



The sum of what is intended to be conveyed in the preceding 

 observations amounts to this ; that, instead of assuming that the 

 whole of the first five verses of the first chapter of Genesis were 

 intended to be included in the Mosaic account of the first day's 

 wo*k, we ought rather to conclude that the first verse records an 

 antecedent fact, that the earth was created " in the beginning. " — 

 The first part of the second verse relates, that the earth was 

 without form, and void, and in darkness, (without relation to the 

 time it had so continued,) when, according to the latter part of 

 the same verse, the first movement of Omnipotence took place 

 towards reducing to its present state of order and beauty the 

 earth, which was the first created portion of the universe j the 

 creation of the other parts of which was comprehended in the 

 six days work. In a word, that we ought to consider the moving 

 of the spirit of the Creator upon the surface of the waters, re- 

 ""■^d in the latter part of the second verse, as the first movement 

 '■'^ six days work ; the commencement of which took place 

 ^^ Scertaiu period after tlie creation of the earth. 



This 



