Remarks on Prof. Stuart's examination of Gen. I. 125 



Prof. Stuart, as has been several times stated, represents the 

 firmament of Moses, according to the words of the sacred historian, 

 as " solid and extended ;" and he says, (p. 70.) that the luminaries, 

 that is, the sun, moon, and stars, were placed " in the firmament of 

 heaven in order to give light." He asserts likewise, as appears from 

 quotations already made, that, according to Moses, there were waters 

 above, that is, as it should seem, beyond the firmament. This is 

 Prof. Stuart's own exposition, if he is correctly understood ; and the 

 , unavoidable inference appears to be, that those waters were beyond 

 the sun, moon, and stars. What is' asked here is, that Prof. Stuart 

 will remove, and perhaps he can, some of the difficulties of his own 

 statements ; or such as follow necessarily from them. He will satis- 

 fy, however, no one by simply saying, as an astronomer or as a me- 

 teorologist, " Moses did not surely write." If the author should 

 recur to his distinction between what is " real and true," and the 

 " manner" in which things exist, it is certainly no more than reason- 

 able in his readers to ask, that the ground of that distinction should 

 be fully and clearly explained, and especially, that it should be made 

 to appear, that his conclusions, whatever they may be, have not been 

 drawn by the aid of any modern science. Or if he should say, that 

 " the description of the work of creation, as a whole, contains sever- 

 al things that are said altogether in accordance with things as viewed 

 by the physical eye," his readers have a right to require, that the 

 particular difficulties, which this fact removes, should be marked, 

 and that nothing should be included here, to which the physical sight 

 does not extend. 



Prof. Stuart explains another passage. He says, (p. 51.) "The 

 rise of plants and fruits is described, in verses 11 and 12, as occa- 

 sioned by the earth. God commands, and the earth brings forth all 

 these things. So in verse 20, the waters bring forth abundantly fish, 

 and fowl, and reptiles, at the command of God. Optical, therefore, 

 in some good measure, all this description is. Plants and trees in 

 their origin appeared to spring forth spontaneously from the earth ; 

 and in accordance with this, the writer represents the earth and 

 water as producing them. Still the voice of the creator is after all 

 to be heard. God said let this and that produce the objects of cre- 

 ative power." The difficulty, which Prof. Stuart is here endeav- 

 oring to remove, if he is rightly understood, is this. The language 

 of Moses represents the earth as bringing forth herbs, and the waters 

 as bringing forth fish, at the command of God, as if they acted by 



