160 GEOLOGY AND MOSES. 



absence of terrestrial, fossils in the previously deposited rocks, 

 proves that the ocean, up to this time, covered nearly the 

 whole surface of the earth which is in exact agreement with 

 the Mosaic record, which implies that the partition of land and 

 water was not made until that period. But large areas of land 

 being then slightly elevated above the level of the waters, 

 these, as another strong corroboration of the record, were 

 covered by a profuse vegetation, which subsequently became 

 converted into the immense beds of mineral coal now found 

 to be so essential to the physical comfort and social progress 

 of the human race. 



The next work is spoken of by the sacred cosmogonist in 

 the following terms : " And God said, Let there be lights in 

 the firmament of heaven, to divide the day from the night ; 

 and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days an<i 

 years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the 

 heaven to give light upon the earth : and it was so. And 

 God made two great lights : the greater light to rule the day, 

 and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars 

 also." 



To superficial readers, this passage has seemed exceedingly 

 paradoxical. The supposition that the sun, moon, and stars, 

 had no existence until the comparative atom which forms this 

 earth, had attained to the advanced stage of its development, 

 previously described, is, with any interpretation of the word 

 " day," so unphilosophical and unreasonable as to utterly 

 defy intelligent belief. Criticism, however, has shown that 

 the translation of the passage before us, does injustice to the 

 original, which does not necessarily mean that the heavenly 

 bodies were not created until the fourth day. Professor 

 Hitchcock, who is a learned theologian as well as geologist, 

 says, upon this point : " If it be objected that, according to 



