WORK OF FOUETH DAY. 161 



Moses, the sun, moon, and stars were not created till the 

 fourth day, it may be replied, that a more just interpretation 

 of his language shows his meaning to be, not that the heavenly 

 bodies were created on the fourth day, but that they were 

 then first appointed to serve their present offices ; and that 

 they might have been in existence through countless ages." 



Admitting such to be the true meaning of the passage, we 

 find, again, that the record marvelously coincides with the 

 indication of geological facts. In our previous survey of the 

 natural history of the globe, we saw conclusive evidence that 

 up to the close of the Coal Period, a nearly uniform tempera- 

 ture prevailed upon the surface of the earth in all latitudes, 

 and that there could have been no distinction of warm and 

 cold seasons. This is evident from the fact, that the rocks 

 of that period, in all latitudes, contain the fossils of plants and 

 animals analogous only to those which now flourish between 

 the tropics. It is manifest that such a state of climate could 

 not have been governed, in any great degree, by the rays of 

 the sun, which vary so much as to their intensity, in the dif- 

 ferent latitudes ; and hence, as remarked in our previous 

 generalization, the sun's rays, during the Coal and previous 

 periods, could not yet have penetrated the atmosphere, thick 

 and heavy as it probably was, in such a way as would have 

 rendered that luminary visible to a human spectator, had such 

 an one been then placed upon the earth's surface. For the 

 same reason the moon and stars must also, during those 

 periods, have been invisible. Up to that period, therefore, 

 the heavenly bodies could not have ruled the seasons, 

 either as to their temperature or their distinct periodical 

 revolutions; and all the light which could have descended 

 from them to the earth must have been but dim and in- 

 distinct. 



