the vernal equinox, and Elohim, the ram-suns of the summer months* 

 the good principle, or the good gods. In this first narrative of the 

 creation Elohim is rendered ' God ' in the authorised version, though in 

 other parts of the Bible it is rendered * gods/ * men/ or ' angels.' The 

 remainder of the second and the third chapters contain the second, or 

 Jehovistic narrative, so called on account of the deity being designated 

 throughout, Yahouh, or Jehovah (so pronounced by Christians) Elohim 

 (CD^nbw ffiir), rendered in the authorised version ' the Lord God.' That 

 these two accounts were not written by one person will become clear 

 enough as we proceed in our examination, in which the rendering of 

 the authorised version will be strictly adhered to. 



According to the first narrative, god (Elohim) created the* heavens 

 and the earth and all they contain in six ordinary days, and rested from 

 his work on the seventh day. It has been asserted by some zealous 

 but not over scrupulous Christians that days of twenty four hours' dura- 

 tion were not meant by the writer, but that the word tDV (day) signifies 

 an enormous lapse of time ; but it is quite clear to anyone with average 

 intelligence that an ordinary day was meant, or else there would have 

 been no use in saying that the evening and the morning were the first 

 day. Moreover, we are distinctly told in Exodus XX. 10, 11, that we 

 are to keep the seventh day as a holiday, " for in six days the Lord 

 made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the 

 seventh day." We therefore have here the creation of the world, with 

 day and night, but no sun, in one day, which we must admit at once is 

 an absurdity, for it is beyond all doubt scientifically proved that this 

 world could never have existed for one moment without the sun round 

 which it revolves, and our common sense tells us plainly that without 

 a sun there could never have been days and nights, or evenings and 

 mornings. 



On the second day we are told that god created the firmament, and 

 called it heaven, and that this firmament separated the waters above 

 from those below, which clearly proves that the writer had no other 

 conception of the universe than that it was limited above to the height 

 of the clouds, and bounded below by the earth itself. The third day 

 was set apart for the gathering together of the waters into seas and 

 rivers, and for the creation of the vegetable kingdom, which again is 

 contradictory of all known scientific facts, for there was still no sun in 



