DISCOVERIES WITH SACRED HISTORY". 29 



beginning of one evening to the beginning of another even- 

 ing.) This first evening may be considered as the termina- 

 tion of the indefinite time which followed the primeval 



Tlie point, liowcver, upon vvliich the interpretation of the first chapter 

 of Genesis appears to me really to turn, is, whether the first two verses 

 are merely a summary statement of what is related in detail in the rest 

 of the cliajjter, and a sort of introduction to it, or whetlicr they contain 

 an account of an act of creation. And tliis last seems to me to be their 

 true interpretation, first, because tliere is no other account of the creation^ 

 of the earth; secondly, the second verse describes the condition of the earth' 

 when so created, and thus prepares for the account of the work of the 

 six days ; but if they speak of any creation, it appears to mc that this 

 creation "in the beginning" was previous to the six days, because, as you 

 will observe, the creation of each day is preceded by the declaration that 

 God said, or willed, that such things should be (" and God said ") and 

 therefore the very form of the narrative seems to imply that the creation 

 of the first day began when these words are first used, i. c. with the crea . 

 tion of light in vcr. 3. Tiie lime then of the creation in ver. 1, appears to 

 mc not to bo defined : we are told only what alone we arc concerned with ; 

 that all things were made by God. Nor is this any new opinion. Many 

 of the fathers (they arc quoted by Petavius, I, c. c. 11, § i. — viii.) supposed 

 the first two verses of Genesis to contain an account of a distinct and 

 prior act of creation ; some, as Augustine, Theodorct and others, that 

 of the creation of matter; otiiers, that of the elements ; others again (and 

 they the most numerous) imagine that, not these visible heavens, but what 

 tliey think to be called elsewhere "the highest heavens," the " iieaven 

 of heavens," are here spoken of, our visible heavens being related to 

 have been created on the second day. Petavius himself regards the 

 light as the only act of creation of the first day (c. vii. " de opere prima? 

 diei, i. e. luce,") considering the first two verses as a summary of the 

 account of creation whicli was about to follow, and a general declaralion 

 that all things were made by God. 



Episcopius again, and others, tliought that the creation and fall of the 

 bad angels took place in the interval here spoken of: and misplaced as 

 such speculations are, still they seem to show that it is natural to suppose 

 that a considerable interval may have taken place between the creation, 

 related in the first verse of Genesis and that of which an account is given 

 in the third and following verses. Accordingly, in some old editions of 

 the English Bible, where there is no division into verses, you actually 

 find a break at the end of what is now the second verse; and in Luther's 

 Bible (VVittcnburg, 1557) you have in addition to the notation of the VQrses 



3* 



