4 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 



circumstance, that Moses afterwards passes on to the creation of light, 

 atmosphere, &c. without the most distant allusion to any other creation 

 of earth and water *. 



Secondly, by the positive circumstance, that in verses 6, 7, and 9, he 

 evidently speaks of land and loater again, as abeady existing, and probably 

 existing much in their present state ; except only, that the water covered 

 the earth, and the continents of the earth which lay buried beneath the 

 water, had not their present superficial form ; " The earth loas without form!' 



On these grounds, I may perhaps be allowed to infer, that the common 

 opinions above stated are erroneous. 



These opinions being removed, it appears to me that the Mosaic 

 account of the creation, talHes with the inferences deducible from the 

 discoveries of Geology, in the most remarkable and satisfactory manner. 



First, it carries back the original creation of the sohd mass of the 

 earth, to an indefinitely distant period, beyond the first date given in 

 verse 5. 



Geology infers the immense antiquity of the earth, from the numerous 

 strata of which it appears to be composed, lying one above the other, 

 and many, if not all of them, bearing strong marks of their having been 

 gradually formed. 



2dly. The Mosaic account signifies that this planet was subject to 

 great and violent revolutions, of which it gives one remarkable instance, in 

 the chaotic state, which immediately preceded the present creation f . 



Geology infers the same thing, from the forced positions of the 

 strata, and from the various materials of which they are composed. 



* He describes God as saying, " Let the light be, &c." but he never represents him as. 

 saying, " Let the earth or the water be," which most undoubtedly he would have done, if he had 

 intended to give us the same particular account of the creation of the gross matter of the 

 planet, as he has done of what may be called the furniture with which it is at present provided. 



t We may consider Noah's deluge as the second instance of the same natiu-e, though it 

 was carried to a less extent. It is remarkable, that St. Peter, speaking of this event, describes 

 it as a perishing of the world. Of any other revolution it did not come within the design of 

 Moses to speak, as the great purpose of his account was to furnish man with a history of his 

 own race. 



The New Testament however, supplies an instance of a tliird revolution. See the 

 following note. 



