746 COSMOGONY. 



prophetic of the future. Vegetation, while, for physical reasons, a 

 part of the creation of the third day, was also prophetic of the 

 future Organic era, in which the progress of life was the grand cha- 

 racteristic. The record thus accords with the fundamental princi- 

 ple in history that the characteristic of an age has its beginnings 

 within the age preceding. So, again, Man, while like other Mammals 

 in structure, even to the homologies of every bone and muscle, was 

 endowed with a spiritual nature, which looked forward to another 

 era, that of spiritual existence. The seventh "day," the day of rest 

 from the work of creation, is man's period of preparation for that 

 new existence ; and it is to promote this special end that — in strict 

 parallelism — the Sabbath follows man's six days of work. 



The record in the Bible is, therefore, profoundly philosophical in 

 the scheme of creation which it presents. It is both true and 

 divine. It is a declaration of authorship, both of Creation and the 

 Bible, on the first page of the sacred volume. 



There can be no real conflict between the two Books of the 

 Great Author. Both are revelations made by Him to man, — the 

 earlier telling of God-made harmonies coming up from the deep 

 past, and rising to their height when man appeared, the later 

 teaching man's relations to his Maker, and speaking of loftier har- 

 monies in the eternal future. 



