THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GENESIS. 



137 



The first day. — The third verse of the chapter tells us 

 And God said Let there be light, and there was light." But 

 light is a form of energy ; therefore the creation of light involves 

 the creation of energy. Further, though we conceive of matter 

 as being distinct from energy, yet we cannot conceive of them 

 ^part the one from the other ; that therefore which is hinted at 

 here, is the creation both of matter and of energy as we know 

 them : the material of the Cosmos. 



Did anything exist before the Cosmos, before matter and 

 ■energy ? This appears to be hinted at, both in verse 2, and in 

 Hebrews xi, 3 : " Through faith we understand that the worlds 

 were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen 

 were not made of things which do appear." 



But we cannot conceive of any such state, for our conceptions 

 are limited by our experiences, and these are confined to the 

 Cosmos. Any description of the pro-Cosmos, if such there were, 

 must be cosmomorphic ; — i.e., expressed in terms of the Cosmos 

 — such as the " waste and empty " of verse 2, and the suggestion 

 of an infinite ocean in absolute darkness : a plenum of enipty- 

 ness, if the paradox may be allowed. 



The creation of light, that is of matter and energy, involves 

 also the creation of Time ; for Time enters in as an essential 

 element of light. Hence we read " There was evening there 

 was morning, day one." 



" Day one." — The " one " here is absolute, not relative. This 

 first day was the original and type of all later days ; Time 

 now began to be. 



How far light extended at the moment of its creation, we 

 cannot say. No hint is given as to whether the new-born 

 energy permeated at once to the utmost extent of space, or 

 whether it developed, as if from some small germ — if the 

 figure may be permitted — until the whole of the pro-cosmic 

 darkness was leavened. Neither are we told how long, accord- 

 ing to human reckoning, that first day lasted ; whether it was 

 but a mere instant, or an extended aeon, or whether perchance 

 it was equal in length to one of our own human days. We 

 are told only that " light was " — it came into existence ; and 

 its creation came between tlie evening and the morning of a 

 day of God. Thus the work of the first day was not only the 

 beginning of creation, it was the prototype of the work of 

 each of the days that followed. God spake and it was done. 

 There was evening, there was morning ; darkness gave place to 

 light ; non-entity to entity. 



I am not inclined to follow those who connect the work of 



