the clouds are, from age to age, supplied. Such seems to be the representation 
of the sacred writer. And now, what is there in this at which modern science 
can justly take offence ? Is it that he describes the firmament as an outspread 
vault, in which are placed the sun, moon, and stars ? Is it that he places an 
inexhaustible reservoir of water above our heads ? That Glod has such a re- 
servoir there, is certain ; for he has been pouring down rain from it for six 
thousand years, and it is not yet spent !" Certainly, this is almost equal to the 
child's idea of the sky ; "A great blue curtain drawn overhead, with holes in 
it to let the glory of heaven through." A very beautiful idea for a child. We 
answer the professor's question seriously, in the words of Hugh Miller — "that 
philology cannot be sound which would commit the Scriptures to a science 
that cannot be true." 
The diificulty arises here from an entire mistake as to the meaning of p'p"n5 
and the waters here mentioned. The word is derived from a root which means 
to expand, to spread abroad, and, as a noun, it may be rendered expansion. 
Now, what is the meaning here of expansion ? Is it not a division of the form- 
less and space-filling mass into difierent parts, and by an interval or expansion 
that can be measured from one to another ? In other words, the matter of the 
universe was now divided into all those parts which, by their consolidation on 
the succeeding day, were to form not only our earth, but all the heavenly bo- 
dies. This gives us an intelligent idea of what the work of the second day 
was. It was the division of the matter formed in the beginning, and on the 
first day divided into two great classes, the light and the dark, into those in- 
numerable parts which were to form the heavens and the heaven of heavens. 
Verses 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th. "And God said. Let the waters 
under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry appear, 
and it was so ; and Grod called the dry, earth ; and the gathering together of 
the waters called he seas ; and Grod saw that it was good. And Grod said Let 
the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding 
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth ; and it was so. 
And the earth brought forth grass, and the herb yielding seed after his kind, 
and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in itself, after his kind ; and God saw 
that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day." 
The work of the third day was, first ; the consolidation of the matter of the 
universe here designated as "the waters under the heavens." Throughout 
all the regions of space this work of consolidation went on simultaneously. 
Previous to this third day of creation, no geological changes could have taken 
place, for the earth had no separate existence. Now, however, they commence, 
and, as the earth becomes fitted for the existence of life upon it, it is supplied. 
The second part of the work of this day was the clothing the earth with ver- 
dure by the creation of plants in rich abundance ; the operations of this day 
and the fifth are consecutive, for the work of the fourth day extended over a 
part of each of these days. The third, fifth, and sixth days are the only ones 
with which geology has anything to do, and, for the manner in which the two 
records agree, we must refer to the late work of the lamented Miller, The 
Testimony of the Rocks, especially to the lecture — the two Records, Mosaic 
and Geological. 
Verses 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th. "And God said, Let there 
be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night ; 
and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years. And 
let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the 
earth ; and it was so. And God made two great lights ; the greater light to 
rule the day, andthe lesser light to rule the night ; he made the stars also. 
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 
and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the 
darkness ; and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning 
were the fourth day." 
It has puzzled many to know why the sun, moon, and stars were not said 
to be made before the fourth day. If the reader has followed carefully the 
course of interpretation, he can now see why they are not mentioned before. 
