.2 94 - 
removals of certain animals and the general extinction of a few 
species.” * 
89. Moreover, Scripture employs the term yom, or “ day,” to 
denote various other periods of undefined length. Thus, in 
Job xiv. 6, it expresses the period of a man’s life. In 
Ezekiel iv. 6, it represents the solar year. By St. Peter, 
2 Epistle, iii. 8, it is used for one thousand years. By Daniel, 
viii. 14 — 26, the vision of one “ evening — morning,” a similar 
term to that employed by Moses, is represented as equalling a 
period of two thousand three hundred days. In Zechariah xiv. 7, 
“ the day of the Lord” is defined as “ one yom, which shall be 
known to the Lord, not day nor night.” All these passages, 
to which many more might be added, are sufficient to prove 
that, according to the usus loqucndi of Scripture, the term need 
not necessarily be limited to a period of twenty-four hours. 
And, consequently, many writers before the science of geology 
was known, such as Josephus and Philo amongst the Jews, and 
amongst Christians Augustine and Theodoret in ancient times, 
and Whiston in modern, have advocated the opinion that the 
term “day” in the Mosaic cosmogony denotes a period of long 
duration. While those who have written at a later period — 
such as Cuvier, Parkinson, Hugh Miller, &c., having a know- 
ledge of geological facts before them — are irresistibly led to a 
similar conclusion. 
90. Immediately after it is stated in ver. 5 that God called 
the light Yom, or “Day,” it is added, “And there was evening, 
and there was morning, one peculiar day.” Moses here uses 
the cardinal number one, and not the ordinal first, as in the 
Authorized Version, and as on other occasions, which appears to 
show that this was a peculiar day, one sui generis ; dies unions, 
prorsus singularis, as Mauer says ; or, as De Witte calls it, ein 
einziger Tag ; or, as Ilitzig terms it, “ the only one of its kind.” 
This appears to refute the idea that nothing but a period of 
twenty-four hours could be meant by the term employed by 
Moses. 
91. Further it is to be noted, that the expression “there 
was evening, and there was morning,” which is used to express 
the completion of each of the six days’ work, is omitted in 
respect to the seventh, from which we may infer that it has not 
yet reached its termination. The seventh day of the Mosaic 
cosmogony appears to be a period of undefined length; and it 
is not unreasonable to infer that if we can obtain from Scrip- 
ture anything like its approximate duration, we have some 
clue to determine the length of the other six days. 
l’nge’.s Advanced Text-book, ]>. 300. 
