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the waters, and especially the appearance of the flora. “ And 
God said, Let the earth bring forth abundantly,” &c. “ And 
the earth caused to go forth,” &c. If the earth already teemed 
with the germs of vegetable life, and only awaited the necessary 
conditions and the due proportions of light and dryness or 
warmth, in order to send forth its treasures, the wording of the 
Scripture narrative is fitted to represent such a consummation. 
By the word of the Almighty the necessary conditions were 
fulfilled and the due proportions secured, and by the same word 
the vegetable creation sprang at one united burst into existence. 
With reference to the fourth day of creation, it is again re- 
markable that the narrative implies the further arrangement of 
existing material rather than the creation of new matter. 
“ And God said. Let there be luminaries.” “And God made [or 
arranged] the two great luminaries,” &c. It is scarcely 
necessary to remind you that the Hebrew word for lights or 
luminaries is not here quite the same as that in the third verse. 
It is a derivative from it, indicating of itself the localization of 
light. 
So far the narrative (commencing at the 3rd verse) has dealt, 
as it appears, simply with the organization of what already 
existed, or what was ready to become visible to the eye. It 
does not appear to me that, as the matter is here represented, 
the time would be any considerable difficulty. The action is 
represented as gradual, and culminating in increased heat 
through the operation of the sun. After the wet and extreme 
moisture, this would have an immediate tendency to hasten the 
growth of those vegetable existences which were already in the 
earth. The earth would appear covered, as in a moment, not 
only with grass, but with plants and trees, which by the sixth 
day wonld have attained a magnitude giving promise, at 
least, of their ultimate proportions. We now come to the 
special act of creation. And here again the consideration of 
time is immaterial. We are told that God created the inhabit- 
ants of the waters. At His word they sprang into existence. 
And so also with respect to the fowls. The original command 
stands thus — “And God said, Let the waters bring forth 
abundantlythe moving creature that hath life, and letfowlflyupon 
the earth,” &c. These are two co-ordinate clauses in the original, 
which the English version has unfortunately amalgamated, 
making one sw&ordinate to the other. In the Hebrew it is not 
stated, it is not implied, that the fowl was produced from the 
waters. They were created at one and the same time, and that 
is all that the narrative records. On the sixth day we first have 
the formation of the cattle and various beasts of the earth : we 
then have the creation of man. And there is this distinc- 
