passage in the 1 Chapter St. John, I to 3 verse,-" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God; all things were created by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made."

There seems to prevail a very general belief that Moses, from the 2nd verse of the 1st Chapter of Genesis to its conclusion, treats exclusively of the creation of the material Heaven and Earth: there detailing, as is supposed, in regular historical order, the different acts of creation during the first Six days of the existence of the Heaven and Earth. It is not my intention to point out here the opposition which such a belief must neccessarily have to contend with, from the discoveries which Astronomy and Geology have unfolded to us. Those who have studied and examined the correctness of these discoveries in material things, are satisfied, and I think justly so, that they afford indubitable proofs of the immensity of past time, during which, animals of lower ranks than mankind existed on this Planet, which their Remains testify beyond all doubt. Waving this consideration for the present, I scruple not to assert, that the present general doctrine or belief, concerning Moses' account of the Six days' creation, being merely a narrative of that mode of arrangement which it is supposed it pleased God to adopt to create, during 6 days of 24 hours, the material universe, stands not only unsupported by revelation in general, but, unfortunately for its abettors, receives no countenance

from even the narrative itself; for which I adduce the three following proofs.

FIRST. (And, in my opinion, this is a circumstance that demands more serious attention than has hitherto been bestowed upon it,) It will be seen that Moses, when speaking of the first day, arranges his language as follows: The evening and morning, he says, were One day, not the first day as translated in our common version.*

SECOND, In the narrative as recorded in the 1st verse, the creation of the Heaven takes the precedency to that of the Earth; whereas, in the 14th verse it is said, "The sun, moon, and stars were not created until the 4th day;" causing, when viewed as a mere history of the then material past creation, a most complete discrepancy.

The Bible teaches us that there are two kinds of light that shine upon mankind. The first is a Spiritual light, that proceedeth directly from God, and enlighteneth every one that cometh into the world; the second is; the light afforded to us by a created object; viz. the light of the sun.

It is self-evident that there could be no natural days of 24 hours, nor any other length of days or time measured by the light of the sun, and the shadow of our planet, as we now have, previous to the creation of the natural sun; the conclusion then is irresistible, that the light spoken of at the beginning of the creation of mankind in the one day, and the

Josephus particularly observes that Moses did not say the first day.

creation on the 4th day of the sun, moon, and stars, are symbolical of great Spiritual lights, that were to be given at these two periods of time to this world.

The THIRD proof is, that Moses says, " God created man on the Sixth day, in his own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female He created them." Whereas we find, after a seemingly considerable lapse of time, and the occurrence of a number of intervening circumstances, Adam is represented in the 18th verse of the 2nd Chapter, as "being alone and not having a help meet."

I am aware that many attempts have, from time to time, been made to reconcile the above passages, with the idea that the narrative was merely historical of the past. The arguments got up however for this purpose, are not only futile in the extreme, but have a direct tendency to darken what they were designed to illustrate, and have justly given cause of animadversion to those who are materialists, and do not believe in a Spiritual state of existence; and that those things we see with our natural eyes, which are to vanish or pass away, are only figurative representations of the Spiritual state of existence that is to continue for ever. Such individuals have verified in the fullest that saying of Christ, "The children of this world are wiser in their own generation than the children of light."

The Jewish day was calculated from sun set to sun set, constituting a day of 24 hours. Those inhabitants who live about the equator, have their nights measuring 12 hours, and their light the same, so that

evening and morning constitute to them a day of 24 hours. Those who live at or near the poles, have a night of no less than about 182 days, with a day or light of the same length. Evening and morning constitute to them as it were a day comprising 365 days, of 24 hours each. These undisputed facts show, that the prophetic numbers which represent a day as containing 365, are astronomically correct, and agree with the period of this Planet's annual revolution.

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I refrain from availing myself at present of the advantages which the sciences of Astronomy and Geology so amply hold out; these, suffice it here to say, afford strong additional testimony that the Mosaic account of the six days' creation, was not designed to be understood as a mere historical arrangement of the then past material creation of the Earth and Heavens. The Bible contains within itself sufficient evidence to show, that the arrangement of the Six days' creation was intended to be understood as prophetical of the then future; and further on I shall show that the Prophets and Apostles understood it as prophetical of the future, by their allusions to it; and that the original Hebrew text reads in the future time. In the mean while I shall only observe, that if we find in heaven, that is in our astronomical heaven, or on our Planet, any thing that seems not to agree with what is related of them in Scripture, we may be sure that there is something wrong either in the evidence adduced against Scripture; or if that evidence that has been adduced be correct, then there must be something wrong in our understanding concerning

that part of Scripture; because Christ has said, "The Scripture cannot be broken;" and the Scriptures do testify of different dispensations of light given by God to mankind, during the time of the reformation. Heb. xii. 26. "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven, and this word yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain." Christ spake many things very plain to be understood, yet he principally spake in parables; and this same Holy One who inspired the Apostle John to give a clear and distinct account of the creation of God, inspired Moses, or some of the Fathers previous to Moses, to give a figurative prophetical account of the creation of the human race, during the first Seven Thousand years of their existence.

Genesis, 1st Chapter, from the 2nd to the 6th verse, Moses describes, by a figure of the past material creation, the condition of the human race, during the One day, or first thousand years of their existence, and shows their Spiritual state during that period.

"The Earth was without form, and void." The same book of Genesis teaches us what we are to understand by the word Earth. In the 6th Chapter 12, "God looked upon the Earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way." 11th Chapter 1, "The whole Earth was of one language." Here by the word Earth we are to understand the human race on the Earth. 1 Cor. xv. 46, "That was not first which is Spiritual, but that which is