Genesis And Geology Hand In Hand.

facts prove that death was in that period ; therefore , such a state was well described as " empty and desolate . " There must have been darkness , but the Scripture word Khohshech , darkness , does not necessarily mean a total privation of light ( for garaphcl

is dense darkness ) , much less that the earth had never before experienced light , or had never been gladdened by the face of the sun . It appears more correct to understand the effect of the order , " Let there be Light , " to he , not what some have supposed a sudden burst of

sunbeam glory , or an effulgent blaze of midday splendour , inasmuch as any accepting such an idea ever fail in any way to explain the fourth verse , about God "dividing the light from the darkness , " but rather , as the writer was taught by a Jewish Rabbi , that the obeying of the order

was as ( . Tod intended , though it may also have been only the expansion of the least particle of light contained in the darkness . This , by God ' s direction , increased till it balanced in strength the darkness itself , and continued increasing up to , or , as some believe , from the evening .

This light God is said to have recognised and ¦ called " good , " though perhaps ifc might have been so faint , that to human sight—had it then been in existence—it might have been wholly invisible . But when the light , by gradually increasing , became equal in strength to the dark mist , it

was said to be ehrev from ehrav , to mingleexactly balanced—i . e ., even , which few remember may be the direct origin of our word cven-ing ; as also explaining in the most natural manner the first reason why the J ews reckoned their days from the evening before , instead of beginning with the mornino * .

This belief affords a rich explanation of St . Paul ' s inspired comment in 2 Corinthians , iv . 6 , upon Genesis i . 2 , alluding evidently to the manner of the restoration of light , which should teach us , as well as of old , remind of the almost hopeless darknessout of which very darkness God directed

, his spiritual light to shine and increase , " for God ¦ who commanded the light to shine out of ( Greek ' e k' ) darkness , hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ . "

Bat supposing stones or fossils could be discovez * ed as having * existed before fcho biblical six days , tin : / would iu no degree militate against the truths revealed in the words of scripture . Ancl supposing the fossils showed ocular organisations similar to what we see now , and as all eyes

are fitted to receive light , and all light is suited to be enjoyed by eyes , as in fact we know eyes and light have an intimate and dependent relation to each other , a peculiar adaptation , as perfect as ifc is unique , so we should naturally conclude the proof of eyes to be au evidence of the contemporaneous existence of light . For if eyes could be demonstrated by the inexorable logic of facts , light

should be accepted , as proved , by the plainest principles of inductive science . If ocular formations could be demonstrated by the evidence of facts as having existed before the six clays of Scripture , then sight should be believed in , ancl the existence of contemporaneous

and appropriate light credited , as having been proved beyond the remotest doubt , on the strength o i the natural conclusion that eyes were made to see . But eyes have been discovered in fossil remains of creatures once possessed of life in a period countless ages before the six days , and we ask that they may be allowed to give their old and wondrous evidence .

It surely could not be considered necessary to prove that the strata in which fossil animals arefound are much older than six thousand years ago ; ancl consequently the fossil mammals found therein must have existed long before the days of Genesis—but they all have eyes . The birds ,

winged and wingless , were by no means blind , for they too enjoyed sight . The reptiles show also unmistakable evidence that thousands of years before they received and enjoyed the light of the sun . The fish fossils are much older and they too jjossessed perfect organs of sighfc . Ancl oldest of all the valuable fossil remains of the Trilobites

prove sight by light to a certainty at so ancient a time that it was when locomotive power was only commencing to be granted , before either legs or wings , as afterwards , were known on the earth . The Trilobites possessed a wondrous organism for sight , almost similar to the gadfly of our time ;

their eyes were large , and the lenses are well preserved and visible to the naked eye ; but a glass reveals that the eye had at least four hundred facets , and the great Trilobite Asaphns Tyrannus is computed to have possessed six thousand . The writer had a Tribolite in his possession a

short time ag-o about two inches long- almost a perfect specimen , though its very imperfection tended to confirm the proof of the former perfection of the eyes . One eye was quite perfect , a large projecting convexity ; on the other side there was no eyeball , but the concavity exactly

corresponded to the convexity of the perfect organ . Let us then humbly learn from the works of God that the earth has existed much longer before Adam than it has since Adam , and that it never ivas without light , more or loss , with the exception of the time alluded to in Genesis i . 2 , and that

the world perhaps never was longer than that indefinite period without the gladdening influence of the glorious sun . —Q . I'l . U .

May we not believe that the earth stands with regard to light as between heaven and hell ; for though we have successions of light and darkness —days and nights , yet we never have any light which could not be still brighter , nor any darkness both in beautiful harmony lead us to believe in . the existence of the sun for ages and ages long previous to the fourth day .