William. Isaiah calls him, "The High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity."

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Olympas. Observe, then, that time is no part of eternity for as in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the heavens and the earth are the beginning of time. We would then say that God created time by creating the heavens and the earth. In how many days, Henry, did God create the heavens and the earth? Henry. In six days.

What was created the first day?

Susan. Light, which God called day.
And who created darkness, Susan ?

Susan. I do not know; but I know what God called it. He called it night.

And what made the first day, James ?

James. "The evening and the morning made the first day."

Then was not darkness between the evening and the morning, William?

William. It was. Still light is called day; for we have to count darkness in time, and include a portion of it with light, in counting events; and thus evening, night, and morning are computed as one day.

Olympas. You mean, that while day means light, in time it denotes both a portion of light and darkness.

William. Yes; in computing the week we have to count darkness as a portion of time, and make seven days and seven nights a week.

Olympas. Mary, can you tell what darkness is? Mary. It was not created, and is therefore nothing.

Olympas. It is indeed, no substance; and

therefore was not properly created. But it is spoken of as a thing, and is figuratively said to be created. God says, "I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I the Lord do all these things." But he creates darkness by removing the light; for darkness is but the privation of light. Do you think, Edward, that light is a substance?

Edward. It strikes my eye with force, and sometimes with pain, which darkness never does; and is therefore a substance.

Olympas. Can you, Eliza, recollect any reference made to the creation of light in the New Testament?

Eliza. Paul, I think, says that "God commanded the light to shine out of darkness."

William. I read in Plato, or some other book, that "light is the shadow of God."

Olympas. But neither Plato nor the poets, are of any authority here. A beautiful saying and a true saying, are not identical. Some have thought that the original term AUR, which represents both fire in general, and lightning or electricity, here refers more to the matter of light than to the display of it, because the luminaries were not made till the fourth day; but this to you is more curious than edifying. Tell me, James, what was

done on the second day?

James. God made the firmament on the second day.

Olympas. Nothing else, Susan?

Susan. Yes, he made the waters also, and separated them into two parts.

Olympas. We are not told that he created the waters on the second day. He only separated

them by the firmament. Can you, William, explain what the firmament is?

William. God called it heaven; and it would seem as if it were the place where the stars are fixed.

Olympas. The firmament here spoken of, being placed between waters, can only indicate the expanse called the atmosphere, in which we live and in which the birds fly: hence the birds are said to fly in the midst of heaven. The waters floating in the clouds, and in form of vapours through the atmosphere are said to be separated from those on the earth.

Edward. Father, will you please tell us when the waters were created? They were not created on the first day, nor on the second day, and yet they are spoken of as existing when the expanse or air was created.

Olympas. Neither the waters nor the earth are included in the details of the six days. First of all, God created the substance of the heavens and the earth. And before the details of creation are given we learn that "the earth was without form and void," or one confused mass of land, water, and all other things; over which darkness presided, and on which "the Spirit of God moved." Out of this heterogeneous mass of discordant elements, he first created light; and on the second day he created air: and having separated light and darkness, the waters above and beneath the atmosphere, he made a second pause, or completed a second day. And what, Henry, did God create on the third day?

Henry. He said. "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree

yielding fruit after its kind." He covered the earth with grass, and herbs, and trees.

Olympas. But was there not before this a farther separation of the waters, Susan?

Susan. He separated on the first day light from darkness; on the second he separated the waters above and beneath the firmament; and on the third he again separated the waters from the land; then he clothed the earth with plants and trees.

Olympas. What did he call the dry land, when separated, and the waters when gathered together? James. He called the dry land earth, and the gathered waters seas.

Olympas. What was created on the fourth day? Susan. The sun, moon, and stars. These luminaries were placed in the firmament of the heaven.

Olympas. For what purpose were these so placed?

William. To divide the day from the nightfor signs, for seasons, for days, and for years.

Olympas. Can any of you explain these signs and seasons for which so many luminaries were placed in the upper firmament, or in the heavens?

Edward. You told us, when going through Genesis the first time, that signs mean tokens; and certainly they are tokens of God's care and goodness, of his wisdom and power, as exercised for us. They also make seasons for labour and for worship; and then we count on time by the motion and position of these luminaries.

Olympas. What was created the fifth day?
Eliza. Fish and fowl.

Olympas. Whence were the fowls formed?
Mary. From the waters.

Fish and fowl were

formed from the same element.

Olympas. Were they only water fowls, or were all sorts of birds formed out of the water?

Mary. All sorts of fowls that fly in the open firmament of heaven.

Olympas. This, I presume, is the cause of that peculiar knowledge of the humid changes in the weather, for which all manner of winged fowls are so remarkable. Does any of you remember the remarks made about a year ago on the waters bringing forth abundantly?

Thomas Dilworth. You said that the waters were infinitely prolific of life-that so many as 30,000 animalcules were discovered in one drop. You also said that the fecundity of fish transcended any thing on the earth or in the air. A carp, you said, laid 20,000 eggs, and a codfish about 10,000,000. Thus the sea is capable of sustaining many more individuals than the earth. God blessed the fish, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas."

Olympas. And what remained for the sixth day?

Susan. On the sixth day he created all the inhabitants of the earth-beasts, cattle, reptileseverything that liveth and moveth upon the earth; and, last of all, man and woman.

Olympas. Reuben Thom, can you name the different creative acts in order?

Reuben. I will try sir.

1st. The substance of the heavens and the earth. 2nd. Light. 3rd. The vast expanses, the atmosphere, and the ethereal regions. 4th. The vegetable kingdom. 5th. The luminaries of heaven. 6th. The fowl and the fish. 7th. The animal kingdom that belongs particularly to the earth.