spread out like a curtain, on the second day. The use of this expanse was to divide the waters from the waters; from which, some have supposed that there are fountains of water above, and that these fountains of the great deep were broken up, in the time of the flood, when the waters descended in awful cataracts; or, it may signify nothing more than that the firma. ment was to divide the waters which were in the seas, lakes, rivers, etc., from the waters which were in the clouds. Obsequious to the Almighty fiat, it was so; and the evening and the morning were the second day. That the second day's work was well done, there is no doubt; but there is no account that God inspected it and pronounced it good.

THE THIRD DAY.

And God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together in one place. Before this, they covered over the whole face of the earth, but now God broke up, for the sea, the spacious channel, and ordered the waters to retire to their destined habitation, and said, "hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." This was done that the Lord might appear. At this time the pillars of the earth were fixed, which made "the morning stars sing together, and all the sons of God shout for joy." And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters, called he seas. The earth includes the two continents, and all the islands, but it is highly probable that the face of it differed widely, at that time, from its present position. There were seas before Moses wrote, and perhaps there were before the flood, and most likely be fore the fall, for God called the waters, seas. The seas at present have a communication with each other, but as they wash different shores, and for that cause, bear different names, the plural is kept up arnong us.

The earth and seas, together, form the terraqueous globe, supposed to be a spherioid, though generally treated of as a sphere. The ancients conceived the earth and seas to be as flat as a trencher, and those who belie ved in antipodes were called heretics.

The earth seems to be governed by the law of gravitation, subordinate to God; and though small, in comparison to some of the globes, is yet great and wonderful in itself, to show forth the mighty works of God. The diameter of the earth is computed at seven thousand six hundred and thirty-six miles; the circumference twenty-four thousand miles ;* the surficial contents to be above twenty-eight millions of miles; which, if redu ced to acres, would be above eighteen thousand millions: but, if a third part of the face of the globe is allowed to be sea, the acres of land would

* The general computation is twenty-one thousand six hundred, but some make it as great as twenty-six thousand; to form a medium therefore, and to give a round number without fractions, I compute it at twenty-four thousand miles. All my calculations, respecting the earth, are made upon that scale, except the foot-note in the introduction.

be more than twelve thousand millions: which would make about twentyone such empires as that of the United States,* one hundred and seventyfive such states as Virginia, or four thousand five hundred and fifty such as Connecticut. And, if ten acres of land is sufficient for an individual, the earth will support more than a thousand millions of souls.

It is difficult to tell what is in the globular centre of the terraqueous ball, whether earth, water, rocks or mineral; and as difficult to put the point of a needle on any part of its ambit, which is not the superficial centre; nature having fixed it under such laws, that every part of it is central.

The annual motion of the earth determines the length of a year, which is about three hundred and sixty-five days, and six hours: and the diurnal motion fixes the length of a day, which is twenty-four hours. The surface of the earth is unweariedly moving, in her diurnal course, about the equator, the distance of one thousand miles an hour, and carries all her inhabitants with her and as the distance between the earth and sun is ninety millions of miles, the earth is moving, with her inhabitants, in the direc tion of her annual circuit, about sixty-four thousand miles an hour. Does this surprise you, and make you cry out, impossible? If so, only consider, that if the earth stands still, according to the vulgar notion, and the sun moves round it, the sun must fly at the speed of above five hundred and sixty-five millions of miles each day, or, three hundred and ninety-two thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven miles each minute, in his diurnal course; which is about fifty-six thousand times as swift as a ball flies from the mouth of a cannon.

The earth is girt round with a girdle of circumambient air, which closely adheres to her in all her motions. Should a cannon be placed on the earth perpendicularly, and discharge a ball into the air, if the ball should be gone two minutes before it returned, the cannon would have removed, in that space of time, thirty-three miles, consequently the ball would return that distance from the cannon's mouth; but, as the air adheres to the earth, the ball would return to the very point from whence it went.

The solid contents of the terraqueous globe, is above three hundred thousand millions of miles, which, if reduced to inches, would be more than eight hundred thousand trillions. An inch of common sand weighs about an ounce, Troy, but an inch of water weighs only twelve pennyweights. Rocks and minerals weigh much more than sand. If sand may be considered as a medium, the globe weighs as many ounces (Troy) as there are inches in its contents. Fifty-one ounces, Troy, are equal to fifty-six, avoirdupois; and fourteen pounds avordupois, are equal to seventeen Troy. The earth, by this rule, weighs more than ninety-seven quatillions of oun, ces, Avoirdupois, or, above three hundred trillions of tons.

The American empire contains six hundred and forty millions of acres, of which, fifty-one millions are water.

And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, herbs, and fruitful trees, yielding fruit after their kind, whose seed are in themselves, upon the earth. The spirit of God, that brooded upon the terraqueous globe on the first day, had, on the third day, not only separated the waters from the earth, but also impregnated the earth to produce vegetables for beasts and fruittrees for man: and this provision was made before the creatures were formed to eat thern. So, likewise, it is in the new creation, all spiritual blessings are provided in the New Covenant for men before they are new. made to receive them. The grass, herbs, and trees, had seed within themselves to produce their kind, which has continued in order down to this day. After God had made the earth, he made it vegetate and bring forth fruit ; even so when men are created in Christ Jesus and put on the new man, they work for God and bring forth the fruits of the Spirit.

On this third day, the Lord made to grow out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the Tree of Life, also, in the midst of the garden, and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, though not spoken of until afterwards: from which we learn that creation furnished objects to please the senses, as well as to support the rational creature with food. Likewise, in religion, not only safety, but pleasure is found; the ways thereof are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

And God saw all that he had done, on the third day, and it was good; no evil had yet appeared: angels retained their integrity, and filial subjection to their Maker.

THE FOURTH DAY.

And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven. This firmament includes all that space between the earth and third heavens ; but that part of it called the starry heavens, seems to be particularly intended. No new light was made on this day; but that pillar of light, made on the first day, was, on this day, formed into the various luminaries, afterwards spoken of, to divide the day from the night, to be for signs and seasons, for days and years. Day and night are governed by the sun; while the sun shines on the face of the earth, it is day, and when it goes down, it is night. The length of the day is equal to the presence of the sun, and the length of the night equal to his absence. The moon, in her fulness, arises upon the setting of the sun, and enlightens the earth during his absence; and, therefore, is said, to rule the Night. When the moon fails us in her nocturnal visits, the twinkling stars pay their officious aid, and, by reason of their number, cast much light upon the inhabitants of the earth.

These lights were to be for signs; not for deluded necromancers to prognosticate by; no, those dull masses, ignorant of their own existence, can never foretel things future, respecting men; but for signs of good and bad

weather, for the times of plowing, sowing and reaping. And seasons of Bummer and winter, spring and fall. For days, by the diurnal motion, in twenty-four hours; and years, by the annual circuit, in three hundred and sixty-five days and a few hours.

The greater light to rule the day; i. e., the sun, called by the ancients, Ur, which word signifies both light and heat; and, it is evident, that the sun is the fountain of heat as well as light. This stupendous orb may well be called great, being about nine hundred thousand times the bigness of the earth; placed at the distance of ninety millions of miles from the ball that we inhabit; yet capable of darting a ray of light to us in the space of seven and a half minutes.

This amazing luminary is the centre of the solar system, and once in twenty-eight years, all the worlds that play around it, come again to the same point and condition. This sovereign of nature, rules the day with such resplendent lustre, that no other orb is seen to shine in his presence: but instead of being an object of religious adoration, is but a speck of Jehovah's works, placed in the heavens, to show forth the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Almighty.

The smaller light (the moon) to rule the night. The moon is called a light, but she borrows all her bright ornaments of the sun. That the moon is an opaque body of some kind of matter, is evident, otherwise she would not eclipse the sun when she intervenes.

One entire day of the moon is almost equal to thirty of our natural days; consequently, the moon's night is nearly equal to fifteen of our days and nights.

If the moon is inhabited, it is matter of conjecture, whether her inhabitants sleep so long at a time, and work as long without sleeping: and how much the men of the moon must eat for supper, upon this supposition, is matter of speculation.

The moon in bulk, is as follows: diameter, two thousand one hundred and seventy-five miles; circumference, six thousand eight hundred and sixty-four miles; ambit, above three and a half million, which, if reduced to acres, would be more than two thousand millions. But, if one third part of the moon's surface, is allowed to be seas, it leaves upwards of one and a half thousand millions of acres in land: and, if ten acres of land are sufficient to support an individual, the moon will support above one hundred and fifty-eight millions of souls.

The size, complexion, dress, manners, language, laws, and religion of those people, we are ignorant of, (although the moon is called our neighbor.) Swedenburgh's account gains but little credit among us; the airballoons have not yet answered the purpose of forming an acquaintance; what future experiments may do, is uncertain.

He made the stars also. Some, who believe in the existence of worlds

and systems of worlds, prior to the solar system, suppose that this clause respects the creation of those stars, which are worlds or centres of worlds, and, that though by their inconceivable distance,* they appear to us but small points, like the diamond on a lady's ring, yet they are of themselves, globes of amazing magnitude. They conclude, that the same hand that made the sun and moon, on the fourth day, had made these stars long before. But it seems rather to respect those stars, that were made at the same time that the sun and moon were.

Others restrain it to the planetary stars, viz., Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and Herschel. Some of these stars have their moons, rings, and satellites playing around them, of which I cannot at this time be particular.

It is best, however, by these stars, to understand not only those already mentioned, but likewise Arcturus and his sons, Pleiades, and the chambers of the south, as well as all the constellations and stars in the heavens. And God saw his work and it was good; free from evil, which had no being as yet, and the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

THE FIFTH DAY.

On the fifth day, God gave orders to the waters to bring forth living crea. tures. On the first day, gross nature was made; on the third day, vege. table life sprung out of chaos, and discovered itself in the grass, herbs and trees; and on the fifth day, animal life was produced. Fish of every kind were created, from the largest kraken to the smallest minnows; and fowls to fly in the open air, from the eagle to the fly. These, it seems, were produced out of the water, and yet, if we cast our eyes on Chapter ii., 19, it is pretty plain that they were made out of the earth. To reconcile both places together, and both to the nature of things, it is supposable that they were both made out of the earth at the water's side; or, more likely, out of the mud, under the water. It is also probable, that the fish were made in the fore part of the day, and fowls in the after part. There is a considerable likeness between these two species of creatures: both steer their courses by their tails; fins and scales to one, are as wings and feathers to the other, and both are oviparous. After God had made them, he blessed them with the power of procreation, and bid them be fruitful, and fill their destined elements.

This day's work, also, was well done: God saw that it was good; and the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

* The nearest fixed star is at such a distance from us, that a cannon-ball must fly at the rate of one hundred fathoms a second, and take nearly seven hundred thousand years to reach it: the distance being computed at almost two and a half millions of miles. A line of wheat-grains, from the sun to said star, allowing four grains to the inch, would form a mountain of wheat, more than sufficient to sow forty such globes as this, allowing a bushel to an acre.