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thesis , declaring particularly what were the luminaries which the Most High had made , and the respective uses assigned to them m the great machinery of the universe . Even upon the hypothesis that the Jewish prophet to
intended here speak respecting the original creation of these lights in the heavens , the importance of the subject would sufficiently account for such a recurrence to it by a repetition of the assertion , no less true than grand , tkat the hosts of heaven were all the
work of the one infinite and everlasting Being . But as he does not here employ the verb ton , as in the first rerse , which signifies bringing into existence , but another word , which means to prepare , on which there will be occasion to insist further under
another passage , there is good reason to conclude that to speak of their creation was not his design , but only of their allotted functions with respect to the earth . Ver . 16 : God preparedy
or adapted , tivo great lights ; the greater light to rule the day , and the lesser light to rule the night , and the stars also . That is , the sun to regulate the day , and the moon , and also the stars , to regulate the night , by
causing their rays , whether primary or reflected , to reach the earth , which could no more have been without being caused by the Divine power , than these luminaries could have created themselves . The word , in ver . 17 , which is translated set , —God set them in the firmament of heaven , —seems ,
according to this version , to import that these shinin g bodies were studded in a concave . solidity , or at least that they * we then first placed hi their respective stations ; but this is not its true signification . This verb , tnn , means
swv or appointed , and being thus j ^ a d , it is in full accordance with the foregoing remarks concerning their Pnor creation . And God gave , or appointed , them in the expanse of iC heavens , signifying that he deseed what offices they should perform l ° the earth , which is supported bv of
^ prophecy Jeremiah , xxxi . 35 , , fche same Hebrew verb is used , J Properly construed— Thus saith y ™ va / i 9 who giveth the sun for a jf b V < % > and the ordinances of the won ( m d of the stars for a light by 8 *• And the same sentiment is ^ Pressed by the Paalmist . though he 0
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employs another word , Psalm Ixxir . 16 , Thou hast prepared the light and the sun . It has been already observed , that the light of the sun was brought to the earth on the first of the six days , and motion must have been then given
to it to produce the alternations of morning and evening , or of day aud night , which the Creator was pleased to ordain , apparently for measuring the periods of his own proceeding's , to become the subjects of future record , that the generations of men mav cord , that the generations of men may
know who hath done all these things ; but on the fourth day he permanently established the great laws of nature , by the operation of which the transmission of light from the sun is continued , and the lunations are governed which cause the solar rays to be reflected on the earth at stated times .
and occasion the ebbing and flowing of the tides of the ocean . By the appointments of this day also the diurnal rotations of the earth were
perpetuated for continuing the changes of day and night ; and its annual revolutions for producing the alternate seasons of the year , and marking the progress of time , which could not have been the order of nature if the world
had remained stationary as when it was first commanded into existence , or if the Divine power had not superadded to the creation of the earth the cardinal laws of nature , which impel its daily motion and annual course . The fifth dav ' s work was the for-.
ination of sentient creatures ; ( ishes to occupy the waters , and the feathered race to fly in the atmosphere , called the expanse of heaven . Anterior to the foregoing adjustments and preparations there was not a spark of animal life connected with ^ his rolling planet ;
not a single rational inhabitant to survey and . ^ lnurc ,, ! f l ) e beauteous works of God .. not a ^ ua 4 r * iped trod tlu » ground , noX-. & ^ 4 winged the air , nor a fish finned th& , wi 4 ei * * not even a reptile nor an i ^ je ^ t existed ia either
province of nature \ \ ^ u » t ,, ali thttt had been hitherto cr , ea £ e 4 , wa ^ nuwper « eptive , inanimate , . matter ,,. and jSuft , | or the vivifying energy of tWt Being who is alone eterual and self-existent , the world must have remained in lifeless
silence for ever . Ver . 20 : And God said , Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life , and fowl that may fly above the
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Mr . Fry ' s Observations on the First Chapter of Genesis . 281
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TL * vi ,. ' 2 o
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1822, page 281, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2512/page/25/
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