scription of so many natural phenomena, so fine in feeling or
truthful in delineation. It should go far to dispel the too prevalent
ideas of early Oriental ignorance, and should lead to a more full
appreciation of these noble pictures of nature, unsurpassed in the
literature of any people or time. I trust that the previous
illustrations are sufficient to show, not only that the _stereoma_, or
solid firmament of the Septuagint, is not to be found in Scripture,
but that the positive doctrine of the Bible on the subject is of a
very different character. For instance, in the above extract from the
book of Job, Elihu speaks of the poising or suspension of the clouds
as inscrutable, and tells us that God draws up water into the clouds,
and pours down rain according to the vapor thereof; he also speaks of
the clouds as being scattered before the brightness of the sun; and
notices, in truthful as well as exalted language, the nature and
succession of the lightning's flash, the thunder, and the
precipitation of rain that follows. Solomon also informs us that the
"establishment of the clouds above" is due to the law or will of
Jehovah. Finally, in this connection, the divine sanction given to the
use of the term heaven for the atmosphere may in itself be regarded as
an intimation that no definite barrier separates our film of
atmosphere from the boundless abyss of heaven without.

Of this period natural science gives us no intimation. In the earliest
geological epochs organic life, dry land, and an atmosphere already
existed. At the period now under consideration the two former had not
been called into existence, and the latter was in process of
elaboration from the materials of the primeval deep. If the formation
of the atmosphere in its existing conditions was, as already hinted, a
result of the gradual cooling of the earth, then this period must have
been of great length, and the action of the heated waters on the crust
of the globe may have produced thick layers of detrital matter
destined to form the first soils of the succeeding aeon. We know
nothing, however, of these primitive strata, and most of them must
have been removed by denuding agencies in succeeding periods, or
restored by subterranean heat to the crystalline state. The events and
results of this day may be summed up as follows:

"At the commencement of the period the earth was enveloped by a misty
or vaporous mantle. In its progress those relations of air and v