Eozoic or
pre-eozoic rocks are deposits of this or the preceding period, we may
infer from the disturbances and alteration which these have suffered,
prior to the deposition of the Cambrian and Silurian, that during or
toward the close of this day the crust of the earth was affected by
great movements. There is another consideration also leading to
important conclusions in relation to this period. In the earliest
fossiliferous rocks there seems to be good evidence that the dry land
contemporary with the seas in which they were formed was of very small
extent. Now, since on the third day a very plentiful and highly
developed vegetation was produced, we may infer that during that
period the extent of dry land was considerable, and was probably
gradually increasing. If, then, the Cambrian and Silurian systems, so
rich in marine organic remains, belong to the commencement of the
fifth day, we must conclude that during the fourth much of the land
previously existing had been again submerged. In other words, during
the third day the extent of terrestrial surface was increasing, on the
fourth day it diminished, and on the fifth it again increased, and
probably has on the whole continued to increase up to the present
time. One most important geological consequence of this is that the
marine animals of the fifth day probably commenced their existence on
sea bottoms which were the old soil surfaces of submerged continents
previously clothed with vegetation, and which consequently contained
much organic matter fitted to form a basis of support for the newly
created animals.

I shall close my remarks on the fourth day by a few quotations from
those passages of Scripture which refer to the objects of this day's
work. I have already referred to that beautiful passage in Deuteronomy
where the Israelites are warned against the crime of worshipping those
heavenly bodies which the Lord God hath "divided to every nation under
the whole heaven." In the book of Job also we find that the heavenly
bodies were in his day regarded as signal manifestations of the power
of God, and that several of the principal constellations had received
names:

"He commandeth the sun, and it shineth not;
He sealeth up the stars;[91]
He alone spreadeth out the heavens,
And walketh on the high waves of the sea;[92]
He maketh Arcturus, Orion,
The Pleiades, and the hidden chambers of the south;
Who doeth great things past finding out;
Yea, ma