ct clear and intelligible to the simplest
reader, except in the statement of the work of the second day. I suppose
that this statement is passed over by careless readers without an
endeavor to understand it; and contemplated by simple and faithful
readers as a sublime mystery, which was not intended to be understood.
But there is no mystery in any other part of the chapter, and it seems
to me unjust to conclude that any was intended here.

And the passage ought to be peculiarly interesting to us, as being the
first in the Bible in which the _heavens_ are named, and the only one in
which the word "Heaven," all important as that word is to our
understanding of the most precious promises of Scripture, receives a
definite explanation.

Let us, therefore, see whether, by a little careful comparison of the
verse with other passages in which the word occurs, we may not be able
to arrive at as clear an understanding of this portion of the chapter as
of the rest.

Sec. 3. In the first place, the English word "Firmament" itself is obscure
and useless; because we never employ it but as a synonym of heaven; it
conveys no other distinct idea to us; and the verse, though from our
familiarity with it we imagine that it possesses meaning, has in reality
no more point or value than if it were written, "God said let there be a
something in the midst of the waters, and God called the something
Heaven."

But the marginal reading, "Expansion," has definite value; and the
statement that "God said, let there be an expansion in the midst of the
waters, and God called the expansion Heaven," has an apprehensible
meaning.

Sec. 4. Accepting this expression as the one intended, we have next to ask
what expansion there is, between two waters, describable by the term
Heaven. Milton adopts the term "expanse;"[37] but he understands it of
the whole volume of the air which surrounds the earth. Whereas, so far
as we can tell, there is no water beyond the air, in the fields of
space; and the whole expression of division of waters from waters is
thus rendered valueless.

Sec. 5. Now, with respect to this whole chapter, we must remember always
that it is intended for the instruction of all mankind, not for the
learned reader only; and that, therefore, the most simple and natural
interpretation is the likeliest in general to be the true one. An
unscientific reader knows little about the manner in which the volume of
the atmosphere surrounds the eart