the writer describes things as they appear rather than as they are. (Smith's "Abridged Bible Dictionary," Firmament.) One not acquainted with the wonderful flexibility of biblical interpretation, might conclude after reading this explicit definition of the rakia that the story of creation was an inspired revelation, but not true. We ourselves are inclined to this opinion, and we accept the conclusion that the Mosaic description of the firmament "does not harmonize with strict philosophical truth; and possibly we shall conclude that all parts of the Mosaic cosmogony will show that the writer who attempts to give a history of the beginning of the universe, did nothing more than describe things as they appeared to his mind's eye, rather than as they actually were. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, and the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit, after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth, and it was so." This was on the third day, and we read that on the fifth day, "God created great whales and every living creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind." But in the evolution of life upon this earth, grasses, trees and plants do not precede the evolution of marine animals. Here again we come upon one of those instances where the account given does not harmonize with strict philosophical truth; but the answer to such objections is that "the writer describes things as they appear rather than as they are." In modern language we should say he was merely guessing at the riddle of existence. "And God made two great lights, and the greater to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night; and he made the stars also." The creation of the sun and the moon was on the fourth day. But it is not made clear how there could have been a morning and an evening of three previous days, in the absence of the sun. Then again there is no possible explanation for the existence of vegetation without sunlight. Grasses, trees, and plants will not grow without sunlight. And still another difficulty meets us in the same passage. The writer says God made two great lights, the greater to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night. And this also is lacking in harmony with "strict philosophical truth," for there is only one great light; the moon has no light, but merely reflects the sun's rays. It is true it seems to be a light, and as "the writer describes things as they appear rather than as they are," we can hold him responsible only for the revelation he makes as a matter of inspiration and not for its truth.