_The heavens and the earth were created before the first Mosaic day--Objection from Exodus, xx. 9-11--Answer--Interpretation of the author supported by the best commentators--Confirmed by the Hebrew text--The early fathers commonly held the existence of created matter prior to the work of the Six Days--Saint Basil, Saint Chrysostom, Saint Ambrose, Venerable Bede--The most eminent doctors in the schools concurred in this opinion--Peter Lombard, Hugh of Saint Victor, Saint Thomas--Also commentators and theologians--Perrerius, Petavius--Distinguished names on the other side, A Lapide, Tostatus, Saint Augustine--The opinion is at least not at variance with the voice of tradition--This period of created existence may have been of indefinite length--And the earth may have been furnished then as now with countless tribes of plants and animals--Objections to this hypothesis proposed and explained._ The opening verses of the Mosaic history may be rendered thus literally from the Hebrew Text:-- (1) “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. (2) “And the Earth was waste and empty; and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (3) “And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. (4) “And God saw the light that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. (5) “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening was, and the morning was, the first day.”