+--------------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | DAYS. | PERIODS. | EPOCHS. | | | | | | DAY OF GOD’S REST. | RECENT. | HISTORIC AGE. | +--------------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | | POST-PLIOCENE. | | | SIXTH MOSAIC DAY. | PLIOCENE. | TERTIARY | | | MIOCENE. | OR | | | EOCENE. | KAINOZOIC AGE. | +--------------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | | CRETACEOUS. | SECONDARY | | FIFTH MOSAIC DAY. | JURASSIC. | OR | | | TRIASSIC. | MESOZOIC AGE. | +--------------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | FOURTH MOSAIC DAY. | PERMIAN. | | | THIRD MOSAIC DAY. | CARBONIFEROUS. | PRIMARY | | | { DEVONIAN. | OR | | FIRST AND SECOND | { SILURIAN. | PALÆOZOIC AGE. | | MOSAIC DAYS. | { CAMBRIAN. | | | | { LAURENTIAN. | | +--------------------+-----------------+-----------------+ To us, however, it appears that such points of discrepancy involve no contradiction between the two Records. The Sacred Writer tells us, no doubt, that on the Third Day God created plants and trees: but he does not say, either expressly or otherwise, that previous to the Third Day the Earth was devoid of vegetation. Again, we read that reptiles, fish, and birds were created on the Fifth Day. But there is nothing in the language of the Inspired narrative from which it can be inferred that these several classes of animal life may not have been represented before that time, by many and various species: though probably, it was only on the Fifth Day that they were developed in such vast numbers, and assumed such gigantic proportions, as to become the most conspicuous objects of creation.