I propose, therefore, with all reverence, to attempt a re-arrangement of the verses of the opening chapters of the book of Genesis, which will, I hope, place it in such shape that it will be beyond future attack from the results of scientific research; by restoring the fragments to the position they really occupied before their last compilation. Whether or not I present a reasonably probable case, it is for the reader to judge. If we were to find, under the _débris_ of Pompeii, a grand tessellated pavement, representing one of the scenes of the "Iliad," but shattered by an earthquake, its fragments dislocated and piled one upon the top of another, it would be our duty and our pleasure to seek, by following the clew of the picture, to re-arrange the fragments so as {p. 319} to do justice to the great design of its author; and to silence, at the same time, the cavils of those who could see in its shocked and broken form nothing but a subject for mirth and ridicule. In the same way, following the clew afforded by the legends of mankind and the revelations of science, I shall suggest a reconstruction of this venerable and most ancient work. If the reader does not accept my conclusions, he will, at least, I trust, appreciate the motives with which I make the attempt. I commence with that which is, and should be, the first verse of the first chapter, the sublime sentence: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Let us pause here: "God created the heavens and the earth _in the beginning_";--that is, before any other of the events narrated in the chapter. Why should we refuse to accept this statement? _In the beginning_, says the Bible, at the very first, God created the heavens and the earth. He did not make them in six days, he made them _in the beginning_; the words "six days" refer, as we shall see, to something that occurred long afterward. He did not attempt to create them, he created them; he did not partially create them, he created them altogether. The work was finished; the earth was made, the heavens were made, the clouds, the atmosphere, the rocks, the waters; and the sun, moon, and stars; all were completed. What next? Is there anything else in this dislocated text that refers to this first creation? Yes; we go forward to the next chapter; here we have it: Chap. ii, v. 1. "_Thus_ the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." {p. 320} And then follows: Chap. ii, v. 4. "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth, _when they were created_, IN THE DAY that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Chap. ii, v. 5. "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew; for the Lord God _had not caused it to rain upon the earth_, and there was not a man to till the ground."