merely with the beginning-that chaos out of which order came.

So let us, in closing, mark well the correspondence between the theory of Science here

Conclusion.

in set forth and the opening sentences of the book of Genesis.

The one tells us of a nebulous mass, already yielding obedience to the plastic touch of energy and law, already preparing for a grand career of development into forms of usefulness and beauty, but enveloped still in deep clouds, a desolate and shapeless waste, incapable as yet, of supporting life. The other tells us that, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep."

The correspondence could hardly be more striking or complete.

II.

LIGHT.

"Let there be light."

"Hail! holy light, offspring of heaven, first born, Or of the eternal co-eternal beam."

"They say

The solid earth whereon we tread,
In tracts of fluent heat began."

“God said, ‘Let there be light.'
Grim darkness felt his might,

And fled away;

The startled seas and mountains cold

Shone forth, all bright in blue and gold,
And cried, ''Tis day! 'Tis day!'"

II.

LIGHT.

IN the first lecture we collected the material of

which to build the world, and so far as able determined its origin.

we were

The subject stated.

We are to speak now of the Origin of Light, with special reference to the time in the order of creative events at which it appeared. If, to dispose of that matter at once, we turn to the account in the book of Genesis, we find these words in connection with the first mention of the subject: "The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light." Again, a brief, concise statement of the fact, without any attempt to explain the processes by which it was done. It is simply that the great and mighty one who evoked the completed world from chaos, did at this point cause light to appear.

The Hebrew

record.

It would not be in place here to speculate as to the precise meaning of the passage, "The spirit of God moved on the deep." The word translated

spirit is sometimes rendered breath, and sometimes wind or breeze, so that there is opportunity for speculation, for such as have the time and disposition. We prefer rather to regard the passage simply as a reverent recognition of the power and wisdom manifest in the changes that came by degrees over the dark abysmal depth, since these were not fortuitous happenings that might come to something or might come to nothing, but the systematic development of a plan devised and determined before the work began, and in which, therefore, every change and every movement contributed to the result intended from the first. And to express this idea in brief, no words could be more fitting than these, The Spirit of God moved upon the chaotic deep. It was the first beating of nature's pulse, "the first throbbing of her mighty heart."

Another mention is made of light farther on in this account. But there was reason for the wide separation of the two events, which will appear as we proceed. And with this brief statement of the ancient Hebrew record, we turn, as before, to an entirely different field of inquiry.

Origin of
Light.

What, then, has Science to teach us of the origin of light and date of its appearance.

First of all, let us keep in mind the substance with which we have to deal and of which we spoke