variety and excellent order Ver. 2. And on the seventh Day God ended his Work Or rather had ended as it may be translated for he did not work on the Seventh Day But rested from all his Work which he had made haing so compleatly finished it that there remained no more to be done An Emblem of the Rest that we shall have when we have done our Work faithfully and left none undone as Origen's words are L. VI. contra Celsum Ver. 3. And God blessed the seventh Day and sanctified it As God sanctified Jeremiah in after-times from his Mother's Womb Jer. I. 5. by ordaining him to be a Prophet So he now determined and appointed the Seventh Day from the very beginning of the World to be observed in Memory of its Creation And this setting it apart and consecrating it to that Holy Use was his blessing it or recommending it to be observed as a Day of blessing and praising him in all his Works of Wonder And I know not why I should not add of his bestowing Blessings upon all his pious Worshippers There is no mention indeed made of Adam's or Abel's c. observing this Day which hath inclined many to conclude these words to have been written by way of anticipation This Day being set apart in after-times by the Law of Moses for God's Service but in their Opinion not till then To which I cannot agree because it seems to me far more reasonable to think That God took Care to preserve the Memory of the Creation in the Minds of Mankind and the Worship of Him the One Only God by whom it was created Which could not be done by any means more effectually than by setting apart this Day for that purpose Which if he had not appointed yet Men being made Religious Creatures I cannot but think they would have agreed upon some set time for the Exercise of their Religion as well as some set Place though that be not mentioned neither where to meet for Divine Service And what time more proper wherein to Honour their Creator with their Sacrifices Praises and Thanksgivings than this Day Which Philo well stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the birth-day of the World Which was so much observed all the World over though they forgot the reason that the Seventh Day he observes may be truly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Vniversal Festival kept by all People Josephus speaks to the same purpose and there is a great deal more said by Aristobulus a Peripatetick Philosopher out of Hesiod Homer and others in Eusebius his Praepar Evang. L. XIII c. 12. concerning the Sacredness of the Seventh Day Which though Mr. Selden L. III. de Jure N. G. cap. 17 c. endeavours to prove is meant of the Seventh Day of the Month not of the Seventh Day of the Week yet we may look upon that as a Remain of this ancient Tradition Which in time Men forgot as they did the most Natural Duties having so corrupted their ways as we read Gen. VI. 10 11. that there was nothing good among the generality of them And therefore no wonder if they did not regard the Service of God every Seventh Day To which I shall show in due place Noah the only righteous Man among them had some regard Which continued in the Family of Abraham after the Flood Moses speaking of it not long after their coming out of Egypt where it is likely they were not suffered to observe it having no time free from their intolerable Labours as a Day known to them before the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai Exod. XVI 23 25 26. Which is not to be understood as if the Patriarchs before and after the Flood kept such a Rest as God enjoyned the Israelites by Moses For that was proper to them for a peculiar reason because they had been Slaves in Egypt and therefore were commanded to keep the Sabbath without doing any manner of work upon that Day Deut. V. 15. Which is all the Christian Fathers mean when they say the Patriarchs did not Sabbatizare keep the Sabbath as the Jews did See Tertullian adv Judaeos cap. 2 4. Irenaeus and others For in Religious Offices I doubt not they observed the Seventh Day as a proper time for that Sacred Hymn which Galen himself L. III. de usu Partium says we should all sing to the Creator of all if we our selves first know and then tell others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. how wonderful he is in Wisdom how great in Power and how rich in Goodness Because that in it he had rested from all his work This is the reason why this Day was distinguished from the other Six That a remembrance of God's resting from all his Works on this Day might be preserved by Mens laying aside their other Employments so long as to praise him Solemnly by whom this great World was made Which God created and made Or as the Hebrew phrase is created to make i. e. rested from all the Six Day 's Work For he created something at the first out of which to make all the rest in six Day 's space and now he ceased from all Ver. 4. These are the generations c. That is this is a faithful Account of the Original of the World Which Moses here repeats more deeply to imprint on the Peoples Minds that the World was not a God but the Work of God Which they were to acknowledge every Seventh Day In the Day i. e. At that time so Day often signifies when the LORD God made the Earth and the Heavens It is observed by Tertullian That exinde Dominus qui retro Deus tantum c. from henceforward verse 7 8 9 15 c. he is called LORD who hitherto was called only God Of which he endeavours to give a reason L. adv Hermog cap. 3. The Hebrew Doctors observe that Jehovah Elohim LORD God joyned together is the full and perfect Name of God And therefore fitly reserved till this place when the Works of God were perfected and not before Ver. 5. And every Plant in the Field before it was in the Earth c. That is before there was any Seed to produce them God made them to spring up with their Seed in them as was said before in the first Chapter And Moses here mentions these alone because they were the first Productions out of the Earth without which there had been no Food for living Creatures For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the Earth and there was not a Man to till the Ground Here are two reasons to confirm that Plants were not produced in the way they are now For there had been no showers of Rain nor was there any Man to prepare the Earth to receive the Seed if there had been any both which are necessary in the ordinary Method of Divine Providence ever since the World was made From hence some collect there were no Praedamites People before Adam for then
another Light being the Work of the first Day Ver. 6. And God said Let there be a firmament The next thing that God commanded to come forth of the Chaos was the Air particularly that Region next to us wherein the Fowls fly as it is expounded afterwards verse 20. The Hebrew word Rachia properly signifies a Body expanded or spread forth as may be seen in Exod. XXXIX 3. Isai XL. 19. Jer. X. 9. where it can have no other meaning but is by the LXX translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and from thence by us Firmament because the Air though vastly extended and fluid yet continues firm and stable in its place In the midst of the Waters and let it divide the Waters from the Waters This Region of the Air manifestly parts the Waters above it in the Clouds from those below it here upon Earth the one of which Waters bear a good proportion and are in some measure equal unto the other for there are vast Treasures of Water in the Clouds from whence the Waters here below in Springs and Rivers are supplied This appeared afterwards in the Deluge which was partly made by continued Rains for many days The great Objection against this Exposition is That now there were no Clouds neither had it after this rained on the Earth Gen. II. 6. But it must be considered That neither were the Waters below as yet gathered into one place And therefore Moses here speaks of the Air as a Body intended to be stretched between the Waters above and beneath when they should be formed That the Clouds above are called Waters in the Scripture-Language is plain enough from Psalm CIV 3. Jer. X. 13. and other places Ver. 7. And God made the firmament and divided c. What his Divine Will ordered his Power effected by that Light which rowled about the CHAOS and that Heat which was excited within it whereby such Exhalations were raised as made the Firmament That is the thicker Parts of them made this Region of the Air which is the lower firmament verse 20 And the thinner Parts of them made the Aether or higher Firmament wherein the Sun and the Planets are seated verse 14 15. Ver. 8. And God called the firmament Heaven Made it so different from the rest of the Mass called Earth that it had the Name of Heaven to distinguish it from the other So all above the Earth is called as appears by the following part of the Chapter in the Verses now mentioned And that 's the very import of the word Schamaim which in the Arabick Language as Aben Ezra observes signifies heighth or altitude And the Evening and the Morning were the second Day This was the Work of another whole Day Concerning which it is commonly noted That it is not said of this as of all the Works of the other five Days God saw that it was good What the reason of this should be is enquired by all Interpreters and the most solid Account that I can find of it is this That the Waters mentioned upon this Day were not yet separated and distinguished from the Earth And therefore in the next Day 's Work when he did gather the Waters together verse 10. and when he commanded the Earth which was become dry to bring forth verse 1.2 these words God saw that it was good are twice repeated Which made Picherellus and Ger. Vossius think the two next Verses 9 10. belonged to the second Days Work and that the first words of the ninth Verse should be thus translated And God had said Let the Waters under the Heaven c. And so the words in the end of the tenth Verse God saw that it was good relate to the second Day L. 2. de Orig. Idolol c. 67. Ver. 9. And God said Let the Waters under the Heaven All the Waters which continued mixed with the Earth and covered the surface of it Be gathered together c. Collected into one Body by themselves And let the dry Land appear Distinct and separate from the Waters There being such large portions of Matter drawn out of the CHAOS as made the Body of Fire and Air before-mentioned there remained in a great Body only Water and Earth but they so jumbled together that they could not be distinguished It was the Work therefore of the third Day to make a separation between them by compacting together all the Particles which make the Earth which before was Mud and Dirt and then by raising it above the Waters which covered its Superficies as the Psalmist also describes this Work Psalm CIV 6. and lastly by making such Caverns in it as were sufficient to receive the Waters into them Now this we may conceive to have been done by such Particles of Fire as were left in the Bowels of the Earth Whereby such Nitro-sulphureous Vapours were kindled as made an Earthquake which both lifted up the Earth and also made Receptacles for the Waters to run into as the Psalmist otherwise I should not venture to mention this seems in the fore-mentioned place to illustrate it Psalm CIV 7. where he says At thy rebuke they i. e. the Waters fled at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away And so God himself speaks Job XXXVIII 10. I brake up for it i. e. for the Sea my decreed place and set bars and doors Histories also tell us of Mountains that have been in several Ages lifted up by Earthquakes nay Islands in the midst of the Sea Which confirms this Conjecture That possibly the Waters were at the first separated by this means and so separated that they should not return to cover the Earth For the Word in the beginning of this Verse which we translate gathered comes from Kav which signifies a Square a Rule or perpendicular Line And therefore denotes they were most exactly collected and so poised in such just Proportions that they should not again overflow the dry Land This Work of God whereby the Waters were sent down into their proper Channels and the Earth made dry and fitted for the habitation of such Creatures as were afterwards created is observed by Strabo in his Geography as an act of Divine Providence L. XVII Because says he the Water covered the Earth and Man is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Creature that can live in the Water God made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. many Cavities and Receptacles in the Earth for the Water and raised the Earth above it that it might be fit for Man's habitation Ver. 10. And called the dry Land c. This is sufficiently explained by what hath been said upon Verse 5 8. only this may be added That the word Eretz Earth in Arabick signifies any thing that is low and sunk beneath opposite to Schamaim Heavens which in that Language as I noted before signifies high and lifted up Ver. 11. And God said Let the Earth bring forth grass the Herb yielding c. Or rather it should be translated and the Herb yielding
Angels was a later invention Ver. 18. And to rule over the day and over the Night Some have fansied that the ancient Idolatry sprung from this word Rule Men looking upon these glorious Lights as having a dominion over them Whence the Sun was called Baal that is Lord or Governor by the Eastern People and Moloch that is King by the Egyptians But one word sure was not the ground of so foul an Error when the scope of Moses was to show that these things were made by an higher Being and made not to rule over Men but over the Day and the Night which the Sun makes when it rises and sets by the order and appointment of God And God saw that it was good He was pleased with this Work as suitable to the Ends for which he intended it The first Light was good ver 4. for the purpose to which it served which was by its heat to agitate rarefie and separate the Matter of the CHAOS for the making of Air and gathering together the Waters and drying the Earth and producing Grass Herbs and Trees which made it necessary it should continue some Days near to the Earth that it might powerfully penetrate into the Matter it was to digest But if it should have continued longer so near to the Earth it would not have been good for it because it would have burnt up all the Plants that the Earth had brought forth and by its too scorching heat have hindred the Production of those living Creatures which were ready on the next Day to be made or at least made the Earth unfit for their habitation For the Air which all living things even Fishes themselves need nay the Plants also which have Vessels for conveying Air to all their Parts would have been so very hot that it would have afforded no refreshment to them Therefore it was good that it should be advanced into the Firmament of the Heaven and there embodied in those Luminaries which being removed further from us give such a moderate heat as is necessary for the preservation of us and of all things living that dwell upon the Earth Ver. 19. And the Evening c. Thus the fourth Day concluded Ver. 20. And God said Let the Waters c. Now God proceeded to form the lower sort of Animals or living Creatures viz. The Fish and the Fowl which are in many respects inferior to Beasts And the Fishes are called moving in the Hebrew creeping Creatures because their Bellies touch the Water as creeping things do the Earth Both Fishes and Fowls were made out of the Waters that is out of such Matter as was mixed with the Waters which contained in them many things besides simple Water for the Sea and Rivers are still very richly furnished with various Compounds for the nourishment of an innumerable multitude of Fishes The great congruity that there is between Fish and Fowl in many particulars will not let us doubt they had the same Original For they are both oviparous which makes them more fruitful than the Beasts of the Earth neither of them have any Teats they both direct and as I may say steer their Course by their Tail c. See Ger. Vossius de Orig. Progr Idolol L. III. c. 78. Bring forth abundantly That is various sorts of both kinds there being many hundred kinds of Fishes and Birds or Fowls many of the latter of which live in the Water which shows their Original to have been from thence and others of them live both in the Air and Water The formation of these Creatures is in every part of them very wonderful especially in those parts whereby they are fitted to swim and to fly Which demonstrate a most wise Agent by whose infinite Power they were so contrived as to be able also to propagate their Kind Ver. 21. And God created great Whales The vastness of these Creatures perhaps made Moses again use the word Create which he had not done since the beginning of the Chapter not because they were made as the CHAOS was out of Nothing but because it required a greater Power to make out of the precedent Matter moving things of so huge a Bulk and of such great Agility than to make any other thing hitherto formed The Hebrew word Tanim which we translate Whales comprehends several sorts of great Fishes as Bochartus observes in his Hierozoic P. 1. L. I. c. 7. where he shows the prodigious bigness of some of them But he should have added that this word also signifies Crocodiles which he himself shows are set forth in Job XLI as the most astonishing Work of God For Job Ludolphus I think hath demonstrated that nothing but the Crocodile can be meant by this word Tanim in Ezek. XXIX 3. and XXXII 2. and some other places Vid. L. I. Comment in Histor Aethiop Cap. XI n. 86. And God saw that it was good Was pleased with the Structure of these several Creatures Of the Birds who were furnished with Wings to fly in the Air and of the Fishes whose Fins serve them to swim in the Water and of Water-Fowl whose Feet are formed so as to serve for the same use and some of them such as dive under Water covered so thick with Feathers and those so smooth and slippery as the Learned and Pious Mr. Ray hath observed that their Bodies are thereby defended from the cold of the Water which cannot penetrate or moisten them See Wisdom of God in the Creation P. I. p. 135. Ver. 22. And God blessed them c. His blessing them was giving them a Power to Multiply and Increase till they had filled the Water with Fish and the Air with Fowl Which required a particular Care of Divine Providence as Abarbinel observes because they do not bring forth young Ones perfectly formed as the Beasts do but lay their Eggs in which they are formed when they are out of their Bodies This saith he is a wonderful thing That when the Womb as we may call it is separate from the Genitor a living Creature like it self should be produced Which is the reason he fansies that a Blessing is here pronounced upon them and not on the Beasts that were made the next Day The ancient Fathers are wont to observe That the first Blessing was given to the Waters as a Type of Baptism Theophilus ad Autolyc L. II. and Tertullian de Baptismo cap. 3. And let Fowl multiply in the Earth There for the most part they have their Habitation and their Food though some live upon the Water Ver. 23. See verse 19. Ver. 24. And God said Let the Earth bring forth Thus by a gradual process the Divine Power produced Creatures still more Noble The Matter being more digested and prepared in five Days time than it was at first I do not know whether there be any weight in the Note of Abarbinel who observes that Moses here uses a new word which we translate bring forth to show the difference between Plants
and Fore-appointing what we intend to do Purity and Holiness likewise seem to be comprehended in this As may be gathered from the Apostle Coloss III. 10. For the new Man consists in righteousness and true holiness Ephes IV. 24. But though he was created with a Faculty to judge aright and with a Power to govern his Appetite which he could controul more easily than we can do now yet he was not made immutably good quia hoc Soli Deo cedit which belongs to God alone as Tertullian excellently discourses in that place but might without due care be induced to do evil as we see he did For an habituated confirmed estate of Goodness was even then to have been acquired by Watchfulness and Exercise Whereby in process of time he might have become so stedfast that he could not have been prevailed upon by any Temptation to do contrary to his Duty And let them have dominion c. Some have thought the Image of God consisted in this alone See Greg. Nyssen cap. 4. De Opific Hom. p. 143. Which rather follows upon Man's being made in God's Image viz. An intelligent being which gave him Dominion over other things that are not indued with such Understanding I conclude this Note with a very pertinent Observation of his in that Book cap. 16. That Moses speaks more Magnificently of Man than any Philosopher ever did For they could say nothing of him beyond this That he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little World But according to the Churches account his Greatness consists not in his Likeness to the created World but in his being made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the Image of the Nature of the Creator of all things Over all the Earth Over all four-footed Creatures in the Earth though never so wild as Bochartus observes Ver. 27. And God created Man in his own Image From these words Origen gathers there is a great deal of difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Image and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Likeness because though God said verse 26. Let us make Man in our Image and after our Likeness yet here he is said to have made him only in his own Image and not for the present after his Likeness For that saith he Lib. IV. contra Celsum is reserved to the other World when as St. John says 1 Epist III. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we shall be like him But this seems too curious No doubt God made Man just as he designed in such a compleat resemblance of himself that there is no Creature like to Man no more than God hath any equal to himself As some of the Hebrew Doctors explain this Matter And therefore Moses repeats it again In the Image of God created he him To imprint upon the Minds of Men a Sense of the great Dignity of Humane Nature which was foully debased by worshipping any Creature Male and Female created he them He made Woman the same Day he made Man as he did both Sexes of all other living Creatures and as he made Herbs and Plants with Seed in them to propagate their Species on the same Day they were produced It is plain by this also That Woman as well as Man was made in the Image of God And it seems to be pertinently observed by Abarbinel That Moses here again uses the word Create and that three times to denote the Original of Humane Souls which are not made out of pre-existent Matter as our Bodies are but by the Power of God when they had no Being at all Ver. 28. And God blessed them c. The former part of this Blessing be fruitful and multiply God had bestowed before verse 22. upon other Creatures Unto which he adds two things here replenish the Earth and subdue it He gives them the whole Earth for their Possession with a Power to subdue it That is to make it fit for their Habitation by bringing under or driving away wild Beasts For Secondly he gives them the Dominion unto which he designed them in their Creation over all other Creatures whether in the Water Air or Earth And he speaks to them in the Plural Number which is a demonstration that Man and Woman were both created and received his Blessing on the same Day Ver. 29. Behold I have given you c. Here he assigns them their Food and makes no mention at all of Beasts but only of Plants and Fruits of the Earth For Beasts being made by pairs in their several Species we may well suppose as Man and Woman were and not being yet multiplied the killing of Beasts Birds and Fishes would have been the destruction of the kind Whereas there were Plants innumerable and great variety of Fruit for their sustenance And therefore here being no grant made to them of Animals for their Food though no prohibition neither it is very probable they abstained from eating Flesh till after the Flood when God expresly gave them every living thing for Meat as much as the Herbs IX 2. unless it were upon some special occasions As perhaps when they sacrificed living Creatures which they did in process of time IV. 4 though not at the first Ver. 30. And to every Beast c. Here he gives to the Beast and Fowl and Creeping things all Herbs for their Food but saith nothing of Fruit from which we cannot well think the Birds would abstain And therefore they are included in the Phrase of every green Herb. Ver. 31. Very good From these words Epiphanius confutes the Manichees Haeres LXVI n. 18. where there is an explanation of this Phrase God saw that it was good throughout this whole Chapter Where it being said at the end of every Day 's Work God saw it was good and particularly here on the Sixth Day before he had quite ended the Work of it he saith so of the formation of the Beasts ver 25. Abarbinel will have this to relate peculiarly to the Creation of Man and Woman But the beginning of the Verse plainly shows that he speaks of every thing that he had made And therefore their Doctors in Bereschith Rabba whom he mentions say a great deal better That Man is meant in the first and principal place when Moses says God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good CHAP. II. MOSES having given a short Account of the orderly Production of all things from the meanest to the noblest explains more largely in this Chapter some things which were delivered briefly in the foregoing because he would not too much interrupt the coherence of his discourse about the Works of the Six Days Particularly he relates how Eve was made and also further illustrates the Production of Adam c. Ver. 1. Thus the Heavens and the Earth i. e. The visible World Were finished Brought to that Perfection wherein we see them And all the host of them That is all Creatures in Heaven and in Earth which are called Host or Army because of their vast
formed all things out of the Water By the Spirit of God some of the ancient Jews have understood the Spirit of the Messiah as Hackspan observes in his Cabala Judaica n. LXVI out of Baal Hatturim the Hierusalem Targum c. which explains the Evangelist St. John who in the beginning of his Gospel says all things were made by the Eternal ΛΟΓΟΣ or WORD of God the same with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the ancient Philosophers whose Almighty Spirit agitated the vast confused Mass of Matter and put it into Form Ver. 3. And God said These words are taken notice of by Longinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a truly lofty expression wherein appears the Wisdom of Moses who represents God like himself commanding things into Being by his Word that is by his Will For wheresoever we read these words in the History of the Creation He said the meaning must be understood to be He willed as Maimonides interprets it More Nev. P. I. cap. 65. This Justin Martyr demonstrates Orpheus had learnt out of Moses his Books when he swears by the Heaven the Work of the Great and Wise God and by the Word of the Father which he spake at first when he establish'd all the World by his Counsels So his words are in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 16. And as there is nothing more famous in Antiquity than the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orpheus his Egg which I before mentioned so it is remarkable that the Egyptians among whom Orpheus travelled described their God KNEPH with an Egg coming out of his Mouth Which was a lively representation of this World noted by the Egg produced by God's Omnipotent Word For how richly soever the CHAOS was furnished with Materials it could have brought forth nothing without his Powerful Motion and Wise Contrivance by whom it was created So Anaxagoras himself resolved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Mind was the Principle of Motion as Laertius tells us in his Life by which Mind he understood God as others have reported his Opinion more largely in these admirable words The Beginning of all things is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mind who is the Cause and the Lord of the whole World and gave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. order to things in disorder and motion to things immovable and distinction to things confused and beauty to things deformed Let there be Light Having spoken of the Creation of all things now follows an account of their Formation out of that rude Matter which was at first created And the first thing produced was Light which Greg. Nazianzen Orat. XLIII p. 699. a. calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it was not yet collected into a Body as it is now in the Sun Others think it to have been a dimmer sort of Light from the Sun not yet perfectly formed Abarbinel upon the XL of Exodus takes this to be the SCHECHINAH the most excellent of all created things called in Holy Scripture the Glory of the LORD which God saith he sealed up in his Treasures after the Luminaries were created to serve him upon special Occasions for instance to lead the Israelites in the Wilderness by a cloudy Pillar of Fire when he would make himself appear extraordinarily Present And because of the Perfection of this Light he fansies it is that Moses says in the next Verse That God saw the Light repeating the word Light that it was good Whereas in all the rest of the Six Days Work he only says He saw it was good without naming again the thing he had made But it seems to me most rational by this Light to understand those Particles of Matter which we call Fire whose two Properties every one knows are Light and Heat which the Almighty Spirit that formed all things produced as the great Instrument for the Preparation and digestion of the rest of the Matter which was still more vigorously moved and agitated from the top to the bottom by this restless Element till the purer and more shining Parts of it being separated from the grosser and united in a Body fit to retain them became Light Ver. 4. And God saw the Light that it was good He was pleased in this Work of his as agreeable to his Design Which for the present was we may conceive to influence the upper Parts of the CHAOS and to be the Instrument of Rarefaction Separation and all the rest of the Operations which were necessary to mold it into such Creatures as were afterwards made out of it And God divided the Light from the Darkness Appointed that they should constantly succeed one another as we see they do now that this Light is embodied in the Sun and as they did then by the circular Motion of this first Light of Fire round about the CHAOS in the space of Twenty-four Hours which made it Day to those Parts where it shined and Night where it did not It is remarkable how Moses ascribes every thing to GOD the Former of all things who by making this Light move round about the Chaos still more prepared and exalted the remaining indigested Parts of Matter for their several uses Ver. 5. And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night He setled them that is in such a constant Course that it gave them these distinct Names And the Evening and the Morning were the first Day In the Hebrew Language Evening and Morning signifie a whole Day which the Motion of this Light made if we conceive it to have been formed about Noon and to have gone round the fore-mentioned Heap of Matter in Twenty-four Hours How long all things continued in mere Confusion after the CHAOS was created before this Light was extracted out of it we are not told It might be for any thing that is here revealed a great while and all that time the mighty Spirit was making such Motions in it as prepared disposed and ripened every Part of it for such Productions as were to appear successively in such spaces of time as are here and afterward mentioned by Moses who informs us That after Things were so digested and made ready by long fermentations perhaps to be wrought into Form God produced every day for six days together some Creature or other till all was finished of which Light was the very first This Maimonides hath very happily illustrated in his More Nevochim P. II. c. 30. where he observing that all things were created at once and then were afterwards separated one from another successively he says their wise Men resemble this proceeding to that of a Husbandman who sows several Seeds in the Earth at the same moment some of which are to come up after one day others after two and others not till three days be past though the whole sowing was in one and the same moment Thus God made all things at the first which did not appear together but in the space of six Days were formed and put in order one after