found, such as these are now. These trees, now turned into coal, the remains of the primeval world, have been found in the coldest countries-not only in England, but in Canada, even at Baffin's Bay and under the snows of Melville Island, the coldest place in the world. These large trees require a great deal both of light and heat. All learned men who have examined these remains, even such as do not love the Bible, have yet agreed in saying that certainly there was once a time, long ago when these old forests grew, when there were light and heat upon the primeval earth different from the light and heat of our present sun. Honour, all honour, to the word of God, which told us this long before learned men found it out!

There is still one other question to answer, on the subject of the fifth verse, and it is the fourth,—" The evening and the morning were the first day."

What are we to think of this "evening?" How long did it last? Was this "day" a day twenty-four hours in length?

Certainly not, since there were then no great lights" to divide the day from the

night," to be a sign and a measure of the days (ver. 14).

No one can tell how long that day lasted,perhaps long years and long ages. All that we know about it is, that it was a period of time which began by the night of chaos (when darkness covered the face of the deep) and ended when the light shone forth.

The subject of the next lesson will be the 6th, 7th, and 8th verses, of the first chapter of Genesis.

CHAPTER V.

THE WORK OF THE SECOND DAY.

"And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."-GEN. i. 6-8.

WE considered in our last lesson the work of the first day. Under the mighty operation of the Holy Spirit, moving by his divine power on the face of the waters of the great abyss, there was first the wonderful work of the creation of light. "God said, Let there be light; and there was light." There was an evening, when darkness covered the face of the deep; and there was a morning, when light was created; and this was the first day.

This

Our lesson for to-day, dear children, is to be about the work of the second day. was also a most magnificent work, the creation of the atmosphere, a work more wonderful, as you will see, than you have ever before thought it. "God said, Let there be a firmament" (or rather "expanse," as the word is