"Verses fourteen to eighteen cannot be legitimately interpreted
except as implying that in the conception of the writer luminaries had
not previously existed, and that they were made and set in their places
in the heavens after the separation of sea and land and the appearance
of vegetation upon the earth."[12]

Various attempts have been made to escape the difficulty caused by the
conclusions of geology as to the order in which different forms of life
have appeared upon earth. These conclusions are based chiefly upon the
presence of fossil remains imbedded in the different strata of the
earth's surface. Passing by the earlier explanations--for example,
that these fossil remains were placed there by a direct act of God on
one of the creative days for some mysterious purpose, perhaps for the
trial of human faith, or that they were due to the ravages of the
Deluge--reference may be made to two or three of the more recent
"scientific" attempts to harmonize the facts of science with the
statements of Genesis. There is, first of all, the _restitution_
theory advocated by J. H. Kurtz and Thomas Chalmers.[13] Admitting
that the fossil remains are important for the determination {49} of the
age of the earth and the order in which different forms of life
appeared upon the globe, Kurtz writes: "The animal and vegetable world
which lies buried in the stratified formations was not that which,
according to the Bible, was created respectively on the third, fifth,
and sixth days. Its origin must belong to an earlier period."[14] In
other words, his view is that "the main description in Genesis does not
relate to the geological periods at all; that room is left for these
periods between verse one and verse two; that the life which then
flourished upon the earth was brought to an end by a catastrophe, the
results of which are alluded to in verse two; and that what follows
(verses 3ff.) is the description of a second creation immediately
preceding the appearance of man." That this view is due to a desire to
harmonize the biblical account with science is clearly implied in the
words of Kurtz intended to meet the charge of Delitzsch that his view
is "pure delusion." "It is," says Kurtz, "merely a delusion to attempt
identifying the creation of the primeval fossil flora and fauna with
those of the third, fifth, and sixth days, _and at the same time to
endeavor harmonizing geology and the Bible_." Not to speak of the
astronomical di