.
Subsection
Whether Pre-Fall Adam ate Meat
.
.
Order of Contents
Intro
Westminster
Natural Days 6
. “Space of Six Days” 52+
. Westminster Divines: Earth’s Age 13
Allow Other Views 5
.
Intro
Coming in the future
.
Westminster
Confession of Faith
ch. 4
“I. It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,a for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness,b in the beginning, to create or make of nothing the world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.
a. Gen 1:2; Job 26:13; 33:4; John 1:2-3; Heb 1:2. • b. Psa 33:5-6; 104:24; Jer 10:12; Rom 1:20. • c. Gen 1 throughout; Acts 17:24; Col 1:16; Heb 11:3
II. After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female,a with reasonable and immortal souls,b endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after his own image,c having the law of God written in their hearts,d and power to fulfil it;e and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject unto change.f Beside this law written in their hearts, they received a command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil;g which while they kept they were happy in their communion with God, and had dominion over the creatures.h
a. Gen 1:27. • b. Gen 2:7 with Ecc 12:7 and Mat 10:28 and Luke 23:43. • c. Gen 1:26; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10. • d. Rom 2:14-15. • e. Ecc 7:29. • f. Gen 3:6; Ecc 7:29. • g. Gen 2:17; 3:8-11, 23. • h. Gen 1:26, 28“
.
ch. 8.6
“Although the work of redemption was not actually wrought by Christ till after his incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefits thereof were communicated unto the elect, in all ages successively from the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices, wherein he was revealed, and signified to be the seed of the woman which should bruise the serpent’s head, and the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, being yesterday and today the same, and forever. (Gen 3:15; Gal 4:4-5; Heb 13:8; Rev 13:8)”
.
ch. 21.7
“As it is of the law of nature that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in his Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him:a which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week,b which in Scripture is called the Lord’s day,c and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.d
a. Exod 20:8, 10-11; Isa 56:2, 4, 6-7. • b. Gen 2:2-3; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:1-2. • c. Rev 1:10. • d. Exod 20:8, 10 with Mat 5:17-18.”
.
Shorter Catechism
“Q. 10. How did God create man?
A. God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. (Gen. 1:26-28; Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24)
…
Q. 59. Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?
A. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week, ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath. (Gen. 2:2-3; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Acts 20:7)”
.
Larger Catechism
Q. 15. What is the work of creation?
A. The work of creation is that wherein God did in the beginning, by the word of his power, make of nothing the world, and all things therein, for himself, within the space of six days, and all very good.
Gen. 1; Heb. 11:3; Prov. 16:4.
…
Q. 17. How did God create man?
A. After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female; formed the body of the man of the dust of the ground, and the woman of the rib of the man; endued them with living, reasonable, and immortal souls; made them after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, having the law of God written in their hearts and power to fulfill it, with dominion over the creatures; yet subject to fall.
Gen. 1:27; Gen. 2:7; Gen. 2:22; Gen. 2:7; Job 35:11; Ecc. 12:7; Matt. 10:28; Luke 23:43; Gen. 1:27; Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24; Rom. 2:14-15; Ecc. 7:29; Gen. 1:28; Gen. 3:6; Ecc. 7:29.
…
Q. 116. What is required in the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment requireth of all men the sanctifying or keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his word, expressly one whole day in seven; which was the seventh from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, and the first day of the week ever since, and so to continue to the end of the world; which is the Christian sabbath, and in the New Testament called The Lord’s Day.
Deut. 5:12-14; Gen. 2:2-3; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Acts 20:7; Matt. 5:17-18; Isa. 56:2, 4, 6-7; Rev. 1:10.”
.
For the Natural Day Interpretation of Westminster
Order of Contents
Articles 6
Quote 1
.
Articles
2000’s
Hall, David
eds. Pipa, Joseph & David Hall, Did God Create in Six Days? Buy (Southern Presbyterian Press / Covenant Foundation, 1999)
ch. 2, ‘What was the View of the Westminster Assembly Divines on Creation Days?’, pp. 41-53
ch. 11, ‘The Evolution of Mythology: Classic Creation Survives as the Fittest Among its Critics & Revisers’, pp. 267-305
“Amazingly, there is no primary evidence to date contradicting the historical fact that the Westminster divines exclusively endored only one view, if they commented at all, in their published writings or commentaries… To summarize: There are up to 21 witnesses (the list is growing over time); there are at least 8 explicit testimonies for 24-hour days–and it is more likely that that number will increase than that other modern views will find superior support.” – p. 267
Hall’s other article immediately below includes substantially the same info as the first one above regarding the Westminster divines, but includes much more material on non-Westminster divines.
ch. 5, ‘The Westminster Divines’ in Holding Fast to Creation Buy (The Covenant Foundation, 2000 / 2018), pp. 71-113 The original edition is spiral-bound.
“Recent studies by PCA minister David Hall and others have documented at least five divines, and perhaps as many as twenty-one, who affirmed the Calendar Day view… Rev. Hall’s research addresses the views of 23 men:
thirteen “explicit voting members” (Lightfoot, White, Ley, Walker, Goodwin, Twisse, Ashe, Gataker, Featley, Baillie, Selden, Caryl, Rutherford), one “explicit non-voting member” (Ussher), seven “implicit or at least not silent voting members” (Marshall, Cawdrey, Herle, Palmer, Gouge, Arrowsmith, Burroughs), and two “implicit non-voting members” (Wallis, Byfield).
It seems that no evidence has been found of any view other than the Calendar Day in the writings of individual Westminster divines.” – Howard Donahoe, Appendix C, ‘Westminster Standards & the Length & Nature of the Creation Days’ (2001)
In addition to Westminster divines, Hall in ch. 4 quotes or references these protestant divines as favoring natural days before the Westminster Assembly:
Luther, Calvin, Latimer, Musculus, Vermigli, Hotman, Ursinus, Melanchthon, Perkins, Olevian, Diodati, Dutch Annotations, Polyander, Osiander, Rysenius, Ames, Tremelius, Ainsworth, Babington, Willet, Richardson.
In ch. 5 Hall quotes as concurrent or later divines, and others, as favoring natural days:
J. Owen, F. Turretin, J. Fisher, T. Boston, W. Beveridge, T. Ridgeley, E. Hopkins, F. Roberts, G. Hughes, S. Patrick, J. Trapp, J. Howe, J. Swan, S. Davies, J. Morse, J. Adams, C. Spurgeon, A. Dickson White.
“Here is our open challenge: Can those who claim that modern views, such as Day-Age or Framework, produce a catalogue of Reformed divines between 1540 and 1740 who held to their views near as weighty as this one?” – p. 108
Beeke: “A critique of some of Hall’s conclusions may be found in William S. Barker, Word to the World (Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications, 2005), p. 259-270. This article also appeared in Westminster Theological Journal 62 (2000): 113-120. I note, however, that Barker does not offer examples of Westminster divines who rejected creation in six literal days.” – What did the Reformers Believer about the Age of the Earth, p. 16
‘What was the View of the Westminster Assembly Divines on Creation Days?’ rev. Feb. 16, 2000 at Reformed.org
This article sharpens Hall’s historical thesis in response to William Barker’s criticisms, and only treats of and documents Westminster divines. Hall does not respond to other interpretive arguments of Barker.
Duncan, Ligon – ‘What did the Westminster Assembly mean by the phrase ‘In the space of six days’?’ (2011) 27 paragraphs at The Aquila Report
Duncan argues against the allowance of the figurative view as argued by Alexander Mitchell in a quote below.
Eshelman, Nathan – ‘In the Space of Six Days’ (2024) at Gentle Reformation
Eshelman, amongst other things, surveys some of the early and Medieval Church on instantaneous creation, quotes Luther for six days, and then provides two Calvin quotes (from his Institutes and Commentary on Genesis), the second precedenting the phrase, “the space of six days”. “I think it is clear how the divines intended it to be understood.”
.
Quote
2000’s
Joel Beeke
Beeke, Joel – What did the Reformers Believe about the Age of the Earth? Buy (Answers in Genesis, 2014), p. 11
“…in taking up the language of ‘the space of six days,’ the Westminster Assembly declared that it stood with previous theologians in affirming a literal six-day creation. The expression of has its roots in at least four previous theologians whom the Westminster divines knew. As we have seen, the words ‘in the space of six days’ appear in the writings of Bonaventure, Calvin, Zanchi, and Ussher.²
² Bonaventure, Commentaries on the Four Books of Sentences, book 2, distinction 12, art. 1, question 2; Calvin, Commentaries on Genesis, 1:78; Zanchius, Confession of Christian Religion, 21 [5.1]; De Operibus Dei intra Spacium Sex Dierum Creatis; Ussher, Works, 11:183.”
.
Primary Source Quotes on “In the Space of Six Days”
Order of
Intro
Before Westminster 26+
Westminster Divines 10
After Westminster 16+
Intro
It is clear the phrase “in the space of” was routinely used in everyday English usage and secular literature in the Post-Reformation era to speak of the limits of a definite length of time of natural days.¹
¹ Browse query results across EEBO-TCP for “space of six da*” and “space of sixe da*”, as well as for “space of seven da*”, etc.
All the 52+ uses of “space of six days” (with variants) below by mainly Post-Reformation reformed theologians in the British isles either explicitly entail the natural day usage, and/or view, or are consistent with it, without explicitly suggesting any other view, with one exception, that of Richard Hooker (d. 1600), who was speaking in a figurative context (not related to the creation of the world).
No data has been withheld. More documentation of a similar nature could be collected. For articles that give an analysis of similar (though different) data, closely and carefully positioning it in Westminster’s context, see those of David Hall above.
However, be it noted, the below data is subject to the numerous interpretative issues William Barker points out in his careful article below. To mention only one: Having given at least two examples of reformed divines (Calvin and Perkins) that affirmed creation in six days, yet Barker notes their careful, seemingly deliberate, ambiguous language, not going on to define a “day” as being of twenty-fours, or equivalent to ours for all the days of Creation Week, but leaving that more specific determination undefined.
Where “the space of six days” was contrasted to a given view, it was nearly always set in opposition to instantaneous creation, with Augustine being often noted as the most notable representative of such.
The phrase “space of six days”, besides being found in the writings of Lutherans (e.g. Meisner below) and Romanists in the Post-Reformation,† can be traced back to the Medieval Bonaventure (sex dierum spatium). The similar phrase Lombard uses, intervalla sex dierum, can in its variants be found in Augustine¹ and others in the Early Church.
† See search results for sex dierum spatium at Google Books.
¹ Augustine, The Literal Interpretation of Genesis, bk. 4, chs. 33 & 34.
Before Westminster
Order of
Lombard
Bonaventure
Calvin
Genevan Bible
English Bible
English Bible 2
Zanchi
Foxe
Babington
Perkins
Pareus
R. Hooker
Lubbertus
Trelcatius
Parr
Dod & Cleaver
Irish Articles
Byfield
Ainsworth
Wilson
Broughton
Polyander
Ross
Meisner
Grotius
Jones
H. Valentine
Pemble
Swan
Ames
Jackson
.
1100’s
Peter Lombard
Four Books of Sentences 2nd ed. (c. 1150; Florence: College of St. Bonaventura, 1916), vol. 1, bk. 2, dist. 12, ch. 2, pp. 358-59
“ch. 2, ‘While some have thought all things were simultaneously made in both matter and form, others that it was through intervals of time’
Indeed, some of the holy fathers who have excellently examined the words and mysteries of God seem to have written seemingly conflicting things on this matter.
Some indeed have taught that all things were created simultaneously in both matter and form, which Augustine seems to have thought.
Others, however, have more strongly proved and asserted that a raw and formless prime matter, holding a mixture and confusion of the four elements, was created; yet afterward, through the intervals of six days [intervalla sex dierum], from that matter the kinds of corporeal things were formed according to their proper species.
This judgment which Gregory, Jerome, Bede and many others commend and prefer, also seems to agree more closely with the Scripture of Genesis, from which the first knowledge of this matter was revealed to us.”
.
1200’s
Bonaventure
Commentary on the Four Books of the Sentences of Master Peter Lombard in All the Works (Florence: College of St. Bonaventura, 1882), vol. 2, bk. 2, dist. 12, art. 1, q. 2, ‘Whether the matter produced was in perfect actuality?’, p. 295
“But to the contrary: 1. First it is argued through the text of Genesis, where it is said that through the space of six days [sex dierum spatium] the Lord completed the work that was begun. Therefore it is seen that the underlying matter was not produced in perfect actuality, according to the judgment of sacred Scripture.”
.
1500’s
John Calvin
Commentary on Genesis (1554 / 1563), on ch. 1, verse 5 Latin
“‘The first day’ Here the error of those is manifestly refuted who maintain that the world was made in a moment. For it is too violent a cavil to contend that Moses distributes the work which God perfected at once into six days, for the mere purpose of conveying instruction.
Let us rather conclude that God Himself took the space of six days, for the purpose of accommodating his works to the capacity of men.”
.
The Sermons of Mr. John Calvin upon the Fifth Book of Moses called Deuteronomy... (London, 1583), On Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1555, 97th Sermon, first on ch. 16, pp. 598-99
“But now let us come to that which is commanded here concerning the Easterday of the Jews [Dt. 16:8], ‘Ye shall eat unleavened bread or cakes’ (says he) ‘by the space of six days, and there shall no leavened bread be found in your houses’…
[Note that while the phrase occurs in a translation of a Bible verse, the term “space” is not explicitly in the Hebrew, nor the later KJV. Hence it reflects Calvin’s interpretation and use of that term and concept.]
…when God commanded them to eat unleavened bread. And it was his will that this should be done, not only the same night that they ate the pascal lamb: but also that the same ceremony should be continued by the space of six days together.”
.
Genevan Bible
The Bible & Holy Scriptures contained in the Old & New Testament... with most profitable annotations… (Geneva, 1562 [1561]), on Joshua, ch. 6, v. 15 This is also in the 1599 edition.
v. 15, “And when the seventh day came, they rose early, even with the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner¹ seven times: only that day they compassed the city seven times.”
¹ “Besides every day once for the space of six days.”
.
Wolfgang Musculus
Common Places of Christian Religion (London, 1563), 4th Commandment, fol. 66a-b
“…when he commands to sanctify the rest of the Sabbath, he recites not all the works of God from which He rested, but only them which He made in the space of six days: the heaven, the earth, the sea and all that therein is, and that after the doing of them, He rested the seventh day.
Therefore He appointed the sanctifying of the Sabbath, chiefly for this purpose, that the people should above all things be fed and strengthened in the faith of the creation… So that first their error is most bayne that say that the world was ever [eternal].”
.
An English Bible
The Holy Bible, containing the Old Testament & the New (London: in Paul’s Church-yard by Richard Jugge, printer to the Queen’s Majesty, 1568), margin note on Joshua, ch. 6, verse 15
“Besides every day once, for the space of six days.”
.
Another English Bible
The Bible. Translated according to the Hebrew and Greek, and conferred with the best translations in diverse languages. With most profitable Annotations… (London: Barker, Printer to the Queen’s Majesty, 1579), on Josh. 6:15
“Besides every day once for the space of six days.”
.
Zacharias Ursinus
The Sum of Christian Religion: delivered… in his lectures upon the [Heidelberg] Catechism authorized by the noble Prince Frederick, throughout his Dominions... (d. 1583; Oxford: Barnes, 1587), pt. 2, ‘Of Creation’, 2. ‘How God made the world’, p. 366
“6. God created not the world in one moment, but in the space of six days. In the seventh day God ended all his works.
Objection: ‘He that lives forever’ (says the son of Sirach, Ecclesiasticus 18:1) ‘made all things together.’ Therefore He made all in one moment.
Answer: He speaks not of a moment of time, but of the whole number of things: as if he should say, whatsoever are, they are all from God by creation. But the causes why God created not all in one moment, are these:
1. Because He would have the creation of the matter itself distinct and manifest from the forming, and fashioning of the bodies of the world, which consist of it.
2. Because He would show his power and liberty in producing and bringing forth whatsoever effects He could, and that without natural causes, while He yields light to the world, makes the earth fruitful, brings plants out of it, even before the sun and moon were made.
3. He would this way show his goodness and providence, whereby He cherishes his creatures, and provides for them not yet born, bringing beasts into the earth full of plants and food, and men into the world most stored and fraught with all things appertaining to the necessity and delight of life.
4. He would by that order and course of creation hold us not in an idle, but diligent consideration of his works: which also by the consecration of a Sabbath He has consecrated to all mankind.”
.
Jerome Zanchi
Confession of the Christian Religion… (1586; Cambridge, 1599), Confession, ch. 5, sect. 1, p. 21
“We believe that God the Father, by the Son, together with the Holy Ghost, in the space of six days created of nothing all things visible and invisible, which the Holy Spirit in the holy Scriptures comprehends under the name of ‘heauen and earth’;”
.
A Work on the Created Works of God in the Space of Six Days [spacium sex dierum]… 3rd ed. (Neustadt: Nicolas Schrammius, 1602)
.
John Foxe
Of Free Justification by Christ… (d. 1587; London: Parkhurst, 1694), bk. 2, On what condition properly does the Promise of Justification rely, p. 293
“For he that believes the whole architecture of this world was framed by the handiwork of God in the space of six days, he is indeed led by a right faith, as all truths are to be believed with a most sure faith, whatsoever are mentioned in the books of the Scripture…”
.
Gervase Babington
Certain Plain, Brief & Comfortable Notes upon every Chapter of Genesis (London: 1592), ch. 1, p. 6
“7. And lastly, in what time or how many days did God create all things, in six days says the Scripture, and every day some thing says this place, till the seventh day, wherein He rested. Non uno momento, sed sex dierum spatio, ‘not in one moment, but in six days’ space.’
If you happily think or meet with Syrach’s words [in Ecclesiasticus], who says, ‘He that lives made all things together, the Lord who only is iust,’ etc., you must consider that he speaks not of the time, but of the multitude of creatures, meaning that God made them all together before He rested, and gave over creating, but not meaning that He made them all in one moment of time or in one day, for we see both this place and others against it: the Lord’s own commandment written with his own finger gives testimony that in six days the whole was made.”
.
William Perkins
An Exposition of the Symbol or Creed of the Apostles… (London, 1595), pp. 62-63
“Seventhly, some may ask in what space did God make the world? I answer:
God could have made the world and all things in it in one moment: but He began and finished the whole work in six distinct days.
[This phrase is likely opposed to those in the early and Medieval Church who taught that the six days were but one day repeated six times.]
In the first day He made the matter of all things and the light… and in the end of the sixth day He made man. Thus in six distinct spaces of time, the Lord did make all things: and that especially for three causes:
I. To teach men that they ought to have a distinct and serious consideration of every creature: for if God had made the world in a moment, some might have said, this work is so mystical that no man can speak of it. But for the preventing of this cavil, it was his pleasure to make the world and all things therein in six days: and the seventh day He commanded it to be sanctified by men, that they might distinctly and seriously meditate upon every work of the creation.
II. God made the world and every thing therein in six distinct days, to teach us what wonderful power and liberty He had over all his creatures: for He made the light when there was neither sun nor moon, nor stars: to show that in giving light to the world, He is not bound to the sun, to any creature or to any means: for the light was made the first day: but the sun, the moon and the stars were not created before the fourth day.
Again, trees and plants were created the third day: but yet the sun, moon and the stars, and rain which nourish and make herbs, trees and plants to grow were not created till after the third day: which shows plainly that God can make trees, plants and herbs to grow without the means of rain, and without the virtue and operation of the sun, the moon and the stars.
III. He made the world in six distinct days and framed all things in this order to teach us his wonderful providence of his creatures: for before man was created He provided for him a dwelling place and all things necessary for his perpetual preservation and perfect happiness and felicity. So also He created beasts and cattle: but not before He had made herbs, plants and grass, and all means whereby they are preserved. And if God had this care over man when as yet He was not: much more will God have care over him now when he is, and has a being in nature.”
.
1600’s
David Pareus
Disputation Three, on the Creation of the Works of the Fourth, Fifth & Sixth Day, out of Gen. 1 (Heidelberg: Lancellot, 1600), p. 24
“144… Hence everything which God made in the space of six days was very good, v. 31.”
.
Richard Hooker
The Works of Mr. Richard Hooker… in Eight Books of Ecclesiastical Polity (d. 1600; London: Newcomb, 1666), A Remedy against Sorrow & Fear, delivered in a Funeral Sermon, p. 546 Note Hooker’s use of the phrase here is not limited to natural days.
“The judgments of God do not always follow crimes, as thunder does lightning, but sometimes the space of many ages coming between. When the sun has shined fair the space of six days upon their tabernacle, we know not what clouds the seventh may bring. And when their punishment does come, let them make their account, in the greatness of their sufferings to pay the interest of that respite which has been given them.”
.
Sibrandus Lubbertus
Theological Disputation Ten, explicating the Catechism’s 26th Question, on the Creation of the World (Franeker: Radaeus, 1606), n.p. Lubbertus (d. 1625) was a Dutch reformed professor of theology at Franeker.
“19. Nor suddenly or in one moment, but in the space of six days, Gen. 2:2, 5567 years before [3951 BC], according to the common reckoning.”
.
Lucas Trelcatius
A Brief Institution of the Common Places of Sacred Divinity (London, 1610), bk. 2, ch. 3, Of Creation, Confirming Part
p. 100
“Creation therefore theologically is the first bringing forth of Nature, and of things in nature done (or made) by God in the beginning of time, and finished in the space of six days, unto his own glory, and the salvation of the elect.”
.
p. 104
“The forme of Creation, to wit, of that which is primary, is both that hidden force of divine power, put into that first matter, according to the being and conditions of the same: as also the external, immediate and instant bringing forth of the matter & the state thereof, without shape and order:
But, of that which is secondary, the form internal is that common and hidden nature of the whole frame, which God has imprinted into all things after a common mean and manner: but the external, whereof speech is here, is that powerful bringing forth of all things, out of the first matter in the beginning of time, by the space of six days; as also the most godly disposing of the same, both in themselues and among themselves.”
.
Elnathan Parr
The Grounds of Divinity Plainly Discovering the Mysteries of Christian Religion (London, 1614), Grounds of Divinity
pp. 73, 75-76
“Question: What is Creation?
Answer: Creation is a work proper only to God, undividedly common to the Father, the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, whereby, in the beginning, and in the space of six days, God made of nothing, the heavens and earth, and all the host of them visible, and invisible, to the glory of his Name, and the use of man…
Yea whereas the Lord could have made the world in an instant, it pleased Him to take six days to finish the heaven and the earth, with all the host of them, to this end (we may well suppose) that we should take good notice of the same. For this, was the Sabbath ordained, that we might preserve the memory of the Creation, and praise the Lord…”
.
pp. 81-82
“The time of this first darkeness, and the first continuance of the light following, made the first natural day: The darkeness being called Night, and the Light, Day: which light went and returned by the wonderful appointment of God, till the fourth day; when the order of day and night was to be disposed by the sun.”
.
John Dod & Robert Cleaver
Plain & Familiar Exposition of the Ten Commandments... (London: Lownes, 1615), 4th Commandment, p. 151
“Therefore that everyone may keep a holy rest, he must do all that he has to do upon the six days. And if he take more upon him, then he can finish in the space of six days; it is more than God lays upon him…”
.
Irish Articles
Articles of Religion agreed upon by the Archbishops & Bishops, and the Rest of the clergy of Ireland, in the convocation holden at Dublin in… 1615, for the avoiding of diversities of opinions: and the establishing of consent touching true religion (1615; London, 1628), ‘Of the Creation & Government of All Things’
“[Article 18] In the beginning of time, when no creature had any being, God by his Word alone, in the space of six days, created all things, and afterwards by his providence does continue, propagate and order them according to his own will.”
.
Nicholas Byfield
An Exposition upon the Epistle to the Colossians (London, 1615), on Col. 1:16, p. 115
“Sixtly, in the space of six days; not at one time only, and this showed the creatures’ disability, that could not form itself when the first matter was created. Herein also God showed his power, and that He was not tied to second causes, as he declared when He gave light to the world, while yet there was no sun.
Then herein he teaches men to dwell long upon the meditation of the creation, seeing God Himself did prolong the creation for so many days, which yet He could have dispatched in an instant.”
.
Henry Ainsworth
The Orthodox Foundation of Religion... (d. 1622?; London: R.C., 1641), pt. 2, Mystery of Piety, p. 18 See Hall’s references of Ainsworth’s Annotations on Genesis to confirm he held to a natural day view.
“The creation of the world was distinguished by the space of six days, in respect of the effects, and whole world created; and for our better capacity. And for as much as God is above all time, and of infinite power, it is to be thought He created every thing particular [every particular thing] in a moment, saying, ‘Let there be light, and there was light’, Gen. 1:3.”
.
Thomas Wilson
A Complete Christian Dictionary (London: Cotes, 1622), ‘Week’
“‘Week’ The space of seven days. 1 Cor. 16:1, Every first day of the week.”
.
John Broughton
God & Man, or a Treatise Catechistical, wherein the saving knowledge of God and man is plainly and briefly declared… (London, 1623)
pp. 31-32
“I. What is Creation, the second special work of God (as you affirmed) that we are to inform ourselves of out of the Scriptures?
B. It is a most powerful work of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, by which in the beginning, in the space of six days, by his Word only, out of nothing, He made the heavens and the earth, with all things in them visible and invisible; to the praise of his infinite power, wisdom and goodness.”
.
p. 153
“Fiftly, the Primitive Church administered the Communion under both kinds to the people; and it has been the constant custom of the Christian Churches so to do for the space of more than a thousand years together after the times of the apostles.”
.
Johannes Polander
Synopsis of Pure Theology (Brill, 2015), vol. 1, disputation 10, ‘Concerning the Creation of the World’, pp. 248-49
“Hence we define the creation of the world as an external action of the almighty God… whereby… He founded the heavens and the earth out of nothing, at the beginning of time. And in the space of six days He arranged in their proper order all the individual things which He willed to mold from that prime matter…”
.
Alexander Ross
An Exposition on the Fourteen First Chapters of Genesis, by way of Question & Answer… (London, 1626), Questions on the 2nd Chapter, pp. 28-29
“Q. DId God create the world at the same instant, or in the space of six days?
A. In the space of six days:
First, because Moses’ narration is historical, and therefore he speaks of six distinct days.
Secondly, Moses, Ex. 20 & 31, urges the Jews to work six days and rest the seventh, because God created the world in six days and rested the seventh; this reason had been ridiculous if God had made the world in an instant.
Thirdly, if we understand Moses in this place allegorically, then we must make this whole history an allegory.
Fourthly, if the seventh day had been the first (and in it God had created the world), then how is it understood that God rested the seventh day?
Fiftly, how could so many diverse kinds of creatures be created in the same instant of time? yea, then we must say that man was created and brought into Paradise and was cast asleep, and Eve was formed of his rib the same instant.
Q. How then is that understood, Ecclesiasticus 18 [v. 1], ‘He that lives forever, created all things together’?
A. It is to be understood of that confused mass that God created in the beginning: out of the which afterward He created the rest of the creatures in their distinct days.
Q. Why did God spend so much time in making the world?
A. Not because He was weak and could not make it in less time, but that we might the more seriously consider the order of the creation, distinction and replenishing of the world; and in these, the omnipotency, wisdom and goodness of God.”
.
Balthasar Meisner
Sacred Meditations on Evangelical Lord’s Days (Wittenberg, 1629), Gospel Lord’s Day of Palms, Mt. 21:1-10, etc. ‘Of the Coming of Christ into Jerusalem’, Homily, p. 332 Meisner was a Lutheran.
“The first is the septenary of Creation when through the intervals of six days all things were made by God; of which, Gen. 1.”
.
Hugo Grotius
True Religion Explained & Defended… (London, 1632), sect. 15, pp. 47-48
“Thus also a celebration of the finishing of the creation within the space of seven days, which is termed the Sabbath, was observed not only amongst the Grecians and Italians (for of the Hebrews it is clear enough) but also by… and by the most ancient appellations of the days in the week.
…and that the lives of those which lived at the beginning, and afterward were protracted almost to the space of a thousand years, it [is] witnessed by Berosus, Manethos, and others…”
.
William Jones
A Commentary upon the Epistles of Saint Paul to Philemon, & to the Hebrews… (London, 1635), on Hebrews, ch. 11, verse 9, p. 459
“…and in commemoration hereof there was instituted among the Jews a feast of tents and tabernacles, which was kept with great solemnity; by the space of seven days they sat in booths.”
.
Henry Valentine
Four Sea-Sermons… (London: Flesher, 1635), 2nd Sermon, p. 17
“So that the creation of the world was like the building of the Temple, there was no noise of any tool or hammer heard in it; but like Jonas his gourd though it was not planted, nor watered grew up on a sudden, even in the short space of six days, and this is another wonder.
The Temple of Jerusalem was a stately and magnificent building, yet it was not built in less time than forty and six years, notwithstanding many hands went to it; but the whole fabric of heaven and earth was finished in the space of six days: and He that made it in so few days, could (if he had pleased) have made it in as few minutes.”
.
William Pemble
A Treatise of the Providence of God in The Works… 3rd ed. (London: Cotes, 1635), ‘Of Creation’, p. 265
“Creation therefore is the action of God, whereby out of nothing he brought forth Nature, and all things in Nature, both substances and accidents, in and with the substances, and finished them in the space of six days, to his own glory, and salvation of the elect.”
.
John Swan
Speculum mundi: or a Glass Representing the Face of the World… (Cambridge, 1635)
ch. 1, p. 21
“For six is no number of rest; witness the six days of creation, the six days of our weekly labor, and the six ages of the world. But seven is for rest; witness the sabbatical days, the sabbatical years, and that eternal sabbath in the heaven of heavens when the six ages of the world shall be ended.”
.
ch. 6, p. 224
“Josephus, Of the Jewish War, bk. 7, ch. 24, writes that there is a river in Palestine, which passes between two cities… which river is admirable for an extraordinary singularity: namely, that having entertained his violent and swift course for the space of six days, on the seventh it remains dry: which being past, it runs as before; and therefore is called the river of the Sabbath:”
.
William Ames
The Marrow of Sacred Divinity (London: Griffin, 1642), ch. 8, ‘Of Creation’, pp. 38-39
“28. But the creation of these parts of the world was not altogether and in one moment, but it was finished by parts succeding one another, in the space of six days [sex dierum interstitiis].”
[interstitiis literally means “intervals” (see Logeion). This is a more precise word than “day,” which is capable of more meanings. “Intervals” rules out instantaneous creation as well as an early and medieval Church view that the six days were simply one day repeated six times. On the other hand, interstitiis stops short of defining these spaces as 24 hours, undefined ambiguity remaining.]
.
Arthur Jackson
A Help for the Understanding of the Holy Scripture, containing Certain Short Notes of Exposition upon the Five Books of Moses (1643), on Gen. 1, verse 5, p. 3
“‘The evening,’ which is the beginning of the night, and ‘the morning’, which is the beginning of the day, are here put for the whole time of night and day, which joined together are said to make one entire day, to wit, in a large sense comprehending both night and day, which is with us the space of 24 hours…”
.
Westminster Divines
Order of
Walker
T. Valentine
Rutherford
Ley
White
Gouge
Strong
Burgess
Maynard
Lightfoot
.
George Walker
The History of the Creation as it is Written by Moses in the First & Second Chapters of Genesis: Plainly Opened & Expounded in Several Sermons… (London: Barlet, 1641), Of the Creation of the World
ch. 1, pp. 7-8. See also p. 6 for more similar context.
“The time of the creation, as here I take it in general, is not only the first moment of time, as in this [first] verse it signifies, but also the six days mentioned distinctly in the rest of the chapter. For the highest heaven, and the rude matter, the earth, were created in the first moment of time, and all other things in the space of six days, as the history most plainly teaches…
…or if I incline to any opinion concerning the time of the year, it is that the world was created in the Spring, when the day and night are equal and both of one length in all the world, that is, in the month [Hebrew] Abib, which is part of March and part of April.”
.
ch. 3, p. 42
“The second thing which I observe from this word bereshith, ‘in the beginning’ (which signifies in this place the first being or moment of time) is this, That time itself is but an adjunct, or circumstance of things created, and had a beginning, and shall have an end with the mutable and moveable world. For proof of this we need seek no further but to the fifth verse, where it is said, ‘The evening and the morning were the first day,’ that is, time was produced by the Word of God, even the first day together with the things therein created; and so it follows of all the days of the first week, they are said to be made with the works created in them.
And indeed in reason it must needs be so; because time is nothing else but the continuance of things created and the measure of the motions which are in the created world, a day is the measure of the sun’s course from East to West, and round about to the East again: An hour is the time in which the sun runs the four and twentieth part of his day’s motion: A week is the space of seven days, and a year the time which the sun goes his course through the twelve signs of the zodiak; and the whole time of the world consists of years, months and days. Now all these had a beginning, and have an end; yea, there was no day till light and darkness were made and distinguished; no month nor year till the sun and the moon were set in their course:”
.
p. 107
“After that darkness had continued upon the face of the deep, and the whole matter of this inferior world had remained full of darkness for the space of one night, God by his powerful Word created light…”
.
p. 110
“The sun and moon stood still for the space of a whole day, Josh. 10, and the sun went back ten degrees, 2 Kings 20.”
.
p. 113
“The second is, why God called only the light ‘day’, and Moses calls both the evening and the morning, that is, the time of light and darkness, ‘one day’, or ‘the first day’.
I answer that God’s ‘day’, which is most truly and properly so called, is the time of light, and in it there is no night or darkness. For God speaks of a natural day, distinct from the night: but Moses speaks of a civil day which comprehends in it the space of 24 hours, in which the sun runs round about the world with the heavens; which ‘day’ includes in it a day and a night: and here observe that God’s ‘day’ is all light, and man’s ‘day’ is mixed of light and darkness.
Thirdly, it may asked whether the night, or the day went before in the first day of the creation.
The answer is that the night or time of darkness was first; and it is likely that darkness did overspread the face of the deep the space of a night, that is 12 hours, before God formed the light, and setled the visible heavens in their place; and that after the light was created, it did shine forth for the space of 12 hours more before God went about to make the firmament, which was the second day’s work; and so the first day of the world was of the same length with all other civil or astronomical days, that is, 24 hours, divided equally between light and darkness.”
.
ch. 9, pp. 138-39
“First by ‘day’ we are here [in Gen. 1:14, ‘to separate the day from the night’] to understand not the space of the sun, moon, and stars compassing the earth, which is the space of 24 hours; for that ‘day’ consists of an evening and a morning, and comprehends in it one night; and some call it a natural, and some a civil, and some an astronomical day: but here by ‘day’ we are to understand the time while the sun, the greatest light, shines and gives light upon the face of the earth:
And by ‘night’ the time while the moon and stars do only appear and give their dim light upon the earth, which some call an artificial and civil day and night, but others do more properly call it a natural day, and a natural night.”
.
Thomas Valentine
A Sermon Preached to the Honorable House of Commons at their late Solemn Fast, Dec. 28, Wherein is described: 1. The Church her patience… (London: Man, 1643), p. 15
“His friends come to mourn with him [Job], but they instead of mitigating his grief, increase it. For they come and wonder, and sit silent, and say nothing to him, for the space of seven days together.”
.
Samuel Rutherford
The Due Right of Presbyteries… (London, 1644), pt. 1, ch. 8, sect. 8, p. 236
“And before Nicolas II in a synod at Rome before 113 bishops, for the space of seven days he pleaded the same cause.”
.
John Ley
Annotations upon all the books of the Old & New Testament (London: Legatt, 1645), On Genesis
on Gen. 1:5
“‘the first day’ …This first day consisting of twenty four hours had (as some think) for the first half of it the precedent [preceeding] darkness, and for the other the light newly created: the night they take to be meant by evening, a part of it, and the day by the morning which is part of it also: and according to this the Sabbath (being as large a day as any of the rest, and so containing twenty four hours) is measured from even to even, Lev. 23:32;
the Romans and other Western nations reckon the twenty four hours from mid-night to mid-night; the Egyptians contrariwise from mid-day to mid-day. Yet it may be with good probability thought that at the first (according to the Chaldean account, which is quite contrary to that of the Jews’ forecited, measuring the day from sunrising to sunrising) the day natural began with the light: for even is the declining light of the foregoing day; and the morning may as well be called the end of the night past, as the beginning of the day following: and so diverse of the learned by the evening understand the day, as the end thereof; and by morning the night, at which time it is at an end: for denominations are many times taken from the end, because thereby the thing is made complete: so the whole week is called by the name Sabbath, Lev. 23:15 & Mt. 18:12, because with it the week is wholly made up and fully finished.”
.
on Gen. 1:31
“…it seems the angels were made before the stars; for the sons of God, by which are meant the angels, are said to shout for joy at the first appearing of the morning stars, Job 38:7. In this diversity of opinions for the time of the creation, we conceive that in the six days’ space and before the last day there is no error of danger which way soever we take it.”
.
on Gen. 6:3
“but by these words God gives a hundred and twenty years’ space of repentance to the world, Noah the while preaching and preparing the ark…”
.
on Gen. 11:1
“as many think the tongue which Adam spake, and which was used in all the world about the space of one thousand seven hundred and fifty years, viz. until about an hundred and thirty years after the flood…”
.
on Gen. 35:26
“…Bethlehem in the land of Canaan, where Jacob had continued for the space of eight years…”
.
on Gen. 46:3
“…there came out of Egypt of those that came out of Jacob’s loins… about six hundred thousand men, besides children, Ex. 12:37, which was a miraculous increase, especially if we consider that it was brought forth in the space of two hundred and fifteen years…”
.
on Gen. 49:10
“After the captivity, the dignity of the tribe of Judah… revived in Zerubbabel… and from him continued the principality in that tribe by the space of two hundred and seventy years…”
.
on Gen. 49:30
“and to furnish Joseph with more matter of excuse to Pharaoh when he should make report of his request, that it might be entertained without offence, and withal, having been absent thence by the space of seventeen years…”
.
on Gen. 50:3
“…the Israelites agreed with the Egyptians in the long and curious ceremony of embalming for forty days, which were days of sadness, because they were spent in applications to the dead; and the Egyptians agreed with the Hebrews in their thirty days of mourning, in the places fore-mentioned. There is afterward mention made of a mourning by the space of seven days, verse 10….”
.
John White
A Commentary upon the Three First Chapters of the First Book of Moses called Genesis (d. 1648; London: Streater, 1656)
on verse 5
“‘And the evening’ That is, thus the first day ended with creating the light, and God forbare to create any more, until that evening was past, and the next morning came. By the ‘evening’, we must here understand the whole night, or space between the shutting in of the light and the dawning of the next day.
Now Moses names the evening first, because the darkness was before the light. In the same manner runs the computation of times among the Hebrews to this day…
God is here represented to us in the creation of the world proceeding by leisure, and taking the time of six days to perform that which He might have as easily dispatched in a moment of time, if He had so been pleased.”
.
on verse 8
“The evening and morning keep their course, as they did the first day, and so do they all the days ensuing; yea, as we see even to this time, as they shall do to the world’s end.”
.
on Gen. 2, verse 3
“…the world’s creation, ended in six days, and declared to be perfected by his resting upon the seventh. In which number of days, He also pointed out, as it were, a set period of time, according to the revolution whereof times might be ever after computed, by weeks, or sevens of days. So that in that time, in which He made and fully finished the world, He set out a proportion of time, in which that Holy day should be observed; and by the perfecting of the world upon the seventh day, designed the very day, which, in that revolution of time, should be consecrated to Himself, and that by the ground upon which it was to be observed.”
.
William Gouge
A Learned & very useful Commentary on the Whole Epistle to the Hebrews (d. 1653; London: A.M., 1655), ch. 11, §174, Of the meaning of Heb. 11:30, p. 150
“God in this course does also tender their weakness, in giving the city within the space of seven days, without any great pains of their own, into their hands.”
.
William Strong
The Worm that Dies Not, or Hell Torments… (d. 1654; London: 1672), pp. 274-75
“…as creation in God is but one simple act of his will… But He does will that the creatures in the space of six days should take their beginning, and that after the creation…”
.
Anthony Burgess
The Scripture Directory for Church-Officers & People, or a Practical Commentary upon the Whole Third Chapter of the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians (London, 1659), on verse 3, ‘for ye are yet carnal’, p. 22
“God who made the world by degrees in the space of six days could have done it in a moment, as Augustine thought he did.”
.
John Maynard
The Beauty & Order of the Creation Together with Natural & Allegorical Meditations on the Six Days Works of the Creation… (d. 1665; London: T.M., 1668), ch. 2, pp. 36-40
“Use 1. In that God did choose to make the world in this space of time, who could as easily have made it, as well in one moment, as in six days; this should teach us to take time for meditation on his works.
He that could in one instant, at one word have brought forth heaven full of stars, the air full of fowls, the water full of fishes, the earth full of beasts, creeping things, trees, etc. was pleased to make several days works of this wonderful creation, and to proceed distinctly and orderly in his work: teaching us by the manner of his working only by his Word without instruments, that he could have done all at once, which now He did at several times…
…few of us could say that of all the time we have spent, ever sith-hence we had the use of our understandings, in a serious meditation on God’s works, to this end that we might glorify the Maker, would not make up one week, not one six days, not so long as the Lord was in bringing them forth. Is not this a shame for man, who was made of purpose to glorify God in his works, that he should not in all his life spend so much time in meditating on the works of God, notwithstanding his dulness and sloth of apprehension, as the Lord was pleased to take in making of them, notwithstanding his omnipotency, which could have made them all in less than one minute, as easily as in a thousand years!…
And what if I should say, it were expedient herein to follow the same order in considering of the Lord’s works, as the Lord Himself did in their creation; that is, to bind ourselves to do the work of the Day in its day, namely on the same day wherein each work was done, to meditate on the work of that Day?…
…the Lord has been pleased, not only to let us know how many days He spent in the creation of all the whole, but also particularly and distinctly to acquaint us with his several days’ works; telling us what He did the first Day, what he did the second Day, etc. I dare boldly say, it is expedient even to tie ourselves to set apart some time in those several days for a more special view of those several works.”
.
John Lightfoot
The Works of the Reverend & Learned John Lightfoot… (London: W.R., 1684), Horae Hebraicae & Talmudicae,
v. 56, ‘Abode with her three months’
“A space of time very well known amongst the doctors, defined by them to know whether a woman be with child or no.”
.
v. 80, p. 388
“One might think, surely he [John the Baptist] must have lain hid in some den or cave of the earth, when for the space of almost thirty years wherein he had lived, he had had no society with Jesus, so near a kinsman of his…”
.
“The woman that brings forth a man-child is prohibited her husband the space of seven days; but on the seventh day, at the coming in of the evening, which begins the eighth day [Hebrew], she washes herself, and is allowed to go in unto her husband.”
.
After Westminster
Order of
Wendelin
Shephard
Mather
Parker
Cotton
Adams
Ussher
Leigh
Daille
Durham
Lawson
Gearing
Alleine
Vincent
Poole
Hopkins
Marck
.
1600’s
Marcus Wendelin
Section 1 of Physical Contemplations, which is General Physiology… (Cambridge: Roger Daniel, 1648), section 2, ch. 15, thesis 1, sections 19-22, pp. 335-38 Wendlein uses the same terminology as Bonaventure, and even similar outlines of arguments.
.
Thomas Shephard
The First Principles of the Oracles of God… (d. 1649; London: Rothwel, 1655), pp. 6 & 10
“Q. Did the Lord make the world in an instant?
A. No, but by parts, in the space of six days, described at large by Moses, Gen. 1.
…
Q. What is the first degree of Christ’s exaltation?
A. His resurrection the third day, whereby his soul and body by the power of the Godhead, were brought together again, and so rose again from death, appearing to his disciples for the space of forty days, 1 Cor. 15:4; Jn. 2:19; Acts 1:3.”
.
Richard Mather
A Catechism, or the Grounds & Principles of Christian Religion set forth by way of Question & Answer… (London: 1650), ch. 5, pp. 19-20
“Q. In what time was the world created?
A. Every particular thing quickly, and as it were in an instant, and the whole in the space of six days.
…
Q. Why was God six days in making the world?
A. Not because He needed so much time, but that we might more distinctly consider of his works.”
.
William Parker
Intro
Parker was an early critic of Westminster’s Confession of Faith (perhaps the first one to write a published commentary on it). Yet, in his criticism below (and its larger context) he understand’s Westminster’s phrase “in the space of six days” to refer to natural days.
.
The Late Assembly of Divines’ Confession of Faith Examined: as it was Presented by Them unto the Parliament, wherein Many of their Excesses & Defects of their Confusions & Disorders, of their Errors and Contradictions, are Presented Both to Themselves & Others (1651), ch. 4, ‘Of the Creation’, p. 53
“Answer… nor were all these things [including the angelic “world”] created in the space of six days, as you untruly affirm.
…
Secondly, nor were the angels and their heavens created within the space of those six days, wherein all things of this world were made, Gen. 1.1—but long before.”
.
John Cotton
A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Observations, Reasons & Uses upon the First Epistle General of John (d. 1652; 1658), on ch. 3, verse 2, doctrines 3-4, pp. 224-26
“As God did not make the whole fabric of the world at once, though it was not impossible to Him, being a God Almighty, but in the space of six days: So does God deal with his children, in creating in them a clean heart; first he suffers their hearts to be as a rude and massy lump, full of darkness, and then God sends his Holy Spirit into their hearts, and it does illuminate them; and drive away those black clouds of darkness and ignorance…
4… As the sun does now move with much celerity, so fast, that it does in the space of a day, run over many millions of miles.”
.
Thomas Adams
The Main Principles of Christian Religion in a 107 Short Articles or Aphorisms, generally received as being prov’d from scripture: now further cleared and confirmed by the consonant doctrine recorded in the articles and homilies of the Church of England (d. 1653; London, 1675), ch. 1, p. 15
“Article 9, The work of creation is God’s making all things of nothing, by the Word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good.”
.
James Ussher
A Body of Divinity... (1645), A Large Explication of the Body of Christian Religion,
pp. 96-97
“How long is it since God did create the world?
Four thousand years before the birth of our Saviour Christ, and so about 5614 years before this time.
Why is the order of the years of the world so carefully set down in the Scripture?
1. To convince all heathen that either thought that the world was without beginning, or that it began millions of years before it did.
2. To give light to all sacred histories of the Bible…
…
How long was God creating the world?
Six days and six nights.
Why was He creating so long, seeing He could have perfected all the creatures at once and in a moment?
First, to show the variety, distinction and excellency of his several creatures.
Secondly, to teach us the better to understand their workmanship, even as a man which will teach a child in the frame of a letter will first teach him one line of the letter, and not the whole letter together.
Thirdly, to admonish us that we are bound to bestow more time in discerning and knowing them than we do.
Fourthly, that we might also by his example finish our work in six days.
Fifthly, that we might observe, that many of the creatures were made before those which are ordinarily their causes, and thereby learn, that the Lord is not bound to any creature, or to any means: thus the sun was not created before the fourth day, and yet days which now are caused by the rising of the sun were before that; so trees and plants were created the third day, but the sun, moon and stars, by which they are now nourished and made to grow, were not created till after the third day.”
.
p. 244
“When then does this our Sabbath begin, and how long does it continue?
This day, as all the six, is the space of twenty four hours, and begins at the dawning, though we ought in the evening before to prepare for the day following.”
.
The Principles of Christian Religion (1654) in The Whole Works (Dublin: Hodges & Smith, 1654), vol. 11, p. 183
“Q. In what manner had all things their beginning?
A. In the beginning of time, when no creature had any being, God by his Word alone, in the space of six days created all things.”
.
Edward Leigh
A System or Body of Divinity (London: 1654), bk. 3, ch. 2
p. 225
“Creation is the action of God, whereby out of nothing He brought forth nature itself and all things in nature, both substances and accidents, in and with the substances, and finished them in the space of six days, both to his own glory and the salvation of the elect…
Or thus, creation is a transient or external action of God, whereby in the beginning He made the world by a mere command out of his own free will in six days’ space to the glory of his name.”
.
p. 229
“God could have created them all at once, but He made them in the space of six days,¹ that He might show…
¹ That opinion of Augustine, that God made all things in a moment and distributed them into days because of our better understanding, is exploded by all. Although Creation was done in a moment, in respect of the particular bodies severally considered, yet in respect of all, it was not perfected in an instant, but in the space of six days; which spaces of days, note not a temporal succession of the same, but the order of diverse works. Some allege [against this the singular word ‘day’ in] Gen. 2:4, but it is not unusual in the Scripture to comprehend many days under the name of one. See Aquinas, [Summa] pt. 1, quest. 74, art. 2.”
.
John Daille
A Treatise concerning the Right Use of the Fathers (1655; London, 1675), bk. 2, ch. 4, p. 96
“There is no man but knows, that he [Augustine]… conceives, against all sense and reason, that the whole world was created all in an instant of time; and refers the six days’ space of time, wherein the creation is said to have been perfected, to the different degrees of the knowledge of the angels.”
.
James Durham
The Law Unsealed: or a Practical Exposition of the Ten Commandments… (d. 1658; Glasgow: Sanders, 1676), 4th Commandment, p. 183
“The second and main reason follows, [Ex. 20] v. 11, wherein this command [of keeping the Sabbath] is three ways pressed also, 1. By God’s example, who during the space of six days wrought (though He might as easily have made all in one day) and rested the seventh, and not before the seventh, on which he wrought none; even so it becomes men to do, seeing He intended this for their imitation, and for that end does propose it here…”
.
John Davenport
A Catechism containing the Chief Heads of Christian Religion (London, 1659), pp. 11, 19
“Question: Did God make the world in one instant?
Answer: No: But by parts, in the space of six days.
…
Question: What was the first degree of his ex∣altation?
Answer: His Resurrection, the third day, whereby his soul and body were brought together again by the power of the Godhead, and so He rose from death and appeared to his disciples, for the space of forty days.”
.
George Lawson
An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews… (London: J.S., 1662)
ch. 10, p. 197
“And though there was an intermission of the space of a year between every single and individual sacrifice, yet they are said to be offered continually.”
.
ch. 11, p. 249
“But that this world should be made at such a time, and at first of no pre-existent matter, and in the space of six days, and in that order one part after another, and by the Word of God as the sole efficient, and so many years ago, is far above reason.”
.
William Gearing
The Eye & Wheel of Providence, or a Treatise Proving that there is a Divine Providence (London: Tyton, 1662), ch. 1, pp. 5-6
“‘My Father worketh hitherto, etc.’ God having finished that work of Creation in the space of six days, rested from that work on the seventh day; but from the work of his providence, and governing the things He has made, He never rested one day from the Creation of the world. In six days the Creation of the world was finished, but the government thereof is perpetual, and God continually works in preserving and maintaining the order thereof, even as the apostle says…”
.
The Mount of Holy Meditation: or a Treatise… (London: Tyton, 1662), ch. 8, pp. 54-56
“Now you are to meditate how God brought forth all his works in the space of six days, before He finished them; He did not create the world all at once, but took time for the creation of it, to teach us to take special time duly and orderly to consider and meditate on the works of God: if He that could have made the Heavens and the earth, the sun, moon and stars, and all creatures, in a moment; yet it pleased Him to take time for the creating of them; this should teach us to select some space of time for the meditation of them:
We must not think it enough to look upon them at one view, but to pass from part to part, from one creature to another, and in every creature to admire the workmanship, power, wisdom and goodness of the Creator, as we are taught, Ps. 92:4-5… which psalm as the title tells us, was a meditation penned for the Sabbath day: therefore I say, God would spend six days about the creation of the world, whereas He might have done it in an instant, and in a moment of time, to the end that we might the better meditate upon it from point to point, for which purpose He presently ordained the Sabbath…
The eternal power and Godhead is seen by the things that are made; but most of us have great cause to be ashamed, that we have spent so little time in meditating on the works of God; yea who can truly say he has spent so much time in meditating on God’s works as God spent in making them? How few are there that have set apart so much time ever since they were born, as (if it were all laid together) will make up six days one entire week? What a shame is it for man whom God made on purpose to view his works, and by them to glorify Him, not to spend so much time in meditating upon them as God spent in making of them;”
.
Joseph Alleine
A Most Familiar Explanation of the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism… (d. 1668; London: Brewster, 1674), Catechism, pp. 11-12
“Q. 9. What is the work of creation?
A. The work of creation is God’s making all things of nothing, by the Word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good.
…
Q. In what time did He make them?
A. In the space of six days.”
.
Thomas Vincent
An Explicatory Catechism; or, An Explanation of the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism (1673; NY: Deare, 1806), Question 9, ‘What is the work of creation?’, p. 44
“Q. 4. In what time did God create all things?
A. God created all things in the space of six days. He could have created all things together in a moment, but he took six days’ time to work in, and rested on the seventh day, that we might the better apprehend the order of the creation, and that we might imitate Him in working but six days of the week, and in resting on the seventh.”
.
Matthew Poole
Annotations upon the Holy Bible, vol. 2 (d.1679; London: Parkhurst, 1685), on Hebrews, ch. 1, v. 10
“By ‘Founding the earth, and the heavens being the work of thy hands,’ is meant the whole work of creation throughout the space of six days:”
.
Ezekiel Hopkins
A Second Volume of Discourses or Sermons… (London: 1693), Of Pardon & Forgiveness of Sin, etc. bk. 5, pp. 29-30
“The time of their [the devils’] standing in their primitive state is conceived to be very short; for their creation (though the Socinians hold it was long before) must fall within the compass of six days, for in that space the Scripture tells us God made heaven and earth, and all things therein: and therefore within the space of six days He created the angels also.
Some refer their creation to the first day’s work, others to the fourth day: and it’s probably thought that Adam’s continuance in innocency was not much above one day, and yet even then there were fallen Angels to tempt him: so that their glorious and blessed state could not, according to the computation, last above six or seven days, such a speedy issue did God make with them upon their very first sin…”
.
Johannes a Marck
A Compendium of Christian Theology, Didactic & Elenctic (Amsterdam, 1696; 1722), ch. 7, §5 as translated here
“It [Creation] is defined as an external act of God, whereby, by the command of His will alone, He made the whole world out of nothing in the beginning of time in the space of six days, for the praise of His glory to be demonstrated in it, and the salvation of the elect.”
.
.
The Westminster Divines on Earth’s Age
Order of Contents
Intro
Quotes 13
.
Intro
The quotes below are not exhaustive of the Westminster divines or their works, but are what could quickly be found. No data has been left out that was found. The results are a representative example of the divines on the topic. None have been found so far to have taught anything but a young earth, in the realm of thousands of years old (and that never explicitly exceeding roughly six thousand from their day).
Such view(s) expressed below lend themselves to a “literal” reading of Gen. 1 and the natural day view, and rule out “day”s being long ages, though it does not, in many of the quotes, necessitate a strict 24-hour day view, as the observations of Letham in his article below manifest.
.
Quotes
Order of
Twisse
Bolton
Walker
Burroughs
Rutherford
Caryl
Taylor
A. Burgess
White
Arrowsmith
Featley
Vane
Conant
.
1600’s
William Twisse
A Discovery of Dr. Jackson’s Vanity... (London, 1631), sect. 2, ch. 5, pp. 89-90
“In like sort we may imagine time before the world; for who doubts but that it was possible that time should have been sooner than it was and wh•s it is now about
six thousand years since the world began; so if it had pleased God, it might have been 10 thousand. But do not you infer here hence that we do imagine infinite time preceding the world; for that is not held to be possible as finite time is.”
.
The Riches of God’s Love unto the Vessels of Mercy… (d. 1646; Oxford, 1653), pt. 2, Discourse, the Second Sort of Arguments, p. 131
“Then again the world was now two thousand years old when this [Ex. 20, 2nd Commandment] was delivered…”
.
Robert Bolton
Certain Devout Prayers of Mr. Bolton upon Solemn Occasions… (London, 1638), ‘A Thanksgiving’, pp. 235-36
“We might have been born and lived in the time of the flood, and so been drowned and damned, or within the compass of that almost four thousand years between the Creation and the coming of Christ, out of the partition wall, and so have had no means or ordinary possibility of salvation.”
.
George Walker
The History of the Creation as it is written by Moses in the First & Second Chapters of Genesis... (London, 1641)
ch. 2, p. 25
“If there could be a man found on earth, who had lived ever since the time of Christ, or since the days of Adam or Noah… But behold, all this world is but of short continuance, created of God not many thousands of years ago. God is before it, even from all eternity.”
.
ch. 3, p. 43
“…cast off all vain thoughts and imaginations of time going before the creation of the world. It is the folly of many, when they read of the world’s creation but so many thousand years ago, to dream of time before creation, and to question what God did in that time?”
.
Jeremiah Burroughs
Moses his Choice with his Eye Fixed upon Heaven… (d. 1646; London, 1650), ch. 46, pp. 540-41
“…but to know all the ways of God since the beginning of the world, must be a glorious sight. It is not yet six thousand years since God did any thing out of Himself, and what is six thousand years to eternity?”
.
The Saint’s Walk by Faith, ch. 25 in The Ninth, Tenth & Eleventh Books of Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs: containing Three Treatises… (d. 1646; London, 1655), p. 425
“7. …if you think to overcome temptations by reasoning, the Devil will be too hard for you, for he is the old Serpent, very full of skill, knowledge, and great experience that he has had for these six thousand years;”
.
Gospel-Revelation in Three Treatises… (London, 1660), Treatise 1, Sermon 2, p. 22
“As now the world it was not made six thousand years ago; Now God willed from all eternity that there should be a world in time…”
.
Samuel Rutherford
Christ Dying & Drawing Sinners to Himself… (London, 1647)
p. 12
“Weariness and motion is laid on moon and sun, and all creatures on this side of the moon. Seas ebb and flow, and that’s trouble; winds blow, rivers move, heavens and stars, these five thousand years…”
.
p. 146
“then as in his six days’ works of creation, He made nothing ill, so He has been working these five thousand years; and all his works of providence are as good, as his works of creation;”
.
p. 185
“2. Angels elect and chosen, never lost their birth-right of creation… they have kept their robes of innocency, their cloth of gold above five thousand years, without one spark of dirt or change of color, for they never sinned… Adam (as many think) kept not his garments clean one day.”
.
p. 204
“The acquired knowledge of the Devil is great, he being an advancing student, and still learning now above five thousand years;”
.
p. 216
“the Devil is the first fool of the creation of God and has played the fool above five thousand years;”
.
The Trial & Triumph of Faith (London, 1652), sermon 9, pp. 93-94
“…but men who have understanding and tongues, are God’s Factors and Chamberlains to gather in the rent of glory and praise to God; the heavens do indeed declare the glory of God, Ps. 19:1, but they are but dumb musicians, they are the harp, which of itself can make no music; the creatures borrow man’s mouth and tongue to speak what they have been thinking of God and his excellency these five thousand years;”
.
Francis Taylor
An Exposition with Practical Observations upon the Three First Chapters of the Proverbs (London, 1655), ch. 3, verse 31, p. 535
“2. Because of his [the Devil’s] long experience in temptation for five thousand years. If a souldier could live so long, he would be very skilfull.”
.
Anthony Burgess
CXLV Expository Sermons upon the whole 17th Chapter of the Gospel according to St. John (London, 1656), sermon 28, p. 157
“Use 1. Did God make the world and that not from eternity, but in time, about almost six thousand years ago, and no longer? Then here we see He made it not because He needed it, because He wanted it, for if it had been necessary to God, it would have been from eternity…”
.
Joseph Caryl
An Exposition with Practical Observations continued upon the Eighth, Ninth & Tenth Chapters of the Book of Job (London, 1647), on ch. 9:3, pp. 151
“2 Pet. 3:8, ‘One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.’ When he says, ‘a thousand years’, he means all years, all time put together, is but as one day to the Lord.
A day was the first distinction of time; the first perfect time that was created, was a day: now put a thousand years together, it is but as one day to the Lord; All times and one time are all one to him who inhabits eternity. In Ps. 90:6, it is, a thousand years are but as yesterday, which notes all time past, as Peter notes, all time to come, is, but as one day.”
.
An Exposition with Practical Observations continued upon the Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, Fortieth, Forty-First & Forty-Second, being the Five Last Chapters of the Book of Job (London, 1666), on ch. 39, vv. 1-4, p. 217
“…Though the general time which they fulfil may be known, or is known and set down by writers, yet the precise particular time, the day of the month, or hour of the day, or (which is the thing inquired) when their months come out and are fulfilled, that’s a secret. Though it be commonly known that a woman goes nine months with child…
I may say in this case, as our Lord Jesus Christ said about the end of the world, ‘Of that day and hour knows no man,’ we may know the general time, we may know it will not be long before the world shall end.
The time which the world shall go with its great birth is commonly said to be six thousand years; but the day and hour of its travel, and of the consummation of all things according to the decree of God, no man, no nor angel, knows.”
.
John White
A Commentary upon the Three First Chapters of the First Book of Moses called Genesis… (d. 1648; London, 1656), on 1:1, sect. 3, p. 7
“Of all the creatures in it, it may be truly said that they are but of yesterday, Job. 8:9, if we measure them according to God’s (that is according to the true) account, to whom a thousand years are but as yesterday, Ps. 90:4, in which estimation the world is not yet six days old…
What are five or six thousand years to eternity? which God enjoys, who is from everlasting to everlasting, Ps. 90:2.”
.
John Arrowsmith
Theanthropos; or, God-Man: being an Exposition upon the First Eighteen Verses of the First Chapter of the Gospel according to St. John (d. 1659; London, 1660), on v. 10, p. 137
“He made the world, the world knows Him not; and yet He lets the world stand for all this. He has let the world continue almost six thousand years, notwithstanding all this ingratitude of the world.”
.
Daniel Featley
Threnoikos, the House of Mourning, Furnished with Directions for the Hour of Death… (London, 1660)
“…Death, who riding up and down the world upon his pale horse above these five thousand years, has with an impartial stroke laid all flat before him;”
.
Sermon 1, p. 13
“Such mockers there were in the time of saint Peter, against whom he speaks in his second epistle, and third chapter… Say the mockers, ‘There shall be no judgment.’ ‘There shall,’ says the apostle. How can that be? Have not all things continued as they were, since the begining of the Creation for so many thousand years?”
.
Henry Vane
A Pilgrimage into the Land of Promise, by the Light of the Vision of Jacob’s Ladder & Faith, or a Serious Search & Prospect into Life Eternal… (1662; London, 1664), p. 104
“God hath now for neer these six thousand years , kept these his jewels by him as a reserved hidden treasure, that he resolvs in a fit season to bring to light, and make a shew of openly, in the sight of the whole world.”
.
William Spurstowe
Satana noaemata, or, The Wiles of Satan in a Discourse upon 2 Cor. 2:11 (London, 1666), ch. 3
p. 20
“How much then must five thousand years experience enable Satan to tempt, who hath all his time been as diligent an observer of men, as he hath been an Ad∣versary against them?”
.
p. 22
“His experience, which now amounts to above five thousand years, does much advantage him in tempting, as it makes him dexterous…”
.
John Conant
Sermons Preached on Several Occasions, vol. 2 (d. 1693; London, 1699), 8th Sermon, pp. 257-58
“4. He is a most subtle Adversary; he has his wiles, Eph. 6:11 and his devices, 2 Cor. 2:11, and his snares, 2 Tim. 2.26… he has all that wicked craft and destructive policy that almost six thousand years experience and exercise in the mystery of deluding and perverting, ruining and destroying souls, could gain him.”
.
For Allowing Other Interpretations of Westminster & Scripture
Order of Contents
Articles 4
Quote 1
.
Articles
1900’s
Westminster Theological Seminary, East, Faculty – ‘Westminster Theological Seminary & the Days of Creation’ (1999) 5 pp.
“Even though Calvin, Ames, and the authors of the Westminster Standards, with few exceptions, if any, undoubtedly understood the days to be ordinary days, there is no ground for supposing that they intended to exclude any and all other views, in particular the view that the days may be longer. Such views are outside their purview; their concern, in fact, moves in the opposite direction, against the instantaneous view that denies any length.
This point bears emphasizing within the context of the current debate about the days of Genesis. To establish that the Standards mandate the six 24 hour days view requires more than demonstrating that the Divines, perhaps even to a man, held that the days were ordinary days. To demonstrate that of itself establishes nothing. What needs also to be shown, which we believe cannot be shown, is that they intended to exclude the views that the days are longer in some respect or that they represent a literary framework.” – p. 3
Letham, Robert – “‘In the Space of Six Days’: the Days Of Creation From Origen to the Westminster Assembly’ in Westminster Theological Journal 61:2 (Fall, 1999), pp. 149-74
On the Framework Hypothesis:
“In his great work, The Hexaëdemeron (1230–35), Grossteste attempts a synthesis of all major interpretations hitherto given in the church… Here, in this medieval scholastic bishop, lie the roots of what eventually became known as the framework hypothesis.” – pp. 160-61
“A generation or so after Grossteste’s masterpiece, Aquinas also provides a basic groundwork for what is now known as the framework hypothesis.” – p. 163
.
Summary Conclusions:
“(1) Before the Westminster Assembly there were a variety of interpretations of Genesis 1 and its days. If the text of Genesis is so clear-cut why did the church down the centuries not see it that way? Does that not say something not only about the interpreters but also the text? Claims that a literal reading of the days of Genesis 1 is obvious fall down when the history of interpretation is taken into consideration.
(2) We will be wise to heed the warnings Augustine and Calvin give on the difficulty of interpreting this chapter, and so beware of dogmatic claims they themselves did not advance. Jerome pointed to the Jewish rabbis’ refusal to let anyone under thirty interpret it. Creation transcends our knowledge and experience. A heavy dose of medicine from Job 38:1ff is in order. As with any other passage, Genesis 1 must not be interpreted in isolation but in the context of the whole of Scripture.
(3) Until the mid-sixteenth century the interpreters we cited were all abreast of the philosophy and science of their day, and often made use of it in biblical interpretation. That we reject many of their scientific beliefs is because of our own scientific knowledge. That we place implicit faith in the laws of gravity is due to what we know scientifically, rather than from the Bible. So far I, for one, have found this reliable! Calvin allows and supports scientific work. He indicates Genesis is of a different literary genre than a science text book.
(4) The Reformed tradition of the sixteenth century interpreted creation theologically. The classic Reformed creeds consider it in the context of the doctrine of God, as an ex nihilo work of the Trinity. In so doing, they affirm their continuity with the historic teaching of the church. The question of the days of creation was not even a matter of discussion… Its absence is striking. It was never a matter of confessional significance…” – p. 174
.
2000’s
Donahoe, Howard – Appendix C, ‘The Westminster Standards & the Length & Nature of the Creation Days’ in Central Carolina Presbytery (PCA), Creation Study Committee, Final Report (Aug. 2001)
Barker, William S. – ch. 13, ‘The Westminster Assembly on the Days of Creation: a Reply to David W. Hall’ in Word to the World (Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications, 2005), pp. 259-70
“The issue is not whether any of the Westminster Divines held a view of long ages or of a literary framework, as Hall repeatedly claims, but whether the confessional language requires a view of six 24-hour days and nothing else.” – p. 261
“With the same characteristic reticence Calvin skirts the issue of the exact nature of the days of creation in the 1559 edition of his Institutes… Perkins’ paraphrasing of ‘six distinct days’ with ‘six distinct spaces of time’ appears to be an acknowledgment that the nature of at least the first three days [before the sun was made] may not be clear…
it will not do to claim for the six 24-hour day view those who merely refer to the six days of creation. This is to beg the very question of the nature of the six days spoken of in Genesis 1.” – pp. 263, 265-66
“Of the remaining Westminster divines who explicitly supported six 24-hour days of creation, some were very explicit on additional details, claiming more than the Scriptures make clear and certainly more than the Westminster Standards say.” – p. 267
Hall partially responded to this article in an article above, by further qualifying his historical claims. However Hall did not respond to the larger interpretive issues about Westminster that Barker points out.
Beeke: “I note, however, that Barker does not offer examples of Westminster divines who rejected creation in six literal days.” – What did the Reformers Believer about the Age of the Earth, p. 16
.
Quote
1800’s
Alexander Mitchell
The Westminster Assembly: Its History & Standards (1884), pp. 394-97
“The charges I have still to mention are of minor importance. The first of them is the assertion, so often and confidently propounded of late, that the Confession represents the creation of the world as having taken place in six ‘natural or literal days,’ which almost all orthodox divines now grant that it did not. But the whole ground for the assertion is furnished by the words ‘natural or literal’ which the objectors themselves insert or assume.
The authors of the Confession, as Dr. A. A. Hodge has well observed (Commentary on the Confession of Faith, p. 82), simply repeat the statements of Scripture in almost identical terms, and any interpretation that is fairly applicable to such passages of Scripture as Gen. 2:3 and Exodus 20:2, is equally applicable to the words of the Confession.
It is quite true, as he has shown, that since the Confession was composed, many facts of science previously unknown have been brought to light respecting the changes through which our globe and probably the stellar universe had passed before the establishment of the present order of things, and that new arguments have thus been furnished against interpreting the days mentioned in the above passages of Scripture as literal days.
But it is a mistake to suppose that this method of interpreting the days in these passages originated in modern times, and was altogether unknown to the men who framed our Confession. To prove it a mistake it is not necessary to have recourse to the ingenious conjecture that some of the Cambridge men in the Assembly may have been acquainted with the manuscript work of Dean [John] Colet [d. 1519], preserved in their archives, and only given to the public in our own time, in which the figurative interpretation of the days of creation is maintained.¹
¹ Colet’s Letters to Radulpluis oit the Mosaic Account of the Creation, with translation and notes by J. H. Lupton. 1876 [pp. 3-28].
There is no lack of evidence, in works published before the meeting of the Assembly, and familiar to several of its members, to show that the figurative interpretation had long before Dean Colet’s time commended itself to several eminent scholars and divines with whose works members of the Assembly were acquainted. If there was one Jewish scholar with whose writings such men as Lightfoot, Selden, Gataker, Seaman, and Coleman were more familiar than another, it was Philo of Alexandria [d. c. 50]; and Philo has not hesitated to characterise it as ‘rustic simplicity, to imagine that the world was created in six days, or, indeed, in any clearly defined space of time.’
Augustine,² the great Latin doctor, with whose works several of the Westminster divines were far better acquainted than most of their successors, in his Literal Commentary on Genesis, maintains that the days of the creation-week were far different from (longe dispares), and again, very unlike to (multum impares) those that now are in the earth.
² Migne’s edition of Augustine, De Genesi ad literam, iv.27.
Procopius [d. 565], a Greek writer not unknown to some of the Westminster divines, teaches that the number of six days was assumed not as a mark of actual time, but as a manner of teaching the order of creation; while in certain commentaries in that age, attributed to the Venerable Bede [d. 735], and largely read in England, though now deemed spurious, a similar opinion is said to be found.³
³ Most of these testimonies are referred to, and the opinion they express is admitted to be probabilis [probable], in the sense his sect used that term, by Sixtus Senensis [a Romanist, d. 1569] in his Bibliotheca Sancta, p. 422.
The figurative interpretation therefore of the six days of creation is no make-shift of hard-pressed theologians in the nineteenth century. It was held by respectable scholars and divines, from early times, and was known to the framers of our Confession; and had they meant deliberately to exclude it they would have written not six days, but six natural or literal days.”
.
.
.
Related Pages
How Long God took in Creating: Genesis 1-2
On the History of Religion & Science, & on the Mosaic Physics