The "day" would be there whether it were obscured by
vapours or not, and whether specially made countable and recognizable by
what we call the rising and setting of the sun, or not, and whether we
were standing in Nova Zembla or in Australia.
Nor is it of much use to refer to the general use of "day" for
indefinite periods, which is just as common in the English of to-day as
it was in the Hebrew of the Old Testament. But the double use of the
term in different senses has become general, just because it was found
in practice that no confusion ordinarily resulted; and surely such a
practice would not have been common, or at any rate would have been
specially avoided in the sacred volume, wherever any mistake or
confusion was likely or even possible.
No one can mistake what is meant when allusion is made to "the day in
which God made the heaven and the earth." No one falls into doubt when
the "days" of the prophets are spoken of--any more than they do now when
a man says, "Such a thing will not happen in my _day_."
Whenever in Daniel, or in similar prophetic writings, the term "day" is
used in a peculiar sense as indicating a term of years, we have no
difficulty in recognizing the fact from the context and circumstances of
the narrative; nor am I aware that any controversy has ever arisen
regarding the use of the term "day" _in any passage of Scripture
excepting in this_.
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