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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1706)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<A NAME="Page2"> </A>
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>G E N E S I S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. I.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The foundation of all religion being laid in our relation to God as
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our Creator, it was fit that the book of divine revelations which
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was intended to be the guide, support, and rule, of religion in
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the world, should begin, as it does, with a plain and full account
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of the creation of the world--in answer to that first enquiry of a
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good conscience, "Where is God my Maker?"
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:10">Job xxxv. 10</A>).
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Concerning this the pagan philosophers wretchedly blundered,
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and became vain in their imaginations, some asserting the world's
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eternity and self-existence, others ascribing it to a fortuitous
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concourse of atoms: thus "the world by wisdom knew not
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God," but took a great deal of pains to lose him. The holy
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scripture therefore, designing by revealed religion to maintain
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and improve natural religion, to repair the decays of it and supply
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the defects of it, since the fall, for the reviving of the
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precepts of the law of nature, lays down, at first, this principle
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of the unclouded light of nature, That this world was, in the
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beginning of time, created by a Being of infinite wisdom and
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power, who was himself before all time and all worlds. The
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entrance into God's word gives this light,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:130">Ps. cxix. 130.</A>.
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The
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:1">first verse</A>
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of the Bible gives us a surer and better, a more satisfying
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and useful, knowledge of the origin of the universe, than
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all the volumes of the philosophers. The lively faith of humble
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Christians understands this matter better than the elevated
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fancy of the greatest wits,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:3">Heb. xi. 3</A>.</P>
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<P>
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We have three things in this chapter:--I. A general idea given us
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of the work of creation
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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II. A particular account of
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the several days' work, registered, as in a journal, distinctly
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and in order. The creation of the light the first day,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:3-5">ver. 3-5</A>;
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of the firmament the second day,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:6-8">ver. 6-8</A>;
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of the sea, the earth, and its fruits, the third day,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:9-13">ver. 9-13</A>;
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of the lights of heaven the fourth day,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:14-19">ver. 14-19</A>;
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of the fish and fowl the fifth day,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:20-23">ver. 20-23</A>;
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of the beasts,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:24,25">ver. 24, 25</A>;
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of man,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:26-28">ver. 26-28</A>;
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and of food for both the sixth day,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:29,30">ver. 29, 30</A>.
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III. The review and approbation of the whole work,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:31">ver. 31</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ge1_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge1_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Creation.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 In the beginning God created the
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heaven and the earth.
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2 And the earth was without form, and void;
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and darkness <I>was</I> upon the face of the
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deep. And the Spirit of God moved
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upon the face of the waters.</FONT></P>
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<P>
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In these verses we have the work of creation
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in its epitome and in its embryo.</P>
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<P>
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I. In its epitome,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>,
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where we find, to
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our comfort, the first article of our creed,
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that <I>God the Father Almighty is the Maker of
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heaven and earth,</I> and as such we believe in him.</P>
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<P>
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1. Observe, in this verse, four things:--</P>
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<P>
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(1.) The effect produced--<I>the heaven and
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the earth,</I> that is, the world, including the
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whole frame and furniture of the universe,
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the <I>world and all things therein,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+17:24">Acts xvii. 24</A>.
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The world is a great house, consisting of
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upper and lower stories, the structure stately
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and magnificent, uniform and convenient,
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and every room well and wisely furnished.
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It is the visible part of the creation that
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Moses here designs to account for; therefore
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he mentions not the creation of angels. But
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as the earth h as not only its surface adorned
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with grass and flowers, but also its bowels
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enriched with metals and precious stones
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(which partake more of its solid nature and
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more valuable, though the creation of
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them is not mentioned here), so the heavens
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are not only beautified to our eye with glorious
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lamps which garnish its outside, of whose
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creation we here read, but they are within replenished
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with glorious beings, out of our
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sight, more celestial, and more surpassing
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them in worth and excellency than the gold
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or sapphires surpass the lilies of the field.
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In the visible world it is easy to observe,
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[1.] Great variety, several sorts of beings vastly
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differing in their nature and constitution from
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each other. <I>Lord, how manifold are thy works,</I>
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and all good!
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[2.] Great beauty. The azure
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sky and verdant earth are charming to the
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eye of the curious spectator, much more the
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ornaments of both. How transcendent then
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must the beauty of the Creator be!
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[3.] Great exactness and accuracy. To those
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that, with the help of microscopes, narrowly
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look into the works of nature, they appear
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far more fine than any of the works of art.
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[4.] Great power. It is not a lump of dead
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and inactive matter, but there is virtue, more
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or less, in every creature: the earth itself has
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a magnetic power.
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[5.] Great order, a mutual
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dependence of beings, an exact harmony
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of motions, and an admirable chain and connection
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of causes.
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[6.] Great mystery. There
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are phenomena in nature which cannot be
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solved, secrets which cannot be fathomed nor
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accounted for. But from what we see of
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heaven and earth we may easily enough infer
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the eternal power and Godhead of the great
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Creator, and may furnish ourselves with
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abundant matter for his praises. And let
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our make and place, as men, remind us of
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our duty as Christians, which is always to
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keep heaven in our eye and the earth under
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our feet.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) The author and cause of this great
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work--GOD. The Hebrew word is <I>Elohim,</I>
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which bespeaks,
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[1.] The power of God the
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Creator. <I>El</I> signifies <I>the strong God;</I> and
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what less than almighty strength could bring
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all things out of nothing?
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[2.] The plurality
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of persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and
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Holy Ghost. This plural name of God, in
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Hebrew, which speaks of him as many though
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he is one, was to the Gentiles perhaps a savour
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of death unto death, hardening them in
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their idolatry; but it is to us a savour of life
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|
unto life, confirming our faith in the doctrine
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of the Trinity, which, though but darkly intimated
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in the Old Testament, is clearly revealed
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in the New. The Son of God, the
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eternal Word and Wisdom of the Father, was
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with him when he made the world
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+8:30">Prov. viii. 30</A>),
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nay, we are often told that the world
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was made by him, and nothing made without him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+1:3,10,Eph+3:9,Col+1:16,Heb+1:2">John i. 3, 10; Eph. iii. 9; Col. i. 16; Heb. 1. 2</A>.
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O what high thoughts should
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this form in our minds of that great God
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whom we draw nigh to in religious worship,
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and that great Mediator in whose name we
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draw nigh!</P>
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<P>
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(3.) The manner in which this work was
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effected: <I>God created it,</I> that is, made it out
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of nothing. There was not any pre-existent
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matter out of which the world was produced.
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The fish and fowl were indeed produced out
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of the waters and the beasts and man out of
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the earth; but that earth and those waters
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were made out of nothing. By the ordinary power
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of nature, it is impossible that any
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thing should be made out of nothing; no
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artificer can work, unless he has something
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to work on. But by the almighty power of
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God it is not only possible that something
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should be made of nothing (the God of nature
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is not subject to the laws of nature), but in
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the creation it is impossible it should be
|
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<A NAME="Page3"> </A>
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otherwise, for nothing is more injurious to
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the honour of the Eternal Mind than the
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supposition of eternal matter. Thus the excellency
|
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of the power is of God and all the glory
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is to him.</P>
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<P>
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(4.) When this work was produced: <I>In
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the beginning,</I> that is, in the beginning of
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time, when that clock was first set a going:
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time began with the production of those
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beings that are measured by time. Before
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the beginning of time there was none but that
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|
Infinite Being that inhabits eternity. Should
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|
we ask why God made the world no sooner,
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we should but darken counsel by words without
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knowledge; for how could there be sooner
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or later in eternity? And he did make it in
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the beginning of time, according to his eternal
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|
counsels before all time. The Jewish
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|
Rabbies have a saying, that there were seven
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things which God created before the world,
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|
by which they only mean to express the excellency
|
|
of these things:--The law, repentance,
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|
paradise, hell, the throne of glory, the
|
|
house of the sanctuary, and the name of the
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Messiah. But to us it is enough to say, <I>In
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the beginning was the Word,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+1:1">John i. 1</A>.</P>
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<P>
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2. Let us learn hence,
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(1.) That atheism
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is folly, and atheists are the greatest fools in
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|
nature; for they see there is a world that
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|
could not make itself, and yet they will not
|
|
own there is a God that made it. Doubtless,
|
|
they are without excuse, but the god of this
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world has blinded their minds.
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(2.) That
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God is sovereign Lord of all by an incontestable
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right. If he is the Creator, no doubt he
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is the owner and possessor of heaven and
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earth.
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(3.) That with God all things are possible,
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|
and therefore happy are the people
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|
that have him for their God, and whose help
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|
and hope stand in his name,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+121:2,124:8">Ps. cxxi. 2; cxxiv. 8</A>.
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(4.) That the God we serve is
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worthy of, and yet is exalted far above, all
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blessing and praise,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+9:5,6">Neh. ix. 5, 6</A>.
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If he
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made the world, he needs not our services,
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nor can be benefited by them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+17:24,25">Acts xvii. 24, 25</A>),
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and yet he justly requires them, and deserves
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our praise,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+4:11">Rev. iv. 11</A>.
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If all is of
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him, all must be to him.</P>
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<P>
|
|
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|
II. Here is the work of creation in its
|
|
embryo,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>,
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|
where we have an account of
|
|
the first matter and the first mover.</P>
|
|
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<P>
|
|
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|
1. A chaos was the first matter. It is
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|
here called the earth (though the earth, properly
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|
taken, was not made till the third day
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
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|
because it did most resemble that
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|
which afterwards was called <I>earth,</I> mere
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|
earth, destitute of its ornaments, such a heavy
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unwieldy mass was it; it is also called <I>the
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|
deep,</I> both for its vastness and because the
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|
waters which were afterwards separated from
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the earth were now mixed with it. This immense
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|
mass of matter was it out of which
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|
all bodies, even the firmament and visible
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|
heavens themselves, were afterwards produced
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|
by the power of the Eternal Word.
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|
The Creator could have made his work perfect
|
|
at first, but by this gradual proceeding
|
|
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|
he would show what is, ordinarily, the method
|
|
of his providence and grace. Observe the
|
|
description of this chaos.
|
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|
(1.) There was
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|
nothing in it desirable to be seen, for it was
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|
<I>without form and void. Tohu</I> and <I>Bohu, confusion</I>
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|
and <I>emptiness;</I> so these words are
|
|
rendered,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:11">Isa. xxxiv. 11</A>.
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|
It was shapeless,
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|
it was useless, it was without inhabitants,
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|
without ornaments, the shadow or rough
|
|
draught of things to come, <I>and not the image
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|
of the things,</I>
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+10:1">Heb. x. 1</A>.
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|
The earth is almost
|
|
reduced to the same condition again by the
|
|
sin of man, under which the creation groans.
|
|
See
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+4:23">Jer. iv. 23</A>,
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|
<I>I beheld the earth, and lo it
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|
was without form, and void.</I> To those who
|
|
have their hearts in heaven this lower world,
|
|
in comparison with that upper, still appears
|
|
to be nothing but confusion and emptiness.
|
|
There is no true beauty to be seen, no satisfying
|
|
fulness to be enjoyed, in this earth, but
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|
in God only.
|
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(2.) If there had been any
|
|
thing desirable to be seen, yet there was no
|
|
light to see it by; for <I>darkness,</I> thick darkness,
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<I>was upon the face of the deep.</I> God
|
|
did not create this darkness (as he is said to
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|
create the darkness of affliction,
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+45:7">Isa. xlv. 7</A>),
|
|
for it was only the want of light, which yet
|
|
could not be said to be wanted till something
|
|
was made that might be seen by it; nor needs
|
|
the want of it be much complained of, when
|
|
there was nothing to be seen but confusion
|
|
and emptiness. If the work of grace in the
|
|
soul is a new creation, this chaos represents
|
|
the state of an unregenerate graceless soul:
|
|
<I>there</I> is disorder, confusion, and every evil
|
|
work; it is empty of all good, for it is without
|
|
God; it is dark, it is darkness itself.
|
|
This is our condition by nature, till almighty
|
|
grace effects a blessed change.</P>
|
|
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|
<P>
|
|
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|
2. The Spirit of God was the first mover:
|
|
He <I>moved upon the face of the waters.</I> When
|
|
we consider the earth without form and void,
|
|
methinks it is like the valley full of dead and
|
|
dry bones. Can these live? Can this confused
|
|
mass of matter be formed into a beautiful
|
|
world? Yes, if a spirit of life from God
|
|
enter into it,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+37:9">Ezek. xxxvii. 9</A>.
|
|
Now there is
|
|
hope concerning this thing; for the Spirit of
|
|
God begins to work, and, if he work, who or
|
|
what shall hinder? God is said to make the
|
|
world by his Spirit,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+33:6,Job+26:13">Ps. xxxiii. 6; Job xxvi. 13</A>;
|
|
and by the same mighty worker the new
|
|
creation is effected. He moved upon the
|
|
face of the deep, as Elijah stretched himself
|
|
upon the dead child,--as the <I>hen gathers her
|
|
chickens under her wings,</I> and hovers over
|
|
them, to warm and cherish them,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:37">Matt. xxiii. 37</A>,--as
|
|
the eagle stirs up her nest, and <I>flutters</I>
|
|
over her young (it is the same word that is
|
|
here used),
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:11">Deut. xxxii. 11</A>.
|
|
Learn hence,
|
|
That God is not only the author of all being,
|
|
but the fountain of life and spring of motion.
|
|
Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did
|
|
not quicken it. And this makes it credible
|
|
to us that God should raise the dead. That
|
|
power which brought such a world as this
|
|
out of confusion, emptiness, and darkness,
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page4"> </A>
|
|
|
|
at the beginning of time, can, at the end of
|
|
time, bring our vile bodies out of the grave,
|
|
though it is <I>a land of darkness as darkness
|
|
itself, and without any order</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+10:22">Job x. 22</A>),
|
|
and can make them glorious bodies.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_3"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_4"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_5"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Creation.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>3 And God said, Let there be
|
|
light: and there was light.
|
|
4 And
|
|
God saw the light, that <I>it was</I> good:
|
|
and God divided the light from the darkness.
|
|
5 And God called the
|
|
light Day, and the darkness he called
|
|
Night. And the evening and the
|
|
morning were the first day.</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here a further account of the
|
|
first day's work, in which observe,
|
|
|
|
1. That
|
|
the first of all visible beings which God
|
|
created was light; not that by it he himself
|
|
might see to work (for the darkness and
|
|
light are both alike to him), but that by it
|
|
we might see his works and his glory in
|
|
them, and might work our works while it is
|
|
day. The works of Satan and his servants
|
|
are works of darkness; but he that doeth
|
|
truth, and doeth good, cometh to the light,
|
|
and coveteth it, <I>that his deeds may be made
|
|
manifest,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+3:21">John iii. 21</A>.
|
|
Light is the great
|
|
beauty and blessing of the universe. Like
|
|
the first-born, it does, of all visible beings,
|
|
most resemble its great Parent in purity and
|
|
power, brightness and beneficence; it is of
|
|
great affinity with a spirit, and is next to it;
|
|
though by it we see other things, and are
|
|
sure that it is, yet we know not its nature,
|
|
nor can describe what it is, or <I>by what way
|
|
the light is parted,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:19,24">Job xxxviii. 19, 24</A>.
|
|
By the sight of it let us be led to, and assisted
|
|
in, the believing contemplation of him who
|
|
is light, infinite and eternal light
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+1:5">1 John i. 5</A>),
|
|
and the <I>Father of lights</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+1:17">Jam. i. 17</A>),
|
|
and who dwells in inaccessible light,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+6:16">1 Tim. vi. 16</A>.
|
|
In the new creation, the first thing
|
|
wrought in the soul is <I>light:</I> the blessed
|
|
Spirit captives the will and affections by
|
|
enlightening the understanding, so coming
|
|
into the heart by the door, like the good
|
|
shepherd whose own the sheep are, while
|
|
sin and Satan, like thieves and robbers, climb
|
|
up some other way. Those that by sin were
|
|
darkness by grace become light in the world.
|
|
|
|
2. That the light was made by the word of
|
|
God's power. He said, <I>Let there be light;</I>
|
|
he willed and appointed it, and it was done
|
|
immediately: <I>there was light,</I> such a copy as
|
|
exactly answered the original idea in the
|
|
Eternal Mind. O the power of the word of
|
|
God! <I>He spoke, and it was done,</I> done
|
|
really, effectually, and for perpetuity, not in
|
|
show only, and to serve a present turn, for
|
|
<I>he commanded, and it stood fast:</I> with him it
|
|
was <I>dictum, factum--a word, and a world.</I>
|
|
The world of God (that is, his will and the
|
|
good pleasure of it) is quick and powerful.
|
|
Christ is the Word, the essential eternal
|
|
Word, and by him the light was produced,
|
|
for <I>in him was light, and he is the true light,
|
|
the light of the world,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+1:9,9:5">John i. 9; ix. 5.</A>.
|
|
The divine light which shines in sanctified souls
|
|
is wrought by the power of God, the power
|
|
of his word and of the Spirit of wisdom and
|
|
revelation, opening the understanding, scattering
|
|
the mists of ignorance and mistake,
|
|
and giving the knowledge of the glory of
|
|
God in the face of Christ, as at first, <I>God
|
|
commanded the light to shine out of darkness,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+4:6">2 Cor. iv. 6</A>.
|
|
Darkness would have been
|
|
perpetually upon the face of fallen man if the
|
|
Son of God had not <I>come, and given us an
|
|
understanding,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+5:20">1 John v. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
3. That the
|
|
light which God willed, when it was produced, he
|
|
approved of: <I>God saw the light that it was
|
|
good.</I> It was exactly as he designed it, and
|
|
it was fit to answer the end for which he
|
|
designed it. It was useful and profitable;
|
|
the world, which now is a palace, would have
|
|
been a dungeon without it. It was amiable
|
|
and pleasant. <I>Truly the light is sweet</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+11:7">Eccl. xi. 7</A>);
|
|
<I>it rejoiceth the heart,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+15:30">Prov. xv. 30</A>.
|
|
What God commands he will approve and
|
|
graciously accept; he will be well pleased
|
|
with the work of his own hands. That is
|
|
good indeed which is so in the sight of God,
|
|
for he sees not as man sees. If the light
|
|
is good, how good is he that is the fountain
|
|
of light, from whom we receive it, and to
|
|
whom we owe all praise for it and all the
|
|
services we do by it!
|
|
|
|
4. That God <I>divided
|
|
the light from the darkness,</I> so put them
|
|
asunder as that they could never be joined
|
|
together, or reconciled; for <I>what fellowship
|
|
has light with darkness?</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+6:14">2 Cor. vi. 14</A>.
|
|
And yet he divided time between them, the day
|
|
for light and the night for darkness, in a constant
|
|
and regular succession to each other.
|
|
Though the darkness was now scattered by
|
|
the light, yet it was not condemned to a perpetual
|
|
banishment, but takes its turn with
|
|
the light, and has its place, because it has its
|
|
use; for, as the light of the morning befriends
|
|
the business of the day, so the
|
|
shadows of the evening befriend the repose
|
|
of the night, and draw the curtains about
|
|
us, that we may sleep the better. See
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+7:2">Job vii. 2</A>.
|
|
God has thus divided time between
|
|
light and darkness, because he would daily
|
|
remind us that this is a world of mixtures
|
|
and changes. In heaven there is perfect
|
|
and perpetual light, and no darkness at all;
|
|
in hell, utter darkness, and no gleam of light.
|
|
In that world between these two there is a great
|
|
gulf fixed; but, in this world, they are counterchanged,
|
|
and we pass daily from one to
|
|
another, that we may learn to expect the
|
|
like vicissitudes in the providence of God,
|
|
peace and trouble, joy and sorrow, and may
|
|
set the one over-against the other, accommodating
|
|
ourselves to both as we do to the
|
|
light and darkness, bidding both welcome,
|
|
and making the best of both.
|
|
|
|
5. That God
|
|
divided them from each other by distinguishing
|
|
names: <I>He called the light day, and the
|
|
darkness he called night.</I> He gave them
|
|
names, as the Lord of both; for <I>the day is
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page5"> </A>
|
|
|
|
his, the night also is his,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+74:16">Ps. lxxiv. 16</A>.
|
|
He is the Lord of time, and will be so, till day
|
|
and night shall come to an end, and the
|
|
stream of time be swallowed up in the ocean
|
|
of eternity. Let us acknowledge God in the
|
|
constant succession of day and night, and
|
|
consecrate both to his honour, by working
|
|
for him every day and resting in him every
|
|
night, and meditating in his law day and
|
|
night.
|
|
|
|
6. That this was the first day's
|
|
work, and a good day's work it was. <I>The
|
|
evening and the morning were the first day.</I>
|
|
The darkness of the evening was before the
|
|
light of the morning, that it might serve for
|
|
a foil to it, to set it off, and make it shine
|
|
the brighter. This was not only the first
|
|
day of the world, but the first day of the
|
|
week. I observe it to the honour of that
|
|
day, because the new world began on the
|
|
first day of the week likewise, in the resurrection
|
|
of Christ, as the light of the world,
|
|
early in the morning. In him the day-spring
|
|
from on high has visited the world;
|
|
and happy are we, for ever happy, if that
|
|
<I>day-star arise in our hearts.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_6"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_7"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_8"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Creation.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>6 And God said, Let there be
|
|
a firmament in the midst of the waters,
|
|
and let it divide the waters from the
|
|
waters.
|
|
7 And God made the firmament,
|
|
and divided the waters which
|
|
<I>were</I> under the firmament from the
|
|
waters which <I>were</I> above the firmament:
|
|
and it was so.
|
|
8 And God
|
|
called the firmament Heaven. And
|
|
the evening and the morning were
|
|
the second day.</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here an account of the second
|
|
day's work, the creation of the firmament, in
|
|
which observe,
|
|
|
|
1. The command of God
|
|
concerning it: <I>Let there be a firmament,</I> an
|
|
<I>expansion,</I> so the Hebrew word signifies, like
|
|
a sheet spread, or a curtain drawn out. This
|
|
includes all that is visible above the earth,
|
|
between it and the third heavens: the air, its
|
|
higher, middle, and lower, regions--the celestial
|
|
globe, and all the spheres and orbs of
|
|
light above: it reaches as high as the place
|
|
where the stars are fixed, for that is called
|
|
here the <I>firmament of heaven</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:14,15"><I>v.</I> 14, 15</A>),
|
|
and as low as the place where the birds fly, for
|
|
that also is called the <I>firmament of heaven,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
When God had made the light, he
|
|
appointed the air to be the receptacle and
|
|
vehicle of its beams, and to be as a medium
|
|
of communication between the invisible and
|
|
the visible world; for, though between heaven
|
|
and earth there is an inconceivable distance,
|
|
yet there is not an impassable gulf, as there
|
|
is between heaven and hell. This firmament
|
|
is not a wall of partition, but a way of intercourse.
|
|
See
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+26:7,37:18,Ps+104:3,Am+9:6">Job xxvi. 7; xxxvii. 18; Ps. civ. 3; Amos ix. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. The creation of it.
|
|
Lest it should seem as if God had only commanded
|
|
it to be done, and some one else had
|
|
done it, he adds, <I>And God made the firmament.</I>
|
|
What God requires of us he himself
|
|
works in us, or it is not done. He that commands
|
|
faith, holiness, and love, creates them
|
|
by the power of his grace going along with
|
|
his word, that he may have all the praise.
|
|
<I>Lord, give what thou commandest, and then
|
|
command what thou pleasest.</I> The firmament
|
|
is said to be <I>the work of God's fingers,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+8:3">Ps. viii. 3</A>.
|
|
Though the vastness of its extent
|
|
declares it to be the work of his arm stretched
|
|
out, yet the admirable fineness of its constitution
|
|
shows that it is a curious piece of art,
|
|
the work of his fingers.
|
|
|
|
3. The use and design
|
|
of it--to <I>divide the waters from the
|
|
waters,</I> that is, to distinguish between the
|
|
waters that are wrapped up in the clouds and
|
|
those that cover the sea, the waters in the
|
|
air and those in the earth. See the difference
|
|
between these two carefully observed,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+11:10,11">Deut. xi. 10, 11</A>,
|
|
where Canaan is upon this account
|
|
preferred to Egypt, that Egypt was
|
|
moistened and made fruitful with the waters
|
|
that are under the firmament, but Canaan
|
|
with waters from above, out of the firmament,
|
|
even the dew of heaven, which tarrieth
|
|
not <I>for the sons of men,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+5:7">Mic. v. 7</A>.
|
|
God has,
|
|
in the firmament of his power, chambers,
|
|
store-chambers, whence he <I>watereth the earth,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+104:13,Ps+65:9,10">Ps. civ. 13; lxv. 9, 10</A>.
|
|
He has also <I>treasures,
|
|
or magazines, of snow and hail, which
|
|
he hath reserved against the day of battle and
|
|
war,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:22,23">Job xxxviii. 22, 23</A>.
|
|
O what a great
|
|
God is he who has thus provided for the
|
|
comfort of all that serve him and the confusion
|
|
of all that hate him! It is good having
|
|
him our friend, and bad having him our
|
|
enemy.
|
|
|
|
4. The naming of it: <I>He called the
|
|
firmament heaven.</I> It is the visible heaven,
|
|
the pavement of the holy city; above the
|
|
firmament God is said to have his throne
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:26">Ezek. i. 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
for he has prepared it in the
|
|
heavens; the heavens therefore are said to
|
|
rule,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+4:26">Dan. iv. 26</A>.
|
|
<I>Is not God in the height of
|
|
heaven?</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+22:12">Job xxii. 12</A>.
|
|
Yes, he is, and we
|
|
should be led by the contemplation of the
|
|
heavens that are in our eye to consider <I>our
|
|
Father who is in heaven.</I> The height of the
|
|
heavens should remind us of God's supremacy
|
|
and the infinite distance there is between
|
|
us and him; the brightness of the
|
|
heavens and their purity should remind us of
|
|
his glory, and majesty, and perfect holiness;
|
|
the vastness of the heavens, their encompassing
|
|
of the earth, and the influence they have
|
|
upon it, should remind us of his immensity
|
|
and universal providence.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_9"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_13"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Creation.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>9 And God said, Let the waters
|
|
under the heaven be gathered together
|
|
unto one place, and let the dry <I>land</I>
|
|
appear: and it was so.
|
|
10 And God
|
|
called the dry <I>land</I> Earth; and the
|
|
gathering together of the waters called
|
|
he Seas: and God saw that <I>it was</I> good.
|
|
11 And God said, Let the
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page6"> </A>
|
|
|
|
earth bring forth grass, the herb
|
|
yielding seed, <I>and</I> the fruit tree yielding
|
|
fruit after his kind, whose seed <I>is</I>
|
|
in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
|
|
12 And the earth brought forth
|
|
grass, <I>and</I> herb yielding seed after
|
|
his kind, and the tree yielding fruit,
|
|
whose seed <I>was</I> in itself, after his
|
|
kind: and God saw that <I>it was</I> good.
|
|
13 And the evening and the morning
|
|
were the third day.</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The third day's work is related in these
|
|
verses--the forming of the sea and the dry
|
|
land, and the making of the earth fruitful.
|
|
Hitherto the power of the Creator had been
|
|
exerted and employed about the upper part
|
|
of the visible word; the light of heaven was
|
|
kindled, and the firmament of heaven fixed:
|
|
but now he descends to this lower world, the
|
|
earth, which was designed for the children of
|
|
men, designed both for their habitation and
|
|
for their maintenance; and here we have an
|
|
account of the fitting of it for both, and building
|
|
of their house and the spreading of their
|
|
table. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. How the earth was prepared to be a
|
|
habitation for man, by the gathering of the
|
|
waters together, and the making of the dry
|
|
land to appear. Thus, instead of the confusion
|
|
which there was
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>)
|
|
when earth and
|
|
water were mixed in one great mass, behold,
|
|
now, there is order, by such a separation as
|
|
rendered them both useful. God said, <I>Let
|
|
it be so, and it was so;</I> no sooner said than
|
|
done.
|
|
|
|
1. The waters which had covered the
|
|
earth were ordered to retire, and to gather
|
|
into one place, namely, those hollows which
|
|
were fitted and appointed for their reception
|
|
and rest. The waters, thus cleared, thus
|
|
collected, and thus lodged, in their proper
|
|
place, he called <I>seas.</I> Though they are many,
|
|
in distant regions, and washing several
|
|
shores, yet, either above ground or under
|
|
ground, they have communication with each
|
|
other, and so they are one, and the common
|
|
receptacle of waters, into which all the rivers
|
|
flow,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+1:7">Eccl. i. 7</A>.
|
|
Waters and seas often, in
|
|
scripture, signify troubles and afflictions,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+42:7,69:2,14,15">Ps. xlii. 7; lxix. 2, 14, 15</A>.
|
|
God's own
|
|
people are not exempted from these in this
|
|
world; but it is their comfort that they are
|
|
only waters under the heaven (there are none
|
|
in heaven), and that they are all in the place
|
|
that God has appointed them and within
|
|
the bounds that he has set for them. How
|
|
the waters were gathered together at first,
|
|
and how they are still bound and limited by
|
|
the same Almighty had that first confined them,
|
|
are elegantly described,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+104:6-9">Ps. civ. 6-9</A>,
|
|
and are there mentioned as matter of praise.
|
|
<I>Those that go down to the sea in ships</I> ought
|
|
to acknowledge daily the wisdom, power,
|
|
and goodness, of the Creator, in making the
|
|
great waters serviceable to man for trade
|
|
and commerce; and <I>those that tarry at home</I>
|
|
must own themselves indebted to him that
|
|
keeps the sea with bars and doors in its decreed
|
|
place, and stays its proud waves,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:10,11">Job xxxviii. 10, 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. The dry land was
|
|
made to appear, and emerge out of the waters,
|
|
and was called <I>earth,</I> and <I>given to the children
|
|
of men.</I> The earth, it seems, was in being
|
|
before; but it was of no use, because it was
|
|
under water. Thus many of God's gifts are
|
|
received in vain, because they are buried;
|
|
make them to appear, and they become serviceable.
|
|
We who, to this day, enjoy the
|
|
benefit of the dry land (though, since this,
|
|
it was once deluged, and dried again) must
|
|
own ourselves tenants to, and dependents
|
|
upon, that God whose <I>hands formed the dry
|
|
land,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+95:5,Jon+1:9">Ps. xcv. 5; Jonah i. 9</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. How the earth was furnished for the
|
|
maintenance and support of man,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:11,12"><I>v.</I> 11, 12</A>.
|
|
Present provision was now made, by the immediate
|
|
products of the upstart earth, which,
|
|
in obedience to God's command, was no
|
|
sooner made than it became fruitful, and
|
|
brought forth grass for the cattle and herb
|
|
for the service of man. Provision was likewise
|
|
made for time to come, by the perpetuating
|
|
of the several kinds of vegetables,
|
|
which are numerous, various, and all curious,
|
|
and every one <I>having its seed in itself after its
|
|
kind,</I> that, during the continuance of man
|
|
upon the earth, food might be fetched out of
|
|
the earth for his use and benefit. <I>Lord,
|
|
what is man, that he is thus visited and regarded</I>--that
|
|
such care should be taken, and
|
|
such provision made, for the support and
|
|
preservation of those guilty and obnoxious
|
|
lives which have been a thousand times
|
|
forfeited! Observe here,
|
|
|
|
1. That not only
|
|
the earth is the Lord's, but <I>the fulness thereof,</I>
|
|
and he is the rightful owner and sovereign
|
|
disposer, not only of it, but of all its furniture.
|
|
The earth was <I>emptiness</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
|
|
but now, by a word's speaking, it has become
|
|
full of God's riches, and his they are still--<I>his
|
|
corn and his wine, his wool and his flax,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:9">Hos. ii. 9</A>.
|
|
Though the use of them is allowed
|
|
to us, the property still remains in
|
|
him, and to his service and honour they
|
|
must be used.
|
|
|
|
2. That common providence
|
|
is a continued creation, and in it <I>our Father
|
|
worketh hitherto.</I> The earth still remains
|
|
under the efficacy of this command, to bring
|
|
forth grass, and herbs, and its annual products;
|
|
and though, being according to the
|
|
common course of nature, these are not
|
|
standing miracles, yet they are standing instances
|
|
of the unwearied power and unexhausted
|
|
goodness of the world's great Maker
|
|
and Master.
|
|
|
|
3. That though God, ordinarily,
|
|
makes use of the agency of second
|
|
causes, according to their nature, yet he
|
|
neither needs them nor is tied to them; for,
|
|
though the precious fruits of the earth are
|
|
usually brought forth by the influences of
|
|
the sun and moon
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+33:14">Deut. xxxiii. 14</A>),
|
|
yet here
|
|
we find the earth bearing a great abundance
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page7"> </A>
|
|
|
|
of fruit, probable ripe fruit, before the sun
|
|
and moon were made.
|
|
|
|
4. That it is good to
|
|
provide things necessary before we have
|
|
occasion to use them: before the beasts and
|
|
man were made, here were grass and herbs
|
|
prepared for them. God thus dealt wisely
|
|
and graciously with man; let not man then
|
|
be foolish and unwise for himself.
|
|
|
|
5. That
|
|
God must have the glory of all the benefit
|
|
we receive from the products of the earth,
|
|
either for food or physic. It is he that <I>hears
|
|
the heavens when they hear the earth,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hos+2:21,22">Hos. ii. 21, 22</A>.
|
|
And if we have, through grace, an
|
|
interest in him who is the fountain, when
|
|
the streams are dried up and the <I>fig-tree doth
|
|
not blossom</I> we may rejoice in him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_19"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Creation.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>14 And God said, Let there be
|
|
lights in the firmament of the heaven
|
|
to divide the day from the night; and
|
|
let them be for signs, and for seasons,
|
|
and for days, and years:
|
|
15 And let
|
|
them be for lights in the firmament
|
|
of the heaven to give light upon the
|
|
earth: and it was so.
|
|
16 And God
|
|
made two great lights; the greater
|
|
light to rule the day, and the lesser
|
|
light to rule the night: <I>he made</I> the
|
|
stars also.
|
|
17 And God set them in
|
|
the firmament of the heaven to give
|
|
light upon the earth,
|
|
18 And to
|
|
rule over the day and over the night,
|
|
and to divide the light from the darkness:
|
|
and God saw that <I>it was</I> good.
|
|
19 And the evening and the morning
|
|
were the fourth day.</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
This is the history of the fourth day's
|
|
work, the creating of the sun, moon, and
|
|
stars, which are here accounted for, not as
|
|
they are in themselves and in their own nature,
|
|
to satisfy the curious, but as they are
|
|
in relation to this earth, to which they serve
|
|
as lights; and this is enough to furnish us
|
|
with matter for praise and thanksgiving.
|
|
Holy Job mentions this as an instance of the
|
|
glorious power of God, that <I>by the Spirit he
|
|
hath garnished the heavens</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+26:13">Job xxvi. 13</A>);
|
|
and here we have an account of that garniture
|
|
which is not only so much the beauty of
|
|
the upper world, but so much the blessing of
|
|
this lower; for though heaven is high, yet
|
|
has it respect to this earth, and therefore
|
|
should have respect from it. Of the creation
|
|
of the lights of heaven we have an account,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. In general,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:14,15"><I>v.</I> 14, 15</A>,
|
|
where we have
|
|
|
|
1. The command given concerning them:
|
|
<I>Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven.</I>
|
|
God had said, <I>Let there be light</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
|
|
and there was light; but this was, as it were, a
|
|
chaos of light, scattered and confused: now
|
|
it was collected and modelled, and made into
|
|
several luminaries, and so rendered both
|
|
more glorious and more serviceable. God is
|
|
the God of order, and not of confusion; and,
|
|
as he is light, so he is the Father and former
|
|
of lights. Those lights were to be <I>in the
|
|
firmament of heaven,</I> that vast expanse which
|
|
encloses the earth, and is conspicuous to all;
|
|
for <I>no man, when he has lighted a candle,
|
|
puts it under a bushel, but on a candlestick</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+8:16">Luke viii. 16</A>),
|
|
and a stately golden candlestick
|
|
the firmament of heaven is, from which
|
|
these candles give light <I>to all that are in the
|
|
house.</I> The firmament itself is spoken of as
|
|
having a brightness of its own
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+12:3">Dan. xii. 3</A>),
|
|
but this was not sufficient to give light to the
|
|
earth; and perhaps for this reason it is not
|
|
expressly said of the second day's work, in
|
|
which the firmament was made, that it was
|
|
good, because, till it was adorned with these
|
|
lights on the fourth day, it had not become
|
|
serviceable to man.
|
|
|
|
2. The use they were
|
|
intended to be of to this earth.
|
|
|
|
(1.) They
|
|
must be for the distinction of times, of day
|
|
and night, summer and winter, which are
|
|
interchanged by the motion of the sun, whose
|
|
rising makes day, his setting night, his approach
|
|
towards our tropic summer, his recess
|
|
to the other winter: and thus, <I>under the
|
|
sun,</I> there is <I>a season to every purpose,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:11">Eccl. iii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) They must be for the direction of
|
|
actions. They are for signs of the change
|
|
of weather, that the husbandman may order
|
|
his affairs with discretion, foreseeing, by the
|
|
face of the sky, when second causes have begun
|
|
to work, whether it will be fair or foul,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+16:2,3">Matt. xvi. 2, 3</A>.
|
|
They do also <I>give light upon
|
|
the earth,</I> that we may <I>walk</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+11:9">John xi. 9</A>),
|
|
and <I>work</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+9:4">John ix. 4</A>).
|
|
according as the duty of
|
|
every day requires. The lights of heaven do
|
|
not shine for themselves, nor for the world
|
|
of spirits above, who need them not; but
|
|
they shine for us, for our pleasure and advantage.
|
|
Lord, what is man, that he should
|
|
be thus regarded!
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+8:3,4">Ps. viii. 3, 4</A>.
|
|
How ungrateful
|
|
and inexcusable are we, if, when God
|
|
has set up these lights for us to work by, we
|
|
sleep, or play, or trifle away the time of business,
|
|
and neglect the great work we were
|
|
sent into the world about! The lights of
|
|
heaven are made to serve us, and they do it
|
|
faithfully, and shine in their season, without
|
|
fail: but we are set as lights in this world to
|
|
serve God; and do we in like manner answer
|
|
the end of our creation? No, we do
|
|
not, our light does not shine before God as
|
|
his lights shine before us,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+5:14">Matt. v. 14</A>.
|
|
We burn our Master's candles, but do not mind
|
|
our Master's work.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. In particular,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:16-18"><I>v.</I> 16-18</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Observe, The lights of heaven are the
|
|
sun, moon, and stars; and all these are the
|
|
work of God's hands.
|
|
|
|
(1.) The sun is
|
|
the greatest light of all, more than a million
|
|
times greater than the earth, and the
|
|
most glorious and useful of all the lamps
|
|
of heaven, a noble instance of the Creator's
|
|
wisdom, power, and goodness, and
|
|
an invaluable blessing to the creatures of
|
|
this lower world. Let us learn from
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page8"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+19:1-6">Ps. xix. 1-6</A>
|
|
how to give unto God the glory due
|
|
unto his name, as the Maker of the sun.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The moon is a less light, and yet is here
|
|
reckoned one of the greater lights, because
|
|
though, in regard to its magnitude and borrowed
|
|
light, it is inferior to many of the stars,
|
|
yet, by virtue of its office, as ruler of the
|
|
night, and in respect of its usefulness to the
|
|
earth, it is more excellent than they. Those
|
|
are most valuable that are most serviceable;
|
|
and those are the greater lights, not that
|
|
have the best gifts, but that humbly and
|
|
faithfully do the most good with them.
|
|
<I>Whosoever will be great among you, let him be
|
|
your minister,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+20:26">Matt. xx. 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
(3.) <I>He made the
|
|
stars also,</I> which are here spoken of as they
|
|
appear to vulgar eyes, without distinguishing
|
|
between the planets and the fixed stars, or
|
|
accounting for their number, nature, place,
|
|
magnitude, motions, or influences; for the
|
|
scriptures were written, not to gratify our
|
|
curiosity and make us astronomers, but to lead
|
|
us to God, and make us saints. Now these
|
|
lights are said to <I>rule</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:16,18"><I>v.</I> 16, 18</A>);
|
|
not that
|
|
they have a supreme dominion, as God has,
|
|
but they are deputy-governors, rulers under
|
|
him. Here the less light, the moon, is said
|
|
to rule <I>the night;</I> but in
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+136:9">Ps. cxxxvi. 9</A>
|
|
the stars are mentioned as sharers in that government;
|
|
<I>The moon and stars to rule by
|
|
night.</I> No more is meant than that they
|
|
<I>give light,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:35">Jer. xxxi. 35</A>.
|
|
The best and most
|
|
honourable way of ruling is by giving light
|
|
and doing good: those command respect that
|
|
live a useful life, and so shine as lights.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Learn from all this,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The sin and
|
|
folly of that ancient idolatry, the worshipping
|
|
of the sun, moon, and stars, which,
|
|
some think, took rise, or countenance at
|
|
least, from some broken traditions in the patriarchal
|
|
age concerning the rule and dominion
|
|
of the lights of heaven. But the
|
|
account here given of them plainly shows
|
|
that they are both God's creatures and man's
|
|
servants; and therefore it is both a great
|
|
affront to God and a great reproach to ourselves
|
|
to make deities of them and give them
|
|
divine honours. See
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:19">Deut. iv. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The
|
|
duty and wisdom of daily worshipping that
|
|
God who made all these things, and made
|
|
them to be that to us which they are. The
|
|
revolutions of the day and night oblige us
|
|
to offer the solemn sacrifice of prayer and
|
|
praise every morning and evening.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_23"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec6"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Creation.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>20 And God said, Let the waters
|
|
bring forth abundantly the moving
|
|
creature that hath life, and fowl <I>that</I>
|
|
may fly above the earth in the open
|
|
firmament of heaven.
|
|
21 And God
|
|
created great whales, and every living
|
|
creature that moveth, which the waters
|
|
brought forth abundantly, after their
|
|
kind, and every winged fowl after his
|
|
kind: and God saw that <I>it was</I> good.
|
|
22 And God blessed them, saying,
|
|
Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the
|
|
waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply
|
|
in the earth.
|
|
23 And the evening and the
|
|
morning were the fifth day.</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Each day, hitherto, has produced very
|
|
noble and excellent beings, which we can
|
|
never sufficiently admire; but we do not
|
|
read of the creation of any living creature
|
|
till the fifth day, of which these verses give
|
|
us an account. The work of creation not
|
|
only proceeded gradually from one thing to
|
|
another, but rose and advanced gradually
|
|
from that which was less excellent to that
|
|
which was more so, teaching us to press
|
|
towards perfection and endeavour that our
|
|
last works may be our best works. It was
|
|
on the fifth day that the fish and fowl were
|
|
created, and both out of the waters. Though
|
|
there is one kind of flesh of fishes, and
|
|
another of birds, yet they were made together,
|
|
and both out of the waters; for the power of
|
|
the first Cause can produce very different
|
|
effects from the same second causes. Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. The making of the fish and fowl,
|
|
at first,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:20,21"><I>v.</I> 20, 21</A>.
|
|
God commanded them to
|
|
be produced. He said, <I>Let the waters bring
|
|
forth abundantly;</I> not as if the waters had
|
|
any productive power of their own, but, "Let
|
|
them be brought into being, the fish in the
|
|
waters and the fowl out of them." This
|
|
command he himself executed: <I>God created
|
|
great whales,</I> &c. Insects, which perhaps
|
|
are as various and as numerous as any species
|
|
of animals, and their structure as curious,
|
|
were part of this day's work, some of them
|
|
being allied to the fish and others to the
|
|
fowl. Mr. Boyle (I remember) says he admires
|
|
the Creator's wisdom and power as
|
|
much in an ant as in an elephant. Notice is
|
|
here taken of the various sorts of fish and
|
|
fowl, each after their kind, and of the great
|
|
numbers of both that were produced, for the
|
|
waters brought forth abundantly; and particular
|
|
mention if made of great whales, the
|
|
largest of fishes, whose bulk and strength,
|
|
exceeding that of any other animal, are remarkable
|
|
proofs of the power and greatness
|
|
of the Creator. The express notice here
|
|
taken of the whale, above all the rest, seems
|
|
sufficient to determine what animal is meant
|
|
by the Leviathan,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+41:1">Job xli. :1</A>.
|
|
The curious
|
|
formation of the bodies of animals, their different
|
|
sizes, shapes, and natures, with the
|
|
admirable powers of the sensitive life with
|
|
which they are endued, when duly considered,
|
|
serve, not only to silence and shame the
|
|
objections of atheists and infidels, but to
|
|
raise high thoughts and high praises of God
|
|
in pious and devout souls,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+104:25">Ps. civ. 25</A>,
|
|
&c.
|
|
|
|
2. The blessing of them, in order to their
|
|
continuance. Life is a wasting thing. Its
|
|
strength is not the strength of stones. It is
|
|
a candle that will burn out, if it be not first
|
|
blown out; and therefore the wise Creator
|
|
not only made the individuals, but provided
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page9"> </A>
|
|
|
|
for the propagation of the several kinds; <I>God
|
|
blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
God will bless his own works, and
|
|
not forsake them; and <I>what he does shall be
|
|
for a perpetuity,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:14">Eccl. iii. 14</A>.
|
|
The power of
|
|
God's providence preserves all things, as
|
|
at first his creating power produced them.
|
|
Fruitfulness is the effect of God's blessing
|
|
and must be ascribed to it; the multiplying
|
|
of the fish and fowl, from year to year, is still
|
|
the fruit of this blessing. Well, let us give
|
|
to God the glory of the continuance of these
|
|
creatures to this day for the benefit of man.
|
|
See
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:7,9">Job xii. 7, 9</A>.
|
|
It is a pity that fishing
|
|
and fowling, recreations innocent in themselves,
|
|
should ever be abused to divert any
|
|
from God and their duty, while they are
|
|
capable of being improved to lead us to the
|
|
contemplation of the wisdom, power, and
|
|
goodness, of him that made all these things,
|
|
and to engage us to stand in awe of him, as
|
|
the fish and fowl do of us.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_25"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec7"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Creation.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>24 And God said, Let the earth
|
|
bring forth the living creature after
|
|
his kind, cattle, and creeping thing,
|
|
and beast of the earth after his kind:
|
|
and it was so.
|
|
25 And God made
|
|
the beast of the earth after his kind,
|
|
and cattle after their kind, and every
|
|
thing that creepeth upon the earth
|
|
after his kind: and God saw that <I>it
|
|
was</I> good.</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here the first part of the sixth
|
|
day's work. The sea was, the day before,
|
|
replenished with its fish, and the air with its
|
|
fowl; and this day were made the beasts of
|
|
the earth, the cattle, and the creeping things
|
|
that pertain to the earth. Here, as before,
|
|
|
|
1. <I>The Lord gave the word;</I> he said, <I>Let
|
|
the earth bring forth,</I> not as if the earth had
|
|
any such prolific virtue as to produce these
|
|
animals, or as if God resigned his creating
|
|
power to it; but, "Let these creatures now
|
|
come into being upon the earth, and out of
|
|
it, in their respective kinds, conformable to
|
|
the ideas of them in the divine counsels concerning
|
|
their creation."
|
|
|
|
2. He also did the
|
|
work; he made them all after their kind,
|
|
not only of divers shapes, but of divers natures,
|
|
manners, food, and fashions--some to
|
|
be tame about the house, others to be wild
|
|
in the fields--some living upon grass and
|
|
herbs, others upon flesh--some harmless, and
|
|
others ravenous--some bold, and others timorous--some
|
|
for man's service, and not his
|
|
sustenance, as the horse--others for his sustenance,
|
|
and not his service, as the sheep--others
|
|
for both, as the ox--and some for
|
|
neither, as the wild beasts. In all this appears
|
|
the manifold wisdom of the Creator.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_28"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec8"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Creation.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>26 And God said, Let us make man
|
|
in our image, after our likeness:
|
|
and let them have dominion over the
|
|
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
|
|
the air, and over the cattle, and over
|
|
all the earth, and over every creeping
|
|
thing that creepeth upon the earth.
|
|
27 So God created man in his <I>own</I>
|
|
image, in the image of God created
|
|
he him; male and female created he
|
|
them.
|
|
28 And God blessed them,
|
|
and God said unto them, Be fruitful,
|
|
and multiply, and replenish the earth,
|
|
and subdue it: and have dominion
|
|
over the fish of the sea, and over the
|
|
fowl of the air, and over every living
|
|
thing that moveth upon the earth.</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here the second part of the sixth
|
|
day's work, the creation of man, which we are,
|
|
in a special manner, concerned to take notice
|
|
of, that we may know ourselves. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. That man was made last of all the creatures,
|
|
that it might not be suspected that he
|
|
had been, any way, a helper to God in the
|
|
creation of the world: that question must be
|
|
for ever humbling and mortifying to him,
|
|
<I>Where wast thou,</I> or any of thy kind, <I>when I
|
|
laid the foundations of the earth?</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:4">Job xxxviii. 4</A>.
|
|
Yet it was both an honour and a favour to
|
|
him that he was made last: an honour, for
|
|
the method of the creation was to advance
|
|
from that which was less perfect to that which
|
|
was more so; and a favour, for it was not fit
|
|
he should be lodged in the palace designed
|
|
for him till it was completely fitted up and
|
|
furnished for his reception. Man, as soon
|
|
as he was made, had the whole visible creation
|
|
before him, both to contemplate and to take
|
|
the comfort of. Man was made the same
|
|
day that the beasts were, because his body
|
|
was made of the same earth with theirs; and,
|
|
while he is in the body, he inhabits the same
|
|
earth with them. God forbid that by indulging
|
|
the body and the desires of it we
|
|
should make ourselves like the beasts that
|
|
perish!</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. That man's creation was a more signal
|
|
and immediate act of divine wisdom and
|
|
power than that of the other creatures. The
|
|
narrative of it is introduced with something
|
|
of solemnity, and a manifest distinction from
|
|
the rest. Hitherto, it had been said, "Let
|
|
there be light," and "Let there be a firmament,"
|
|
and "Let the earth, or waters, bring
|
|
forth" such a thing; but now the word of
|
|
command is turned into a word of consultation,
|
|
"<I>Let us make man,</I> for whose sake the
|
|
rest of the creatures were made: this is a
|
|
work we must take into our own hands."
|
|
In the former he speaks as one having authority,
|
|
in this as one having affection; for
|
|
his <I>delights were with the sons of men,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+8:31">Prov. viii. 31</A>.
|
|
It should seem as if this were the
|
|
work which he longed to be at; as if he had
|
|
said, "Having at last settled the preliminaries,
|
|
let us now apply ourselves to the
|
|
business, <I>Let us make man.</I>" Man was to be
|
|
a creature different from all that had been
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page10"> </A>
|
|
|
|
hitherto made. Flesh and spirit, heaven and
|
|
earth, must be put together in him, and he
|
|
must be allied to both worlds. And therefore
|
|
God himself not only undertakes to make
|
|
him, but is pleased so to express himself as
|
|
if he called a council to consider of the
|
|
making of him: <I>Let us make man.</I> The
|
|
three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and
|
|
Holy Ghost, consult about it and concur in
|
|
it, because man, when he was made, was to
|
|
be dedicated and devoted to Father, Son and
|
|
Holy Ghost. Into that great name we are,
|
|
with good reason, baptized, for to that great
|
|
name we owe our being. Let him rule man
|
|
who said, <I>Let us make man.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. That man was made in God's image
|
|
and after his likeness, two words to express
|
|
the same thing and making each other the
|
|
more expressive; <I>image</I> and <I>likeness</I> denote
|
|
the likest image, the nearest resemblance of
|
|
any of the visible creatures. Man was not
|
|
made in the likeness of any creature that
|
|
went before him, but in the likeness of his
|
|
Creator; yet still between God and man
|
|
there is an infinite distance. Christ only is
|
|
the <I>express</I> image of God's person, as the
|
|
Son of his Father, having the same nature.
|
|
It is only some of God's honour that is put
|
|
upon man, who is God's image only as the
|
|
shadow in the glass, or the king's impress
|
|
upon the coin. God's image upon man consists
|
|
in these three things:--
|
|
|
|
1. In his nature
|
|
and constitution, not those of his body (for
|
|
God has not a body), but those of his soul.
|
|
This honour indeed God has put upon the
|
|
body of man, that the Word was made flesh,
|
|
the Son of God was clothed with a body like
|
|
ours and will shortly clothe ours with a glory
|
|
like that of his. And this we may safely say,
|
|
That he by whom God made the worlds, not
|
|
only the great world, but man the little
|
|
world, formed the human body, at the first,
|
|
according to the platform he designed for
|
|
himself in the fulness of time. But it is the
|
|
soul, the great soul, of man, that does especially
|
|
bear God's image. The soul is a spirit,
|
|
an intelligent immortal spirit, an influencing
|
|
active spirit, herein resembling God, the Father
|
|
of Spirits, and the soul of the world.
|
|
<I>The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.</I>
|
|
The soul of man, considered in its three
|
|
noble faculties, understanding, will, and active
|
|
power, is perhaps the brightest clearest looking-glass
|
|
in nature, wherein to see God.
|
|
|
|
2. In his place and authority: <I>Let us make man
|
|
in our image, and let him have dominion.</I> As
|
|
he has the government of the inferior creatures,
|
|
he is, as it were, God's representative,
|
|
or viceroy, upon earth; they are not capable
|
|
of fearing and serving God, therefore God
|
|
has appointed them to fear and serve man.
|
|
Yet his government of himself by the freedom
|
|
of his will has in it more of God's image
|
|
than his government of the creatures.
|
|
|
|
3. In
|
|
his purity and rectitude. God's image upon
|
|
man consists in knowledge, righteousness,
|
|
and true holiness,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+4:24,Col+3:10">Eph. iv. 24; Col. iii. 10</A>.
|
|
He was upright,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+7:29">Eccl. vii. 29</A>.
|
|
He had an
|
|
habitual conformity of all his natural powers
|
|
to the whole will of God. His understanding
|
|
saw divine things clearly and truly, and
|
|
there were no errors nor mistakes in his
|
|
knowledge. His will complied readily and
|
|
universally with the will of God, without reluctancy
|
|
or resistance. His affections were
|
|
all regular, and he had no inordinate appetites
|
|
or passions. His thoughts were easily
|
|
brought and fixed to the best subjects, and
|
|
there was no vanity nor ungovernableness in
|
|
them. All the inferior powers were subject
|
|
to the dictates and directions of the superior,
|
|
without any mutiny or rebellion. Thus holy,
|
|
thus happy, were our first parents, in having
|
|
the image of God upon them. And this
|
|
honour, put upon man at first, is a good
|
|
reason why we should not speak ill one of
|
|
another
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+3:9">Jam. iii. 9</A>),
|
|
nor do ill one to another
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+9:6">Gen. ix. 6</A>),
|
|
and a good reason why we should
|
|
not debase ourselves to the service of sin, and
|
|
why we should devote ourselves to God's
|
|
service. But how art thou fallen, O son of
|
|
the morning! How is this image of God
|
|
upon man defaced! How small are the remains
|
|
of it, and how great the ruins of it!
|
|
The Lord renew it upon our souls by his
|
|
sanctifying grace!</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. That man was made male and female,
|
|
and blessed with the blessing of fruitfulness
|
|
and increase. God said, <I>Let us make man,</I>
|
|
and immediately it follows, <I>So God created
|
|
man;</I> he performed what he resolved. With
|
|
us saying and doing are two things; but they
|
|
are not so with God. He created him male
|
|
and female, Adam and Eve--Adam first, out
|
|
of earth, and Eve out of his side,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:21-23"><I>ch.</I> ii</A>.
|
|
It should seem that of the rest of the creatures
|
|
God made many couples, but of man <I>did not
|
|
he make one?</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+2:15">Mal. ii. 15</A>),
|
|
though he had the
|
|
residue of the Spirit, whence Christ gathers
|
|
an argument against divorce,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+19:4,5">Matt. xix. 4, 5</A>.
|
|
Our first father, Adam, was confined to one
|
|
wife; and, if he had put her away, there was
|
|
no other for him to marry, which plainly intimated
|
|
that the bond of marriage was not to
|
|
be dissolved at pleasure. Angels were not
|
|
made male and female, for they were not to
|
|
propagate their kind
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+20:34-36">Luke xx. 34-36</A>);
|
|
but man was made so, that the nature might be
|
|
propagated and the race continued. Fires
|
|
and candles, the luminaries of this lower
|
|
world, because they waste, and go out, have
|
|
a power to light more; but it is not so with
|
|
the lights of heaven: stars do not kindle
|
|
stars. God made but one male and one female,
|
|
that all the nations of men might know
|
|
themselves to be made of one blood, descendants
|
|
from one common stock, and might
|
|
thereby be induced to love one another.
|
|
God, having made them capable of transmitting
|
|
the nature they had received, said to
|
|
them, <I>Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish
|
|
the earth.</I> Here he gave them,
|
|
|
|
1. A large
|
|
inheritance: <I>Replenish the earth;</I> it is this
|
|
that is bestowed upon the children of men.
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page11"> </A>
|
|
|
|
They were made <I>to dwell upon the face of all
|
|
the earth,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+17:26">Acts xvii. 26</A>.
|
|
This is the place in
|
|
which God has set man to be the servant of
|
|
his providence in the government of the inferior
|
|
creatures, and, as it were, the intelligence
|
|
of this orb; to be the receiver of God's
|
|
bounty, which other creatures live upon, but
|
|
do not know it; to be likewise the collector
|
|
of his praises in this lower world, and to pay
|
|
them into the exchequer above
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+145:10">Ps. cxlv. 10</A>);
|
|
and, lastly, to be a probationer for a better
|
|
state.
|
|
|
|
2. A numerous lasting family, to enjoy
|
|
this inheritance, pronouncing a blessing
|
|
upon them, in virtue of which their posterity
|
|
should extend to the utmost corners of the
|
|
earth and continue to the utmost period of
|
|
time. Fruitfulness and increase depend upon
|
|
the blessing of God: Obed-edom had eight
|
|
sons, <I>for God blessed him,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ch+26:5">1 Chron. xxvi. 5</A>.
|
|
It is owing to this blessing, which God commanded
|
|
at first, that the race of mankind is
|
|
still in being, and that as <I>one generation passeth
|
|
away another cometh.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. That God gave to man, when he had
|
|
made him, a dominion over the inferior
|
|
creatures, <I>over the fish of the sea and over the
|
|
fowl of the air.</I> Though man provides for
|
|
neither, he has power over both, much more
|
|
<I>over every living thing that moveth upon the
|
|
earth,</I> which are more under his care and
|
|
within his reach. God designed hereby to
|
|
put an honour upon man, that he might find
|
|
himself the more strongly obliged to bring
|
|
honour to his Maker. This dominion is
|
|
very much diminished and lost by the fall;
|
|
yet God's providence continues so much of it
|
|
to the children of men as is necessary to the
|
|
safety and support of their lives, and God's
|
|
grace has given to the saints a new and
|
|
better title to the creature than that which
|
|
was forfeited by sin; for all is ours if we are
|
|
Christ's,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+3:22">1 Cor. iii. 22</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_30"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec9"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Creation.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
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</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>29 And God said, Behold, I have
|
|
given you every herb bearing seed,
|
|
which <I>is</I> upon the face of all the
|
|
earth, and every tree, in the which <I>is</I>
|
|
the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it
|
|
shall be for meat.
|
|
30 And to
|
|
every beast of the earth, and to every
|
|
fowl of the air, and to every thing
|
|
that creepeth upon the earth, wherein
|
|
<I>there is</I> life, <I>I have given</I> every green
|
|
herb for meat: and it was so.</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here the third part of the sixth
|
|
day's work, which was not any new creation,
|
|
but a gracious provision of food for all flesh,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+136:25">Ps. cxxxvi. 25</A>.
|
|
He that made man and
|
|
beast thus took care to preserve both,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:6">Ps. xxxvi. 6</A>.
|
|
Here is,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Food provided for man,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>.
|
|
Herbs and fruits must be his meat, including corn
|
|
and all the products of the earth; these were
|
|
allowed him, but (it should seem) not flesh,
|
|
till after the flood,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+9:3"><I>ch.</I> ix. 3</A>.
|
|
And before the
|
|
earth was deluged, much more before it was
|
|
cursed for man's sake, its fruits, no doubt,
|
|
were more pleasing to the taste and more
|
|
strengthening and nourishing to the body
|
|
than marrow and fatness, and all the portion
|
|
of the king's meat, are now. See here,
|
|
|
|
1. That which should make us humble. As we
|
|
were made out of the earth, so we are maintained
|
|
out of it. Once indeed men did eat
|
|
angels' food, bread from heaven; but they
|
|
died
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+6:49">John vi. 49</A>);
|
|
it was to them but as
|
|
food out of the earth,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+104:14">Ps. civ. 14</A>.
|
|
There is
|
|
meat that endures to everlasting life; the
|
|
Lord evermore give us this.
|
|
|
|
2. That which
|
|
should make us thankful. The Lord is for
|
|
the body; from him we receive all the supports
|
|
and comforts of this life, and to him
|
|
we must give thanks. He gives us all things
|
|
richly to enjoy, not only for necessity, but
|
|
plenty, dainties, and varieties, for ornament
|
|
and delight. How much are we indebted!
|
|
How careful should we be, as we live upon
|
|
God's bounty, to live to his glory!
|
|
|
|
3. That
|
|
which should make us temperate and content
|
|
with our lot. Though Adam had dominion
|
|
given him over fish and fowl, yet God
|
|
confined him, in his food, to herbs and
|
|
fruits; and he never complained of it.
|
|
Though afterwards he coveted forbidden
|
|
fruit, for the sake of the wisdom and knowledge
|
|
he promised himself from it, yet we
|
|
never read that he coveted forbidden flesh.
|
|
If God give us food for our lives, let us not,
|
|
with murmuring Israel, ask food for our
|
|
lusts,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+78:18">Ps. lxxviii. 18</A>;
|
|
see
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+1:15">Dan. i. 15</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Food provided for the beasts,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>.
|
|
<I>Doth God take care for oxen?</I> Yes, certainly,
|
|
he provides food convenient for them,
|
|
and not for oxen only, which were used in
|
|
his sacrifices and man's service, but even the
|
|
young lions and the young ravens are the
|
|
care of his providence; they ask and have
|
|
their meat from God. Let us give to God
|
|
the glory of his bounty to the inferior creatures,
|
|
that all are fed, as it were, at his table,
|
|
every day. He is a great housekeeper, a
|
|
very rich and bountiful one, that satisfies the
|
|
desire of every living thing. Let this encourage
|
|
God's people to cast their care upon
|
|
him, and not to be solicitous respecting what
|
|
they shall eat and what they shall drink.
|
|
He that provided for Adam without his
|
|
care, and still provides for all the creatures
|
|
without their care, will not let those that
|
|
trust him want any good thing,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+6:26">Matt. vi. 26</A>.
|
|
He that feeds his birds will not starve his
|
|
babes.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge1_31"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec10"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Creation.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>31 And God saw every thing that
|
|
he had made, and, behold, <I>it was</I>
|
|
very good. And the evening and the
|
|
morning were the sixth day.</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here the approbation and conclusion
|
|
of the whole work of creation. As for
|
|
God, his work is perfect; and if he begin
|
|
he will also make an end, in providence and
|
|
grace, as well as here in creation. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page12"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The review God took of his work: He
|
|
<I>saw every thing that he had made.</I> So he
|
|
does still; all the works of his hands are
|
|
under his eye. He that made all sees all;
|
|
he that made us sees us,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+139:1-16">Ps. cxxxix. 1-16</A>.
|
|
Omniscience cannot be separated from omnipotence.
|
|
<I>Known unto God are all his works,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+15:18">Acts xv. 18</A>.
|
|
But this was the Eternal
|
|
Mind's solemn reflection upon the copies of
|
|
its own wisdom and the products of its own
|
|
power. God has hereby set us an example
|
|
of reviewing our works. Having given us a
|
|
power of reflection, he expects we should
|
|
use that power, see our way
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:23">Jer. ii. 23</A>),
|
|
and think of it,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:59">Ps. cxix. 59</A>.
|
|
When we have
|
|
finished a day's work, and are entering upon
|
|
the rest of the night, we should commune
|
|
with our own hearts about what we have
|
|
been doing that day; so likewise when we
|
|
have finished a week's work, and are entering
|
|
upon the sabbath-rest, we should thus
|
|
prepare to meet our God; and when we are
|
|
finishing our life's work, and are entering
|
|
upon our rest in the grave, that is a time to
|
|
bring to remembrance, that we may die repenting,
|
|
and so take leave of it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The complacency God took in his work.
|
|
When we come to review our works we find,
|
|
to our shame, that much has been very bad;
|
|
but, when God reviewed his, all was very
|
|
good. He did not pronounce it good till he
|
|
had seen it so, to teach us not to answer a
|
|
matter before we hear it. The work of
|
|
creation was a very good work. All that God
|
|
made was well-made, and there was no flaw
|
|
nor defect in it.
|
|
|
|
1. It was good. Good, for
|
|
it is all agreeable to the mind of the Creator,
|
|
just as he would have it to be; when the
|
|
transcript came to be compared with the
|
|
great original, it was found to be exact, no
|
|
errata in it, not one misplaced stroke. Good,
|
|
for it answers the end of its creation, and is
|
|
fit for the purpose for which it was designed.
|
|
Good, for it is serviceable to man, whom God
|
|
had appointed lord of the visible creation.
|
|
Good, for it is all for God's glory; there is that
|
|
in the whole visible creation which is a demonstration
|
|
of God's being and perfections, and
|
|
which tends to beget, in the soul of man, a
|
|
religious regard to him and veneration of
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
2. It was very good. Of each day's
|
|
work (except the second) it was said that it
|
|
was good, but now, it is very good. For,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Now man was made, who was the chief of
|
|
the ways of God, who was designed to be the
|
|
visible image of the Creator's glory and the
|
|
mouth of the creation in his praises.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Now
|
|
all was made; every part was good, but all
|
|
together very good. The glory and goodness,
|
|
the beauty and harmony, of God's works,
|
|
both of providence and grace, as this of creation,
|
|
will best appear when they are perfected.
|
|
When the top-stone is brought forth we shall
|
|
cry, <I>Grace, grace, unto it,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+4:7">Zech. iv. 7</A>.
|
|
Therefore judge nothing before the time.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The time when this work was concluded:
|
|
<I>The evening and the morning were the
|
|
sixth day;</I> so that in six days God made the
|
|
world. We are not to think but that God
|
|
could have made the world in an instant.
|
|
He said that, <I>Let there be light, and there was
|
|
light,</I> could have said, "Let there be a
|
|
world," and there would have been a world,
|
|
<I>in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,</I> as at
|
|
the resurrection,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:52">1 Cor. xv. 52</A>.
|
|
But he did
|
|
it in six days, that he might show himself a
|
|
free-agent, doing his own work both in his
|
|
own way and in his own time,--that his wisdom,
|
|
power, and goodness, might appear to
|
|
us, and be meditated upon by us, the more
|
|
distinctly,--and that he might set us an example
|
|
of working six days and resting the
|
|
seventh; it is therefore made the reason of
|
|
the fourth commandment. So much would
|
|
the sabbath conduce to the keeping up of religion
|
|
in the world that God had an eye to it
|
|
in the timing of his creation. And now, as
|
|
God reviewed his work, let us review our
|
|
meditations upon it, and we shall find them
|
|
very lame and defective, and our praises low
|
|
and flat; let us therefore stir up ourselves,
|
|
and all that is within us, to <I>worship him that
|
|
made the heaven, earth, and sea, and the
|
|
fountains of waters,</I> according to the tenour
|
|
of the everlasting gospel, which is preached
|
|
to every nation,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+14:6,7">Rev. xiv. 6, 7</A>.
|
|
All his works,
|
|
in all places of his dominion, do bless him;
|
|
and, therefore, <I>bless thou the Lord, O my soul!</I></P>
|
|
|
|
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