iii nmiiih ' PRINCETON, N. J. BS 1235 .^2 1856 Macdonald, Donald. Creation and the fall V CEEATION AND THE FALL. fo '1'' CREATION AND THE FALL: A DEFENCE ANP EXPOSITION FIRST THREE CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. REV. DONALD MACDONAI.D, M.A., MIXISTRI! OF T(1E I'liEE IHUKCII. KDIXKIT.I-IE. EDINBURGH: THOMAS CONSTABLE AND CO. HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO, LONDON. MDCCCLVI. Kecte dixit Hieronimus ; ' Unusquisque offert ad tabernaculum Domini quod potest, alius aurum, argentum, gemmas, alius pelles aut pilos caprarum. Omnibus enim his opus habet Dominus, et placet voluntas sequaliter eorum qui insequaliter oflfemnf Quare et hns pilos exiguos caprarum mearura edi permitto in offertorium et sacrificium Del. LuTHERUs, P/w/. (Ill Genenin EinNuuiicni : t coxstauke, primer to hki; majesty. PREFACE. Regarding the object of this volume, and tlie call which at present exists for an investigation of the subject treated of, enough has been said in the Introduction. Some explanation may, however, be necessary of the presumption which may be supposed to attach to the Author's undertaking a task of such magnitude. At the commencement of his exegetical study of the Hebrew Scriptures, he encountered several of the difficul- ties which he here attempts to solve, and while seeking infor- mation from all available sources, was surprised to find how little satisfaction could be obtained in the productions of the best-accredited writers — some making exceedingly light of such difficulties, or only partially considering them, and others hav- ing lived before the more pressing questions of the present day were raised. In these circumstances, the Author resolved to examine the subject for himself; having at the time, however, no idea of the extent to which his inquiries might reach, and indeed little of the plan eventually followed, which at first was intended to embrace merely a few topics, but from the amount of misappre- hension found to prevail on the subject,^ gradually assumed > The subjoined extract from a letter in tlie " Times " uf June 2, 1855, will shew- better than any arguments the necessity of the plan adopted in Part I. : — " On Septiiagesima Sunday last, (when the proper lesson is Gen. i.,) I happened to be pre- sent at a church in the north-west portion of the metropolis, and heard a di.scour.se, of which I shall say no more than that it placed that very material question [the dis- crepancy between the discoveries of geology and the Mosaic narrative of the creation] in a light in which I believe every enlightened and serious inquirer would rejoice to see it explained, including a recognition of the scientific facts, and a full admission of their irreconcilable contradiction to the narrative, coupled with the most earnest assertion of the truth of the New Testament dispensation, and //s- entire independ- ence of any suck representations helonqinri to the Old:' the form whicli it now presents. While availing Iiimself of all the helps at his command, independence of investigation was, as far as possible, kept in view ; and while special benefit has been derived from the labours of foreign writers, this is in manj cases, it is believed, more in the way of suggestion than of servile imitation. The Author cannot flatter himself that he has succeeded in mastering all the difficulties of his momentous subject, — of his shortcomings none can be more conscious than himself ; but, at the same time, it would be affectation to deny, that he con- ceives that his labours may contribute to shed some light on this important and greatly misunderstood portion of Divine Truth. On this, however, it would be out of place to enlarge. Such as it is, the work is submitted to the judgment of those who take an intelligent interest in whatever tends to illustrate and confirm the Oracles of the Living God. Edinkili.ie, A^n-il IS.'iO. CONTENTS. Intkouuction, PART FIRST. The HiSTOKicAL and Insi'Iheu Chakacter of the Fikst Three Chapters OF Genesis Vindicated, Sect. I. — Historical Review of the various Interpretations of Geu. i.-iii., . 10 II. — Leading Objections to the Narratives of Creation and the Fall characterized and classified — the Critical, Archaeological, and Scientific, .......... 19 III. — The Internal Unity of Genesis i.-iii., 26 IV. — The Biblical Creation compared with Heathen Cosmogonies, 48 V. — The Biblical Creation compared with the Eesults of Modern Science, 68 VI.— The Narrative of the Fall— its Purport and Character, . . 108 VII. — Objections to the Account of the Fall considered, . . .122 The Jewish Doctrine of the Fall not derived from the System of the Parsees, 141 VIII. — The Incidents of the Fall traced in Tradition, .... 146 IX — The Incidents of the Fall tested by Facts 157 X. — Temptation and the Fall in the Light of the New Testament, 173 XL— Scriptural Eeferences to the Narratives of Creation and the Fall, . 186 XII. — Creation and the Fall as related to Scripture in general, . 20."? XIII. — Conclusion — The Narratives of Creation and the Fall, Historical and Inspired, 220 PART SECOND. An Exposition of tiik First Three <_'hapters of Genesis. Prefatory Observations, ......... Sect. I. — The Creation of the Heavens and the Earth, Gen. i.-ii. 3, S 1. Introductitm to the Work of the Si.K Days, Gen. i. 1. 2. 2. The First Day of Creation, Gen. i. 3-5, 3. The Secend Dav --'f ''Veation, Gen, i. 6-8, 241 243 243 250 CONTRNTS. 4. The Third Day of C'realion, Gen. i. 9-13, 5. The Fourth Day of Creation, Gen. i. 14-1'. 6. The Fifth Day of Creation, Gen. i. 20-23, 7. The Sixtli Dav of Creation, Gen. i. 24 31, PAGE 259 26rt 274 281 Excursus I. — Man the Image of God, 29ti § 8. The Sabbath of Creation, Gen. ii. 1-3, .... 308 Excursus II. — The Weekly Division of 1'ime — its connexion with Creation, ......... 314 Sect. II.— Detailed Account of the Creation of Man, Gen. ii. 4-25, . . 318 § 9. Transition from the First to the Secoud Narrative, Gen. ii. 4, 318 10. Introduction to the History of Man's Creation, Gen. ii. 4-6, 323 11. The Creation of the First Man, Gen. ii. 7, . . . . 32H 12. The Garden, Man's appointed Residence — its pi-oductions, situa- tion, and his office in connexion with it. Gen. ii. 8-15, . 329 Excursus III The Situation of Eden, 335 § 13. The Divine Prohibition addressed to Man, and the Purpose en- tertained towards him. Gen. ii. 16-18, . . . . 347 Excursus IV. — The Trees of Knowledge and of Life, . . . .351 § 14. Man's Eelation to the Animal World, Gen. ii. 19, 20, . . 859 15. The Creation of the Woman, and her Relation to the Man, Gen. ii. 21-25, 362 Excursus V. — Man one Family, 371 Excursus VI.— Death before the Fall, 386 Sect. III.— The Fall of Man— the first Sin and its Punishment, Gen. iii., 394 § 16. The Temptation and first Sin, Gen. iii. 16, .... 395 Excursus VII. — The Tempter-Serpent, 405 § 17. First Fruits of Transgression-^Shame and Fear, Gen. iii. 7, 8, 416 18. God's Dealings with the Transgressors: farther fruits of Sin thereby brought to light, Gen. iii. 9-13, .... 426 19. God's condemnatory Sentence upon the Tempter, Gen. iii. 14, 15, 433 Excursus VIII.— The First Promise — the Woman's Seed, . . . 438 § 20. God's Chastisement of the Woman and the Man, Gen. iii. 1619, 451 21. The First Fruits of Faith, Gen. iii. 20, 461 22. The First Work of Divine Grace, Gen. iii. 21, . .464 23. Man's Expulsion fi-om Paradise, Gen. iii. 22, 23, . . 467 24. The Cherubim and the Flaming Sword, Gen. iii. 24, . . 473 Index 489 CREATION AND THE FALL. INTRODUCTION. The two terms, " Creation" and the " Fall," thougli here placed in close proximity, are suggestive of very opposite trains of thought, — the one denoting a formation or beginning of the universe of dependent being, and by implication indi- cating it as the product of prescience and design ; the other a falling away from, in a moral point of view, or change on, a previously existing state. Abstractly considered, the ideas to which they give rise have no real or necessary connexion. Indeed, from a priori reasoning on the character and perfec- tions of the Creator, it might be inferred that the two ideas are incongruous or incompatible ; and yet they are intimately related in the experience of everyday life, observation and con- sciousness unmistakably testifying that man's present dwell- ing-place is a fallen creation, and that he himself is a fallen creature. But another, and for the present purpose, — of which it forms no part to prove the reality of a Creation or a Fall, — ■ the chief consideration for placing these two terms in juxta- position, is the circumstance that they indicate the subjects of the opening pages of a very ancient record, which, both by Jews and Christians, is regarded as a part of their Sacred Scriptures. 2 tJREA.TION AND THE FALL. The record in question is the first book of the Bible, or Genesis, {Teveaioiul. 1854. THE INTERNAL UNITY OF GENESIS I.-IIl. 27 the name Elohim occurs, was marked off as belonging to one original document, to be designated the " Eloliim-document." The sections or paragraphs, on the contrary, with the name Jehovah, were assigned to another and later author, whose production was to be distinguished in critical terminology as the " Jehovah-document." How these documents are related to one another is a point on which the critics are not agreed : hence the various forms of the hypothesis — the " document- hypothesis," properly so called, and its " complementary" modification. According to the one system, the two documents are distinct and independent; but according to the other, Genesis consists of an Elohim-document, but gone over by an editor who supplies supplementary details where the original is defective, or breaks off abruptly. The chief exponent of this view, now pronounced the only tenable one, is Tuch, who, to a limited extent, is followed even by Delitzsch, the most recent commentator on Genesis. Besides the argument resting on the change of the Divine names, another but subordinate support to this hypothesis is derived from a supposed diversity of style in the two classes of passages, arranged on the principle already announced. Various expressions, single and combined, words and phrases, peculiarities of a grammatical and rhetorical character, and even of an historical and ethical nature, are produced as char- acteristics of the one author or of the other. It also, no doubt, materially adds to the fancied strength and stability of the structure, when, as in the case of the first and second chapters of Genesis, the critics believe that they have discovered palp- able contradictions. Happily, the theoiy thus briefly sketched, or the criticism which gave birth to it, is no longer the rash and reckless thing- it was at an earlier stage of its history, but is sobered with years, and that to a degree which procures its reception among British theologians, just as it is falling into disrepute in the land of its birth. Still, it exercises sufficient influence to render not unnecessary an examination of its bearing on the present subject.^ 1 " About this time also I had perceived, (what I afterwards learned the Germans to have more fully investigated,) that the two different accounts of the creation are distinguished by the appellations given to the Divine Creator. I did not st-o 28 CREATION AND THE FALL. I. — INTERCHANGE OF THE DIVINE NAMES, AN ARGUMENT OF THE DOCUMENT-HYPOTHESIS. The intercliange of the Divine names in the Pentateuch was taken notice of at an early period. Among the Christian Fathers, Tertullian, Chrysostom, and Augustine, offered explanations of this interchange in respect to the first sections of Genesis. It was not, however, till the Document-hypothesis called attention to the matter, that it was made the subject of special investi- gation. This has been done at great length, and with much learning, by Hengstenberg, Dreschler, Kurtz, and others, in works directed to the defence of the integrity of the Penta- teuch, and the unity of its parts.-^ But with much that is excellent in these productions, it must be admitted that there is also not a little which is arbitrary and untenable. It is, how- ever, satisfactorily established, that whilst there is an important diiference in the signification of the names Elohim and Jehovah, the interchange is not accidental or external, but of design ; and that in whatever way the purpose may be explained, it gives no countenance to any alleged diversity of authorship. It is in their endeavours to explain the historian's object in selecting the one name or the other, that these authors prin- cipally fail in carrying conviction ; while perhaps also, the distinction drawn between the two names is too artificial and refined, savouring more of the subtleties of a German philoso- phy than of the theology of the Bible. Here, it may be remarked — and the point has not been sufficiently adverted to in discussions on the subject — that in its application to tlie first two sections of Genesis, the Docu- ment-hypothesis is decidedly at fault. The change there is not between Elohim and Jehovah, as in other cases, but between Elohim, which is constant and exclusive in the first section, and the compound form, Jehovah-Elohim, in the second, with only three exceptions, (Gen. iii. 1, 3, 5,) where in the mouth of how to resist the inference, that the book is made )ip of heterogeneous documents, and was not put forth by the dii-ect dictation of the Spirit to Moses." — Newman's Phases of Faith, fourth edition, 1854, p. G7. * Hengstenberg, Beitrage zur Einleitung ins alte Testament, 1836. Band ii. pp. 180-414. Dreschler, Die Einheit u. Aechthcit der Genesis, 1838. Kurtz, Beitrage zur Vertheidigung u. Begriindung der Einheit d. Pentateuchs, 1844. Die Einheit der Genesis, 1846. THE INTERNAL UNITY OF GENESIS I.-IU. 29 the serpent and of the woman it is Elohim. This compound form of the Divine name is found twenty times in this section, — in chap. ii. eleven, and in chap. iii. nine times, — but is elsevvliere of very rare occurrence. It is used only once again in the Penta- teuch, in Exod. ix. 30 ; and, exclusive of this section of Genesis, there are but three passages in the Hebrew Scriptures, viz., 2 Sam. vii. 22, 25, 1 Chron. xvii. 16, 17, and 2 Chron. vi. 41, 42, where it occurs twice in the same connected narrative. 1. Etymology and import of Elohim. The etymology of the term m'?K, Elohah, the plural of wliich is Elohim, the common Hebrew designation of the Divine Being, is involved in much obscurity ; and, as a natural con- sequence, great diversity of opinion exists among writers who have considered the subject. It is unnecessary to notice above one or two of the more probable views entertained regarding its derivation. The one perhaps most extensively received, is that which assumes a root, pha, obsolete in Hebrew, but pre- served in the Arabic aliha, signifying coluit, adoravit; and intransitively, stupuit, pavore correptus fuit. According to this view, m'rx is an infinitive form like phi-, an object of laugh- ter, Gen. xxi. 6 ; nia, a?^ object of contempt, Isa. xlix. 7, and thus signifies the object of dread or adoration, the dread or adorable One, equivalent to the Greek ae^avvaL, to he, to exist, nvr is thus the regularly formed future in Kal. This etymology is placed beyond dispute by the passages of Scripture in which a deriva- tion of the name is expressed or implied, particularly Exod. iii. 14. There Moses, having made inquiry after God's name, ' Comm. in Gen. chap. i. 1. - Die Einheit u. Aechtheit, p. 14. • Die Genesis ausgelegt, 1852, j). 22. 32 CREATION AND THE FALL. receives the answer, " I am that I am — n;ns ne'x n.™ (God speak- ing of himself in the first person) ; and he said, Thus shalt thou say to the cliildren of Israel, I am (n^™) hath sent me to you." In the next verse this is changed into, " Say to the children of Israel, Jehovah (mn') God of your fathers, . . . hath sent me to you/'^ Taking this for the true etymology of the name Jehovah, it is necessary to inquire into the precise idea thus conveyed. Hengstenberg, who has largely examined the subject, concludes that the name represents God as " the Being, the existing One, or absolute Being." " If God be he who is, that is always the same, the unchangeable, he is also the Being, or the absolute Being, and if he be the absolute Being, then is he also the unchangeable, as it is inferred (Mai. iii. 6) from ' I am Je- hovah, that I change not." Every creature remains not like itself, but is continually changing under circumstances. God only, because he is the Being, is always the same ; and because he is always the same, is the Being." This has been objected to as far too abstract an idea, unsuited to the character of Scripture, and the occasion on which the name was formally announced. Others, again, as Baumgarten^ and Delitzsch,^ lay more stress on the future form of the word, and consider it as denoting not so much the Being, as one becoming or going to be, (der Werdende,) referring this not to the Divine nature or essence, but to the revelation of it : in short, that it designates the Divine Being as the God of historical revelation : He who in times past appeared to patriarchs and prophets, and was known as Jehovah God of the Israelitish fathers, (Exod. iii. 3 5,) but who should " in the fulness of time" be more gloriously manifested. This view is not a little countenanced by the fact, that in the New Testament the name Jehovah, or its equivalent, occurs only in the Apocalypse, a book which still points to the future of Christ's kingdom. There, indeed, the * Another view is advanced by Ewald, (Geschichte d. Volkes Israel, vol. ii. p. 204. 2te Ausg. 1853,) but it merits little conssideration. Assuming that in Gen. xix. 24, nin' nbta is explained by the next clause, "out of heaven," and comparing Mic. v. 6, [E. V. V. 7] " a dew from Jehovah," with the Homeric phrase " snow s» Alas" and the Latin sub Jove, the author concludes that Jehovah signifies heaven and the God of heaven. * Theologischer Commentar zum Pentateuch, 1843, vol. i. p. 30. ^ Die bibliscli-prophetische Theologie, 1845, p. 120. THE INTERNAL UNITY OF GENESIS I.-III. 33 name undoubtedly appears in tlie circumlocution, " wlio is, and was, and comes," (Rev. i. 4, 8 ; iv. 8) ; but even there, in and after chap, xi, 17, according to the best MSS., the predicate 6 epy(QiJievQ<;, luho comes, is dropped after the luas and is, because " the future of God's kingdom liad become present, the coming had come/'-' 8. The relation of Elohim and Jehovah. Much of the fine-spun distinctions of Gorman orthodox writers on this subject must, it is apprehended, be rejected, equally with the superficialities of the Neologians. Whatever may be the relation of the two names, it does not appear that much light is thrown on the matter by the definition : " Elohim is the God of the beginning and of the end, the Creator and the Judge; Jehovah is the God of the middle, of the develop- ment lying in the midst between the beginning and the end."'^ Nor is there much to recommend it in the view that Elohim is the more general, and Jehovah the more deep and dis- criminating name of the Godhead. But still more repre- hensible is the distinction, according to which Elohim is an appellative, while Jehovah is the proper name of the only true God worshipped in Israel.""^ The distinction of the two names appears to consist in the manner, and not in the degree, by which the Divine Being makes himself known, Elohim designates God as manifested in general, and intimates the relation which, as Creator, he sustains towards his creatures — the Mighty One, the Almighty ; Jehovah, the relation in which he stands to his fallen creature, man, to whom he has communicated his purpose of redemption. God reveals himself in creation and in his providential govern- ment, and it is difficult to estimate how fully God might be thus revealed to unfallen creatures, but it would still have been as Elohim. It is only in connexion with man's recoveiy from the Fall, that the Creator has made himself known as Jehovah, or He that is to he nw.nifested, or to come. This will appear from the following considerations : — (1.) Previous to the Fall and the promise of a Deliverer, the name Jehovah does not appear to have been known ; so that ' Ilengstenherc/, Com. on Eevelatioii, vcl. i. p. 67, Fairbaini's Translation. 2 Kurtz, Die JEiulieit, p. 11. ^ Tick, in SUidien ii. Kvitiken, 1852, p. 72. 34 CREATION AND THK FALL. it cannot be said witli Baumgarten, that " the name Jehovah has survived tlie Fall, and shines now in a new light, in the light of grace and promise." Before the Fall, in every instance Avhere mention is made of God, it is as Elohim. Of course such instances are very few, for the historian's own mode of designating God as Elohim, or Jehovah- Elohim, must obviously be excluded. The only passage, then, in which the true state of the question appears, is Gen. iii. 1-5, " Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which Jehovah- Elohim (the historian's designation of God) had made. And he said to the woman. Yea, hath Elohim said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ? And the woman said unto the serpent. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden : but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, Elohim hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman. Ye shall not surely die : for Elohim doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened ; and ye shall be as Elohim (n^nha?), knowing good and evil." Dreschler's note — " The irrational creature, the serpent, can know and speak only of Elohim," is utterly worthless. Even the explanation of Hengstenberg on this subject is unsatisfactory : — " The master stroke of the tempter's policy was to change Jehovah into Elo- him— the living, holy God, into a nescio quod numen. . . . The woman should have employed the name Jehovah as an impene- trable shield to repel the fiery darts of the wicked one. The use of the name Elohim {that this is not to he accounted for from ignorance of the name Jehovah is jyroved by ch. iv. 1) was the beginning of her fall." The parenthetic clause is an assump- tion which has not the shadow of a foundation ; chap. iv. 1 evi- dencing only the woman's knowledge, at a subsequent period, previous to which she had been fiivoured with special commu- nications from God. (2.) But that passage shews, that soon cfter tlie Fall the name Jehovah was known and in use. Whether justified or not in tracing its origin to the revelation made at the Fall, it is certain that the first indication of the knowledge of this name is in Eve's exclamation on the birth of her first-born, " I have gotten a man, Jehovah," which, whatever difiiculties may attach to it, or whatever may have boon the views the THE INTERNAL UNITY OF GENESIS l.-III. 35 niotlier of mankind entertained regarding this first-born of women, must, according to strict i:)]iilological rules, be thus rendered.^ There can be little doubt, however, that the feel- ings which thus found expression were closely connected with the promised Deliverer, and that Eve somehow fancied that this her son was He — the nin; that was to appear. By this it is by no means meant to affirm, that she was fully aware of the import of the name, or of the relation between Jehovah and Elohim. Indeed, the contrary appears from her grievous mistake. When, again, on the birth of Seth, Eve says, (Gen. iv. 25,) " Elohim hath given me another seed instead of Abel," there is no evidence to shew that her pious feelings, as Heng- stenberg affirms, were less lively than on the former occasion — that they went no farther than an acknowledgment of God's general providence, while she saw in her first-born a blessed pledge of his grace. It would rather seem to be a correction of her previous painful mistake. (3.) That Jehovah is the proper designation of God, as the Redeemer, and points especially to a future manifestation connected with redemption, is confirmed by Exod. vi. 2, 3, 6, 7. " Elohim spake to Moses, and said to him, I, Jehovah ; and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by El-Shadai ; but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. . . . Wherefore say to the children of Israel, I, Jehovah, ... I will redeem you. ... I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God (prhvh), and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, [am] your Elohim." This appearance of God in behalf of his people in Egypt, was an epoch in the history of redemption, and now for the first time was clearly revealed the relation of Jehovah and Elohim. The identity of persons represented by these names openly declared in this remarkable passage, may have been but dimly apprehended, or entirely overlooked by Eve ; but it was fully realized by Noah in the words, (Gen. ix. 26,) " Blessed be the Lord God of Shorn" (d^" 'h^N nin;), though again probably lost sight of in the immedi- ately succeeding ages, when Divine truths were much corrupted and obscured. From the time of the Exodus, however, this par- ticular trutli, by an explicit revelation, is placed in the clearest * See Part II., Excursus — " On the First Promise.^' St" CREATION AND THE FALL, light, and is henceforth never lost sight of, through the subse- quent dispensations. (4.) Accordingly, when Christ appeared as the promised Re- deemer, he appropriated to himself forms of expression which could not fail to impress on his hearers the belief that he claimed to be regarded as the Jehovah of the prior revelations. Thus, John viii. 58, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am" (eyco elfxC), where there is not merely a claim to absolute and eternal being, but a reference also to the Divine appellation, (Exod. iii. 14,) which the LXX. render e'y&j elfjn 6 oiv. This, and numerous other passages which it is unneces- sary to adduce, shew that, though, as already stated, the full name Jehovah occurs only in the Apocalypse, the idea itself holds an important place in other parts of the New Testament. He that in former ages and dispensations was known as o ep%o7iei/o9 — " the coming One," (Matt. xi. 8.) now that in the fulness of time he has appeared, is constantly spoken of in the 'present or past tense by the New Testament writers, until the 0 ep'xofievo'i again makes its appearance, in that portion of the Sacred Volume whose face is directed to the future, in that full and unmistakable form of expression which is universally admitted to be a paraphrase of the name Jehovah — Rev. i. 8 : " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, ivJdch is, and which was, and which is to come, tlie Almighty." So chap. iv. 8 : " They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come," where, and in the parallel passages, the expression to come refers to the future developments and triumphs of God's kingdom, when the Lord God Almighty, who is, and was, shall reign, having taken to him his great power (chap. xi. 17). If the above be a correct view of the relation of Elohim and Jehovah, and if it be one of the main designs of the inspired writers to point out the personal identity thus undoubtedly existing, a very simple explanation can be given of the inter- change of these names in the opening chapters of the Bible. Throughout the first section of Genesis, the historian speaks of God only as Elohim, the Almighty — the character in which }ir< is mado known by creation, (Rom. i. 20,) and in which he THE INTERNAL UNITY OF GENESIS I.-III. 37 was alone known to unfallen man. Utterly incorrect is the remark of Hengstenbcrg, — " The contents of this section arc in gener.ll of a kind that the name Jehovah might have been suitably employed/' Granted that the name Jehovah fre- quently designates the Creator of heaven and earth, it is only after the end proposed to himself by the writer of Genesis has been reached, that such is the case. In the first chapter, to designate the Divine Being as Jehovah, would have been alto- gether to defeat this purpose, which was to identify Elohim and Jehovah, the Creator and Redeemer, one of the most precious truths of the New Testament, but the germs of which are thus met with in Genesis. To attain his object, the writer must first distinctly settle the idea to be attached to the name Elohim. In section third, beginning with chap, iv., the historian in his own person invariably uses the name Jehovah, but not until he has shewn that it was known and recognised, verse 1. Here, again, there is occasion to differ from Hengstenbcrg, when he says, that in most passages of this section, though Jehovah is in itself more suitable, yet Elohim miglit stand. As the writer of Genesis must, to attain his purpose, in the first sec- tion have used Elohim, so now, when he has entered on a new period of human history, and a new phase of revelation, wherein Jehovah is made known, he must employ that term in order to familiarize the reader with it, and so fix and define the idea. Keeping this in view, the use in the intermediate section of the form Jehovah-Elohim is easily accounted for. In section first, the writer's purpose v.'as to define the name Elohim, and in section third, Jehovah. Accordingly, to prepare for the transition, and especially to connect the two ideas, he invariably employs in the second section a designation equivalent to the phrase, Jehovah who is Elohim. That such is the object is evident from the flict, that when the transition is effected, and the idea firmly established, the compound designation is dropped. The writer has established the identity of Jehovah and Elohim, he has laid the foundation of the great principle of redemption, proclaimed by God in his communication to Moses (Exod. vi.) — a principle on which the Gospel sheds abun- dant light, in the acts and attributes of our glorious Redeemer. The interchange of the Divine names, in the first three sections of Genesis, being thus shewn to be indicative of 38 CREATION AND THE FALL. design, not only is the foundation of the Document-hypothesis thereby sliattered, biit the most incontrovertible proof is thence deduced of the internal unity of these sections. It is unnecessary to pursue this matter farther, but a few words may be added in regard to the remainder of Genesis. After the puq^ose of the historian, as stated above, had been attained, it would seem that he, in a great measure, if not altogether, used tlie names promiscuously, and this the rather to confirm the idea of identity already established. This will account for the remarks of Hengstenberg, already adverted to, that Jehovah frequently appears as the Creator of heaven and earth. Be- sides, the change of Divine names in other parts of Scripture shews plainly that the sacred writers did not always lay much stress on their distinctive significance. Thus, in 2 Sam. vii. 18-25, in David's prayer before Jehovah, the form Adonai- Jehovah occurs four times, followed by Jehovah-Elohim twice ; while in the parallel passage, 1 Chron. xvii. 16, 17, the names are in the order, Jehovah-Elohim, Elohim, Jehovah-Elohim, Jehovah. No other satisfactory explanation of the interchange of the Divine names in the Pentateuch has yet been given. All the attempts of Hengstenberg, Dreschler, and others, to account for it from the character of the contents of the respec- tive sections are manifest, and in part admitted failures. II. — DIVERSITY OF STYLE — AN ARGUMENT OF THE DOCUMENT- HYPOTHESIS. The diversity of stylo, in the first and second sections of Genesis, has also been adduced in support of the view which re- presents them as the productions of two different authors, giving distinct accounts of creation. A difference of style, however, does not necessarily lead to this conclusion. Instead of being- indications of a diversity of authorship, it may be onl3^ the natural result of a change of subject, or of the manner in Avhich the writer wishes to present that subject. Besides, arguments of this sort can properly be resorted to, only wliere the materials are of considerable extent, and the subjects similar. It is not to be admitted, though confidently affirmed by the advocates of the Document-hypothesis, that there are two THE INTERNAL UNITY OF GENESIS I. -III. 39 narratives of creation. The first section of Genesis is a narra- tive of creation, properly so called, — a comprehensive, continu- ous, and entire sketch of creation, in all its fulness and extent/ As Eichhorn^ represents it, but for a totally different purpose, " There lies at the foundation of the first chapter a carefully designed plan, all whose parts are carried out with much art, whereby its appropriate place is assigned to every idea/' The historian, in a few simple sentences, sketches, in prominent outline, his great subject, the creation of the universe, and more particularly the part of it designed for the residence of man. He does not pause in his lofty march to notice minutiae or distract the reader with details. He introduces the great First Cause operating by a simple fiat, and straightway de- scribes the effects in rapid and consecutive order. But having reached that point in the narrative which tells of the creation of man, for whose dwelling-place earth was prepared, was clothed in beauty and replenished with life, and for whose instruction the volume of inspiration was written, the historian pauses, as it were, a moment — not to deviate from his straight and onward course, but to insert a mark, a nota bene, to arrest the reader's attention, and stimulate inquiry into matters which could not be fitly discussed at this stage, but which were to be introduced by way of appendix in the chapter that followed. The second chapter, accordingly, is occupied with a detailed account of the creation of man, male and female, with full particulars as to his character and condition, his place in crea- tion, and his relation to God. Whatever else is introduced is subordinate to this. In no sense, then, can these two chapters be viewed as distinct narratives of creation. The first is a narrative of creation in all its parts and proportions, but sketched, as already said, only in outline ; while the second is a filling up of one of the compartments of this grand picture. The second chapter consists of details, which could not well have been introduced into the first without marring its plan and symmetry, and yet could not be omitted without prejudice to the narrative of the Fall, which immediately succeeds it ; between which and the second chapter there is, by universal acknowledgment, an inseparable connexion. » Einleitunfc in d. alte Testament, 1823, vol. iii. p. 4i). 40 CREATION AND THE FALL. The second chapter, dealing as it does in details, describing creation not as a whole, but in one prominent particular, — is it reasonable to assume that it must conform to the style and oratorical structure of the first ? Is not the reverse of this a more natural conclusion, and is not a change of style befitting the change of subject ? In the present case, the most beauti- ful harmony is, in this respect, manifested and maintained. The spirit of the narration is one and identical throughout, though in every part its embodiment or drapery may not be the same. The writer of the second and third chapters of Genesis is none other than the writer of the first, for anything to the contrary to be inferred from the diversity of style. With these remarks the matter might be dismissed, but as much stress is laid on peculiarities of expression said to be characteristic of the different writers, it may be well to ex- amine these so far as applicable to the present subject. The following expressions peculiar to the Elohim document, so far as regards Gen. i.-iii., are taken from De Wette,^ with an enu- meration of the other passages of Genesis where they also occur. Gen. i. 27. n^pvt nsT, male and female ; v. 2, vi. 19, vii. 16, for which the Jehovah document uses intt-'si s^'n, man and his wife, vii. 2, [Dc V/ette omits 'to note that verse 3 has the other form.] i. 22, 28. 'im; ns, he fruitful and multijjli/. [The other pas- sages, viii. 17, xvii. 20, xxviii. 3, xxxv. 11, slvii. 27, xlviii. 4, are parallel as to combination of verbs, but not as to form.] ]'n, kind, or species, in the forms — i. 11. ira; ver. 12, 21, inrq; ver. 24, 25, nra, vi. 20, vii. 14. Additional expressions adduced by Knobel r — n^n, a beast, ver. 28 ; "|'i'^n~n'n, a wild beast, ver. 24, 25, 30. y-r^, to swarm v/ith, and y-}^, creatures that swarm, ver. 21, ^22. a'Di, to crawl; and cnn, worms, ver. 21, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30. n^3ti, food, ver. SO ; njpja, a place of assemblage, ver. 1 0. This list might be summarily disposed of, with the simple remark, that its contents do not tell the one way or the other. ' Eiuleitung in tl. alte Test, 1852, \\ "^'*- « Die Genesis erklart, 1852, p. (3. THE INTERNAL UNITY OF GENESIS I. -III. 41 Particular words and phrases occur in the first section, but not in the second, for the very obvious reason that, from the absence of similar ideas, they are not needed. To the objection that they recur in other passages assigned to the Elohim document, but not in those distinguished by the name Jehovah, it may be replied, either there is force in the argument drawn from the peculiarity of style in the first chapter, or there is little or no weight due to it. If the first alternative be admitted, it separates that chapter as well from the Elohim as from the other document. Indeed Eichhorn, the great reviver of the scheme, admits^ that, strictly speaking, the Elohim document begins with chap. v. If, then, the first chapter be not connected with, nor form part of the document in question, nothing can be deduced from the circumstance that the above expressions are also found in it. But if the second alternative be admitted, and no weight attached to the diversity of style, the pecu- liarities of expression can avail nothing, in constituting a line of demarcation between sections otherwise connected. Further, there are specialities attaching to a narrative of creation, which distinguish it from all others, so that it need excite no sur- prise that the writer should have to avail himself of expres- sions not required in any other case, or under ordinary cir- cumstances. But a closer investigation will convince the reader that the expressions constantly and confidently appealed to, are not so peculiar to the Elohim document as is represented. The phrase napji idi occurs in Gen. vii. 3, " a passage which," as Delitzsch remarks, "evidentlystands in a Jehovistic context." Tuch gets over the difficulty, by boldly attributing the expres- sion to a change introduced by the editor — the usual resort w^hen facts will not square with theories. But farther, it has been shown by Kurtz,^ from an examination as well of the etymology as of the usage, that this formula is by no means synonymous with "ina-si va, as is generally assumed. The former expression regards the distinction of sex from its physical side, the latter considers it in an ethical relation, and as such, it properly applies only to man. In the use of the one or the other, design is evinced in selecting that which is the projjer exponent of the sense. ' Eiiileituiig, vol. iii. p. 110. - BeitrSgc, pp. 70-89. 42 CREATION AND THE FALL. The combination lani ns occurs only in j)assages assigned to the Elohim document, but is not always used there, in places Avherc it might be expected. Thus Gen. i. 22, in bless- ing the fish, the two verbs are conjoined, but in blessing the fowl nm only is used. It also occurs in Jer. iii. 16, xxiii. 3, Ezek. xxxvi. 11, proving that it was not peculiar to one author or age. pn, always with h prefixed and with a pronominal affix, occurs only in the narrative of creation, the history of the flood, (Gen. vi.) and the Levitical precepts concerning food. — (Lev. xi. ; Deut. xiv.) Out of the Pentateuch it is found only in Ezek. xlvii. 10, which shows how little stress can be fairly laid on this rare expression. For psn-n^n, the historian uses, in chaps, ii. and iii., nniyn nin, beast of the field. Kurtz^ thus accounts for tlie change: The word r\iz> does not occur in the first section, but is repeatedly used in the second, in the designation of plants and animals, (Gen. ii. 5, 19, 20 ; iii. 1,) and this from the change in the writer's point of view. The scene of the second section is the garden in Eden, man's residence ; and tlie contrast is between ]i, the garden, and nia', the out-field, or between man in the garden, and the beasts in, or of the field. In the other case the contrast was between the sea and the dry 'land, and the living creatures of the one and of the other. Hence the use of y~\K •jna' and -(nf are excluded from the list by Delitzsch, a defen- der of the Document scheme: "although," he says, "onwards to Exod. vi. they occur in an Elohim connexion, yet y-w (Exod. vii. 28) stands in a context considered to belong to the Jehovah document." tyoT is found Gen. vi. 7, in what is admitted to belong to the Jehovah document. rhp'^, but only in the form rh'^vb, occurs again, Gen. vi. 21 ; ix. 3. The usual word for food is bsa, Gen. ii. 9 ; iii. 6 ; vi. 2 1 ; xl. 17. According to Lee, the former expression should be rendered eating ov consuming, and wot food. nipQ does not occur again in Genesis, but is found in Exod. vii. 1 9 ; Lev. xi. 3C. It has been farther objected to, that for Vi-a, to create, of the first section, the second substitutes -ii-;, to form. But if chap. ' IVitriige, p. lOo. THE INTERNAL UNITY OF GENESIS I.-III. 43 ii. 4, be reckoned to belong to the second section, then xna occurs there, which Tucli as usual ascribes to the editor. In Gen. ii. 7, grammatical reasons exclude this verb, but it occurs, Gen. vi. 7, in a Jehovah section. III. — THE ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS OF CHAPTEES L AND IL These chiefly relate to the order of creation, as stated in the two chapters. It is at once admitted that the arrangement of the matter of the second chapter difters from that of the first ; and farther, it is beyond question that the arrangement of the first chapter is m the strict order of time. The only point in dis- pute is, whether the order of the second is also that of time, or is not greatly modified by other considerations. To sustain the allegation of contradictions, arising from diversity of arrange- ment, it must be shown that the order of time is intended to be observed in the two cases. But this can be only main- tained by mistaking entirely the nature and aim of the second narrative. The second chapter does not run parallel with the first, nor can it be called a continuation of it, for it does not take up the history at the point where the other drops it. It is properly an appendix to the first narrative, which, although complete in itself, and sufficient to answer its own purpose, yet omitted many things necessary to the elucidation of the history of the Fall, or it may be equally regarded as the introduction to that history. But vdiether viewed as an appendix to the one narrative, or as an introduction to the other, it is a necessary link in the chain. Its contents are accordingly laid out in groups ; so that the parts and paragraphs thus constituted partly refer to the preceding context, are partly related to one another, and serve partly to introduce chapter third.^ Even Tuch ad- mits that in all this there may be traced a well-considered plan. But to proceed to an examination of the more imi^ortant contradictions adduced. It is afiirmcd by the advocates of the document theory, — 1, That chap. ii. 5-9 teaches, contrary to chap, i., that the creation of man preceded that of plants. Tuch farther notices the contrast in the way in which the production of plants is here spoken of, compared with chap. i. :— " There, at the com- 1 Hrii-ernkl; Einloilmii;- in d. ;il(e Test. 183G, I. ii. 214. 44 CREATION AND THE FALL, mand of God, tlic earth brings forth vegetation ; here it must rain, that plants may .spring up in a natural waj."^ But this distinction is of no moment. The one statement differs from the other, only in being more specific, and in referring to one of the conditions, without which plants cannot exist. The only difficulty lies in the supposed necessity of man's presence, and by implication his existence prior to the growth of the vegetable kingdom. There is great diversity of opinion, as to where the second section begins. The most probable supposition is, that it commences in the middle of verse 4. " In the day that Jeho- vah-Elohim made," &c. Then is added, " And every shrub of the field was not yet in the earth," i.e., according to a Hebrew idiom, '' no shy^uh of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up, or sprouted." The reader is thus carried back to a period of creation antecedent to the vegetable productions. But this state of the earth is not to continue, — so much is implied in nna, not yet ; but is to be remedied w^hen the necessary conditions' shall enter in : " For Jehovah-Elohim had not caused it to rain upon the earth ; and no man to till the ground," What, then, is the connexion between ram and man in this statement relative to the absence of plants ? Are the two agencies referred to as neces- sary conditions of vegetable existence? This can hardly be affirmed, if only common sense be allowed to the writer of Genesis, Mention is made of man, and the fact of his non- existence at that period is adverted to, because his creation is to be the main theme of this chapter ; and no mention would liave been made of tlie creation of plants, but for their con- nexion with man — adorning his dwelling-place, supplying him with food, and serving to test his obedience. That such is the case appears from verse 6 : "And a mist went up from the earth, and watered the wliolc face of the ground," which was thus made capable of supporting vegetable life. But without mentioning its introduction, as might have been expected from verse 5, and as would undoubtedly have been the case had the order of time only been attended to, the historian proceeds straightway to his main subject, the creation of man (ver, 7) ; with which again is connected the preparation of the garden in Eden, and * Komraentav ill), d. Genesis, 1838, p. 38. THE INTERNAL UNITY OF GENESIS I.-III. 45 ]iis loccation in it ; and it is only after man is tlius disiiosed of, that tlie writer returns (verse 9) to describe the plants passed over in verse 5. Then, again, after a digression as to the situation of the garden (verses 10-14), he returns to man and his connexion with it (ver. 15), incidentally touched on, verse 8. There are not, then, two contradictory accounts of the origin of the vegetable kingdom ; nor is there anything to shew that the second narrative conceived of it as posterior to the crea- tion of man. The jjurport of this narrative is to shew, that the first glance of man fell on an earth adorned witli all the gifts and blessings of a bountiful Creator. In order to obviate any difficulty or contradiction in the statements of the two chapters, it is not at all necessary to suppose that the herbs and trees had not attained to their full size,^ or that the vege- table creation had not shone forth in its full beauty, until man was created,^ or even to assume that the vegetable creation of chap. i. refers to the fossil flora, while that of chap. ii. 5-9 refers to the plants now existing.^ 2. Another contradiction is said to occur in chap. ii. 18, 19, which, as is alleged, teaches that man was created previous to the lower animals. The difficulty lies in the two verbs, nri and t^nn, of the same tense, verse 19 : " Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of theair, and brought them to Adam,'' &c. The older versions and expositions, as also some modern writers, get over the difficulty by translating the first verb as a iduijerfect ; but for this there is no grammatical authority. Others assume a second creation of animals, and such as are more serviceable to man. Kurtz"* proposes another solution, according to which he conceives that the passage is equivalent to " God brought the beasts, which he had formed, to Adam." He founds this on what he considers a Hebrew rule : — " Two consecutive imperfects, with vau consec. closely connected by unity of subject, (and mostly also by unity of object,) so fall under one point of view, that the progress intimated by the vcm consec. is not conceived of through the first imi)erfect, but ' Eanhe, Untersucbungeii iib. d. Pentateuch, 1834, vol. i. p. \CA. ■^ Hdvernich, Einleitung, I. ii. 214. ' Dreschler, Die Einlieit u. Aechtlicit, p. 79- * Die Einlieit, p. 1 1 . 4G CREATION AND THE FAl.L. through botli combined. The emphasis of thought lies then on the second imperfect, and i\\e first sinks into the subordinate pkce of a relative or parenthetic clause." Deut. xxxi. 9 is referred to as an example. Moses in his last days summons Joshua, and exhorts him to be of good courage, verses 7, 8 ; then is added, verse 9, " And Moses wrote (anan) this law, and gave it (raw) to the priests . . . and commanded them," &c. This does not imply that Moses wrote the law in the interval between his exhortation to Joshua, and the delivery of it to the priests. It is evidently this : Moses exhorted Joshua, and then committed to the priests the law which he had written, (previously to this transaction,) and exhorted them at its deli- very, and in consequence of this trust. Whether this exi^lana- tion be satisfactory or not, one thing is plain, that the idea most prominent in the mind of the historian was not the crea- tion of the animals, but the fact of their being brought to Adam. Had it been his object to describe their creation, he has done so very cui'sorily, and has omitted to enumerate many and large classes of the animal world. But as it is plain, from a careful consideration of the second chapter, that no mention would have been made of the vegetable creation but for its connexion with man, so it is no less evident, that no notice would have been taken of the animal creation, but for the cir- cumstance of their being brought to the man in furtherance of a purpose entertained towards him by the Creator. 3. A contradiction is pointed out in the statements of the two chapters regarding the origin of the winged tribes. Thus, according to Gen. i. 20, " God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth," &c. But according to Gen. ii. 19, '' Axv^L out of the ground i\\Q Lord God formed every beast of the' field, and every fowl of the air." This contradiction is, however, easily explained. It is not found in the original, but is owing to a mistranslation of the first of the two passages in the English, and several other ancient and modern versions, as Onkelos, the LXX., the Vulgate, and Luther. The correct rendering is given in the margin of our Bible, and is that of Calvin, Junius, and Tremelius, Le Clerc, De Wette, and many others : " Let fowl fly," &c., t^pip; r\\v\ referring not to their origin, l)ut to the sphere in which they wore to move ; THE INTERNAL UNITY OF GENESIS I. -III. 47 while the design of tlie other jiassage is to shew tlic source whence the beasts and birds originated. The above constitute the more important contradictions al- leged to be found in these narratives. Assuming their reality, and the absence of any satisfactory solution of the difficulties thus presented against the internal unity of the chapters in question, if they avail anything in proof of a diversity of authorship, it is in favour of the earlier form of the Document- hypothesis, now given up as untenable by universal consent, and against the complementary scheme of Tuch, at present the only one in repute. But so far from being contradictions, the matters adverted to are rather indications of one author, with unity of design. The historian, having in the first chapter sufficiently settled all questions bearing on the order of crea- tion, feels at greater liberty in the second to deviate from this arrangement wherever his plan required it, in the conscious- ness that he could do so without being misunderstood. The plan of the first is seen clearly only by the light of the second. By this it appears as a distinct, entire, and regular whole. But it is only by talcing the two narratives together that the reasons are apparent which induced the writer to notice one particular, or omit another, in his first chapter. Many things necessary to the full understanding of the subsequent trans- actions, but there passed over in silence, would certainly have been introduced, had not the Avriter fully proposed to reserve them for the second chapter of his history. So much, then, for the arguments of the disintegrating criti- cism in its bearing on the present chapters, — arguments resting on the change of Divine names, diversity of style, and histori- cal contradictions. Taken singly or combined, it cannot be said that they contribute much, if anything, towards the accomplishment of the purpose contemplated by their authors. Indeed, the internal unity of this portion of Scripture, it is not too much to conclude, if not more clearly evinced and firmly established by the trial, has at least come harmless out of the ordeal. 48 CREATION AND THE FALL. SECT. IV. — THE BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH HEATHEN COSMOGONIES. It is well known to students of antiquity, tliat cosmogonies and geogonies, or attempts to account for the origin of the universe, and of the earth in particular, with its varied forms of life, arc met with among all ancient nations whose literature or traditions have in any way been preserved. Such cosmo- gonies, in many cases, constituted an important part of the sacred books of these nations, and were in all instances, per- haps, closely connected with their religious systems. These facts have not escaped the notice of the enemies of the Bible ; and, without farther examination, they at once conclude that the account of Creation in Genesis stands on a level with the myths and legends in question,^ It is of importance, there- fore, to examine the matter in order to test the soundness of this conclusion, and see if one directly the reverse may not reasonably be deduced from the same premises. Granting that there are many remarkable similarities in the biblical and non-biblical cosmogonies, it cannot be denied by any one acquainted with the subject that there are also many and wide diversities. In so far as the points of similarity are concerned, it is now proposed to show that there are indica- tions that the Mosaic narrative is truth and not fiction, while the differences between it and the Heathen cosmogonies attest this truth to be a revelation from God. 1 Of tliis description, notwithstanding the disehvimcr of the author to the effect that he does not helong to the Orthodox, Infidel, or Eationalistic class of commen- tators, (Pref. p. vi.) is a work entitled—" Quaastiones Mosaicse, or the First Part of the Book of Genesis compared with the Remains of Ancient Pieligions." By Osmond De Beauvour Priaulx, 2d ed., Lond. 1854. The principles of exposition are thus stated: " I looked for his (Moses') view, not in the fables of the Talmud- ists or in the ponderous tomes of commentators, hut in the Vedas, the laws of Menu, the Zendavesta, the Kings of China, the traditions of Greece, and the legends and customs of half-civilized man. I found different nations uttering the same crj', speaking the same thought, though not indeed in the same phrase, and I made nation interpret the language of nation."— (Pp. vi. vii.) The result, accord- ing to this writer, is, that the cosmogony of Genesis is superior to that of Jlenu, hut still is only an invention of Moses or some of his predecessors (p. 45) ; while the history of the Fall is " a fragment fi-om the philosophy of the earliest ages, which neither demands our belief, nor is necessary to our faith, but which is full of instruction for us by the deep insight it gives into (he simple creed of infant man." —P. 92. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARKD WITH HEATHEN COSMOGONIES. 49 I. ACCORDANCE OF ANCIENT COSMOGONIES WITH THE BIBLICAL. The cosmogonies of heathenism diiFer widely from one another in form and character ; and yet on a closer view, it is found that they exhibit not a few points of internal relation with a remarkable sameness in their leading principles. This has been noticed and acknowledged by all who have given attention to the subject. To quote only the words of Tuch : — " However great the diversity of these theories of creation, it cannot but be observed that it is the same key-notes which, in the most varied harmonies, sound from the Ganges to the Nile, and even re-echo in the oldest philosophemes of the Wesf ' But it is not merely a resemblance among themselves which can be thus detected, there is also a remarkable accord- ance, in many particulars, with the Mosaic account of the Creation. This will appear from the subjoined abridgment of the Cosmogonies of the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Indians, and other ancient nations. 1. The account of the origin of the Universe given by Diodorus Siculus,^ and which is regarded as the theory of the Egyptians, is in substance as follows. At the beginning- heaven and earth were blended together, but afterwards the elements began to separate and the air to move. The fiery particles, owing to their levity, rose to the upper regions ; the muddy and turbid matter, after it had been incorporated with the humid, subsided by its own weight. By continued motion the watery parts separated and formed the sea : the more solid constituted the dry land. Warmed and fecundated by the sun, the earth still soft, produced different kinds of creatures, which, according as the fiery, watery, or earthy matter pre- dominated in their constitution, became inhabitants of the sky, the water, or the land. Latterly the earth, more and more hardened by the sun and wind, could no longer produce any of the larger animals ; but they began to propagate by genera- tion.^ Another idea of the Egyptians was that there was boundless darkness in the abyss and a subtile spirit intellec- * Kommentar lib. die Genesis, p. 5. ■^ Comp. Eusebius, Prseparatio Evangelica, i. 7. ^ Witli this agrees in general the scheme of Ovid ; only he admits that it was a god that arranged chaos into a worhl ; and also made man in tlie image of tlie godn, and appointed him ruler on earth. Motani. i. 5. 1) 50 CREATION AND THE FALL. tual in power, existing in cliaos. But the holy liglit broke forth, and the elements were produced from among the sand of a watery essence.^ 2. The Phoenician Cosmogony given by Eusebius^ from Sanchoniathon, is as follows: — The first principle of the Universe was a dark windy air and an eternal dark chaos. Through the love of the spirit (irvevixa) to its own principles, a mixture arose, and a connexion called desire (tto^o?), the beginning of all things. From this connexion of the spirit was begotten mot (/xcor), which, according to some, signified 7nud, according to others, a corruption of a watery mixture, but is probably a./eminme form of in, iq. 'z?, water. From this were developed creatures in the shape of an egg, called Zojjhasemin, a' term generally considered as formed from n^^f 'd's, the observers of heaven;^' but by some taken to be compounded of '& nsi', the expanse of heaven. Mot and the stars began to shine. The air being lighted up by the heat communicated to the earth and sea, there arose winds and clouds ; and the thunder of the contending elements roused from slumber the creatures before mentioned, which then, male and female, moved on the earth and in the sea. Another form of this tradition is, that from the wind Kolpia, KoXirla, (n^-'s Vip, the sound of the mouth ofJah, or, according to others, n-Q h\p, the-hlowing of the wind, or of the spirit,^) and his wife Baau, Bdav, ('nii), were brought forth two mortals, Aion and Protogonos, and from these were produced Genos and Genoa who peopled Phoenicia. Baau, the produ- cing principle in this tradition, is evidently the same as 3Idt of the other ; Kolpia, the creative spirit, is irvevfia (nsnnjp nn, the brooding spirit, Gen. i. 2) of the other tradition, corre- sponding to the moving and moved air, which, according to Diodorus, separated the elements. S. The Babylonian Cosmogony, according to Berosus,^ began thus : — There was a time when all was darkness and water, wherein moved frightful animals of compound forms ; the ruler of which was a woman named liomoi^oka, a term said to signify the ocean. The supreme God, Bel, divided the darkness, and cut the woman into two parts, out of which he formed heaven ' Wilkinson's Ancient Effyptians, 1847, vol. iv. p. 218. ^ Prsepar. Evang. i. 10. See Ewalil, Abliaiullung iib. d. Pliunikisclieii Ansicliten von der Weltschijpfung, 1851. ^ Ewald, I. c. p. 37. * Eiitli, Geschichte dor riiilosopliie, i. 250. '' EiiscLiiis, Cliron. Ainieu. i. 22. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH HEATHEX COSMOGONIES. 51 and earth. Bel cut off his own head ; and the gods, from the blood mixed with earth, formed men, who consequently par- take of divine intelligence. 4. The fertile imagination of India produced cosmogonies of the most varied forms. One of the oldest is the teaching of Menii. According to this, at first all was dark ; the world still rested in the purpose of the Eternal, whose first thought created water, and in it the seed of life. This became an egg from which issued Brahma, the creative power who divided his own substance and became male and female. The waters are called ndrd, because the production of Nara, or the spirit of God ; and since they were his first ay ana, or place of motion, He is on this account named Narayana, or, moving on the waters} The mundane egg of this and other Eastern traditions, ^ To this may be added a remarkable liymn from tbe Kig Veda — in a metrical version, by Dr. Max Miiller, in Bunsen's Phil, of Univ. Hist., i. 140. " In judging of it, says the translator, we should bear in mind that it was not written by a Gnostic or by a Pantheistic philosopher, but by a poet who felt all these doubts and problems as his own, without any wish to convince or to startle, only uttering what had been weighing on his own mind." " Nor Aught nor Xought existed ; yon bright sky Was not, nor heaven's broad woof outstretched above. What covered all ? what sheltered? what concealed ? Was it the water's fathomless abyss ? There was not death — yet was there nought immortal : There was no confine betwixt day and night ; The only One breathed breathless by itself, Other than It there nothing since has been. Darkness there was, and all at first was veiled In gloom profound — an ocean without light ; The germ that still lay covered in the husk Burst forth, one nature, from the fervent heat- Then first came love upon it, the new spring Of mind — yea, poets in their hearts discerned. Pondering, this bond between created things And uncreated. Comes this spark from earth Piercing and all-pervading, or from heaven ? Then seeds were sown, and mighty powers arose^— Nature below, and power and will above — AVho knows the secret ? who proclaimed it here ? Whence, whence this manifold creation sprang ? The gods themselves came later into being — Who knows from whence this great creation sprang ? — He from whom all this great creation came. Whether his will created or was mute ? The Most High Seer that is in highest heaven, He knows it— or perchance even He knows not." 52 CREATION AND THE FALL. was also a doctrine of the Egyptians, from whom, probably, it was introduced by Orpheus to the knowledge of the Greeks. 5. To these cosmogonies may be added the traditions of the Etrurians and Parsees regarding the periods of creation. Ac- cording to the Etrurian legends, God created in the first thousand years heaven and earth ; in the second, the vault of heaven ; in the third, the sea and the other waters of earth ; in the fourth, the sun, moon, and stars ; in the fifth, the inhabitants of the air, of the water, and of the land ; and in the sixth, man. The remaining six of the twelve thousand years of the supposed duration of the world will be the period of the human race.^ So also the Persian traditions in the Zendavesta. Ormuzd, by his word Honover, created the visi- ble Universe in six periods or thousands of years : First, the light between heaven and earth, together with the sky and the stars ; secondly, the waters which covered the earth were made to sink into its clefts, and clouds were formed ; thirdly, the earth was created, and, first, as its centre and heart, the highest mountain Albordj, afterwards the other mountains ; fourthly, the trees ; fifthly, the animals which all sprung from the primeval bull ; and sixthly, man, of whom the first was Kajomorts. At the close of eacli creative period, Ormuzd cele- brated feasts with the heavenly inhabitants.^ According to another tradition, preserved in a fragment of a Parsee MS. in the Bodleian Library, SOOO years passed before the earth was rendered useful ; for 3000 years Gayomorth dwelt alone in it : from the beginning of Gayomorth's reign to the resurrection are 6000 years. The same division is noticed by Theopompus, who states, six thousand years passed before the creation of the human race.^ But besides the long periods, as they were styled by the ancient Persians, who had a particular term to designate them, it may be here added that there are found amongst almost all ancient nations traces of a week, or a period of seven days, and a character of sacrcdness attached to the number seven in general. In these and other Cosmogonies which might be referred to, there is evidently much sameness, mixed up no doubt with much dissimilarity. The external form and features are very * Suidas, Lexicon, suh voce Tvjipyivicc. 2 Ehode, Hellige Sago des Zendvolkes, 1820, pp. 213, 22!>. » Zeitschrift J. Deutschen morgenliind. GcsclLscliaft, 1851, vol v. p. 228. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH HEATHEN COSMOGONIES. 53 luilike, but in all, points of relationship may be easily detected. Looking on these diversified and wide-spread traditions regard- ing the origin of things, in the light of witnesses of the beliefs generally, it may be, universally, entertained on that subject in ages long past, they are in many respects remarkable, but in nothing more so than in their unanimity as to certain fundamental ideas. When questioned separately, they doubt- less give forth wild and incoherent utterances, but when brought together and their testimony compared, there is not a little that is both accordant with itself, and with the account of the creation which the Bible furnishes. To notice only a few particulars : there may be traced more or less distinctly in all, (1.) Intimations of a primeval darkness,^ corresponding to the scriptural notice introductory to the work of creation, " there was darkness on the face of the deep." (2.) An unarranged chaos — an empty, desolate waste, or, according to the descrip- tion in Genesis, " without form and void" (mbi inn, empty and desolate), where may be particularly noticed the Baau of the Phoenician cosmogony. (8.) The preponderance of water in connexion with this state of things. (4.) The widely spread notions concerning the mundane egg, are evidently connected with the intimation in Genesis, " the Spirit of God moved (properly brooded) on the face of the waters ;" from which, it may be remarked, j)robably originated the symbolic designa- tion of the Spirit as a dove. (5.) Another thing noticeable, especially in the Etrurian traditions, is the advance in crea- tion from the imperfect to the higher and more perfect forms. And (6.) the origin of the animals from the earth, and man's likeness to the gods. The latter circumstance, in particular, is fully recognised by the classical writers of Greece and Rome ; being embodied in their fictions of Prometheus, who, forming- men from clay, animated them with fire taken from heaven. What account can be given of the dim but not doubtful accordance of these rude theories with the narrative of Crea- tion in Genesis ? It cannot be the result of accident ; nor can it be shewn to have originated from anything in the nature of the case, nor in any general relation of the world to the human mind ; and yet, as Eichhorn remarks, " so great a resemblance 1 In the Lireek cosmogonies, Night is one of the first created beings— the daugh- ler of Chaos, and the sister of Erebus, 1)y whom she became the mother of Aether and Ilemera.— Hesiod, The.cj. 123. 54 CREATION AND THE FALL. in legends and conceptions is scarcely conceivable without a common source."^ Is it to be concluded, then, as is sometimes done, that this common source is the biblical record ?^ A careful consideration of the subject will by no means warrant, but rather preclude, any such conclusion ; for although the influence of the Bible may have been felt by nations more or less in the neighbourhood of the covenant people, yet it must be seen and admitted, that these traditions are found also among nations lying far beyond the range of such influences ; and, moreover, that they can be traced back to the most remote times. The only way of satisfactorily accounting for the phe- nomenon presented in the harmony of Cosmogonic theories, is to regard it as the result of a primeval ti'adition extending back to the cradle of the human race, but moulded in the course of ages according to the tastes and tendencies of the channels through which it was conveyed to the various regions and tribes of earth. But, it may be asked, what is gained for the confirmation of Scripture from this collation of ancient Cosmogonies, for may not its theory of creation be only one of the many to be met Avith elsewhere, — or be only a tradition lianded down through the Israclitish nation, and, though preserved, it may be, in greater purity than when passed through other hands, yet added to and changed in the course of its transmission ? To this it may be replied, were the matter even as here repre- sented, enough is gained to prove, if not the entire historical character of the Mosaic narrative, at least that it contains far more truth tlian many modern critics are disposed to recognise. The remarkable accordance of the biblical and non-biblical Cosmogonies, in the particulars already indicated, incontestably pi'ove that they all rest on a basis of fact, however it may have been discovered. But it is by contrasting the scriptural narrative with tlie heathen Cosmogonies that the former is seen in its proper light. By this its true historical character will be vindicated, and it will approve itself as a revelation from God, — not merely as the tradition of a primeval revela- tion made to the first man, but as an immediate revelation vouchsafed to tlie writer of Genesis, who assigned to it the chief place in his imperishable record. ' Einlcitung, vol. iii. p. 20. '^ Ilfivcrnick, in Cyrlopiij lia of Kihliral Ijileraturo, Art. Genesis, vol. i. p. 751. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH HEATHEN COSMOGONIES. 55 II. — CONTRAST OF THE BIBLICAL AND NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES. Notwithstanding- tlie points of agreement above indicated between the biblical and non-biblical cosmogonies, their differ- ences are still more striking, affecting not merely the form, but the entire character of the subjects compared. In the first place, the simplicity of the Mosaic narrative of creation has called forth general admiration. Its superiority in this respect is thus acknowledged by Winer,^ — " No other cosmogony of the ancient world can, as regards beauty and sublimity of style, be comjDared witli the Mosaic.'' And by Knobel,^ — " In comparison with the heathen cosmogonies, the praise, by general acknowledgment, is due to the simple and natural, worthy and sublime, Hebrew narrative," The heathen cosmo- gonies have but little symmetry of form, and much less consistency ; part disagreeing with part, and statement with statement, while withal they are enveloped in much that is misty and obscure, owing, no doubt, in some degree, to their imperfect state of preservation. But passing over generalities and minor distinctions, which relate more to the form than to the substance, it may be observed that, — ]. The Mosaic narrative of creation is distinguished from all other cosmogonies by the absence of everything fanciful or absurd. The heathen cosmogonies teem with absurdities, very partial instances only of which have been adduced in the preceding compendium. They manifest, without exception, the most gross ignorance of Nature, ascribing to matter powers and properties of the most ludicrous kind, and imposing upon the creative principle the necessity of having recourse to the most .absurd expedients for effectuating its purposes or im- pulses. Even with the aid of an ancient and authentic tradi- tion, which can be traced through all these theories, liunlan reason, it is clearly demonstrated, is utterly inadequate to account for the creation of a world. But these ancient failures need not at all excite surprise, seeing how much, even in the nineteenth century, reason may be at fault in expounding the doctrine of Creation, when the Bible and its teaching are dis- ' Biblisch. Real-Wiirterbucli, vol. i. p. 339. "^ Die Genesis, p. G. Sec also Gablcr in EicbLoin's Frgeschirhte, vol. i. p)i. 30. 3 1 . 56 UKEATION AND THE FALL. carded. In illustration of this, it is enough to refer to such works as Oken's " Ph^-sio-Philosopliy,"^ and the " Vestiges of the Natural History of. Creation." The Hebrew narrative is entirely free of any such conceits. What so simple and grand as its opening announcement, — " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth !" Indeed, the same characteristics belong to all its utterances. It carries the seal of truth on its very forehead. The historical matter which is related is replete with speculative thought and poetic glory, but is itself free from the influence of human fancies and philosophemes. In a field most inviting to specula- tion, Avhere a thousand paths opened up on every side, and all presenting the most varied attractions, the writer carefully resists all such tendencies, and turns not aside to the right hand or to the left. He does not speculate, he does not give wing to imagination ; nor does he pause to notice or discuss any of the numerous questions with which human curiosity has ever busied itself. In this, no less than in other particu- lars to be afterwards noticed, may be distinctly recognised, the heavenly teacher, the Spirit of inspiration. Here, as in other parts of Scripture, He makes himself known, as well by what is left unsaid as by what is communicated. Most assuredly, were the writer of Genesis giving merely his own speculations or imaginings, or simply placing on record the traditions of his ]iation, he would have said more, by way of discussion or explanation, or mixed uj) with his narrative some sorry legends or wild fancies which could not fail to betray the source whence they sprung. That he has not done so, and that he has not penned a single statement wliicli can offend right reason or good taste, or which clashes with any principle of revelation, plainly necessitates the conclusion, that what he recorded must have been received from above. 2. A distinguishing feature of the biblical creation is tlie fact, that it betrays nothing of a local or national character. All the non-biblical cosmogonies are not only marked by ' Of Okca's work, of wliicli an English translation appeared in 1847, Profes.sor Sedgwick thus speaks : — " All his pages on the structure of the earth give us little more than a compound mass of error, involved in a succession of assertions poured out with the utmost dogmatism, and without one syllable of reserve." — Discotirsn on tlie Stndici of the University of Camhridffc, 1850, p. cciv. p.ii;lical creation compahed with heathen cosmogonies. 57 extravagant fancies, but exhibit in their form and structure various national characteristics, which prove that they must have grown up and assumed their peculiar conformations on the soil, and among the people to which they severally belong. As in the case of the Mythologies of the ancient nations, so also of their Cosmogonies — for the two are intimately related, there is discoverable the most marked impress, not only of the particular temperament of the human mind, but also of the physical characteristics of the locality. Thus, in the cosmogony of the Egyptians, for instance, the influence of the periodic inundations of the Nile is plainly discernible, while the Baby- lonian cosmogony no less evidently appears to have been constructed for Mesopotamia. The same local and national influences are particularly characteristic of the various theories of India and other ancient nations.^ No such modifying influences, however, can be detected in the Mosaic narrative of Creation. Here there is nothing local, nothing national. The narrative bears no traces of Egypt, or of the Arabian desert — the countries wuth which the writer was most familiar ; — the one his birthplace, the features and pecu- liarities of which must have made a deep and indelible imj^res- sion on his memory ; the other the place where by far the greater portion of his life was spent in solitary musings, and political labours and anxieties. Even those parts of the narrative in which, if anywhere, might be expected traces of a national colouring, as the description of Eden, and its geographical posi- tion, are entirely free from anything that can be reckoned such. If the historian had in any way been influenced by local preju- dices or national prepossessions, it is not at all improbable but that somehow or other he would have connected Eden, the birthplace of man, with the land set apart by God for the home of the covenant-people ; and that of the rivers that watered the garden and the surrounding regions, the Jordan would be one ; while the " goodly mountain'' Lebanon, with its cedars and its snows, would in some Avay contribute a graceful ornament to the scene. In similar circumstances, there is little reason to doubt that the Hindoo would assign 1 '• In the cosmogcnic myths of the Icelanders, as presented to us in the Edd;i, it is impossihie not to perceive the influence of the peculiar locality of the Northern Scandinavians." — Bunsen's Philosophy of UnivenaJ Histori/, vol. i. p. 80. 58 CREATION AND THE FALL. a prominent place to the Ganges, and the Egyptian to the Nile, whether they drew on fancy for the embellishment of the descrijDtion, or only followed the traditions of their country. The only thing in this narrative that has been at all alleged to betoken a national tendency, is the place occupied by the institution of the Sabbath. It is maintained that the Sabbath is entirely a Mosaic ordinance, and its connexion with creation has been styled " a juridic mytli."^ This is not the place to controvert these allegations, though it might be easily shewn that they rest on assumptions utterly unwarranted. So far has the attempt been carried to get rid of the Sabbath's con- nexion with creation, that many have not hesitated to affirm, that the Hebrew cosmogony originally consisted of eight dis- tinct acts of creation, and that it was only at a later period the thought occurred to distribute them into six days, followed by a Sabbath. This view, recently revived by Ewald,^ has not met with much reception even from writers of the same stamp. " To take away the week-cycle and the Sabbath, were to destroy the entire plan of the picture of creation," is the remark of Tuch in reply to the same view as j)ropounded at an earlier period by Gabler, Ilgen, and other Rationalistic writers. 3. The biblical creation is pre-eminently distinguished from all other cosmogonies, by correct and worthy conceptions of the Creator. The theories of heathenism proceed on the j)rinciple either of excluding all Divine interposition in the creation of the universe, assigning its original formation — if iin origin be admitted — or its present form, to the properties and disposi- tions of matter only ; or, if allowing the interposition of a higher power, they make it to be some other than the Supreme and Eternal God, some demiurgic principle. In some cases it was assumed that the creative power acted under the authority of the Supreme Being ; in others it was said to be acting against him. In every instance, however, the ideas entertained of a Creator, and of his perfections, intellectual and moral, are exceedingly low, confused, and indistinct ; his power being limited by the stubbornness of matter, or resisted • De Wette, Einlcitung, p. 172. ^ Jahvbiichcr dcr Bib. Wissonscliaft, 1840, p)-. HG-;»1. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH HEATH 1 N COSMOGONIES. 59 bj some other hostile principle ; or creation is regarded not as a spontaneous product of the Divine will, but as a neces- sary act. The Bible, on the contrary, in its account of creation, rises infinitely above all such low and narrow views, and occupies a place peculiarly its own. It clearly and unequivocally ascribes creation in all its parts to the one living and true God, exclud- ing the intervention of all secondary, or inimical co-ordinate principles between the Creator and his work. The Creator is independent, underived, and supreme : the universe in all its parts and combinations is derived and dependent, and has been called into being, simply at the pleasure of its omnipotent Maker. Matter has no will, can offer no resistance, but is formed and fashioned to the mind of the Creator and upholder of all. As if on purpose absolutely to exclude all ideas of an evil principle acting, whether by co-operation, subordination, or resistance, and to banish all misapprehensions as to the nature and character of the work, every part of the wonderful production, as it passed in review before its beneficent Author, is pronounced to be good, while the whole system, in its varied relations and complex arrangements, is found to be " veiw good." It will be unnecessary to do more than advert to the objec- tion sometimes urged against this narrative, on the ground that it conveys erroneous concejitions of God, by ascribing to him human characteristics, as when He is introduced speaking, deliberating, and resting. The objection, if valid, will apply to the whole of Scripture — to the New Testament as well as to the Old. The peculiarity of style complained of is not confined to this narrative, nor, indeed, to any particular book of the Bible, though prevailing more in the earlier than in the later writings ; and if Genesis contains a greater number of such expressions, it is because the earlier part of it relates more particularly to Divine operations and interpositions. But this style, so far from constituting a blot or blemish on Revelation, is, when correctly apprehended, an important testimony in its favour. The object of the Bible is to make God known to man ; but it is only through language derived from man's own mode of feeling and action, that correct conceptions of God can be conveyed. GO CREATION AND THE FALL. 4. The biblical narrative is distinguished from all other cosmogonies by its views of creation. This observation neces- sarily follows from the one immediately preceding, for wherever the ideas entertained of a Creator are inadequate — and such is the case in all non-biblical cosmogonies — there can be no cor- rect concei^tions of creation. This remark holds true also in every case where the right relation of mind and matter is unknown or unacknowledged. From this point of view the various cosmogonies of heathen- ism, without much violence to their general form and char- acter, will fall into two great classes. The one will consist of such as are more or less Hylotheistic, that is, such as deify matter, and are accordingly Dualistic. To this class may be reckoned the Phoenician, Egyptian, and Babylonian theories. The other will include all such as consider the universe as emanations of Deity, and are thus Pantheistic. To this class belong many, if not all, the cosmogonies of India. The biblical creation is equally removed from both these extremes. It distinguishes between the Creator and the crea- ture without the least hesitation or ambiguity ; and it is only by a perversion of its language that some have detected in it, or rather have forced upon it, the Indian notions of incarnation or emanation. It does, indeed, rei^'esent man as made in some intimate relation to his Maker — created in the image of God ; but the very terms in which this relation is announced, irre- spective of the truths conveyed by the whole context and other collateral considerations, plainly declare that there was nothing farther removed from the purpose of the writer than to announce any participation in the Divine Essence, or in any way to represent man as an emanation of the Deity. The distinguishing characteristic of the biblical cosmogony is, that it represents the pure and simple idea of a creation from nothing, without eternal matter and without demiurgic co-operation. '* To the idea of a creation out of nothing," Hjivernick remarks, " no ancient cosmogony has ever risen, neither in the myths nor the philosophemes of the ancient world. ... By the peculiarity that the biblical cosmogony has for its fundamental idea, a creation from nothing, it is placed in a category distinct from all other ancient myths. Hence, recently, there appears, above all things, a disposition to deny BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH HEATHEN COSMOGONIES. Gl that this is contained in the history of creation, but certainly without success."^ That the peculiarity just stated is a characteristic of the Mosaic narrative, has been disputed by two distinct classes of writers, though influenced by the most opposite motives. The one class is simply actuated by the desire to reduce the state- ments of the Bible to the level of other cosmogonies, while the design of the other is to bring the account of creation into har- mony with the discoveries of the physical sciences. This latter class may be again subdivided — first, into such as consider that the doctrine of absolute creation is not taught in Scripture at all, and that it rests entirely on arguments of a metaphy- sical kind ; and, secondly, into those who do not deny that in other passages, the Bible distinctly, or by implication, teaches the creation of the universe out of nothing, but maintain that this doctrine is not deducible from the term vq^, which, in their view, imports a renovation, or remodelling, of the uni- verse from matter already in existence, rather than an original creation, properly so called. As these views, whether for the one purpose or for the other, are extensively adopted and vigorously maintained, the matter will deserve a more extended examination than in other circumstances would be deemed necessary, although in any case the inquiry is not without importance. The arguments on the negative side are usually put thus : — The leading import of the term Nna is twofold ; — 1. The pro- duction or effectuation of something new, rare, and wonderful ; or the bringing something to pass in a striking and marvellous manner, as Numb. xvi. SO ; Jer. xxxi. 22. 2. The act of re- novating, remodelling, or reconstituting, something already in existence. In this sense it is used almost exclusively in the Scriptures in reference to the eifects of the Divine influence in the moral or spiritual creation, as regeneration and sanctifica- tion, as in Ps. li. 10, " Create in me a clean heart, 0 God, and renew a right spirit within me," where, according to the parallelism and the nature of the case, Kna is equivalent to tnn. In all these cases, it is remarked, the act implied by the word is exerted upon a pre-existing substance, and cannot therefore strictly signify to create out of nothing. And as in no other 1 Einluitniig, I. ii. 244 ; Cjc Rib. Lit. vol. i. p. 750. 62 CREATION AND THE FALL. instance, if Gen. i. 1 be excepted, has the word necessarily or naturally this signification, it is at once inferred that there can be no sufficient ground for so interpreting it there.^ To this is sometimes added the remark that the three terms, ^<■^3, to create, ntyp, to make, and nr, to form or fashion, are used indifi'erently and interchangeably ; and that there is therefore nothing in the import of the first to distinguish it from the others. The terms are so used, it is said, in many passages ; as e.g., Isa. xliii. 7, where they all three occur, applied to the same Divine act. The Septuagint renders j^ia indiiferently by TTOielv and Kxl^etv. But especially in the account of the Crea- tion, Gen. i., the verbs are used irrespectively in verses 7, 16, 21, 25, &c. ; and comj^aring Gen. i. 27 and ii. 7, man is said to hcxve been created, yet he is also said to have been formed out of the dust of the ground. Again, in the Decalogue, Exod. xx. \1, the verb is hk'i?, made, not created. In Gen. i. the Septu- agint has eirolrjaev throughout.^ This, however, is by no means an adequate representation of the facts of the case, and particularly of the usage of the verb in question. The verb xni is derived, according to the best Hebraists, from a root of the form 13, which, in the harder modification -ID, appears in a great number of stems, conveying the idea of heiuing, s-plitting, &c. This primary signification is retained in the Piel of t^ia, a conjugation which frequently preserves the primary sense. Thus in Ezok. xxiii. 47, " The company shall stone them with stones, and despatch them (t^na, cut them down) with their swords ;" Josh. xvii. 15, " Get thee up to the wood and cut doiun (nxna) for thyself there." In Ezek. xxi. 24, this verb signifies, according to Gesenius, to form, to fashion, i.q. njt', but, according to Havernick,'^ to engrave, to cut in. In all these instances it is implied that the act is accompanied with care, labour, and toil. But in Kal, on the contrary, it is the simple, unlaborious act, the product, properly speaking, of the Divine operation. God creates the heavens and the earth (Gen. i. 1), but creation is peculiar to him : it cannot be affirmed ^ Bush, Notes on GenesL; vol. i. p. 27. ^ Baden Powell, in Cyc'op. Bib. Lit., Art. Creation, i. 477. See also Essayt, p. 461. ' Connnentar iibei- Ezecliiel, 1843, p. iMO. BIBLICAL CREATION COMfAKED WITH HEATHEN COSMOGONIES. 63 of any other being. Isa. xl. 26, " Lift up your eyes on liigli, and beliold who hath created these." God is the Creator of Israel, Isa. xliii. 1 (compare Eccles. xii. 1) ; of the ends of the earth, Isa. xl. 28. He commanded, and the heavens with all their host were created, Ps. cxlviii. 5. He creates a new heaven and a new earth, Isa. Ixv. 17. The expression is particularly used where God is said by a miraculous act to produce some- thing which previously had no existence. See Isa. xli. 20 ; Jer. xxxi. 22. In this sense it is connected with cnn, to renew, Ps. li. 12 ; civ. 30, " Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created, and thou renewest the face of the earth." In short, this is the proper and peculiar Avord for the true creating act of God. Such are the limits of nhd ; but that the other and more general terms adverted to are frequently interchanged with it cannot be denied. This interchange does not of itself prove* that the three terms are synonymous, but only that one or other can be used within certain limits, as occasion requires. So far from being synonymous, there is a wide distinction between them. The most general term of the three is rwiv, while -IV' approximates more to the idea of Kna ; the specific character of which will appear from the following observations : (1.) How Kn3 differs from rwv, to make, may be plainly per- ceived from the concurrence of the two terms in Gen. ii. 3, " God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it ; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created to make" (nVs-r^ N-ja) ; or, according to the Vulgate, " quod creavit Deus ut faceret." On this passage L. de Dieu remarks, " Omnis creatio est efi'ectio, sed non omnis effectio creatio." The dis- tinction is evidently that between the original production and the subsequent conformation and arrangements of the uni- verse. (2.) The verb xna, unlike the other two with which it is com- pared, never takes after it the accusative of the material out of which anything is formed. Thus in the case of rwv, Exod. xxxvii. 24, " He made the altar of wood" (y? naran m nvv) ; and of nr. Gen. ii. 7, " The Lord God formed man dust of the ground," i.e., from or of dust, isr onxn ir;i. But Nia cannot be used in this connexion, and, accordingly, when the accusative of the material is to be designated, one of the other two verbs 64 CREATION AND THE FALL. must be employed in its stead. Compare Gen. i. 27 — " God ci'eated man in his own image : in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them," where t^i2 is repeated three times — with Gen. ii. 7, as given above. From this and other circumstances, it may be inferred that the interchange of these verbs is not owing to their being synonymous, but that the true reason is partly the grammatical exigencies of the language, and partly the desire of the writers for variety, so as thereby to amplify their descriptions. In other words, the substitution of the one term for the other, or the concurrence of two or more in the same sentence, is due to grammatical or oratorical considerations. To the latter is particularly to be referred such instances as Isa. xliii. 7, where the three verbs, created, formed, and made, occur. (3.) Another peculiarity already incidentally adverted to is, that Nna is limited to Divine acts and operations. The other verbs can be used in reference to human as w^ell as Divine acts, but this is exclusively confined to the works of God. This circumstance alone is sufficient to demonstrate the important distinction which exists between the terms compared. But there is another consideration which must not be overlooked, which is, that in its primary acceptation, this term, from the very nature of the case, can apply only to a single act of the Divine Being, the origination of the universe. Gen. i. 1 ; but in a secondary sense may extend to any other of the operations of God. This is enough to shew, that while in these latter cases the act expressed by the word is exerted on pre-existing matter, it by no means excludes the idea of creation from nothing in the only passage where the term can be used in its proj)er and primary signification. But whatever weight may be due to the usage of the term, it is to be noted, that the question turns not so much on the sense of the verb taken alone and apart from the context, as on the way in which it is to be viewed in such a peculiar collocation as, " In the beginning God created the heavens and tlie earth." Granted, that in itself the term does not absolutely deny or affirm the presence of pre-existing matter, and that this can be inferred only from the context or the subject treated of, the question comes to be. What can be the meaning of the term hei-e ? The expression, " in the bcginnirig," evi- BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH HEATHEN COSMOGONIES. 65 dently refers to the beginning of created existence, in contra- distinction to tlie eternal being of the Creator, and is thus an absolute beginning in and with time. An exact translation of rra-Kna is ev apxv ^^^ John i. 1, with this difference, however, in the application, that in the latter case it does not refer to an act done, but to a state existing in the beginning, and therefore without beginning itself. With this distinction, the opening verse of the Bible is plainly the prototype and exemplar of the exordium of John's Gospel. Looking at the matter in this light, and with a special regard to the place which foa occupies at the head of the narrative of creation, the usus loquendi, on which much stress is laid by jmrties on the opposite side, is at once disposed of, as also a remark already quoted : " As in no other instance throughout the Sacred Writings, if this passage be excepted, has the word necessarily or naturally this signifi- cation, we perceive no sufficient ground for so intei'preting it here," On the contrary, it must be evident, from the con- siderations adduced, that there is ample ground for holding this to be a passage by itself, and distinct from all others, and for the conclusion arrived at by Havernick, that it is only by the most forced exegetical means the idea of a creation out of nothing can be banished from the first verse of Genesis. This conclusion is not a little confirmed by {he fact, that it was in this light the doctrine of creation in Genesis was regarded from the earliest times. There is sufficient evidence to shew that the Samaritans held the doctrine of a creation out of nothing ;' and it is well known that the Jews formed a definition expressive of this truth : e^ ovk ovtcov, 2 Mace. vii. 28. It was not until the Platonic philosophy began to influence Jewish writers, that an opposite opinion was enter- tained, as may be seen from the Book of Wisdom, xi. 18 : " Wisdom created the world out of shapeless matter," e^ d/j,op(f)ov vXt}<;, — an idea which was carried out still farther by Philo and the Alexandrian school. The inspired writers of the New Testament, however, still adhered to the doctrine of creation from nothing, wherever they had occasion to refer to the subject. Thus, Heb, xi. 3, " By faith we understand that the worlds were formed by the word of God ; so that the things which are seen (ja ^eTrofieva) were not made from those which ^ Carmen Samarit., i. 4; iii. 16, 17. Edid. Gespiiius, 66 CREATION AND THE FALL. do appear ;" or, according to another rendering, which con- nects [jbri not with jeyovevac, but with (patvofxevcov, " were made from those which do not appear ;" the same sentiment arising on either way. It is meant, tliat through faith we clearly apprehend that the world we see was not made out of apparent materials, from matter which had existed from eternity, but was produced out of nothing ; so that at God's fiat the mate- rial creation was brought into existence, and formed into the things we see. Rom. iv. 17, furnishes an instance of God's creative omnipotence, in his calling the things that are not as being, (as if they were,) ra ixrj ovra to? ovra. This, says Olshausen, is the creative call of the Almighty, by which, according to the analogy of the first act of creation, (Gen. i. 3,) he calls forth tlie concrete formations out of the general stream of life. So also John i. 3 : " All things were made by him ; and without him was not any tiling made that was made ;" where the second clause is not to be taken merely as a Hebra- istic parallelism, but, as the best expositors maintain, " a distinct denial of the eternity and uncreatedness of matter, as held by the Gnostics." All except God is designated as made, and is considered as made through the Word, and thus the idea of a second principle, spiritual or material, is entirely excluded. Following the teaching of the New Testament, the orthodox in the early Church firmly adhered to the doctrine of an abso- lute creation. But, as remarked in a previous section, the specu- lative tendencies of the Alexandrians could not be satisfied with the simple scriptural views, and, in particular, with the idea of the creation having taken place in time. Although Origen, however, had recourse to an allegorical interpretation of the work of the six days in order to find room for his notion of an eternal creation, he did not believe in the eternity of matter as a distinct and independent power ; and in this respect he dif- fered from Hermogenes and the Gnostics. Yet these specula- tions were not founded on the Bible, but on the Platonic or Oriental philosophies. Not only does the Bible give no coun- tenance to the notion of eternal or independent matter, but its entire teaching is diametrically opposed to it, from the first verse to the close. In this respect alone, there is an immense distinction between the Mosaic narrative of creation and all BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH HEATHEN COSMOGONIES, 67 merely human speculations and theories, whether of ancient or of modern times. From the examination instituted above, into the nature and character of the biblical creation, it must be apparent that no heathen cosmogony can bear comparison with it for simplicity, grandeur, and consistency. The Hebrew narrative contains all the elements of truth which lie at the foundation of all the myths of heatlienism regarding the origin of the world and man, with the rigid exclusion of the extravagant fancies by which the whole of these traditions are grossly deformed. It contains all the scattered grains of the pure ore, without any tinge of the dross with which, in every other instance, it is mixed up, or almost concealed. The biblical account of the creation is consistent with itself — consistent with truth and enlightened reason — consistent with our highest conceptions of the Omni- scient and Almighty Creator, and consistent with the entire teaching of the divinely-inspired Word. It has been well said,^ " While philosophy was still breathing mist, and living in a chaos, the opening sentence of the Bible had been shining on the Hebrew mind for centuries, a ray direct from heaven." Seeing the clouds and thick darkness which, on this subject, had settled down upon the earth, and distorted truth and man's apprehensions of it, whence otherwise could this light have come ? It is far easier to believe that Moses was taught the truths of creation, and the kindred subjects which he handles, directly by God himself, than that they are the result of his own sagacious speculations or discoveries, or of any eclectic power which he may have brought to operate on the heterogeneous compound of myths and marvels which existed in his day. " Such a deduction by the reflections of a sage," it has been remarked, " far transcends what we know of the sages of antiquity : such a lesson as is hero furnished regarding the Creator, and, indeed, with the design to exclude all idolatry, we do not find even in much later times among the wisest and most cultivated nations : not even among the Greek philoso- phers. Such a geogony or cosmogony we seek for in vain among all ancient nations.''^ And yet it has been attempted to account for all the excellencies and peculiarities of the 1 Harris, Man-Primeval, 1849, p. 15. ^ Jalin, Einleitung, 1803, II. i. 142. 68 CREATION AND THE FALI-. biblical creation simply on the ground of the purer and more correct conceptions of. the Divine Being in possession of the Hebrews, without first accounting for the origin of such con- ceptions, whether the oiFspring of the natural powers of the Hebrew mind, or of revelation from above ; and, if the latter, without considering whether it be more unreasonable to con- clude that the truths of creation have come from the same source. That explanation is obviously defective which would account, on natural grounds, for the superiority of the biblical creation from the circumstance of its being found among a people in the possession of a purer faith than that of any of the other nations of the ancient world, if the cause of this purity itself be unexplained, or be inexpliciible on mere natural grounds. Such, however, is the explanation offered by Ewald,-^ who, in order to give more weight, if not consistency, to his theory, does not hesitate to bring down the composition of the biblical cosmogony to about the reign of David, as the period he conceives best suited for the full development of such ideas. SECT. V. — THE BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH THE RESULTS OF MODERN SCIENCE. A very wide field for investigation here presents itself, and one on which many important and difficult questions have arisen, especially within recent years. It is not unnaturally suggested to those who have not given much attention to the subject, or who have looked at it from a partial point of view, that, admitting the incomparable superiority of the biblical creation in every respect over the cosmogonic theories of the ancient world, it may nevertheless be sadly eclipsed, if not confuted by the modern scientific discoveries wliich sj)ecially relate to creation and the physical revolutions of the earth and the Universe. This it is now proposed to consider; but in order to place the subject in a proper light, it will be necessary to submit a few preliminary remarks on the nature and aim of the i^hysical truths contained in the Bible, and more e.specially in the account of the Creation. First, It should be considered what the Bible, as a revela- ; .TahrLiichcr der Bib. WissenscLaft, 1848, p. 80. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIEN'CE. 69 tion from God, proposes to itself; and what accordingly the reader is justified in expecting from it. Inattention to this principle is often a great cause of confusion and disappoint- ment, and consequently, of the many rash judgments passed upon the Sacred Word. The Bible in no way professes to be a treatise or dissertation on science ; and, in particular, its narrative of Creation is not in the least designed to instruct the reader in physical truths, whether connected with Astronomy, Geology, Natural History, or any of the kindred sciences. Its purpose is entirely moral ; and it accordingly treats of the history of the universe, of the earth, and of man, only so far as it subserves that end. The information Avhicli it communicates on these subjects, has been vouchsafed to man not so much on account of his ignorance as of his sin. The Bible was written not to instruct him in phy- sical truths, but in those which relate to the character and claims of his Creator, and to himself, as a fallen being, for whom mercy is designed. Secondly, Such being the aim of the Bible, it may be rea- sonably assumed that its language and mode of describing natural phenomena will be suited to the lowest capacity. A book intended for the instruction of mankind, must speak a universal language — that of the people and of common life, and not the precise and scientific formulas and definitions of philosophers and the schools : otherwise it inevitably falls short of its object. As the Bible Avas written for all, so its language is level to all, and to a degree that bears the unmis- takable impress of its omniscient Author. When it has occa- sion, as not unfrequently, to speak of any of the phenomena or objects of nature, it describes them by their appearance, rather than by their actual relations and forms : and thus it is that the description is so admirably adapted to every grade of civilisation and knowledge. On the contrary, were terms and exjjressions employed that are much insisted on by critical and philosophical objectors, it would prove itself anything but the work of God, because it would be, on that very account, unfitted for a place in the providential dispensation of the world. TIm'dly, The grand moral and remedial aim of the Bible is never for a moment lost sight of by any of the sac-red writers. 70 CKEATION AND THE FALL. This greatly influences the character and the contents, the structure and extent of their various narrations, and may be said to be the great principle on which was decided what should be inserted and what omitted in the history. From this point of view it may be well to look at the biblical creation, and the very limited sjmce which it occupies in the Sacred Volume, Indeed, nothing intimates more plainly the views of the Divine Author of the Bible than the brevity with which that and other matters, naturally of the greatest interest and magnitude to man, are disposed of, to make room for others apparently of far less, but in reality and in the esti- mation of the Omniscient, of far more importance for man's spiritual and eternal wellbeing. The entire narrative of creation fills but a few short paragraphs ; and many of the mighty operations and the adjustments of immense portions of the Universe are despatched in a few simple words. How grand, how comprehensive, but, above all, how strikingly brief is the account of these subjects when compared Avith the full particu- lars, and minute details, and frequent iterations, of the story of grace and redemption which immediately follows the history of Creation, and fills up the remainder of the Sacred Record ! It is of the utmost importance that this feature be attended to in any comparison of scientific'discoveries and biblical state- ments ; and that due allowance be made for the plan, as well as for the jiurpose, of the inspired volume. This will not merely direct inquiry, it will also limit expectation, or rather it will correct, and so, in another point of view, materially enlarge it. So much is the mind influenced by prejudices or preconccj)tions in judging of the claims of Scripture, that while some refuse it their assent because they apprehend its state- ments are not in sufficient accordance with modern discoveries, others reject it, or doubt its age and authenticity, because it is found to accord with them too much. " If Genesis,'' says Eich- liorn, " knew of a transformation of the earth after a general inundation, or a previous conflagration, such as philosophers read in the records of nature, I would doubt its authenticity and its age ; for such deep mysteries of nature would go beyond the horizon of hoary antiquity."^ Objectors, in this respect, it may be tiuly said, are like the children in the market-place, > Einleitung in das Alte 'J estamcnl, vol. iii. p. 147. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 71 whom neither piping nor mourning can satisfy ; " but Wisdom is justified of all her children" (Luke vii. 32-35). Fourthly, But notwithstanding all these limitations, and particularly with the full recognition of the principle that the Bible was in no way designed to communicate scientific in- struction, or supersede inquiry into physical facts and j^heno- mena, yet on account of the sameness and consistency of all truth, it is to be inferred that the biblical statements, so far as they bear in that direction, shall not come into collision with any duly authenticated scientific or historical fact. This all believers in revelation must consistently maintain ; for to deny it were to give up the claims of the Bible to be the truth of God. The two volumes of Nature and Revelation must speak the same language, seeing that they claim to be the productions of one author, and He the immutable and omni- scient One. It is only when either of the records, or both, are incorrectly read or rendered, that any collision or contradiction is possible. Misinterpretations of scriptural and scientific signs and symbols are of course exceedingly easy, and in certain low- conditions of mental and moral culture they may be consi- dered inevitable. There are difiiculties connected with God's works as well as with his word ; and there may be difficulties — nay, with man's present knowledge, insurmountable difiicul- ties— in bringing into clear and distinct harmony the testi- monies of these two witnesses.^ That there are difiiculties and apparent discrepancies in the Mosaic account of the Creation as compared with the conclu- sions of the physical sciences, no one who possesses the slightest acquaintance with the subject will deny. But let it be thoroughly understood that difficulties of reconciliation are not necessarily to be regarded, as contradictions. It may be * " There is no want of harmony between Scripture and Geology. The word and the works of God must be in unison, and the more we study both, the more they will be found to be in accordance. Any apparent want of correspondence proceeds either fi-om imperfect interpretation of Scripture, or from incomph^te knowledge of science. The changes in the globe have all preceded man's appearance on the scene. He is the characteristic of the present epoch, and he knows Ly revelation that the world is to undergo a further transformation, when the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and when all the present state of things shall be dissolved ere the ushering in of a new earth, wherein righteousness is to dwell." — Eneyclopcedia Britannica, 8th edit. 1854. Art. Botamj, vol. v. p. 2.37. 72 CREATION AND THE FALL. well, however, to notice, and come to some understanding, as to what really constitutes a discrepancy in the testimony of two or more witnesses. Contradictions in such cases are either seeming or real. They may originate from our limited ac- quaintance with the suhject testified of, or with the testimony itself, and are tlius such as further information may be expected to reconcile : or the depositions are so plainly and palpably opposed to one another, that no amount of knowledge can reconcile them. In this latter case, one or other of the witnesses is unworthy of credit, or both may be in the same position. But it may safely be affirmed that no such discord is found to exist between the Bible and any authenticated scientific result ; for, Lastly, Already the difficulties are not so great, nor the discrepancies so many, as they were even a few years ago felt to be — a result brought about by no illegitimate means, but solely by a full and free canvassing of the points in dis- pute— the progress of science and more correct interpretation. Thus it happens that the imputations freely lavished on the biblical creation by geology when an infant and immature science, are now in a great measure, if not altogether, recalled. This growing reconciliation, so to speak, between science and Scripture, is a matter which deserves the most careful considera- tion in its bearing on the question of the biblical credibility. Did the Mosaic cosmogony in any degree resemble the crude theories of heathenism, the case must have been directly the reverse ; for, with enlarged knowledge of nature and its opera- tions, it would instinctively be felt that such a theory of the Universe could not possibly be defended. This is no mere conjecture or probable inference drawn from the nature of things. It is the very process now going on in India, where the Hindoo system, and the authority of its sacred books, a compound of false science and false theology, are crumbling to pieces before the literature and learning of the West. With the Bible the case is otherwise. The rays of science and Scripture are already uniting to form one rich halo of glory around the throne of the Unchangeable and Eternal : the light of science is helping to illumine the sacred page, and exalt our conceptions of the greatness and power, the wisdom and goodness, of the Author of Revelation ; and, on the other BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 73 hand, the light of Scripture is solemnizing the investigations of science into the awful depths of nature, where are traced in no dim or disputable characters in the ancient inarch of creation, the footsteps of Him whose goings forth have been from of old. In examining the points of concord or of contradiction which, on the one hand or on the other, have been noticed in the testimonies of science and Scripture on the subject of Creation, the more natural course of procedure obviously is to consider the testimonies apart, with the view of deciding, not whether they are of equal extent or equally explicit, but whether, from their general character and bearing, there is evidence to conclude that the one witness is as credible and as accurately informed as the other. Further, it will be advantageous to the inquiry to begin with the consideration of the utterances of science as being more full and explicit, and as relating to matters pre-eminently its own. The admission that the testi- mony of science on matters pertaining to the structure and natural history of the Universe, or of the earth, is more full and explicit than that of Scripture, is one in no respect dero- gatory to the character of tlie latter, but the contrary, for the reasons already stated ; while such an admission will be found to contribute not a little towards correcting misconceptions, and repelling objections directed against the Sacred Record. L — SCIENTIFIC VIEWS OF CREATION. 1. Science shews that there exists a very intimate relation between all the parts of the material universe. — From careful and extended observation, it appears that not only are all the parts of the solar system intimately connected, but also that the system itself is linked to other systems, thus constituting parts of one stupendous whole. This renders it in the highest degree probable, that all the parts were simultaneously sum- moned into existence, or at least impressed with their present form and motions. This conclusion has more tlian probabi- lity in its favour, so far as regards the bodies which constitute the solar system, with which the present discussion has alone to do. 2. Science farther testifies that the universe is not eternal, 74 CKEATION AND THE FALL. but had a beginning. — Astronomical observations shew that a resisting medium, though rare, occupies tlie spaces in which the phinets move, which must in time necessarily bring these movements to a close. This being the case, it is argued, " Tliere must have been a commencement of the motions now going on in the solar system. Since these motions, when once begun, would be deranged and destroyed in a period which, however large, is yet finite, it is obvious we cannot carry their origin indefinitely backwards in the range of past duration."^ But it is geology that places in the most commanding light the origin of the present order of things, so far as regards the earth. Looking into its stony records, and reading the history which time has inscribed upon them, this science announces that there was a period in the past when neither plants, nor animals, nor man, had an existence on the earth.^ 3. It is an induction of science and sound reasoning, that the beginning, whether of matter or motion, order or life, indicates the operation of an adequate cause. — Various hypotheses have been invented in order to exclude creation in the proper sense of the term, but true science has ever pronounced them to be unsound and unsatisfactory. The Nebular hypothesis of Laplace, devised for the purpose of accounting for the forma- tion and the motions of the planets and their satellites, if it be thereby intended to exclude the intervention of an intelligent cause, will, in this respect, be pronounced by true science to belong to the same category as the reveries of Diodorus the Sicilian and his Egyptian teachers, who conceived that the heavens and the earth were formed by the motion of the air and the ascent of fire. The same place is already assigned to the Development-hypothesis of Lamarck, and the author of the " Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation," which j^ro- fesses to account, on what it calls natural laius, for the origin of the varied forms and orders of organic life, vegetable and ' Wliewcl], Bridgewater Treatise, Loud. 1852, p. 177. * " We can prove," says a distinguished geologist, " that mau had a beginning, and that all the species contemporary with man, and many others which preceded, had also a beginning, and that, consequently, the present state of the organic world has not gone on from all eternity, as some philosophers have maintained." — Lyell, Elementary Geology, fourth edition. Loud. 1852, p. 500. " It is now beyond dispute, and is proved by the physical records of the earth, that all the visible forms of organic life had a beginning in time." — Sedgwick's Ducourse, p. xvii. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 75 animal, with wliich the earth is stored. It must not, therefore, be overlooked, in any judgment to he formed on the mutual bearing of science and Scripture, how, in such instances as tliose referred to, science, however her utterances may be worded, openly declares on the side of religion and the first article of faith ; and how, in particular, the facts of successive creations, which geology attests, furnish a complete refutation of the assumption of an eternal succession of generations, which was wont to occupy so large a space in the Theistic controversy, but which, previous to the rich discoveries of the natural sciences, could be debated only on the abstruse grounds of metaphysics and abstract argumentation. ■i. But althour/h not eternal, the material universe, as pre- sently constituted, has been in existence during untold ages. — Astronomy furnishes most wonderful evidence of the incon- ceivably vast extent of the universe, and also remarkable, if not incontrovertible, proof of its great antiquity, from con- siderations regarding the transmission of light. Sir William Herschel was of opinion, that light required almost two millions of years to pass to the earth from the remotest luminous vapour reached by his forty-feet reflector : so many years ago, if this opinion, and the calculations on which it rests are to be re- ceived, this object must have existed in the sidereal heavens in order to emit those rays by which it is now perceived.^ But any doubt as to the high antiquity of the system, or that portion of it in particular which, as his dwelling-place, comes more under the cognizance of man, is more than removed by the irresistible proofs adduced by another branch of science. The investigations of the geologist into the past history of the earth leave no room to doubt of its existence at an inconceivably remote period, and that not merely as a bare untenanted planet, but also as a theatre of life. It is admitted by all capable of observing the facts, and appreciating the reasoning, that the formation even of the strata nearest to the surface occupied vast periods in arriving at their present state.^ > Humboldt's Kosmos, Otte's Translation, vol. i. p. 144. Lond. 1849. ' '. ■■* " There can be no doubt that there have been successive deposits of stratified rocks, and successive creations of living beings. We see that animals and plants have gone through their different phases of existence, and thiit their remains, in all stages of growth and drcay, have been imbedded in ro-ks superimposed up m each 76 CREATION AND THE FALL. 5. The earth has jJassed through several successive changes, and these have been improvements in its condition and capa- bilities as a habitable world. — Whatever may be the hesitation felt in assigning a date to the origin of the earth, or determin- ing its absolute age, there is none in fixing tlie rektive age of the more important of its stratified formations, and in declaring that each of them was a work of time. The fossil remains furnish the clearest indications of a beginning of the various organizations with which at different periods in its history the earth was inhabited ; while change and progress meet the geological observer at every step of his investigations^ — the slow majestic march of creation being upwards and onwards. Whatever may be conceived to have been the state of the earth in the first stage of its existence, whether aeriform or molten, or encircled by dark chaotic waters, it is certain that there was an absence of all organic existence. How long this state of matters continued there is no means of determining ; but in due time life was introduced : first vegetable,^ and afterwards other in regular succession. It is impossible to conceive that these were results of changes produced within the limits of a few days. Considering the depth of strati- fication, and the condition and nature of the living beings found in the strata at various depths, we must conclude (unless our senses are mocked by the phenomena presented to our view) that vast periods have elapsed since the Creator in the be- ginning created the heavens and the earth." — Encyclopcedia Britannica, Art. Botany, vol. v. p. 237. 1 See Murchison's Siluria, chap, xviii. pp. 459-468. 2 As the priority of vegetable life is a point that has been somewhat controverted, it will be necessary to examine it more particularly. Thus Lyell, (Principles of Geology, eighth edition, 1850, p. 134 :) — " Traces of fossils referable to the animal kingdom make their appearance in strata of as early a date as any in which the impressions of plants have been detected." And still more decidedly. Professor Phillips, (Treatise on Geology in Cabinet Library, vol. i. p. 72 :) — " Those who expect, consistently with general probability, that the earliest indications of life on the globe should be of the vegetable kingdom, may be somewhat astonished to learn, that traces of plants are really not known in a distinct form in strata so ancient as those which contain the shells of Bracldopoda in the mountains of "Wales, and that only fucoids are discovered in the Silurian system. What is cal- culated to add to this feeling of surprise, is the circumstance that in the next but one system which lies upon the Silurian, two of the formations are the repository of most enormous accumulations of fossil plants : for in these rocks principally lie the coal beds of Europe and America, which are nothing else than a mass of chemically altered vegetables." But these appearances are fully disposed of by various con- siderations, the force of which is admitted by geologists, and some of which are referred to in the chapter from which the last extract is taken. There it is remarked, that as the stratified rocks were formed chiefly on the bed of the sea, the remains of BIBLICAL CREATION COBIPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 77 animal life. As regards the farther progress of the earth's pre- paration for the reception of animal life, and the particular order or succession observed in the introduction of sentient beings on its surftice, or into its seas, geologists are, upon the whole, agreed, that the fish preceded the reptile and the bird, and that these again preceded the mammiferous quadruped, and that the mammiferous quadruped preceded man/ 6. Life, once begun on the earth, has been maintamed without inten^uption. — " From the origin of organic life," remarks Professor Phillips, " there is no break in the vast chain of organic development, till we reach the existing order of terrestrial plants can only be exiiected to occur rarely; while the rarity of marine plants among the oceanic sediments is accounted for from the fact, that the most of these are natant, or confined to rocky shores. To this effect is the remark of Professor Sedgwick, (Discourse on the Studies of Cambridge, p. Ixxii.) — " In order to speculate securely about the first beginnings of vegetable life, we ought to know more of the primeval condition of the earth than is, or ever will be, revealed to us by direct physical evidence. Our oldest Palaeozoic strata appear to have been depo- sited in a deep ocean ; and in such formations we have no right to look for the vegetable spoils of the land, even though we hypothetically admit their existence in as great abundance as during any after period." To this is to be added the con- sideration, that the cellular substance of the marine tribes of plants, and of many land plants also, as Dr. Lindley's experiments shew, would cause many of them utterly to perish under the slow accumulation of the strata. " The first created living material being belonged, it is believed, to that class of beings called cellular, and of which lichens and mosses are familiar examples." — (Kemp, Natural History of Creation, p. 3.) " Cellular plants have probably in a great measure been destroyed, or changed in their aspect, and hence their rarity." — [Encydopcedia Britannica, Art. Botany, vol. v. p. 233.) But farther, the priority of vegetable life is abun- dantly confirmed by considerations of another kind. "A moment's reflection will shew, that in the system of things which God has been pleased to constitute, animal life necessarily presupposes vegetation, and is, indeed, very much regulated in its extent by the quantity supplied. Vegetation is the ultimate support of animal life : for though some animals are carnivorous, those preyed on, if traced downwards, are found herbivorous ; jixst as the herb itself derives its nourishment from the pre- existing inorganic elements. This is true of fishes and cetaceous animals which feed on the smaller plant-eating Crustacea ; and thus in the ocean, the phosphoric acid of inorganic nature is, by means of plants, carried over to animals." — (Harris, Preadamite Earth, p. 178.) It may, accordingly, be concluded with Professor Sedgwick, (/. c. p. Ixxiii.) — " In the midst of much doubt and uncertainty, one thing, however, is clear, that some forms of vegetable life must have flourished at the commencement of our oldest Palseozoic strata ; for no fauna could possibly exist without them." And also, (p. lix.) — " Should the place of the protozoic group be ever established, we may then expect to find within it the traces of that ancient flora which formed the necessary base of animal life." 1 Miller, Footprints of the Creator, 1849, p. 283. See also Sedgwick's Discourse, p. ccxvii. 78 CREATION AND THE FALL. things ; — no one geological period, long or short, no one series of stratified rocks is ever devoid of traces of life. The world, once inhabited, has apparently never, for any ascertainahle period, been totally despoiled of its living Avonders.''^ And to the same effect Sir Charles Lyell, — " In passing from the older to the newer members of the tertiary system, we meet with many chasms, but none which separate entirely, by a broad line of demarcation, one state of the organic world from another. There are no signs of an abrupt termination of one fauna and flora, and the starting into life of new and wholly distinct forms." " There is no great chasm, no signs of a crisis, when one class of organic beings was annihilated to give place sud- denly to another."^ 7. Science testifies, in the most unequivocal manner, that the appearance of man on the earth is comparatively a recent event. — Among all the facts of geology, there appears to be none better established than the recent origin of man— recent as compared with all the preceding creations, and particularly with the age of the earth. Thus Lyell :^ — " I need not dwell on the proofs of the low antiquity of our species, for it is not controverted by any experienced geologist ; indeed, the real difficulty consists in tracing back the signs of man's existence on the earth to that comparatively modern period when species, now his contemporaries, began greatly to predominate. If there be a difference of opinion respecting the occurrence in certain deposits of the remains of man and his works, it is always in reference to strata confessedly of the most modern order ; and it is never pretended that our race co-existed with assemblages of animals and plants, of which all, or even a large proportion of the species, are extinct/' Or, to take the most recent testimony on this point : — "We know not a single fact in geology," remarks Hugh Miller, " amidst its magnifi- cent accumulation of facts gathered from all quarters of the earth, and by as laborious, skilful, and truth-loving observers as have ever been united in the prosecution of human science, that gives a shadow of support to the hypothesis that man's history on the earth has extended beyond the ordinarily 1 Quoted in Pye Smith's Scripture and Geology, p. 81. 2 Principles of Geology, pp. 177, 179. ^ Principles, p. 144. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE, 79 assigned period of six thousand years. We know of no great name in the science who does not acknowledge it."^ 8. Finally, The introduction of man upon the earth is not only recent, hut is the most recent act of Creation : scientific investigations supply no evidence of the creation of any species subsequent to man. — ^With the introduction of man upon the earth creation came to a close : man is the last as he is the noblest production of creative power and intelligence. At least science has not been able to detect any trace of a subse- quent creation, whether of plants or animals. So far as geolo- gical evidence extends, " no species or family of existences seems to have been introduced by creation into the present scene of being since the appearance of man." " The geologist finds no trace of post-Adamic creation."" To the same effect are the testimonies of the botanist and the zoologist in their own special departments ; but it is unnecessary to pursue further a question on which, as must be conceded with Lyell, the evidence, from the very nature of the case, is necessarily vague and incomplete.^ The facts adduced above may be considered as the first principles of science relative to the natural history of the uni- verse, but particularly of the earth and its various inhabitants; and they are such as to whose truth all, or nearly all, scientific men are at one. The scientific testimonies and deductions thus presented have been arranged in the preceding scheme, with the view of serving not merely as references and guides in the subsequent examination of the scriptural declarations on ^ Witness, Feb. 1, 1854. See also Wagner, Geschiclite dor Urwelt, p. 241, Leips. 1845. To these testimonies may be added that of another school : " Com- pared with many humbler animals, man is a being, as it were, of yesterday."— Vestiqes of the Natural History of Creation, p. 110, tenth edition, 1853. 2 Miller, Footprints, pp. 304, 307. ^ Principles, pp. 681, 685. Sedgwick's testimony may be subjoined : " Eevelation tells us that God created the heaven and the earth — that man was the last created of living beings — and that God then rested from his labours. Many learned heathens held that the order of nature, animate as well as inanimate, had been from eternity. Modern science gives us the truest elements of the religion of Nature, and proves that the order of Nature has not been eteraal, and that man is a creature of the last and latest period. Science also tells us, that since the appear- ance of man, creative power in Nature appears to have been at rest." — Discovrae, ]ip. rccv. pccvi. 80 CREATION AND THE FALL. the same subject, but also, it may be, to cast light on the interpretation of the sa,cred page in the way of suggestion or otherwise. One inference may, however, at present be legiti- mately drawn from the foregoing synopsis, that no science — no geological or astronomical speculations, and no physiological research, can give any distinct and satisfactory account of the origination of the world, or of its past and present flora and fauna. Science can point to a beginning of the several exist- ences, but is unable to say how they were introduced on the previously vacant stage. Science can trace the progress and development of the earth upwards to the present order of things, and can again retrace the path which conducts nearly to the origin of all, but never reaches it. It is revelation alone which can supply reliable information on that point. " To assume that the evidence of the beginning or end of so vast a scheme lies within the reach of our philosophical inquiries, or even of our speculations, ajjpears to be inconsistent with a just estimate of the relations which subsist between the finite powers of man and the attributes of an infinite and eternal Being." Such is the concluding sentence of Lyell's " Princi- ples of Geology," and the idea which it expresses is in sub- stance exceedingly just and appropriate if limited to man's own unaided powers of perception. For holding that it must be so limited, there is the highest authority, for it is plainly declared on Apostolic testimony that there are indubitable evidences of a beginning and also of an end, and they are pronounced willingly ignorant who disregard the fact, " that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and in the water : whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished : but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men" (2 Pet. iii. 5-7). 11. — SCRIPTURAL VIEWS OF CREATION. 1. The Bible 7-ecognises the intimate connexion which subsists between the 2^(^'^^is constituting the material universe. — The opening sentence of the Bible not merely describes " the heavens and the earth" as the effects of a common Cause, but BIBLKJAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 81 also .assigns to them a contemporaneous origin. " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ;" tliis, from its two most prominent constituent parts, being the common Hebrew designation of the material universe.^ So also in various other passages of Scripture, the same connexion is observed and the same relation of time. Thus Ps. cii. 25, " Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the work of thj hands ;" or, as rendered by the Apostle, Heb. i. 10, " Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the founda- tion of the earth," &c. Indeed it is one of the main objects of tlie Bible to disclose and describe the close relationship between all the parts of creation, material and moral, as the productions of one originating mind. 2. Scripture expressly teaches that the universe is not eternal, but had a beginning both as to matter and form,. — No declara- tions of the Bible are more plain and express than those which distinguish between the eternity of the Creator and the iini- tude of the creature as to time and space. Everything that exists had a beginning, but God : He is " without beginning of days or ending of duration." The very first word of revela- tion relates to the beginning of creation. Whatever ambiguity or doubt may be alleged to attach to the Hebrew term ren- dered created, considered in itself, is, as shewn in the preced- ing section, more tlian removed by the context, " In the begin- ning God created the heavens," &c. From the considerations there adduced, there can be no doubt that according to the whole tenor of Scripture, matter is conceived of as not eternal. 3. If reason and science unite in testifying that the universe is the eject of an Intelligent Cause, the Bible teaches that this cause is God — the only living and true God. — Scripture, unlike some systems of philosophy, does not exclude the Creator from his work : it will not recognise or tolerate laws, ordinances, or arrangements, which would shut out the Lawgiver, or remove him to a distance from his government. It distinctly teaches ^ " The phrase ' the heavens and the earth,' though not always used hy the sacred writers in the full sense, is the most comprehensive that the Hebrew language affords, to designate the universe of dependent being; and, on account of the connexion, it requires to be so taken in this place." — Pye Smith, Scrijjture and Geolofpj, p. 270. It would, however, seem rather to be limited to the material universe, for that is the subject immediately taken up in the narrative following. F 82 CREATION AND THE FALL. that the Author of Creation in all its extent is a personal.and ever present Creator — the living God, for the revelation of whose character and relation to man the Bible was written. The God of Creation, as seen in the light of the Sacred Scrip- tures, is not a mere Abstraction — a Power or an Intelligence — but a Personality clothed in every moral attribute and per- fection. 4. The Bible nowhey^e—from the first page to the last — assigns a date to the origin of the universe. — It is of the utmost im- portance to attend to the statement advanced in this proposi- tion relative to the antiquity of the universe or of the earth. Leaving out of view for the present all considerations arising from the demands which geology makes in behalf of a high antiquity for our planet, and taking cognizance only of the scriptural declarations, it may be safely affirmed as an un- doubted truth, that neither in Genesis, nor in any other part or passage of the sacred record, is any determined period specified as that in which the earth began to be. If such a date can be detected anywhere, it must surely be in the nar- rative of tlie Creation with which the Bible opens, but no critical or hermeneutic skill can find it there. It is now, indeed, universally admitted by all who are competent to speak on the subject, that the expression, " In the beginning,'' with which the narrative and the volume itself open, leaves the matter quite undefined and unfixed. There are high authorities who even maintain that the first sentence of Genesis teaches only the priority of the material creation in respect to the immaterial, and render it, " At first God created the heavens and the earth."' Anyhow no absolute date is as- signed to this beginning or this first creation. It was a mighty advance towards reconciling science and revelation, when it was perceived and announced that " the writings of Moses do not fix the antiquity of the globe ; and that if they fix anything at all, it'is only the antiquity of the human species," — a con- clusion arrived at by the late Dr. Chalmers so early as 1804.^ * This is the rendering of the Arabic version of Saadias, and is recently adopted by Harris (Man Primeval, 1849, p. 481,) and Knobel (Die Genesis crkliirt, 1852, p. 7.) 2 See Life by Hanna, vol. i. p. 386. At a subsequent pei-iod (1814) Dr. Chalmers writes : — " Should the phenomena compel us to assign a greater antiquity to the BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 83 So far is Scripture from limiting the past duration of the earth, that, on the contrary, not a few texts seem to assign a very high antiquity to its creation. " Of old hast thou laid the foundation of tlie earth," Ps. cii. 25. — " The Lord pos- sessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old," Prov, viii. 22. The preceding observations comprise matters of a more general, or of a negative character, as it may be called. They reveal no discrepancy between the sayings of Scripture and the discoveries of science ; but the farther prosecution of the subject will conduct to more marked and specific results, and in particular to the discovery — unexpected, perhaps, by many — of a wonderful accordance in the order of creation as described by Moses, and as written on the rocky strata of the earth. This proposition may be enunciated as follows : — .5. The order of the successive creations in Genesis is the order of Geology, or, as it may he said, the order of God. — As stated under the numerically corresponding proposition of the pre- ceding head, scientific men are by no means agreed as to what was the original state of our planet, some considering it as gaseous, or as an incandescent mineral mass ; and others, that its matrix was water. Scripture carefully avoids all such theories. It gives no intimation or surmise regarding the first condition of the earth. All the information furnished by Scripture in connexion with the earlier stages of the earth's history, is, that it was " desolate and waste," Avithout in- habitant, and destitute of every form of organized life — a fact abundantly illustrated by geological investigations — and en- circled, whether at first or at a subsequent stage, by dark chaotic waters, oinn, or the deep. IIow long this state of mat- ters continued there is nothing in the narrative to indicate in the remotest degree. The results of the subsequent creating acts are " light," Gen. i. 3 ; an atmosphere, verse 6 ; the up- heaval of the land from the bosom of the deep, verse 9 ; and the land thus laid bare in due course clothed with vegetation, gloLe than to that work of days detailed in tlie book of Genesis, tliere is still one way of saving the credit of the literal history. The first creation of the earth and the heavens may have formed no part of that work. This took place at the heghininci, and is described in the first verse of Genesis. It is not said when this beginning was."— &Zec< Worhs, 1855, vol. v. p. 630. 84 CREATION AND THE FAIJ,. " grass, herb yielding seed, and the tree yiekling fruit," verse 11. Next, the waters- are filled with animal life; birds are also created at this stage, verse 20 ; after which follows the creation of terrestrial animals, " cattle, creeping thing and beast of the earth," verse 24 ; and last of all man, who was made in the image of the Creator, verse 26. 6. Life once begun on the earth has been ever since maintained without 2^ciuse or interrujytion. — So says geology, and no inti- mation of a contrary nature is found in Scripture, or any notice, expressed or implied of a creation, at least of a material or organic creation, prior to that which is recorded in Genesis. Wlien difficulties connected with the discoveries of geology began to press the interpreter of Scripture, their solution was sought in the assumption that Genesis describes only a reno- vation of the earth after some desolating convulsion, and that accordingly no reference is made to the ancient creations whose remains are entombed in the rocks — to the order in which they were introduced, or to the intervals in which they succeeded one another, or how or when they perished, but only to the vegetable and animal productions now in existence, and introduced contemporaneously with man. But this assumption is not in accordance either with the letter or spirit of the narrative ; while geology emphatically asserts, that there is no such break in the chain of being as is here implied. 7. The creation of man is not only relatively the most recent, it is the only one to which Scripture assigns an absolute date. — Tliis date is determined from the genealogical tables of the antediluvian and postdiluvian patriarchs in the line of Seth, the son of Adam, and of Shem, the son of Noah. Notwith- standing some unimportant differences in the chronology of the Hebrew text, the Samaritan recension and the Greek ver- sion, the period of the human race may be fixed at about 6000 years, a date which remarkably corresponds with the results of science and historical investigations. " The Bible instructs us," says Professor Sedgwick, " that man and other living things have been placed but a few years upon the earth, and the physical monuments of the world bear witness to the same truth." ^ These are monuments, be it observed, which man ' Discourse on the Studies, &c., p. 110. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIE^X'E. 85 has not been able to falsify or deface, and to this it is owing that thej present a remarkable contrast to the lying chroni- cles of China, India, and Egypt, which claim a fabulous antiquity for their respective nations — an antiquity by which, some time ago, it was stoutly attempted to overthrow the authority of Scripture, because of the recent date therein assigned to the creation of man. 8. With the introduction of man upon the earth creation came to a close. Whatever uncertainty may attach to the declarations of science on this point, owing to a deficiency of evidence, nothing of the kind marks the testimony of Scrip- ture : " Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made : and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." (Gen. ii. 1, 2.) The work proposed to himself by the Divine Architect being finished — perfected in all its parts — he ceased from further multiplying the objects of creation. Such as now described is the order and course of creation set forth in the Sacred Volume ; and on a comparison with the results arrived at by scientific men, it must undoubtedly be felt, that the harmony subsisting between the ancient record in Genesis and modern discoveries, is in a great many parti- culars of a very remarkable kind. The striking similarity of views and statements thus evinced cannot be the result of accident ; and it would be equally preposterous to seek its ex- planation in any supposed physical knowledge possessed by Moses, or any of his contemporaries. Moses was no geologist, and yet he writes as if thoroughly acquainted with the sciences of the present day. Indeed, he writes in a way unattainable, even by philosophers, until within a recent period, as may be demonstrated from such productions as Burnet or Whiston's " Theory of the Earth," which appeared at the end of the seventeenth century. Without anticipating the results of a more extended examination of this question reserved for a subsequent section, it is not too much to assert, that the har- mony above traced, and the peculiarities of the Mosaic nar- rative of creation, both as regards manner and matter, are explicable only on the principle, that the Creator of the earth, of its rocks and mountains, its rivers and seas, plants and 86 CREATION AND THE FALL. animals, both extinct and living, is also tlie Author and Source of this record of the wonderful production of his almighty power. But here a serious difficulty arises, which may materially interfere with such conclusions, and introduce discord into the harmony which it has been attempted to establish. The diffi- culty consists in the period of time — six days — within which, according to the narrative in Genesis, and still more expressly, a statement in the Decalogue, (Exod. xx. 11,) the whole work of Creation was begun and finished. In comparison with this all other difficulties sink into insignificance, or admit of easy explanation. Such, for instance, is the case with the fre- quently urged objection, that light was created on the first day, but the sun, moon, and stars not until the fourth ; the consideration of which may be safely omitted in the present discussion, reserving the remainder of this section for an exa- mination of the more popular and important of the schemes of reconciliation proposed in regard to the days of creation, and for an inquiry into the evidence, if any, which the narrative itself, or any other portion of Scripture, may furnish, as to the meaning of the days in this particular instance. III. — MODES OF RECONCILIATION. When an examination of the stratified appearance of the earth first suggested the idea that its origin extended back to a far higher date than was wont to be inferred from the Mosaic history of the creation, various attempts were made to negative the scientific conclusion. At one time, an explanation of these appearances was found in an easy reference to the Deluge of Noah, and the changes thereby induced in the relative position of sea and land, when the organized fossils had been buried in the solid strata. At another time it was suggested, that the world may have been created in the state in which it is now beheld — bearing on it seeming but not real indications of a high antiquity, and of processes through which it never passed. What are called fossils, it was alleged, never existed in any other state — they were mere freaks of nature. All these fan- cies, however, are fast disappearing before more correct and enlarged views of Nature, and the attempts at reconciling Genesis and Geology, on any such principles, may be almost BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 87 numbered with the things that were. It will be necessary, therefore, to notice only the more recent and better attested explications, and such as accordingly command the greatest acceptance. 1. By one scheme of reconciliation, which is perhaps still, as it was recently, the most extensively received, the first verse of Genesis is taken to stand as a separate and independent sentence announcing an act of creation, properly so called. This creation, of which no particulars are furnished, and to which no date is assigned, is only remotely related to the creative acts forming the subject of the biblical record, in which no mention whatever is made of the changes and revo- lutions through which the earth has successively passed during the untold and almost interminable ages wherein lived and propagated and perished the various races of plants and ani- mals, Avhose remains are carefully preserved in the fossiliferous strata. On the state of order and life to which these organic remains testify, there supervened, according to this theory, terrestrial convulsions which produced the chaos, or the con- fusion and emptiness described in Gen. i. 2, and out of which, in six days, the earth emerged in the order narrated, and was fitted for the reception of man. In a word, Genesis describes the present or the existing creation, and takes no cognizance of the creations which form the peculiar study of the geologist ; only it declares, that between the present and the past order of things, there intervened an awful blank, a chaotic period of death and darkness. It may be farther added, that by this theory the Divine mandate, " Let there be light," was fulfilled, when on the first day God had so far removed the dark, turbid vapours by which the earth was enveloped, as to allow some rays of the sun to penetrate the gloom, although it was not until the fourth day that these were so far dissipated as to allow the heavenly bodies to come fully into view. But this scheme for reconciling Genesis and Geology is open to many and formidable objections. "Waving for the present whatever may be urged against it from the Bible point of view, it is sufiicient to remark, that the science whose deductions it seeks to harmonize with the Sacred Record, or rather to neu- tralize as a testimony against it, stubbornly refuses to submit to the process required in this adjustment. Among the vari- 88 CREATION AND THE FALL. ous findings of geology enunciated on a previous page, there is none which appears to be sustained by better evidence than that which affirms, that " Life, once begun on the earth, has been maintained without interruption/' Giving due considera- tion to this great principle of science, it must be felt that any scheme of reconciliation which, like the above, proposes to break the continuity of the chain of life by the intervention of an absolute blank, is one that cannot satisfy the requirements of the case. 2. To obviate this weighty objection, and to suit a more advanced state of the science, the scheme has been somewhat modified by the late Dr. Pye Smith. This author agrees with Buckland and others in viewing the first verse of Genesis as a distinct, independent sentence, referring to an act separated by a wide interval from what follows ; and he considers that it was during this interval, or untold and undetermined period, that the various stratifications, denudations, and upheavals took place, of which geology takes notice. But the description in verse 2, according to this amended scheme — and it is in this its peculiarity lies^does not embrace the earth in general, but only a 'portion of its surface, " brought into a condition of superficial ruin, or some kind of general disorder," at a com- paratively recent date ; — " overflowed with water, and its atmosphere so turbid that extreme gloominess prevailed." " The Divine power acted through the laws of gravity and molecular attraction ; and, where necessary, in an immediate, extraordinary, or miraculous manner. The atmosphere over the region became so far cleared as to be pervious to light, though not yet properly transparent. In this process, the watery vapour collected into floating masses, the clouds, which the Hebrews expressed by the phrase, ' waters above the firmament.' Elevations of land took place by upheaving igne- ous force ; and, consequently, the waters flowed into the lower parts, producing lakes. The elevated land was now clothed with vegetation instantly created, ^y the fourth day the atmosphere over this district had become pellucid, and had tliere been a human eye to have beheld, the brightness of the sun would have been seen, and the other heavenly bodies after the sun was set. Animals were produced by immediate creation in this succession ; the inhabitants of the waters, BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 89 birds, and land animals ; all in the full vigour of their natures."^ Such is the carefully elaborated scheme of reconciliation proposed by Dr. Pye Smith ; and of which it has been re- marked,^ that " by leaving to the geologist in this country and elsewhere, save, mayhap, in some unknown Asiatic district, his unbroken series, it does not certainly conflict with the facts educed by geologic discovery." But notwithstanding the favourable testimony thus freely accorded by the geologist, the theory is open to objections of a very formidable kind from the opposite quarter. On attentively considering the narrative of creation, it can- not but be instinctively felt, that the mode of explaining its language, and disposing of its statements by both the above schemes, but more particularly the last, falls immeasurably short of the end proposed, which was doubtless to interpret Scripture, and not to torture it. Can it be that by the term darkness is not to be understood " the absolute privation of light, but only a partial obscuration or gloom," and that the sublime command of Omnipotence, " Let there be light," does not at all imply that light was now first summoned into exist- ence, but that the atmosphere became so far cleared as to be pervious to light, though not yet perfectly transparent ? and yet, imperfect as this state of things was, it was such as to call forth the Divine ajiprobation : " God saw the light that it was good." Most assuredly, if such assumptions are admi.s- sible, it is only by disregarding the plain import of language, and the sublime conceptions which have ever been entertained of this creating act. If the chaos be merely limited and local, the incongruity Avill be still more striking. Thus an eminent writer observes : " I have stumbled at the concej)tion of a merely local and limited chaos, in which the darkness would be so complete, that when first penetrated by the light, that pene- tration could be described as actuall}"- a making or creation of light ; and that, while life obtained all around its precincts, could yet be thoroughly void of life."^ It is farther prejudicial to this view of a limited creation, that it demands that the term earth be taken in two distinct ' Scripture and Geologj-. pp. 270-2^0. 2 JMiller, The Two Records, p. ]fi. » Ibid., p 17, 90 CREATION AND THE FALL. senses in the compass of two brief sentences, without any inti- mation to that eifect ; in other words, that in the first verse it signifies the whole globe, while in the second it must be understood only of a portion of its surface. Without for a moment questioning that in the Hebrew Scriptures the term y^NH is used in the latter signification, just as in the New Testament the corresponding word 'y^ denotes a country, region, or territory, as well as the terrestrial globe — the earth, as distinguished from the heavens, and that its greater or less extent is to be gathered from the subject or context, it seems a very doubtful, if not incredible, assumption, to maintain that, without any qualifying note, any author, and least of all an inspired writer, should, in the same breath, use the term in two senses so widely different. This is more particularly the case in the present instance, where, to all intents, the earth of the first announcement evidently furnishes a definition of the earth which forms the principal subject of the succeeding narrative, in the course of which the same term does indeed occur in another sense, but not without due intimation : verse 10, " God called the dry land earth.'' The objection thus urged is not a mere matter of inference, but is based on the express declarations of Scripture itself regarding the extent of the creation therein described. At the close of the sixth day, it is said, and with a pointed refe- rence to the preceding narrative, " Tims the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them,'' Gen. ii. 1 ; a statement which undoubtedly shews that the creation described in the first chapter was not limited even to the earth, and far less to a portion of it, but embraced heaven and earth, and all their hosts. And still more strongly, if possible, and expressly including the whole creating process in the operations of the six days, is the declaration in the Decalogue, " In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is," Exod. XX. 11. See also chap. xxxi. 1 7. But another difficulty attends the theory of a merely local creation. If, as is maintained by this scheme, other seas were teeming with inhabitants, and other lands were clothed with vegetation and filled with animal life, and other skies werepour- ing down golden light on field and forest, and were swept over by the winged tribes, for what purpose, it may not unnaturally BIBLICAL CREATION (!OMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 91 be asked, must direct creative energies be put forth in the supposed depopulated region, and not rather leave the clearing of its atmosphere, and the peopling of its seas, and skies, and fields to the laws already in operation, and which were suffi- cient for all the requirements of the case ? Why multiply miracles if they cannot be shewn to be necessary in the circum- stances ? If it be replied that the only new creation was man, and a few of the domesticated animals specially introduced for his use, the question then arises. In what light is the blessing to be regarded which was pronounced upon the newly created fishes and birds of this locality, " Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth ?" Gen. i. 22. Are the seas and earth here referred to the seas and earth of the circumscribed region — or are the terms to be understood generally, and so including seas and lands already peopled ? If the terms are to be taken in the latter sense, why the blessing ? — and if in the former, how do they harmonize with the similar blessing pronounced on man, " Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the eat^th, 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 nioveth upon the earth," where the terms are evidently taken in the widest sense ? But it is unnecessary to pursue the subject farther, as nothing but confusion and contradiction can come out of it. 3. A third mode of reconciliation proposed regards the narrative in Genesis as one connected whole, describing the various acts and evolutions of the one creating process from its beginning to its close. The various acts described from the beginning, which marked the origination of the heavens and the earth, onwards to the period when God finding all to be very good, and answering to his jiurpose, ceased from working, are, according to this view, links of one chain, — the successive parts of the one great drama of Omnipotent disjilay, whereby the universe and the earth, as a part of it, have been brought into their present state. This view of the matter has the merit of preserving the simplicity and grandeur of the record of creation ; and at the same time accords well with the statement in the Decalogue, which expressly includes the whole creation in the six days. But, then, to meet the re- quirements of geology, and particularly its large demands on 92 CREATION AND THE FALL. time, a peculiar sense is ascribed to the word day as connected with tlie creation : it is taken to signify a period of unknown but immense duration. In this way it is conceived that the creating- process may have been indefinitely extended through six periods, wliile its various phases succeeded one another in the order which Moses describes ; an order which, as has been shewn, is in remarkable accordance with the latest discoveries of geology. It was held in former times by Descartes, Whiston, De Luc, and others, tliat the days of creation were not literal days, or periods of twenty-four hours, but of vast, indefinite duration. When more recently the discoveries of geology threatened to impinge on Scripture, or its current interpretation, not a few distinguished men, as Baron Cuvier, Professor Silliman of America, and the late Professor Jameson of Edinburgh, adopted this view as presenting the readiest solution of the difiiculty. Latterly, however, this mode of reconciliation has been very mucli abandoned^ for one or other of the schemes already noticed, it being supposed that such an explication of the term day had nothing to warrant it, but was rather excluded by the specific mention of evening and morning as its constituent jjarts. But the point seems worthy of re-examination, as the view here presented has otherwise much to recommend it. If it can be shewn that the days may, and, indeed, from various considerations connected with the narrative itself, must be taken in the extended sense, the reconciliation will be com- plete.' IV. — THE DAYS OF CKEATION. Setting aside for tlie present all extraneous considerations, and confining the attention to Scripture alone, it is proposed ' It would appear from a notice in tlie American Bihliotlieca Sacra, April 1855, p. 324, that it is revived by Professor Arnold Guyot. ^ Before leaving this part of the subject, some notice must be taken of the well- meant but evidently misapplied labour expended on a new cosmogonic theory in a recent work, entitled " The Dynamical Theory of the formation of the Earth, based on the assumption of its non-rotation during the whole period called ' the begin- ning.'" By Archibald Tucker Ritchie. Second edition, Lond. 1854, pp 704. The author's reverence for Scripture is commendable ; but iint so his application of its statements to supplement sciontilir deficiencies iu what he calls his inductive reasonings. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 93 to inquire, whether anything in the narrative of creation, or in the term itself, forbids the extension of day beyond its literal and usual acceptation. This is particularly needed in a case such as the present, where the signification of a term in itself exceedingly simple may be greatly affected by the con- text. It will farther greatly simplify the discussion by clearing a foundation for any positive evidence, if, in the first place, it can be shewn that there is nothing which, expressly or by implication, excludes the extended meaning. First, then, it is admitted on all hands, that both in the Old and New Testaments, the terms nv and i)ixepa are frequently used in the wider sense of a period, or time, as made up of days. But as Pye Smith remarks, " It is evident that this figurative use is employed, more generally indeed, in poetical or oratorical diction, but always when the connexion in any given instance makes it unquestionably manifest that a figura- tive sense is intended."^ From this, however, it is plain, that there is nothing in the word itself which necessarily limits its duration, which is the only point at present contended for. But, secondly, neither does the context furnish any grounds for the limited duriition of the days of creation. The mention made of " evening and morning/' or, as it is sometimes impro- perly put, " alternations of day and night,"" is a point much insisted on as decisive of the question that only natural days are meant. This, however, is far from being the case ; for, in the first place, if the word day be used in a figurative sense, so must also the terms evening and morning. If any period, long or short, be designated in this way, as is not unusual, its close and commencement will naturally be described by the words in question. What more common than the expressions, the evening and morning of life, or of one's days ! But in the second place, any power which is thus supposed to belong to the combination, " the evening and the morning," in defining and limiting the day, arises solely from the rendering of the English Version, and will entirely disappear before a careful examination of the original. Instead of, " and the evening and the morning were the first day," and so on in the other instances, the Hebrew reads, " It was evening, it was morning," * Scripture and Geology, p. 201. * Baden Powell in CyclopaKlia of Bib]i(;nl Ijiteratnre. vol. i. p. 478. 94 CREATION AND THE FALL. &c. ; a fonn of expression wliich is by no means a circumlocu- tion for an entire day, or any period of time. It merely indi- cates the succession of time, and the transition to a new day of creating activity. Throughout the first section of Genesis, the vav consecutivum of the Hebrew grammarians points out only the order of succession, so that what stands first preceded in time. In the present case, the order is thus : — " God said, Be light ! Light was. God divided the light from the dark- ness. ... It was evening, it was morning." All advances in the narrative are in the strictest order of time, but without any indication of its absolute duration. That no particular period is fixed or defined, appears farther from the peculiar arrangement of the terms, " evening, morning," and not " morning, evening." This is usually exi^lained or disposed of by the remark, that darkness preceded the light ; to which circumstance is also referred the Jewish custom of beginning the civil day with the evening.^ This explanation, however, is not sufficient. Its fallacy will at once appear when it is con- sidered, that the darkness which preceded the light, and which was afterwards divided from it, is not called evening but night; and farther, that the expression, " it was evening," necessarily presupposes a day or period of Jight, of which this was the close. The day of creation cannot have begun with the even- ing, it must have begun with the morning, — a morning wliich dawned at the instant when the Divine command went forth, " Let there be light." Accordingly, the first mentioned morn- ing must be understood not of the dawn of the^irs^, but of the second day. But, again, in whatever sense " the evening and the morning" ma}' be taken, there is no ground to conclude that days of only twentu-four hours are here meant. The natural day is mea- sured by a revolution of the earth on its axis, as determined 1 The Hebrews, as also many other ancient nations, began their civil day witli the evening — a custom founded, it is generally supposed, on the priority of dark- ness. Kurtz (Bibel und Astrononiie, 3te Ausg., Berlin, 1853, p. 80) takes another view of the matter. " It is based not on the first, but on the seventh day. The day of labour naturally began with the morning, but the day of rest with the even- ing. As the Sabbath was the rule and measure for all religious and civil divisions of time, and as the Sabbath naturally began witli the close of the preceding day of labour, so consistency, and tlie regulating character of that day, required the reckon- ing of time in general tobo conformed to it." BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 95 by the heavenly bodies. But with the full admission or belief of the earth's rotatory motion from the commencement of the system, or, at least, from the period indicated as the first day, it must also be received as expressly stated in the narrative, that not until the fourth day were the heavenly bodies brought into such a relation with the earth as to constitute them lumi- naries and measurers of time. In the absence, then, of these indices, how, it may be asked, was the length of the first three days to be determined, and what authority is there for the assumption that they must have been natural days ? Now, if it should be found that these may have been other than natural days, analogy would extend the same character to the other three days of creation. It is often assumed, however, from the case of the Sabbath, that the argument from analogy is entirely the other Avay, and that its whole weight is in favour of the natural days. The case is thus put : — The seventh, or Sabbath-day, which closed the week of creation, is a natural day, and it is, therefore, con- trary to all the laws of grammar and language, to conceive that the six preceding and closely associated days must be taken in a sense so widely different. If the premises were as thus stated, no valid objection could lie to the conclusion ; but if it can be shewn that the assumption regarding the duration of the seventh day is unnecessary or unwarranted, and that instead of limiting the Sabbath of Genesis or of creation, it must, on the contrary, be greatly protracted, not only will the objection be obviated, but an immense advantage shall be obtained in favour of the view, that the days of creation extend over immense periods of time. But this falls to be considered under the next head. Meanwhile it may be of some importance to notice in these preparatory remarks, that in the narrative of creation itself, and even in the compass of a single verse, the word day is used in two senses: first, for the period during which light prevails, or day as distinguished from night; and, secondly, for the periods of creation, whatever these may have been. Of the first usage a definition is given, verse 5, " God called the light day, and the darkness he called night ;" but so far as can be deduced from the preceding examination of the matter, the other appears to be absolutely undetermined. So 96 CREATION AND THE FALL. ftir everything tends to leave tlie nature and duration of the days of Genesis an open question. For auglit to the contrary in the term itself, or in the context, God's creating day may be something peculiar or pre-eminent, such as the nin; dv, or the day of the Lord, Isa. ii. 1 2 — the appointed time for the manifesta- tion of his power and judgments — a day when, as the prophet declares, " the stars of heaven, and the constellations thereof, shall not give their light : the sun shall he darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine," Isa. xiii. 9, 10, or such as the day of grace or salvation (2 Cor. vi. 2) which God has mercifully extended to man. V. — THE DAYS OF CREATION NOT NATURAL DAYS. The principal objections to the view which insists on a wider extension of the days of creation being so far obviated, it remains to adduce any considerations which more directly favour it, if they do not absolutely require its reception. But here again, in order not to encumber the subject, some of the more usual, but at best doubtful, arguments will be dispensed with. Of this kind, for instance, is the frequent reference made to Genesis ii. 4, where that is spoken of as accomplished in a day, which yet according to the account given in the first chapter, extended to six days. Nothing, however, can be made of this, although the argument be countenanced by such an eminent Hebraist as Delitzsch. The word used in the instance referred to is not the simple noun, but compounded with a preposition, nVa, and, as such, an adverbial form equi- valent to when, or at the time when} But even allowing all that is claimed for the expression, what is gained but the irreconcilable contradiction in the two statements, that whereas the one makes the creation of the heavens and the earth to have occupied six days or periods, the other declares the work to have been eifected in one. It may also be advisable to dis- miss, as not directly bearing on the subject, the often quoted words of the Psalmist, to the effect that a thousand years in God's sight are but as yesterday when it is past, (Ps. xc. 4,) or the Apostolic admonition, " Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a » See Noldii Concord. Partic. Hel.r. 1734, pp. 178, 953. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. [)7 tliouscand 3'cars as one day," 2 Pet. iii. 8. There need be no hesitation, however, in dispensing with any aid derivable from statements of such doubtful application, as there are several more direct and reliable arguments. 1. It is deserving of notice, in any inquiry as to the nature of the days during which God carried on and completed his work of creation, that the language of the narrative in intro- ducing the first of them is very peculiar. The cardinal one- is employed, and not the ordinal first. " It was evening, it was morning, one day." The peculiarity is thus accounted for by a recent Jewish writer : — " The words, one day, are here used, not merely to point out the rank in the succession of days, but in order to convey, that the space of time thereby expressed was equal to the diurnal revolution of the earth round its axis, and that evening and mornin(j spoken of in the text, were equal to what subsequently was called one day."^ Than this supposition nothing can be more unfounded. It rests merely on assertion, and that of the most extravagant kind. The generality of interpreters, however, satisfy them- selves as to the peculiarity of this sentence, with a rule laid down by the Hebrew grammarians, that in many cases the cardinal numbers may bo used instead of the ordinal : but as this rule is founded on the present passage, and some other examples of a nearly similar construction, it evidently explains nothing. It merely announces a fact, without inquiring into the causes in which it originated, or by which it is governed. It will therefore be necessary to examine the matter somewhat more minutely, and trace this peculiarity, if possible, to its source. The significations of the Hebrew numeral nnx, may be ar- ranged as follows : — (1.) Its most frequent use is as the cardinal number one, variously modified in sense according to the context in which it stands. Thus it comes to signify some one, a certain one ; and is sometimes an equivalent for the indefinite article, as ttin: t»u3, a certain prophet, or simply a pi^ophet, as in the Eng- lish version, 1 Kings xx. S. So also Ezek. viii. 18, " When I iTad digged in the wall, behold nnx nm, a door." ' The Sacred Scriptures in IIel)rew and English. By Pe Sola, &c. liond. 1844, vol. i. p. 2. a 98 CREATION AND THE FALL. (2.) It is also used in particular cases as an ordinal, first, instead of the usual term f,z'vr\ ; and the grammarians refer to the present passage (Gen. i. 5) as an exami:)lc of this usage :^ but that this is such a case is exceedingly doubtful. Accord- ing to Gesenius,^ the word is used as an ordinal only in enu- merating the days of the month, and that with or without nv, day, as in Gen. viii. 5, 13, Lev. xxiii. 24, Ezra x. 16, 17 ; but always with the preposition 3 prefixed. The same usage pre- vails also in Arabic. In the enumeration of years another construction is employed, as nm tob', properly the year of one, for the first year, Dan. ix. 1, 2, Ezra i. 1. Except in the cases mentioned, says Gesenius, the numeral -m is never equivalent to pE'N-1, the first. That the passage now under consideration cannot be included in this usage might be at once assumed, but that its importance demands and justifies a more extended examination. (8.) This term also signifies, by way of eminence, that which is sinrjidar, or rare : or, according to Gesenius, " unicns in suo genere, eximius, incomparabilis." Thus Ezek. vii. 5, nrn nrn nnN!, " calamity, singular calamity," where for special em- phasis the numeral precedes the noun. So also Cant. vi. 9, " My dove, my undefiled, i^one, (tt'n nns, unica est ilia,) the one, ^V nriN, of her mother," (unice, prse ceteris dilecta.) In this sense some have also understood Dan. viii. 3, " Then I lifted uj) mine eyes, and saw, and behold there stood before me a I'am" (inN '?;^|l), a peculiar or remarkable ram, i.e., a ram of a singular description — one having tw^o horns of unequal length. But in this instance it may be used merely for the indefinite article, as in the examples cited above. Such, then, are the various significations of this Hebrew numeral ; and it appears that its use as an ordinal is very circumscribed, indeed so circumscribed as to exclude Gen. i. 5 from the cases where it is so used. It is confirmatory of this conclusion to find that the ancient versions regarded it as the cardinal one in this passage. Thus the LXX. render it i^jxepa Ilia, and the Vulgate diestmus. But in support of the render- ing first day, which is that of the English and most modern versions, an appeal is sometimes made to Gen. ii. 11 ; viii. 5, 13. But these passages prove nothing to the purpose : in the 1 Ewakl, Lehrbudi d. Ilcbr. Spraclie, 1844, § 260, a. = Tliesaiinis, p. G2. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 99 first of them, nnNn nv^ may be simi)Iy, " the name of the one ;" and besides, this case is quite distinct from that under con- sideration, inasmuch as the article is employed. The other references are just the days of the month, in which, as already stated, this usage is found, and to which, indeed, it is limited. But this furnishes no analogy to the very peculiar form, im Dv, of Gen. i. 5, used in reference to the first of the creation days. There is at least something special in the use of the numeral in question in the present connexion ; and there ap- pears to be no way of accounting for it, but on the supposition, which, as already seen, is fully authorized by the use of the language, that it was intended to indicate that the evening and the morning spoken of belonged not to an ordinary, but to a peculiar day — a day sui generis ; or, in other words, a period of indefinite duration.^ This view receives not a little confirmation from the remark- able fact, that long before geology was thought of, or any necessity arose for extending the age of the earth, the peculiar expression employed in connexion with the first day attracted considerable attention. Josephus thus remarks concerning it : — " This was, indeed, the first day ; but Moses said it was one day, — the reason of which I am able to give even now ; but because I have promised to give such reasons for all things in a treatise by itself, I have put off its exposition till that time."^ Philo, according to his usual custom, detected strange mysteries in the expression, fie observes, " When light came, and darkness retreated and yielded to it, and boundaries were set in the space between the two, namely, evening and morn- ing, then of necessity the measure of time was immediately perfected, which also the Creator called ' day,' and He called it not ' the first day,' but ' one day ;' and it is spoken of tlius, on account of the single nature of the world perceptible only by the intellect, which has a single nature."'"' The same pecu- liarity of expression arrested also the attention of several of the Christian Fathers. Augustine, for instance, observes, " It is difficult, if not impossible, for us to conceive what sort of days these were." But it is of more importance to inquire whether the Bible * Bush, Notes on Genesis, vol. i. p. 32. ^ Antiquities, i. 1. 1. ^ Pbilo's Works, Yonge's Translation, vol. i. p. \K 100 CREATION AND THE FALL. Itself furnishes any confirmation of tlie view which regards this expression as peculiar, and appropriate only to a particular acceptation of the word day. Nov/, it is remarkable, that there is one other example of the same phrase, and in a con- nexion which strongly confirms the above conclusion. It is in Zech. xiv. 6, 7 ; a passage which is thus rendered by Henderson in liis Version of the Minor Prophets, — " And it shall be in that day That there shall not be the light of the precious orbs, But condensed darkness. But there shall be one day (It is known to Jehovah) When it shall not be day and night ; For at tlie time of evening there shall be light." Tlie translator's note on the passage is here subjoined: — " Verse 6. Now follows the prediction of a period of unmiti- gated calamity, which may be regarded as comprehending the long centuries of oppression, cruelty, mockery, and scorn, to which the Jews have been subjected ever since the destruction of Jerusalem. . , . Verse 7. Another period is here predicted, but one entirely different from the preceding — a day altogether unique, i™ dv, one ^^eculiar day, the only one of its kind. Its peculiarity is to consist in the absence of the alternations of day and night. It is to be all day — a period of entire freedom from war, oppression, and other outward evils which induce affliction and wretchedness, interrupt the peace of the Church, and prevent the spread of truth and righteousness, JVi)| jap ovK ecnai mel. Rev. xxi. 25, Tlie time of evening does not refer to the close of the happy period just described, but to that of the preceding period of afflictive darkness. At the very time when a dark and gloomy day is expected to give way to a night of still greater darkness and obscurity, light shall suddenly break forth, the light of the one long day which is to be interrupted by no night. That this period is that of the Millennium, or the thousand years, the circumstances of which are described (Rev. xx. 3-7), I cannot entertain a doubt. The time of its commencement has been variously but fruit- lessly calculated. The knowledge of it the Father hath re- served in his own power. ' It is known to Jehovah,' and, by implication, to him alone."' ^ ' Henderson on the Minor Prophets, Loud. 1845, pp. 438, 439. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 101 But whatever differences of opinion may be entertained regarding the particuhir period referred to by tlie propliet, there can be no question that the one day is the proper de- signation of a peculiar day, " dies unicus, prorsus singularis/' (Maurer) ; " Ein einziges Tag, (De Wette) ; or " einzig in seiner Art," the only one of its kind, (Hitzig) ; and that the form of expression is strictly parallel with Gen. i. 5. The coincidence is certainly very striking, and naturally suggests the question, if prophecy, which dej^icts the far distant future, has, as thus evinced, its unique day, why may not also crea- tion, which has to do with a remote past, whose days were completed long ere history began ? 2. There are, moreover, circumstances recorded in the narra- tive itself, more particularly in the portion of it which relates to the creation of man, which naturally suggest an extension of the period. On the supposition that only natural days are meant, a difficulty arises from an incident in the history, from which it is not easy to escape. The incident adverted to is the exercise, so to speak, assigned to Adam, which consisted in reviewing and bestowing names upon the animal creation, as brought to him by the Creator for that purpose. The beasts were created on the sixth day ; and afterwards man, male and female, (Gen. i. 27.) But from the more de- tailed narrative of man's creation in chapter second, it appears that the woman was not formed contemporaneously with the man, though on the same day. Some time, however, elapsed between the two creations, and in the interval the beasts of the field and the fowl of the air were brought to Adam, by whom names were assigned to them. Now, in whatever light this circumstance may be understood, or however much the number of the animals may be limited — whether, as some writers suppose, the assemblage consisted of those creatures only which were within the precincts of the garden of Eden, or included others — is a matter of little importance for the pre- sent question ; and whatever ends or purposes this act and exercise may have been designed to serve — whetlier intended to assure man of the power and dominion over the animal creation conferred on him by his Maker, or, as seems to be intimated, to convince him of his solitary and singular condi- tion, and shew to him the necessity, and awake in him the 102 CREATION AND THE FALL. desire, of a partner for the completion of his happiness, one thing is in the highest' degree probable, if it does not amount to certainty, that it must have been a work of time. It is, at least, exceedingly difficult to suppose, that the exercise, whatever it was, could have been comprised and completed within the space of a few hours, which, at the utmost, can be assumed if the sixth day on wliich all those events occurred was only an ordinary day. Any difficulty which may be tlius conceived to belong to the subject, is not to be got rid of in the manner sometimes sug- gested ; to take, for example, the solution proposed by Holden. This author fully recognises the difficulty. " It is not easy," he says, " to conceive how the naming of even the creatures of Paradise could be completed on the sixth day when Eve was made ;" and he subjoins in a note, " The history states that the concourse commenced before Eve was made, but not that it terminated previously."^ The inaccuracy of this statement must at once appear from the most cursory examination of the narrative. That the transaction terminated before the creation of Eve is plainly indicated by the statement which announces the result of his review of the animal creation : — " And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field ; hut for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." Another view of this incident, so far as regards its place in the history, has recently been put forth, but in a form still more objectionable, by an American writer,^ who maintains, that " it is not absolutely necessary to suppose that this naming of the animals took place on the sixth day, or before the formation of Eve, even though it is said, verse 20, after the account of the naming of the animals, ' for Adam there was not found an help meet for him," any more than it is necessary to suppose, that the production of the beasts of the field out of the ground, and of the fowl of the air, was subse- quent to the creation of man ; because in Gen. ii. 19, the production of the animals is again mentioned after the state- ment of the fact, that no suitable companion for man was found.'' This, however, is an entire misconception. Tlie pro- duction of the animals is mentioned not after the intimation of ' Dissertation on the Fall, p. 90. ' Hamilton, The rcntatcuch p. 12(;, 127. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 103 the fact, that no suitable companion for man was found, hut only after the intimation of the Divine purpose to provide such for him. " And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him an help meet for him," verse 18. The two things are totally distinct. Before leaving this matter, reference may be made to a statement of Dr. Kitto — a statement exceedingly natural, and expressive of an idea likely to occur to a reader of the history, but on the author's supposition of natural days, and with the acknowledgment that Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day, strange and inconsistent. It is this : — " Adam was not long left by his indulgent Creator to that feeling of disappointment which he must have experienced when he realized the conviction, that there was not among the creatures of the earth one suited to be his companion. As he one day awoke from a deep sleej), which the Lord, had caused to fall ujion him, he saw before him a creature whom he at once recognised as the being his heart had sought," &c.^ These, and other difficulties of a like kind, — as, for instance, those connected with the assumed brief period of probation between the Creation and the Fall, — are easily explained, if it can be assumed that this sixth day of creation included in it many natural days. It may be farther noticed, as a striking characteristic of this portion of sacred history, how scanty is the information furnished respecting time. The order of events is carefully marked, but not so their dates, or the duration of the intervening periods. There is not, for example, the slightest intimation which can help to determine, with any certainty, the precise date of the Fall — an event in itself of the highest importance in man's spiritual history. In these circumstances, is it too much to conclude that the matter of dates and days and duration has been purposely left an open question ? 8. But it is when the history reaches the end of the creative operation, and describes the Sabbath of creation and the rest of God, that it furnishes the greatest confirmation of the view which regards the days as periods of immense duration. In noticing, under the preceding sectional subdivision, some of the arguments relied on as favourable to the representation of ' Daily Bible Illustnuicns, vol. i. p. 57. 104 CREATION AND THE FALL. the days of creation as ordinary days, it was observed that the Sabbatli had been assumed to be a natural day, and from this it was argued that such also must be the other days. A caveat, however, was entered against this assumption as to the duration of the Sabbath ; and it is now proposed to shew that it is utterly unwarranted, and that so far from limiting the Sabbath of Genesis to the length of an ordinary day, it must, on the contrary, be greatly protracted, — extended, in fact, to an immense period. At the beginning of the second chapter of Genesis, it is recorded that the heavens and the earth were finished. The universe had been prepared, arranged, and perfected through a series of creative acts, the result of every one of which was good, and the entire combination very good. By these Almighty operations the heavens were garnished above, and the earth was constituted the fit dwelling-place of various orders of animated beings. During the preparatory and progressive processes of this great work, the laws impressed on animate and inanimate matter, vegetable and animal instincts, the order, also, and regularity of the planetary motions, and of the times and seasons, testified to the being and perfections of the Lawgiver, had there been any creature on earth of suffi- cient intelligence to understand the language. But it was not until man was introduced that any evidence of a moral govern- ment was afforded in this portion of God's dominions. The previous creations related only to physical arrangements or developments ; but with the formation of man — a moral agent, and so distinguished from all prior existences, the work of creation was crowned and completed. The sixth day witnessed man's creation, and " on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made ; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work wliich he had made" (Gen. ii. 2). God rested, it is lierc said, on the seventh day, from all his work. He ceased (naa') from farther adding to the objects of creation, or from putting forth any more creative energies. The idea of cessation or rest, here for the first time brought to view, occupies a very prominent place in the word of God, and in some form or other runs like a golden thread through the various dispensations under which man has been placed from the beginning, representing some great blessing prepared for. BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED WITH MODERN SCIENCE. 105 and proifered to liim by tliu Creator. It is seen in Genesis in its germ or first principles — the Sabbatic rest of God when the work of creation was acconif)lished : it is seen also in the Divine institution of the Sabbath, — " the Sabbath was made for man," (Mark ii. 27:) it is seen in the offer of the promised land to Israel, and its designation as a rest — the type of the better and unbroken rest above ; and it is seen in its fullest development in the Gospel dispensation, in the precious and explicit promises to the believer, of everlasting rest in heaven ; yea, an entrance into the very rest of God (Heb. iv. 1-11). Tracing back this important idea to its source — the rest of God which succeeded the work of creation — it is now proposed to inquire, so far as it may afford aid or direction to the set- tlement of the question regarding the days of creation, what information Scripture supplies in respect to this Sabbath — its nature and duration. (1.) The nature of God's Sabbath. — God rested, or, as the Hebrew term may be better rendered in this connexion, ceased, to avoid the danger of in any way applying to the Most High that which is predicable only of his creatures. " The Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary,'' Isa. xi. 28. He ceased from his work, not because he was weary or needed repose, but because creation was finished, and proved to be very good. " The Lord rejoiced in the works of his hands ;" he calmly contemplated it in its beauty and grandeur and utility ; and it is of the sensations arising from this review the expression is to be understood, " He rested and was refreshed," Exod. xxx. 17. The rest of God signifies then the composure, the peace, the satisfaction and blessedness which he enjoys — a state and a disposition which, in order to bring down to human comprehension, is represented as the consequence of resting from labour. But the rest of God is not a rest absolutely and from every work. It is not a rest of inactivity, but in a peculiar sense a rest in activity. " My Father," says the Son of God, " worketh hitherto (««se and a Divine work in n\ising man to a higher level than that on which the material creation placed him. In this the Father icorketh : and this is the work which he hath committed to the Son — the work of the one is a retlex of that of the othei- — a work in which the profoundest rest is not excluded by the highest activity. It was not until the lirst creation ceaso^l that this new creating process began : and it is not. like the former, exencil on dull senseless matter, but on the accountable and immortal soul of man. This spiritual civatiou. or saving and sanctifying ojvration. is the work of God's Sc\bb;^th-day. as the first was. so to speak, his week-day work.^ And for the carrying on of this spiritual work in man and by man, God has specially apjxiinteil and prescribe*.! to him the holy rest of the Sabbath, an arRUigement by which is intimated, as Luther finely ob- serves,— " Thou shouldsi cease from thine own work., that God may carry on his work in thee." (1) The dumtion o/ Gxxi's Sabbath-day. — On this little need be said, for if the nature of the Si^bbath of Creation, or the rest of God, has been at all correctly iudicateii in the preced- ing remarks, it must be at once apparent that its duration is not to be measureil by that of the Sc^bbath appoiuteil for man. Gods Scibbi^ih, which beptn when the work of creation was tinisheil, has not yet reacheil its close. It thus includes in it all the Scibkiths and week-KKN SCIKNCK. 107 one day compvchoiuls the entire i'uUive of at least man's earthly history ? Viewed in this light, it cannot he said that this Sahhath has even yet reached its noon ; hut there is abundant assurance of this, that it will brighten more and more into the perfect day — the day of glory, when the mystery of God shall be finished, and God shall be all in all. Some writers go farther, and delight to trace out and appor- tion the Sabbatic rest of the Three Persons of the IJlosscd Trinity — the rest of the Father at the creation, the rest of God the Son which began with the Sabbath of his resurrec- tion, (Ilcb. iv. 10,) and the rest or Sabbath of the Holy Ghost, which will begin with the future setting up of new heavens and a new earth.^ But these distinctions, however just, are by no means necessary to the present purpose. It remains only to add, that if the preceding be a correct interpretation of God's Sabbath, it necessarily and by analogy follows that the other days of the narrative of creation must be taken not in a limited or literal sense, but in a sense cor- responding to that of tlic seventh — the great period of grace and salvation. All the preceding arguments have been deduced from the expressed or implied intimations of Scripture, more particu- larly from considerations connected with the narrative of Creation itself; and no notice has been taken of any external collateral confirmation, — such, for example, as the long periods of the traditionary cosmogonies considered in the preceding section, especially the notions of the Etrurians and ancient Persians. But it may not be inappropriate, before concluding the subject, to consider briefly any allusion to such long periods of creation discoverable in the New Testament. Something of this sort — some reference it may be to those long protracted periods, is probably involved in the language of the Apostle in Hebrews i. 2, " God hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds," or, as it may with equal or perhaps greater propriety be rendered, constituted the ages, rou EbraicI, Conimentary on Hebrews. — Translation. Edin. 1853, p. Ib^. 108 CEEATION AND THE FALL, Tcov alcdvcov) which he made," &e. It is admitted on all hands that the primary meaning of alcove^i is periods, marked by signal events in the Divine government, though it is contended in controversy with the Socinians, that in Heb. i. 2, it signifies the material universe. But the meaning thus assigned to the word nowhere occurs in classical Greek, but is based entirely on an assumed later Hebrew or Rabbinical use of the term dVip, which in the Old Testament, however, has invariably re- ference to time. But admitting that in the passage quoted, as also in Heb. xi. 8, the word does signify the world or universe, there is nothing in this to exclude a reference, but rather the reverse, to the successive and prolonged periods of its existence.^ Accordingly, in any point of view, this peculiar expression must be admitted to have a favourable bearing on the results arrived at through the previous arguments. SECT. VL THE NARRATIVE OF THE FALL — ITS PURPORT AND CHARACTER. Having in the two preceding sections considered some of the more remarkable features of the Mosaic account of the creation of the earth and of man, its most noble and richly endowed tenant ; having, in particular, shown the incompara- ble superiority of that most venerable record, in grandeur of conception and truthfulness of statement, over all other ancient cosmogonies, and having also evinced its striking accordance with the scientific results of modern times, it is proposed to appropriate this and the four subsequent sections to a re- view of the history of that mysterious moral blight which fell upon this lower part of God's works and dominions, and withered its beauties in their very spring. This examination will embrace the following topics : — a consideration of the pur- port and character of the biblical narrative which immediately succeeds that of the creation ; a review of some of the principal * Owen on Heb. i. 2, says, " nh\s signifies the ages of the world in their sncces- sion and dnration, which are things secret and hidden." And again, " a'luns, in the phiral nnniber, ' the worlds,' so called, chap. xi. 3, by a mere enallagc of mini ber, as some suppose, or with respect to the many ages of the world's duration." — ■ Works. Edin., 1854, vol. xx. p. 75. NARRATIVE OF THE FALL — 1T8 PURPORT AND CHARACTER. 109 objections wliicli have been urged against it ; the confirmation which it finds in heathen traditions, and in facts historically and scientificallj authenticated, but, above all, the corrobora- tion yielded to its chief incidents and delineations by the views of temptation and sin which are disclosed in the New Testament, — the character of the former as more esj)ecially illustrated in the history of Christ — the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, " who was in all points tempted like as we are," and of the latter as it shall be fully developed in the person of Antichrist, " the man of sin and son of perdition." At the outset of the proposed inquiry, attention must be directed to the pur2)ort of this narrative, and its precise bear- ing on the Creation, which, according to the historian's ante- cedent statement, had been completed and declared to be " very good ;" and also on the question relative to the origin and existence of evil, which has been rightly termed the enigma of the universe. A due consideration of the purport of the present narrative would unquestionably prevent many mistakes and hasty conclusions, and moreover check unwar- ranted expectations of a solution from Scripture of all the difficulties of this question. With the precise subject on which it was the intention of the writer to communicate information, must also be considered the character of the narrative, or the manner in which the purpose is carried out, and the amount of information communicated on the specific object in view. First, then, the great point of the narrative contained in the third chapter of Genesis, is to apprise the reader that a state of things which commenced with the introduction of moral government on the earth, and on which, as the historian had pointedly noticed, the Creator's eye rested with com- placency, came to a sudden termination, wdiich but for the merciful interposition of God, would have resulted in man's eternal and irretrievable ruin. The immediate occasion of this catastrophe w^as, it is plainly intimated, a failure on the part of man — a creature made in God's image, endowed with reason and understanding, intrusted with dominion over the earth, and whose every want was abundantly provided for — to render due obedience to the Divine will as expressed in law, to which as the creature of God he was amenable. Subordinate 110 CREATION AND THE FALL. to tliis general announcement, yet of great importance to the subsequent history of. man in connexion with the scheme of grace, the first disclosure of which forms also a leading prin- ciple in the narrative, is the manner in which the moral con- vulsion was brought about, with its circumstances and ante- cedents. In order, however, to form a proper estimate of the very important subject thus briefly sketched, and bring out more definitely the precise purport of the narrative of man's first act of disobedience to the law of God, wdiich involved the forfeiture of all blessings, and reduced him to a condition which is mysteriously and ominously termed " death,'' it is necessary to state in a few sentences how the problem relative to the present condition and character of the human race pre- sents itself on natural and moral considerations. That the present condition of man, viewed as a sentient and moral being, is, in various respects, one of wretchedness and misery, observation and experience conjointly testify. The human mind also instinctively feels that this state, considered in itself, presents something exceedingly anomalous, and greatly at variance with the conclusions deducible simply from the ideas entertained of the character of the Creator and Preserver of all, as a Being in the highest sense just and benevolent in all his conduct. So strong is this feeling, that it has at all times led the great majority of those who have earnestly considered the subject, to the irresistible conclusion that the present cannot have been the original state of man, however much they may have disagreed as to the manner and extent of the change thus admitted. There is a principle in the human constitution which distinctly testifies to a connexion between sufiiering and sin, or a violation of law, and proclaims that the miseries to which the race without exception are exposed, are to be viewed not as calamities simply, but punishments for misconduct. These conclusions are entirely independent of any Scriptural truth or testimony. The sinfvdness of human nature is not a conviction primarily forced upon the mind by the Bible or any external witness — it originates witliin, so that those who have never been favoured with the revelation of the Gospel of Christ, admit the great principle on which the Gospel proceeds. Some vague recollections, moreover, of a mighty revolution in human NARRATIVE OF THE FALL— ITS PURPORT AND CHARACTER. ^ 1 1 nature were preserved and widely circulated in heathen tradi- tions. The poets of antiquity delighted to sing of a golden age, distinguished by the absence of crime and exemption from all suiFering, when men enjoyed uninterrupted com- munion with the gods. The philosophers also of the ancient world were fully cognizant of the fact of the moral corruption of the race — a truth learned not from tradition or poetic pic- tures of the past, but from the painful experience of the present, with which they themselves had to do. But how to account on philosoj^hical principles for the fact thus acknowledged was, and has ever been, the great insolvable problem. The various attempts of ancient times to trace up evil to its source, proceeded on one or other of two misconcep- tions, the one injuriously aiFecting the nature of God, the other virtually denying the reality of the evil of which an explanation was sought. On the one hand, eternity was ascribed to sin, and the difficulties connected with its ingress into creation resolved into the principle of Dualism, which plays so prominent a part in Oriental mythology ; on the other hand, the difficulty was evaded by refusing to acknow- ledge evil as such, or in its character of sin. These two ex- tremes were afterwards brought very prominently into view in the controversies which arose in the early Christian Church through the systems of the Manicheans and Pelagians respec- tively ; and they have since been frequently reproduced in one form or another. But neither of these solutions was of a nature to afford full satisfaction to the conscience, however much it might impose upon the understanding. The same may be said of their modern substitutes, in so far' as they would charge God with being the cause of evil, or in any way accessory to it, or seek to exonerate man from the guilt which, in spite of all sophistry, he cannot but feel. Of the great problem involved in the origin of evil, which, as just stated, has so long and fruitlessly engaged the atten- tion of the thoughtful, Scripture offers no solution. This must be distinctly considered, in any estimate to be formed of the account of the first sin given in Genesis. This portion of Scripture is not an account of the origin of evil in the uni- verse, nor, strictly speaking, of its introduction into this world, for it is obscurely but significantly intimated in the 112 CREATION AND THE FALL. history that evil, or the enemy of God, had ah-eady some foot- ing in, some access ,to, or communication with the inferior creation, ere it asserted dominion over it in man, the repre- sentative of God on earth, and also of the creation ; although of the manner and extent of that intercourse there is little of positive information. The presence of an enemy, however, is hinted at, in the narrative which immediately precedes that of man's melancholy apostasy. There is a premonition of the evil or the danger to he guarded against, in the duty assigned to Adam in connexion with the garden which God appointed for his habitation and intrusted to his care, " And the Lord God took the man, and placed him in the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it" (Gen. ii. 15). Man's duty in this respect was twofold — to cultivate the blissful, hallowed enclosure, and to 2'>rotect or guai-d it from some evil, hostile Power, and not, as the expression is generally understood, merely from the incursions of animals. This consideration, it may be remarked in passing, may diminish the surprise often felt at the appa- rently abrupt manner in which the notice of the serpent is introduced at the opening of the record, which first clearly evinces the existence, and agency, and success, of the great adversary of man. The narrative under consideration assumes the existence of evil prior to the transactions which form its subject, but offers no explanation of its origin. In respect of the questions how and where it first originated, the sacred historian maintains a profound silence. His object evidently is simply to tell of the spread of this contagion, and the manner in which it obtained a mastery over man, who, although made " upright," fell a victim to this destroyer. To this, and the intimation of a victory over this malignant Power, all other questions are secondary, or not entertained at all. On various points, how- ever, which bear collaterally on the specific object of the his- tory, there is shed a clear and convincing light ; although the exposition may not be of a kind to satisfy all the demands of curiosity on the subject. This record, in continuation of the liistory of creation with special respect to its moral develop- ment, clearly teaches that the present character and condition of the human family, estranged from God and exposed to his righteous displeasure, is widely different from the original or NARRATIVE OF THE FALL — ITS PURPORT AND CHAUACTER. 1 13 creation state, and tliat the change has been induced through an act of disobedience on the part of the first man to the law of a bountiful and beneficent Creator. Accordingly, while the immediate and direct object of the narrative is to explain the spread of evil, or its origin in the limited sense just stated, and in especial to account for the miseries to wliich the liigh- est, most honoured, and favoured of God's earthly creatures are constantly exposed, it no less clearly establishes as a fundamental principle, which finds a response in every human heart, — the connexion which subsists between moral and phy- sical evil, or between sin and suffering, by tracing all tlie miseries and disquietudes of human nature to guiltiness before God. The history makes it plain that moral evil is the pro- curing cause of physical evil, and that by the sorrows and sufferings to which man is exposed, he is judicially punished. No doubt the physical evils and disorders introduced by the transgression, and incident to man in his present circumstances, occupy the most prominent place in the history of his first transgression, nevertheless its reference to a complete disar- rangement of the moral system cannot be overlooked. It is not clear, then, on what grounds Julius Mtiller main- tains, that " as the entire narrative is directly to explain not the origin of sin, but that of evil, it tells us nothing expressly of moral disorders which had entered in with the first sin." This author, it must be stated, by no means denies that moral disorders did originate on the occasion and in the manner referred to by the historian ; all that he seems to assert or im- ply is, that they are not expressly mentioned in the narrative. The incorrectness, however, of this statement, if the distinction be anything more than a question of words, will be at once apparent. The fears which seized our first parents immediately on their transgression, and the attempts made, as the history particularly notices, to hide their shame from one another, and themselves from God, together with the ungenerous endeavours of Adam to transfer his guilt to the woman to whom he was united by the strongest possible ties, and whom he was bound to cherish as his own flesh, as he had himself but recently owned, and indirectly to charge even God himself as accessory to his ruin — unquestionably tell of moral disorders amounting to an entire revolution in man's feelings and apprehensions of H 114 CK RATION AND THE FALL. things. According to Julius Miiller, tlie concealed attempt of Adam to cast the guilt of his fall upon Eve, and then farther upon God, hints at other offences which immediately followed that first transgression. But this supposition, admitting it to be well grounded, is utterly unnecessary, and does not in the slightest degree alter the nature of the case ; for whatever offences followed, arose out of the original transgression, bore its impress, and, to a certain extent, produced the same bitter fruits. " But the Divine punitive judgment, Gen. iii. 16-19," adds this writer, " does not of course suspend over man, that which as his perverted act, or as a conditioned state, he must recognise as his culpableness, but that which exhibits itself as a suffering inflicted upon him, misery, pain, and death.'' ^ There is in this statement what cannot but be regarded as a great though common misconception of wliat it terms the Divine punitive judgment. That judgment did not, as is here evidently assumed, consist merely in physical sufferings ; in particular, it is not to be determined, either as to its character or consequences from the passage referred to, which is the revelation of a remedial provision rather than the announce- ment of wrath and retribution, or a sentence of condemnation. The true nature of the condemnation which overtook the transgressor, is to be judged of from the original threatening in the prohibition to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil : " In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," (Gen. ii. 17.) The death thus threatened, and which was in due course incurred, was most certainly a state, and, by implication, a penalty, in which the sinner must have recognised his culpableness or guilt. It was not physical evils or disorders against which the warning voice of that Divine premonition was directed, but moral evil — sin and estrange- ment from God. It is to be also noticed, as already incidentally adverted to, how, with the account of man's ruin, there is connected in this important chapter, and constituting one of the leading prin- ciples of the record, an intimation of a Divine purpose regard- ing the restoration of the transgressors and the defeat of the Adversary, through whose machinations they were seduced from allegiance to their Creator. Although horribly obscured ' ('hristian Dortriiie of Sin, vol. ii. p. 438. NARRATIVE OF THE FALL — ITS PURPORT AND CHARACTER. 115 the prospect, and awfully ominous the cloud which had gathered round our fallen progenitors, Divine mercy, unsolicited and unexpected, disclosed a bright opening into the future, through w^hich faith could enter in and be again blessed. God's pro- mise of redemption, like the rainbow, gilded the thundery cloud of wrath which had gathered over Eden, or rather over the sinners' ow^n souls, and threatened to overwhelm them everlastingly ; so that though the narrative opens in a way which excites fears and evil forebodings, the worst of which in its progress are fully realized, its concluding sentences, not- withstanding the numerous pains and privations announced, with the expulsion from Eden, shed down a sweet and be- nignant light on the otherwise dark and bewildering path of man's future history. Of so much importance is the principle now noticed in correctly estimating the nature of this record, that it may be with all safety affirmed, that were it not for the intimation which it contains of a restoration and recovery from the miserable condition into which sin plunged man, there is no reason to believe it w^ould have been written either for his own information, or that of any other order of intelli- gent beings. On the same principles it may be that although there are in Scripture various intimations of a defection in the higher, spiritual world, a history of the angelic fall was, for aught that appears, never written, at least it has not been written for the use of man. Than these considerations, nothing more clearly shows the wholly practical aim and specific pur- pose of the present narrative. The disease is described so far only as was necessary to a correct apprehension of its nature and deadly character ; and if any significant intimations are added of the quarter whence it more immediately issued, all the information communicated is evidently with the view of shewing the suitableness of the remedy provided in the pro- mise : " The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent." The subject thus presented to notice is one whose import- ance, in a practical point of view, and as a matter of personal concern, cannot be overrated. The momentous and melancholy act of disobedience, by reason of which a new^ and disturbing element was introduced into the harmony of man's being and 116 CREATION AND THE FALL. his relation to Gorl, the source of all life and enjoyment, resulted in what, in theological language, is usually denomi- nated the Fall, — a term expressive of all the changes, physical and moral, in man's constitution, consequent on his trans- gression. The expression, as thus used, does not occur in the Canonical Scriptures, but is found in the apocryphal writing- styled " The Wisdom of Solomon." It is there said, (chap. X. 1,) " Wisdom preserved the first-formed father of the world that was created alone, and brought him out of his fall." But it is doubtful whether the term has been directly boiTowed from this, or whether it be not more probably a translation of the Latin lapsus, as used by the Christian Fathers and the writers of the Reformation. This, however, is of no moment ; for whatever may be the designation given to the change induced in man's character and condition, it is one to which, under a variety of names and expressions, continual reference is made throughout the Scriptures, and which has stamped its universal and enduring features on the history of the Adamic race. It would be utterly foreign to the present purpose to enter upon any examination, dogmatic or controversial, of the nature and character of the change thus occasioned in man's relation to all that is holy and good, and of the consequences, imme- diately or remotely, to which it has given birth ; or to discuss the many questions and controversies which have gathered round this central point of Theology. Such discussions properly be- long to Systematic Theology ; and in treatises on that subject they usually occupy a very prominent place, under the heads or titles of the " Covenant of Works," the " Edenic or Adamic Dispensation," and " Original Sin." There are, however, seve- ral particulars comprehended under these general heads, the right exposition of which is so intimately connected with, and indeed so indispensable to, a correct apprehension of the narrative of the Fall, that they cannot be entirely overlooked, and yet, with very few exceptions, the consideration of them must be reserved for the expository portion of this work. Of this description arc, for instance, the discussions connected with the penalty annexed to the transgression, and the sen- tence afterwards pronounced upon the guilty pair. So also the statement regarding the image of God in man, which has NARRATIVE OF THE FALL — ITS PURPORT AND CHARACTER, 117 an important bearing on the nature and extent of the Fall, thougli occupying only a subordinate place in any discussions connected willi the mere vindication of tlie historical and in- spired character of the narrative. But as the present object is mainly exegetical, these matters will be discussed in a form and connexion different from that usually attended to in Treatises on Theology. In the meantime, it is proposed simply to vindicate the narrative of the Fall from various misapprehensions, misrepre- sentations, or aspersions, to which it has been subjected. It may not be unnecessary, however, to observe, that this must not be confounded with the vindication of the doctrine of the Fall, or of the character of God in permitting evil to enter into his dominions and mar his works. The two subjects are totally distinct ; and thougli the latter be undoubtedly one of the great difficulties of belief, yet not peculiarly of the belief in Christianity and the Bible, but in the being and perfections of God. Upon the consideration of the general question in- volved in the doctrine of a fall, save in a few passing remarks in the following section, where objections are stated, there is at present no intention whatever of entering ; and from what has been observed on the purport and special bearing of the history in Genesis, it will be seen that such, in the circum- stances, is not required. The character of the narrative of the Fall, or the manner in which the sacred historian carries out the object which he pro- posed to himself, comes next to be considered. That object was, as already shewn, to connect the present with a past and perished order of things, by intimating how that which was created very good became very evil, and how a moral virus, from which spring all the miseries which embitter life, was communicated to the father of the human family. Considered in themselves, the intimations thus made regarding the defec- tion of a moral creature, with the consequent forfeiture of all good, are exceedingly appalling, and, when viewed in their principles, perplexing in the highest degree. This portion of Scripture exhibits the terrestrial creation in man, its repre- sentative, breaking loose from God, and arraying itself against Him — the Almighty and Omniscient, whose power called it into existence, and whose pleasure continues it in being. But 118 CREATION AND THE FALL. it is not in this painfully perj^lexing aspect that the Bible chiefly views the falling away of man from his original right- eousness. Although never losing sight of the culpableness essentially attaching to this perversion of the powers of free moral agents, it practically loohs upon it as the disease of human nature for which the Gospel provides a remedy ; and while it may be expected that those who have formed different systems, with regard to the nature of the remedy, will differ also as to the character of the disease, yet the sub- ject, as presented in Scripture, is brought down from the airy heights of speculation and metaphysics, and is constituted an object of faith and practical religion, with special application to the conscience of the transgressor. This mode of treating the subject is particularly exemplified in the narrative of the Fall, and forms one of its leading char- acteristics. It has been already remarked, how the historian limits himself to one specific object, the spread of evil in this lower portion of God's dominions. He assumes its existence in the universe, in the kingdom of the good, but does not attempt to lay bare the foundation on which it rests. The aim is entirely practical, so that one of the first things which strikes the reader is the utter absence of aught having the least indication of a theorizing tendency, or a disposition to gratify mere curiosity. This was a characteristic observable in the history of the Creation, but it is equally apparent in that of the Fall ; and yet, of all imaginable themes, what so inviting to speculation, what so prompting to questionings, as creation, and the origin and growth of evil among the works of the infinitely blessed, righteous, and holy God ! What were the immediate and remote causes of evil when all v/as very good? When, and where, and in what form, did it first betray its horrid and hateful character ? What was the path of this destroyer through the universe — what its inroads on other worlds than this — and finally, to what power and stature did it attain before it attempted and succeeded in the subjugation of the human race ? These, and innumerable other questions, pressed for a reply ; and when one calmly contemplates the matter in tlic light of reason and experience, and compares the history of the Fall in Genesis with the innumerable attempts made by wise and learned men to exi)lain the origin NARRATIVE OF THE FALL — ITS PURPORT AND CHARACTER. 1 19 of evil and fatliom all its mysteries, and the unprofitable speculations which have thence resulted, the conclusion appears irresistible, that it required something more than mere human judgment, and caution, and modest}^ to withstand similar tendencies, in the manner and to the extent manifested in the third cliapter of Genesis. But, on the other hand, it may be thought that, in regard to various particulars, this reticence on the part of the writer has been carried too far. Even the practical reader may be disposed to desiderate more information on certain matters but slightly touched on, and upon which there is every reason to believe, had it suited the purpose of the historian, he could have thrown full light. But that purpose, influenced as it must undoubtedly have been by the particular circumstances of the case and of the times, especially the state of the Church when this history w^as written, must, in all fairness, be allowed to have weighed with the writer, both as to the extent of the information, and the mode in which it was to be imparted. This mode of presenting the subject with a reserve evidently intentional, is strikingly illustrated in the account given of the tempter, over whose true character and personality, for the time being, and perhaps owing to the strong tendency to idolatry which characterized the Israelites when this history was written, Divine wisdom saw it fit to draw a veil, to be re- moved only when circumstances so warranted. Another matter to be taken into account, and which ex- plains some of the difficulties and obscurities of the narrative, is the fact of its conciseness. It is not a memorial of the first human pair, or of all the incidents of their remarkable experience, but is limited to one transaction which determined their whole future history. It is only a leaf, so to speak, from the history of Adam ; and hence it is, that although in logical sequence the narrative of the Fall follows closely, and, indeed, is intimately connected with that of the creation of man, no intimation is given which can serve for connecting the two events in time, or determining the interval by which they were separated. All the information furnished by Scripture regarding the duration of the paradisaical and probationaiy state is limited to the intimation, inferential rather than ex- press, yet not the less conclusive, that it came to an end 120 CREATION AND THE FALL. previous to the birtli, or even the conception, of an}'^ child of Adam. (Gen. iv. 1.) In these circumstances, it may be added, that it must be apparent the speculation largely indulged in by Christian as well as Jewish writers, who specify a particular day — the sixth or the seventh, the day of Adam's creation and union to Eve, the help-meet by Divine beneficence provided for him, or that immediately succeeding, as that of the Fall, or by those who more adventurously extend the state of inno- cence to a period of seven months,^ is as unwise as it is unpro- fitable. The conclusions arrived at on this and similar questions furnish only additional grounds for doubt and disputation to those who not unfrequently confound the baseless inferences of expositors with the statements of the text. The prejudices which are often caused in this way will appear when some of the objections stated in the next section come under considera- tion. At present, attention is simply called to the fact, that there are many questions connected with the Fall, of which the duration of the state of innocence is only one, on which Scripture gives no information, and indeed may be said, in certain instances, studiously to withhold light, which, if vouch- safed, would, it may be presumed, greatly illustrate the narra- tive, and disclose to the earnest reader additional depths of Divine wisdom and grace, as contrasted with the supreme folly and wickedness of sin, though it may be also supposed that no explanations would sufiice to silence the cavils of objectors bent only on wresting this narrative, as also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction (2 Pet. iii. 16). The conciseness of the narrative, or its fragmentary character, so to speak, in an historical but not a literary point of view, also explains the manner in which it opens, apparently not at the beginning of the temptation, but near the crisis or catastrophe, — nothing being said of the gradual and guarded manner which, there is no doubt, marked the tempter's approach and proposals to the woman. Another feature worthy of notice in the narrative of the Fall, as, indeed, throughout Scripture, is the circumstance, that not\vithstanding the numerous objections to which, from its contents, and especially its form of description or delineation, '■ An Essiiv on the Scheme .and Conduct, Proccclurc and Extent, of Man's Re- demption. By William Worthington. Second edition, Lend. 1748, p. 15. NARRATIVE OF THE FALL — ITS PURPORT AND CHARACTER. 121 it might seem to be exposed, nothing can be discovered on the part of the writer that deserves to be termed apologetic. There is no attempt made, or anxiety manifested, to bespeak indulgence, to disarm piejudice, or to explain away or smooth over anything that might give rise to objections on the part of an opponent, or one disposed to take offence. It is plain from the narrative, in all its bearings, that there is united in the writer the utmost candour and singleness of jmrpose, with the absence of all fear and misgiving. The difficulties and obscuri- ties are permitted to remain : it may be as a trial or tempta- tion bearing some faint resemblance to that which is the subject of the history itself — a temptation which, to the unbeliever, proves a snare or a stumbling-block ; but to the humble, heaven- taught Christian, becomes a salutary exercise of patience and faith, — of patience in waiting for future light to clear up obscurities, and of faith in receiving tlie narrative with all its difficulties, as composed through God's inspiration, and pre- served by his providence, for remedying the grievous malady to which it ascribes all human wretchedness, when all other particulars regarding the first created man and father of the human family have perished from the memory of his de- scendants. The characteristics thus far stated supply considerations justly entitled to weigh in any judgment that may be enter- tained of the nature and character of the matters recorded in the narrative of the Fall, and of their historical credibility, notwifclistanding the difficulties wdiich unquestionably encom- pass the subject. But another point to which still more weight is due in shewing the distinguishing peculiarity of this history, in respect to other theories formed upon the subject, is tlie way in which the true character of the Creator and the creature is manifested and maintained. The narrative, in accounting for the introduction and triumph of evil, never for an instant loses sight, or misrepresents the character, of the Creator, or of his responsible creature, either before or subsequent to his transgression of the Divine commandment. It never confounds the nature of things by calling evil good, or good evil. The broad lines of demarcation which separate these attributes or conditions are never, under any circumstances, overlooked. Everywhere the writer is found maintaining the most direct 122 CREATION AND THE FALL. opposition of good and evil. God is holy, just, and good : his cliaracter is absolutely, unspotted ; and tlie creature also, as brought into being by Him, is good, in strong contrast to that which, through apostasy, has become evil and depraved. In entire accordance with this view of the character of God, and of his creature as such, the temptation does not originate within man himself, but comes to him from without ; yet not from God, but from a source which declared itself to be the enemy of all truth and righteousness. But to prevent any mistake as to this being a power irresistible or independent, God, in the condemnation of the tempter, is seen asserting his supremacy, while he also concerns himself for the injury done to his creatures. It is thus that the narrative, in a man- ner unapproached by any other hypothesis of the ancient world, leaves untouched the character and perfections of the One living and true God, without denying the reality of sin, as well the criminality, as the rise and progress of which, as here described, eminentlj^ accord with human consciousness, and correct conceptions of the relation of Creator and creature. SECT. VIL — OBJECTIONS TO TH-E ACCOUNT OF THE FALL CONSIDERED. The objections which have at different periods been advanced against the biblical account of man's falling away from a state of original righteousness, and the exceptions taken to various incidents in that narration, or to inferences deduced from it, are, as was stated in a previous section, exceedingly numerous. But the opposition thus manifested will, when duly considered, be no matter of astonishment. Indeed it could scarcely be expected to be otherwise with a subject which in itself may be said to be unfathomable to created intelligence, and certainly to the human understanding as presently constituted, and moreover involves so many and immense consequences bear- ing directly on man's present character, and his future and eternal prospects. Judging from analogy and the nature of things as witnessed in the fierce and jn-olonged controversies waged on fields infinitely less important than that presented OBJECTIONS TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL CONSIDERED. 123 in the cliaptcr of man's Instoiy now under consideration, it could scarcely be expected but that a doctrine like that of the Fall, so humbling- to human pride, so derogatory to all human assumptions and merits, would, in whatever form it should be delivered, call forth and encounter much and strong opposition. This spirit of opposition, again, would, it might be reasonably inferred, summon to its aid arguments and objections of every possible kind, from the contemptuous sneer of the materialist, who ridicules the reality of a Fall, to the subtle logic of the metaphysical pantheist, who confidently proclaims its impos- sibility. But this opposition, when taken in connexion with the spirit of bitterness which is its usual accompaniment, can only be looked upon in whatever form it may appear, as in itself a witness to the truth of the doctrine it would call in question. Indeed, in one respect, what are all controversies, more espe- cially religious controversies, and the mode in whicli they are too often conducted, but striking testimonies of the perverse- ness or prejudices of the human mind — a darkened under- standing and a depraved heart? The pride and impatience which not unfrequently distinguish the objections and argu- ments brought to bear on the claims of Scripture to be the infallible Word of God, by which alone moral truth is to be decided and man's character tried, may be justly regarded as the natural and necessary consequences of tlie first act of transgression, or in another aspect as a disposition similar to that whicli resulted in the Fall : but in any point of view, indubitable indications of the alienation of the soul from God. It is by no means intended, in strict argumentation, to urge these considerations in proof of the doctrine of a Fall, or the account of it given in Genesis ; yet it is perfectly comijctent to present them in a light which has still an important bearing on the subject. If the Bible and its varied statements were universally and cordially welcomed, and God's laws cheerfully submitted to by man, instead of being as now in a great measure rejected and disobeyed, much of the evidence would be wanting which at present goes to confirm the scriptural account of human apostasy and alienation from God : so that, strictly speaking, the opposition adverted to is confirmatory rather than otherwise of the representation of human nature 124 CREATION AND THE FALL. contained in the third chapter of Genesis, and in the Scrip- tures tliroughout. It would be as profitless, as it is obviously impossible, within any reasonable limits, to enumerate, and much less to discuss all, or even any considerable proportion of the multitudinous objections which at various times, and under different forms, have been brought to bear upon the present subject. Many of the objections are in truth of a nature so trivial as not to^ merit even a passing notice, and it is only matter of astonish- ment how men of understanding could be found seriously to urge them. To give only one instance of such objections, re- ference may be made to Gen. iii, 7, " Tliey sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons :" on which no less learned and distinguished a man than Dr. Thomas Burnet, author of the •' Sacred Theory of the Earth," and other works, with the view of discountenancing the literal interpretation, seriously asks, whence could our first parents have procured needles and thread ? This question, though frequently put, and for sinister purposes, not contemplated by the author referred to, is only a miserable criticism on iho translatio7i o( ^ word which in the original signifies to fasten or connect together in any way. But passing over all such trifling conceits and captious observa- tions, the more important and plausible of the objections which have been advanced against this portion of Scripture, may be conveniently arranged under these three heads : — First, Objections wdiich bear more directly on the doctrine of the Fall, or the difficulties more or less connected with all theories on the origin of evil, or a defection of the creature from pristine innocence and uprightness. Secondly, Objections having respect to the miraculous char- acter of the history of the Fall in Genesis, and which, originating in dislike or opposition to the miraculous in all circumstances, apply in a measure, if not in an equal degree, to other portions of Scripture as well as this. Thirdly, Objections which specially apply to the third chap- ter of Genesis — to the narrative as contradistinguished from the doctrine of the Fall, as i-eferred to under the first of those heads. From the above synopsis, it will be at once apparent with what particular class of objections it is at present purposed OBJECTIONS TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL CONSIDERED. 125 more imraccliately to deal, seeing, as already intimated, tliat the object in view is not to establish or vindicate the doctrine of a Fall, or, it ma}' be added, even to enter into any discus- sion of the philosophy or theology of miracles ; but taking for granted as truths avouched by independent and indubitable testimony, the reality of a Fall and the possibility of miracles, it is proposed simply to vindicate a character for soberness and consistency and credibility for that portion of Scripture in which the doctrine of man's apostasy from God is for the first time and circumstantially announced. Very few remarks will ac- cordingly suffice for disposing of the numerous arguments and objections which come under the first two of the above heads. Without attempting an explication of the peii)lexities, or offering a reply to the arguments in question, it will, at the outset, be enough to shew that they are in reality as appli- cable, if not more so, to any other possible or conceivable explanation of the wretchedness and misery to which man is heir, in a system whose Author and Ruler is the infinitely just and benevolent God, as to that contained in Genesis : in other words, that the same difficulties press equally against natural as against revealed religion. In respect, again, to the objec- tions of the third class, or those which more directly concern the nan-ative of the Fall in Genesis, it is confidently believed that on examination they will be found in the majority of instances to rest upon, or originate, in a misapprehension of its statements, not unfrequently countenanced by the dubious inferences of preachers and expositors, and by unquestioning- popular beliefs. In offering a few observations, with the view of disposing in the manner proposed, of the objections of the first class, or such as bear on the doctrine of the Fall, it is to be remarked, in the first place, that whatever difficulties may attach to the idea of a defection in the creation, the existence of moral cannot be questioned any more than that of physical evil. Men may, by subtle distinctions and sophistical definitions, impose upon themselves and othcr.s, but no amount of subtlety or sophistry can satisfy man that there is not something blameable in his conduct, and a cause of perturbation in his constitution. Even those theorists of the deistico-pclagian school of progress, who so attenuate the nature of sin as to 126 CREATION AND THE FALL. destroy its real significance, cannot but admit its universal presence in human life. The very pantheist, too, who, to be consistent with liis principles, is under the necessity of denjdng the existence of evil as such, must acknowledge that what the moral consciousness must condemn as sin, ever exhibits itself in human action and conduct : he knows of a contrast and conflict with the good, though he fancies he has made the grand discovery how to reconcile and even incorporate evil with good, as a necessary element of his world. In all such cases the name may be disclaimed, the disturbing element in question may not be called sin or transgression, but only a defect from the moral ideal, or some such complimentary designation ; nevertheless it is a power which persists in mak- ing itself felt and feared even by the most strenuous of its disputants. In the second place, no difficulty is removed by the denial of the doctrine of a Fall ; on the contrary, the difficulties are greatly multiplied and augmented, if a belief in the being and perfections of a Deity be retained. If human nature be not in a lapsed condition, why is it what it is ; and as it always must have been, although the product of wisdom and power, goodness and righteousness ? On what principle is man punished, and how is there that in man's bosom which pronounces him blameworthy 1 Banish the Bible — get rid of its authority altogether, and yet no difficulty is thereby elimi- nated— not one step of progress is made in explaining the great mystery of human nature and human misery. Lastly, the objectors may be challenged to produce a more rational account of man's present condition than that contained in the Bible, and till they have succeeded in the undertaking, it is not too much to ask that the biblical account be allowed to remain. The objections comprised under this head, then, although numerous and perplexing, are not of a nature to be much accounted of in their bearing on any scriptural truth or testi- mony, or any principle of revealed religion. If they prove anything, it is only the otherwise undeniable fact, admitted by none more readily than believers in the Bible, that human reason has not mastered the mighty and mysterious problems involved in tlie relation of Creator and creature. This ignor- ance by no means warrants the conclusion which would deny OBJECTIONS TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL CONSIDEUEU. 127 tlie possibility or the reality of a creature of God swerving from the path of original rectitude, without any reflection on the character of the Creator or his work as such ; more espe- cially when the denial of the doctrine palpably involves more and greater difficulties than its admission. In this way may be fairly disposed of, if not answered, the strongest arguments usually and avowedly directed against the narrative of Genesis, but which in reality go to deny the doctrine of a Fall alto- gether, or the corruption of human nature, originating in the transgression of a Divine law by the first man, or in any other unknown and recondite cause. Under this head, too, will fall to be reckoned, and to be similarly disposed of, a class of arguments closely connected with, but subordinate to those just stated. The arguments referred to are such as have for their object to deny or deride the doctrine of the existence and personality of a malignant Spirit, and his agency in temptation and on the souls of men. Before, however, passing on to the next class of objections, as an instance of the arguments wherewith the narrative in Genesis is usually assailed, while they are in reality a denial of the existence of evil, reference may be made to that which is sometimes with great confidence deduced from the sentence passed upon the transgressors, (Gen. iii. 16-19.) That sentence, it is maintained, involves a false conception, for the punish- ments there said to be inflicted are the natural results of laws, arrangements, or dispositions of nature, which have God alone for their author, and are not therefore real evils : they are pains but not penalties. This objection, in whatever form of words it may be stated, virtually amounts to a denial of the existence of evil, and is withal founded on a most fallacious process of reasoning. But the answer is simjfle. Granting that the pains and troubles to which man is exposed are the natural eftects of appointed laws, and of the constitution under which he is placed by his Creator, and granting fartlier that " so far as these evils are merely physical, or bear a physical aspect, or are connected with other physical phenomena, tliey are not evils ;"^ yet the matter assumes an entirely difterent appearance when viewed ' M'Cosl), Metli(yil of tlie Divine Govornment. Edin. 1850, p. 37G. 128 CllEATION AND THE FALL. in connexion with man — a moral agent, and originating in tlie purpose and executed by the power of a holy and benevolent Being, whom conscience declares to be our moral governor. No process of reasoning can ever prevail with the mind to regard the sufferings referred to as other than physical evils, and as the direct punishment of moral evil or sin. The second class of objections are, as already stated, such as originate in opposition to, or involve a denial of all that is miraculous in the history of the Fall. From the earliest times, miracles have proved in the hands of sceptics a fertile source of objections to Divine revelation, the earliest and the latest portions of which, as displaying more of a miraculous character, have especially afforded ample scope for hostile attacks. But happily now, through a larger and more correct acquaintance with the so-called laws of nature, of which the miracle was by the objectors alleged to be a violation which no testimony could accredit, combined with a better spirit of inquiry, these attacks have been very much turned aside, and have in consequence lost considerably their original impetus. It can now no longer be maintained by any laying claim to scientific acquirements, and a knowledge of nature's past operations, that a miracle is contrary to all experience. Geology, in particular, has largely contributed to bring about this result : it " has disclosed many new chapters in the world's history, and shown tlie existence of miracles earlier than chronological dates." ^ The miracles brought to liglit by science — miracles of creation demonstrable to the senses, and incontrovertible by any rules of logic or meta- physics, have procured at least a hearing for the miracles of Scripture. That miracles are impossible, will, accordingly, be now hardly maintained, and that they are not even impro- bable, has been more than established ; the possibility and probability being converted into realities indelibly stamped on the medals of creation preserved in the great cabinet of nature. If, then, there have been miracles in creation, why should it be thought strange should they bo met with on the higher field of revelation ? and if tlie interpositions, immediate and direct, of the Creator and Moral Governor of the universe may be reasonably expected anywhere, or justified in any circum- 1 Ililchcoik, Religion of Geology, p. 279. 8cc also Miller, Footprints, p. 248. OBJECTIONS TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL CONSIDERED. 121) stances, surely it is in connexion with the transactions record- ed in the opening pages of the Bible which treat of the infancy of the human race, of times, and incidents, and conditions, both physical and moral, differing widely from anything with which at i)resent we are or possibly can be conversant ; and to form a correct judgment of which must, in the altered circumstances, be exceedingly difficult if not impossible. This simple observation ought of itself to go far towards disposing of the class of objections now under consideration, and neutralize any presumption against the credibility of the transactions stated in the account of the Fall, so far as regards their miraculous character and colouring. It has been well remarked : " Whoever should be disposed to doubt that the character of positive fact belongs to the historical account of the first sin, because it contains something miraculous, would shew his ignorance of the nature of the fact itself ; whoever should desire that the first sin should come about in a natural manner, would have the first sin itself regarded as a natural thing, while, on the contrary, it was just that kind of thing which is unnatural, and which has only become natural."^ Of the exceptions which, in this way, have been taken to several incidents regarded as of a miraculous character, or, as sometimes scoffingly styled by opposers, the marvellous, in the biblical account of the Fall, with its immediate antecedents and consequences, together with the particular machinery or agency introduced, one or two instances may be shortly con- sidered. 1. The objection urged against the scriptural account of the origin of the human race, and more particularly in regard to the formation of the woman, furnishes a remarkable instance both of mistaken reasoning and misapplied merriment.^ In the origination of man there was undoubtedly a miracle, and in that act, if anywhere, a miracle was required. In the introduction of the human, as indeed of any other species, whether of plant or animal, there was unquestionably some- thing new — something which previously had no existence on the earth, and therefore necessitating a departure from the * Hiivernick, Einleitung, I. ii. p. 252. 2 Gabler, in Eichhorn's Urgescliichtc, II. i. p. 121. 130 CREATION AND THE FALL. ordinary sequences or operations of nature, and an interjiosi- tion in some way or other of the great Creative Cause ; in short, a miracle. Any other supposition than this is irrational and absurd, whatever may be alleged to the contrary by the friends of the Development hypothesis. But farther, it must be no less evident, that in order to the safety and preservation of even their animal economy, there was a necessity that the first created human being, or beings, should be brought into existence in a state of maturity, and in the full exercise of their powers. Much more must this appear to be the case when account is taken of the various acts and exercises, not merely of a physical nature, but of an intellectual, moral, and religious kind, which it must be assumed were engaged in by man. " Who educated the first human pair ?" asks, in one of his sober moments, a leader of modern Pantheism ; " a spirit interested himself in them, as is laid down by an old, vener- able, primeval document, which, taken together, contains the profoundest, the sublimest wisdom, and discloses results to which all philosophy must at last come." Farther, and in par- ticular, so far from discerning anything ridiculous or absurd, as is frequently alleged in the scriptural representation of the woman's formation out of a part of the new-made man, heaven- taught philosophy will trace in it the most beautiful harmony with the laws of the creation, and the wisest adaptation to the sacred and social requirements of the case. Man himself was not formed from any new material, but from a new combina- tion of pre-existing matter ; the woman, again, was formed from the man, as she was formed for him, and thus in her formation embodied all the prior laws of the creation ; but more esj)e- cially she was thus placed, by the very constitution of her being, in the nearest and dearest relation to him for whom she was designed as a help-meet — a relation vividly realized in the experience of the first man at the moment that he gave utter- ance to the deep-felt emotion, " This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh : she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man." 2. Another objection which may be proi)erly classed under this head, is one founded on the immunity of our first parents from death and disease, in case of obedience to the Divine command, which charged them to abstain from the fruit of a OBJECTIONS TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL CONSIDERED. 131 particular tree on pain of deatli.^ In the threatening, " In the day that thou eatest tlicreof, thou shalt surely die/' it is undoubtedly implied, that if man did not transgress the com- mand, he should be exempted from all evils comprehended under the name death. To this it is often objected, that vari- ous considerations connected with man's constitution, animal and social, render such an exemption from death, or temporal dissolution, if not impossible, yet in the highest degree im- probable. Two considerations are specially urged in regard to this point : — 1, The physical organization of man necessarily implies progress, change, decay, and death ; and 2. The pro- pagation of the race in conformity with the recorded blessing of creation, " Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth," demands the removal of the successive races by death, as otherwise the earth would soon be overcrowded by its nume- rous tenants, or the law of generation must be suspended or repealed at no very distant date from its first enactment. It is certainly true, as experience teaches, that decay, disso- lution, or death, is a universal law of organic nature, as pre- sently constituted ; and it is equally true, as physiology asserts, that this is a necessary law in the circumstances ; and it may farther be admitted, as established on incontrovertible evidence, that death, so far as the animal creation is concerned, was a law of organized beings prior to the apostasy, or even the crea- tion of man. But none of these facts or findings by any means excludes the possibility of the functions of vegetable and animal organization going on for ever, without decay or death, if such had been the pleasure and purpose of the Creator. What is possible may, in certain circumstances and conditions, be probable ; and applying this to the case of man, and his presumed immunity from death, the probability may amount to a certainty, when it is considered what his j^lace, according to the Divine purpose, is in creation, and in the whole future of the kingdom of God. To the other consideration urged in the objection, it may be replied, there is certainly much force in this representation of the case ; and the difficulty therewith connected, if it were contemplated, or in any way maintained, by asserting for un- ' Gabler, in Eiclilinrn's T^rgeschiditc, II. i. p. 95. Newniian, Pliases of Failli. 132 CREATION AND THE FALL. fallen man an exemption from deatli, that he was individually to continue for ever a denizen of the lower world, and was not in due time to bo translated, generation after generation, to other spheres of existence in the vast universe of God. It is generally held by Christians that this would have been the case ; and as if to make the matter plain, at least to believers in the Bible, there are recorded more than one instance in the past dispensation of this kind of translation into another world without undergoing tlie change denominated death ; while there is the farther assurance, that in the future — the closing scene of the present order of things, this same change shall pass over many : " We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump : for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.) 8. An objection is frequently taken to the part assigned to the serpent in the transaction ; whether regarded as the effi- cient, or merely the instrumental, cause of the Temptation and Fall. This objection presents itself in various aspects. Tims, it is said, assuming, as the narrative would evidently have it, that the tempter was nothing more than a natural serpent — a mere brute form — acts and exercises are ascribed to it which so far surpass the powers of any irrational creature, as to be ex- plicable only on Esopian principles of interpretation. And, on the other hand, it is maintained, that to affirm the other alternative, and to suppose that the faculties of reason and speech then put in exercise were those of a higher hostile power actuating a serpent, or assuming its form, is to intro- duce a doctrine which strikes at the very root of the argument deduced from miracles, as furnishing peculiar attestations of a Divine revelation or mission, and which proceeds on the assumption that miracles can originate only with God, the supreme governor of the universe. The whole subject, in its various bearings on the tempter- serpent, whether as the efficient or instrumental cause of man's ruin, will have to be considered fully in another connexion ; in the meantime, a few remarks will suffice for disposing of the objection in the two forms above presented. In regard to the one side of the argument, it is enough to observe, that as OBJECTIONS TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL CONSIDERED. 133 the writer of the narrative did not scruple, in tlie i:)lainest and most direct manner, to ascribe extraordinary or supernatural povvers and capacities to the serpent, this itself is a sufficient indication that he regarded it as more than the mere animal of that name. The other form of the objection ultimately resolves itself into the general question, Why did God permit the entrance of sin into his dominions ? The bearing of the objection on the argument founded on miracles may, however, be briefly considered. If it must be assumed, as this objec- tion evidently implies, that a miracle of itself, irrespective of any other consideration, proves the truth of a doctrine in sup- port of which it is wrought, or of the statement which it would confirm, then assuredly there cannot have been a miracle in the case of the temptation, and in the communications of the serpent, for the statements then made were not only antago- nistic to, but subversive of, the truth and testimony of God. On this view of the matter in general, it is sometimes main- tained, that " it would evidently be inconsistent with the character of God to empower or to suffer wicked beings to work miracles in support of falsehood."^ But numerous facts of Old and New Testament history cannot be easily reconciled with this assumption. The sacred writers make distinct men- tion of such things as " lying wonders'' (2 Thess. ii. 9) ; so called, according to the ablest expositors, not because in them- selves frauds and illusions, but because wrought in support of the kingdom of lies.^ Olshausen characterizes these lying- wonders as " astonishing, extraordinary operations in nature, which have their foundation only in the application of demoniac powers.'' To draw men from God and to evil is, he adds, to be imagined as the aim of these deceptions. Striking instances of the power and operations of evil spirits were witnessed during our Lord's life on earth. And if at that remarkable epocli in the history of the world, wicked spirits, as is expressly taught in the Gospels, had power or permission to produce pre- ternatural effects on the minds and bodies of men, is it in- conceivable that, at another and earlier period — another great crisis in the struggle of light and darkness, they might have 1 Leonard Wood, in Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature, Art. Miracles, vol. ii. p. 347. ^ See Trench, Notes on the Miracles, second edition, 1847, p. 21. 134 CREATION AND THE FALL. been suffered to produce the same or similar effects in and upon irrational creatures ? But however this may be, there is undoubtedly more than a rhetorical figure in the declaration of the Apostle, that " Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (2 Cor. xi. 14) ; and if into an angel of light, why not into any other suitable instrumentality? The objections hitherto considered bear more directly on the subject of the Fiill, and the truths therewith connected, and accordingly press with almost equal weight against any form of expression, or mode of narration, which might be selected for communicating the same truths. Those now to be stated refer more particularly to the details and representations of the transaction, as set forth in the narrative. The third class of objections, as above arranged, are such as more properly apply to the narrative of the Fall, as distin- guished from the doctrine, or the truths communicated. In respect to these objections, it will be seen that they originate, for the most part, in misapprehension of the statements of the text, and turn on contradictions thus assumed between the parts of the narrative itself, or between it and other estab- lished facts and conclusions. A few only of the more important objections of this kind can at present be noticed ; but these may serve as specimens of a numerous, though not otherwise formidable class. 1. It is objected, that the threatening of death was not executed on the transgressors in the terms denounced. The penalty, as threatened, was, " In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou slialt surely die :" but Adam lived more than nine hundred years after eating the forbidden fruit ; and how, it is asked, can this consist witli the admitted immutability of the eternal Lawgiver and Judge ? This is an objection of long standing. As early as the time of IrensDus, the long reprieve or suspension of the sentence of death on Adam, was felt to involve considerable difficulty ; and, ever since, various explanations of it have been offered. IrenjBUS himself enumerates no less than five different solu- tions current in his day. It is unnecessary to advert to these, or any of the other schemes, farther than to say, that the whole difficulty, and supposed contradiction, rest entirely on a misapprehension of what the threatened death really implied. OBJECTIONS TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL CONSIDERED. 135 This was the forfeiture of all that pertains to a holy and happy existence, which the Scriptures empliatically denominate life. There is no ground whatever for the view on which the objec- tion rests, which regards the penalty threatened as mere physical death, or as in any way contemplating the extinction of the physical life, or the termination of the earthly existence of man on the day of transgression. " Change, or separation of soul and body," as Jeremy Taylor remarks, " is but acci- dental to death ; death may be with or without either." It was so, in regard to the latter particular, in the case of Adam : on the day of his transgression he died, in accordance with the previous intimation of God, " who is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent'' (Numb, xxiii. J 9). The transgressor died in the very act of sinning ; and died to the full extent of the death threatened. There was no delay in the judgment, no immediate mitigation of the sinner's doom ; although infinite mercy afterwards announced a remedy and remission. 2. The amount of the punishment is sometimes objected to as unreasonably severe, or exorbitant, considering the triviality of the offence ; and therefore it is alleged that the first sin must have been something other than eating of any particular prohibited fruit, as stated in the narrative : reason, it is assert- ed, demands that the crime be more proportioned to the punish- ment, if, as is stated, that was death. Looked at in its true light, as rebellion against the Most High, and as a daring and deliberate renunciation of the Divine authority, and accordingly in its very essence a viola- tion of the whole law, the first transgression must appear to be anything but a slight or trivial offence. The particular act by Avhich the rebellious disposition was evinced does not affect the matter much one way or another. If anything, the un- importance, so to speak, of the object prohibited in the present instance, only enhanced the crime and the condemnation. Any other positive precept which it were possible to select as a test of obedience, would be open no doubt to similar, or perhaps weightier objections, on the part of transgressors dis- posed to cavil at what they regard as the inequality of God's ways (Ezck. xviii. 25) ; and if the selected test had been less indifferent, or required more self-denial than the one actually 136 CREATION AND THE FALL. adopted, there need be little hesitation in aflSrming that it would be greatly decried on that very account. Nothing-, how- ever, is better fitted to prove a test of character and of absolute submission to law in its highest form than an act, the omission or commission of which is in itself indifferent, but to which attention is called by another will requiring or forbidding it. 3. Exception is also taken to the mysterious properties thought to be ascribed to the trees of knowledge and of life : iu the one case, the power of communicating a knowledge of good and evil ; and in the other, of conferring immortality. These must have been in every sense remarkable trees, if they were such as is here represented; but it will be found that the properties thus ascribed to them have had no exist- ence save in the fancy of objectors and of some expositors. This, it must be acknowledged, is a case of the sort adverted to in the last section, wherein the fancies of expositors have contributed to raise objections against the credibility of tlie narrative. It was in no way to be wondered at that the super- ficial naturalism of such men as Gabler and Eichhorn, should trace the evil consequences resulting to man to the deleterious qualities of the forbidden fruit ; but it is matter of surprise to find evangelical divines seriously maintaining " that the fruit of this tree had the physical elfect of rendering the under- standing much more clear and forcible — that through it the intellectual powers were considerably enlarged, and man, con- sequently, endowed with faculties superior to those he possessed in his pristine condition."^ The scriptural narrative, when properly considered, gives no countenance to such views. It is true, that on eating the forbidden fruit, it is said of the transgressors, that " their eyes were opened ;" but this result is not to be conceived of, as springing from any virtue in the tree, but entirely from the act of disobedience — the transgres- sion of the command which constituted this tree forbidden. It is also true that attainments in tlie knowledge of good and evil from partaking of the forbidden fruit, were held forth as inducements to disobedience, but only in the artful representa- tions of the Tempter. It is a similar misapprehension which ascribes to the Tree of Life the property of warding off death and conferring immortality — an opinion sliarcd in by a writer ' Topliuui, Pbilosopliy of the Fall, p. 59. OBJECTIONS TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL CONSIDERED. 137 SO judicious as Archbishop Whately, who even attributes to the influence of this tree the great longevity of the earliest generations of men/ notwithstanding the intimation that man was shut out from all access to it. The tree of life, according to the judgment of the soundest interpreters, was nothing- more than a sign or seal of the Divine promise of life, properly so called, or everlasting blessedness to man when the period of his probation should come to a happy close. The reason assigned for the expulsion of man from Paradise after his apostasy, " lest he should take of the tree of life and eat and live for ever," whatever it may mean, cannot certainly, from reason and the nature of the case, imply that eating of this tree would have actually conferred immortality on the trans- gressor, and rendered nugatory the sentence which already doomed him to death ; and if it does not imply this, nothing can be founded on the statement as to any inherent property in this tree. The simplest and most consistent view of the import of this expression would seem to be, that it was fitting — merciful as well as just, that man should be debarred from access to the sign, seeing that he had forfeited the thing signified. 4. It is also objected that the statement that vegetables constituted the only food of animals previous to the Fall, (Gen. i. 29, SO,) is in direct opposition to the facts brought to light, and firmly established by scientific investigations into the character and habits of the animals of the early world, many of which were extinct before the introduction of man. It is undoubtedly true, that among a particular class of theologians it is held as an axiom, and indeed it may be regarded as the pojiular belief, that a great change — a revo- lution of habits and propensities, took place in the animal creation on the fall of man. In particular, it is believed that it was only after that catastrophe had disturbed the peace and harmony of creation that animals began to prey upon one another, the whole having previously been graminivorous. But notions of this sort, it .may be affirmed, are indebted for their origin and acceptance more to the poets of ancient and ^ Dissertcalion on tlie Eise, rmgress, and CViruplions of Cliristianify- — Eiiojdo- p(i:dut Britannica, 8th edit. vol. i. p. 453. 138 CREATION AND THE FALL. modern times, tlian to any biblical statements — they certainly owe more to the jioetic imagination of Milton for their place in the popular belief, than to the simi:»le history of Moses. The ex- istence of carnivorous animals long before the fall or the creation of man, is a truth too well established to require any argument or evidence to be adduced here in its support ; and if Scripture teaches otherwise, a difficulty, if not a contradiction, must be at once confessed, however it may be explained. But no intimation to that effect can be discovered within the compass of the Sacred Volume, and certainly nothing of the kind can be legitimately deduced from the passage above referred to from the account of creation. All that that passage fairly im- ports is, that one part of the vegetable productions was assigned to man, and another to other animals, while it by no means precludes the idea that there might have been other tribes requiring to be sustained by animal food. 5. Ofience is not unfrequently taken at the curse pronounced upon the serpent, as " a cajiricious punishment on a race of brutes."^ If the serpent was merely the instrument of another power, how can it consist with justice, it is asked, to visit with punishment the irrational and irresponsible reptile ? The vindication of this punitive act is sometimes rested on the doctrine of the sovereignty "of God, who has a right to dis- pose of all his creatures in whatever way he sees meet.^ But this representation fails to carry conviction and satisfaction to the mind ; for the act is evidently characterized not as one of sovereignty but of judicial infliction, which must accordingly be meted out with justice. Another mode of escape from the difficulty is supposed to be found in denying that the sentence on the serpent can be strictly regarded as a real punishment. But this explanation also labours under as serious disadvan- tages as that already dismissed. The curse of God, which constitutes the burden of the sentence, is most assuredly a reality — a dread reality — a sore punishment wherever, and however, it alights on any creature. There is no gainsaying this. But is it certain that a curse was inflicted on the reptile at all ? May it not be found that the simplest solution of the difficulty is in the exclusion of the animal serpent, if not from all share in the temptation, yet certainly from all direct par- ^ Nevramii, Pliases of Faitli, p. 67. - Hoklen, Dissertation, p. 128. OBJECTIONS TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL CONSIDERED. 139 ticii^ation in the punishment that followed ? Throughout the transaction, the serpent really present is described as an intel- ligent agent ; and in the sentence pronounced, is addressed as a moral being. It is only on this supposition, and consequently, that the stroke of Divine vengeance fell not on an irrational and irresponsible creature, but on the moral agent which either actuated the serpent or assumed its form, that the sen- tence can be conceived of as reasonable or real. On this view of the matter, the whole scope or purport of the sentence would seem to be, to announce in language figurative, but conforma- ble to the circumstances of the case, that from the degraded position to which the tempter had descended for the purpose of compassing man's ruin, he should never be able to rise, or throw oif the gross and grovelling form he had assumed : in other words, the sentence, stripped of its metaphor, doomed him to the deepest degradation, and that perpetually.^ 6. The origin of the various tribes of mankind in a single ancestral pair has recently been much disputed ; and this con- troversy has accordingly supj^lied arguments and objections to the Mosaic affirmation of the doctrine in the narratives of Creation and the Fall. The unity and common origin of the human race, as ex- pressly taught in the Bible, is not an isolated doctrine, but is connected in one Avay or another with all the fundamental truths of religion ; and yet looked at physically, it must be admitted that it is encompassed with many difficulties. Nu- merous appearances in natural history are strongly opposed to the dogma, and several distinguished scientific writers have boldly called it in question. But it is of importance to note, that with every disposition on the jDart of some of the oppon- ents of the doctrine of the unity of the human race, to make the most of all facts and appearances in civil and natural history which favoured their own views, its falsity has never been established. The common origin of mankind has been questioned, but not disproved. It might therefore suffice to ' Leland, Answer to Christianity as Old as the Creation, Dublin, 1733, vol. ii. p, 516. " If there was a real serpent made use of, 3'et still it may be supposed that the curse was only and properly directed and designed against Satan, who actuated that creature, tliough couched in terms accommodated to the condition of the crea- ture he actuated and assumed." 140 CREATION AND THE FALL. observe, until tliis be the case, that no valid objection can be brought against the credibility of the Bible on the point in question. It may, however, be added, without at present entering upon any discussion of the subject, that through enlarged acquaintance with the question on the part of natur- alists and ethnographers, many of the difficulties are in course of removal, and the problem upon the whole is so far simplified, that the unity of mankind can now scarcely be maintained to involve an improbability. But the subject presents itself in another light, and one not less favourable to the credibility of the Mosaic writings. If, as already stated, and as strongly urged by the opponents of the biblical statements, there be so much apparently and antecedently unfavourable to the doc- trine which ascribes the origin of mankind to a common parentage, how came it to pass that a writer like Moses, so cautious and circumspect, and, moreover, as some would say, so strongly imbued with Jewish exclusiveness, could fancy or defend such a dogma, looking at the circumstances of the case from his own point of view, if indebted only to his own reason- ings and resources ? It is not meant to urge this consideration as any test of the truth of the doctrine in question ; but if its truth should be proved otherwise, the fact of its being held by Moses may undoubtedly be regarded as not a little confirma- tory of the inspired character of the truths he taught. The more pertinent of the objections urged against the doc- trine of the Fall, and especially against the narrative in which that doctrine, in its causes and consequences, is delivered, have now been glanced at, or briefly considered. They have been brought together in the present section, for the twofold pur- pose of exhibiting their character and strength, and of indicat- ing the points to which special attention must be directed in the exposition of the text, wliere also will be found fuller particulars and proofs of the more important positions in many cases tacitly assumed in the answers to objections and other controverted points, as stated above. There is, however, one other objection which must be noticed at greater length, and by way of appendix to this section, but of a kind distinct from any of the preceding ; and which has reference not to any difficulties in the doctrine or details of the Fall, but to its OBJECTIONS TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL CONSIDERED. 141 origin, or the time and tlie occasion of its reception into the Jewish creed. THE JEWISH DOCTRINE OF THE FALL NOT DERIVED FROM THE SYSTEM OF THE PARSEES. It has been zealously maintained by not a few writers, that the doctrine of the Fall, or the interpretation now usually put upon the transaction recorded in the third chapter of Genesis, was utterly unknown in the earlier periods of the Israclitisli histoiy. It is admitted by the advocates of this view, that the Christian interpretation is that of the New Testament and of the later Jewish writers ; but it is denied that the doctrine was known, or acknowledged as an article of Jewish faith until the Captivity, and it is maintained that it originated in a mixture of oriental ideas with which the Israelites became familiar during the exile. More particularly, it is alleged that the doctrine of the existence of an evil spirit with which that of the Fall is intimately associated, is an importation into Jewish theology from the religious system of the ancient Per- sians, being nothing more than the Zoroastrian notions regard- ing the conflict of Ormuzd and Ahriman/ This view is sometimes carried so far as even to deny the authenticity of the nan-ative in Genesis, and assign to its com- position a date corresponding to the assumed requirements of the case, but more frequently it is satisfied with merely reject- ing the interpretation, the authenticity being treated as a question of secondary concern. It is, however, only as a ques- tion of intci-pretation that the matter requires any serious examination here. As such, it assumes that the doctrine or details of the Fall, as at present understood, are not so much as alluded to in any Old Testament Avritings, except those composed during or after the Captivity. But here it is necessary to premise, that in order to support those assumptions by the exclusion of all evidence of a con- trary tendency, recourse is had to what must be called a 1 Newman, Phases of Faitb, p. 126.—" That the serpent iu the early part of Genesis denoted the same Satan, is proLahle enough ; but this only goes to show, that that nan-ative is a legend imported from farther East, since it is certain that the subsequent Hebrew has no trace of such an Ahriman." 142 CREATION AND THE FALL. very illogical mode of procedure. Thus with regard to the existence of an evil spirit — a doctrine involved in that of the Fall, a date subsequent to the exile is frequently assigned to such compositions as make express mention of the being in question, and simply on that account ; and then, again, from the absence of the idea in writings which, on the above prin- ciples of arrangement, are assigned a place prior to the Cap- tivity, it is argued that it was not entertained at the earlier period. It is in this way that the Book of Job is often uncere- moniously disposed of, or at all events its prologue, where it cannot be denied express mention is made of the great adver- sary of God and man. But while strictly maintaining the acquaintance of the earliest Hebrew writers Avith the doctrine of an evil principle, it must be at the same time conceded, that they make little or no express mention of such agency, although fully implied in various acts and narrations. In the history of the Fall itself, there is no express mention of the presence of an evil spirit ; but that the agency of such a being is indicated or assumed, the whole bearing and circumstances of the case abundantly testify. Indeed, throughout the Pentateuch, little or no ex- press reference is made to beings of this kind, if the view be rejected which makes the obscure term Azazel (Lev. xvi. 8) to be the designation of some such creature. The first express and indubitable reference to an evil spirit is in the history of Saul, the first king of Israel : " Tlie Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him," (1 Sam. xvi. 14.) The evil spirit which troubled the unhappy monarch, from its being contrasted with the Spirit of the Lord, must evidently be a personality ; and not, as is sometimes re- presented, merely tnadness or melancholy. Coming down to a later period, to the time of Ahab (1 Kings xxii. 21, 22), men- tion is made of " a lying spirit," or a spirit of falsehood gone forth to deceive. Verse 21, " There came forth a spirit," or, as it is in the Hebrew, the spirit ; not, as Keil would have it, a personification of the principle of prophecy, a view which Tlienius also adopts, but rather " a spiritual wicked principle," as was recognised by the older expositors, Grotius, Le Clcrc, Vatable, Scb. Schmidt, and others, and as the very proposal made l^y the spirit itself sufficiently attests. OBJECTIONS TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE PALL CONSIDERED. 143 Turning to the Book of Job, which, whatever may be the doubts regarding its character, and the exact date of its com- position, is unquestionably very old, as even its most resolute opponents have been forced to admit, we find mention made of a wicked spirit, styled by way of pre-eminence Satan, that is, the enemy or adversary. The same word which, in Job i. 6-1 2, ii. 1-7, occurs as a proper name, and with the Hebrew article, is used also as an appellative, as in Ps. cix. 6, " Let the enemy stand on his right hand/' On which Ilengstenberg remarks : " That the passage before us is the one from which the name of Satan, first used in Job, has been derived, is evident from the literal relation in which the verse before us stands to the second fundamental passage of Satan (Zech. iii. 1) ; the enemy of our psalm — a psalm in which Satan occurs more frequently than it does anywhere else — is the worthy representative, the visible emblem, of the Evil One/' Without determining Avhat importance is due to this observa- tion of Hengstenberg, particularly as regards the composition of the psalm prior to that of Job, it is of consequence for the present argument to notice, that the common designation of the Evil One in the Scriptures is strictly of Hebrew origin, — a fact which furnishes the strongest proof that the idea must be national, and not derived from without. Even "Winer, who strongly maintains that the doctrine is of foreign origin, ac- knowledges that it cannot be denied that there were Jewish conceptions which served as connecting points for dogmatic Demonology, when it came to be developed at the time of the exile.^ The progressive development of this doctrine among the Hebrews, or, perhaps, more correctly, the greater freedom w^ith which the later writers could allude to it, may be seen from a comparison of 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, with 1 Chron. xxi. 1. The re- served manner in which the subject is introduced or adverted to in the earlier Scriptures, may possibly be accounted for in a way similar to the equally remarkable silence there observed regarding a future state of existence, and the rewards and punishments therewith connected. Or it may have been with a view chiefly of preventing idolatry, to which the Israelites in the early periods of their history were exceedingly prone, • Biblisclies Eealwiirterbuch, Art. Satan, IT. p. 384. 144 CREATION AND THE FALL. that SO little is said regarding the existence or powers of demons — objects of special homage among several Gentile nations, who, in this respect, as opportunity occurred, fomid willing imitators among the Jews. But in whatever way the circumstance may be accounted for, it was not until the time drew nigh which should witness the advent of Him whose mission it was to destroy the works of the devil, that the evil principle, in his power and personality, was permitted to come fully into view. Until this important period approached, a veil was drawn over the subject ; but now that it is removed, the hints and silent intimations previously given stand forth in full expression, as may be seen when the history of the Fall is read with the apostolic commentaries on the tempter and temptation. In regard, however, to the view which questions the exist- ence or agency of such a being as the Satan of Scripture, and which is the actual basis of that more particularly under con- sideration, it will be sufficient to adduce the following remarks of Neander : — " The arguments of the Rationalists against the doctrine which teaches the existence of Satan, are either directed against a false and arbitraiy conception of that doc- trine, or else go upon the presupposition that evil could only have originated under conditions such as those under which human existence has developed itself; that it has its ground in the organism of human nature, e.g., in the opposition be- tween reason and the propensities ; that human development must necessarily pass through it ; but that we cannot conceive of a steadfast tendency to evil in an intelligence endowed with the higher spiritual powers. Now it is precisely this view of evil which we most emphatically oppose, as directly contradic- tory to the essence of the gospel and of a theistico-ethical view of the world ; and, on the contrary, we hold fast, as the only doctrine which meets man's moral and religious interests, that doctrine which is the ground of the conception of Satan, and according to which evil is represented as the rebellion of a created will against the Divine law, as an act of free-will not otherwise to be explained, and the intelligence as determined by the will."^ After what has thus been said on the main argument in the ' Ncander's Life of Christ, London edition, 1851, p. 70, vote. OBJECTIONS TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL CONSIDERED. 145 tlieory, wliicL holds the doctrine of tlie Fall to be of foreign origin, and of comparatively late growth, little need be added regarding tlie alleged absence from the early Scriptures of all reference to its history, as set forth in Genesis. This omission, however, is more in appearance than in reality. What, it may be asked, is the whole of the Old Testament history, as it narrates the incessant struggle of the two principles of good and evil in the world and in man, but one continued reference to the Fall, through which this discord was introduced ? As a specific reference to that transaction, or its consequences to man, it is enough to adduce the belief entertained of an inward, liereditary depravity of human nature, at so early a period as that indicated by the fifty-first Psalm. The frequent allusions in the Book of Proverbs to the tree of life, are, upon the ad- mission of Tuch, distinct references to the Fall ; and this is of the more importance, as coming from one who holds, in a modified form, the opinion now controverted. The later refer- ences in the prophetic writings need not be discussed, nor the passage in Eccles. vii. 29, where mention is made of man's original and better state, and then of his altered condition ; for the majority of these passages have, by the critics and contro- vertists on this particular point, a very late date assigned to them. Attention is, therefore, purposely confined to writings whose high antiquity is universally admitted, so as to avoid all discussions foreign to the main subject. Enough, however, it is believed, has been advanced to shew that from the earliest period there are not wanting intimations of the belief in a Fall, and in the existence of an evil principle. But even were such intimations less numerous or explicit than is actually the case, it might be fairly urged, that it is exceedingly improbable that the latter dogma in particular, even if of foreign origin, should be introduced only at the late period of the exile, from intercourse with the Chaldeans or Persians, and not from the earlier and longer intercourse with Egypt, where the idea was strongly developed in the evil prin- ciple Typhon. If anything, however, were wanting in disproof of the opinion, that the doctrine of the Fall was derived from the Persians, it would be found in the fact that, as taught in the Bible, it differs essentially from all the systems of Parsism. The mythologies of these systems are broadly reflected in the K 146 CREATION AND THE FALL. teachings of the Gnostics and Maniclieans, but to any reader of church liistory, it is needless to say how widely these diverged from the truths of the Bible and the doctrines of Christianity. SECT. VIII. — THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TRACED IN TRADITION. The fables of the ancient world are in many cases as instruc- tive as its philosophies, if not more so. They may be correctly regarded as important traditionary truths, although, in the majority of instances, so con-upted or disguised, as to be scarcely discernible, and requiring for their identification the closest scrutiny and comparison ; yet, even in such cases, they will be found, when carefully analj^zed, to comprehend, in some form or other, various elements which bear an unmistakable rela- tion to former habits and perceptions, and so furnish evidence regarding important transactions in the early history of the human race, the recollection of which might have otherwise perished. Amid the accumulation of myths and traditions handed down from the remotest ages, it might be reasonably expected that there should be found some traces of the Fall, provided it were a real, historical, and not altogether an imagi- nary event. It is undoubtedly a reasonable assumption, that a matter of such moment and magnitude as the Fall is repre- sented to be, so productive of change in all the circumstances of man's lot, his relation to his Maker, and to the world around him, could not have passed away without leaving, in various ways, some traces of its occurrence, — nor have its memorials entirely obliterated from the monumental traditions of the past. These just expectations will, on examination, be nowise disap- pointed. The traditions of the Fall are neither few nor faint : they are numerous, and no less indubitable, in their relation to that moral catastrophe ; much more so — as from the nature of the case may be easily conceived — than those which were found to relate to the subject of Creation. In regard to the numerous and diversified myths and legends now to be con- sidered, it will be found that, owing to the abundance of materials, and the distinct forms in which they have been pre- served aflfording greater room for comparisons, there will be THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TRACED IX TRADITION. 147 little difficulty in tracing the scattered and variously expressed ideas to a common source, and no danger in assigning their origin to some momentous catastrophe in the primeval his- tory of man, whereby his character and his relation to God underwent a great change, exceedingly injurious in its con- sequences. The more important notices bearing on this subject — and it is only a selection that can be presented — may be conveniently arranged under the following heads : — 1. The original condition of man, physical and moral. The traditions of all ancient nations unite in testifying, that man's original condition differed widely from the state in which lie now finds himself placed. This original condition, the tradi- tions of the West, as preserved in the classic pages of the Greek and Roman authors, describe, under the designation of a " golden age," of which rich and glowing descriptions are found, especially in the poets, who agree in characterizing it as a period of innocence and bliss. According to the account given by Hesiod, one of the earliest of the Greek poets, in the first or golden age, men were like the gods, free from labours, troubles, cares, and all evils in general : they were in the full enjoyment of every blessing ; the earth yielded her fruits freely and abundantly, and men were beloved by the gods, with whom they held uninterrupted communion.^ With Hesiod's descrip- tion of the first age of the human race, Ovid's essentiall}^ agrees, only that the latter notices more fully the moral good- ness of the period, — the absence of sin as well as suffering. It was a state of innocence as well as happiness, — the latter, indeed, being the result of the former. " Aurea prima sata est setas, quae vindice nullo, Sponte sua, sine lege fidera rectumque colebat. PcEiia metusque aberant, nee verba minacia fixo iEre legebantur, nee supplex turba timebat Judicis ora sui, sed erant sine judice tuti." — Metam. i. 89. By another Roman author, the state of this period is briefly characterized as a " simplicitas mali nescia et adhuc astuticB inexperta." " Turning now to the Eastern traditions, which, from their ■ Hesioil, Opera et Dies, 90, &c. '■' Mac-robius, Sovm. Sripionis, ii 10. 148 CREATION AND THE FALL. closer proximity to the cradle of the human race, may he sup- posed to have suffered less change than those of the West, the same ideas, under a variety of forms, continually present them- selves ; with the farther addition of most pointed references to man's original dwelling-place. In the ancient Persian tradi- tions, for example, there is found within the legend of a golden age, also that of a paradise — the enclosed gardens of Dschemschid, the Ver, as Anquetil, the author of the French translation of the Zendavesta, calls it, and regarding which Roth, a recent learned writer on the subject, remarks, " It reminds us of the ancient Hebrew traditions of the garden in Eden, only that in the latter case it was the first human pair, and in the other, a select number of the human race that en- joyed the blessings of this paradise."^ Man's original residence is largely set forth in the Zend Books. It is described as a place of many delights and felicities, and as the special creation of Ormuzd. Mention is also made of its river and its sacred trees, and, among others, the tree of life. According to the description in the Vendiclad, " Ormuzd spake to Sapetman (i.e., the excellent) Zoroaster : I have created, 0 Sapetman Zoroaster, a place of delights and of abundance ; no one could make its equal. Came not this region of pleasure from me, 0 Sapetman Zoroaster ; no being could have created it ? It is called Eerienfe Vejo : it is more beautiful than the whole world, wide as it is. Nothing can equal the charms of that country of pleasure which I have created. Tlie first liabita- tion of blessedness and abundance which I, who am Ormuzd, created, was Eeriene Vejo. Thereupon came Ahriman, preg- nant with death, and prepared in the river which watered Eeriene Vejo, the great serpent of winter that comes from Dew."^ In the pleasure and loveliness to which so much pro- minence is given in this description, there is, according to Creutzer, an allusion to the Hebrew Eden, which also means jjleasure.^ The remarkable references made to Ahriman and the ser- pent, the destroyer of this delightful region, will be afterwards considered, and confirmed by other testimonies ; meanwhile, ^ Zeitsclirift der Deutschen Morgenl. Gesellschaft, 1850, p. 421. ' Rosenniiiller, Biblical Geogniphy, Morren's Translation, vol. i. p. 51. 3 Creuzer, Symbolik n. Mytholopie, Leip. 1837, vol. i. p. 213. THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TRACED IN TRADITION. 149 attention may be shortly directed to the notions entertained regarding the river of paradise and the tree of life. " Tlie Hindoos place the terrestrial paradise on the elevated plains of Bukhara the Lesser, where it is conceived there is a river which goes round Brahmapuri, or the town of Brahma ; then through a lake called Mansarovara. . . . From this lake come four rivers running towards the four corners of the world." ^ To the tree of life, again, frequent reference is made in these interesting legends of the olden world. In the Buudehesh it is said, " Among these trees is the white, salubrious, and fruitful Horn : it grows in the fountain of Arduisur, which springs from the throne of Ormuzd ; whoever drinks of the water, or the sap of this tree, becomes immortal." In the traditions of India also, mention is made of the tree of paradise, Kalpaurkshara, which contains the drink and food of immor- tality. According to Persian ideas, Honover, the creative word of Ormuzd, was embodied under the name Horn, — a type of eternal blessing and prosperity, as a tree wliich was the crown of the vegetable kingdom, and was possessed of wonderful powers of vivification. A portion of this tree Avas accordingly essential in every offering.^ The sacred tree occupies also, as is now well known, a very conspicuous place in the recently discovered Assyrian sculptures. Layard remarks, that the Zoroastrian Hom was likewise a common subject of Persian sculpture, and preserved almost, as represented on the Assyrian monuments, until the Arab invasion. " The flowers on the earlier monuments" [of Nineveh], says this writer, " are either circular, with five or more petals, or resemble the Greek honey- suckle. From the constant introduction of the tree ornamented with them into groups, representing the performance of reli- gious ceremonies, there cannot be a doubt that they were symbolical, and were invested with a sacred character. The sacred tree, or tree of life, so universally recognised in Eastern systems of theology, is called to mind, and we are naturally led to refer the traditions connected with it to a common origin." The author then adds in a note, " We have the tree of life of Genesis, and the sacred tree of the Hindhus, with its * Wilford, Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 488, quoted in Eosenmiiller, \oc. cit., p. 53. ^ Creuzer, SymLolik u. Mythologie, vol. i. p. 224. 150 CREATION AND THE FALL, accompanying- figures — a groui^ almost identical with the illus- trations of the Fall in our old Bibles/'^ 2. The change ivhich ensued. The state of innocence and happiness above described, it is universally admitted, did not long continue, but was succeeded by another in which crime, violence, and misery prevailed. Men despised the gods, became proud, disobedient, and pro- fane, and were, accordingly, for their wickedness, subjected to various evils. The corruption of morals and manners, not- withstanding many tokens of Divine displeasure and retribu- tion, went on increasing, until, in the fourth or iron age, according to some traditions, it attained to such a height that Jupiter, wearied out by the many provocations, sent at length a flood to destroy the guilty race. Such are the accounts fur- nished by the Greek and Latin writers of the degeneracy of the period which succeeded the primeval or golden age. All the traditions agree in representing that the miseries with which the world and the human race are afflicted — the pains, diseases, and deaths, have been introduced or occasioned by the apostasy of man, or his criminal disobedience to the com- mands of the gods. Some of the traditions even go so far as to specify the particular act of disobedience through which all these disasters ensued. It was a criminal curiosity prying into that which was concealed, or a -snatching at the forbidden, which, according to the Greek and Roman poets, wrought the misery of the human race. Thus Horace — " Aiulax omnia perpeti, Gens humaua ruit per vetitum nefas : Audax Japeti genus Ignem fraude mala gentibns intnlit." — Od. I. iil. 25. In the Bundehesch of the Persians, there is an account of the sad end of the golden age through the overthrow of the renowned Dschemschid. Iran has its paradise and its fall. The golden age has terminated, its blessings have disappeared from the earth ; but who could have disturbed the peace, and destroyed the paradise, and who could have overthrown its noble ruler, but the enemy of all good, the destructive serpent Zohak ? The legend farther adds, that Dschemschid drew down the curse upon himself, because in his vanity he desired to be like ' Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 472. THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TRACED IN TRADITION. 151 God. But as Roth, the author already referred to, reg-aids this as a Later addition, it is not desirable to press it.^ It may be, however, added, that according to a tradition of Thibet, it was desire to eat of a sweet herb, schima?, that led to the change whence arose shame and the necessity of clothing.^ The Dog'-rib Indians of America, in a geographical relation widely different from the locality of the preceding legend, have a tradition of the fall of man, which they ascribe to disobedi- ence in eating of a forbidden fruit.^ 3. The causes, instruinental and mediate, of this reverse. The causes of man's apostasy, or the means and the occasion whereby he was led into rebellion against the will of the Almighty Author of his being and happiness, have been vari- ously explained or surmised in the legendary products of antiquity. This, as a necessary consequence of the great diversities in civilisation, mental and moral culture, and in the religious habits and beliefs of the nations among whom these traditions were entertained, is no more than might be expected. But it is of great importance to observe, that amid much that is confused, and in part contradictory, arising in great part from the changes which, in course of time, the traditions presented, the serpent or woman, in some connexion or other, was usually held as contributing to the present miserable condition of man. According to Hesiod. Prometheus, whose name signifies " forethought," as that of his brother Epimetheus, also men- tioned in this legend, denotes " afterthought," steals fire from heaven and teaches its use to mortals, although the father of the gods had denied it to them. Zeus, in order to punish men, caused Hephaestus to mould a virgin. Pandora, of earth, whom Athena adorned with all the charms calculated to entice mortals. Prometheus had cautioned his brother Epimetheus against accepting any present from Zeus, but Epimetheus, disregarding the advice, accepted Pandora, who was sent to liim by Zeus, through the mediation of Hermes. Pandora, when brought into the house of Epimetheus, in her curiosity lifted the lid of the vessel in which the foresight of Prome- • Zeitschrift der Deut. Morg. Gesellschaft, 1850, p. 429. ^ Von Bohlf n, Die Genesis, p. 39. •'' Harcourt, Doctrine of the Deluge, vol. i. p. 34. 152 CREATION AND THE FALL. theus had concealed all the evils which might torment mortals in life. Diseases and sufferings of every kind now issued forth, but deceitful hope alone remained behind,^ J^lschylus,'^ however, regards this matter of Prometheus in another light. He knew of no evil resulting to mankind from the acts or interventions of Prometheus, but only supposes an attainment on tlie part of man to a state of higher standing and cultiva- tion. Tlie two ideas may, in a certain sense, be regarded as combined in the biblical narrative of the Fall, and the conse- quences accruing to man from the transgression. In like manner, in the Eastern traditions, woman is found occupying a position opposed to man. Thus Feridun, one of the heroes of ancient Persia, in his contest with Zohak, the destructive serpent, finds women in the palace of the latter ; and so also in the Indian form of the same legend, the demon is represented as having women on his side, whom he even summons to his aid in the contest. This circumstance of the women is, as Roth remarks, tlie more worthy of notice, as the gods of the Veda have no wives.^ According to another Per- sian tradition, Meschia and Meschiane, the parents of the human race, were at first innocent, but they allowed them- selves to be seduced to evil by the Dews, that is, the spirits of Ahriman. They had been destined to happiness, on condition of their continuing humble, obedient, and pure ; but Ahriman deceived them, and drew them away from Ormuzd. They betook themselves to hunting, and drank milk, which proved hurtful to them. Afterwards Ahriman gave them fruit of which they ate ; and, in consequence, they lost a hundred blessings save one. Thereafter they obtained fire, partook of flesh, and presented ofierings to Ized ; they made themselves clothes of skin, and built houses ; but they forgot to thank the autlior of their life.* Some of the particulars of this latter legend present too striking an accordance with incidents in the narrative of the Fall, to escape the notice of even the most sceptical on such points. But it is wlien inquiring into, or considering more particu- ' Hesiod, Opera et Dies, 83, &c. Theog., 583, &c. « Prom. Vinctus, 107, 442. » Zeitsclirift der Deut. Morg. Gesellscliall, 1848, p. 227. * Rhode, Heilige Sage des Zendvolks, p. 389. THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TRACED IN TRADITION. 153 larly, the instrumental cause of the alienation of man from liis Maker and Moral Governor, that astonishment is felt at the almost universal mention which is made of the serpent in the traditions relative to the disapi)earance of the original hlessings of earth. " Almost all the nations of Asia," remarks Von Bohlen, " assume the serpent to be a wicked being which has brought evil into the world." " Indeed, it is remarkable," adds Havernick, after quoting this statement, " w^hat a simi- larity is observable between the traditionary tales of Egypt, India, Persia, and even of the Northern nations, (which are again met with in the Orphic mysteries of the West,) and the old Hebrew narrative." In the old prophecy in Herodotus (book i. chap. 78) the serpent is called the child of earth. It was under the form of a serpent that, according to the tradi- tion last referred to, Ahriman deceived the first human pair : and, according to another tradition, the serpent was expressly created by Ahriman for the destruction of the world. In the Zend books the serpent is the common attribute of that evil principle.^ This serpent, ashi-dahdka, had three throats, three tails, six eyes, and the strength of a thousand powers. Tlie Hindoo mythology, again, makes it to be the great serpent kali naga which poisoned the waters of the river, and thereby spread death and destruction all around. This serpent is often represented in Hindoo paintings as swallowing men who are .seen deliberately walking into its yawning mouth. But not to multiply particulars, it must have been some confused notions of the history of the Fall, which gave rise in the case of the Phoenicians, Egyptians, and many other nations, to a serpent-worship. This very circumstance of religious honours being bestowed on the serpent, goes far to prove that the part assigned to the creature by these traditions, in refer- ence to the introduction of evil, has had its rise in something- other than, as is sometimes alleged, the mere feeling of anti- pathy with which the human race instinctively regard this abhorred reptile. 4, Expectations of a recovery. The expectations of a deliverer and of a release from the present state of sin and suifering, which characterize many of these legends, must not be overlooked, and, in particular, the 1 Creuzer, Symbolik, vol. i. pp. 212, 223, 250. 154 CREATION AND THE FALL. fact that such anticipations not unfrequently take the form of ultimate victory over the old deadly serpent. The remark of Wagner/ that the Mosaic account of the Creation and the Fall is distinguished from the heathen mythologies by the hope of a restoration of the original blessed state, cannot therefore be taken absolutely. It is true that in the Bible alone this hope is set in its right position, and that the light which it thence emits is pure and unmixed, but an attentive examination of the longings, liopes, and fears, of the ancient nations of the earth, as embodied in their mythological legends, and in their poetry and songs, will leave no room to doubt that tlie ray of light which first broke in, according to the scriptural narra- tive, on the darkened hour which succeeded the apostasy, was no mere apprehension of the fancy, or a fiction of the Hebrew legislator, — seeing that among the widely dispersed nations of the earth it continued, though variously refracted, to shine down on man, sustaining him amid the labours and weari- ness of the present, and stimulating his aspirations after a better future. However much this ray of hope may have been shorn of its glories by the gross mediums through which it passed, it was never absolutely obscured ; but with the recol- lection of a golden age of the past, there was somehow con- nected the anticipation of a golden age of the future. In the remarks about to be offered regarding the hopes thus cherished, it is intended to confine the attention to the more , ancient traditions, or to such as are found among nations which may be supposed to have been uninfluenced by the pro- mises and projihecies of the Hebrew oracles. Accordingly, much stress is not to be laid on the strong anticipations re- garding a coming Deliverer, which prevailed in various parts of the Roman world about the time of our Lord's advent, as these may have in a great measure originated through the direct or indirect influence of the Bible, and intercourse with the Jewish nation. The poet Virgil, in particular, sings of a time when the golden age shall be restored ; when Astrea shall return to earth to bless mankind, when the serpent shall die, and also every poisonous plant ; but to this it is not necessary farther to advert. It is, as already remarked, particularly worthy of note, that ' (leschichte der Urwclt, p. 516. Leips. 18 15. THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TRACED IN TRADITION. 155 the expected deliverance is usually represented, in the more ancient traditions, as a victory over the serpent, issuing even in its death. And farther, it is to be observed, that the deliverer and conqueror in such cases is one that stands in an intimate relation to the Deity, being in many traditions represented as his son, or a special gift of the gods to men. Thus, in the legends of India, Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, the pre- serving principle, attacks the mighty serpent, and tramples on its head until the monster is totally overwhelmed. The Per- sian Feridun, or according to the Zendavesta Thraetona, who vanquished the poisonous serpent which devoured men and cattle, was a special gift of the gods vouchsafed to mortals for worshipping Homa. The same renowned hero appears in the Vedas under the name Trita, but there he is represented as a being of Divine nature. The Western counterpart to these triumphs of Krishna, Thraetona, and Trita, may be discovered in the labours and deliverances wrought by Hercules and Apollo, who were also sons of the Deity. Of the various labours ascribed to Hercules, that which stands most closely connected with the present sub- ject, was his fetching the golden apples from the gardens of the Hesperides. According to the legend, the garden, wherein grew golden apples on a mysterious tree watched by the serpent or dragon Ladon, had been shut in by lofty mountains in some remote and concealed region, because an oracle had intimated that a son of the Deity would carry off the sacred fruit. Her- cules, however, notwithstanding these precautions, discovered the situation of the garden, obtained access to it, and, having slain the dragon, carried off the precious fruit. On this myth Dr. Kitto well remarks, " Here we have a strange mixture of the internal and external incidents of Paradise : the ideas of the primeval people viewing from without the Eden from which they were excluded, and coveting its golden fruits."-^ But the legend is no less interesting for this confusion of ideas, Avhich evidently betokens the various modifying influences to whicli the simple truth was subjected in the course of traditionary transmission. But the great averter of evil in the Greek mythology was Apollo, the son of Zeus, who was regarded as the source of the 1 Daily Bible Illustrations, vol. i. p. 69. 156 CREATION AND THE FALL. powers exercised by liis son. It is related of him, that four days after liis birth he destroyed the dragon Python, which had pursued his mother during her wanderings, before she reached Delos. This t*ython, ancient legends affirm, was a serpent bred out of the slime that remained after Deucalion's deluge, and was worshipped as a god at Delphi. Eminent authorities derive tlie name of the monster from a Hebrew root signifying to deceive. If this etymology be correct, it is curious enough, as Harcourt observes, that the name should so accurately coincide with a title so well becoming that arch- deceiver, who contrived to mingle the worship of himself with all other deviations from the true religion.^ It may be farther stated, that this very name Python occurs also in the New Testament, (Acts xvi. 16,) as in some way connected with the great deceiver of manhind. Ideas similar to those now adduced are also met with in the Egyptian mythology, but the victor is the Younger Horus of that Pantheon. " It was probably," says Wilkinson, " in con- sequence of his victories over the enemy of mankind, that he was so often identified with Apollo, the story of whose combat with the serpent Pytho is derived from Egyptian mythology. Aphophis, or Apop, which in Egyptian signifies a giant, was the name given to the serpent, of which Horus is represented as the destroyer. The destructioir of the serpent by the god, who, standing in a boat, pierces its head with a spear as it rises above the w\ater, forms a frequent subject of representa- tion on the monuments."^ In other quarters far apart from those now referred to, legends nearly identical with those regarding Apollo and Horus, the destroyers of the serpent, are to be met with. Thus, in the traditions of the Scandinavian north, the same ideas are expressed in the legends regarding the deity Thor, who, with his mace, bruises the head of the great serpent. Before concluding this cursory survey of the legendary myths of the ancient world regarding the ruin and hoped-for deliver- ance of the human race, mention must be made of a minor, but perhaps no less significant incident, than any of those already referred to. In the Persian legends of Feridun, or ' Doctrine oi' the Deluge, vol. i. p. 366- ' Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. iv. pp. 395, -135. THE INCIDENTS OF TIlE FALL TESTED BY FACTS. 157 Thraetona, so frequontlv quoted above, a slcin forms the banner under which the hero fights, and overcomes the serpent. The skin, {carina,) adds Roth, in commenting on this circumstance, is, in the okl religion of the Persians, the important sacrificial vessel used in the preparation of the Soma, a symbol of the drink itself through whose power God overcomes the dragon/ And, it may be added, may there not be discerned in this some obscure idea relative to the institution of sacrifice in connexion with the fall and promised restoration of man, the animals first offered furnishing, by their skins, as is generally believed b}' Christian interpreters, clothing for the naked, guilty pair ? SECT. IX. — THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TESTED BY FACTS. Besides the comparison just instituted between the biblical account of man's apostasy from God, and the mythological legends of antiquity regarding a great revolution in human conduct and happiness, which have been found to present a remarkable accordance with the more important circumstances of that event, as set forth in Genesis, another and no less im- portant line of inquiry and comparison may also be pursued in this matter. According to the Scripture representation of the Fall, it was of a character which must have undoubtedly left many permanent impressions ; and these not merely on the memory, as things of speculation, or as germs of mythological teachings and traditions, but deep signatures imprinted on nature and the constitution of man. Like as the mighty ava- lanche which, descending from some Alpine heights, or the lava torrent of fire belched out from some yawning volcano, carrying death and destruction into the midst of sunny, smiling plains, is long after remembered in its desolating effects ; or, as regards those other awful phenomena of nature — earthcjuakes and hurri- canes— which derange and depopvdate the face of earth, and to the intensity and direction of whose force, the crumbled rocks, the torn-up mountains, the trees and the habitations of man, thrown about in wild confusion, bear abundant testimony^ long after the convulsions themselves have subsided or passed > Zeitschrift der Deut. Morg. Gesellscbaft, 18-18, p. 227. 158 CREATION AND THE FALL. away, — so in the case of the Fall, the appearances now to be noticed. Avoiding as much as possible all fanciful analogies, and con- fining the following observations to a few of the most important, characteristic, and indubitable phenomena, it is yet confidently expected, that the conclusions fairly deducible from the inves- tigations of the last section will be greatly confirmed by the appeal now to be made to the human consciousness, and the facts of history and science. It must, however, be again pre- mised, that it is not intended to allude so much to the many indications within and around us, which continually testify that we ourselves are fallen creatures, and have our dwelling in a fallen world, as to the facts and phenomena which bear more directly on the account of the Fall contained in Genesis ; and for this obvious reason, that there might have been a defection of the creature from God, some disarrangement or disorganization in the moral system, and yet this be accounted for on some other principle, and traced to some other cause, than that assigned in the Bible. The latter might be merely an attempt, as is often actually alleged, on the part of a careful observer, to explain the origin and nature of the phenomena of the case by a theory adapted as much as possible to the cir- cumstances. While carefully excluding on this view, as inapplicable to the present purpose, all such evidence as merely goes to prove that man is a ruin, and not as at first created and fashioned by the great Architect of the Universe, it will be, however, apposite, arid of some importance, to consider anything which may tend to shew the character of the ruin, or the parts and proportions serving to indicate what the original and entire structure was. To adopt the language of a recent writer : " The ruins of a palace differ from the ruins of a hut. In the former, the work of desolation may be more complete than in the latter ; but we find here and there in the one what we cannot find in the other — a column or statue of sur- passing beauty, indicating what the building was when it came forth from the hands of its maker. Not only so, but a palace in ruins is a grander object than a hut when entire." Applying these principles to the case of ruined humanity, enough appears in the structure of the soul, and in the inscrip- THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TESTED BY FACTS. 159 tions still legible on its walls and portals, to prove that this was once a palace of the Great King ; yea, a very tcmi^le in which the Divinity of heaven was enshrined and adored. Man is a ruined, feUen creature. This is a truth evident and unde- niable ; but it does not require much argumentation, and but little examination of the still majestic ruin, to shew, that in strictest accordance with the biblical representation, man was made in the image of God. The truth thus indicated by numerous and distinct evidences, did not altogether escape the notice of the wisest and most observant of the ancient heathen world. Their poets and philosophers are found giving frequent utterance to the sentiment. An expression of this kind is adduced by the Apostle Paul in his address to the philosophic Athenians : " As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring ;" that is, as the preceding con- text shews, the offspring of God, (Acts xvii. 28.) But nowhere is the truth laid down so clearly and emphatically as in the words of Moses : " So God created man in his own image ; in the image of God created he him.'' In the heatiien concep- tions of this truth, there was, for the most part, a lamentable confounding of the divine and the human, the former being reduced to the level of the latter ; or the soul of man regarded as an offshoot or emanation of deity ; but no trace of these errors can be recognised, as already stated, in any part or representation of the Bible. There is another general consideration intimately connected with the preceding truth regarding man's past or primeval condition, which properly falls to be taken into account in estimating the character of the Mosaic account of the Fall, and its consistency with otherwise authenticated facts or con- clusions bearing on this subject. This is the intimation which various appearances, connected with human consciousness and the external world, furnish respecting man's future, considered both as to his deserts and his destinies. So far as man's deserts are concerned, everything within and around him agrees in pronouncing and confirming his sentence of condemnation, while simultaneously calling up fearful jorcsentiments of a still greater judgment to come. But notwithstanding these fears and forebodings, the case is not so utterly hopeless and dis- couraging when man's destinies are simply considered, apart IGO CilEATION AND THE FALL. from las deserving. In the biblical account of man's fall, the promise of a restoration or recovery occupies, as already shewn, no unimportant place. While taking the most accurate view of the present, or the state induced through sin, and fully alive to all its miseries and v^^oes, its pains and privations, the writer of the narrative in Genesis, as by a Divine purpose or decree, inseparably links the future to the past ; and although lie does not describe this connexion so much in words, as embody it in acts and emblems of mercy and grace, yet he holds forth a future exceedingly bright, and as one exceed- ingly full of promise, and containing elements of great blessed- ness for man — the lost more than restored, the perished more than recovered, and, what is of unspeakable importance, the enemy of man's happiness entirely overthrown. How do these, and other intimations of a like import, which are impressively taught in the promise regarding the seed of the woman — in the preservation of Paradise after the expul- sion of its fallen tenants — in the preservation also of the Tree of Life, and in the location, in the now tenantless garden, of the Cherubim — a higher order of life, and in other incidents recorded in the history, it may be asked, accord with the lessons which are to be read elsewhere, inscribed on the broad page of nature ? In that wide field, also, it may be confidently asserted, there are innumerable and unmistakable tokens which show, if only questioned and carefully examined, that God has not abandoned the woi'ks of his hands, and that he has not ceased to be specially interested in man. The inspection of the ruins — to continue the use of the figure already intro- duced— which taught how glorious the original structure was, aftords at the same time certain and satisfactory indications not only of what it possibly may, but what it shall eventually become, in the hands of the great Author of being and blessed- ness. The indications of intended renovation, as presented in nature, are numerous, and, so far as they go, satisfactory. " The very preservation of this world in its present state," remarks Dr. M'Cosh, the author last quoted, " seems to show that God did not intend it merely as a place of punishment. Among the withered leaves on which we tread, there are to be found the seeds of a coming renovation, and these leaves are preserved for a time, that the seeds may germinate in the A THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TESTED BY FACTS. IGl midst of them. In this world there are evidences of God's hatred to evil ; there are also proofs of his disposition to mercy and grace. The human mind has ever been prone to fancy that this world is yet to be the theatre of great events, in which all the perfections of God's character are to be dis- played." There are everywhere tokens of a long-continued controversy between good and evil, life and death ; but, at the same time, there are indications of the final triumph of the former even on this earth. Notwithstanding much apparently to the contrary, the general tendency on the whole is upwards and onwards. All the analogies of nature, physical and moral, concur in this. Should it however be objected that we could not have discovered these truths from nature alone, nor have interpreted her inscriptions in this manner without the aid of Revelation, let the fact be accepted, and instead of its being an objection, it will be found to contain a proof of the heavenly origin of Scripture, if it thus help to a true interpretation of nature, her laws or anomalies. There is a third particular which presents itself for con- sideration in connexion with the account of the Fall, and which, from its nature, may be supposed capable of furnishing more abundant matter of comparison than either of those already noticed. Between the past condition of man and of the earth he inhabits, and whence he draws his sustenance, and the promised restoration just referred to, there extends the present, chequered with its sufferings, sorrows, and joys. In the two aspects of the past and the future, already con- sidered, the analogies of Nature with the representations in the history of the Fall, were chiefly of a moral or metaphy- sical character, but in the present case the illustrations will be drawn more from physical facts and phenomena. The comparison will be mainly occupied with the ideas conveyed in the condemnatory sentence which, according to the ex- plicit testimony of the narrative, was passed by the Supreme Judge immediately after man's apostasy, upon all the parties concerned in the act of temptation and disobedience, and in the curse pronounced upon the earth on account of man. 1. The punishment of the Serpent Throughout the narrative of the temptation and fall, the tempter is invariably spoken of and referred to, as a serpent ; L IG2 CREATION AND THE FALL. and in strict conformity with tliis representation, is the sen- tence which dooms him to irrevocable degradation, and that of the very deepest kind, because of his participation or agency in the seduction of man. " Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field ; upon thy l^elly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of tliy life," (Gen. iii. 14.) As already remarked in another connexion, it is not at all necessary to suppose that this curse had any direct reference to the natural serpent, save in so far as the figurative language was borrowed from its peculiar form, habits, and mode of locomotion. It is therefore unneces- sary to suppose, as is frequently done, that the serpent tribe was subjected on the occasion in question to any kind of transformation or degradation ; and, consequently, it is quite needless to consider, with the view either of answering or argu- ing the very flipj)ant demand frequently urged in reference to the statement, wpo?i thy belly shalt thou go, — " how else did it go before?" — or the objection, that serpents do not eat dust. The degradation announced and enacted in the primeval curse was in the spiritual and unseen world, and not in the physical creation or animal economy ; and yet it is of importance to the present subject to find, from the testimonies of the geolo- gist and physiologist, that there are not wanting remarkable and unmistakable indications of analogous degradations in the ])hj- sical world, or deflections from the progressive course of creation. The degradations of the one creation may be set over against the degradations of the other, and it may not be too much to assume that the Creator and Preserver of man, who has shown himself so deeply interested in the moral and religious instruc- tion of the human race, may have designed the degradations palpable to the senses, which naturalists discover in the phy- sical creation, to serve as types or representations of degrada- tions not discernible by the senses, but not the less real in the higher spiritual world. In whatever light it may be viewed, it is certainly a very striking fact, to which attention is called by the observant author of the " Footprints of the Creator," that '■' when naturalists and anatomists give their readiest and most prominent instance of degradation among the denizens of the natural world, it is this very order of footless reptiles — the serpents — that they THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TESTED BY FACTS. 163 select. So far as the geologist yet knows, the Ophidians did not appear during the secondary ages, when the monarchs of creation belonged to tlie reptilian division, but were ushered upon the scene in the times of the Tertiary deposits, when the Mammalian dynasty had supplanted that of the Iguanodon and Megalosaurus. The degradation of the Ophidians consists in the absence of limbs — an absence total in by much the greater number of their families, and represented in others, as in the boas and pythons, by mere abortive hinder limbs con- cealed in the skin ; but they are thus not only monsters through defect of imrts, if I may so express myself, but also monsters through redundancy, as a vegetative repetition of vertebra and ribs to the number of three or four hundred, forms the special contrivance by which the want of these is compensated."^ When the fact, as stated by the highest authorities in physio- logy, is considered, that " in the true serpents the locomotive power is entirely withdrawn from the limbs,'' ^ the declaration of Genesis, " upon thy belly shalt thou go," receives special emphasis. But whatever one may be disposed to make of the coincidence which here holds in respect to a phenomenon in nature, and a statement of the Sacred "Word ; and however the physical may, in this striking particular, typify the spiritual in the transaction, there is not only in this, but in other important facts and testimonies, sufficient to show that the two fields of observation are closely related " by those threads of analogical connexion which run through the tissue of Crea- tion and Providence, and impart to it that character of unity which speaks of the single producing mind." There is another particular in the sentence passed upon the serpent, on which a few remarks must be made, although it will be more fully considered in the sequel — the enmity inter- posed between the tempter and the tempted : " I will put enmity between thee and the woman." To understand this in any way of the inveterate antiimthy with which mankind universally regard the whole serpent tribe, is a notion too puerile to require refutation ; for if the announcement were merely this, it M'ould be utterly unworthy of the occasion and of a place in the sacred history. There is, indeed, an antipathy, 1 Miller, Footpriuts, p. 157. ^ Carpenter, Comparative Physiolrgy, London, 1854, p. 80- 1G4 CKEATION AND THE FALL. an inveterate liate, cherished by man towards this class of reptiles ; and such is the nature of this feeling, that it may be safely pronounced an instinct of our nature. As such, while its primary end may be to serve as a premonition of danger, it may have been also intended to shadow forth the more deeply rooted and eternal enmity interposed at the Fall by a merciful Creator between man and the old serpent, the devil, and which in various ways is ever since being perpetually mani- fested. 2. The punishment of the Human Transgressors. In considering the sentence pronounced upon our first parents after they were found guilty of violating the law of God, attention must be separately directed to the cases of the woman and of the man ; for although participating in the common guilt, yet various circumstances connected with their previous position and future prospects, as divinely determined and declared, called for diiferent modes of punishment in the two cases. The sentence passed upon the woman, who was the first in the transgression, and accordingly the first in the judgment after the serpent, contains in it three elements of misery. These are, the infliction of peculiar pain in child-bearing, the intimation of a predominant desire on her part towards her husband, and subjection to his authority, (Gen. iii. 16.) Or, according to another interi:)retation of the passage, which regards the last clause as explanatory or complementary of the second — the two being thus exj^ressive of the exercise of authority owned and submitted to — the case of the woman may be characterized in two words, as one of suffering and subjection. How peculiarly applicable this punishment was in the case and circumstances of the mother of mankind, will form the subject of after consideration ; at present it is proposed simply to inquire, how or to what extent is the destiny of woman, as thus represented, verified by observation and the experience of the sex. The most careful examination of this subject will establish it as a plain and incontrovertible fact, that the sentence said to be pronounced on the first human transgressor, describes to the very letter the universal experience of woman. Her case THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TESTED BY FACTS. 165 as a wife and mother is in the highest degree peculiar : it is in truth an anomaly in the creation. It did not escape the notice of an eminent philosopher of antiquity, while continued and more extended observation has served only to corroborate the conclusion, that woman is the only mother under heaven sub- ject to the severity of suffering connected with conception and parturition. Although varying in degree in different circum- stances and in individual cases, the sentence of the Fall, " in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children," is proved to be a universal and irreversible law of humanity. What reason, it may be asked, can exist for this marked peculiarity ? If these sufferings pertain to the original constitution of things, they appear to be sadly at variance with our best conceptions of the wisdom and beneficence of the Creator : but if we discern in them traces or tokens of a punitive character, and must assign to them a moral cause, what more reasonable or probable than the one stated in the history of the Fall ? " Why should woman — a partaker with man of a rational soul, fitted to be both his companion and his peer, endowed with all that dis- tinguishes humanity from the brutes, and fits mankind to enjoy a supremacy over everything that is on the earth — be thus subjected to pangs and perils which no other living creature suffers ? The same Almighty Power which consti- tuted other animals differently, and made their propagation scarcely in any degree a matter of suftering, could not want the ability, and could be as little destitute of the will, to form the noblest of animated natures, so as to secure the continu- ance of the race ordinarily, without that intensity of suffering, that protraction of pangs, and that preceding uneasiness, which marks human parturition. The noblest and highest nature of all would appear to be unequally treated, if this had been an original and not a superinduced condition. The facts them- selves must be ascribed either to the primitive and arbitrary arrangement of the Sovereign Power — and would then appear to want equity and benevolence — or they must be admitted to liave a punitive character and a moral cause, and so to com- port harmoniously with the Mosaic narrative, and add greatly to its probability."^ But woman Avas doomed as a wife to subjection as well as 1 Retford, Holy Scripture Verified, Loudon, 1853, p. (57. 166 CREATION AND THE FALL. peculiar sufferings : and in attestation of the truth of this part of her sentence, reference need only be made to the facts of her history. These will show to M'hat a state of social depression she had been reduced during the long period which preceded Christianity, and how deeply degraded her condition is still, in all heathen countries which have not felt the influences of what may be truly called this woman-ennohling religion. The inequality, subjection, or degradation, which, in various forms and degrees, is incident to woman, is not discoverable in the female of any other species which roams the woods or pastures the fields. This anomaly cannot surely be set down to reason, — its use or abuse ; and yet, explain it as one may, woman's condition, however it may be ameliorated by the advancement of society in civilisation and morals, presents something pecu- liar and permanent. Various circumstances may contribute to moderate the authority ' on the one side, and especially to improve the mode in which it is expressed, but nothing has been able to obliterate the feeling of dependence on the other. " Even when Cliristianity improves and elevates the character, both of man and woman, it does not obliterate the general facts of her sorrow and subjection, but leaves these as an inscription legible to every eye ; and yet one which can be interpreted and reconciled with the goodness and wisdom of the Creator, only by the light ef the Mosaic narrative, and which as natural facts, could have been traced in woman's history exclusively by the finger of the Almighty." ^ In the sentence passed upon man, as represented by Adam, tlie head and father of the family, the only element to be here noticed is that which doomed him to a life of laborious toil : " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the ground," (Gen. iii. 19.) Some other particulars com- prehended in the case of man will be more conveniently considered in connexion with the curse with which the ground was visited for his sake. In considering the severe and exhausting toil to which man is subjected in extracting from the soil the means of support- ing ]iis animal life, his case, it cannot fail to be observed, cxliibits something strikingly peculiar. The supply which nature spontaneously yields to man's animal wants is scanty • RedforcVHoly Scriiitiire Verilir.l, ].. Cli. THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TESTED BY FACTS. 167 and precarious, and is in many cases of tlie lowest and coarsest description. To all other creatures the earth of her own accord and in exuberance supplies food. The great granary of nature is theirs, and is stored for their use. They sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet God feedeth them ; that which He gives them they gather. He opens his hand, they are filled with good, (Matt. vi. 26 ; Ps. civ. 28.) To man, on the contrary, the earth furnishes a sure and suitable aliment only by hard and forcing labour, as the whole economy of agriculture and horticulture, or any other form of tillage, sufficiently shows. The soil has to be broken up and triturated by much and long-continued toil : foreign matter requires to be constantly supplied in the form of manures and composts, in order to keep up or restore the fer- tility, and then the serviceable and suitable seed has to be sown and covered in. Add to all this the consideration that the very plants and cereals which constitute the staple of mans food, appear to have been reclaimed with much care from a wild and comparatively worthless state, and would most certainly, if left to themselves, and without constant attention and culture, speedily degenerate into a condition utterly unfitted for the purposes which they are now made to subserve in the economy of nature, — and it will be at once seen that labour is the very law of man's being as at present con- stituted ; and that his progress and the propagation of the race, in every physical and moral point of view, depend on a willing and practical submission to it. But do we not see in this stern necessity of labour — not merely of exercise — for this may have been allotted to man from the beginning and demanded by his physical constitution, (Gen. ii. 15,) but toilsome, sorrowful, and exhausting labour, such as causes his sweat or very substance to exude — some- thing strongly at variance with man's original supremacy and lordshii) over the earth, and thus a condition of things expli- cable only on the princij^le announced in the history of the Fall ? 3. The curse on the ground. The curse which the Supreme Judge pronounced upon the ground, forms an essential part of man's punishment as neces- sitating or contributing to the severe labour already con- 168 CREATION AND THE FALL. sidered. " Cursed is tlie ground for thy sake ; in sorrow slialt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Tliorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field," (Gen. iii. 17, 18.) The ground is cursed in its relation to man and on his account, and to this circumstance must be assigned, if not the whole, yet the principal cause of the laborious toil to which man is sentenced in procuring the necessary supply for his physical wants, — " in sorrow shalt thou eat of it." The curse should manifest itself especially in the production of thorns and thistles, noxious weeds, alike exhaustive of the soil and troublesome in their eradication. In what other re- spects the power of the curse should be felt, it is not expressly declared, but it may be legitimately inferred, that sterility, or diminished powers of production, would form an important constituent. Sterility may have been induced in a variety of ways ; in particular, it may have been occasioned by the sources whence fertility arises, whence the ammonia and other sub- stances entering into the composition of plants, and therefore essential for their growth, are derived, being so clogged, closed up, or changed, as to be no longer available for the purposes of man. But in whatever mode, and to whatever extent, it may be supposed the natural producing powers of the earth have been diminished, it would be utterly inapposite and inconclu- sive to point, as evidences of the curse, to the numerous deserts and barren regions of the present earth, as contrasted with the exuberant vegetation and gorgeous flora with which, at an earlier period of its history, it was clothed ; for wastes and deserts may have existed previously, and, no doubt, from the evidence of the case, actually did exist, contemporaneous with the rich vegetation in question, which flourished and also dis- appeared at an era long anterior to that of man. Nevertheless, the rich vegetation of a former period shews what the earth is capable of producing under conditions diff'erent from the pre- sent. We are treading, however, on surer ground, when con- fining our illustrations or evidences to the thorns and thistles expressly mentioned in the text ; and which, indeed, through- out the Scriptures, are always regarded as the very types of the curse, the removal of which, again, from a sin-laden and sorrowing creation, is set forth in figures descriptive of the THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TESTED BY FACTS. 169 disappearance of briers and thorns. See Isa. Iv. 13 ; Ezck. xxviii. 24. "What, then, is the nature of thorns and thistles ? What is their phice in the vegetable economy ? and can these produc- tions be said to furnish any indications which may serve to connect them with a primeval curse upon the ground, or a physical degeneracy thereby induced ? On these various points, it is satisfactory to be able to adduce the testimonies of able scientific writers. Thus, in regard to thorns, Professor Henslow of Cambridge states : " When a bud is imjjerfectly developed, it sometimes becomes a short branch, very hard and sharp at the extremity, and is then called a ' thorn/ We must not, however, confound the ' prickle' with the thorn. The former of these is a mere prolongation of cellular tissue from the bark, and may be considered as a compound kind of pubescence ; whilst the thorn, containing both wood and bark, is an organ of the same description as the branch itself ' Spines' origi- nate in the transformation of leaves." On this last point the author further observes : " Some leaves, which do not freely develop in the usual manner, assume a dry hardened appear- ance, and pass into spines, as in the common furze ; just as some abortive branches have been stated to assume the char- acter of thorns. In the berberry all the intermediate states between a well-developed leaf and the hard spine may be dis- tinctly traced on vigorous suckers of a year's growth."^ To the same purpose are the remarks of another distinguished botanist, " Branches are produced," says Professor Balfour, " in the form of buds, which are connected with the centre of the woody stem. . . . But, owing to various causes, it is rare to find all the buds properly developed. Many lie dormant, and do not make their appearance as branches unless some injury has been done to the plant ; others are altered into thorns ; others, after increasing to a certain extent, die, and leave knots in the stem. That thorns are, in reality, undeve- loped branches, is shewn by the fact, that they are connected with the centre of the stem, that they bear leaves in other circumstances, and that under cultivation they often become true branches. Many plants are thorny in their wild state, which are not so under cultivation, owing to this transforma- ' Descriptive and Pbysiological Botany, jip. .53, 71. 1 70 CREATION AND THE FALL. tion. Thorns, as of the hawthorn, difter totally from prickles, such as occur in tlie rose. The latter are merely connected with the surface of the plant, and are considered as an altered condition of the leaves, which become hardened in their struc- ture." The same author proceeds : " May we not see in the produc- tion of injurious thorns, an ari'esting of the fiat of the Almighty in the formation of branches, and thus a blight passed on this 2?art of creation, a standing memorial of the effects of sin on what was declared at first to be very good ? The same remark may be made in regard to prickles, which are well seen in the brier and bramble, and which may be considered as an altera- tion in the development of hairs, a change on them which is associated with injury to man.''^ Similar evidences of degeneration are also discerned in the thistle, another representative of the productions of the curse on the ground. Thus, the author last quoted observes : " In the case of such plants as the thistle, dandelion, artichoke, and others, which belong to the large division called Composites, which have numerous small flowers on a common head, the calyx is united to the fruit, and appears at the upper part of it in the form of hairs or pappus. This is a degeneration of the calyx, which is made subservient to the scattering of the seed, and in the case of thistles is- the means of diftusing ex- tensively these noxious weeds." " The injury which thistles and plants like them cause to fields is very great, owing to the mode in which the fruit is scattered by the winds, and the altered hairy calyx is the means employed for doing so. May we not see in this the curse of thistles? (Gen. iii. 18.) The calyx is not developed as in other plants, but is abortive, blighted, as it were, and changed into hairs, which, as already shewn, indicate degeneration. Thus thistles add to the sweat and toil of man in the cultivation of the soil."^ The noxious orders of plants, of Avhich thorns and thistles are the representatives, are troublesome and injurious on many accounts, but especially from their numbers, powers of multi- plication, and tenacity of life. The order of Composites, to which the thistle belongs, is the largest and most generally ' Halfour, riijtoTheelogy, Ediii. 1851, j.p. 110, 111. ^ Phyto-Theolngy, pp. 145-147. THE INCIDENTS OF THE FALL TESTED BY FACTS. 171 diffused of all known tribes of plants. There are now as many species belonging to the order as there were known plants in the whole world in the time of Linnrous, and almost all have the hairy calyx. Thistles themselves are generally distributed. Their powers of multiplication, too, are exceedingly great, owing not merely to the facilities of transport and diffusion which their peculiar structure provides, but also to the multi- tude of seeds which they produce. The number of seeds yielded by a single plant of the common spear-thistle, for instance, has been estimated at about 24,000. Add to this the extraordinary vitality, under all circumstances of climate and seasons, possessed by these plants sown only by Nature's own hand, and it may be easily conceived, that unless kept in check by man and some other provisions of the beneficent Creator, they would speedily overrun the earth. All are fami- liar with the fact, that when weeds effect an entrance into the space appropriated to cultivated species, the latter are starved in their growth, and soon destroyed. The analogies which have been thus shewn to subsist between the Mosaic narrative of the Fall in its most important features, and various facts and phenomena observable from a close in- spection of Nature, are, to say the least, not a little remark- able. On the supposition that this ancient record is merely a poetical fiction, a philosophical speculation, or allegorical re- presentation of some dubious and obscure transaction, real or fancied, in the history of the world, or of a transition in the state of man, prosperous or the reverse, these analogies are utterly unaccountable. They are, moreover, incompatible with anything short of literal, historical realities, as set forth in the narration. On any other view it must be shewn, either that the analogy does not exist, or that it is accidental ; or finally, that the natural appearances above described are so simple and apparent, that they could not have escaped the notice of the writer of Genesis. On the last supposition it may be maintained, that these phenomena have been seized on, and applied as illustrations or confirmations of the subject, or, as it may be more plausibly affirmed, that it is to a knowledge of such facts, whether read in the human consciousness, or on the broad page of external nature, or to the impressions which 172 CREATION AND THE FALL. they made on an inquiring mind, that the origin of the narra- tive is to be ascribed, which is thus only a philosophical attempt to account for these natural appearances. But the least consideration must convince any one who calmly examines the subject, that any of these hypotheses is too gratuitous or absurd to merit a lengthened refutation. For, in the first place, the resemblances and the lines of connexion are too striking and strong to be summarily disposed of by a denial of their existence ; while, again, they hold in too many and minute particulars to be the result of accident. But the view which, admitting the reality of the analogies referred to, re- gards the circumstance only as a proof of the power of observa- tion or skilful adaptation on the part of the writer, or as the inciting cause of his speculations, is beset, if possible, with still greater difficulties, and rests on more gratuitous assump- tions than either of the others. In regard to these several allegations, it may be sufficient to remark, in the first place, that many of the facts on which the analogies are grounded, although now so plain when once pointed out, were entirely unknown and unnoticed for many ages : indeed, it required the scientific inductions of the pre- sent century to place some of them in their true light. It is certainly anything but likely that Moses, or any other of liis day, was possessed of such powers of observation and induction as are implied in this supposed acquaintance with nature, and the various forms and most hidden aspects of creation ; and particularly, that he should be able to describe these appear- ances so accurately, and furnish, if not the true, yet so plau- sible an explanation of their origin as, it must be admitted, is supplied in the narrative of the Fall. But, secondly, the analogies instanced above, must be reck- oned among what writers on the Scripture Evidences are accustomed to call " undesigned coincidences," and on which they accordingly lay much stress. A careful examination of the narrative will shew, that not the slightest hint or intima- tion is furnished to the reader, that any such correspondence exists between the facts of nature and the scriptural state- ments. From anything that can be gathered from the simple unvarnished narration, it cannot even bo made to appear that the writer himself was conscious of its existence, far less that 'lEMPTATION AND FALL IN LIGHT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 173 he troubled himself with the matter at all, or was concerned for the impression which it might make upon the reader. Upon a full and impartial view of the case, the simplest and most satisfactory conclusion attainable on the subject of these analogies, and the only way of escajje from the difficulties and contradictions with which the question is otherwise encom- passed, is to look upon them as unmistakable tokens of the identity of authorship in the two productions compared — Nature, and the narrative of the Fall in Genesis ; both being alike upon this shewing the product of God, the Creator and Governor of man, the one being his work, and the other his word. SECT. X. — TEMPTATION AND THE FALL IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. It will be the object of a subsequent section to point out the very intimate relation which exists between the ideas of the Creation and Fall as set forth in Genesis, and the scheme of doctrines unfolded and applied in the New Testament by our Lord and his Apostles, and shew, in particular, how the doctrine of the Fall is necessarily assumed as a first principle in all the intimations of salvation through Christ. It will, tlierefore, be unnecessary to refer at present to the more gene- ral and manifest correspondence which, as must be admitted by all who possess the least acquaintance with Scripture, holds on the subject between the earliest and latest portion of the Sacred Volume, while it will better subserve the purpose more immediately in view, to trace out some of the less obvious points of contact, and carry over into the purely scriptural domain the investigation pursued in the last section with respect to the analogies discoverable between the biblical narrative of the Fall, and Creation in some of its moral and physical aspects. If the analogies found to exist between Nature and Scrip- ture prove, that while the one is the work, the other is the word of God, the analogies discernible between the different parts of the Sacred Volume itself, whether styled the Old or the New Testament, will no less plainly evince the whole to 174 CREATION AND THE FALL. be the expression of one mind, and shew that but one Spirit pervades the Bible from Genesis to the Apocalypse. " The analogy of religion, natural and revealed, to the constitution and course of nature," has been ably established by the im- mortal work of Bishop Butler, in which lie has rendered eminent service to Christianity and the Bible ; and yet it may be affirmed, that equal, if not greater results, may be obtained in tracing the analogy of one portion of Scripture with another, though separated by many ages, and distinguished by many external peculiarities, and in establishing the wonderful har- mony of the whole. That such analogies exist will be at once apparent from a careful examination of the subject, besides being plainly announced in various passages of the New Testa- ment. To refer only to one or two instances, Avhere analogies of this kind are announced or adverted to, and such as relate particularly to the history of the Fall, there is that notable passage, (Rom. v. 12-19,) where the Apostle discusses the bringing in of reconciliation and life through the obedience of Christ, in its analogy to the bringing in of sin and death through the disobedience of Adam, who is, in particular, de- clared to have been " a figure or type of him that was to come," elsewhere expressly styled " the last Adam." (1 Cor. XV. 45.) This analogy the Apostle traces out in many par- ticulars connected with the two Adams, singled out as the heads of humanity in the two dispensations — the two poles on which turn the history and destinies of the human race, described by the same Apostle in another passage as " the first man of the earth, earthy ; the second man, the Lord from heaven ;" where it is also declared, that " as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." (1 Cor. xv. 47-49.) Did the prescribed limits admit, it would conduct into a highly interesting and useful field of investigation to pursue at length, and into various particulars, the analogical harmony of what must be regarded by every Christian reader as the two great discoveries of revelation, which respect the very momentous facts of the ruin and restoration of man, whether as unfolded in the Old or in the New Testament, and which supplies an argument strongly corroborative of the truth of both doctrines. This analogy might be traced in various TEMPTATION AND FALL IN LIGHT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 175 directions. It might be shown how the sin, which fiist revealed itself in Eden, was the sin from which Christ came to save, while the death there incurred was that to which he as the surety of sinners submitted ; and how the gospel in its mode of justification, as announced to the first human transgressors, is the very gospel of the New Testament of Christ and his apostles. In particular, it might be shown how the scheme of grace established through the second Adam, preserves the inviolability of the law first published in Paradise, and since j)roclaimed through every subsequent dispensation — " the soul that sinneth it shall die ;" and how with tlie inviolability of the law are manifested and maintained all the perfections of the Law^giver, who is seen to be " a just God whilst justifying the ungodly;" and farther, how, while making provision for reinstat- ing the sinner in the favour of God, it is through a restoration to the Divine image : " Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to gloiy, even as by the Spirit of the Lord :" and all these great results effected through the intervention of that Adam who was made a quickening Spirit, (1 Cor. xv. 45.) Instead, however, of entering at present upon any general examination of the great questions thus announced, which would itself require a volume, it is proposed to single out two particulars intimately con- nected with the history of the first transgression ; and first, on the ground of the typical relation affirmed by the Apostle in a passage already quoted, to exist bet'sveen Adam and Christ, to consider the necessity whereby, as stated in another passage, " in all things it behoved" the latter " to be made like to his brethren ;" but this similarity only in one aspect, his tempta- tion, through which " he is able to succour them that are tempted,'' and of which it is farther affirmed, " he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Heb. ii. 14-18 ; iv. 15.) And, secondly, to compare the views disclosed in the New Testament regarding the course, the consequences, and the nature of sin, the last as particularly manifested in the character and claims of Antichrist, the man of sin, with the representation given of it in the history of the Fall. There are two remarkable temptations described in the Bible, that of Adam in the beginning of the Old Testament, and that of Christ at the beginnino- of the New. There are no 176 CREATION AND THE FALL. doubt numerous other instances of temptation recorded ; for in one point of view, what is the Bible but the history of the trials or temptations of frail humanity, sometimes triumphing, but in the majority of cases succumbing to the tempter : some of these being incidentally adverted to and others accompanied with details, but none of them bearing any but the remotest similitude to either of the two just specified, which occupy a place peculiarly their own. Not to insist on other distinguishing features, it is sufficient to remark that, with the exception of these two, all the other temptations recorded were " such as is common to man," (1 Cor. x. 18,) being the temptations of individuals who were members of fallen humanity, while the two in question were the temptations of such as the Scriptures affirm to have been upright and innocent, the one by creation, the other essentially and always so, being " holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." But while these two temptations differ widely from all others upon record, there is manifested a striking analogy between themselves in various points to be presently stated, the one being in fact the coun- terpart of the other. With a remarkable dissimilarity in the conduct and external condition of the tempted in the two cases, productive of the most opposite results, there is also a sameness which brings out only more clearly that in the case of Christ it was the old conflict, waged over anew, but that now the ground lost by the failure of the first Adam was more than recovered by the fortitude of the second.^ 1. The place which the second temptation occupies in the New Testament and in the history of Christ, strikingly cor- responds with that of the first in the older volume, or in the history of the primeval man formed in the image of God, and so in a sense his son, (Luke iii. 38.) Reference will be made in a subsequent section to the correspondence between the opening pages of the Old and of the New Testaments, both beginning with a genesis or generation, the one to renew the other, or remedy the disorder induced through sin ; but no less striking is the circumstance that much the same place in the Books of Genesis and of Matthew is occupied with the narrative 1 Bengel (Gnomon Novi Test, in Matt. iv. 2) : — " Conferri potest haec teutatio cum ilia quae describitur Gen. iii. Tenia! or syvvalKa eiron^aev avrovi, but apaev koI ^Xv eTroiTjaev avrov<; — ' He made them (man, as a race) male and female :' but then the male and the female were implicitly shut up in one ; and, therefore, after the creation of woman from man, when one man and one woman were united in marriage, they should be one flesh, because woman was taken out of man." 8. Mans dominion over creation. — Gen. i. 28, " Have domi- nion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that movcth upon the earth." Psalm viii. 6-8, " Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ; thou hast put all things under his feet : all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field ; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Ohs. — " The psalm stands in the closest connexion with the first chapter of Genesis. What is written there of the dignity with which God invested man over the works of his liands, whom he placed as his representative on earth, and endowed with the lordship of creation, that is here made the subject of contemplation and praise." — Hengstenherg. 9. Man in Eden surrounded with all delights. — Ezek. xxviii. IS, " In Eden, the garden of God, thou wast ; every precious stone was thy covering .... the se7'vice of thy tambourines and of thy females was prepared with thee in the day when thou wast created." Obs. — " I think, with Hiivernick, that the objects denoted here are the musical instruments, tambourines, and the women who played on them ; and that this peculiar word, n^p,),, female, rather than any other, was used because of the reference which 19G CREATION AND THE FALL. the passage bears to Gen. i. 27, ' male and female created he them.' Tambourines, and female musicians to play on them, were provided for this. King of Tyre on the day of his crea- tion ; that is, from the very first, from the period of his being a king, he was surrounded with the customary pleasures, as well as the peculiar treasure, of kings. The royal house of Tyre had not, like many others, to work its way with difficulty, and through arduous struggles, but started at once into the full possession of royal power and splendour ; no sooner formed, than, like Adam, surrounded ^yith fitting attendants and para- disiacal deliglits. So already Michaelis : ' All things poured in around thee, which could minister to thy necessities, thy comfort, or even thy pleasure, as they did formerly to Adam in the garden of Eden, which God granted to him/" — Fairbairn. IV. — I'he Fall — its Goncomitants and Consequences. 1. The instrument of the temptation — the serpent. — 2 Cor. xi. 3, " The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety." Obs. — " We are perfectly justified in concluding from this mention of the Fall, that Paul spoke of it as the history of an actual occurrence."' — Olshausen. " He takes for granted that the Corinthians recognised the agency of Satan in the (well- known) serpent ; see verses IS-l'o, where his transformation for the sake of deceit is alluded to." — Alford. 2. The woman, the first transgr^essor. — 1 Tim. ii. 14, " Adam was not deceived ; but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression." Obs. — " Compare what is narrated in Gen. iii. 12, respecting the introduction of sin, and the order in which the punishment was declared against the parties concerned, and it will be found exactly to agree with what the Apostle here says. The connexion at Rom. v. 12, &c., is quite different. There the Apostle is speaking of how sin was brought into the world by the first sin, how the sin and death of the race were thus brought about ; and in this case it is the sin of the man, as the passage itself shews, through which the first sin has become the sin of the race." — Wiesinger. 3. The curse on the serpent. — Gen. iii. 14, " Dust, shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." JiCRIPTUUAL REFERENCES TO THE CREATION AND THE FALL. 197 Isaiah Ixv. 25, " The wolf and the lamb shall feed to- gether, and tlie lion shall eat straw like the bullock : and dust shall he the serjient's meat." Obs. — " Vitringa understands the last clause to mean, that the original curse upon the serpent who deceived Eve shall be fully executed. (Compare Rev. xx. l-S.) He refers to some of his contemporaries as explaining it to mean, that the ser- pent should henceforth prey only upon low and earthly men ; but the true sense seems to be, that in accordance with his ancient doom, he shall be rendered harmless, robbed of his favourite nutriment, and made to bite the dust at the feet of his conqueror." — Alexander. It is more probable that the allusion is to the perpetuity of the sentence. " The meaning of the declaration, as used here, is probably, that dust should continue to be the food of the serpent. The sentence on him should be perpetual. He should not be injurious to man — either by tempting him again, or by the venom of his fangs." — Barnes. 4. The sentence on the tvoman. — Gen. iii. 16, " In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children ; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." 1 Tim. ii. 11-15, " Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived ; l)ut the woman, being de- ceived, was in the transgression. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved in child-bearing, if they continue," &c. 1 Cor. xiv. 84, " They are commanded to be under obedi- ence, as also saith the law." Obs. — " The Apostle adds the words ' through child-bearing,' with no other object than just to point out to the woman her proper sphere of duty ; and in particular how this position has ))een assigned to her in consequence of the Fall." — Wiesinger. The laiu referred to in 1 Cor. xiv. 34, Olshauscn and Alford take to be Gen. iii. 16. 5. The ground cursed for man's sake. — Gen. iii. 17, IS, " Cursed is the ground for thy sake. . . . Thorns also, and thistles, shall it bring forth to thee." 198 CREATION AND THE FALL. Gen. V. 29, " This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed." Rom. viii. 20, 21, " For the creature was made .subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope ; because the crea- ture itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption/' &c. Obs. — " The expression subjected points, in a manner not to be mistaken, to an historical event ; originally the creation was free, but it ceased to be so. That here the fall of man, and the curse attaching to it, is alluded to, cannot be doubted." — Olshausen. Thorns and thistles are continually referred to as types of desolation and the curse, Hos. x. 8, " The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars." See also Heb. vi. 7, 8. V. — Restoration and Recovery. Preliminary remark. — It must be premised that, on this subject, although it constitutes the great theme of Scripture, and as such is continually adverted to by the sacred writers, and placed by the projihets, but especially by our Lord and his Apostles, in the clearest light, and in the most intimate connexion with the doctrine of -the Fall, there are but few direct or explicit references to the record of tliat event. But this is easily accounted for from the fact, that the narrative of the Fall does not supply details on this particular point ; the intimation of the recovery being chiefly contained in the pro- mised victory over the serpent by the seed of the woman. It is the germ only of the doctrine that is exhibited, and as such does not shew the same naked and marked correspondence with the development contained in the later Scriptures, as has been seen in the particulars already noticed. 1. Man's dominion over creation restored. — Isa. xi. 6, " The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf, and the young Hon, and the fatling together ; and a little child shall lead tJiem." 2. Victory over the adversary. — Rom. xvi. 20, " The God of peace shall bruise Satan under A^our feet shortly." SCraPTURAL REFERENCES TO THE CREATION AND THE FALL. 199 Ohs. — It is lickl by the ablest expositors, tliat this intima- tion is an allusion to the primeval promise, (Gen. iii. 15.) Olshausen, Bloomficld, and Alford, are decided upon the point. Tlie references in the designations, " the old serpent, called the Devil and Satan," (Rev. xii. 9, xx. 2,) the abridgment of his power, and his final confinement in the lake of fire and brimstone, are equally manifest. 3. The Deliverer. — Gal. iv. 4, " When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman." Ohs. — " This language implies, that there was something peculiar in the fact that he was born of a woman : and that there was some sjwcial reason why tliat fact sliould be made prominently a matter of record. The promise was, (Gen. iii. 1.5,) that the Messiah should be the ' seed," or the descendant of woman ; and Paul probably here alludes to the fulfilment of that promise." — Barnes. 4. Paradise restored, reopened by Christ. — Luke xxiii. 43, " Jesus said to him. Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Rev. il 7, " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Obs. — "Paradise is used of the ^^arrfew of Eden by the LXX., Gen. ii. 8, &c., and subsequently became, in the Jewish theo- logy, the name for that part of Hades, the abode of the dead, where the souls of the righteous await the resurrection. It was also the name for a supernal or heavenly abode. See 2 Cor. xii. 4 ; Rev. ii. 7. The former of these is, I believe, here (Luke xxiii. 43) primarily to be understood ; but only as introductory, and tJmt immediately, to the latter. By the death of Christ only was Paradise first opened, in the true sense of the word. He himself, when speaking of Lazarus, (Luke xvi, 22,) does not place him in Paradise, but in Abraham's bosom — in that place which the Jews called Paradise, but by an anticipation which our Lord did not sanction." — Alford. 5. Death destroyed. — Isa. xxv. 8, " He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from ofl:' all faces." 200 CREATION AND THE FALL. (b) Doubtful or Disjjuted References. 1. Isa. xliii. 27, " Tliy first father hath sinned, and tliy teachers have transgressed against me." Obs. — Many ancient and modern expositors, among the latter Hitzig, Umbreit, and Knobel, understand the reference in the first clause to he to Adam, as the father of the human race. But this has been objected to, as he was not peculiarly the father of the Jews to whom the words are addressed. " To this it may be answered," says Alexander, " that if the guilt of the national progenitor would prove the point in question, much more would it be established by the fact of their be- longing to a guilty race." 2. Job XX xi. S3, " If I have covered my transgression as Adam, (raarg., after the raanner of men,) by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom." Obs. — It is not easy to determine which is the correct transla- tion, that of the text or margin, as either will accord with the Hebrew. The majority of interpreters read " as man," or " as men," and consider the reference to be to the common practice of the guilty to attempt to cloak their oifences ; but Schultens, Rosenmliller, and other eminent authorities, render it as in the'English Version, and consider-it as referring to the attempt of Adam to hide his sin from God after the Fall, (Gen. iii. 7, 8.) In favour of the latter view, Barnes remarks : " (1.) That there can be little or no doubt that that transaction was known to Job by tradition. (2.) It furnished him a pertinent and striking illustration of the point before him. (3.) The illustra- tion is, by supposing that it refers to Adam, much more strik- ing than on the other supposition. It is true, that men often attempt to conceal their guilt, and that it may be set down as a fact very general in its character ; but still it is not so uni- versal that there are no exceptions. But here was a specific and well-known case, and one which, as it was the first, so it was the most sad and melancholy instance that had ever occurred of an attempt to conceal guilt. It was not an attempt to hide it from man — for there was no other man to witness it — but an attempt to hide it from God. From such an attempt Job savs he was fi'ee." SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES TO THE CREATION AND THE FALL. 201 3. IIos. vi 7, " But they, like men, (ov, like Adam,) have transgressed the covenant." Obs. — There is the same ambiguity here as in the last pas- sage, and accordingly the same diversity of opinion among translators and expositors. Some, as Jarchi, Jerome, Grotius, Rosenmiiller, Newcome, and Hitzig, regard it as a proper name, and . suppose the reference to be to the conduct of Adam in transgressing the Divine commandment ; but vciy many, as Kinichi, Tremelius, Calvin, Ewald, Gesenius {Thesaurus), De Wette, Henderson, Maurer, Simson, take it to be an appellative, and interpret the passage of the treacherous violations of con- tracts among mankind. 4. Job xii. 16, " With God is strength and Avisdom ; the deceived and the deceiver are his.'' Ohs. — " If nothing more is meant by this than that the cunning man, as well as the weak man, is under the power of God, it is an observation that needed not to have been prefaced with an express declaration of God's great wisdom and power ; nor should it be placed, as it is, among the greatest works of Providence, the creation of the world, the destroying it by the flood, the settling and enlarging the nations of the earth, and straitening them again : in the midst of tliese great accounts of Providence stands this observation, ' the deceived and the deceiver are his.' This, therefore, must be something relating to the general condition of mankind, and must be understood to be an instance of God's providence in the great affairs of the Avorld. And for this reason it is very probable that the words were meant of the fall of man through the cunning of the tempter. It was directly to the purpose of the Book of Job to assert and maintain the superiority of God over the deceiver, who, by this very means of bringing evil into the world, had grown up, in the opinion of many, into a rival of the power and majesty of God." — Sherlock. o. Job xxvi. 13, " By his Spirit he hath garnislicd the heavens ; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent." Obs. — " How come these disagreeable ideas to be joined together ? How comes the forming of a crooked serpent to be mentioned as an instance of Almighty power, and to be set, as it were, on an equal footing with the creation of the heavens, and all the host of them ? ... If we consider the state of reli- 202 CREATION AND THE FALL. gion in the world wlicn this book was penned, it will help to clear this matter up. The oldest notion, in opposition to the supremacy of the Creator, is, that of two independent prin- ciples ; and the only kind of idolatry mentioned in the Book of Job, (and it was of all others the most ancient,) is the worship of the sun and moon and heavenly host ; from this Job vindi- cates himself, (chap, xxxi.) Suppose now Job to be acquainted with the fall of man, and the part ascribed to the serpent in the introduction of evil, and see how aptly the parts do cohere. In opposition to the idolatrous practice of his time, he asserts God to be the maker of all the host of heaven : ' By his Spirit hath he garnished the heavens.' In opposition to the false notion of two independent principles, he asserts God to be the maker of him who was the first author of evil ; ' His hand hath formed the crooked serpent." " — Sherlock. 6. Mai. ii. 15, " And did he not make one ? Yet had he the residue of the Spirit. And wherefore one ? That he might seek a godly seed." Ohs. — Henderson understands this of the one flesh, or con- jugal body, into which the first couple were formed. (Gen. ii.) (c) Verbal and Idiomatic Allusions. These in themselves may not be of much importance, but they will serve to shew the familiarity of the subsequent writers of Scripture with these very ancient documents. 1. Isa. lix. 2, " Your iniquities have separated between you and your God," — D3'n'7N y^h nsra Q''?n3p i^n n;D^ n;D |'3 ^'"lao 'n^i — Gen. i. 6. Obs. — Hitzig points out here an allusion to the separation of the waters effected by the firmament, (Gen. i. 6.) " This is the more remarkable, because it may be likewise traced in the construction of the preposition, both the modes of employ- ing it which there occur being here combined." — Alexander. 2. Isa. Ixiv. 8, " We are the clay, and thou art our potter ; and we are all the work of thy hand." Obs. — The allusion to Gen. ii. 7, " The Lord God formed man {moulded or fashioned as the potter, this being the verb from which is derived the substantive of the other passage) of the dust of the ground," is evident. . AS RELATED TO SCRIPTURE IN GENERAL. 203 3. Numb. xvi. 22; xxvii. IG ; " The God of tlic spirits of all flesh." Obs. — This designation of God is plainly founded on Gen. ii. 7, where the Creator is said to have breathed into the first man — the father of the race — the breath or spirit of life. So also in the narrative of creation (Gen. ii. 1) is found the origin of the appellation JeJiovah Sahaoth, although the name itself does not occur in the Pentateuch. 4. Isa. xlv. 18, " God himself that formed the earth .... he created it not in vain, (or, not to be empty ;) he formed it to be inhabited." Obs. — The reference is to Gen. i. 2 ; but still more express is the reference in Jer. iv. 24, where occurs the combination of terms used in describing the primeval chaos. 5. Psalm 1. 10, " Every beast of the forest is mine." Obs. — There is here a peculiar grammatical form borrowed from Gen. i. 24. See Exposition on the passage. 6. Psalm xc. 3, " Thou turncst man to destruction ; and sayest, Return, ye children of men." Obs. — " Gen, iii. 19 is undeniably alluded to here." — Heng- stenherg. See also Psalm civ. 29 ; Job x. 9. 7. Psalm cxxvii. 2, " It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of soi-rows." Obs. — " The words rest on Gen. iii. 17: 'In bitter labour shalt thou eat of it,' (the produce of the earth.)" — Hengstenberg. It is unnecessary farther to multiply quotations : the above will serve as a specimen of the numerous allusions, more or less explicit, in various parts of the Old Testament, to Gen. i.-iii. Additional examples will be found in the Exposition. SECT. XII. — CREATION AND THE FALL AS RELATED TO SCRIPTURE IN GENERAL. A very superficial examination even of the contents of Genesis, cannot fail to produce in the mind of the reader the conviction that if that book is to occupy a place in the Bible at all, its appropriate place is at the beginning of the Sacred Volume. But it may be farther unhesitatingly maintained, 204 CREATION AND THE FALL. that the careful reader of Scripture, looking at the matter simply from a literary point of view, will be speedily convinced that Genesis forms not merely a fit but an indispensable introduction to the collection of writings which follows it. In such a case, uninfluenced by prejudice or predilection, the conclusion will appear most natural, if not irresistible, that it is not through mere accident that this book stands at the head of the canon. The plan or purpose also of the arrange- ment followed in the disposition or structure of the canon itself, may be not a little illustrated by the circumstance that the iN^ew Testament, no less than the older volume, begins with a book of Genesis — " The book of the generation of Jesus Christ," (Matt. i. 1.) Compare Gen. v. 1, "This is the book of the generations of Adam." What holds true in this respect of Genesis as a whole, will be found to be equally true of its opening chapters, and, in particular, of the narratives of Creation and the Fall. The matters there recorded are of a nature so fundamental, that if they are to be introduced into or treated of in Scripture at all, their appropriate place must be found in its opening or introductorj'- book ; and for the same reason, not in the last but first pages of that book, or, in other words, the only appropriate place for these narratives is that which they now occupy at the very commencement of what purports to be a revelation from God to man. But the proposition which it is now proposed to establish goes farther, and maintains that the narratives of Creation and the Fall constitute an integral and indispensable part of the Sacred Volume, and that their inser- tion in the first pages of Genesis is not merely appropriate, if they are to have a place at all, but also necessary for the attainment of the great ends and purposes for which it may be supposed the Bible was written and intrusted to man : in short, that Scripture, as a rule of life and duty, would be in- complete were these narratives wanting. This may, no doubt, by many be considered to be an under- taking almost, if not altogether, uncalled for ; but a very mode- rate acquaintance with the many forms of opposition which this particular portion of Scripture has encountered in times past, and with tlie adverse influences at present specially in opera- tion, will at once show that this unfortunately is not the case. AS RELATED TO SCIUPTURE IN GENERAL. 205 Reference has already been made to the denial of the internal unity of these chapters ; but here it is necessary to notice that in addition to this, and as j)art of the policy of those wlio strive by all conceivable means to depreciate the importance of these narratives, it is sometimes alleged that their insertion at the beginning of the Bible is owing to accident, or to the caprice of some ancient compiler ; or if a purpose be admitted, it is limited to a desire to imitate the sacred books of other nations, as the Puranas or Epos of India, which begin with cosmogonic theories : but in either case they are represented as a fly-leaf which has but a very slender connexion with the volume to which it has been attached, which would not greatly mar the integrity, nor perplex the subject of the succeeding record, were it entirely torn away. Rationalism and infidelity are often very illogical in their reasonings ; nor is it too much to affirm that their conclusions are not unfrequently based on very inadequate arguments, and even sometimes on nothing better than the confident assertions of those who give them utterance. Anyhow it does not require much acquaintance with the Bible, and the plan of its composition and arrangement, to furnish powerful argu- ments, fitted to demonstrate that the reasons usually assigned by rationalism for the place occupied by the first chapters of Genesis, are exceedingly fallacious and absurd, and that the relation of this portion of Scrij)ture to the Bible in general, as represented in these assumptions, is in the highest degree preposterous. A view less satisfactory than those adverted to can hardly be conceived of, nor does it appear to be a matter of extreme or unsurmountable difiiculty to place this subject in a light which will better approve itself to the understand- ing of the inquirer seeking an explanation of the fact why the volume wherein God reveals his character, and states his claims on man, begins by representing Him as the Creator and Governor of all. The arrangement, no less than the matter of Scripture, must, it may be reasonably inferred, accord with the purpose of God in connexion with revelation ; and in many cases, indeed, this accordance can be clearly and satisfactorily evinced from that purpose, as disclosed in the Bible. This, it is fully appre- hended, can be shown to be the case with regard to the narra- 206 T^- •' CREATION AND THE FALL. tives now under consideration. It will, it is believed, appear to the entire satisfaction of all who can apprehend and appre- ciate the continuity and harmony of revealed truth, that they hold an important, indeed a fundamental place, in the scrip- tural system, and that the various threads which form the tissue of the record of Creation and the Fall, are intertwined with the facts and the framework of the entire Sacred Volume, in such a manner as to constitute the most intimate con- nexion with what may be denominated the past, the present, and the future of the Bible ; or, in other words, its history, its theology, and its prophecy. 1. The opening chapters of Genesis are inseparably con- nected with the history contained in the Bible, and are indis- pensable to a clear and correct conception of that narrative, which, without the information there communicated, would prove an unintelligible fragment, wanting a beginning as well as a key to its elucidation. In taking up any ancient history excepting that in the Bible, the reader is painfully impressed with the feeling that he j^os sesses only a fragment, broken otf he knows not where or how — a story without a beginning, some pages or chapters wanting, which no ingenuity or conjecture can supply in a manner to inspire full confidence in their genuineness and integrity. In all such matters, however firm at times the footing may be felt to be, the student, in tracing back the course of history, invariably comes to find himself on the brink of a chasm, of which he cannot discern the other side, owing to the thick clouds and darkness which have settled down upon it. Towards that other side — that obscure past — man's inquiring spirit and searching eye are ever and anxiously directed, but with very unsatisfactory results, for at that point the light of secular history altogether fails. There are not wanting, it is true, legends in abundance relative to the dawn of humanity, but of so contradictory a character as would seem absolutely to defy all attempts to connect or combine them into any con- sistent or harmonious whole, although, when placed in the light of Scripture history, these complex and confused ideas present in numerous instances the outlines of historical truths, much dimmed, no doubt, in their transmission, and hideously distorted by the mediums through which they are seen. AS RELATED TO SCIUI'TURE IN GENERAL. 207 With the history preserved in the Bible, and with it alone, the case is entirely otherwise. Here there is a beginning both of the history of man and of the earth which he inhabits ; and this beginning, however the matter may be denied or misre- presented by such as can discern or admit nothing credible in Scripture, because of its peculiar claims, is set fortli in distinct and definite form, and with all the features of a living reality. No misshapen monsters, no hideous, grotesque figures, ever cross the path of the reader of this history. Every feeling of dissatisfaction and disappointment is entirely removed in its perusal ; for it is seen to be a history consistent and con- nected, not losing itself in a misty mythological past — for there is no such thing as a Hebrew mythology in any sense of the term — but connected throughout with the initial announce- ment, " God saw the light that it was good : and the evening and the morning were the first day" of creation, and of the earth's history introductory to that of man and his all-im- portant concerns. This is not the place to enter upon any general vindication of the sacred history from the misrepre- sentations and objections to which it has been exposed ; suffice it to say, that not one of its statements has yet been contra- dicted or disproved by any well-authenticated fact ; while, on the other hand, all the truths of history and tradition unite in certifying to the credibility of this record. In regard, how- ever, to the portion of sacred history comprised in the narra- tives of Creation and the Fall, this has been sufficiently evinced and verified in the preceding sections ; it is only necessary to observe here how these narratives form the first link of the long and uninterrupted chain of Bible history. Taking up at any point the history of the covenant people to whom God intrusted his truth and his testimonies, and whose story occupies so large a space in his Ifoly Word, the reader can trace back the whole historic line till it reaches the first father of the human family, whom it connects in a pecu- liar manner with God, not merely as his noblest creature, but as his earthly representative. Looking, for instance, at this people, as described in the first pages of Exodus, bowed down under their burdens, and beaten by the taskmasters of Pharaoh, and if it be asked how or whence came they into their present situation among strangers on the banks of the Nile, it is only 208 CREATION AND THE FALL. necessary to turn back a few pages to Genesis, to see the caravan coming down from Palestine, called even tlien, by anticij)ation, the land of tlic Hebrews, though actually possess- ing little more than a sepulchre in it, and to see also the waggons which Joseph sent up from Egypt to carry Israel and the little ones thither. A few pages still farther back, and tlie reader converses in the groves of Mamre with Abraham, the great ancestor of the company that was seen going down to Egypt, and is apprised of the purpose of tliat journey and of the promise of a return thence : or he may trace the wan- derings of tliis patriarch himself from the country of the Euphrates into the land promised and pointed out to him by God. Still farther back, and the national history blends with the universal, and as sucli it is the history of man, although still with si^ecial reference to one chosen line. Continuing thus to trace upwards the historic course, is reached " Enos, who Avas the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam, who was the son of God," (Luke iii. 88) — the great centre from which, according to the invariable testimony of Scripture, radiate all the lines of history and humanity. Pursuing an opposite path, the reader of this history is con- ducted to a Second Adam, who occuiDies a place in many respects remarkably analogous to tliat of the man with whom the history commenced. In particular, it may be seen that the two are related by the laws of generation and descent. But after what has been already said upon this point in a former section, it is unnecessary to pursue the subject farther, having simply called attention to the historical connexion of the first and second Adam, which, it may be truly said, is the great aim of the Bible history to establish by its register of names, and apparently dry genealogical catalogues. 2. The matters recorded in these first chapters of Genesis, are as intimately connected with, and as indispensable to the theology of the Bible, as it is possible for them to be in the case of its history. In the account of the Creation and of the Fall are laid the foundations of the Bible doctrines as well as of the Bible his- tory ; for Creator is the -first and fundamental relation of God to man : on creation is based his proprietary rights and his consequent dominion over the creature which owes its exist- AS RELATED TO SCRIPTURE IN GENERAL. 209 ence solely to the Divine will. Now it does not require any Laboured argumentation to show that for the knowledge of God as Creator, and of the relation thereby sustained to him, man must be indebted mainly if not altogether to revelation. To whatever extent it may be allowed that the idea of the existence of God, as a supernatural or Supreme Being, may be forced upon the human mind by attention to the phenomena of the world within us, and of the greater but not more won- derful world around us, it would appear that the idea thus originated will represent God in the character of Lawgiver and Judge rather than in his primary relation of Creator, on which indeed his other functions depend. Notwithstanding the large concessions made in previous sections to the claims of science, and the acknowledgment of its noble testimonies in behalf of creation, it is not at all certain whether, by mere reasoning, apart from all communications from above, man could have ever arrived at the idea of a Creator or creation in any proper sense of the terms ; and it assuredly makes this matter ex- tremely doubtful, when it is considered how, as already shown, the pure idea was corrupted or lost among the heathen nations of the earth without exception. But at all events, apart from the Bible, the doctrine of creation must necessarily have been very confused and indistinct. Conscience, while express and explicit in urging God's inalienable claims on man, is not equally communicative in regard to the foundation on which these claims rest. To meet this first and felt want of responsible creatures, the doctrine of creation must necessarily find a place in any sys- tem or book which, like the Bible, purports to be a revelation of God to man, and in that character and capacity may be reasonably supposed to embrace all necessary truth. And again, reasoning from the fundamental character of the doc- trine, the probability is that its place will be at or near the first page of any such book. The facts of the case are in entire harmony with these conclusions ; for it appears that while nothing is said, or, from the nature of the case, could be appropriately said, by way of proof of the being of God — the first principle of all religion, whether natural or revealed — the volume of Scripture opens with the no less important intima- tion, " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." 0 210 CREATION AND THE FALL. Upon this intimation and its accompanying statements, in the first and second chapters of Genesis, is founded the entire doctrine of the Old Testament on the subject of creation, together with all the solemn and sublime ascriptions of adora- tion and praise to the Creator, which are found in the prophe- tical writings, in the Psalms, and in the book of Job. Not only, however, the Old Testament doctrine of creation, but also that of the New, is reared on this narrative, for the teaching of the two parts of the volume is, upon this as upon other subjects, essentially the same, the onl}^ difference being, that in the later dispensation, from its very nature and design, creation is particularly described as the work of the Word, who was in the beginning, was with God, and was God, (see John i. 1-3 ; Col. i. 16.) But if the praises of the Old Testa- ment saints and seers were founded on creation, and were in a manner echoing notes of the narrative in Genesis, no less is it the case in the New Testament, where the adoring hymn of praise, as sung by the celestial choir, is described in the words, " Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power : for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." (Rev. iv. 11.) But the doctrine of creation itself occupies no isolated posi- tion in the scheme of revealed truth embraced in the Scrip- tures. On the contrary, it is most intimately related to all the truths and teachings of the Bible. Upon this point it is satisfactory to be able to adduce the testimony of Neander. " Already, in the history of the heresies," says this distin- guished writer, " we have spoken of the close connexion be- tween the doctrine of God, as the absolutely free Creator of the universe, and the whole peculiar essence of Christianity ; and of the strong antithesis which this doctrine must have presented to the existing modes of thought which had been derived from antiquity. The Apostle Paul sums up the Chris- tian theism, as the belief in one God, from whom, by whom, and to whom all things exist ; and the threefold relation here expressed of all existing things to God, denotes, at the same time, the close connexion between the Christian doctrines of creation, redemption, and sanctification, as well as the close connexion between the doctrine of creation and the ethical element ; for the phrase, ' to him,' which assigns to the Chris- AS RELATED TO SCRIPTURE IN GENERAL. 211 tian system of morals its province and its fmidamental prin- ciple, presupposes the ' from him ;' and the phrase, ' by him,' denotes the synthesis or mediation of them botlL Hence, as we saAV in the history of the Gnostic sects, the corruptions of the Christian doctrine of the creation which proceeded from the reaction of the spirit of the ancient world, must superin- duce corruptions also of the doctrine of redemption and of the system of morals/'^ The importance, in short, of the doctrine of creation cannot he easily overrated. It may in fact be regarded as the root or the trunk of the tree from which spring, as so many diverging branches, the other doctrines of revelation. This doctrine, accordingly, stands at the head of the Bible — largely and legibly written on its first page — serving, as already shown, not merely as an introduction to the Scripture histoiy, but also and chiefly as the first and fundamental article in its theology. It is this which at all secures to it a place in the sacred writings ; for how important soever this truth may be in itself, and however edifying to be made acquainted with incidents and events which occurred on the earth previous to man's existence on it, or to be told how by successive acts of creative energy and goodness, the dwelling-place was gradu- ally prepared and duly furnished for the reception of its coming tenants, it is only when the narrative comes to describe man — made in the image of God and constituted the head of the terrestrial system — that it rises into its true significance, and is seen to attain to its chief end. This plainly appears from the manner and arrangement of the narrative, every feature clearly evincing that it is with man as a moral and responsible being that it has to do. The creation of the heavens and the earth, light and life, and the latter in various forms and gradations, both vegetable and animal, are prepara- tory to the introduction of man, who has been well styled the crown or capital of the creation column, after whose completion all is declared to be " very good," — a declaration in which is emphatically announced the important truth, " God made man upright." Man's character, and his condition '' under the law" of his Creator, are next more fully described in the ancient record, ' Neander, Church History, vol. ii. pp. 311, 312. 212 CREATION AND THE FALL. in order to prepare for a correct understanding of tlie account that follows of his fall into sin. It must be self-evident that this momentous event, in its nature and extent, could never be accurately comprehended, without the information communi- cated in the previous chapters on the creation and on man's place in it. It was above all needful that this truth should be announced and fully known, that the fall in creation, or tlie disorder now witnessed in the moral system, was preceded by a state regarding which the Holy and Omniscient declared his approbation ; and also this other truth, that the sin with which all, without exception, are so painfully familiar, is not the necessary or legitimate result of the original constitution be- stowed upon man ; and, moreover, that the sorrows and suffer- ings which stand to him in such close companionsliip do not spring from the law of creation, but have been induced through his disobedience to the commands of God. It was needful that these truths should be known, because of their bearing as well on God's character as on the present condition and future prospects of man — a fallen being — but in his circumstances capable of redemption, owing to the manner in which his ruin was effected. With tlie doctrine of Creation is thus inseparably linked tliat of the Fall, together with all the scriptural declarations respecting the evils, both physi-cal and moral, thereby intro- duced into the world, entailed upon the human race, and transmitted from sire to son throughout all generations. On the doctrine of man's fall, again, is reared the doctrine of his recovery. The one supplies not indeed the condition, but the occasion of the other. Man is convicted and condemned, and the very ground is cursed on his account ; but the very sentence of condemnation is preceded by an intimation of deliverance. Man, now guilty and depraved, is expelled from the garden of delights — the scene of his innocence and of his sin — which thus becomes a paradise lost ; but amidst the doubts and darkness which, as previously remarked, had in these circum- stances settled down upon the earth, there breaks forth one bright ray which hopefully points to a paradise restored. As a happy augury of this restoration, it is of importance to find tliat the blessed eflects of the Divine intimation of mercy are strongly depicted in an act of faith described in the memora- AS RELATED TO SCKll'TUKE IN GENERAL. 213 ble words, — " Adam called liis wife's name Eve, because slie was the mother of all living," (Gen. iii. 20 ;) an incident to which further reference will be afterwards made. If then, in this narrative, there is seen the outburst of that fountain of depravity whose streams have deluged and deso- lated the earth, and poisoned the whole human family, no less distinctly may be discerned the germ of that promised power M'hicli shall heal tliis fountain and stay its baneful streams. If the third chapter of Genesis points to the origin of sin, and records the sentence which, on account of it, condemns the guilty to death, no less does it announce a Saviour to deliver from the sin and the death thereby incurred. Without the sin recorded in that chapter, there had been no substitution, no sacrifice, no gospel, no grace — arrangements unknown, because unneeded in a state of innocence, and so there would not have been made known to principalities and powers in heavenly places, by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God as now displayed, (Eph. iii. 16.) If, then, all the denunciations against sin, and all tlie warnings to the sinner, which are contained in the Bible, point to the narrative of the Fall, equally so do the invitations to seek the Lord, with all the accompanying offers of pardon and peace. If all the crimes and outrages ever per- petrated on earth find their origin and explanation in the his- tory of the Fall, no less all the law-honouring acts and the propitiatory sacrifice of the Saviour and Surety of sinners. If we can there discern our relation to the first Adam, with the nature and amount of the obligation which that relation involves, we shall by these lessons be also prepared for the New Testament doctrine of the Second Adam, the Lord from heaven, and prepared too for the apostolic commentary on the relation in which, through the grace of God, we stand to our second Head, who has assumed the human nature, and will ever retain it, associated with the Divine. In one word, all the peculiar doctrines of Cliristianity and the Bible cluster round the narrative of the Fall, and find their explanation in its statements. Such, then, is tlie place which the truths announced in the chapters on Creation and the Fall hold with respect to the scliemc of doctrine revealed in the Bible, and tlie provision made in tlic Gospel for the sanctification and salvation of 214 CREATION AND THE FALL. fallen man. Tlie relation being such as is here represented, it is but reasonable to suppose that the scenes depicted, and the transactions recorded, , in the first three chapters of Genesis, will be frequently referred to by the subsequent writers of Scripture, and employed as illustrations of their subjects, or as first principles in their reasonings and argumentations. This supposition is fully borne out by the facts of the case as regards both the Old and New Testament Scriptures presented in the last section. The incidents and issues recorded in those early chapters were, it has been clearly seen, known to the prophets of the Old Testament, and to all the apostles and teachers of the New, and to the Great Teacher himself, by all of whom their literal historical character was unhesitatingly taken for granted.. The principles established in the older record lie at the foundation of all their reasonings. This is particularly con- spicuous in the writings of the Apostle Paul. He at least was not conscious of any flaw in his argument ; nor did he anticipate the possibility of any objection to the legitimacy of his assump- tions, or to the strict historical veracity of the facts on which he proceeded when, addressing himself to the conscience and understanding of Jews and Gentiles, he reasoned of sin and of death, the wages of sin, and also of deliverance from both. But the position is greatly strengthened by the fact, that from the beginning of the Bible to its close, no other theory is proposed or even adverted to, in order to account for the introduction of sin and suffering into the world, or to explain the present and perplexing state of things. Mention is repeat- edly made of the rise of evil as described in Genesis, but no reference is ever made to any other scheme. It cannot be too much insisted on that the Scriptures may be searched in vain to detect a single allusion or expression which can by any pos- sibility be construed as a reference to any other oi'iginating cause than that recorded in the third chapter of Genesis. No trace can be detected of any contradictory principles. Paul, or any other of the apostles, knew of no other way of accounting for the origin and prevalence of sin among man- kind, and the necessity thence arising for a Saviour to deliver from it. 3. These chapters of Genesis, comprising the account of the creation of the world and tlie fall of man, have also an impor- AS RELATED TO SCKIPTUUE IX GENERAL. 215 tant bearing on the prophecy of the Bible, as well as on its history and theology. Tliis statement, although applicable to both parts of the Sacred Volume, is intended to apply, not so much to the pro- phecy of the Old Testament, and the bright visions of a future which gladdened the hearts and sustained the spirits of the children of God during a past and preparatory dispensation, as to the prophetic announcements of the New Testament, and especially that glorious period still future, connected with man's destiny and dwelling-place, as described in the closing pages of the Apocalypse. It might be useful and interesting to con- sider the hopes and prospects of the past which found their realization in the advent of Christ, the promised " seed of the woman," and to mark the influence which the remembrance of Edenic beauty and Edenic bliss exercised on the prophetic pic- tures of the then coming age, when God should again in very deed dwell with men upon the earth delivered from the curse ; but, looking back from our present advanced position in the economy of grace, these prophecies and predictions may be in a manner classed with the Bible history, while space would fail for an enlarged induction of particulars. It has not escaped the notice of the students of God's word, that, as in the great revolutions of nature witnessed on earth, and in the sidereal heavens, and also in the dispensations of Providence, so, in like manner, in the system of Revelation there are to be discerned unmistakable indications of cycles or full periods, which, after a complete revolution, come round to the point whence they set out.^ The preceding observations have had for their object the elucidation of the relation of the first chapters of the Bible — the starting-point of revelation, so to speak — to those which immediately follow, and to the Scrip- tures in general ; but no less striking and intimate will the relation appear which holds between the first and the last chapters of the sacred writings, — between the history of the past, as given by Moses, and the visions of the future opened up to the view of the rapt seer of Patmos, — although in other respects widely diiferent, and separated by an interval marked by two entire dispensations. It will be found not only that there is no contradiction or contrast, but also that the great ' Douglas, The Structure of Prophrc y, '2d «dit. p. 2(i. EJin. 1852. 21G CREATION AND THE FALL. cycle of revelation or Scripture is completed, that the last pages of the Apocalypse have come round to the first pages of Genesis in their subject and mode of representation. In particular, it may be observed that as the Bible begins with an account of creation, so also does it close. It commenced with the intimation, " In the beginning God created the hea- vens and the earth ;" but as sin has dimmed the lustre and destroyed the harmony of these glorious productions of al- mighty wisdom and power, near the close of the Bible is a corresponding announcement of a creation entirely new, and freed from the curse and corruptions of the present : " And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea," (Kev. xi. 1.) This correspondence is not merely a general one, but extends to various particulars. Thus, in Genesis, after the account of the Creation follows that of the Fall, including the curse pronounced upon the serpent, and upon the ground, and the sentence of death passed upon man, and the sorrows, suf- ferings, and toils therein involved. In the last announcements of the Bible this state of matters is entirely rectified, with the exception of the condemnation of the serpent, whose condition had been declared irremediable — the curse is disannulled, and death itself destroyed. " There shall be no more curse," (Rev. xxii. 3,) " and there shall be no mrore death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain : for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, / make all things new," (Chap. xxi. 4, 5.) As, again, in Genesis, man is seen cast out of Paradise, and pre- cautions taken to prevent his return thither, " lest he should put forth his hand and take of the tree of life," which, because of his transgression, was not to be enjoyed, but was constituted also a forbidden fruit, so, in the new dispensation which the last chapters of the Bible introduce, the attainder of Eden is removed: "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God," (Kev. ii. 7,) and a way of access opened up to the restored paradise : " Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city," (Rev. xxii. 1 4.) As it was for disobe- dience man was banished Paradise and forbidden the tree of AS RELATED TO SCRIPTURE IN GENERAL. 217 life, SO it is obedience that secures his return thither, and his restoration to more than the forfeited blessings of the primeval state. But it is unnecessary^ to enter into further details, for it must be obvious that between the opening and the concluding chap- ters of the Bible, altliough, as already remarked, separated in time by an interval which comprises two dispensations, and Avhich, it may be added, witnessed many vicissitudes in human affairs and in modes of thought, the analogy is unmistakable, and the correspondence complete : matters by a complete re- volution have come round again to the point of departure, answering to the original de3cri23tion, " very good." Nay more, creation is raised to a higher platform, and put upon a more stable foundation than at the first, through the under- taking of the Deliverer promised ere the expulsion of the guilty transgressors from Paradise. Redemption through " the seed of the woman" has more tlian corrected the error, and more than restored the ruins of the Fall. It has vindicated the Divine character from the foul aspersions cast upon it by the Wicked One — aspersions in which man also acquiesced when he accepted the testimony of the Old Serpent rather than the infallible word of God. It has, moreover, shown how God can bring good out of evil ; how His counsel shall stand, and He shall do all His pleasure. Accordingly, almost the closing sentences of the volume dedicated to the great theme of re- demption are occupied in proclaiming that the work and mys- tery of God are finished. To quote the testimony of by no means a fanciful writer : — " Thus the beginning and the end of the Bible lend their authority in support of each other. The transaction recorded in the beginning explains the reason of many expressions which occur in the progress of Scripture ; and the description which forms the conclusion reflects light upon the opening. Whatever opinion we may entertain of the third chapter of Genesis when we read it singly, it swells in our conceptions as we advance ; and all its meaning and its importance become manifest, when we recognise the features of this early transaction in that magnificent scene by which the mystery of God shall be finished."^ If such, then, be the relation of these first chapters of Gene- ' Hill, Lccluivs ill Diviiiifv. B. IV., dian. i. § 1. 218 CREATION AND THE FALL. sis at the very opening of the Bible to all that follows, and if the matters there recorded occupy in the system of revealed truth and in the plan of redemption the important place above indicated, all doubt must be at once removed as to their form- ing an integral part of Scripture. Any contrary supposition leads at once to the most absurd conclusions. Can it be for a moment seriously maintained that the narrative of creation, with which the volume begins, was inserted merely in imitation of the sacred books of heathenism — or that this narrative and that of the Fall, with which it is so intimately connected, are nothing more than fly-leaves picked up. one knows not where, and placed in the front of the Hebrew Scriptures, one knows not why nor how ? In the first place, it has been shown how these narratives are inseparably connected with the history in the Bible, so that to take them away, or deny their historical character, would be enough to render incomplete and unintel- ligible, not merely the history of the Hebrews, but the history of man, and much more, the entire history of redemption through Christ, in whom the history and the hope of the Old Testament culminate. In any way, the rejection of these chapters is equivalent to wrenching off the most important link in the chain of human history — the link which, through the first Adam, connects man with his Maker, and which again connects the second Adam with tire first. But, secondly, take away these chapters, or, what amounts to the same thing, deny their historical character, and what, in consequence, is the position in which the reader of Scrip- ture is placed in regard to its doctrines, especially those which bear more directly on man's character, and his wants as a moral being ? Sin is in the world, but how did it enter, or in what way is the fact to be accounted for, that its virus has infected the whole human race? Sorrows, sufferings, and death enter into the universal lot of humanity, and conscience in some way or other invariably connects these evils with sin. But these, and innumerable other questions and enigmas, are utterly inexplicable without the information furnished in the first chapters of Genesis. Again, it is a New Testament doctrine, or rather its fundamental theme, that satisfaction has been rendered to a violated law by Christ, in his character of the representative of man ; but without the information AS RELATED TO SCRirTURE IN GENERAL. 219 furnished in the history of the Fall, even this is inexplicable and perplexing ; for, reject the doctrine of the Fall, or deny man's apostasy from God, and what need of satisfaction or atonement ? In this way would be rendered unintelligible, and even nugatory, the great teachings of the Bible ; while the apostolic reasonings would be subverted, or entirely swept away, having no foundation to rest on. The truths unfolded in these narratives may be traced in their workings and counter- workings from Genesis to the last pages of the Apocalypse, which completes the canon of Scripture, and they constitute the first piinciples of our holy religion — the very foundations on which, through Christ, the whole system of salvation is built. The Gospel, in all its grace, and in all its suitableness to the case and character of fallen man, is itself merely the principles of the third chapter of Genesis developed and applied so as to restore and perpetuate the union between God and man, who was at first created in the Divine image. But, thirdly, a connexion of a very close, though not equally vital character as that just noticed, has been shewn to exist between the most important incidents of these very ancient narratives, and the most recent prophetic announcements, but to this it is unnecessary again to refer. The conclusions to be deduced from the relationship manifested in such a variety of ways, are utterly opposed to the views which would, by any mode of representation, seek to disparage this portion of Scripture. If — to recapitulate the result of the preceding observations — by any possibility the first chapters of Genesis can be regarded as fragments or fly-leaves, how came they to be so linked with the history of the Bible, — how came they to constitute the fundamental articles in its theology, the correlates in its prophecy, and to be interwoven with its varied contents in every possible way ? And farther, but only in passing, as this matter will be resumed, and more fully considered in the next section — if the matters recorded in these ancient docu- ments are merely fanciful representations, or poetical or alle- gorical figures, how came they to be regarded by all the subsequent writers of Scripture, whenever they were led to allude to them, as literal, veritable facts ? — for that such is the case, the numerous quotations adduced in the preceding sec- tion have made it abundantly plain, and that they should be 220 CREATION AND THE FALL. SO received without at any time a suspicion being entertained to the contrary ? These questions are utterly unanswerable on any supposition which would raise the slightest doubt as to the genuineness of these narratives, and to their claims to be received as integral portions of the Sacred Scriptures. If, then, on account of any difhculties attaching to their inter- pretation, or connected with their acceptation in a literal, historical sense, whether arising from scientific discoveries or any other cause, one statement even of these narratives were given up or sacrificed, it must be at once apparent that such a surrender is not unattended with danger, but may involve a necessity for the abandonment of much more than was at first reckoned on. If there be difficulties in defending the Bible because these narratives form a part of it, it is not too much to affirm that it would involve far more difficulties, both as regards the vindication of its authority, and the interpretation of its contents, were the opening chapters away. So far, then, from acknowledging the necessity or expediency of sacrificing the narratives of Creation and the Fall, or of abandoning the literal interpretation of these ancient, but in no sense anti- quated records, in order to be able to retain faith in the Bible or in Genesis, the reader, on a dispassionate view of all the facts of the case, must feel that they constitute an integral and essential portion of the volume. SECT. XIII. — CONCLUSION — THE NARRATIVES OF CREATION AND THE FALL HISTORICAL AND INSPIRED. It only remains, under this division of the subject, to sum up the results of the preceding investigations into the character and the claims of the portion of Scripture containing the ac- count of the creation and of man's fall, in view of the various forms of opposition which it has at different times encountered, adding such observations as shall serve to connect and bring- out more distinctly the conclusions arrived at under the several heads of inquiry relative to its historical form and inspired origin. By the brief historical review of the various interpretations of the first three chapters of Genesis at the outset of the pre- CONCLUSION — THE NARRATIVES, HISTORICAL AND INSPIRED. 221 sent work, the way was in a manner prepared for tlie discussion which followed, and still further cleared and determined by the succeeding observations on the leading objections urged against these chapters, the place and importance of which, in a controversial point of view at least, was thereby fully estab- lished. In vindicating the character of the chapters in question from the various and vexatious accusations preferred against them, it was found necessary, in the first place, to defend their internal unity, which had been very determinedly assailed. Accordingly, it was shewn that there is no valid ground wliat- ever for the view, variously modified, which considers these three chapters of Genesis as made up of fragments, or as a compilation of the productions of difi'erent authors and ages. On the contrary, it appeared that one at least, and that the most important of the arguments employed to substantiate the fragmentary character of Genesis — that founded on the changes of the Divine names, not only failed, but in its applica- tion to the chapters under consideration told directly the other way. The diversity of style, and the alleged contradictions between the first and second chapters, employed in furtlierance of the same purpose, were also, it is believed, satisfactorily accounted for, so that the internal unity of the narratives was fully vindicated from aught that can be considered derogatory to the character of the work as the production of a single mind carrying out one grand design. But here, it may be added, were the facts of the case otherwise, and such as inevitably to lead to the conclusion that Genesis, or the early part of it, is a compilation from pre-existing documents, this need not neces- sarily detract from its genuineness and authenticit}^ as an historical work, and composed under the direction of the Divine Spirit. Many excellent persons, taking that view of the matter, feel no anxiety about the Document-hypothesis, in, at least, its mildest form. One who views the matter in that light re- marks : " Nothing to a philosophic mind can give a greater value to the writings of Moses than to behold him, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, carefully gathering up the frag- ments of ancient history and early inspiration, whether in Genesis or Job, and giving them a permanent form, which was to last unto the end of time ; previous to his announcing the 222 CREATION AND THE FALL. Law given upon Mount Sinai, and committing to writing the typical dispensation of the Jews/'* The next two sections were devoted to the consideration exclusively of the narrative of the Creation ; the one viewing it in the light of the past, and contrasting its simple state- ments with various cosmogonic theories of heathenism ; the other considering it in the light of the present, and comparing it with the magnificent results of scientific research into the liistory of the earth, and the processes by which it was suc- cessively brought into its present condition. From both these sources most satisfactory results were obtained in faA'^our of the Mosaic narrative. Its incomparable superiority, in every possible respect, over all other systems of ancient times, was clearly evinced. It was found to be consistent with itself — consistent with truth and enlightened reason, and consistent with our highest conceptions of the character of the Great Author of all being. But no less strikingly was evinced the remarkable accordance of the biblical narrative of the Creation with the discoveries of modern science. On this point it was ]-emarked, that on a comparison with the results arrived at by scientific men, it must undoubtedly be felt, that the harmony sulbsisting between the ancient record in Genesis and modern discoveries, is in a great many particulars of a very remarkable kind. An examination and comparison somewhat similar was also instituted in regard to the narrative of the FalL It was in the first place compared with various traditions which evidently referred to some great moral revolution in the early history of man, corresponding in character and consequences with what the Fall purports to have been. And farther, the narrative was compared with various facts and phenomena in nature of a moral and physical character, which find their proper ex- planation only in such a catastrophe as is there described. From both these sources of information, most important testi- monies were derived confirmatory of the truthfulness and accuracy of the statements and representations of tlie Hebrew narrative of man's apostasy from God. Following up the subject of the internal unity of these chap- ters, attention was subsequently directed to the connexion ' Douglas, The Structure of Propliecy, p. 26. CONCLUSION — THE NARRATIVES, HISTORICAL AND INSPIRED. 223 clearly discernible between tliem and the remainder of the volume in which they stand. First, there was pointed out a remarkable analogy between several particulars in the narra- tive of the Fall and the representations of temptation and sin in the New Testament. Next, it was shown that the inci- dents recorded in the first pages of the Bible have such a bear- ing on God's government, moral and mediatorial, and on man's condition under that rule, that they are constantly refeiTed to by the subsequent writers of Scripture, both of the Old and New Testaments, as illustrations, or as first principles in their reasonings, warnings, and exhortations. Farther, and more particularly, it was evinced that the contents of these chapters are so inseparably interwoven with the substance and not merely the language of the Bible in eveiy possible way, with its history, its theology, and its prophecy, that they cannot be severed from it without reducing the whole to an unintelligible chaotic mass. To oflFer violence to the narratives of Creation and the Fall, it was shown, is to offer violence to the entire Scripture revelation, so close and complex are the bonds of union between it and the introductory statements of Genesis. The continuity of parts resembles not merely that which sub- sists between the body and an external member, the severance of which might not destroy or even endanger the vital action, but that of the bones and ligaments which give form and coherency to the structure. This was an important point feached in vindicating for those narratives a place in the Sacred Scriptures. In ordinary circumstances, it would have sufficed to show that any docu- ment forms an essential and inseparable part of what is usually received as the oracles of the living God, in order to entitle it to all the reverence accorded to the volume of which it constitutes a part ; but as this seems, most assuredly with strange inconsistency, to have been viewed as an exception- able case by some who receive the later Scriptures, and more particularly as there are numerous parties disposed to give little consideration to the authority of Scripture at all, it was considered necessary to examine the matter farther, and on other grounds. Notwithstanding the important place which, on the slightest examination, these chapters must be seen to occupy in the 224 CREATION AND THE FALL. Bible, and notwithstanding the express recognition and sanc- tion accorded to their contents by prophets and apostles and by our Lord himself, to no other portion of the Sacred Volume has equal opposition been manifested, or a greater disposition evinced to deny their claims to inspiration, and evacuate their literal, historical character by resolving them into allegories, myths, poetic fictions, or iDhilosophical speculations. In the first place, then, it will be necessary to consider the bearing of the preceding investigations on the question affect- ing the literal, historical character of the contents of the first three chapters of Genesis ; and, secondly, how far they may have contributed to determine their inspired origin. The review of the attacks to which these narratives have been subjected, and of the history of their interpretation, showed in general that the various deviations from, or evasions of the literal, historical sense, have had their origin in grounds connected more or less with philosophical speculations or infidel tendencies. This much, however, may be said in favour of the allegorical interpretation — the earliest departure, apparently, from the literal historical sense — that it may, in a certain sense, consist with a reverence for Scripture and a belief in its inspired origin. But with this must terminate any favourable acknowledgment of the allegorical mode of viewing Scripture, ])articularly the narratives of Creation and the Fall. A com- parison of the various expositions of this description brings out veiw distinctly what might have been inferred a priori, that there are no fixed principles — no settled rules, nothing to help to fix or define the symbols — in short, nothing at best but his own fancy to guide the interpreter. In a word, this method of exposition makes a complete chaos of Scripture, and goes far to subvert its authority altogether. Various arguments might have been advanced in disproof of the allegorical mode of viewing these chapters, but this was considered unnecessary, owing to the circumstance just stated, of the conflicting and self-contradictory expositions thus pro- duced affording sufficient evidence that there was nothing in the text to give them any countenance. But if this consideration is not sufficient to dispose of the allegorical interpretation, the preceding comparison of the narratives with ancient remains and modern scientific deductions, has disclosed such a sub- CONCLUSION — THE NARRATIVES, HISTORICAL AND INSPIRED. 22;j stratum of solid fact, sucli a reality, and, at the same time, such a literality, in the statements, that by no possibility can they be resolved into allegorical figures or poetic fancies. To this may be added the consideration which to many will be held decisive of its literal historical character, that no part of the early chapters of Genesis was ever taken in any other acceptation by the writers of the Old or New Testament. Viewed as a simple matter of fact, this should satisfy all that the narratives plainly purport to be history, and have all the appearance of it, although it may not be so decisive of the value to be attached to that history. But if the allegorical mode of viewing the contents of these chapters be unsatisfactory and utterly irreconcilable with the accordance manifested between them and the facts and phenomena adverted to, and also with the use made of them by the Lord and his Apostles, much more is this the case with some of the other views recently substituted in its place. The view which regards these narratives as a philosophical speculation of the author of Genesis, or some other oriental sage on the origin and present constitution of things, neces- sarily and consistently rejects all claims to a source higher than human reasoning ; but irrespective of this, which is not the point immediately under consideration, it labours, as has been shown, under the serious disadvantage of assuming a degree of knowledge in ancient times regarding nature— its operations and laws— much at variance with what is known from the best sources, to have been actually the case. In nothing were the philosophers of antiquity more deficient than in an acquaintance with physical truths and the system of the universe, while the statements of Genesis respecting the creation can bear comparison with any production of modern times. This view is farther and more particularly discoun- tenanced by the results of the comparison instituted between the biblical narrative of creation and the remains of heathen cosmogonies. That comparison and the correspondence, in various particulars, thence educed, disclosed such a univer- sality, and at the same time community of conceptions on the subject of Creation among nations far apart from one another, as clearly proved that they could not have originated in the p 22G CREATION AND THE FALL. way suggested by this theory, or at any period subsequent to the first dispersion of the human race. Whether it be owing to a better acquaintance with, and a juster appreciation of, the remains of heathen antiquity sur- viving in the form of myths and legends, or to the clearer and more commanding light in which modern science has placed the biblical account of the Creation, or to some other undeter- mined cause, it is certain that the above view which regards the matter as a philosophical speculation, is at present, equally with the allegorical, falling into disrejjute before the more popular mythical theory which by several German writers has been indiscriminately applied to all ancient writings, and which supposes the narratives of Creation and the Fall to be a selection from, or a transcript of, the early legends common to mankind. Of this theory, it may in strictness be said, that it explains nothing. It allows, indeed, that there is some truth lying at the foundation of these narratives — some facts which gave rise to the traditions common to the Bible and the ancient world, but what these facts are it has not determined, nor does it offer any explanation of their character, their connexion, or their origin. In taking into account the universality of the tradi- tions bearing on the creation and the fall of man, the mythical theory has so far a decided advantage over the philosopheme ; but then its first difficulty is satisfactorily to exjjlain the cause of the marked dissimilarity which in various and most impor- tant points of view is seen to exist between the biblical narra- tives and the traditions with which they are compared, and, secondly, to explain what were the facts and phenomena out of which these legends were evolved. But waving further objec- tions to this very untenable representation, not of the origin of the facts or fancies recorded in the early chapters of Genesis, for this the theory does not profess to explain, but of their cur- rency among the Israelites, and their subsequent reception into their sacred books, what Julius Miiller urges against the philo- sopheme is equally applicable to the myth — the view he him- self is disposed to favour : — " Surely it were not to be seen what dogmatic use could be made of it by Christian theology." The only simple and consistent course, in the circumstances, is that which either receives or rejects the whole historical CONCLUSION— THE NARRATIVES, HISTORICAL AND INSPIRED 227 character of this ])ortion of Scripture. There is no principle on which tlie allegories can be expounded, no rule by which it can, with any certainty or satisfaction, be determined what is fact and what is to be pronounced fiction in legends which, on the above showing, cannot be traced to any definite source, nor be made to subserve any important purpose through their reception into the sacred Canon. But, more particularly, it may be asked, if the subject and the substance of these chapters be merely fictions or fancies, though with a substratum of truth, how came they to be linked to the Bible by the close ties above indicated, and how came their true character never to be suspected by any of the subse- quent writers of Scripture, by whom the statements made re- garding the creation and the fall in these earliest records have been unreservedly regarded as literal historical verities ? " It is very difficult," remarks Julius Miiller, "to comprehend how the deeply meditative piety of an Israelite, if it attached its poesy to the holy traditions respecting the first parents of the human race, should have ventured to represent the same as his- tory, or how, perhaps contrary to the intention of its author, such a misunderstanding was able to arise." But, again, if these narratives be fictions, what, it may be asked, in the Bible are facts ? How are the former to be distinguished from the latter, and where, at what chapter and book, is the line of de- marcation to be drawn between a so-called Hebrew mythology and the Hebrew history, if it be allowed that there is anything historical at all in the Old Testament Scriptures? If these simple statements, bearing on their very front all the charac- teristics of historical truths and literal realities, must be pro- nounced myths, or classed with poetry, it would certainly be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to show that there are in the Bible any historical truths at all. It is a leading prin- ciple of Scripture, that all its doctrines stand in an essential relation to its facts, and the important bearing of the facts of these narratives, assumed to be such by prophets and apostles, has been fully evinced ; but if the very foundations be dis- trusted, what confidence can be reposed in the strength and stability of the superstructure ? The simple fact, however, that the literal, historical character of these narratives is so emphatically endorsed by the subse- 228 CREATION AND THE FALL. quent writers of Scripture is itself sufficient to satisfy all who are impressed with a due reverence for the Word of God, and who can intelligently appreciate the testimony of its inspired authors. To all such it must appear a perfectly legitimate inference that every argument which proves the inspiration of the New Testament, or any of its parts, bears indirectly on the character and claims of the earlier records to which it lends its sanction. At present the discussion is in great part with a dif- ferent class of opposers, and one witli whom the name of an apostle, or the authority of inspiration, weighs but little. It will therefore be well to establish, if possible, from another point of view, the historical character of these early documents before vindicating for them a place among the productions of the " holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Irrespective, then, of the sanction accorded to these narra- tives by the other writers of Scripture, and looking at them, in the first instance, merely as productions of a very high anti- quity, is there any reason to conclude that they are fictions or philosoj^hemes — beautiful but baseless speculations, or witli only such a foundation as dim and dubious legends, or reason- able conjecture supplied ? Heathen antiquity has been ques- tioned on this point, so also has modern science in the compa- risons above instituted, first regarding the narrative of the Creation, and next that of the Fall, but in neither case has the response been such as would in any w^ay seem to countenance such a conclusion. Indeed, it must be evident that the results of the investigations and comparisons conducted in depart- ments of human knowledge specially selected, be it observed, by the supporters of the views which would decry the autho- rity of the scriptural records, for their presumed favourable bearing on the case, lead to an entirely opposite result. The comparison of the biblical records with the remains of heathen cosmogonies, and the still more distinct traces of a fall, which ancient traditions and mythological legends furnish, has made it plain that there are various marked and unmis- takable features common to the Bible and the univritten history of the earth and man, which, although in the latter case grievously dimmed and distorted, indicate a common parentage, and point to a period when the now scattered nations CONCLUSION — THE NARRATIVES, HISTORICAL AND INSPIRED. 229 and families of tlie earth were one — a period such as the Scriptures represent as that of Noah, or of Adam the first father of the human race. The universality of these traditions, and their similarity in the main, farther prove that there must have been some foun- dation of truth, some reality or historical facts from which they sprung-, but the extent of which cannot with certainty be determined from an examination of the traditions alone. Here, however, the discoveries of modern science opportunely come to our aid, and confirm the conclusions which may be reasonably deduced from the character and consistency of the traditions themselves. The history of Creation has been inscribed in records more durable than ever-shifting traditions, or even books, which are not absolutely exempt from corrup- tion ; and science — from the reading of that register of his mighty operations kept by the Creator himself — demonstrates that the germs of the multifarious traditions which bear on the subject of creation are truths, and especially that the form in which these traditions, so to speak for the present, are pre- served in the Bible, is truth without any mixture of error. Keeping in view the object of the biblical narrative of Creation, which is, as was distinctly stated, to communicate not scien- tific truths, but moral and religious instruction, and that in language necessarily adapted to the lowest capacity if this object was to be attained, few can deny that it exhibits a wonderful harmony with the facts of the earth's history and the period of man, as these have been recently brought to light through a careful and laborious deciphering of the deeply imbedded stony record. Indeed, a close and critical comparison of the statements of the Bible in all their sim- plicity, with the discoveries of the physical sciences, shows on the part of the former, an acquaintance with the history and course of Creation such as science itself could not boast of until within a very recent period. So much for the literal, historical character of these venera- ble documents. But while distinctly claiming for them such an acceptation, it is only on the principle laid down at the veiy outset of this disquisition, where was stated and defined the sense in which the terms literal and historical were predi- cated of this portion of Scripture. It is necessary to revert to 230 CREATION AND THE FALL. that distinction, inasmuch as it was found that by neglecting the simple principles which ought to regulate the interpreta- tion of all language, and by unnaturally straining every state- ment of these narratives into a jejune literalism, not only were unnecessary difficulties raised in the path of the reader, but the statements themselves converted into puerilities unbe- fitting the occasion on which they were uttered, and the character of the record in which they are preserved. If it be thus shown that the matters treated of in these biblical narratives are facts true to nature, and to the physical and moral history of man ; and farther, that a general acquaint- ance with these facts, and acquiescence in them as such, can be traced back to the very early period in the history of the human race, which, irrespective of any biblical testimony, the existence and universality of the traditions upon this subject have been shown to determine, the next question that arises is, how came these truths to be discovered, and to form so deep an impression on the human mind and memory ? By what medium — observation, reasoning, or revelation — have these truths come to the knowledge of mankind ; or to sim- plify the matter, and state it in accordance with a preceding- conclusion — to the knowledge of -the first man ? A part, no doubt, of these truths, common to Scripture and tradition, is referable to memory, as incidents of personal experience. Such, for instance, are those which relate to the history of the Fall, and some of its antecedents. But another, and for the present purpose a very important part of the information which the knowledge of these facts implies, can- not certainly have originated in observation or experience. The great truths of creation taught, though in a deeply mys- tified and doubtful form, by tradition, but in the Bible dis- posed in proper order and light, obviously belong to this class. The whole of the first section of Genesis, and a part of the second, treat of times and transactions, conditions and results, connected with Divine operations, which no human eye had seen, and which, therefore, could not come within the range of man's experience or memory. It needs but little consideration of the nature of the case to make it manifest, that, in order to arrive at a correct acquaintance with various particulars in this pre- Adamic history, there was need of other means than CONCLUSION THE NARRATIVKS, HISTORICAL AND INSPIRED. 231 are at present at the command of man for obtaining information of the past, seeing that in this instance the transactions were entirely unexperienced and unrecorded in any human register, and were, moreover, of such a character as to furnish little ground for their ready apprehension as necessary or axiomatic truths. The narrative of the Creation has been sometimes taken to be the expression of the knowledge which the first man had of what preceded his own creation. This may, in a sense, and to a certain extent, be true. Such knowledge was undoubtedly possessed by the first man, and to it is to be referred the truths found amid the confused traditionary memorials on the subject ; but whether it equalled or exceeded in amount that comprehended in the narrative of Genesis, cannot be deter- mined. But however this may be, it is quite another thing to argue that such knowledge might be acquired by the first man without the necessity of a special revelation ;^ and, again, that the biblical narrative is simply a record of this knowledge handed down by tradition. It is maintained that this acquaint- ance with the past history of the earth, and with former creations, might have been the result of observation, just as similar knowledge is acquired at the present day, an examina- tion of the earth's surface and rocky strata furnishing a histoiy of the order and mode of its formation. But as regards this, it is not too much to say that the reasoning is utterly unsatis- factory, the assumptions gratuitous, and the conclusion delu- sive. It ascribes to the first man powers and capacities which there is no reason to conclude he possessed, and places him in a relation to the creation, and indirectly to the Creator, in which revelation of any kind may be pronounced superflu- ous. Even now, with all the accumulated experience of a greatly pi'otvacted past, and with the most careful and long- continued observation, not of one, but of a multitude of inquir- ing minds, the progress of discovery in the path of physical truth is slow, and a correct knowledge of nature is only now beginning to be attained. In the infancy of the human race, and even in a state of innocence, whatever may be the assumed capacities of unfallen man, creation must have presented a dark enigma, which demanded for its solution more than his > II..!uiaiin. D,r ScJiriflheweis. Xiiidliiigen, 1852, vol. i. j. ■2o-2. 232 CREATION AND THE FALL. own reasoning powers. Without entering on any discussion of the matter, it may be fairly argued that in the infancy of the human race, extraordinary communications from tlie Deity were vouchsafed on grounds even of physical and moral neces- sity ; and if such communications there were, is there anything more probable than that to these, man was indebted for his information as well regarding the creation as the Creator and Governor, to whose laws and administration he was amenable ? An acquaintance with the origin of things must be obtained by immediate revelation from God, or it must be for ever unknown. But passing over the question regarding the source of the primitive information, and of the truths lying at the founda- tion of the traditional cosmogonies, as bearing only indirectly on the present subject, which is an inquir}'' into the origin of the present form of the biblical narrative of creation, it is of more importance in this point of view to direct attention to the fact, that in the course of transmission through a long succession of ages, and by their translation, as it were, into the various languages of the earth, and the various modifying influences thus brought to bear upon them, the original ideas have been so moulded and mixed up with the grossest absur- dities and superstitions, that it requires the most careful com- parisons and nicest analysis to determine even approximately what is fact and what is fiction in this conglomeration of ideas. Farther, it is of the utmost importance to take into con- sideration the very decided contrast, clearly evinced in the pre- ceding pages, which the biblical narratives of Creation and the Fall bear to all the heathen traditions and mythologies. This contrast brought out very distinctly the unapproachable supe- riority of the former in every point of view. This was shown to be particularly the case in regard to the narrative of the Creation, but it is even more striking in the account of the Fall, although from the multiplicity of particulars, and the far deeper impression which the events connected with the Fall made upon the human mind, this contrast, at first sight, might not appear so clearly defined. What has already been said of the narrative of the Creation, may be equally applied to that of the Fall. These narratives contain all the elements of trutli which lie at the foundation of all the myths and legends CONCLUSION — THE NAKRATIVES, HISTORICAL AND INSPIRED. 233 of heathenism regarding the origin of the world and the past and present condition of man, without any one of the numer- ous and extravagant fancies and absurdities by which, without exception, all these traditions are so grossly deformed. They contain all the scattered grains of the pure ore, without any tinge of the dross with which, in every other instance, it is mixed up, or almost concealed. These narratives are consistent with themselves — consistent with truth and right reason — consistent with our highest and holiest conceptions of the Almighty Creator, and consistent with the entire teaching of the divinely-inspired Word. This is a highly interesting feature in these earliest biblical records, and, on any view that may be taken of the matter, must greatly influence the inquiry into their origin. It incon- testably proves, in the first place, that the narratives of Genesis are not a mere transcript or a careless compilation of heathen testimonies and traditions. But even where this last point is conceded, it may be still urged, that the early chapters of Genesis are only a carefully transcribed copy of the traditional history of the early ages of the earth and of man, as preserved in Israel, and transmitted in the patriarchal line, which thus secured for it the greater purity by which it is distinguished. The case is sometimes thus put, and summarily disposed of. But the mere circum- stance that the traditions were transmitted in this line, of itself scarcely furnishes a sufficient guarantee against changes and corruptions, more or less extensive, during the many ages that elapsed before they were committed to writing ; and so, of course, it cannot be admitted as a full explanation of the absolute, and not merely relative purity, of the biblical records, and of their entire freedom from all that is false, fanciful, and absurd. Nor does it sufficiently account for the purity and consist- ency of the Hebrew ideas relative to the Creation and Fall, as compared with the traditions of other nations, to say that the former were at a very early period committed to writing, and were in these circumstances preserved from the many chances and changes to which the unrecorded traditions of the other nations were long exposed. This representation of the case is certainly true in a measure, and were the question, as 234 CREATION AND THI-: FATJ.. remarked above, one only of relative purity, it might go far to furnish the requisite answer ; but it will by no means account for the many peculiarities by which the biblical narra- tives are so remarkably distinguished. The circumstance that the Hebrew traditions were associated with a purer theology, has also been adduced in explanation of this remarkable phe- nomenon, but this is not one that at all tends to diminish the difficulty, or to account for the differences to which refer- ence has been so frequently made. The doctrine of the unity of God, as held by the Israelites, has, in particular, been adduced in explanation of their correct and consistent views of creation. But this is palpably no explanation ; for the origin of the one doctrine requires as much to be accounted for as that of the other. This purer theology, the peculiar privilege and possession of the Israelites, without question, rested upon, and was kept alive only by, special revelation from above, if any weight be due to the records, the genuine- ness and authenticity of the earliest portion of which are now being discussed ; and if thus revelation must be admitted in the one case, there is nothing to be gained by excluding it in the other. But again, on the supposition that the narratives of Crea- tion and the Fall, as found in Genesis, and whose historical character and credibility have, it is believed, been satisfactorily established, are simply a transcript of unauthenticated Hebrew traditions, or a compilation from those of the other nations of the earth, there are numerous and weighty difficulties whicli must be obviated before this view of the matter can, with any degree of satisfaction, be accepted — a view which has been evidently devised for the purpose of dispensing with Revela- tion, and which, in order to be consistent, must also exclude or dispense with all supernatural endowments on the part of the copyist or compiler. First, on the supposition that the matters recorded in the narratives in question are an assemblage or a selection of tra- ditions floating on the stream of time, and wafted down from some remote but unknown era, how came the author, by whom they were collected and committed to writing, to form so cor- rect an estimate of their value as is manifested in the fact, that he gathered tlicm up, and selected them from amidst CONCLUSION — THE NARRATIVES, HISTORICAL AND INSPIRED. 235 what must be supposed a mass of similar or dissimilar legends, — to give tliem a place and an importance in his history which are fully awarded to them by every subsequent statement of the Holy Scriptures ? Secondly, on what eclectic principles, and by what rule or process of reasoning did the author proceed, when, with such consummate skill and unrivalled discernment, he contrived to separate the true, as well in history as in theology, from all that was fictitious and false, and succeeded so admirably in giving to the former only a place in his narrative ? Thirdly, how did the writer or compiler of the narratives of Creation and the Fall manage so to rise above the limited horizon of knowledge, not merely of his own age, but of nume- rous succeeding centuries, and to emancipate himself so com- pletely from the disturbing influences of his time, whether of ignorance or of prejudice, as to be enabled to avoid the false in theory no less than the false in fact ; and not only so, but, it may be added, how did he contrive, on so very extended a field as is presented in Creation and the Fall, and amid such a multiplicity of statements, to express himself in a way to which no other document of ancient times furnishes a parallel, and also in terms to which the brilliant discoveries of modern science afford not the shadow of a contradiction, but, on the contrary, most material and unexpected corroboration ? These, and various other difficulties which present them- selves in connexion with this matter, are utterly inexplicable on the theory that the narratives of Genesis are not the pro- duction of Divine inspiration, but that their author or compiler was indebted solely to his own powers of reasoning and reflec- tion. For in whatever light the matter may be viewed, the task thus assumed, and so successfully executed by the writer, was so vast and peculiar, that it unquestionably demanded powers and capacities on his part, so incomparably superior to those of his contemporaries, as to imply scarcely less than the inspiration now claimed for him ; or if, on the other hand, he was not, by some extraordinary gifts and endowments, immea- surably raised above the level of his contemporaries, the facts of the case, in these circumstances, and on this supposition, claim an amount of knowledge, and an acquaintance with nature for that early age, so unsupported by any fact, so un- 236 CREATION AND THE FALL. sanctioned by any analogy, as, to say the least, must bo declared utterly incredible. The case has by a recent French writer been thus stated : " The cosmogony of Moses, simple, clear, and natural, is evi- dently the result of learned research. The author of this system, respecting the origin of the earth and the heavens, must necessarily have devoted himself to profound meditations on the history of the globe ; and it is certain that geology must, in his day, have reached an extraordinary point of per- fection for tlie historian to follow, as Moses has done, step by step, all the mysteries of that creation/'^ All this might be readily regarded as an ironical refutation of the views which would dispense with the aid of Revelation in the matter, but it was by no means so intended by the author. On the contrary, it was soberly meant as a simple explanation of the origin of the Mosaic narrative of creation. Accepting the unequivocal testimony rendered by the learned author to the truthfulness of the narrative, and to its harmony with scientific discoveries, it may be remarked, that geology must have assuredly reached an extraordinary point of perfec- tion at that early period, and Moses must have been a geologist inferior to none of the present day if he did not learn the facts which he records relative to the world's history from some other source than the study of organic remains, and the order of the stratifications ; or if he did not otherwise learn to estimate and arrange the facts supplied, it may be at second hand, by ancient and often perplexing traditions, and so to build up tlie scattered and fragmentary materials into the beautiful and well-proportioned structure which the opening pages of Genesis present. If it were necessary to discuss the matter farther, it might be shewn, that not only geology, but all the kindred sciences, must come into requisition, and that, too, in almost their pre- sent perfection, if inspiration is to be dispensed with in the case ; and thus there would be no end to the extravagant demands to be made on our credulity, when all the difiiculties could be at once simply and satisfactorily disposed of by admitting that the writer was not left to his own resources, or those of liis age, but was guided and governed in his composi- ' Hfiiri, Egypt Pharaoniquc, vol. i. p. irj."). CONCLUSION — THE NARRATIVES, HISTORICAL AND INSriUED. 237 tion by the Spirit of the omniscient God. A favourite sup- position, however, with those who, when it serves their turn, are not unwilling to ascribe any amount of knowledge to a writer of Scripture, provided only it be of an earthly kind, is, that the source of the remarkable knowledge evinced by Moses in the narrative of creation, is to be traced to the Egyptians, in all whose wisdom he was learned, (Acts vii. 22.) But it is sufficient to observe, that whatever Moses may have borrowed from the Egyptians or their schools, it is certain he could have obtained from that quarter but exceedingly little aid, if any, towards the construction of a cosmogony. But assuming to the utmost imaginable extent the early progress of physical knowledge, and the proficiency of Moses in respect to all the subjects to which he directly or inci- dentally adverts, the assumption is utterly inadequate to account for the care and the circumspection displayed through- out this vast and most recondite subject. No false step — no erroneous turn — no falter can be instanced in the narrative from the starting-point in the history, " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," till it reaches the majestic close, " God saw everything that he liad made, and behold, it was very good." The same is equally true in respect to the narrative of the Fall. On the two great and mysterious sub- jects of which he thus treats, the writer is not like one hazard- ing a guess, or darkly and doubtfully feeling his way. Through the fields of creation and moral government, a condition of innocence and a state of sin, he walks abroad with calmness, confidence, and courage. Nothing short of Divine power and direction could have conducted him so safely and securely through those wide and bewildering regions ; but whether the Divine communications thus received were exercised simply and solely in teaching the writer of Genesis to gather up the fragmentary truths which he found imbedded in tradition and obscured by the dust of ages, and set them anew and in due order in the pages of his imperishable record, or whether, as may be conceived more probable, they were directed in com- municating the matter by a new revelation, need not be deter- mined ; for, in an inquiry such as the present, the determina- tion of the particular mode of revelation is of comparatively little moment. On either of the alternatives, the inspired 238 CREATION AND THE FALL, origin of these narratives is fully asserted ; wliile their literal, historical character has been previously evinced. " If/' to quote from a recent writer, " Moses compiled Genesis either wholly or in part from previously existing documents, he was divinely inspired to select, arrange, to alter, expunge, or add to these documents, as truth demanded. If he received the facts as handed down by oral tradition, he was, in like manner, guided of God to receive and to record the truth, the whole truth needed in the case, and nothing but the truth. And if Moses wrote the whole as communicated directly to him by inspiration alone, then the very truth necessary to be known in the case, and the truth alone, pure and free from all admix- ture of error, must have been the result of his authorship."^ And now, in drawing this matter to a close, the result of the preceding attempt to vindicate the historical and inspired character of the first three chapters of Genesis, if it has effected anything, has, it is believed, shown that, notwith- standing every form of opposition, this portion of the most ancient of existing literary muniments can appeal and approve itself to every dispassionate and unprejudiced inquirer ; and, in particular, that it will be found by all who reverence and can recognise Scripture, to speak a language and to breathe a s])irit strictly conformable with the most recent and best attested productions of inspiration ; that by the student of antiquity, it will be found to explain, in an eminently con- sistent manner, the origin and meaning of many of the per- plexing legends which lie scattered and apparently unconnected over the classic page ; and by the man of science, to demon- strate that the Creator of the earth is also the writer of its history, as well in the pages of the Bible as on its oven rocky bosom, the one record confirming and elucidating the other ; while both unite in testimony and in tributes of praise to " the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working," and in declaring of themselves, " Lo these are parts of his ways ; but how little a portion is heard of him ! " while they testify of Him, " the thunder of whose power who can understand V ^ Hamiltou, The rcrilateucli ami its Assailants, p. 131. PART SECOND. PART SECOND. AN EXPOSITION OF THE FIRST THEEE CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. PREFATORY OBSERVATIONS. Released from the consideration of wearisome controversies and disputations regarding* the authority to be conceded to this portion of Scripture, and the sense in whicli it is to be understood, the examination of the record itself can now be approached, with, it is believed, considerable advantages de- rived from that discussion. Not the least of these is a greatly deepened conviction of the strength and stability of the basis of revelation furnished by the opening chapters of Genesis — a conviction similar to that of the Psalmist when he declared, " Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever." This was particularly felt in considering the strong contrast presented by the immutability of the Record itself, and the absence of all doubt or misgiving on the part of its writer, when compared with the transitory character of human expositions, as well of natural phenomena as revealed truths, and the unnecessary fears of the friends of the latter when the progress of discovery threatened to clash with their modes of thought. In consonance with the conclusions above arrived at, the following exposition will, it must be observed, have for its object to discover not the mind of erring and ignorant man, but of the infallible Spirit of God. For the right prosecution of so important an inquiry, the preceding disquisition has fur- nished some aids in the way of suggestion and caution, one or two of which it will be well briefly to state, in these prefatoiy Q 242 CREATION AND THE FALL. observations, even at the risk of giving expression only to truths, of some of which the importance is perhaps already generally recognised. If any reflection more than another has been awakened by the conflicting interpretations which came under review, and the fallacious notions entertained regarding various particulars in the history of the Creation and the Fall, it is the necessity of keeping close to the letter of Scripture, and explaining it by the ordinary rules of language — taking care, however, that the result does not contradict the analogy of faith, and also, it must be added, the analogy of nature, both in a physical and moral aspect. While the fundamental principles of exposition should be the strict historico-grammatical, the analogy of faith must by no means be lost sight of, notwithstanding the disparagement with which its application to such a purpose is viewed by many, and the abuse to which, it must be admitted, it is liable. If, as is evinced in the preceding pages, it is one mind, with one object, which pervades the Bible, from Genesis to the Apocalypse, it may be safely presumed that nothing can afibrd better aid than the later and admittedly clearer statements for expounding the earlier and more, obscure. The analogy of nature, as elucidated by the labours of scientific men, will also usefully contribute to the exposition of the Word of God, particularly of such portions of it as relate to other than strictly spiritual truths. With regard to the latter, Scripture is the only source of information ; but for attaining to an acquaintance with the former, the Creator has put within the reach of man other means besides his own unerring revelation. He has spread the book of nature before the eyes of his rational creation, to confirm and illustrate the book of grace. It may therefore be affirmed, that as that interpretation is to be rejected which broadly contradicts an article of faith, so also is that interpretation open to suspicion which is opposed to any properly authenticated finding of science, and it demands, to say the least, a very careful recon- sideration. The Bible, with its truths, eternal and unchange- able as its Great Author himself, has nothing to fear, but much to gain, from the progress of knowledge, particularly that which concerns God's works. It may, without presump- INTRODUCTION TO THE WOUK OF THE SIX DAYS, GEN. I. 1, 2. 243 tion, be affirmed, that the first chapter of Genesis, for instance, would not have been understood to the extent it now is, without the light unintentionally reflected upon it by the studies of the geologist, and the direction thereby given to the scriptural interpreter, still necessarily proceeding with his labours according to strict philological rules. The use of these principles in the way proposed, assumes that the language of Scripture is in itself unambiguous and intelligible, though liable to be misunderstood and perverted by the dulness and prejudices of its readers, and if properly adhered to, will have the eflect of equally avoiding allegorical fancies, superficial literalisms, and all figments of a double sense. The principles themselves can be consistently ques- tioned only by such as deny the inspiration of the Record, or the harmony of all truth. Of course, it is only on the supposi- tion that the whole Bible is the Word of God, and that the universe also is possessed of a reality and truthfulness, that the adjuncts above specified — the analogy of faith and the analogy of nature — can be deemed safe and legitimate auxiliaries in the interpretation of Scripture, and this supposition is at the same time a sufficient vindication of their being so applied. SECT. I. — THE CREATION OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH, GEN. I.-II. 3. § 1. Introduction to the Work of the Six Days, Gen. i. 1, 2. The first section of Genesis narrates the creation of the heavens and the earth, with all their hosts. The doctrine of creation is a fundamental article of religion. It is one, how- ever, on which reason or experience can furnish little or no light ; for creation antedates man, and lies beyond the sphere of his observation. (See Job xxxviii. 4.) To Revelation alone we are indebted for any reliable information on this subject, so that it is " through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God," (Ileb. xi. 3.) God's revela- tion of himself to man, accordingly, opens with the announce- ment, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. These simple but majestic words disclose, on the highest 244 CREATION AND THE FALL. authority, matters of the utmost importance to man as a moral being, and as the creature of God ; for that it is in a moral and religious, and not in a physical aspect, they are to be viewed, is evident from the place which they thus occupy. This authoritative declaration puts the plainest reader of Scripture in possession of truths but dimly apprehended by the wisest of the heathen philosophers, notwithstanding the anxiety with which tliey inquired into such things. It is of importance, however, to notice as well the particulars on which this first sentence of the Bible gives no information, as those on which it furnishes definite and distinct statements. Thus, on the question of time, or the date of the production here described, there is no intimation. The expression, in the beginning, fixes nothing as to the antiquity of the creation : it merely asserts that the Creator, at some point or period in the flow of past duration, called into being things which previously had no existence. As this position has been already somewhat discussed in the former part of this volume, it is unnecessary to enlarge upon it farther in this place, particularly as it is now very generally conceded. The same silence is observed also with respect to the mode of creation, and many other questions on which curiosity may desire information, or science be able to throw light. The opening announcement of Genesis teaches, simply and distinctly, — 1. That the v/orld is not eternal, either as to matter or form. By the exclusion of eternal matter, the Scripture doctrine of creation is distinguished from all the forms of heathenism ; as it is also, 2. By the other truth, that the world is not the product of accident or necessity, but owes its origin to the will of an intelligent, free, and almighty Agent — Elohim, the Supreme God, who, as the succeeding narrative repeatedly intimates, called all things into being by the " word" of his power ; or as it is elsewhere described, " He spake, and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast,'' (Psalm xxxiii, 9.) 3. That the act of creation at the beginning comprehended the heavens and the earth ; or, according to the etymology of the terms, " the high (the heights) and the low," the usual Hebrew periphrasis for the xmiverse, for which the language had no single word. For the illustration of these and other particulars comprised in this verse, the reader is referred to INTRODUCTION TO THE WOKK OF THE SIX DAYS, GEN. I. 1, 2. 245 various observations in the preceding sections, particularly for the meaning of the word rendered created, and of the Divine name Elohim, which is exclusively used in the first section of Genesis. With regard to creation, it was fully shewn that the whole weight of Scripture evidence bears out the interjjreta- tion, that the first sentence of Genesis teaches the origination of matter — the elementary bodies of the chemist ; but it is to be added, it farther teaches, that the matter so created was distributed into distinct masses throughout space, to form the nucleus of worlds and systems. But what is the relation of the first verse to the narrative at the head of which it stands ? Is it to be viewed as occupying a place apart — a first general announcement or title, and so a summary of the chapter, or as the first creating act in the series ? It is not easy to determine which of these alternatives is to be chosen. Much may be said on both sides of the ques- tion, the decision of which, though apparently of little moment, yet in reality greatly affects the view which expositors take of the whole narrative. The first is the opinion most generally entertained by such as would reconcile Genesis and geology. The grounds on which it is urged are, (1.) That general state- ments of this kind are of frequent occurrence in Scripture, as, for example, in this very histor}', (Gen. i. 27, compared with ii. 7, 18 ;) and (2.) That in the course of the narrative the creation of the heavens (verse 8) and of the earth (verse 10) is particularly mentioned, — a circumstance which, it is thought, proves that these names were not applied to the product of the first creative act. On the other hand, this view is pro- nounced to be in direct opposition to the context, which clearly indicates a continuity in the discourse. Verse 2 begins. And the earth, &c. ; and this, according to the preceding view, is the beginning of the narrative ; but no history can begin with the Hebrew vav, whether taken in the sense of hit or and. Exod. i. 1, to which reference is sometimes made, is not an exception ; for this is not a beginning, but a continuation of the historv' of Genesis. Farther, taking verse 1 to be merely a title or summary of contents, the first object presented to view is the earth in a state of desolation and emjitiness, (verse 2,) which would readily induce belief in an eternal chaos — a notion utterly opposed to the whole tenor of the Bible ; 246 CREATION AND THE FALL. but which is effectually excluded when this chaos, whatever may have been its character and duration, is seen to be bounded by the first creative act in verse 1, an operation not limited to the mere creation of matter, but continued until matter assumed forms which, although not finished, might yet be properly designated as " the heavens and the earth." This is distinctly stated as regards the " earth," which is so called when in the condition described in verse 2 ; a circumstance which completely sets aside the assumption, that the names heaven and earth are applicable only to a more advanced state of things. Without dwelling on other considerations favourable to tlie view which preserves the continuity of the account of the creation from the origination of " the heavens and the earth" down to the period when they were declared to be finished, it is of more consequence to observe, that no special necessity calls for the separation, and no real difiiculty is removed even when it is assumed. It is thus evident, that the first verse cannot be so well taken for a title, as an introduction to the six days' work, and which, with the reserve characteristic of Scripture as a revela- tion of moral and not of physical truths, silently conducts the reader to a period when the state of the earth was as described in verse 2: And the earth was without fo7'ni, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. In the announcement of the previous verse the heavens were included, but here the description is limited to the earth, as the part of the universe destined to form the residence of man, with whom, and with whose history and wants, the Scriptures have directly to do. The earth is described as inbi inn, empti- ness and vacuity ; Kevcofxa Kat ovhev, Aquila ; icevov kul ovSev, Theodotion ; inanis et vacua, Vulg. ; the synonymes being combined, as is frequently the case in Hebrew, to give inten- sity to the idea. The same combination as here is used by Jeremiah (chap. iv. 23) to set forth the completeness of his country's desolation through the Babylonian invasion : — " I saw the land, And behold ! it was loaste and empl;/ : And the heavens, and they had no li;,h(, I saw the mountains, INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK OF THE SIX DAYS, GEN. I. 1, 2. 247 And behold ! tiicy trembled, And all the hills shook vehemently. I saw, and behold ! there was no man. And all the birds of the air had fled. I saw, and behold ! the fruitful land had been turned into the desert. And all its cities were broken down, Before Jehovah, before the fury of Ills anger." — Henderson's Translation. This description is quoted as a poetical amplification of the idea expressed in Gen. i. 2. " All is represented," says Hen- derson, " as one complete scene of solitude and desolation, no vestige of the human or of the feathered creation is to be seen." The picture of the primeval dreariness and desolation is farther deej^ened by the intimation, darkness was upon the face of the deep. This is not the darkness which was afterwards so far subdued and bounded by the light, as to be called nighty (verse 5 ;) but the primeval darkness into which no ray of light had ever penetrated. It lay upon the face or surface of the deep ; that is, the vast collection or mass of waters in which the earth was also enveloped — covered as with a gar- ment, (Psalm civ. 6.) The name ninn (from Din, to perturb) is frequently applied to the sea, because of its tossing and roar- ing, (see Psalm xlii. 8 ;) but here it denotes the dark chaotic waters of the universal ocean. The rendering of the LXX. (a/Jucrcro?) corresponds to the Hebrew, as Tuch remarks, neither in etymology nor in sense ; so that there is no room for com- parison with the cosmological notions of the Greeks regarding the abyss. The state of the earth, as here described, was one from which all life was absent ; even the first conditions of life were wanting. An important question, however, arises — Is this a description of the earth in its original state, or at an after period in its history, when, through some such convulsion as geology indicates, disorder and death succeeded a former state of order and life ? Many adopt the latter supposition, and maintain that the terms descriptive of the desolation are elsewhere applied to devastations of previously fertile and populous regions, (Job xxxiv. 1 1 ; Jer. iv. 23 ;) and are such as a " Hebrew writer would naturally use to express the wreck and ruins of a former world, if such a one were supposed to have existed." — (Bush.) This may be true, but, in the absence 248 CREATION AND THE FALL. of all evidence, the supposition of an earlier world is not to be admitted, or a reference to it by the writer of Genesis. But it is urged, that such a rude chaotic mass ill accords with the character of the productions of God, of which it is said, " He formed the earth, and made it ; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, or desolate" (Isa. xlv. 18.) According to Bush, " the action denoted by the word created did not result in the state denoted by the word desolate, but the reverse : ' He formed it to be inhabited.'" This argument proceeds on an entire misapprehension. The chaotic state of the earth is in no respect at variance with the most correct conceptions of a work of God, not intended to be perfected instantaneously, but through successive stages. The Almighty, had He pleased, could have at once perfected and peopled the universe, but, in his infinite wisdom, He adopted another mode of operation, and one which necessarily entailed imperfection and incompleteness more or less on all the progressive steps of the process. But it i's unnecessary to argue the matter ; for the rendering, '' the earth hecarne," &c., is totally inadmissible : this would have required y-j^n ^nm, instead of nn;n ynxni ; and farther, to prevent ambiguity, the preposition h would have been probably conjoined with the verb. This removes all ground for the opinion, that it is not the original but a sub- sequent state of the earth that is described ; and so all room for the strange views of Baumgarten, Kurtz, and others, who, following the reveries of Jacob Bohme, ascribe this chaotic state to the fall of the angels. The duration of this chaotic condition cannot be determined from anything expressed or implied in the narrative, which is equally silent respecting any natural processes which may have been going on in the interval ; but that it was a short period, or one of inactivity, there is no reason to conclude from anything known from Nature or Revelation of the opera- tions of God. There was a pledge, however, in the character of the Creator, that this state of matters should not always bo — an assurance extending also to His higher operations, that Ho will perform the good work hegnn, (Phil. i. 6.) In the universal darkness and desolation which prevailed, one omen appeared of a coming change : The Spii-it of God moved upon the face of the waters. To take d-hSn nn for a strong wind, as INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK OF THE SIX DAYS, GEN. I. 1, 2. 249 is done by Datlie, Vater, and Schumann, after Onkelos, Saadias, Aben Ezra, and other Jewish expositors, is an interpretation of which Calvin well remarks : — " Adeo frigidum est ut refuta- tione nulla indigeat." The Hebrew can be undoubtedly ren- dered wind as well as sjnrit, but how can it signify wind, in the present connexion, before the atmosphere was created ? It is, moreover, an entire mistake to assume, that here, and in similar cases, the addition of the Divine name is designed to give intensity to the idea, or supply the place of a superlative in Hebrew. Besides, the expression riDn-ip, which is the parti- ciple Piel of pin-i, to flutter or hover, as a bird over her young, (Deut. xxxii. 11,) is not at all applicable to the character or action of the wind. While for these, and other reasons, the idea of wind is excluded, it is yet doubtful whether the allu- sion be to the Holy Spirit as a personal distinction in the Godhead, or merely to the Divine power and energy in general, as the source of life, from which creation draws its renovating powers, and without which all flesh withers, and all life returns to dust. (Job xxxiv. 14 ; Psalm civ. 29, SO.) But the differ- ence may be more a matter of words than a reality ; for although in the Old Testament the Spirit's personality is but dimly indicated, and his operations referred to more in a physical than in a moral aspect, yet the acts predicated of the Holy Spirit by the New Testament, warrant the conclusion that it was this Divine Agent who operated through all the dispensations, communicating light, order, and life to the dark chaotic mass, and cherishing the vital spark He first enkindled : his office in connexion with the old creation being thus analo- gous with the part he acts in the new and spiritual economy. In the words of Dr. Owen : " Without him all was a dead sea, a confused deep, with darkness upon it, able to bring forth nothing, nor more prepared to bring forth any one thing than another; but by the moving of the Spirit of God upon it, the principles of all those kinds, sorts, and forms of things, which, in an inconceivable variety, make up its host and ornament, were communicated unto it."^ * A Discourse couccruiDg the Holy Spirit. — Works, iii. 98. 250 CREATION AND THE FALL. § 2. The First Day of Creation, Gen. i. 3-5. Tliere is some difficulty in determining where the operations of the first day may be said to begin ; whether with the origi- nating act described in verse 1, or with the creation of the light announced in verse 3. The statement of Exod. xx. 11, " In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is," favours, if anything, the first view. But the consideration that the works of the other days uniformly begin with the formula, And God said, strongly countenances the supposition that the work of the first day begins at verse 3, where the same expression is used, " And God said, Let there be light." But however this may be, in due time the voice of the Almighty broke in upon the dark void — Be light — words which, taken in connexion with the equally short and simple terms in which the fulfilment of the Divine command is nar- rated, have ever been adduced as one of the finest exam])les of the sublime. Of far more interest, however, than anything connected with rhetorical forms, is the fact here announced, and to which frequent reference is made in the subsequent Scriptures. By this act of creation, the psalmist describes God as covering himself in light like to a garment, (Psalm civ. 2 ;) and an apostle founds on it a parallel between creation and regeneration : " God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." The terms God said, which introduce this and the sub- sequent acts and epochs of creation, are usually considered as only an anthropology. It would, however, be more correct to recognise in the expression the germ of the doctrine of the Divine Word, traces of which may be found in several passages of the Old Testament, but the full development of which was reserved to the prologue of John's Gospel, between which and the opening of the history of creation in Genesis there is a strong analogy. The whole form and expression of the Old Testament revelation was that of the word of God ; and as here, " God said, Let there be light," so spoken commands, THE FIRST DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. 3-5. 251 openly or in vision, were tlie communications of God to man. It is the Word in the law — the Word in the prophets — the Word in the gospel ; in short, the Word in all God's dealings with his people. (See Isa. xl. 8 ; Iv. 10, 11 ; Jer. xxiii. 29.) Verse 4, And God saw the light, that it was good. God sees and judges of things as they really are. In the other eases, it is more the state or condition induced by the creating word that meets the Divine approbation ; but here it is the object created that is good : perhaps as the one object in nature which forms the fittest representation of the Creator himself, who is light, and in whom there is no darkness at all, (1 John i. 5 ;) and of the true light, which lighteth every man, (John i. 9.) This complacency of the Creator, or rejoicing in his works, (Psalm civ. 81,) intimates not merely that the work was good, or answered the intended purpose, and was thus indicative of wisdom and power, but more particularly that the Creator is not a cold, unimpassioned abstraction, but a Being moved and affected by the contemplation of the beauti- ful and the good. This relation of Creator and creature fur- nishes a strong plea in the prayer of faith : " 0 Lord, forsake not the works of thine own hands," (Psalm cxxxviii. 8.) And God separated between the light and between the dark- ness, j'3V|'3, between and between, a common Hebrew construc- tion with verbs of separating, judging, or estimating, between two opposite persons or things. The sense is given coiTectly in the English version, " God divided the light from the dark- ness." But it is not so easy to understand in what this particular operation consisted. It must mean more than dis- tinguished between light and darkness ; for that was effected by the creation of light — an element in itself the direct oppo- site of darkness. Nor can it mean that now the light was separated from the gross medium in which it had been pre- viously bound up ; for that this had been sufficiently accom- plished in the act of creation is evident from the Divine satisfaction already expressed. The division now introduced must refer to the succession of light and darkness, and the arrangements made for causing and continuing it. The alter- nation of light and darkness depends at present, as is well known, on the relation of the earth to the sun ; but there is no means of determining on what it depended previous to the 252 CREATION AND THE FALL. period when the sun was constituted the light or luminary of its dependent planets, (verses 14, 16.) It is necessary to notice the distinction made in Hebrew, and particularly in this nar- rative, between light in itself, and the bodies into which it is collected, or from which it is emitted — -nx, light, and iin'ci, the place of light, the luminary; and farther, the early date assigned to the creation of light, three days or epochs, before the illumination of the heavenly orbs. This latter circumstance had been long pointed to by the enemies of revelation as unmistakable evidence of entire ignorance of nature aijd its laws. It is now found, however, that the ignorance was on the part of the objectors, and not of the Author of the narrative of Creation. Modern science has fully substantiated this, though it has lacked the power of placing the subject in a better position than it was left by Moses thousands of years ago. The question is still as un- answerable as when proposed in the time of Job, — " Where is the way where light dwelleth ? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof, that thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?" After all the vast discoveries of science, who knows what light is — what supplies it, jor prevents it from being- exhausted ? The philosopher has been able to measure its flight, and investigate its action upon matter in the various phenomena of transmission, reflection, refraction, colour, polari- zation, and vision ; but no theory hitherto devised is sufiicient to explain its nature and account for all its phenomena. It is found, however, that from whatever source light is procured — whether from chemical action, electrical, calorific, or vital excitation — sources independent of the solar rays — it is the same in character, and difiiers only in intensity. Light and darkness being divided, and bounds set to the extent and duration of each, the next thing needed to be recorded was, verse 5, God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. The two periods of time constituted by the arrangement already intimated, are to be distinguished by the names day and night : h k-ij:, acclamare alicui, or more fully with ntif, a name. Gen. ii. 20, xxvi. 18 ; therefore ^o name, verses 8, 10, chap. xxxi. 47. But as man did not yet exist, to whom these names could have any significance, and as God does not THE FIRST DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. 3-5. 253 require articulate sounds to express his will or designate his works, the occurrence of these names is not a little remark- able. Bush would explain it thus : — " For the most part by God's ' calling' a thing by a particular name, is meant rather a declaration of the natui'e, character, or qualities of the thing named, than the mere bestowment of an appellation by which it should ordinarily be known. In the present case, therefore, it is probably to be understood that there was something in the import of the word nv, day, which rendered it a peculiarly appropriate term by which to express the diurnal continuance of light, and one that He would have to be employed by men for this purpose when they should be created, and should begin to express their thoughts by language." Allowing the appropriateness of the term for the object to be designated, the conferring of names in the present instance, as well as in the other cases mentioned in this chapter, rests on a deeper foun- dation than is thus supposed : it may have been intended rather to convey the idea of God's sovereignty and absolute control over all the parts of nature, its ordinances and arrange- ments ; just as afterwards, in token of man's delegated rule in the lower creation, he was directed by the Creator and Owner of all, to give names to the animals around him, (Gen. ii. 19, 20.) The idea may be then that expressed by the Psalmist in his address to God, — " The day is thine, the night also is thine : thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth : thou hast made summer and winter." And in reference to the naming of the heavens, the earth, and the seas, (verses 8-10,) it may be that it is said, — " Thou rulest the raging of the sea : when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine ; as for the world, and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them," (Ps. Ixxiv. 16, 17; Ixxxix. 9, 11.) But there may have been a special propriety in bestowing a name on the darkness, and so declaring the Creator's relation to it ; and this in order to preclude the idea of the darkness being a defect in the creation — something which the Almighty could not remedy — and also the supposition of any independent, opposing power in the universe. " I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness : I make peace and create evil : I the Lord do all these things," (Isa. xlv. 6, 7.) 254 CREATION AND THE FALL. And the evening and the morning were the first day : but literally, It was evening, it was morning, one day. There are two mistakes frequently committed in interpreting this expres- sion. The one is by maintaining that the evening is men- tioned first, because darkness preceded the light, and was that out of which it emerged. But this is the idea conveyed by morning, 1|'d> properly the breaking of the early dawn, or as in English, " the break of day/' On the contrary, evening (a-ip) was so called from the setting or departing of the light or the sun, which thus presupposes the priority of light or day of Avhich this is the close. The other and more important error is the assumption that the above expression is equivalent to the later Hebrew compound, ij^a anr, evening — morning, (Dan. viii. 14,) or the Greek vv)^riixepov, (2 Cor. xi. 25 ;) and as such denotes a whole day, as made up of evening and morning. But for this there is no evidence. In the first place, expositors are not agreed as to the meaning of the term used in Daniel ; and it is only on the supposition that the evening and the mmming of tlie narrative of the creation constitute a day, and that this, too, is the origin of the phraseology in the other case, that it has been concluded that it there signifies a civil day. Even were it shown on independent grounds, that the expression in Daniel is to be taken in the sense supposed, still there would have been wanting evidence to connect it with the entirely dissimi- lar construction in the history of the creation. Here there is no reference to time or duration at all, as made up of civil days. It was evening, simply intimates that in accordance with the Divine ordination previously mentioned, the time marked by the prevalence of light drew to a close ; evening and night settled down upon the scene ; or, more definitely, that the particular period during which the omnific word directly operated came to an end, leaving it undetermined whether that period comprised one or more, few or many alternations of the natural light and darkness. It ivas morn- ing— the darkness was again dissipated by a new dawn — the opening of a new day of creating activity. In regard to the duration neither of the day nor of the night is the slightest intimation given, for as yet there was no index to the great Jiorologe of nature. But, besides, these were strictly God's days. Man's days are only a derivation and symbol of the THE SECOND DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. 6-8, 255 archetypal days of creation : the only thing which at all bears comparison with them is the day, or appointed course of Christ's working on earth, of which he himself said, " I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day : the night Cometh when no man can work," (John ix. 4.) The fact of the succession is the only one determined, for no sun, moon, or stars, shone down upon the earth still desolate, but sub- jected to influences which must greatly modify this state of things, and which were only waiting the Divine appliance to introduce order and the most diversified forms of life in the succession and at the intervals which should approve them- selves to Infinite Wisdom. § 3. The Second Day of Creation, Gen. i. 6-8. After the subjugation of the darkness on the first day by the creation of light and the division of time into day and night, the next step in the work of preparing and perfecting the earth, according to the Divine plan, was the subjugation of the waters in which it was still enveloped. This was partially done on the second day by the interposition of the firmament between the waters. The waters had been previously mentioned in con- nexion with the primeval darkness as covering the earth, while masses of watery vapour must doubtless have formed another envelope. Ver. 6. And God said, Let there he a firmament in the midst of the watei'S, r'pn, (from the root ppj,) an expansion, a term used of anything stretched or spread out ; here, and in Ps. xix. 2 ; cl. i. ; Dan. xii. 3, the expanse of heaven or the sky ; and in Ezek. i. 22-26 ; x. 1, a canopy. The verb means pri- marily to stamp, to extend, or spread out by stamping, and then simply to spread out, as Ps. cxxxvi. 6, " God stretched out the earth above the waters." (See also Isa. xlii. 5 ; xliv. 24.) The idea of any thing _^rwi or solid, as expressed in the versions of the LXX., Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus, by arepecofMa, and of the Vulg. by firmamentum, whence the English firmament, does not necessarily belong to the Hebrew, and there is nothing to countenance the notion sometimes ascribed to the sacred writers, that " they supposed that at a moderate distance above the fliglit of birds there was a solid concave hemisphere, a kind 256 CREATION AND THE FALL. of dome, transparent, in which the stars were fixed as lamps ; and containing openings to be used or closed as was necessary/'^ The sacred writers describe the things of the natural world ac- cording to their appearances, and often employ, no doubt, bold and highly poetical figures, as when speaking of the sky as" a molten mirror" borne up by the high mountains, called, there- fore, the foundations and pillars of heaven, (Job xxxvii. 18; xxvii, 11 ; 2 Sam. xxii. 8 ;) but these are nothing more than figures, and are not to be construed as supposed realities ; for if, in the present instance, it be said that the firmament bears up the waters, it is also said, " He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them," (Job xxvi. 8.) The firmament, or expanse, was placed in the midst of the waters, or rather between the waters, for the purpose of form- ing and preserving a separation between them ; " let it divide," or form a continuous division, ^'-lan 'n>i — the pai'ticiple with n;ri exipresscs continua7ice, (comp. Gen. iv. 17; xxxvii. 28,) "be- tween waters in respect to waters." The construction, h — ]'3, is a rarer form than y2^ • "]% already noticed, but the sense is the same, (see Isa. lix. 2.) Verse 7 records the complete realization of the Divine pur- pose : And God made the expanse, and divided the waters which are under the expanse from the waters tvhich are above the ex- panse ; and it was so. What the Divine will purposed, the Divine power performed. The last clause, "and it was so,"' is added to show the complete accord between the work and the conception of it in the Creative mind, and also to declare the permanence of the arrangement here introduced. Verse 8. And God called the expanse Heaven. It was even- ing, it was morning, the second day. The word heaven, as already remarked, denotes in Hebrew the higher regions in general ; but distinguished by degrees, as in the expression, the heaven of heavens, or thehigliest heavens, (Ps, cxlviii. 4,) and a lower degree in the expression, " fowl of the heavens," or as in the English version, "fowl of the air," (Gen. i. 26.) It is in this latter sense heaven is evidently here used. The " ex- panse" or " heaven" is the Plebrew designation of the atmos- phere, and the formation of this elastic medium, with all its * Pye Smith, Scripture and Geology, p. 204. THE SECOND DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. 6-8. 257 wonderful properties of collecting, supporting, and transporting Avater in the shape of clouds, Avas the work of the second day. " The waters above the firmament," or " the heavens," (Ps. cxlviii. 4,) are then the watery vapours suspended in the at- mosphere, carried about in the form of clouds, and by conden- sation poured down on the earth as rain. Some recent writers, amongwhom may be mentionedDelitzsch, maintain that by "the waters above the firmament" more is implied than the water suspended in the atmosphere. They consider that they were the material out of which the heavenly bodies were formed on tlie fourth day, and, in support of this view, they appeal to the low specific gravity of some of the planets. But if anything were wanting in disproof of this fan- ciful idea, it would be found in the fact that the Psalmist speaks of those waters as still existing as such, (Ps. cxlviii. 4,) which would have been impossible had they formed the substratum out of which the planetary bodies were constituted. On the passage of the Psalm referred to, Hengstenberg remarks : — " The waters above the heavens can only be, according to the original passage, (Gen. i. 7,) the clouds. Of other heavenly waters Scripture knows nothing. If, therefore, we hold it as certain, that in the first member the highest heavens are men- tioned, in the second the clouds, we must also hold that the parallelism is not a mere synonym, but that the higliest re- gions of heaven and the lowest are set in opposition to each other. The mere heaven as contradistinguished from the highest heaven, can only be the lower heaven." At the close of this day's work the LXX. adds the usual formula of approbation : " And God saw that it was good." But this interpolation is entirely gratuitous. The words are wanting in the original, possibly to intimate that the whole arrangement with respect to the waters was not yet completed, but was to be farther carried out on a subsequent day. In reviewing the operations and results of the first two epochs of creation, the first thought that will probably arise is, how- little has yet been accomplished of the great work ! If so, it may be well to consider that the glorious Being engaged on the work of creation is One who is not limited to time, but has an eternity wherein to operate ; for with Him a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years ; and farther, R 258 . CREATION AND THE FALL. that long preparation characterizes all His works. But again, in the creation of light, and in the investiture of the earth with an atmosphere, principles most powerful and comprehensive were put in operation, and it can only he from ignorance or in- attention to this that the thought originates which would re- gard the results of the first and second days as bearing but a small proportion to the operations of the succeeding days. It is clearly proved, however, from these first acts of creation, that the Author of the universe is a God of order, and that if the stupendous wonders of nature evince almighty power, the or- derly arrangement no less evinces Omniscience on the part of Him by whose will and wisdom all was originated and ordained. From all that is known of light — the production of the first day, of its operations in all the combinations of matter, and of its functions in regard to all that constitutes the life and en- joyment of every form of organized being, we are justly led to consider it as a principle acting a chief part in the grand eco- nomy of nature, so much so that without its influence no world could be inhabited, and no animated being could subsist in the manner it now does. Light is thus the first condition of life. Plants and animals alike proclaim that the continuance of their functions is abso- lutely dependent upon it. But not only life, order also, or inorganic form, is in various ways greatly influenced by this universal agent. In the process of crystallization this is parti- cularly marked. But without entering into details on this vast and inviting subject, totally unsulted to the occasion, it cannot but appear to be in remarkable harmony with all the deduc- tions of science to find that in the biblical scheme the first place is assigned to its creation. But of scarcely less importance, for the existence of organized life on the earth, is the atmosphere — the work of the second day — its various properties so nicely adapted to the exigencies of nature, and its constituent parts so duly proportioned for the sustenance of vegetable and animal life. How many mysteries of science are still unresolved in the single function here ascribed to the atmosphere, of supporting the floating vapour, and keeping in suspense a fluid of greater specific gravity than itself! The formation of clouds, and their con- densation into rain, are still questions to which science has THE THIRD DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. 9-13. 259 not furnished a satisfactory answer ; and the matter is yet as fraught with wonder as when, in the days of Job, it was asked, " Dost thou know tlie balancings of the clouds, the wondrous ■works of him who is perfect in knowledge ?" and when the greatness of God was considered to be manifested in the dis- tillation of the rain-drops : " Behold, God is great, and we know him not ; neither can tlie number of his years be searched out. For lie maketh small the drops of water : they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof, which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly." § 4. The Third Day of Creation, Gen. i. 9-13. The third day witnessed the accomplishment of two other important operations more immediately connected with the surface of the earth. The first was the farther subjugation of the waters, which led to the arrangement into dry land and seas ; and the second was the creation of vegetable life on tlie land thus laid bare from its watery covering. As the work advances it becomes more and more definite, and shews more distinctly the end proposed to himself by the Creator. The relations already established between light and darkness, be- tween day and night, and also between the earth and the atmosphere, the terrestrial waters and the clouds, were the fundamental conditions of all life in the lower creation ; and these being adjusted, arrangements more immediately con- nected with the introduction of life arc now to be proceeded with. Verse 9. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathei-ed together unto one place, and let the dry land aj^pear. The mass of waters which yet covered the surface of the globe is called " the waters under the heaven," in reference to the arrangement introduced on the second day. They are hence- forth to be brought into a narrower compass : vi-m n^:, let the waters gather themselves, nip, cognate with Nsp, (Exod. xv. 8,) signifies primarily to draw together ; Niph., to draw one's-self together, to assemble, (Jer. iii. 17.) From this is derived mpn, in the phrase n;cn nipp, (verse 10,) whicli Tuch takes to mean, " the place of assembling of the waters ;" but the usual ren- 260 CREATION AND THE FALL. dering, in which Gesenius concurs, is, " the collection of waters." The expression, one place, is not to be understood in the strictest sense ; it implies no more than that the waters were to be collected into one vast body, and to occupy an appropriate place by themselves, so as to allow a portion of the earth's surface to be dry. The hollows and depths into which the waters by their natural gravitation sunk, in accordance with this arrangement, are elsewhere described as " a place founded for them," (Psalm civ. 8 ;) but of the convulsions and upheavals which prepared it, the narrative of Genesis takes no notice, though distinctly referred to in the psalmist's account of the creation. Let the dry land appear ; na'aj-n, similar to the Greek 77 '^vpd, is that which is habitually or usually dry, applied to the land as opposed to the sea. nsnn is to be taken as jussive, compare Gen. xli. 34. The full realization of the Divine purpose is recorded in the simple announcement, And it tuas so ; without, as in the other cases, the repetition in another form of the creative command. Verse 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas : and God saw that it was good. The expression of the Creator's approval, which was wanting at the close of the second day's work, is liere inserted, in attestation that the arrangements whicli regarded the waters were now completed. The same expres- sion is repeated in reference to the second great act of this day, (verse 12.) To the act of creation which resulted in the separation of the land from the water by giving to the latter its appropriate bounds, there are frequent references in Scripture, furnishing some of its grandest images. Thus God demands of Job: " Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb ? when I made the cloud the gar- ment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it, and brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, and said. Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed ?" Similar allusions occur in Psalm xxxiii. 7, and Prov. viii. 29, but the most striking reference to this transaction of Genesis is found in Psalm civ. 6-9, already adverted to : " Thou oovercdst it (the earth) with the deep as with a o-armcnt : the waters stood above the mountains. At THE THIRD DAY OF CREATION, GEN. J. 9-13. 261 thy rebuke they fled ; at the voice of thy tlmndcr they hasted away. They go up by the mountains ; tliey go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over ; that they turn not again to cover the earth.'' We have now reached that place in the historyof creation which may be considered the starting-point of all scientific investiga- tions ; and which forms the hitherto impassable barrier between the known and the unknown in geology. This science builds all its reliable conclusions, regarding succession' and duration, on that ciystalline floor of the earth termed primary, consist- ing of igneous rocks, beneath which no explorations have been made. But the manner in which Scripture keeps aloof from all theories connected with the processes of formation, is par- ticularly exemplified in the account of the third day's work. To this period must unquestionably be referred the elevation of the mountain ranges, with the endless variety of hill and dale, which diversifies the earth's surface, and the differences of level on which depend the relative distribution of land and water, the flow of fountains and rivers, a healthy state of the atmosphere, and various other essentials to the life and beauty of this lower world. But of all these movements no notice is taken by the sacred historian ; and it is left to the philosopher to discover and describe them as best he may. The psalmist's account of this day's work, above quoted, enters somewhat into details, and makes mention of the mountains ; but ex- positors are not agreed whether the allusion be merely to the fact of their existence, or to their origination. Hengstenberg, and after him Kurtz, maintain that the language of verse 8 cannot refer to the origin of the mountains, as, according to verse 6, they were already in existence. But Rosenmiiller, De Wette, Ewald, and others, render verse 8 as in the margin of the English Version, " the mountains rise, the valleys sink ;" or, as Delitzsch proposes, " the mountains rise, the waters sink into the valleys, to the place," &c. This gets rid of the objection, that in verse 7, as well as in verse 9, the Avater is the principal subject. Utterly unwarranted is Hengstenberg's farther remark : " The mountains existed also, according to Gen. i., before the work of the six days. To the third day be- longed only the appearing of the dry land, not its formation : 262 CKEATION AND THE FALL. the work of that day consisted only in this, that, as at tlie deluge, the waters retired from the earth, ' the dry land ap- peared.'" On the contrary, the work of the six days included, as already stated, the formation of the earth itself, and there- fore the formation of its mountains. But whether the language of the psalm refers to the exist- ence of the mountains, or, as is more probable, to their origin, as they might be seen emerging from the waters, it cannot in any case be adduced, as is done by A. Wagner,^ as an argument in favour of one geological theory rather than another. It describes the effects, not the cause — the appearing of the mountain ranges, and not the physical agency to which the phenomenon was due. But that the separation of the dry land from the super- incumbent waters was effected through the instrumentality of means and long-continued processes, there is no reason to doubt. For information, however, upon this point, recourse must be had to another quarter than Scripture. The appear- ances presented by the shattered and upheaved crust of the earth indicate the operation of mighty and long-continued forces, producing convulsions, it has been said, " of such ter- rible potency, that those of the historic ages would be mere ripples of its surface in comparison." Through the mighty agency which the Creator set in motion on the third day, the mountain tops, bare rocky points, probably first emerged from the deep ; islands and continents were gradually formed as the dry land was elevated above the oceanic level. With the distribution and adjustment of the dry land and water, the inorganic terrestrial arrangements were completed, and all was ready for the reception of organic life. There was light, an atmosphere, dry land, and a wonderful combination of means for distilling and distributing fresh water, all which were essential to the existence of a terrestrial flora and fauna ; and it is a matter of some importance to consider where, and in what form, life is represented to have commenced. Owing to lack of evidence, easily explicable from the nature of the case, science refuses to pronounce a decided judgment regard- ing the first of organized forms. But various considerations preponderate in favour of the precedence of vegetable life. ^ Gescliirlito (lev T^rw.-lt, p. 481. THE THIRD DAV OF CREATION, GEN. I. 9-13. 263 The known dependence, directly or indirectly, as regards food, of the animal on the vegetable kingdom, is a particularly strong testimony to the conclusion, that vegetable life was the first summoned into existence, but whether in the ocean or on the earth cannot be determined. It is, moreover, to be re- marked, that the biblical record makes no mention of the marine flora. Verse 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth : and it was so. No sooner is the earth relieved from its load of waters, than the creative energy is displayed in clothing it with a living robe of verdure, composed of the beautiful and endlessly diversified productions of the vegetable kingdom. And as progressive development in general characterizes this history, so in par- ticular this portion of it. Three orders of vegetable produc- tions are here enumerated, the characteristic distinctions of which are carefully attended to in the Hebrew writings, although not to be regarded as precise scientific definitions : — 1. Hvn, from which is derived the verb N^tr^n, also occurring here, to put forth young grass, is in general, young grass, tender herbage, 2 Sam. xxiii. 4, which appears when the old grass (•Txn) has departed, Prov. xxvii. 25, adorns the meadows, Ps. xxiii. 2, and furnishes pasture. Job vi. 5. It signifies, in particular, the smaller perennial herbs, which, according to the opinion of the ancients, were produced without seed, avTOfxarot. 2. 2&r> (comp. Prov. xxvii. 25) is distinguished by the charac- teristic of " yielding seed,'' as a higher order ; assigned to man for food. Gen. i. 29, and evidently including the produc- tions of agriculture, chap. iii. 18, and as such distinguished from Tsn, the food of cattle, Ps. civ. 14. Sometimes, however, the term is used in a wider sense of the smaller vegetable productions in general, Gen. i. 80. 3. ns y», fruit tree in the widest sense — comprehending not merely " fruit trees" pro- perly so called, but all that produce seed-fi'uit. The advance is plain from the grass and the herbage to the tree which yields, literally makes fruit, 'le-nb-r, a common Hebrew idiom, which is imitated in the New Testament expression, Kapirov iroielv. So also the tree is said to make branches, (Job xiv. 9.) The distri- butive iv!?^, according to its kind or species, is to be connected 264 CREATION AND THE FALL. with Xh t'>'^^ •' and ia, in it, refers to ns, fruit ; i.e., whose seed is in its fruit. Verses 12, 13. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after its kind, and the tree yielding fruit luhose seed was in it, after its kind : and God saw that it was good. It was evening, it luas morning, the third day. Naturalists eondude, and with great probability, that the first created of organized substances belonged to the class of plants called cellular, and of which lichens and mosses are familiar examples. These inferior organisms may have supplied the first step towards rendering the bare, desolate rock, a fertile and pro- ductive soil. But however this may be, before the close of the third day of creation, the earth, in obedience to the Divine command, had brought forth the various kinds of vegetable productions above represented, from the humblest creeper to the stately tree, and with full provision for the perpetuation of their respective si^ecies. How fully this command was carried out, how abundant and luxurious were the productions of that early period, there are ample means of showing in the fossil flora. To quote the graphic description of a highly competent authority : — " In the first, or Palaeozoic division, we find corals, crustaceans, molluscs, fishes, and, in its later formations, a few reptiles. But none of these classes of organisms give its leading character to the Palaeozoic, they do not constitute its prominent feature, or render it more remarkable as a scene of life than any of the divisions which followed. That which chiefly distinguished the Palaeozoic from the secondary and tertiary periods, was its gorgeous flora. It was emphatically the period of plants, — ' of herbs yielding seed after their kind.' In no other age did the world ever witness such a flora ; the youth of the earth was peculiarly a green and umbrageous youth — a youth of dusk and tangled forests, of huge pines and stately araucarians, of the reed-like calamite, the tall tree- fern, the sculptured sigillaria, and the hirsute lepidodendron. Wherever dry land, or shallow lake, or running stream appear- ed, from where Melville Island now spreads out its ice-wastes, under the star of the Pole, to where the arid plains of Aus- tralia lie solitary, beneath the bright cross of the south, a rank and luxuriant herbage cumbered every foot-breadth of the dank and steaming soil ; and even to distant planets our- earth THE THIRD DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. 9-13. 265 must have shone through the enveloping cloud with a green and delicate ray The geologic evidence is so complete as to be patent to all, that the first great period of organized being was, as described in the Mosaic record, peculiarly a period of herbs and trees, ' yielding seed after their kind/"^ The system of rocks, termed by geologists the carboniferous, constitutes a remarkable group, consisting of a series of deposits of great extent, and of which the coal occupies a thickness on an average of one hundred and fifty feet. Coal is proved to be of vegetable origin, whether examined by the microscope, or submitted to chemical tests. Whatever differ- ences may exist among the learned on such subjects, regarding the mode of deposit, there can be none respecting the endless multitude of plants which must have gone to the formation, or which must have lived and died in various localities during the deposition of the strata in which they have been stored up by Divine Providence for the service of man. The two works which occupied the third day, though in themselves entirely distinct, are yet closely connected. This is shown in the fact, that, as at the Creation, so it continues to be the case still, no sooner is any rocky islet laid bare than the powers of nature, in accordance with the principle originally established, are at work to form a soil and to effect the other necessary preparations for the abode of life. It is unnecessary to do more than simply advert to the recent and popular doctrine of centres of creation, whether in regard to the origin of plants or of animals, as on the sup- position either of its truth or falsity, it in nowise affects or interferes with anything contained in this narrative, where, with the single exception of man, no intimation is given as to what numbers, or in what localities, the original types of life were summoned into existence. As noticed already, more than once, the absence, too, of such intimations is a distin- guishing characteristic of Scripture, and one which incontes- tably proves it not to have proceeded from man, who could not fail, from ignorance or inadvertence, to introduce some of his own speculations and theories, which that subtle searcher, time, would assuredly pronounce to be utterly unfounded. ' Miller, The Two Eecords, pp. 20, 21. 266 CREATION AND THE FALL. § o. The Fourth Day of Creation, Gen. i. 14-19. The works of the last three days of Creation form a re- markable parallel with those of the first three, which were occupied with the production of light, the arrangement of the atmosphere, and of the terrestrial waters, and the covering of the earth's surface with vegetable life. The works of the three remaining days consist in farther perfecting these ar- rangements. The fourth day is occupied with regulating the light created on the first day — collecting it into the heavenly orbs which are henceforth to illumine the earth. The fifth day sees the waters and the air replenished with living creatures ; and the sixth witnesses the introduction of the terrestrial animals, including man, the head of the family, on the earth, on the third day laid bare from the waters and stored with vegetable life. The arrangement instituted with regard to the light on the first day hitherto served all the wants of the earth ; but on the fourth day this was superseded by another arrangement, that which we now witness and enjoy. Verses 14, 15. And God said, Let there he lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night : and let them he for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years. And let them he for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth : and it was so. The purpose to be answered by these lights— nhto, properly where light is, the place of light, (Ps. Ixiv. 16,) ^waTijpe^, as rendered by Aquila and the LXX, and luminaria by the Vul- gate—was, as regarded the earth, threefold :— 1. " To divide between the day and between the night," verse 14, or according to another statement, " between the light and between the darkness," verse 18, and thus to continue the separation formed on tlie first day. 2. To serve as indices of time : signs, seasons, days and years : o'lan d'd^S onrio^i rHh vni. Tliis last clause of verse 14, has been the subject of a variety of interpretations. Some, as Rosenmuller, Gesenius, De Wctte, and Baumgarten, take the first two terms for the grammatical figure hendiadys, and render the clause, " they shall serve for signs for the seasons, and for the days and years ;" or, according to another THE FOURTH DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. 14-19. 267 rendering, adopted by Schumann and Maurer, " for signs of the times, as well of the days as of the years :" while others, again, desirous of avoiding the hendiadys, render it variously : " for signs, and indeed for appointed times, and for days and years," (Yater ;) or " for signs, as well for the times as also for the days and years," (Tuch ;) or more simply, according to the English Version given above, which in this adheres to the old translations, which are also followed by Luther, Calvin, Mercer, Piscator, and Delitzsch, So great a diversity of interpretations demands a careful examination of the terms. The primary signification of n^a, is anything engraved or indented, and then a mark, (Gen. iv. 15; 2 Kings xx. 8;) joined with noio, in the common expression, " signs and won- ders," it means a portent, a sign of warning or instruction, (Isa. viii. 18 ; xx. 3.) It is used in very many senses of a secondary kind ; but it is in one or other of the significations now assigned to it that it is evidently used in the present passage. The heavenly bodies have served as marks to tra- vellers and voyagers, and particularly in ancient times, before the discovery of the mariner's compass, (see Acts xxvii. 20.) But they have chiefly served as marks or signs of important changes and occurrences in the kingdom of Providence. A star conducted the wise men to the cradle of the infant Savi- our ; and the sun, moon, and stars shall by signs presage the second advent of the Son of Man : " There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars ; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity ; the sea and the waves roaring," (Luke xxi. 25.) Farther, the heavenly bodies shall serve for regulating the fixed, set times, (nnpin, from n»;, to indicate, to define, or fix,) periods of longer or sliorter duration, and of which the causes and limits are such as are not entirely dependent on the planetary motions as are the day and the year, but on these, in connexion with other con- ditions, relations, and occurrences. Thus the word is used of seed-time and harvest, the time or period of pregnancy and birth, the time of the migration of birds, and of the Hebrew fasts and festivals, &c. Thus, " He appointed the moon for seasons; the sun knoweth his going down," (Psalm civ. 19.) It was by the moon, in particular, that the time of the passover and other feasts was fixed. Tlie relation of the lieavcnlv 268 CREATION AND THE FALL. bodies to days and years is simple, and needs no farther ex- plication. To the various relations which the heavens sustain to the earth, as regulating the aiFairs of man, and influencing the seasons and vicissitudes around him, reference is made in the question proposed bj the Almighty to Job : " Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven ? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth V (Job xxxviii. 88.) This dominion, what- ever it may be, is as yet but little understood ; and if too much influence was in former times attributed to it, the pro- bability is that too little is ascribed to it now. 3. The third purpose to be served by the celestial luminaries was " to give light upon the earth," and which had previously been supplied by some other arrangement, but of what nature the sacred liistorian has not thought it necessary to say. Verse 16. And God made two great lights ; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the iiight : the stars also. — The two great lights are naturally the sun and the moon — the one absolutely great, the other only relatively so ; but both properly called great, considered only with refer- ence to the quantity of light which they furnish to the earth, the only point of view in which they are here considered. God made them : the verb is n'-^v, made, constituted, or ap- pointed. This by no means necessarily implies that these bodies were created on the present occasion, but only consti- tuted luminaries, — the heavenly lamps, so to speak, previously prepared, were now lighted up. Their creation, in conjunction with the earth, took place " in the beginning," at which period, it may be also presumed, all the planetary motions began. But these revolutions, previous to the fourth day, though per- formed about a common centre, as at present, could not be properly said to be about a sun ; for as yet the great central body had not been made the storehouse of light for its de- pendent system. It may be also supposed that, like the earth itself, the sidereal and planetary bodies were in the interval undergoing a preparation for the various ofiices they were de- signed to serve, in the great economy of nature, and that it was only on the fourth day of creation they were fitted for acting as depositories or dispensers of light. The supposition of a progressive preparation, by consolidation or otherwise, of the cosmical bodies which people the immensity of space, is in THE FOURTH DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. 14-19. 269 strict accordance with astronomical conclusions, apart and in- dependently of the Nebular hypothesis ; and this again confers, at least, a great degree of probability on the other suppositions advanced, whether light be conceived of as centred in the body of the sun, or resident only in its atmosphere. One thing, however, science clearly demonstrates, that lighting and heating by a central sun have no necessary connexion with the system, and may be something superinduced on the original constitution and gravitating arrangements of the universe.^ But, passing over discussions of this kind, nothing shews more clearly the nature and design of this record of creation than the manner in which mention is made of the stars. The innumerable hosts marshalled in the sky, scattered over the immensity of space, nearly all of which, on the shewing of astronomers, are suns, and the centres of systems, and in com- parison to which the earth is in magnitude but as a speck, are summarily disposed of by the remark, " and stars," as if the sole end of their creation had been to gladden the eye of man by their nocturnal sparkling — a proof, at once, exclaims the sceptic, of the erroneous and contracted views of the writer. This might be true had his object been to produce a treatise or dissertation on astronomy ; but keeping in view the pro- fessed aim of the narration, there is not the smallest room for any such insinuation. Verse 17. A7id God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth. — It is solely on account of the relation these heavenly bodies bear to the earth, and of the service they discharge to it, that notice is here taken of them, God set or placed these glorious orbs in the sky — the language being according to the appearance presented. The same term that expresses this arrangement is used in Psalm viii. 1 : " Who hast set thy glory above the heavens," where God is said to have clothed or crowned the heavens with his glory, in that He has set in them the sun, moon, and stars, as proofs of his almighty power and greatness. The place assigned to them, " the firmament of heaven," compared with verse 7, shews how indefinitely these expressions are used in Scrip- ture. •» Whowfll Bridpcsvatci Tit^iII^^, y. 14fi. • 270 CREATION AND THE FALL. Verses 18, 19. And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness : and God saw that it was good. It was evening, it was morning, the fourth day. — The accomplishment of the work of the fourth day is described more in detail, and with greater deviation from the narrative of the Divine purpose regarding it, than is the case with any of the other days. Special notice is taken of the office to be discharged by these luminaries in ruling the day and night respectively, and in separating the light from the darkness. This leads Delitzsch to observe : " The separation of light from darkness is the great end of the whole work of the six days ; and the history of every creature, and all the mystery of the stars, is involved in this, that they serve to divide the light from the darkness. God is Elohim of hosts : the stars are his hosts that he leads to battle against darkness. The stars are involved in the quarrel that is to be decided on the earth in humanity. Eternity will manifest what is meant by the stars being called lights." But however this may be, or whether there be any mystery at all in the matter, the Divine approba- tion seals the work of the fourtli day ; and so permanent and regular have these ordinances and arrangements been ever since the Creator gave to them their constitution and commis- sion, that they are appealed to by himself as illustrations of the stability of the covenant He has entered into with His people. " Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar ; The Lord of hosts is his name : If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever." And again : " Tlius saith the Lord, If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season ; then may also my cove- nant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne ; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers." (Jer. xxxi. 35, 86; xxxiii. 20, 21.) The view taken of the work of the fourth day, which con- siders it as consisting in the concentration in the heavenly orbs of the light created on the first day, is far more agreeable to the text and the whole tenor of the narrative, than that THE FOURTH DAY OF CKEATION, GEN. I. 14-19. 271 which conceives of it as the clearing of the atmosphere and rolling away the clouds that prevented the heavenly bodies from being seen. Science, as already remarked, clearly de- monstrates that there is no necessary connexion between light and the chief source whence it now emanates, contrary to what the present order of things would naturally lead a casual observer to conclude. Now the very fact that Moses mentions the creation of light so long before he refers to the sun, so far from being a proof of ignorance, or of contradiction in his narrative, as is frequently alleged, is evidence rather of his being guided by an influence far superior to his own reasoning or observation. But while scientific investigation has demonstrated that there is no necessary connexion between light and the sun, and that light is the same from whatever source it issues, whether from the glow-worm in the hedge, or from the re- motest nebula in the heavens, the most careful analysis and research have failed to penetrate the mystery in Avhich its nature is shrouded. " We know much of the mysterious influ- ences of this great agent, but we know nothing of the principle itself The solar beam has been tortured through prismatic glasses and natural crystals ; every chemical agent has been tried upon it, every electrical force in the most excited state brought to bear upon its operations, with a view to the dis- covery of the most refined of earthly agencies ; but it has passed through every trial without revealing its secrets, and even the effects which it produces in its path are unexplained problems, still to tax the intellect of man."^ But it may be interesting to observe, that an examination of the visual organs of the earliest animal remains, proves that light, as far as it can thus be traced back in time, was of the same nature and properties as that which is now shed down upon the earth. The eye of the fossil trilobite shows that the mutual relations of light to the eye, and of the eye to light, were the same at the period wlien these crustaceans inhabited the primeval seas, as at this moment ; that the atmosphere did not differ materially from its present condition, and that the waters must have been pure and transparent enough to allow the passage of light. ' Hunt, The Poetry of Science, Lond. 1854, p, 164, 272 CREATION AND THE FALL. It is to be farther noticed, that it was in the period deno- minated the fourth day that the seasons originated, which are so intimately connected with the present constitution of the earth, and particularly as regards vegetable and animal exist- ence. An examination of the earliest history of the earth recorded in the fossiliferous strata, shows that at that primeval period the earth's temperature must have been much higher and more uniform than at present ; that tropical vegetation, and consequently tropical heat, prevailed within what are now the temperate and even the arctic zones. It is not at all improbable that mighty changes may in this respect have been introduced through the arrangement of the heavenly bodies on the fourth day. That this high and uniform temperature reached down to a period when the earth was tenanted by living creatures, and consequently, beyond the fourth day of Genesis, does not offer any valid objection to this supposition, will appear, so soon as it is considered that the solar arrange- ment only commenced with the fourth day, and that it may have required for its full adjustment and the complete develop- ment of its effects, not merely that but the succeeding period. This is not without countenance from the observed motions of particular bodies belonging to the solar system — the comets, variations in whose motions and periods of revolution, prove that heavenly bodies revolving round the same sun as our earth, do not necessarily come into existence stamped at once with the laws by which they are to be governed throughout all time to come". But the character and constitution of the seasons are inti- mately connected with, and indeed dependent, in a measure, on the length of the day and of the year — measures of time introduced, we are expressly told, at the same time with the appointment of the seasons. The day, it is well known, is one revolution of the earth upon its axis, and the year is the time employed by the same planet in performing its revolution round the sun, both periods being determined from the ob- servation of the heavenly bodies. It must accordingly be evident that before these bodies came into view, the measures of time denoted by days and years could not have existed ; and hence that when the term day had been previously em- ployed to designate a period of ligld, it must have been entirely indefinite as to its duration. THE FOURTH DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. 14-19. L'73 All observation niav be added on Laplace's objection to the view which ascribes to tlie Creator the purpose of having given the moon to the earth to afford liglit during the night. This, he remarks, cannot have been so intended, for we are often deprived at the same time of the light of the sun and the moon ; and he points out how the moon might have been placed so as to be always full. On this Whewell observes, — " That the light of the moon affords, to a certain extent, a supplement to the light of the sun, will hardly be denied. If we take man in a condition in which he uses artificial light scantily only, or not at all, there can be no doubt that the moonlight nights are for him a very important addition to the time of day-light. And a& a small proportion only of the whole number of nights are without some portion of moonlight, the fact that sometimes both luminaries are invisible very little diminishes the value of this advantage. Why we have not more moonlight, either in duration or in quantity, is an inquiry which a philosopher could hardly be tempted to enter upon, by any success which has attended previous speculations of a similar nature. Why should not the moon be ten times as large as she is ? Why should not the pupil of man's eye be ten times as large as it is, so as to receive more of the light which does arrive ? We do not conceive that our inability to answer the latter question prevents our knowing that the eye was made for seeing : nor does our inability to answer the former disturb our persuasion that the moon was made to give light upon the earth." The same author continues — " Laplace suggests that if the moon had been placed at a certain distance beyond the earth, it would have revolved about the sun in the same time as the earth does, and would have always presented to us a full moon. For this purpose it must have been about four times as far from us as it really is ; and would, therefore, other things remaining unchanged, have only been one sixteenth as large to the eye as our present full moon. We shall not dwell on the discussion of this suggestion, for the reason just intimated. But we may observe that in such a system as Laplace proposes, it is not yet proved, we believe, that the arrangement would be stable, under the influence of the dis- turbing forces. And we may add, that such an arrangement, s 274 CREATION AND THE FALL. Ill which the motion of one body has a co-ordinate reference to two others, as the motion of tlie moon on this hypotliesis would have to the sun and the earth, neither motion being subordinate to the other, is contrary to the Avhole known analogy of cosmical phenomena, and therefore has no claim to our notice as a subject of discussion."^ § 6. The Fifth Day of Creation, Gen. i. 20-23. The course of creation on the fifth day takes an important step in advance. The operations of the preceding days, and esj^ecially the work of the fourth, were arrangements of a most stupendous character, indicative of the highest wisdom and power ; but with the exception of the vegetable creation — the lowest form of life — all had hitherto been confined to the origination and orderly adjustment of inanimate matter. Until the fifth day, there was no life in the higher sense of the term, and no enjoyment on the earth. The forests, which profusely covered the earth, were not yet enlivened by the hum of insect or the song of bird ; no shadow save that of the darkening clouds floated over the woods or fields, no reptile bathed in the shallows, or basked in the sunshine, and no fish sported in the seas or rivers of the primeval earth, before the morning of the fifth day. But behold now, at the creating word, new forms and an entirely new order of beings are ushered in, occupying in the scale of creation, as compared with anything previously summoned into existence, a place higher than the heavens are higher than the earth ! What a mystery is life, even in the mollusc, and how it transcends all that concerns magnitudes and motions, whether on the earth or in the sidereal heavens ! It may not be easy strictly to reconcile these statements with some of the appearances presented to the geologist, and the occurrence of animal life in the Paleozoic rocks ; but there are various considerations which materially diminish the diflS- culty. One is the obscurity which still shrouds the first dawning of life, and the improbability that science has yet detected the place of the protozoic group. Another considera- 1 Wliewcll, Bridscwatcr Treatise, pp. 148, 149. THE FIFTH DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. L'U-2 J. 1^ / i) tion, is the continuity which marks all the works and arrange- ments of nature, not broken off in tJie abrupt manner wliich scientific classification and nomenclature render necessary. It is thus a general resemblance only that can be expected in the two records of creation, and it may remain for farther investi- gation to render it more specific and complete. In the mean- time, however, it is enough to observe, that all accessible evidence concurs in connecting the commencement of animal life with the sea. Verse 20. A?id God said, Let the waters bring forth abund- antly the moving creature that hath life, and let fowl fly above the earth on the face of the firmament of heaven. — As already remarked, the work of the fifth day carries on and completes that of the second, Avhich consisted in the partial adjustment of the waters and the formation of the atmosphere. By the intervening arrangements and operations, these two elements were doubtless prepared for the reception of animal life : the temperature of the waters was sufficiently lowered, probably by the cosmical order introduced on the fourth day, and the atmosphere was sufficiently deprived of its superabundance of carbon, by the profuse vegetation created on the third day, as to render it respirable and capable of supporting life in the animal tribes about to be ushered into existence. The priority of the vegetable to the animal creation was undoubtedly a necessity as regards the supply of food, but also, it is probable, no less essential in this other point of view ; for, so far as can be judged of the atmosphere of the early world, its condition was such as unfitted it for animals possessed of true lungs. Plants may be considered the great laboratories of nature, which convert the inorganic materials of the air and the soil into nourishment for the animal creation, and keep u]) the proper balance of the atmosphere, and render it fit for the processes of respiration. On this nice adjustment, it may be satisfactory to quote the remarks of a distinguished chemist : — " Since we know- that animals consume oxygen, replacing it by carbonic acid, that plants consume carbonic acid, replacing it by oxygen, and that carbonic acid contains its own volume of oxygen, we see that there is a balance between animal and vegetable life, which are mutually dependent, each restoring to the air what the other has removed, and consuming what the other has 276 CREATION AND THE FALL. produced, and thus preserving constant the composition of the air ; each while living- in it rendering it fit for the life of the other. Should any cause suddenly increase the amount of one of them — and some causes, such as volcanic action, and the combustion of fuel in manufactures, &c., do tend to increase that of carbonic acid — the vegetable kingdom instantly seizes on it more luxuriantly, purifies the air, and at the same time produces more food for animals, so that an increase of the food of plants (carbonic acid) causing an increase of vegetation, is followed by an increase of food for animals and of animal life, and thus the balance is kept up between the animal and vegetable worlds by means of oxygen and carbonic acid, the atmosphere being the scene of action." '^ And here, it is worthy of notice, as illustrative of the part performed by the plants of the primeval world in preparing for the entrance of animal life, that it was not until the rank and luxurious vegetation of the early eras gradually gave way, never more to be restored in such profusion and preponderancy, that animals appeared in any considerable numbers. An examination of the fossiliferous strata proves that the tem- perature had so far sunk, or the atmosphere had been so despoiled of its carbon, or other changes had supervened as to give a decided check to the growth of plants, but on the other hand introducing conditions highly favourable to the existence of animals at the period which heard the Creative mandate, ,Tn e'e? y-iB' C);sn iins-'.' — Let the waters swarm with swarms — animated or breathing beings. Animal life thus began in the waters ; for " the rapidly multiplying" or " swarming" creatures now summoned into existence are farther characterized and specified as " a breath of life," that is, an animated being — a term applied to any living creature, including man, (Gen. ii. 7.) In the present case it comprehends all the inhabitants of the waters, from the lowest to the highest forms ; although it is not to be supposed that such were introduced simultaneously. The succeeding clause of the verse in which mention is made of birds, or, more correctly, " winged creatures" in general, the next form of life, is ambiguous. It may be rendered, as in tlie English and many other versions, ancient and modern, " and * riofcssor (ircgorv in Eucyclopredia liritannica, Art, Clioiuistry, vol. vi. p. 4G4. THE FIFTH DAY OF CREATION, GEN, 1. 20-23. 277 fowl that may fly," tlius implying that they vvere produced out of the waters ; or it may with equal propriety be rendered, " let fowl fly," the reference not being to the element from which they were taken, but to that in which they were destined to move. This translation is, however, preferable, as it re- moves any contradiction between the statement here made and the intimation in Gen. ii. 19, that the birds were formed from the ground. The place of the bird's flight, 'jb-^? n^v""^? D;Ds'n r'pn, in the English version, " above the earth in the open firmament of heaven," has been variously understood. The only difficulty is as to the precise idea expressed in the words upon the face, or upon the surface, of the expanse. This, according to Von Bohlen, Baumgarten, and others, means above the firmament ; because, as it is said of the clouds, that they are above the firmament, so it may be said of the birds. Had the construction simply been v^-rhv, this view would have been correct, for certainly the proper meaning of the Hebrew preposition here used is over or above, as in the first clause of the same sentence, above the earth ; but the sense is modified by the introduction of the term surface, and we have to con- sider what is meant by the surface of the firmament. Tuch and Delitzsch take this to be the concave surface of the azure vault, or, optically considered, the side turned towards the earth ; and there can be little difficulty in adopting this as the only correct view, conformable to popular ideas and the apprehensions of mankind. The history farther goes on to narrate liow, at the word of Omnipotence, this purpose was fulfilled ; and how the waters and the air were, in due course, tenanted with living creatures. Of the inhabitants of the water, special mention is made of one class, called in the English version " great whales,'' but which in the original signifies merely " the long-extended creatures." Verse 21. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, ivhich the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged foid after its kind : and God saw that it was good. — Wlien the sacred writer describes the first act which results in life, he has recourse to the verb created, which had not been employed since mention was made of the origination of the universe in the beginning. It 278 CREATION AND THE FALL. is now used in reference to the origin of tlic first living beings, as if to distinguish, in- a marked and peculiar. manner, this act from the operations v/hicli immediately preceded, which had respect only to the adjustment of inanimate matter. The same term is employed in the account of the formation of man, (verse 27.) In the creative command addressed to the waters, all the inhabitants of this element were spoken of collectively : here, however, two classes are particularly speci- lied, — " the great tinninim," and " the living creature that creeps," the " remes." Although the rendering of the English version here and in verse 20 is the same, moving or moveth, the Hebrew of the two passages is different, neither of Avhich is aptly expressed by the term in question. The word impro- perly rendered whales is used of the serpent, (Exod. vii. 9, 10, 12 ; Deut. xxxii. 33 ; Psalm xci. 13 ;) of the crocodile, the symbol of Egypt, (Isa. li. 9 ; Ezek. xxix. 3 ; Psalm Ixxiv. 13 ;) and of sea-monsters in general, (Job vii. 12 ; Psalm cxlviii. 7;) but is never specially applied to fishes. According to the ety- mology of the term, it signifies the long-stretched or extended, being derived from a root tan, which, according to Tuch, means, in Sanscrit and Semitic, " to expand" or " extend," and in its purest form appears in Hebrew as pn. It is remarkably appropriate to the gigantic aquatic and amphibious reptiles which, as geology shews, played so conspicuous a part in the early history of the earth, tynn, to creep, to crawl, (Gen. vii. 21,) especially used of creeping animals, (compare Gen. ix. 2 ;) hence hdikh bon, (verse 25;) chap. vii. 14, "creepers of the ground," generally thus used to denote the smaller kinds of land animals ; but here, as also in Psalm Ixix. 35, applied to the smaller aquatic tribes. These generic terms include many orders and species, created each after its kind, and forming the countless dwellers of the deep, concerning which the psalmist observes : " 0 Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made them all : the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts." (Psalm civ. 24, 25.) In close connexion with the dwellers of the deep, mention is made of the winged creatures, inra'? f]33 c)ir-b, evert/ winged fond, or more literally, every flier ofwing after its kind, (omne THE FIFTH DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. 20-23. 279 volatile, Vulg.,) as brought into existence on the fifth day. This designation is undoubtedly properly used of birds, (Psalm Ixxviii. 27,) but is probably here used in a wider sense, and may include flying insects, (Delitzsch,) but it is doubtful whether it can be made to embrace the winged reptiles of the geologist. The productions of this day also approve themselves as " good" to the eye of Omniscience. But, as if farther to express the Divine complacency, and assign a special place and purpose to life even in these its lowest manifestations, and particularly to stamp a permanency on the stream which now began to flow from " the Fountain of Life," (Psalm xxxvi. 9,) and which was destined to deepen and expand as the work of creation proceeded, Heaven's en- riching blessing (Prov. x. 22) is pronounced on these, the first of living creatures. Verse 22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the luaters in the seas, and let fowl midtiply in the earth. The first blessing pronounced on earth had respect to the continuance of the living tribes from generation to generation, and to their increase, so as to fill the residences respectively assigned to them. The paronomastic combination, i3-;ii np, be fruitful and multiply, became a regular formula of blessing ; compare Gen. xxxv. 11, with xxiv. 60, xlviii. 4. n-js, properly to sprout, to bring forth fruit, is here used of animal fruitful- ness, as in Exod. i. 7, xxiii. SO, and so n?, fruit, (Psalm xxi. 11,) or, more fully, jtas n?, the fruit of the womb, (Gen. XXX. 2.) How eftectual this blessing proved is seen in the almost boundless increase of animated beings with which every portion of the globe is peopled — the air, the waters, and the dry land, and their continued preservation amid many violent terrestrial changes. It is one of the best established of the deductions of the geologist, that from the period when life first began on our planet, it has been maintained without in- terruption to the present hour — no epoch, long or short, can be pointed to as destitute of the memorials of animal life since it first awoke in the waters. Individuals perished in rapid succession ; and myriads simultaneously ceased to exist, de- stroyed by extraordinary convulsions of nature — even families and entire species passed away ; but other families and forms ol life took the place of the perished, and so the living chain '280 CREATION AND THE FALL. advanced ; for as link after link fell away at the one extre- mity, new links were successively added to the other, until the present order of creation was reached. The geologist farther shews, from the quantity of the remains imbedded in their rocky sepulchres, liow very prolific life was in the freshness of its youtli. The mountain limestone, for instance, a tliousand feet in thickness, and extending for many miles, consists of nothing else than the remains of coralline and testaceous forms compressed into hard masses. So also in regard to other rocks, which are found to be little else than a conglomerate of animal remains. But not only these lower orders, vertebrate forms of life also flourished profusely in the ancient seas, as is fully attested by the immense j^latforms of death presented by the rocks of various localities.^ What is all this, it may be asked — though a voice from the dead, from the grave of creation — but an unimpeachable witness to the potency of the Divine blessing, " Be fruitful, and multiply," which was spoken at the beginning ? This era of creation in due time came to a close, but only to be succeeded by another. It was again " evening ;" but much of the work of creation remained unaccomplished, and so on the evening there followed a " morning,'' ushering in a new day of creative energy. Verse 23. It was evening, it was morning, the fifth day. The period of creation which had thus closed, is what the geologist distinctively calls the age of reptiles ; and it is in- structive to observe how remarkable is th.e agreement between the description of the productions of the fifth day and the geology of the great Saurian era. The reptiles of the sea, and the reptiles of the land, numerous and gigantic as they then existed, could not be described by any term more appropriate than that employed by Moses in his account of the animals of that period — the great tinninim, which, as already remarked, is veiy unaptly rendered great whales. Could any term be more suitable than long-stretched to characterize thclchthyosaur which geologists tell us was thirty feet long, having the head of a crocodile, the body of a fish, and the general conformation of a lizard ; or the Plesiosaur, possessed of a long neck like the ' Hcv Miller, 'I'lip Old Txcd SiuidMnne, p. 27(i li.lin. 1H50. THE SIXTH DAY OF CREATION, GEN. 1. 24-31. '281 body of a serpent ; or the gigantic Iguanodon, a lizard reckoned to have been sixty feet long ? The geologist farther shews, that while this period of crea- tion was distinguished by its huge creeping things — winged and wingless reptiles, and its enormous monsters of the deep, there are also indications of the presence of gigantic birds by the impressions of their footprints on the rocks, which then, of course, existed as mud. " In North America, ancient indi- cations of the existence of the feathered tribes have been detected ; the fossil footmarks of a great variety of species, of various sizes, some larger than the ostrich, others smaller than the plover, having been observed. These bipeds have left marks of their footsteps on strata of an age decidedly inter- mediate between the lias and the coal." Tlius, in the early ages under consideration, " there were terrestrial, winged, and aquatic reptiles. There were iguanodons walking on the land, pterodactyles winging their way through the air, monitors and crocodiles in the rivers, and ichthyosaurs and ])lcsiosaurs in the ocean.'' ^ At the same time, the feathered tribes skimmed along the sky, or waded in the marshes and the shallows of lakes and seas. The contemporaneous, or nearly contempora- neous, creation of the inhabitants of the ocean and the air, and also the early date of their origin as disclosed by geology, are facts in remarkable keeping with the Mosaic account of the works of the fifth day ; and it is questionable if any of our geologists, with all the facts of the case before him, as brought to light by his favourite science, could in so brief a compass furnish so full and accurate a description as that of Moses, written long before geology began its wonderful ex- plorations, or was even dreamed of as a science. i^ 7. The Sixth Day of Creation, Gen. i. 24-31. The course of creation is still onward and upward. Higher and nobler forms of life had already succeeded lower organisms, as witnessed in the advance from the plant to oven the lowest types of animal life and the most limited enjoyment in beings appropriately termed the " swarming creatures," that have ' Lyell, IViiii'i'iilcs of (Jcolocy, pji. 13."), 13(3. 282 CREATION AND THE FALh. life, whose introduction took place at the dawn of the fifth day, and from these onwards to the great sea-monsters and reptiles, and again to the feathered tribes. But although the seas, the rivers, and the shies were thus profusely peoided with their respective inhabitants, one very large and important portion of creation was still destitute of its proper denizens, — and that a portion of the earth specially fitted for sustaining life in its highest form. The dry land, which so early as the third day had been wrested from the deep, and then arrayed in the most beautiful of vegetable robes, was still destitute of the animals which are peculiarly its own. This want, how- ever, the creation of the sixth day entirely obviates. At this stage of the great work, accordingly, was introduced the innu- merable variety of land animals, — the mammiferous quadru- peds. But, above all, this day witnessed the birth of man — a being differing from all the preceding creations, not merely in degree but in kind — a being possessed of properties exclusively his own, distinguished not only as the highest type of animal life, but as cast in a mould entirely different from that of any other creature. With the introduction of man upon the earth the mighty works of creation came to a close, as if to shew that in him the apex of the pyramid had been reached, and nature had received her crown. The works of the sixth, or last day of creation, are then the introduction of the animals which people the dry land, accord- ing to their various classes and kinds, (verses 24, 25 ;) and the creation of man, in regard to whose formation in the image of God, the Creator is represented as deliberating or consulting, (verses 26-28.) Next follows a notice of a grant of food to man and the lower animals, (verse 30 ;) with the Creator's complacency, " very good," on a review of the whole opera- tions and arrangements now concluded, (verse 31.) Verses 24, 25. And God said, Let the earth brivg forth the living creature after its kind, and cattle after their kind, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind : and it was so. A nd God made the beast of the earth after its kind, and cattle after their kind, and everytJidng that creepeth upon the earth after its kind : and God saw that it tuas good. — The work of tlie sixth day, as already noticed, forms a parallel with, while at the same time a continuation of, that of the THE SIXTH DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. 24-31. 283 third clay. Accordingly, the words with which verse 24 opens, " Let the earth bring forth," i'-;;Nn Ni-in, correspond to ynt Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, vol. i p. 325. Lond. 1847. T 290 CREATION AND THE FALL. should be chosen as his distinguishing characteristic rather than some quality not common to him with the lower animals. Other etymologies have been proposed by Ludolph from the Ethiopic, and by Sir W. Jones from the Sanscrit, but as tliey have not obtained much acceptance, they need not be farther specified. The most recent conjecture is that of Meier and Furst, who propose a root Adam not occurring in Hebrew, but in Arabic signifying to bring together, to hold together, to bind or connect firmly, and from which has been derived a large class of words, in all of which the primary idea is something, the parts of which are closely connected, materially or socially.^ But, amid so much uncertainty, it is next to impossible to ar- rive at any sure or satisfactory conclusions. See farther on chap. ii. 7. The Creator's deliberation intimated that some distinguish- ing dignity was intended for man ; v.'hat this was the words which immediately followed fully determine : " Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." This will be more fully considered in the sequel. Let it suffice at present to remark that it implied that man should be distinguished from all other creatures of the earth by his possession of personality. He is made the revelation and representative of the living and true God. That which in the dispensation of grace has been realized by the Son of God — the second Adam, was in part assigned to man at the creation. Farther, in virtue of this dignified office, he is invested with dominion over the creation, and the living beings in the various elements. To this original constitution the Psalmist refers : " What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man, that thou visitest him ? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, (or ra- ther, thou mahest him to want little of a Divine standiiig,) and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ; thou hast put all things under his feet : all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsovcr passeth through the paths of the seas," (Fs. ^ Meier, HeLrliisches Wurzelwclrterbucli, Manulicim, 1845, p. 359. See also Fiirst, Tlcbraisclies u. ChalJaisches Ilandvvorterbuch, p. 23. Leipzig, 1851. This etymo- log-y is arloptod by ITormann, Art. Adam, in Herzog's Eeal-Encyklopiidic, vol. i. p. IIG. Stuftgnvt, 1853. THE SIXTH DAY OF CREATION, GEN. I. 24-31. 291 viii. 4-8.)- On this HengsteiiLerg- remark.? : " That what is here ascribed to man belongs to him still in a certain degree even since the fall, as is implied in the frequent use of the future denoting the present, is shown, not onlj by Gen. ix. 2, but also by daily experience. Xo creature is so strong, so savage, so alert, but that man, though relatively one of the weakest creatures, in process of time becomes its master ; com- pare James iii. 7. Nevertheless there is a vast diiference in this respect between before and since the Fall. Before that event, the obedience of all creatures towards the appointed vicegerent of God, was a spontaneous one : after it, his subjects revolted against him, as he against his Lord. He must main- tain against them, as against the resisting earth, a hard con- flict, must on all hands employ art and cunning, and though, on the whole, he remains conqueror in the warfare, yet. in parti- culars, he has to suffer many defeats." The purpose entertained by the Creator concerning man is duly accomplished. Verse 27, So God created man in his oiun image, in the image of God created he hint : male and female created he them. — The style of this verse has often been re- marked as very peculiar. Ewald and Delitzsch take it to be expressive of joyful emotion. The former observes : " The language moves on unusually strong in joyful tremor, as if the thought could not be expressed with sufficient vivacity." " The Lord," says the Psalmist, " shall rejoice in his works ;" and it may well be conceived that at the creation of man, there was some of that satisfaction which attended the advent of the Second Adam — an occasion as to which the Apostle observes : " When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith. And let all the angels of God worship him," (Heb. Another peculiarity in the account of man's creation is the mention made of the difference of sexes, " male and female created he them." This fact was equally true in the case of the other creatures, but it is only here it is specially noticed—' another proof of the dignity of man, and of the Creator's in- terest in him. But more particularly is it an intimation, as Luther remarks, that " the woman was also created by God, and made a partaker of the Divine image, and of dominion over all." And he adds, "We should observe from this expression that 292 CREATION AND THE FALL. tlie woman should not be excluded from any honour of human nature, although she is a weaker vessel than the man/' It is to be noticed that the account of man's creation in this chapter has regard to the race and not to the first individual, or the first human pair. That forms the principal subject of the second chapter, where it is described in detail. Here, however, it is simply the origination of the race as such that is announced : " Let us make man .... and let them have dominion," followed by a specification of sexual differences, but not of the number of individuals or pairs then created. It is from inattention to this that some fancy they discover contra- dictions in the account of man's creation in the two chapters, and particularly as to the intervg-l which is stated in the second chapter to have elapsed between the creation of (in that case, the man) the first man and the woman. While every appear- ance of contradiction in the two narratives will completely vanish so soon as their different objects are considered, it may be well to notice how the account of the woman's creation il- lustrates the series of creative acts recorded in the first chapter. Without the information supplied by the second narrative it would be naturally assumed that the creation of the woman was contemporaneous with that -of the man ; but with this ad- ditional light, it is at once seen that such a conclusion does not necessarily follow from the original statement. So in the other acts of creation, when several subjects are mentioned as the productions of a particular day, it need not be inferred that they were created at the same instant, or were contem- poraneous in any stricter sense than dating their origin from the same period of creation. Thus, when God said, " Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit- tree yielding fruit," &c., and when this is said to be realized, it is not necessary to -suppose that these three classes of vege- table productions began their existence at once and together. It is enough to assume that they were all brought into being within the period distinguished as the third day, and so also with respect to the productions of the other days. On the creation of man follows the Divine blessing — a bless- ing more full and emphatic than that pronounced on any pre- vious creature. Verse 28, A nd God blessed them, and God said unto them — (they are personally addressed, intimating intelli- THE SIXTH DAY OF CREATION, GEN. 1. 24-31. 293 gence on their part, and thus the blessing is more direct than in verse 22)—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. This blessing contains three distinct elements. Besides the capacity of propagating and multiplying the species so as to till the earth — an endowment common to him with the other living creatures, man was qualified and called on to subdue the earth, c^a, to tread upon, or tramptle under foot, (comp. Josh. X. 24,) conveying the idea of complete victory, similar to Ps. ex. 1, " Until I make tliine enemies thy footstool.'' The sub- jugation of the earth here evidently means its being made sub- servient in every possible way to the use and comfort of man by the art of navigation, the operations of agriculture, mining, metallurgy, and road-making, and everything which contributes to the welfare of the individual and of the community, and to the realization of the Divine purpose as to the multiplication of the species and the replenishment of the earth, and now the farther purpose of preparing the way of the Lord, and making straight in the desert a highway for our God, (Isa. xl. 3.) This dominion is not to be limited to inorganic matter, or the ele- ments or occult powers of nature, but it is to extend to all the denizens of earth, to many of which, though man is far inferior in strength and agility, and as to his physical constitution in several respects inferior to all of them, especially as to the means of procuring food or repelling attacks, yet he is, by this bless- ing, and the endowments contained in it, the undisputed lord of creation. Man is empowered to exercise dominion over (a ni imperative Kal of rrn, of the same import as c'aa, applied to the treading of the wine-press, Joel iv. 13, [Eng. Ver. iii. 13 ;] then to rule over. Lev. xxvi. 17 ; a is properly local, referring to that whereupon one sets foot) the fish of the sea, (d^t n:-!, other- wise Djn \ji, chap. ix. 2 ; Ps. viii. 9,) the fowl of the air, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth — in a word, the inhabitants of all the elements. It is in consequence of this lordship bestowed upon man that " the spoils of all nature are in daily requisition for his most common uses, yielded with more or less readiness, or wrested with reluctance from the mine, the forest, the ocean, and the air."^ ' Hevscln'l, I'reliuiinary Discuurse. p. 3. 294 CREATION AND THE FALL. To man and the other animals a grant is made of tlieir ap- jjropriate food, indispensable to their sustenance. Verses 29, 30, A7id God said, Behold, I have given you every herb hearivg seed, which is upon the face of all the eai^th, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life, 1 have given every green herb for food : and it was so. — The mention of man's food as a special and express gift of the Creator is intended to inculcate several important truths. It is not to be viewed as a mere permission to man and the other animals to partake of their necessary and appropriate nourishment, this being fully conceded by the natural wants belonging to their constitution. In regard to man, the per- mission and also the power of supplying him.self with food from the ground must have been comprised in the mastery over creation already conferred upon him ; and as to the other ani- mals, it is but reasonable to suppose that previous to this grant they partook freely of what the Creator's bounty had provided, and His wisdom adapted for them. The reason why mention is made of the provision for man's physical necessities may have been simply to serve as s& memorial of his dependence. He had been appointed head of the creation, but only with a delegated authority — a truth he might be prone to forget. But to be told that the first necessaries of his existence were the gifts of his Sovereign was well fitted to remind him of his ab- solute dependence every time he sought to appease the cravings of Imnger. If the matter is looked at in this light, it forms a part of the great discipline which has been in operation ever since, necessary in a state of innocence, but still more in a state of sin, and which was particularly manifested in the history of Israel. " The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land ; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pome- granates ; a land of oil-olive and honey ; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it "When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God, for the good land which he hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God ; . . . . lost when thou hast eaten and art full, .... then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, ... . and thou THE SIXTH DAY OF CREATION, GEN. 1. 24-31. 295 say in thine lieart, My power and the might of mine hand hatli g-otten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for he it is that giveth thee power to get wealth/' &c. (Deut. viii. 7-18.) Here then is the germ of that all-important principle which was placed in its true light by our Lord's de- claration : — " It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," (Matt. iv. 4.) But besides teaching man his dependence on God, this grant of food was a pledge to him of a continued supply for his wants. This assurance is particularly expressed by the preterite 'rnj, / have given, (compare chap. xv. 18 ; xvii. 20 ; and see Ewald, § loo, c,) and it may have been necessary for the following reason. At the first creation of animal life, a blessing was pro- nounced insuring propagation and continuance. Not so, however, in tlie case of the vegetable creation, as being perhaps incon- gruous in the circumstances ; but any deficiency in this respect is now supplied, and an assurance given of the continuation of the vegetable tribes from the relation which, by express Divine appointment, they are henceforward to sustain to the animal kingdom. And further, this special mention of a grant to man of the vegetable productions may have been designed to connect the first narrative of creation with the second, and more particu- larly with the selected test of man's obedience. The limita- tion of a single tree may be thus considered in connexion with the Creator's absolute right of circumscribing His sovereign gift to any extent that seemed good. It is frequently argued from this passage, that neitlier man nor beast lived on animal food previous to the Fall. It is as- sumed from chap. ix. 3, where the grant is enlarged, that up to the flood man lived entirely on vegetables. This may have been the case, and yet furnish no reason for concluding that the original grant implied a prohibition of animal food. First, this grant is not, properly speaking, permissive in regard to food, much less can it be construed as a partial limitation. But, secondly, tlie grant is directly to man, the animals being introduced only incidentally, so that were it the case that man's food was limited and prescribed, there is no reason to conclude that it must be so with all other creatures. Thirdly, hum the 296 CREATION AND THE FALL. general terms used, it is plain that nothing more is to be in- ferred than the close relation of the vegetable and animal king- doms, or the fact that plants are the ultimate support of all animal life. So comprehensive is the grant to man — " every herb bearing seed, every tree wherein is the fruit of a tree yielding seed" — as to include many productions in no way im- mediately serviceable to him. On the other hand, if there be limitation, all animals, exclusive of man, are to be confined to the green herb, 3b'» p^v the green of herb, herbage or grass. Verse 31, And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. It was evening, it was morning, the sixth day. — Six times during the pi'ogress of the great work did the Almighty pause to contemplate, as it were, the successive steps of His undertaking, and on each occasion He had reason to express His satisfaction, for the work was " good," all the arrangements, adjustments, and productions entirely corre- sponding to the Divine plan. But now that the work is com- pleted, the Creator's satisfaction is more intense than before. What was formerly declared to be " good," in its individual parts, is now, as a whole, " very good." " God saw all that he had made : and lo, very good." Nought defective or redundant, all in proper place, in due order and subordination, and man, God's representative, invested with authority over the whole. This "very good" which followed the creation of man, is the decla- ration of Wisdom when, " rejoicing in the habitable part of the earth, her delights were with the sons of men," (Prov. viii. 31.) EXCURSUS I.— MAN THE IMAGE OF GOD. The discussion of this subject usually occupies a large place in Dogmatic Theology, and, from its bearing on such questions as the nature and extent of the Fall, original sin, and the im- puted righteousness of Christ, it has formed a fertile source of controversy among the disciples of rival schools and systems. Although properly belonging to another department, yet the ideas involved in the representation of man as God's image cannot be overlooked or disposed of by a few remarks in an exposition of the narratives of Creation and the Fall. Tlie observations, however, to be offered will partake more of a his- EXCURSUS I. — MAN THE IMAGE OF GOD. 297 toricul and exegetical character, with but little reference to systems. 1. It is first of all necessary to settle the import of the ex- pressions, the "image" and "likeness of God,'' considered in themselves and as predicated of the first man. The terms themselves offer no difficulty : n^s primarily signifies a shadow, (Ps. xxxix. 7,) and then an image, from the shadow's resem- blance to the body from which it is projected. The other term employed mm, (from a root, nn-j, to bring together, to compare, or liken,) signifies a comparison, likeness, or similitude. Thus, Isa. xl. 18, " To whom will ye liken (y^'^-jp) God, or what like- ness (mci) will ye compare to him ?" The two words would seem to be nearly synonymous ; if there be any distinction it is this, the latter is more definite, intimating a resemblance in the parts and proportions, the former referring to the more general form or delineation, the shadowy outline, as it were. But how are the terms to be understood when, as in Gen. i. 26, occurring together ? — as expressive of two distinct though connected ideas, or as only a Hebrew form of intensity ? The former view is that of many expositors. The Fathers of the Christian Church in particular held that there were two dis- tinct ideas in this representation. Inasmuch as there is a great difference between the mere natural dispositions and their development by the free use of the powers granted to man, Iren^eus, and especially Clement and Origen, distin- guished between the image of God and resemblance to God, as that the latter can only be obtained by a mental conflict, in an ethical point of view, or is only bestow^ed on man, in a reli- gious aspect, as a gift of sovereign mercy through union with Christ. Or the image was taken for the spiritual, moral en- dowments belonging to the very nature of man ; but the like- ness for the Godlike perfection after which man had to strive as after that to which he was destined.^ But that this distinction was arbitrary and unsupported by Scripture will immediately appear from the fact that in other passages wherein reference is made to man's original consti- tution, the terms occur singly — sometimes the one and some- times the other. In Gen. v. 1, only m-T ; in chap. x. 6, only ' See Hagcnbach, History of Dortrincs, vol. i. p. 145. Miiller, The ('Iirisliaii Doctrine of Sin, vol. ii. p. 390. 298 CREATION AND THE FALL. ch^ ; but more particularly o^i- ouly occurs in Gen. i. 27, wliicli describes the realization of the Divine purpose announced in the preceding verse. The distinction also of the renderings of the LXX., eiKcov and 6/jioccocn4. EXCURSUS I, — MAN THE IMAGE OF GOD. 301 But however tliis may be, tlie image of God in man was a true likeness of the great Original ; yet still dim and shadowy — an outline faithful to the capacity of the subject, but infi- nitely remote from the reality, as must at once aj^pear from the essential distinction of Creator and creature. At best the image was of the eartli, earthy. But Scripture speaks of its being raised to a higher platform, and that, too, in the person of man — the Son of man — the Lord from heaven. He, in the highest' sense, is said to be " the image of God," " the image of the invisible God," " the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person," ■^apaKTrjp t^? vTroa-rdcreo)^ avTov, the image or counterpart of God's essence or being, (2 Cor. iv. 4 ; CoL i. 15 ; Heb. i. 3.) So express is this like- ness, so marked in every line and lineament, so perfect, pure, and unclouded, that this man can testify of himself, " If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also, lie that hath seen me hath seen the Father," (John xiv. 7-9.) And thus God in living concentration appears, and has appeared only in Jesus Clirist — the man of his right Iiand, the Son of man whom He made strong for himself, and to whose image He hath predestinated His people to be conformed, (Ps. Ixxx. 17 ; Rom. viii. 21.) For determining how Christ is the image of God, the New Testament affords ample infomiation ; and accordingly it is from what is said of the person of the Redeemer, the Head of restored humanity, the second Adam, rather than from any indirect intimations of the image to be borne by the redeemed themselves, that it can with certainty be determined wherein it consisted in the first Adam, the head of unfallcn humanity. It is simply by comparing the scriptural representation of Adam and Christ, and not by any metaphysical subtilties, that it can be verified whether, and how far, the above view of the image of God in man accords with what is so much more plainly indicated respecting Christ, only bearing in mind that he is not the image of God, as formed in it, like Adam ; and, moreover, that he is the image of God's essence, as well as of his character and perfections. Now, according to Paul's representation, Christ, as the image of God, is irpwToroKo^ 7raai] Miillor, Doctnne of Sin, vol. ii. pp. 392, :593. EXCURSUS 1. — MAN THF. niAaE OF GOD. 305 difficult and greatly misunderstood statement of God n^gardin^^ man subsequent to the Fall, Gen. iii. 22 : " And the Lord God suid, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil ;" but on wliich see the Exposition. 3. The image of God, how aftected by the Fall, is the next point to be considered. This is a subject on which the most conflicting opinions are entertained ; one extreme regarding the image of God as utterly defaced, and the other as strenu- ously denying that any deterioration in that respect was in- duced through the Fall. This diversity of opinion is the result of vague and unfixed ideas of the nature of the Fall itself, but more particularly arises from the ditferent views entertained by expositors as to what constituted the Divine image, some taking it in a wider, and others in a more limited sense. Thus, according to Hofmann : " It is not the resemblance to God which is borne by a moral, holy being, as appears from the context in which is described, the creation, not of the man Adam as distinguished from the now sinful race, but of hu- manity as distinguished from the animal world. Gen. v. 3 affords at least a confirmation of this view. The subject of that passage is not the moral resemblance between the sons of Adam and their father, but the similarity of father and son, by means of which the race so long as it is naturally propagated and not produced by the unnatural depravity mentioned in Gen. vi. 1, remains like itself, and the same as created by God."^ Others, on the contrary, limiting the idea to the moral con- dition of the first man, view it as lost through the Fall ; while a third class makes a distinction between the natural and the moral image. Thus President Edwards : " As there are two kinds of attributes in God, according to our way of conceiving of him, his moral attributes, which are summed up in his holiness, and his natural attributes of strength, knowledge, &c., that constitute the greatness of God ; so there is a twofold image of God in man, his moral or spiritual image, which is his holiness, that is the image of God's moral excellency, (which image was lost by the Fall,) and God's natural imago, con- .sisting in man's reason and understanding, his natural ability ' lli)fmanii. Dor Soliiiftbeweis, p. 251. U 306 CREATION AND THE FAT.L. and dominion over the creatures, which is the image of God's natural attribute."^ Of the texts usually appealed to in this discussion, one of the most important is Gen. v. 8, — " Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image." Here, it is usually said, there is no longer mention of the image of God : fallen man begets a son, but it is in his own image, plainly intimating that the image in which he was created is lost and no longer his. On the other hand, it is held that this inference is unwarranted by the text or context, the purport of which is that God created man in his own image, (verse 1,) and then, without mention of any intervening change,, it is added, Adam begat a son in his own image, which is thus nothing other than that in which he was created. This posi- tion is thought to be strengthened by Gen. ix. 6, " Whoso shed- deth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed : for in the image of God made he man." The reason here given prohibi- tory of the violation of human life assumes that man still bears God's image as a seal of inviolability. So plain is this, that Calvin admits, " Si quis objiciat imaginem illam deletam esse : solutio facilis est, manere adhuc aliquid residuum, ut prrestet non parva dignitate homo.'' But if this residuum be such that it can be fitly called the Divine image, the question is settled. Another text implying the permanence of the Divine image is James iii. 9, where it is said that men (tou? avOpwirovi) are made Ka& ofxoLcoaiv ©eov (after the similitude of God.) These are all the passages which bear directly on the sub- ject, and their testimony upon the whole, it must be admitted, is in favour of the view which maintains that the Divine image in man has not been lost or obliterated. This, however, by no means goes to disprove that a grievous disorder in man's moral state was introduced through the Fall, but only that the idea expressed by the image of God is not to be limited wholly, or even chiefly, to man's moral character, and his consequent re- lation to God. Of the entire revolution in his moral nature, and relation to the Author of his being, the history of the Fall itself gives ample evidence. But as, notwithstanding that change, he is still said to bear the image of God, it must be * Treatise concerning Religious Affections, Part III. ; Works, vol. iii. p. 102 : New York, 1844. See also Freedom of the Will, Part T. sect. v. ; Works, vol. ii. pp. 19, 20. EXCURSUS I. — MAN THE IMAOE OF GOD. 307 held that that had respect to more tlmn his original uprightness, and yet even in this more general aspect the image, though not destroyed, has been greatly dimmed. It may, in fact, he said to be another image and yet the same ; another, because so obscured and distorted, and deficient in many of the features which constituted it a symmetrical whole. Like a tarnished mirror, or a ruffled lake, man reflects the image irregular and broken — indistinct in feature and form, but still so far true to its ground lines — its fundamental character, that it is not wholly impossible to recognise the original. Thus it may be that while in one sense the son begotten by Adam is viewed as bearing God's image, in another sense he may be more properly said to bear the image of his fallen progenitor, so much has human nature deflected from its pristine uprightness. Thus, Bishop Patrick : — " For his own likeness and image, wherein this son was begotten, seems to be opposed to the likeness and image of God, wherein Adam was made, which, though not quite lost, was lamentably defaced."^ One or two other passages may be noticed which bear, though only indirectly, on this subject. Thus, 1 Cor. xi. 7, " Man is the image and glory of God." From the scope of the Apostle's argument, it appears that this refers to the authority and domi- nion with which man was invested at the creation. This, the Apostle intimates, is still retained, and man is to be regarded as God's representative. Again, 1 Cor. xv. 49, " As we have borne (and do bear, e^opeaafxev) the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." This does not re- fer so much to our resembling Adam in moral character, as appears from verse 45, but rather applies to the fact that we are, like him, subject to sickness, frailty, sorrow, and death ; but shall at the resurrection resemble Christ in our glorified and immortal frames.^ The distinction is evidently between the animal body of creation and the spiritual body of the re- surrection. " The Apostle dwells on the fact, that there is such an animal body and such a spiritual body — shows how these two organizations are produced, and in what order they are possessed by those who are Christ's."^ ' A Commentary upon Genesis, p. 112. Loud. 1704. * See Bloomfield, Greek Testament, in he. 3 Brown, The Resurrection of Life, p. 197. Eilin. 1852. 308 CREATION AND THE FALL. This is a mere outline of what is in truth a very extensive as well as important subject. It is believed, however, that the conclusions deduced from the data furnished in the Old Testa- ment regarding the Divine image in man serve to reconcile the exposition of two apparently contradictory classes of passages, one affirming the loss and the other the permanency of that image, while they fully harmonize with the representations of the New Testament on the subject, particularly with what the Apostle Paul propounds regarding the full realization of the idea in the netu man. The knowledge, righteousness and holi- ness adverted to by the Apostle were undoubtedly affected in a special degree by the Fall ; and this may have been the reason why he particularizes these characteristics as restored in the new creature. § 8. The Sabbath of Creation, Gen. ii. 1-3. The works of God differ in many respects from man's under- takings, but in nothing more than in the certainty of their being finished. Eternity shall not witness any unfinished structure of God, any defeated purpose or thwarted plan. The work whose commencement and progress the preceding chap- ter described is now said to be completed, and with this is con- nected the sabbatic rest of God. Verse 1. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. — " In the beginning God created the hea- vens and the earth," but these were not at once the orderly adjusted structures which in time they became. " The earth," in particular, "was without form, and void," — no life on its surface, no lights in its skies. The same must have been the case, there is every reason to conclude, with the other mighty masses of matter which fill the immensity of space. How these were being prepared, and whether in the same order and to the same extent as the earth, Ave are not informed, and it is vain to conjecture. So much, however, is certain, that by the fourth day of creation they were brought into a condition to convey light to the earth, and by the close of the sixth day everything connected with the heavens and the earth was so forwarded, that it could be said, " The heavens and the earth THE SABBATU OF CREATION, GEN. II. 1-3. 809 were finished," the mighty structure was completed, the deep and broad foundations of which had been laid " in the begin- ning." But the fabric is not merely reared, but ornamented and tenanted by organic forms, in some of which are embodied intellectual and moral existences. So much is certainly in- cluded in the host of the heavens and the earth ; but whether the term k31', host, which is properly used only of heaven, as a designation of the stars and the angels, but here by the gram- matical figure Zeugma, applied also to the earth, comprises other intellectual and moral creatures besides man, cannot be easily determined. Scripture gives ample evidence of the existence of such beings, but their genesis it does not record, and yet the fact may be here intimated that they were in existence previ- ous to the close of the sixth day, and the other fact, that all without exception derived their being from God. This is coun- tenanced by the general terms employed, " all their host," that is, of the heavens and the eartli, but particularly by the refer- ence to this passage in Neh. ix. 6, " Thou, even thou art Lord alone : thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host : the earth and all that are therein, the seas and all therein, and thou preservest them all : and all the host of heaven ivorshippeth thee." Thus understood, the intimation contained in this passage is identical Avith that of the New Testament, " All things were made by him ; and without him was not any- thing made that was made," (John i. 8.) The announcement of this ti'uth here is very significant, as in the course of the history mention is to be made of a being whose character and conduct might possibly give rise to the apprehension that he could not have been a creature of God. Verses 2, 3. And on the seventh day God ended Ids work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made, xlnd God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it : because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created to make. — Some ancient translations, as the LXX., the Syriac, and the Samaritan recension, so stumbled at tlie connexion of ended with the seventh day, as implying that part of the work of creation was performed on it, that they unwarrantably altered the text so as to read on the sixth day. Modern writers, as Calvin, Drusius, Le Clerc, Itoscnmiiller, and Tide, avoiding such arbitrary expedients, 310 { REATION AND THE FALL. would escape the difficulty by rendering the verb, had finished, but this, besides being ungrammatical, in reality contributes nothing to the end contemiDlated. Others, again, take the Piel conjugation in this case as declaring or pronouncing a thing to he finished. But none of these expedients is necessary when it is perceived that, as shown by Vater and Tuch, the verb rh:^, followed by ja, simply means to cease to jyrosecute or cao^^^y on any matter ; in which sense it is frequently used, (Exod. xxxiv. S3 ; 1 Sam. x. 13 ; Ezek. xliii. 23.) Or, with Baumgarten, the rest of the seventh day itself may be considered the perfecting of the creation. In any case, cessation and rest filled up the seventh day. The seventh day, it may be justly supposed, was no less im- portant in the view of the Creator, and for the history of the world, than any of those which preceded it. Indeed, it may be affirmed that the highest place belongs to the day which witnessed the completion of the great work so long in pro- gress. The end has been reached ; and if in the means there were afforded intimations of the Creator's desires and delights, much more now in the end towards which from the beginning all things tended. The cessation or rest of this day is not to be regarded as a mere negation, for as such it could not be God's rest. The figure is borrowed from human life and labours, but it is of deep significance. Man, even, cannot be said absolutely to rest, for when the eye is closed in slum- ber on the labours and commotions of the outer world, then begin, with more or less consciousness, creations in the world within. How much less, then, can it apply to God, the Spring of life and activity ! His rest consists in a cessation from creating acts : " He rested from all his work which he had made ;" and He did so simply because it was made. The rest of God cannot then refer to His works in general, for of these the Son declares, " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," (John v. 1 7,) and to the same purpose is the language of the Prophet : " The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary," (Is. xl. 28.) It may rather be viewed as a transition from one kind of work to another. What the work is on which the Creator now entered is easily determined : it is the work of world-preserving, as through the preceding periods it was the work of world-creating THE SABBATH OF CREATION, GEN. II. 1-3. 311 tliat engaged the Divine mind. The world, the universe of dependent being, had in creation been made as perfect, it ma^^ be conceived, as omnipotence and omniscience could render a creature ; and jet it may be the Creator's design still farther to advance the works of His hands, and bring His moral crea- tures, especially those formed in His own image, into closer connexion with himself. But, on the supposition that they were already as perfect as creation could make them, any farther advance or elevation in the scale of being must be attained by other than physical laws or the powers by which these are set and sustained in operation ; it must be sought in that moral government which, so far as regards earth, began with the creation of the human race. The creative mandates which had previously gone forth were simply, " Let there be," and the implicit but blind obedience of universal nature followed according to the annoimcement, " And it was so." Now, how- ever, God's dominion is greatly extended: His subjects are of a higher rank : His voice is no longer directed exclusively to unconscious matter or to irrational brutes. He can now de- mand and receive willing and intelligent homage ; yea, there are creatures who can reciprocate His affection, who can rejoice in His favour, and be saddened by His frown. The rest of God is thus an entrance upon a work more ele- vated and holy in its character than any of the preceding, for its object is to make the creature more like to the Holy One himself. As the cessation from one work in order to begin another, the rest of God in creation has an exact counterpart in Christ's work in redemption. Christ had his work — the work which the Father gave him to do, (John xvii. 4 ;) and though a trying and toilsome undertaking, he brought it to such a state that he could affimi, " It is finished," (John xix. 30) — words which form a remarkable parallel to Gen. ii. 1, 2, and which, while constituting the closing amen to the Saviour's life and labours in all that pertained to his sufferings and his satisfaction to the claims of his undertaking, were no less truly the announcement of his entrance on a new life and new works in the kingdom of God ; just as in Rev. xxi. 6, " It is done" constitutes the transition to the full development of that kingdom where all things shall be made new. In rest after labour, and especially when the work is com- 312 CUEATION AND THE FALL. pleted, there is satisfaction, and tliis in proportion as the work comes up to the plan and purpose of its author. In every human work there is much imperfection, and regrets and dis- appointments mingle with our joys ; but no such ingredients could possibly mar the satisfaction of God as he rejoiced in the works of his hands, when, on the seventh day, " He rested from all his works ;" or, as it is elsewhere said, " On the seventh day he rested and was refreshed/' (Ex. xxxi. 17 ;) and no pains or disappointments shall disturb the blessed rest of the Saviour, for "he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satis- fied," (Is. liii. 11,) for he, too, rests in a sabbatic manner as God does. " He who hath entered into his rest, himself rested from his works as God from his," (Heb. iv. 10.) The Sabbatic rest of the Creator was also designed for the creature. It was God's purpose that creation should keep the Sabbath with him, and participate in the calm and composure of that hallowed state. This is fully shown in several parts of Scripture, particularly in Hebrews, chap, iv., where the apostle gives an inspired commentary on Psalm xcv., with special re- ference to the rest there spoken of But the same truth is dis- tinctly stated in the first section of Genesis. Into the rest of God, its blessedness and sanctity, man might at first enter, so soon as he had finished the work assigned to him by the Crea- tor. This will appear from various considerations connected with this narrative. 1. The position which the Sabbath occupies in the history immediately after the creation of man, shows that the arrange- ment had a special reference to his benefit. There can be no doubt that it is on the narrative of creation and the truths therein embodied that our Lord founds the deeply significant declaration, " The Sabbath was made on account of man, (Sta rov avdpwTTov,) not man on account of the Sabbath," (Mark ii. 27.) So the beatific repose which it typified was by tlie Crea- tor specially designed for man. 2. There was also given at the creation a pledge of the per- manency of this rest : " God blessed the seventh day." In the course of tliis history repeated mention was made of God's blessing. He blessed the first living creatures which the waters brought forth, and he blessed man, tbe last and noblest of liis works ; thus comprelicndiug in the Paternal blessing, THE SABBATH OF CREATION, GEN. II. 1-3, 313 life from the humblest to the highest form. This blessing it was which, as already shown, secured and assured the continu- ance of life on the earth, notwithstanding any appearances to the contrary, and any apprehensions that might arise from the operation of laws which affected all organic existence. If, then, in these cases the Divine blessing is to be considered as a pledge of permanence and perpetuity in the midst of change, it may be fairly regarded in the same light when applied to the seventli day, which was designed to be typical of the rest of God and of the creation. God blessed it, and thereby stamped upon it a character of pemianent endurance — a rest that could not be broken, and into which no disquietude could enter, whatever the attemjits to mar the works of God, and introduce discord into the harmony of the universe. Thus considered, the Divine blessing on the dispensation now begun was in the highest degree encouraging in itself, but especially in connexion with the moral catastrophe, the record of which immediately follows. The work of creation concluded, and pronounced to be " very good," the Creator and Governor of the universe, in full view of the evil and disorder about to be introduced, blessed the seventh day, in which he had rested from all his work, and in so doing gave a pledge of tlie triumph of holiness and happiness — how truly, the Apostle intimates when he says, " There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God," o-a§§aTi(T/jLo^, a Sabbatic rest, one truly corresponding to the rest of God when the work of creation was finished. But still farther to show the permanency of this rest, and its exemption from change, the seventh day is not characterized by the vicis- situdes of evening and morning. It was thus recognised by Augustin, when, at the close of his Confessions, addressing himself to God, he remarks : " Dies septimus sine vespera est nee habet occasum, quia sanctificasti eum ad permansionem sempiternam." 3. Farther, God sanctified (tJ'^p.:^, set a^mrt) the seventh day from common to sacred purposes. What the purposes are to which it was thus dedicated, appear from the reasons assigned for the separation, as well as from the blessing : " because that in it he had rested from all his work." It is for the purpose of carrying out and realizing the idea of rest, not with respect to God, for lie liad entered on it : but with vcsi)cct to man. 314 CREATION AND THE FALL. for whom also it was prepared. In order to man's participa- tion in it he must be able to rest from his works as God did from His. This, however, needs labour and preparation, and in lapsed human nature, concurrence in the works of God in the prosecution of his gracious design respecting the soul. The blessing was a jjledge of the security of this rest, while the sanctification pointed out this day as a preparation for the rest, and showed also the necessity for such preparation. EXCURSUS II. — THE WEEKLY DIVISION OF TIME — ITS CONNEXION WITH CREATION. It is frequently urged by Rationalists and others, desirous of depreciating the Bible, that its account of the Creation has been constructed mainly with the design of furnishing a Divine sanction to the Jewish Sabbath, and that to this alone is to be referred the distribution of the creating acts among six days followed by a day of rest.^ But this allegation is fully met by the fact, that the division of time into weeks or periods of seven days, was not peculiar to the Jews, but was a uni- versal custom, and much older. than the time of Moses, or of the composition of the earliest portion of the Hebrew Scrip- tures. 1. The week or cycle of seven days is an ancient and uni- versal division of time. In the earliest notices of the human race, for which we are solely indebted to the Bible, peculiar mention is made of the number seven. " Whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven-fold." " If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold, truly Lamecli seventy and seven- fold," (Gen. iv. 15, 2-t.) The mystical or proverbial character here ascribed to seven and its multiples, is maintained through- out the Scrijitures. Its use in connexion with time is first strikingly brought out in the history of the flood. An earlier passage in the history of Cain and Abel (Gen. iv. 3) is some- times adduced, but inconclusively, as referring to a seventh or Sabbath day. It cannot be shown that the expression, " in the end of the days," refers to the end of the week and not to the end of the ^/ear^ as is evidently the case in 2 Sam. xiv. > Winer, Bibli.sches Realworlcrbtich, Art. Sabbatli, vol. ii. p. 347. EXCUESUS II. — THE WEEK — ITS CONNEXION WITH CllEATION. 315 26.^ In the narrative of the Hood, however, mention is made of four days as succeeding one another at stated intervals of seven days. They arc distinguished as the days on which the raven was sent out of the ark once, and the dove three times, (Gen. viii. 6-12.) That this division of time was known in Patriarchal times, is evident from the facts recorded respecting Jacob, who, marrying two wives, first fulfilled the bridal week {v^zv from pat?, seven, like e^hojid^) of the one, and then of the other, (Gen. xxix. 27, 28, comi)are Judg. xiv. 12, 17.) Seven days was also in ancient times the usual period of mourning. Thus they made public lamentation for Jacob seveyi days, (Gen. 1. 10,) and for a like period tlie friends of the afflicted Patriarch of Uz sat with him in his distress, in silence upon the ground, (Job ii. 13.) Coming down to the period when profane history begins to shed light on the character and customs of antiquity, there are innumerable indications of the sacredness of the number seven, and of the division of time into weeks. The ancient Persians, for instance, the nations of India, and the old Ger- man tribes, regarded seven as a sacred number.^ And in par- ticular, Hesiod, Homer, and Callimachus, apply the epithet holy to the seventh day. Lucian says the seventh day is given to schoolboys as a holiday. Eusebius declares that " almost all the philosophers and poets acknowledge the seventh day as holy." And Porphyry states, that " the Phoenicians conse- crated one day in seven as holy." ^ But besides this general estimation of seven and the seventh day, a weekly division of time was in general use. It is cer- tain that the Egyptians were acquainted with this mode of computing time : Dio Cassius, indeed, ascribes to them the invention of this cycle. So also were the Assyrians, the Baby- lonians, the Chinese, and the nations of India. Traces of the same usage have also been detected by Oldendorf among the tribes inhabiting the interior of Africa. Nay, farther, it has been met with among the American nations of the West. But it is unnecessary to multiply evidence on this head ; Josephus had long ago afiirmed that there was scarcely any nation. 1 Jennings, Jewish Antiquities, p. 410. Loud. 182.3. 2 Winer, Bib. R. W., Art. Zahlen, vol. ii. p. 714. ' Cox, Biblical Antiquities, p. 245. Lend. 1852. 316 CREATION AND THE FALL, Greek or barbarian, but in some degree acknowledged or con- formed to a seventh clay's cessation from labour.^ 2. What account can be given of the origin of a custom so ancient and so universal ? Its antiquity shows beyond all question that the notion was not borrowed from any Jewish source, or from the Mosaic institutions. Any doubt on this subject must be removed by the other consideration, that this division of time was in use among nations at the greatest dis- tance from one another ; and of many of whom it cannot be said that they were in any way influenced by the Hebrew legislator. Another element to be considered in any theory proposed to account for the origin and prevalence of this custom, is, that it was not confined to nations which had greatly advanced in civilisation, but was also in use among tribes in various stages of knowledge and refinement. This evidently necessitates the conclusion that if this division of time be not of a character to force itself on the attention of mankind, owing to some palpa- ble connexion with the constitution of nature or the organiza- tion of man, it must have been transmitted from the ancestors of the human race, and spread abroad with the dispersion of the nations. Thus in regard to the division of time into months or moons, the cause is at once obvious, and is such as must have universally commended itself The same would hold true of a cycle of ten days : its origin would be imme- diately referred to the fact that man has ten digits, and which has originated the decimal scale of notation. But that a period so obvious and convenient was not in use, is in itself a strong confirmation of the original acceptance of a weekly division of time. But can it be said that, apart from all traditions regarding the order and arrangements of creation, the weekly division of time possesses qualities or relations strong and palpable enough to commend its universal adoption ? Many learned men do not hesitate to reply in the aflirmative ; and Anti- Sabbatarians eagerly avail themselves of the testimony. But how do they attempt to explain it ? Some writers, as Acosta and Humboldt, find the origin of the week in the number of the piimary planets as known to ' Contra Apioncm, lib. ii. cap. 40. EXCURSUS 11. — THE WEEK — ITS CONNEXION WITH CREATION. 317 tlie ancients.^ The only evidence, liowever, in support of tlii.s theory is, that the days of the week were by many nations named after the phmets. These names originated in astrolo- gical notions : and it is enough to say that such notions were not so ancient or so universal as that division of time whose origin they are supposed to explain. With the Jews in par- ticular, and many other nations, no designation of the days of the week was in use, save the ordinal numbers, first, second, &c. Not satisfied with this explanation, Ideler, a learned writer on chronology, refers the origin of the week to the circum- stance that the quarter of the moon consists of about seven days, (properly 7|,) the lunar month naturally dividing itself into four such periods.^ This account of the matter, Winer characterizes as highly probable ; and it has also found a strenuous defender in Professor Baden Powell.^ But although more plausible than the view already referred to, it labours under serious disadvantages. First, the lunar month of about 29^ days does not admit of any exact subdivision, and seven is only a remote approximation to such j so much so, that the days of the week would be continually varying from the cor- responding phases of the moon. But, again, four is not so natural and obvious a division as to be generally suggestive. Seeing that ten is so convenient a numenil, how did it never occur to any, taking the month at SO days, to divide it into tens ? Besides the week, the Peruvians are said to have had a cycle of nine days, but this is not the approximate and natural third of a lunation, and therefore does anything but show, as Baden Powell alleges, " the common origin of both." Periods of 14 or 15 days might also with great probability be referred to the increase and decrease of the moon ; but for the origin of the week no theory has been proposed which can for a moment admit of comparison Avith the view which sees in it a memorial of creation — known through tradition long before the composi- tion of Genesis or the Hebrew cosmogon3\ Besides, no other theory professes to account for the sacred character attached to the numeral seven, and, in particular, to the seventh day. ' Cyclopaedia Bib. Lit., Art. Sabbath, vol. ii. p. 6.5.'>. 2 Ilandbuch der ISIatliem.it. n. tech. Chronologie, vol. i. p. 60. Berlin, ISiS. » Cyc. Bib. Lit, he. cit. 318 CREATION AND THE FALL. SECT. IL DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION OF MAN, Gen. ii. 4-25. § 9. Transition from the First to the Second Narrative, Gen. ii. 4. The second chapter of Genesis is not strictly a continuation of the narrative begun in the first, but rather a transition from that chapter to the third, or from the history of creation to that of the creature, considered in a moral point of view. The blessing and sanctification of the seventh day which fol- lowed the close of creation, intimated a purpose on the jjart of the Creator still farther to ennoble it and draw it closer to himself. This was to be effected in and through humanity — the only personal existence on earth, and which, as formed in the Divine image, and invested with dominion over nature, was at once the representative of the Creator and the creature. Nevertheless, in the general record of creation, how little is absolutely communicated in regard to man, his creation, his character, or his condition ; althougli these matters occupy relatively a large space in a narrative designed to describe in a few sentences the creation of the heavens and the earth with all their host. And yet, again, the information thus com- municated respecting man is of such a nature, and is conveyed in such a manner as irresistibly to lead to the conclusion that the historian is not done with the subject in his first section. This expectation is justified, and the curiosity is satisfied, by the particular account of the creation and original condition of man which immediately follows ; while nothing shows more clearly that the object of the writer was entirely moral and religious, than to find that this account of man, and of his location on the earth, covers nearly as large a space as the foregoing account of the creation of the universe. In its relation to the first section, the second may be viewed as an enlarged monograph on Gen. i. 26-29, and, as such, con- sisting of details which could not be conveniently inserted there. Thus there is an account of the origin of the first human being, verse 7, a notice of the pleasant residence assigned to him by the Creator, and of its situation, verses TRANSITION FROM FIRST TO SECOND NARRATIVE, GEN. 11. 4. 319 8-15, of the provision made for his sustenance, verse 19, and also of the creation of the woman, and of her relation to the man, verses 18, 21-25. But it is in rehation to the history of the Fall, and as fur- nishing materials for tlie correct understanding of that melan- choly occurrence, that this narrative assumes a special import- ance. Already, in the general history of creation, there were terms employed which, although not expressly, yet by impli- cation, may be regarded as pointing to the altered state of things induced by man's apostasy : such perhaps is the parti- cular mention made of man as created in the image of God, and most probably the " very good" with which, at the con- clusion of His work, the Creator declared its character and gave expression to his own gratification. But it is in the second chapter that the premonitions and preliminaries of the Fall are most abundant and particular. It might be shewn, verse by verse, how the two chapters supplement and explain one another ; and how their mutual relation is such, that they are fitly described by Herder " as two sides of one and the same humanity." One or two examples may however suffice. Thus the scene of the third chapter is laid in a garden — the residence of a human pair — but from which on transgression they are expelled. The second chapter answers all such ques- tions as. What and where was the garden, who and whence its inhabitants ? Again, the account of the Fall begins with a reference to a Divine permission, and also a prohibition, to partake of the fruit of certain trees in the garden : the pre- vious narrative had fully prepared the reader for this incident by specifying man's liberty, and its limitation in respect to one tree in the garden. Once more, the intimation, " They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed," (chap. ii. 25,) is in marked contrast to what is said of their state after transgression : " They knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons ;" and the confession of Adam, " I was afraid because I was naked," (chap. iii. 7, 10.) But notwithstanding the seemingly well-defined limits be- tween the first and second sections of Genesis, and the marked difference of style which distinguishes the two narratives, critics and interpreters are not a little perplexed in deter- 320 CREATION AND THE FALL. mining where the one really ends and the other begins. The difficulty is in regard to chap. ii. 4, whether as a subscription it is to be connected with the preceding narrative, or as a super- scription with what follows ; or whether it partly belongs to the one and partly to the other, for the three views have found able defenders. Practically the question may be deemed by many of little importance, whatever interest it may possess for the Biblical critic. Any importance attaching to it in this respect is mainly due to its forming a battle-ground in the controversy regarding the unity of Genesis ; but even here its importance has been overrated, for those who are ranged on opposite sides in that controversy are not unfrequently agreed in their views regarding this question. And yet, in a practical point of view, the place assigned to this verse may so affect its interpretation as to justify a somewhat extended examination. The older expositors, for the most part, so far as they noticed the division of the two sections, considered this verse as the conclusion of the first section, principally because as a superscription of the second, the title would be directly opposed to the contents, inasmuch as no mention is made of the heavens, but only of the earth in the second section. But the document hypothesis of Astruc and Eichhorn gave promi- nence to the view already advanced by Vitringa, who connected this verse with the second section, mainly on the ground that it contains the Divine name, Jehovah-Elohim, peculiar to that section. The recent reaction against that hypothesis has re- vived the older view, and Ranke, Tiele, and Havernick labour to show that chap. ii. 4 belongs to the first section. In this, however, they are opposed by Hengstenberg and Kurtz, equally zealous opponents of the document hypothesis, while, on the contrary, they obtain the concurrence of some of its advocates, as Tuch, Ewald, and Sttihelin. Dreschler differs from both parties, as he holds that the first half of the verse belongs to the first section as a recapitulation of its contents, and an inti- mation that the history of creation was concluded ; and he considers that the new section begins with the words, "In the day that," &c. In proof of this passage forming a superscription to the second section, it is argued that in all the other instances where the formula, " These are the generations," or its equivalent, TRANSITION FROM FIRST TO SECOND NARRATIVE, GEN. II. 4. 321 " The book of the generations," occurs in the Pentateuch, eleven times besides the present passage, it is as a superscrip- tion or title to what follows. And farther, it is urged that niiVin is not used in reference to an account of the birth or origin of a person or thing, but only of procreation and deve- lopment ; the genitive connected with the term always denoting the assumed beginning, and itself the genealogical, or generally the historical progress of this beginning. The word, says Kurtz, never signifies history in the common sense of the term, with- out direct reference to genealogies. But these arguments do not possess, as Delitzsch remarks, the weight usually ascribed to them. In the first place, although the words with which the verse begins usually com- mence a new section, yet, if anywhere, in the present instance there may have been occasion for a departure from this prac- tice, inasmuch as the preceding important section is destitute of a title. Farther, the pronoun Elle {these) can refer equally well to what precedes as to what follows, as is evident from many instances in this history ; as Gen. x. 5, 20, 31, 32, and, in particular, the concluding subscriptions of Leviticus and Numbers. As to the second argument, it is remarked that, in the narrative of the creation, " the heavens and the earth" are considered not merely as existences, but as the gradually deve- loped productions of the Creative word. And it may be added, ^vith respect to the two arguments, that the expression, " the generations of the heavens and the earth," involves a peculiarity not common to any of the other instances which are brought into comparison with it. These remarks, although not sufficient to prove that this verse must form the conclusion of the first section, yet show that there is no insuperable objection to that supposition, should other considerations require it. Such considerations are, on the other hand, detected in the fact that, while this verse pur- ports to be the generation of the heavens no less than of the earth, the subject of the second narrative is exclusively the earth, and, in particular, man, with the arrangements made on his behalf; wliile, on the contrary, it is very apposite to the first narrative, which describes the origin, progress, and com- pletion of the heavens and the earth. None of tlie proposed explanations of this formidable objcc- X 322 CREATION AND THE FALL. tion can be pronounced very satisfactory. Gabler takes '•' the heavens and the earth," as equivalent to the world, or the earth and its atmosphere, according to Gen. i. 8 ; Rosenmiiller, as a synecdoche of the whole for a part ; as kosrnos and mundus are frequently used of the earth alone, so he supposes may the Hebrew equivalent ynxn} n;DC'n. But this can only take place where the universal idea is expressed by a single term, and never where recourse is had to a circumlocution formed by the juxtaposition of the constituent parts. Baumgarten, again, finds an explanation in man's relation to the world. " We have found much in the preceding history," he says, " which pointed to a further development of the creation, but the true initial point of all the development to be expected presents itself to us in man. Accordingly, in a narrative of the further evolution of heaven and earth, it is quite natural if the dis- course is of man." To this Kurtz objects that it places in the background the idea of generation so prominent in toledoth. Kurtz's own explanation has respect to two points ; first, how inorganic matter can be considered as generative; and secondly, how not only earth, but heaven also, stands related to man. But the learned disquisition of this ingenious writer has utterly failed to establish either of his propositions, that man is a production of nature ; or that, being such, he may be properly considered a production of heaven and earth, from the close connexion in which these two parts of creation stand to one another in the first section of Genesis. It thus appears, that whatever alternative be adopted with respect to the verse under consideration, neither is exem.j)t from considerable difficulties ; but if in any degree, these are greater on the view that it forms the title of the second narra- tive. But then, on the other hand, if it be transferred to the preceding section, the second must begin at verse 5, in a form, as Tuch and Kurtz remark, exceedingly abrupt, and so opposed to the genius of the language that the former of these writers pronounces it impossible. In these circumstances, the view of Dreschler, already referred to, though it has not met with much acceptance, promises a simple solution of the difficulty. The first part of the sentence — These are the generations {or genesis, as it is in the LXX.) of the heavens and the earth when they were created, (literally, in their creation) — is to be joined with INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF MAN's CREATION, GEN. II. 4-6. 323 the preceding history of the creation, while the remainder, "In the day of Jehovali-Elohim's making earth and heaven," be- longs to what follows, forming not merely the commencement of the paragraph, but also of the sentence in verse 5, notwith- standing the Masoretic punctuation. Simplicity is not the only merit of this scheme. It satisfac- torily disposes of the difficulty arising from the definition " heaven and earth," when the verse was taken to belong to the second narrative. It also removes the objection to a com- mencement so unnatural as that furnished in verse 5. Indeed Tuch, who assigns the whole verse to the second section, says the narrative begins with, " In the day," &c., a division which De Wette also follows in his translation. This division farther brings out very distinctly the difference of plan and purpose in the two narratives. Throughout the first narrative the usual form, " the heavens and the earth,'' is invariably used ; but here the exceedingly rare one, "earth and heavens," (occurring again only in Ps. cxlviii. 1 3,) as if on purpose at the very out- set to apprise the reader that there is now a change of subject. The name Jehovah-Elohim, also, which occurs here for the first time, is in entire keeping with the remainder of the sec- tion.^ Lastly, thus considered, the commencement of the two sections is somewhat analogous : " In the beginning," &c., and " In the day," &c., the difference being only in the opposite or changed circumstances of the two cases. § 10. Introduction to the History of Maris Creation, Gen. ii. 4-6. In order to connect this narrative with the preceding, and at the same time form a fitting introduction to the detailed account of man's creation here to be presented, the point of view is thrown back to a period in the history of the earth when no shrub or herb clothed its sterile surface ; and when even the first conditions of vegetable life had no existence. Verses 4, 5. In the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven there was no shrub of the field yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord Ood had not 1 For the import of Jchovali-Elcliim soe above pp. .31-37. 324 CREATION AND THE FALL. caused it to rain upon the earth ; and man luas not, to till the g7'ound. This describes a state of the earth's surface absolutely bare and barren, n'-j, a shrub or bush, here joined with afc^s?, an herb, to comprise the whole vegetable kingxlom. ngo, (an adverb formed from Its, after the manner of segolate nouns,) followed by the future, is equivalent to nonduvi with the pluperfect, (Gen. xix. 4, xxiv. 45 ; Ex. ix. 30.) Latterly, it was used as a conjunction, in the sense of priusquam^ as it is taken in this instance, but incorrectly, by the English version after the translations of the LXX. and Vulgate. The literal rendering of the passage is : " Every shrub of the field was not yet," that is, no shrub of the field was yet, for such is the force of nno — ^b ; and so in the parallel clause. Even the necessary conditions of vegeta- tion and growth were absent : there was no rain. Tuch, Knobel, and others of the same school, affirm that two reasons are assigned for the absence of vegetation at this period : the want of rain to moisten, and of man to cultivate, the soil ; but this is not correct. From anything known of the writer of Genesis, there is no reason to conclude that he could be guilty of the gross error of supposing that moisture and tillage are co- ordinate conditions of vegetable existence. The absence of man is noticed in close connexion with the absence of rain, but only because it was the writer's design to show how the wants then existing were to be supplied. The expression, not yet, intimates that the state of matters described was not to continue, but that plants, and man, too, were to be introduced in due course. The time to which this description corresponds was the day in which were made earth and heaven. It was evidently prior to the Creative mandate, " Let the earth bring forth grass," &c. (chap. i. 11,) uttered, it may be supposed, towards the close of the third day, and after the dry land liad emerged from the deep. The term nVa is usually taken adverbially, as a general designation of time, then, when; but the passages referred to by Tuch (Gen. v. 1 ; Ps. xviii. 1) do not fully bear out this view. In the present instance, however, there is no occasion to depart from the literal meaning of the term, in the day, for this does not refer, as is often supposed, to the whole process of creation which extended to six days or periods, but > Noklins, Conconkn. Partic. Ilrb. Jenw, 1734, p. 339. INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF SIAN's CREATION, GEK. II. 4-C. 325 to certain specific arrangements. It is not the creation of the heavens atid the earth, but tlie making of earth and heaven that is here spoken of. Tlie former expression was the usual desig- nation of the universe, the other may mean no more than the dry land and the atmosphere, (chap. i. 8, 10.) It may be objected that these were the works not of one day, but of two. But then it should be considered, that in the narrative of cre- ation these two works, which in one point of view referred entirely to the waters, are not merely described as immediately succeeding one another in order, but are regarded as parts of one and the same operation, for it was not until the dry land was separated from the waters that the Creator pronounced the work to be " good." Had it been the writer's intention to treat merely of the creation of m*n, without reference to the state of the earth at the period when he was introduced upon it, it would have been sufficient to begin the present section of his narrative with the sixth day. But the historian's purpose w^as also to describe man's appointed dwelling-place, the garden in Eden, and how it was planted with every goodly tree, and furnished by the all-bountiful Creator with all that was necessary for man, or conducive to his happiness. Hence the reference at the outset to the vegetable kingdom, as if to intimate that all the pro- tracted preparations were mainly for man ; and that, as shall appear in the course of the history, by the fruits of the ground his wants should be supplied and his obedience tested. On the due disposition of the atmosphere and dry land (fully described in chap. i. 6-10) followed the meteorological processes which are indispensable to the existence of plants. Ver. 6. And a mist ascended from the earth and luatered the whole face of tlie ground. The imperfect rhs>_, conjoined with ni^tfni, the per- fect, denotes an operation commenced and continued, the two actions being connected as cause and effect, (Ewald, § 3-32, b ;) the vapour ascended, and so watered the ground, being returned in the form of rain, as may be concluded from verse 5. It is not meant, as is sometimes supposed, that the mist supplied the absence of rain, (Rosenmiiller,) but was itself changed into rain, the want of which had been already noticed : and thus God " caused it to rain upon the earth," " The clouds pour down rain according to the vapour thereof," (Job xxxvi. 27.) 326 CREATION AND THE FALL. But although the historian notices the preparation thus made for the existence and growth of plants, he does not ex- pressly mention their creation, but leaves it to be inferred from the preceding section, while he directly proceeds with his main subject, the formation of man. It is very singular that, with the exception of the one note in the introduction, already adverted to, there is no reference to time throughout this nar- rative ; but it is evident that onward from this point all belongs to the sixth day. §11. The Creation of the Fii^st Man, Gen. ii. 7. And the Lord God formed the man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life : and the man became an animated being. — This is not a statement of the fact of man's formation, but of the manner of it, as is plain from the use of the verb ni'^'i, formed, or fashioned as the potter moulds or models the clay, (Isa. Ixiv. 8.) Of the manner of man's creation the previous narrative said nothing, but only showed that he was constituted of a far higlier nature than the beings around him. But now, at the opening of this his moral history, it was necessary to know somewhat more regarding his origin, in order to understand the relation in which, by the law of his being, he stood to God and to the creation. This master-work of creation consisted of two Divine acts, the formation of the human body, and the communication of life to it. As regards the former, it was made no■^^t^-lJp nsr, dust from the ground, i.e., from or of dust of the ground : the accu- sative of the muterial being used after a verb of making, (see Ex. xxxvii. 24 ; xxxviii. 3 ; and Ewald, § 284, a.) This simple representation of the constituents of the human body is in strict accordance with the results of chemical and physiological investigations. The nomenclature and the analysis of the philosopher may be more accurate and minute than the popular phraseology of Moses, j^et tlie results are the same. It is well known, from chemical analysis, that the animal body is com- posed, in the inscrutable manner called organization, of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, lime, iron, sulphur, and phospho- THE CREATION OF THE FIRST MAN, GEN, II. 7, 327 rus — substances whicli, in their various combinations, form a very large part of tlie solid ground.^ The view taken of the constitution of the human body in Genesis 2 is frequently referred to in other parts of Scripture. Man is said to be formed of the clay, (Job xxxiii. 6,) of the dust, (Eccles. iii. 20 ; xii. 7 ;) and death is spoken of as a return to the dust, (Job x. 9 ; xxxiv. 15; Ps. cxlvi. 4.) So also in the New Testament, " the first man " is described as " of the earth, earthy/' (1 Cor. xv. 47.) But besides the body which, although of a nobler mould, is yet common to man with the lower animals, there is another and a distinguishing principle imparted to him by the Almighty breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. The inspiration is said to be through the nostrils^ (d;gx dual of s]n, the nose, so called, according to Flirst, from its being the most prominent part of the face,) because the function of respiration is chiefly visible in this part of the human frame, and the breath is the expression and the index of the life within. It is in this second act of the Creator that the first finds its necessary completion, and the result of the two is that " the man becomes a living soul," (Eng. Ver.,) or more correctly " an animated being," an expression already met with, as applied to the lower animals, (Gen. i. 21,) and equivalent to ■^v^rj ^cocra, 1 Cor. xv. 45. Wherein, then, it may be asked, consists the distinguishing superiority of man over all the other inhabitants of the earth in this notice respecting his formation, if the expression n»n cDj, does not point him out as endowed with personality ? This has been variously answered. Some make the distinction to consist in n;»n nnt?3, the breath of lives, bestowed on man, and ' Encyclop. Brit, Art. Cliemistry, vol. vi. p. 501. — " The elements of organic bodies are the same as those which constitute the inorganic world, save that the relative proportions are different, and that few comparatively of the elements can enter into the composition of organic compounds. The chief mass of such com- pounds is formed of only four elements, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen ; frequently of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen alone ; sometimes of carbon and hydro- gen only. In every case of an organized structure, however, or of any substance capable of being formed into such a structure or tissue, there are not only the four elements just mentioned, but also sulphur, and several mineral salts in small propor- tion, but equally essential with the rest." ^ The classical reader will recognise the parallel presented by the descriptions of the Poets, e.g., Ovid, Metam. lib. i. 82; Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 35 ; Hesiod, Opera et dies, GL 70. 328 CREATION AND THE FALL, the way in which it is expressly said to have been conferred. Others conceive that no such distinction is made in this pas- sage which treats of man only in a physical relation, his moral character having been sufficiently indicated in chap. i. 26, 27.^ Perhaps the truth lies between these two extremes. That the expression, the breath of lives, in itself implies no peculiar excellency in man, is evident from Gen. vii. 22, where it is so nsed as to include the lower animals, and yet the way in which the principle of life is said to be imparted to man may have been designed to denote a special pre-eminence on his part.^ This is very much confirmed by the numerous references in other parts of Scripture to this divinely communicated vital principle. Thus, Job xxxii. 8, " But there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration (breath) of the Ahnighty giveth them understanding." Chap, xxxiii. 4, " The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the iVlmighty hath given me life." But in Job xxvii. S, the reference is merely to physical life : " all the while my breath is in me, and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils." Isaiah xlii. 5, " Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out ; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it ; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein.'' Eccles. iii. 21, makes a distinction between " the sj)irit of man" (nn, synonymous with noB-'p,) that " goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward." Again, chap. xii. 7, " The dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." If then no particular stress is to be laid on the expression, " breath of lives," yet it must not be overlooked that in the formation of man the communication of life is described as a ' Calvin : — Quicquid seutiant plerique veterum, subscribere eorum sententise non dubito qui de ariimali hominis vita locum bunc exponunt : atque ita flatum interpre- ter, quem spiritum vitaleni nominant. Siquis objiciat, non debuisse igitur discrimen poni inter hominem et csetera animantia, quum hie nihil referat Moses nisi quod omnibus simul commune est : rcspondco, quamvis hie tantum meraoretur inferior animaj facultas, qu£e corpus iuspirat, et illi dat vigorem et motum : non tamen obstare quin gradum suum obtineat anima, idcoque seorsum poni debuerit. De flatu primum loquitur Moses : deindc subjicit, datam esse animam homini qua viveret, sensuque et motu esset pracditus. Jam virtutes humanre animas scimus pluros esse ac varias. Quare nihil absurdi si nunc unam tantum attingat Moses : partem vero intellectualem omittat, cujus mentio prime capite facta est. ^ Delitzsch, Die biblisch-prophetische Theologie, p. 190. Leip. 1845. THE GARDEN, MAn's APPOINTED RESIDENCE, GEN. II. S-15. 329 peculiar and distinct act of God. But it may be remarked that, in the second chapter, man's dignity and supremacy are not so much expressed in words, as implied in the several acts ascribed to him, and the provision made by the Creator on his account. He is described throughout this narrative as the one object of God's peculiar care, towards whom his attentions are directed, and in whom his delights are centered ; all which circumstances are in beautiful harmony with the solemn pur- pose intimated in the preceding chapter, " Let us make man in our own image." It is farther to be noticed that this account of the formation of man relates only to the individual — the first human being — THE MAN, and not like chap. i. 26, 27, to the race as represented by, and so included in the first ancestral pair. It is from over- looking this fact, that charges of contradiction with respect to this particular are rashly preferred against the history. It is true the first narrative does not specify the numhers, but only the sexes, of the original creation, but this information is fully supplied by the supplemental narrative. Reference was already made to the uncertainty regarding the etymology of the Hebrew term, by which the race of man- kind, and its first sole representative, the subject of this history, were designated. It may, however, be necessaiy to add, that there is no evidence whatever to support the conclu- sion that it has any connexion with red, as denoting a parti- cular race. The relation between Adam, and adamah the ground, on the other hand, though not an etymological one, is deserving of consideration, as it is plainly indicated in the present passage. Farther, and more particularly, to take the expression as equivalent to the Adamites,^ is contrary to the entire genius of the language : and certainly no Hebrew scholar would so understand it. § 12. The Garden, Man's appointed Residence — its Produc- tions, Situation, and his Office in Connexion with it, Gen. ii. 8-15. The state of the earth when man was introduced upon it, was widely different from that described in verse 5, when . ' Journal of Sacred Literature, Jan. 1855, pp. 436, 449. 330 CREATION AND THE FALL. there was no plant on its surface yet unmoistened by fertilizing showers. At this later period, the earth is adorned with graceful and goodly trees, and there are fountains and rills and rivers. It might be fitly said of the world with which at this time God held close and uninterrupted intercourse, " Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it : thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water : tliou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makcst it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof," (Ps. Ixv. 9, 10.) But such was the distin- guishing kindness exercised by the Beneficent Creator towards man, that not satisfied with the common bounties which nature furnished for his other creatures. He makes a special provision for him : verse 8, And the Lord God planted a gar- den eastivard in Eden ; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Eden, ]-\v, (compare the Greek t^Soi^tj, voluptas, which it greatly resembles in sound and sense,) signifies both in Arabic and Hebrew, delight j' tenderness, loveliness. Some render jnran-jj, "a garden in a pleasant region,'' or, according to the Vulgate, paradisus voluptatis. But that Eden is in this place the proper name of a district, is evid'ent from its being said. Gen. iv. 6, that Nod lay to the east of Eden. The word occurs as an appellative for pleasui^es or delights, but only in the plural, Ps. xxxvi. 9 ; 2 Sam. i. 24. With a slight difference in the punctuation (pr) the same word is used as the name of some other localities ; see 2 Kings xix. "12 ; Isaiah xxxvii. 12 ; Amos i. 5 ; most probably so denominated from their pleasant situa- tion and appearance. In particular, tlie place referred to by the Prophet Amos was a pleasant valley in the neighbourhood of Damascus, greatly famed by Arab writers. For more accurately defining the place of man's abode in Eden, which may have been an extensive country, the his- torian adds nij?a, from the east, equivalent to the English phrase, " on the east, or eastwards," and the Latin " ab occasu." The LXX. rightly considering the reference to space or geographical situation, renders it Kar dvaTo\dia The Eaccs of M.iii, p. 289. EXCURSUS V. — MAN ONE FAMILY. 379 tliey are now after a lapse of three thousand years, while after generations of domestication in America, the unmixed descen- dants of Africans remain true to the negro type. To this it is replied that, in the infancy of the race, and when circumstances must have differed much from the present more settled order of nature, there may have existed greater predispositions to change, and stronger influences to effect it. Again, in regard to the slaves in America, the period of obser- vation is too short to admit of any marked diversity; while it is also found that varieties, once introduced, become so far permanent, and do not revert to the original type. But America, with its one aboriginal race extending nearly over the whole continent, is appealed to as a proof how little influence climate exerts in producing varieties. This is so far true, and a serious objection to any theory that holds the diver- sities to be entirely the result of climatic influences, which are, in fact, only a small part of the aggregation of causes in ope- ration. But, on the other hand, this fact presents an insuper- able difficulty, on the theory of centres of creation as advanced by Agassiz. Most of the objections to the sufficiency of natural causes accounting for the diversity of races, arise from viewing one or other of the extremes, instead of assuming a mean from which the various races have diverged. But, admitting that natural causes cannot adequately explain the present appearances, recourse must be had to supernatural causes, that is, Divine interpositions. This must be admitted on any theory save that of Maillet and Lamarck. The opponents of specific unity refer the diversities to distinct acts of creation. But is this neces- sary ; or is it philosophical to evoke a greater cause, when it cannot be proved that a less might not suffice ? If recourse must be had to supernatural causes, it is more reasonable to suppose that the Creator originally implanted certain predispo- sitions to be manifested in the progress of the race, or at a subsequent period introduced changes to facilitate the disper- sion of the nations, than that by distinct acts of creation he introduced the varieties. 2. Philological considerations. — The contributions to this subject by Philology are exceedingly valuable. Recently, much has been effected in a comparison of languages, the study being 380 CREATION AND THE FALL. greatly facilitated, and its boundaries enlarged by a careful examination of ancient monuments, and by the accounts of tra- vellers and missionaries regarding tongues and tribes previously unknown. Language, or the power of communicating thought by arti- culate and conventional sounds, is a common property of man. There is no tribe, however degraded in intellect and morals, but is possessed of this medium of communication. But lan- guage is also peculiar to man. Brutes, no doubt, can communi- cate with one another by signs or sounds, but language, strictly speaking, they have not. This, then, separates man into an order by himself; while, at the same time, it shews that all the races of men, however they may differ in complexion, in form or feature, or in moral and intellectual attainments, are yet possessed of a common nature, and are, in every sense, mem- bers of humanity. In this common and peculiar attribute of man there exists, as is well known, tlie greatest diversity. His languages and dia- lects are far more numerous than the shades of colour on his body. This was wont to be adduced in proof of the diversity of species or of origin. But, as a test of specific difference, it has entirely failed, being difficult of application, and often leading to the most unexpected results. It was found that nations, proved by physical characteristics to belong to one race, differ widely in language ; while nations which wonder- fully agree in language, exhibit in all other respects but an extremely remote connexion. Another result, however, emerged from the further investigation of this subject. In the midst of the bewildering diversity of languages and dialects, the com- parative philologist has succeeded in pointing out many affini- ties and lines of connexion. To a certain extent this fact was recognised long ago, and the principal languages were reduced into something like a system, and arranged into families, yet with few apparent bonds of union. Now, however, the matter is more simplified. Analogies, previously hidden or obscured, have been brought clearly into view, and these again have led to other unexpected coincidences. So numerous are the affini- ties thus brouglit to light between languages at first sight remarkable only for their contrasts, and so comprehensive the principle, that the most eminent philologists can account for EXCURSUS V. — MAN ONE FAMILY. 381 the fact only on the assumption that all the existing languages are the remains, variously modified, of one primeval tongue. But this, again, assumes that, whatever view may be taken of the origin of language, or of the nature of its modifying causes, the nations now separated from one another by great geogra- phical barriers were at some former period very closely con- nected. One primeval language evidently points to family relations, and proves a unity of origin as respects the scattered tribes and families of the earth. This conclusion can be evaded only by supposing that the affinity of languages is the result not of family connexion, but of subsequent intercourse between the nations, or of accident. But the fact of a primeval language has been established on strictly scientific data, and has commanded the assent of such men as Klaproth, Humboldt, and Bunsen. " The universal affinity of language,'' says Klaproth, " is placed in so strong a light that it must be considered by all as completely demon- strated. It appears inexplicable on any other hypothesis than that of admitting fragments of a primary language to exist through all the languages of the Old and New World." So, also, Frederick von Schlegel: "Much as all these languages differ from each other, they appear, after all, to be merely branches of one common stem." ^ And more recently, Bunsen : " As far as the organic languages of Asia and Europe are con- cerned, the human race is of one kindred, of one descent." " Our historical researches respecting language have led us to facts which seemed to oblige us to assume the common historical origin of the great families into which we found the nations of Asia and Europe to coalesce. The four families of Turanians and Iranians, of Khamites and Shemites, reduced themselves to two, and these again possessed such mutual material affini- ties as can neither be explained as accidental, nor as being so by a natural external necessity ; but they must be historical, and therefore imply a common descent." " The Asiatic origin of all these (American) tribes is as fully proved as the unity of family among themselves." ^ 1 The Philosopliy of History, p. 92. Lond. 1847. 2 Phil, of Univ. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 4, 99, 1 1 2. But it should he added that these re- Bults, founded on the philological researches of Professor Max Miiller of Oxford, are called in question hy Professor Pott of Halle in the Zeitschrift dcr Deutschen mor- genlandischen Gesellschaft, p. 405. Leipz. 1855. 382 CREATION AND THE FALL. The difficulty of determining this common stem in no way affects tlie question at issue. It is satisfactory to find that tlie whole tendency of linguistic inquiries is so strongly in favour of the unity of mankind, and that many learned men, some it may be undesignedly and some unwillingly, have fully confirmed another intimation of Scripture, that there was a time when the wliole earth was of one language and of one speech, before mankind was dispersed upon its surface. Here, moreover, may be noticed a fact established by the philologist, confirmatory of a tripartite division of mankind proposed by some of the ablest naturalists, and confirmatory, it may be said, of the biblical account of the three sons of Noah, by whom the earth was re-peopled after the flood. Before reaching the final result represented in one primeval language, the philologist was enabled to arrange all languages into three great divisions, cor- responding to the three great families of mankind inhabiting the three continents of the Old World, or more particularly spreading from the north of Europe to the tropic lands of Asia and Africa — thus embracing all the nations who have played the most conspicuous part in the world's history — a part strik- ingly in accordance with the blessings bestowed by Noah on his sons respectively. 3. Historical considerations. '— From history in its strict sense, whether recorded in books or sculptured on monuments, little information can be derived relative to the origin of man- kind. The only history, the biblical, which, in fact, treats of this subject, is purposely excluded from present consideration, inasmuch as it is the testimony of Scripture regarding it that, in a manner, is called in question. But while excluding direct biblical testimony, it is quite admissible to refer to it in proof of the information possessed by the writers of Scripture, or of the views entertained at the time of its composition. Thus, it cannot be doubted that Moses, the accredited author of Genesis, was fully aware of the great diversities among mankind. During his sojourn in Egypt and the desert of Arabia, he must have come in contact with various races distinguished by strong peculiari- ties, and yet he did not hesitate to assign a common origin to all the families of the earth — a circumstance which shows that at that early period the matter did not present itself as a difficulty. EXCUKSUS V. — MAN ONE FAMILY. 383 But there are not wanting liistorical records of anotlicr char- acter : such are the truths and testimonies preserved in tradi- tion, and in popular usages and superstitions, which, in most instances, have survived the recollection of their origin. Now, if many of these be seen to converge to one point from vari- ous parts of the earth's circumference, that point must he the centre of the circle, the central point from which all such tra- ditions, usages, and superstitions have radiated.' (1.) Traditions common to the nations of the earth. — The more important only of these need be referred to, such as those in connexion with the Creation, the Fall, and the Deluge. Of the traditions bearing on Creation and the Fall, sufficient notice has been already taken in the preceding pages, where it was shown that there was no way of accounting for the essential agreement of these wide-spread notions but on the supposition of a common origin referable to the first seat of the human race. The information on the subject of creation and the fall, diffused among the nations of the earth, is of such a nature and character, so utterly beyond the reach of invention, so consis- tent with itself and with the results of modern science, that children must have received it from their parents, and so up- wards to one ancestral pair. In addition to what has been already stated concerning these initial transactions in human history, it might be interesting to notice the general unanimity of tradition respecting some other particulars of the period from the Fall to the Deluge : such as the names and the longe- vity of the patriarchs, their arts and inventions, — but this the present limits forbid. The tradition, however, most widely diffused, and most uni- form in its dispersion, is, as might be anticii^ated, that of the flood, — a catastrophe which must have had a striking effect on the mind, and, being of more recent date, was better retained in the memory. The traditions on this subject have been col- lected by Bryant, Faber, and Harcourt, and although in these compilations there is much that is fanciful, there is yet enough to show how widely the memorials of the more important circumstances had spread, and how faithfully they were pre- served among nations and tribes situated at the widest dis- tances from one another, and differing greatly in civilisation, ' Harcourt, Ductrine of tlie Deluge, vol. i. p. 47. 384 CREATION AND THE FALL. religion, manners, language, and modes of tliouglit. Such a community of tradition, were it even limited to one or two particulars, would merit attention in an inquiry into the mutual relation of mankind, but when taken in connexion with the other testimonies on the Creation and the Fall, the matter is inexplicable on any tlieory which denies to mankind a com- mon origin. (2.) Popular customs and religious usages and superstitions common to mankind. — Of the numerous and strong points of contact presented to the view on this wide and interesting field of inquiry, only one or two can be noticed — specimens of independent and concurring testimonies which admit of being indefinitely multiplied. The weekly division of time, and the sacredness of the num- ber seven in general, is a remarkable instance of this kind ; but this has been already considered. Another usage — religi- ous or superstitious — which leads to similar conclusions with the tradition of the Fall, in which it doubtless originated, was the serpent-worship. " In almost every pagan nation the serpent has been the object of idolatrous veneration, which may be presumed to have arisen from some tradition concerning that reptile in Paradise, It cannot be conceived how mankind could be brought to pay divine adoration to an animal so loath- some and disgusting, and to wliicli there seems a natural anti- pathy in the human species, except from some traditionary record of its instrumentality in the Fall : yet the fact is certain of its being regarded with religious veneration all over the world.'' ^ But of more importance still are the views which were held regarding atonement, with the universal practice of animal sacrifice founded thereon. " It is notorious that all nations, Jews and Heathens, before the time of Christ, entertained the notion, that the displeasure of the offended Deity was to be averted by the sacrifice of an animal ; and that, to the shed- ding of blood, they imputed their pardon and reconciliation. In the explication of so strange a notion, and of the universa- lity of its extent, unassisted reason must confess itself totally at a loss. And, accordingly, we find Pythagoras, Plato, Por- phyry, and other reflecting heathens, express their wonder how ' Ilolden, Dissertation on the Fall, pp. 159, 160- EXCURSUS Y. — MAX ONE FAJITI.Y. 385 an institution so dismal and big with absurdity could have spread through the world." To these remarks of Archbishop Magee^ may be added a statement by Faber, another able writer on this subject : " I have always thought, and still think, that a universal accordance in matters purely arbitrary evinces, of necessity, that these matters had a common origin. Now, if this principle be just, the universal accordance of the pagan world in the purely arbitrary doctrine of an atonement and in the purely arbitrary practice of piacular sacrifice, invincibly demonstrates that that doctrine and that practice could not, in point of fact, have been independently struck out by all the nations of the world in their insulated state, but that the doc- trine and practice in question must have been derived by all nations from some one common origin, to which the ancestors of all nations must have had an equally easy access/'" (3.) To the considerations arising from universal or wide- spread traditions, usages, or superstitions, may be added others of a similar tendency. For instance, the various circumstances of a historical or mythical character which point to Western Asia as the cradle of the Imman race. " The uniform and universal testimony of history traces up all the nations of the earth, like streams, to a common fountain, and it places that fountain in some oriental country in or near the tropics."^ But not only in regard to the locality of the dispersion of the race, but also in a great measure in regard to its chrono- logy, is there a wonderful harmony between history and tradi- tion. To quote from Sir W. Jones : — " Thus have we proved that the inhabitants of Asia, and, consequently, as it might be proved, of the whole earth, sprang from three branches of one stem : and that these branches have shot into their present state of luxuriance in a period comparatively short, is apparent from a fact universally acknowledged, that we find no certain monument, or even probable tradition, of nations planted, empires and states raised, laws enacted, cities built, navigation improved, commerce encouraged, arts invented, or letters con- trived, above twelve, or, at the most, fifteen or sixteen cen- turies before the birth of Christ." ^ On the Atonement, Worhs, vol. i. p. 359. Lond. 1842. 2 Treatise on the Onj;in of Expiatory Sacrifice, p. 50. I.oncl. 1827. 2 Smyth, Unity of the Human Races, p. 22C. Edin. 1851. 2b 386 CREATION AND THE FALL, It is unnecessary to pursue tliis subject farther. Enough has been advanced to .shew that, notwithstanding any appear- ances to the contrary, mankind constitute but one family. The testimony of Scripture on this point is fully sustained by the evidence of science, physical, philological, and historical. All the lines of philosophical and antiquarian investigation converge to one point or centre whence the nations have been dispersed over the earth, and unite to prove, that although thus scattered, they are the children of one ancestral pair — the Adam and Eve of the Bible. EXCURSUS VL — DEATH BEFORE THE FALL. The notions entertained of the primeval constitution of the earth and animated nature are, in many instances, exceedingly crude and confused — the result mainly of fanciful representa- tions of a golden age exempt from all pain and suifering, and in which there was not even place for changes of climate or of seasons, for the war of elements, biting frosts, or chilling winds. Death, in particular, is supposed to have been absolutely excluded, by all accustomed to regard it as, in every case, the fruit of man's transgression. But of the numerous facts dis- closed by science while exploring the Creator's works and wonders in ages long past, not one is supported by stronger evidence than that which shews, that long anterior to the fall or creation of man, death was busy at its work of destruc- tion. That this discovery, however, is not at variance with any statement of the Bible, as the enemies of Revelation would " wish, or its friends might fear, or with any conclusion deducible, in particular, from the narratives of creation and the fall, will appear from the following considerations : — 1. Death is a universal law, from the operation of which, in the present constitution of things, no organized being is exempt. Every living thing on earth must succumb to this power. The grass withers, the flower fades ; and not only these short-lived productions, which are proverbial of what is frail and fleeting, but the strongest, stateliest, and most enduring trees of the forest, must yield to decay and death. Rising higher in the scale of life, the same inexorable law is ever encountered — in EXCURSUS VI. — DEATH BEFORE THE FALL. 387 the insect ephemera, whose life-span extends but to a few hours of a summer eve ; yet no less certain in the nobler types of animal existence in the ocean, in the air, and on the earth, and last of all in man, of whom it is affirmed, " It is appointed unto all men once to die." From this appointment only two individuals of the race are known to have been hitherto ex- empted— Enoch and Elijah, who, nevertheless, underwent a change equivalent or analogous to death. Death is thus a shadow which ever follows in the wake of life ; but differs in this, that it never fails to overpower the substance. " No per- fection of organism, no comj^leteness in the supply of the conditions of existence, can prevent any living individual from at last failing to derive the means of maintenance from those conditions, and from falling into a state of decay and dissolu- tion." 2, Death is a constant law, and has been in operation from the beginning. The state of matters above described is no innovation — no breaking in on another and different state of existence. There is incontestable evidence to prove, that long before the era of man, life and death were dwellers on the earth, where they waged incessant war. True, life is older than death, but by no great period ; while it is from death, or the records preserved in and by it, that our knowledge is wholly derived in regard to the antiquity of life, and to the various forms in which it was once manifested. These records from the sepulchres of perished creations incontrovertibly prove, that then as now, birth, growth, decay, and dissolution succeeded one another in a continued round ; and that, as at present, one part of creation warred with and preyed upon another. In the whole past record of life on the earth, there is no indication of a time when death's ravages were unknown, operating by natural decay, or by violent convulsions and catastrophes of nature, or of a period during which, as some fancy, the whole animal creation lived in mutual harmony, when as yet there were no beasts or birds of prey, but all without distinction cropped the herbage, or subsisted on grains and fruits. A moderate acquaintance with physical science, and particu- larly with the character and organization of the animal creation, will suffice to commend this view of tlie matter, by shewing not merely the fallacy, but the impossibility, which attaches to 388 CREATION AND THE FALL, the opinion, that the fall of man occasioned an entire trans- formation of tastes and tendencies in the animal economy'- and constitution ; an opinion tolerable enough as a fiction of poetry, but unworthy and injurious as an article in a theological creed. (1.) The anatomical structure of the carnivora shews that they cannot have originally conformed to the habits of the tribes which still obtain their food from the vegetable kingdom. Be- tween animals of the herbivorous and carnivorous classes there is the greatest difference of organic structure. This difference is not confined to one or two parts, but extends more or less to all the organs and the general conformation of the creature — as the organs of vision, prehension, mastication, and digestion ; and so distinct and consistent is the respective conformation, that from the examination of but even a small part of the sheleton of an unknown animal, the comparative anatomist can determine to which of the two classes the animal must have belonged. So decisive is this evidence as to an original differ- ence of habits, that there is no alternative but to admit that beasts and birds of prey lived from the beginning on the kind of food on which they subsist at present, or to assume, without the shadow of evidence, and in opposition to all the analogies of nature, that they have undergone a transformation so com- plete as properly to deserve the name of a new creation. (2.) This is corroborated by the testimony of the fossiliferous strata. The oldest of the sedimentary rocks contain in vast numbers the remains of animals which must have lived and died at a period so remote, that the mind can with difficulty approximate to it. These all tell a story of the long and ancient reign of death, while stratum after stratum exliibits it as the successive platform of life. Individuals had their day ; and so also species. One after another appeared and dis- appeared, only to make way for other forms of life suited by the Creator for the varying conditions of existence on the earth. These records also tell how animal devoured animal as a means of subsistence. It is curious, too, to find, how the evidence of this fact is preserved in the very stomach of the devourer. In some of the strata, in the Lias for instance, are found reptiles of extraordinary size and structure, as the Ichthyosaurs, which lived and perished many ages before man's creation. These reptiles shew tlieir carnivorous cliar- EXCURSUS VI. — DEATH LEFOltE THE FALL. 389 actcr not only in the structure of their jaws and teeth, " the half-digested remains of fishes and reptiles, found within their skeletons, indicate the precise nature of their food/'^ Indeed, it would thus appear that these monsters of the ancient world did not hesitate to devour the smaller and weaker of their own species.^ (3.) There is nothing in Scripture at variance with the view which the above facts present. There are numerous passages where the introduction of death into the world is spoken of, and its origin ascribed to man's sin ; but the reference in these cases will be found to be exclusively to death as related to the human race. As regards its power over the inferior creatures Scripture is entirely silent ; yet its existence may be considered as tacitly assumed in the history of creation. The passages which speak of the entrance of death are the following : — Gen. iii. 19, " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou re- turn." This announcement to Adam after the Fall is entirely silent as to the presence or absence of death in the lower crea- tion. It may imply, that he was familiar with the phenomenon of dissolution, but it cannot be construed as involving irre- sponsible beings in a fate from which tliey had been previously exempt. Rom. V. 12, " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men," &c. Here the entrance of death is distinctly ascribed to Adam's trans- gression, but the clause, " so death passed upon all men,'' limits the death thus introduced, and shows that the apostle referred simply to death as related to man. 1 Cor. XV. 21, " For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." Here, also, the reference is exclusively to man, as appears from the contrast instituted between " death " and the " resurrection." This is put beyond doubt by the words subjoined : " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Rom. viii. 20, 22, " The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." It is frequently 1 Lyell, Elements of Geology, p. 276. 4tli edit. Lend. 1852. 2 Buriueister, Gescliichte der Sthijpfung, p. 495. 300 CUEATION AND THE FALL. assumed that this is an intimation that all the sufferings of creation, its subjection to vanity, and its groaning in pain, are the result of the Fall. But it is to be remarked, (1.) That in- terpreters are not agreed as to whether the terms, " the crea- ture '' and " the whole creation," refer to two distinct objects, or to the same, and then whether to the rational or irrational part of creation. (2.) This subjection to vanity is not ascribed to man's sin, but to God's appointment. (3.) If the reference be to the curse on the ground for man's sin, the effects of which were sterility and the growth of noxious weeds, this does not justify the conclusion that pain, suffering, and death then entered in for the first time. This is the sum of the information which the Scriptures fur- nish on the origin of death. That it is limited to the case of man is not to be wondered at, seeing how much man's j)lace and position differed from that of all other creatures, and his life and death from theirs. It is from inattention to these essential distinctions that nmch of the confusion has arisen with which this subject is surrounded. Tlie portions of Scripture supposed to countenance the notion that, previous to the Fall, all animals were graminivorous, are, (1.) The grant of food at the creation limited to vegetable pro- ductions, (Gen. i. 29, SO.) But that this is not conclusive, the following considerations shew : — First, The grant is directly to man, the lower animals being mentioned only incidentally ; and so when it is subsequently enlarged man only is included, (Gen, ix, 3.) Secondly, The animals concerned in this grant can be considered only in a limited sense ; for of one large class, the monsters of the deep, there is no mention. Besides that gene- ral terms, as here, must not be taken absolutely, is evident from Gen. ix. 3, where it is said, " Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you.'' In the original grant of food it is therefore reasonable to conclude that only a particular class of animals was meant — such, probably, as were in closest rela- tion to man — while the other tribes, from their creation, used the food congenial to their nature, without any explicit grant but that implied in their instincts and necessities. (2.) Pas- sages from the proj^hetic writings, descriptive of a blessed, peaceful future, are adduced in support of this notion. Thus Isa. xi. 6-8, where it is predicted that " the wolf shall dw^ell EXCUllSUS VI. — DEATH BEFOllE THE FALL. 391 with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid/' and " the lion shall eat straw like the ox." But by no process of legitimate interpretation can any support be found here for the notion in question. For these prophetic intimations are entirely figurative, and have respect not to a physical but to a moral future, for it is made to depend on the earth being- full of the knowledge of the Lord. But, besides the unwarrantable as- sumption of literalities, there is another in the supjDosition that the future, thus viewed, is only the restitution of the original state of creation ; or that the unfallcn past must have corre- sponded to this fanciful restored future. S. Death is a necessary law of organized beings. Life and death are great mysteries, which are known only by their act- ings. Of the numerous points of diiference between dead, inorganic matter, and that endued with vitality, whether in plant or animal, there are two of primary importance — assimi- lation, on which depends the growth of the individual, and propagation, whereon depends the continuance of the race. Considered on both these principles, death is a necessary law of organization. (1.) Death is necessary, from the law of assimilation. By assimilation is meant that continued process by which plants and animals separate their appropriate food from all other par- ticles of matter, and incorporate it into their own substance. This process consists of two parts : the absorption of new mat- ter is accompanied by a constant, uninterrupted separation of the dead, effete matter,^ so that a continued decay or dissolu- tion attends the actings of life. Vegetables derive a part of their nutriment from inorganic matter ; but animals can find nourishment only in substances which had life, vegetable or animal. From dead organic matter the living structure derives its requisite support, but these supplies cannot insure a perpe- tuity of existence. " All individual vital action is essentially temporary in its nature ; and every living thing must die." ^ " After a certain period, the vessels which convey the nutritive materials, and elaborate the proximate principles, become choked with incrementitious matter, assimilation is performed ' See Carpenter, rHiiciplcs of Comparative Physiology, p. 127. 4tli edit. Lon- don, 1854. ' Kemp, Nat. Ilist. of Creation, p. 113. 392 CREATION AND THE FALL. imperfectly, and gradually the vital energies are overpowered, and yield up their charge to the disorganizing power of chemi- cal agencies/' ^ (2.) Death is necessary from the law of propagation. The propagation of the race is the second grand characteristic under the present constitution of things. By the operation of this law imposed upon creation at the beginning, the earth would speedily be overstocked, were no provision made for removing by death, or something equivalent to it, the successive genera- tions brought into being. In the absence of this, how were the surplus population to be disposed of ? Were the inferior crea- tures, in some such way as it may be conceived with regard to man, to be removed to some other scenes and higher states of existence ? Or, if continued on earth, was the law of j)ropaga- tion to be repealed or suspended when the numbers had advanced to a ratio commensurate with the capacities of the earth or the supply of food ? Or, finally, are these creatures fitted for immortality ? Probably few of these considerations have occurred to those who argue that death had no place in the world previous to man's fall. But the absurdities flowing from such a notion need not be farther insisted on. 4. Death is a benevolent law. If death be a necessary ordi- nance of organic life, it must have entered into the original plan of creation, and so evince not merely design but benevo- lence, notwithstanding difficulties in the existence of pain and suffering irrespective of moral desert. (1.) In regard to the animal creation, as a whole, the present constitution secures the greatest possible amount of enjoyment. It secures a continuous succession of young creatures, in which animal enjoyment is at its highest. This exuberance of joy reacts upon the older of the species ; besides the instincts and delights which the parental relation draws forth and gratifies. Farther, it secures, through a diversity of food, the greatest possible amount of contemporaneous animal existence. (2.) It is chiefly, however, in its bearing on man that death is to be viewed under the present dispensation as a benevolent arrangement, though essentially of a penal character. In its bearing alike on the individual and the community, death is a part of the remedial economy. As regards the individual, ' llitclicuck, Iveligiuii uf Geul)gy, y. 75. EXCURSUS VI. — DEATH BEFORE THE FALL. 393 death is fitted perpetually to remind liim of liis fallen, ruined condition. The certainty of leaving this world at no distant day, develops in one class all the better qualities of the new man, tempers their joys and moderates their sorrows. On the other hand, death is eminently fitted to check the natural pro- pensities of the wicked by the fear which it inspires, and the limited time which it affords for maturing and putting into execution schemes of vice and villany. Again, as regards the community, death is a benevolent law. While it no doubt sunders the sweetest, tenderest, and most endearing ties of humanity, it at the same time draws forth all the deepest sympathies of the heart — sympathies which constitute the very bond of society. Unlike the instinct implanted in many species of animals, which gives them a presentiment of death, and leads them to hide away in some obscure retreat to die unnoticed, death and its precursory symptoms in man draw more closel}' all the ties of kindred and of kindness, and call into exercise the tenderest affections, beneficial to the subject and the object, and to the community at large. As death, too, cuts short the plots of tyrants and the enemies of mankind, it acts beneficially to the race. With the present limited pro- spect of life, how many are the projects for subjugating nations, for crushing liberty, for usurping the rights of conscience, for oppressing the poor, for accumulating property, adding house to house, and field to field, till there be no room left for a rival on the earth ! What would the state of matters be, in- dividually and socially, with the prospect of an earthly immor- tality, or even with the longevity which was granted before the flood ? It is death, and the abbreviation of man's sojourn here, that prevents the recurrence of a state of things of which it was said, that " all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth, and the earth was filled with violence." The matter is seen in its proper light, only when the mind is brought to consider what earth would have been had a terrestrial immor- tality been permitted to its human inhabitants after the Fall • — and the idea is quite compatible with a state of condemna- tion, and indeed it may be said to be that state realized and intensified — earth would in that case have resembled hell. 394 CUEATION AND THE FALL. SECT. in. — THE FALL OF MAN — THE FIRST SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT, GEN. IIL As tliere are no intimations by which to determine the duration of the state of innocence described at the close of the preceding cliapter, speculation on the subject is altogether vain. It is of importance, however, to know that a state of innocence did thus precede the present condition of sin and suifering, which is thereby proved not to have been originally inherent in the constitution of man, and so not a necessity of his being ; and it is of importance, too, to be possessed of a history of man's temptation and fall. Scripture affords several intimations of a fall in the invisible world, (2 Pet. ii. 4 ; Jude 6,) and which must have preceded that of man, but when or how that defection took place is nowhere expressly affirmed. A history of angels, or of their fall, has not been written, and in this respect there is a distinction between their case and that of man — a distinction resting no doubt on the Divine purpose of redemption regarding the latter. Of man's fall there is a full account, not indeed such as affords an answer to many questions which curiosity will sug- gest, but to all to which Divine goodness and omniscience saw meet to reply. Among other important truths which may be learned from this narrative, it teaches that though God had prepared a test of man's obedience, yet the temptation came not from Him. Nor did it originate in man himself He was tempted from without, and seduced into transgression ; and in this it may be conceived lies the possibility of the restoration purposed and promised by God. The same characteristics of the Divine Being and principles of government manifested throughout the Scriptures, particularly the method whereby He brings good out of evil, are conspicuously displayed in the narrative of the Fall. At the same time, the character and conduct of the great adversary of God and man, as represented in this portion of Scripture, are in entire conformity with the information which the New Testament furnishes regarding the enemy who sowed tares among the good seed. In reading the history of the Fall, after the account of the Creation, as it came from the hand of God, the conviction is irresistible, "An THE TEMTTATION AND FIRST SIN, GEN. III. 1-C. 3^5 enemy hatli done this/' (Matt. xiii. 39.) For wliilo recording an event in its consequences most disastrous to man, and which, by proving the want of stability in a creature so highly honoured and blessed, might seem to reflect on the character of the Creator himself, this history will be found to vindicate the i^rocedure of the Divine Being both in the work of creation and in the o-overnment of the world. § 16. The Temptation and First Sin, Gen. iii. 1-6. The previous history Avas simj^ly that of man and of creation as subordinated and subservient to him. At this point, how- ever, man's history begins to be mysteriously blended with that of a principle occupying a place and manifesting a dis- position alien from all that the previous narrative would natur- ally lead us to anticipate. The appearance of this principle at this stage of the history is sudden, but not altogether unex- pected, when viewed in connexion, as already shewn, with the charge committed to man on his being introduced into the garden, (chap. ii. 15.) The origin of the being in question it might not at first be easy to determine, although the character of the lower creation, and its subjection to man, were sufficient to show that this was no creature of earth ; while, on the other hand, the language to which it gave utterance, plainly wanted the seal and attestation of heaven. Anyhow, this phenomenon argued disorder and disaffection somewhere in the creation, and as such should have sufficed to put the heepcr of the garden on his guard. The Tempter described, and the mode of his attach, verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the luoman, Yea, hath God said. Ye shall not eat of any tree in the garden ? In order to diminish the difficulties of this history, son.e writers take the serpent, according to New Testament usage, to be a symbolical designation of the Spirit of Evil ; but that it applied to a serpent properly so called, or what appeared to be such, is evident as well from otlier considerations, as from the comparison with " the beasts of the field." Moreover, we stand here on purely historical ground, however mysterious 396 CEEATION A>:D THE FALL. some of the circumstances may seem, (2 Cor. xi. 3 ; 1 Tim. ii. 13, 14.) But not the less was the serpent the mere instru- ment of an invisible higher power, who, notwithstanding his cunning and disguise, so far betrays himself by his conduct and conversation, as to leave no doubt regarding his person. Several critics of no mean note render B''n|n, a certain serpent, but this is by other equally eminent authorities pronounced to be unwarranted. That the Hebrew article has not unfrc- quently this force cannot indeed be questioned, but that it is not necessarily to be so taken in the present instance is shown from Numb. xxi. 9 ; Eccles. x. 11 ; Amos v. 19 ; ix. 3, &c. On this argument, therefore, if it stood alone, it would be unwise greatly to insist. But there are other considerations which concur in pointing out the serpent of the temptation as distinct from all other creatures. Thus to urge at present only the opening announcement of the narrative, there is, first, the pre- eminent subtlety ascribed to this serpent over " all the beasts of the field," a comparison which, taken in conjunction with the words superadded, " which the Lord God had made," seems to be an intimation that the reptile in question was no creature of earth, or one that received its form from God. The serpent, it may be remarked, is by no means distinguished for sagacity or subtlct}^ and yet in all languages it is symbolical of such attributes, (see Matt. x. 16,) no doubt from its early connexion with the destinies of mankind. " The serpent was subtle (mnr, cunning, crafty, Job v. 12; xv. 5) above or in comjDarison with all the beasts of the field." This term may have been used to mark the contrast between the character of this crea- ture and that of the objects of his attack. These were n'n», naked, (chap. ii. 25,) implying a state of innocence and sim- plicity, the Tempter was nn», (7ravovpyo<;, Aquila, compare 2 Cor. xi, 3,) cunning and malignant. The craftiness of the serpent appeared in the choice of the object and the mode of attack. He addressed himself to the woman as the more sus- ceptible, because the more dependent and weaker of the two, (1 Pet. iii. 7 ;) and perhaps she had heard of the Divine pro- hibition only from her husband, and not directly from God himself, although however received, she was fully aware of its existence and import. The abrupt manner in which the conversation of the serpent THE TEMPTATION AND FIRST SIN, GEN. III. 1-G. 307 witli the woman is introduced, shews that tlie reader is not presented with the beginning of it. The first words of the colloquy recorded contain a question, '3 cj!*, "etianrine? verumne quod?" according to Noldius ; " a question of astonishment," as Tuch characterizes it ; " is it so, then, that God said," &c. ; intimating, as it were, that such a report had been noised abroad, but that it seemed utterly incredible. But while appa- rently only asking information, the tempter took occasion entirely to pervert the Divine prohibition : " Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of all the trees in the garden V that is, according to the force of the negative before the universal in Hebrew, Ye shall not eat of any tree in the garden, (Tuch, Knobel, Ewald, § 318, b.) No ; God had said directly the reverse, (chap. ii. 16.) So much apparent ignorance, however, of the purport of the Divine command, as completely to reverse its terms, when taken in connexion with the knowledge of its existence and of the language in which it was conveyed, was a circumstance well fitted to shew to the woman that the igno- rance was only assumed, and that there lurked an evil purpose under it. But, instead of seeing this, she seeks, in her simpli- city, to correct the misapprehension of the inquirer. The woman corrects the serpent's mistake, verses 2, 3. And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden ; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, Qod hath said. Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. — It cannot be admitted with Hengstenberg, that the use by the woman of the name Elohim, instead of Jehovah, was the beginning of her fall ; nor can it be regarded as a depression and obscuration of the reli- gious sentiment. (See above, p. 34.) The woman gives, upon the whole correctly, the import of the Divine charge, though with some slight variations from the original terms, some of which, at least, betray the first risings of sin. In the first place, her reply, " Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat," was not a sufiiciently distinct and emphatic negative to the serpent's insinuation, " Ye shall not eat of any tree in the garden ;" while it scarcely did justice to the large and liberal grant of God, " Of every tree in tlie garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree," &o. Secondly, to the Divine pro- liibition to eat of the tree, she adds, " And ye shall not touch 398 CREATION AND THE FALL. it," — an addition which, according to some interpreters, e.g., Delitzsch, reveals the. fact, that a feeling of the severity of the inhibition, and dissatisfaction with its too great strictness, had already begun to operate. It is better, however, with Calvin, to regard it as the indication of an anxious and careful desire to observe the commandment. Perhaps it may have been a cherished purpose of Adam and his wife — and connected in the mind of the latter with the instructions received from her husband relative to this tree — not merely to abstain from the fruit, but, for greater security, not even to touch the tree itself. But, finally, that which chiefly indicates a change of disposition is the circumstance, that she passes over the threatened pun- ishment more lightly than the original terms warranted : " In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," is, in the reply of the woman, reduced to the more contingent ex- pression, ]inon-ja — lest ye die. The particle )? may point to a consequence as certain, seeing ye shall, or only as probable, seeing ye may, lest. There is evidently here some doubt or hesitancy concerning the threatened consequences of trans- gression. Death is no longer in the woman's estimation a certain, inevitable result of disobedience to the Divine law, but only a possible, or it may be a j)robable, contingency. The penalty is thus at once stripped of more than half its terrors. It is a thing to be risked, if there are any counterbalancing promises and prospects, if the chances, so to speak, are against the infliction of the punishment ; or it may be even submitted to in consideration of the greater gain to be secured by grasping at the thing forbidden. This parleying of the woman with the enemy was exceed- ingly hazardous : it was, in fact, like standing on the very edge of the precipice. But the danger was still farther enhanced by the state of mind indicated by the woman's answer. Her posi- tion did not escape the notice of the tempter, who at once saw his advantage, and accordingly did not let slip the opportunity of following it up. Verses 4, 5. And the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not surely die : for God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall he opened, and ye shall he as God, knowing good and evil. There is in tliis reply, first a direct and emphatic contradic- tion of the Divine declaration. The negative before the infinitive THE TEMTTATION AND FIRST SIN, GEN. III. 1-G. 399 in ]inpp n'-iD-i<^, is an unusual form for pncp ^h nin, and is an ar- rangement which occurs elsewhere only in poetry, e.g., nnp; rns-xf?, (Ps. xlix. 8.) In the present instance, it is evidently occasioned by the terms of the penalty in chap. ii. 17. The serpent's state- ment presents a remarkable contrast to the woman's uncertainty about the threatening. Here there is no hesitancy or ambi- guity. But it also exhibits a contrast no less remarkable with the tempter's own previous doubt and ignorance of the Divine command. How has that ignorance, but so recently exhibited, all at once given jjlace to the highest confidence and assurance in regard to a point which involves the whole character and government of God ? It was a bold stroke, and one which the tempter well knew must decide the controversy one way or another: it must break off the conference, or secure to him the victory. The tempter speaks out, and reveals himself in his true character, as he blasphemously gives the lie to God. Now is tlie decisive moment for the mother of mankind : she need no longer be at a loss as to the character of the being with whom she holds converse ; but she utters no prayer for deliverance, and enters no protest against this Heaven-arraign- ing temerity : she permits the speaker to j)roceed with his ill-disguised falsehoods. The tempter goes on to state the grounds of his startling proposition. But the arguments are as weak as the proposi- tion was daring. In support of it he can advance nothing save his own bare assertion, " For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened," &c. He had impugned the Divine veracity, and he can advance nothing in behalf of his blasphemous assertion, but a farther impeach- ment of Divine goodness and love. The particle '2, for, because, in D^rih^ sy ^2, shows that this was meant as a proof of the pre- ceding statement, or as the ground of the Divine procedure in interdicting a particular benefit to his creatures, and terrifying them into acquiescence in his determinations, on the pain of death. It was not to preserve you from death, the serpent urged, that this command was given, or out of any regard for your welfare ; but only because God knows that by partaking of this fruit ye shall become like himself, and so ye are envi- ously forbidden it. God had other ends in view than the happiness of His creatures, in giving forth such a command, 400 CREATION AND THE FALL. and annexing to it a penalty meant only to frighten. It was thus the tempter argued with the woman. When he boldly declared, " Ye shall not surely die," perhaps he did not mean it to he vmderstood absolutely that God would not exe- cute the threatened penalty, but only that through means of this tree they should be put in a position to escape His vengeance. After thus making void the threatening of God, the tempter proceeds to substitute a blessing of his own in its stead. His promise begins with the very words of the Divine denunciation: " In the day ye eat thereof," compared with " In the day thou catest thereof," (chap. ii. 17;) but the continuation and the conclusion fully attest it to be the promise of the devil, "Then your eyes shall be opened." nps, as here, is the usual term for opening the eyes, or of giving sight to the blind, (Isa. xxxv. 5,) and then figuratively applied to the act of raising one above his usual short-sightedness, or disclosing to him an object of which he was previously unconscious, (Gen. xxi. ] 9.) So also d;3'i? rhi, Numb. xxii. 81 ; and, on the contrary, the blinding of the eyes is an image of stupidity — an indisposition to perceive or understand the truth, (Isa. vi. 10.) " Opening the eyes " is here a promise of advancement from their low and limited con- dition under the law of their Creator, to a more correct and enlarged apprehension of things, and to such a degree that they should feel as if hitherto they had been walking about with eyes closed to the beauties and pleasures around them and within their reach. The promised blessing is farther explained, and placed in a still more attractive light by the intimation, p-ii ±a »j>T D'H^Ns Dn';rri, "Ye shall be as God," like Elohim : not w? 6eol of the LXX., "sicut dii" of the Vulg., or " as gods" of the English version. The promise is, that they shall resemble the Supreme God, their Creator and Governor ; and this is far- ther amplified or illustrated by the assurance of their being put in possession of the knowledge of good and evil, that is, being made to participate in the fulness of knowledge. This last suggestion was exceedingly insidious. The tempter founded it on something which the woman had omitted in her answer, and at the same time, in accordance with the deceiver's usual procedure, on a perversion of the word of God. The w^oman liad spoken only of " the tree in the midst of the garden ;" THE TEMPTATION AND FIRST SIN, GEN. III. 1-6. 401 thougli it had previously been designated by God as " the tree of the knowledge of good and evil/" (chap. ii. 17.) The tempter carefully abstained from intimating his acquaintance with the name of the tree, but he alluded to it by mentioning its efiects. " The tree of the knowledge of good and evil/' he would insinu- ate, was so called from its excellent properties, of which those who eat of its fruit were sure to participate. And yet, though every word of this statement was a lie, and every thought horrid blasphemy and rebellion against the Eternal Lawgiver and Judge, and might have been seen by the woman to be supported by no other evidence than the bold assertions of him who gave them utterance, the rej)resentations are believed, and the implied though not expressed counsel is followed. Verse 6". And when the luoman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was 2ileasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat ; and gave also to her husband with her, and he did eat. The act which was now consummated externally had already, in disposition and desire, been operating within. The woman's silence at the Satanic insinuations uttered in her presence against the character of God, was a virtual approval of, and assent to them : it was an internal fall which needed only the outward act to make it manifest. She had ceased to fear God's threatening and to cherish His love. There was an impatience of the Divine restraint, and a strong disposition, come what would, to snatch at the promised blessings now seen to centre in the forbidden fruit. There were, as apprehended by the woman, three attractions in the tree which combined to hurry her on in the path of transgression : — 1. She " saw that the tree was good for food." Of this, however, she could have had no assurance or experience. It might, indeed, as afterwards stated, appear " pleasant to the eyes," but for aught that she knew it might prove not only unpleasant to the taste, but ex- ceedingly deleterious to the system. She had known it only as a forbidden fruit, and could not possibly fathom all the reasons of its prohibition. Yet how exceedingly blinded and headlong is sin, and what fearful odds is it willing to encounter ! 2. The woman saw that the tree was " pleasant to the eyes," '91 ti\vih Nin-mm, a desire or hist to the eyes. It was not merely desirable or pleasant, but a desire. The desire was not simply 2 c 402 CREATION AND THE FALL. a property, but, as it were, its very nature, (Baumgarten.) This is what the Apostle John calls r) eTridv/jula rwv ocpdaXf^cop, (1 John ii. 16.) The former good was entirely fancied, and so, possibly, might have no real existence ; this, however, was a perceptible and so an actual, tliough, in this case, a perverted excellency. For, in this respect, were there not innumerable trees around " pleasant to the sight and good for food," (chap. ii. 9,) with the farther recommendation that they were not forbidden, but liberally assigned for the use of man ? But to the now distem- pered eye none so lovely or desirable as this one object, simply because it was forbidden ! " Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant," (Prov. ix. 1 7.) 3. But what particularly affected the first human transgressor, was the cir- cumstance, learned only from the tempter, that it was " a tree to be desired to make wise" — ^'^iynh yvn nomv This is not to be taken in the sense of " lovely to the look," as in the Syriac, Onkelos, the Vulgate, " aspectuque delectabilis," and the simi- lar renderings of De "Wette, Tuch, Delitzsch, and Knobel, as if the expression were equivalent to m-ra'p nam., (chap. ii. 9.) Tuch and Delitzsch refer to Psalm xli. 1, in support of the meaning they attach to this term, but that passage by no means bears out this view. " Tlie more common meaning," says Hengsten- berg, "and that which lies nearer the radical one of acting prudently, wisely, (Ps. ii. 10 ; 1 Sam. xviii. 14 ; Jer. xx. 11 ; xxiii. 5,) is in Psalm xli. 1 more suitable, and also recommended by the ^n\" Besides, the idea which these writers contend for had been already and more strongly expressed in the preceding clause, " jileasant to the eyes." Wen means to be wise, act wisely, or be instructed, Ps. ii. 10, and also to make wise, Ps. xxxii. 8. It is obviously in the latter sense that it is here used : the tree was desirable (lan:, desiderabilis, part. Niph. of nan) because of its making wise, wpalov eari rov /caravorjcrac, (LXX.) It is so rendered also by Saadias, Rashi, Aben Ezra, and other Jewish writers ; by Luther, Le Clerc, Baumgarten, Eng. version, and by the recent Jewish translator, De Sola. Thus viewed, it forms a climax in the description which, by an enumeration of the circumstances that aifected the woman, vividly sets forth the ever-growing power of unhallowed desire. There was thus in the first temptation, as it presented itself at the beginning of the liistory of our race, a combination of THE TEMPTATION AND FIRST SIN, GEN. III. l-G. 403 the three elements which the Apostle John regards as the source of all after sins : " All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world," (1 John ii. 16.) How power- fully these i3rinciples wrought on this occasion, ajDpears from the statement, " She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat," The heart followed the eyes, (Job xxxi. 7 ; Eccles. xi. 7,) and now the hand follows the heart. " Lust has conceived and brought forth sin," (Jam. i. 15,) in disobedience to, and as trans- gression of a known command of God. Disbelief of the Divine word, distrust of a proved Friend, and culpable credulity in the representations of an untried stranger, have led to this fatal result. But more than this, as showing the true character of sin even from the beginning, the tempted becomes a tempter in turn : " and she gave also to her husband with her." She that had been given to the man to complete his happiness, and to be helpful to him in his divinely-appointed calling, is the first to involve him in rebellion against God. How soon and easily the greatest of blessings may, through sin, be transformed into the deadliest curse ! It is worthy of remark, that here, for the first time, the man is called the husband of the woman, ns'"'!<, her man, her husband. By this, the historian evidently de- signed to direct attention to the total perversion of the Divine ordinance of marriage which this conduct exhibited, and to show that the woman, designed as a help for her husband, became a hindrance, by becoming the agent of the tempter. The same truth is farther pointed out by the term, mep, with her, which is by some taken to intimate that Adam was pre- sent during this transaction, or at least towards its close ; but as this is not at all probable, it is better to consider the refer- ence to be to the union or conjugal relation which subsisted between the parties. And the husband, on his part, was so far forgetful of God, and of the authority with which he was intrusted not only as the head of creation, but also and especially as the head of the woman, that at her solicitation he commit/ fid an act which the Suj^reme Governor had ex- pressly forbidden him : " She gave also to her husband with her, and he did eat." Thus was the transgression completed. This act of the man, sanctioning and adopting the sin of the 404 CREATION AND THE FALL. woman, was not merely a violation of the commandment rela- tive to the forbidden fruit, but also a breacli of the whole law, (James ii. 10 ;) and particularly was it an entire reversal of tlie original and prescribed relation of husband and wife, in whicli the former was appointed to rule and the latter to obey ; for here the man relinquishes his authority, and submits where he ought to command and to check. In contrast with the full details of the woman's temptation and fall, it is remarkable with what brevity the man's sin is described. No mention whatever is made of the motives which influenced him in taking the fatal step here recorded. The history is silent as to whether he was drawn into the snare by the serpent's representations detailed to him by the woman, or by her own blandishing solicitations, or whether, as is sometimes supposed, he rushed into it with his eyes open, in order to share the fate of the partner of his life. When afterwards questioned as to the cause of transgression, the woman stated, " the serpent beguiled me," the man merely replied, " the woman gave me of the tree, and I did eat." The Apostle Paul indeed states that " Adam was not deceived ; but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression," (1 Tim. ii. 14;) but it is doubtful whether by this he meant to intimate that when Adam' partook of the fruit he was under no deception, or only that he was not deceived by the serpent. On any view of the case, sin is itself at all times a deception, and however the first man may have been led to the commission of it, there was absolutely nothing to palliate his conduct. He was, without question, every way more culp- able than she on whom he would afterwards ungenerously charge his fall. But while passing over the motives which led the father of mankind into transgression of the Divine law, the historian is careful to record the consummation of the act : " he did eat," an act whereby " sin entered into the world, and death by sin," (Rom. v. 12) — an act inconceivably horrid and heinous, and one to which none other in the history of our sinful and fallen race can be compared, not even the crucifixion of the Lord from heaven — the second Adam, who came to deliver from tlie miseries caused by the first. EXCURSUS Vir. THE TEMPTER- SERPENT, 405 EXCURSUS VII. — THE TEMPTER-SERPENT. Against none of the numerous incidents in the narrative of the Fall, have more cavilling objections been urged, than against the part assigned to the serpent in the transaction. The dis- position thereby manifested has proceeded from the desire, cither of proving the whole narrative an allegory, or of stamp- ing it with the character of the iEsopian stories of talking and reasoning beasts and birds. It will be found, however, that the majority of these objections applies not so much to the scriptural statements, as to certain conclusions commonly deduced from them. And yet it must be admitted that many difficulties do attach to what is related of the tempter — diffi- culties perhaps inexplicable, and certainly greatly increased by the preconceptions of critics and commentators. From the many points of view in which the matter has been regarded, there have necessarily sprung up the most conflicting opinions. Of these three only need be adverted to. The first attributes the temptation to the agency of the serpent alone : the second excludes the natural serpent from any participation in the transaction, and considers the name to be merely sym- bolical of the evil one ; and the third opinion, which may be regarded in a manner as a combination of the other two, holds the serpent to be the mere instrument of Satan, or himself transformed into a serpent. Dismissing from consideration, in the meantime, all that may be urged for or against these opinions, or the comparative merits of each, it is proposed to prove, as the exposition of the simple scriptural account of the transaction, that the tempter that seduced the mother of mankind approached in the form of a serpent, but was not merely the reptile of that name, but a moral agent. I. The tempter was a serpent in form and appearance. This is evident from the whole narrative, and so plain that it were superfluous to adduce arguments in its support, were it not that it has been strenuously denied that there was any sei-pent present, the name being merely a designation of the devil. But all argumentation, though far more cogent than any ad- vanced on this point, must yield to the fact that the serpent of 406 CREATION AND THE FALL. the temptation is compared with " the beast of the field/' — a fact which is in entire harmony with the curse pronounced upon the tempter : " Thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field : upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." A reference to the participation of the serpent in the tempta- tion, or at least to the curse it thereby incurred, is found in Isaiah Ixv. 25, " Dust shall be the serpent's meat :" an ex- pression which, from the contrast instituted between the ser- pent and the other creatures of the earth, intimates, according to Vitringa, that the original sentence shall be fully executed, or perhaps more correctly, that it shall be perpetuated. The presence and participation of the serpent in the temptation is confirmed by New Testament authority : thus the Apostle remarks, " As the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty," (2 Cor. xi. 8.) It is farther in accordance with, and is no doubt the foundation of, all the heathen traditions relative to the serpent ; and also by a strange perversion of the history, the cause of the religious honours so largely bestowed on this reptile, which nevertheless mankind hold in dread abhorrence. That the name was employed merely as a designation of Satan, there is not a shadow of evidence to show. Throughout the Hebrew Scrij)tures he is never known by that name. The theory has been proposed evidently with the view of obviating some of the difficulties which are felt to attach to the agency of a serpent in this transaction. But if it simj^lifies the mat- ter, it comes at the same time into conflict with the letter of Scripture ; and is recommended by no argument, but only by the diflficulties, the improbabilities, or the presumed impossi- bilities, of the contrary supposition. But while holding that the unmistakable meaning of the narrative of the Fall necessitates the conclusion that the tempter was a serpent, it is not to be inferred, as is sometimes done, from the comparison w^ith the " beast of the field," and not with the " reptiles," that the serpent was at that time a quadruped, or M'as a higher form of life than at present ; for, in the first place, the distinction, denoted by these terms, is not always attended to in Hebrew, " beast of the field" gener- ally applying to wild creatures, in opposition to the tame or domestic cattle ; and, secondly, the comparison extends only EXCURSUS VII. THE TEMPTER- SERPENT. 407 to the attribute of subtilty. Neitlier is the conclusion justified Avhich is usually drawn from the curse pronounced upon the serpent, as if it implied a degradation of the species, an alteration of their form and their mode of locomotion. The curse applied only to this particular serpent, and intimated a continuance of its then abject state. That the serpent of the temptation was no ordinary serpent, is plainly evinced by the terms of the narrative. There is — 1. The manner in which it is designated, " the serpent/' or ''■ that serpent." As already stated in the exposition of the passage, the article is not always emphatic, and though it is taken so in the present case by the younger Vitringa, Pool, Horsley, and others, and is strongly countenanced by various examples in the Hebrew Scriptures, e.g., Isa. vii. 14, " Behold a virgin," literally " the virgin ;" yet this argument, if unsup- ported b}' concurrent testimony, is certainly not conclusive. But such testimony is found in the farther description of this creature, thus : — 2. The pre-eminent subtilty ascribed to the serpent, whether taken with some expositors in a good, or with others in a bad sense. It cannot be said of any of the numer- ous sjiccies of serpents, notwithstanding the statements of Bochart and others to the contrary, that they are more subtile than all the other irrational creatures. This is felt by the writers who, like Marck,^ and more recently Hengstenberg,^ take the words as descriptive of the natural serpent, and who accordingly admit that they apply more strictly to the being who actuated the serpent. Calvin, too, will have it that the subtilty spoken of was a characteristic of the natural serpent, but he would obviate the difficulty just stated, by the assump- tion that the serpent tribe has greatly deteriorated since the Fall : and so also Holden.^ Others, with greater reason, limit the description to the real agent in the temptation, and con- sider that the serpent was said to be subtile only on account of the subtilty of him whose instrument it was. Of the writers who take this view of the matter may be mentioned Augustin'* ' Historia Paradisi, lib. iii. cap. v. 7, p. 570. * Christologie, vol. i. p. 7. 3 Dissertation on the Fall, p. 399. * De Genesi ad Literam, lib. xi. cap. 29. Proinde prudentissimus omnium besti- arum, hoc est astutissimus, ita dictus est seiijens propter astutiam Diaholi qui in illo et de illo agebat dolum ; qucmadmodum dicitur prudcns vel astuta lingua, quani 408 CREATION AND THE FALL. and Theodoret among the Fathers. S. The farther mention of the beasts of the field, as created by the Lord God, obviously points to some distinction between the creation of those animals and of this serpent, as if the latter had not received its being along with the creatures of the six days, according to the pre- ceding history. But on the supposition that the temptation proceeded from some creature of serpentine form, a question for consideration is, whether the speech of the serpent is to be regarded as a subjective or as an objective occurrence ; in other words, whether the language ascribed to the serpent was really ut- tered by it, and was audible to the external ear of Eve, or whether it existed only for her mental perception, she inter- preting the words in the suggestive looks and actions of the reptile. " It is obvious at once," says Hengstenberg, in his observations on a somewhat similar incident — the speaking of Balaam's ass — " that as far as the case is concerned, both views are perfectly the same : the difference is -purely forvial. The distinction only becomes essential if the contrast of the internal and the external is changed into that of the real and the unreal, if the imagination is substituted for the vision." ^i It may be that on either supposition the reality of the occurrence is maintained, and that the subjective view has the advantage of obviating some of the objections urged against the transaction ; but any merit in this respect is not sufficient to counterbalance the violence it does to the spirit as well as the letter of the narrative. The only real difficulty it removes is that connected with the familiarity and absence of surprise on the part of the woman at the plienomenon of a speaking reptile — a difficulty which most probably arises from the brevity of the narration, which omits the jJi'evious and preparatory approaches of the tempter, and records only the results. At all events, it is clear that the historian meant the narrative to be understood literally, for by the ascription of suhtilty in its highest degree, he intimates a fitness on the part of the ser- pent for the work in which it engaged, while in the words of pnuleus vcl astutns movot ad aliquitl pnulcaitcr astuteqiio snadcndum. Non enim est liaec vis seu virtus membri corporalis quod vocatur lingua, scd utiqiic mentis quaj utitur ea. 1 Balaam and his Prophecies, p. 376. Edin. 1848. EXCURSUS VII. — THE TEMPTER-SERPENT. 409 the curse, '' Because thou hast clone this/' &c., there is ex- pressed a purpose or design which involves conditions and consequences incompatible with the subjective view of the case. 11. The serpent of the temptation was not simply the reptile of that name, but an intellectual and moral agent. That it was so in the historian's apprehension at least, will not admit of question. It not merely talks, it reasons upon matters relating to God and man— it discourses of good and evil in a way to indicate an acquaintance with the laws of nature and provi- dence— argues against the Divine prohibition not to eat of the tree in the midst of the garden, and conducts the argument with such craftiness as to secure the victory over the woman.^ It is needless to state that no mere animal was capable of any- thing thus attributed to the serpent : and it is farther evident, that whatever may have been the conceits of Josephus and the Rabbinical writers as to the inferior animals being gifted with speech before the Fall, not one of the Sacred writers for a moment countenances such extravagant fancies. It is true, that Moses does not say in so many words that the serpent was possessed by a being of a higher nature, or that such a being had assumed the serpent form, yet this is not the less implied. Why the historian contented himself simply with the external appearance, and did not more distinctly characterize the being engaged in this unhallowed enterprise against God and man, it may be difficult to determine. An opinion as probable as any, and one which will account for the silence maintained through- out the Pentateuch relative to the existence and agency of wicked spirits, is, that in an age so addicted to idolatry, inti- mations on such a subject would serve only to encourage the propensity. But however this may be, so clear ai'o the two statements — first, of the presence of the serpent, and, secondly, of its more than animal nature, that readers of the narrative looking at the subject from one side only, see merely a ser- pent, while others from an opposite point of view discern only an intellectual power. So far it is plain, from the part enacted by the tempter- serpent, that he was a rational being ; his moral agency is farther evinced in the words which convey his penal sentence : ^ Holden, Dissertation on tlie Fall, p. 142. 410 CREATION AND THE FALL. " '^ ' " Because thou hast done this thou art cursed," — words which, unless addressed to a moral creature, have no meaning, and are utterly unworthy of the righteous Judge. The curse takes its shape from tlie assumed form of the tempter, but its whole weight falls only on the head of the guilty. It is in no sense to be considered as extending to the natural serpent, if such there was, or to the species in general. From confounding what is merely formal in the sentence pronounced on the tempter, with that Avhich constitutes its essence, have arisen many of the difficulties of this subject. If the narrative in Genesis proves that the tempter was a moral agent, it certainly leaves no room to doubt as to his moral character. The conversation with the woman at once stamps him as the arch-enemy of God and man — the liar from the beginning — not merely disposed to question God's good- ness, but also prepared to contradict God's word. Any doubt on this subject will be entirely removed by the information furnished in the later Scriptures. There is no means of de- termining at what period this doctrine was first clearly recog- nised in the Jewish Church. A reference to it in Isa. Ixv. 25, has been already noticed. In the apocryphal writings it is explicitly asserted, that the entrance of death into the world was through the eiwy of the devil' (Wisdom ii. 24.) The teaching of our Lord and his apostles confirms and illustrates this meaning of the narrative in Genesis. In the Apocalypse, the great tempter is described as " the old serpent, who is called the Devil, and Satan, who deceivcth the whole world ;" " the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan," (Rev. xii. 9 ; xx. 2.) The old serpent is evidently an allusion to the histoiy of the Fall. " It refers," says Heng- stenberg, " to the fact, that his appearance on earth Avas at an early stage of the world's history, and that he had long been employed in the work which is here attributed to him — that of opposing the Church." To the passage already quoted from the writings of Paul, in which there is reference to the sei^ient that deceived Eve, and which expresses a fear lest the Christians at Corinth should be led away from the simplicity of the Gospel, " through false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ," there is subjoined the remark, " and no marvel, for Satan himself is EXCURSUS VII, — THE TEMPTER-SERPENT. 411 transformed into an angel of lig-ht." (2 Cor. xi. S, 14.) But of more importance is tlic declaration of Clirist : " Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do : he was a murderer from the beginning, {av6pco7roKTovo Mineralogy and Botany of the Bible, p. 299. Edin. 1840. Winer, Real-WcJr- terbuch, vol. i. p. 369. FIRST FRUITS OF TRANSGRESSION, GEN. III. 7, 8. 419 tlie garden in the cool of the day." " The voice of the Lord " is in Ps. xxix., by a beautiful poetic figure, applied to tlie thunder and the crashing storm by which to tlie dullest ear He proclaims his Majesty and Omnipotence, but it is not in this sense the expression is used here. Every feature of this scene is marked by calmness and repose. Tlie place is para- dise, and the time towards evening, " in the cool of the day," uvn n-h, towai'ds the breathing or blowing of the day — that is, towards evening, when in eastern counti-ies a cool, refreshing wind arises shortly before sunset, which pleasantly lowers the temperature of the heated air ; compare ni»n nh, the heat of the day, Gen. xviii. 1, when the oriental seeks sheltered repose. Of the same import is the expression in Cant. ii. 17, nVn nis;, the day hloius, that is, becomes cool, and which is farther defined as the time when " the shadows flee away," though Le Clerc takes it to refer to the morning, as he also, with Calvin, understands the passage descriptive of the scene in paradise. Among the older interpreters, Theodotion gives the sense most fully, ev T(p TTvev/jbUTi ttpo? Kardylrv^tv T179 7]/j.6pa9. At this quiet and cooling hour, the Lord, as the owner of the garden, takes His accustomed rounds. The Hithpael participle ^^:no, (from Tl^n, to go,) walking, does not point to any specific sjoot, or refer to any particular purpose, but denotes wandering or walking about in a circle, or within certain bounds : it also implies a custom or usual course, as when it is said " Enoch walked with God," (Gen. v. 22,) where it is the same term that is used. The garden was thus the place of God's rest and delight — a place frequented by His presence, and where He held converse with the dresser and guardian of the hallowed spot. " The voice of God walking in the garden," is the sound of His footsteps, (see 1 Kings xiv. 6 ; 2 Kings vi. 32,) or the rustling of the leaves and tender branches as He moved among them : and this was no unusual or terrific sound, for at this period God in very deed d\velt with man upon the earth, the state of innocence resembling the blessed future of which it is said, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God," (Rev. xxi. 3 ;) and yet " the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence (or face) of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden." 420 CREATION AND THE FALL. There was not, as on after occasions of tlie Divine manifesta- tions, a great and strong wind to rend the mountains and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord ; nor an earthquake nor a fire, there was only a still small voice (1 Kings xix. 11, 12) mingled with no louder sound than the sighing of the evening breeze among the trees of Paradise, nevertheless it was suffi- cient to startle and put to flight the sinners. When Adam was afterwards questioned about conduct so unusual as that shown in hiding from God, whose approach had, on other occasions, been hailed by him with joy and delight, he answered, " I was afraid, because I was naked." It was fear prompted him to such a course, — a fear originating in the same cause as the shame. Tlie knowledge purchased by transgression, which at first, and as regarded sensuous appetites, had resulted in feelings of shame between the fallen pair themselves, now, at the approach of God, led to fear and anguish before the Lawgiver and Judge. The transgressors anticipate the judgment, and tremble in view of tlie penalty incurred. They feel not only vile, but guilty, the nakedness of tlie body being only an emblem of the state of their souls now laid bare to the holy eye of God. " The shame of their nakedness'' had appeared, (Rev. iii. 18,) and with it a consciousness of exposure to Divine wrath ; " they hid themselves amongst the trees of the garden." This is so far parallel with their girdles of fig-leaves that both intimated their need of external aid and appliances to conceal their vile and miserable condition ; but the hiding among the trees of the garden farther intimated the conviction, that what sufficed to cover their shame from one another, was not adequate to hide it from God. In themselves, and in the end for which they were had recourse to, the two modes of concealment were essentially alike, and tliey illustrate the close connexion already adverted to between the state of mind which gave rise to shame, and that which expressed itself in fear of, and departure from God. The slianie, and the means resorted to in order to keep in check the motions from whicli it sprung, intimated, as already said, that i\\e flesh had obtained the ascendency over the sjnrit or better part, tliat the mind had become ca^'nal — a state which, as described in the apostolic writings, exactly corresponds with FIRST FRUITS OF TRANSGRESSION, GEN. III. 7, 8. 421 what may be inferred to have been the condition of our first parents wlien thej fled at the approach of God — " Tlie carnal mind is enmity against God/' (Rom. viii. 7.) It is a dejiarture from God, and at the same time a demand addressed to him, " Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." The transgressors who hid themselves among the trees of Para- dise shewed that they had lost all confidence in God as a friend, love to Him as a benefactor, and delight in communion with Him, and that fear and hate assumed the place once occupied by holy, heavenly desires. According to the testimony of the apostle last quoted, this state of mind is to be characterized as " death." — " For to be carnally-minded is death ; but to be spiritually-minded is life and peace," (Rom. viii. 6.) So that it may be justly said, thus and then was fulfilled the Divine declaration, " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." It is true the transgressors were not smitten to the ground by any of the swift-winged arrows of the Almighty, as they put forth sacrilegious hands to take of the forbidden fruit, and that no convulsion or catastrophe of nature filled them with blank and unutterable horror. But there are other deaths and disorders than these, and as innocent and happy beings they might be exposed to a far heavier doom than anything which could affect merely the body ; and so in and through the very act of transgression they died, for their innocence and their happiness then perished. Tliis view of the matter serves completely to reconcile a contradiction frequently alleged to exist between the penalty threatened in the event of man's disobedience to the command to abstain from the tree of knowledge, and that actually inflicted after the transgression. The penalty was, " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;" and this sentence, it is said, was superseded or suspended — a procedure at variance with the whole character of God as a Being of unswerving veracity. This, however, rests entirely on a misconception, and the contradiction wholly disappears when the terms of the sen- tence are rightly understood. And here must be repudiated, as totally inadmissible, that mode of escape from the difliculty which assumes that day is used indefinitely for time in general,^ or that, as it was the 1 Kralibe, Die Lelirc von der Siindc, p. 50. Hamburg, 183G. 422 CREATION AND THE FALL. Lord wlio denounced tlie sentence, and as with Him a tliousand years are as one day, if Adam died within that period — and he lived but 930 years — the penalty was to all intents exhausted. Nor is it a correct view of the threatening to take it as merely intimating that, on the day of transgression, man would become mortal, liable to death ; and that thus it was virtually fulfilled, although God deferred the execution of it. In support of this, reference is made to the threat held out by Solomon to Shimei: " It shall be that on the day thou goest out, and passest the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die," (1 Kings ii. 37 ;) and yet he did not die immedi- ately on violating the terms of his engagement.^ But the two cases are not alike. Many circumstances may absolutely pre- vent, as in the case of Shimei, the immediate execution of a human sentence, but nothing can so delay a Divine threatening. It is not by such distinctions, but by attention to the death denounced in the sentence, that the difficulty will disappear. The expression men nio is literally " dying, or hy dying thou shalt die." This construction of the infinitive followed by a finite tense of the same verb is of common occurrence in Hebrew, and denotes assurance or certainty as to the act or event. The specific terms here employed are also frequently met with. Gesenius observes : — " Frequens formula de eo cui certa mors nunciatur."' 2 It occurs. Gen. iii. 4 ; xx. 7 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 39, 44; xxii. 16; 2 Sam. xii. 14; xiv. 14; 1 Kings ii. 37, 42, &c., and frequently in Ezekiel, e.g. chap. iii. 18, on which Hiivernick remarks : " God's old threatening continues to be repeated in the history of His people and of individuals." According to some Hebraists, however, it refers not so much to the certainty of the death threatened as to its severity — death in the strictest, fullest, most absolute sense of the term. But this is exceedingly doubtful : a comparison of the other occurrences of the formula decidedly favours the rendering of the English version, " Thou shalt surely die." Thus, in parti- cular, Saul's declaration, " Though it be in Jonathan, my son, he shall surely die;" and again, " Saul answered, God do so and more also ; for thou shalt surely die, Jonathan," (1 Sam. xiv. 39, 44.) Here, if anywhere, the expression denotes the cer- * Payne, Doctrine of Original Sin, ji. 47, 2cl edit. Lend. 1854. - Tliesaurus, p. 779. FIRST FRUITS OF TRANSGRESSION, GEN. III. 7, 8. 423 tainty not the severity of the punishment. At the same time, its severity or extreme character is sufficiently indicated in the term death, which properly does not admit of degrees. Whatever, then, may be the import of the death first de- nounced against disobedience to the Divine law, so much is indubitable from the form of the threatening, that it was somcy thing of a penal character to follow immediately on transgres- sion, and not anything, the actual infliction of which might be delayed for years or centuries. " No language could more forcibly convey the idea of instantaneous sequence between the commission of the crime and the endurance of the penalty, than that employed in the primal threatening."^ Were it not to subserve a theory, it i^robably would never have been ques- tioned, that the immediate infliction of the punishment was designed and expressed. But farther, from a consideration of all the circumstances of the case, the two following proposi- tions may be maintained : — First, That the threatening did not comprehend annihilation, which would have been the de- struction of the individual transgressor ; and secondly, That it did not comprise temporal death, which would have been equivalent, in this case, to the destruction of the human race. On the first of these two points little need be said ; for the idea of annihilation is so absolutely excluded by everything we can learn or conceive of the character of the Creator, of the nature of His government, and its relation to intelligent and responsible agents, as to render that supposition untenable. The annihilation of the sinner, in fact, would involve an ac- knowledgment that moral government had failed, that tlie Sovereign of the universe had so far abdicated his functions, and that eternal law and justice had relinquished their claims by removing out of being the subjects of their authority. But not less clearly can it be shewn, that it was not temporal death that was denounced in the threatening, " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Some see in this mainly, or only temporal death — the disruption of the union of soul and body, and the dissolution of the latter.^ But irre- spective of other objections to which this view is open, the delay in the execution of the sentence must ever prove a 1 Alexander, Connexion of Old and New Testaments, p. 102. Lend. 1853. ^ Venema, Institutes of Theology, p. 436. Edin. 1850. 424 CREATION AND THE FALL. barrier to its reception by all who cannot be satisfied with the usual explanation, that " mercy granted a long respite/' The idea of temporal death, moreover, immediately to follow the act of disobedience, and, for the reasons already stated, it is only as immediate it can be conceived of at all, is excluded by the following considerations : — 1. All the Divine arrangements respecting man, entered into prior to the prohibition to abstain from one tree in the garden, intimate a purpose and a provision in regard not merely to one, or at most two individuals, but to a race of human beings. Such, for instance, is tlie declaration, " It is not good that the man should be alone,"' and the announcement, " I will make him an helj) meet for him," with the realization of the Divine purpose in the creation of the woman, and the institution of marriage ; but above all the original blessing, " Be fruitful, and multij^ly, and replenish the earth, and subdue it." All these arrangements and ordinances indicated a purpose of per- manency or continuance, if they did not furnish a pledge of it. 2. Temporal death is not an essential, but an accident of death in the scriptural sense of the term. From a careful examination of the scriptural usage of the terms death and life, it appears, that when used without qualification by the context, or the nature of the case, they signify, as well in the Old as in the New Testament, what in theological language is known as spiritual death and spiritual life, the former of which consists in estrangement from God, and exposure to his i-ight- eous displeasure. " By death," says President Edwards, who, from an extensive induction of passages, shews that the word is used in the sense now stated ; " by death was meant the same death which God esteemed to be the most proper punish- ment of the sin of mankind, and what he speaks of under that name, throughout the Scriptures, as the proper wages of the sin of man, and was always from the beginning understood to be so in the Church of God."^ If anywhere in Scripture the word is used in its widest and most unrestricted sense, it is manifestly in the present i^assagc, where mention is made of death for the first time ; and this state can, and does consist, with temporal life protracted to its utmost limits, a.s, on the other hand, temporal death docs not fail in a manner to invade ' Oil Original Sin, Worlcs, vol ii. p. 301. FIRST FRUITS OF TRANSGRESSION, GEN. III. 7, 8. 425 spiritual life, and bring into subjection those who live and shall never die. S. The death threatened, viewed as spiritual death, was a necessary consequence of transgression in the economy under which man was placed. It Avas the direct and immediate fruit of sin, agreeably to the doctrine of the apostle, " When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." (James i. 15.) So immediate and direct is this consequence, that it needed not the voice of the eternal Judge to pronounce sentence, and no extrinsic power needed to be put in requisition to carry it into execu- tion. By the very constitution under which man was placed, the sentence of itself took effect ; in the very act of disobedi- ence his condemnation was pronounced. It required no arraign- ment of the transgressors, no direct judicial procedure, to carry home the conviction that they were guilty, and wretched, and miserable — that they had forfeited the Divine favour, which is life, (Ps. XXX. 5 ; Ixiii. 3,) and had brought upon themselves, in all its aggravation, the death which had been denounced. 4. The interview between God and the guilty pair, subsequent to the Fall, was in no way connected with the execution of the primal threatening. The penalty therein involved had not only been incurred, but was inflicted and felt ; and it needed not to be formally reaffirmed, or recalled to the sinner's remem- brance. What interval elapsed between the transgression and the summons to meet with God cannot be determined. Pro- bably it was but of short duration ; while assuredly it was an interval of unspeakable anguish and anxiety. It pleased Divine mercy, however, to terminate this agonizing suspense, by the announcement of a purpose of restoration and recovery. In this interview God appears in mercy, and not for judgment — to save and not to destroy — to remove the curse already rest- ing on man, not to bind it on. It is true, intimation is made to the fallen pair of sorrows, sufierings, and labours, as the future concomitants of their earthly lot ; and, in particular, it is announced to Adam — though not to the exclusion from a similar fate of his companion in guilt — that he shall return to the dust out of which he was taken. It is this latter circum- stance, coupled with a misapprehension of the character of the whole transaction, that has given rise, on the one hand, to the 426 CREATION AND THE FALL. notion, that tlie penalty fell far short of the threatening ; and on the other, that as it was only temporal death that was in- flicted, nothing more was included in the threatening. But besides the general character of the transaction, the place wliich the announcement occupies immediately after the inti- mation of mercy, demonstrates that man's temporal chastise- ments are to be considered, not so much as portions of the original penalty, as appliances, no doubt of a punitive, but, in the altered circumstances, of a necessary and merciful dispensa- tion, designed and adapted to remind man of his lost condition, and beget in him desires after restoration to the favour and fellowship of God.^ § 18. God's dealings with the transgressors : farther fruits of sin thereby brought to light, Gen. iii. 9-13. Judgment has overtaken tlie guilty : for such is the perfec- tion of God's government, physical and moral, that the viola- tion of His law brings its own punishment, without recourse to formalities of any kind. So soon as the authority of love and righteousness is cast off, the dominion of sin begins. So it was with the first transgressors. The commandment wdiich was ordained to life, (Rom. vii. 10,) intended as a warning from transgression, and so a preventative of death, was now found to be unto death. Sin when finished brought forth death, and this would have continued to produce its natural and necessary fruits, but for the merciful interposition of God at this awful catastrophe in the moral history of our race : and who by such an interposition has shown himself to be exceed- ing good in contrast with man, who had proved exceeding evil, ungrateful, and unjust. Several circumstances serve to show that it was God's pur- pose not to suffer man fully and for ever to eat of the bitter fruit of his own misdoings. Wc gather this, or at least dis- cern in man's constitution a capacity for deliverance, in the first place, from the feelings of dissatisfaction and insecurity awakened in the breast of the fallen pair. Shame and fear, with the vain attempts to conquer or conceal these feelings, 1 See Dods, Incarnation of the Eternal AYord, pp. 552, 553. Lend. 1831. god's dealings with the transgressors, gen. hi. 9-13. 427 may be considered as a protest against sin. These feelings, in the circumstances, were indeed no indications of true sorrow or penitence, and so the actings of grace : yet as the workings of nature they evinced that sin was a foreign element, and not co-natural to man. Had these feelings and fears no place, or were they lost or obliterated, a condition would result from which little good could be expected : but this was not the case then. Although by a continued course of sin man may attain to this hopeless and unhappy state of mind, it did not immediately follow the first act of disobedience. A state in which the sinner refuses to be ashamed, is one that betokens a habit of sin and a sad amount of eiFrontery, (Jer. iii. 3.) Another circumstance more clearly indicative of God's mer- ciful intentions towards his erring and rebellious children, was the fact of his going after them and seeking them out from the hiding-places whither they had fled, (Luke xv. 3.) Al- though this, or the other circumstance just adverted to, could not at the time be regarded by the guilty parties themselves as mercies, or merciful visitations, yet afterwards they could not fail to recognise in them tokens of unmitigated good. At the time indeed they would be content, yea, doubtless, exceed- ing glad, to be left alone in their hiding-place, but to be let alone and left alone would be to be left undone — unpitied, unpardoned, and lost. But in mercy Grod did not let them alone, or leave them to themselves or to the destroyer. Verses 9-13. And the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, Where art thou ? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because 1 was naked ; and I hid myself. And he said. Who told thee that thou wast naked ? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat ? And the man said. The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat. And the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that thou hast done ? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. — It is usual to consider the proceedings here recorded as the solemn and searching investigations of the Divine Judge into the conduct of the transgressors of His law, previously to His passing upon them the sentence due to their crimes. The preceding remarks will have served in a measure to correct some misapprehensions on this point, and place the 428 CREATION AND THE FALL. Divine procedure in its true liglit ; the essential object of the present interview being not the announcement of retribution, but a gracious intimation of mercy. But although the first appearance of God to man after the Fall was not for the pur- pose of judging or condemning, but was in accordance with what is affirmed afterwards of the mission of his Son Jesus Christ : " God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved,'' (John iii. 17;) yet in one point of view it may be considered as including a purpose of condemnation. This condemnation, however, was not a sentence to be pronounced by God upon the sinner, for this, to all intents and purposes, had been done already, — but a sentence to be pronounced by the sinner upon himself as a necessary preliminary to his justification. Con- sidered as designed to bring home to the guilty a conviction of his sins, and thus to prepare him for the precious announce- ment of the pardon about to be conferred, God's dealings with our fallen progenitors are in entire harmony with His whole character and with His invariable procedure in such cases. But no less, on the other hand, are the attempts of the offenders to avert conviction by futile excuses and palliations of sin, in conformity with the usual practice and experience of men. In this latter aspect the incidents here recorded have been appropriately termed by Schroder, " a biography of con- science.'' The first thing that requires notice, is the fact of God calling to the man, and his immediate appearance in compliance with the Divine summons. In the previous interviews and conversa- tions between God and man, there is never any mention of God calling to or after him. Formerly the man was found in his place, or with hasty footsteps and bounding heart he hastened forward to meet his Maker whenever he heard his apjjroach. But now lie is absent from the accustomed spot — ho is nowhere to be seen : this is explained by the fact that he hid himself amongst the trees of the garden. Verse 9, " And the Lord God called to the man and said to him. Where [art] thou ?" Now, for the first time, the well-known accents fell upon the sinner's ear. It is entirely to mistake the character of the scene and circumstances, to suppose that it was from God's voice properly so called that the transgressors fled, or that the Divine voice god's dealings with the transgressors, gen. III. 9-13. 429 was waxing louder and louder, until at length in awful majesty it irresistibly summoned them into the presence of the Judge. On the contrary, it was now only, and for the first time, that the Creator asked, " Where art thou V and this not in an angry, loud, or menacing tone, but as there is every reason to believe, in the soft and gentle accents of former times. But soft and gentle as was the voice, it was enough to compel the l^resence of the reluctant sinner. " Where art thou V was a question that needed not to be repeated a second time : and this was a truth which, in the first place, it behoved the sinner to know. His vain attempts at concealment showed how much he needed to be taught the trutli which was powerfully felt by the psalmist when he asked, " Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy presence ?" And when he acknowledged, " Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee : but the night shineth as the day : the darkness and the light are botli alike to thee,'' (Ps. cxxxix. 7-12.) How much Adam needed to be taught this salutary lesson appears farther from his answer to the Lord's first inquiry, — an answer wliich reveals the painful fact of a complete change not only in the dispositions, but also in the perceptions of fallen man. He acknowledges that his absence from his wonted place and occupation in the garden was intentional : " I hid myself," (t^?™, / fled so as to hide :) and with the farther acknowledgment that he hid himself from God. But while admitting the fact, with the usual disingenuousness of sin he attempts a deception as to the motives which prompted him to conduct so strange. Instead of honestly and at once con- fessing to the true state of things, and to his transgression as the real cause of his altered disposition, he merely mentions the effects, in the vain hope of thereby concealing the cause. That to which he ascribes his flight and attempted conceal- ment from God was fear, originating in a perception of nakedness : " I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself" This, however, although meant as an excuse for his conduct, and an attempt to conceal his guilt, was virtually a revelation of it. The fear thus acknowledged was itself suflicient jiroof that love had fled, for, as an apostle remarks, " There is no fear in love," (1 John iv. 18.) To say that lie feared the voice of 430 CREATION AND THE FALL. God disclosed a state of mind explicable only on one of tliree suppositions : first, • that Adam had never heard God's voice before ; or, secondly, that it was now so changed, so awful, and terrific, so diiferent from anything that he had previously experienced, as to strike him with alarm ; or, finally, that the change was not in God — His manner or motions — but entirely in the man himself. The first supposition is excluded by the ample information supplied, in the preceding narrative, as to the communion and intercourse between God and unfallen man, more intimate, indeed, than His subsequent converse with Moses, of which it is said, " The Lord spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend," (Ex. xxxiii. 11.) The second supposition is excluded by the Avhole character of the scene, the calm and composure of which have been already noticed. It remains only to trace to man himself the entire change, and seek in it the cause of his present alarm. This is sufficiently proved by his own admission, " I was afraid because I was naked.'' This fear, then, did not originate from any tempest in the world without ; it was not occasioned by any dark clouds or portents in the skies above, or any quaking of the earth under foot : the sun was calmly sinking as usual to his rest, and the soft breath of evening was reviving the drooping flowers of Paradise, at the time when the Almighty and Beneficent Creator visited His subjects, and asked the man formed in His image, "Where art thou ?" And yet the fear was not imaginary ; it was real and well grounded, and the more so that it sprung from something appertaining to the man himself, something- personal, from which he could not escape or shake himself free. His case was such that he might be appropriately named "■ Magor-Missahih, fear round about," (Jer. xx. S.) But al- though the fear was by Adam himself ascribed to a personal but bodily defect of whicli he had become conscious, it was nothing other than the feeling of guilt and consequent expo- sure, helpless and naked, to Divine wrath ; and, in whatever way he might try to hide the matter from God or from himself, conscience would not fail to connect it with the act of dis- obedience. God, however, disregarding the evasions, takes the sinner at his word. Verse 11, " And he said, Who told thee that thou god's dealings with the TRANSGRESSOKS, gen. III. 9-13. 431 wast naked ?" But, without waiting- for a reply, and as if to remove all ground for further subterfuges, and so at once shut up the sinner to self-conviction and to the acknowledgment of his transgression of a known law. He proceeds to inquire, " Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat V This was a question so pointed and precise as to admit only of an answer, yea or nay. The trans- gressor cannot deny the fact as thus placed before him. He feels that he must plead guilty of a violation of the law, and yet he is reluctant to own it. If he must make confession, he is resolved to postpone it to the last. Recourse is again had to palliations, and the answer to the question which might have been simple and direct, comes out only at the close of all that he can urge in his own defence. Verse 12, "And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest [to be] with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." This answer discloses another sad effect of sin. Man's love to God had already been displaced by fear and hatred, and now his love to his neighbour also gives way before feelings of self-preservation, or desires of alleviating the apprehended punishment, even though that neighbour is related to him, as he himself recently said, as bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. Sin remorselessly bursts asunder all bands, even the sweetest, most hallowed, and endearing. '' The ivoman gave me :" coldly, unfeelingly spoken ! How altered the disposition from that which gave utterance to the memorable saying, "Tlierefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife ; and they shall be one flesh.'' The present accusations indicate anything but a purpose to cleave to his wife ; they are an unnatural, unmanly abandonment of her in her hour of greatest need. But more than this ; the oflender does not even hesitate to make God himself accessory to his fall : " The woman whom thou gavest to be with me." Horrid, blasphemous insinuation of one that has not heeded the admonition, " Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God ; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man," (Jam. i. 13.) The most tenderly loved and anxiously longed for of God's gifts (Gen. ii. 18, 20) now becomes an abomination to the sinner, and a weapon in his hand wherewith to assail the character "432 CREATION AND THE FALL. and kind intentions of the Giver, " * The woman whom thou gavest/ — to her I owe my ruin and all the miseries of this dread hour ; and she is thy gift/' But enough : nothing shows more clearly the true character of sin than the accusations brought by tlie sinner against God — impious charges, in which Adam's descendants are found only too faithfully concurring. Vain, however, are all prevarications and attempts to remove blame from off ourselves to some other — to our external circum- stances or to God ; for not only will these fail to satisfy the Righteous Judge, they will not satisfy conscience itself in the end. At last, when all evasions have failed, there is no alter- native but to plead guilty, " I did eat :" confession is extorted, and he is condemned out of his own mouth. Conviction being obtained, the blessed God, without noticing the excuses, which served no other purpose than of rendering the man's conduct more criminal and odious, proceeds to interro- gate the woman as to her share in this transaction. Verse 13, " And the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that thou hast done?" or, according to the LXX., Vulgate, Luther, and De Wette, " Why hast thou done this ?" n^b'v ntrogress and perfection ; he was appointed to rise above and rule over nature, but now he must submit to the laws and ordinances which control all organized life. 460 CREATION AND THE FALL. Thus far the sentence pronounced on man, considered in itself, is exceedingly grievous : but its true character will more fully appear wlien contrasted with that passed upon the serpent. The sentences passed on the serpent and on man have this in common, that in both the grounds of condemnation are announced. To the serpent it is said, " Because thou hast done this,"' and to man, " Because thou hast hearkened," &c., and in this respect the two sentences are distinguished from that of the woman : and in this is doubtless intimated the directly responsible and representative character of the serpent as well as of the man. In all other particulars, however, there is the greatest dissimilarity in the two sentences, and in the lot apportioned to the two parties. This is seen not merely in the more marked and noticeable fact, that in the one case the curse falls directly on the serpent, and in the other only indirectly on man through the ground, but is apparent in all the details. Taking the language, as already explained, to be symbolical of sjjiritual truths, it is to be observed, first, the serpent must go upon its belly — a condition implying the very lowest de- gradation. There is nothing- corresponding to this in the lot of man. Though bowed down to the ground by toilsome labour, he can still consider and contemplate God's heavens and starry firmament, (Ps. viii. 8.) The contrast is strikingly expressed in the promise of the woman's seed bruising the head of the serpent, whereas the latter can raise itself no higher than his heel. Secondly, the serpent must eat dust, the most unsavoury and unsatisfactory food. Man's provision, though procurable only through hard toil, is nevertheless the herb of the field, which can bear no comparison with dust as an article of food. Thirdly, the serpent has no prospect of alleviation or release, " Dust slialt thou eat all the days of thy life." In the case of man it is also said, " In sorrow shalt thou eat it (the produce of the ground) all the days of thy life ;" but to this labour and sorrow there is a limit, for it is added, " till thou return to the ground." In man's case there is comfort in the midst of the work and toil of the hands, as Lamech with pious and hopeful feelings expressed when he named liis son Noah, (Gen. v. 29 ;) THE FIRST FRUITS OF FAITH, GEN. III. 20. 461 and there is at lengtli a release from these labours, as the afflicted patriarch of Uz felt when he asked, " Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth ? are not his days also like the days of a hireling 1" (Job vii. 1,) and when he spoke of the clods of the valley being sweet to him who is released from troubles and toils. But, more particularly : — " I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them," (Rev. xiv. 13.) § 21. The First Fruits of Faith, Gen. iii. 20. Since the acknowledgment of guilt, " I did eat," was drawn from our first parents after their vain attempts to conceal or deny their true condition, and the equally vain but more criminal conduct of excusing themselves by charging their sins on external circumstances, or by recriminating one another, and even the Creator himself, no information is given of their feelings or disposition. But the very silence under the con- demnation indicates an altered frame of mind ; there was no murmur or complaint — none of the spirit of defiance or sullen- ness which was so apparent in the case of Cain, when un- liumblcd and impenitent he reproached his Judge with the severity of the sentence, in the words, " My punishment is greater than I can bear," (Gen. iv. 13.) We are not left, how- ever, to the necessity of drawing conclusions as to the altered disposition of the condemned transgressors from the absence of any statements to the contrary ; the next incident recorded in the history furnishes most conclusive evidence of a bettered state of mind — evidence not merely of true penitence, but also of strong faith. Verse 20, And the man called his wife's name Eve ; because she was the mother of all living. Tliis is a most instructive incident, whether wc consider the mere fact of conferring a new name, with the reason assigned for this peculiar designation, or the extraordinary circum- stances in which it was bestowed. When at her creation the female human being was conducted to the man, he, in virtue of the authority delegated to him, 462 CREATION AND THE FALL. conferred on lier a name, calling lier woman, {Isha.) But tlie order expressed by this symbolic act had been completely subverted in the transgression, until reinstituted and restored by God after the Fall in the sentence on the woman, " Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Kecognising the Divine order thus announced, or rather re- newed in the relation of husband and wife, and probably also recognising his own past failure in this respect, the man again exercises the authority committed to him, and names anew the woman united to him as wife — his partner in sin, and now in sorrow and suffering. The name bestowed expresses a relation entirely new. This was to be expected from their completely altered condition, but the relation which it exhibits is not one that could ante- cedently be inferred from the great facts of their previous history. The first name was very characteristic, and displayed an accurate acquaintance with the character and origin of the second human being : " She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man." The new name is no less charac- teristic, but at first sight it may appear to harmonize better with the past state of things than with the present. The name Eve, or Chavvah, (njn, i.q., n»n, from the root mn, the old form of n;n, to live,) Life, was given to the first woman, " be- cause she was the mother of all living," 'n-'?3 dx i-in;n t^in^a ; LXX, ixrirrjp ttuvtcov rwv ^wvrcov. The idea of life had been expressed generally in the creation by the njn fS3, the breath of life of the animated world, (chap. i. 20, 21,) in the waters and on the earth, (verses 24, 80,) and particularly in man, (chap. ii. 7.) In providence the same idea was expressed by Q^^nn yr, tJie tree of life in the midst of the garden, (chap. ii. 9.) The idea is, how- ever, altogether new and peculiar as predicated of the woman. The universal terms, 'n-^3, all living, show that life is here to be considered as something peculiar and appropriate to the case. It could not simply mean that the first woman was destined to be the mother of the human i-acc ; for, in this sense, the designation had been as appropriate from the be- ginning as at any after period, and indeed more suitable, as it would have been suggested by the primeval blessing, (chap. i. 28.) If, on this view of its meaning, the name were not sug- gested then, it is proljablc it would not bo given until after THE FIRST FRUITS OF FAITH, GEN. III. 20. 4G3 the birtli of Cain. Accordingly Dr. Geddos, with his usual rashness, docs not hesitate to transpose this and the following verse to the end of the chapter, in order to connect the name more closely with the birth of Cain. But farther, regarded merely as the mother of living or animated beings, there is in the life of man thus considered nothing so pre-eminent or dis- tinguishing as to warrant the designation, " the mother of all living." Besides, on this view, Adam himself might have been as fitly named, the father of all living, while in the case neither of the woman nor the man was there anything so striking as to suggest the name, and to call for the explanation given of it. Our first parents had heard the sentence of condemnation passed upon the serpent and upon themselves. The serpent was cursed, and also the ground upon which man trod, and from which he was to derive his sustenance. They had, more- over, heard the Lawgiver and Judge whose commandment they had transgressed and whose threatening they had disregarded, declaring that they should return to the dust out of which they had been taken ; and this declaration they heard after having learned by painful experience that all His words were true and righteous. And yet, immediately after hearing the sentence which assigned them to death, Adam calls his wife's name Life. Can this be from doubt of the threatening, or in defiance of the Judge ? This were a hard conclusion, and yet one which might be forced upon us were there no other Divine communi- cations with which the new name can be more satisfactorily connected. Such there are, however, in the curse pronounced upon the serpent, and instead, therefore, of viewing this expres- sion of Adam as betokening doubt or defiance, it is unquestion- ably to bo regarded as the first fruits of faith. lie recognised the judgment of God to death which had come upon him through transgression — he heard the curse which was pro- nounced upon the earth, and the sorrow, suffering, and death which were to constitute his portion on it. But from amidst this general ruin, disorder, and death, he is raised by the word of promise regarding the seed of the woman, and the triumph to be thereby obtained over the author of all his evils. Accord- ingly, Adam expects new life not from himself but from the woman, and in this new life he sees the power of victory over sin and deatli. He names his wife Life ; inasmuch as, in his 464 CREATION AND THE FALL. view, all else is in itself dead, and only living in the woman through the Divine promise. In these first fruits of faith, or of the operation of Divine grace, may be recognised not merely a correct apprehension of the word of promise, but also an altered disposition on the part of the sinner. He justifies God ; and condemns himself, his hard thoughts of God, his ungenerous conduct to, and accusa- tions of, God's best gift — the companion of his life, and now also of his sorrows, but nevertlieless the source of his joys. " Eve, the mother of all living," is a recognition which differs widely from that exhibited in the unloving words, " the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree." § 22. The first Work of Divine Grace, Gen. iii. 21. In the first intimation of grace, whereby God laid a founda- tion for faith and hope, provision was made for stilling man's disquieting fears, and for satisfying his anxious apprehensions of the future. Additional provision is now made for the sinner by a gracious act of the Divine Being, covering his nakedness and removing the feelings of shame or guilt — To man also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothed them. God himself recognised their wants and provided for their necessities. When it is said that God clothed our first parents, a contrast is intended between this complete and suitable covering and their own vain endeavours to conceal their naked- ness with fig leaves. There is no occasion for denying, with the generality of expositors, that the coats of skin were made im- mediately or directly by God. If he only ordered, or prompted, or directed our fallen progenitors to provide this covering for themselves, it is reasonable to suppose that the fact would have been so stated. The garments were God's gifts, God's contriv- ance ; and is it strange that He who clothes the lilies of the field, that neither toil nor spin, in robes more glorious than Solomon's, (Matt. vi. 28-30,) sliould, on this first and important occasion, clothe His children, when He designed thereby to make known to them a great spiritual truth ? A very prominent place is given in Scripture to ideas asso- THE FIRST WORK OF DIVINE GRACE, GEN. III. 21. 465 ciated witli clothing. In the Old Testament how express and particular are the directions about the priest's garments, which Avere made for glory and for beauty, and which, it is univer- sally admitted, were symbolical of spiritual things. What these were plainly appears from such language as this, " Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness " " I will also clothe her priests with salvation,'' (Ps. cxxxii. 9, 16.) And, more generally, as descriptive of the state of all God's people, " I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness," (Isa. Ixi. 10,) with similar expressions in the Psalms and in the Prophets. But still more striking is the language of the New Testament on this subject. Thus the repeated mention of putting on the new man, and putting on tlie Lord Jesus Christ, (Eph. iv. 24 ; Col. iii. 10 ; Rom. xiii. 14;) and the Apocalyptic exhortation, " I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich ; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear," (Rev. iii. 18.) The same figure is used in reference to the glorified body of the resurrection, and is used in such a way as shews that this was the end towards which all the other spiri- tual investitures tended, and for which they were required : " If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked," (1 Cor. XV. 53, 54 ; 2 Cor. v. 2-4.) It is unnecessary, however, to multiply examples of the symbolical use of the terms naked and clothed ; enough has been said to show that the whole tenor and language of Scripture on this point warrants the inference, that the clothing of our first parents in Eden by the hand of God had respect to more than the investiture of the body — that it typically pointed to the investiture of the soul — the end of all the ways, ordinances, and arrangements of Divine grace. There was something, however, to Avhich this act more im- mediately referred — some present necessity which called for it, or want which it was meant to supply. That this was not anything pertaining to the physical wants of the transgressors, or the circumstances in which they were soon to find themselves as exiles from Eden, is plain, from the fact that God himself provides the clothing, and does not leave it to their own labours 2g 466 CREATION AND THE FALL. and resources, as he had declared his determination to do with regard to their food. But it is more particularly seen in the materials out of which the garments were prepared — i^v mm, coats of skin. Were it merely to supply a physical want, there was no reason why any of the vegetable productions, readily available for clothing materials, should not be selected in pre- ference to the skins of animals, which necessitated the taking away of life, when animal food was not required or recognised as an article of human diet. From these considerations, and others connected with the early practice of sacrifice, what so probable as the supposition, that the animals which provided the first clothing for fallen man had been offered in sacrifice on God's altar ? If this conclusion be correct, then the impor- tant truth was taught that, in order to provide clothing for sinners, which should be typical of guilt covered and atoned, life must be offered up. Man, in consequence of transgres- sion, was naked, and, conscious of his nakedness, he vainly attempted some contrivance of his own to remedy this defect ; but no hand save God's could do it. When effected, it was by an act which shewed how God would accept another life in room of the life forfeited by sin. The previous promise was thus confirmed and still farther illustrated. The ideas of suf- fering and of substitution, and of a righteousness thus acquired to cover human guilt, were embodied in the act of God clothing the first transgressors in the skins of victims offered in sacrifice upon the altar. With the incident here recorded some writers connect the arrangement afterwards embodied in the Levitical law, whereby the skin of the sacrifice became the property, and was at the disposal of the ofiiciating priest. Lev. vii. 8, " And the priest that offereth any man's burnt-offering, even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt-offering which he hath offered." "Here we see ' the sJcin' given to the priest, irresist- ibly reminding us of the skins that clothed Adam and Eve. If Jesus, at the gate of Eden, acting as our priest, appointed sacri- fice to be offered there, then he had a right to the skins, as priest ; and the use to which he appropriated them Avas clothing Adam and Eve." ^ * Bonar, Cumiiicntary on Leviticus, p. 117. Lond. 184G. man's expulsion fro]\[ paradise, (}ex. III. 22, 23. 4G7 {:j 23. Man's Expulsion from Paradise, Gen. iii. 22, 23. One other arrangement remained to be effected in order to bring the external condition of fallen man into correspondence with his internal state, or his altered spiritual and moral dis- position. He must be expelled from Paradise, and made to encounter the difficulties of the world without. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever ; therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. The reasons which required the man's exclusion from the garden are stated in the determination, the result of Divine counsel, which, in the way of preface, introduces this act. The only thing in the whole preceding history wliicli can be com- pared to the language of the present passage, " Behold, the man is become as one of us," is the Divine deliberation which preceded the creation of man, " And God said. Let us make man." But contrasting man's character when created " in the image and after the likeness of God," with what it became in consequence of transgression, how could it now be said that he became like God ? Whence this similarity, and wherein did it consist ? These questions, from an early period, greatly occupied the attention of interpreters of Scripture, especially the Rabbinical writers, many of whose notions on the subject were, it may be readily imagined, exceedingly vague. But it is even more astonishing to observe how superficial and unsatisfactory are the expositions which have been offered of this declaration of God by a better class of expositors. Very many writers on this subject, particularly the more recent, seem to have recognised no difficulty whatever in the language ;. and even in cases where the difficulty was felt, an easy escape from it was found by Augustin and others of the Fathers, and by Piscator and others of the Reformation period, by viewing the declaration as irony and sarcasm. Even the judicious Calvin satisfies himself with the remark, " ironica exprobratio." That there is nothing akin to irony or reproach in the words of God on 468 CREATION AND THE FALL. this occasion, it needs not many arguments to show. The subject and the context utterly preclude such an idea.^ All the characteristics of the scene and the transaction are of a most solemn kind ; and throughout the disposition of the Creator is one of pity and benevolence. To preclude all ideas of irony, it is enough to notice that the language is not ad- dressed to man ; in fact there is notliing to show that it was even spoken in his hearing. It is only the historical expres- sion of the deliberative counsels of the Godhead. Another proposed solution of the difficulty is to take the words as implying what the man aimed at, and attempted to become, rather than what he actually did become. This inter- pretation has not obtained so much currency as the preceding. But indeed it has nothing to commend it. Tlie expression, 3 iTH, is to become as, or like, and cannot be otherwise rendered. The words can be taken only in their obvious meaning, as a true description of man's character at the time in which they were uttered. Words nearly similar were spoken by the ser- pent, in the prospects which he held out to disobedience: " Ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil :" but, in that case, there need be no hesitation in setting them down as the deceiver's He. The matter assumes an entirely different aspect when it is presented as a declaration of God. The difficulty is not removed, or even diminished, by regarding the likeness between God and man as only relative or partial, confined to the knowledge of good and evil ; for the question still recurs, how can it in any sense be said that a creature made in the image of God became by transgression like God, and not like the devil, whose counsel he followed, and whose conduct he imitated ? Dr. Candlish, when recently considering this mat- ter, asks, How in respect of the knowledge of good and evil ^ Alting — Nexus cum antecedentibus et consoquentibus sarcasmo neutiquam favet. Speciem iste habuisset, siquidem boc dixisset Deus, vel ante pronunciatam senten- tiam, quum ex bomine qu^icreret, quis tibi inJicavit te nudum esse ? vel mox post earn recitato duro cai-mine, pulvis es ct in pulvei-em reverteris. Sed quid commune habet, vel cum antegresso beneficio amictionis ? vel cum subjuncta remotione ab Arbore Vit^e ? Profecto non conveniebat receutissimo gi-atiae operi acerba oratio insultantis : neque exprobrata ista similitudo uUa consequential necessitate pone se trahebat usurpationem Arboris Vitas, ut propterea ab hac removcndus Lomo esset. Quae omnia in diversum ire non tarn jiibent quam cogunt. — De Sahhatho, lib. iii. cap. 7. Opera, vol. v. Anist. 1687. man's expulsion from paradise, gen. III. 22, 23. 469 should he be as God ? and in replying to his own question, that able and acute writer has succeeded only in showing a dissimilarity, and not a likeness, as he intended.^ The whole difficulty connected with this description of man's state, arises from considering it as the result of man's sin, and not of God's redemption of the sinner : and this error again arises from want of duly considering the place which the declaration occupies in the narrative, and in the scheme of grace announced to man. This will appear from the following- observations : — 1. This Divine declaration regarding man's character was not uttered immediately after the Fall and the sentence of condemnation, or the announcement of mercy on the part of God. Between the announcement of mercy and the statement under consideration, two very significant incidents intervened — the naming of the woman, and the Divine provision made for covering man's nakedness. The former of these incidents we considered as evidence of man's faith, of his submission to God, and of his acceptance of God's proifered gift : the other as symbolizing that his guilt was covered by the righteousness of the Lamb slain. The two incidents taken together showed man clothed and in his right mind, (Mark v. 15.) 2. The circumstances now adverted to, while manifesting the gracious purposes of God, no less clearly show an altered disposition in man. His faith in the Divine promise removed his fears, and God's righteousness covered his guilt. He might now, in the language of the New Testament, be called " a new creature," old things having passed away and all things become new. In these circumstances, what so probable as the supposition that the state of man here described was the result of redemption, and not of transgression ? By transgression made like the devil, the man — the reference, be it observed, is only to the individual — by redemption became like God, for he was renewed in the spirit of his mind. 3. Thus considered, the language before us is the Divine approval or satisfaction with the effects of the plan of redemp- tion as manifested in the case of the first human transgressor. It is thus parallel with God's satisfaction at creation : " God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, vciy gcod." ^ Contributinns towards the Exposition of Genesis, pp. 77, 78. Edin. 18-^4. 470 CREATION AND THE FALL. The two declarations are introduced by the same expressions, jO or mn, here of admiration and delight. Man's likeness to God has been attained notwithstanding the transgression : in a manner it is the fruit or consequence of it. The tempter had assured the objects of his attack that they should be as God, and should attain to the knowledge of good and evil. This is accomplished, but in a way to disappoint the enemy — accomplished, however, not through works of righteousness, but through faith in Christ, and thus man is made really godlike, because bearing the image of the only begotten Son. 4. The fruits of redemption described are such as presented themselves in the first man : — " Behold, the man is become as one of us by the knowledge of good and evil ;" and not in the human race collectively, nor in Adam as its representative, but only in Adam individually. But tlie character thus ascribed to the first man, who passed through a fiery ordeal which illustrated and glorified Divine grace, may equally be- long to his descendants through faith in the same word of promise. They also, as he, may be restored to favour and fellowship with God. Indeed, it is expressly said in terms which confirm the preceding conclusions : " Beloved, now are we the sons of God ; and it doih not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall he like him ; for we shall see him as he is," (1 John iii. 2.)^ In consideration of man's altered condition, and of the new economy under which he was placed, he must be excluded from Paradise, and care must be taken to prevent his access to the tree of life. But tlie act of exclusion bears more the impress of a merciful necessity than of a punitive infliction. There had been a deliberation of the Godhead before the decree was put into execution or even announced. It was found to be just and expedient in man's circumstances, and in accordance with God's purposes concerning him. It was de- signed to prevent farther evil, and such as might have a tendency to defeat God's purposes of mercy : " And now, lest 1 James Ailing (died 1679) had a glimpse of the true exposition: — Deus in concilio trinitatis collaudavit Adami fidom, per quam inii ex tribus personis deitatis Filio Dei designate Mediator! similem esse dixit, cxperimentnli cognitione tarn summae iniclicitatis, in Christo per fidcm morituri peccato quod in typo viderat, quam snmm.T felicitatis, in eodcm ]ior iidom vivcntis Poo et vieturi in Kitei'nnm. — Aiiali/.sia Exe. 22,"), note (>. THE CHERUBIM AND THE FLAMING SWORD, GEN. III. 24. 475 sent the angelic host — a view which, in a modified form, is still advanced by Hofmann, Delitzsch, and Kiutz.^ It may suiSce to remark that, if designed to represent angels, their construc- tion and introduction into the tabernacle were in strange o^jposition both to the letter and spirit of the Mosaic legisla- tion, as expressed in the command, " Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above," (Exod. xx. 4.) A still more extravagant theory, which some time ago found much acceptance, but is now very much abandoned, was that which viewed the cherubim as emblems of the Trinity, with man incorporated ijito the Divine essence. But to this, and many other wild and conflicting opinions on the subject, it is unnecessary farther to refer, as the attention recently given to the study of the Biblical symbols has, in a great measure, dis- sipated the vague and confused notions which once prevailed. Acquaintance with the hieroglyphics and symbols of a religious character used in heathenism, especially in the systems of the Egyptians, Persians, and Assyrians, has been of service in this respect. It is now established that comj)osite animal forms, such as the cherubim of Scripture, and what was probably traditional imitations of them, the winged human-headed lions and bulls of Nineveh and the sphinxes of Egypt, were intended to represent beings, or a state of being, in which were concen- trated all the peculiar qualities and excellencies which distin- guished the creatures which entered into the combination. The creatures which entered into the composition of the cherub were man, the lion, the ox, and the eagle — the highest forms of life with which we are acquainted. There was thus concentrated in it all that was most strongly characteristic of life. This is confirmed by the peculiar designation, nVn, living creatures, or living ones, given to the cherubim in Ezekiel, (chap. i. 5, 13, &c. ; x. 15, 17,) and which is uniformly ren- dered by the LXX. ^wa. The same peculiar designation is given in the Apocalypse to creatures which bear so striking a resemblance to those described by Ezekiel, that their identity ' Hofmann, Per Schnftbcweis, vol. i. pp. 170, 317. Delitzscli, Genesis, p. 180. 2te Aiisg. Lcip. 1853. Kurtz in Hcizog's Rcal-Ent-yk., Art. Cherubim, vol. ii. p. G.50. 476 CREATION AND THE FALL. cannot be questioned. " In the midst of the throne, and round ahout the throne, four living creatures {^wa) full of eyes before and behind. And the first living creature like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf, and the third living creature had a face as a man, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. And the four living beings had each of them six wings about him ; and they were full of eyes within, and they rest not day and night, saying,"' &c., (Rev. iv. 6-8.) With some unimportant differences, the same number and kind of animal forms appear in the mysterious creatures seen in the visions of Chebar and of Patmos. The names are identical — the idea of life is farther exhibited in the two cases by incessant activity, and the place is the closest proximity to the throne of God. If from these considerations it may be concluded that life is the fundamental idea embodied in the cherubim, the next question will be, what life — creative or created, and if the latter, whether it respected all that is living on the earth, or only life in one peculiar aspect ? Not a few writers, following Biihr,^ who has ably examined this subject, are of opinion that the life represented by the cherubim was the fulness of life in the Divine Being, the pro- perties of the animals combined in these forms being symbolical of the attributes, acts, and government of God. This view is not of the gross character of some of the older theories, nor is it oj)en to the same objections. It may, with certain explana- tions, be received as a true exposition of the subject ; for all life is an efflux, and so a reflection of the divine life ; and so also all the powers and properties in the creature as such, are only images of the same in an infinitely higher degree in the Creator. Thus considered, this view may be safely admitted, but not if it means to afiirm that the representations of God's attributes was the direct or only object of the cherubim. Others, as Hengstenberg, regard the cherubim as expressive of all that was living on the earth.^ That the life represented by these mysterious forms was created life as distinct from the creative, is evident from the following considerations : — First, the component parts of the cherub were not merely ' Symbolik tics Mosaischen Cultus, vol. i. p}). .340-300. Heidelberg, 1837. ^ Conimentary on the Eevelatimi, vol, i. p. 212. THE CHERUBIM AND THE FLAMING SWORD, GEN. III. 2^. 477 creatures, but were sucli as existed in tliis lower world, thus evidently pointing to an earthly origin, or state of existence. Should it be objected to the conclusiveness of this argument, that the manifestations of God to the creature must be through the medium of nature, its laws and operations, it may be replied, this is confounding the pure, spiritual religion of the Bible with the nature-worship of heathenism, for in the former there are manifestations of God higher than any which nature can furnish. Secondly, if the cherubim M^ere representations of God's attributes, what reason can be given for the place which they occupied in the sanctuaiy ? The symbolic figures standing on the mercy-seat were shrouded in thick darkness, and carefully concealed from the view of all, save the high-priest, on the annual day of atonement. Such a situation is wholly incon- ceivable, on the supposition that it was God's attributes that these forms represented ; for there they were concealed rather than revealed. Thirdly, the acts in wdiich the cherubim or living creatures of the Apocalypse participate are incompatible with this view. They not only join in the general song of praise to God and in the song of redemption, but they also distinctly state that they are " redeemed unto God by the blood of the Lamb," (Rev. v. 9.) Admitting that all God's works may be said to praise their Creator, and also that his various attributes in their manifestations combine to glorify him, and may figuratively be said to join in his praise in creation and redemption, how can it be said that God's attributes bow down to worship Him, or by what propriety of language can it be said that they were redeemed ? From these and other considerations, it must be apparent that the view which regards the cherubim as representing divine attributes, or creative life, cannot be maintained. If then they are to be considered as symbols of created life, in what particular aspect is this life regarded ? Although the cherub, as already noticed, w^as a combination of four animal forms, yet the human appearance preponderated. This has been held as " implying that it was man whom the representation chiefly respected, and that to this the others •were but subsidiary and additional. Man, however, not as he 478 CREATION AND THE FALL. now is, for then the human figure alone had been sufficient ; but man raised to a new sphere of life and being, endowed with properties which he did not possess even in Paradise — man as redeemed and glorified."^ If any difficulties attach to this view of the meaning of the cherubic symbols, it is at least not open to the insuperable objections which have proved fatal to some of the other theories propounded on this subject. It has the merit of being simple, and if not the Scriptural view, it yet does not conflict with any other clearly revealed truth. But, above all, it gives a con- sistent explanation of all the circumstances of the case — the various relations which the cherubim occupy, and the exercises in which they take a part from the beginning to the close of the dispensation. This will be shown by an examination of the several passages of Scripture in which the cherubic forms appear, beginning with the last in order, " their manifesta- tion in the glorious pattern which John saw of the Redeemer's triumphal court and throne." From an examination of the passages in the Apocalypse referring to this subject, the following information is obtained relative to the place, employment, and character of the cherubim or living creatures. 1. They are represented as in the immediate neighbourhood of God's throne : they stand nearer the throne than the elders and the angels. God appears enthroned, as it were, above them, and they are always associated with his presence, (Rev, iv. 6 ; V. 6; vii. 11.) 2. The throne in heaven around which the cherubim have their place is closely related to the covenant of grace and the atonement. It may be called the throne of grace, or the mercy- seat in heaven. This appears, 1st, From the rainbow which encircled it : — '' There was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald," (Rev. iv. 3.) " Since Gen. ix. the rainbow," as Ilengstenberg remarks, "has been unalterably consecrated as a symbol of grace returning after wrath." 2dly, From the occupant of the throne : — " In the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain," (Rev. v. 6 ;) his appearance imaged atonement and reconciliation through suffering. ' Fairbairn, Typology, vol. i. p. 314. THE CHERUBIM AND THE FLAMING SWORD, (JEN. HI. 2-\. 479 3. The cherubim take the lead in the acts of adoration and praise. Vitringa remarks : — " In chap, v., the whole heavenly assembly before the throne is divided into two choruses or classes — the living creatures and the elders formed the one chorus, (verse 8.) and the angels the other, (verse 11.)" And Ilengstenberg, on chapter iv. 9-11 : " The adorations of the cherubim turn on God's almighty power as manifested in crea- tion ; and so does that also of the elders. That the doxology of the elders has respect to the same great fact as that of the cherubim, is indicated by the article, the glory, &c., showing that they simply respond to the doxology of the cherxdiim." 4. It is expressly affirmed that they were redeemed, (Rev. v. 8, 9.) This has occasioned considerable difficulty to expositors, who consider the cherubim as symbolic of the Divine attributes or government, or of the powers of nature. Thus Barnes : " Perhaps the language in chap. v. 9, ' And they sung a new song,' &c., though apparently connected with the 'four beasts' in verse 8, is not designed to be so connected. John may intend there merely to advert to the fact that a new song was sung, without meaning to say that the four living beings united in that song." And Ilengstenberg : " A celebration of the deeds of Christ so copious is nowhere else found in the mouths of the cherubim, and does not appear to suit them, rather indeed opposes their nature and significations, {i.e., on the author's theory that they are the representatives of all that is living on the earth,) and their own peculiar song of praise is addressed only to God as the almighty Creator, (iv. 8 ;) finally, all doubt is taken away by the words in verse 9, ' Thou hast redeemed us,' &c., which are not suitable in the mouths of the beasts." This is surely squaring the text by the theory, and not the theory by the text, especially when the author is obliged to add : — ■" On the other hand, we must not exclude the four beasts from any participation in what follows, after their being said to fall down, along with the elders, before the Lamb. Though the falling down does not justify us in supposing, with many expositors, that the cherubim had a full participation with the elders, yet a sort of counterpoise might have been given in what follows, by its being expressly remarked that the elders alone had part in it. Farther, a merely dumb prostra- tion, where all besides, not excepting the angels, sing praise, 480 CREATION AND THE FALL. appears unsatisfactory. The natural supposition is, that the ehlers came forth as the speakers of the chorus, which was formed of them and the four beasts. Both are connected together by an internal bond." Should any difficulty be felt in regarding the cherubim as the redeemed from among men, seeing tliat these are otherwise represented by the elders, it may be enough to remark that we are not in possession of full and explicit information on this subject, and that, in the absence of such, difficulties may be expected ; and yet the fact that the redeemed are represented in one aspect by the elders does not necessarily preclude the supposition that, in another aspect, they may be represented by the living creatures, between whom and the elders there is, as Hengstenberg remarks, an internal bond of union. It has been suggested, and with great probability, that while the elders represent the whole Church — the persons of the redeemed, in their prospective dignity of a royal priesthood — the living creatures may represent the nature of the redeemed, not only rescued from the power of evil, but raised to a position wherein it is endowed with powers not originally its own.^ The representations of the cherubim in the visions of Ezekiel, although not so full and precise as in the visions of John, em- body the same important truths. There, also, they appear in close connexion with the throne of God and the Divine glory. The visions of Chebar, although directly manifestations of coming judgments, had nevertheless an aspect of grace.^ Ac- cordingly, with reference to the first of these it is said, " Upon the likeness of the throne was tlie likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it ;" and, " as the appearance of the bow ^ that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord," (Ezek, i. 26, 28.) It is also to be noted that, although these living creatures with their living wheels are seen to be animated in the highest degree, yet all their acts and motions are influenced and directed by one pervading spirit, (verses 12, 20, 21.) ' Fairbairn, Typology, vol. i. p. 316. 2 Hiivernick, Commentar iiber Ezechiel, p. 30. Eilangen, 1843. 3 Havernick quotes a remark of J. H. Micliaelis on this passage : — " Iris est sym- bolum foederis et gratim." THE CHERUBIM AND THE FLAMING SWORD, GEN. III. 24, 481 The next vision of this kind seen by Ezekiel related to the departure of the Divine presence from the temple, which had been polluted and profaned. In the two visions, but particu- larly in the second, the main figures in the imagery were derived from the patterns of heavenly things in the most holy place of the temple, and with which Ezekiel as a priest must have been familiar ; therefore it is that he says, " I knew that they were the cherubim," (chap. x. 20.) In this vision the Divine glory in the first instance withdrew from the inner sanc- tuary to the threshold of the temple ; it next departed tlience, and took its place above the cherubim who moved on to tlie east or principal gate of the temple. At length they passed from thence — paused for a time over the city — proceeded to the Mount of Olives on the east of the city, and finally disappeared from the prophet's vieAv, (chaj). x. 4, 18 ; xi. 23, 24.) The gracious aspect which, through impending judgments, these visions exhibited, besides furnishing assurance of deliver- ance to the men that sighed for the abominations done in Jerusalem, (Ezek. ix. 4,) was designed to show that God's cove- nant of redemption was not so inseparably connected with, or dependent on the existence of Israel as a nation or a church, as that the overthrow of the one could in any way endanger the stability of the other. It was shown, that though the glory of the Lord might forsake the temple and pass away from the city, it would still retain its place among the cherubim, as of old. This union, not dependent on place or circumstances, was a token of the stability of the covenant, and as such it must have greatly encouraged God's people in prospect of the over- throw which was then announced. To the representations of the cherubim already considered, those of the tabernacle and temple fully correspond. The tabernacle, with its furnishings, was made according to the pattern Avhicli God showed to Moses in the Mount ; it was a pattern of heavenly things, (Heb. ix. 23.) In the innermost compartment of the sacred tent, or the holy of holies, which was the peculiar residence of the covenant God of Israel, there was the ark of the covenant covered by the mercy-seat, or projntiatory, upon the ends of which stood the cherubim. They looked down upon the mercy-seat ; they grew out of it, as it were, being formed of the same material, and, as some 2 H 482 CEEATION AND THE FALL. think, of the same solid piece of gold, (Exod. xxv. 19 ;) while over tliem, or between them, Jehovali, in the shekinah or cloud of glory, was enthroned. The position thus occupied by the cherubic figures, where everything spoke of grace and redemp- tion, and pointed to atoning blood, is highly significant. Tlieir place was one to which there was access only through atoning blood, of the eificacy of which their admission and continued occupancy were a type and a pledge. But to return to the passage in Genesis which has given rise to this discussion, how far do the subsequent representa- tions of the cherubim — the places they occupy, and the ofiices they discharge — harmonize with and illustrate what is said of those which were placed in Eden after the expulsion of man ? As already remarked, the manner in which these mysterious figures are here spoken of, implies that the ideas which they embodied were familiar to the Israelitish reader, an inference fully corroborated by the subsequent references made to them. This may, in fact, be correctly deemed the account of the ori- ginal institution of the prototype which constituted the centre of the religious polity of the Jewish people, as it had done pre- viously, there is every reason to conclude both from Scripture and the traditions current among the early nations of the earth, in the simpler form of Patriarchal worship, for the same sym- bols, variously modified, appear in all ancient religions.^ The idea, as above explained, which in various forms found expression in this way, was closely associated with expecta- tions of a better and more advanced state of existence for man than the present, and in its purer scriptural form, with redemp- tion and God's dwelling among a people delivered from sin and its consequences. But the fact most prominently brought to view in this passage relative to the cherubim, is, that they were put into possession of the place designed and prepared for un- fallen man. Paradise was the type not merely of all that was lovely in creation, but, with its tree of life and happy human inhabitants, of life also — a life which consisted in union and communion with God. Sin changed the scene, as far as man was concerned — but not the character of Eden as the abode of life, nor the purpose of God concerning it. On the contrary, in the symbolic creatures constituting its inhabitants after the ' See Gosse, Assyria, p. 110. London, 1852. THE CHERUBIM AND THE FLAMING SWORD, GEN. III. 24. 483 Fall, life, in fact, appears in a far liiglier form than before. As the human form was the most prominent in these ideal figures, there was thus an intimation that they held some essential rela- tion to the beings that had been expelled on account of sin. This, taken in connexion with the promise of victory through the woman's seed, could not fail to be construed into a type of man restored to Paradise, and from the ruin of the Fall raised to a higher platform of life. The place of the cherubim was at " the east of the gar- den," where it is evident its entrance must also have been. The entrance to the tabernacle, and the principal entrance to the temple, were likewise to the east ; and from the eastern gate it was that the cherubim seen by Ezekiel took their departure. These coincidences in themselves may be of little importance ; and so, too, it may be with the word ]2w:, placed, or made to diuell, used in reference to the location of the clierubim in the garden, but which is the root of shekinah, or the visible Divine glory divellivg or tabernacling between the cherubim in the Levitical dispensation ; but they are worthy of consideration when viewed in connexion with other facts gathered from the primeval history ; such as that there was a place where the Lord manifested himself as still dwelling with men on the earth, and towards which he was to be worshipped. This appears from the terms used in reference to offerings ; " they brought them to the Lord," (Gren. iv. 3, 4,) that is, to some appointed place ; and from the manner in which Cain's exile is described — " he went out from the presence of the Lord," (verse 16.) What can be more probable than that this primeval holy place, towards which the exiles from Eden wor- shipped, was just the place of the cherubim, and, as such, substantially identical with the Levitical sanctuary, which was itself a " pattern" of heaven as prepared from the foundation of the world for man redeemed, as the earthly paradise had been for man unfallen ? Viewed thus, the cherubim occupy an identical position in the successive forms of the one dispensation of grace, at the beginning of which they make their first appearance, and bear evidence to the same important truths — the same disposition on the part of God and purpose concerning man. But it is a misapprehension to suppose, that besides occupying man's 484 CREATION AND THE FALL. original ground, the cherubim of paradise entered into his office in connexion with tlie tree of life ^ — a supposition which violently dissociates this passage from all the subsequent ac- counts of the cherubic functions. Man's office had been " to keep" the garden, and this of course included the charge of the tree of life, but having failed in his duty, he is deprived of this office now and for ever. It is God's design, however, to preserve life, and its symbol the tree of life, but henceforth He takes its keeping into His own hands, or commits it to the Mediator. This truth, so plainly taught in the New Testament, found also its representation in the symbols of Paradise, not, how- ever, in the cherubim, but in the " flaming sword" introduced in the same connexion. The ground of the misconception just adverted to consists in confounding two distinct emblems. The flaming sword, whatever it may be conceived to mean, though mentioned in connexion Avith, and evidently closely related to the cherubim, was yet distinct from them, and must not be regarded, as is very generally the case, although not by the author last referred to, as borne or brandished by the cherubim. Of these figures — for the term is plural — there were at least two, but the sword is spoken of in the singular ; and is it to be supposed that the historian would be guilty of the incongruity of arming two cherubim with one sword ? " They were not so connected as to be visibly united with it, brandish- ing the sword, as has sometimes been supposed, in their hands, nor could the first worshippers have any reason to regard them as ministers of vengeance ;" and, accordingly, so much the less is there reason for holding them as " instituted guardians of the way to the tree of life."^ Besides, it is not certain that there was anything which could properly be designated a sword in this representation, more than in any of the subse- quent appearances of the same symbols. All that can be inferred from the terms, naennan 3-|nn ton^, the flame of a sword turning itself is, that there was some igneous appearance, in shape like a sword, darting out from among the cherubim with a constant flickering motion, thus answering to the descrii^tion of the motion of that fire which accompanied the cherubim seen by the prophet on the banks of the Chebar. " A whirl- 1 Fairbairn, Typology, vo]. i. p. ?,U. * Ibid. vol. i. p. 320. THE CHERUBIM AND THE FLAMING SWORD, GEN. III. 24. 485 wind came out of tlie north, a great cloud, and afire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the liiidst of the fire," (Ezek. i. 4.) Tlie expression, nnj?'?™, which Havernick takes to mean " rolled together," may have some relation to the term used in Genesis, and both are very expressive of the motion of fire. Nothing then so probable as that this igneous appear- ance was the Divine glory manifested along with the cherubim, as on other occasions, and particularly as it was related to the salvation of man, a truth recognised by the Psalmist in his ])rayer, " Give ear, 0 Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Josejih like a flock ; thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine fo7'th," (Ps. Ixxx. 1.) Although not of much importance in itself, yet as evidence of an early traditionary belief, it may be interesting to notice, that the view here sought to be established, is countenanced by some of the Jewish writers themselves. Thus in the Jeru- salem Targum, the passage is rendered : " And he thrust out the man, and caused the glory of his presence to dwell of old at the east of the garden of Eden above the two cherubim." So also the Targum of Jonathan Ben Uziel : " And he drove and thrust out the man ; from which time he caused the glory of his presence to dwell of old between the two cherubim." Thus understood, the symbol is plain and consistent, and while forcibly expressing the New Testament doctrine, " Our God is a consuming fire," (Heb. xii. 29,) and " dwelling in the light" that is inaccessible, (1 Tim. vi. 16,) it also and particu- larly illustrated, in connexion with the cherubim and the tree of life, this other truth, " Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God," (Col. iii. 3,) which Olshausen thus expounds, " God is conceived of as the element into whose essence the faithful, like Christ himself, are taken up, and in which they arc concealed, so that no one can penetrate into this element of life." This, however, will more fully appear from the function as- signed to the flaming sword, " to keep the Avay of the tree of life." " To keep" here doubtless signifies "to keep watch over," or " guard," for it is the same word, in precisely the same form, that occurred in chap. ii. 15, and which was expounded in this sense, and the connexion of which passage with the present is 486 CREATION AND THE FALL. at once obvious. But now the idea expressed is more definite, the guardianship Being concentrated on one specific object, " the tree of life ;" witli the addition, moreover, of another idea, " the way of the tree of life." To keep the tree of life miglit imply that all access to it was to be precluded ; but " to keep the ivay' signifies to keep the way open as well as to keep it shut. The very fact that there is such a way, implies that there is access to the privileged ; and so the flaming sword kept open a way for the cherubim — the representations of the redeemed from among men — while it excluded all who by force or fraud would approach in order to snatch at life, or to destroy the tree in which it typically centred. Man, indeed, had been driven out of Paradise ; he had passed from a dispensation in which life was the portion of the innocent, but not to one from which life was excluded, but rather heightened and confirmed, as a free gift of God to the pardoned and renewed. So long as he himself was the keeper of the garden, there is no refer- ence to a way to the tree of life, for he had life in his own hand, though without the certainty of retaining it ; but now that this charge is committed to another, and he shut out, there must be a way, if ever he shall be restored to the forfeited blessings. It is therefore because of man's position outside the gate of Paradise, as contrasted with his former residence within it, that mention is made of a way to the tree of life, which will remind the reader of such declarations as these, " I am the way, and the truth, and the life : no man cometli unto the Father, but by me," (John xiv. 6.) " Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have riglit to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city," (Rev. xxii. 14.) The deeply significant allusions to the i^cLth or way of life, a way for the ransomed of the Lord, and others of similar import which occur also in the Old Testament, are doubtless founded on this provision typically made at the Fall. Thus, to quote only one instance, Isa. xxxv. 8-10, a passage which borrows much of its other imagery from the history of that transaction, and the promised restoration : — " And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness ; the unclean shall not pass over it ; but it shall be for those : the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err THE CHERUBIM AND THE FLAMING SWORD, GEN. III. 24. 487 therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there ; but the redeemed shall walk there : and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their iieads : they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." It was thus tliat the whole symbolism of Paradise after the Fall, while in the highest degree declarative of holiness and righteousness in God, was fitted, in accordance with its character as a dispensation of grace, to attract rather than to terrify, to invite man rather than drive him away. How much this was the case, may, in a manner, be gathered even from the feelings and anxieties of Cain at the thought of being driven from the neighbourhood of the hallowed spot, and from within sight of the visions of Eden : — " Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I he hid," (Gen. iv. 14.) If such were the feelings of this repro- bate— this seed of the wicked one, (I John iii. 12,) what must have been the aspirations and hopes of those who like Abel brought their offerings in faith unto the Lord, and to whom, and to whose sacrifices. He had respect ! Although " the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing," (Heb. ix. 8,) such, neverthe- less, most undoubtedly, had " boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way,'' (Heb. x. 19, 20.) And thus in the arrangements contrived by Infinite wisdom, and adojited by Infinite love, to remedy the disasters of the Fall, Paradise lost was made to aj)pear to the eyes of those who in faith worshipped at its gates, as more than Paradise restored, as its mysterious symbolic figures proclaimed, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men." In drawing these observations to a close, amid the variety of lessons that may be gathered from the preceding narrative, it may be remarked that if there be any truth more than another illustrated by God's dealings with fallen man in the transactions of Eden, it is that to which the Divine Being him- self gives all the solemnity and sanction of an oath, " As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; but tliat the wicked turn from his way and live," (Ezck. xxxiii. 3.) And, in considering the schemes of creation 488 CREATION AND THE FALL. and redemption, as unfolded and applied in these chapters of Genesis, the one perfecting what the other began, the declarations of the Apostle Paul obtain new emphasis : — " 0 the depth of the riches, both of the w'isdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out ! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor ? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again ? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things : to whom be glory for ever. Amen." INDEX. I —PRINCIPAL MATTERS. Adam, generic name of human race, 289; not used as a proper name in Genesis i.-iii., 455 ; etymology of the term, 289 ; his naming the animals, objection to the account of, 361 ; pur- pose of this act, ib.; a figure of him that was to come, 174 ; his represen- tative character, 455 ; more culpable than Eve, 404 ; evidence of his faith, 463 ; his expulsion from paradise, reason of, 137, 470. Alford, on Matt. xix. 4-6, 194 ; on New Testament application of paradise, 199. _ Allegorical mode of interpretation un- satisfactory, 224. Ailing, his view of Gen. iii. 22, 470, note. Analogy of nature with representation of history of Fall, 161 ; value to be at- tached to this, 171. Annihilation, not included in primal threatening, 423. Antichrist, his claims a development of the tempter's promise, " Ye shall be as God," 185. Apollo, the averter of evil, 155 ; slays the dragon Python, 156. Atonement, prevalence of the idea of, 384. Augustin, his remarks on the days of creation, 99 ; on the seventh day, 313 ; on the Bubtilty ascribed to the tempter- serpent, 407, note. Balfour, Professor, on the indications of degeneracy in thorns and thistles, 169. Bara, import of this Hebrew term, 63. Barnes, on Job xxxi. 33, 200. Beginning of matter or motion, requires an ade(|uate cause, 74 ; the Bible teaches that this cause is God, 81. " Beginning, in the," meaning of this expression, 82, 244. Bengel, on the analogy between the temptation of Adam and of Christ, 176, note. Blessing, on creation, secured the con- tinuance and increase of the living tribes, 279; on man, 292. Body, the animal, constituents of, 327. Bonar on Leviticus, quoted, 466. Buttmann, on the situation of Eden, 342. Calvin on Eph. iv. 24, 304 ; on Gen. ii. 7, 328, note; on situation of Eden, 337. Candlish on Genesis, referred to, 469. Centres of Creation, theory of, not afl'ect- ing the Biblical narrative, 265. Chalmers, Dr., his opinion that the an- tiquity of the globe is not fixed by Moses, 82 ; on the authority assigned to the husband, 453. Cherubim, nothing known regarding the etymology of the term, 474 ; not re- presentative of the angelic host, 475 ; nor of the Trinity, ih.; representatives of life, not creative, but created, 476; represented man redeemed, 477 ; their place in Eden, that of the primeval worship, 483 ; import of their location in paradise, 482. Christ, his temptation analogous to that of Adam, 175 ; how the image of God, 301. Clerc, Le, on the situation of Eden, 839. Clothing, Biblical ideas connected with, 465 ; of our first parents, indicated suffering and substitution, 466. Contradictions, the alleged, of Gen. i. and ii., 43 ; that the creation of man preceded that of plants, 44 ; that the creation of man preceded that of the lower animals, Kurtz's explana- ti(m of, 45 ; as to the origin of the winged tribes, explained, 46. 490 Cosmogony of the Egyptians, 49 ; of the Phenicians, 50 ; of the Bahylonians, ib.; of the Hnidoos,-51. Create, what it properly means, 62. Creation, the Bibh'cal, its accordance with ancient cosmogonies, 48 ; this accordance only explicable as the re- sult of primeval traditions, 54 ; yet distinguished from other cosmogonies by the absence of aught fanciful or absurd, 55 ; and of anything local or national, 56 ; by correct conceptions of the Creator, 58 ; and of creation, 60. Creation from nothing, a doctrine of Scripture, 65. Creation, doctrine of, a fundamental article of theology, 211; known only from Kevelation, 243 ; this admitted by the ablest cultivators of science, 4 ; the narrative of, not the expression of the knowledge possessed by the iirst man independently of Revelation, 231 ; nor the product of tradition, 233 ; nor of the writer's knowledge of physical nature, 237. Curse, the, on the ground, 167 ; evi- denced in the production of noxious weeds, 1 68 ; on serpent, what it im- plied, 435 ; and how a promise to fallen man, 440. Day, one, in Gen. i. 5 ; pecuhar, 97 ; noticed by Josephus and Philo, 9j); cool of the, what meant by the expres- sion, 419. Days of creation, nothing in narrative limiting their duration, 93 ; not natural days, 96. Death, objected that it was not executed on the transgressors in the terms de- nounced, 134; this a misapprehension of the threatening, 135, 421 ; a uni- versal law, 386 ; in operation from beginning, 387 ; this circumstance not at variance with Scripture, 389 ; a ne- cessary law, 891 ; a benevolent law, 392 ; temporal, not included in primal threatening, 423 ; temporal death not an essential, but an accident of, 424 ; spiritual, a necessary consequence of transgression, 425. Discoveries, modern, elucidating and confirming Scripture, 25. Divine names, interchange of, an argu- ment of document-hypothesis, 28 ; this interchange not satisfactorily ac- counted for by Hengstenberg and Dreschler, 38. Document hypothesis, 26; its chief argu- ments, 27. Eden, meaning of the term, 330 ; the garden of, and its productions, 831 ; its river, 332 ; the associated rivers, 333 ; man's introduction into the garden of, 334 ; his office in it, 335. Edwards, President, on the image of God in man, 305 ; his remarks on the be- stowal of the name Eve, 445. Eichhorn, his views of the narrative of creation, 17. Elohim, etymology and import of, 29 ; how related to Jehovah, 33. Enmity between tempter-serpent and mankind, what it imported, 163. Etrurian legends of creation, 52. Euphrates, one of the rivers of Eden, 334 ; its junction with the Tigris, a recent event, 337. Eve, import of the name, 444, 462 ; her exclamation at the birth of Cain, 445. Evil, of the origin of, Scripture offers no solution. 111; but only records its mastery overman, 112 ; the connexion of physical and moral, 113. Ewald, on the meaning of the name Jehovah, 32, ')iote; on the situation of Eden, 343. Eyes, opening of the, what meant by, 400. Fall, the meaning of the term, 116; purport and character of narrative of, 108 ; intimation of mercy, a leading principle of narrative of, 114; objec- tions to narrative of, clas.sed, 124 ; ob- jections to doctrine of, considered, 125 ; objections involving a denial of the miraculous, 128 ; doctrine of, not derived from system of Parsees, 141 ; early Scriptural reference to, 145 ; its incidents traced in tradition, 146 ; traditions of the act which led to it, 150 ; its incidents tested by facts, 157. Fairbairn on Ezek. xxviii. 13, 195; on the idea represented by the cherubim, 477 ; his misapprehension of their functions, 483. Fear, the, of our first parents originated in a feeling of guilt, 430. Fig-leaves, the girdles of, 418. Fifth day of creation, 274 ; corresponds to the " age of reptiles" of the geolo- gist, 280. Firmament, meaning of, 255; waters above it, what denoting, 257. First day of Creation, 250. Food, grant of appropriate, to man ami the other animals, 294 ; what this taught to man, ib.; this no proof that INDEX. 491 all animals were herbivorous before the ^ Fall, 390. Fourth day of creation, 266. Fruit, the forbidden, attractions of, for the woman, 401. Genesis, why so called, 2 ; Luther's estimate of, ib. ; first three chapters of, particularly important, 3 ; and in- separably connected with the history in the Bible, 206 ; with its doctrine, 208 ; and with its prophecy, 214. Genesis iii. 22, inadequacy of usual ex- positions of, 467 ; not to be understood ironically, 468 ; reasons of the common misconception regarding, 469. Geology, modes of reconciling Genesis with, 86 ; its evidence in favour of miracles, 128; suggestive towards the interpretation of Scripture, 242. " God said," import of the expression, 250. God's first interview with fellen man in- tended to beget in him self-condemna- tion, 428. Gordon, (Dr.,) quoted, 472. Gregory, (Prof.,) on the balance of the atmosphere through animal and vege- table life, 275. Head, bruising of, what it implies, 442. "Heavens and earth," meaning of the phrase, 81, 7iote. Heel, bruising of, what it refers to, 450. Henderson, (Dr. E.,) on the expression, "one day," 100. Hengstenberg on Psalm civ., 188 ; on the tree of life in Ezekiel, 191. Hercules, legend of, and the gardens of the Hesperides, 155. Herder, his views of the narrative of creation, 16. He8iod,his accountof the golden age, 147. Holden, his definition of " literal and his- torical," 9. Humboldt, on the origin of the week, 316. Hunt, on our ignorance of the nature of light, 271. Hutchinsonians, their views of the first chapters of Genesis, 16. Ideler, on the origin of the week, 317. Image of God in first man, how related to the New Testament representations of same in neio nmn, 302 ; how ail'ectcd by the fall, 305. Interpretations of Genesis i.-iii. ; Jewish interpretations, 11; early Christian, 12 ; Middle Age, 13 ; Eeformation period, 14 ; recent, 15. Introduction to work of the six days, 243. Jehovah, etymology and imjiort of, 31 ; how related to Elohini, 33 ; name ap- jiarently not known before the fall, ib. Jones, (Sir William,) on unity of human race, 385. Josephus, on the expression, "one day," Genesis i. 5, 99. Kidder, on interpretation of first chap- ters of Genesis, 15, note. Kitto, on the gardens of the Hesperides, 155. Kurtz, his explanation of Genesis ii. 19, 45. Language, common and peculiar to man, 380 ; one primeval, 381. Leland, on the curse upon the serpent, 139, note. Life, maintained without interruption, 77 ; this taught in Scripture, 84. Light, Creation of, 250 ; priority of, to the heavenly orbs, no objection to the narrative, 252. Luminaries, heavenly, purposes to be served by, 266. Lyell on the beginning of present order of things, 74, note; on the recent creation of man, 78. Magee, on the prevalence of animal sacrifice, 384. Man, creation of, a recent event, 78 ; tra- ditions regarding his original condi- tion, physical and moral, 147 ; his creation distinguished by the Divine counsel which preceded it, 288 ; the image of God in, 296. Mankind, unity of. Scriptural account of, 372 ; scientific conclusions regarding this, 373 ; diff"usion of, promoted by diversity of races, 377. Marriage, institution of, 365 ; essential bond of union in, 368 ; typical of union of Christ and his Church, ib. Miller, II., on recent creation of man, 78 ; on abundance of vegetable pro- ductions of the earlier eras, 264. Miracles, not impossible, or improbable, 128. MiiUer, Julius, his mistake regarding narrative of the fall, 113 ; on the cor- 492 INDEX. respoudence between Antichrist's claims and the worda, " ye shall be as God," 186. Miiller, Max, on one primeval tongue, 381. Murchison's Siluria quoted, 26, note. Nakedness of primeval pair, 369. Names, God's conferring of, what it imported, 253. Nature and Revelation not contradictor}', 71; difficulties of reconciliation dim- inishing, 72. Neander, on rationalistic arguments against the existence of Satan, 144 ; on connexion of doctrine of creation with essence of Christianitj', 210. Newman, F. W., on the different ac- counts of creation, 27, note; his ob- jection to the curse on the serpent, 138. Okdee of creation in Genesis, the order of Geology, 83. Ovid, his account of the golden age, 147; on the creation of man, 287. Owen, on the image of God in man, 298, note. Paradise, man's expulsion from, reasons of, 470 ; lost, but not for ever, 473 ; of the Zendavesta, 148. Parents, our first, their original im- munity from death and disease ob- jected to, 130 ; this objection obviated, 131. Patrick, on literal sense of the account of creation and the fall, 15, m)te. Periods of creation. Etrurian and Parsee, 52. Peyrerius, his notion of Pre-Adamites, 14. Philo, on the expression "one day," Gen. i. 5, 99- Plural terms, how used of the Divine Being, 288. Powell, Baden, on contradictions between narrative of creation and geology, 5 ; regards the narrative as poetry, not history, 18 ; Pye Smith's remarks on this author's statements, 5, 7iote. Prodigal son, parable of, exemplifies narrative of the Fall, 184. Promise, first, how viewed by our first parents, 444 ; not directly referred to in the Old Testament, 447 ; its appli- cation clearly shewn in New Testa- ment, 448. I'uuishmcnt of first sin, objection to as exorbitant considered, 135 ; of serpent, 161 ; of the woman, 164, 452 ; of the man, 166, 455 ; this last contained two elements of bitterness, 456 ; but respected only temporal and material things, 459. Pye Smith, his mode of reconciling Genesis and Geology, 88; on the inti- mations of New Testament regarding the tempter, 412 ; on Eve's exclama- tion at birth of Cain, 445, note. RECOVEEr from the Fall, heathen expec- tations of, 155 ; as a victory over the serpent, 156. Rest, the idea of, runs through the various dispensations, 105; the, of God, what meant by, 311. Sabbath of Creation, its nature, 105 ; and duration, 106. Satan, mentioned in the Book of Job, 143 ; meaning of the term, ib. Scripture references to the Fall, why not so specific in Old as in New Testa- ment, 187. Second day of creation, 255. Sedgwick, Professor, on beginning of present order of things, 74, note. Serpent, objections to its agency in the temptation considered, 132, 413 ; vin- dication of its punishment not to be rested on the Divine sovereignty, 138 ; traditions regarding its connexion with the Fall, 153 ; an instance of de- gradation, 162 ; the, of the temptation, an intelligent and moral agent, 409. Seven, sacredness of the number, 315. Seventh day, sanctification of, 318. Shame, the feelings of, a protest against sin, 427. Sherlock, Bishop, defends the literality of the narrative of the Fall, 18 ; his explanation of the absence of express reference to it in the Old Testament, 187. Sin, its course, as described in New Tes- tament, analogous to that of the Fall, 182 ; its nature, as first manifested, corresponds to New Testament account of it, 183 ; its character from the be- ginning, 403 ; the first, not only a vio- lation of commandment, but reversal of proper relation of husband and wife, 404. Sixth day of creation, 281. Skins, an important symbol in religion of ancient Persians, 157 ; coats of, pro- vided by God for Adam and Eve, 464. 493 Sleep, the deep, of Adam, what it was, 363. Species, criterion of, 374 ; unity of hu- man, consistent with differences of colour, &c., 375 ; philological conside- rations confirmatory of unity of human, 379 ; historical considerations favour- able to same, 382. Stier, Rudolf, on the marriage union, 368. Sweat of the face, 457. Sword, the flaming, what it represented, 484; its connexion with the tree of life, ib. Temptation, a necessity of humanity, 177 ; of Adam and of Christ strikingly analogous, 176. Tempter, the, described, 395 ; in appear- ance a serpent, 405, yet not simply the reptile of that name, but an intellec- tual and moral agent, 409 ; his ques- tion to the woman, 397 ; he denies the truthfulness of God's declaration, 399 ; the promise he holds out to the woman, 400. Third day of creation, 259 ; the two works of, closely connected, 265. Thorns and thistles indicate degeneracy, 169. Transgression, the penalty of, not arbi- trarily imposed, 349. Tree of knowledge interdicted, 348 ; meaning of the name, 354. Tree of life, whether a single plant, or a species, 352 ; meaning of the name, 353 ; typical character of, 357 ; tradi- tional acquaintance with, 149. Trees of knowledge and of life, supposed mysterious properties of, not counte- nanced by Scripture, 136, 355 ; whe- ther one or two distinct productions, 352 ; purposes of, 356. Trench, on analogy between parable of prodigal son and narrative of the Fall, 184. Unity of mankind, objection to, consi- dered, 139. Universe, material, related in all its parts, 73 ; shewn by science not to be eternal, ib. ; as presently constituted, existed for untold ages, 75 ; the Bible assigns no date to its origin, 82. Veda, Eig, cosmological hymn of, 51, vote. Vegetables, prior to animal life, 76, note ; not the only food of animals previous to the Fall, 137. Way, to keep the, of tree of life, what it implied, 485. Whately, his misapprehension regarding the tree of life, 137. Whewell, Professor, his reply to Laplace's objection to the purpose assigned to the moon, 273. Wilkinson, Sir G., his remarks on ser- pent destroyer in Egyptian mythology, 156. Woman, objection to the mode of her formation considered, 129; connexion with the Fall assigned to her by tradi- tion, 152 ; mode of her formation de- scribed, 363 ; origin of her designation in Hebrew, 366. 11.— PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED. Genesis li. 1, 64 i. 2, 50 i.5, 98 i. 20, 46 i. 29, 30, 137, 390 ii.3, 63 ii.5-9, 43 ii.7. 63 ii. 15, 167, 112 ii. 17, 114 iii. 5, 185 iii. 7, 124 iii. 14, 162 Genesis iii. 16, PAGB 164 ,, iii. 16-19, 114 „ iii. 17, 18, 168, 170 ,, iii. 19, 166, 389 ,, iv. 1, 444 „ V. 22, 30, 419 ,, xiii. 10, 190 Exodus iii. 14, 31 ,, vi. 2-7, 35 Leviticus Numbers Deuteron. XX. 11, vii. 8, xvi. 22, xxxi. 7-9, 86 466 203 46 494 PAGE PAGE 1 Samuel xiv. 39, 44, 422 John v. 17, 105 xvi. 14, 142 ij viii. 44, 411 1 Kings ii. 37, ■ 422 „ viii. 58, 36 xxii. 21, 22, 142 „ ix. 4, 255 Job" xii. 16, 201 Acts xvi. 16, 156 " xxvi. 13, 201 „ xvii. 26, 373 xxxi. 33, 200 „ xvii. 28, 159 Psalm viii. 6-8, 195 Romans iv. 17, 66 xvii. 15, 299 „ V. 12, 389 II xxxiii. 7-9, 189 J, V. 12-19, 174 II xxxvi. 8, 190 „ vii. 7, 184 xliv. 25, 436 jj vii. 9, 417 II xc. 3, 203 11 viii. 6, 7, 421 xc. 4, 96 viii. 20, 22, 389 II cii. 25, 81 II xvi. 20, 199, 450 II civ. 188 1 Corinth. xi. 8, 9, 193 civ. 6 9, 260 „ XV. 21, 389 II civ. 19, 189 „ XV. 45, 174, 175 cix. 6, 143 jj XV. 47, 192 II cxxvii. 2, 203, ,363 1, XV. 51, 52, 132 Proverbs viii. 22, 83 2 Corinth. iv. 6, 189 viii. 31, 296 j^ V. 17, 106 Canticles ii. 17, 419 ,1 xi. 3, 196 vi. 9, 98 ,, xi. 14, 134 Isaiah xi. 6, 198; ,390 Galatians iii. 16, 448 xiii. 9, 10, 96 „ iv. 4, 199, 448 II XXXV. 8-10, 486 Eijhesians iii. 11, 107 xliii. 27, 200 ^, iii. 16, 213 II xiv. 18, 203 1, iv. 22-24, 302 II " Ii. 3, 190 Colossians i. 15, 301 lix. 2, 202 iii. 10, 302 " Ixiv. 8, 202 2Thessalon .'ii. 4, ;j 185 II Ixv. 25, 197; ,406 ,436 „ "ii. 9, 133, 414 Jeremiah iv. 23, 246 1 Timothy ii. 11-15, 197, 441 Ezekiel vii. 5, 98 )) ii. 14, 196, 404 " xxiii. 47, 62 Hebrews i. 2, 107, 108, n. xxviii. 13, 14, 192 ,195 „ ii. 14-18, 175 II xxxi. 8, 9, 191 ,, xi. 3, 65, 243 Daniel viii. 3, 98 James i. 13-15, 183 Hosea vi. 7, 201 2 Peter iii. 5-7, 80 Zechariah xiv. 6, 7, 100 1 John iii. 8, 448 Malachi ii. 15, 202 ,369 Revelation iii. 15, i. 4, 8, 411 33 Matthew xix. 4, 193 „ iv. 11, 210 xix. 4-6, 194 „ xi. 1, 216 Mark i. 12, 177 ,, xii. 449 ii. 27, 105 ", xii. 9, 410 Luke xxiii. 43, 199 1, XX. 1-3, 450 John i. 1, 65 „ xxii. 1, 2, 191 „ i. 3, 66 „ xxii. 3, 216 EPINEUROH : T. 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