The creation of fish, A. M. I. B.C. 4004. a 18 And to rule over the day, | earth in the open firmament of the light from the darkness: and God saw A. M. 1. B. C. 4004. 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the 19 And the evening and the morning were waters brought forth abundantly, after their the fourth day. There is scarcely any doubt now remaining in the philosophical world that the moon is a habitable globe. The most accurate observations that have been made with the most powerful telescopes have confirmed the opinion. The moon seems, in almost | every respect, to be a body similar to our earth; to have its surface diversified by hill and dale, mountains and valleys, rivers, lakes, and seas. And there is the fullest evidence that our earth serves as a moon to the moon herself, differing only in this, that as the earth's surface is thirteen times larger than the moon's, so the moon receives from the earth a light thirteen times greater in splendour than that which she imparts to us; and by a very correct analogy we are led to infer that all the planets and their satellites, of attendant moons, are inhabited, for matter seems only to exist for the sake of intelligent beings. OF THE STARS. The STARS in general are considered to be suns, similar to that in our system, each having an appropriate number of planets moving round it; and, as these stars are innumerable, consequently there are innumerable worlds, all dependant on the power, protection, and providence of God. Where the stars are in great abundance, Dr. Herschel supposes they form primaries and secondaries, i. e. suns revolving about suns, as planets revolve about the sun in our system. He considers that this must be the case in what is called the milky way, the stars being there in prodigious quantity. Of this he gives the following proof: On August 22, 1792, he found that in forty-one minutes of time not less than 258,000 stars had passed through the field of view in his telescope. What must God be who has made, governs, and supports so many worlds! For the magnitudes, distances, revolutions, &c., of the sun, moon, planets, and their satellites, see the preceding TABLES. kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. in general, animal spirits, &c., &c. What a proof is this of the manifold wisdom of God! But the fecundity of fishes is another point intended in the text; no creatures are so prolific as these. A TENCH lays 1,000 eggs, a carp 20,000, and Leuwenhoek counted in a middling-sized con 9,384,000 ! Thus, according to the purpose of God, the waters bring forth abundantly. And what a merciful provision is this for the necessities of man! Many hundreds of thousands of the earth's inhabitants live for a great part of the year on fish only. Fish afford, not only a wholesome, but a very nutritive diet; they are liable to few discases, and generally come in vast quantities to our shores when in their greatest perfection. In this also we may see that the kind providence of God goes hand in hand with his creating energy. While he manifests his wisdom and his power, he is making a permanent provision for the sustenance of man through all his generations. Verse 21. And God created great whales] or ahan hattanninim haggedolim. Though this is generally understood by the different Versions as signifying whales, yet the original must be understood rather as a general than a particular term, comprising all the great aquatic animals, such as the various species of whales, the porpoise, the dolphin, the monoceros or narwal, and the shark. God delights to show himself in little as well as in great things: hence he forms animals so minute that 30,000 can be contained in one drop of water; and others so great that they seem to require almost a whole sea to float in. Verse 22. Let fowl multiply in the earth.] It is truly astonishing with what care, wisdom, and minute skill God has formed the different genera and species of birds, whether intended to live chiefly on land or in water. The structure of a single feather affords a world of wonders; and as God made the fowls that they might fly in the firmament of heaven, ver. 20, so he has adapted the form of their bodies, Verse 20. Let the waters bring forth abundantly] and the structure and disposition of their plumage, There is a meaning in these words which is seldom for that very purpose. The head and neck in flying noticed. Innumerable millions of animalcula are are drawn principally within the breast-bone, so that found in water. Eminent naturalists have discovered the whole under-part exhibits the appearance of a not less than 30,000 in a single drop! How incon- | ship's hull. The wings are made use of as sails, or ceivably small must each be, and yet each a perfect animal, furnished with the whole apparatus of bones, muscles, nerves, heart, arteries, veins, lungs, viscera rather oars, and the tail as a helm or rudder. By means of these the creature is not only able to preserve the centre of gravity, but also to go with vast 23 And the evening and the morning were cattle after their kind, and every thing that the fifth day. 24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. a Ch. v. 1. ix. 6. Ps. c. 3. Eccles. vii. 29. Acts xvii. 26, 28, 29. 1 Cor. xi. 7. Eph. iv. 24. Col. iii. 10. James iii. 9. creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. speed through the air, either straight forward, circu-goose quill; and also in the shrew mouse, perhaps the larly, or in any kind of angle, upwards or downwards. In these also God has shown his skill and his power in the great and in the little-in the vast ostrich and cassowary, and in the beautiful humming-bird, which in plumage excels the splendour of the peacock, and in size is almost on a level with the bee. Verse 24. Let the earth bring forth the living creature, &c.] nephesh chaiyah; Algeneral term to express all creatures endued with animal life, in any of its infinitely varied gradations, from the half-reasoning elephant down to the stupid potto, or lower still to the polype, which seems equally to share the vegetable and animal life. The word n chaitho, in the latter part of the verse, seems to signify all wild animals, as lions, tigers, &c., and especially such as are carnivorous, or live on flesh, in contradistinction from domestic animals, such as are graminivorous, or live on grass and other vegetables, and are capable of being tamed, and applied to domestic purposes. See on ver. 29. These latter are probably meant by an behemah in the text, which we translate cattle, such as horses, kine, sheep, dogs, &c. Creeping thing, war remes, all the different genera of serpents, worms, and such animals as have no feet. In beasts also God has shown his wondrous skill and power; in the vast elephant, or still more colossal mammoth or maslodon, the whole race of which appears to be extinct, a few skeletons only remaining. This animal, an astonishing effect of God's power, he seems to have produced merely to show what he could do, and after suffering a few of them to propagate, he extinguished the race by a merciful providence, that they might not destroy both man and beast. The mammoth appears to have been a carnivorous animal, as the structure of the teeth proves, and of an immense size: from a considerable part of a skeleton which I have seen, it is computed that the animal to which it belonged must have been nearly twenty-five feet high, and sixty in length! The bones of one toe are entire; the toe upwards of three feet in length. But this skeleton might have belonged to the megalonyx, a kind of sloth, or bradypus, hitherto unknown. Few elephants have ever been found to exceed eleven feet in height. How wondrous are the works of God! But his skill and power are not less seen in the beautiful chevrotin, or tragulus, a creature of the antelope kind, the smallest of all bifid or cloven-footed animals, whose delicate limbs are scarcely so large as an ordinary smallest of the many-toed quadrupeds. In the reptile kind we see also the same skill and power, not only in the immense snake called boa constrictor, the mortal foe and conqueror of the royal tiger, but also in the cobra de manille, a venomous serpent, only a little larger than a common sewing needle. Verse 25. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, &c.] Every thing both in the animal and vegetable world was made so according to its kind, both in genus and species, as to produce its own kind through endless generations. Thus the several races of animals and plants have been kept distinct from the foundation of the world to the present day. This is a proof that all future generations of plants and animals have been seminally included in those which God formed in the beginning. Verse 26. And God said, Let us make man] It is evident that God intends to impress the mind of man with a sense of something extraordinary in the formation of his body and soul, when he introduces the account of his creation thus: Let US make man. The word or Adam, which we translate man, is intended to designate the species of animal, as chaitho marks the wild beasts that live in general a solitary life; a behemah, domestic or gregarious animals ; and wor remes, all kinds of reptiles, from the largest snake to the microscopic cel. Though the same kind of organization may be found in man as appears in the lower animals, yet there is a variety and complication in the parts, a delicacy of structure, a nice arrangement, a judicious adaptation of the different members to their great offices and functions, a dignity of mien, and a perfection of the whole, which are sought for in vain in all other creatures. See chap. iii. 22. In our image, after our likeness] What is said above refers only to the body of man, what is here said refers to his soul. This was made in the image and likeness of God. Now, as the Divine Being is infinite, he is neither limited by parts, nor definable by passions; therefore he can have no corporeal image after which he made the body of man. The image and likeness must necessarily be intellectual; his mind, his soul, must have been formed after the nature and perfections of his God. The human mind is still endowed with most extraordinary capacities; it was more so when issuing out of the hands of its Creator. God was now producing a spirit, and a spirit too formed after the perfections of his own rature. God is the fountain whence this spirit issued, hence the stream must resemble the spring which produced it. God is holy, just, wise, good, and perfect; so must the soul be that sprang from him: there could be in it nothing impure, unjust, ignorant, evil, low, base, mean, or vile. It was created after the image of God; and that image, St. Paul tells us, consisted in righteousness, true holiness, and knowledge, Eph. iv. 24; Col. iii. 10. Hence man was wise in his mind, holy in his heart, and righteous in his actions. Were even the word of God silent on this subject, we could not infer less from the lights held out to us by reason and common sense. The text tells us he was the work of ELOHIM, the Divine Plurality, marked here more distinctly by the plural pronouns US and OUR; and to show that he was the master-piece of God's creation, all the persons in the Godhead are represented as united in counsel and effort to produce this astonishing creature. Gregory Nyssen has very properly observed that the superiority of man to all other parts of creation is seen in this, that all other creatures are represented as the effect of God's word, but man is represented as the work of God, according to plan and consideration: Let us make MAN in our IMAGE, after our LIKENESS. See his Works, vol. i., p. 52, c. 3. And let them have dominion] Hence we see that the dominion was not the image. God created man capable of governing the world, and when fitted for the office, he fixed him in it. We see God's tender care and parental solicitude for the comfort and wellbeing of this master-piece of his workmanship, in creating the world previously to the creation of man. He prepared every thing for his subsistence, conveiece, and pleasure, before he brought him into being; so that, comparing little with great things, the house was built, furnished, and amply stored, by the time the destined tenant was ready to occupy it. It has been supposed by some that God speaks here to the angels, when he says, Let us make man; but to make this a likely interpretation these persons must prove, 1. That angels were then created. in the image of God. A. M. 1. B. C. 4004. thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; 'to you it shall be for i meat. h g 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. Ch. ix. 3. Job xxxvi. 31. Ps. civ. 14, 15. cxxxvi. 25. cxlvi. 7. Acts xiv. 17. Ps. cxlv. 15 16. cxlvii. 9. Job xxxviii. 41. Heb. a living soul. 2. That angels could assist in a work of creation. 3. That angels were themselves made in the image and likeness of God. If they were not, it could not be said, in our image, and it does not appear from any part in the sacred writings that any creature but man was made in the image of God. See the note on Psal. viii. 5. Verse 28. And God blessed them] Marked them as being under his especial protection, and gave them power to propagate and multiply their own kind on the earth. A large volume would be insufficient to contain what we know of the excellence and perfection of man, even in his present degraded fallen state. Both his body and soul are adapted with astonishing wisdom to their residence and occupations; and also the place of their residence, as well as the surrounding objects, in their diversity, colour, and mutual relations, to the mind and body of this lord of the creation. The contrivance, arrangement, action, and re-action of the different parts of the body, show the admirable skill of the wondrous Creator; while the various powers and faculties of the mind, acting on and by the different organs of this body, proclaim the soul's divine origin, and demonstrate that he who was made in the image and likeness of God, was a transcript of his own excellency, destined to know, love, and dwell with his Maker throughout eternity. Verse 29. I have given you every herb-for meat.] It seems from this, says an eminent philosopher, that man was originally intended to live upon vegetables only; and as no change was made in the structure of men's bodies after the flood, it is not probable that any change was made in the articles of their food. It may also be inferred from this passage that no animal whatever was originally designed to prey on others; for nothing is here said to be given to any beast of the earth besides green herbs.—Dr. Priestley. Before sin entered into the world, there could be, at least, no violent deaths, if any death at all. But by the particular structure of the teeth of animals God prepared them for that kind of aliment which they were to subsist on after the FALL. Verse 31. And, behold, it was very good.] TH tob meod, Superlatively or only good; as good as they could be. The plan wise, the work well executed, the different parts properly arranged, their nature, limits, mode of existence, manner of propagation, habits, mode of sustenance, &c., &c., properly and permanently established and secured; for every thing was formed to the utmost perfection of its nature, so that nothing could be added or diminished without encumbering the operations of matter and spirit on the one hand, or rendering them inefficient to the end proposed on the other; and God has so done all these marvellous works as to be glorified in all, by all, and through all. A. M. 1. B. C. 4004. causam spatia omnis temporis, non numero dierum, sed noctium, finiunt; et dies natales, et mensium et annorum initia sic observant, ut noctem dies subsequatur; De Bell. Gall. lib. vi. Tacitus likewise records the same of the Germans: Nec dierum numerum, ut nos, sed noctium computant: sic constituunt, sic condicunt, nox ducere diem videtur; De Mor. Germ. sect. ii. And there are to this day some remains of the same custom in England, as for instance in the words se'nnight and fortnight. See also Eschyl. Agamem. ver. 273, 287. Thus ends a chapter containing the most extensive, most profound, and most sublime truths that can possibly come within the reach of the human intelAnd the evening and the morning were the sixth day.] lect. How unspeakably are we indebted to God for The word ay ereb, which we translate evening, comes giving us a revelation of his WILL and of his WORKS! from the root y arab, to mingle; and properly sig- | Is it possible to know the mind of God but from nifies that state in which neither absolute darkness himself? It is impossible. Can those things and nor full light prevails. It has nearly the same gram-services which are worthy of and pleasing to an inmatical signification with our twilight, the time that clapses from the setting of the sun till he is eighteen degrees below the horizon, and the last eighteen degrees before he arises. Thus we have the morning and evening twilight, or mixture of light and darkness, in which neither prevails, because, while the sun is within eighteen degrees of the horizon, either after his setting or before his rising, the atmosphere has power to refract the rays of light, and send them back on the earth. The Hebrews extended the meaning of this term to the whole duration of night, because it was ever a mingled state, the moon, the planets, or the stars, tempering the darkness with some rays of light. From the ereb of Moses came the Epeßog, Erebus, of Hesiod, Aristophanes, and other heathens, which they deified and made, with Nox or night, the parent of all things. The morning.- boker; From bakar, he looked out; a beautiful figure which represents the morning as looking out at the East, and illuminating the whole of the upper hemisphere. finitely pure, perfect, and holy Spirit, be ever found out by reasoning and conjecture? Never! for the Spirit of God alone can know the mind of God; and by this Spirit he has revealed himself to man; and in this revelation has taught him, not only to know the glorics and perfections of the Creator, but also his own origin, duty, and interest. Thus far it was essentially necessary that God should reveal his WILL; but if he had not given a revelation of his WORKS, the origin, constitution, and nature of the universe could never have been adequately known. The world by wisdom knew not God; this is demonstrated by the writings of the most learned and intelligent heathens. They had no just, no rational notion of the origin and design of the universe. Moses alone, of all ancient writers, gives a consistent and rational account of the creation; an account which has been confirmed by the investigations of the most accurate philosophers. But where did he learn this? ""In Egypt." That is impossible; for the Egyptians themselves were destitute of this knowledge. The to the time of Moses, are egregious for their contradictions and absurdity; and the most learned of the Greeks who borrowed from them have not been able to make out, from their conjoint stock, any consistent and credible account. Moses has revealed the mystery that lay hid from all preceding ages, because he was taught it by the inspiration of the Almighty. The evening and the morning were the sixth day.—remains we have of their old historians, all posterior It is somewhat remarkable that through the whole of this chapter, whenever the division of days is made, the evening always precedes the morning. The reason of this may perhaps be, that darkness was pre-existent to light (verse 2, And darkness was upon the face of the deep), and therefore time is reckoned from the first act of God towards the creation of the world, which took place before light was called forth into existence. It is very likely, for this same reason, that the Jews began their day at six o'clock in the evening in imitation of Moses's division of time in this chapter. Cæsar in his Commentaries makes mention of the same peculiarity existing among the Gauls: Galli se omnes ab Dite patre prognatos prædicant: idque ab Druidibus proditum dicunt: ob eam READER, thou hast now before thee the most ancient and most authentic history in the world; a history that contains the first written discovery that God has made of himself to mankind; a discovery of his own Being, in his wisdom, power, and goodness, in which thou and the whole human race are so intimately concerned. How much thou art indebted to him for this discovery he alone can teach thee, and cause thy heart to feel its obligations to his wisdom and mercy. Read so as to understand, for these things were written for thy learning; therefore mark what thou readest, and inwardly digest—deeply and seriously meditate on, what thou hast marked, and pray to the Father of lights that he may open thy understanding, that thou mayest know these holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. God made thee and the universe, and governs all things according to the counsel of his will; that will is infinite goodness, that counsel is unerring wisdom. While under the direction of this counsel, thou canst Lot err; while under the influence of this will, thou canst not be wretched. Give thyself up to his teaching, and submit to his authority; and, after guiding thee here by his counsel, he will at last bring thee to his glory. Every object that meets thy eye should teach thee reverence, submission, and gratitude. The earth and its productions were made for thee; and the providence of thy heavenly Father, infinitely diversfed in its operations, watches over and provides sanctification of the sabbath. for thee. Behold the firmament of his power, the sun, moon, planets, and stars, which he has formed, not for himself, for he needs none of these things, but for his intelligent offspring. What endless gratification has he designed thee in placing within thy reach these astonishing effects of his wisdom and power, and in rendering thee capable of searching out their wonderful relations and connexions, and of knowing himself, the source of all perfection, by having made thee in his own image, and in his own likeness! It is true thou art fallen; but he has found out a ransom. God so loved thee in conjunction with the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Believe on HIM; through him alone cometh salvation; and the fair and holy image of God in which thou wast created shall be again restored; he will build thee up as at the first, restore thy judges and counsellors as at the beginning, and in thy second creation, as in thy first, will pronounce thee to be very good, and thou shalt show forth the virtues of him by whom thou art created anew in Christ Jesus. Amen. CHAPTER II The seventh day is consecrated for a sabbath, and the reasons assigned, 1-3. A recapitulation of the six days' work of creation, 4-7. The garden of Eden planted, 8. Its trees, 9. Its rivers, and the countries watered by them, 10-14. Adam placed in the garden, and the command given not to eat of the tree of knowledge on pain of death, 15-17. God purposes to form a companion for the man, 18. The different animals brought to Adam that he might assign them their names, 19, 20. The creation of the woman, 21, 22. The institution of marriage, 23, 24. The purity and innocence of our first parents, 25. с A. M. 1. B. C. 4004. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and Ps, xxxiii, 6.b Exod. xx. 11. xxxi. 17. Deut. v. 14. Hebr. iv. 4. NOTES ON CHAP. II. c Neh. ix. 14. Isaj. lviii. 13. not examined the works of God with a philosophic eye, they never could have given this turn to the original. Verse 1. And all the host of them.] The word host signifies literally an army, composed of a number of companies of soldiers under their respective leaders; Verse 2. On the SEVENTH day God ended, &c.] It is and seems here elegantly applied to the various the general voice of scripture that God finished the celestial bodies in our system, placed by the divine wis- whole of the creation in six days and rested the dom under the influence of the sun. From the original seventh! giving us an example that we might labour word wax tsaba, a host, some suppose the Sabeans six days, and rest the seventh from all manual had their name, because of their paying divine honours exercises. It is worthy of notice that the Septuagint, to the heavenly bodies. From the Septuagint Ver- the Syriac, and the Samaritan, read the sixth day sion of this place, was o koopоs avтwv, all their orna- instead of the seventh; and this should be considered ments, we learn the true meaning of the word kooμos, the genuine reading, which appears from these VerCommonly translated world, which signifies a decorated sions to have been originally that of the Hebrew or adorned whole or system. And this refers to the text. How the word sixth became changed into beautiful order, harmony, and regularity which sub-seventh may be easily conceived from this circumsist among the various parts of creation. This trans- stance. It is very likely that in ancient times all lation must impress the reader with a very favourable the numerals were signified by letters, and not by opinion of these ancient Greek translators; had they words at full length. This is the case in the most |