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CHAPTER II.

CREATION.

THE FIRST DAY.-IN THE BEGINNING GOD

CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH.

The work of the first day was the summoning of the whole material universe into existence by the Divine will'. It has been idly surmised that this declaration applies only to our globe and its

This was the uniform doctrine of the earlier Greek philosophy. That" the earth had a beginning, and was capable of decay; that the stars were of the nature of fire, and that the soul was immortal," are among the chief tenets which Diogenes Laertius (Procemia) ascribes to the Egyptians, the teachers of the early sages of Greece. Pythagoras spent twenty-two years in Egypt. Cicero (De Natura Deorum, 1. i. c. 25.) states the tenet of Thales to be, “ Aquam esse initium rerum; Deum autem eam mentem, quæ ex aqua cuncta fingeret." Thus the two great leaders of the Ionic and Italic schools coincide, and we have the testimony of Aristotle himself, that all the philosophers before him asserted the creation; γενομενον μεν ουν απαντες είναι φασιν. (De Cœlo, 1. i. c. 10.) cited by Fagius from R. Nachman, as the only word in the Hebrew to express such a production out of nothing.

is ברא The word

atmosphere. But this sense is totally irreconcileable with the use of the word heaven in Scripture,—with the "thrones and dominations of heaven;" with the gathering together in Christ of "all things both in heaven and earth;" with the wisdom of God made known to "the principalities and powers in heaven;" with the "heaven and the heaven of heavens," declared to be incapable of bounding the grandeur of God.

The solar system has been as idly surmised to be the limit of the declaration. But the natural meaning of the word "heavens" is the whole region of the starry worlds. The text gives us no caution against taking the word in its widest meaning. We have no proof whatever from science, that the entire universe was not created in the same moment. The few recorded disappearances, or the sudden splendours of stars, may be accounted for by natural causes'. There is as

1 Those instances are remarkably few; and by the new observations of the double stars, will probably soon be accounted for. Some of them may be revolutions of the stars round each other, which alternately eclipse and throw them into full light. Among the attempts to account for the brilliancy of the star in Cassiopeia in 1572, was suggested a general conflagration, as the dimness of others has been ascribed to a general deluge. Undoubtedly the earth, in the year of the deluge, must have exhibited to any other orb capable of marking the changes on its surface, an aspect strikingly different from that of other years. The lost stars in the stern of Argo, &c. be yet discovered in the course of some periodic revolution.

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little appearance of decay. To the investigations of the finest science all seems to be as it was from the beginning; the starry system-an illimitable realm of worlds, all bearing that strong general similitude of laws, forms, utility, and beauty, which marks them for the work of one Supreme Will.

This day was also the first of the existence of Matter'. For, of matter we have no conception,

Something like this change of brilliancy is perceivable even in the planets of our system: in Venus peculiarly, there is a remarkable effulgence about once in a cycle of seventeen years.

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From the extreme difficulty with which we disengage our thoughts from material images, we cannot be surprised, that the eternity of matter was a favourite doctrine among the later Greek philosophers, and the heathen world in general. The popular stoic dogma was, "that there are two principles or origins of all things, an essence without quality, matter (vλŋ), and the Divine wisdom (Aoyoç) which acts on matter, (Diog. Laert. V. Zenon.) The doctrine of Plato hovers between the Jewish doctrine of creation, and the popular tenet of the active and passive principles. Plutarch states him as saying, O yap 0ɛos ουτε σωμα το ασώματον, ουτε ψυχην το αψυχον εποιησεν. The apparent meaning of which is, that God made both soul and body out of pre-existing essences. Chalcidius, on the Timous, asserts that the dogma of both Pythagoras and Plato, was "that the constitution of matter was the work of providence," which may imply that they doubted its eternity, if their tenet were not limited to its form.

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The usual argument against the eternity of matter, is, that if it be eternal, necessary existence must belong to it as well as to God if necessary existence, infinite power; if infinite power, it might create anything, must be an active principle, cannot be a passive one; and is God, or may be many gods. This argu

but as it exists within the visible universe. We have the declaration of Scripture, that Spirit existed before; for God is eternal, and angels saw the birth of the world. "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. * When the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy 1." (Job xxxvii. 4.)

And the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. The sacred historian, having given a general declaration, that the universe was brought into existence, and brought by the hand of God; describes our Globe in the state in which it was was left by that primary action 2.

ment is as old as Tertullian. (Advers. Hermog. c. 4.) But a more obvious and succinct refutation is, that we can have no knowledge of the eternity of matter, but by reason or revelation. Reason compels us to ascend to a First Cause; but that cause must be intelligent, and active, a spirit. Reason thus gives us no knowledge whatever of the eternity of matter, a passive principle; while revelation directly ascribes the origin of all things to God.

'This allusion to the morning stars does not imply the existence of the heavens previously to that of the earth. The title seems to have designated the angels, spectators of the rising universe, or perhaps still higher natures. It is borne by the Redeemer himself, in the Apocalypse, as the source of spiritual light and joy; "I am the root, and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." (Revel. xxii. 16.)

The Hebrew names of the heaven and earth, are derived merely from their relative position; (a confirmation of the

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Its first aspect is that of a mass of matter uninhabited by any form of life, and covered with waters, and utter darkness. But a second energy of the Divine will, suddenly comes to change this aspect, and Light starts into existence by a simple command, whose expression is the sublime of power. "God said let there be light, and there was light." Whether this new and wondrous product was educed from matter; or was the work of a new creative act, as might almost be conceived from the peculiarity of the Divine command: its general dissimilitude to matter, its splendour and subtlety, its absence of all weight and all impulse, the instantaneousness of its production, diffusion, and extinction, place it on the verge of immateriality; unless, with gravitation, electricity, and their kindred influences, it forms an actual class between matter and spirit'. But

originality of the language.) The heaven, Hashamaim, from Now sublimis fuit. The earth, Haaretz, from P depressus fuit.

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Light, Aur N the fruitful parent of words expressive of brightness, dawn, &c. Aurora, Aurum, Orior, Orion, &c. The names of the portions of the day are all descriptive, and exhibit a primitive language. Morning, (Bachar) is the fissure, or opening of the skies; pa fidit. Evening, (Gnarab) is the gentle subsidence, or setting of day, y leniter subiit. Darkness, (Koshek) is awe or terror, Tun horruit.

2 The velocity of the gravific fluid, or influence on which gravitation depends, has been calculated by the French astronomers at several thousand times that of light, and by others at several millions.

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