so openly about Jesus Christ and His redemption. But this is a sad mistake. St. Paul said to Timothy, "From a child thou hast known the Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus ;" and our Lord said to the Jews,"Search the Scriptures, for in themye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." Now in both these cases, the Scriptures mean the Old Testament writings; therefore they do-if we have ears to hear them they do teach us much concerning Jesus Christ, and we can never learn Christ as we ought to know Him, unless we see how Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms, all set forth Jesus Christ, His sufferings and His glory, and the way of salvation by Him. We shall find the New explains the Old Testament, and the Old helps us to understand the New. Only let our desire and our prayer be, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law, O Lord," and then it will be our happiness to find with David also, "the entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple."

The first five books in the Bible are called the five books of Moses," because Moses was the "holy man of old," inspired to write them. The first of these is called Genesis,

the meaning of which word may be understood by remembering that it comes from a Greek word, which means "to be born," and that it is the same word as "generation," used in the first chapter of St. Matthew,—“ The book of the generation of Jesus Christ." And as in this place it means the account of the way Jesus was descended from David and from Abraham; so as the name of the first book of the Old Testament, it means an account of the first beginning of this earth and the things on it, especially man.

The first thing we are told in it, is that God is the Creator of every thing. And one reason this is the first thing which man is required to believe of God is, no doubt, that we may have right views concerning His power and Godhead. God well knew that man, from his natural ignorance and sinfulness, would be tempted to worship and serve the creature,— that is, the things which He has made,—more than the Creator,-that is, He who made them. And indeed many nations have been found to be worshippers of the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven. But God But God says to us, "Hath not my hand made all these things?" God 66 says, I have made the earth, and created man upon it; I, even my hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts

have I commanded;" and again, "There is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me, look unto me, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else." (Isa. xlv. 12, and 21, 22.)

But we learn yet more from the creation of the world, concerning the God whom we serve. We learn His wonderful character of Three in One. We find that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost were joint actors in this work. And it is generally understood that this is why it is said in the 26th verse, "And God said, let us make man in our image."

That God the Father is the Creator, we learn from this chapter. That God the Son is not less the Creator, is plain from many parts of the New Testament: thus in John i. 3, "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. Again, Epistle to Coloss. i. 16, "For by Him. were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth." So also, see Heb. i. 10. And of the Holy Ghost we read, verse 2, "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." As the Spirit of God moves over the heart of man, and new-creates him, so the Spirit moved on the earth, which became

changed from a state "without form and void" and in "darkness," to a state in which it was said to be "very good." Now all this we are called upon to believe, because God states it. So Heb. xi. 3, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. "He spake, and it was done, He commanded, and it stood fast."

And very blessed is the reward of such faith. Very happy are the thoughts which come into that child's heart, who believes that his Father made all the heavens, and all the stars, and the earth, and the sea, and all things in them. As David says to them, “Ye are blessed of the Lord, that made heaven and earth." (Psalm cxv. 15.) Blessed indeed, if we can look abroad upon the sparkling sky by night, or think of the sun and moon,-glorious, wonderful orbs, and the vast globe on which we move, and say, "My Father made them all." He who by the breath of His mouth made all these things, and by His infinite power and wisdom and mercy, upholds and directs them, is MY Father, and that same power, wisdom, and love, are employed in directing the things of my life, and bringing about my everlasting happiness. And on the

other hand, what an awful thought it is to have any doubts whether or not this God is our God. Surely we must say, "Woe to him that striveth with his Maker." What shall they do who must feel all this mighty power is not on their side, but against them.

A mighty question this, and oh! how important to answer, can I certainly call this God my Father, and feel sure that His mighty power is working and ever will work for my good?

But this is a question which may at once be answered, and that from this very chapter compared with other Scripture. We must ask simply this other question, have we ever felt this same mighty power of God working a change in our heart, a change like that which took place in the earth when the Spirit of God moved upon the face of it? the face of it? The state of us all by nature is like that of the earth "without form and void and darkness upon the face of it." It was not so a fit residence for manneither is the heart for God. But where the Spirit of God and of Christ face of it, and a man is born new creature in Christ Jesus. we must know, for "except a again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." But when born again, the Spirit of God's Son

moves upon the

again, he is a And this power

man be born