A 50897 4

4
ARTES
1837
183
SCIENTIA
LIBRARY
VERITAS
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
P PLURIBU
VAFEBOR
51-QUÆRIS-PENINSULAM-AMŒNAM
CIRCUMSPICE
THE GIFT OF
S. A. Northrop
3'manth 1881.
BS
651
B662
STUDIES
IN THE


CREATIVE WEEK.
BY
GEORGE D. BOARDMAN,
18 3 8 1
"By Him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities,
or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all
things, and by Him all things consist."-Colossians i. 16, 17.
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET.
1880.
COPYRIGHT BY
GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN,
1878.
2-4 -28. EHW?
TO
M Y
WIFE,
WHOSE POETIC INSIGHT INTO THE MEANING OF NATURE
HAS BEEN MY INSPIRATION,
THESE STUDIES ARE LOVINGLY OFFERED.
378864
G. D. B.
PREFACE.
Ar the very outset, the author is emphatic in his wish
that it be distinctly understood that this little volume does
not claim to be a scientific treatise, or even an attempt to
"reconcile the Mosaic Record with the teachings of Mod-
ern Science." His main object, as set forth at length in
his Introductory Lecture, has been to unfold the Moral
Meaning which, he believes, is Divinely infolded in the
Creation Archive. This object he has kept steadfastly
and supremely in view: and if, in prosecuting it, he may
have dispelled some of the seeming incongruities between
Science and Revelation, it has been only incidentally, on
his way to a diviner Goal.
The writer will be pardoned for giving some account
of the circumstances which led to the production of this
volume. The Lectures were originally delivered as ser-
mons on Sunday evenings, in the ordinary course of
pulpit ministration. During the course of their de-
livery, eminent citizens, representing various branches of
the Church, and various professions, requested their repe-
tition before the public at large. Accordingly, the Lect-
ures, having been reconstructed, were delivered on four-
teen consecutive Tuesday noons, beginning January 8,
6
PREFACE.
1878, in one of the halls of Philadelphia.
The writer
has given this explanation in order to account for the
oratorical freedom of the style, which, inexcusable in an
elaborate monograph, may be pardoned in an oral lecture.
And now the author, in sending forth this little work,
which he does most diffidently, ventures to adopt as his
own, non passibus æquis, "The Writer's Prayer," as framed
by Francis Bacon:
“Thou, O Father! Who gavest the Visible Light as the
first-born of Thy creatures, and didst pour into Man the
Intellectual Light as the top and consummation of Thy
workmanship, be pleased to protect and govern this work,
which, coming from Thy Goodness, returneth to Thy Glory.
Thou, after Thou hadst reviewed the works which Thy
hands had made, beheldest that everything was good: and
Thou didst rest with complacency in them. But Man,
reflecting on the works which he had made, saw that all
was vanity and vexation of spirit, and could by no means
acquiesce in them. Wherefore, if we labor in Thy works
with the sweat of our brows, Thou wilt make us partakers
of Thy Vision and Thy Sabbath. We humbly beg that
this mind may be steadfastly in us, and that Thou, by our
hands and also by the hands of others on whom Thou
shalt bestow the same spirit, wilt please to convey a large-
ness of new alms to Thy family of Mankind. These
things we commend to Thy everlasting love, by our Jesus,
Thy Christ: God with us. Amen."
G. D. B.
PHILADELPHIA, April 20, 1878.
CONTENTS.
LECTURE
I. INTRODUCTORY
II. GENESIS OF THE UNIVERSE
III.-GENESIS OF ORDER
IV. GENESIS OF LIGHT
V.-GENESIS OF THE SKY
VI. GENESIS OF THE LANDS
VII. GENESIS OF THE PLANTS
"
VIII.-GENESIS OF THE LUMINARIES
IX.-GENESIS OF THE ANIMALS
X.-GENESIS OF MAN
PAGE
9
32
47
65
83
100
•
119
138
156
176
XI.-GENESIS OF EDEN
199
XII.-GENESIS OF WOMAN
222
XIII.-GENESIS OF THE SABBATH
245
XIV.-PALINGENESIS
273
APPENDIX
303
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
LECTURE I.
INTRODUCTORY-REASONS FOR THESE STUDIES.
INAUGURATING, as we now do, a series of Studies in the
Creative Week, it is proper, first of all, to show cause for
such a procedure.
I.-Antiquity of
chives.
Our first reason is this: the Anti-
the Creation Ar- quity of the Creation Record. Observe:
although called the "Mosaic Record,"
I do not affirm that Moses was the au-
thor of it. There are strong reasons for believing that it
is far older than the Lawgiver himself, having been be-
queathed to him as one of the sacred, already hoary,
Traditions of the Past.
tions.
And here let me turn aside for a mo-
1.-Origin of the
Prehistoric Tradi- ment to speak of the possible origin of
the wide-spread traditions touching the
early history of the world. For it is an unquestioned fact,
as remarkable as unquestioned, that, from time immemorial,
and among many and widely-scattered nations-e. g., the
Chaldeans, the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Persians, the
Indians, the Chinese, the Karens, the Greeks, the Romans,
10
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the Celts, the Scandinavians, the Finlanders, the Peruvians,
the Aztecs, the Algonquins, etc.-there were traditions of
a Primitive Chaos, an Original Pair, a Paradisal Age, a
Tree of Life, a Serpent, a Fall, an Expulsion, a Deluge,
a Dispersion. Where did these traditions, so singular in
themselves, and yet so common to so many and so widely-
scattered peoples, have their origin? No one but a vi-
sionary would venture to affirm that they were the result
of accident. Whence, then, did these remarkable tradi-
tions rise? Let us take a single chronological datum,
viz., the Dispersion of the Nations, and see if it does not
suggest the answer. Assuming that the ages given us in
the fifth chapter of Genesis are the ages of individuals and
not of dynasties, Methuselah was, according to the chro-
nology of the Hebrew text, contemporary with Adam
some two hundred and forty-three years, and also with
Shem some ninety-eight years; so that Adam could have
told the story of Eden to Methuselah, and Methuselah to
Shem. Again: according to the Scriptural account (Gen.
x., xi.)—and this account is strikingly confirmed by the re-
searches of ethnologists-Shem and his two brothers were
the progenitors of the three great Races into which
Noah's family was divided at the time of the Confusion
of Tongues in the Plain of Shinar, and the consequent
Dispersion of the Nations; and Shem himself survived
the Dispersion some two hundred and eighty years. More-
over, Shem was contemporary with Isaac, and Isaac with
Judah, and Judah with Ezrom, and Ezrom with Moses.
Recall now the exceeding value which must have been
ascribed to tradition in that primeval age, when there was
neither printing-press nor alphabet, and when the only
knowledge of the past possible was that which was trans-
mitted from sire to son by word of mouth. Remember,
INTRODUCTORY-REASONS FOR THESE STUDIES.
11
also, that in that age of extreme longevity such tradi-
tions would probably be preserved in great purity, since
the Patriarchs, though descended one from another, were
nevertheless contemporaries of each other for centuries,
and so could and would correct any deviation from the
original Tradition. Remember, also, the thrilling char-
acter of these Traditions themselves. What tales more
wondrous than those of a lost Paradise, with its innocent,
blissful Pair; its Tree of Life, and its Tree of Death; its
eloquent, baleful Serpent; its Cherubim and Flaming
Sword? How often must Adam, during the nine hundred
and thirty years of his life, have conversed with his chil
dren and his children's children, down to the seventh and
eighth generations, about those memorable scenes of which
he himself had been a witness and a sharer in Paradise!
And after he had died, how often must Shem, Ham, and
Japheth-born a century before the Flood, and also con-
temporary with the great-great-great-grandfather of Moses
-have conversed with Methuselah, who himself had been
contemporary with Adam! No wonder, then, that when
the three sons of Noah, with their families, went forth
from the Tower of Babel to be scattered over all the face
of the earth, and to become the founders of all subsequent
nationalities, they carried with them, and transmitted to
their descendants, traditions of the Creation and Fall:
traditions which, though in the first instance full and ear-
nest, became, in process of time, dim and debased with
legends of heathen poetry and mythology; their similari-
ties on the one hand, and their divergences on the other,
alike testifying to the common origin of Man in Eden, and
to the dispersion of Man at Babel. Thus heathenism itself
brings tribute to Revelation. All history, sacred and secu-
lar, starts in and from Eden.
12
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
2.-Mosaic Incor-
tion Traditions.
But I was speaking of the author-
poration of the Crea- ship of the first two chapters of Gene-
sis, or the Creation Record. For aught
I know, it was to Adam himself, while yet in Eden, fresh
from the hands of his Creator, that God unrolled the pan-
orama of His Creation. And Adam could have talked
with Methuselah, and Methuselah with Shem, and Shem
with Isaac, and Isaac with the great-grandfather of Moses.
As Matthew and Lake incorporated the genealogies of
Jesus the Christ, probably taken from the official regis-
tries, into their memoirs of Him, and thereby made them
a part of their own story, so there is immense reason for
believing Moses incorporated into the five books which
bear his name the primeval tradition of Creation, and
thereby made it his own document: thus literally giving
us a magnificent specimen of Mosaic work. As such, the
Creation Archives far outrank in venerableness the famous
papyrus rolls of Egypt, the Vedic hymns of India, the
Zend-avesta of Persia; being, beyond all comparison, the
most ancient specimen of human literature.
This, then, is our first reason for studying the story of
the Creative Week: it is the most venerable relic of hu-
man time.
II.-Majesty of
the Subject Matter.
But there is a second and stronger
reason: it is the Majesty of the Subject
Matter.
To go back to the origin or source
Genesis of Things.
of things, tracing the first steps of what-
ever has issued in greatness, whether material, intellectual,
social, or moral, this is one of the instinctive impulses of
our nature, especially of all noblest minds. How fascinat-
ing to the thoughtful man the problems of the origin of
universal, abiding customs; of vast and permanent institu-
INTRODUCTORY-REASONS FOR THESE STUDIES.
13
+
tions; of great national movements, whether migratory
in space, or revolutionary in morals; of political constitu-
tions; of languages; of philosophies, secular and religious;
of force, of life, of matter!
Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.-(GEORGICA, Liber ii. 490.)
And the first two chapters of Genesis carry us back to
the origin of things. "In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth” (Gen. i. 1). Well may the first book
of the Bible be called the Book of Genesis; that is to say,
the book of generations, births, beginnings, origins. Thus
the first and second chapters give us the genesis of the
universe; the third and fourth chapters the genesis of sin;
the tenth and eleventh chapters the genesis of the nations
-to this day an authority among ethnologists; the twelfth
chapter the genesis of the Abrahamic people. It is, in-
deed, the Book of Origins. But we are to confine our-
selves to the Genesis of the Universe, as set forth in its
first two chapters. And a magnificent theme it is. How
grandly grow before us, tier on tier, the outlines of Na-
ture's Cathedral: its colossal foundations of solid matter
emerging from the abyss of infinite space; its gathering
medley of gigantic blocks quarried from chaos; its group-
ing materials and rising derricks; its scintillations at the
strokes of celestial chisels; its "most excellent canopy" of
the "brave o'erhanging firmament;" its massive buttresses
of the lands, and towering arches of the mountains; its
foliated capitals and pendants and mouldings and panels
of vegetation; its "majestical roof fretted with golden
fire;" its gargoyles of griffins, and sentinels of cherubim;
its choir of humankind; its bell-toll of Time's first Sab-
bath! No wonder that when its corner-stone was laid,
the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
14
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
shouted for joy (Job xxxviii. 6, 7); or that when its headstone
was brought forth, it was with shoutings of Grace-grace
unto it (Zech. iv. 7).
This, then, is our second reason for studying the story
of the Creative Week-the Majesty of the Theme.
III.-Chief Point
But there is a third reason for this
of Modern Assault. study: a reason especially pertinent to
these times, because born of them; this
story of the Creative Week is in many respects the chief
point of Modern Assault.
Revelation.
And the assault comes in the main
1.-Science and from the scientific world. It is a
proper point, then, to arrest our steps
for a few moments, and glance at the relations of Nature
and Scripture, or rather of Science and Revelation. Of
course, I can discuss the matter in only a cursory way, out-
lining, rather than unfolding.
(a.)-Nature and
Scripture alike God's
Bible.
And, first: Naturę, not less than
Scripture, is God's Word. In both He
reveals Himself, speaking to man as
in a Bible of two parts or volumes.
"There are two books," said Sir Thomas Brown, "from
which I collect my divinity; besides that written one of
God, another of His servant Nature-that universal and
public manuscript that lies expansed unto the eyes of all."
I know that there is a sort of secret feeling that to call
Nature a Bible savors of irreverence. But let us take care
lest our religiosity here be in fact a sort of infidelity under
guise of sanctity. Let us beware of Polytheism, worship-
ing two Gods, the God of Nature and the God of Scrip-
ture: the latter being the better God. No; Deity speaks
to us alike in His Words and in His Works, in Scripture
and in Nature.
ز
INTRODUCTORY-REASONS FOR THESE STUDIES.
15
Secondly coming thus equally from
(6.)-Nature and His hands, the two Bibles cannot con-
Scripture Mutually
tradict each other. Finite man, capable
Complemental.
of mistakes and subject to vacillations,
may be and is inconsistent. But Infinite God is not a man
that He should lie, nor the Son of man that He should re-
pent (Num. xxiii. 19). He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. ii. 13).
If, then, there be inconsistency between His Words and
His Works, the presumption is that the inconsistency is
only apparent, and springs from our failure to interpret
the two Bibles truly.
tations Liable to Er-
ror.
Thirdly this leads to the remark
(c.)-Our Interpre- that, while both Bibles are divine, and
therefore true, our interpretation of the
Bibles is human, and therefore liable to
error. There is such a thing as the unintentional misin-
terpretation of Scripture, and there is such a thing as the
unintentional misinterpretation of Nature. As a matter
of fact, the history of the interpretations of these two
Bibles, Nature and Scripture, is more or less a history of
modifications and recantations. And so it must ever be,
so long as man is finite and fallible.
(d.)-Our Under-
standing of the Two
Bibles Progressive.
(1.)-True of Na-
ture:
Fourthly nevertheless, as time ad-
vances, our understanding of the two
Bibles, Nature and Scripture, grows
larger and clearer.
Take the case of Nature. How is
it that we have in our libraries such
noble volumes as Whewell's "History
of the Inductive Sciences," and Whewell's "History of
Scientific Ideas?" Simply because our knowledge of
Nature is a growth-advancing from the little to the more,
from the obscure to the clearer, from the less true to the
16
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
more true.
And this remark that the knowledge of Na-
ture is progressive is eminently true of that science which,
it is alleged, conflicts most directly with the Mosaic narra-
tive, the science of Geology. As Geology is among the
youngest of the Physical Sciences, so it is among the most.
shifting. True, some of its exponents are wont to talk of
its certainties, using such strong terms as "incontroverti-
ble," "proof positive," "absolute demonstration," and the
like. But it is not the great masters who talk thus-only
the sciolists. For the true scientific spirit, like the true
theological, is ever cautious and modest. How far Geology
is from being a matured or settled science is evident, e. g.,
from the debates between eminent geologists touching the
antiquity of the earth. However strongly the stratified
rocks may seem to testify to the extreme antiquity of the
globe, geological phenomena occurring in our days, and
before our own eyes, such, e. g., as upheavals and subsid-
ences of lands, emergence and disappearance of islands,
recession and procession of shores, depositions by equa-
torial currents, rapid and extensive chemical crystalliza-
tions, and the like, as strongly suggest the comparatively
recent origin of the earth. Observe, it is not on Scriptural
or moral grounds that I object to these geological theories.
The question here is simply a question of fact. Hypoth-
eses, however brilliant, are not demonstrations. Geology
is a very noble science, but she is still in her teens.
Scripture.
And as the knowledge of Nature is
(2.)--And Truc of progressive, so is the knowledge of Scrip-
ture. That this is possible and reason-
able, is evident from such considerations as the following :
a. Recovery of lost manuscripts.
7. Discovery of archæological facts.
c. Better understanding of the principles of philology.
INTRODUCTORY-REASONS FOR THESE STUDIES. 17
ture.
a. Better methods of interpretation.
e. Lights reflected from newly-discovered facts in Na-
f. Lights reflected from the growing experience of the
ages.
The simple circumstance that there is an ever-growing
demand for a revision of the received version of the Scrip-
tures, is a striking testimony to the fact that our knowl-
edge of Scripture is advancing. How profound in this
connection the words of Bishop Butler !—
"As it is owned, the whole scheme of Nature is not yet
understood, so, if it ever comes to be understood before the
Restitution of all things (Acts iii. 21), and without miracu-
lous interpositions, it must be in the same way as natural
knowledge is come at-by the continuance and progress of
learning and of liberty, and by particular persons attending
to, comparing, and pursuing intimations scattered up and
down it, which are overlooked and disregarded by the gen-
erality of the world. For this is the way in which all im-
provements are made: by thoughtful men tracing on obscure
hints, as it were, dropped us by Nature accidentally, or which
seem to come into our minds by chance. Nor is it at all in-
credible that a book, which has been so long in the possession
of mankind, should contain many truths as yet undiscovered.
For all the same phenomena, and the same faculties of in-
vestigation, from which such great discoveries in natural
knowledge have been made in the present and last age, were
equally in the possession of mankind several thousand years
before. And possibly it might be intended that events, as
they come to pass, should open and ascertain the meaning of
several parts of Scripture."-("ANALOGY OF RELIGION,"
Part ii., chapter 3.)
18
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
(e.)-Time the Great
Expositor.
Fifthly: what, then, is the infer-
ence to be drawn from the foregoing
remarks? Simply this: Since it is true
that Nature and Scripture are alike the Word of God;
that the two Bibles cannot contradict each other; that the
interpretation of both of them is alike human and liable to
error; and that our understanding of them is progressive:
then it follows that, in any case of apparent conflict be-
tween a Scriptural statement and an alleged scientific fact,
it is our duty to be cautious in our judgments, reserved in
our statements, and patiently await the tuition of future
discoveries. Had the Church thus waited, she never would
have pronounced Galileo a heretic. Had the Academy
thus waited, she never would have pronounced Moses a
blunderer. It is pleasant to believe that not one of the
thus far demonstrated facts of science is hostile to the Mo-
saic story fairly interpreted. Lives there the man who
knows-demonstrably knows-that Moses has told an un-
truth? Remember that candor neither affirms nor denies
till she knows. Let the Church and the Academy listen
to each other respectfully, and treat each other fairly. Let
Science help Scripture, and let Scripture help Science. In
all cases of apparent conflict between them, the true phi-
losophy and the true bravery, alike for theologian and
for scientist, is to await the tuition of events. Time is the
great expositor. Let the Church, then, in whose behalf it
is my vocation specially to speak, calmly abide her time.
The grass withereth; the flower fadeth; but the Word of
the Lord endureth forever (1 Peter i. 24, 25). And among the
many tributes which science shall yet lay at the feet of Im-
manuel and Immanuel's bride, not the least costly will be
that brought by fair Geology herself. Yea, the very stones
of the field will be in league with Messiah's Church (Job v. 23).
INTRODUCTORY-REASONS FOR THESE STUDIES.
19
So much for the mutual relations of Science and Reve
lation.
2.-The Language But there is another point which
of the Creation Rec- in this connection demands attention.
ord Phenomenal. How far is this story of the Creative
Week to be interpreted science-wise? In other words, is
this Creation Record, in all its details, to be taken liter-
ally? Remember, then, that the Bible does not profess to
be a scientific treatise; it does not profess to be written
for a scientific purpose; it does not profess to describe the
facts of Nature philosophically-that is to say, with scien-
tific accuracy. Professing to reveal spiritual truths, i. e.,
truths which could not have been learned without super-
natural disclosure, it leaves the discovery of the facts of
Nature a discovery which can be wrought out by man's
own powers-to the natural laws of human unfolding.
And when it does speak of the facts of Nature, it speaks
phenomenally—that is to say, it describes things of this
sort, not as they absolutely are, but as they seem to be;
not philosophically, but optically; not scientifically, but
scenically. God knows that I would not willingly offend
the least of His little ones. God knows that I believe that
His Scripture is inspired, and that I bow before it as rev-
erently as ever did the devoutest believer. And yet, let
me frankly say it, I do not believe that the Creation Rec-
ord is to be taken literally. If I take one part of it as lit-
eral, then I must be consistent, and take the whole as lit-
eral: e. g., I must believe that the seven days were literal
days of twenty-four hours each; that God spake in an ar-
ticulate, audible voice, though there was not an ear to
hear; that there was a first day with morning and even-
ing, though there was no sun to rise and set, and so intro-
duce morn, and bequeath eve; that it was the soil itself
20
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
that brought forth vegetation and birds and beasts; that
God literally spoke to the animals, saying, "Be fruitful
and multiply, and fill the earth;" that He actually had
lungs, and breathed into the nostrils of the first man; that
He actually performed a surgical operation in Eden, and
metamorphosed one of Adam's ribs into a woman; that
He actually rested on the seventh day because He was real-
ly tired out with His creative toils. For myself, most rev-
erently I say it, the God I kneel before is greater than this.
Observe the question before us is not a question of pow-
er; of course, God could have done all this; nothing is
too hard for Him, except to do wrong; but the question is
a question of fact; did He literally do all this? Remem-
ber that, in this matter of Creation-this record of making
real, ponderable entities out of space or nothing—we are
moving in the region of the transcendent, the unspeakable,
the absolutely inconceivable. Creation-mark the word-
transcends all experience, transcends even conception itself.
Hence the words describing Creation must, in the very
nature of the case, be figurative, or parabolic. And par-
able is the very highest form of truth. A geometrical ax-
iom is not so true as a Nazarene parable. The one is teth-
ered by material limits; the other is as limitless as God's
immensity. Accordingly, I believe, with some of the
devoutest scientists of the Church, that the record of the
Creative Week is the record of a Divinely inspired vi
sion, wherein the beholder was Divinely vouchsafed a
glimpse of the creative process, as though unfolded in a
series of unrolling sections of a Divine panorama. And I
believe this, not merely because the facts of creation are
inherently transcendental and incommunicable, but also
because revelation by vision was God's favorite method of
instruction in the primitive ages. Listen to Elihu, son of
INTRODUCTORY-REASONS FOR THESE STUDIES.
21
Barachel and friend of Job, speaking when humanity was
yet young: "In dreams, in visions of the night, when deep
sleep falleth on man, in slumbers on his bed; then doth
God open the ear of men and seal up their instruction "
(Job xxxiii. 15, 16). Thus did He instruct Abraham, Jacob,
Joseph, Samuel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Joseph of Naza-
reth, the Wise Men from the East, Peter, Paul, and, in a
very eminent degree, John of Patmos. What is the Book
of the Revelation but a series of majestic visions? And as
that Book is a panoramic Apocalypse of the future, so I
firmly believe is the Creation Record a panoramic Apoca-
lypse of the past. Accordingly, its language is not scientific,
but phenomenal or pictorial. Even scientists themselves,
who very properly demand strict accuracy of expression
when discoursing on scientific matters, nevertheless often
allow themselves, and very properly, to use phenomenal
language, as when they speak, e. g., of sunrise and sunset.
Why should not the writer of this venerable Archive, living
in that far-off, childlike antiquity, be allowed the same lib-
erty? And, indeed, we may bless God that the language
of Scripture on such matters is optical. For, had the Bi-
ble been written in the scientific style, it would have been
a sealed book except to the initiated. Moreover, it would
have been misunderstood and assailed by these very ini-
tiates, even far more than it actually has been; for Science,
like every other thing of life, is a process, constantly out-
growing and sloughing off its own opinions and putting
forth new. An interesting book has been written, entitled
"Variations of Popery." Possibly another book, equally
interesting, might be written, entitled "Variations of
Science." But phenomenal language never becomes obso-
lete. To the end of time, savant, not less than savage, will
speak of sunrise and sunset. No, the Bible does not pro-
22
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
fess to be a scientific book. It professes to describe such
matters as we have in hand optically-i. e., as they look.
Nevertheless, it does profess even here to tell the truth.
As a matter of fact, the sun did not rise this morning;
it is the rotation of the globe on its axis that gave us
what seemed to be a sunrise. Do you then charge your
almanac-maker with ignorance or falsehood because he has
told you that the sun would rise this morning at twenty-
two minutes past seven o'clock, or that he will set to-night
at fifty-two minutes past four? Nevertheless, although
theoretically false, these phenomenal statements touching
the heavenly bodies are practically true, and so true that
on the basis of them your navigator, in mid-ocean, will
accurately calculate his longitude and latitude, and your
astronomical clock at Washington will give the exact time.
of day to a continent. Precisely so with the Mosaic nar-
rative of the Creation. Scientifically false it may be; op-
tically, and in the moral sense, profoundly true I firmly
believe it is. Most unfair, then, and even absurd it would
be to discuss it scientifically. And yet I feel perfectly
sure that it is just as true as the statements of your alma-
nac-maker. So much for the purpose of the Creation Rec-
ord and the mode of its revelation to the original Narrator.
And now to return to the main
Living Issue.
3. Our Subject a point at present in hand: the assaults
on the Mosaic Story; for it is assaulted,
And I am here to
it to be true in the
And, in defending
let it be confessed, very formidably.
defend it; and this because I believe
sense in which the author meant it.
it, I shall, of course, speak from the platform of a Chris-
tian believer. At the same time I shall speak from the
platform of one who has a profound homage for the scien-
tific method, freely taking, whenever the occasion de-
INTRODUCTORY-REASONS FOR THESE STUDIES. 23
mands, my weapons from the arsenal of science itself.
And in thus repelling from the platform of the scientist
the assaults of unbelievers, I am sure I am sanctioned by
Apostolic authority. True, you hear from the Apostles
no such words as gravitation, electricity, spectrum analy-
sis. And no wonder; the physical sciences were not then
born. Nevertheless there were then, as there are now, as-
saults against Christianity. These assaults, however, came
not from scientists, but from Jewish ritualists and legal-
ists; from Gentile polytheists and idolators. And the
Apostles, wherever they went, met the foe, not at some
ancient, abandoned point, but at the point of contempora-
neous assault. Since then wonderful advances have been
made. Since then the telescope and the microscope have
been invented. Since then Christianity has been sum-
moned to grapple with new foes-foes more formidable
than any that were wont to broaden their phylacteries in
Herod's temple, or kiss toward the shade of Plato in the
olive-grove of Athens's academy. And now suppose that
Paul, rallied from Cæsar's axe, and living again to-day,
were set here in Philadelphia for the defense of the Gos-
pel, even as he had been in those Roman days of yore.
How think you would he speak? Would he not take
up the modern gauntlet, going forth to meet the new
foes, as he was wont to go forth to meet the old foes,
grappling with them on their own ground? Would he
not close in with the modern false interpreter of God's
first Bible, as he was wont to close in with the ancient
legalist of Rome, the ancient skeptic of Corinth, the an-
cient ritualist of Galatia, the ancient mystic of Colosse?
Old foes they are; but they wear new masks. Be it
ours, then, to strip off the new masks, and so disclose the
old foes.
24
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
4.-Spirit of these
Studies.
And yet here at this very point let
me say, once for all, that, throughout
these studies, I shall never intentionally
indulge in philippic. Of course, I shall exercise man's
common prerogative-the right of personal opinion. But
I shall never, if God shall be so good as to help me, stoop
to denunciation. For there is no eloquence so easy, so
transient, so sterile, and, if you will allow me, so vulgar,
as the eloquence of invective. Of course, we ought to
fight every lie. But the best way of fighting it is not
with the insect buzz and sting of diatribe: the all-con-
quering way is to let in on it the calm, noiseless sunbeam
of Truth.
This, then, is our third reason for studying the Story
of the Creative Week: it is the chief point of modern
scientific assault.
IV. Moral Mean-
ing of the Story.
1. Nature and
dent.
But there is a fourth and still strong-
er reason for engaging in this study:
it is the Moral Meaning of the Story
itself.
For I firmly believe that a profound,
Scripture correspon- Divinely - ordained correspondence ex-
ists between things spiritual and things
natural. Observe the order of my words: Between things
spiritual and things natural, putting things spiritual first.
And this is a vital point. For we are wont to think that
it is by a species of happy accident that certain resem-
blances exist between the kingdom of matter and the
kingdom of spirit. Thus we are wont to cite certain
metaphors of Holy Scripture as instances of God's conde-
scension, representing Him as adjusting Himself to our
weakness by setting forth spiritual truth in metaphors-
that is, in language "borrowed," as we say, from human
INTRODUCTORY-REASONS FOR THESE STUDIES.
25
relations and material phenomena. It is well worth pon-
dering, however, whether God, instead of thus borrowing
from Nature, and so employing an after-thought, did not
create Nature for this very purpose, among others-name-
ly, of illustrating His spiritual kingdom, Nature being in
a profound sense its counterpart, answering to it as though
in way of shadow and impress. E. g., we are told that
the Church is Christ's Body (1 Cor. xii. 12-27). Of course, it
is easy to trace many analogies between the natural organ-
ism of the head and its body, and the spiritual organism
of Christ and His Church. But whence came these an-
alogies? Are they accidental? Did Jesus Christ adjust
Himself and His Church to a scheme of Nature already
existing? Or did He, foreknowing all things from the
beginning, and foreseeing the peculiarly vital relation He
would sustain to His own chosen people, so construct the
scheme of Nature as that the human organism of head
and body should set forth the mystical union of Saviour
and Saved? Again: Jesus Christ is said to be the Bride-
groom, and the Church His Bride (Eph. v. 25-33). Is this
language borrowed from the marriage institution? No.
The marriage institution was founded for this very pur-
pose-among others, namely, to set forth the unutterably
tender relation between Jesus Christ and those who are
His. For, as Eve proceeded from out of Adam, so does
the Church proceed from out of the Second Adam (Gen. ii.
21-24), members of His body, being of His flesh and of
His bones (Eph. v. 30). Again: Jesus Christ is called the
Last Adam (1 Cor. xv. 45). Why is this name given to Him?
As an after-thought, suggested by the First Adam? No.
But because the First Adam, in the very beginning, was
instituted to be to the race natural what the Second Adam
is to the race spiritual, or the family of the redeemed; and,
2
26
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
therefore, he is expressly called a figure or type of Him
Who was to come (Rom. v. 14). And when the theological
mind of Christendom, instead of seeking to explain, as has
been its wont, the Second Adam by the First, shall soar
higher, and seek to explain the First Adam by the Sec-
ond in other words, Adam's relation to his race by
Christ's relation to His redeemed: then will the doctrine
of the Church, or Christ's mystical Body, come into clearer
light, and be seen resting on a solider foundation. Again:
Jesus Christ calls Himself the true Bread from heaven
(John vi. 32-58). We see at once the appropriateness of the
saying, “As the body is nourished by food, so is the spirit
nourished by Christ." But how happens it that this say-
ing is so true? Is the analogy merely accidental? Or
did He Who in the beginning, before the world was, when
forecasting His creative and redemptive acts, so devise the
scheme of Nature as that the sustenance of the body by
food should symbolize the sustenance of the Spirit by
Christ? But perhaps you say that man would have been
just as dependent on food for maintenance as he now is,
even had there been no Redeemer and no Bread of Life.
The objection is more specious than solid. For it is evi-
dent that the Almighty Creator, had He so chosen, could
have devised and constructed a different scheme of Nature,
according to which man could have been maintained with-
out food. But the fact is, that He has not so devised and
constructed Nature. On the other hand, He has so con-
structed man in his relations to Nature as that his daily
bodily life shall be a constant reminder, and prophecy, and
symbol, of his daily spiritual life; so that not less for his
spirit than for his body he can each morning pray, “Give
us this day our daily bread." Again: the Kingdom of
God is represented as a growth; first the seed, then the
INTRODUCTORY-REASONS FOR THESE STUDIES. 27
blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear (Mark iv.
26–29). It is the law of the spiritual life. And of this spirit-
ual growth the vegetable growths around us are a magnifi-
cent symbol. The plant-world is, in many particulars, a
perfect picture of the spiritual. But whence this har-
mony? Whence this correspondence on a scale so colossal?
Is it accidental? Let no believer in God dare say it. And,
if intentional, did the Creator arrange His spiritual king-
dom with reference to His natural, or did He construct the
realm of Nature with reference to His spiritual realm, ad-
justing the former to the latter? Take one more example :
the blessed truth of God's Fatherhood: "When ye pray,
say, Father" (Luke xi. 2). Conceive, and the conception is
certainly possible, that the parental relation were altogeth-
er unknown, and that each human being took his station
on earth, as Adam did in Eden-an immediate creation
of God. It is to be doubted whether under such cir-
cumstances we could have understood at all the blessed
import of the Scriptural doctrine of God's Fatherhood.
In fact, the heavenly love becomes a real thing to us only
in our exercise and sense of an earthly. The human fa-
ther's love is to man a helping image of the Heavenly Fa-
ther's. And this, as I verily believe, was one of the primary
ends to be secured by the original establishment of the
Parental Relation. God, in calling Himself our Father,
does not borrow the epithet from earth. But in the very
beginning He founded the earthly parental relation that it
might suggest, prove, and explain the heavenly. Hence
the resistless force of the Saviour's argument when, ap-
pealing to the very foundations of man's nature, He ex-
claims: "Which of you that is a father, if his son shall
ask for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he ask for a
fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall
28
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
ask for an egg, will he give a scorpion? If ye then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask Him?" (Luke xi. 11-13). In fact, it is this
Divinely-ordained correspondence between things spirit-
ual and things natural which lies at the basis of Christ's
method as Teacher; for He was in the eminent, superemi-
nent sense the Parable Speaker, evermore saying: The
kingdom of heaven is like this or like that. "All these
words spake Jesus to the multitude in parables; and with-
out a parable spake He not to them: that it might be ful-
filled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, I
will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden
from the foundation of the world" (Psalm lxxviii. 2; Matt.
xiii. 34, 35). In fact, erase from the records of Christ's say-
ings all He has said in form of parable, and figure, and
metaphor, leaving only what He taught in direct state-
ments, and how comparatively meagre the residue! Ah,
it is the invisible world which is the fact; it is the visible
world which is the metaphor! And this fact it is which
makes Holy Scripture so inexhaustible in its meanings
alike in respect to depth and to variety.' Truths, like the
seventy whom the Lord of the Kingdom sent forth, are
ever apt to go in pairs (Luke x. 1). "All things," said an-
other Jesus, son of Sirach, "are double, the one against
the other" (Ecclus. xlii, 24). This saying is the basal idea of
Bishop Butler's profound treatise, "The Analogy of Re-
ligion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and
Course of Nature," a book which, notwithstanding its ob-
solescent style, should be in every thoughtful man's li-
brary; for it will teach him how to observe, infer, and
adore. Fine, too, is the saying in Longfellow's "Hype-
66
1 "Habet Scriptura sacra haustus primos, habet secundos, habet tertios."—AUGUSTINE.
INTRODUCTORY-REASONS FOR THESE STUDIES.
29
rion:" "His thoughts were twice born, the thought itself,
and the figurative semblance in the outer world. Thus,
through the quiet, still waters of his soul, each image float-
ed double."
"The swan on still St. Mary's lake
Floats double, swan and shadow."
Thus there are two Bibles, both issuing from the same
Divine Author: the one, the Bible of the Unwritten Word,
or the Lex non Scripta-the other, the Bible of the Writ-
ten Word, or the Lex Scripta: or, rather, the one Bible is
in two volumes, the volume of Nature and the volume of
Scripture; and the first volume is the second volume illus-
trated. For, though the Written Word in the order of
purpose precedes the Unwritten, yet in the order of time
the Unwritten Word precedes the Written. That was not
first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and after-
ward that which is spiritual (1 Cor. xv. 46). Nor can I con-
ceive of any higher aim which the Christian scientist can
place before himself than so to master the phenomena
and laws of Nature as to make them serve as interpreters
of the secrets of the kingdom of God. Of course, our
studies in this direction, as in the memorable case of the
Allegorists of ancient Alexandria, and in the still more
memorable case of Emmanuel Swedenborg, may be pushed.
to an extreme, so that fancy usurps the office of reason,
and our explanations become puerile. Yet an error of
this kind is more reverential, and supplies the soul with
more solid food, than the opposite freezing error of deny-
ing to Scripture the exegetical ministry of Nature.
"Two worlds are ours; 'tis only sin
Forbids us to descry
The mystic heaven and earth within,
Plain as the sea and sky.
30
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
"Thou, Who hast given me eyes to see
And love this sight so fair,
Give me a heart to find out Thee,
And read Thee everywhere."
2.-Scope of this
Series.
-("THE CHRISTIAN YEAR.")
You see, then, the scope of this se-
ries. While it will be my purpose to
use so much of science as may help us grasp what the
Sacred Writer meant, this will be only incidentally, on
our way to a nobler goal. Believing that Nature, not less
than Scripture, is God's own Word; believing also that
Nature herself is charged with latent spiritual meaning;
it will be my main purpose to endeavor, with God's bless-
ing, to unfold some of these latent meanings. The pur-
pose is large and high. But, if God's grace is given us,
it may be that as we swiftly career across the adamantine
ledge of the Creation Archive, the scudding hoofs of
observation will elicit some sparkles of hidden, holy sug-
gestion, some scintillations of quickened, heavenward
aspiration.
Summary.
These then are some of the reasons
for engaging in the study of the Crea-
tive Week: first, the Antiquity of the Story; secondly,
the Majesty of the Story; thirdly, the Assault on the
Story; and, fourthly, the Moral Meaning of the Story. I
have, I submit, shown just cause for our assembling.
A Prayer.
May it not be in vain then that ever
and anon we turn aside to worship in
the Cathedral of Nature! For here too is a burning bush,
wherein the Angel of the Lord speaks to us. Be it ours
to put off our shoes from off our feet: for the place where-
on we stand is holy ground (Ex. iii. 1-5). Be it ours to have
the same lowly reverence which has so beautifully marked
INTRODUCTORY-REASONS FOR THESE STUDIES. 31
1
such illustrious Scientists as a Galen, who regarded his
professional life as "a religious hymn in honor of the
Creator;" a Copernicus, on whose tombstone, in St. John's
of Frauenburg, is the following epitaph: "Not the grace
bestowed on Paul do I ask, not the favor shown to Peter
do I crave; but that which Thou didst grant the robber
on the cross do I implore;" a Kepler, who concludes
his treatise entitled "Harmony of the Worlds" thus: "I
thank Thee, my Creator and Lord, that Thou hast given
me this joy in Thy creation, this delight in the works of
Thy hands; I have shown the excellency of Thy works
unto men, so far as my finite mind was able to compre-
hend Thine infinity: if I have said aught unworthy of
Thee, or aught in which I may have sought my own glory,
graciously forgive it;" a Newton, who never mentioned
the name of Deity without uncovering his head; a Fara-
day, who amid his profound researches never forgot his
little obscure Sandemanian chapel; a Dana, who concludes
his "Observations on Geological History" with the august
words,
"DEUS FECIT."
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Ghost as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall
be, world without end.
Amen.
1 Non parem Pauli gratiam requiro,
Veniam Petri neque posco, sed quam
In crucis ligno dederas latroni,
Sedulus oro.
LECTURE II.
GENESIS OF THE UNIVERSE.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
I. A Fundamen-
tal Question.
GENESIS i. 1.
WHAT is the Origin of the Uni-
verse? Whence came those far-off
planets and stars? Whence came this
earth, these mountains, and oceans, and rocks, and mole-
cules, and atoms? What is the Origin of Things? It is,
perhaps, the sublimest question mortal man can ask. Ac-
cording as it is answered, you have unspeakable conse-
quences: either a God, and the possibility of a blissful im-
mortality, or no God at all, and the annihilation of Religion
itself. Do not imagine, then, that this question of the
Origin of the Universe is only a secular or scientific ques-
tion. It is a profoundly religious question, going down to
the very roots of Truth, and Science, and Theology, and
Character, and Worship. Moreover: it is a question which
thoughtful men are everywhere asking, and this, too, with
an unprecedented intensity. It is the stupendous problem
before the thinking world of to-day. Neither imagine that
it is being asked only in yonder scientific cloisters; it is
being asked in your marts, and by your very firesides.
And the dreadful answer, which you, O Christian, are
fondly dreaming is confined to a few philosophers and
avowed atheists, is, as a matter of fact, being openly in-
GENESIS OF THE UNIVERSE.
33
Re-
stalled in many of your scientific institutions, and is subtly
gliding into your universities and academies, your clubs
and workshops, ay, your very churches themselves.
membering, then, the sublime gravity of the problem, the
tremendous moral consequences it involves, the profound
stir it is making among the thoughtful of the community,
I cannot but think that the discussion of the problem from
this platform is particularly opportune. May the Spirit of
all Truth then especially aid us as we ponder the following
theme: The Genesis of the Universe.
Problem.
At the very outset, then, let us con-
II. The Precise ceive precisely the problem before us.
Clearness of conception at this point is
of utmost consequence. For, strange to say, there is here
much dimness of idea, and vagueness of talk, even among
the educated and scientific. Let me, then, carefully illus-
trate the precise nature of the problem before us. Sup-
pose I had before me here a bar of iron, weighing one
pound. Out of this pound of iron I can make a variety of
things: e. g., watch springs, needles, nails, scissors, razors,
tuning-forks, and so on. But note very particularly that
in order to make these various articles I must have the
pound of iron, as material, to start with. This pound of
iron I cannot make. The question then is this: Where
did the iron ore itself come from? Who made that? How
shall I account for this pound of matter that is in this iron
bar? Take a more complex case. Suppose I had here a
gallon of water weighing eight pounds. I can alter the
condition and character of this water in various ways. I
can solidify it into ice. I can evaporate it into steam.
can mix it with other substances, and form a new com-
pound. I can even decompose it into its constituent ele-
ments, having as my result, in measures of weight, eight
34
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
parts of oxygen and one part of hydrogen; and then I can
again recombine them, having as my result this same gal-
lon or eight pounds of water. Observe here, too, very par-
ticularly, just what it is I do. All I do, or can do, is to
change the condition and character of the water, putting it
to new and various uses. I did not, and cannot, make the
oxygen and hydrogen which compose the water. Where
did these elements come from? How shall I account for
these eight pounds of oxygen and hydrogen? Take a case
still more complex. Suppose I had before me a block of
wood weighing one pound. Out of it I might make a
great variety of figures: e. g., a cube, a globe, a square, a
prism, a hexagon, and so on.
But observe here, too, very
particularly, just what it is I do. All I make is the figures.
I did not, and I cannot, make the wood or matter out of
which I construct the figures. Where, then, did this wood,
this matter itself, come from? Suppose you tell me that
the wood is composed of a certain amount of carbon, oxy-
gen, and hydrogen, arranged in a certain definite propor-
tion. Still you do not answer my question. Where did
these elements themselves come from? If I cannot make
the wood, much less can I make the elements which com-
pose the wood. What is the origin of this pound of carbon
and oxygen and hydrogen? You see, then, the precise
nature of the problem before us; it is not touching the
shaping of matter already existing; it is touching the origi-
nation of matter itself.
of the Problem.
And now let us try to form some
III.-Immensity idea of the Immensity of the problem;
in other words, let us try to form some
idea of the extent of the universe: that is to say, the
amount of matter actually existing. And, in doing this,
let us not use measures of superficial extent, trying to con-
GENESIS OF THE UNIVERSE.
35
ceive the vastness of the earth, or the number, distances,
and magnitudes of the stars. Let us take weight, rather
than bulk, as our standard of measurement. For the quan-
tity of matter in a given body—say, in an ingot of gold—
is not measured by the space it occupies when beaten out,
but by the weight it has when put in the scales. Taking
weight, then, rather than bulk, as the measure of the
amount of matter in the universe, let us approach the
aggregate, so to speak, by degrees.
Weight of the Uni-
verse.
CC
Take, e. g., air, as the representative
of matter in its gaseous or lightest state.
Light as air" is a common simile.
Yet light as air is, its quantity is so vast that it presser
earth's surface with the weight of fifteen pounds to every
square inch. Think, then, of the weight-that is to say,
quantity of atmospheric material-resting on a globe 25,000
miles in circumference.
Again: take water as the representative of matter in its
liquid state. A cubic inch of water weighs 773 times as
much as a cubic inch of air-i. e., contains 773 times as
much matter. The Mississippi alone annually discharges
on the average into the Gulf of Mexico 19,500,000,000,000
cubic feet of water, equal to 145.6 cubic miles. Think,
now, of the quantity of matter stored up in earth's rivers,
lakes, vapors, clouds, rains, snows, glaciers, dews, subter-
ranean reservoirs, oceans miles in depth and thousands of
miles in breadth.
Again take iron as the representative of matter in its
solid state. Think of all the iron that is made use of and
wrought into this world's fabrics and implements; its
countless structures, and engines, and railways, and wheels,
and utensils, and machinery of every kind, to say nothing
of earth's numerous and colossal ore-beds.
36
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Again think of the amount of oxygen, and hydrogen,
and silicon, and aluminium, and magnesium, and calcium,
and potassium, and sodium, and carbon, which are com-
pressed in this earth's crust; in its fauna, and flora, and
sand, and gravel, and clay, and marl, and coal, and boul-
ders, and quarries, and mountains.
Yet this mighty globe of ours, having a circumference
of 25,000 miles, is but a speck in the universe of matter.
Think of our sun-system with its hundreds of planets, sat-
ellites, rings, aerolites, etc. Think of the Sun itself, with
its diameter of 880,000 miles and circumference of 2,760-
000 miles, outweighing 355,000 earths.
Think of the 25,000,000 other sun-systems belonging
to our own Cluster alone, some of which suns are immense-
ly vaster than even our own sun.
Think then of the weight—that is to say, the amount
of matter-represented by these 25,000,000 suns, to say
nothing of the hundreds and thousands of planets, moons,
comets, aerolites, etc., with which each one of these 25,
000,000 suns is probably escorted.
But these 25,000,000 sun-systems belong only to our
own Cluster.
The telescope has disclosed to us about
6,000 such nebulæ, and is constantly disclosing more. In-
stead of speaking of millions of sun-systems, we may per-
haps speak of billions.
And so, for aught we know, billions on billions, quin-
tillions on quintillions, decillions on decillions. Indeed,
there is great reason for believing that the material universe
has no limits. To imagine this is to imagine the finite
exercise in finite space of God's infinite power, and so the
possibility of finite man's grasping the range of God's in-
finite capacity. In other words: to imagine this is to
imagine that finite man can touch the limits of the out-
GENESIS OF THE UNIVERSE.
37
working of God's infinite capacity, and so grasp the range
of His creation. In all events, the universe, practically
speaking, is infinite.
And now looms up before us our
IV. The Prob- overwhelming Problem. Whence did
lem itself.
this inconceivable amount of matter
come? What is the Origin of this tremendous weight of
Universe? Again I ask you to observe carefully what the
precise problem is. The question is not concerning the
arrangement of matter already existing: the question is
concerning the origination of matter itself. Here are sixty
or seventy elements which, so far as we know at present,
make up the existing universe. And the point to be ex-
actly observed is this: not one solitary atom of these ele-
ments which make up the universe can man make. All
that man can do is to operate on these elements, com-
pounding them in various proportions, using the com-
pounds in various ways, shaping them, building with
them, and so on. In short, man must have something on
which, as well as with which, to operate. With noth-
ing he can do nothing. Here, then, is our startling prob-
lem. This mighty universe of ours, weighing a number
of tons simply inconceivable, is nothing but the sum total
of these atoms, not one of which man can create, so far as
experience goes; and experience is the grand philosophi-
cal test. What an appalling aggregate of material, then
-of oxygen, and hydrogen, and nitrogen, and carbon, and
silicon, and all the other elements-making the weight of
the universe, have we to account for! At the cost of
repetition, but at the gain of clearness and emphasis, I
ask you again to try to form some idea of the weight of
the universe-that is to say, the amount of matter in it.
Imagine that these millions of sun-systems, with their myr-
38
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
iads of satellites, instead of being separated from each other
countless millions of miles as they now are, were consoli-
dated into one mass. How unspeakable, how purely in-
conceivable, the weight-i. e., the quantity-of matter! In
that stupendous, inconceivable mass this earth of ours, with
its diameter of 8,000 miles, would be but as a point in an
area of millions of square leagues. Think now of the
amount of matter which is represented in a single ton.
Even that thought oppresses you. Yet so light a substance
as our own terrestrial atmosphere presses earth's surface
with a weight of more than 26,000,000 tons on each square
mile. Think now of the 197,000,000 square miles of sur-
face presented by this earth-sphere of 25,000 miles circum-
ference. In addition to this inconceivable amount, think
of the earth's structures of wood, and brick, and stone, and
iron; the tonnage of earth's forests, earth's animals, earth's
oceans, earth's sands, earth's coal and ore beds, earth's con-
tinental mountain-ranges of solid rock. To say nothing
of the tonnage of the hundreds of satellites of our own
sun-system, think of the tonnage, that is to say, quantity,
of material which forms the sun, outweighing 355,000
earths. Think of the tonnage of 25,000,000 other suns,
many of which are hundreds of times larger than our own,
to say nothing of the countless satellites with which each
of these suns is escorted. Think of the tonnage of 6,000
nebulæ, each perhaps with its score of millions of sun-sys-
tems. To speak probably within bounds, the tonnage,
that is to say, amount, of matter composing this earth of
ours, compared with that of the rest of the stupendous
mass, would be as a thistle-down balanced against a million
of suns. Here, then, is the mighty question: "How ac-
count for this tremendous Fact? Whence came this in-
conceivable amount of material?"
GENESIS OF THE UNIVERSE.
39
The Question Le-
gitimate.
It is a fair question to ask. No
man, if he thinks an instant about the
matter, can help asking it. The Idea
that
every effect must have a cause is an intuitive, univer-
sal, irresistible, necessary Idea. Hence the axiom, Ex
nihilo nihil fit-" From nothing, nothing comes." A
causeless effect is simply unthinkable. Keeping in mind,
then, this fundamental, irresistible axiom-"Every effect
must have a cause "-let us apply it to the topic in hand.
Here is a stupendously measureless effect: what caused it?
Not one man, not all mankind together, with the most per-
fect machinery conceivable, can make one solitary atom of
matter. Where, then, did all this measureless, unutter-
able, inconceivable quantity of matter composing this ma-
terial universe come from? Suppose you say it came from
a few cells or germs, or perhaps one. That does not an-
swer the question. The axiom, "Every effect must have
a cause," implies another axiom: "Effects are proportional
to their causes"-that is to say, causes are measured by
their effects. If the whole material universe came from a
few germs and from nothing else, then the weight of these
germs must be equal to the weight of the universe. You
cannot get out of a thing more than is in it. It is a maxim
of philosophy: "Evolution implies previous involution.'
And the axiom that every effect must have an adequate
cause demands that the involution be equal to the evolu-
tion. You cannot evolve what was not involved. Of
course, I do not deny that the growth of the acorn into the
oak is in a certain sense an evolution. In fact, it is the
evolution which is the secret of the identity of acorn and
oak. But, then, there is much more here than evolution,
or simple unfolding of the primal germ: there is also the
accretion of external material around the germ and along
40
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the axis of growth-this added material coming from soil,
water, air, etc. It is the accretion which is the secret of
the incretion. The problem, then, is to account not only
for the weight of the acorn, but also for the weight of the
oak-the vastly larger part of the tree never having been
in the seed. The famous Washington Elm, of Cambridge,
we are told, yields on an average, say, 7,000,000 leaves,
exposing a surface of 200,000 square feet; and the problem
is this: How account for the weight of the seed plus the
weight of the root, trunk, and five acres of foliage? How
account for this enormous mass of universe matter, ex-
pressed in terms of positive weight, on the theory of a few
microscopic germs? Observe, the question is not concern-
ing the condition or arrangement of the universe; the
question is concerning its origination. Where did these
supposed germs themselves come from? In short, how
account for the weight of the universe? I repeat, it is a
fair question to ask. The fundamental, universally-ac-
knowledged, intuitively - perceived, necessary axiom,
"Every effect must have a cause," proclaims it to be a fair
question. Whence, then, came this universe of matter-
visible, tangible, ponderable matter? What is the Origin
of this material Universe?
The Answer of Logic.
Only two answers are possible.
The first is this: Matter never had
any origin at all; it has always existed.
Such was the opinion of the ancient sages. Inexorably
pressed by the axiom, Every effect must have a cause, they
toiled to follow up the line of effects and causes, tracing a
given effect up to its cause, and again this cause as the
effect of a preceding cause, and still again this preceding
cause as the effect of a cause still preceding, and so on as
far as they could go.
Unable to find any First, Original
GENESIS OF THE UNIVERSE.
41
Cause-in other words, unable to find the place and time
in which matter began to exist—they were driven by our
inexorable axiom to the theory of the eternity of matter.
It is the one and only conclusion at which the logician,
trusting solely to the logical processes and denying mira-
cles, can possibly arrive.
The Answer of
Scripture.
1
The other answer is the first verse
of the Book of God: "In the begin-
ning God created the heavens and the
earth." In the beginning, before aught existed, save God
Himself, Elohim created, made out of nothing, made with-
out material, the heavens and the earth. Ah, here comes
out the infinite difference between man and God: Man is
only a builder, constructing with materials; God is a Cre-
ator, constructing without materials. God creates atoms;
man fashions molecules.
Answer.
Thus this word "create" is the di-
Grandeur of the vinest word in language, human or angel-
ic. It is the august separatrix between
the creature and the Creator, between the finite and the In-
finite. It is the connecting link between the pre-creative
universe of nothing and the post-creative universe of
everything. The pre-creative eternity is separated from
human time by the diameter of the universe. Well, then,
may our text stand forth as the opening sentence of God's
communication to man. For all theology is wrapped up
in this one simple, majestic word-Created. It gives us an
Unbeginning, Almighty, Personal, Self-conscious, Volun-
¹ True, it is not positively certain that the verb bara is to be taken in the strict, techni-
cal sense of absolute origination. It is possible that it means here, as generally elsewhere,
simply a process of forming, arranging, shaping what was already existing. And for this
self-conscious, omniscient Omnipotence was needed hardly less than for an absolute origi-
nation. In all events, the doctrine of Creation seems decisively taught in Hebrews xi. 3:
By 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."
42
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
tary God. Before the mountains were brought forth, or
ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even
from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God (Psalm xc. 2).
And in giving us an Unbeginning, Almighty, Personal,
Self-conscious, Voluntary God, it gives us the basis for
Religion, the corner-stone for Worship. Thou, Thou art
Lord alone, Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heav-
ens, with all their host, the earth and all that is upon it,
the seas and all that is in them; and Thou preservest
them all. And the host of heaven worshippeth Thee
(Neb. iv. 6). Yes, "I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.”
Creation a Problem
for Faith.
Not that I understand the Creative
Act; I admit that it is incomprehen-
sible. I even admit that it directly
conflicts with the fundamental axiom: Out of nothing
nothing comes. In other words, I admit that it was a
miracle. And being a miracle, of course I cannot under-
stand it. Nevertheless I believe it. Ah! this word-
believe is the key. 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 ap-
peared (Heb. xi. 3). Prof. Tyndall, in his lecture on
"Mat-
ter and Force" to the workingmen of Dundee, spoke as
follows:
“While I make the largest demand for freedom of inves-
tigation—while I as a man of Science feel a natural pride in
scientific achievement-while I regard Science as the most
powerful instrument of intellectual culture, as well as the
most powerful ministrant to the material wants of men-if
you ask me whether Science has solved, or is likely in our
day to solve, the problem of this Universe, I must shake my
head in doubt. You remember the first Napoleon's question,
GENESIS OF THE UNIVERSE.
43
when the savants who accompanied him to Egypt discussed
in his presence the origin of the Universe, and solved it to
their own apparent satisfaction. He looked aloft to the
starry heavens, and said, 'It is all very well, gentlemen; but
who made all these?' That question still remains unan-
swered, and Science makes no attempt to answer it. As far
as I can see, there is no quality in the human intellect which
is fit to be applied to the solution of the problem. It en-
tirely transcends us. The mind of man may be compared to
a musical instrument with a certain range of notes, beyond
which in both directions we have an infinitude of silence.
The phenomena of Matter and Force lie within our intellec-
tual range, and as far as they reach we will at all hazards
push our inquiries. But behind, and above, and around all,
the real mystery of this Universe lies unsolved, and, as far
as we are concerned, is incapable of solution."
Sad words these. And the Professor is right so far as
he goes. But why does he not go further? Why does he
not use the prerogative of exercising a loftier faculty than
reason? One of the most felicitous instances of masterly
diction in the realm of Science is a discourse by this same
Prof. Tyndall, delivered before the British Association in
1870, entitled "The Scientific Use of the Imagination."
In this, as often elsewhere, he earnestly bids us to exercise
the power of "visualizing the invisible." That is to say,
he bids us exercise faith in the unseen: e. g., we are to
believe in atoms though we have never seen one. Gentle-
men of the Academy, allow me also the Scientific Use of
the Imagination-that is to say, allow me the prerogative
of faith for Christian faith is the truest instance of the
Scientific Use of the Imagination.
Where Reason is
blind, Faith can see. Faith is the lens through which we
perceive that the worlds were created by the Word of God.
44
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Ah, Faith it is which sees an otherwise Invisible, Personal,
Almighty, Infinite, Free God-Himself His own law-
ever and anon striding forth on a plane above what we
call Nature, as when in the primeval realm of absolute
Space He caused to come into existence the heavens and
the earth. Believe in that first of all miracles, the miracle
of Creation; and you can believe in the miracles of Incar-
nation, Resurrection, Ascension, Parousia. This word-
Faith-then is the motto inscribed on the very threshold
of the Temple of Truth. The very first question in phi-
losophy is this: What is the origin of things? The very
first statement of the Bible is an answer to this question;
an answer simple, unequivocal, exhaustive, majestic. Thus
the
very first summons of the God of Nature to the stu-
dent of His Works is a summons to an act of Faith. And
to him who honestly obeys that summons, Creation shall
prove to be in very deed an Apocalypse of Deity; and so
of Duty.'
Such is the story of the Genesis of the Universe. Two
thoughts in conclusion.
1 How wise the words of Francis Bacon: "It is an assured truth and a conclusion of
experience, that a little or superficial knowledge of philosophy may incline the mind of
man to atheism, but a further proceeding therein doth bring the mind back again to relig-
ion: for in the entrance of philosophy, when the second causes, which are next unto the
senses, do offer themselves to the mind of man, if it dwell and stay there, it may induce
some oblivion of the highest cause: but when a man passeth on further, and seeth the
dependence of causes and the works of Providence, then, according to the allegory of
the poets, he will easily believe that the highest link of Nature's chain must needs be tied
to the foot of Jupiter's chair."—(" ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING," Book I.)
&
How poetic the words of Augustine: "I asked the earth, and it answered, 'I am not
He;' and whatsoever are therein made the same confession. I asked the sea and the
deep, and the creeping things that lived, and they replied: We are not thy God; seek
higher than we.' I asked the breezy air, and the universal air with its inhabitants an-
swered: Anaxamines was deceived. I am not God.' I asked the heavens, the sun,
And I
moon, and stars: Neither, say they, are we the God Whom thou seekest.'
C
"
answered unto all these things which stood about the door of my flesh: 'Ye have told me
something concerning my God, that ye are not He: tell me something about Him.' And
with a loud voice they exclaimed: 'He made us.'-("CONFESSIONS," Book X., Chapter
VIII., Paragraph 9.)
GENESIS OF THE UNIVERSE.
45
Final Cause of Cre-
ation.
And, first: Why did God create the
material universe? Let us not be wise
above what is written. And yet I can-
not help thinking that there is a reason for the Creation in
the very constitution of our spiritual nature. We need
the excitation of sensible objects. We need a material
arena for self-discipline. As a matter of fact, we receive
our moral training for eternity in the School of Matter.
It is the material world around us, coming into contact
with our moral personalities through the senses of touch-
ing and seeing and hearing and tasting, which tests our
moral character. And so it comes to pass that the way in
which we are impressed by every object we consciously
see or touch probes us, and will testify for us or against us
on the Great Day. But while this is one of the proximate
causes of the Creation, the Final Cause is the Glory of
God. It is the majestic mirror from which we see His in-
visible things, even His eternal power and Godhead (Rom. i.
20). May it be for us evermore to join with the Living
Creatures and the Elders of the Apocalypse in falling
down before Him Who sitteth on the throne, and liveth
for ever and ever, and in chanting: "Thou art worthy, O
Lord God, to receive the glory and the honor and the
might; for Thou didst create all things, and for Thy
pleasure they are, and were created" (Rev. iv. 9-11).
tation.
Finally this doctrine of the Crea-
A Personal Exhor- tion is a doctrine well suited to fill us
with deepest sentiments of humility,
reverence, and adoration. A God strong enough to create
is a God strong enough to annihilate. Presume not then
to persist in any state of rebellion, in any act of disobedi
ence. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trem-
bling (Psalm ii. 11). Enter into and abide in the spirit of
46
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Claudius Galenus, the illustrious physician of ancient Per-
gamos, who was wont to speak of his vocation and work as
"a religious hymn in honor of the Creator." Let Him
Who spake, and it was-Who commanded, and it stood fast
(Psalm xxxii. 9)—be the Object of your supreme and ceaseless
allegiance, homage, and trust. For the Lord is a great
God, and a great King above all Gods. In His hand are
the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is
His also. The sea is His, and He made it: and His hands
formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow
down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He
is our God and we are the people of His pasture, and the
sheep of His hand (Psalm xcv. 3–7). For from Him, and
through Him, and to Him, are all things (Rom. xi. 36).
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall
be, world without end. Amen.
LECTURE III.
GENESIS OF ORDER.
"And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters."-GENESIS 1. 2.
I. Explanation
of the Passage.
FIRST of all, let us attend to the Ex-
planation of the Passage.
And, first, the Primeval Chaos:
1.—The Primeval "Now the earth was waste and empty,
and darkness was over the face of the
Chaos.
a.-Origin of Chaos.
abyss."
At the very outset, an interesting
question arises. Was this Chaos the
original condition of matter as it came direct from the
Creator's hand, or was it the wreck of an earlier world?
It must be confessed that certain things seem to indicate—
at least, at first sight-that the latter was the fact. First:
God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (1 Cor. xiv.
33); whatever He creates is perfect. Again: the words
tohu and bohu, rendered "without form and void," liter-
ally mean wasteness and desolation. The expression is
often applied to ruined cities and territories. Two pas-
sages are remarkably in point. Isaiah, speaking of the
coming judgment on Idumea, says: "The cormorant and
48
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the bittern shall possess it, the owl also and the raven
shall dwell in it, and He will stretch out upon it the line
of confusion and the stones of emptiness" (Is. xxxiv. 11); the
words rendered "confusion and emptiness" are precisely
the same as those rendered in our passage "without form
and void." According to the prophet, Idumea was to be
devoted to devastation and destruction. So also Jeremiah,
foretelling the ruin that would come upon Judea, ex-
claims: "I looked upon the land, and, lo, it was with-
out form and void; I looked to the heavens, and they
gave their light no more; I looked to the mountains, and,
lo, they trembled; I looked, and, lo, there was no man,
and all the birds of the air had fled; I looked, and, lo, the
fruitful land had been turned into the desert, and all its
cities were broken down before the fury of Jehovah's an-
ger" (Jer: iv. 23-26). It seemed to the prophet a real re-
turn to the ancient realm of Chaos. Again: this opinion
was held by some of the ancient Fathers, e. g., the Greg-
orys, Basil, Augustine, etc. Again: it seems to be con-
firmed by alleged scientific facts, particularly the geologic
doctrine of Catastrophes, many of which are supposed by
some scientists to have occurred in the immense interval
between Creation and Chaos, and during Chaos itself.
Once more: it seems to be confirmed by present terrestrial
changes, e. g., recomposition out of decomposition, as the
harvest out of the dying seed. Such are some of the rea-
sons which have inclined some scientists, e. g., Buckland,
Sedgwick, Hitchcock, etc., and many theologians, e. g.,
Chalmers, McCaul, Wordsworth, etc., to the opinion that
Chaos was the wreck of an earlier world.
Nevertheless, although this opinion seems plausible,
and although it is maintained by scholars entitled to our
respect, it lies open to grave objections. First: it does not
GENESIS OF ORDER.
49
seem to be in harmony with the scope of the Sacred Nar-
rator; he is giving us the history of the Creation of the
heavens and the earth, not of their reconstruction. Again:
it introduces an unwarrantable or at least apparently arbi-
trary break between the first and second verses—that is to
say-between Creation and Chaos. Again: instead of
being sustained by the geologic records, it seems to be in
direct conflict with them. Once more: it is opposed to
God's usual method of working; that method is inchoa-
tive, that is to say, a method of progress, from small to
vast, from embryo to fruition, from homogeneousness to
heterogeneousness, or rather from homogeneousness to di-
versity, and through diversity to unity in diversity. For
these reasons I am compelled to believe that the Chaos of
the original elements not less than the Creation of them
was the direct issue of the Creative Will; that is to say,
God created the atoms of the Universe, starting with
them in a chaotic state. It was an instance of the truth
to which I shall advert later on: All progress begins in
Chaos.
And now glance for a moment at
b.-Picture of Chaos. this primeval Chaos.
All the elements which now exist were doubtless
there; but all were out of relation. Far as the eye could
pierce, not a thing of life or beauty or definite form re-
deemed a single point in the monstrous waste. And
over this wild, structureless, desolate abyss rested the pall
of blackness. In short, earth was that heterogeneous
mass of inextricable confusion which the ancients called
Chaos.
. . . . A dark
Illimitable ocean, without bound,
Without dimension, where length, breadth, and height,
And time, and place, are lost; where Eldest Night
3
50
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise
Of endless wars, and by confusion stand;
For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce,
Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring
Their embryon atoms."-("PARADISE LOST," ii. 891–900.)
Strikingly similar is the description by the heathen
poet Ovid:
"Ere sea, or land, or sky, that covers all,
Existed, over all of Nature's round
One face there was, which men have Chaos named-
A rude, unfathomed mass, with naught save weight:
And here were heaped the jarring elements
Of ill-connected things. No sun as yet
His rays afforded to the world; the moon
Filled not afresh her horns by monthly growth;
Nor hung the globe in circumambient air,
Poised by its balanced weight: nor had the sea
Reached forth its arms along the distant shore:
No land to stand upon, no wave to swim,
And rayless air. Nothing preserved its form:
Each thing opposed the rest; since in one frame
The cold with hot things fought, the moist with dry,
The soft with hard, the light with heavy things."
—(“METAMORPHOSES,” i. 5.)
True, there is a large accretion here to the primeval
Creation Archive as transmitted to us by Moses. Never-
theless, recalling what was said in our Introductory Lect-
ure respecting the wide-spread, venerable traditions touch-
ing the primeval condition of the globe, who does not feel
that Ovid obtained his clew from that hoary Creation Ar-
chive?
c.-Confirmation of
Science.
And what Moses says touching the
original condition of the globe, Modern
Science tends in a remarkable way to
GENESIS OF ORDER.
51
echo. If the magnificent Nebular Hypothesis of the as-
tronomers first propounded by Swedenborg, adopted by
Kant, elaborated by Laplace and Herschel, and main-
tained with modifications by such scientists as Cuvier,
Humboldt, Arago, Dana, and Guyot-be true, there has
been a time when the Earth, and indeed the whole Uni-
verse, was in a state of nebula, or chaotic gaseous fluid.
As such, the Earth was indeed without form and void, and
darkness was on the face of the deep. Being in a gaseous
state, it was "without form and void;" being as yet in
an inactive state, it was "dark;" being in a state of in-
definite expansion, it was a "deep." Thus wonderfully
does the hoariest specimen of human literature keep pace
with the mightiest generalization of the latest science.
Not that Moses knew anything about the Nebular Hy-
pothesis; though he was learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians (Acts vii. 32), he probably knew nothing of gravi-
tation or chemical atoms. He was inspired indeed. But
inspiration is not omniscience. And yet, as wonderful
time rolls on, and Almighty God, through the agency of
human discoveries, keeps unfolding the truths hidden in
His holy Word from the beginning, inspiration does prac-
tically take on more and more the giant outlines of Omnis-
cience. The stoutest defender of the Nebular Hypothesis
could hardly find more telling words for his theory than
these: "Without form, void, dark, deep." Here, then, is
the skeptic's harassing trilemma. He must either admit,
first, that Moses was inspired, and therefore, whether con-
sciously to himself or not it matters not, spoke the truth,
and therefore ought to be acknowledged as one of God's
authoritative spokesmen; or, secondly, he must admit that
Moses has made an exceedingly happy hit—a circumstance
which will grow more and more wonderful when we note,
52
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
as we shall see ere we are through, how many such remark-
ably "happy hits" he makes in this Creation Narrative;
or, thirdly, he must admit that Moses, though living in that
far-off, unscientific antiquity, was as profound a scientist as
himself, and therefore is entitled to be enrolled with the
Newtons and Cuviers, the Humboldts and Tyndalls, of the
modern Academy. Whichever horn of the trilemma our
friend takes, he, so long as he is a skeptic, impales himself.
No, gentlemen, the God Who reigned over Nature when
it was without form, and void, and darkness was on the
face of the deep, is the same God Who dictated the First
Two Chapters of Genesis.
And now we pass to ponder, second-
2. The Organiz- ly, the Organizing Energy: "And the
ing Energy.
Spirit of God moved upon the face of
the waters."
a.-The Breath of
God.
(C
"The Spirit of God." It is the first
time that this remarkable expression oc-
curs in Holy Writ. Let us dwell on it a moment. The
word here rendered "Spirit" primarily means "breath,
wind," etc., and, as a matter of fact, is often thus trans-
lated. Take a few examples: "The Lord God formed.
the man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life"-inbreathed, inspired, in-
spirited him with spirit (Gen. ii. 7). They heard the voice
of the Lord God walking in the garden, in the cool”—the
breeze, the spirit-of the day (Gen. iii. 8). "Moses stretched
out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to
go back by a strong east wind-spirit-all that night'
(Ex. xiv. 21). "By the blast of the breath-spirit—of Thy
nostrils, the waters were heaped up" (Ex. xv. 8). "By His
spirit-breath-the heavens were garnished" (Job xxvi. 13).
"There is a spirit-breath—in man, and the inspiration,
""
GENESIS OF ORDER.
53
inbreathing, of the Almighty, giveth him understanding "
(Job xxxii. 8). "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens
made, and all their host by the breath-spirit-of His
mouth" (Psalm xxxiii. 6). "Thou takest away their breath—
spirit: they die and return to their dust:" "Thou sendest
forth Thy spirit-breath-they are created, and Thou re-
newest the face of the earth" (Psalm civ. 29, 30). "He took
her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise, and her
spirit-breath-came again, and she arose straightway"
(Luke viii. 54, 55). "When Jesus had received the vinegar,
He said, It is finished, and He bowed His head, and
"Then
gave up the ghost-spirit, breath" (John xix. 30).
will the wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord will con-
sume with the spirit-breath-of His mouth, and destroy
with the brightness of His coming" (2 Th. ii. 8). And God
has been pleased to move the writers of His Scripture
to take air as the emblem of the Divine Spirit. I know
not why He was pleased to do this, unless it be because
of the peculiar properties of air: a substance invisible,
yet diffusive, subtilely permeating, animating, quickening,
inspiring, forceful. I only know that He has chosen air
as the symbol of the Spirit of God. Listen to a few ex-
amples: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is
born of the Spirit Wind, Breath" (John iii. 8).
"He
breathed on them, and saith to them, Receive ye the
Holy Ghost-breath" (John xx. 22). "Suddenly there came
a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and
it filled all the house where they were sitting.
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit—breath
(Acts ii. 2-4).
22
54
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
b. Moved over
the Face of the
Fluids.
I would not be presumptuous. At
the same time I would be true to the
Sacred Story we are studying, seeking
to unfold it as the Sacred Writer him-
self meant it. And, therefore, I must say I can hardly
think that in using the phrase, "The Spirit of God," he
meant any distinct reference to the Third Person of the
Blessed and Adorable Trinity. For God's method of
Revelation has ever been progressive; and His disclosure
of the peculiar relations of the Godhead is among His
latest revelations. Remember the meaning of the word
translated Spirit: it means breath. The Breath of God
moved on the face of the waters. Remember, also, that
we are here moving in the range of transcendent facts,
where the language must be more or less figurative. Re-
member, also, that the emphatic word, here and throughout
this Creation Record, is the word-God.
God it was
Who created the elements of the Universe. God it was
Who shaped the elements of the Universe into the heavens
and the earth. God it was Who, to use the language of
modern Christian Science, gave the first impulse to the
original, relationless atoms of the primeval chaotic fluids
to form into definite groups. God it was Who, to use the
artless language of the ancients, breathed on the chaotic
elements, and wafted them into order. In either case, God
it was Who shaped Chaos into Cosmos. The ancient be-
liever said: "The Breath of God moved on the face of
the waters." The modern believer says: "God willed
that atoms should group into molecules, and molecules into
masses." In other words, the language of the ancient was
phenomenal, the language of the modern is scientific; and,
although believing the latter, I still suspect that, in the
vision of the Omniscient One Who sees behind our Sci-
GENESIS OF ORDER.
55
ences, i. e., our notions of things, the old pictorial language
is quite as true as the new philosophic. What the precise
thing was which was effected when the Breath of God
moved on the face of the fluids, I know not. Perhaps it
was the endowing the atoms with the quantitative force of
gravity, and the qualitative forces of chemism. But I am
not here to deliver a scientific lecture. I am here to ex-
pound, as best I may, the Mosaic Record of the Creation.
And the truth we have in hand to-day is this: God's Will
it was that turned Chaos into Cosmos.
And just here it is that the believer
crosses swords with the atheist.
The
Origin of Life.
great question of to-day in this department of thought is
this: Is the universe a fortuitous concourse of atoms,"
chancing to come under the reign of an impersonal, unfree,
unforeseeing, goalless Force? Or is it the work of a per-
sonal, free, creative, previsional, purposeful, living God?
In briefest words: Is nature self-operant? or is it God-
operant? Let me put the problem concretely, although, in
doing so, I anticipate a point which will recur later on in
this series. The most fascinating, baffling enigma of to-
day is this: The Origin of Life. How shall we bridge the
measureless chasm between dead matter and living matter,
between CHON as an inorganic corpse and CHON as an or-
ganic person? What is that subtile, potent thing, vaguely
called Principle of Life, Vital Force, etc., which, enshrined
in the apparently structureless, dead centre of a micro-
scopic cell, suddenly quickens it, endows it with energy,
makes it a living, growing, parental thing? This is the
problem over which some of the keenest-eyed of the race
are poring with intensest gaze. Need I say that they are
gazing in vain? Yet it need not be so. Long ages ago,
when Humanity was yet young, an Oriental Emir, pastur-
56
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
ing his flocks amid the oases of Arabia Deserta, solved the
problem. Listen: "The Spirit of God made me, and the
Breath of the Almighty gave me life" (Job xxxiii. 4). And
centuries afterward, in a fair territory hard by, a Psalm-
ist, addressing that Divine Spirit from Whose presence
he declared himself unable to flee, adoringly exclaims in
words marvelously scientific: "I will praise Thee, for
I am fearfully, wonderfully made my substance was not
hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth: Thine eyes did.
see my substance yet being unperfect-my unformed, un-
structured substance; and in Thy book all my members
were written; day by day were they fashioned, when there
was none of them " (Psalm cxxxix. 14-16). Gentlemen of the
laboratory, go on with your investigations. Ye are en-
gaged in a noble service. From the bottom of my heart I
say, God bless you, and make you successful in unravel-
ing many another sublime secret of nature! But, gentle-
men, I prophesy one thing: No matter how perfect your
instruments, how keen your vision, how splendid your
genius, no instrument of yours will ever detect the Secret
of Life. For that Secret is not material; it is spiritual,
and therefore forever and for evermore beyond the range
of microscope. Ah, ye materialists, ye Haeckels and Mole-
schotts and Feuerbachs and Vogts, fancying that ye “dis-
cern in matter the promise and potency of every form and
quality of life," yet unable, with all your science and all
your appliances, to turn a single, definite, dead set of mole-
cules into a lowest living organism, come with me, and I
will show you when and where and how life originates.
Bring along with you the whole of your apparatus, for I
think ye will need it all. And now visit with me the ven-
erable Prophet of the Euphrates. Following his lead, we
GENESIS OF ORDER.
57
وو
go down into one of the great valleys of Babylonia. All
around us lies a vast host of fleshless, unburied, dismem-
bered skeletons. A voice is borne down to us as though
from the skies: "Son of man, can these dry bones live?
"Oh yes," answer our materialistic friends; "we have
brought our retorts and crucibles and reagents and bat-
teries and tables of chemical equivalents, and we propose
to redeem the promise of life lurking in these skeletons;
we propose to evolve the potency of life ensconced in
these bones." And so I see you setting to work imme-
diately, consulting your tables, arranging your reagents,
igniting your blow-pipes, connecting your galvanic cur-
rents, adjusting your microscopes. And, lo, I confess,
there is a sound, and a shaking, and a coming together of
bones, bone to its bone; and, lo, something that looks like
a sinew does come upon them, and something that looks
like skin does cover them; but, strange to say, there is no
breath in them. What though the skeletons have been
articulated and enfleshed? They are still only corpses.
Ah, gentlemen of the laboratory, do not look so blank!
for do ye not believe in Baal, the Sun-god, Nature's grand
Vivifier? Wonderful he is; but possibly he is meditat-
ing, or has stepped aside, or is on a journey, or peradven-
ture he is asleep, and must be awaked (1 Kings xviii. 18).
Cry then louder, and arrest his notice. And so I see you
leaping on his altar, trying this and that reagent, hurry-
ing to the microscope, shouting to Great Baal even "from
dewy morn to stilly eve." And yet there is no breath in
these enfleshed skeletons; they are still only prone, mo-
tionless, white cadavers. Again a voice is borne down to
us from the skies: "Son of man, can these bones live?"
I look at my materialistic friends, and they turn away
from their table of chemical equivalents, and are silent.
ལ
58
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
I look up to the heaven of heavens, and I reverently an-
swer: "O Lord God, Thou knowest; the God that an-
swereth by fire from heaven, let Him be God." And
now is borne down to us, as from the very throne of the
King Eternal, Invisible, the blessed and only Potentate, the
Life-giving Voice: "Prophesy to the Wind, Son of man,
prophesy, and say to the Wind: Thus saith the Lord God:
Come Thou from the four winds, O Breath, and breathe
upon these dead, that they may live." I homagefully
obey; and, lo, the Breath instantly comes into them, and
they are alive, and stand on their feet, an exceeding great
army (Ez. xxxvii. 1-10). Ah, gentlemen of the Academy,
there is the key to the Problem of Life! It is not in any
material atom, any molecular arrangement, any chemi-
cal interplay, any convertibility of Force; it is in the
Spirit of the living God, the inspiration of the Ancient of
Days, the inbreathing of the Father of Spirits. Ay, the
Patriarch of Arabia was right: "The Spirit of God made
me, and the Breath of the Almighty hath given me life "
(Job xxxiii. 4). That is the Secret of all life-life human,
animal, vegetal. That is the vitalizing Force of the bio-
plast, the Vis Formativa, the Quickening, Plastic Energy
of the Universe. And that Energy, as our passage in-
forms us, was at work from the beginning. "The earth
was without form, and void, and darkness was on the face
of the deep; and the Breath of God moved over the face
of the fluids." In some sense and way, chemically inscru-
table to us, the Spirit of God, the Heavenly Wind, the
Divine Breath, hovered over ancient Chaos, quickening,
marshaling, coördinating, organizing its motley, chaotic
atoms, breathing over the wild, desolate, ebon immensity
His own Energy of life and order and unity and peace and
beauty. Great poets are ever, even though unconsciously
GENESIS OF ORDER.
59
وو
to themselves, great philosophers. And the Bard of "Para-
dise Lost " is alike Scripturally and scientifically right when,
invoking the Spirit of God as his muse, he sings:
"Thou from the first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast abyss,
And mad'st it pregnant."—(" Paradise Lost," i. 19–22.)
Ay, Gentlemen of the Materialistic Philosophy, you
may believe, if you choose, in the Universe as a self-con-
structed, self-running machine: I prefer to believe in it
as the Breath of God.
Such is the Story of the Genesis of Order.
II.-Moral Mean-
ing of the Story.
1.—All Life begins
chaotically.
And now let us attend to the Moral
Meaning of the Story.
And, first all life begins chaotic-
ally. It is true of physical life. Look
at this bioplast; the most powerful mi-
croscope fails to detect in it much sign of system, or struct-
ure: the most that it detects is a tiny grouping of seem-
ingly unarranged, chaotic material; in fact, so structureless
does it seem, that the microscope declines to prophesy
whether it will unfold into a cedar, an elephant, or a man.
Again it is true of intellectual life. Look at this new-
born infant: how nebulous and chaotic its conceptions!
Your little one may grow into a Shakespeare; but at pres-
ent, and intellectually surveyed-forgive me, fond mother,
for saying it-your little one is scarcely more than a little
animal. Do we not apply indiscriminately to infants and
animals the impersonal pronoun "it?" Once more: it is
true of moral life. That is not first which is spiritual,
but that which is natural: then that which is spiritual
(Cor. xv. 46). Look at Humanity as a whole, and through
60
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the ages, ancient, medieval, modern. How vast but abor-
tive its endeavors! How besmeared its history with idol-
atries, barbarisms, wars, butcheries, oppressions, crimes,
blasphemies! Verily, Humanity, compared with its la-
tent, transcendent possibilities, is indeed a chaos, without
form, and void, and darkness is over its deep. And what
is so sadly true of Humanity as a whole, is as sadly true
of each member of Humanity, at least in his natural, or
rather unnatural, denatured state. For each man is a mi-
crocosm, a miniature world of his own.
And each man,
compared with what is conceivable concerning him, is a
chaos. Gaze on him for a moment; how dulled his reli-
gious sensibilities, how disheveled his moral affections,
how sterile his spiritual capacities, how perverted his
conscience, how misconceived his goal, how ignoble his
choices, how downward his tendencies! True, the ivy
of a graceful morality often exquisitely festoons the
piers and arches and towers of the temple of his soul;
but this very morality itself, like the lovely ivy man-
tling the venerable Abbeys of the Old World, testifies,
it may be, that the sacred fabric is crumbling into dust.
Do you say that my judgment is too severe ? My re-
ply shall be simple, and, as I think, decisive. Our own
chaotic state does not permit us to be good judges in
this matter. The reptile probably is not aware of his own
loathsomeness; but let him become something nobler, say
an eagle, a man, or an angel, and then he will see how
reptilian he once was. Yes, friend, surveying man's ma-
jestically promiseful yet stunted capacities, his vast em-
bryonic but abortive powers, comparing him with what
is conceivable for him, man is indeed a chaos, without
form, and void, and darkness is over the face of the
deep.
GENESIS Of order.
61
2. The Spirit still
the Organizing Force.
Is there any hope here? Thank
God, there is. And so we pass to our
second lesson. That same Breath of
God which moved over the face of those ancient fluids,
is moving to-day over the soul of humanity. Ah, this is
the blessed Energy by which the chaos of our moral na-
ture is being organized into order and beauty. Observe:
as, in shaping the material Earth out of the old Chaos, the
Spirit of God added no new elements, but simply fash-
ioned into order the old; so, in organizing the spiritual
chaos, He adds no new faculties, but simply quickens and
organizes the old. What man needs is not creation, but
re-creation; not generation, but re-generation. And this
it is which the Holy Ghost is achieving. Brooding, incu-
bating as God's Holy Dove over the Chaos of Humanity,
He is quickening its latent forces, arranging its elements,
assorting its capacities, organizing its functions, apportion-
ing its gifts, perfecting its potentialities: in short, com-
pleting, fulfilling, consummating Man in the sphere of
Jesus Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the God-
head bodily, and in Him ye are complete, completed, filled
full, fulfilled, consummated (Col. ii. 9-10). Most meet then
was it that when the Son of God was baptized, this same
most Holy Spirit, even God's own blessed Bird, which
had hovered over ancient Chaos, should descend in bodily
shape like a dove, and alight upon the Representative
of Human Nature, even that Son of Man in whom the
Chaos of Humanity is being organized into the Cosmos of
the Church. And no power but the Holy Ghost can
achieve this. Disorder cannot unravel itself into order;
Chaos cannot evolve itself into Cosmos; Beelzebub cannot
cast out Beelzebub. Only the Spirit of God can organize
Chaos. And this, praised be His Grace, He is doing. No
62
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
man knows what is in him; no man really puts forth his
better, his characterizing, his divine powers till his soul
feels the life-giving warmth of the Spirit's touch. And
then he awakes, oh, how gloriously! to the sense of sublime
energies, to the mastery of celestial ranges. And this it is
which the Spirit has been doing, even from the beginning.
True, the process has been a slow one, even as it seems to
have been in the case of the physical chaos. See, e. g.,
how slow has been the growth of Christendom taken as a
matter of geography. Eighteen centuries have volled
away since the Heavenly Sower declared that His field is
the world; and yet by far the greater portion of that field
is still heathen, never as yet sown with the Heavenly Seed.
Again: see how slow has been the growth of moral ideas.
Eighteen centuries have rolled away since the Lord of the
Kingdom pronounced His Beatitudes. And yet there are
still in His Church the proud in spirit, and the ambitious,
and the avaricious, and the self-loving, and the quarrel-
some, and the revengeful. Nevertheless, for let us be
just, there has been growth-a real, positive, solid ad-
vance. We have seen idolatry shaken, and polygamy
curbed, and slavery abolished, and intemperance checked,
and woman emancipated, and brotherhood asserted, and
war preparing to go into perpetual exile. And the
growth has been an orderly one; first the blade, then
the ear, then the full corn in the ear (Mark iv. 26–29). It is
true in respect to doctrine. First Peter, the Apostle of
Form; then Paul, the Apostle of Creed; then John, the
Apostle of Life. First Athanasius, exponent of the Doc-
trine of Christ; then Augustine, exponent of the Doctrine
of Man; then Anselm, exponent of the Doctrine of Grace.
Nor has the growth or advancing order of due succession
ceased. The problem of this present age is the Doctrine
GENESIS OF ORDER.
63
of the Church, or what constitutes the true Body of Christ.
And even now we see glimmers of the final Doctrine-the
Parousia, or Doctrine of Last Things. And this law of
orderly unfolding is equally true in respect to personal
character. We may not expect to see the full-bearded
grain of saintliness preceding the blades of youthful piety,
or the ripe, rich fruits of heavenhood clustered around the
subterranean root of faith. First children, then young
men, then fathers (1 John ii. 12-14). Yes, Humanity as a
whole is ever taking on symmetry, and peace, and beauty.
Even the bad man, however much he may hate Christian-
ity, would not exchange Christendom for Heathendom.
Nay, more; the world's future will ever be greater and
diviner than its past, because, evermore beneath the Spirit's
brooding wing, it is evermore taking on growth and meth-
od, evermore becoming more and more divinely purpose
ful, evermore becoming more and more conscious of a voca-
tion to divine Sonship and everlasting praise. And so at
last shall dawn the day of perfectation, even those Edenic
Times of the Restitution of all things, of which God hath
spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the
world began (Acts iii. 21). Then, out of the Chaos of Hu-
manity, even the spiritual heavens and earth, which now
are, shall be seen rising in measureless amplitude, and daz-
zling stateliness, and eternal stability, the Cosmos of the
Church, even the new Heavens and new Earth wherein
dwelleth Righteousness (2 Peter iii. 13).
Finally, would you be inserted as a
A Personal Exhor- living stone in that coming Temple?
Then open the chambers of your soul
tation.
to the Holy Breeze of God.
the zephyrs of His Breath.
Be wafted heavenward on
Even now, awake, O North
Wind, and come, Thou South, and breathe on these dead,
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
that they may live (Cant. iv. 16). Yea, Thou risen Son of
God, breathe on us all, that we too may receive the Holy
Ghost (John xx. 22)!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever
shall be, world without end, Amen.
:
LECTURE IV.
GENESIS OF LIGHT.
"And God said, Let there be light, and there was light; and
God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light
from the darkness; and God called the light Day, and the darkness
He called Night; and the evening and the morning were the first
day."-GENESIS i. 3-5.
AND, first, let us ponder our passage
I. Explanation in its literal meaning. Probably we
cannot do better here than to take up
of the Passage.
the successive clauses in their order.
ism.
"And God said.” How are we to
1.-" God said:" understand this phrase? Are we to
An Anthropomorph- take it literally? Are we to suppose
that in that primeval solitude when the
earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon
the face of the deep, the Creator literally vented His will
in articulate speech-His audible voice pealing and rever-
berating through that chaotic, desolate, night-clad abyss?
I can hardly think it. Evidently it is what the theologians
call an Anthropomorphism; that is to say, an application
to God of terms which properly belong to human beings.
It is like those many Scriptural phrases which speak of
God's eye, God's ear, God's hand, God's face, God's
mouth, God's voice. Moreover: recall what was said in
the Introductory Lecture touching the mode of the Divine
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
revelation of the Creative Process to the original Narrator.
According to the view then set forth this whole revelation
of the Creative Week was Divinely made known to the
sacred, inspired Observer in a trance or spiritual vision,
wherein he saw what seemed to him to be the Creator's
form and movements, and heard what seemed to be the
Creator's voice. But though the Story of the Creative
Week is a Divinely inspired record of a Divinely vouch-
safed vision, it is as Divinely true as any of the Apocalyp-
tic visions Divinely vouchsafed the Exile of Patmos.
2.-The God - Said
of Moses the God-
Word of John.
"God said." It is the first occur-
rence of this remarkable phrase. Ten
times it is repeated in this Creation
Archive. It is one of the characteriz-
ing formulas of the Old Testament, constantly recurring
and reappearing in such kindred phrases as these: "God
spake, saying;" "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts;" "The Word
of the Lord came, saying," etc. A phrase so perpetually
recurrent must carry in itself something fundamental. The
key is to be found in the Prologue of St. John's Gospel:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God" (John i. 1).
That is to say:
The "God-Said" of the Old Testament is the "God-Word"
of the New Testament; the "God-Spake" of Creation, the
Divine Logos, or Jesus Christ, of Redemption. Moreover:
from this Prologue of the Apostle John we learn that Jesus
Christ Himself was the mediating agent of the Creative
Act: "In the beginning was the Word-the God-Said;
and the Word-the God-Said-was with God; and the
Word-the God-Said-was God; all things through Him
were made, and without Him was made not one thing that
hath been made; in Him was Life; and the Life was the
Light of men "
(John i. 1-4). Yes, in Jesus Christ-in the
GENESIS OF LIGHT.
67
were
God-Said of Moses and the God-Word of John—“
all things created, the things in the heavens and the things
on the earth, the things visible and the things invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
all things through Him and for Him have been created;
and He is before all things; and all things in Him sub-.
sist" (Col. i. 16, 17). And how majestic the brevity of this
Divine Dictum of Light! "God said, 'Let Light be,' and
Light was." Longinus, the famous Greek critic of Pal-
myra, writing on the Sublime, calls it an illustration of
his theme. Recall the lifeless, orderless, chaotic, ebon
abyss. And now the Eternal Word speaks: "Let Light
be," and Light is. Ah, man's words are but sounds;
God's words are deeds. He but speaks; and, lo! light,
sky, ocean, mountain, tree, animal, man, star, universe!
.He spake, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast
(Psalm xxxiii. 9)! All that is what is it but the God-said
of Creation?
3. The First Light
Chemical.
But just here an astronomic diffi-
culty arises. The sun, we are told, is
the primary source of Light. And yet
later on in this Creation Archive we are told that God
did not make the sun till the Fourth Day (Gen. i. 14–19).
How then could there have been Light on the First Day?
It is a difficulty on which the skeptics, I hardly need tell
you, have not been slow to seize. And yet it is an exceed-
ingly superficial objection-an objection which the scientist
of all men ought to be the very last to make. For the fa-
mous Nebular Hypothesis of Laplace, to which I adverted
in the last lecture-a hypothesis stoutly maintained by many
of the leading scientists of to-day-distinctly asserts that
the condensation of the originally formless, void, dark, gase-
ous chaos, accompanied by intense molecular or chemical
68
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
activity, must have emitted Light. Remember that the
division of the Hebrew Bible into chapters, verses, clauses
-in short, the punctuation of the original Hebrew-is not
inspired; this is altogether a human, artificial arrangement.
I am not sure but that the marvelous phrase, "The Spirit,
or Breath, of God moved on the face of the fluids" (Gen.
i. 2), was meant to stand as the preface to the whole Cre-
ative Week, as a caption to each of the Creative Days;
and assuming this to be so, we can easily conceive that the
first result of the breathing of the Creator would be atomic
movement or molecular activity; and this, if sufficiently
intense, would result in incandescence; that is to say, Light.
Thus the very Nebular Hypothesis itself, which some of
the skeptics have undertaken to suborn as a witness against
Moses, turns out to be an august witness for him. Why
will not men be just? Why will the Academy vote Moses
a blunderer for declaring that Light existed before the sun,
and yet vote Laplace a scientist for declaring precisely
the same thing? And yet Moses was no scientist. Liv-
ing in that far-off unscientific, infantile antiquity, he knew
nothing about the Nebular Hypothesis, or incandescence
as the issue of molecular activity. How came he then,
babe of an unscientific antiquity though he was, to antici-
pate the grandest hypothesis of Modern Science? Is
there any more philosophical solution than this: Moses
was Divinely inspired?
4.-Blessedness of
Light.
"And God saw the Light, that it
was good." Ah, what a blessed thing
is Light-blessed in itself, blessed in its
effects. How deliciously and beneficently it floods moun-
tain and meadow, city and hamlet, bearing on its swift
wavelets brightness and beauty and health and gladness!
It is to Light that the cloud, the sunset, the rainbow,
GENESIS OF LIGHT.
69
the diamond, the violet, owe their exquisite hues. Truly
the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes
to behold the sun (Eccl. xi. 7). Nay, more: Light is one of
the essential conditions of all life itself-alike vegetal,
animal, human, and, doubtless, angelic. Yes, there is a
better curative than allopathy or homoeopathy, hydropathy
or aëropathy; it is heliopathy, or light of the sun. Phy-
sicians understand this, and so seek for their patients the
sunny side of hospitals. And so they unconsciously con-
firm the Holy Saying, "To you that fear My name shall
the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings"
(Mal. iv. 2). Yes, our debt of thankfulness to Light is sim-
ply incalculable. It is under its blessed ministry that the
cloud takes its tint, and the rose its hue, and the cheek
its blush; that the farmer sows his seed, and the artisan
plies his tools, and the pilot guides his ship, and the stu-
dent reads his book, and the lover exchanges with his loved
one the tender glance, and the invalid regains his health,
and the worshiper finds his way to God's temple. It mat-
ters not how perfect the structure and government of the
world are in other respects; how accurate the adjustments
of the elements and forces of Nature; how mighty the in-
tellect of man; how indomitable his will; how steady his
arm; how perfect his eye as an organ of vision-let only
Light be annihilated, and the machinery of society comes
to a stop, and earth itself dissolves into its primeval chaos.
How horrible a sunless world would be, Byron has pictured
in his terrible Poem on "Darkness." In brief: it is because
there is such a thing as Light that earth is what it is-a
theatre for the display of the Creator's effulgence, and not
a sepulchre for entombing it. No wonder then, when God
saw the Light He had spoken into being, it seemed to Him
good. No wonder either that Light, in some one of its
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
aspects—as sun, or moon, or star, or fire-has been the ob-
ject of adoration from time immemorial. The Phoenician
had his Baal, the Egyptian his Osiris, the Persian his Or-
muzd, the Hindoo his Indra, the Greek his Phoebus, the
Roman his Apollo-for these are but different systems of
Light Worship. Listen to the Patriarch of Uz, as he pro-
tests his innocence in this very matter:
"If I beheld the sun when it shined,
And the moon walking in majesty,
And my heart was secretly enticed,
And my mouth kissed my hand-
This also were a crime to be judged,
For I should have been false to God on high."
-(JOB Xxxi. 26-28.)
But what the heathen ignorantly worshiped, that the Bible
But let me not anticipate.
declares to us.
5.—Evening, Morn-
ing.
"And God divided the Light from
the darkness and God called the Light
Day, and the Darkness He called Night:
and the evening and the morning were the First Day.”
And here comes into view a second astronomic diffi-
culty: How shall the terms "day, night, morning, even-
ing, first day," be understood în light of the subsequent
statement that the sun was not made till the Fourth Day,
and also of the apparent teaching of Geology, that im-
measurable ages were occupied in world-building? Vari-
ous solutions have been proposed. It is not necessary to
detail them. My own conviction is, as already set forth
at length in the Introductory Lecture, that the best solu-
tion is that which supposes that the original Narrator was
Divinely vouchsafed an apocalypse, or spiritual vision, in
which a panorama of the Creative Week was unrolled be-
fore him, the successive events seeming to occur in periods
GENESIS OF LIGHT.
71
of twenty-four hours each. In other words: the language
is not scientific, but optical; not philosophical, but pic-
torial; not literal, but scenic. And yet, philosophically and
morally interpreted, it is profoundly true. For observe
the order of the words: It is not first morning, and then
evening; it is first evening, then morning: "And there
was evening, and there was morning, day one." Translat-
ing this primeval, childlike, scenic language into the rigid,
elaborate language of the modern Nebular Hypothesis, see
how marvelously true it is. First: the evening of the form-
less, void, dark chaos; then the morning of the atomic vi-
bration, or chemical movement, issuing in incandescent light.
And for aught we know, and, indeed, as there is immense
reason for believing, that evening of chaos, and that morning
of chemism, making a night of darkness and a day of light,
continued through thousands and millions of years. How
striking, in this connection, the Ninetieth Psalm, written,
it is believed, by this very Moses who transcribed for us
the original, inspired Tradition of Creation: "Lord, Thou
hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. Before
the mountains were brought forth, and Thou gavest birth
to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to ever-
lasting, from olam to olam, from æon to æon, from era to
era, Thou art God. Thou turnest man to dust, and sayest,
'Return, ye sons of men.' For a thousand years in Thy
sight are as yesterday when it is passed, and as a watch
in the night" (Psalm xc. 1-4). Yes, "one day is with the
Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day" (2 Peter iii. 8). Ah, this conception of the Primal,
Infinite Cause, as working in succession, or measures of
human time-what is it but a testimony to human finite-
ness and weakness? Felicitously has the Laureate ex-
pressed it:
72
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
g
"To your question now,
Which touches on the Workman and His work.
Let there be Light, and there was Light: 'tis so:
For was, and is, and will be, are but is;
And all creation is one act at once,
The birth of Light: but we that are not all,
As parts can see but parts, now this, now that,
And live, perforce, from thought to thought, and make
One act a phantom of succession: thus
Our weakness, somehow, shapes the shadow, Time."
-("THE PRINCESS.")
Such is the story of the Genesis of Light.
II.-Moral Mean-
ing of our Passage.
1.-God is Light.
And now let us attend to the Moral
Meaning of the Story.
First of all, I wish to direct your
attention to a remarkable declaration of
Holy Writ. The Apostle John tells us that he has received
a message from Jesus Christ; and then he proceeds to de-
clare to us that message. What now is the message and dec-
laration? Is it that God is Truth? No. God is Righteous-
ness? No. God is Love? No. What then is it? Listen:
"This is the message which we have heard from Him,
and declare unto you, that God is Light" (1 John i. 5).
unexpected, impressive message, surely! Had the Apostle
told us that the message was, "God is Wisdom, Power,
Holiness, Love," we might not have been surprised. But
to be told, and this too after a preface of unwonted solem-
nity, in which we are reminded that the message had come
from Jesus Christ Himself, that the message was this:
"God is Light:" this certainly is unlooked-for and even
startling. Listen again: "This is the message which we
have heard from Him, and announce unto you: 'God is
Light.' "" The announcement at once raises the surmise that
there is not after all that radical difference between "Natu-
GENESIS OF LIGHT.
73
ral Religion" and "Revealed Religion," which we so often
imagine; but that the God of Creation and the God of
Redemption is absolutely one: Creation being the reflec-
tion of His face shining matterward, and Redemption the
reflection of His face shining spiritward. For aught I
know, the Apostle's message is literally true. Remember
that when we are talking of Light, we are moving in
presence of a very subtile mystery. The Origin and Na-
ture of Light is still a profound problem. True, we talk
learnedly and correctly about the laws of Light; its laws
of reflection, refraction, absorption, dispersion, polarization,
etc. But these are only phenomena; they tell us nothing
about the nature or origin of Light itself. All we know
of Light is merely a knowledge of the mode and laws of
its motion. We do not know the essence of Light itself.
Modern Science is no wiser here than Ancient. Listen to
the Almighty, as, addressing the Emir of Arabia, He
speaks out of the whirlwind, saying:
"The way-where is it to Light's dwelling-place?
And Darkness-where the place of its abode ?
That thou shouldest take it to its bounds,
Or know the way that leadeth to its house?"
—(JOB XXXviii. 19, 20.)
One thing is certain: Light is the nearest known, sensi-
ble approach to immateriality, being classed with its appar-
ent kindred-heat, electricity, magnetism—among the im-
ponderables. Indeed, the modern magnificent Undulatory
Theory denies that Light is material, and affirms that it is
but a mode of motion. We are accustomed to say that
there are but two things in the universe-Spirit and Mat-
ter—and that the chasm between these is infinite. Possibly
this is one of those assumptions which, did we know more,
4
74
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
we would affirm less. Possibly Light is an instance of
what the philosophers call Tertium Quid-a third Some-
thing, intermediate between Spirit and Matter, etherially
bridging the measureless chasm. Possibly Light is God's
natural expression, outflow, radiation, manifestation, vest-
ment:
"O Lord, my God, Thou art very great,
Thou art clothed with honor and majesty,
Thou coverest Thyself with Light as with a mantle."
-(PSALM Civ. 1, 2.)
Possibly, when the Creator moves in that finite world
we call Time, He leaves Light as His personal vestige and
train-His mantle ripples into Light, is Light itself. Pos-
sibly the Bard of "Paradise Lost" is right when he sings :
"Hail, Holy Light! Offspring of Heaven, first-born,
Or of the eternal, co-eternal Beam,
Bright Effluence of bright Essence Increate."
("PARADISE LOST," iii. 1-6.)
In view of this possibility, how natural as well as fitting
that the ancient token of God's Personal Presence among
the Hebrews should have been the Shechinah, or dazzling
Glory-Cloud:
By day along the astonished lands,
The cloudy pillar glided slow;
By night, Arabia's crimsoned sands
Returned the fiery column's glow."
-(SIR WALTER SCOTT.)
And, not only in Old Testament times, as when the
Shechinah marshaled the hosts of Israel (Ex. xiii. 21), and
rested on Sinai, and flashed over the Mercy-seat (Lev. xvi. 2),
and flushed the Temple with its insufferable brightness
(1 Kings viii. 10, 11), was the Glory-Cloud seen; it reappeared
in New Testament times, shining round about the Shep-
GENESIS OF LIGHT.
75
herds of the Nativity (Luke ii. 9), hovering over the Mount
of Transfiguration (Matt. xvii. 9), receiving the ascending Son
of Man (Acts i. 9), gleaming over Saul of Tarsus with a
splendor above the brightness of the mid-day sun (Acts xxvi.
12, 13). Once more it will reappear, blazing as the great
white Throne on which shall sit the descending Judge of
quick and dead (Matt. xxiv. 30). Nay, more, the Holy City
itself, New Jerusalem, yet to come down from God out
of heaven, shall never have need of sun or moon to shine
on it; for the Glory of God will lighten it, and the Lamb
will be the Light thereof (Rev. xxi. 22, 23). This, then, is the
message of the Son of the Highest through His Apostle
John God is Light.
2.-God's Church
is also Light.
And as God is Light, so also are
His children Light. Expressly are they
called Sons of Light (Luke xvi. 8). Ex-
pressly is He called Father of Lights (James i. 17). We
know that light is latent in every form of matter; for,
when sufficiently heated, it becomes incandescent-that is
to say, self-luminous. What is flame but a mass of heated,
visibly glowing gas? True, it doth not yet appear what
we shall be (1 John iii. 2). Nevertheless, I believe that
Light is latent within us all, and that by-and-by, at least
in the case of God's saintly children, it will stream forth;
not that it will be evolved by the action of any heat or
chemical force, but that, under the free, transcendent con-
ditions of the heavenly estate, it will ray forth spontane-
ously. I think we are permitted to read preluding hints
of this in the self-luminousness of the summer glow-worm,
the fitful firefly, the ploughing steamship's gorgeous wake,
the gleaming shaft along the crest of the breaking ocean-
surge,
the vision of stars when the brain receives a sud-
den concussion as in falling, the sense of light when the
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
eyeball is accidentally pressed in the blackness of mid-
night. But why do I speculate? Have ye never read in
the Scriptures how that the children of Israel could not
steadfastly behold the face of Moses, because of the glory
of his countenance when the skin of his face shone (Ex. xxxiv.
29-35); how that the martyr Stephen's face, when he stood
before the Council, shone as the face of an angel (Acts vi. 15);
how that the Son of Man Himself, when He was praying,
was transfigured, and the fashion of His countenance was
altered, and His face shone as the sun, and His very rai-
ment became exceeding white as the light, so as no fuller
on earth can whiten (Matt. xvii. 1-8); how that Moses and
Elijah also appeared with Him in glory (Luke ix. 30, 31)?
Have ye never read in the Scriptures how that Gabriel
declared to Daniel that they who are wise shall shine as
the brightness of the firmament, and they who turn many
to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever (Dan. xii. 3):
or how that the Master Himself declares that in the end
of the world the righteous shall shine forth as the sun-
ay, shine forth-not in reflected light as the moon, but in
original Light as the sun, in the Kingdom of their Father
(Matt. xiii. 43)? Have ye never read in the Scriptures how
that St. Paul tells us that when He, Who is our Life, shall
appear, we too shall appear with Him in glory (Col. iii. 4):
or how that we are to look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ, Who will change the body of our humiliation, that
it may be fashioned like the body of His glory-His efful-
gence (Phil. iii. 21)-thus translating us into the glorious lib-
erty-the liberty of the splendor, of the children of God
-even that hour of the manifestation, the revelation, the
disclosure, of the sons of God-the hour of their shining
apocalypse as God's Sons (Rom. viii. 21)? Ah, that is the
blessed hour, O saint, when thou shalt indeed arise and
GENESIS OF LIGHT.
ryry
shine, thy light breaking forth as the dawn (Is. Iviii. 8). Ay,
God is Light, and so also are God's children.
3.-Jesus Christ
the Shadow of God.
Thirdly Jesus Christ Himself, as
Incarnate, is the Shadow of God's Light.
Infinite God, Deity as unconditioned
and absolute, no man hath ever seen or can ever see, and
live (Ex. xxxiii. 20). He dwelleth in Light which no man
can approach unto (1 Tim. vi. 15), is Light itself.
"Dark
with excess of Light," we poor finite beings cannot behold
Him except through the softening intervention of some
medium. Therefore the Son of God, Brightness of His
Glory and express Image of His Person (Heb. i. 3), Radiance
of His Effulgence and Character or Impress of His Sub-
stance, became incarnate, that in the softer morning star
and suffused dayspring of the Incarnation we might be
able to look on the dazzling Father of Lights, and not be
dazed into blindness. How bright Christ's inherent Glory
was may be seen from the fact that when He had risen
again, and appeared to Saul on his way to Damascus, His
splendor was so effulgent that it actually smote the per-
secutor into blindness (Acts xxii. 11). The Eternal Word,
Who in the beginning was, and was with God, and was
God (John i. 1), laid aside for a while the Glory which He
had with the Father before the world was (John xvii. 5), and
became flesh (John i. 14), that through the mitigating veil
of that flesh we might be able to gaze on the burning
face of the Infinite One, and still live. The Incarnation
was a benignant eclipse of the Light of Light, Christ's
humanity casting its solemn, majestic shadow athwart the
immensity of human time as His earthly nature swept in
between Infinite God and finite man, thus graciously
obscuring the otherwise intolerable, consuming Blaze.
Wretched the man whom the god of this world has so
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
blinded that that eclipse becomes a total one! Blessed
the man who, however profound the obscurity, still per-
ceives the flashing corona of immortal Godhead! Yea,
thrice blessed the man who abideth under the shadow of
the Almighty (Psalm xci. 1)! Thus Jesus Christ is the Shad-
ow of God; and this in a twofold sense: a shadow of in-
terception, and so obscuring God: and a shadow of repre-
sentation, and so revealing God. Yea, that God, Who in
the beginning commanded light to shine out of darkness,
amid the night-palled chaos, saying, "Let Light be,” and,
lo, Light was that same God hath shined in our hearts
to give the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. iv. 6).
the Light of the
World.
Fourthly: But Jesus Christ is not
4.-Jesus Christ only the shadow or tempered image of
God in the very act of becoming that
shadow Jesus Christ also became the
Light of the world (John viii. 12). Ah, how much the world
needed His illumination! Verily, it was the land of dark-
ness and the shadow of death-the land of darkness, as
darkness itself, of the shadow of death, without any or-
der, and where the light is as darkness (Job x. 21, 22). But,
praised be Immanuel, the people who walked in darkness
have seen a great Light; and they who dwelt in the land
of the shadow of death, upon them Light hath shined
(Matt. iv. 16). The Dayspring from on high hath visited us
(Luke i. 78), and the Sun of Righteousness hath risen on us
with healing in His wings (Mal. iv. 2). The Son of God is
the true Prometheus, descending from the true Olympus,
bringing down to this darkened, groping, chaotic world
the blazing torch of Heaven's own fire. In His Light we
see Light (Psalm xxxvi. 9). He is the true Light, which,
coming into the world, is enlightening every man (John i. 9).
GENESIS OF LIGHT.
179
And He is enlightening every man through the manger in
which He was laid, through the words He spake, through
the works He wrought, through the example He set,
through the character He was, through the death He en-
dured, through the resurrection He won, through the
throne He holds. This, in fact, was the secret of the
Christ's mission into the world. The very purpose why
the Spirit of the Lord God had anointed Him was that
He might proclaim recovery of sight to the blind (Is. Ixi. 1)
by becoming Himself the Light of men. True, the pro-
cess of recovery has not been sudden: God knows it has
been very gradual. In regaining our spiritual sight we,
like the blind man of Bethsaida, at first see men as trees
walking (Mark viii. 24). Saved though we are, Duty still
calls us to delve as in mines of the earth. And so, as in
the ancient Prophet's vision, for a long time it is neither
day nor night but be of good cheer, O saint, at eventide
it shall be light (Zech. xiv. 7). Yea, light is sown for the
righteous (Psalm xlvii. 11): and, when in due time it is reaped,
the harvest will be larger than the seed.
"We have but faith; we cannot know:
For knowledge is of things we see:
And yet, we trust, it comes from Thee,
A beam in darkness: let it grow." ("IN MEMORIAM.")
Ay, the path of the just is like the light of dawn, which
shineth more and more till the perfect day-the meridian,
eternal noon (Prov. iv. 18).
:
Fifthly As Jesus Christ is the
5. And so also is Light of the World, so also is His
Church: He, clear as the sun, she, fair
His Church.
as the moon, both together resplendent as an army with
banners (Cant. vi. 10).
Little as the world dreams it, the
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Church of the living God, everlastingly circling in the
sweet gravitation of love around the shining Sun of Right-
eousness, and lustrous with His beams, is the world's true
Pharos, majestically towering amid the wastes of time's
immensity, flashing forth its rays,
"Like a shaft of light across the land,
And like a lane of beams athwart the sea,
Through all the circle of the Golden Year."
-(TENNYSON.)
Ah, there are times when you and I and the wisest of men,
suddenly awaking to some great question concerning God,
or Duty, or Eternity, feel the horror of a great darkness
creeping over us (Gen. xv. 12). Whither shall we turn for
guidance? To the phosphorescent light of Nature? Alas,
it is but the dim lustre of the glow-worm, the transient
sparkle of the firefly, the deceitful ignis fatuus of the
marsh. Shall we turn to the artificial lights of the Acad-
emy? Alas, its flickering torches, and flaring flambeaux,
and dazzling calcium lights, however brilliant and useful
for this world, are quenched amid the spray of the surg-
ing billows of death. Whither then shall we turn for
light? To that blessed halo, which, let down from the
enthroned, radiant Son of God, encircles the head of the
littlest of His babes. Ay, that is the Heaven-lighted au-
rora before which earth's most refulgent orb "pales its un-
effectual fire." O children of the Eternal Father, hide not
then your light (Matt. v. 14-16).
III.-In Conclu-
sion.
Two thoughts in conclusion.
And, first, a word of cheer for the
1.-A Word of saint. Ye are sons of Light. Recall
now how much Light means.
Cheer.
It means
all that is most bright and clean and direct and open and
unselfish and spotless and lovely and healthful and true
GENESIS OF LIGHT.
81
1
then your wealth!
Walk in the Light,
Himself the Light
and divine. How exceedingly great
Oh, live worthily of your rich estate.
even as He is in the Light, and is
(1 John i. 5-7). Let every sunrise summon you, not only to
the true Light, but also to a closer, brighter walk with
Him. The nearer Him, the more luminous. May the life
of each one of us be in very truth a helianthus, evermore
keeping our petals turned toward the Sun of Righteous-
ness! Yea, O Lord, evermore lift Thou upon us the light
of Thy countenance, evermore cause Thy face to shine
upon us.
So shall we, with all Thy ransomed ones of
every land and age; be made meet to enter into the ex-
ceeding rich patrimony, even the inheritance of the saints.
in Light (Col. i. 12). Ay, in that day of noontide splendor,
when the Lord shall have bound up the breach of His peo-
ple, and healed the wound of their stroke, the light of the
moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the
sun shall be seven-fold, as the light of seven days (Is. xxx.
26). Nay, more in that day of eternal noontide, the sun
shall no more be thy light; neither for brightness shall
the moon give light to thee: for the Lord shall be to thee
an everlasting Light, and thy God, thy Glory (Is. lx. 19).
2. A Word of
Entreaty.
Finally: a word of entreaty to the
sinner. Of what use, O friend, is the
most abounding light, if we persist in
keeping our eyes closed? Awake, then, O sleeper, and
arise from the dead, and Christ will give thee Light (Eph.
v. 14). Oh, that at this very moment the day might dawn
and the day-star arise in your heart (2 Peter i. 19)! Remem-
ber that that same God, Who called light out of dark-
ness, divided the Light from the darkness, calling the
Light Day, and the darkness He called Night. As there is
an eternal Day for the Son of Light, so there is an eternal
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Night for the Son of Darkness. Give glory, then, to Je-
hovah, thy God, before it groweth dark, and before thy
feet stumble upon the dark mountains: and, while thou art
looking for light, He turn it into the death-shade (Jer. xiii. 16).
Mehr Licht! gasped the great but Christless Goethe on
his dying-bed. What Light is that which I see gleaming
beyond the river, glinting even on the frowning crags
which overhang the Valley of the Shadow of Death? It
is the Light of the city which hath the foundations (Heb.
xi. 10), even that eternal, dazzling city, which will never
need the light of sun or moon; for the Effulgence of God.
doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the Splendor thereof Rev.)
xxi. 23).
"There is a region lovelier far
Than sages tell, or poets sing,
Brighter than noonday glories are,
And softer than the tints of spring.
It is not fanned by summer's gale;
'Tis not refreshed by vernal showers;
It never needs the moonbeam pale,
For there are known no evening hours.
No, for that world is ever bright
With purest radiance all its own;
The streams of uncreated Light
Flow round it from th' eternal throne.
In vain the curious, searching eye
May seek to view the fair abode,
Or find it in the starry sky:
It is the dwelling-place of God."-(TUCK.)
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Ghost as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall
be, world without end. Amen.
LECTURE V.
GENESIS OF THE SKY.
"And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the
waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God
made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the
firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and i
was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening
and the morning were the second day."-GENESIS i. 6-8.
I. Explanation
of the Passage.
1.- Ancient Con-
ception of the Sky.
LET us first attend to the Explana-
tion of the Passage.
And, first, what did the Sacred
Chronicler mean by the term "Firma-
ment,” or, more literally, "Expanse?"
Beware, then, at the very outset of trying to extort from
the passage what is not in it. Beware of demanding from
Moses the harvest of the Nineteenth Century of our Lord.
Instead, then, of putting our meaning into Moses's words,
is it not fairer, first of all, to ask what Moses himself
meant? Having learned this, then it will be proper to
ask whether his meaning is consistent with modern lights.
Manifestly, then, the honest thing to do is, first of all, to
forget modern attainments, and enter into sympathy with
the simple, untutored conceptions of the ancients. Re-
membering now that the language of Scripture on such
matters is not scientific, but phenomenal, let us try to
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
2
ure"
99
"He
dwarf ourselves backward thousands of years, and catch
the primeval, childlike conception of the Expanse, or
Heavens. To the ancient Hebrew the sky seemed a vast,
outstretched, concave surface or expansion, in which the
stars were fastened, and over which the ethereal waters
were stored. In the light of this infant conception let me
now recall to you, without comment, a few Scriptural ex-
pressions. "He setteth a canopy over the face of the
deep” (Prov. viii. 27); "He foldeth up the heavens as a vest-
(Heb. i. 12)," and rolleth them together as a scroll"
(Is. xxxiv. 4); "He stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,
and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in" (Is. xl. 22);
"He walketh on the arch of heaven " (Job xxii. 14), “and
sitteth upon the circle of the earth (Is. xl. 22);
spreadeth out the skies, firm like a molten mirror” (Job
xxxvii. 18): "there was under His feet, as it were, a paved
work of sapphire stone, as it were heaven itself for clear-
ness (Ex. xxiv. 10); "praise Him, ye heavens of heaven,
and ye waters that are above the heavens " (Psalm cxlviii. 4);
"He opened the windows of heaven, and the rain was
upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (Gen. vii. 11, 12).
"Ah, all this," you tell me, "is scientifically false; the
sky is not a material arch, or tent, or barrier, with outlets
for rain; it is only the matterless limit of vision." Nei-
ther, let me again remind you, is there any such thing as
66 sunrise" or
or "sunset." To use such words is to utter
what science declares is a falsehood. And yet your as-
tronomer, living in the blaze of science, fresh from the
discovery of spectrum analysis and satellites of Mars, and
knowing too that his words are false, still persists in talk-
ing of sunrise and sunset. Will you, then, deny to the
untutored Moses, speaking in the childlike language of
that ancient, infant civilization, the privilege which you
وو
GENESIS OF THE SKY.
85
so freely accord to the diploma-emblazoned, scientifically-
speaking, nineteenth-century astronomer?
Taking now, as our clew, this primi-
2.- Panorama of tive, childlike conception of the sky as
the Emerging Sky. an outstretched, ethereal expanse, and
keeping distinctly in mind that the language of Scripture
on such matters is not scientific, but optical, describing
things as they seem, let us try to picture to ourselves the
process of the Second Day as it appeared to the Sacred
Narrator, when, from his mount of inspired vision, he
gazed down on Creation's unfolding panorama. Every-
where is still a shapeless, desolate chaos. True, the Breath
of God is moving over the face of the fluids, and marshal-
ing the atoms into molecules, the molecules into masses.
True, though the sun has not yet appeared, there is light;
it may be the fierce light of incandescence, atom clashing
with atom, molecule with molecule, discharging flashes at
every shock. But although the organizing Breath and the
fiery glow are here, yet all is still in seething, tumultuous,
chaotic confusion. And now a sudden break is seen. A
broad, glorious band or expanse glides through the angry,
chaotic waste, separating it into two distinct masses-the
lower, the heavy fluids; the upper, the ethereal vapors.
The band, still bearing upward the vapor, swells and
mounts and arches and vaults, till it becomes a concave
hemisphere or dome. That separating, majestic dimension
we cannot to this day call by a better name than the Ex-
panse. And that Expanse God called Heavens. And
there was evening and there was morning, a Second Day.
Such is the panorama of the Birth of the Heavens.
3.-Meaning of the
Term "Expanse."
Still the question recurs: "What are
we to understand by the term 'Ex-
panse?"" Two answers have been given.
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
a.
Possibly the And, first, it has been commonly
Atmosphere.
supposed that the Expanse means the
air or atmospheric heavens. Remember that though
there were already the brooding Spirit and the mys-
terious light, yet earth itself was still a confused, tu-
multuous chaos. And our passage, it has been com-
monly supposed, marks the first separation of the ele-
ments, or the beginning of the reign of Order, by repre-
senting the atmosphere as the means of separating the
waters on the surface of the globe from the clouds or aërial
waters; in other words, that it describes the beginning of
the process of evaporation. Assuming for a moment that
this is a correct supposition, let us briefly dwell on it.
Perhaps you think that this separation of the original mass.
of waters into two masses, the one below and the other
above, was but a little thing to do, hardly worthy of occu-
pying one of the Six Creative Days. Ponder, then, what
a stupendous thing evaporation means. Consider the vast
amount of water which may be and actually is stored up in
the atmosphere. The average quantity of aqueous vapor,
or water held in the air, is estimated to be 54,460,000,000,-
000 tons. The annual amount of rainfall is estimated
to be 186,240 cubic miles. If this rain were at any one
moment equally spread over the land portion of the globe,
it would cover all the Continents-Asia, Africa, Europe,
North and South America-with water three feet deep.
Of course this water did not originate in the sky: some
time or other it must have ascended. Reflect now that
water in its natural state-i. e., water as water-is 773
times heavier than air. And now suppose that you
had
never heard or conceived of the principle of evaporation,
and that you were required to lift up this vast mass of
54,460,000,000,000 tons of water one mile, two, three, four,
GENESIS OF THE SKY.
87
five miles, into the air, and keep it suspended there. The
hydrostatic press is among the most powerful of existing
machines. And yet the hydrostatic press, gigantically
powerful as it is, compared with the force requisite to lift
the atmospheric waters, is as the pressure of a scarcely-felt
zephyr to the impact of a thousand million broadsides.
Nevertheless, what man, or all mankind combined, cannot
do, or begin to do, God may have done on the Second
Day, and in all events does daily; and this too with infi-
nite ease and noiselessness. Water as vapor occupies 1,600
times larger space than water as liquid. Hence water in
its vapor state is vastly lighter than air, and naturally
ascends. This is the whole secret. Thus, by the simple,
noiseless, generally invisible process of evaporation, this
stupendous weight is raised to and kept suspended at this
tremendous height. You know that the countless rivers
of earth are evermore, day and night, pouring their vast
volumes into the seas. Did you ever think why the seas
do not overflow? E. g., the narrow river Jordan alone
annually discharges into the Dead Sea, say, a billion tons
of water, and the Dead Sea has no apparent outlet; and
yet it does not overflow. And why? Because as much
water soars from it as flows into it. Did you ever think
why the vast, inconceivable quantity of water suspended in
the air does not fall on you in smiting, annihilating ava-
lanches? It is simply because the mists and clouds are but
gigantic aërial reservoirs or tanks of water, oftentimes
thousands of feet in thickness and tens of thousands of
acres in breadth. Now, is all this mere chance? You
would never imagine it about any sample of human hy-
draulics. Suppose that some one who had never heard of
the system of supplying cities with water should be shown
our own Fairmount Water-Works, with its elaborate ma-
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
sonries, and aqueducts, and reservoirs, and gauges, and
mains, and service-pipes, and faucets; and suppose he
should see the whole system in actual operation all the
way from the Schuylkill to the chamber in which he is
lodging. Do you suppose that any amount of argumenta-
tion would ever convince him that the whole system was
in no wise a contrivance-nothing but pure accident?
The very suggestion would demonstrate to him that the
arguer was an idiot. Now look at the august system which
does actually supply this vast earth of ours with water;
what is it but a gigantic system of Water-Works, occupy-
ing very many thousands of miles in space, having its
countless pumps of evaporation, and reservoirs of clouds,
and service-pipes of rain? And yet we are gravely told,
and this by exceeding wise men, that this whole affair is
no contrivance by an intelligent Designer-such as the
unscientific and superstitious fancy; it is only the fortu-
nate result of a blind, unconscious movement of molecular
activity. Nevertheless, this blind, unconscious movement
of molecular activity, very remarkable to add, considering
how very blind and unconscious it is, persists in repeating
precisely the same movement of water-supply from season
to season, from century to century, from millennium to mil-
lennium. How much more philosophical the theory of the
unscientific, and, if you please, superstitious writers of an-
cient Scripture! "When God uttereth His voice, He
causeth the vapors to ascend from the earth, and there is
a multitude of waters in the heavens " (Jer. x. 13).
"He
bindeth up the waters in His thick clouds, and the cloud
is not rent under them" (Job xxvi. 8). "Dost thou know
the balancings of the clouds - the wonderful works of
Him Who is perfect in knowledge?" (Job xxxvii. 16)
draweth up the drops of water, they pour down rain ac-
"He
GENESIS OF THE SKY.
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cording to its vapor, which the skies do drop and distill
upon man abundantly" (Job xxxvi. 27, 28). "Yea, Thou
hast visited the earth, and watered it; Thou greatly en-
richest it; the river of God is full of water; Thou water-
est the ridges thereof abundantly; Thou makest the earth
soft with showers; Thou blessest the springing thereof;
Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness, and Thy paths
drop fatness (Psalm lxv. 9-11). There is a sense, then, in
which we may truly speak of the atmosphere as an “Ex-
panse," separating the waters into masses above and below.
But, plausible as this interpretation is, there is this objec-
tion to it: Our Chronicler not only represents the Expanse
as separating the waters into two masses; he also distinctly
represents the upper mass as being above the Expanse:
God "divided the waters which were under the Expanse
from the waters which were above the Expanse." And,
many a century afterward, a Psalmist, summoning all crea-
tion to praise the Maker of heaven and earth, exclaims:
"Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens,
And ye waters that are above the heavens."
—(PSALM CXlviii. 4.)
And yet, as a matter of fact, the clouds and vaporous
waters are not above the atmosphere; they are in it. How
constantly and densely the air is charged with aqueous
vapor, the condensed drops on the outside of your ice-
pitchers, even in the driest summer day, sufficiently prove.
Moreover if Moses by his word "Expanse" meant the
atmosphere, it is fair to substitute the term atmosphere for
the term Expanse; and so our passage would read thus:
"God said, "Let there be an atmosphere in the midst of
the waters, and let it divide waters from waters;' and
God made the atmosphere; and He divided the waters
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
which were under the atmosphere from the waters which
were above the atmosphere, and it was so: and God called
the atmosphere Heavens." And this term "Heavens," be
it observed, is the very term which, in connection with the
term "Earth," comprised, according to the first verse of
the Creation Archive, the whole created universe, sidereal
as well as terrestrial: "In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth" (Gen. i. 1). In brief, if by the word
Expanse Moses meant the atmosphere, would he not have
said so, especially as he already had the word for air at
command, having just spoken of the Breath of God as
moving over the face of the waters (Gen. i. 2)?
Accordingly I am inclined to believe
6. Probably the that we are to take the term Expanse as
Sky.
meaning that vast, indefinable exten-
sion which stretches between the earth and the stars; that
is to say, the ethereal heavens. I have more than once
alluded to the splendid Nebular Hypothesis: an hypothesis
which, notwithstanding it has suffered some formidable.
assaults, still holds its own with some of the most eminent
scientists of the day, alike Skeptical and Christian. Accord-
ing to this hypothesis, the Solar System was originally a vast,
chaotic, gaseous, rotating nebula, without form and void
and dark. In process of time it condensed, and in con-
densing, accompanied by atomic motion or chemical activ-
ity, it became incandescent; and in rotating it flung off
successive portions from its own mass, which portions be-
came in turn independent globes. We seem to see evi-
dences of this in certain phenomena even now occurring,
such as the nebulous stars, the comets, the rings of Saturn,
the shooting stars, perhaps the Zodiacal Light. Now, if
this famous Nebular Hypothesis be true, the work of the
Second Day may have consisted in swinging the earth
GENESIS OF THE SKY.
91
from the original nebula, and so making a space or ex-
panse between it and the rest of the universe; the ter-
restrial fluids or condensing vapors forming the waters.
below the Expanse, and the ethereal fluids forming the
waters above the Expanse. In other words, it was the
formation of the Sky. As such, the work of the Second
Day was sublime beyond conception. Not that the Sacred
Chronicler consciously meant this. But, under the in-
spiration of the Holy One, he builded larger than he
knew. It is one of the properties of truth that it has an
indefinite expansibility. Like the successive concentric
circles of undulating water, it evermore repeats itself, and
in repeating itself, it evermore widens. The Bible does.
not profess to be a scientific book. Accordingly it reveals
in advance no scientific fact. But when, under the good
Providence of our God, science does discover a new fact,
it is also discovered that the Bible has from the outset mor-
ally implicated it. And among the many blessed minis-
tries of science none is more sacred than this: to decipher
the Scriptural cipher. In all events, let us not be wise
above what is written. Recall what was said in the be-
ginning of this lecture. Beware of exporting from our
text what after all is only our own import. When the
statement is doubtful, instead of being dogmatic, let us
modestly, calmly abide the tuition of events. One thing
is certain the God Who speaks in Nature, and the God
Who speaks in Scripture, is one and the same God, and
cannot contradict Himself. And sooner or later humanity
will acknowledge that the two declarations are a spiritual
rhyme, a Divine melody.
Such is the Story of the Genesis of the Sky.
II. Moral Mean- And now what are the lessons of the
ing of the Story. Story? It teaches many: e. g., it teaches
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the great lesson of Individuality. But as this will come be-
fore us still more appropriately in our next lecture, let us
reserve our comments till then. Meantime let us take our
chief lesson to-day from the central point of our passage.
That central point is this: "God called the Expanse Heav-
en.” In like manner also every human being has over him
a possible firmament. Happy the day when the mists up-
lift, and he awakens to the vision and sense of the arching
Heavens!
1. The Sky sug-
gests Human Aspira-
tions.
And, first, the Heavens suggest the
soul's true direction: it is upward.
To express moral excellence by terms
of altitude is an instinct. How natu-
rally we use such phrases as these: "Exalted worth, high
resolve, lofty purpose, elevated views, sublime character,
eminent purity!" How naturally, too, we use opposite
phrases: "Low instincts, base passions, degraded charac-
ter, groveling habits, stooping to do it !”
"Down with the traitor,
Up with the flag!'
In answer to the same instinct, the Jews always spoke
of going up to their Holy City Jerusalem, even though in
doing this they may have actually made a geographical
descent, as was the case with the dwellers in Bethlehem
and Hebron. In like manner, pagans instinctively local-
ize their gods on mountain crests; for example, the Per-
sians on Caucasus, the Hindoos on Meru, the Greeks on
Olympus. So the Jews themselves, when fallen into
idolatry, consecrated high places and hill-tops. Doubtless
here, too, is the secret of the arch, and especially the
spire, as the symbol of Christian architecture: the Church
is an aspiration. Even the very word "heaven" itself,
GENESIS OF THE SKY.
93
like the Greek Ouranos, means height, and, according to
the etymologists, is an Anglo-Saxon word, heo-fan; mean-
ing what is heaved up, lifted, heav-en-heaven. Well,
then, may the vaulting sky stand as the symbol of human
aspiration. The true life is a perpetual soaring and dom-
ing; or rather, like the mystic Temple of Ezekiel's vision,
it is an inverted spiral, forever winding upward, and
broadening as it winds (Ez. xli 7). The soul's true life is
a perpetual exhalation; her affections evermore evaporat-
ing from her own great deep, and mounting heavenward
in clouds of incense. Ah, it is not when man stoops
downward to delve amid earthly treasures, it is not even
when he strides forward to exècute broad schemes, that he
is greatest man is greatest when, looking upward, he takes
to himself wings, and flies. The yearnings after a better,
purer, truer, diviner life, the aspirations heavenward: these
are the true birds which God has made to fly above the
earth, along the Expanse of the heavens. Yes, hail to thee,
thou skylark of the soul!
"Higher still and higher,
From the earth thou springest,
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
fections.
-(SHELLEY.)
Secondly: As the Heavens suggest
2. And Divine Per- human aspirations, so do the Heavens
suggest their complement, Divine Per-
fections. It is true, e. g., in respect to God's Immensity.
Nothing seems so remote from us, or gives such an idea
of vastness, as the dome of heaven. Climb we ever so
high on mountain-top, the stars are still above us. Pierce
we ever so far with telescopic ken, beyond its utmost
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
range still arches the same ever-receding vault. It is the
symbol of God's infinite Altitude. As the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are God's ways higher than man's
ways, God's thoughts than man's thoughts (Is. lv. 9). He
is the high and lofty One Who inhabiteth eternity, Whose
name is Holy, Who dwelleth in the high and holy place
(Is. lvii. 15). As, then, we think of His exceeding height,
how vividly does the measureless distance between sky
and earth picture man's exceeding littleness, even in the
moments of his supremest aspiration! Again: It is true
in respect to God's Sovereignty. Nothing seems to be so
absolutely beyond human control or modification as the
sun and stars of heaven.
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades,
Or loose the bands of Orion?
Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season,
Or guide Arcturus with his sons?
Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens,
Or canst thou set their dominion over the earth?"
-(JOB XXXviii. 31-33.)
Yet it is the high and lofty One Who created all these,
Who bringeth out their host by number, Who calleth them
all by name, by the greatness of His might, and because He
is strong in power (Is. xl. 26). What to man is canopy, to
God is throne. He sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and
the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers (Is. xl. 22). Yea,
heaven is His throne, and earth is His footstool (Is. Ixvi. 1).
"Sing unto God then, O, kingdoms of the earth,
Sing praises to the Lord;
To Him Who rideth upon the heaven of heavens of old:
Ascribe ye strength unto God:
His excellency is over Israel,
And His strength is in the skies."
(PSALM lxviii. 32-34.)
GENESIS OF THE SKY.
95
Again: It is true in respect to God's Spirituality.
Nothing seems so like that rarity of texture which we in
stinctively ascribe to pure, incorporeal spirit, as that subtile,
tenuous ether which, it is believed, pervades the clear, im-
palpable sky, and, indeed, all immensity. And in this sub-
tile ether, so invisible to sight, so impalpable to touch, so
diffused throughout earth and the spaces of the heavenly
Expanse, we may behold a symbol of that invisible, intan-
gible, ever-omnipresent One Who Himself is Spirit; and
Who, accordingly, can be worshiped only in spirit and
truth (John iv. 24). Again: It is true in respect to God's
Purity. Nothing is so exquisite an emblem of absolute
spotlessness and eternal chastity, as the unsullied expanse
of heaven, untrodden by mortal foot, unswept by aught
but angel wings. Even the ancients called it the Empy-
rean, as though it had been formed out of pure fire or light.
How fit and glorious an emblem, then, the sky is of the
Purity of Him Who is said to charge His angels with folly
(Job. iv. 18), and in Whose sight the very heavens are de-
clared to be unclean (Job xv. 15)! Again: It is true in
respect to God's Beatitude. We cannot conceive a more
perfect emblem of felicity and moral splendor than light.
Everywhere and evermore, among rudest nations as well
as among most refined, light is instinctively taken as the
first and best possible emblem of whatever is most intense
and perfect in blessedness and glory. And whence comes
light—the light which arms us with health, and fills us
with joy, and tints flower and cloud with beauty, and floods
mountain and mead with splendor-but from the sky?
Well, then, may the shining heaven be taken as the elect
emblem of Him Who decketh Himself with light as with
a robe (Psalm civ. 2), Who dwelleth in light which no man
can approach unto (1 Tim. vi. 16), Who Himself is the Father
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
of lights (James i. 17); nay, Who is Light itself (1 John i. 5),
Himself taking the place of candle and moon and sun in
the City of the Foundations (Rev. xxi. 23). Once more: It
is true in respect to God's Obscurity. For though God
Himself is light, yet there are times when even the very
heavens themselves obscure His brightness. There are
times when clouds and darkness are round about Him
(Psalm xcvii. 2), when He layeth the rafters of His palace in
the upper waters, and maketh the clouds His chariot, and
walketh upon the wings of the wind (Psalm civ. 3), and hath
His way in the whirlwind, and the clouds are the dust of
His feet, and His pavilion round about Him are dark wa-
ters and thick clouds of the skies (Nah. i. 3). Yea, there are
times when it is the glory of God to conceal a thing (Prov.
xxv. 2), and there is a hiding of His power (Hab. iii. 4). Happy
the man who when Jehovah thundereth in the heavens, and
the Most High shooteth out lightnings, hailstones, and coals
of fire (Psalm xviii. 13, 14), and darkness is under His feet, still
sees through the thick clouds the opening heavens, and
the Glory of God, and Jesus standing in the midst of the
Glory (Acts vii. 55, 56). Yea, praise the Lord, ye fire and
hail, ye snows and vapors, ye stormy winds, fulfilling His
word (Psalm cxlviii. 8). Such are some of the particulars in
which the heavenly Expanse is the symbol of Infinite
Deity. And all this we hint, whether consciously or not,
every time we pronounce those wonderful words, Our
Father Who art in heaven (Matt. vi. 9). Heavenly Father:
this sums up the meaning of the Sky. Such are some of
the lessons of the Heavenly Expanse.
In Conclusion.
1. Jesus Christ
►
And now two thoughts in conclusion.
And, first, a thought of the past.
the Nexus of Heaven Since God is so very great, how can we
ever hope to reach Him? Since His
and Earth.
GENESIS OF THE SKY.
97
throne is so high and lifted up (Is. vi. 1), even above the
heaven, and the heaven of heavens, how can we with our
poor feet, or even with the wings of aspiration, ever hope
to rest in His bosom, or even kiss His shining feet? Be-
hold, then, a condescension as measureless as the Infinitude.
Thus saith the high and holy One, Who inhabiteth eter-
nity, Whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy
place, also with the humble and contrite of spirit, to revive
the spirit of the humble ones, and to revive the heart of
the contrite (Is. lvii. 15). Since we cannot soar to Infinite
God, Infinite God stoops to us. Yea, in the Person of
the Incarnate Son, He has bowed the heavens and come
down. The Immanuel of the manger, His brow of the
Heavens, Heavenly, His feet of the earth, earthy, is the
blessed meeting-place of the Infinite and the finite; the
rapturous trysting-place of Human aspiration and Divine
response. Ay, the prophecy of Bethabara beyond Jordan
has already been fulfilled. Verily, verily, we have seen
heaven opening, and the angels of God ascending and de-
scending upon the Son of Man (John i. 51). And so in the
stooping God of the Stall, and the soaring Man of the
Cloud, even in Jesus the Nazarene, the Infinite and the
finite are in peace :
"And Heaven comes down our souls to greet,
And Glory crowns the mercy-seat.”—(STOWELL).
2.-Sursum Corda.
Finally, a thought for the future.
Every time you go forth under the open
sky, be it cerulean, or be it overcast, let it be to you an
eternal beckoner upward. God forbid that you should
miss its meaning so deeply as to echo the Royal Dane's
lament: "This most excellent canopy, the air, look you,
this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
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fretted with golden fire-why, it appears no other thing
to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors
("Hamlet," ii. 3). Ah, friend, none but that Infinite God, of
Whom the infinite sky is the symbol, can ever satisfy your
own mighty aspirations. For
'Every inward aspiration is God's angel undefiled,
And in every 'O, my Father,' slumbers deep a 'Here, My child.'"
-(DSCHELADEDDIN.)
In yon measureless, ever-receding dome, you will ever
find a limitless, exhilarating arena for all that in you is most
noble and stout and true and Godward. Every time, then,
that you go forth under heaven's arch, accept the sky as
life's real meaning. On its azure, ever-soaring, infinite
vault evermore read the sun-emblazoned legend, Excelsior.
May the Lord of the skies evermore call the welkin of
your soul Heavens! Thus, evermore aspiring, it shall
happen that when the Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven, with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and
with the trumpet of God, thou, too, with all His ransomed
ones, shall be caught up in clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air;
and so shalt thou ever be with the Lord (1 Thess. iv. 16, 17).
Meantime, evermore sing the Bird Song of the soul :
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee;
E'en though it be a cross,
That raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee.
"Or, if on joyful wing,
Cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot,
Upward I fly,
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GENESIS OF THE SKY.
99
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee."
-(MRS. S. F. ADAMS.)
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall
be, world without end. Amen.
Um
LECTURE VI.
GENESIS OF THE LANDS.
"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered
together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth: and the gathering together of
the waters called He Seas: and God saw that it was good."-GEN-
ESIS i. 9, 10.
TRANSLATING this ancient, childlike, pictorial language
into that of modern scientific prose, our Archive reads.
thus: The Creator outlined the general features of Physi-
cal Geography, by causing the lands to emerge from the
primeval ocean.
I.-Explanation
of the Passage.
1.-Panorama of
Emergent Lands.
First of all, let us attend to the Ex-
planation of the Passage.
Reminding you of what was said in
the introductory Lecture touching the
phenomenal or scenic language of
Scripture on such matters, let us now forget modern at-
tainments, and, going back to the dawn of humanity's in-
fancy, stand with the Inspired Seer on his mount of pano-
ramic vision. And an awful vision it is. True, the Breath
of God is still moving over the face of the abyss. True,
there is still the incandescent light. True, the Expanse of
the arching heavens has separated the fluids into masses-
the terrestrial and the ethereal. Nevertheless, the globe
GENESIS OF THE LANDS.
101
itself is still a vast, reliefless, watery waste. No continent
is seen, no mountain, no island, no rock, no shore, no bay,
no surf; nothing but a universal, shoreless, desolate Blank.
And now is heard again the Omnific Word: "Let the wa-
ters under the heavens gather themselves to one place, and
let the dry land appear!" And, lo, the waters do hasten
to their place, and the dry land does appear. And a sub-
lime spectacle it is this resurrection of the terrestrial
forms out of Ocean's baptismal sepulchre—this emergence
of island, and continent, and mountain-this heaving into
sight of Britain and Madagascar and Cuba and Greenland,
of Asia and Africa and Australia and America, of Alps and
Himalayas and Andes and Sierra Nevada; more thrilling
still, of Ararat and Sinai and Pisgah and Carmel and Le-
banon and Zion and Olivet.
No wonder that the holy poets so often allude to the
majestic event. Let two or three examples suffice. Thus:
"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof,
Again:
The world, and they who dwell therein:
For He hath founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the floods."—(PSALM xxiv. 1, 2.)
"Jehovah is a great God,
And a great king above all gods:
In His hand are the recesses of the earth,
And the treasures of the mountains are His:
The sea is His, and He made it,
And His hands formed the dry land."- (PSALM XCV. 3–5.)
Once more:
"Thou didst cover it with the deep as with a garment:
The waters stood above the mountains:
At Thy rebuke they fled,
At the voice of Thy thunder they hasted away:
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
The mountains rose, the valleys sank,
To the place which Thou didst found for them :
A bound didst Thou set, that they should not pass over,
Should not return, to cover the earth.”—(PSALM civ. 6–9.)
2.-Geologic Con-
firmation.
And with this poetic Archive of the
Emergent Lands the Geologic Record
entirely agrees. Whatever doubts there may be touching
the Nebular Hypothesis, or the original condition of our
globe, the geologists agree that there has been a time in
the history of this earth when its surface was almost entire-
ly oceanic, and that subsequently the lands emerged in
consequence either of the subsidence of the ocean level, or
of the upheaving energy of fiery or chemical forces. In
fact, it is this assumption of a primitive universal ocean,
charged with mineral particles, and depositing them through
untold ages, thus forming the sedimentary or stratified
rocks, which rocks were subsequently uplifted above the
ocean by sub-aqueous forces-it is this very assumption, I
say, of a primitive universal ocean, subsequently relieved
by visible land areas, which makes it possible that there
should be any such thing at all as the science of Geology.
How could the geologist make out his magnificent geo-
logical calendar, if it were not for the successive layers of
deposited or stratified rocks of the lands upheaved into
view from the depths of old Ocean's sepulchre? And so,
at this very point, the ancient seer and the modern skep-
tic agree; both say that the earth was formed out of water
and by means of water (2 Peter iii. 5). But they differ as to
the explanation. The ancient seer said, "The secret of
Nature is God." The modern skeptic says, "The secret
of Nature is Law." And yet both speak truly, for Truth
is evermore unutterably large: God is the cause of Na-
ture, and Law is God's means. In still briefer words, Law
GENESIS OF THE LANDS.
103
is God in movement. Ay, from Him, and through Him,
and to Him, are all things: to Whom be the glory for ever.
Amen (Rom. xi. 36).
3.-Beneficence of
the Arrangement.
"And God saw that it was good."
And well might He delight in it. For a
blessed thing this divine distribution
of lands and seas was. I do not think that we sufficiently
realize its importance. Let us halt, then, for a moment to
glance at some of the essential features of the Physical
Geography of our globe. For what I am about to say on
this point, I am chiefly indebted to Prof. Arnold Guyot's
very suggestive and valuable work, entitled "The Earth
and Man." Look, first, at the general arrangement of
Land and Water. The surface of this globe measures
196,900,000 square miles. Of this, 144,000,000 are water,
and 52,900,000 are land; that is, dividing the surface of
the globe into a hundred parts, twenty-seven parts would
be land and seventy-three water. But you interrupt me
with a question: "Is not this an enormous waste? Would
it not have been better had the proportion been reversed,
so that, instead of the land's being one-fourth of the sur-
face of the globe, it should have been three-fourths ? "
But you forget the momentous part which the ocean plays
in the economy of life. Absorbing and radiating heat
less readily than land, the ocean, with its great marine
currents and tides, is the grand regulator of earth's cli-
mates, without which regulation the land itself would soon
become uninhabitable. Moreover: were it not for the im-
mense extent of the ocean area, there would not be evap-
orating surface enough to feed those aërial tanks which
are needed to meet the constant enormous demand for
rains and dews-a method of water supply absolutely in-
dispensable to the fertility of the soil, and so to human
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK. -
life itself. Again: look at the breaking-up of the surface
of the lands into inequalities of mountain and valley, high-
land and plain. It is precisely this inequality of surface
which tempers the action of the heat and the winds, and
which makes possible the magnificent river systems of the
continents. Let the earth be but an unbroken table-land,
and it would swiftly become an uninhabitable desert.
Once more: look at the horizontal contour of the conti-
nents, and observe what an immense factor this has been
in the history of mankind. Look at Africa with its
11,314,300 square miles, and 16,200 miles of coast-line.
And then look at Europe, with its 3,565,200 square miles,
and 19,800 miles of coast-line. In other words, though
Europe is three times smaller than Africa, yet it has 4,000
more miles of sea-coast, Africa having but one mile of
coast-line to every 896 square miles of area, while Europe,
including her islands, has one mile of sea-coast to every
143 square miles of surface. And now, which continent
has produced the historic nations of the race: vast Africa,
with its unbroken, comparatively short coast-line of 16,000
miles, or little Europe, with its sinuous, comparatively vast
coast-line of 20,000 miles, everywhere indented with pen-
insulas and promontories and bays and harbors, and so in-
viting the interplay of commerce and civilization? Are
Greece and Italy and France and Germany and Great
Britain in Africa, or in Europe? Such are a few of the
more remarkable features of Physical Geography. When
we remember how very significant they are, and how pro-
lific in momentous results: when we remember how pro-
foundly and beneficently the seas affect the lands; how
immensely the ocean mitigates earth's climate; how indis-
pensable its vast surface is to the evaporation of water
sufficient to supply the needed dews and rains and rivers.
GENESIS OF THE LANDS.
105
and lakes and springs; how the relief of the continents-
the range of their mountains and plateaus and lowlands—
controls their drainage, and shapes their vast river systems
and water-basins: when we remember that "the depres-
sion of a few hundred feet, which would make no change.
in the essential forms of the solid mass of the globe, would
cause a great part of Asia and Europe to disappear beneath
the waters of the ocean, and would reduce America to a
few large islands," or that "an elevation of 350 feet is
sufficient to reduce the mean temperature of a place by
one degree of Fahrenheit, that is to say, the effect is the
same as if the place were situated seventy miles farther
north" when we remember that the effect of placing
Italy and Greece in the north of Europe, instead of in the
south, would be to turn them into Scandinavia or Kam-
tchatka, or that the placing of Europe east of Asia, in-
stead of west, would turn it into Siberia, or that the flow-
ing of the Mississippi northward into the Arctic Ocean,
instead of southward into the Mexican Gulf, would turn
the larger part of the United States into a desert: when
we remember that the very forms of the lands their
size, shape, elevation, relative position, indentation of
coast-line, direction of mountain-range, and the like-de-
termine the climate, the productions, the industries, the
health, the habits, the civilization of each country: when
we remember all this, we, too, may share in the Creator's
delight, and with Him pronounce the gathering together
of the waters and the appearing of the dry land very
good.
Such is the story of the Genesis of the Land.
II.-Moral Mean-
ing of the Story.
And now, what are the moral les-
sons of the story? I will mention
two.
106
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
1.-Birth of Indi-
viduality.
And, first, the Birth of Individual-
ity. For observe the precise point at
which we have arrived in these medita-
tions on the Creative Week; it is the point of differentia-
tion, or division of forces. That we may conceive it more
clearly, recall what has already been achieved: first, there
was the creative origination of the elements of the uni-
verse out of nothing; secondly, there was the formless,
orderless, chaotic, night-clad abyss; thirdly, there was the
organizing Breath of God; fourthly, there was the light
of chemical activity; fifthly, there was the dividing Ex-
panse, separating as by a measureless, dome-shaped parti-
tion the fluid mass into separate masses, so that Earth
sweeps into view a distinct, independent globe; and now,
sixthly, there is the separation on the surface of the globe
itself, the waters grouping themselves in the places ap-
pointed for them, and the land areas emerging. Thus our
passage carries out and intensifies the lesson already hinted
in our last study: the great principle of Individualism.
For individuality implies diversity, or rather unity, the
unity consisting of diversities in equipoise or melody. For
a unity is something more and higher than a bare unit.
Consider for a moment the difference between them. A
unit is a single one, surveyed externally, in isolation from
other ones; a unity is a single one, surveyed internally in
its parts, each and every part being in mutual adjustment to
a common end. A unit is a bare one; a unity is many and
different things in a state of oneness. A unit is one in the
sense of numerical singleness; a unity is one in the sense
of harmonious pluralness. Thus a drop of water, when
considered in distinction from other drops of water, is a
unit; but the same drop of water, when considered in its
parts as made of eight weights of oxygen and one weight
GENESIS OF THE LANDS.
107
of hydrogen, is a unity. So the earth of the Second Crea-
tive Day, surveyed in distinction from the sun and planets,
was a unit; but the earth of the Third Creative Day, sur-
veyed in itself, as a system of seas and lands poised in re-
ciprocal activities, was a unity. So each member of a
church, in distinction from other members, is a unit; but
the church, as a whole, composed of many members, all
of whom are living in a state of oneness, is a unity. Be-
hold, how good it is, and how pleasant, for brethren to
dwell together in unity (Psalm cxxxiii. 1)! But unity implies
something more than harmonious variety of parts; it im-
plies the subordination of these various parts to a common
end. It is this harmonious conspiracy of diverse parts to
a common end which makes the parts, as a whole, a unity.
Thus the separate parts in a marble quarry are not a unity;
they are only units; but actually bring them together, and
fit them together in due proportion for the purpose of tem-
ple service, and they become a unity. Apply, now, these
thoughts to that possible instance of culminating unity—a
He is not all eye, or ear, or hand, or foot; he is not
all conscience, or reason, or sensibility, or will; he is spirit
and soul and body (1 Thess. v. 23), each in mutual adjust-
ment, and all in mutual coöperation for a common end,
i. e., life. That is to say, he is an Individual. This is
a term which you would never apply to a homogeneous
substance, e. g., a stone. For as uniformity is a mark of
the lowest stage of existence, so variety is a mark of the
highest. As we ascend the scale of being, life becomes.
more complex and differenced. Indeed, one of the happiest
definitions of life is this: "Life is the mutual exchanging of
relations (Guvor)." How wonderfully life complicates and
diversifies as, starting with the bioplast in the lowest forms
of animal existence, we trace its ever multiplying differen-
man.
108
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
tiations in the amoeba, the polyp, the clam, the spider, the
salmon, the lizard, the eagle, the lion, Man! Again, look-
ing at man himself, contrast the child of barbarism and the
child of civilization. How simple the wants of the savage;
how few and rude his implements !-you might almost gath-
er them on this platform. On the other hand, how diversi-
fied the wants of the civilized man; how numberless and
complicated his implements!—the Exhibition grounds of
our glorious Centennial could not contain them. In brief,
differentiation is the very condition of life. Everything
grows by multiplication of organs and functions, and their
consignment to specific ends. Development is by special-
ization. How wonderfully this comes out in the growth
of the germinating vesicle of the egg! And the higher
the grade of being, the more individualized as well as
numerous its organs and functions. This, then, is the
point to which our passage brings us; it marks the begin-
ning of the sense of Individuality. Beginning, I say. For
the sense of individuality is not a sudden attainment. It is
a process more or less slow. How happily the Laureate
has described it, in lines as profound as musical!
"The baby new to earth and sky,
What time his tender palm is prest
Against the circle of the breast,
Has never thought that 'this is I.'
"But as he grows he gathers much,
And learns the use of 'I' and 'me,'
And finds 'I am not what I see,
And other than the things I touch.'
"So rounds he to a separate mind,
From whence clear memory may begin,
As through the frame that binds him in,
His isolation grows defined."—("IN MEMORIAM,” xliv.)
GENESIS OF THE LANDS.
109
man.
In fact, it is this sense of individuality which marks
off man from the lower forms of life. Speaking accu-
rately, you would never apply the term to a plant, or even
an animal. And the higher the character, the more dif-
ferenced and specialized it becomes: for, remember, de-
velopment is by specialization; moreover, it is this special-
ization which gives to each man his characteristic; that is
to say, his character. Peter, like John, and Paul, and
everybody else, was a man. But to call him simply a
man does not distinguish him from other men. Peter
was an individualized man; that is, as the old Schoolmen
used to say, Peter had Peterness; and it was this Peter-
ness which constituted him not only a man, but also Peter-
Great, then, is the hour when man wakes to the
sense of his own individuality. Yea, happy the day when
the Lord of man speaks to the chaos of thy soul, saying:
"Let the waters under the heavens gather themselves to-
gether into one place, and let the dry land appear!"
For observe the effectiveness of a duly grouped, coördi-
nated man. How is it that the steam-engine, small com-
pared with the mass it moves, is able to drive the mighty
craft, with her ponderous cargo, in teeth of billow and
tempest from continent to continent? It is not merely
because it is made of iron and worked by the expansive
power of steam; it is also because piston and cylinder,
beam and connecting-rod, crank and fly-wheel, valve and
condenser, pump and governor, all work in reciprocal ad-
justment and harmonious conspiracy to a common end,
namely, to send the steamer across the Atlantic. But let
some slight derangement of the machinery take place—
some valve refuse to work, some cog interfere, some pin
give way-and the engine, which was strong enough to
send the Great Eastern speeding like a leviathan through
110
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the billows, is hardly strong enough to propel a tug across
the Schuylkill. So it is with man. Let his heart be one
with itself; let it be a unity, as well as a unit; let its seas
of sensibility group themselves into their appointed places,
and its lands of activity duly emerge; in short, let him,
like the Psalmist, praise his God with his whole heart;
and he will conquer in Time's Great Campaign. But let
him have a disheveled heart; let him halt between two
opinions; let him be a double-minded man, unstable in
all his ways (James i. 8); and he will be swept before the
breath of Apollyon as the withered leaf before the hurri-
cane. Thrice happy, then, the day when the Lord of souls
sets in peaceful equilibrium the chaos of thy soul; when
Conscience approves Desire, and Desire takes delight in
Conscience; when Duty and Inclination henceforth and
for evermore walk in saintly twinship; when Faith tempers
Reason, and Reason buttresses Faith; when Imagination
gives wing to Judgment, and Judgment guides Imagina-
tion; when Hope draws courage from Memory, and Mem-
ory fortifies Hope; when Humility soars into Confidence,
and Confidence leans on Humility; when Reverence
chastens Joy, and Joy gladdens Reverence; when every
Faculty helps, and is helped by every other; when all the
ends are means, and all the means are ends; when the
whole nature is in very deed a Coöperative Society—every
sensibility and power of the soul being evermore engaged
in one and the same holy, blessed conspiracy, even the
glory of its Maker and Saviour. Then shall the soul be
indeed Jerusalem, City of Peace. O Lord of Love, and
King of Beauty! unite my heart, even now, that so my
earthly life may be in very truth the prelude of my heav-
enly song! This, then, is the first lesson of our text:
The Birth of Individuality, or a heart set in Unity.
GENESIS OF THE LANDS.
111
The burnt-offering that God loves is a whole burnt-of-
fering.
2.-The Birth of
Duty.
But our passage teaches a second, kin-
dred lesson, growing out of the first.
It is this: The Birth of Duty. For
each man is in himself a little world; first, there is the
night-mantled chaos of unregulated, unconscious powers;
next, there is the quickening, grouping, coördinating force
of the Spirit of God; next, there is the incandescent glow
of nascent, tumultuous moral activity; next, there is the
awakening sense of the doming Expanse, or man's relation
to God; and next, there is the awakening sense of dis-
tributed forces, or man's relation to man. For the indi-
vidualization of each man is not so much for the man's
own sake as for the sake of all men. Yes, brother, that
is a mighty hour in your life when you awake for the first
time to the sense of the truth that there are others in the
world besides yourself. And this is impossible except it
comes to you through sense of separation, segmentation,
isolation, individualization; even as
"the past will always win
A glory from its being far,
And orb into the perfect star
We saw not when we moved therein."
-("IN MEMORIAM," xxix.)
And with this sense of individuality begins the sense
of responsibility, the sense of duty, the sense of self-sacri-
fice; in a single word, the sense of Manhood, Ay, great
is the hour when we awake to the sense of Humanity.
"'Tis the sublime of man,
Our noontide majesty, to know ourselves
Parts and proportions of one wondrous whole!
112
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
truism.
This fraternizes man, this constitutes
Our charities and bearings."-(S. T. COLERIDGE.)
You see how broadly the field opens.
a.—The True Al- In fact, the text takes us into the very
heart of the Christian Religion. Even
the great Comte, in whose elaborate system of religion the
Worship of Humanity lies as the corner-stone, discerned,
as though from afar, this splendid truth; for he taught
that the key to social regeneration is to be found in what
he called Altruism, or the victory of the sympathetic in-
stincts over self-love. Would to God that the scales had
fallen from his eyes, and that he had recognized in the al-
together lovely One of Nazareth and Calvary the true,
infinite Altruist! For Christianity, bearing the name of
her Founder, Christ, has, on the one hand, nothing in com-
mon with the spirit of a selfish monasticism; she flies the
desert and the cloister, to nestle in the family and brood
over the market-place. And, on the other hand, Christi-
anity has nothing in common with the spirit of a selfish
communism; instead of saying with the socialist, "All
thine is mine," she says, with her Founder, "All mine is
thine." Christianity's characteristic motto, distinguishing
her from all other religions and philosophies, is this: “We
are members one of another" (Eph. iv. 25). Modern Sociol-
ogy juts out into the sea of Time two opposite promon-
tories the promontory of Volatilization, or the dispersion
of the individual into the community, and the promontory
of Solidification, or the concentration of the community into
the individual. Rome, alike the ancient imperial and the
modern pontifical, represents the former extreme, dissipat-
ing the personal into the general. France, with her ideal
notions of communism, represents the latter extreme, con-
densing the general into the personal. The Church of the
GENESIS OF THE LANDS.
113
living God, as answering to the Ideal of her Divine Found-
er and Head, is blending the two extremes, evermore say-
ing: "We are members of one another." Hence she has
lessons for all classes and conditions of men, and this al-
ways with reference to one another. To the Husband, she
says: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved
the church, and gave Himself for her" (Eph. v. 22). To
the Wife, she says: "Wives, submit yourselves to your
own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord" (Col. iii. 18). To the
Father, she says: "Fathers, provoke not your children to
wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord" (Eph. vi. 4). To the Child, she says:
"Chil-
dren, obey your parents in all things in the Lord: for
this is well pleasing unto Him "(Col. iii. 20). To the Em-
ployer, she says: "Masters, give to your servants that
which is just and equal, forbearing threatening, knowing
that ye also have a Master in heaven, and that there is
no respect of persons with Him" (Col. iv. 1). To the Em-
ployé, she says: "Servants, obey your masters accord-
ing to the flesh, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in
singleness of heart, fearing the Lord" (Col. iii. 22). To the
Ruler, she says: "Be wise, ye kings; be instructed, ye
judges of the earth (Psalm ii. 10): judge righteously, plead
the cause of the poor and needy" (Prov. xxxi. 9). To the
Ruled, she says: "Citizens, submit yourselves to every
ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake; whether it be to
the king, as supreme, or to governors, as being sent by
him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise
of them that do well" (1 Peter ii. 13). To the Nations, she
says: "Nations, beat your swords into ploughshares, your
spears into pruning-hooks, lift not up the sword against
each other, learn war no more " (Is. ii. 4). To all man-
kind, she says: "Honor all: love the Brotherhood fear
114
TUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
God: honor the King" (1 Peter ii. 17). In short, she teaches
that each individual exists for the total, even as each mem-
ber exists for the body. And how admirably she teaches
it! Listen to a classic paragraph from the writings of that
Apostle who penetrated most deeply into the Genius of
Christianity, and felt most pressingly its power, a para-
graph singularly pertinent to the lesson of the hour: "The
body is not one member, but many. If the foot should
say, 'Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body,'
is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should
say, 'Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,' is it
therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an
eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were
hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God hath
set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath
pleased Him. And if they were all one member, where
would be the body? But now there are many members,
yet but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I
have no need of thee;' nor again the head to the feet, 'I
have no need of you.' Nay, still more, those members of
the body which seem to be feeble are necessary; and those
which we think to be the less honorable parts of the body,
upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our
uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness, for our
comely parts have no need. But God hath tempered the
body together, having given more abundant honor to the
part which lacked, that there may be no schism in the
body, but that the members may have the same care, one
for another; and if one member suffereth, all the members
suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the mem-
bers rejoice with it" (1 Cor. xii. 14-26). It is the Creator-
Redeemer's redistribution of the Seas and the Lands on
the planet of His Church.
GENESIS OF THE LANDS.
115
b.-The Spirit's Al-
lotment.
And with this fact of personal in-
dividualization for the sake of the com-
mon weal, beautifully agrees St. Paul's doctrine of the
Charisms or Spiritual Gifts. Listen to him again: "Now,
there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and
there are diversities of ministrations, but the same Lord;
and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same
God who worketh all in all. But to each one is given
the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all. For
to one is given through the Spirit a word of wisdom; and
to another a word of knowledge, according to the same
Spirit; and to another faith, by the same Spirit; and to
another gifts of healing, by the same Spirit; and to another
working of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to an-
other discernment of spirits; and to another divers kinds of
tongues; and to another interpretation of tongues. But all
these worketh the one and self-same Spirit, distributing to
each one severally as He willeth" (1 Cor. xii. 4-11). Friends,
is not all this true? Look around you on Christian Society
as it actually is. Do all have the same gifts? Are all apos-
tles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers
of miracles? Have all gifts of healing? Do all speak
with tongues? Do all interpret (1 Cor. xii. 29, 50)? Verily,
the one and self-same Spirit doth allot to each one severally
as He willeth. Yes, there is the great, indiscriminate,
monotonous ocean of the Church at large, the obscure por-
tion of its membership always in the vast majority; never-
theless, evermore tempering Humanity's climate; evermore
evaporating in clouds of incense and aspiration and en-
treaty; evermore coming down again on the thirsty world
in rains of benediction and dews of grace. And there are
the islands of Christian genius, flecking here and there the
immense, indiscriminate deep, sometimes verdant, some-
116
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
times rocky, always impressive because isolated and solitary.
And there are the vast continents of the denominations;
the countless valleys and modest lowlands luxuriant with
the prayers and examples of Christ's obscure ones; the
bubbling springs and winding rills and leaping brooks
and rushing rivers rich in fertilizing charities; the many
deserts of false profession, ever and anon green and fra-
grant with oases of Christian character and deed; the
broad table-lands golden with the harvests of the Chris-
tian rich and influential; the lofty mountain-ranges radiant
with sacred theologians and holy orators; the very vol-
canoes lurid with an Elijah and a John the Baptist, a Luther
and a Moody. Even the very sands themselves have their
blessed part to play. What King Canute, enthroned by
the seaside, could not do, Jehovah, our God, has ever
been doing.
"Will ye not fear Me, saith the Lord?
Will ye not tremble at My presence?
Who have appointed the sand as a bound to the sea,
A perpetual barrier, which it cannot pass?
Though the waters thereof toss themselves, they do not prevail,
Though they roar, they cannot pass over it."-(JEREMIAH iv. 22.)
What, then, is the lesson at this point of discourse?
Simply this: Cheerfully use your own gift in the place
appointed for you, and cheerfully recognize the gifts of
others in the places appointed for them. Having, then,
gifts differing according to the grace given us, whether
prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of
the faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or
he that teacheth, on his teaching; or he that exhorteth,
on his exhortation (Rom. xii. 6–8). Ay, on earth, not less
than in heaven, the Father's house hath many mansions.
(John xiv. 2).
1
GENESIS OF THE LANDS.
117
Our Text the Com-
plement of our Last.
Thus our text is the complement of
our last: The doming Heavens gave us
God: the Emerging Lands give us Man.
Of what use is it to evaporate into the cloud, if the cloud
does not condense into the rain? That text said: Upward!
This text says: Forward! And, practically speaking, the
moral life blends the two directions into an ascending di-
agonal, soaring aslant even as does the bird. The arching
sky awakens the sense of Divine Fatherhood: and so we
say-Heavenly Father. The distribution of Sea and Land
awakens the sense of Human Brotherhood: and so we say
-Our Heavenly Father. And the higher our zenith, the
broader our horizon. Here is the key to the story of St.
Paul: he soared very high-therefore, he saw very far:
he saw very far-therefore, he was apostle to the Gentiles.
Alas, how different are most other lives: nothing but stag-
nant, malarial pools, without a solitary islet or even rock
to relieve the dreary waste! Ah, here is Life's great battle,
the Duel of the I and the Not-I. Christianity reverses the
doctrine of Natural Selection, or Survival of the Fittest.
Instead of crushing out the feebler, she instinctively selects.
them for her special care, bestowing upon the less honor-
able parts of the body more abundant honor; so that our
uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness (1 Cor. xii.
22-24). May God give you and me grace evermore to do
to others as He evermore does to us! So shall each of us
find this great fact of Individuality a boon and not a curse
on that approaching Day of Judgment when every one of
us must give account of himself to God.
A Summary.
This, then, is the stirring thought of
the hour: Individualization for the sake
of Mankind. Go forth then, brother, inspired with the
majestic thought that you are a Personal Unit—a man
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
among men-individualized from the mass of Humanity
for the sake of Humanity and Humanity's King. Yes,
happy the day, let me again say it, when God says to thee:
"Let the waters gather themselves to one place, and let the
dry land appear." Thrice happy the day when thou obey-·
est, looking upward to the opening Heavens and outward
to the broadening Horizon. This, then, is the twofold
lesson of the day. "Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God
is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength: this is the first and great Com-
mandment. And the second is like unto it, namely this:
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two
commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matt.
xii. 34-40).
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever
shall be, world without end. Amen.
LECTURE VII.
GENESIS OF THE PLANTS.
"And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yield-
ing seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed
is in itself, upon the earth and it was so. And the earth brought
forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yield-
ing fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that
it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.”
-GENESIS i. 11-13.
As is our wont in these studies, let us attend, first, to
the Explanation of the Passage, and, secondly, to its Moral
Lessons.
I. Explanation
—
of the Passage.
And, first, the Explanation of the
Passage.
To this end, let us again stand with
1. — Panorama of the Sacred Seer on his Mount of Pano-
the Emerging Plants. ramic Vision. What though the Breath
of God has been moving over the face of the fluids, or-
ganizing the chaotic universe? What though the light of
chemical activity has lighted up the Cimmerian Abyss?
What though the sky, gliding in and arching through the
fluid mass, has separated the Earth into an independent
globe? What though the sea has received its bounds, and
the mountains tower, and the lowlands spread, and the
rivers flow? All is still a lifeless waste-no germ, no liv-
ing thing exists. From pole to pole nothing is seen but
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
surging billows and dull-brown soil and naked adamantine
rock. And now sounds again the Deific Word: "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, above the earth.'" And, lo, it is so. On all sides
spring up, as though by magic, the floating algæ, the cir-
cling lichens, the luxuriant mosses, the branching ferns,
the waving grasses, the graceful palms, the kingly cedars,
the iris-hued flowers. And a blessed vision it is: this
grateful exchange of dull uniformity and barren naked-
ness for vegetable colors-for carpets of emerald, and
tapestries of white and azure and crimson and orange and
purple. Even the God of beauty Himself feels that it is
good. And there is evening and there is morning, a Third
Day. Such is the Vision of the Birth of Vegetation. And
now let us dwell on it somewhat in detail.
2. The Birth of
Life.
"And God said: 'Let the earth put
forth shoots, sprout, germinate:' and it
was so." It was the first appearance of
that mysterious thing which we call Life. How shall we
account for its introduction? Naturally or supernaturally?
Spontaneously or executively? Atheistically or Divinely?
Observe what the precise question is. I am not speak-
ing now of transmitted life, the life by inheritance from
ancestors. I am speaking of the first Life, the Life of that
primal, original Plant which existed before it yielded its
first seed. Whence came that original first Life? Did it
originate itself, spontaneously evolving itself from blind,
dead matter and force? Here is the colliding point be-
tween atheist and theist. Observe what the exact problem
is. All living beings, alike plants and animals, are essen-
tially composed of four chemical elements-carbon, hydro-
gen, oxygen, and nitrogen—combined in proportions vary-
•
GENESIS OF THE PLANTS.
121
4
ing with the character of the living substance. Suppose,
now, you take into your laboratory these four elements in
whatever quantities you please, and combine them in what-
ever proportions you please. Can you make out of these
four elements a single drop of blood, a solitary microscopic
diatom? Here, then, is the problem. There has been a
time in the history of the globe, so geologists tell us, when
there was not in existence a single living thing. But car-
bon and hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen were there.
All at once there sprung up in earth's virgin soil a combi-
nation of these elements in the living form of a blade of
grass. What now was the new subtile force which turned
that dead carbon and dead hydrogen and dead oxygen and
dead nitrogen into this living thing which we call a Plant?
Whence came that original first Life? The answer to this
question marks the boundary-line between theism and athe-
ism, between plan and chance, between personal will and
impersonal law, between first cause and eternal necessity,
between God and zero. Whence, then, came that first
Life? Is there any better answer, any answer more pro-
foundly philosophical or gloriously satisfying, than the
childlike answer of the far-off, hoary witness of the Crea-
tion Panorama? "God said: 'Let the earth bring forth
grass.' God said: 'Let the waters swarm with the mov-
ing creature that hath life.' God said: 'Let fowl fly
above the earth in the expanse of heaven.' God said:
'Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his
kind." This "God said," this Eternal Word, Who in
the beginning was with God and was God (John i. 1): this
"God said " of Moses and "God Word" of John-this it
was Who on the Third Day spoke life-givingly, germinat-
ingly, spermatically; and, lo, in a way perhaps forever
inscrutable to us, the Immaterial took on itself the mate-
6
122
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
rial, the Invisible swathed itself with the visible—the Life
organized itself into the body.
3.-The Soil the
6
"And God said: Let the earth
Matrix of the Plant. put forth shoots:' and the earth did
put forth shoots." Are we to under-
stand these words literally? Manifestly not. Remember
that in studying these Creation Archives we are moving,
not in the region of philosophical statements, but of pic-
torial; not in the realm of science, but of panorama. The
Sacred Chronicler is using language popularly, just as we
ourselves use it in this very matter of the soil's produc-
tiveness. Very scientific although we are, yet do we not
to this day talk of the soil as though it were a living thing
and bringing forth fruit of itself, using such words as pro-
ductive, teeming, fruitful, exuberant? And just because
the soil does seem to bring forth plants as though they
were her own offspring, there is everywhere, alike among
savages and among sages, a sort of idolatry of the soil as
being Mother Nature. And yet we know better. We
know that the soil is not the source of vegetation, it is
only its sphere; it is not the sire of the plant, it is only its
matrix. Nevertheless it is quite proper, using the language
of phenomenon, to speak of the earth as bringing forth
grass and herb and tree. Nobody but the willfully unfair
can misunderstand the Sacred Reciter here.
Kind."
"And God said: 'Let the earth put
4—“Fruit after its forth shoots, the herb yielding seed, the
fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind,
whose seed is in itself.' And the earth brought forth
shoots, the herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree
yielding fruit, in which is its seed, after its kind." Dwell
for a moment on these profound phrases: "Fruit after its
kind, whose seed is in itself: " phrases which, in light of
GENESIS OF THE PLANTS.
123
the modern discussion touching the Origin of Species, are
profounder than ever. Observe, first, what an immense
advance in the career of Creation is marked by these
phrases: "whose seed is in itself, yielding fruit after its
kind.” These are expressions you would never apply to
anything inorganic, e. g., a mountain, a bowlder, a molecule,
an atom. It is only to living things, which do have seed
in themselves, and which do yield fruit after their kinds,
that you apply these expressions. Accordingly, these
phrases mark the eternal boundary between the organic
world and the inorganic; between life and absence of life.
Again: observe how strikingly these phrases: "yielding
fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself:" involve the
doctrine of the Invariability of Species. "Ah, but this
doctrine," you tell me, "is stoutly contested in these days."
It is a proper point, then, to arrest our steps, and glance
at the modern Hypothesis of Evolution.
At the very
outset, then, let it be remarked that clearness of conception
here is absolutely essential. For it is quite astonishing to
notice how loosely many intelligent persons use such words
as "species, variety, development, evolution," etc. In the
first place, look at the word "Species." A Species is a
purely subjective thing, an Ens rationis, a mental out-
line, an ideal paddock. Who ever saw or touched a
species? To talk, then, of the Origin or Transmutation
of Species is to talk of a subjective, ideal thing, which
never has had, and never can have, any actual, objective
existence in the world of matter. If there is ever any
"transmutation," the transmutation is a concept existing
solely in the mind of the conceiver. In other words, the
affair is an affair of metaphysics, not of physics. Here,
as elsewhere in such matters, let us abide by the glorious
rigor of the scientific method. Physical Science, we are
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
•
proudly told, deals only with objective, concrete realities;
it has nothing to do with abstractions or concepts; not but
that concepts or abstract terms are useful, and even indispen-
sable, as tools, or "working hypotheses." And with con-
cepts as such—i. e., with abstract terms as instruments of
thought and investigation-Physical Science does have to
do. Nevertheless, concepts are not objective existences;
abstract terms are not concrete realities. And "Species"
is an abstract term, or concept. Accordingly, the only
evolution or transmutation which Physical Science, as an
affair of observation and induction, can consistently con-
sider, is the evolution or transmutation of an objective,
concrete, definite plant or animal. And precisely here,
where the proof should be decisive, is the weak point in
the Hypothesis of Evolution. And no chain is stronger
than its weakest link. Again: look at the word “Evolu-
tion." It is another lamentable instance of the loose use
of terms. To evolve is to unroll, unfold, develop. But
you cannot unroll what was not inrolled; you cannot un-
fold what was not infolded; you cannot develop what was
not enveloped. And yet these exact Gentlemen of the Bal-
ance and Micrometer confound unrollment with transition,
development with transmutation. And just because these
exact gentlemen use terms so inexactly, it happens that
the term "Evolution" has become a very Shibboleth and
Ariadne clew. Enough that we oracularly pronounce the
word "Evolution," and we imagine that we have the "Open
Sesame," and have explained everything. Again I insist
on the rigor of the scientific method. You cannot unroll
what was not inrolled. Evolution not only implies in-
volution, it also implies that the involution is equal to
the evolution. You cannot evolve a pound out of an
ounce. Here is the reason why, in the Lecture on the
GENESIS OF THE PLANTS.
125
Genesis of the Universe, I persisted in endeavoring to show
that the doctrine of Germs does not account for the
weight of the Universe. The thing to account for is not
the size or the shape-the thing to account for is the weight.
If the Universe has been evolved from a few germs, and
from nothing else, then the weight of the germs must be
equal to the weight of the Universe. You cannot extract
a ton out of a kilogramme. If a definite plant is devel-
oped into another, if a specific animal is evolved into an-
other, then the two plants, the two animals, are equiva-
lents in weight. If the diatom is developed, however
slow and indirectly, into the cedar-if the amoeba is
evolved, however gradually and intermediately, into the
elephant-then the diatom must weigh as much as the cedar,
the amoeba must be as heavy as the elephant. We propose
to be scientific; and therefore we subject the Hypothesis
of Evolution to the scientist's peculiar, decisive test-the
test of the Scales. Nevertheless, there is a sense in which
I must accept the doctrine of Evolution. It is in the origi-
nal, etymological sense, viz., unrolling. I believe that the
Process of Creation was the unrolling of a Divine Plan
or Conception. In this sense of the word, and it is the
primary, fair sense, I am proud to confess myself an
Evolutionist. "Premeditation prior to Creation:" this is
the favorite formula of Louis Agassiz in his famous Essay
on Classification. I believe that the story of "The Crea-
tive Week" is the story of the unfolding of a Divine
Plan or Idea, ascending from the creation of matter-
atoms, along the pathway of soil, and plant, and animal, to
Man. In the very attempt of the Evolutionists to estab-
lish the hypothesis of physical development, there is an
unconscious, powerful tribute to the Mosaic doctrine of
Evolution; that is to say, the doctrine of the unrolling of
花
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
a Divine Plan or Idea. The advance may have been, and
in many cases probably was, genetic; but the advance, in
so far as it was an "evolution," was ideal. And not only
is Evolution, in this and the proper sense of the term, true
of the Creative Process; it is also true of every living
thing to-day, whether plant or animal. The acorn unfolds
into the oak, the babe into the man, along the ideal axis of
a Divine thought or plan. The growth is indeed an evo-
lution, but the evolution is not a physical development or
unfolding; the growth is the physical accretion of sub-
stance from without, along the ideal axis of a conception
or scheme. In fact, it is this ideal evolution, not the physi-
cal expansion or the community of substances, which is the
secret of the identity of acorn and oak. And the thing
for the physical evolutionist to account for is this: the
weight of the oak, the immense preponderance of which
was never in the acorn. Evolution, in the sense of physi-
cal, objective unfolding of protoplast into Man, is false.
Evolution, in the sense of ideal, purposeful unfolding of
protoplast into Man, is true. And Science has it for her
lofty vocation to endeavor to read the Creator's thoughts
before they are materialized into things.'
1 Since delivering this Lecture, I have received from my esteemed friend, the Rev. Dr.
S. S. Cutting, some verses, written by him, which felicitously express this thought, and
which, by his permission, I incorporate in this volume:
SCIENCE.
Ere, from the gloom of cycling night,
Earth woke, and knew the dawning light;
Ere from old Chaos order sprung,
And music through the ether rung;-
In Thee, O one Eternal Mind,
Dwelt Laws which worlds in order bind,
All Forms of Beauty,-Love's Delight,-
All Reason,-all Unchanging Right.
In earth and heaven, the Wonder wrought
Is Evolution from Thy Thought;
GENESIS OF THE PLANTS.
127
But, returning to the point under immediate discus-
sion, let us observe precisely what the Sacred Chronicler
declares. He declares that the tree, whose seed is in it-
self, yields fruit after its kind. And in thus declaring,
he virtually asserts the Invariability of what we call "Spe-
cies." Not that he consciously conceived this doctrine.
But he was an observer, and, being an observer, the rec-
ord of his observations is, of course, scientific. And this
matter of the invariability of vegetable species is as true
to-day as it was in the days of the ancient Witness of Cre-
ation's Panorama. The tree, whose seed is in itself, still
yields fruit after its kind. As in the days of the Naza-
rene Teacher, so now: every tree is known by its own
fruit; no sooner now than then do men go to thorns to
gather figs, or to a bramble-bush to gather grapes (Luke vi. 44).
"And God saw that it was good."
And well might the Creator delight in
the Birth of His Plants. Ponder for a
moment the immense and blessed part which vegetation
plays in the economy of daily human life. In the first
place, Plants are the source of all our food: directly, as in
vegetable diet-e. g., bread, which we call the "Staff of
Life;" and indirectly, as in animal diet-these animals.
themselves having been fed on the vegetable world. An-
nihilate plants, and where is food? Annihilate food, and
where is man? Again: vegetation is the grand means of
atmospheric purification. The countless living creatures
of earth, human and animal, are ceaselessly inhaling from
5.- Ministry
Vegetation:
of
The Potence of Creative Skill
Is sovereign fiat of Thy Will;—
And Science, thence, THY WORKS TO KNOW;—
That upward stepping, patient, slow,
The reverent mind may find in Thee
Creation in its Prophecy.
128
UDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the air its life-sustaining oxygen, and as ceaselessly exhaling
into the air the death-dealing carbonic oxide. The vege-
table world mercifully reverses the respiratory process:
ceaselessly inhaling the deadly carbonic oxide, as ceaseless-
ly exhaling the life-sustaining oxygen. Annihilate plants,
and man and animal speedily suffocate. Thus, vegetation.
is alike life's grand compensating balance, evermore main-
taining the needed atmospheric equilibrium, and also life's
grand storehouse, evermore supplying animal existence
with its indispensables of air and food. What the ancient
Gibeonite was to the ancient Israelite, that the Plant is
to Man: it is his hewer of wood and drawer of water.
It is more than the ancient Gibeonite: it keeps him from
ceasing to be a man, and sinking into a clod. And just
here, as I pass on, let me speak a word in behalf of the
primeval forests. They are an essential part of the vital
economy of the nation, serving, not only as its great lungs,
but also as one of the essential conditions of the permanent
productiveness of the soil. Witness the fertility of wooded
Lombardy. Witness the sterility of woodless Palestine.
Foster, then, the blessed woods of our loved America!
Girdle not, O hunter, that hemlock for thy camp! Fire
not, O thoughtless vacationist, that curling birch!
Once more:
"O, Woodman, spare that tree!
The vegetable world is a never-ending
source of æsthetic delight. The two great occasions and
conditions of physical beauty are figure and color. The
Plants, in their infinitely varied range from diatom to
cedar, illustrate every conceivable line of figure, every
conceivable hue of color. Their ravishing song ranges
through the whole scale of possible figures, through the
whole gamut of possible hues. They are not only minis-
GENESIS OF THE PLANTS.
129
trants to a transient pleasure, they are also witnesses to an
eternal Beauty.
"Were I, O God, in churchless lands remaining,
Far from all voice of teachers or divines,
My soul would find, in flowers of Thy ordaining,
Priests, sermons, shrines! (HORACE SMITH.)
""
Remembering, then, this threefold ministry of vegetation,
tirelessly serving humanity as the gracious ministrant of
daily food and vital equilibrium and exhaustless beauty,
we, too, may share in the Creator's delight, and with Him
pronounce the advent of the Plants very good.
6. The Third Day
a Day of Providence.
But
"And there was evening and there
was morning, a Third Day." Momen-
tous and full of Providence in very
deed have been the events of the Third Day. First, there
has been the Creator's distribution of Land and Water:
the seas, islands, continents, mountains, taking their ap-
pointed places. And, secondly, the earth has received from
her Maker and Lord her iridescent mantle of flora.
these events were not their own end. Sublime as was the
retreat of the Seas and the emergence of the Lands; ex-
quisite as were the springing up of the ferns, the towering
of the oaks, the flowering of the roses, the fruiting of the
vines-these splendid events were something more than
the brilliant exhibition of the Creator's power and skill.
They were prophetic of something immensely greater than
themselves, even the Coming Man. For, on that far-off
Third Day, earth became a mighty storehouse for supply-
ing the wants of the myriads on myriads of coming hu-
manity. On that day of the Emerging Lands it became
possible for man to obtain from the mountains and river-
beds and subterranean depths those precious stones on
which he loves to feast his eyes; better still, those miner-
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
als and metals which are more precious than any gem-
clay and gravel and copper and iron and silver and gold
and soil. On that day of the Birth of Vegetation were
deposited and compressed those colossal coal-beds which to
this day furnish to the civilized world the chief generat-
ing power of its mechanical activities. You love to talk
of Divine Providence. I know no sublimer instance of
Divine Providence than the work of that far-off Third
Day. In those emerging lands and in that emeralding
soil I read the legend of One Who not only created, but
Who also foresaw, even Him Who was the Creator-
Provider. Oh, how those miss the meaning of Nature
who think of those ancient deposits of coal as but the is-
sue of accident, or, at most, of impersonal, blind, goalless
law! Yes, it is one thing to describe Nature: that the
atheist may do, and this with the precision of a microme-
ter; but even then he speaks but a little fragment of the
truth. It is another and vastly larger thing to interpret
Nature that no one can do who does not believe in a pur-
poseful God-that is to say, a Providential Creator.
Such is the Story of the Genesis of the Plants.
II.-Moral Mean-
ing of the Story.
1. The Plant
Prophet of Man.
a
And now let us attend to the Moral
Meaning of the Story.
Observe then, first: The Plant is a
beautiful emblem, or, rather, a pro-
phetic type, of Man himself. The
analogies between plants and animals-not, indeed, in re-
spect to figure, but in respect to life are manifold and
striking. To start with the very first step, the beginning
of life: so similar are the elementary, initial cells of the
plant and the animal that, under the most detective micro-
scope hitherto at command, it is impossible to say which is
the plant and which the animal. And though, when the
GENESIS OF THE PLANTS.
131
cells begin to quicken and differentiate, the divergence
speedily becomes very marked, yet the phenomena of
plant-life do in many respects wonderfully resemble the
phenomena of animal-life. How naturally we apply to
them both such physiological expressions as embryo, quick-
ening, growing, feeding, absorbing, assimilating, circulat-
ing, secreting, breathing, sleeping, propagating, dying, re-
viving! Look at this little seed. See how mysteriously its
embryo quickens and unfolds; how vigorously it bursts its
envelope; how instinctively it sends its root downward and
its stem upward; how greedily it takes in its appropriate
food; how skillfully, like a very chemist, it elaborates its.
nourishment; how deftly it lays away the right substance
in the right spot; how sagaciously it arranges and spreads
its leaves for light and air and wet; how lovingly it clings
as it aspiringly climbs; how joyously it blossoms; how
far-sightedly its propagative apparatus makes provision for
the future; how nervously, as in the sensitive plant, it
shrinks from injury; how humanly it dies; how humanly
it puts forth its spring leaves. Verily, it seems to be a liv-
ing person, self-conscious and self-regulating. And yet it
is not. It is in this matter only a parable. It is a picture
of the human soul. That, too, quickens, unfolds, feeds,
assimilates, breathes, sleeps, awakes, blossoms, fruits, fades,
dies, revives. Yes, profound is the lesson taught us by
the phenomena of vegetation. The tree without us is an
emblem of the Tree within.
"Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand:
Little flower, but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and Man is."-(TENNYSON.)
132
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
No wonder, then, that Holy Scripture, written by the same
Divine finger that has written the Scripture of Nature, is
rich in Georgics, or Plant-parables.' All Holy Scripture
is verdured with the emerald tint of the Third Day.
Secondly: The Birth of Powers. In
2.—The Birth of studying this lesson let us keep within
the landmarks indicated in our passage
itself.
Powers.
of Germination.
And, first, the Parable of Germina-
(a.) The Parable tion: "Let the earth put forth shoots."
To the thoughtful man there is some-
thing inexpressibly marvelous in the quickening of a seed.
Look at this tiny acorn. Little sign does it give of the
vital energy with which it is instinct. The costly, flashing
diamond is more promising. But plant that diamond:
plant it most carefully in soil the richest, under skies and
conditions the most genial. Let your descendants ten
thousand years hence-if, indeed, the world shall be stand-
ing-visit the spot. No dazzling tree is there, flashing
with unnumbered, jeweled leaves. Let him carefully re-
move the soil: and there, in the silence and dampness and
darkness, he will find just what you had planted, nothing
more-an unchanged, cold, dead diamond. An autumn
wind sweeps through the forest, shaking every twig and
bough. A little, brown, seemingly dead acorn falls to the
ground. The foot of the browsing deer presses it beneath
the soil. There it lies in its grave, an unnoticed thing,
silent and motionless as the pebbles sepulchred around it.
But the germ of a giant life is in it for the vernal days.
come again, and the finger of the Unsleeping One touches
:
1 Psalm cxxvi. 5, 6. Is. xi. 1; xxxv. 1. Hosea xiv. 5-7. Matt. vi. 28-30; vii. 16-20;
ix. 37, 38; xiii. 18-23, 24-30, 31-33; xxiv. 32-34. Mark iv. 26-29. Luke xiii. 6-9. John iv.
35-38; xii. 24; xv. 1-S. Rom. xi. 16-24. 1 Cor. xv. 35-44. Gal. vi, 7-9. Heb. vi. 7, 8.
1 Peter i. 23. Rey. xxii. 2.
GENESIS OF THE PLANTS.
133
its secret spring, and, lo! the little brown nut germinates,
and swells, and bursts its husk, and sends down its tiny
radicle, and sends up its tiny shoot, and grows strong, and
sets aside the bowlder which obstructs the pathway of its
ascending doom, and a hundred years from now it rears its
kingly head amid the storms, and from its stalwart and
surging arms and quivering finger-tips it drops down a
thousand infant acorns to become the sires of countless
glorious oaks in the far-off ages, it may be, yet to come.
Friends, it is a parable of the Human Soul.
"For nature, crescent, does not grow alone
In thews, and bulk; but, as this temple waxes,
The inward service of the mind and soul
Grows wide withal."—(" HAMLET," Act I., Scene 3.)
Tiny, doubtless, the soul is that lies infolded in the little
framework of yonder sleeping infant: but the force of a
giant life lies coiled up in it. In that little soul lie in-
folded potentially all ranges of moral greatness, all splen-
dors of spiritual beauty, all majesties of saintly experience,
all heights of beatific glory, all exuberance of celestial har-
vest-and all this forever augmenting, with the cumulative
momentum of immortality, throughout the eternal cycles.
Yea, when the favorable conditions come, when the Spirit
of God breathes into this little chaotic soul His own vital-
izing energy, this Seed of the Kingdom, though now it
may be among the littlest of seeds, grows into the greatest
of trees, towering into the heaven of heavens, so that
the very angels of God, who excel in strength, love to
alight among its branches and lodge in the shadow thereof
(Matt. xiii. 31, 32).
(b.)-The Parable
of Evolution.
Secondly: The Parable of Evolu-
tion: "Let the herb yield seed after its
kind, whose seed is in itself." It is the
134
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
evolution of Growth, the seed unfolding, along the ideal
axis of a plan, into the harvest, the harvest being of the
same kind as the seed. The law of that kind of Evolution
holds absolutely wherever there is life. It holds absolute-
ly in the vegetable world. Whatever a man sows, that
shall he also reap (Gal. vi. 7). If he sows wheat, he will
reap from that wheat, not tares, but wheat. If he sows.
tares, he will reap from those tares, not wheat, but tares.
The law holds with equal absoluteness in the spiritual
world. If a man sows righteousness, he will reap from
that righteousness, not sinfulness, but righteousness; if he
sows sinfulness, he will reap from that sinfulness, not right-
eousness, but sinfulness. You cannot repeal the law of
Evolution; like begets like, and can beget no otherwise.
You cannot annul the law of Propagation; that which is
born of the flesh is flesh, and cannot be anything but flesh
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and cannot be
anything but spirit (John iii. 6). You cannot cancel the
law of the Harvest; what a man sows that shall he also
reap, always that. Alas, if the voices of Scripture, and
Observation, and Experience, and Conscience, are to be
trusted, all of us are born of the flesh, and all of us, there-
fore, are sowing to the flesh; and therefore, again, all of
us will of the flesh reap corruption. Marvel not then that
the Lord of nature and of man has said to us all, "Ye
must be born again" (John iii. 7). You do not marvel
at the law of the harvest in the vegetable world.
plant corn in the certain expectation that, if you reap any-
thing from that seed, it will be corn.
1;
You
And the God of
Nature and the God of Morals is one and the same God.
Marvel not then at the Lord's application of the Law of
Evolution to the moral world. Ay, this statute, "Ye
must be born again," is no new, special, exceptional edict;
GENESIS OF THE PLANTS.
135
it is written in the constitution of things. The Law of the
Harvest settles the point. What hope is there then for
us? How can we be born again? Poor, decaying, death-
struck trees are we; how then can we ever put forth the
shoots of a living righteousness? Oh, the unspeakable
condescension! He Who is the true Tree of Life benignly
offers to scion Himself into our poor, fallen, dying charac-
ters, and to rejuvenate them with the vigor of His own
immortal youth-hood. Or, to reverse the figure, and at
the same time give a new turn to the Apostle's argument,
we, wild olives by Nature, are grafted into the true and
heavenly Olive (Rom. xi. 16–24), and so share in His Divine
Virtues and beatific Immortality. Thus scioned and thus
abiding in Him-the True Vine-we shall indeed bring
forth much fruit (John xv. 1–10).
(c.)-The Parable
of Fructification.
And this leads us to our last point:
The Parable of Fructification: "Let the
earth put forth shoots; and let the tree
yield fruit." Fruitage: this is the meaning of Vegetation.
It is the very nature of growth, the very law of the seed,
to unfold and issue in harvest. It is with reference to
this issue that the whole plant is organized; it is toward
this issue that the whole plant-life converges. Beware
then of letting the seed of the kingdom fall on the
beaten wayside of a stony heart, where it cannot even
germinate. Beware of letting it fall on the thin, pebbly
soil of a shallow, frivolous heart, where, though it quickly
germinates, it as quickly perishes. Beware of letting it
fall on the thorny soil of a preoccupied heart, where, though
it germinates, and lives, and yields fruit, it brings forth
no fruit to perfection. Take heed that the seed of the
kingdom fall on the deep, rich soil of a good and honest.
heart, where, quickened by God's breath, it shall yield a
136
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
hundredfold (Matt. xiii.). See to it then that your faith is
rooted in the Grace of God; and then give all diligence,
and add to your faith the other graces, sending up from
the root of faith the trunk of wisdom and the sap of knowl-
edge, putting forth the boughs of temperance, and the
twigs of patience, and the leaves of godliness, and the
blossoms of brotherly kindness, and the fruit of love
(2 Peter i. 5-7). So shall you indeed pour forth at Immanuel's
feet the cornucopia of a Christian character, even those
fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, long-suffer-
ing, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance
(Gal. v. 22, 23). Abundantly bringing forth these various
fruits every month in the year (Rev. xxii. 2), ye shall indeed.
glorify your Father, and prove that ye are in very truth
the disciples of His Son (John xv. 8).
This then is the lesson of the hour: The Birth of
Powers to issue in Heavenly Fruitage. Be not content.
then with the mere sense of individuality and of duty,
mechanically taking your allotted place with the grouping
lands and seas (Gen. i. 9, 10); actually put forth in living exer-
cise your latent powers. Yes, happy the day when the
Lord of seeds and of souls says to thee: "Let the earth
put forth shoots, and the fruit-tree yield its fruits!" Thrice
happy the day when thou obeyest, thy life becoming arbo-
rescent, the leaves of thy tree spirally arranged so as to
take in the most thou canst of God's air and sunshine,
yielding the fruits of a Christian character. May it be for
each one of us to flourish like the palm-tree and grow like
the cedar, being planted in the house of the Lord, flour-
ishing in the courts of our God, even in old age still bear-
ing fruit (Psalm xcii. 12-14). Then, when death transplants us
to the more genial clime of the Heavenly Eden, it will
be seen that our branches are evermore interlacing with
GENESIS OF THE PLANTS.
137
the boughs of the Tree of Life. Meantime, as we wait
amid the wintry blasts of earth for the great translation,
let us catch inspiration from the Vision of the Flowers:
"In all places, then, and in all seasons,
Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings;
Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons,
How akin they are to human things.
"And with childlike, credulous affection,
We behold their tender buds expand;
Emblems of our own great resurrection,
Emblems of the bright and better land."
-(LONGFELLOW.)
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning, is now, and
ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
LECTURE VIII.
GENESIS OF THE LUMINARIES.
"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the
heaven, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs,
and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights
in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth and it
was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule
the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars
also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give
light upon the earth, 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. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day."-
GENESIS i. 14-19.
I. Explanation
of the Passage.
1.-Twin Triads of
the Creative Week.
FIRST of all, let us attend to the Ex-
planation of the Passage.
And yet, before proceeding with the
explanation, let me direct your attention
to what may be called the twin Triads.
This venerable Creation Archive
of the Creative Week.
evidently divides into two great eras, each era consisting
of three days; each day of the first era having a corre-
sponding day in the second era. Thus, to the chemical
Light of the First Day correspond the sidereal Lights of
the Fourth Day. To the terrestrial Individualization of
the Second Day corresponds the vital Individualization of
the Fifth Day. To the Genesis of the Lands and of the
GENESIS OF THE LUMINARIES.
139
Plants on the Third Day corresponds the Genesis of the
Mammals and of Man on the Sixth Day. Thus, the first
era of the Triad was an era of Prophecy; the second era
of the Triad, an era of Fulfillment. It is a majestic in-
stance of that wonderful, Divinely-arranged Parallelism
which we see on every side of us-e. g., Day and Night,
Seed-time and Harvest, Man and Woman, Nature and
Scripture, Matter and Spirit-and which finds verbal,
stately utterance in the rhythmic sentiments so characteris-
tic of Hebrew Poetry. And now to our Passage.
2.-The Twofold
Difficulty.
6
"And God said: Let there be
lights in the expanse of the heavens,
to give light on the earth.' And it
was so; and God made the two great lights and the stars,
and set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light
on the earth." But you interrupt me with some objec-
tions. First you ask: "Was not light already existing?
Have we not been expressly told in previous verses that
light already existed as the issue of the First Day? Is
not then Moses inconsistent with himself in asserting that
light existed on the First Day, and subsequently asserting
that the heavenly bodies were not created till the Fourth?"
The answer is easy. Light may exist independently of
the sun.
There is, e. g., the light of phosphorescence, the
light of electricity, the light of incandescence, the light of
chemism, atom clashing with atom, and discharging light
at every collision. Recall the famous Nebular Hypothesis
to which I have so often adverted. According to this
magnificent conjecture, there has been a time, untold ages
ago, when our globe was surrounded by a fiery, luminous
vapor, like the dazzling photosphere of our present sun.
Is there anything in the Mosaic Archive of Creation to
conflict with this splendid Hypothesis? Why blame
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Moses for asserting that light existed before the sun was
visible, and yet praise Kant and Herschel and Laplace and
Humboldt for asserting the same thing? But I hear an-
other objection. "The earth," you remind me, "is a con-
stituent part of the solar system; as such, it necessitates
from the beginning the contemporaneous existence of the
sun, to hold the solar system in balance, and to keep earth
itself in its orbit; but if the sun was not created till the
Fourth Day, what becomes of the astronomic teaching
that earth has been from the beginning an integrant part
of the solar system?" Again the answer is easy. Ob-
serve, first, that our passage does not assert that God
created that is to say, caused to come into existence for
the first time-sun, moon, and stars, on the Fourth Day.
All that our passage asserts in this matter is this: God on
the Fourth Day for the first time caused sun, moon, and
stars to become visible. Remember that light is not an
essential, constituent part of the sun. For aught we know,
the sun itself may be a dark body, as indeed the "solar
spots" have led some astronomers to think. Moreover:
surveying the sun as the centre of gravitation for the
planetary system, the sun can fulfill its gravitating office
equally well whether luminous or not. Let me then again
ask you to observe carefully just what the Sacred Chroni-
cler says. He does not say: "God created the sun, moon,
and stars on the Fourth Day." The creation of the
heavenly bodies he has already implied in the very first
statement of his Chronicle: "In the beginning God cre-
ated the heavens and the earth" (Gen. i. 1). What the
Chronicler asserts is this: "God said: 'Let there be lights,
luminaries, light-bearers, light-radiators, in the expanse of
the heavens' and God made the two great lights and the
stars;" that is to say: God constituted them, appointed
GENESIS OF THE LUMINARIES.
141
them, to become luminaries, or light-bearers. The Dic-
tum: "Let lights, be!" is evidently equivalent to the
Dictum: "Let lights appear!" If you ask me how this
great change was brought about, I cannot answer.
It may
be that dense vapors had hitherto prevailed; vapors exhal-
ing from Chaos, from the newly shaped globe, from the
steaming lands just arisen from their watery sepulchre,
from the rank vegetation of the Carboniferous Era; vapors
so dense as to hide the heavenly bodies: and that the work
of the Fourth Day consisted in giving transparency to the
turbid atmosphere, and so letting through it the light of
sun, moon, and stars. Or it may be, on the Fourth Day,
God endowed the heavenly bodies with power to excite
those undulations of the assumed universal ether which,
according to the modern teaching, are occasions of light;
thus concentrating or massing the diffused light of the
First Day into apparently distinct, definite sources of light,
or light centres, on the Fourth. As on the First Day He
may have given light immediately by impressing His edict
directly on the universal ether, so on the Fourth Day
He may have given light mediately by establishing here
and there in the universal ether sun, moon, and stars, as
distinct and permanent centres or occasions of luminous
vibration. However this may be, the point in hand is
this: the sublimest of modern scientific hypotheses, in de-
claring that light existed before the appearance of the sun,
simply echoes the voice of Moses. And now I have a
question to ask: How came that ancient Chronicler, writing
in that far-off unscientific age, to venture on so improbable
a statement as that of placing the advent of the sun long
after the advent of light? Is there any better answer
than this—he was Divinely inspired? Nevertheless let me
reiterate my oft-repeated caution. Do not try to extort
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
|
from our text what the writer did not put in it. Remem-
ber that inspiration is not necessarily omniscience. Do not
demand then that because Moses claims to be inspired, he
must therefore know all about Gravitation, and Precession
of Equinoxes, and Parallax. It is most unfair then to
read his story as you would read Newton's "Principia," or
Tyndall's "Lectures on Light." The reciter of this Crea-
tion Archive does not claim to be a scientist. All he claims
is that he has been permitted to gaze on the Creative Pro-
cess as though it had been swiftly unrolled before him in
panoramic vision. Accordingly, in describing what he has
witnessed, he speaks visually, not philosophically; scenically
not scientifically. Let us then be just to him, taking him
at his thought as well as his word.
3.-Panorama of
the Emerging Lumi-
naries.
Accordingly, let us again ascend his
Mount of Panoramic Vision, and gaze
with him on the unrolling section of the
Fourth Day. There is still light on the
newly verdured mountain and mead. But it is a strange,
weird light; perhaps like that of the zodiacal gleam, or
the dying photosphere, or perhaps like the iris-hued, lam-
bent shimmer of the Northern Aurora. Suddenly the
goldening gateways of the East open, and, lo, a dazzling
Orb, henceforth the Lord of Day, strides forth from his
cloud pavilion as a bridegroom from his chamber, and re-
joices to run his course as a giant his race; upward and
upward he royally mounts; downward and downward he
royally bows; as he nears the goal of his resplendent march,
lo, the blushing portals of the West open to receive him:
and lo, again, his gentle consort, "Pale Empress of the
Night," sweeps forth in silver sheen, while around her
planet and comet, Arcturus and Mazzaroth, Orion and
Pleiades, hold glittering court. No wonder the morning
GENESIS OF THE LUMINARIES.
143
stars sing together, and all the sons of God shout for joy
(Job xxxviii. 7).
And now let us ponder the purpose
"And God said:
4.—Purpose of the of the Luminaries.
Luminaries.
'Let there be lights in the expanse of
the heavens, for dividing between the day and the night;
and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,
and for years; and let them be for lights in the expanse
of the heavens, for giving light on the earth.' And it was
so. And God made the two great lights; the greater
light for dominion over the day, and the lesser light for
dominion over the night; and the stars. And God set
them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the
earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to
divide between the light and the darkness."
The purpose
then was threefold.
(a.)-To divide be-
tween the Day and
the Night.
First: "To divide between the Day
and the Night;" that is to say: to
bring about alternations of light and
darkness. But why was this necessary?
Remember then that man as at present constituted must
have recurrent periods of sleep. Every exercise of his
powers, whether bodily, mental, or moral, involves a loss
of vital force. That loss must be compensated by periodic
seasons of repose; otherwise he will become insane and die.
In sleep there is a more or less complete suspension of vol-
untary motion and consciousness. Sleep is thus one of the
grand reservoirs for the supply of the constant waste going
on in our working hours. As a matter of fact, the health-
ful man does and must spend about one-third of his life in
sleep. Ah, I know of no more touching evidence of
Christ's real humanity, being in very truth bone of my
bone and flesh of my flesh, than when I read that, wearied
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
with the toils of an eventful and harassing day, He went
on board one of the little crafts of Gennesaret, and in-
stantly fell asleep, and, though a great tempest suddenly
rose and raged, He still slept on (Mark iv. 36-38). And I
know of no more glowing evidence of the transcendent
superiority of the coming heavenly estate than when I
read: "There shall be no night there" (Rev. xxii. 5). Mean-
time we are of the earth, earthy, and must struggle on, as
best we may, under the laws of this inferior stage of exist-
ence. Labor, anxiety, sorrow, inexorably entail fatigue.
And so it comes to pass that resting is at times as truly
a duty as working: sleeping, as waking. When, then,
jaded with the toils and cares and griefs of the day, the
stilly evening comes, how delicious is the coming on of
sleep that blessed
"Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great Nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast."
—(" MACBETH," Act II., Scene 2.)
And that we may sleep and wake at healthful intervals,
how mercifully the Framer of our bodies and Father of
our spirits has divided the day from the night; at every
sunset dropping the curtains of His evening, and so inviting
to repose; at every sunrise lifting the curtains of His morn
ing, and so inviting to labor! Ah, it is one of the perhaps
inevitable regresses of civilization that it tends to reverse
our Divine Father's method, bidding us close our shutters,
that we may sleep during His sunshine, and light our little
candles and gas-jets, that we may work during His night.
Is it not enough that the carnivorous animals-the tiger
and hyena among beasts, and the burglar and assassin among
な
​GENESIS OF THE LUMINARIES.
145
men-should sleep by day and prowl by night? May we
not hope that in the still richer civilization which awaits
us, society will revert to the primeval simplicity, and with
the patriarchal witness of Creation's Panorama gratefully
accept the sunrise as God's summons to work, and the sun-
set as God's summons to rest?
(b.)-To be for Signs,
Seasons, Days, Years.
But our passage assigns a second
reason why the Creator set the sun,
moon, and stars in the expanse of the
heavens; it is that they may be "for signs and for seasons,
and for days, and years;" that is to say, that they may
serve us as notations of time. For in all ages of the world
men have accepted the motions of the heavenly bodies as
the measure of duration or time. It is these motions, these
sunrises and sunsets, these new and full moons, these morn-
ing and evening stars, these transits of the meridian, which
have enabled men to divide time into seconds, minutes,
hours, days, weeks, months, seasons, years, decades, cen-
turies, millenniums. It is also to these motions of the
heavenly bodies that we owe such words as dial, clock,
chronometer, journal, Sabbath, anniversary, era, almanac,
calendar, chronology, even that august word-History,
Sun, moon, and stars are man's natural chronometer. "Our
watches are but miniature transcripts of the celestial revo-
lutions." Unlike the heavenly clocks, they ever and anon
get out of order; and then we have to go to the sun again
in order to have them rectified. Verily, these lights which
God has set in the expanse of the heavens do serve for
signs and for seasons, for days and for years. True as
these words were in those primeval days, when men had so
little idea of the distance and vastness of the stars, im-
mensely truer are they in these days of Copernican astron-
omy and telescope and micrometer. Moreover: the mo-
146
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
tions of the heavenly bodies serve us not only as measures
of time; they also serve us as measures of space. Green-
wich on the Thames owes its blessed celebrity to our text.
A gallant ship freighted with that most precious of cargoes
-a complement of passengers-has reached mid-ocean. A
fierce gale, lasting hours and days, bursts upon her. Strong
steersmen grasp the helm; but the tempest is stouter than
the rudder. Hour after hour, day after day, she flies with
the sweeping, veering blasts. At length the tempest dies,
and the clouds break away. But where is she? How far
has she drifted from her course? No islander is there to
answer-no guide-post within a thousand miles. True,
her dead reckoning, worked from her departure, gives
her position; but only approximatively. And the passen-
gers are nervous, and the captain is conscientious. Where
then is she exactly? Eight o'clock A. M. approaches. The
officer, sextant in hand, mounts the bridge. Speak not to
him; for he is about to talk with a far-off, celestial Pilot.
Peering through his sextant, he observes the sun's exact
altitude and at the same instant notes his chronometer.
Silently withdrawing into his little cabin, he compares his
observation with the sun's declination as given by the
Nautical Almanac, with the approximate latitude as given
by the dead reckoning, and the local time with the Green-
wich as given by the chronometer. Presently he appears,
saying: "Longitude, so many degrees, so many minutes,
W." But this is not enough. Anxiously he awaits the
noon. As the critical moment approaches, again he takes
his sextant, and again he mounts the bridge. Do not
speak to him, for again he is about to talk with the solemn
heavens. Again peering through his sextant, he observes
the exact instant the sun crosses the meridian. Again
silently withdrawing into his little cabin, and consulting
GENESIS OF THE LUMINARIES.
147
*
his Nautical Almanac, he compares his observation of the
sun's altitude with his declination for that instant. Pre-
sently he returns, and with a smile of triumph announces:
"Latitude, so many degrees, so many minutes, N.; from
New York so many miles; from Liverpool so many miles."
Thus Earth has questioned Heaven, and Heaven has an-
swered Earth. And so it has happened ten thousand times,
alike in Atlantic, in Pacific, in Indian, and in Caribbean.
Polyglot indeed is the language of the skies. There is
no speech, nor language, where their voice is not heard;
their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words
to the end of the world (Psalm xix. 1–4).
(c.)-To give Light
on the Earth.
But our passage assigns still another
reason why the Creator set the lumina-
ries in the expanse of the heavens; it
is that they may give light on the earth. "God made the
two great lights; the greater light to rule the day; the
lesser light to rule the night; and the stars; and He set
them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the
earth." Respecting the indispensableness of light as one
of the essential conditions of human activity and of life
itself, I need not speak to-day; for we have already des-
canted on it in our study of the First Day, when God said:
“Let light be;
and light was. Yet before leaving the
point it will be proper to give a moment's consideration to
a question which this light-giving office of the heavenly
bodies, as asserted in our text, raises. When, on the one
hand, we remember that the sun outweighs 355,000 earths,
and that, immense as the sun is, it is one of the smallest
of the countless stars-Alcyone, e. g., being 12,000 times
larger; and when, on the other hand, we are told that the
sun and stars were set in the heavens to give light to this
tiny earth does it not look like a vast disproportion of
""
148
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
means to ends? The answer is twofold: First, Moses is
not giving us a history of the heavens; he is giving us a
history of the earth, mentioning the heavens only as they
affect the earth. He does not profess to be an astronomer,
knowing all about the distances and magnitudes of the stars;
he only professes to describe things as he saw them in pan-
oramic trance. Thus seeing them, the sun, moon, and
stars did seem to him as though set in the heavens to give
light on the earth. The other answer is this: Greatness
does not depend on bulk. To human vision nothing was.
ever smaller than that grain of seed which fell into Calvary's
soil and died. To angelic vision nothing will ever be vaster
than that Tree of Life which, having sprung up from Cal-
vary's dying seed, is overshadowing human space and human
time, and sending out its boughs through all the immensities.
Such is the threefold ministry of the heavenly bodies:
to give alternations of day and night; to give notations of
time; and to give light on the earth. No wonder, then,
that the ancient world was so given to astrology, believing
that the events of human life were influenced and dom-
inated by the horoscope, or relative positions and aspects
of the heavenly bodies at the moment of birth, or at any
other critical instant. How curious to note the relics of
this hoary superstition in such words as Sunday, Monday,
Saturday, Saturnine, ill-starred, disastrous, Mercurial, Mar-
tial, Jovial, Lunatic, etc.! Nevertheless, there is an Astrol-
ogy which is divinely true, dominating our everlasting des-
tiny; it is the Star of Bethlehem. God grant each of us
that that Star in the East, rising in the firmament of our
second birth, or true house of Nativity, may evermore be
the Lord of the Ascendant. Ay, let Him be the true Jo-
seph, before whom sun, moon, planets, and all stars of
heaven make perpetual obeisance (Gen. xxxvii. 9-11).
GENESIS OF THE LUMINARIES.
149
5.-God saw that it
was Good.
"And God saw that it was good."
And well might the Creator take de-
light in the advent of His luminaries.
When we remember how beneficently the arrangements of
the Fourth Day affect all life-vegetal, animal, human ;
how they give us the blessed alternations of day and night,
spring and autumn, work and rest; when we remember
how they give us ability to make and keep appointments
and obligations, whether secular or religious, enabling us
to fix our railway time-tables, to know the time of the ma-
turing of an obligation, to calendar human history, to date
our documents and correspondence-e. g., 3 P. M., February
26, 1878-to know when Sunday comes, to celebrate anni-
versaries of Birthday and Centennial, Christmas and Eas-
ter, to divide our otherwise dateless, monotonous, stale life
into refreshing changes of chapters, paragraphs, verses, and
clauses; when we remember that it is the periodically-re-
current motions of the heavenly bodies which awaken the
instincts of order and method, instigating us to arrange
our lives systematically, and take on habits-that is to say,
character―every morning astronomically inviting us to
pray: "Father, give us this day our daily bread;" when
we remember how these
"Far-reaching concords of astronomy,
Felt in the plants and in the punctual birds,”
-(R. W. EMERSON)
regulate the vital periods or cycles of all terrestrial life,
giving to vegetation that year which it needs for its
growth and its hibernation, its seed-time and its harvest;
to birds that twelvemonth which they must have for mat-
ing, nesting, hatching, fledging, migrating, returning, thus
enabling the stork in the heavens to know her appointed
times, and the turtle-dove, and the swallow, and the crane,
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
to observe the time of their coming (Jer. viii. 7)-so that
the very animals and plants become in their turn nat-
ural chronometers, striking tally with the motions of the
heavenly bodies; when we remember that, without these
divisions of time which the sidereal motions suggest and
maintain, there could be no clock, no calendar, no chronol-
ogy, no history, no sense of progress, no goal of anticipa-
tion-in short, when we remember that our very thinking
consecutively depends on succession in time, which succes-
sion is offered and regulated by the apparent motions of
the starry hosts; when we remember all this, we, too, may
gratefully share in the Creator's delight, and with Him
pronounce the work of the Fourth Day very good.
"O Lord, how manifold are Thy works!
In wisdom hast Thou made them all."(PSALM civ. 24.)
"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 formed summer and winter."
(PSALM lxxiv. 16, 17.)
"Yea, Thou hast made everything beautiful in its time,"
-(ECOLESIASTES iii. 11.`
Such is the Story of the Genesis of the Luminaries.
II.-Moral Mean-
ing of the Story.
1.-The Luminaries
are Guides to Jesus
Christ.
And now, what are the moral les-
sons of the story? It teaches many. I
will mention two.
And, first: these mighty ordinances
of sun, and
and moon, and stars, this blessed
covenant of Day and Night, of Seasons
and Years, are shining index-fingers, everlastingly pointing
to Jesus the Christ. In fact, the Creator has expressly
bidden us accept His ordinances of the heavenly bodies as
the pledge of His Covenant of Grace in the Divine Son
GENESIS OF THE LUMINARIES.
151
"""
6
of Mary: "Thus saith Jehovah, Who giveth the sun for
light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and the
stars for light by night: 'If ye can break My covenant
of the Day, and My covenant of the Night, so that there
should not be day and night in their season; then also
My covenant shall be broken with David My servant,
that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne'
(Jer. xxxi. 35; xxxiii. 20-26); for I have sworn in My holi-
ness to David, that his seed shall be forever, and his
throne as the sun before Me; it shall be established for-
ever as the moon, and as the faithful witness in the
skies (Psalm lxxxix. 35-37). Yea, Thou Creator-Redeemer,
we accept Thy glorious Heavens as the shining prophets of
Thy Grace. Nor have they been pointing to Immanuel
in vain. Ah, friends, not always shall Genius and Unbe-
lief go hand in hand; not always shall learning be philos-
ophy of vain deceit (Col. ii. 8), or oppositions of Science,
falsely so called (1 Tim. vi. 20). In the homage of the Wise
Men from the East at the shrine of the Nativity, Faith
and Science were betrothed, and the world will yet cele-
brate their open bridal. Then will it be confessed that
the Lord of Creation and the Lord of Redemption is
one; that the Finger which wrote on the tables of the
Silurian sandstone is the Finger which wrote on the ta-
bles of the Sinaitic granite; that the Hand which reared
the gigantic forests of the Carboniferous Era is the Hand
which was nailed to Calvary's tree; that the Dixit which
islanded primeval space with nebulous masses is the Dixit
which jeweled the Judean night-dome with the Star of
Bethlehem. Yea, the day is at hand when Astronomy,
conscious of her august calling, shall proudly inscribe
on her frontlet the blazing legend: "Sun of Righteous-
ness (Mal. iv. 2).
وو
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
The other lesson is this: Jesus
2.—Christ and His Christ and His Church and His Truths
Church and His
Truths the True
Luminaries.
are the true Luminaries, shining in the
true Heavens. Jesus Christ Himself is
the true Greater Light, ruling the day
as the Sun of Righteousness, coming out of the chamber
of His Eternity as the King of the worlds, going forth
from the ends of the heavens, circling unto the ends there-
of, and nothing is hidden from His heat (Psalm xix. 5, 6).
The Church of Jesus Christ-Immanuel's real, spiritual
Church, the aggregate of Saintly Characters-is the true
lesser Light ruling the night as the moon of His Grace,
shining because He shines upon her, silvering the pathway
of this world's benighted travelers. The Truths of Jesus
Christ-the Truths which He came to disclose-are the true
Stars of Heaven, from age to age sparkling on His brow
as His many-jeweled diadem. And Jesus Christ and His
Church and His Truths are the world's true regulators-
serving for its signs and its seasons, its days and its years.
Let me cite a single instance. Why do not the world's
scholars still measure time from the Greek Olympiads?
Why do not the world's kings still reckon their annals
from the Year of Rome? Why do not the world's scien-
tists date their era from some memorable Transit or Oc-
cultation? Ah, Jesus Christ and His Church and His
Truth are too much for them. And so they all, even the
most infidel, bow in unconscious homage before the Babe
of Bethlehem, reckoning their era from that manger-birth,
dating their correspondence, their legislations, their discov-
eries, their exploits, with the august words: Anno Domini.
Yes, Christianity is Humanity's true Meridian, dictating
its measures of time and space, its calendars and eras, its
latitudes and longitudes. All history, if we did but know
GENESIS OF THE LUMINARIES.
153
it, is Time's great ecliptic around the Eternal Son of God.
Happy the hour, brother, when the Fourth Day dawns on
thy soul, and thou takest thy place in the moral heavens,
henceforth to shine and rule as one of earth's luminaries!
A Personal En-
treaty.
And this leads me to my last point.
Take heed, O friend, lest the day come
when the stars, now fighting in their
courses for thee, shall fight against thee (Judges v. 20). In
that coming day of sackclothed sun and crimsoned moon
and falling stars, one thing shall survive the dissolving
heavens and melting elements: It is the Blood-bought
Church of the Living God. Even now I see her, as in
visions of Patmos, clothed with the sun, under her feet the
moon, on her head the diadem of twelve stars (Rev. xii. 1).
Oh, then, live worthily of thine ineffable calling. Let
it not be enough that thy Maker, in reducing the chaos.
of thy soul to order, does the work of the First Day, shin-
ing into thy dark heart, and giving thee light; let the
Fourth Day come, that thou, too, in thy turn, mayst be a
light to others, even those who are still walking in dark-
ness, and dwelling in the land of the shadow of death. So
shalt thou find that
*
"the toppling crags of Duty scaled,
Are close upon the shining table-lands
To which our God Himself is moon and sun."
—(TENNYSON.)
So shalt thou keep in chime with yon circling stars, doing
thy Father's will on earth, even as they do it in the
heavens. For,
"There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins.
—(“ Merchant of Venice," v. 1.)
154
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Oh, read then aright the lessons Almighty God has
written in blazing characters on heaven's empyrean. With
the Wise Men from the East be led by Bethlehem's Star
to the House of Eternal Bread. Then, in that day of dis-
solving nature, when many of earth's brightest ones, sons
of the morning, shall, Lucifer-like, fall, to go out in ever-
lasting blackness, thou shalt orb forth into everlasting
splendor. Then shall the light of thy moon be as the light
of the sun, and the light of thy sun sevenfold, as the light
of seven days (Is. xxx. 26): for Jehovah shall be unto thee
an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory (Is. lx. 19). Oh,
that that promised day would swiftly come!
"Watchman, tell us of the night,
What its signs of promise are.
Traveler, o'er yon mountain height
See that glory-beaming Star.
Watchman, does its beauteous ray
Aught of hope or joy foretell?
Traveler, yes; it brings the day,
Promised day of Israel.
"Watchman, tell us of the night;
Higher yet that Star ascends.
Traveler, blessedness and light,
Peace and truth its course portends.
Watchman, will its beams alone
Gild the spot that gave them birth?
Traveler, ages are its own;
See, it bursts o'er all the earth.
"Watchman, tell us of the night,
For the morning seems to dawn.
Traveler, darkness takes its flight;
Doubt and terror are withdrawn.
Watchman, let thy wanderings cease;
Hie thee to thy quiet home.
GENESIS OF THE LUMINARIES.
155
Traveler, lo! the Prince of Peace,
Lo! the Son of God is come."
-(SIR JOHN BOWRING.)
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever
shall be, world without end.
Amen.
LECTURE IX.
GENESIS OF THE ANIMALS.
"And God said: Let the waters bring forth abundantly the mov、
ing creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in
the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and
every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth
abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind:
and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying: Be
fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl
multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the
fifth day. And God said: Let the earth bring forth the living creat-
ure after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth
after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth
after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creep-
eth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good."
GENESIS i. 20-25.
I.-Explanation
of the Passage.
1.-Animals the Is-
sue of Fifth and Sixth
Days.
FIRST of all, let us attend to the Ex-
planation of the Passage.
At the outset, then, observe that I
have included in the passage not mere-
ly the work of the Fifth Day, but also
the first part of the work of the Sixth.
My reasons for thus considering them in one lecture is
that they naturally form a single and distinct topic, name-
ly, the Creation of Animals; while the second part of the
work of the Sixth Day as naturally forms another single
GENESIS OF THE ANIMALS
157
and distinct topic, namely, the Creation of Man. More-
over: remembering that the measures of time in this Cre-
ation Archive are not literal days of twenty-four hours
each, but eras of indefinite length, it is reasonable to sup-
pose that the Creations on the various days more or less
overlap each other, the Creation wrought on any given
day being the characteristic work of that day. These
explanations, then, justify me in considering in one lecture
the work of the Fifth Day and a part of the work of the
Sixth-that is to say, the Genesis of Animals.
2.- Panorama of
the Emerging Ani-
mals.
Remembering, now, that our Chroni-
cler does not profess to be a zoologist,
but only an observer and describer of a
passing scene, let us again ascend his
mount of vision, and survey the unrolling panorama of the
Emerging Animals. The Fourth Day, with its flood of
solar light, has come. But, though the soil is verdant
with glorious vegetation, no beast walks the land, no bird
flies the air, no fish swims the sea. And now is heard
again the Omnific Word: "Let Animals be!" And, lo,
the nautilus spreads his sail, and the caterpillar winds his
cocoon, and the spider weaves his web, and the salmon
darts through the sea, and the lizard glides among the
rocks, and the eagle soars the sky, and the lion roams the
jungle, and the monkey chatters among the trees, and all
animate Creation waits the advent and lordship of Man,
God's Inspiration and therefore God's Image, God's Image
and therefore God's Viceroy.
3. The Animal
Succession a Prog-
For, observe that our passage sets
forth the Genesis of the Animals in an
ascending order. First, Animals of the
water: "God said: 'Let the waters
swarm with swarms of living beings;' and God created
ress.
158
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
6
the great sea-monsters-literally, long-extended creatures-
and every living thing that moveth, with which the waters
swarm, after their kind." Secondly, Animals of the air:
"God said: "Let birds fly above the earth along the ex-
panse of the heavens;' and God created every winged bird,
after its kind." Thirdly, Animals of the land: "God
said: 'Let the earth bring forth the living being, after its
kind, cattle and reptile and beast of the earth, after its
kind' and it was so." Fourthly, Man: "God said: Let
Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness' and God
created the man in His own image, in the image of God.
created He him; male and female created He them."
And with this Mosaic account of the Origin of Life, ascend-
ing from plant, by way of animal, to man, the geological
records substantially agree: first, plants and fishes of the
Palæozoic period; secondly, birds and reptiles of the Meso-
zoic period; thirdly, mammals and man of the Neozoic
period. Remember, now, that our Passage, even as the
most skeptical scholars concede, was in existence as a piece
of literature at least twenty-five centuries ago. Remember,
also, that Geology has not yet celebrated her first Centen-
nial. And now I have a question to ask. How happens
it that that far-off, unlored witness of Creation's panorama,
writing, as I believe, centuries before the Trojan War be-
gan, succeeded in so nearly formulating the teachings of
modern Geology? Look at this very curious, most sug-
gestive fact. That ancient Chronicler tells us that God on
the Fifth Day created the tanninim; that is to say, long-
extended creatures. What, now, did he mean by these
tanninim, or long-extended creatures? Whales? So
To them the
thought the scholars of 250 years ago.
whale was the longest creature known. Accordingly,
when in 1611, by commission of James I., the learned
GENESIS OF THE ANIMALS
159
Revisers of the "Bishops' Bible" gave to the world the
translation known as the "Authorized Version," they ren-
dered the word tannin by the word whale: "God created
great whales." But in 1611 Geology, as a definite science,
had not been born; she is the blooming daughter of the
nineteenth century. But, though her hands are youthful
and delicate, she has succeeded in many a place in upheav-
ing earth's rocky crust; and, lo, here and there, in Europe
and Australia, in Asia and America, there come to light
gigantic fossils of tanninim indeed, vast animal exten-
sions, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty feet long;
fossils of colossal creatures which became extinct untold
ages before Adam awoke in Eden to kiss his Heaven-given
bride. The difference between the modern geologist and
the ancient Chronicler is this: the Geologist calls these
enormous fossils by names almost as enormous: Dino-
saurs, Hydrosaurs, Ichthyosaurs, Mosasaurs, Plesiosaurs,
Pterodactyls, etc. The hoary Witness of Creation's pano-
rama was not a geologist; he was only an observer, and
therefore he called them "long-extended creatures." And
so fair Geology, dowered with the glorious heirloom of
untold ages, emerges from the rocky sepulchre of an im-
memorial antiquity, and, ascending the witness-stand of
Time, sets aside the mistranslations of the learned and
ecclesiastical past, and, kneeling before the hoary transcri-
ber of the primeval Creation Tradition, solemnly swears
that he alone speaks the truth. Ay, the very stones of
the field are in league with the sons of God. But let me
not be diverted from the point in hand. I was speaking
of the ascending order of the animal creation. And the
ascending order is prophetic as well as historic. The plant
suggests the animal; the animal suggests man. For man
himself begins as a microscopic, plant-like cell, and, unfold-
160
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
ing along the scale of the animal creation, culminates in
being a temple of God. Alas! many men never outgrow
the animal, forever contentedly creeping. Alas, alas! some
men never outgrow the plant, forever simply vegetating;
and this only as the flowerless cryptogams, the parasitic
fungi of society.
4.-" After their
Kind."
Not that the ascending order of the
animal succession was an "Evolution of
Species into Species." In the first place,
as was shown in the Lecture on Plants, "Species" is but an
abstract term, a mere concept, having no concrete, objective
existence in the world of matter: who ever saw a Species ?
Again: Evolutionists use their shibboleth-"Evolution".
very hazily, confounding it with transmutation, which is
an utterly different thing. Evolution-if we use the word
intelligently, not playing fast and loose with it-means un-
rolling. But you cannot unroll what has not been inrolled;
you cannot evolve what has not been involved. In other
words, the evolution of a concrete, definite, objective or-
ganism, say a salmon, a turtle, an eagle, a whale, a gorilla,
a man, is—if we use the word intelligently and accurately
-an affair of weight: and you cannot evolve a ton out of
a kilogramme. Nevertheless, there is an evolution in which
I believe; but it is an ideal evolution: that is to say, the
evolution along the ideal axis of a plan and purpose: e. g.,
the unfolding of a leonine ovum into the adult lion is an
evolution along the ideal axis of a vertebrate mammal. In
this sense, our hoary Chronicler was an evolutionist. Ob-
serve the emphatic, solemn frequency with which he uses
the profound phrase: "After his kind;" i. e., "After his
plan, idea." Seven times is the phrase repeated in our
brief passage. Like the previous, solemn iteration of the
same phrase in the Story of the Genesis of the Plants, it
GENESIS OF THE ANIMALS.
161
5.-The Creator's
Blessing.
almost stands like a prophetic caveat against the modern
hypothesis of the Mutability of Species. Alike according
to Moses and the observed facts of Nature, the tree, whose
seedis in itself, bears fruit after its kind; the fish of the sea
bears fishes after its kind; the bird of the air bears birds after
its kind; the beast of the land bears beasts after its kind.
And now we pass to note the Crea-
tor's Blessing: "And God blessed them,
and said: 'Be fruitful, and multiply,
and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on
the earth."" Observe: our Chronicler represents the Cre-
ator as speaking to the animals. This is one of the many
hints which drive us to the conclusion that this Creation
Archive is not to be taken literally, but as the inspired
portrayal of a panoramic vision. And the Divine blessing
was the benediction of fertility. The fecundity of animals
is simply amazing. Recall, e. g., the enormous ratio of
increase of the shad and the salmon as propagated by the
modern methods of fish-culture. It is asserted that a sin-
gle spawning-ground of the herring contains a hundred
thousand million eggs. And as to the animalcules, the
number is simply inconceivable; earth's vast strata of lime-
stone and reefs of coral and cliffs of chalk being the solidi-
fied secretions of microscopic animal life.
6.
Delight.
The Divine
"And God saw that it was good.”
And well might He rejoice in the ad-
vent of His Animals. And so also may
we. When we remember how wonderful are the con-
trivances of the animal economy-contrivances of organ
and tissue and nerve and muscle and bone and teeth-con-
trivances of digestion and circulation and respiration and
reproduction-contrivances of feeling and tasting and hear-
ing and seeing and moving; when we remember how
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
serviceable many of the animals are to man-how the
camel bears him across the desert and the reindeer across
the snows how the ox and the ass and the horse draw his
burdens-how the fish and the bird and the beef furnish
him with food-how the sheep and the silk-worm supply
him with clothing-ay, how his very dog ministers to his
pride and joy and love; when we remember how capable
of pleasure the animals themselves are-how gleefully the
fawn gambols, how rollickingly the squirrel scampers, how
blithely the bobolink sings, how sportively the trout darts,
how merrily the cricket chirps, how friskingly the mote
dances, how ecstatically the rotifer whirls; when we re-
member all this, we too may share in the Creator's delight,
and with Him pronounce the setting-up of the Animal
Kingdom very good.
Such is the Story of the Genesis of the Animals.
II.-Moral Mean-
ing of the Story.
Problem of the
Animals.
And, now, what is the Meaning of
the Story?
It must be confessed, at least at first
sight, that the story is singularly want-
ing in ethical lessons. We can understand the meaning of
light, heat, air, plant. But what is the meaning of Ani-
mals? They do not seem to be an essential, constituent
part of the human economy. Had never one of them
been created, we could have lived, as in fact the inhabi-
tants of the tropics mainly do live, on vegetable diet; we
could have used, as in fact we are every day more and
more using, steam power for horse. And yet, Ehrenberg
tells us that “ one cubic inch of chalk often contains more
than a million of microscopic skeletons;" and chalk exists
by the furlong in depth, the mile in breadth, the league in
length. And we cannot suppose that God has created
anything in vain: "He saw everything that He had made,
GENESIS OF THE ANIMALS.
163
and, lo, it was very good." Here, then, is a stupendous
fact, and, at the same time, a stupendous problem-the
Animal Creation. No thoughtful man, who believes in a
purposeful God, can push it aside as unimportant. What,
then, is the meaning of the Animals ?
1.-Animals have
"Souls."
We
Consider then, first, that, if the
Scripture is to be believed, animals have
"souls." And here let me repeat some
words given to the public more than ten years ago.¹
must distinguish, as Holy Writ itself distinguishes, between
Soul and Spirit. The Spirit is the capacity or organ by
which man has the sense of God, by which he comes into
contact with Him, and apprehends Him, and knows Him,
and feels Him, and loves Him, and enters into fellowship
with Him, and is made partaker of the Divine nature
(2 Peter i. 4); the Spirit is "the organ of spiritual-minded-
ness."
On the other hand, the Soul is the principle of
life, the vital principle, the mysterious force which makes
the object which possesses it, whatever it be, a vital thing.
What the nature of this force is, whether material or im-
material—what its origin and laws of working-is the most
baffling, as well as fascinating, of Nature's secrets; hither-
to, and probably for evermore, defying scalpel and micro-
scope, physiologist and philosopher. And yet, although we
do not understand its origin or nature, we do understand
something of its movements and relations. Phenomenally
surveyed, the Soul seems to be endowed with a mysterious-
ly gathering, selecting, forming, organizing, directing force.
In some utterly inscrutable way, it seems to gather around
it material atoms for the body it informs and vitalizes, and
manifests itself in all varieties of sensation, emotion, in-
stinct, reason, volition. It seems to be the inmost centre
¹ See Baptist Quarterly, vol. i., No. 2.
164
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
and pivot of the personality, around which the whole man,
as now constituted, gathers, crystallizes, and lives, according
to an order of God's own establishing. In answer to its
mystic power, the heart throbs, the lungs wax and wane,
the sensibilities awaken, the passions take fire, the imagina-
tion roams, the reason marches forth in logical sequence,
the will strides on in exploits of conquest. And all this is
shared, though in an immeasurably lower degree, by the
animal world. Reason and instinct, I am disposed to be-
lieve, are only relative, comparative terms. What in man
we call reason, in animals we call instinct. As that mys-
terious force which vitalizes and builds up the fabric of
the human body is the same mysterious force which vital-
izes and builds up the fabric of the animalcule, so that
mysterious guide which teaches Newton how to establish
the law of gravity, and Shakespeare how to write his “Ham-
let," and Stephenson how to bridge the St. Lawrence,
seems substantially to be the same mysterious guide which
teaches the beaver how to build his dam, and the spider
how to weave his web, and the ant how to dig his spiral
home. The difference does not seem to be so much a dif-
ference in nature or kind, as in degree or intensity. As
the diamond is the same substance with charcoal-only
under superior crystalline figure-so reason seems to be
substantially the same with instinct-only in an intensely
organized state. One thing is common to man and ani-
mals: it is that mysterious principle or force which, in
want of a better name, and in distinction from the term
spirit, we call "soul." Accordingly, Scripture itself as-
cribes to animals the possession of souls. In this very ac-
count of the Genesis of Animals, which we have in hand
to-day, the terms describing the water and land animals,
and rendered in our version "the creature that hath life'
GENESIS OF THE ANIMALS.
165
""
or "living creature," are literally identical with the terms.
rendered in the account of the Genesis of Man: "Living
soul." Listen: "Let the waters bring forth abundantly
the moving creature that hath life," or, as you may read
in the margin of your Bibles, "living soul." Listen again:
"Let the earth bring forth the living creature, the living
soul, after its kind." Listen once more: "The Lord God
formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living
soul, a living creature (Gen. ii. 7). Remember also the
exceedingly meaningful circumstance that the higher or-
ders of animals and man were created in the same era,
even on the same Sixth, culminating Day. "God said:
'Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his
kind:' and it was so. . . . And God said: 'Let Us make
man in Our image, after Our likeness:' and God created
the man in His image. . . And there was evening, and
there was morning, a Sixth Day." Ah, we little know
what mystic bonds of kinship join animal and man. How
humanlike the ways of the higher forms of animals!
Whistle for your devoted Fritz. See how joyously he
bounds toward you, wagging his tail in nervous ecstasy;
how lovingly he rests his paw and head on your knee.
What Shylock, protesting to Salarino, said of his race, you
may say of your Fritz: "Hath he not eyes
"Hath he not eyes? Hath he not
organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Is he not
fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, sub-
ject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed
and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian
is? If you prick him, does he not bleed? If you tickle.
him, does he not laugh? If you poison him, does he not
die?" ("Merchant of Venice," iii. 1.) Verily, animals, even as
the Scripture saith, have souls.
•
166
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
2.-And Perhaps
are Immortal.
And having souls, who knows but
that animals, at least some of them, are
immortal? True, it is one of our sapi-
ent assumptions, so often repeated that it has almost taken
on the imperial mien of an axiom, that man differs from
the brute in that he alone is immortal. But assumptions,
however natural or taking, are not necessarily facts. For
ages men believed that the earth was the centre of the
universe, and that the heavenly bodies revolved around it.
But how gigantic, even grotesque, the lie! Lives there
the man who knows-demonstrably knows-that animals
are not immortal? Let us not be puffed up with our own
conceits, impounding the activities of the Limitless One in
the tiny paddock of our own opinions :
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."-(" HAMLET," i. 5.)
Ah, this mystery of Life, this problem of the Vital
Principle common to man and animal, this riddle of the
Psyche, this enigma of the Soul! I do not wonder that
men in all ages of the world have bowed down before it.
I do not wonder that in that far-off age, when intellectual
Egypt was mapping out the heavens and rearing her own
mighty pyramids, she knelt before her Sacred Bull and
Ibis and Beetle, because she believed them endowed with
souls and instinct with immortality. Do not blame poor
Israel too harshly for so swiftly relapsing into the worship
of the Calf they had seen adored in Egypt; wretched was
their sin, but they had a profounder reason for it than our
proud theology is willing to recognize. To him who pon-
ders the mystery of Life the lowest microscopic protozoan,
hovering on the dim border between plant and animal, is
a sublimer thing than the solar system, or an infinite uni-
GENESIS OF THE ANIMALS.
167
verse of dead atoms. Did you ever think how profound,
in this connection, is the significance of the Cherubim of
Scripture; those wondrous beings which guarded the way
to the Tree of Life (Gen. iii. 24), which overshadowed the
Mercy Seat (Ex. xxv. 18), which thundered along the sky as
the chariot on which the God of the whirlwind royally
rode (Psalm xviii. 10), which careered before the gaze of the
Babylonian Prophet in trances of the Chebar (Ezek. i.), which
the Exile of Patmos saw kneeling and ascribing around the
great white throne (Rev. iv.)-Cherubim with the face of an
ox and the face of an eagle and the face of a lion and the
face of a man? Ah, this solemn kinship of man and ani-
mal! No wonder that Israel's Lawgiver, proclaiming to
his people the legislation dictated him from heaven, guarded
so jealously the sacredness of animal life. Listen: "Thou
shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk " (Ex. xxiii. 19).
"Whether it be cow or ewe, thou shalt not kill her and
her young both in one day" (Lev. xxii. 28).
"If a bird's nest
chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree, or on the
ground, whether they be young ones or eggs, and the dam
sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not
take the dam with the young" (Deut. xxii. 6, 7).
"Thou shalt
not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn (Deut. xxv.
4; 1 Cor. ix. 9; 1 Tim. v. 18). And here I must speak a word in
hearty praise of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals. Remit not that gentle institution to the limbo
of sentimentalities. It is but carrying out the merciful
economy Divinely foreshadowed in the Mosaic Jurispru-
dence, given to the world when humanity was yet in its
childhood. Promptly report, then, to the proper authori-
ties every instance of cruelty. Ah, here is the delicate,
telling test of civilization: the way that we treat, not our
superiors, but our inferiors. The gentleman is a gentle man.
وو
168
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
"I would not enter on my list of friends
(Though graced with polished manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility) the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
An inadvertent step may crush the snail
That crawls at evening in the public path;
But he that has humanity, forewarned,
Will tread aside, and let the reptile live."
—(CowPER'S "TASK.")
The killing of an albatross in the South Seas has laid
the foundation for one of the most touching ballads in
English literature. What is the "Rime of the Ancient
Mariner" but a poet's defense of the truth that animals
have souls ?
Farewell, Farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding Guest!
He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
"He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God Who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.”
"Ah, this," you tell me, "is poetry." Listen, then, to
the calm words of that Prince of Scientists whom Chris-
tendom not long since laid away amid the cypresses of
Mount Auburn. I quote from that profound treatise by
Louis Agassiz, entitled "Essay on Classification:" "Most
of the arguments of philosophy in favor of the immortality
of man apply equally to the permanency of the imma-
terial principle in other living beings. May I not add that
a future life in which man should be deprived of that
great source of enjoyment and intellectual and moral im-
provement, which results from the contemplation of the
GENESIS OF THE ANIMALS.
169
harmonies of an organic world, would involve a lamentable
loss? And may we not look to a spiritual concert of the
combined worlds and all their inhabitants in presence of
their Creator, as the highest conception of paradise?”
Scripture.
And now, to these weighty words of
3.-A Memorable a master of Science, let me add the
weightier words of a master of Theol-
ogy: "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are
of no account compared with the glory which is to be re-
vealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation
is waiting for the revelation of the sons of God. For the
creation was made subject to vanity, not of its own will, but
by reason of Him Who made it subject, in hope that even the
creation itself will be set free from the bondage of corruption
into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For
we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now; and not only so, but even
we who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we our-
selves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the
redemption of our body" (Rom. viii. 19-23). "Ah, poetry
again," you tell me. Nevertheless, brother, you believe
the rest of this glorious chapter. You exult in the eighth.
chapter of Romans as one of the stoutest bulwarks of
Christian theology-one of the dearest treasures of Chris-
tian experience. You never tire of quoting the first verse :
"There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus." You never tire of quoting the last verse:
66 I am
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor prin-
cipalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord." You believe what precedes,
and you believe what follows; why not believe what inter-
8
170
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
venes? Yes, it is poetry-genuine, sublime poetry. For
who is the poet? The man who makes melodious rhymes
and metres? If that is all he does, he is only a poetaster.
The poet is the man who detects distant, recondite truth,
and masterfully expresses it. And Paul is precisely such
a poet. This magnificent paragraph is one of the noblest
poetic bursts that ever fell on the ear of listening man.
Let us dwell on it a little in detail.
(a.) The Groan-
ing Creation.
And, first: It is the picture of a sor-
rowful creation: "We know that the
whole creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now." Nature's tones, we are told,
are largely in the minor key. How sad, notwithstanding
its majesty, the mournful booming, the funereal minute-
guns, of the great surging sea! Did you ever hear a more
melancholy cadence than the wind of God as it sweeps
through the sere foliage of autumn, or as it sets in weird
tremors telegraph-wires spanning desolate regions? So,
too, the wind and howl of the animal world is in the minor
key:
"I heard the wild beasts in the woods complain;
Some slept, while others wakened to sustain
Through night and day the sad monotonous round,
Half savage and half pitiful the sound.
"The outcry rose to God through all the air,
The worship of distress, an animal prayer,
Loud vehement pleadings, not unlike to those
Job uttered in his agony of woes."
-(F. W. FABER.)
Look, again, at the abortiveness of the Creation. Be-
hold its droughts and floods, its fires and blights, its deserts
and earthquakes, its monstrosities and abortions, its sick-
nesses and deaths. Behold the incessant warfare of the
GENESIS OF THE ANIMALS.
171
animal tribes, slaying each other almost as soon as born,
earth's crust being largely made up of the murdered re-
mains of those to whose parents the Lord of the Fifth Day
gave the breath of life, or living soul. Verily, the Crea-
tion hath been made subject to vanity. But must this
abortiveness forever continue? Shall the bar sinister never
be removed from Nature's shield? Ah, this Sphinx of the
Animal Creation! Where is the Edipus who shall solve
it? With what hopeful doubt and doubtful hope the
Laureate sings it:
"Oh yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill,
To pangs of Nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;
"That nothing walks with aimless feet;
That not one life shall be destroyed,
Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete;
"That not a worm is cloven in vain;
That not a moth with vain desire
Is shriveled in a fruitless fire,
Or but subserves another's gain.
"Behold, we know not anything;
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last-far off-at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring.
"So runs my dream: but what am I?
An infant crying in the night :
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry.
"The wish, that of the living whole
No life may fail beyond the grave,
Derives it not from what we have
The likest God within the soul?
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
"Are God and Nature then at strife,
That Nature lends such evil dreams?
So careful of the type she seems,
So careless of the single life;
"That I, considering everywhere
Her secret meaning in her deeds,
And finding that of fifty seeds
She often brings but one to bear:
"I falter where I firmly trod,
And, falling with my weight of cares
Upon the great world's altar-stairs
That slope through darkness up to God,
“I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,
And gather dust and chaff, and call
To what I feel is Lord of all,
And faintly trust the larger hope."
(b.)-The Glorious
Prophecy.
("IN MEMORIAM," liv.-lv.)
Turn we then from the struggling,
veering poet to rest on the more sure
word of Prophecy: "The Creation was
made subject to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason
of Him Who made it subject, in hope that the Creation it-
self will be set free from the bondage of corruption into
the liberty of the glory of the children of God." Not
only man, then, but also all Creation, whereof man stands
as the head, and sensorium, and epitome, and representa-
tive, is to be rescued from the thralldom of decay and dis-
solution, and emancipated into the freedom of the splendor
of God's sons. It is a blessed vision of that coming Res-
titution of all things (Acts iii. 21), that glorious Palingenesis,
or Regeneration of Nature, to which the Son of God Him-
self alludes when, addressing His disciples, He said: "In
the Palingenesia, in the Regeneration, when the Son of
GENESIS OF THE ANIMALS.
173
Man shall sit on the throne of His Glory, ye also shall sit
on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel"
(Matt. xix. 28). That is to say, in that coming Regeneration
of Nature the curse shall be lifted off from Creation, and
earth shall be Eden again. For there are to be not only
the new heavens, thank God, there is also to be the new
earth—ay, a new earth, it may be, like this very earth we
are treading, only transfigured (2 Peter iii. 13). Then in that
day when the Lord shall return to bind up the breach of
His people, and heal the stroke of their wound (Is. xxx. 26),
and to make all things new again, "The wolf shall indeed
dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with
the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling
shall feed together, and a little child shall lead them; and
the cow and bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down
together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the
sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the
weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den;
they shall not hurt nor destroy in all His holy mountain,
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory
of the Lord, as the coming waters cover the sea (Is. xi. 6-9).
Yes, in that coming Restitution of all things, the lion and
the tiger, which now live only to prey on each other and
be the dread of man, shall come trooping back again to
man redeemed in the Second Adam, even as they had
already gone trooping to the unfallen Adam in Eden
(Gen. ii. 19). What though the first Adam, earth's poor Sam-
son, grasped in his blindness the pillars that supported the
temple of Nature, and, falling, pulled down all Nature
with him? Earth's poor Samson shall yet hear the Resur-
rection voice of the Son of God, and, "re-orient from the
dust," shall again lift up with himself the pillars of Na-
ture's temple.
و,
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Posture.
Observe now, finally, the Majestic
(c.)—The Majestic Posture: "The earnest expectation of
the Creation is waiting for the revela-
tion of the Sons of God." The earnest expectation of the
Creation is waiting. It is the Poet-Apostle's master-stroke :
Weary Creation peering forward in the yearning attitude
of outstretched neck and hand. There is on one of the
mountains of New England what to me is the most mar-
velous natural phenomenon in the world.
For nearly a
score of years, every summer that I have been this side
the Atlantic, I have visited it; every time I have vis-
ited it, I have lifted my hat and bowed in its presence.
I do not know why the Maker of heaven and earth has
carved on the brow of the everlasting mountain that
great stone Face of Franconia-that majestic, wonder-
ful Face, peering away down the glorious Pemigewasset
Valley, alike in sunshine and in storm-blast, day and
night, century after century; unless it be that that sol-
emn Profile might represent the groaning Creation, dis-
cerning from afar and patiently awaiting the coming Glory.
And, as hundreds of times I have gazed on that stone
Prophet of the Mountain, peering down the Valley of the
Future, I have secretly said to him:
· Watchman, tell us of the night,
What its signs of promise are!"
and I have heard from those venerable lips the glorious
answer:
"Traveler, o'er yon mountain height,
See that glory-beaming star."
Yes, weary Creation is patiently waiting for the mani-
festation, the revelation, the apocalypse, of the sons of God
that is to say, the shining exhibition of them as God's
GENESIS OF THE ANIMALS.
175
sons.
For man and animal, wondrously knit together in
the sacred kinship of the Sixth Day, are alike groaning
under the common Curse, alike hoping under the common
Promise. All creation is in sympathy with the Church of
the living God, in waiting for the disclosure of the Glory
which is wrapped up in the sonship to the everlasting
Father and the joint heirship with Jesus Christ, His eter-
nal Son (Rom. viii. 17). Well, then, may those representa-
tives of Creation, the four Living Creatures of the Apoca-
lyptic Vision of Patmos, join with the blood-washed throng
in the chorus of redemption, resting neither day nor night,
chanting: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was,
and is, and is to come! (Rev. iv. 8). Then, in that day of
Apocalypse shall the sad symphony of Time's dirges give
way to the glad symphony of Eternity's pæans. Even now
let us pray, as prayed the grand, blind bard of the English
Commonwealth: "Come forth out of Thy royal chambers,
O Prince of all the kings of the earth! Put on the visi-
ble robes of Thy imperial Majesty! Take up the unlim-
ited sceptre which Thy Almighty Father hath bequeathed
Thee! For now the voice of Thy Bride calleth Thee, and
all creatures sigh to be renewed! (Milton's Prose Works).
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly! (Rev. xxii. 20).
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall
be, world without end. Amen.
A
LECTURE X.
GENESIS OF MAN.
"And God said: Let us make man in Our image, after Our like-
ness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God
created man in His image, in the image of God created He him; male
and female created He them."-GENESIS i. 26, 27.
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: and man became a liv-
ing soul."-GENESIS ii. 17.
I. The Creation
Archive Twofold.
In the Introductory Lecture it was
remarked that, although the story of
the Creative Week bears the name of
the "Mosaic Record," it is not necessary to believe that
Moses himself was the literal author of it. As was then
observed, there is strong reason for believing that the Ar-
chive had already long existed in the form of a sacred,
inspired Tradition, and that Moses, accepting it as Divine,
simply incorporated it into his Preface to his Pentateuch,
thus making it a part of his own chronicle. A scrutiny of
the Creation Archive, as given us in the first two chapters
of Genesis, shows us that it is manifestly twofold: the
first a very ancient document, extending through the first
chapter and including the first three verses of the second,
GENESIS OF MAN.
177
setting forth the process of Creation under its general as-
pect, and representing the Creator by His general title-
Elohim, or God, Deity; the second account comprising
the rest of the second chapter, a later document, occupied
mainly with the story of the Creation of Man, and repre-
senting the Creator by His particular, Hebrew title, Jeho-
vah Elohim, or Lord God. It may be that the first account
had come down from Adam himself, and that the second
account has Moses for its literal author; the first Archive
being a Prologue, the second Archive being the first chap-
ter of the History of Mankind. However this be, enough
that Moses has incorporated the two accounts into his own
story, so that it is strictly correct to speak of them as the
Mosaic Record. I have alluded to this matter because the
account of the Genesis of Man is evidently twofold: the
first a general, the second a specific. Let me then read to
you the two Archives. The first is this: "And God said:
'Let us make Man in Our image, after Our likeness and
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all
the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth.' So God created the Man in His image,
in the image of God created He him; male and female
created He them. And God blessed them; and God said
to them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth,
and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that
moveth upon the earth.' . . . And it was so. And God
saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
And there was evening and there was morning, a Sixth
Day" (Gen. i. 26-31). The other Archive reads thus: "Now
there was yet no plant of the field in the earth, and no
herb of the field had yet sprung up: for Jehovah God had
(
178
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
not yet caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no
man to till the ground: and there went up a mist from the
earth, and it watered all the face of the ground. And Je-
hovah God formed the Man of dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the Man
became a living soul. . . . And Jehovah God caused a
deep sleep to fall upon the Man, and he slept: and He
took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead there-
of. And of the rib which He took from the Man, Jeho-
vah God formed a Woman, and brought her to the Man"
(Gen. ii. 5-22).
II. Panorama
Reserving for a special study the
of Emergent Man. Story of the Genesis of Woman, let us
occupy ourselves to-day with the Study
of the Genesis of Man. According to our wont, let us
first ascend again the Mount of Panoramic Vision, and
gaze with the inspired Seer on the unfolding scene of
Emergent Man. What though the Breath of God is mov-
ing over the waste, ebon abyss, beginning to resolve Chaos
into Cosmos? No human being is there to rejoice over
the birth of Order. What though the light of chemical
activity suffuses the inchoate universe? No human being
is there to feel its quickening warmth. What though the
arching sky has separated the mighty mass into the heavens
and the earth? No human being is there to feel his spirit
broadening and soaring with the swelling welkin. What
though the waters have retreated to their appointed places,
and the dry lands have emerged? No human being is
there to sail over the mighty main, or to climb the inspir-
ing mountain. What though the fern branches, and the
grass waves, and the palm towers, and the rose blushes,
and the vine fruits? No human being is there to enjoy
the shapes and hues, or scent the odors, or taste the fruits.
GENESIS OF MAN.
179
What though the sun blazes, and the moon beams, and the
stars twinkle? No human being is there to behold their
glory, or, watching their risings and settings, to take note
of time. What though sea, air, and land teem with living
creatures? No human being is there to give to them
names, or to rule over them. All has been preparing for
Man; all is now ready for Man; but Man himself is not.
And now is heard once more the Omnific Word:
"We
will make Man in Our image, after Our likeness; and
they shall rule over the fish of the sea, and over the bird
of the heavens, and over the cattle of the lands, and over
all the earth." And, lo, a Form like to that of the Son of
God stoops down, and, taking in His hand some of the
dust of the soil, He moulds it into a figure like to His own
Divine Self, and, placing His hands against the new hands,
and His mouth against the new mouth, He breathes into
the new nostrils His own life breath; and, lo! the dust
figure becomes, like the animals around him, a living soul;
ay, more than a living soul, even a Man, becoming, in very
virtue of having been Divinely inbreathed, the Creator's
Inspiration and Image and Son. Such is the vision of
Emergent Man. And now let us attend to some of the
details of the majestic picture.
III.-Man God's
Image.
1.-Jesus Christ
the Image of God.
And, first: Man the Image of God.
God said: "We will make Man in Our
image, after Our likeness."
But what is meant by the Image
and Likeness of God? Without loiter-
ing amid the subtilties of the School-
men, let us take a shorter, simpler, truer method, even the
answer expressly given in Holy Writ itself. Would you
know what is meant by the Image of God? Then gaze
on Jesus the Nazarene, Who is the Image of the invisible
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
God (Col. i. 15), the brightness of His Glory and express
Image of His Person, or Impress of His Being (Heb. i. 2).
Without presuming to define with theological accuracy
these expressions, without venturing to discuss their bear-
ings on that profound, ineffable Mystery of the Christian
Church-the Blessed and Adorable Trinity: distinctly
disclaiming all attempts at preciseness of theological state-
ment it is enough to say that, practically, in the realm of
personal apprehension and experience, Jesus of Nazareth
is the Discloser of the Creator, the Revelation of the
Father, the Representation of Deity, the Image of the in-
visible God. And He becomes this in and by the fact of
His Incarnation. I would not, especially on such high
themes, be wise above what is written. It is but a con-
jecture, yet a conjecture seemingly well founded, that In-
finite God can become knowable to man only through the
intervention of some medium, or means of intercommuni-
cation. Even earthly things become knowable to us only
through the medium of the senses, visible things becom-
ing visible through the sense of sight, audible things au-
dible through the sense of hearing, tangible things tangible
through the sense of touch. Let one be born without
senses, and he is born without sense, actual or possible.
How much less then can the infinite, spiritual God become
known to us except through media! He is expressly de-
clared to be the invisible God, dwelling in light which no
man can approach unto, Whom no man hath seen or can
see (1 Tim. vi. 16). If ever apprehensible, then, to finite
worlds, He must become so through some kind of incarna-
tion, or revelation through finite conditions. And all this,
be it observed, irrespective of the fact of sin. If, then,
mediation was needed before the entrance of evil, how
much more since! And the Incarnation meets the necessity.
GENESIS OF MAN.
181
"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten
Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him, made Him known, interpreted Him, made exegesis
of Him" (John i. 18). Not that God was not known before.
Prophets and Patriarchs knew Him and walked with Him.
But even then He was known only through mediations,
such as Shechinah and Covenant Angel. Even in the be-
ginning was the Word, or God in articulation, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God (John i. 1). If
you ask me in what figure or condition the Precreative
Word existed, I cannot answer; for I have not been told.
Nor is it necessary that I should know; finiteness in some
direction or another, not a human figure or a definite shape,
is an essential of mediation. Enough that I know that in
process of the Divine Revelation the Word, Who in the be-
ginning was and was with God and was God, became flesh,
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His Glory, the Glory
as of an only begotten from the Father, full of grace and
truth (John i. 14). The God hitherto syllabled and partially
and intermittently glimpsed in Covenant Angel and She-
chinah, henceforth became completely and permanently
visible in the Man of Nazareth. The invisible God be-
came visible through Incarnation; i. e., through God's in-
vesting Himself with a human spirit and soul and body,
and so becoming finite in a human person. For what was
the overshadowing of the Virgin of Nazareth by the Holy
Ghost (Luke i. 35) but the miraculous conception of a finite,
spiritual nature, to be taken up, or incorporated-how, we
can never tell-into the Person of the Divine Son, and to
be, because a finite, spiritual nature and so apprehensible,
the Image of that invisible One Who is Spirit? In the
Nazarene's spiritual affinities and kinship with the Eternal
One as felt and expressed in human terms-in terms of
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the Nazarene's sense of right, rectitude, equity, reverence,
trust, communion, harmony with the unseen and eter-
nal Verities—in these we see the Image of Him Whom no
man hath seen or can see, because He is Spirit (John iv. 24).
Again a spiritual nature must needs have what I may
venture to call secular attributes-attributes of sensibility,
cognition, faculties of instrumentation, etc. So, also, in
the secular attributes of Christ's human personality; in
His memory and reason and imagination and judgment,
in His perceptions of beauty, in His loves and trusts and
joys and griefs-we have hints and suggestions and par-
ables of the character of Him Who, because infinite, must
be supposed to be eternally outside the range of finite
powers and sensibilities. It is through these that we know
God; and so Christ is the Image of God. Once more: a
human personality, at least while in this world, must needs
have a body; that is to say, a vehicle and instrument of
life. It is not only in and through the body that we live:
it is in and through the body, e. g., through the inlets and
outlets of the senses, that moral character is elicited. Em-
bodiment, incarnation, was as essential to Christ's being the
Image of God as was spirituality. He must not only be
conceived by the Holy Ghost; He must also be born into
the sphere of matter. Thus in His taking on Himself a
human spirit and soul and body, Jesus Christ became to
man the Manifestation of Deity. The unseen God was,
so to speak, elicited into visibility through the attritions of
barriers, or the limits of a finite condition. The Incarnate
Son, in and by the very fact of His Incarnation, became a
visible Image of the invisible God, because, O infinite
paradox, in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily (Col. ii. 9). In Him we see, as we could have no
otherwise seen or conceived, God's Holiness, Rectitude,
GENESIS OF MAN.
183
Love, Magnanimity, Patience, Joy, Grief, Truth, Glory.
For aught I know, this is the reason why Holy Scripture
calls Him the Son of God; for sonship is imageship. In
Christ's own deeds and words and character-in the par-
ables and hints and suggestions of His own incarnate
career- -we do indeed behold the Image of the invisible
God, the Brightness from the Father's Glory, the express
Image of His Person. The last night He was on earth as
the Man of Sorrows, while He and the eleven were still
reclining at the Paschal Table, Philip said to Him: "Lord,
show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Jesus said to
him: "Have I been so long time with you-have I spoken
and wrought and lived before you all these months and
years and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He
that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; how is it then
that thou sayest, 'Show us the Father?"" (John xiv. 8-10).
Thus was the Son of Mary God's Prophet, speaking for
Him, translating Him into human apprehension and state-
ment. In a single Scriptural, all-comprehending term,
Jesus Christ was God's Word. And this just because He
was incarnated, the Word made flesh. For this end was
He born, and for this end came He into the world, that
He might bear witness unto the Truth (John xviii. 37). And
the one Truth of the immensities is this: God. Would
you then know what is meant by the Image and Likeness
of God? Then gaze on Jesus the Nazarene. In Ecce
Homo is Ecce Deus.
And now we are prepared for a sec-
2.-Man the Image ond truth: as Jesus Christ is the Image
of Jesus Christ. of God, so Man is the image of Jesus
Christ. "In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth" (Gen. i. 1). "In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: all
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
things were made through Him, and without Him was not
anything made that hath been made" (John i. 1–3). The
"God-Said" of the first chapter of Genesis is then the
"God-Word" of the first chapter of John. Knowing all
things from the beginning, predetermining all things ere
as yet there was Incarnation, or Fall, or Man, or Earth, or
Seraph; foreseeing that as Incarnate He would add to His
eternal Godhead a human spirit and soul and body, the
Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. xiii. 8),
makes solemn annunciation, using, as it would seem, the
imperial plural: "We will make Man in Our image, after
Our likeness." In the order of time, the Son of God made
Himself like to Man; in the order of purpose, the Son of
God made Man like to Himself. It was an august illus-
tration of His own saying when Incarnate: "The first shall
be last, and the last first " (Matt. xx. 16). Do you ask in what
respect Man was made in the image of Christ? Evidently,
I answer, in substantially the same respects in which Christ
became the Image of God. Thus: In respect to a spiritual
nature: When Jehovah God had formed the Man of dust
of the ground, He breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life. The language, of course, is figurative. Nevertheless
it must mean something. What, then, does this inbreath-
ing by the Creator mean, if not the mysterious communi-
cation of Himself the eternal Air or Spirit-into Man?
As Christ, surveyed man-wise, was born of the Spirit in
Nazareth, so Man, made in His Image, after His Likeness,
was born of the Spirit in Eden. Again: a spiritual nature
necessarily involves personality; and personality, at least
finite, as necessarily involves what I have called secular
attributes, e. g., attributes of sensation, cognition, passion,
action, etc. All these belonged to Christ; and through
these He declared and interpreted the Father, being in
GENESIS OF MAN.
185
very truth the Word of God, or Deity in articulation. And
the Word has existed from the beginning, being the God-
Said of the Creative Week. In man's potencies of what-
ever kind-moral, intellectual, emotional, æsthetic-what-
ever power or virtue or grace there may be-in all this we
behold an image of the Lord from heaven. Once more:
personality cannot, at least in this world, exist apart from
embodiment, or some kind of incarnation, which shall be
to it for sphere and vehicle and instrument. Some kind
of body is needed which, by its avenues and organs, shall
awaken, disclose, and perfect character. And as Christ's
body vehicled and organed His Personality, and so enabled
Him to manifest the fullness of the Godhead which dwelt
in Him body-wise, so Man's body was made in the image
of Christ's, even that Body which in His eternal fore-
knowledge was eternally His. This, then, was the Image
in which Man was created, the Image of Christ's human
Personality, or Christ's spirit and soul and body. Man is
the image of Christ and Christ is the Image of God; that
is to say: Man is the image of the Image of God, or God's
Image as seen in secondary reflection.
▬▬
(a.) The Image
Defaced, not Effaced.
you tell
But I hear an objection. "All this,"
me, "is true of the unfallen
Adam only; but Adam has fallen; sure-
ly his sinful children are not made in God's Image." Yes,
they are, I dare reply. It is this precise thing that Adam's
children are still made in the Image of God, which makes
them more than animals, even children of the Father celes-
tial. Centuries after Adam's fall, God, in renewing to
Noah Adam's charter, forbids murder on the expressly-
mentioned ground that Man was made in the Image of
God: "Whoso sheddeth Man's blood, by Man shall his
blood be shed: for in the Image of God made He Man"
186
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
(Gen. ix. 6). Other centuries roll away, and an apostle warns
us against sins of the tongue on precisely this same ground,
that Man is made in the Image of God: "With the tongue
bless we the Lord and Father, and with the tongue curse
we men, who are made after the likeness of God" (James iii. 9).
True, the Image of God has been terribly marred. Sin,
the corroding, dissolving force that it is, has wellnigh ob-
literated the Divine lineaments as they beamed forth in
Eden. When we look at the awful guilt of the heathen
world, ay, when we note the crimes and vices and ungodli-
ness of civilized society around us, we feel that Man, like
Moses, does indeed need a veil; but, alas! it is to hide, not
his splendor, but his shame. Nevertheless, this image of
God in Man, although so terribly marred, has not been en-
tirely erased. Fearfully defaced, it has not been totally
effaced. Deep down the grades of our fallen humanity, in
the very lowest and guiltiest of our race, a generous vision
shall detect, beneath wreck and rubbish, at least some dim
sense of right, some faint idea of duty, some incipient,
nebulous yearning after better things. And these and such
as these are fragments, tiny and blurred indeed, neverthe-
less real fragments of the Divine Effigy. And these and
such as these are the prophets of hope, the human basis for
the possibility of human redemption and perfectation.
And this leads to the remark that
(b.)-Christ's Mis- Christ's mission, surveyed on its human
sion a Restoration. side, is to restore the shattered Effigy.
The Incarnation, in its general sense, was to mediate be-
tween God the Infinite and Man a finite. The Incarna-
tion, in its specific sense, was to bring back Man from his
apostasy, and reinstate him in God's full Image. This is
that promised era, even those times of Restitution of all
things, which God has spoken by the mouth of His holy
GENESIS OF MAN.
187
prophets since the world began (Acts. iii. 21). And this res-
toration of the blurred Image is a process, continuing
through æons or Dispensations. It begins in this world
æon: Put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the
new man, who is being renewed in knowledge and righte-
ousness and holiness after the Image of Him Who created
him (Eph. iv. 22-24; Col. iii. 9, 10). It will be continued in the
life to come, æon without end: Our citizenship is in the
heavens; whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ; Who will transfigure the body of our humili-
ation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory
(Phil. iii. 20, 21). And this is the consummation of Redemp-
tion, ay, of eternal Predestination. Whom He doth fore-
know, He also doth foreordain to be conformed to the
Image of His Son, that He may be the first-born among
many brethren (Rom. viii. 29). If God became Manlike in
Christ, it was that Man might become in Christ God-
like, filled unto all the fullness of God, even the meas-
ure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. iii. 19; iv. 13),
in Whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily
(Col. ii. 9).
Such, then, was the Origin of Man as given us in the
first Creation Archive. "God created the Man in His
Image: in the Image of God created He him; a male and
a female created He them."
IV.-Man God's
Inspiration.
And now let us ponder briefly the
Second Archive: "Jehovah God formed
the Man from dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Man was
a living soul" (Gen. ii. 7). Let us ponder these clauses a little
¹
1 Compare the curious tradition of that remarkable people-the Karens: "God took a
small piece of His own life, blew into the nostrils of His son and daughter, and they became
living beings, and were really human."
188
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
!
in detail. And, first, "Jehovah God formed the Man from
dust of the ground." It is as true to-day as it was in that
far-off yore when the inspired Seer beheld the vision of the
Emergent Man. However various the opinions of scien-
tists touching the Mosaic Story of Creation, they all agree
at least on this point: Man's body is composed of the same
chemical elements as the soil on which he treads. Dust
he is for out of dust was he taken, and unto dust does he
return (Gen. iii. 19). The meaning of this very term, Adam,
is clay, soil, earth: "There was no man to till the ground,
no Adam to till Adamah" (Gen. ii. 5). Yes, the first Man
was of the earth, earthy.' But, thank God, Man was to be
something more than an organized mass of dust. That
statue of clay was to become vital, vehicular, instrumental.
And so we read, secondly: God "breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, the life breath." Or, as Elihu, Son of
Barachel, phrases it: "The Spirit of God made me, and
the Breath of the Almighty gave me life" (Job xxxiii. 4). The
language, as on all such high themes, is of course figura-
tive, and, as we have seen, panoramic, to be taken chiefly
in way of hint. But the figure must be the figure of
something. What, then, is the truth which underlies the
figure, and, impregnating it, glorifies it? What does this
inbreathing by the Creator signify, if not the communi-
cating, in some way augustly inscrutable, of the Creator
Himself—even the Eternal Breath or Spirit into Man:
Godhead into Manhead: the Divine Afflation becoming,
so to speak, a human sufflation: God's expiration, Man's
inspiration? And now, thirdly: "Man became (or, as the
verb might have been rendered, perhaps as correctly, was)
a living soul." Accordingly, the passage affirms three in-
1 How interesting, in light of this, the study of such words as humus, homo, human,
humanity, posthumous, autochthon, etc.!
GENESIS OF MAN.
189
dependent, yet coördinate facts. At the one extreme we
have the Body, formed of dust of the ground; at the other
extreme we have the Spirit, inbreathed by the Holy One:
connecting the two, acting as the nidus for them to dwell
in, holding them, so to speak, in solution, we have the
Soul, or vital and sentient principle common to Man and
animal. I do not, then, regard the "living soul" as a con-
sequent or product of the union of body and spirit: Man
would have been a "living soul" had he received from
God no spirit, or inbreathing, just as the animals around
him, and created on the same day with him, were "living
souls." No, Man's peculiarity, as distinguished from ani-
mal, comes out in the second statement of our passage:
God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." I lay
no very special stress on the phrase rendered "breath of
life” considered by itself, although I believe that an ex-
amination of all the passages in which it occurs will show
that it is invariably applied to God or Man, never to ani-
mal. But I do lay special stress on the verb rendered
"breathed;" a mysterious act of Deity, which, whatever
it may mean, is never asserted in connection with brutes.
Man alone has the inspiration of Deity. This is the august
peculiarity which separates him discretively and everlast-
ingly from the animal creation. Ay, this Divine inbreath-
ing it is which converts Man's body into the temple of the
Holy Ghost (1 Cor. vi. 19)-the Divine Breath, which makes
Man himself God's image, God's likeness, God's son. Yes,
Chrysostom was right when he exclaimed: "The true
Shechinah is Man.""
Such, then, is the Origin of Man as given us in the
1 For more extended observations on Man's threefold nature, the author may be per-
mitted to refer to his articles on the "Scriptural Anthropology" in the Baptist Quarterly,
vol. i., pp. 170-190, 325-340, 428-444. It is but fair, however, to state that, while he still
holds the outlines of the theory there maintained, he would now modify some of the details.
190
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Second Archive. Infinite Deity was his Maker. On his
body side he sprang from dust: on his soul side he sprang
up with the animals: on his spirit side he sprang from
God. Thus, in his very beginning, in the original make-
up of him, Man was a Religious Being. Coming into ex-
istence as God's Inbreathing, Man was, in the very fact of
being Divinely inbreathed, God's Son and Image. Well
then might Man's first home be an Eden-type of Heaven,
and his First Day God's Seventh Day-even the Creator's
Sabbath.
V.-The Primal
Commission.
And now ponder the Mighty Char-
ter: "And God blessed them, and God
said to them: 'Be fruitful, and multi-
ply, and fill 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 on the earth.'”
1.-Man's Author-
ity over Nature.
It was Man's original Commission,
Humanity's primal Charter. And His-
tory is the story of the execution of the
Commission, Civilization the unfolding of the privileges of
the Charter. Wherever civilized man has gone, there he
has been gaining dominion over the fish of the sea, and
the fowl of the air, and every living thing that moveth on
the earth, ay, subduing earth itself. See, e. g., how he
makes the fish feed him, and the sheep clothe him, and
the horse draw him, and the ox plough for him, and the
fowl of the air furnish him with quills to write his philos-
ophies and his epics. All this was prophesied when Jeho-
vah God brought every beast of the field and every bird of
the air to the Man in Eden, to see what he would call
them; and the Man gave names to them all (Gen. ii. 19, 20).
Again: see Man's supremacy over the face of Nature; see,
e. g., how he dikes out the ocean, as in Holland; and
GENESIS OF MAN.
191
opens up harbors, as at Port Said; and digs canals, as at
Suez; and explodes submarine reefs, as in East River;
and builds roads, as over St. Gothard; and spans rivers, as
the St. Lawrence; and stretches railways, as from Atlantic.
to Pacific; see how he reclaims mountain-slopes and heaths
and jungles and deserts and pestilential swamps, bringing
about interchanges of vegetable and animal life, and even
mitigating climates, so that here, at least, Man may be said
to be the creator of circumstances rather than their creature.
Again: see Man's supremacy over the forces and resources
of Nature; see how he subsidizes its mineral substances,
turning its sands into lenses, its clay into endless blocks of
brick, its granite into stalwart abutments, its iron into
countless shapes for countless purposes, its gems into dia-
dems; see how he subsidizes its vegetable products, making
its grains feed him, its cottons clothe him, its forests house
him, its coals warm him. See how he subsidizes the
mechanical powers of Nature, making its levers lift his
loads, its wheels and axles weigh his anchors, its pulleys
raise his weights, its inclined planes move his blocks, its
wedges split his ledges, its screws propel his ships. See
how he subsidizes the Natural Forces, making the air waft
his crafts, the water run his mills, the heat move his en-
gines, the electricity bear his messages, turning the very
gravitation into a force of buoyancy. Verily, Thou makest
Man to have dominion over the works of Thine hands;
Thou dost put all things under his feet; sheep and oxen,
all of them; yea, and the beasts of the field, the birds of
the air, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the
seas (Psalm viii. 6–9). What a magnificent illustration of all
this was our own glorious International Exposition of 1876!
Ay, these and such as these are the majestic foot-prints of
Man's triumphal progress through time. And these tri-
192
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
umphs are but prophecies of possibilities still more mag-
nificent. Listen to the vaticination of the dreamer before
Locksley Hall :
"For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;
Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales;
Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew,
From the nation's airy navies grappling in the central blue;
Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,
With the standards of the peoples plunging through the thunder-storm;
Till the war-drum throbbed no longer, and the battle-flags were furled,
In the Parliament of Man, the Federation of the world."
("LOCKSLEY HALL.")
But whether the Laureate's dream of aërial navigation
be true or not, this thing is certain: Every day discloses
some new force, or, at least, some new applicability of
force. We know not what majestic possibilities are still
wrapped up in oxygen and nitrogen, in air and water, in
heat and light, in electricity and magnetism. It may be
that as Man has already subsidized the zephyr, so he will
yet subsidize the hurricane; as he has already utilized the
descending brook, so he will yet utilize the rising tide; as
he has already made the lightning his servitor, so he will
yet manipulate the very ether itself. Such is Humanity's
Magna Charta. All is in right of Eden's majestic Com-
mission: "Fill the earth and subdue it."
2.-Yet Man but
Viceroy.
But in whose name shall Man ad-
minister the mighty Domain? In his
own name, or in Another's? In An-
other's, most surely, even in the name of Him in Whose
Image he is made. The Son of God alone is King, and
Man is but His Viceroy; viceroy because His Inspiration
GENESIS OF MAN.
193
and Image. Man holds the estate of earth in fief; his only
right the right of usufruct. Talents he has; but they are
intrusted talents (Matt. xxv. 14-30). A Vineyard he tills;
but it is a leased Vineyard (Luke xx. 9-16). O my country-
men, beware of sacrificing to your own nets and burning
incense to your own seines (Hab. i. 16). Self-worship here
is self-murder. For where are the master nations of an-
tiquity, the Babel-builders of Babylonia, the pyramid-
rearers of Egypt, the mariners of Phoenicia, the philos-
ophers of Greece, the statesmen of Rome? How their
story illustrates and confirms the Lord's own solemn teach-
ing: A Vineyard appropriated is a Vineyard forfeited!
(Matt. xxi. 33–43). No, the only secret of our permanence as
a nation is the sense of Trusteeship, administering Nature,
not as monarch, but as the Image of the Son of God, and
so His Viceroy.
Such is the Story of the Genesis of Man.
VI.-Concluding
Observations.
1.
Jesus Christ
Looking back on our course of
thought, I ask you:
The
First of all, to note again Whose is
the Archetypal Man. the Image in which Man was created:
it is the Image of Him Whose goings had been from of old,
from the days of eternity (Micah v. 1), but Who became
flesh in Bethlehem of Judea. Yes, Jesus Christ is the
Original, Archetypal Man. From Him humanity was
modeled Jesus the Form, mankind the figure.
Ancient of Days was the Man of men, the universal Man,
blending in Himself all races, sexes, ages, temperaments.
Holy Scripture does not call Him "A Son of Man;"
neither does it call Him "The Son of Men;" but it calls
Him "The Son of Man," The Son of Mankind, The Son
of Human Nature. As such, Jesus Christ was Humanity
in epitome and embryonic outline, the Primal, Archetypal
9
194
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Man. And now we may understand, at least in some
slight measure, such wonderful expressions as the follow-
ing: "The First-born among many brothers" (Rom. viii. 29);
"The First-begotten before all creation" (Col. i. 15); "The
Beginning of the creation of God" (Rev. iii. 14).
2.-Man's Incom-
parable Dignity.
Secondly: Man's Unutterable Worth.
His starting-point is the Eternal, In-
finite One.
"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, Who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!"
—(WORDSWORTH.)
Ay, here is the discretive index which separates Man
essentially and everlastingly from animals; it is his capaci
ty for Inspiration and Imageship. Here is the true and
only safeguard against materialism, the one stout cable
that chains us in glorious thrall to the eternal, shining
Throne. May the same Son of God, Who breathed into
the First Man the Breath of Life, thus making him in His
own Image, after His own likeness, breathe upon us all
to-day, saying: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," the Divine
Breath! (John xx. 22). So shall we be restored in the Image
of Him Who created us. A genuine coin, stamped in effi-
gy of Kaiser or President, is worth what it represents.
Man, stamped in the effigy of the King of kings and Lord
of lords, is worth, let me dare say it, what he represents,
even Deity. Little lower than the angels, little lower than
A
GENESIS OF MAN.
195
Elohim, did Elohim make him (Psalm viii. 5). All this ex-
plains why this earth, cosmically so tiny, morally is so
vast. Jesus Christ came not to save the worthless. He
came to save Divine Imageship: that is to say, all Godlike
potentialities. He came to save Divine Imageship itself.
I never read the closing words of St. Luke's Genealogy of
our Lord without a thrill of awe in remembrance of the
sublimity of my parentage. Listen: "Who was the son of
Enoch, who was the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam,
who was the son of God" (Luke iii. 38). Contrast that Pa-
ternity with the ancestry allowed us by the evolutionists:"
"That was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr."-("HAMLET," i. 2.)
3.-Imageship the
Die of Race Unity.
Thirdly we see wherein the Unity
of the Race truly consists. The ques-
tion whether the Origin of Man was
single or plural is, as you well know, one of the questions
now engaging the attention of Ethnologists. For myself,
I believe that the race, as Holy Scripture seems to teach,
has descended from a single Pair. But suppose that it
should hereafter be proved that there were a hundred
original Adams and Eves, the discovery would not affect
the true Unity of the Race. The unity is not so much
genealogical as moral; not in blood, but in Imageship;
not in the first Adam, but in the Second. As there is but
one Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom are all things, and
we through Him (1 Cor. viii. 6); so there is but one Die,
one Mintage, one Humanity; every man the kinsman of
1 The reader may be surprised that I have not discussed the Origin of Man in the
light of the Evolution Hypothesis. My reasons for not doing so are two: First, I have
already discussed that Hypothesis in Lectures vii. and ix.; secondly, I did not wish to
alloy the majesty of the Creation Archive with the dross of speculation. For a masterly
monograph on Anthropology, see President M. B. Anderson's article on Man, in Johnson's
"Cyclopædia."
196
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
F
every other; Mankind brothered in the one mould of the
Creative Word. Yes, profound is that word, "Mankind."
It means two things: first, men are kind-ed, kinned, in the
creative, common Die of the Sixth Day; and secondly, all
life, whether vegetal, animal, or human, yields after its kind;
and, therefore, Man, created in the Image of God, yields
men after his kind; i. e., Man-kind. May it ever be ours to
recognize lovingly every human being, whether Caucasian or
Mongolian, as a member of Mankind, and so our Kinsman!
When all men do this, Mankind will not only be the same
as Humanity; Mankind will also have Humanity.
4.-Imageship the
Basis of Triumph.
Fourthly: we see the secret of Man's
Coming Triumph: it is Imageship.
"We will make Man in Our Image,
after Our Likeness: and they shall rule over the fish of
the seas, and over the bird of the heavens, and over the
cattle of the lands, and over all the earth." Jesus Christ
is the Image of God; as such, He is the Lord of all. Man-
kind is Christ's Image lost. The Church is Christ's Image
restored as such, she, like her Image, is Lord of all. All
things are hers; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or
the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things
to come: all are hers; and she is Christ's; and Christ is
God's (1 Cor. iii. 21-23). Even now, this universe of God,
these atoms and skies and seas and lands and plants and
stars and beasts and men, are pouring forth their treasures
at the feet of the Bride and Queen-Consort of the King
of kings. The Church of the living God is the real power
administering behind Earth's thrones and Nature's royal-
ties. The vision of the Exile of Patmos is being fulfilled:
The earth is helping the Woman (Rev. xii. 16), Christ's Lady
Elect. For her the sun rises and the rains fall; the winds
waft and the waves bear; the soils fruit and the mines
GENESIS OF MAN.
197
yield; chemical agencies loose and gravitation binds; civ-
ilization, science, commerce, manufactures, agriculture,
arts, wealth, brawn, brain-all Nature, from Alcyone to
atom, are harnessed as swift-footed steeds to her chariot,
bearing her on from conquering to conquer, until Righte-
ousness finds her Paradise in the new earth domed by the
new heavens (2 Peter iii. 13). Go forth, then, my country-
men, and all ye sons of Adam, go forth in right of Eden's
Image Charter, and subdue the earth. Yea, go on with
your gigantic enterprises, capturing and marshaling the
forces of Nature, changing her very face, leveling her
mountains, raising her valleys, spanning her continents
with your railways, mingling her oceans through your
canals: go on; for in so doing you are really obeying a
power mightier than your own, and are preparing in the
wilderness the way of the Lord, and casting up in the des-
ert a highway for our returning God (Is. xl. 5). Ay, that
will be the true Triumphal Entry when, amid the kneel-
ing ranks of the nations waving their palm-branches, and
shouting hosannas to the Son of David (Matt. xxi. 1-10), the
Jerusalem of a restored earth shall lift up her gates, even
her everlasting doors, and let the King of Glory in (Psalm
xxiv. 7-10). Oh, friend, would you be a sharer in that com-
ing Entry and Triumph? Then be joined, even this mo-
ment, by a personal, living union with Jesus Christ, the
Image of God, and therefore the Heir of all the ages and
all the worlds (Heb. i. 3). And then, when He does re-
turn, as return most surely He will, to make His true Tri-
umphal Entry, before thee also shall the animal creation
kneel, the stars dip, the forests stoop, the mountains bow,
the skies bend, the molecules crouch, the atoms file, all
powers of Nature salaam. And they will bow before thee
because on thy brow sparkles the twofold crown, even the
198
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
diadem and the mitre, of one who, as created in the Image
and recreated in the Likeness of God's Incarnate Son, is
anointed King and Priest to the Father Eternal (Rev. i. 6).
Satisfaction.
Lastly would you know how to be
5.-The Coming restored in the Image of God? Then
gaze on the character of Him Who is
the Brightness from His Father's glory, and the express
Image of His Person. Enter into the fellowship of that
Character. Be everlastingly closeted with Him in the kin-
ships and intimacies of a perfect friendship. Lovingly
study every feature of that beaming Image. Beholding
thus, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, even that light
of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord which is given
back in the face of Jesus Christ, Who is the Image of God
(2 Cor. iv. 6)—gazing thus on the mirror of Christ's Face, and
discerning in it the glory of Jehovah, thou shalt be changed
into the same Image, from glory to glory, even as by the
Lord, the Spirit (2 Cor. iii. 18). Thus gazing, and thus
changed, it matters little what our earthly fate be, whether
renown or obscurity, wealth or poverty, long life or early
death. Enough that on the Resurrection Morn we shall
perceive that as we had borne the image of the earthly,
even of the first man Adam, so henceforth we shall bear
the Image of the Heavenly, even of the Second Man, the
Lord from heaven (1 Cor. xv. 47-49). God forbid that on that
Resurrection Morn any one of us shall bear an Image
which He shall despise (Psalm 1xxiii. 20). God grant that on
that Resurrection Morn all of us shall bear the Image of
His Eternal Son. Ay, satisfied shall we be when we
awake, O Image of God, with Thy Likeness (Psalm xvii. 15).
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever
shall be, world without end. Amen.
LECTURE XI.
GENESIS OF EDEN.
"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and
there he put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground
the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight
and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the Garden,
and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went
out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted and
became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it
which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx
stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it
that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the
third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of
Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. And the Lord God took
the man and put him in the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying: Of every tree
of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowl-
edge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And the Lord God said: It
is not good that the Man should be alone: I will make him an help
meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every
beast of the field and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto
Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called
every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave
names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of
the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him."
-GENESIS ii. 8-20.
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
ever.
"EDEN! What a thrilling name!
I. - The Topo- How deliciously it awakens memories
graphical Problem.
of all that is most exquisite in scenery,
most sacred in purity, most blissful in joy! And yet where
was Eden? No question in geography, secular or sacred,
has been debated oftener, or with results more various.
Men have sought for Eden in Armenia, in Babylonia, along
the Caspian Sea, in Bactria, in Syria, in Arabia, in India
-in short, all along between the Ganges in Asia and the
Nile in Africa. And to-day the battle is as undecided as
True, the Creation Archive gives us two landmarks
which we can identify the river Hiddekel, or Tigris, and
the river Euphrates. But the trouble is to identify the
other two rivers the river Pison, which, we are told,
traversed the whole land of Havilah, wherein were bdel-
lium, and gold, and onyx-and the river Gihon, which
traversed the whole land of Ethiopia, or Cush. All that
we can determine at present is this: Eden lay to the east
of the venerable witness of Creation's Panorama, some-
where in the neighborhood of the Tigris and the Euphrates.
And history strikingly confirms the chronicle of the hoary
witness. Those confessedly competent to discuss such ques-
tions agree that the cradle of mankind is to be looked for
somewhere in the country of the Euphrates. Civilization
has generally, with comparatively unimportant exceptions,
moved from east to west. It was sober prose as well as
poetic measure, when the Erin-born Bishop Berkeley, in
his verses on the "Prospect of Planting Arts and Learn-
ing in America," sang:
"Westward the course of empire takes its way."
The oft-quoted line is truer to-day than ever. Not only
is Europe coming westward toward us, we ourselves are
GENESIS OF EDEN.
201
going westward toward Asia. Who knows but that we,
the latest born of the nations, with the Continental rail-
ways and Pacific steamships in our grasp, are God's chosen
instruments in carrying the Glad Tidings ever and ever
westward, till, having crossed China, we reach again the
Cradle of Humanity, and reinaugurate the lost Paradise on
the very spot where our inspired Seer caught glimpse of
the Tree of Life? The truth, however, is, the exact site
of Eden will probably never be discovered-at least, till
the day when the voice of Him Who was wont to walk in
the Garden in the evening breeze (Gen. iii. 8) is again heard
on earth. Not only was the ground cursed for man's sake.
the day he fell; since then has occurred the Deluge; and
the man does not live who can say how much the convul-
sions attending that awful catastrophe may have altered
the whole surface and river system of the region in which
Eden was situated. Probably, then, it is as hopeless to
search for the exact site of Eden as it would be were the
Cherubim still waving their flaming sword before the Tree
of Life (Gen. iii. 24).
II.
Panorama
of Emerging Eden.
Moreover: although firmly believing
that there has been in the far-off ages
an actual Eden, wherein the Creator in-
stalled the Original Man, yet I also as firmly believe that
the Eden of our passage, like the other scenes of the Crea-
tive Week, was not so much a literal fact as a Divinely
vouchsafed vision. Recalling, now, that this account of
Eden belongs to the second of the two Creation Archives,
which, as we have seen, Moses has incorporated into his
annals and made part of his own recital, let us again ascend
the Mount of Panoramic Vision, and, in company with the
inspired beholder of the second panorama, gaze on the un-
rolling scene of the Emerging Eden. It is still early in
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the Creative Week, corresponding to the Third Day of the
first Archive. So far as we can see, no plant of the field
is yet in the earth, no herb of the field has yet sprung up.
And no wonder. Jehovah God has not yet caused it to
rain on the earth. But the hours fly apace. And now we
see going up from the earth a mist, and it waters all the
face of the ground, preparing it for vegetation. Alas!
there is no Man as yet to till the ground and develop its
resources. The hours still fly apace. And now a Form
like to that of the Son of God stoops down, and, taking in
His hand some of the dust of the soil, and moulding it into
a figure like to His own Divine Self, He breathes into the
new nostrils His own life-breath; and, lo! the dust-figure
becomes, in very virtue of having been Divinely inbreathed,
the Creator's Inspiration, and so His Image and Son (Gen.
ii. 5-7). A Being of origin so Divine, we cannot but think,
will surely have a home worthy of him. Nor are we mis-
taken. The same God who has formed the Man, plants on
the east of our Mount of Vision, in the fair territory of
Eden or Delight, a Garden, or pleasure-park, of inconceiv-
able loveliness. There He causes to spring up every tree
that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. There, in
the midst of the Garden, He plants two wondrous trees:
the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil. There He causes a majestic River to flow, which,
on issuing out of the Garden, parts into four great streams,
Pison, and Gihon, and Tigris, and Euphrates. There He
causes gold and onyx to sparkle, and awaken the sense of
preciousness. There, in Eden's glorious Garden, He puts
the Man He has inbreathed, and thereby made His Image,
to till the Garden, and to keep it. There He announces
His mysterious Edicts of Liberty and Prohibition: "Of
every tree of the Garden thou mayest freely eat; but of
GENESIS OF EDEN.
203
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou shalt not
eat of it; for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt sure-
ly die."
There He summons the animals before the In-
spiration and Image of God, and there they receive from
him their names. And there, ere this Sixth, concluding
Day closes, the Creator will give to the Man a Second
Self, without whom even Eden itself would be a failure
(Gen. ii. 21-22). Such is the panorama of the Emergent
Paradise.
III.-Lessons of
the Vision.
And now let us attend to some of
the lessons of the story.
And, first: the Birth of Industry;
1.-The Birth of Jehovah God took the Man He hac
Industry.
formed, and put him in the Garden of
Eden, to till it, and to keep it.
(a.)-Work Man's
Normal Condition.
For, beautiful and perfect as Eden
was, spotless and exalted as Adam him-
self was, he must work. And this be-
cause he was like his Heavenly Father and his Heavenly
Father's Christ: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I
work" (John v. 17). And, first: man must work for the
soil's sake. Generous as Mother Nature is, she is gen-
erous as a rule only to those who industriously and skill-
fully avail themselves of her resources. Her capacities
are latent as well as vast, and need the quickening, unfold-
ing, marshaling power of a tireless and skillful labor. A
very laboratory she is, whence the husbandman-that true
chemist for society-obtains by elaboration those indispen-
sable products of the soil which are more truly treasures
than the diamonds of Golconda. The first of all arts was
agriculture, and the first of all laborers a sinless man.
Again Man is to work not only for the soil's sake; he is
to work also for his own sake. He, too, has latent capaci-
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
ties, and as vast as latent, which can be brought into light
and usefulness only as they are subjected to the quicken-
ing, unfolding power of a wisely-directed exercise. No
man knows what reservoirs of force are within him till he
sets himself to work in the way his Maker appoints for
him. He who does not use his faculties is as though he
had none. And so it comes to pass that indolence and
barbarism go hand in hand. It is not possible that an idle
nation should be at the same time a civilized. Herein is
the secret of the difference of prospect for the Negro or
the Chinaman, and the North American Indian; the former
are capable of civilization, because, as a rule, they are will-
ing to work; the latter incapable, because, as a rule, unwill-
ing. The man, the family, the community, the nation,
that will not work, cannot long hold their own against the
stride of Industry. It is a law of Nature and of the God
of Nature. God has said to Man: "Subdue the earth'
(Gen. i. 28). And the man or the nation that refuses to obey
must perish. We owe the Indians, with tingling shame be
it confessed, vast debts of reparation for untold injustice
and cruelties. All honor to Government for having un-
dertaken the policy of the Peace Commission. Neverthe-
less, until the Indians as a body are willing to work, their
case as a body is hopeless. No legislation, no Peace Com-
missions, no largesses, can save them. They must go to
the wall, not because they are Indians, but because they are
sluggards. The busy beehive that is large enough for its
myriad workers is too small for a single drone. We see
here also the key to that great problem, the cure of Pau-
perism: it is Work. Regard with distrust every able-
bodied man who is unwilling to work-i. e., when he has
an opportunity. It is a mistaken kindness, founded nei-
ther in reason nor in morality, which feeds the healthy
GENESIS OF EDEN.
205
mendicant who would rather beg than dig. I know that
it seems hard to turn away from the tattered wretch who,
like your dog, piteously supplicates for the crumbs that
fall from your table. But it is precisely because this tat-
tered wretch is not a dog, but a man, and can work, that
makes it sinful to pamper him in his wicked laziness. Em-
ployment for all is a more generous bounty to the suffering
poor than a thousand soup-breakfasts or a thousand asylums.
Ail honor to those business men and firms and corporations
who, notwithstanding the present paralysis of trade, are
still carrying on their enterprises, in spite of receiving no
profits, and even incurring losses, sustained by the noble
consciousness that in so doing they are making employment
in advance of returns, and therefore helping to buttress
crumbling society. When will legislators, prompted though
they may have been by the purest philanthropy and guided
by the wisest earthly statesmanship, cease substituting hu-
man enactments in the shape of Poor Laws for the Divine
arrangement that maintenance is the natural product of a
properly encouraged and rewarded industry? "We have
commanded you," says an Apostle, "that if any one will
not work, neither shall he eat" (2 Thess. iii. 10); and a Great-
er than an Apostle has said: "The laborer is worthy of his
hire” (Luke x. 7). Let these two principles be carried out,
and the problem of Political Economy is solved. Once
more: Man is to work not only for the soil's sake and his
own sake; he is also to work for God's sake. Not only is he
to "dress" or till the Garden, and so develop its resources;
he is also to "keep" the Garden, and so hold it in trust for
its real Owner. Thus Labor and Stewardship, Vigilance
and Responsibility, have their birth in Eden. Work—i. e.,
all true Work-means Responsibility. And it is the sense
of Accountability which gives to Work its worth and its
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
glory. Herein lies the true Dignity of Labor. This phrase,
so frequent on the lips of demagogues and on the pages of
pamphleteers, they do not grasp in the majesty of its im
port. They understand it as simply meaning that labor is
honorable because it contributes to the material and social
prosperity of a people; whereas the true Dignity of Labor
consists, not in the mere accumulation of wealth, nor yet in
the amelioration of earthly ills, but in the homageful and
joyous returning of all the products of labor, physical and
intellectual, to Him Whose is the earth and the fullness
thereof (Psalm xxiv. 1). And since this is the duty of all, I see
no reason for the distinctions which so many make between
different kinds of labor, as though one kind were more
honorable than another. I believe that the devout fisher-
men off the coast of Labrador, whose sanctuary is his little
smack, whose lamps are the stars of night, whose music.
is the choir of wind and wave, pursues a calling as honor-
able in the sight of Him Who seeth in secret as does the
preacher whose holy eloquence stirs to their lowest depths
the hearts of worshiping multitudes. No; it is not the
kind of employment itself, but the sense of responsibility
accompanying it, which gives to Labor its celestial dignity.
As good George Herbert sings:
"A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine :
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws
Makes that and the action fine."
(6.)-Pursue your
Calling with Enthu-
siasm.
Since, then, Labor is God's Ordi-
nance for man, pursue your calling,
whatever it be, with diligence and cheer-
fulness. If God have called you, as He called Adam, to
till the ground, let your weedless field give evidence that
Industry has holden the plough and the hoe in her hands.
GENESIS OF EDEN.
207
If He have called you to ply the instruments of the artisan,
let your shop be musical the livelong day with the clicking
of your tools.
tools. If He have called you to the pursuit of
trade, let your well-arranged commodities and punctual ful-
fillments testify that you are not slothful in business.
(Rom. xii. 11). If He have called you to the quest of knowl-
edge, let your well-thumbed books attest that Diligence has
reigned in your study. If He have called you to the wife-
ly duties of the matron, look well to the ways of thy house-
hold, and eat not the bread of idleness (Prov. xxxi. 27). Take
care lest thy Garden degenerate into the sluggard's field,
grown up with nettles, covered with brambles, breached
with broken walls, Poverty prowling around thy dwelling,
thy Wants leaping upon thee as armed men (Prov. xxiv. 30–34).
In brief: whatever be the occupation to which the Provi-
dence of God has called thee, pursue it with enthusiasm,
doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God the Father through Him (Col. iii. 17).
This, then, is the lesson under the present head of dis-
course Industry is man's normal condition. His Maker
imposed on him the duty of labor while yet he was sinless,
fresh from the Divine inbreathing. Thus does the first
sentence in the History of Mankind record the Divine In-
auguration of the Reign of Human Labor.
2.-The Birth of
Language.
Secondly: The Birth of Lan-
guage: "The Man gave names to all
cattle and to the fowl of the air and to
every beast of the field."
(a.) — Wonderful-
ness of Language.
Were I asked what I thought was
the most wonderful faculty of man, I
should answer: The faculty of Lan-
guage. For, consider for a moment what a word is. A
word consists of two elements, which not only have noth-
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
ing in common, but are diametrically opposed. Suppose
it is a spoken or audible word; as such, it is but a sound-
an aërial vibration striking tympanum and brain. Suppose
it is a written or visible word; as such, it is but a shape on
a piece of paper. Yet in either case it is also a casketed,
infigured idea. A word is an embodied thought or feeling.
The same air that stirs a leaf incarnates and conveys to the
percipient mind an immaterial idea. Language marries
Thought and Matter, or rather Thought and Thought in
the sphere of Matter. A word may incarnate the vastest
conceptions, as, e. g., an astronomical fact; or the subtilest
conceptions, as, e. g., a biological hypothesis. Again:
Words conserve the immaterial past, turning it into an im-
mortal heirloom; a word carries us back to Washington, to
Shakespeare, to Mohammed, to Cicero, to Plato, to Abra-
ham, to Adam. Words are the Manes of past centuries.
You think that the phonograph is a wonderful thing, and
so it is; but it does not compare in wonderfulness with the
most careless, insignificant word which it echoes and pre-
serves. Even the childish prattle of the nursery is more
wonderful than the most surprising transformation in chem-
istry; it turns vibrations of material, unconscious air into
immaterial, intelligible, influencing ideas. Yes, words are
the most wonderful of things.
—
Words Nouns.
No wonder, then, that the Origin of
(6.) The First Language is such a fascinating problem.
Was it an invention? So some have
taught. Was it the issue of a convention? So some have
taught. Was it an imitation of the sounds of Nature? So
some have taught. Was it a direct gift from heaven? So
some have taught. Most erudite men have pondered the
problem; and yet all speculation here is quite afloat. And
so we fall back on the childlike, pictorial language of
GENESIS OF EDEN.
209
Time's most hoary Archive: "Jehovah God formed out
of the soil every beast of the field and every fowl of the
heavens and He brought them to the Man to see what he
would call them: and whatever the Man should call every
living being, that should be the name thereof; and the
Man gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the heav-
ens, and to every beast of the field.” It was Man's first
recorded act. Observe: it was an act of perception, dis-
crimination, description. The animals were arrayed before
him; and animals suggest all the phenomena of life. And
the vision of moving life stirred up within him the latent.
capacity of speech. In brief, it was the origin of Human-
ity's vocabulary. As such, it is a profoundly philosophical
account. For nouns, i. e., names, are the rudiments of
language, the very A B C's of speech. Such is the Theory
of the Genesis of Language according to Moses. Can your
Max Müllers and Wedgwoods and Whitneys give a more
philosophical theory?
(c.)- Our Words
our Judges.
Before dismissing this point, I must
say a few words touching the awful
grandeur of the Gift of Language. Its
tremendous power is simply inconceivable. Not only is it
the instrument of thought, reacting on the mind of him
who speaks, giving to his thoughts solidity, order, clear-
ness, energy; it is also the grand instrument of human
edification, or society building. The best comment on this
point is the fourteenth chapter of St. Paul's First Epistle
to the Corinthians. Language it is which makes human
society possible. Language is the bridge between man and
man—the circulating medium of society, the wondrous
power which converts human units into the Human Unity
-men into Man. And so Language is the grand edificator
of the race.
Listen to some proverbs: "A well of life is
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the mouth of the righteous" (Prov. x. 11); "A wholesome
tongue is a tree of life" (Prov. xv. 4); "Words of kindness
are as the honeycomb-sweetness to the soul, and a healing
to the bones" (Prov. xvi. 24); "Apples of gold in framework
of silver is a word spoken in its season" (Prov. xxv. 11). But,
alas! death as well as life is in the power of the tongue.
Listen, then, to another proverb: "As a madman that
hurleth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is a man that de-
ceiveth his neighbor, and saith: 'Am I not in sport?""
(Prov. xxvi. 18, 19). But the most burning description of the
terrific power of the tongue is given us by the Apostle
James: "Behold, how great a forest a little fire kindleth!
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue
is that among our members which defileth the whole body,
and setteth on fire the course of Nature-the wheel of
Creation—and is itself set on fire by hell. For every kind
of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of
things in the sea, is tamable, and hath been tamed by man-
kind: but the tongue no man can tame; it is a restless
mischief, full of deadly poison" (James iii. 2-10). Oh, what
untold misery and anguish the tongue has brought into the
world; e. g., the tongue of the tale-bearer, taking up a re-
proach against his neighbor, and giving it wings; the
tongue of the slanderer, blasting a fair name, and crushing
glorious powers; the tongue of the scandal-monger, filling
a continent and world with noisomeness and pestilential
stench; the tongue of the insinuator, undermining success,
and murdering character; the tongue of the gossiper, car-
rying into a household tears and anguish and death. Ver-
ily, the tongue is an untamable mischief, full of deadly
poison, a world of iniquity, itself set on fire by Gehenna.
And not only is the power of words tremendous, their
power is also immortal. Words are not the evanescent
GENESIS OF EDEN.
211
sounds we sometimes fancy them to be. For what is a
word? A spoken word is a series of sounds, so arranged
as to embody an idea. And what is a sound? A sound,
to answer roughly, is a disturbance of the air, so that certain
vibrations, or waves, reach the mind through the ear and
brain. Now it is one of the solemn teachings of modern
science that no atom of matter can undergo any change
whatever without affecting each adjacent atom; nor can
these adjacent atoms be affected without affecting, in turn,
every atom adjacent to each of them; and so on till the
original impulse, or change, started by the first atom, is
propagated through immensity, so that the whole material
Creation is in a different state from what it would have
been had not the disturbance of that first atom taken place.
Nor is this all: inasmuch as these atoms, thus disturbed
throughout the material universe, keep acting and reacting
on each other perpetually, it is evident that the effects
of the slightest atomic change are not only propagated
throughout all Creation, but are propagated everlastingly.
Thus the slightest word vibrating in the air, though it be
but a whispered interjection, sets in operation a series of
changes which undulate to the very outskirts of Creation,
rising and falling like an everlasting tide. Milton utters
but scientific truth when he speaks of
"Airy tongues, that syllable men's names
On sands and shores and desert wildernesses."
-("COMUS.")
Thus the whole material universe, from tiniest atom at
earth's centre to farthest orb in limitless space, is a mighty
Whispering Gallery, in which the Infinite One is everlast-
ingly hearing every word, every whisper, breathed by
every human being, from the day Adam pronounced his
first word to the day when time shall be no more. If, then,
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the scarcely audible rustle of an unconscious aspen-leaf sets
in inexorable motion atom after atom-from leaf to tree,
from tree to earth, from earth to star, till the whole mate-
rial Creation responds in agitation-think you that any
word, however "idle," spoken by conscious, responsible
Man, will ever die away? Oh, no! Every word you and
I have spoken has already taken the witness-stand before
the Judgment Throne, to testify for us or against us.
Words are immortal.
"I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I know not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
"I breathed a song into the air,
(6
It fell to earth, I know not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend."
—(LONGFELLOW.)
Such is the awful grandeur of the Gift of Speech.
Words make earth a heaven or a hell. I wonder not that
when the wondrous Nazarene loosed the tongue-strings of
the Mute of Decapolis He sighed (Mark vii. 32-35). I wonder
not that the Nazarene Himself said: "I say unto you that,
for every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give
account thereof in the Day of Judgment: for by thy words
thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be con-
demned" (Matt. xii. 36, 37). For words are in an eminent
sense revealers of character. Out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaketh: the good man, out of the good
GENESIS OF EDEN.
213
treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things: the bad
man, out of the bad treasure, bringeth forth bad things
(Matt. xii. 34, 35). Speech is the exhalation of the heart. Thus
words are the representatives of character, translating char-
acter into language, which he who runs may read. In
fact, this very word "character" etymologically means
what is marked, engraved, lettered. Thus Orlando to
Rosalind in the Forest of Arden :
"These trees shall be my books,
And in their barks my thoughts I'll character;
That every eye, which in this forest looks,
Shall see thy virtue witness'd everywhere.”
-("AS YOU LIKE IT,” iii. 2.)
A man's character is the inscription which his habits
have engraved on him. And his words translate that in-
scription. His words characterize him, i. e., they give his
characteristics; and this is but another way of saying they
reveal his character. And so it is that our speech be-
trayeth us. And therefore our words will be our judges
on the great day: By thy words thou wilt be justified, and
by thy words thou wilt be condemned. Thank God, Jesus
Christ is Himself the true, eternal language. He Himself
is the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John i. 1).
And just because He was and is the Word of God—God in
utterance, in articulation, in exhibition-He was and is the
Truth and therefore by His words the world and the uni-
verse is, year by year, century by century, æon by æon,
justifying Him, the Word of God, more and more. And
so it comes to pass that a Christly life is also man's true
language. O friend, let thy words be like Christ's, and
thou too shalt be justified. What though thou art un-
versed in the school of earth's oratory? Enough that thou
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
speakest the language of Christ's character; for thus thou
speakest correctly, according to the eternal Grammar: ay,
even eloquently, according to the eternal Rhetoric. Heaven
grant that when you and I shall stand in the Judgment
Hall of a Greater than Pilate, some friend of the Judge
shall say to each of us: "Thou too art a Galilean; for thy
speech bewrayeth thee" (Matt. xxvi. 73).
3.-The Birth of
Immortality.
(a.) Significance
of Trees.
Thirdly: The Birth of Immortality:
"Jehovah God planted in the midst of
the Garden the Tree of Life."
To the thoughtful observer, perhaps,
there is no more profound object in
Nature than a Tree. Its graceful figure,
its wavy outlines, its emerald hue, its variety of branches
and twigs and leaves-illustrating diversity in unity—its
tinted and fragrant blossoms, its luscious fruit, its exhibi-
tion of many of the wonderful phenomena of human life,
such as birth, growth, respiration, absorption, circulation,
sleep, sexuality, decay, death, reproduction: these are some
of the particulars which make a Tree the living parable of
man and of society, and, as such, perhaps the most inter-
esting object in the natural world. No wonder, then, that
among all nations and in all ages trees have had a peculiar
fascination, and even sacredness for the devoutly inclined.
Witness the Groves of the Hebrews, the Symbol-tree of
the Assyrian Sculptures, the Dryads of Greece, the Druids
of Britain, the Igdrasil of the Norsemen.' We need not
1 "I like, too, that representation they have of the Tree Igdrasil. All Life is figured
by them as a Tree. Igdrasil, the Ash-tree of Existence, has its roots deep down in the
Kingdom of Hela or Death; its trunk reaches up heaven-high, spreads its boughs over
the whole universe: it is the Tree of Existence. At the foot of it, in the Death-Kingdom,
sit Three Nornas, Fates-the Past, Present, Future-watering its roots from the Sacred
Well. Its boughs, with their buddings and disleafings-events, things suffered, things done,
catastrophes stretch through all lands and times. Is not every leaf of it a biography,
every fibre there an act or word? Its boughs are Histories of Nations. The rustle of it is
GENESIS OF EDEN.
215
be surprised, then, that on going back to Nature's Eden
we learn that Paradise, rich in every element of beauty,
was especially rich in trees. Jehovah God caused to spring
up in the Garden of Eden every tree that is pleasant to the
sight and good for food. But amid all this variety of
trees two stood forth in memorable conspicuousness, their
very names having come down to us through the oblivion
of millenniums: one was the Tree of Life in the midst of
the Garden; the other the Tree of Knowledge of Good
and Evil.
(6.)—The Tree of
Life.
And now let us ponder the Tree of
Life. What kind of life did that Tree
represent? Why was it called the Tree
of Life? If I conceive it rightly, it was called the Tree of
Life, because it was the symbol of a bestowed Immortality.
Observe precisely the statement here made: the statement
is not that Man is not immortal; the statement is that Man
is not naturally, inherently, constitutionally, in the original
make-up of his being, immortal. Observe again: I am not
speaking of the evidences of Man's natural immortality as
indicated by reason, or intuition, or the general sense of
mankind. I am speaking of the doctrine of immortality
as indicated in the Archive of Eden. And yet for I
would be candid-I must add that not a single passage of
Holy Writ, from Genesis to Revelation, teaches, so far as
I am aware, the doctrine of Man's natural immortality.
the noise of Human Existence, onward from of old. It grows there, the breath of Human
Passion rustling through it; or storm-tossed, the storm-wind howling through it like the
voice of all the gods. It is Igdrasil, the Tree of Existence. It is the past, the present, and
the future: what was done, what is doing, what will be done: 'the infinite conjugation of
the verb To do.' Considering how human things circulate, each inextricably in communion
with all-how the word I speak to you to-day is borrowed, not from Ulfila the Meso-Goth
only, but from all men since the First Man began to speak-I find no similitude so true as
this of a Tree. Beautiful-altogether beautiful and great! The 'Machine of the Uni-
verse-alas, do but think of that in contrast."-("HEROES AND HERO-WORSHIP," Lect-
ure I.)
216
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
On the other hand, Holy Writ emphatically declares that
God only hath immortality (1 Tim. vi. 16): that is to say:
God alone is naturally, inherently, in His own essence and
nature, immortal. He alone is the I AM-having this as
His name forever, His memorial to all generations (Ex. iii.
13-15). If, then, Man is immortal, it is because immortality
has been bestowed on him. He is immortal, not because
he was created so, but because he has become so, deriving
his deathlessness from Him Who alone hath immortality.
And of this fact the Tree of Life in the midst of the Gar-
den seems to have been the appointed symbol and pledge.
That this is the meaning of the Tree of Life is evident
from the closing words of the Archive of the Fall: "Jeho-
vah God said: "Behold, the Man hath become as one of
Us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he stretch forth
his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and
live forever:' therefore Jehovah God drove the Man forth
from Eden, and stationed on the East of the Garden the
Cherubim, and the Flaming Sword which turned every
way, to guard the way to the Tree of Life" (Gen. iii. 22–24).
If Man is inherently immortal, what need was there of any
Tree of Life at all? This much, then, seems to be clear:
Immortality was somehow parabolically conditioned on the
eating of this mysterious Tree, and the Immortality was
for the entire Man-spirit and soul and body.
4.-The Birth of
Probation.
Fourthly: The Birth of Probation:
"Of
every tree of the Garden thou
mayest freely eat: but of the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for
in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.”
By the Knowledge of Good and Evil I suppose is meant
that sorrowful knowledge of them which comes through
personally experiencing the loss of the one and the access
GENESIS OF EDEN.
217
of the other. And this experimental knowledge of Good
and Evil comes ordinarily through the sense of Prohibi-
tion. In other words, and those, too, of Holy Writ: "Sin
is the transgressing of the Law" (1 John iii. 4); that is to say:
Sin is a crossing of the limits or boundary-line, laid down
for us by the Creator Who made us, and Who, having made
us, has the right to appoint our limits. Here is the mean-
ing of Eden's Forbidden Tree: it parabolically sets forth
the fact of Moral Probation. And we may bless God that
there was and still is such a Tree. For no one knows, or
can know, himself till he has been tested. Ordeal is neces-
sary to the proof of character-to character itself. What
though Adam, when installed in Eden, was fresh from his
Maker's hand and radiant with His Image? He needed a
Forbidden Tree in order that he might not only awake to
the sense of right and wrong, and so of morality, but also
that he might awake to the sense of his power of choice
between right and wrong, obedience and disobedience.
And so the Forbidden Tree tested him, alas! too well.
Nevertheless, the test was intended to be, and but for his
own fault would have been, a genuine kindness. For the
sense of obedience, not less than the obedience itself, is
essential to moral joy. Thus a specific prohibition gave to
Adam the opportunity of knowing whether he was obedi-
ent or not. Had he obeyed the prohibition, that very
sense of obedience would have been to him the source of a
genuine bliss. Ah, friend, Adam was not the only man
who has had this test of a Forbidden Tree. All human
life-oh, that we more thoroughly understood it and be-
lieved it is a Probation, a Probing. In our moral con-
stitution itself, in the very make-up of our moral structure,
each of us necessarily has in himself a Forbidden Tree.
In fact, Eden itself would not be an Eden unless it had
10
218
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
such a Tree. God grant that we may endure the test
better than did our first Father! God grant that we may
endure it as triumphantly as did the second Adam!
5.-The Eden of
the Soul.
Alas! this
An enemy
Fifthly: The Eden of the Soul.
For to every human being, not less than
to Adam, God has given a Garden to
till and to keep it is the Garden within him.
Garden of the Soul is no longer an Eden.
hath come and sown tares (Matt. xiii. 25). Instead of the fir-
tree has come up the thorn, and instead of the myrtle-tree
has come up the brier (Is. lv. 13). Nevertheless, the capacity
of Paradise still lies latent within us all. Like seeds which
have for ages lain buried beneath the soil of our primeval
forests, there lie deep down in the subsoil of our moral
natures the germs of giant spirit powers and experiences.
Fallen as we are, we are capable of being redeemed, re-
instated in the range of conscious sonship to the everlasting
Father. In fact, this capacity for redemption is, on its
human side, the basis of the possibility of Christ's Salva-
tion. The Son of God came not to crush, but to save; not
to destroy, but to restore; not to annihilate, but to trans-
figure. And when we let Him have His way in our
hearts; when we let Him drive the ploughshare of His
Spirit's conviction, uprooting tares and thorns and all bale-
ful weeds; when we let Him sow the good seed of the
kingdom, which is the Word of God; when we let Him
quicken it with the warmth of His breath, and water it
with the dews of His grace, and hue it with the sunshine
of His beauty: then does Paradise Lost become Paradise
Found; then is brought to pass-oh, how gloriously!—
the saying of the Poet-Prophet: "The wilderness and the
solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and
blossom as the rose" (Is. xxxv. 1). Ay, Jehovah will make
GENESIS OF EDEN.
219
thy wilderness like Eden, and thy desert like the Garden
of the Lord (Is. li. 3). Meantime, the Lord of Eden, in re-
claiming it, uses agents. And His agent is the soul itself.
Man is both soil and seed, both Garden and Gardener.
Restore thou, then, thy Eden. Break up the fallow ground
of thy heart (Jer. iv. 3).
Gather out the stones of insensi-
bility. Weed out the tares of worldliness, the thorns of
selfishness, the briers of self-indulgence. Prune off the
fruitless, dead branches of a professional morality. Put up
the fence of self-restraint. Open the soil to thy Father's
breath and light and warmth. Let His grace distill down
into the very depths of thy being, quickening thy dead
powers, unfolding thy latent, majestic possibilities, devel-
oping all heroic virtues and saintly graces, fructifying them
into the heavenly cornucopia, even those fruits of the
Spirit which are love, peace, joy, long-suffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance (Gal. v. 22, 23).
Cultivate thy soil with the hoe and harrow of self-sacrifice.
Fertilize it with the truth of God, and meditation thereon.
Water it with the dews of prayer. Support the weaklier
virtues with the trellis of a strong purpose stayed on God,
and a heavenward aspiration, even the lattice of the princely
sisterhood, Faith, Hope, Love (1 Cor. xiii. 13). Guard against
all inroads of thorn and blight and worm and poacher.
Arrange and adorn with the parterres and walks and arbors
and founts of a well-ordered life and godly conversation.
And, finally, keep the whole in faithful, loving guardian-
ship for Him Whose tenants and fiefs ye are. Ay, this is
the dignity of your calling, this the grandeur of your mis-
sion into the world, this the majesty of your vocation as
God's Inspiration and Image. What though earth has
been cursed, and Nature's Paradise lost? Each one of
you may, by the grace of God, have an Eden within you
220
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
as much nobler than Adam's as spirit is nobler than mat-
ter. Keep, then, that which has been committed to thy
trust; and then in the day when the Lord of the Garden
shall take account of His Gardeners, thou shalt find that
the park thou hast tilled and guarded is indeed the Para-
dise of thy God. So shall the King desire thy beauty. He
shall come into thy soul as into a Garden inclosed; thy
plants shall be to Him a park of pomegranates, with all
most precious fruits, nard and crocus, sweet cane and cin-
namon, myrrh and aloes, with all trees of Lebanon, and
richest spices. Even now, O North Wind, awake! Come,
O South! Breathe upon Thy Garden, that its spices may
send forth their fragrance. So shall my Beloved come
into His Garden, and eat His pleasant fruits (Psalm xlv. 11;
Cant. iv. 12-16).
6. The Heavenly
Eden.
And so I come to speak, lastly, of
the coming and everlasting Paradise.
For the Eden that has been was but a
type and humble hint of the Eden that is to be. The true
Golden Age, of which the bards are ever singing, is not to
be looked for in the Past, but in the Future. In fact, it is
this conception of a Paradise which has been, and is not,
and may yet be, which is the foundation and inspiration of
all genuine poetry, alike heathen and Christian, whether
the bard be a Homer or a Dante, a Virgil or a Milton, a
Tennyson or a Bonar. This Restoration of Paradise be-
longs to those Times of Restitution of all things which
God hath promised by the mouth of His holy prophets
since the world began (Acts iii. 21). Yet this Restitution
shall be something more than a simple restoration of the
lost Paradise. The Eden that is to be shall be as much
grander than the Eden that has been as Christ, the Image
of the invisible God, is grander than Adam, the image
GENESIS OF EDEN.
221
of Christ. Listen: If by the trespass of the one, death
reigned through the one, much more shall they who re-
ceive the abundance of the grace and of the gift of righte-
ousness reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ (Rom. v.
12-21). God grant that all of us may wash our robes in the
blood of the Lamb, and so have right to the Tree of Life,
and enter in through the gates into the city (Rev. xxii. 14)!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever
shall be, world without end. Amen.
LECTURE XII.
GENESIS OF WOMAN.
"And the Lord God said: It is not good that the man should
be alone: I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the
ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl
of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call
them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was
the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the
fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there
was not found an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a
deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his
ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the
Lord God hath taken from man, made He a woman, and brought
her unto the man. And Adam said: This is now bone of my bones,
and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was
taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his
mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not
ashamed."-GENESIS ii. 18-25.
FIRST of all, let us, as is our wont,
I.-Explanation attend to the Explanation of the Pas-
of the Passage.
sage. For a remarkable story it is, and
in an eminent sense it needs explanation.
an Inspired Parable.
At the very outset, then, let me say
1.-Our Passage that, for reasons indicated in our Intro-
ductory Study, I believe that this record
of the Genesis of Woman is a Divine Parable. Of course,
it is possible that the record is to be taken literally. Of
GENESIS OF WOMAN.
223
course, it is possible that Almighty God, for Whom noth-
ing is too hard (Gen. xviii. 4), except to do wrong, could have
performed on Adam in Eden a surgical operation, admin-
istering to him an anæsthetic (for it is scarcely conceivable
that a loving God would have inflicted on a sinless Man in
Paradise the pain of a bodily injury without the soothing
of an anodyne), taking out of the slumberer one of his
ribs, stanching the crimson flow, healing the wound, turn-
ing the rib into a Woman. Of course, the Maker of heaven
and earth, had He so chosen, could have done this, and
many another even more incredible thing. Nevertheless,
I cannot help feeling that to take the story thus literally is
not only to isolate it from other scenes of the Creative
Week, which we are compelled, for reasons repeatedly as-
signed, to regard as panoramic; it is also to degrade a sol-
emn, profound Parable into a grotesque, ridiculous affair,
worthy to take its place, not with the august revelations of
the Infinite One, but with the cunningly-devised fables of
heathen legends, as, e. g., the birth of panoplied Athena
from the cloven brow of Zeus. Remember, as I have often
reminded you, that in this matter of the Creative Week we
are moving in a region of incomparable Truths, altogether
transcending human experience. The language, then, must,
in the very nature of the case, be figurative, giving us the
truth not so much in literal details as in shadowy outlines,
colossal hints, stupendous flitting vistas. No, friends, the
Story of the Genesis of Woman is a Divine Parable. Be-
ing a Divine Parable, it has been written for our instruc-
tion, upon whom the ends of the world are come (1 Cor. x. 11).
May God help us to catch the true, momentous meaning!
2. - Panorama of
Emergent Woman.
Let us, then, again ascend the Mount
of Panoramic Vision, and survey with
the inspired Seer the unfolding scene of
224
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
want.
Emergent Woman. It is still the Sixth Day. Eden, in all
its ravishing beauty, lies before us. Adam, fresh from the
hands of his Maker, respirant with His inbreathing (Gen. ii. 7),
radiant with His Image (Gen. i. 26), walks before us lord of
all. And yet, in spite of the Edenic perfections, he is ill
at ease. There is, somehow, the sense of an indefinable
And now his Maker would teach him the secret of
his disquietude. Accordingly, He summons before the
Man the various forms of animal life, that Adam may
catch a glimpse of what is meant by Society. And so
every beast of the field and every bird of the air comes
trooping to Adam, and he gives to each its name. The
vision of this moving, sentient, abounding life awakens the
latent capacity for companionship. But, amid all these
varieties of animal life, he finds no true companion, no
help meet, no mate suited to him. And now, wearied with
his work of naming the animal creation, and still disquieted
by the sense of defect, he lies down on the rich, odorous
sward, it may be in the shadow of the Tree of Life, and
falls into a profound slumber. It is the golden hour for
Divine instruction; for it is in dreams, in visions of the
night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, that God openeth
their ear, and sealeth up their instruction (Job xxxiii. 15, 16).
Wrapped in his deep sleep, Eden's dreamer beholds the
vision of his Second Self. He sees his Maker taking from
out of him one of his own ribs, forming it into a Woman,
and presenting her in all her glorious beauty to himself, to
be to him henceforth that blessed mate for whom he has
unconsciously sighed. And so his God has in very truth
given to His beloved in his sleep (Psalm cxxvii. 2). Nor is it
altogether a dream. Awaking from his sleep, he beholds
still standing by him the fair, blissful vision. Instinctively
recognizing the community of nature, he joyously ex-
GENESIS OF WOMAN.
225
claims: "This, now, is bone of my bones and flesh of my
flesh; this shall be called Woman, Isha, because from Man,
Ish, was she taken." And hand in hand they stroll rai-
mentless-the Man and his Wife-and are not ashamed.
And so falls the curtain on the final scene of the drama of
the Sixth Day. Such is the Vision of Emergent Woman.
And now let us attend to some of
the lessons of the Vision.
II.-Moral Mean-
ing of the Vision.
1. The Essential
Woman.
(a.)-Woman's For-
mal Inferiority to
Man.
And, first: The Essential Unity of
Unity of Man and Man and Woman: "This, now, is bone
of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this
shall be called Woman, because from Man was she taken."
But here, at the very outset, let me
call
your attention to a significant fact.
If the Parable of Eden is true, Woman
is inferior to Man. I am aware that I
am entering on a debated, troublesome question. But I
have undertaken to expound the Story of the Creative
Week. I wish to do my task honestly, and, so far as may
be, thoroughly, fairly meeting every question fairly raised.
And our Passage does fairly raise the question of Woman's
relation to Man in the matter of authority. The Woman
was not created alongside with the Man; the Woman was
taken out of the Man. And millenniums afterward, in full
blaze of Him Who, as born of Woman, is the Light of
men, His Apostle Paul reaffirms the ancient Archive:
"The Man is not from the Woman, but the Woman from
the Man; neither was the Man for the sake of the Woman,
but the Woman was for the sake of the Man (1 Cor. xi. 8, 9) ;
for Adam was first formed, then Eve” (1 Tim. ii. 13). And
upon this fact the Apostle, throughout his Letters, bases
his doctrine of Woman's subordination to Man. But what
are we to learn from these deliverances of Holy Writ
226
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
touching Woman's subordination? That Man is essentially
superior to Woman? Most certainly not. We are to learn
chiefly this Woman, in the matter of outward, formal,
scenic authority, is to yield to Man. For every kind of
organization, whatever it may be, political, military, finan-
cial, ecclesiastical, domestic, must have some kind of nomi-
nal head, or index-finger-e. g., King, President, General,
Chairman, Bishop, Pastor, Husband. Look at grand old
Fatherland. According to her theory of Government,
England must have a Monarch. And who sits on Eng-
land's throne to-day? A woman a pure, noble, true-
hearted woman. But, because Victoria wears a crown as
her nation's emblazoned figure-head, does it necessarily fol-
low that she is intellectually superior to the Disraeli who
holds her helm of state; or morally superior to the Spur-
geon who preaches that there is another Sovereign, even
one Jesus? Quite so is it with Woman in her relation to
Man. According to Holy Scripture, she is subordinate to
him. But this subordination implies in no sense what-
ever any essential inferiority. Woman is Man's peer in all
essential capacities-in capacities of sensibility, intellect,
moral worth, humanhood. Woman is Man's inferior sim-
ply in the matter of scenic, symbolic, formal authority.
Alas! there are men who are brutes enough to take ad-
vantage of this truth, and, complacently airing their own
grandeur, talk patronizingly of Woman.
"O, it is excellent
To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.
Could great men thunder
As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet,
For every pelting, petty officer
Would use his heaven for thunder: nothing but thunder
GENESIS OF WOMAN.
227
Man, proud man!
Dress'd in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd,
His glassy essence-like an angry ape—
Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heaven,
As make the angels weep."
("MEASURE FOR MEASURE," ii. 2.)
And when any husband takes advantage of this Script-
ural teaching respecting Woman's formal inferiority, and
lords it over his wife, or talks slightingly of her, or of her
sex, as an inferior creation, he does a mean, contemptible
thing, and would God I could
"Put in every honest hand a whip,
To lash the rascal naked through the world,
Even from the East to the West!"
—(“OTHELLO,” iv. 2.)
In
Nevertheless, this formal, modal inferiority is one of
Woman's essential, distinctive conditions as Woman. In
no wise whatever is it a punishment, or degradation, or
consequent of the Fall. It antedates the Fall itself.
her very make-up, as formed out of the First Man, Woman
is, in the matter of technical, formal headship, Man's sub-
ordinate. And well is it in these days of Woman's Rights,
falsely and stupidly so called-these days when Woman is
invited to unsex herself, and usurp the reins, and the toga,
and the baton—to go back to first principles, ay, to her
own Genesis, even to the Rib of the Sleeping Adam. No
wonder that so many of the so-called Reformers-Heaven
save the mark!—are infidels. Paul and Moses, to say noth-
ing of facts and common-sense, are inconveniently, outrage-
ously, in their way.
(b.)-Woman's Es-
sential Equality.
Nevertheless, in spite of all this,
Woman is essentially one with Man.
Listen to the First Man's speech: "This
228
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
1
now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: this shall
be called Woman, because from Man was she taken." Man
and Woman, then, considered in their essence, are a Unity.
But, observe, unity implies complexity; that is to say, Uni-
ty implies likeness and unlikeness, sameness and difference,
community and diversity.
(1.)-Community of
Man and Woman.
Consider, then, first: the community
of Man and Woman. According to the
Parable of Eden, Woman is generically
of the same nature with Man, bone of his bones and flesh
of his flesh. Their community is something more than
mere similarity of nature: it is in very fact con-nature it-
self. Woman's very name is Isha, i. e., Man-ness, because
from Ish, i. e., Man, was she taken. And "Woman was
taken,” some one has significantly said, "neither from Man's
foot, nor from Man's head, but from Man's side;" that is
to say, from near Man's heart; and the heart is at bottom
the world's real Sceptre; and therefore Woman is the
world's real monarch. Ay,
"More royalty in woman's heart
Than dwells within the crowned majesty
And sceptred anger of a hundred kings."
—(“RICHELIEU,” iii. 2.)
Woman, then, is something more than Man's image or
counterpart Woman is Man's essential Peer, his Alter
Ego, his Second Self. There is nothing, then, in the es-
sential nature of Woman which should exclude her from
the rights, privileges, activities, or duties, which inherently
belong to the genus Homo. Whatever is legitimately open
to Man, not indeed as a man, but as a Human Being, is
equally open to Woman: for both are equally human.
Woman as well as Man can feel, think, reason, imagine,
GENESIS OF WOMAN.
229
observe, classify, generalize, deduce. Woman as well as
Man can sell goods, plan buildings, make statues, resolve
nebulæ, discover elements, diagnosticate diseases, construct
philosophies, write epics. There is nothing in the nature
of Woman as Woman which should forbid her having a
specific employment or vocation as distinctively as the
brother brought up by her side. True, there are some
things which Woman cannot do as well as Man: not be-
cause she is inferior in any of the essential attributes of
humanity, but simply because she is inferior in the acci-
dental element of physical strength. It is no more to
Woman's discredit that she does not figure well in leaving
her nursery to shoe a horse than it is to Man's discredit
that he does not figure well in leaving his anvil to rock
the baby. While, then, many of the occupations which
Man has hitherto claimed as exclusively his own are in
the growing wisdom of society admitted to be equally
open to Woman, there are certain other occupations from
which Woman is manifestly excluded. Evidently she is
not called to hold the plough, or wield the sledge, or fell
the forest, or hoist the mainsail, or seize the burglar, or
harangue the caucus. Nevertheless, in all that constitu-
ently belongs to Man as Man, in all that makes up the
essentiality of his being, Woman is one with Man, sharing
his nature, his inspiration, his imageship, his sonhood.
Thank God, we are living in an age of the world when
St. Paul's doctrine, that in Christ Jesus there is neither
male nor female, but both are one in Him (Gal. iii. 28), is
beginning to be really believed, and when Woman, as
Man's essential peer, is resuming those majestic, Heaven-
endowed proportions which she wore in that far-off Sixth
Day when God created Man in His own likeness, male
and female created He them, and He blessed them, and
230
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
called their name Man, in the day when they were created
(Gen. v. 1, 2).
Question of Wom-
an Suffrage.
"But how far are you going to carry
this doctrine of Woman's Equality?"
I hear you asking. "Do you propose
to extend it as far as the right of Suffrage?" Yes, I do,
I reply, and I trust that my answer is sufficiently unam-
biguous. But observe precisely the ground on which I
base the right of Woman to the Suffrage. It is not on the
ground so generally, and as I think mistakenly, assumed
by the over-zealous leaders of the Woman's movement,
viz., that the right of the elective franchise is one of the
essential, elemental rights inherent in humanity as such.
The right of the elective franchise is, according to the
theory of our political institutions, and as I think justly,
only an incidental, contingent right, to be regulated by the
Constitution and statutes. And, as a matter of fact, Govern-
ment does discriminate. E. g., it discriminates in favor of
the adult, and against the "infant," or minor. It dis-
criminates in favor of an alien-but a brief time in our
country-an alien, it may be, ignorant, drunken, scarcely
able to pay his poll-tax of fifty cents, and having no hered-
itary interest in the country; and against a native-born,
adult, educated, virtuous woman, paying, it may be, hun-
dreds of dollars of taxes, and having an inherited, pro-
found interest in the welfare of the country. Since, then,
the right of Suffrage is, as a matter of fact, a discriminated
right, I base the right of Woman to the elective franchise
on the ground of equity and of policy, that is to say, pru-
dence. The person, whether man or woman, who pays
taxes has the right to have a voice in deciding who the
Government shall be that imposes and receives those taxes.
That is simple, sheer equity. And the man who does
GENESIS OF WOMAN.
231
not concede the right to every tax-payer, whether man or
woman, is an unjust man. Again: the right of Suffrage
being a conferrable right, to be apportioned and regulated
by the Government or Constitution (and the Constitution
is the Government), the right should be conferred emi-
nently on those who, in virtue of being particularly inter-
ested in having a good government, and also in virtue of
being especially endowed with the instinct of propriety,
are likely to use the right of Suffrage intelligently and
patriotically. And who are likely to use this right intelli-
gently and patriotically, if it be not the women of Amer-
ica? Who is likely to vote wisely, if it be not the wives,
the value of whose husbands' property depends on a stable,
just government, the mothers whose sons and daughters
are to be the America of the next generation? We hear
a great deal said in our day about Civil Service Reform.
I will tell you the surest way of reforming the Civil Ser-
vice, and this not only as managed by the Administration,
but also as managed by Congress and Legislatures and City
Councils it is by appointing your polling-places elsewhere
than next door to a groggery, and by inviting your mothers
and wives and sisters to deposit ballots of their own free
choice, and thereby save the country. America's salvation
lies under God in America's Women. It is precisely be-
cause I desire to conserve our Glorious Past that I plant
myself on the platform of Woman Suffrage. There are
times when Radicalism is the intensest Conservatism.
And this is precisely one of those times.
:
(2.) Diversity of
Man and Woman.
But, although this allusion to the
Right of Women to the Suffrage was
pertinent to the topic in hand, yet it is
but an incidental point, and so we return to the main
theme under this head of discussion, viz. the essential
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
unity of Man and Woman. Nevertheless, this unity, as I
have already said, implies diversity as well as community.
In fact, as was shown in the Lecture on the Genesis of
Lands, diversity is essential to unity. Diversities, coör-
dinated, and duly bounded, make unity. Recall the differ-
ence between a unit and a unity. A unit is a homogeneous
one-e. g., an atom of oxygen, or an atom of hydrogen.
A unity is a blended, coherent, systematized collection of
diverse ones in a state of homogeneousness or oneness—
e. g., the union of atoms of oxygen and hydrogen, forming
a molecule of water. It is the blending of different and
complemental colors-e. g., blue and orange, green and red,
purple and yellow-which yields the harmonious white.
Looking at the point under discussion in this light, there is
no superber instance of Unity than Man and Woman. Re-
call the phraseology of our passage: "Jehovah God said:
'It is not good that the Man should be alone; I will make
him a help meet for him :" that is to say, a helper suited to
him, one over against him, correspondent to him, comple-
mental to him, matching him. It was the Birth of Society.
Woman is something more than a supplement or appendix
to Man; Woman is Man's complement. Man and Woman
are the two poles of the sphere of humanity, opposite and
complemental, complemental because opposite. And the
one pole implies the other. Legislate as much as you please,
you cannot abolish the fact of the sexes. Constituently,
elementally the same, Man and Woman are organized on
different bases. Like the stars, they differ in their glory
(1 Cor. xv. 41). Each has certain excellences which are pe-
culiar to each, and distinctive of each. Man's excellences
are virtues; Woman's excellences are graces; and I sus-
pect that, in the judgment of Him Who seeth in secret, the
graces are diviner than the virtues. It is Woman's delicate
GENESIS OF WOMAN.
233
beauty of spirit which gives her the right to win, and
which, thank God, does win, Man's sturdy love. It is
Woman's physical weakness which constitutes her claim on
Man's physical strength. It is Woman's purity which con-
stitutes her claim on Man's reverence. It is Woman's
womanliness which constitutes her claim on Man's manli-
ness. No manner of sympathy, then, have I with those
would-be reformers who, in their noisy and witless cham-
pionship of what they imagine are Woman's Rights, fancy
they can override the everlasting laws of Nature, and turn
Woman into Man. Only one thing in this world is feebler
than a womanized man; it is a manized woman. It is
only as Woman remains womanly that Woman remains im-
perial. It is well, then, let me say again, that in these
days of confused, riotous, infidel reform, we go back to
first principles, even the Eden of the primal, sinless, per-
fect Pair. In so doing we shall learn to honor Man and
Woman equally. For each is essential to the other. And
here let the same apostle who has taught us touching Wom-
an's formal subordination teach us touching Woman's es-
sential, necessary equality: "Neither is the Man without
the Woman, nor the Woman without the Man, in the
Lord; for even as the Woman is from the Man, so also
is the Man by the Woman; and both are from God"
(1 Cor. xi. 11-12). Each is incomplete without the other. It
is the union of the hemispheres which makes the sphere.
For so the Laureate sings:
“For woman is not undeveloped man,
But diverse could we make her as the man,
Sweet love were slain: his dearest bond is this,
Not like to like, but like in difference.
Yet in the long years liker must they grow;
The man be more of woman, she of man;
234
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
He gain in sweetness and in moral height,
Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world;
She mental breadth, nor fail in childward care,
Nor lose the childlike in the larger mind;
Till at the last she set herself to man,
Like perfect music unto noble words;
And so these twain upon the skirts of Time
Sit side by side, full-summed in all their powers,
Dispensing harvest, sowing the To-be,
Self-reverent each and reverencing each,
Distinct in individualities,
But like each other even as those who love.
Then comes the statelier Eden back to men:
Then reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm;
Then springs the crowning race of humankind.
Consonant chords that shiver to one note:
The two-celled heart beating, with one full stroke,
Life."-("THE PRINCESS.")
This, then, is our first lesson: the Unity of Man and
Woman. "This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my
flesh; this shall be called Woman, because from Man was
she taken."
2.-Marriage a Di-
vine Institution.
But our passage teaches a second les-
son Marriage is a Divine Institution:
"Therefore shall a man leave his father
and his mother and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall
be one flesh ”—i. e., one personality. The words are mem-
orable as being the first statement of the Old Testament
that is cited in the New. The Pharisees came to Jesus
tempting Him, and saying: "Is it lawful for a man to put
away his wife for every cause?" Jesus, answering, said to
them: "What did Moses command you? Have ye not
read that from the beginning of the Creation God made
them male and female, saying: 'For this cause shall a man
GENESIS OF WOMAN.
235
leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife,
and they two shall be one flesh?' So, then, they are not
more two, but one flesh. What, therefore, God hath
joined together, let not man put asunder" (Matt. xix. 3-6). I
know, indeed, that human legislation declares, and proper-
ly enough, that any given marriage is a civil contract, or
rather status. Nor can human legislation guard with a
jealousy too keen the sacredness of the marriage-bond.
That sacredness is the ægis of our firesides, the palladium
of our homes. Nevertheless, marriage is something more
than a civil contract or status, something more than a human
device. Marriage is a Divine Institution, older than His-
tory, or Fall, or Sabbath; as old as Eden and the Primal
Pair. Marriage is a constituent, elemental fact of Human-
ity. As such, it is as much a Divine Fact as the Sabbath, or
the Stars, or the Universe itself. In the very fact of creat-
ing the Woman and presenting her to the Man, the Lord of
all ordained the Marriage Institution. Older than any other
human relation, it takes precedence of them all: "For this
cause shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall
cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh, one per-
sonality." Thus the very idea of marriage, as existing in
the Creator's mind, precludes its dissolution: "No longer
twain, but one flesh." Only the God Who joins can dis-
join. What, therefore, God hath joined together let not
man put asunder. Accordingly, Marriage being a Divine
Institution, it is an intensely religious Ordinance. Well
may we speak of the "holy estate of Matrimony." Most
fitting, then, is it that the marriage-ceremony should be
ecclesiastical-that is to say, religious. Not that the min-
ister really weds the couple; it is God Who joins them.
The minister's function is not executive; it is only declara-
tive. But the minister is not omniscient. Alas, that he
236
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
should ever be mistaken, declaring those wedded whom God
has not joined together! Nevertheless, marriage is a Di-
vine Ordinance, and as such intensely religious. Consider,
then, well, O young friends! what you may be proposing.
Marriage is, in sight of God, as sacred, solemn an act as
Baptism. God grant that ye who are thinking of matri-
mony may, indeed, be fellow-heirs of the Grace of Life;
that your prayers be not hindered (1 Peter iii. 7). This, then,
is the second lesson of our passage: Marriage a Divine In-
stitution.
3. The Earthly
the Heavenly.
But our passage teaches a third les-
Marriage a Type of son; it is this: The earthly Marriage is
a type of the Heavenly-that is to say,
in the story of the Unfallen Adam and.
Eve we may read a parable of the Story of Jesus Christ
and His Church. We are expressly told that Adam was
the figure or type of Him Who was to come (Rom. v. 14), and
that the Church has been betrothed as a pure Virgin to one
Husband, even Jesus Christ (2 Cor. xi. 2). In fact, this con-
ception of Jesus Christ and His Church under figure of
Bridegroom and Bride underlies the whole Scripture from
Genesis to Revelation. It is foreshadowed in the Parable
of Eden. It is typified in the Spiritual Marriage between
Jehovah and His ancient Israel: "Thou shalt no more be
termed Azubah, i. e., Forsaken, neither shall thy land any
more be termed Shammah, i. e., Desolate; but thou shalt
be called Hephzibah, i. e., My Delight, and thy land Beu-
lah, i. e., Married: for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy
land shall be married: for thy Maker is thy Husband, the
Lord of hosts is His name " (Is. Ixii. 4). It is the theme of
the Forty-fifth Psalm, wherein are set forth the personal
beauty, the warlike prowess, the divine majesty, the just
government of a royal Bridegroom, and the gorgeous at-
GENESIS OF WOMAN.
237
tire and retinue of a royal Bride. It is the underlying
conception of the Canticles, or Solomon's Song of Songs.
It furnishes the Prophets with their most frequent and
powerful imagery in their denunciations of Israel's co-
quetry with idols and open apostasy, setting forth her sins
in this respect under the various terms of marital infidelity.
It is expressly and emphatically asserted in the New Testa-
ment. Let me cite a single example: "Husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave
Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, cleansing
her by the washing-by the bath, in the laver of the water
of the Word: that He Himself might present to Himself
the Church glorious, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing but that she might be holy and without blem-
ish. So ought husbands also to love their own wives as
their own bodies. He who loveth his own wife loveth
himself for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourish-
eth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also doth the Church :
because we are members of His body (being of His flesh
and of His bones). For this cause shall a man leave father
and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two
shall be one flesh. This mystery is a great one: but I
it in regard to Christ and the Church" (Eph. v. 25-32).' And
this mystery of the Heavenly Bridegroom and Bride was
foreshadowed, let me repeat, from the very beginning, even
in Eden's primeval nuptial. And now let us ponder some
of the analogies between the two Bridals: the Bridal in the
Eden that has been and the Bridal in the Eden that is to be.'
And, first, as Eve owed her origin
to Adam, so does the Church owe her
origin to Jesus Christ. She, at least, is
(a.)-Christ Him-
self the Origin of His
Church.
say
1 See also Ex. xxxiv. 15, 16; Jer. iii.; Ezek. xvi., xxiii.; Hosea i., ii.; Matt. ix. 15, xxii.
1-4, xxv. 1-13; John iii. 29; 2 Cor. xi. 2, 3; Rev. xix. 6–9, xxi. 2–9, xxii. 17, etc.
238
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
no instance of Spontaneous Generation. She is no Au-
tochthon, self-orient from humanity or Nature. She is,
so to speak, a Divine Gemmation, budding from the bleed-
ing side of the Second and true Adam, pierced on the
cross, and sleeping in that other Garden which, alas! was
no Eden, but a cemetery, out of whose sepulchre sprung
the true Tree of Life.' In other words, Jesus Christ is
the Head of the Church, which is His Body.
(b.)—Christ and His
Church a Unity.
Nevertheless, secondly: As Adam
and Eve were not twain, but one flesh,
that is to say, one personality, so are
Jesus Christ and His Church. As such, they have com-
munity of nature. As Eve was called Woman, because
from Man had she been taken, being bone of his bones and
flesh of his flesh, so the Second Eve, even the Church, is
one with the Second Adam, even the Christ, being mem-
bers of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones (Eph. v. 30).
As such, they share a common life, being one in nature, in
character, in experience, in temptation, in passion, in tri-
umph; she His follower, sparkling with the jewels of His
Graces, continuing with Him steadfastly in His tempta-
tions (Luke xxii. 28), filling up what is yet behind of His afflic-
tions for His Body's sake, which is the Church (Col. i. 24),
rising with Him from the dead (Col. iii. 1), overcoming with
Him, sitting down with Him on His throne (Rev. iii. 21), joint
heir with Him (Rom. viii. 17) to His patrimony of the worlds
(Heb. i. 2). Not that the Church has yet attained to all this.
1 The idea is as old as Augustine, but he subsidizes it curiously in behalf of Sacramental-
ism. At the beginning of the human race the Woman was made of a rib taken from the
side of the man while he slept; for it seemed fit that even then Christ and His Church
should be foreshadowed in this event. For that sleep of the man was the death of Christ,
Whose side, as He hung lifeless upon the cross, was pierced with a spear, and there flowed
from it blood and water, and these we know to be the sacraments by which the Church is
built up.' For Scripture used this very word, not saying, 'He formed,' or 'framed,' but
'built her up into a woman;' whence also the Apostle speaks of the building up of the
body of Christ, which is the Church." "-("CITY OF GOD," Book xxii., ch. 17.)
<
GENESIS OF WOMAN.
239
She is still but a child, speaking as a child, feeling as a
child, thinking as a child. But the day is approaching
when that which is perfect shall come, and that which is
in part shall end. Then shall she put away childish things
(1 Cor. xiii. 9–11). Then shall she attain to the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a per-
fect man, unto the proportions of a full-grown personality,
even unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ (Eph. iv. 13), standing before Him in very truth as His
help meet and complemental, His Peer in the Second Eden
as Eve was Adam's peer in the first. Then shall He indeed
proudly present her to Himself as His Lady-elect, even the
Church glorious and holy, without spot or wrinkle or blem-
ish or any such thing (Eph. v. 27). Even now, in view of
that magnificent certainty, she may well be called by her
Divine Husband's name-Christ, Christian: KúpɩOS, KUPIAKŃ,
Kirche, Kirk, Church. Being thus one with Him Who is
indeed the Lord, she also herself is in very truth Lordly,
Heiress to the Universe by a double right, the right of
Eden's Image Commission and Calvary's Blood-sealed
Charter. O Church of the living God, betrothed as a
chaste Virgin to one Husband, even Christ, beware lest by
any means, as the Serpent beguiled Eve by his subtlety, so
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which
is in Christ, led away from your single-heartedness toward
Him (2 Cor. xi. 2, 3).
(c.)—As but One
Christ, so but One
Church.
Once more: as there was but one
Adam and one Eve, so there is but one
Christ and one Church. How mis-
taken, how egotistic, how sinful the
sanctity of Catherine of Alexandria, and Catherine of Si-
enna, in fancying each for herself that she was the spouse
of Christ! No, as there is but one Bridegroom, so there is
240
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
but one Spouse. And that Spouse is the one Church of
the living God, of whatever land or age or sect, who call
upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and
ours (1 Cor. i. 2). Neither Christ nor His Church is a Mon-
strosity; neither the one hydra-headed, nor the other hun-
dred-bodied. Many stones indeed, yet but one Temple
(Eph. ii. 20-22); many branches, yet but one Vine (John xv. 5);
many sheep, yet but one Flock and one Shepherd (John x. 16);
many members, yet but one body (Rom. xii. 4, 5); many para-
nymphs, or virgins (Matt. xxv. 1–10), yet but one Bride. Ay,
Monogamy is the law alike for both Edens. "I beseech
you then, dearly beloved, that ye walk worthy of the call-
ing wherewith ye were called, with all lowliness and meek-
ness and long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, en-
deavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. There is one Body, and one Spirit, even as ye were
called in one Hope of your calling, one Lord, one Faith,
one Baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is over all
and through all and in all (Eph. iv. 1-6). For even as the
body is one and hath many members, and all the members
of the body, being many, are cne body, so also is Christ;
for in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body,
whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and we
were all made to drink of one Spirit" (1 Cor. xii. 12, 13).
"Head of Thy Church beneath,
The catholic, the true,
On all her members breathe,
Her broken frame renew;
Then shall Thy perfect will be done,
When Christians love and live as one."
-(ROBINSON.)
Thus was the marriage in the Eden that has been the
type and the prophecy of the Marriage in the Eden that is
GENESIS OF WOMAN.
241
to be. That was the symbol, this is the Substance; that
the passing shadow, this the abiding Reality; that the para-
ble, this the Interpretation. Yes, the last Adam is older
than the first; the Church of the living God older than the
Mother of all living (Gen. iii. 20). And so St. Paul, in de-
claring to us his great mystery concerning Christ and His
Church-to wit, that we are members of His body, being
of His flesh and His bones, and so repeating Adam's own
words in Eden-did ever, as was the wont of his own Master,
utter things which had been kept secret from the founda-
tion of the world (Matt. xiii. 35). Heaven grant that these
natural relationships of ours may indeed accomplish in us
the purpose for which they were ordained; namely, to train
us for the spiritual, teaching us through the blessed hints
of the earthly marriage how to secure a share in the True
and Everlasting Bridal. So shall we be ready to meet the
Bridegroom, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband
(Rev. xxi. 2). So shall we be ready for the Midnight Cry,
Lo, the Bridegroom cometh!" (Matt. xxv. 6).
66
Return.
And thus we come to speak of that
4. The Bride- blessed event: the Bridegroom's prom-
groom's Promised
ised Return. For now it is only the
espousal time, the Church's secret be-
trothal as a pure Virgin to Christ; then shall be the open,
everlasting Bridal, even the Bridegroom's joyous presenta-
tion of the Church to Himself before all the Universe in
all her unspeakable beauty. Then shall it be seen that
though for a small moment He had forsaken us, it was that
He might with great mercies and everlasting kindness
gather us (Is. liv. 7). Heaven speed that blessed hour! Even
now may it be ours to hear as it were the voice of a great
multitude, and as the sound of many waters, and as the
sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Hallelujah! For
11
242
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
rejoice, and give to Him the glory.
Let us be glad and
For the Marriage of
the Lamb is come, and His Wife hath made herself ready.
Blessed are they who are called to the Marriage Supper of
the Lamb" (Rev. xix. 6–9).
((
Ascend, Beloved, to the joy ;
The festal day is come:
To-night the Lamb doth feast His own,
To-night He with His Bride sits down,
To-night puts on the spousal crown,
In the great upper room.
"Sorrow and sighing are no more,
The weeping hours are past;
To-night the waiting will be done,
To-night the wedding robe put on,
The glory and the joy begun;
The crown has come at last.
Ascend, Beloved, to the feast;
Make haste, Thy day is come;
Thrice blest are they the Lamb doth call,
To share the heavenly festival,
In the new Salem's palace hall,
The Bolted Door.
Our everlasting home!"-(Bonar.)
Friends, no one will sup with Him
in heaven who has not been wont to
sup with Him on earth. Listen, then, again, to the Bride-
groom's knock: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock;
if any one hear My voice and open the door, I will come in
to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" (Rev. iii. 20).
O friend, that knocking will not continue forever. Per-
sist in keeping thy door closed, and thou, too, shalt ere
long knock at a closed door. "While they went to buy,
the Bridegroom came; and they who were ready went in
GENESIS OF WOMAN.
243
with Him to the Marriage-feast; and the door was shut.
Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord,
open to us. But He answered and said: Verily I say unto
you, I know you not” (Matt. xxv. 10–12).
Call.
"Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill!
Late, late, so late! but we can enter still.'
'Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now.'
"No light had we: for that we do repent;
And learning this, the Bridegroom will relent.'
'Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now.'
"No light; so late! and dark and chill the night!
Oh, let us in, that we may find the light!'
'Too late; too late! ye cannot enter now.'
"Have we not heard the Bridegroom is so sweet?
Oh, let us in, though late, to kiss His feet!'
'No, no; too late! ye cannot enter now.'"
—(“GUINEVERE.")
But I cannot bear to close so sadly.
The Bridegroom's Listen, then, to the Bridegroom's cheery
call: "The voice of my Beloved! Be-
hold, He cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping
upon the hills. My Beloved speaketh, and saith unto me:
((
Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over, and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land;
The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs,
And the vines in blossom give forth their fragrance.
Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away."
-(CANT. ii. 8-13.)
244
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Yes, Thou Bridegroom of the Church, we will arise
and follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Ghost as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall
be, world without end. Amen.
LECTURE XIII.
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
"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. And God blessed the seventh day, and sancti-
fied it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God
created and made."-GENESIS ii. 1-3.
I.-Explanation
of the Passage.
1.
the Creative Process.
:
FIRST of all, let us attend to the Ex-
planation of the Passage.
And, first, the Divine Cessation from
Cessation of Creative Work: "Thus were finished
the heavens and the earth, and all their
host and on the Seventh Day God ended His Work
which He made." But observe precisely the kind of
activity from which Deity ceased on the Seventh Day: it
was not the activity of administration, either in Providence.
or in Morals-our Father worketh hitherto (John v. 17): but
it was the activity of creating: "God ended all His work
which He created in making it." And science strikingly
confirms the hoary Archive. However much scientists
may disagree as to the origin of the universe, or the age
of the globe, or the character and method of the geologic
processes, or the antiquity of man, they all agree in one
point-to wit: Man himself was the last to appear on this
earth's stage.
246
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
2.-The Creator's
Resting.
6
Secondly: The Creator's Resting.
"And God rested on the Seventh Day
from all His work which He made."
"But how is this possible?" you ask me. "Does not
resting imply fatigue, weakness, infirmity, finiteness?
Does not His own Book declare: The everlasting God,
Jehovah, Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
neither is weary' (Is. xl. 28)? How, then, can Infinite God
be said to rest?" Observe, then, first, and in a general
way, the poverty of human speech and human thought
when Deity is the theme. How can the finite ever take
in the Infinite, the bounded the Boundless? Infinite God
can become known to us only in the measures of human
capacities, through the interpretations and hints of human
relations and feelings. Hence, all our thought and speech
of Him is and must be in imagery. Hence the frequent
Scripture representations of Him under figures of human
organs and affections: e. g., the Hand of the Lord, the
Eye of the Lord, the Voice of the Lord, the Lord did
so and so, etc. To speak of Him as having these human
organs, or as doing this and that thing in connection with
days and years, or any human notations of time, is to
speak of Him after the manner of men. Nevertheless,
we cannot conceive Him except in measures of our own
finiteness and so we are forced to speak of Him, as
does also the Scripture, as being situate in Space and act-
ing in Time. Thus we talk of Him as creating and as
resting, of His Six Days' creative working and His Sev-
enth Day's Rest. Not that it was absolutely so, but that
it appears so to us in our finiteness. God's seeming to
rest was a sign, not of the Creator's fatigue, but of His
condescension to human finiteness. He no more rested
in the sense of taking refreshment than He uttered the
:
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
247
Creative "God-saids" in audible articulations, or breathed
into the Man's nostrils, or took from him one of his
ribs and turned it into a Woman. But, while this is
true, there is a sense in which even God may be said to
have rested: it was the rest of holy, blessed, festal con-
templation. The work of creation was finished, not only
in the sense of being ended, but also in the sense of being
perfected. Man's works, alas! are oftener ended than
finished. Twice only in this world of ours has that word
"Finished "—been used in absolute truth: first, in the
end of the first Creation, when the Maker of heaven and
earth had created the Man and the Woman in His own
image and likeness, and so were finished the heavens and
the earth and all their host: and secondly, in the end of
the second Creation, when the same Maker of heaven and
earth restored on the Cross the lost image and likeness, and
so exclaimed: "It is finished!" (John xix. 30). And how
intense must have been the Creator's delight as He sur-
veyed His finished work, and pronounced it very good!
Even in this world of imperfections and failures, where
our ideals are so seldom reached, how intense the delight,
e. g., the artist sometimes feels as he gazes on his finished
statue, or picture, or building! He not only ceases from
toil: he verily rests-the rest not of repose, but of joy.
Even so, if I may venture to compare Creator with creat-
ure, did the Maker of the universe rest on the Seventh
Day. It was the rest of a holy, festal celebration over a
perfected work—a perfect filling-out of a Divine Ideal-
an absolute equilibrium of Plan and Execution. It was
the Sabbath of God.
3.
- Sanctification
of the Sabbath-Day.
Thirdly The Sanctification of the
Seventh Day: "And God blessed the
Seventh Day, and sanctified it."
243
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
(a.)-Seven the
Scriptural Number.
"And God blessed the Seventh
Day." No one familiar with the Bible
can fail to be struck with the frequency
with which it mentions the number seven. Let me give
some instances. Seven days was Noah allowed in which
to stock his ark with the preservers of the Animal King-
dom, and of each kind of the clean animals he was to take
seven (Gen. vii. 2-4). Seven days elapsed between each of
the three missions of his dove (Gen. viii. 8-12). Seven years
did Jacob serve for Leah, and seven more for Rachel
(Gen. xxix. 18–28). Seven well-favored kine and seven ill-
favored, seven full ears of corn and seven blasted, did
Pharaoh see in his dreams: seven years of plenty and
seven years of famine did Egypt experience (Gen. xli.).
Seven altars did Balak set up, and thereon offered seven
bullocks and seven rams (Num. xxiii. 1, 2). Seven was to be
the aggregate number of the Holy Convocations of the
Hebrew Year (Lev. xxiii.). The seventh day was to be the
Sabbath-day: the seventh week after Passover the Sabbath-
week: the seventh month the Sabbath-month: the seventh
year the Sabbath-year: the seven times seventh year the
great Sabbath-Year of the Sabbath-years: i. e., the year of
Jubilee. Seven weeks were appointed as the interval be-
tween Pentecost and Passover: seven days as the length
of the Feasts of Passover and Tabernacles: seven days.
were the priests to be in course of consecration: seven
things were to be offered in sacrifice: seven utensils were
to be the indispensables of the Tabernacle, and the candle-
stick was to be seven-branched: seven days were appointed
for ceremonial lustration, and for the interval between
birth and circumcision. Seven was the number in com-
pacts, in treaties of peace, in marriage settlements. Seven
is solemnly embalmed in the Hebrew term for oath, the
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
249
term signifying to swear literally meaning to do seven
times. Seven days was Jericho surrounded, and on the
seventh day it was surrounded by seven priests blowing
seven trumpets (Josh. vi.). Seven times was Naaman bidden
to dip himself in Jordan (2 Kings v. 9). Seven periods were
to pass over Nebuchadnezzar in his insanity (Dan. iv.). In
the Restitution the light of the Sun is to be sevenfold, as
the light of seven days (Is. xxx. 26). Jesus Christ Himself
was the seventy-seventh from Adam, and He bids us for-
give not only seven times, but also seventy times seven
(Matt. xviii. 22). Seven deacons were appointed by the infant
church (Acts vi.). Seven is the Apocalyptic numeral: e. g.,
the seven churches, the seven spirits, the seven candle-
sticks, the seven stars, the seven seals, the seven horns, the
seven eyes, the seven angels, the seven trumpets, the seven
thunders, the seven plagues, the seven vials, the seven
visions, the sevenfold doxology to God and the Lamb
(Rev. passim). But why cite more? Holy Scripture, from
Genesis to Revelation, teems with this mystic numeral
seven. And for aught we know, seven is still the Sym-
bolic, Dominical number of God's Administration, regu-
lating the whole world's history, from His rest on the Sev-
enth Day in Eden to His Church's Rest on the Seventh
Day in the Eden to come. If you ask me why the Script-
ure selects this numeral seven, as its favorite, regent num-
ber, I cannot answer. A vast amount of ingenuity has
been spent on the problem, but I have never met with any
satisfactory solution. Perhaps we shall understand this,
and many other similar riddles, when that which is perfect.
is come, and we shall no longer behold as in a glass darkly,
or enigmatically, but face to face (1 Cor. xiii. 12). Meantime,
all I ask you to observe in this connection is this: Seven
is the tonic, or key-note, of the scale of the Hebrew numera-
250
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
¡
tion. And this fact, I have no doubt, is owing to the
venerable circumstance that seven was the completing,
perfecting number of the Creative Week.
(b.) The Seventh
Day Sanctified.
"And God blessed the Seventh Day
and sanctified it "—that is to say, He
separated it from the other Six Days of
the Creative Week, setting it apart, distinguishing it, con-
secrating it, hallowing it. Not that He made the Seventh
Day holy, as though the other Six Days were unholy; but
He made the Seventh Day peculiar, as though the other
Six Days were common. He made it sacred by resting on
it. He did not rest on the Seventh Day because it was
hallowed; but the Seventh Day became hallowed because
He rested on it. "God blessed the Seventh Day, and hal-
lowed it, because on it He rested from all His work which
God created and made." It is the colossal plinth on which
is based Sinai's Fourth Commandment: "Remember the
Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and
do all thy work: but the Seventh Day is a Sabbath (a Rest-
day) to the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any
work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant,
nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that
is within thy gates. For in Six Days the Lord made heaven.
and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the
Seventh Day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day
-(the Rest-day) and hallowed it" (Ex. xx. 8-11). What
though the seven days of the Sinaitic week were ordinary
days of twenty-four hours each, while the Seven Days of
the Creative Week were extraordinary days of indefinite
length? It affects not the reason which the Lawgiver as-
signs for observing the Seventh Day as a Sabbath. That
reason is based, not on the length of the Days, but on the
fact that on the Seventh of the Days, whatever their length,
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
251
(6
the Creator rested. And that Seventh Day of the Crea-
tive Week still continues. Although thousands of years
have swept by since God ended His work of Creation, it
is still His Sabbath, or Rest-day. Works of necessity-i.
e., works of providence and mercy-He still carries on:
My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John v. 17).
But Creation is not a work of necessity. That work He
ended at the close of the far-off Sixth Day, and ever since
has rested. This, in fact, is the underlying thought of the
fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The argu-
ment of the chapter, in brief, is this: "God as Creator is
resting from His works; let us take care lest, a promise
being left us of entering into His rest, any of us should
seem to come short of it." There are, then, three Great
Sabbaths: first, the Eonian Sabbath of God, resting from
His Creative Work; secondly, the weekly Sabbath of Man,
resting from his six days of toil; and, thirdly, the eternal
Sabbath of Heaven, even the Rest, the Sabbatismos, which
still remaineth for the people of God (Heb. iv. 9).
"When will my pilgrimage be done,
The world's long week be o'er,
That Sabbath dawn which needs no sun,
That Day which fades no more?"
-(EDMESTON.)
Such is the story of the Genesis of the Sabbath. As
such, the Sabbath comes down to us venerable in all the
hoariness of an immemorial antiquity, and imperial with
all the sceptredom of the Creator's example.
II.-Christ's Doc-
trine of the Sabbath.
But there is a second account of the
Genesis of the Sabbath, to which I now
invite your most careful attention. Mil-
lenniums after our Sacred Chronicler caught glimpse of the
252
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
resting Creator, that Creator Himself, having been born
of woman, and walking in the cornfields of Galilee, an-
nounced : "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man
for the Sabbath; therefore, the Son of Man is Lord also
of the Sabbath" (Mark ii. 23-28). It is one of the profound-
est sayings of Him Who always spake profoundly. Let
us now give to the saying our most studious and reverent
attention. We learn from it—
of the Sabbath.
First Man himself is the Basis of
1.-Man the Basis the Sabbath. "The Sabbath-day for
Man was made, and not Man for the
Sabbath-day "—that is to say, the Sabbath, like any other
Divine institution or ordinance, whether in Nature or in
Morals, was appointed on Man's account, for Man's bene-
fit, and not vice versa. Let us go a little into detail.
And, first, Man needs the Sabbath-
(a.)- Man Necds
the Sabbath for his i.
Secular Nature.
e., one day of rest after six days of
toil-for his secular nature, alike bodily
and mental. The testimony of physicians, physiologists,
political economists, managers of industrial establishments,
etc., is emphatic on this point. Let me cite some instances.
Dr. John William Draper, the eminent physicist and author,
writes as follows: "Out of the numberless blessings con-
ferred on our race by the Church, the physiologist may be
permitted to select one for remark, which, in an eminent.
manner, has conduced to our physical and moral well-being.
It is the institution of the Sabbath-day. . . . No man can
for any length of time pursue one avocation or one train
of thought without mental, and therefore bodily, injury—
nay, without insanity. The constitution of the brain is
such that it must have its time of repose. Periodicity is
stamped upon it. Nor is it enough that it is awake and in
action by day, and in the silence of night obtains rest and
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
253
repair; that same periodicity, which belongs to it as a
whole, belongs to all its constituent parts. One portion of
it cannot be called into incessant activity without the risk
of injury. Its different regions, devoted to different func-
tions, must have their separate times of rest. The excite-
ment of one part must be coincident with a pause in the
action of another. It is not possible for mental equilib-
rium to be maintained with one idea, or one monotonous
mode of life. . . . Thus a kind Providence so overrules
events that it matters not in what station we may be,
wealthy or poor, intellectual or lowly, a refuge is always
at hand; and the mind, worn out with one thing, turns to
another, and its physical excitement is followed by physi-
cal repose" ("Human Physiology," page 627). Lord Macaulay,
in his speech before the House of Commons on the Ten
Hours' Bill, spoke thus: "The natural difference between
Campania and Spitzbergen is trifling when compared with
the difference between a country inhabited by men full of
mental and bodily vigor, and a country inhabited by men
sunk in bodily and mental decrepitude. Therefore it is
we are not poorer, but richer, because we have, through
many ages, rested from our labors one day in seven. That
day is not lost. While industry is suspended, while the
plough lies in the furrow, while the Exchange is silent,
while no smoke ascends from the factory, a process is going
on quite as important to the wealth of nations as any pro-
cess which is performed on more busy days. Man, the
machine of machines-the machine compared with which
all the contrivances of the Watts and the Arkwrights are
worthless-is repairing and winding up, so that he returns
to his labors on the Monday with clearer intellect, with live-
lier spirits, with renewed corporeal vigor" ("Speeches," vol.
ii., page 28). Thus the Sabbath is the detent, or “ratchet in
→
254
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the wheel of life," by regular interpositions of which life's
machinery is prevented from turning back, and so failing.
To him who has been toiling the six days, how sweetly does
the Sabbath come as a day of repair for his jaded body,
and of restful change for his weary brain! Now may the
stiffened fingers-which all the week have been grasping
the plane, the awl, the crowbar, the type, the needle, the
pen-be loosened; and the cramped back, which has been
wearily bending over spade or bench, anvil or ledger, be
uplifted; and the tethered intellect, which has been ab-
sorbed in guiding the movements of hand or foot, be set
free to expatiate at will amid the serene grandeurs of
Truth, whether written on the pages of Scripture or Na-
ture. Thus the Sabbath, surveyed as a compensation reser-
voir, is as much a constituent part of the economy of Na-
ture as are the nutritive organs and processes, or the alterna-
tion of day and night. Well may it be called a Sabbath—i.
e., Rest. And here, let me remark in passing, and here only,
is the proper sphere of Sabbath legislation. Society has
the right to enforce the observance of the Sabbath on the
ground of the public weal-that is to say, on sanitary,
economic, and social grounds. But society has no right
to enforce it on religious grounds. The State must not
be permitted at this point, or at any other, to invade the
empire of conscience. If we allow it to interfere at the
point of Sabbath observance, we may allow it to interfere
at any other point, say the Trinity, or Baptism, or the Sec-
ond Advent. We believe in the Church, we believe in
the State; but we, on this side the Atlantic, do not believe
in Church and State, or a State Church. We put not our
confidence in princes (Psalm cxviii. 9), nor go down to Egypt
for help, nor rely on chariots because they are many, nor
trust in horsemen because they are strong (Is. xxxi. 1). Not
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
255
by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord
of Hosts (Zech. iv. 6).¹
(b.)- Man Needs Again: Man needs the Sabbath for
the Sabbath for his his religious nature. He needs it as a
Religious Nature.
day of conscious, formal, stately ac-
knowledgment of the Divine Supremacy. He needs it as a
day on which to dismiss wordly cares, and look through
unobstructed vistas into the opening heavens. An English
gentleman was once inspecting a house in Newcastle, with
a view of buying it. The landlord, after having shown
him the premises, took him to an upper window, and re-
marked: "You can see Durham Cathedral from this win-
dow on Sundays.” "How is this?" asked the visitor.
"Because on Sundays there is no smoke from the factory
chimneys." Ah, Man must have a day in which he can
retire to some solitude, where his spirit—
“With her best nurse, Contemplation,
May plume her feathers, and let grow her wings,
That in the various bustle of resort
Were all too ruffled, and sometimes impaired."
-("COMUS.")
And how exquisitely the Sabbath meets Man's necessity!
The hushed bustle and din of life, the vacated Exchange,
the closed factory, the barricaded shop, the arrested en-
gine, the neatly-attired population, walking with subdued
1 The recent prosecution in Pennsylvania of the estimable Daniel C. Waldo, a Seventh-
Day Baptist, for working on Sunday, although he had scrupulously obeyed the letter of the
Fourth Commandment, is not only a blot on our administration of justice, but also a
violation of one of the fundamental principles of the American theory of the State,
namely Religious Liberty, or Rights of Personal Conscience. How clear and ringing
the words of the English exiles of Amsterdam, published about 1612: "The magistrate is
not to meddle with religion, or matters of conscience, nor to compel men to this or that
form of religion, because Christ is the King, and Lawgiver of the Church and Conscience "
("Works of John Robinson," vol. iii., p. 277). Who art thou that judgest Another's ser-
vant? To his own Master he standeth or falleth (Rom. xiv. 4).
256
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
tread the tranquil street, or strolling, with chaste buoyancy,
the odorous grove, the deep-toned bell, the open Sanctuary,
the subdued yet blithesome hum of Sunday-school, the
voice of prayer and Scriptural reading, the uplifting ser-
mon, the melody of hymn and chant-these are the angel
voices which invite to restful worship. And these the
Sabbath gives. Looping down, like celestial festoons from
the throne of God, at regularly recurring intervals along
the highway of life, each recurring Sabbath invites the
caravan of humanity to halt for a few hours, that it may
gaze up, with worshipful vision, into the opened heavens.
"Bright shadows of true Rest! Some shoots of bliss:
Heaven once a week:
The next world prepossess'd in this:
A day to seek
Eternity in time: the steps by which
We climb above all ages: lamps that light
Man through his heap of dark days: and the rich
And full redemption of the whole week's flight:
The milky-way chalk'd out with suns: a clew
That guides through erring hours: and in full story
A taste of Heaven on earth: the pledge and cue
Of a full feast: and the outcourts of Glory."
-(HENRY VAUGHAN.)
Thus Man is the basis of the Sabbath: the Sabbath was
made for him, not he for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was
made for him as much as is light, or air, or food.
a
(c.)-The Sabbath
ment.
And what Man needs, God has ap-
Divine Appoint pointed. Witness the Fourth Com-
mandment. True, this passage, al-
though a part of the Decalogue, is not to be taken as
though it settled for all men, and all time, the question of
the origin, the basis, or the authority, of the Sabbath.
For although the Decalogue, in its spirit, is for all lands
GENESIS OF THE SABBATII.
257
and ages, yet, in its letter, it was evidently for the He-
brews. The very preamble proves the assertion: "God
spake all these words, saying: 'I am Jehovah thy God,
Who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of bondage"" (Ex. xx. 1, 2). Then follow the
Ten Commandments, based on the unique fact that Jeho-
vah was the Covenant God of Israel. The Fifth Com-
mandment is a striking evidence of the Jewish character
of the Decalogue: "Honor thy father and thy mother:
that thy days may be long upon the land which Jehovah
thy God giveth thee" (Ex. xx. 12): i. e., that thou mayest
live long in the Canaan whither thou art going. And
when we turn to the second account of the Decalogue, as
recorded in Deuteronomy, we find that the very reason
assigned for the Fourth Commandment is the gracious
fact of Israel's Emancipation: "Remember that thou wast
a servant in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God
brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by a
stretched-out arm: therefore Jehovah thy God command-
ed thee to keep the Sabbath-day" (Deut. v. 12-15). Indeed
God directs Moses to teach Israel that the Sabbath was
appointed as a covenant sign between Jehovah and Israel,
and as such a badge of the Jewish Nationality: “Jehovah
spake to Moses, saying: 'Speak thou also to the children
of Israel, saying: "Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for
it is a sign between Me and you throughout your genera-
tions that ye may know that I am Jehovah Who doth
sanctify you"" (Ex. xxxi. 12-17). And, nine hundred years
afterward, the declaration is echoed by the prophet Eze-
kiel (Ezek. xx. 12-20). And when we turn to the New Tes-
tament, the Jewish character of the Sinaitic Sabbath be-
comes still more evident. It is a significant fact that the
only full twenty-four hours which the Lord of All spent
258
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
in the tomb was the Seventh Day, the Sabbath of the
Decalogue, the Hebrew Sabbath. Indeed, if we base the
Sabbath on the Decalogue, I do not see but that we are
bound to keep Saturday, inflict the Mosaic penalty of death
for Sabbath-breaking, keep Passover and Day of Atone-
ment, and turn our churches into sacrificial slaughter-houses.
Moreover: the Apostolic disregard of the Mosaic Sabbath
is strikingly significant, especially when we remember that
by far the larger proportion of the early Christians were
converts from heathenism, and therefore needed special
instruction in the matter of the Sabbath. The Apostle
Paul was wont to insist on a strict observance of all practi-
cal duties, often mentioning them in detail; and yet in all
his extant Letters there is but one solitary allusion to the
Sabbath, and even then he classifies it with the ceremonial
observances which had been abolished: "Let no one judge.
you in eating or in drinking (i. e., call you to account in
the matter of ceremonial distinctions of clean and unclean
food), or in respect of a feast-day, or new moon, or Sab-
bath which are a shadow of the things to come; but the
body-the
the substance-is of Christ" (Col. ii. 16, 17).' All
this shows that the Sinaitic Sabbath, or the Sabbath as an
ordinance in the letter, was Jewish; and, as such, local and
temporary. On the other hand, the Sabbath as a necessity,
or Nature's Sabbath, is Human, and, as such, as universal
and abiding as Man. The moment that the Son of Man-
even the Lawgiver greater than Moses-speaks, saying:
"The Sabbath was made for Man, and not Man for the
Sabbath" we feel that He speaks, not as a Jew to Jews,
but as the Divine Man to Men, instantly raising the Sab-
1 Perhaps there is an allusion to the Sabbath in Rom. xiv. 5: "One man esteemeth one
day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let each one be fully persuaded in
his own mind." That is to say: it is a question in casuistry, and each one must decide it
for himself, as in the presence of God.
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
259
bath from a Jewish ordinance to a human necessity. And
observe the authority which Christ quotes: it is not Moses,
but Man; not Scripture, but Nature. The Sabbath is in
the Decalogue; but it is there because it was before in
Nature, and the Jew was a man. Thus Nature and Script-
ure are in alliance: the one demanding a Sabbath, and the
other appointing it.
2.Man Greater
than the Sabbath.
But Christ's Doctrine of the Sabbath
teaches a second lesson; it is this: Man
is greater than the Sabbath. "There-
fore, so that, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
Observe the phrase "Son of Man." Without staying to
unfold this phrase with theological accuracy, let it be
enough that I use it as expressing, in outline, the truth
that Jesus Christ was the Representative and Exemplar of
Humanity--the Archetypal Man. As Divine, or the Son
of God, of course He was Lord of the Sabbath. The
point is that He is Lord of the Sabbath as human, as the
Son of Man. "The Sabbath was made for Man: therefore
the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." In other words:
the Sabbath is to be used as a means, not as an end. This
the Rabbis could not understand. They utterly failed to
grasp this majestic word-MAN. Man is Man, not because
he is strong-the elephant is strong; not because he is
ingenious—the beaver is ingenious; not because he is af-
fectionate the dog is affectionate; Man is Man because
he is God's Inbreathing, God's Image, God's Son (Gen. i. 26,
ii. 7; Luke iii. 38). As such, Man is God's heir, and Christ's
joint heir, and so the Lord of all.
"Thou hast made him a little lower than God,
And crownest him with glory and honor:
Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands,
Thou dost put all things under his feet;
260
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Sheep and oxen, all of them,
Yea, and the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
Whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas."
(PSALM viii. 5-8.)
That is to say: Man, as God's Son and Image and Rep-
resentative, is the end, and the Sabbath, like every other
"ordinance," is a means. An immortal being, outliving
institutions, economies, æons-capable of carrying a heaven
within him—God's own Image and Son: Man is more
sacred than ordinances. Jesus Christ did not die for ordi-
nances: Jesus Christ died for Man. The Sabbath is sa-
cred, not in itself, but because Man is sacred. Hence the
Sabbath is his servant-not his master. He is the Lord of
the Sabbath. And in accordance with this principle Jesus
Christ Himself ever acted. E. g., do the Pharisees charge
His disciples with Sabbath-breaking, because, as they were
passing through the grain-fields on a certain Sabbath, they
plucked in their hunger some of the ears, rubbing them
with their hands, and eating? The Lord makes defense
by a threefold citation from their own Scriptures. First,
He reminds them of the case of King David: "Have ye
never read what David did, when he and they who were
with him were hungry, how he went into the House of
God, in the days of Abiathar the high-priest, and took and
ate the shew-bread, which it is not lawful for any one to
eat, but the priests alone, and also gave it to those who
were with him?" (1 Sam. xxi. 1-6.) The Lord's argument is
this: “What though a law of Moses forbids laymen eating
of the priest's shew-bread? David and his comrades were
men, and they were hungry, and Man is greater than ordi-
nances." Next He reminds them of the case of their own
priests: "Or have ye not read in the Law that on the Sab-
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
261
bath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are
blameless? But I say unto you that a Greater than the
temple is here!" And His argument is this: "What
though the Law forbids all manner of work on the Seventh
Day? The priests, in carrying on their ministrations, are
compelled to toil on the Sabbath. Yet they are not to
blame for ye need their ministrations, and Man is greater
than temple and Sabbath." Once more: He reminds them
of a weighty saying of one of their own Prophets: "But
if ye had known what this meaneth-'I desire mercy, and
not sacrifice' (Hosea vi. 6)—ye would not have condemned
the guiltless." And His argument is this: "Hosea him-
self declares that when Mercy comes into collision with
ritual, so that the one or the other must yield, God prefers
the Mercy to the ritual. Now if ye really had understood
this saying of the Prophet, ye would never have con-
demned My disciples for satisfying their hunger on the
Sabbath. For, as Man is greater than institutions, so Mercy
is greater than rubric." Then follows the passage setting
forth Christ's Genesis of the Sabbath: "And He said to
them: 'The Sabbath for Man was made, and not Man for
the Sabbath: therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the
Sabbath ,,,
(Matt. xii. 1-8). Again: On another Sabbath, as
He was teaching in one of the synagogues of Galilee, a man
was present whose right hand was withered. And the
Scribes and Pharisees were watching whether He would
heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation
against Him. But He knew their thoughts: and He said
to the man having the withered hand: "Rise, and stand
up in the midst!" And he arose,
And he arose, and stood up. And
Jesus said to them: "I ask you whether it is lawful on the
Sabbath to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?"
But they were silent. And He said to them: "Who of
262
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
you that owneth one sheep, if it fall into a pit on the Sab-
bath, will not lay hold of it, and to lift it out? Of how
much more worth now is a Man than a sheep? So then it
is lawful to do well on the Sabbath." And, looking round
on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their
hearts, He saith to the man: "Stretch forth thy hand!"
And he stretched it forth, and his hand was restored.
And the Pharisees were filled with madness, and went
forth, and immediately held a consultation with the He-
rodians against Him, how they might destroy Him (Matt. xii.
9-14). Again: On still another Sabbath Jesus was teaching
in one of the synagogues of the Perea. And, lo, a woman
was there who had had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years:
and she was bent together, and wholly unable to lift her-
self up. And Jesus, seeing her, called to her, and said:
"Woman, thou art released from thy infirmity." And He
laid His hands on her, and immediately she stood upright,
and gave glory to God. But the ruler of the synagogue,
being filled with indignation because Jesus had wrought a
cure on the Sabbath-day, said to the multitude: "There
are six days in which it is proper to work: in these there-
fore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath-day."
But the Lord answered him and said: "Hypocrites, doth
not each of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from
the stall, and lead him away and water him? And ought
not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath
bound, lo, these eighteen years, to be loosed from her bond
on the Sabbath-day?" And when He had said these things,
all His adversaries were ashamed (Luke xiii. 10–17). Again:
On a certain Sabbath Jesus was dining with one of the
chief men of the Pharisees. And, lo, there was a certain
man present who had the dropsy. And they were watch-
ing Him. But Jesus knew their thoughts, and, answering,
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
263
spake to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: "Is it lawful
to heal on the Sabbath-day or not?" But they held their
peace. And, taking hold of him, He healed him, and sent
him away. And He answered them and said: "Who is
there of you, who, if his ass or his ox fall into a pit, will
not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath-day?" And
they could make no answer to this (Luke xiv. 1–6). Once
more: On a certain occasion, when Jesus was in Jerusalem,
He found lying by the Pool of Bethesda an impotent man,
who had had his infirmity thirty-eight years, and He said
to him: "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk!" And straight-
way the man was cured, and took up his bed and walked.
But it happened that the day on which this miracle was
wrought was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore were hor-
ror-struck, and said to the man that had been cured: "It
is the Sabbath-day! It is not lawful for thee to carry thy
bed." Jesus, in self-justification, replied: "My Father
worketh hitherto-is working even until now, and I work."
And on this account the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought
to kill Him, because He did these things on the Sabbath-
day (John v. 1-18). Months afterward, in referring to this
cure, He justified Himself on the ground that rubric must
yield to mercy-ordinances to men: "I have done one
work, and ye are all wondering. Moses gave to you cir-
cumcision, and ye on the Sabbath circumcise a man.
If a
man on the Sabbath-day receive circumcision, that the law
of Moses may not be broken, are ye angry at Me, because
I made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath-day?
(John vii. 21–24.) In other words: If the Sabbath must yield
to man in the case of the mutilating rite of circumcision,
how much more ought it to yield to man in the case of re-
storing soundness to his whole body! In view of these
instances of Christ's teaching and practice, how resistless
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the conviction that He believed that Man is greater than
the Sabbath! And yet He did not mean to diminish the
obligation of the Sabbath: He meant only to emancipate
it from the thrall of Pharisaic sanctimoniousness and super-
stition. He destroyed not the Sabbath, but brought out
its real meaning: and so in deepest sense He kept the
Sabbath. God for evermore avert the day when the Ameri-
can Sabbath degenerates into the European!
From what has been said, we cannot
3.—The true Meth-fail to infer the true Method of Keep-
od of Keeping the
ing the Sabbath: it is to be kept in such
Sabbath.
a way as will unfold Man heavenward
the most thoroughly, totally, symmetrically. Thus: Being
made for Man, the Sabbath must be used religiously: for
the capacity for religion is Man's chief definition. The
Sabbath must be kept in homage of God, in the study of
His Word and Character and Will, in the spirit of worship,
private and public. But full unfolding of Man's spiritual na-
ture is possible only in the sphere of Edification, or Society-
building. The Sabbath summons man to conjugate life in
a new mood and tense; but still in the active voice. And
here the Son of Man is our Teacher and blessed Model.
How many of His healings and works of mercy were
wrought on the Sabbath-day! And what is man's office
in this fallen, sorrowful world, but a ministry of healing?
And healing, or edification, is the highest form of wor-
ship. Nothing can take the place of it. True, it is right
and necessary that we engage in forms and acts of devotion,
going to the House of God with the voice of joy and praise,
with the multitude keeping holyday (Ps. xlii. 4). Neverthe-
less, this is the minor part of worship. Is not this the fast,
the service, the liturgy, which God hath chosen to loosen
the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
265
the oppressed go free, to break every yoke, to deal thy
bread to the hungry, to bring the poor that are cast out to
thy house, to clothe the naked? (Is. lviii. 6, 7.) No one truly
keeps the Sabbath, unless he keeps it as Christ kept it:
and He went about doing good, and healing all that were
oppressed by the devil (Acts x. 38). Again: Man's spirit, at
least while in this world, lives in a body. And here comes
up a question in casuistry, intensely practical, which each
one must decide for himself. How far is it right for me
to do on the Sabbath things which are confessedly secular?
Let me illustrate: Here is a poor, hard-working laborer,
e. g., a shoemaker, or tailor, or operative. Six days in the
week he bends over his last, or sits cross-legged, or manipu-
lates wearily amid the din and whirl of an ill-ventilated
factory. When night comes, he is too jaded to enjoy even
his family, and early seeks the unconsciousness of slumber.
And so the tiresome days creep on till the Sabbath comes
-the day appointed in God's providential working as Na-
ture's compensation reservoir. In the morning our friend
goes to the sanctuary, and is spiritually refreshed by its
ministrations. But God has given him a body as well as
a spirit-an æsthetic nature as well as a moral. Afternoon
comes a bright summer's afternoon—and our weary la-
borer says to himself: "Oh that I could go out to the park
to-day, and look on my Father's glorious trees and beauti-
ful flowers, and breathe His fresh, pure, sweet air! I am
sure it would make me stronger and more worshipful!
Will it be wrong for me to go?" Suppose the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself were again on earth; how do you think
He would answer the question? I will tell you how I
think He would answer it. He would say: "The Sabbath
was made for Man, and not Man for the Sabbath. If you
think it will do you good to take a stroll in the park, if it
12
266
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
will make you more reverent in spirit, if it will help you
to engage in your business the coming week more cheerily
and effectively, and so honor Me more truly, then go! I
am not confined to temples made with hands. I made the
trees as well as the sanctuary, the flowers as well as the
pews, Nature as well as Scripture. That is the best kept
Sabbath which is kept in such a way as to unfold you
heavenward most totally-you who are spirit and soul and
body (1 Thess. v. 23). This is the meaning and purpose of the
Sabbath. It was made for you, not you for it. If, then,
you think it will do you most good in every way to go to
the park, go; and the blessing of the Lord of the Sabbath
go with you!"-But, observe, because this man may have
the right to go to the park, it does not follow that every
one has the same right. As a matter of fact, circumstances
do alter cases. He who forbade Mary to touch Him al-
lowed Thomas (John xx. 17, 27). It is easy enough for a ruler
of the synagogue, or a rich man of leisure, to say: "There
are six days in which it is proper to work; on these, there-
fore, go and be cured; but not on the Sabbath-day" (Luke
xiii. 14). But, as a matter of fact, this poor friend of ours,
by the very terms of our supposition, cannot, without what
to him is a large expense, avail himself of the health and
beauty and gladness of God's own Nature on the week
days. What, then, may be right for the poor man may be
wrong for the rich man. We must study circumstances.
God treats us as men, not as babes. We must exercise our
own best judgment. Not all things which are lawful are
expedient (1 Cor. vi. 12). The law of edification holds here.
in supreme force. While lenient to others, refusing to
judge our brother in matters of casuistry, we must be
severe with ourselves. Or if we judge at all, let our judg
ment rather be this, not to put a stumbling-block, or an
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
267
Each per-
occasion to fall, in a brother's way (Rom. xiv. 13).
son must decide for himself which is the best way of keep-
ing the Sabbath, i. e., the best way of unfolding to the
fullest all his own powers heavenward; for this is the very
purpose for which the Sabbath has been made.
Such, it seems to me, is Christ's Doctrine of the Sab-
bath. And if any one has the right to define the Sabbath
it is He, even that Son of Man Who is the Lord of the Sab-
bath.
4.-Objections.
But I hear some objections to this
view of the Sabbath. It is but fair to
consider them.
And, first: "This view of the Sab-
(a.)-"Allows too bath allows too much liberty." My an-
much Liberty."
swer is twofold. First: there are two
ways of treating men, either as infants, incapable of guid-
ing themselves, or as men, capable of reasoning, and so of
self-guidance. The first was the Mosaic way, the Church
being a minor, under tutors and governors, and the law
being a letter, graven on tablets of stone: the second is
the Christly way, the Church having come into the posses-
sion of the privileges of majority, and the law being a
spirit, graven on tablets of heart (Gal. iv. 1–7; 2 Cor. iii. 3).
The first is the Romanist way, or the method of dictation,
and so of slaveship: the second is the Protestant way, or
the method of reasoning, and so of self-decision. Now it
so happens, in the order of God's Inspiration, that the
New Testament expressly mentions the Sabbath as being
precisely one of those things concerning which each man
is to be the law to himself: "Let no one judge you in
eating or drinking, or in the matter of a holyday, or a
new moon, or a Sabbath" (Col. ii. 16).¹
(Col. ii. 16).¹ Yes, Jesus Christ
1 Compare carefully, in this connection, St. Paul's discussion of the Law of Liberty in
matters of casuistry, as set forth in Rom. xiv., xv. 1-7; 1 Cor. vi. 12-20, viii. Were these
268
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
does call His Church unto "liberty." But, secondly: Lib-
erty is itself responsibility. The slave cannot understand,
in any thorough, just sense, the meaning of the august word
Responsibility; none but the freeman can understand it.
And just because the New Testament gives me liberty in
the matter of the Sabbath, I am bound to be more con-
scientious about it than was the Old Testament Jew. Ah,
friends, it is easier to be a Hebrew than a Christian.
But I hear a second objection:
(b.)-" Perilous."
"Your view of the Sabbath is danger-
ous: men will pervert it, perhaps to their own perdition.”
Of course they may. It is one of the prerogatives of
Truth to be perverted. Thus the Pharisees, as we have
seen, perverted the teachings of the Lord of Truth in this
very matter of the Sabbath, persecuting Him because, as
they charged, He was a Sabbath-breaker; whereas no one,
before or since, has ever fulfilled the Ideal of the Sabbath
so perfectly as this same "Sabbath-breaker." In fact, all
truth is "dangerous;" and the higher the truth, the more
dangerous. What truth so blessed as the truth of Free
Grace? And yet what truth so perilous, and so often sui-
cidally abused? Meanwhile, Christ's Truth is ever able to
take care of itself; it is only falsehood that needs buttress-
ing. Uzzahs, undertaking to steady Jehovah's Ark, as
though it were in real danger, ruin themselves (2 Sam. vi. 6–8).
Do not undertake then to be wiser or more prudent than
the Lord of Truth Himself. Enough for the servant that
he be as his lord (Matt. x. 25).
The consideration of this grave topic,
5.-Secret of the although it has been so meagrely dis-
cussed, is in itself opportune.
Sabbath Victory.
The
Sabbath question is one of the questions of the age, more
inspired precepts more scrupulously observed, what a thinning out there would be of tho
self-appointed Censors of the brethren !
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
269
talked about in the field and workshop and factory than
we ministers dream. It is a question which we ministers
must look squarely in the face. The foe is keen and
powerful. Before such an enemy the question is not to
he settled by ipse dixits, or citations of ancestral creeds.
If we would win the fight, we must wage battle on solid,
abiding ground. How then shall we meet the question?
I know no other way than that which the Lord of the
Sabbath has Himself indicated. The Sabbath was made
The basis of the Sab-
for Man, not Man for the Sabbath.
bath is not God's outward, graven letter, but Man's in-
ward, personal need. Meet the foe on the ground of the
Mosaic ordinance, and you are bound to lose: for Mosaism
was local and transient. Meet the foe on the ground of
Man's need, and you are bound to win for you have Na-
ture, and Nature's Lord, on your side.
III.—The Change
Before closing our study, it will be
from Saturday to proper to say a few words touching the
Sunday.
change of the Sabbath from the Sev-
enth Day to the First-from Saturday
to Sunday. How was this tremendous change brought
about? Tremendous, I say, for, considering the circum-
stances of the case, the change was nothing less than a
moral revolution. When we remember that the Seventh
Day had received the august sanction of the Creator's own
example from the very beginning: that the commandment
to keep the Seventh Day holy, proclaimed as it had been
amid the trumpet clangs and lightnings and quakings and
Divinely-ordained barricades of Sinai, was distinctly and
emphatically based on the Creator's own example in Eden
(Ex. xx. 8-11): that the keeping the Seventh Day had been
distinctly set forth as one of the badges of the Jewish
Nationality (Ex. xxxi. 16, 17): that the keeping the Seventh
270
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Day had been promised the most glorious of rewards (Is.
Iviii. 13, 14), and that the breaking the Seventh Day had been
threatened the direst of penalties-even death itself (Ex.
xxxi. 14, 15): that for more than fifteen hundred years the
Hebrew people, with here and there an exception in times
of immense apostasy, had scrupulously observed the Sev-
enth Day as the Divinely-appointed Sabbath: that this ob-
servance had never been so scrupulous as in the days of
Jesus Christ Himself—it being, in fact, the very point at
which, as we have seen, He came into oftenest and sharp-
est collision with His adversaries, and which was one of
the precipitating causes of His premature death: that the
saintly women, who had bravely stood by the Cross, and
were yearning to minister to their dead Lord the last sepul-
chral honors, yet scrupulously refrained from doing so be-
cause the Seventh Day was over the land (Luke xxiii. 55, 56;
xxiv. 1): that the Apostles were Jews, and as such shared
in the intense conservatism and traditionalism of their
race that there is no record of any Divine command to
substitute the First Day for the Seventh: when we re-
member all this, we are forced to admit that the change
from Saturday to Sunday was indeed nothing less than a
tremendous revolution. But revolutions do not take place
without causes. How then will you account for this stu-
pendous revolution? It is a fair question for the philo-
sophical historian to ask. Here is a venerable, sacred in-
stitution-hallowed by the Creator's own Example in Eden,
solemnly enjoined amid the thunders of Sinai, distinctly
set apart as one of the chief signs that Israel was God's
chosen, covenanted people, majestically buttressed by lofti-
est promises in case of observance, and by direst threats in
case of non-observance, freighted with the solemn weight
of fifteen centuries of sacred associations and scrupulous
GENESIS OF THE SABBATH.
271
$
answer.
observance suddenly falling into disuse, and presently
supplanted by another Day, which to this year of Grace
has held its own amid the throes of eighteen centuries.
How then will you account for this stupendous revolution?
It is, I repeat, a fair question for the philosophical histo-
rian to ask. And the philosophical historian knows the
All
Jesus the Nazarene had been crucified.
through the Seventh Day or Hebrew Sabbath He had
lain in Joseph's tomb. In that tomb, amid solitude and
darkness and grave-clothes, He had grappled in mortal
duel with the King of Death, and had thrown him,
and shivered his Sceptre. At the close of that awful
Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the First Day of
the Week (Matt. xxviii. 1), He had risen triumphant from
the dead. And by and in the very fact of that tri-
umphant Rising, He had henceforth and for evermore.
emblazoned the First Day of the Week as His own royal,
supernal Day, even Time's first, true Sabbath. Ah, the
Primitive Church needed no command. Conscious of
their need of a Sabbath, and aware that the Hebrew Sev-
enth Day, like the other institutions of the Sinaitic Econ-
omy, had shared Christ's Sepulchre, but not Christ's Resur-
rection, it was enough for them, and it is enough for us,
that He Who Himself was the Lord of the Sabbath, and
greater than Sinai and Eden, had risen on Sunday. By
as much then as Spirit is nobler than matter: by as much
as Grace is grander than law: by as much as the Eden to
come is sublimer than the Eden that has been: by as much
as a finished Redemption is auguster than a finished Crea-
tion by so much does the day which commemorates the
achievement of a Redeemer transcend the day which com-
memorates the achievement of a Creator. Not that the
earlier achievement was not glorious: but it has ceased to be
272
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
glorious by reason of the Glory which excelleth (2 Cor. iii. 10).
Ay, Saturday was but the Sabbath of Creation, Sunday is
the Sabbath of Redemption: Saturday the Sabbath of the
first Adam, Sunday the Sabbath of the Second Adam: Satur-
day the Sabbath of Nature, Sunday the Sabbath of Grace:
Saturday the Sabbath of the letter, Sunday the Sabbath of
the Spirit: Saturday the Sabbath of perdition by Sinai,
Sunday the Sabbath of Salvation by Calvary: Saturday
the Sabbath of a rejected, executed, entombed Jesus, Sun-
day the Sabbath of a Risen, Exalted, Triumphant Christ :
Saturday Creator's day, Sunday Redeemer's Day.
"Hail, Thou Lord of earth and heaven!
Praise to Thee by both be given!
Thee we greet triumphant now!
Hail the Resurrection, Thou!"-(WESLEY.)
Finally: Jesus Christ Himself is our
IV. Jesus Christ Sabbath, alike its origin, its meaning,
Himself Our Sab-
bath.
and its end. In fact, the final cause of
the Sabbath is to Sabbatize each day and
make all life sacramental. And Jesus Christ being our true
Sabbath, Jesus Christ is also our true Rest-even the spir-
it's everlasting Eden. May it be for us all evermore to be
in the Lord's own Spirit on the Lord's own Day (Rev. i. 10)!
So shall we keep His Sabbath as a Resurrection festival.
Why seek ye the Living One among the dead? He is not
here: He is Risen, as He said (Luke xxiv. 5, 6).
the Church of the Sepulchre: ours is the Church of the
Resurrection. May it be for us all evermore to feel the
power of His Resurrection (Phil. iii. 10), and so to enter the
Sabbath's Rest which remaineth for His people (Heb. iv. 10)!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever
shall be, world without end. Amen.
Ours is not
LECTURE XIV.
PALINGENESIS.
"The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in
the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing, then, that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all
holy conversation and godliness; looking for and hasting unto the
coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall
be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Never-
theless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."-2 PETER iii. 10-13.
I.-The Retro-
spect.
We have now completed our study of
E
""
the Story of the Creative Week. Stand-
ing at the goal, it is natural for us to look
backward, and review the field we have traversed. Even the
Creator Himself, at the close of the Sixth Day, reviewed
His own work, and took delight in it: "God saw every-
thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good'
(Gen. i. 31). May the Spirit of God help us as we also vent-
ure to join in the sacred Review! Accordingly, ascending
once more the Mount of Panoramic Vision, let us gaze
with the inspired Seer on the unfolding sections of the
Creative Week.
1. The Infinite
Blank.
Go we back, then, to an indefinite
period in the Past: it may be six thou-
sand years it may be six hundred thou-
sand it may be six million million: it matters not enough
274
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
that it is sublimely called "The Beginning." The curtain
uplifts. It is the First Scene. Alas, it is no scene at all!
Nothing but universal, absolute, infinite Space.
"Illimitable, . . without bound,
Without dimension, where length, breadth, and height,
And time, and place, are lost."—(" PARADISE LOST.")
Again the curtain rises. It is the
2.-The Emerging Second Scene. "In the beginning God
Universe.
created the heavens and the earth." It
is the vision of the emerging elements of the Universe.
In the Beginning, when Nothing was, God caused to come
into existence the heavens and the earth. A miracle, of
course, it was. And, being a miracle, of course, my intel-
lect cannot understand it. But
But my faith can.
faith can. By 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 appeared (Heb. xi. 3). Ay, this word-" Faith "-is
the motto inscribed on the very threshold of the Temple
of Truth. The very first question in philosophy is this:
"What is the Origin of Things?" The very first sentence
of the Bible is an answer to that question: an answer as
simple as majestic-God. Thus the very first summons to
the student of Nature is a summons to an act of faith.
Chaos.
Again the curtain rises. It is the
3.—The Emerging Third Scene. "And the earth was
without form, and void, and darkness
was upon the face of the deep." I know not at what stage
in the course of Time this chaotic state existed: it may
have been the instant after creation: it may not have been
till indefinite ages had glided away. What I know is this:
There has been a time when the earth was waste and form-
less, and darkness was over the face of the abyss.
PALINGENESIS.
275
Again the curtain rises. It is the
4.—The Emerging Fourth Scene. "And the Breath of
Order.
God moved over the face of the fluids."
I know not how much this means. What I know is this:
The wind sometimes does an assuaging ministry-e. g., when
earth was endeluged, God caused a wind to pass over it,
and the waters subsided (Gen. viii. 1). In some sense and way
inscrutable to us, the Spirit of God-the Divine Wind-
hovered over ancient chaos, marshaling, coördinating, or-
ganizing its heterogeneous elements, breathing over the
shapeless, desolate, Cimmerian immensity His own energy
of movement, and array, and unity, and peace, and beauty.
Again the curtain rises. It is the
5.—The Emerging Fifth Scene. "And God said: 'Let
Light.
Light be!' and Light was." I know not
whence this Light came, or how, or what its nature. It
could not have been the light of the sun: for that did not
make its appearance till the Fourth Day. This light of
the First Day was, quite probably, the light of atomic
movement—the universal ether, as it were, quivering be-
neath the flutter of the Spirit's wings and surging in bil-
lows of light before the zephyr of His own breathing. All
I know is this: "God said: "Let Light be!' and Light
was. And there was evening, and there was morning,
Day One."
Again the curtain rises. It is the
6.-The Emerging Sixth Scene. "And God said: 'Let
Sky.
there be an expanse in the midst of the
fluids, and let it divide fluids from fluids."" I know not
how much this term "expanse" means. It may mean the
atmospheric heavens, absorbing the vapors rising from
earth's surface, and so separating the waters into masses—
the one mass above, the other mass below. Or it may mean
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the ethereal heavens, gliding through and arching in the
then fluid universe, thus separating it into masses sidereal
and terrestrial. All I know is this: "God said: "Let there
be an expanse in the midst of the fluids, and let it divide
fluids from fluids.' And God called the expanse 'Heav-
ens.' And there was evening, and there was morning, Day
Two."
Lands.
Again the curtain rises. It is the
7.-The Emerging Seventh Scene. "And God said: 'Let
the waters under the heavens gather
themselves to one place, and let the dry land appear.' And
it was so. And God called the dry ground Earth, and the
gathering together of the waters He called Seas." I know
not how this was done: whether suddenly and violently,
or slowly and gently: whether directly, by the Creative
Dictum, or indirectly, as, e. g., through fiery or chemical
agencies. I know not the How: I only know the What.
And a sublime spectacle it is: this resurrection of the ter-
restrial forms out of Ocean's baptismal sepulchre: this
emergence of island, and continent, and mountain: this
heaving into sight of Britain and Madagascar and Cuba
and Greenland, of Asia and Africa and Australia and
America, of Alps and Himalayas and Andes and Sierra
Nevada- more thrilling still, of Ararat and Sinai and
Pisgah and Carmel and Zion and Olivet.
Again the curtain rises. It is the
8.-The Emerging Eighth Scene. "And God said: 'Let
Plants.
the earth bring forth grass, the herb
yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its
kind, whose seed is in itself."" And, lo, it is so. On all
sides spring up as if by magic the floating algæ, the cir-
cling lichens, the luxuriant mosses, the branching ferns, the
waving grasses, the graceful palms, the kingly oaks, the
PALIN GENESIS.
277
iris-hued flowers. And a blessed vision it is: this grateful
exchange of dull uniformity and brown nakedness for
vegetable colors, for carpets of emerald, and tapestries of
white, and azure, and crimson, and orange, and purple.
Even the God of Beauty Himself feels that it is good.
And there is evening, and there is morning, Day Three.
Luminaries.
Again the curtain rises. It is the
9.—The Emerging Ninth Scene. "And God said: 'Let
there be lights in the expanse of the
heavens, to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day
and over the night, and to divide the light from the dark-
ness:' and it was so." Not that God for the first time
creates sun, moon, and stars. Our Chronicler does not as-
sert this. What he asserts is this: God now, for the first
time, causes sun, and moon, and stars to become visible, or
light-bearers. How this was brought about I know not.
It may have been by giving transparence to the hitherto
thick, turbid atmosphere, and so letting through it the light
of sun, moon, and stars. Or it may have been by endowing
the heavenly bodies with power to excite ethereal undula-
tions: thus massing the diffused light of the First Day into
distinct, definite, fixed sources of light. All I know is this:
"God said: "Let there be lights in the expanse, to give
light on the earth.'" And, lo, it is so. And a wonderful
vision it is. There is still light upon the newly-verdured
mountain and mead. But it is a strange, weird light, it may
be like that of the zodiacal gleam, or the iris-hued, lambent
shimmer of the Northern Aurora. Suddenly the golden-
ing gateways of the East open, and, lo! a dazzling Orb,
henceforth the Lord of Day, strides forth from his cloud-
pavilion as a bridegroom from his chamber, and rejoices
to run his course as a giant his race (Psalm xix. 4-5): upward
and upward he royally mounts: downward and downward
278
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
he royally bows: as he nears the goal of his resplendent
march, lo! the blushing portals of the West open to re-
ceive him: and, lo! again, his gentle consort, "pale em-
press of the night," sweeps forth in silver sheen, while
around her planet and comet, Arcturus and Mazzaroth,
Orion and Pleiades, hold glittering court. And there is
evening, and there is morning, Day Four.
—
10. The Emer-
ging Animals.
Again the curtain rises. It is the
Tenth Scene. "And God said: 'Let
the waters swarm with swarms of living
beings, and let birds fly above the earth along the expanse
of the heavens, and let the earth bring forth the living
creature after its kind."" And, lo, it is so. Sea, air, land,
is instinct with moving life. The polyp secretes his coral,
the jelly-fish spreads his filaments, the sea-urchin juts out
his spines, the oyster exudes his shell, the nautilus spreads
his sail, the caterpillar winds his cocoon, the spider weaves
his web, the salmon darts through the sea, the lizard glides
among the rocks, the eagle soars the sky, the lion roams
the jungle, and all Animate Creation awaits its lord. For
now we have reached the Fane to which all the Past with
ever-increasing distinctness has been pointing.
11.
The Emer-
ging Man.
Again the curtain rises. It is the
Eleventh Scene. "And God said: 'Let
Us make Man in Our image, after Our
likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and
over the bird of the heavens, and over the cattle of the
lands, and over all the earth."" And, lo, a Form like to
that of the Son of God stoops down, and, taking in His
hand some of the dust of the soil, He moulds it into a
figure like to His own Divine Self, and breathes into the
nostrils His own life-breath: and, lo, the dust-figure be-
comes not only a living soul, like the animals around him,
PALINGENESIS.
279
but also a Man, becoming, in very virtue of having been
Divinely inbreathed, the Creator's Inspiration and Image
and Son, and so the Viceroy of Earth.
12. The Emer-
ging Eden.
Again the curtain rises. It is the
Twelfth Scene. And, lo, on the East.
of our Mount of Vision, in the fair
country of the Euphrates, emerges a Garden of unspeak-
able loveliness. There, amid a park in which grows
every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food,
and in the shadow of two wondrous Trees-the permitted
Tree of Life and the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil-the Creator installs the Man He has in-
breathed, and thereby made His Son and Image and Vice-
roy, to till the Garden and to keep it.
The Emer-
13.
ging Woman.
Again the curtain rises. It is the
Thirteenth Scene. "And God said:
'It is not good that the Man should be
alone: I will make a helper, suited to him."" According-
ly, He summons the various forms of animal life, that the
Man may catch a glimpse of what Society means. And so
every beast of the field and every bird of the air come
trooping to the Man: and he gives to each his name. But
amid all these varieties of moving, sentient creatures, he
finds no true companion. Wearied with his work of nam-
ing the animal creation, and disquieted by the sense of de-
fect, he lies down on the rich, odorous sward, it may be in
shadow of the Tree of Life, and falls into a profound
slumber. And now is the golden hour for Divine instruc-
tion. Wrapped in his deep sleep, Eden's dreamer beholds
his Maker taking from himself one of his own ribs, form-
ing it into a Woman, and presenting her to himself, to be
to him henceforth that blessed mate for whom he has un-
consciously sighed. Nor is it altogether a dream. For on
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
awaking, he still beholds standing by him the fair vision.
Recognizing her as his Second Self, he joyously exclaims:
"This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh!
This shall be called Isha, Woman, because from Ish, Man,
was she taken." And hand-in-hand they roam raimentless,
and are not ashamed. And there was evening and there
was morning, Day Six. And so were finished the heavens
and the earth, and all their host. And God saw all that
He had made; and, behold, it was very good.
14. The Emer-
ging Sabbath.
Once more the curtain rises. It is
the Fourteenth Scene. "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: and God blessed
the Seventh Day, and sanctified it: because on it He rest-
ed from all His work which God created in making it." It
is the vision of the Sabbath. And so falls the curtain on the
final scene of the Divine Drama of the Creative Week.
chives and the Hea-
then Cosmogonics.
And with this venerable Creation.
The Creation Ar- Archive the latest science substantially
agrees.
Even the most pronounced
skeptic will admit that there is more
solid scientific truth in these few verses than in all the
tomes of pagan literature. How measurelessly superior
is the Mosaic cosmogony to the theories of the universe
as held by the most intellectual nations of antiquity: the
Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Per-
sians, the Indians, the Greeks, the Romans! The Vedas
of Hindostan, we are commendingly told, are marvels of
philosophy. According to the Brahminic cosmogony, the
universe came into existence in the state of water, and then
developed into a stupendous, dazzling egg, in which the
god of the Hindoos created himself, and abode 4,320,000,000
PALINGENESIS.
281
years, and then split the egg in two, and out of the halves
made heaven and earth. And now I have a question to
ask: How happens it that Moses has given us an incom-
parably superior cosmogony? Trained in the School of the
Nile, learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts vii. 22),
how happens it that he did not reproduce their theory of
the universe? Suppose, as some would have us believe,
that the “Mosaic Record" is of Assyrian or Persian ori-
gin: how happens it that its cosmogony is not Assyrian
or Persian? How happens it that it is so accordant with
the latest science? Where did the writer of the first two
chapters of Genesis-chapters confessedly among the very
oldest specimens of human literature—acquire all this mar-
velous knowledge, a knowledge which, we are told, can
be gained only by elaborate processes of investigation, and
aids of laboratory and microscope? How happens it that,
without any of the helps of modern science, he anticipated
by millenniums the conceptions of such master minds as
Laplace and Cuvier, Faraday and Dana?
Is there any
more philosophic answer than this: he was Divinely in-
spired? To that Divine Inspirer be all thanksgiving and
glory! Amen.
us.
II. — The Pros-
pect.
But, although we have reached the
goal of our studies in the Creative
Week, we cannot help looking forward
as well as backward. A thrilling problem still confronts
What is to be the future of these material heavens
and earth? Are they to exist in their present state for-
ever? Are they to be annihilated? Are they to be re-
constructed? Thank God, we are not left here to specu-
lation. Listen to an authority which many of us accept
as ultimate: "The Day of the Lord will come as a thief
in the night in the which the heavens will pass away
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
with a great noise, and the elements will be scorched up
and dissolved, the earth also and the works that are
therein will be burned up. Seeing then that all these
things are to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought
ye to be in all holy behavior and godliness, looking for
and hastening the coming of the Day of God: by reason
of which the heavens, being on fire, will be dissolved, and
the elements will be melted with fervent heat? But we,
according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousness. Wherefore, be-
loved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that,
being without spot and blameless, ye may be found by Him
in peace" (2 Peter iii. 10-13). It is the Palingenesis, or Apoca-
lypse of the coming Re-creation, even as the Story we have
been studying is the Genesis, or Apocalypse of the past
Creation.
In taking our outlook then, survey-
1.- The Coming
Dissolution.
First: The Coming Dissolution :
"The Day of the Lord will come as a
thief in the night: in the which the
heavens, being on fire, will pass away with a crashing roar,
and the elements will be scorched up and melted and dis-
solved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works.
therein will be burned up.
(a.)-Scientific Con-
firmation.
""
But I hear an objection: "Such a
catastrophe is not in the least degree
probable: the uniformity of Nature, or
stability of Natural Law, is altogether against it." The
Apostle Peter has anticipated your objection, and answered
it. Listen to his words in this very chapter from which
our passage is taken: "There will come in the last days
scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying: 'Where
is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell
PALINGENESIS.
283
وو
asleep all things have continued as they were from the be-
ginning of the Creation.' For this they willingly are ig-
norant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were from
of old, and the earth formed out of water and by means of
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 un-
to fire against the Day of Judgment and destruction of
ungodly men (2 Peter iii. 3–7). That is to say: as the close
of the present æon approaches there will arise godless
unbelievers, who will sneer at the possibility of the de-
struction of the world, or the Return of the Lord, scoffing-
ly saying: "Where now is His promised coming? For
since the fathers fell asleep all things have continued as
they were from the beginning of the Creation." But how
groundless the assumption! As a matter of history, all
things have not continued as they were from the beginning
of the Creation. As a matter of fact, Nature has not al-
ways been uniform. There has been at least one memo-
rable exception to her uniformity: it was the tremendous
Catastrophe of the Deluge. Moreover: Geologists teach
that some of the great transition epochs of terrene history,
such as the sudden oscillations of ocean level, the uplifting
and plunging of portions of the earth-crust, the unconform-
able, plicated, and metamorphic rocks, the glacial period
just prior to the advent of Man, were instances of catas-
trophe, or break in the uniformity of Nature. In fact, it
is the very stability of natural law which prepares the way
for catastrophes; it is the very Principle of Continuity
which necessitates breaks. And, what is especially signifi-
cant as bearing on our passage, the physicists teach that
the globe itself was once in a state of igneous fusion.
What has happened once can happen again. In fact, it is
284
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
the teaching of those who are competent to instruct us in
such matters that the material universe carries within itself
the elements of its own destruction. Let me quote a single
sample, and this from the latest authority. Professor New-
comb, of the Naval Observatory, in a work just issued, says:
“All modern science seems to point to the finite duration
of our system in its present form, and to carry us back to
the time when neither sun nor planet existed, save as a
mass of glowing gas. How far back that was, it cannot
tell us with certainty; it can only say that the period is
counted by millions of years, but probably not by hun-
dreds of millions. It also points forward to the time when
the sun and stars shall fade away, and Nature shall be en-
shrouded in darkness and death, unless some power now
unseen shall uphold or restore her" ("Popular Astronomy,” pp.
489, 490). Thus here, as elsewhere-as we so often have had
occasion to note in this Series-the Bible, though not a
scientific book, is ever in advance of Science. It is one of
the unconscious, and therefore telling, tributes of Science
to the Bible that the truth which is implied in Scripture
Science declares is explicit in Nature.
(b.)-Awfulness of
the Catastrophe.
And what an awful catastrophe that
coming dissolution will be! What pen
can portray that dreadful scene when,
"Like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind"?-("TEMPEST," iv. 1.)
But let me not darken counsel by words without knowl-
edge, even though the words be those of the mighty Dra-
PALINGENESIS.
285
matist himself. Enough that I simply recall to you the
Scriptural hints, thus: The sudden emancipation of the im-
prisoned, latent heat; the detonating explosion; the cin-
dered, ashen globe; the crisping, dissolving heavens; the
fused elements. And the catastrophe will be as sudden as
awful. The possibility of the suddenness of the explosion
is conceivable when we remember that oxygen, which is
vastly the most abundant of the elements-constituting
one-fifth of the atmosphere, one-half of the rocks, eight-
ninths of the waters, and nearly if not quite one-half of
the total weight of known matter-is also the grand sup-
porter of combustion. Oxygen, the great world-builder,
is ever ready to become the great world-destroyer. For it
only needs that the Creator should change in the case of
oxygen, and this in the slightest degree imaginable, the law
of definite proportionals: and the universe may instantly
explode. As the night-burglar gives no hint of his com-
ing, so will be the coming of the great Day of God. When
men are saying: "Peace and safety!" then sudden de-
struction will swoop down on them, and they will not
escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that the
Day should overtake you as a thief (1 Thess. v. 1–5). Ye are
children of Light, and as such like unto men who wait for
their lord, when he shall return from the wedding. Blessed
are those servants whom their Lord, when He cometh, shall
find watching. Verily, I say unto you, that He will gird
Himself, and make them to sit down at meat, and will
come forth and serve them (Luke xii. 36, 37).
2.
And so we pass to ponder, secondly,
The Coming the Coming Reconstruction: “But new
Reconstruction. heavens and new earth, according to
His promise, do we look for, wherein Righteousness
dwelleth."
286
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
(a.) The
New
Heavens and Earth.
New heavens and New earth do we
look for. These words, I have no man-
ner of doubt, are to be taken literally.
For we must be consistent: if we take the prophecy of the
coming dissolution as literal, we must take the prophecy
of the coming renovation as literal. In all events, the
burden of proof lies with him who accepts the one proph-
ecy as literal, and declares the other prophecy spiritual.
Beware of that attenuated, superfine transcendentalism
which still tinges the modern Christian philosophy in the
matter of the Future State. This extreme, unreal super-
spirituality is a relic of the old Zoroastrian doctrine of
Dualism, which the Manicheans injected into Christianity,
or, rather, on which they imposed a few of the Christian
truths. It is amazing that a notion so thoroughly heathen
was not long ago uprooted out of Christian theology.
Were we pagans, we might join in the famous thanksgiv
ing of the Egyptian Plotinus that he was not tied to an
immortal body, and, like him, refuse to have our portraits
taken, on the ground that the human body is a thing too
contemptible to have its image perpetuated. No; Matter
is no more inherently evil than Spirit is. The real antith-
esis to God is not Matter, but Sin. When the Creative
Dixit was pronounced, and the universe of Matter sprang
into being, God saw all that He had made, and, behold, it
was very good (Gen. i. 31). Moreover, it seems impossible—
at least so long as we are constituted as we now are—that
the spirit should consciously exist without a body. Ac-
cordingly, the Apostle Paul longs, not to be unclothed, but
clothed upon: not to be stripped of his earthly house and
raiment, and so wander, a houseless, raimentless, disembod
ied spirit-hovering, like a ghostly phantom, an empty
shadow, in the blank spaces of eternity: but he longs to
PALINGENESIS.
287
E
I
be housed with his tabernacle-clothed upon with his rai-
ment—which is from heaven-even that nobler, spiritual,
pneumatic body which shall serve as the perfect vehicle
and instrument of his spirit as redeemed, beatified, perfect-
ed in the Paradise of his God (2 Cor. v. 1-4). But a body
like this, however ethereal, is still material. And a ma-
terial body must have a material home. Accordingly,
firmly believe that Heaven is a place as well as a state, a
locality as well as a character. In fact, it is precisely be-
cause Heaven is a material locality that the present Earth
is a training-school for Heaven. It is the material world
round us to-day which serves as the arena for personal self-
discipline. As a matter of fact, we do receive our moral
training for eternity in to-day's school of Matter. It is the
material world coming in contact with our moral person-
alities, through the senses of touching and seeing and hear-
ing and tasting, which is really and continuously testing
our moral character. It is, therefore, a very solemn thought
that the way in which we are impressed by every object
we consciously see or touch is probing us, and will testify
for us or against us on the great Day of God. Heaven
grant that it may testify for us! Thus the two worlds—
the present and the future-are, in a sense, related to each
other as means to ends. What we sow here we shall reap
there and the harvest will, of course, be of the same
nature as the seed.
Identical with the
Present.
Accordingly, I believe that the new
(1.)-Elementally heavens and earth will be elementally
identical with the heavens and earth
which now are. What though the earth
is to be burned up, and the heavens are to pass away with
a great noise, and the very elements melt with fervent
heat? Dissolution is not annihilation. There is no reason
*
288
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
to suppose that one single atom of matter ever has been, or
ever is likely to be, annihilated. I go into my laboratory,
and with my chemical apparatus I burn up a pound of
charcoal. Have I annihilated the charcoal? Yes, the
charcoal as charcoal, but not the charcoal as consisting of a
pound of carbon atoms; the pound of carbon atoms still
survives. For I carefully weigh the ashes and the smoke
and the gas of carbonic oxide, and I find that the aggre-
gate weighs exactly one pound plus the oxygen it has
accumulated in the combustion. I can annihilate a group
of molecules as a group of molecules, i. e., as a definite
mass of atoms: but I cannot annihilate one of the atoms
themselves. I can alter the phenomena of matter, but I
cannot annihilate matter itself. None but the infinite God
Who created the atoms can annihilate an atom. And hav-
ing created all the atoms, there is no reason to believe that
He ever has annihilated, or ever will annihilate, one atom.
When, therefore, the earth shall be burned up, and the
heavens dissolve, and the elements melt with fervent heat,
what will become of the atoms? They will be somewhere.
But where? Remember, then, that the atoms which by.
God's creation and providential arrangement constitute the
earth which now is, constitute an altogether peculiar, abso-
lutely unique mass of atoms. No other globe, so far as we
know, can claim a Bethlehem to which the Creator of all
atoms stooped, or an Olivet from which the Creator of all
atoms soared. Observe, also, that the new heavens and
new earth are not an absolutely new, original creation:
they are simply a renovation or re-creation. The Son of
God Himself expressly speaks of the next world as a Palin-
genesis, or Second Genesis. Listen: "In the IIaλıyyeve-
oia-in the Regeneration-when the Son of Man shall sit
on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit on twelve
PALINGENESIS.
289
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. xix. 28).
Yes, the time is coming when the Spirit of God shall again
move over the face of Nature, and quicken her into a re-
generate life. Then there shall be no more curse (Rev. xxii. 3).
Then it shall be seen that Creation was not a failure.
Purged, so to speak, in the refining fires of the great Day
of God, she shall, Phoenix-like, rise from her own ashes
into a life larger, fuller, stronger, diviner than even that
she received when, at the close of the Sixth Day, the
Maker of heaven and earth surveyed all that He had made,
and, lo, it was very good. And so shall be brought to pass
the saying of the Evangelical Prophet: "Behold, I create
new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not
be remembered, nor come into mind" (Is. lxv. 17).
(2.) But Phenom-
enally Different.
And this leads me to say that though
the new heavens and earth will be
atomically identical with the present,
yet they will, in all probability, be very different in aspect.
The greatness of the change is sufficiently hinted in the
Vision of St. John: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth:
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away;
and there was no more sea ""
(Rev. xxi. 1). Water is com-
posed of oxygen and hydrogen: in the new earth there
will, doubtless, be oxygen and hydrogen, but no longer in
the form of oceans. In the matter of elementals, the new
earth will be identical with the old; in the matter of phe-
nomenals, the new earth will be different from the old.
Chemists teach us that certain substances, notably sulphur,
phosphorus, and carbon, exhibit at different temperatures
different aspects, which variety of aspects they call allot-
ropy: e. g., carbon as coal is hard and black; carbon as
graphite is soft and iron-gray; carbon as diamond is ada-
mantine and dazzling: and yet the substance, whether
13
290
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
coal, graphite, or diamond, is one and the same substance,
namely, carbon. Nothing in the realm of science is better
established than the convertibility of the forms of matter.
How Protean are the forms, e. g., of water! Let me but
mention such words as ocean, vapor, cloud, rain, dew, snow,
ice, frost, cucumber, sun-fish. Indeed, the first volume of
the International Scientific Series is Professor Tyndall's
monograph, entitled: "The Forms of Water." Do not
presume, then, to limit the versatility of God's omnipo-
tence. It is precisely this possibility of an indefinite series
of varieties or differences which has furnished the Apostle
Paul with one of his strong points in his matchless argu-
ment for the Resurrection. Listen: "That which thou
sowest, thou sowest not the body that will be, but a bare
kernel, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to
each kind of seed a body of its own. All flesh is not the
same flesh but there is one kind of flesh of men, another
flesh of beasts, another flesh of fishes, another of birds.
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but
the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the ter-
restrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and
another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars :
for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also
is the Resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. xv. 37-42). The
future body will probably be atomically identical with the
present, but it will be molecularly different. The new
earth will be elementally identical with the old, but not
phenomenally. Suppose that you had never seen a plant
or an animal, or that-if such a supposition is possible—
you had never had even a conception of them. Suppose
that on the morning of the Third Day of the Creative
Week you had stood with the inspired Seer on his Mount
وو
PALINGENESIS.
291
of Panoramic Vision. The just-created, chaotic elements.
of the universe, the organizing Breath, the nebulous light,
the separating expanse, the grouping seas and lands, all
these have passed before you. And, beholding these won-
ders, you might have supposed that the Creator's versatility
was exhausted. But, lo, and this utterly beyond all range
of your experience, expectation, or conception, there spring
up on all sides every variety of plant from diatom to cedar,
and every variety of animal from amoeba to elephant.
You had no conception of these possibilities: and yet these
possibilities have been actually realized in space and in
time. And we are not to suppose that the Infinite One
has yet exhausted His resources of versatility. He who
has wrought the various past can work a future as various.
Beware, then, how you incur, in this matter of the New
Heavens and Earth, the Lord's rebuke of the Sadducees in
the matter of the Resurrection: "Ye do err, not knowing
the Scriptures, nor the power of God" (Matt. xxii. 29).
His Promise.
Observe now that the Creator has
(b.)—According to had the new heavens and new earth
in His plan from the very beginning :
“New heavens and new earth do we look for, according to
His Promise." That Promise He has not only expressly
and frequently written in His Scripture: that Promise He
has engraved with His own Creative stylus in the very
constitution of the material universe itself. Ah, how much
those poor unbelievers miss, who, denying Creation and
Providence, imagine the existing universe to be but "a
fortuitous concourse of atoms," drifting hither and thither,
without Pilot or Goal! No, the end has been foreseen and
provided for from the beginning. The coming new heav-
ens and earth are, as a matter of fact, in the eternal Pur-
pose, older than these ancient heavens and earth which
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
now are for the Lamb was slain from the foundation of
the world (Rev. xiii. 8). Vain is it that we have studied the
Story of the Creative Week if we do not see and feel that
its real, consummate issue is the New Heavens and Earth.
For this is that time of the Restitution of all things, of
which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy
prophets since the world began (Acts iii. 21).
(c.)-Wherein dwell-
eth Righteousness.
But the best thing about the new
heavens and earth yet remains to be
told: "New heavens and new earth,
wherein dwelleth Righteousness." Alas, in this present
evil world or æon, Righteousness is, as it were, but an oc-
casional visitant, or transient sojourner, ever and anon
shooting along the sky of the soul with the dazzling but
momentary gleam of the meteor. In the new heavens and
earth Righteousness will dwell as an immortal citizen, eter-
nally radiant as the sun, holding the universe by right of
eternal Bequest, inheriting the kingdom prepared for it
from the foundation of the world (Matt. xxv. 34). Ay,
blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth, yea,
the very earth itself (Matt. v. 5). For "the earth" of this
Beatitude is no more a metaphor than the meekness; "the
meek shall inherit the earth." This is the real meaning of
God's mighty Promise to Abraham: "Lift up thine eyes
and look from the place where thou art, northward and
southward and eastward and westward for all the land
which thou seest, to thee will I give it: and to thy seed
forever” (Gen. xiii. 14-17). That mighty Promise has never
yet been fulfilled. The redemption of that mighty Prom-
ise lies amid the august certainties of the New Heavens
and New Earth. For as Abraham, as the Father of the
Faithful, was chosen to be Representative of the whole
Church of the living God, so Canaan was chosen to be the
PALINGENESIS.
293
representative of the whole earth itself: and, therefore,
Earth shall yet be the Church's inheritance. And what a
glorious estate that heritage will be! Glorious because occu-
pied by the righteous. Yes, it is luscious to read of the
nightless, deathless, tearless City-the City of the pearly
gates and jeweled foundations and golden streets (Rev. xxi.).
But it is more luscious to read these three words: "Wherein
dwelleth Righteousness." Oh, for the speedy realization
of the blissful vision of that Holy Land where there is
neither policeman nor penitentiary, neither magistrate nor
statute book! Oh, that it might be given us to behold in
our own day the descending New Jerusalem, populous and
radiant with patriarchs and prophets and apostles and mar-
tyrs and countless saints of every age and land and name!
Oh, that we might behold this very afternoon the descend-
ing, true Tabernacle of God, even His glorious Son, com-
ing down again, no longer to sojourn among men, tarrying
as a wayfarer for the night, but to dwell for evermore with
them, and be their God, and talk with them in the Eden
of the new earth, even as He was wont to do at the cool of
the day in the Eden of the old (Gen. iii. 8; Rev. xxi. 2, 3) !
༣.
"O sweet and blessèd country,
The home of God's Elect!
O sweet and blessèd country,
That eager hearts expect!
Jesus, in mercy bring us
To that dear land of rest:
Who art, with God the Father
And Spirit, ever blest."
—(Bernard of Cluny.)
And so we come to our third and
The Saintly last point: The Apostle's inference from
the Coming Dissolution and the Com-
Expectation.
294
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
ing Re-creation: "Seeing then that the heavens and earth
which now are shall be dissolved, and that there are to be
new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth Righteous-
ness, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy
behavior and godliness, looking for and hastening the com-
ing of the Day of God? Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
ye
look for such things, give diligence that, being spotless
and blameless, ye may be found by Him in peace."
The Future Life a
Present Inspiration.
I am aware that the opinion prevails,
more or less extensively, especially
among thoughtful men, that it is a mark
of weakness to be dwelling much on the Heavenly Here-
after. "Far better is it," these persons tell us, "to dis-
charge faithfully the duties of the present life, than to
concern ourselves with the future, especially as that future
is so little understood by us. Here, in this life, at any
rate, at our very feet, is a world of suffering, which is to
be alleviated: a world of ignorance, to be enlightened: a
world of sorrow, to be comforted: a world of wickedness,
to be purified. These are present duties staring us in the
face. And the motives to the discharge of them, furnished
by the actual misery of the race, are, or at least ought to
be, sufficiently powerful, without seeking to strengthen
them by motives drawn from a distant and comparatively
obscure futurity."
Now, in reply to this presentation of the case, and I
think that those who hold this view will admit that I have
presented it fairly, I answer that such sentiments are in-
deed fine-sounding, and really have the appearance of a
superior generousness and magnanimity. I further admit
that such sentiments are, to a certain extent, just. I will
keep pace with the extremest of these philanthropists, and
say that our duties are to be found in the sphere of the
PALINGENESIS.
295
present I, too, insist on it that the noblest life a man can
live is a life of Christian self-sacrifice for the good of
others. And if a professing disciple of the Nazarene be
so intent on the future that he overlooks the present-if
his eyes be so dazzled by the coming crown that he sees
not, much less stoops to give his helping hand to, the
shapes of Poverty and Woe that throng his pathway as
with flying feet he speeds on in his selfish race-I say of
this professing Christian that he is leading an ignoble and
false life, untrue to the world, untrue to himself, untrue
to his God. No, the truest life a man can live is a life of
love to others in view of the Immortality that is proffered
to all. And the philanthropy that draws none of its mo-
tives, the philanthropy that does not draw its chief mo-
tive, from that Immortality which was brought to light at
Joseph's opened tomb, is an earth-born, narrow, transient
philanthropy, born with the butterfly, and with the butter-
fly dying. Tell a man that though there are to be new
heavens and new earth, yet he had better not dwell too
much on the theme-had better banish it from his thoughts,
and leave the Hereafter in the hands of his God, and de-
vote himself to the stern duties of the present: tell him
this and you might as well tell him: "There is no
Heaven. There is no Hereafter." For he will practically
say to himself: "If the prizes of Immortality are to be
kept out of mind: if, while I theoretically admit that
there is a Heaven, I am practically to forget it: if I am to
devote myself wholly to the present, even though it be for
the good of others, and live in oblivion of the Hereafter:
what is Immortality worth to me? What care I for Im-
mortality? Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow I die."
I tell you, my friends, it is only when a man feels within
himself his immortality, and catches glimpse of the Palm
296
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
and the Sceptre and the Diadem, that he will act like an
immortal being. Keep Heaven out of sight, and man will
believe himself to be but an ephemeron-the brilliant-hued
but short-lived insect of a day, conscious, if consciousness
can be said to belong to a creature so ignoble, of nothing
but the worm from which it has just sprung, and the dust
to which it is swiftly doomed. Thank God, not so did the
Apostle Peter think. He at least believed and felt in his
inmost soul that the doctrine of the Future Life was a
doctrine of transcendent practical importance and power.
Seeing that ye look for these things, even the new heavens
and new earth, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasten-
ing the coming of the Day of God? Wherefore, beloved,
seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may
be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.
Ah, it was this coming of the Day of God, when the re-
turning Nazarene shall descend in great power and pomp
to set up His New Heavens and Earth, that was the Apos-
tle's grand inspiration. I do not think that there could be
a nobler theme for the greatest genius among earth's ar-
tists, whether painter or sculptor, than these three lines of
Watts:
"While we expect that blessed Hope,
The bright Appearance of the Lord,
And Faith stands leaning on His word."
And observe: St. Peter not only looked for and longed
for the coming of the Day of God: he also would, if it
were possible, hasten the coming, giving it the accelerat-
ing, blessed momentum of the whole Church's gravitation :
looking for and hastening the coming of the Day of God.
And as it was with the Apostle Peter, so was it with the
whole church in that pristine age. Especially does this
PALINGENESIS.
297
Apostolic expectation of the New Genesis, or re-creation.
of Nature, gleam out in the Epistles of Paul, making them
iridescent with the ever-changing tints of the heavenly
clime. Look at the writings of this Hero-Spirit. No fine,
No
unmanly sentimentalizings are there about death.
feeble, effeminate talk about the peace and repose of the
grave. No nerveless lying down in the funeral shroud.
But the buckling on of a stouter armor-the straighten-
ing up for a nobler, swifter race-the breathing in for a
mightier grapple with the Powers of the world to come.
Come, ye who think it a weakness to be dwelling much on
the approaching splendors, and who deem it more noble
and magnanimous to forget the future in an arduous and
unselfish devotion to present duties: come, survey this
Hero of the Ages. Call ye him weak whose mighty spirit
no dungeon could imprison, no chains fetter, no Cæsar
daunt, no executioner's axe ruffle? Call ye him selfish
who could have wished, had it been right and possible, that
he were accursed from Christ for the sake of his brethren
-his kinsmen according to the flesh and yet who, not-
withstanding such intensity of patriotism, also felt that he
was debtor to Gentile as well as to Jew (Rom. i. 14, ix. 3)? Call
ye such a Hero, living though he did in the far-off islands
that fleck the heavenly deeps, weak and ignoble and selfish?
And yet the secret of this man's strength and grandeur
and victory was his hold on the coming world. Look, I
again ask you, at the writings of this kingly man.
how they blossom with the efflorescence and exhale with
the perfumes of the coming Eden. In them you behold a
translated soul: a man whose body is on the earth that
now is, but whose spirit is on the earth that is to be. It is
as though that sea of glory, which his fellow-apostle saw in
visions of Patmos, had been let down with St. Paul when
See
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STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
he descended from that third heaven into which he had
once been caught up, and now swells and surges and breaks
in celestial thunder on the barriers and reefs of his own
human but majestic diction. And as it was in the first
century, so it is in the nineteenth. The certainty of a
Hereafter, big with all manner of eternal weights of glory,
is still the awakening, purifying, buttressing, uplifting force
for Society. Let the sense of immortality once be aroused
-let
let the power of an endless life once be felt: and the
moral nature, however sunken, steps forth as from a tomb,
and rejoices as a strong man to run a race.
"All greatest
souls stretch themselves on the framework of the invisi-
ble:" growing pure and strong and victorious by moving
in the kinship of the coming eternals. He that hath this
Hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure
(1 John iii. 3). Wherefore, brethren, seeing that ye look for
such things, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all
holy behavior and godliness, looking for and hastening the
coming of the Day of God? Give all diligence then to
become spotless and blameless, and so, when He comes, be
found by Him in peace. So shall you, too, in company
with those who have overcome, stand on the sea of glass,
mingled with fire. So shall you too have harps of God,
and shall evermore sing the Song of Moses, as he chants
the ode of the first Creation, and the Song of the Lamb as
He chants the pean of the Second (Rev. xv. 2, 3).
Such is the twofold Story of Crea-
A Farewell Prayer. tion-the Story of the Eden that has
been, and the Story of the Eden that is to be. May it not
be in vain that we have thus sped from Eden to Eden!
All of us fellow-sharers in the disinheritance from the
Eden that has been, may all of us, through Grace abound-
ing, be fellow-sharers in the Inheritance of the Eden that
PALINGENESIS.
299
is to be! This is my farewell wish for each one of you,
whether acquaintance or stranger. God grant my prayer
even to-day! So shall you be numbered among the spirits
of the just made perfect, even those righteous ones who are
to dwell on the New Earth domed by the New Heavens.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall
be, world without end. Amen.
APPENDIX.
ARCHETYPAL FORMS AND
TELIC FIGURATIONS.
APPENDIX.
ARCHETYPAL FORMS AND TELIC FIGURATIONS.'
"My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in
secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy
book all my members were written, which in continuance were
fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."-PSALM CXXXIX.
15, 16.
Thesis.
THE theme we propose to establish
is this: All natural structures are Telic
Figurations from Archetypal Forms.
Distinguish Form
and Figure.
At the outset, then, it is needful
that we distinguish carefully between
Form and Figure: not that the dis-
tinction is to be found in the books, although it seems to
me it ought to be. Form, in the large, philosophical sense
of the term, is not so much shape or visible outline as that
prior, ideal Something which constitutes a given thing
what it is—which is the essentiality of it. The Form is
the Idea existing independently of Matter. The figure
is the Form actualized in the sphere of Matter—the Idea
materialized. Thus the Form is the essential: the figure
1 The substance of this Lecture was delivered some years ago before the Philadelphia
Academy of Natural Sciences. The author adds it to the preceding series because it is
pertinent to the general scope of the Creative Week, considered as a Precreative Plan. It
is but just to add that the subject-matter was suggested to him many years ago in reading
"Typical Forms and Special Ends in Creation," by Professors M'Cosh and Dickie.
304
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
:
an incidental. The Form is invariable: the figure vari-
able. The Form is common to a class: the figure is an
individual of that class. The Form is the invisible, ideal
Plan the figure is a visible, more or less close copy from
that Plan. The Form is the precedent Idea: the figure
is the Form as it appears when it comes within the range
of our senses. Let me illustrate. A caterpillar passes
from the state of the larva into the state of the butterfly:
it is an instance of transfiguration, not of transformation.
True, we speak of the change as a "metamorphosis;"
but the metamorphosis is only phenomenal—a change in
figure: it is not radical, or a change of Form or identity.
The Form, which no mortal eye has seen or can see, is
common to the caterpillar and the butterfly: the cater-
pillar and the butterfly are different figurations from the
one invisible Form. Were it possible for the caterpillar
to be changed from an articulate into a mollusk or a verte-
brate: i. e., were it possible for the caterpillar to undergo
"transformation of species:" the change would in that case
be more than a transfiguration: it would be a transforma-
tion, or metamorphosis in the strict sense of the term.
The
recognized in Script-
ure.
ure. E.
g.:
This distinction between Form and
Distinction Figure seems to be recognized in Script-
"Be not configured to this
world, but be transformed by the re-
newing of your mind;" i. e., undergo more than trans-
figuration-undergo transformation (Rom. xii. 2). Again:
Christ Jesus, "being in the Form of God," was "found
in figure as a man ;" i. e., the Pre-incarnate Son was in the
Form, the primal, essential Form of God: the Incarnate
Son appeared in the figure-the assumed, incidental figure
of a man: in other words, the Logos Incarnate was, so to
speak, a visible figuration from the invisible Form of the
APPENDIX.
305
Logos Pre-incarnate (Phil. ii. 5-8). Once more: "Who will
transfigure the body of our humiliation, that it may be
conformed to the body of His Glory" (Phil. iii. 21). Human
identity lies not in the visible, incidental, variable figure:
it lies in the invisible, essential, archetypal Form. Ac-
cordingly, the Resurrection, or Spiritual Body, is not a re-
emergence of the figure, but a new and nobler figuration
from the Archetypal Form. That Archetypal Form, as
in the case of the caterpillar and butterfly just cited, is
common to the present figure, or natural body, and the
coming figure, or spiritual body. It is in that Arche-
typal Form that the identity consists. The Resurrection,
then, will be a transfiguration, not a transformation. The
same thing may be said of the New Heavens and Earth.
The present heavens and the present earth are to be de-
stroyed, not in the sense of annihilation, but of transfig-
uration (2 Peter iii. 10-13). The fashion, figure, oxua, of
this world is passing away (1 Cor. vii. 31): but the Form,
µopoń, of it is abiding. In the Palingenesis, when the Son
of Man shall sit on the throne of His Glory (Matt. xix. 28),
the new Cosmos will be identical in Form with the pres-
ent, but it will be a new figuration. In like manner, as
we saw in the Tenth Lecture, Jesus Christ Himself, in
creating man on the Sixth Day, was the Archetypal Man.
Foreknowing all things from the beginning, foreseeing
that as Incarnate He would add to His eternal God-
head a human spirit and soul and body: the Creative
Word of God (John i. 1-3), even the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world (Rev. xiii. 8), speaking, as it would
seem, in the imperial plural, makes solemn annunciation:
"We will make man in Our Image, after Our Likeness "
(Gen. i. 26). In the order of time, the Son of God made
Himself like to man: in the order of purpose, the Son of
306
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
God made man like to Himself. Thus was Jesus Christ
the Original, Archetypal Man. From Himself He mod-
eled mankind: He the Form, mankind the figure. Ah,
this it is which constitutes the true dignity of Human
Nature grand in its origin, grand in its destiny: grand in
its origin, because modeled after Christ's own Image: still
grander in its destiny, because appointed to share in the
ineffable Glory awarded to Jesus as an incarnate sufferer and
victor (Phil. ii. 5–11). The Son of God made man after
the model, not of an angel, but of Himself; the saint,
therefore, renewed in the Image of Him Who created
him (Col. iii. 10), shall yet be exalted above angel and
archangel, cherub and seraph. Know ye not that we
shall judge angels? (1 Cor. vi. 3).'
Definition of Arche-
typc.
}
Now these primal, essential, invari-
able, unseen Forms are what I mean
by Archetypes. The term itself, it is
hardly necessary to state, is a compound word: ȧpxý, be-
ginning, and TÚTOS, stamp. An archetype, then, is the
prototype, the original fundamental Form, the precedent,
essential Idea. As such it does not have an objective,
concrete existence in the world of matter. It is only the
original pattern, the preëxistent idea, as we suppose it
to lie in the Divine Mind. Archetypes are, so to speak,
the Creator's Thoughts before they are materialized into
or represented in things: they are the typal font of
God's Ideas impressed on the visible page of creation.
The material, objective universe is a myriadfold illustra-
tion of a few Archetypal Plans or Ideas in the Mind of the
Creator.
1 For instructive comments on the Scriptural distinction between μορφή and σχῆμα,
Form and Figure, see Trench's "New Testament Synonyms," Section lxx.; Lightfoot's
"Notes on the Epistle to the Philippians," pp. 125-131; and Cremer's "Biblico-Theological
Lexicon of New Testament Greek," p. 438.
APPENDIX.
307
"What time this world's great Workmaister did cast,
To make all things such as we now behold,
It seems that He before His eyes had plast
A goodly patterne, to whose perfect mould
He fashioned them as comely as He could,
That now so fair and seemly they appear,
As naught may be amended anywhere.
That wondrous patterne, wheresoe'er it be,
Whether in earth, laid up in secret store,
Or else in heaven, that no man may it see
With sinful eyes, for fear it to deflore,
Is perfect beauty."-(SPENSER.)
To restate the Archetypal Doctrine, then, is briefly
this: All natural structures are visible figurations, more
or less exact, from ideal Forms.
Illustrations of
Archetypal Forms.
-
And now let us glance at some il-
lustrations of the Doctrine illustra-
tions which, I trust, will also serve as
confirmations. The field is universe-wide: of course I
must content myself with selections.
From Motion.
We take our first illustration from
the world of Motion. The modern
theory of atomic motion is built upon the Idea of an
Archetypal Energy, which energy itself is, in the present
stage of Science, conceived as motion. In other words:
the originating, initial Force, whatever that unknown
thing be, takes on in action different aspects, guises,
modes, figures. E. g., in a lump of coal, which itself, we
are told, is but a mass of "condensed sunbeams," Force
appears in the condition of chemical union and molecular
aggregation; ignite the coal, and the Force assumes the
guise of heat and light: imprison the heat in a boiler of
water, and the Force emerges in the expansive power of
steam; let the expansive power of steam press against
308
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
a piston, and the Force reappears in the moving train;
or let it press against brakes, and the Force reappears in
the heat of friction; or let it escape through the valve,
and the Force reappears in the scream of the whistle.
Sound, heat, light, electricity, chemical affinity, magnet-
ism, gravitation, seem to be but different modes of Mo-
tion. The differences are phenomenal, not elemental;
they are modifications of an Archetypal Form, which, for
want of a better name, we call Force, Energy, Motion,
etc. In fact, this Idea is the basis of the modern doc-
trines of the Convertibility of Forces and Conservation of
Energy. The Form is one: the figures are practically in-
finite. This doctrine of Convertible and Conservative
Energy, let me remark in passing, is eminently true in
the sphere of Morals. There is such a thing as metempsy-
chosis of Christian Service. Herein is fulfilled the true
saying: "One soweth, another reapeth" (John iv. 35-38).
Genuine prayer is, sooner or later, here or there, conscious-
ly or unconsciously, answered. If our God doth not give
to His beloved in their waking hours, He doth in their
sleep (Psalm cxxvii. 3). Moral Force, however versatile the
guises it assumes, is indestructible.
From Number.
Our next illustration we take from
the Sphere of Number.
I select for special comment the number Three, which,
from its extreme prevalence, we may well call the Arche-
typal Number. Thus Three is the basis of Geometry; it
gives us the point, the line, and the surface; and these are
the three Geometric elements. Triangulation is itself one of
the master keys of the problems of Space. Again: Three
is the basis of Arithmetic. Addition is the union of two
numbers, making a third: Subtraction is the separation of
two numbers, also making a third; Multiplication is but a
APPENDIX.
309
complex and swift addition, as Division is but a complex
and swift subtraction. The Rule of Three is the Golden
Rule of Arithmetic. Recall also Kepler's famous problem
of the Three Bodies. Again: Three is the basis of crys-
tallography. All substances in solidifying tend to crystal-
lize. Each substance in crystallizing takes on its own fig-
ure. Each figure is built on the framework of three axes.
The Triaxis is the Fundamental Form or Archetype of the
crystal world. In fact, crystalline axes are the most perfect
samples of what I mean by Archetypes, because they are
purely ideal. And the whole crystal world is built around
the Triaxis. True, we may have numerous sub-classifica-
tions of crystals-e. g., the Monometric, the Dimetric, the
Trimetric, the Monoclinic, the Diclinic, the Triclinic, etc.
-these terms taking their names from the various lengths
and positions of the respective axes. But though for sake
of convenience and description we may have these various.
classifications, yet the Triaxial conception includes them
all. The author has amused himself for hours, not with-
out intellectual and moral profit, in constructing numerous
varieties of imaginary crystal figures by simply having a
triaxial framework, the axes of which could be lengthened,
shortened, rectangled, or inclined at pleasure; and imposing
on the ends of these axes, according to their various lengths
and positions, tin surfaces of various geometrical figures,
e. g., squares, parallelograms, triangles, rhombs, etc., and
so building up before his very eyes a crystal figure-world.
The ideal Triaxis is the common, invariable, fundamental
framework or Archetypal Form: actual crystals are im-
posed, diversified figures. How simple the Form! How in-
finite the figures! And this is true for all worlds.' Again:
1 "New crystalline forms (figures ?) might be found in the depths of Space, but the laws
of crystallography would be the same that are displayed before us among the crystals of
310
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
E.
Three is the basis of Architecture, and, indeed, of every
human structure.
g.:
When the axes are equal and
rectangular, we have the cubical style, as the square fort,
or the square meeting-house of the Pilgrims. Inscribe
a sphere in a cube, and bisect it; the hemisphere be-
comes a dome, as the Pantheon. Or when the axes are
unequal and rectangular, we have the prismatic style, as the
Parthenon, the Cruciform, etc. Inscribe a cylinder in a
prism, and we have the column. The Gothic arch is the
segment of a dome, or a cylindered prism. Thus, from
the Archetypal Form of three axes we can figurate an
endless variety of structures. Again: Three is the basis
of Mechanics: a something to be moved, a moving force,
and an instrument: these are the three essentials of Dy-
namics. Again: Three is the basis of Society: Father,
Mother, Child: from these Three Humanity in all its
manifold relations is derivable. Once more: Three is the
basis of Man: Spirit, Soul, Body, πνεῦμα, ψυχή, σῶμα ;
these, according to Holy Scripture, are the three compo-
nents of Man. Thus, everywhere in the universe we see
the number Three; and so everywhere in the universe we
may see a suggestion of the ever Blessed and Adorable
Trinity. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to
the Holy Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and
ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
So, too, the laws of Gravitation, Statics, Acoustics,
Chemics, Optics, Pneumatics, Magnetics, Astronomics;
the angles of Crystals, the spirals of Plants, the tentacles
of Radiates, the whorls of Mollusks, the rings of Articu-
the earth. A text-book on Crystallography, Physics, or Celestial Mechanics, printed in
our printing-offices, would serve for the universe. The universe, if open throughout to
our explorations, would vastly expand our knowledge, and Science might have a more
beautiful superstructure; but its basement laws would be the same."-(DANA'S "MANUAL
OF GEOLOGY," pp. 3, 4.)
APPENDIX.
311
lates, the teeth of Vertebrates, the measures of Poetry and
Music, etc.; these are all reducible to numerical language.
It is possible that some Newton may yet discover some
Archetypal Number or Numerical Form which shall be
common to all these endlessly-varied figures. Nor should
we forget to mention the Archetypal Seven of Holy
Scripture. Indeed, there seems to be a good deal of truth
in the doctrine of Pythagoras that Numbers are the
Principia of the Universe, the essence of all things, the
Paradigms, Tapaderypaтa, of all that is. Not altogether
fanciful is it to talk with him of the "Music of the
Spheres."
"From harmony, from heavenly harmony,
This universal frame began:
When Nature underneath a heap
Of jarring atoms lay,
And could not heave her head,
The tuneful voice was heard from high,
Arise, ye more than dead.
Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry,
In order to their stations leap,
And Music's power obey.
From harmony, from heavenly harmony
This universal frame began:
From harmony to harmony,
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in Man."
—(“ST. CECILIA's Day.")
Our next illustration we take from
From Embryology. the realm of Primordial Life. It is
the teaching of modern Science that every component of
every organic structure is built on the Idea of an Arche-
typal Cell, or rather Bioplast, the departures being telic.
It is one of the most startling disclosures of the Micro-
312
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
scope. However vast the difference between the full-
grown plant and the full-grown animal, plant and animal,
at least so far as our present optical powers extend, seem
gradually to approach each other as we analyze their com-
ponent parts, and finally meet in an apparently common kind
of structure-the individual, structureless, elementary bio-
plast. The Archetypal, Ideal Bioplast is the Form; the
actual plant or animal is a visible figuration from that invis-
ible Form. Every actual cell is the transfiguration of the
Archetypal cell for a specific purpose: say, e. g., for pro-
ducing, in the plant, fibre; or, in the animal, man. Thus
there is community as well as simplicity of Plan in ele-
mental structure throughout the Organic world. Yet what
endless variety of modification for special purposes! How
diverse, e. g., are leaf, and pollen, and bark-epidermis, and
muscle, and bone, and hair, and blood, and brain!
From Botany.
Let Botany furnish us with our next
illustration. The modern doctrine of
Vegetable Morphology is this: Every part of a plant is
built on the Idea of an Archetypal Leaf, the departures
being telic.
It may be well at this point to indulge in a brief his
toric survey. In the year 1759, Wolff announced his be-
lief in the identity of all the various parts of a plant. His
language is: "In the whole plant we see nothing but leaves.
and stalk." His idea was that the different parts of a
flower are nothing but green leaves in a state of arrested
development. Here is a glimpse of our theory as applied
to the vegetable kingdom, viz.: all the parts of a plant
are figurations from an Archetypal Leaf. Linnæus, in
his "Prolepsis Plantarum," published somewhere between
1760 and 1770, uses this singular phrase: "The princi-
ple of flowers and leaves is the same." He declared that
APPENDIX.
313
the calyx, corolla, stamens, pistils, are each evolved in suc-
cession from the leaf, and this evolution he styled prolepsis,
or anticipation. His idea was this: When a plant produces
a flower, Nature anticipates the regular practice of several
years; that is to say, the plant, instead of bearing regular
green leaves several years in succession, suddenly brings
them all out simultaneously, so that the leaves, instead of
being usually-shaped and green, become the different
parts of the flower. In other words, the flower-leaves are
stem-leaves anticipated. Here we have an awkward, bun-
gling, violent attempt by the great botanist to account for
what he felt to be true, and what has since been shown to
be true, viz., the community of structure throughout all
the parts of a plant. But the first distinct enunciation
and elaborate unfolding of the grand principle which is
now recognized in the councils of Science as the funda-
mental law of vegetable morphology was made, not by an
eminent physicist, but by a poet of singularly creative fancy,
the weird genius to whose name "Faust" has given immor-
tality. In 1790, Goethe gave to the world his famous
"Versuch, die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären."
His idea was this: All parts of a plant are metamorphoses
of its original principle. "Possessed with the idea of a
poetic synthesis in Nature," and impelled by the over-
mastering idea of unity in the vegetable world, he con-
ceived that every part of a plant-leaf, calyx, corolla, stamen,
pistil, fruit-is a successive metamorphosis of the original
cotyledon. Goethe was right in reducing every part of a
plant to a community of form. But Goethe was wrong in
representing, e. g., the plant-leaves as metamorphosed
stem-leaves. The true theory is this: not only the floral
organs, but every part of the plant, are figurations for
special ends from what we call an Archetypal Leaf: that
14
314
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
is to say, every part of the plant is constructed on the
model of an Archetypal Leaf. Wolff in 1759, Linnæus
between 1760 and 1770, Goethe in 1790, De Candolle in
1827, and Schleiden in 1836, alike asserted the commu-
nity of structure in the folial and the floral leaves. Wolff
explained it on the theory of arrested development; i. e.,
as the sap ran higher it was less pure, and hence the flower
was an evidence of imperfection. Linnæus explained it
on the theory of anticipation. Goethe explained it on
the theory of metamorphosis, or development by elabo-
rated sap; i. e., as the sap ran higher, it became more
refined, and so, in opposition to Wolff, the flower was
an evidence of perfection. De Candolle and Schleiden
explained it on the theory of a modified Archetypal Leaf.
And this latter theory may now be considered as estab-
lished. Accordingly, Professor Schleiden has constructed
the figure of a full-grown Archetypal Plant, every part of
which from radix to pistil suggests a leaf. Not that there
is actually existing in the world of matter such a thing as
an Archetypal Leaf or Plant. Schleiden's Idea of Leaf
and Plant is a scientific creation, conceived for the purpose
of meeting as approximately as possible the Archetypal
Plan as existing in the Precreative Mind. Approximately,
I say; for since Science, in consequence of the limitations
of our finitehood, must necessarily always be more or less
imperfect, we can discover the Divine Plans or Archetypes
only imperfectly. It becomes us, then, when explaining
these Archetypal thoughts of God, to proceed with diffi-
dence and caution. This, in fact, is the real end of Science,
viz., to discover, if possible, these moulding, typal thoughts
of God. And each science is false, or at least fails of its
proper end, in proportion as it leads us away from these
primal, modeling thoughts of God. And each science is
APPENDIX.
315
true, in proportion as it helps us to discover, and worship-
fully live over again, the moulding, archetypal thoughts of
God, anterior to His Creative Fiat. Nor is this theory,
that every part of an actual plant is a figuration from an
Ideal, Archetypal Leaf, a mere conceit. It seems to be
proved by the changes actually occurring in plant-life, as
affected by accidents of position, nutriment, exposure, cul-
ture, retarded and accelerated developments, etc.
As a
matter of fact, leaves do sometimes glide into bracts, or
into sepals, sepals into petals, petals into stamens, and even
stamens into pistils. The theory is confirmed by the phe-
nomena of monstrosities, so called. In fact, the art of hor-
ticulture is based on this idea of modifying the Arche-
typal Leaf. The cultivated flowers of our gardens, such
as the rose, tulip, camellia, double or neutral flowers, are
examples of "metamorphosed leaves," or rather they are
transfigurations of the Archetypal Leaf or Form. Thus
the whole vegetable world, with its hundred thousand spe-
cies of flora, has community of Plan, built throughout
on the Idea of an Archetypal Leaf.
From Anatomy.
Let the Animal Kingdom supply us
with our next illustration.
Suppose we were endowed with creative power, and
were purposing to make a world with as many different
animals in it as there actually are in this. Two methods.
would lie before us. Either we might make each animal
independently of every other, so that there would be noth-
ing common to any two animals, except by accident or
whim: or we might have one, two, three, or more plans, ac-
cording to one of which we would make one class of ani-
mals, according to another of which a second class, and so
on. This latter reverently I say it-has been the Crea-
tor's method. Hence the Protozoates, Radiates, Molluskates,
316
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
Articulates, Vertebrates, of Comparative Anatomy. Let us
confine our attention to that department to which we our-
selves belong—the Vertebrates. The modern doctrine of
Osteology is this: Every part of every skeleton is built on
the Idea of an Archetypal Vertebra, the departures being
telic.
As in the case of Plants, so here, let me give a brief
historic sketch. If, as we have seen, the grand concep-
tion of Unity in Nature led an illustrious poet to the theory
of vegetable metamorphosis, in order to account for the
similarity of structure in plants, we need not be surprised
that the same conception should have led the same poet to
the theory of osseous metamorphosis, in order to account.
for the similarity of structure in certain animals. Profes-
sional anatomists, indeed, sneered at the illustrious poet, as
a "dabbler in comparative anatomy, who mistook his vo-
cation when he left Parnassus for cabbages and bones."
But Goethe, though no mathematician or physicist, as the
signal failure of his doctrine of colors in opposition to
Newton shows, though no metaphysician, was truly poet
and philosopher. In fact, the line which separates the
great poet from the great philosopher is the narrowest pos-
sible, being, so to speak, a line contingent rather than a line
absolute. A great philosopher is a great poet with his
wings undeveloped. A great poet is a great philosopher
with his wings clipped. Between the "Novum Organon"
and the "Hamlet" is but an infant's tiny step. Bacon and
Shakespeare need to have changed scarcely more than cir-
cumstances to have changed fames. It is not strange, then,
that a great poet—a true, real poet-should have discov-
ered, among cabbages and bones, sublime truths of which
professional and merely scientific botanists and anatomists
had never dreamed. Now to Goethe belongs the credit of
APPENDIX.
317
being the founder of the grand doctrine of Typal Organic
Morphology, i. e., the doctrine that animals, as well as
plants, are constructed, with more or less of modifications,
after certain Archetypes. The structure of man had al-
ways been separated from that of even the highest animals
by the assumed fact that man had no intermaxillary bone.
But Goethe, in 1784, discovered this precise bone in man.
Impelled and guided by the grand conception of Unity in
Nature, he reasoned in this way: All animals having in-
cisor teeth have also an intermaxillary bone: man has
incisor teeth; therefore man has an intermaxillary bone.
"Anatomists, lost in details, and wanting that fundamental
conception which now underlies all philosophical anatomy,
saw no abstract necessity for such identity of composition,
the more so as evidence seemed wholly against it. But
Goethe was not only guided by the true philosophic con-
ception; he was also instinctively led to the true method of
demonstration, viz., the comparison of the various modifi-
cations which this bone underwent in the animal series.
This method has now become the method, and we need to
throw ourselves into the historic position to appreciate
its novelty at the time Goethe employed it. He found, on
comparison, that the bone varied with the nutrition of the
animal and the size of its teeth. He found, moreover, that
in some animals the bone was not separated from the jaw;
and in children the sutures were traceable. He admitted
that, seen from the front, no trace of the sutures was visi-
ble, but on the interior there were unmistakable traces.
Examination of the foetal skull has since set the point be-
yond dispute." Now the discovery, in 1784, on what we
1
1 "Life and Works of Goethe," by G. H. Lewes, vol. ii., p. 140. This entertaining biog-
rapher adds: "I have seen one (a skull) where the bone was distinctly separated; and I
possess the skull of a female, the ossification of which is far advanced at the parietal sutures,
yot internally the traces of the intermaxillary are visible."
318
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
may call an a priori method, of the intermaxillary bone,
was the prelude to Goethe's Essay on the "Metamorphosis
of Plants," published in 1790, and also to his "Sketch of
the Universal Introduction to Comparative Anatomy, be-
ginning with Osteology," published in 1795.
Here we
have the first distinct recognition of an osteological Arche-
type. To say nothing of the testimonies of Carus, St.-
Hilaire, and others, let me cite the testimony of Richard
Owen, a supreme authority in such matters: "Goethe had
taken the lead in inquiries of this nature, by his determi
nation of the homology of that part of the human upper
maxillary bone which is separated by a more or less exten-
sive suture from the rest of the bones in the fœtus; and
the philosophical principles, propounded in the great phi-
losopher's anatomical essays, called forth the valuable la-
bors of the kindred spirits, Oken, Bajanus, Meckel, Carus,
and other eminent cultivators of anatomical philosophy."
1
Before dismissing Goethe, it may be interesting to
allude to a curious charge of plagiarism alleged against the
illustrious poet. It is the fashion to ascribe the Vertebral
Theory of the Skull to Lorenz Oken. The current story
is that, while rambling in the Hartz Mountains, Oken picked
up the bleached skull of a roebuck, and, after contemplating
the partially separated bones, exclaimed: "It is a vertebral
column!" Now here is another curious story: During one
of his rambles in the Jewish cemetery near Venice, Goethe
picked up the skull of a ram which had been cut longitudi-
nally, and, on examining it, the idea occurred to him that
the face was composed of three vertebræ. Goethe declares
that he made his discovery in 1790. Oken declares that
he made his discovery in 1806. Here is a difference of
sixteen years between the two alleged discoveries. Now,
1 "Archetype and Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton."
APPENDIX.
319
if there be any plagiarism in the affair, which is the plagi-
arist? Oken, who survived Goethe a score of years, de-
fends his own claim with the ardor of personal and possibly
piqued pride. Lewes defends Goethe's claim with the
ardor of an admiring biographer. A comparison, such as
Lewes himself suggests, probably gives the right solution.
"Goethe had an aperçu which he did not develop. Oken
had an aperçu which he demonstrated in detail. In Goethe's
mind it was one of the many applications of a fundamental
conception of organic evolution-a conception which led
to his discovery of the intermaxillary. In Oken it was a
special problem, which a young anatomist set himself to
solve." In other words, Goethe conceived the idea, Oken
demonstrated the fact.
1
But to resume the thread of the history. In 1795,
Goethe published his "Animal Morphology." In 1807,
Oken published his "Signification of the Bones of the
Skull," in which he maintains that these bones are equal
to four vertebræ. In 1815, Spix, in his "Cephalogene-
sis," reduced the cranial vertebræ to three, and, moreover,
extended the application of the Vertebral Theory to the
heads of all classes of animals, especially of fishes. In
1824, St.-Hilaire presented a lithographic plate to the
French Academy, entitled "Composition de la Tête Osseuse
chez l'Homme et les Animaux." In 1834, Carus main-
tained the idea that the entire skeleton is nothing but a
vertebra repeated. In 1848, Owen published his "Arche-
type and Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton,” in which
he has done immense service by giving to the Archetypal
Doctrine a scientific form, and by inventing an admirably
expressive terminology. In 1856, M'Cosh published his
"Typical Forms and Special Ends in Creation," in which
1 "Life of Goethe," vol. ii., p. 161.
320
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
he seeks, as his main object, to show, and, as it seems to
me, triumphantly, that modifications of or departures from
the Archetype are telic. But I shall recur to this.
Meantime, observe what our proposition is. It is this:
Every bone of every vertebrate animal is copied, with
more or less of closeness, from some part of an Archetypal
Vertebra. The simple fact that animals differing from
one another so much, e. g., as the trout, and toad, and
turtle, and viper, and eagle, and mouse, and whale, and
man, are nevertheless referable to one and the same class,
viz., the Vertebrate, shows that there is some Idea, Plan,
Type, Form, common to them all. That common Form
is the Vertebral Idea; hence they are called Vertebrates.
It does not need the practised eye of one initiated in the
mysteries of Comparative Anatomy to detect the general
resemblance between the skeletons of these various animals.
What deceives us is that which is imposed on the frame-
work of the animal, such as flesh, skin, feathers, shell, fur,
scales. Remove all the soft parts from the skeletons of a
man, a dog, an ostrich, a lizard, a salmon, leaving only the
bony framework, and even an unprofessional will perceive
a general resemblance. The skeleton of a creeping infant
is like that of a quadruped; the skeleton of a man recum-
bent is like that of a fish. The penguin is a bird; yet its
wings remind us of the fins of a fish; its wings and feet, of
a quadruped; its erect posture, of a man. These exam-
ples are enough to show us that a common Idea per-
vades the Vertebrate Kingdom: and that Idea is the
Vertebra. Accordingly, as Schleiden has constructed an
Archetypal Leaf and Plant, which Plant is but the Leaf
repeated and modified for specific purposes, so Owen
has constructed an Archetypal Vertebra and Skeleton,
which Skeleton, in its turn, is but the Vertebra repeated
APPENDIX.
321
and modified to meet special requirements. Not that
this Archetypal Vertebra or Skeleton has an actual, ob-
jective existence in the world of matter: it is conceived
to be the Primal, Ideal Form, from which every actual
vertebra and skeleton is a figuration. And this Ideal Form
or Archetype, as is evident from a glance at Owen's dia-
grams, is common to the skeleton of the Fish, the Reptile,
the Bird, and the Mammal. Yet the modifications of the
Archetypal Vertebra, to meet the distinct needs of differ-
ent animals, are endlessly varied. How different, e. g., are
the fins of fishes, the wings of birds, the forelimbs of quad-
rupeds, the arms of man! Nevertheless, they are homo-
logues, i. e., the same structural organ under a variety of
figures. According to Sir Charles Bell, "the bat's wing is
a highly-organized hand." The horse has one finger, the
ox two, the rhinoceros three, the hippopotamus four, the
elephant five. And the Vertebral Idea is common to them
all. And it is true of the entire skeleton of each. It
is asserted that ninety per cent. of the bones of the hu-
man skeleton have their namesakes or homologues in the
skeletons of all vertebrates. That is to say: the Arche-
typal Form is one; the figurations are practically count-
less. And it has been so from the beginning, when the
first Ganoid darted in the Silurian Sea. The Archetypal
Vertebra has been the ideal, initial, potential, invariable,
common Form; the actual bone has been a modified,
specialized, telic figuration.
From Man.
Our last illustration we take from
the realm of Man.
The Ideas of Space and Time and Cause; the axioms.
of Geometry and Mechanics and Psychology; the Ethical
Intuitions; the unconscious, automatic Formulas of Life:
what are these but Archetypal Ideas or Forms? All
322
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
thought and sentiment and purpose crystallize, or rather
move, about a few axiomatic axes. Axioms are, so to
speak, the Archetypal Vertebræ of all thinking and feeling
and willing and acting. What simplicity of Plan! What
infinitude of detail!
Profundity of An-
cient Utterances.
I have thus endeavored to show, by
specimen illustrations, that all creation
is modeled after a few simple Plans.
How significant, in light of this Doctrine, are some of the
utterances of antiquity! E. g., of Bacon, when he said:
"Forms are the True Objects of Knowledge." Of the
Mediæval Realists, when they affirmed: "The Class exists.
before the Individual." Of the author of the Epistle
to the Hebrews, when he wrote: "Through faith we per-
ceive that the world was framed by the Word of God;
so that not from the things which appear was made that
which is seen : that is to say, the visible world is
modeled after an invisible. Of Aristotle, when he assert-
ed: "Forms are as necessary to the Universe as Matter."
Of Plato, when he declared: "God is the Maker of
Forms." Of David, when he sang: "My form was not
hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, was curi-
ously wrought in the depths of the earth: Thine eyes
saw my unformed substance, and in Thy book were all
my members written; day by day were they fashioned,
when there was none of them."
وو
Archetypes the Ba-
sis of Classification.
And we may bless the Creator that
He was pleased to construct the universe
after a few, simple Plans. For it is the
fact that there are Archetypal Forms which makes scien-
tific classification possible. There are two methods of
classification: the artificial, which groups according to in-
cidentals; and the natural, which groups according to
APPENDIX.
323
essentials. It is the figure which is incidental; it is the
Form which is essential. The Archetypal Form is com-
mon to an indefinite, practically infinite number of figures,
and so is the characteristic of each. In fact, Type and
Character, TÚTos and xарактýр, are synonymous, meaning
impress, mark, sign, and so characteristic. Accordingly,
it is the recognition of the Archetypal Form which is the
basis of a natural, scientific, true classification. Precisely
because Cuvier was dominated by the Idea of a Vertebra,
he was able to group Fish and Reptile and Bird and Mam-
mal into one class—the Vertebrate. Without Archetypal
Forms, men might have known heterogeneous multa, but
not homogeneous multum. With Archetypal Forms, men,
not knowing multa, yet may know multum. For Arche-
typal Forms assort and label classes; and classes may
comprise countless individuals. The Final Cause of
Archetypes, then, so far as man is concerned, is to make
possible for him classification, generalization, induction,
science: a knowledge of generals, ever growing more
and more inclusive. Archetypes, therefore, are them-
selves telic. They are for man's help, and so, through
man's help, for God's glory.
Variations from
Archetypes Telic.
In treating our Thesis, I have had
repeated occasion to allude to the fact
that departures from Archetypal Forms
are telic that is to say, with view to special exigencies.
In fact, the subject of this Lecture is Archetypal Forms
and Telic Figurations. Let me, then, briefly discuss the
doctrine of Telic Adjustments. In doing this, let me
draw my first illustration from the Vegetable World. Let
us start with a plant at its germination. The first thing
which the embryo needs is nourishment. This is provided
in the cotyledons or seed-leaves, which inclose the embryo,
324
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
and which usually form the chief bulk of the seed, as in
the pea, almond, acorn, etc. The leaf-figure of these co-
tyledons is often very marked: e. g., the bean. In fact,
we call them seed-leaves. Thus the cotyledon is the Ar-
chetypal Leaf modified for purposes of embryonic nour-
ishment: it has become a nursing leaf. But now our plant
is above-ground. Yet it still needs nourishment, though
of a different kind and on a larger scale; it needs air,
light, warmth, moisture, etc. And for these purposes the
stem-leaves, or leaves in the common use of the term, are
a perfect contrivance. Observe how their arrangement
follows the law of the Spiral: an arrangement which
allows the largest exposure of leaf-surface: e. g., the fa-
mous Washington Elm at Cambridge, averaging an annual
production of 700,000,000 leaves, exposes, as a result of
the Spiral arrangement, 200,000 square feet, or about five
acres, of foliage. Thus aërial leaves are deviations from the
Archetypal Leaf for purposes of nourishment by exposure
to air, light, and wet. But our growing plant must not be
selfish, living for itself alone: it must provide for succes-
sors-it must be parental. Observe how this is effected.
Contract the distance between the leaves as spirally ar-
ranged along the stem, by shortening their common axis,
and you bring these leaves together into substantially the
same plane, so that they appear as a series of concentric
rings or whorls: that is to say-a flower. And the flower
is the reproductive apparatus. Yet its various parts are
but modifications of the Archetypal Leaf. Even an un-
professional calls sepals and petals flower-leaves. Thus
floral leaves are variations of the Archetypal Leaf for pur-
poses of reproduction. And so every part of a plant,
bark, bract, tendril, spine, pitcher, fly-trap, scale, etc., is a
modification of the Archetypal Leaf for some specific end,
APPENDIX.
325
e. g., nourishment, protection, climbing, etc. Again: Let
me illustrate from Vertebrate Anatomy. The Archetype,
or Fundamental Form, is the Vertebra. This Fundamen-
tal Form may be modified for a thousand different and
special ends, e. g., for purposes of swimming, creeping,
burrowing, climbing, walking, flying, grasping, support-
ing, hearing, masticating, etc., etc. It was this fact of telic
modification, or adjustment to specific ends, which fur-
nished Cuvier with that master principle by which he was
enabled to reconstruct in such large and wonderful meas-
ure the Pre-Adamite world. A fossil bone was brought
before him; he observed its shape and processes; he asked
what these things meant; the answer was the reconstructed
animal. In brief: the doctrine of Final Causes was the
key to his magnificent success. And here it was that he
came into collision with St.-Hilaire. M. Soret, in his
"Supplement to Eckermann's Conversations with Goethe,"
tells a story quite in point:
(6
Monday, August 1, 1830.-The news of the Revolution of July
reached Weimar to-day, and set every one in commotion. I went in
the course of the afternoon to Goethe. 'Now,' exclaimed he, as I
entered, 'what do you think of this great event? The volcano has
come to an eruption: everything is in flames!' 'A frightful story,'
I answered; ‘but what could be expected otherwise under such no-
toriously bad circumstances, and with such a ministry, than that the
whole would end in the expulsion of the royal family?' 'We do not
appear to understand each other, my good friend,' said Goethe: 'I
am not speaking of those people, but of something quite different; I
am speaking of the contest, so important for Science, between Cuvier
and Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, which has come to an open rupture in the
Academy.'
No wonder that Eckermann was astonished; yet he
ought not to have been. The battle between St.-Hilaire
1 Lewes's "Life of Goethe," vol. ii., pp. 442, 443.
326
STUDIES IN THE CREATIVE WEEK.
and Cuvier was a battle of Ideas; and Ideas are the most
real of things. St.-Hilaire championed the Doctrine of
Analogies, or Unity of Plan in Nature: Cuvier championed
the Doctrine of Final Causes, or Purpose in Nature. St.-
Hilaire said: "I take care not to ascribe to God any in-
tention I observe facts merely, and go no further: I am
content to be the historian of what is." Cuvier said:
"Whatever exists has a purpose assigned it: every bone,
joint, process, has a meaning. I must not only observe
what is I must also ask what the is is for." Thus ask-
ing, that imperial Genius succeeded in re-creating, in large
measure, out of torsos and fossil bones, the pre-Adamite
animal world.
Summary.
While, therefore, the Theory of Ar-
chetypal Forms demands a Planning
Creator, the Theory of Telic Figurations demands a
Planning Adjuster. What Mr. Darwin calls Natural Se-
lection, I would call God's Telic Adjustment, configuring
the Archetypal Form to a special need. It is not, as the
evolutionists hold, that the pickerel was transformed by
vertebral metamorphosis into the tortoise, and the tortoise
into the owl, and the owl into the gorilla, and the gorilla
into Adam. It is that pickerel, tortoise, owl, gorilla,
Adam, are modifications of the Archetypal Vertebra for
specific purposes. God as Creator conceived the Archety-
pal Form: God as Arranger-whether directly, by a pres-
ent, active volition, or indirectly, by natural laws of His
own appointing, it matters not-evolves figurations indefi-
nitely various, adjusting them to necessities as occasioned
by new conditions: and this along the ideal axis of the
Archetypal Vertebra.
Reviewing, then, the Creative Week
Τύπος καὶ Τέλος. as a system of Archetypal Forms, and
APPENDIX.
327
surveying the organic structures of to-day as a system of
Telic Figurations, be it ours to join with the four Liv-
ing Creatures and the four-and-twenty Elders of the Apo-
calypse, in falling down before Him Who sitteth on the
throne, and worshiping Him Who liveth for ever and ever,
and casting our crowns before the throne, saying: "Thou
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power;
for Thou createdst all things, and by reason of Thy will
they are, and were created" (Rev. iv.).
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever
shall be, world without end. Amen.
INDEX OF TOPICS.
PAGE
PAGE
Altruist the true
Africa and Europe contrasted.
Air: the symbol of Holy Spirit...
Allotropy sheds light on Palingenesis. 289
Altruism: the true.
•
52
112
picture of....
112
traditions of...
Animals: Creator's delight in making... 161
Charisms: the Spirit's..
emergence of……………
fecundity of...
10 Causes: measured by effects..
Chaos organized by breath of God..
original form of matter.
39
51
48
49
49
115
•
have "souls".
issue of fifth and sixth days.
moral meaning of....
•
157 Charter: man's original..
171 Cherubim: significance of
163 Christ and Church: a unity.
150 Christ: God in articulation.
190
167
238
..
181
162 sq.
His mission, a restoration of Image.. 186
morphology of...
317
His nature threefold...
181
perhaps immortal..
166
the Archetypal man..
193
succession of, a progress.
157
the Image of God..
179
Anno Domini: the phrase a testimony
the Light of the world.
78
to Christ..
152
the Nexus of heaven and earth…….
96
Anthropology..
.183, 194
the Parable speaker.....
28
Anthropomorphism
65
the Shadow of God...
77
Antediluvian patriarchs: largely cotem-
the true Adam..
25
porary..
10
the true Altruist
112
Aqueous Vapor: weight of..
86
• •
the true Bread..
26
Archetype: definition of..
306
the true Bridegroom..
236
Archetypes: final cause of.
323
•
the true Language.
213
variations from, telic………..
323
the true Prometheus
78
·
Archetypal Forms: the Creator's ideas. 306
the true Sabbath..
272
•
Architecture: three, basis of ..
310
the true Sun....
152
Arithmetic three, basis of....
308
Christianity: the true meridian.
152
Astrology: the false and the true..
148
Church: Christ's second self.
239
Astronomic difficulties...
• ·
67, 139
Nature's real Lord...
198
•
Authority: birth of....
190
Parousia: the time of her bridal..
241
Axioms, archetypal vertebræ of man..
322
...
the true Body..
25
the true Bride
236
Bible not a scientific book, yet impli-
cates scientific truths..
twofold nature and Scripture.
Body: the present and future.
Breath of God: meaning of.
organizer of chaos.
• •
the true Moɔn…….
152
91
the true Pharos...
SO
·
14, 29
290 Coast-lines and civilization..
52 Correspondence: doctrine of..
51 Creation: a miracle...
Classification: two methods of....
822
104
24
42
330
INDEX OF TOPICS.
PAGE
PAGE
Creation: an origination, not a formation 38
Firmament: meaning of..
of...…….
86
• •
a problem for faith..
a question of the times.
a summons to worship..
dissolution of...
final cause of...
measured by weight rather than bulk 33
42
22
Form and Figure: discriminated...... 803
Forests: plea in behalf of……….
128
45
Fourth Commandment in its letter,
282
Jewish.
256
44
Franconia Profile..
174
Fructification: parable of..
135
not a failure..
the expectant.
the future of.
• •
the groaning..
289
Future Life: a present inspiration..... 291
174
281
Genesis of Things: a fascinating prob-
•
170
lem.....
13
87
itation...
180
•
87
Creative Week: chief point of modern
assault..
divided into twin triads
moral meaning of....
retrospect of.
•
Geology confirms Mosaic record.. 102, 158
14, 22
rests on story of emergent lands.... 102
138 Geometry: three, the basis of...
24 Germination: parable of.....
273" God-said: " an anthropomorphism
Crystallography: three, the basis of…….. 307
Dead Sea why it does not overflow....
Deity apprehensible only through med-
Design: shown in evaporation..
of Moses, the Logos of John.
God: cannot contradict Himself.
is light....
D.
308
132
65
66
15, 91
72
Goethe dying exclamation of.
82
question of plagiarism...
318
Golden age: the true..
220
Differentiation: essential to individuali-
Greatness does not depend on bulk..... 148
ty..
108
10S
288
285
111
286
218
•
emergence of...
201
220
39
166
104
•
88
·
39
123, 160
the condition of life..
Dissolution: not annihilation..
suddenness of...
Duty: birth of...
Earth the new...
Eden: a parable of the soul…..
a topographical problem.
the heavenly.
Effects: proportional to their causes...
Egypt: worship of animals in.
Europe and Africa: contrasted..
Evaporation argues a designer.
• • •
possibly work of second day
Scriptural representations of..
vastness of..
Evolution: does not account for weight
of universe.
hypothesis of..
S6
the basis of triumph.
the die of race-unity.
Immortality: birth of...
86 Inbreathing, God's: meaning of...
Incarnation: God's obscuration and rev-
Heaven: a locality as well as a character 287
etymology of...
92
Heavens, the new.
286
elementally identical with present... 287
phenomenally different from present. 287
Identity: consists in form, not figure
200 Image of God: defaced, not effaced....
meaning of...
305
•
• •
185
179
Imageship divine: man's discretive pe-
culiarity.
189
Imageship: meaning of.
179
restored in Christ.
186
•
87
196
195
214
188
elation.
77
Indians problem of...
204
implies involution.
39
Individuality: birth of.
106
parable of.....
133
secret of character..
109
"Ex nihilo nihil fit".
39
sense of, a growth.
108
•
Excelsior: summons of the sky.
98
Individualization: purpose of...
117
Industry: birth of...
208
Figurations from forms, telic..
303
condition of civilization..
204
INDEX OF TOPICS.
331
100
[ • = D •
•
105
•
C
207
207
209
208
146
324
117
•
•
59
107
55, 120
68
73
Inspiration: not omniscience
PAGE
142
Instinct and reason: relative terms..... 164
Intermaxillary bone: Goethe's discovery
of...
317
Karens tradition of man's origin...... 187
Labor, dignity of: meaning of phrase... 206
Lands distribution of, beneficent..
emergence of...
moral meaning of distribution.
Language: birth of..
...
man's most wonderful faculty.
103
origin of, a fascinating problem.. .. 208
the bridge between man and man... 209
tremendous power of..
weds thought and thought in sphere
of matter.
Latitude and longitude: method of cal-
culating...
Leaf: the archetypal.
Life: a duel of ego and non-ego.
begins chaotically
•
Guyot's definition of...
origin of...
•
Light blessedness of...
essence of, unknown.
•
會
​Man: God's inbreathing.
+
greater than Sabbath.
PAGE
187
259
217
190
has in himself Forbidden Tree....
his authority over Nature..
his formal superiority to woman..... 225
his incomparable dignity..
194, 306
his nature a Cooperative Society..... 110
needs Sabbath for religious nature... 255
needs Sabbath for secular nature.... 252
not King, but Viceroy..
-
indissoluble...
192
not naturally immortal..
216
the image of Christ..
183
three, the basis of..
308
Mankind figuration from Christ, the
Archetypal Form..
193
meaning of....
196
Marriage: a Divine institution..
234
Marriage ceremony: should be reli-
gious.
235
Marriage: earthly, a type of heavenly.. 236
235
•
takes precedence of every other hu-
man relation..
235
the aegis of our homes.
235
Matter: not inherently evil.
286
original condition of...
49
•
latent in character..
• ·
moral meaning of
•
and matter..
possibly intermediate between spirit
symbol of Church.
the first, chemical
•
• •
75
our training-school for eternity
unlikely to be annihilated..
287
• D ·
•
283
72
Mechanics: three, the basis of...
310
Monogamy: the law of the two Edens.. 240
74
Morphology: animal...
315
75
vegetable....
312
67 Mosaic Code: its care for animals.
167
the symbol of God..
72
Mosaic Record: antiquity of...
9
Logos of John: the "God-said" of Moses
Luminaries alternate day and night... 143
beneficence of their arrangement.... 149
emergence of....
give notations of time..
66
chief point of modern assault..
14
•
grandeur of......
13
language of phenomenal..
19
142
•
moral meaning of...
24
• ·
•
145
146
150
•
150
• •
•
give notations of space.
guides to Christ...
moral meaning of...
Man and Woman: community of....... 228
diversity of...
essential unity of..
mutually essential.
Man: basis of Sabbath.
emergence of…………
.
Natural Selection: Christianity reverses
doctrine of.
117
Nature: a Bible..
14
231
and Scripture correspondent.
24
•
•
225
knowledge of, progressive..
16
233
Nebular Hypothesis: confirms Mosaic
252
Record..
50, 67, 90
178
New Heavens and Earth..
286 $7.
a renovation, not absolute creation... 288
God's image in secondary reflection.. 185
Moses not necessarily the author.
twofold...
9
+
*
176
332
INDEX OF TOPICS.
305
•
PAGE
New Heavens and Earth antedate the
present in Divine purpose.......
291
elementally identical with present... 287
identical with present in form, differ-
ent in figure..
phenomenally different from pres-
Sabbath: a means, not an end…………
PAGE
260
change of day a tremendous revolution 270
changed from seventh day to first... 269
Christ's doctrine of....
251
Jewish, classed by Paul with ceremo-
nial observances.
258
ent……….
259
the true Holy Land.
292
·
legislation, proper sphere of..
made for man…….
254
• ·
252
Nouns
the first words..
208
objections to author's view.
267
· •
question, how to meet..
269
Ocean: primeval, the basis of Geology.. 102
the change of day a testimony to
Oceans: economy of...
103
Christ's resurrection..
271
Oken question of plagiarism.
318
detent of life's machinery.
253
Order birth of....
47
the three great..
251
“Our Image" (Gen. i. 26): the imperial
the true method of keeping.
264
· ·
plural...
184
Satisfaction: the coming...
198
Oxygen the world-builder, possibly the
Science and Religion: coming bridal of. 151
world-destroyer.....
285
Palingenesis...
172, 288 sq.
Science: relations of, to Revelation
confirms coming Dissolution.
ministry of...
14
282
91
the cheer of the Apostolic Age....... 296
the secret of holy living.
the secret of Paul's career.
Paradise: capacity of, latent in man………. 218
298
297
Parallelisms of Creative Week..
138
•
Scripture and Nature correspondent..
Scripture: knowledge of progressive...
Seven: the Scriptural number...
Seventh day: sanctified.
Shechinah
24
17
248
250
·
74
Plants: emblematic of man.
130
"man the true "
.. 189
...
emergence of.......
•
119
Sky: ancient conception of..
84
frequent Scriptural allusions to...... 182
emergence of.....
$5
moral meaning..
130
Moses's account of pictorial.
122
LJ •
purpose of..
127
Scriptural representations of..
suggests human aspirations and Di-
vine Perfections..
84
92
Poet: definition of..
•
170
Sleep: necessity of...
14
·
birth of....
Probation: a possible blessing
necessary to character.
•
·
217
Society: three, the basis of...
310
216
Sociology: two extremes of
112
•
217
an Eden to be tilled
218
Race-Unity imageship the die of..
195
Rainfall: annual quantity of..
86
Soul common to animals and men
Species: an abstract term..
Specialization: characteristic of develop-
164
[]
123
• •
Reason and Instinct: relative terms.... 164
ment...
108
Reconstruction: the coming.
•
•
285
Spirit: man's discretive peculiarity
.. 189
of Nature..
Regeneration: necessity of..
Resurrection-body: atomically identical
with present, but molecularly dif
ferent
134
Spirit of God; meaning of phrase.
52
288
organizer of chaos..
51
organizer of humanity.
60
Survival of the Fittest: Christianity re-
290
verses doctrine of..
117
identical with present in form, but
•
different in figure..
Resting: the Creator's..
Restitution....
Revelation: relations, of to Science....
14 Traditions: origin of prehistoric..
305
Third Day: providential character of... 129
246 Three an archetypal number.
808
172, 220, 285 | Time: the great expositor.
18
1
10
·
INDEX OF TOPICS.
333
PAGE
PAGE
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil:
meaning of....
Tree of Life: meaning of..
Trees significance of..
Triads of Creative Week..
•
•
Weight of the universe..
35
84
Woman and Man: community of………….. 228
216
the true measure of matter...
•
•
215
214
•
138
Triumph imageship the basis of....... 196
diversity of
·
·
essential unity of..
Woman: emergence of..
231
225
223
Triumphal entry: the true....
197
Trusteeship: birth of.
205
Truth: indefinitely expansible..
91
essential equality with man.
formal inferiority to man..
man's second self...
227
• •
225
•
•
228
Unity and unit discriminated..
106, 232
Woman's Rights: false views of.... 227, 233
Woman Suffrage: question of..
230
effectiveness of......
109
of race, imageship the secret of...
Universe: a whispering gallery....
Woman: the story of, a Divine para-
195
ble...
222
211
Words: immortality of.
211
origin of, a fundamental question...
origin of, a legitimate question.
practically infinite...
32
nouns the first....
208
39
our judges.....
209
37
revealers of character...
212
Vegetable Morphology..
312
the manes of past centuries.
208
Vertebra: the archetypal..
320
Work: man's normal condition..
203
•
Visions: God's ancient method of in-
the cure of pauperism..
204
•
struction...
21
Worship of Light..
70
INDEX OF SCRIPTURES.
Genesis i. 1...
Genesis i. 2..
Genesis i. 3-5..
Genesis i. 6-9...
Genesis i. 9, 10..
Genesis i. 11-13...
Genesis i. 14-19..
Genesis i. 20.
Genesis i. 24.
Genesis i. 26, 27…..
Genesis i. 26-31.
Genesis i. 28..
PAGE
82 Job xxvi. 13…….
47, 68 | Job xxxi. 26–28..
65 Job xxxii. 8...
83 Job xxxiii. 4..
•
100 | Job xxxviii. 19, 20..
119 Job xxxviiì. 31–33.
138
PAGE
52
70
53
56, 58
73
•
•
94
165 Psalm viii. 5………
·
194
Genesis ii. 1-3.
Genesis ii. 5-22.
Genesis ii. 7...
165 Psalm viii. 6–9…….
176 Psalm xvii. 15...
177 Psalm xix. 1-4.
204 Psalm xxiv. 7-10.
245 Psalm xxxiii. 6.
·
191
198
147
197
•
53
*
178
Psalm xxxvi. 9……
78
52, 165, 176
Psalm xlv....
236
•
•
[ • •
Exodus xv. 8...
Exodus xx. 1, 2..
Exodus xx. 8-11..
Exodus xx. 12...
Exodus xxiii. 19.
Exodus xxxi. 12-17.
Leviticus xxii. 28.
•
Deuteronomy xxii. 6, 7.
Deuteronomy xxv. 4..
Genesis ii. -20..
Genesis ii. 16, 17.
Genesis ii. 18-25.
Genesis ii. 19, 20..
Genesis iii. 8..
Genesis iii. 19…….
Genesis iii. 22-24.
Genesis ix. 6..
Genesis xiii. 14-17.
Exodus iii. 13-15.
Exodus xiv. 21…….
Psalm civ. 1, 2……….
216 Psalm civ. 29, 30.
185 Psalm cxviii, 9.
292 Psalm cxxvii. 2.
Psalm cxxxiii. 1.
216 Psalm cxxxix. 14-16..
52 Psalm cxxxix. 15, 16...
52
199
Psalm xlvii. 11………
79
216 Psalm lxviii, 32–34..
94
222
Psalm xc. 1-4....
71
190, 209
Psalm xci. 1...
78
52
Psalm xcii. 12–14.
136
188
74
•
53
254
•
224
•
107
• •
56
...
301
257 Proverbs iv. 18..
·
250
Proverbs x. 11.
257
Proverbs xv. 4...
•
167
Proverbs xvi. 24.
79
210
210
210
257 Proverbs xxv. 11..
167
•
Proverbs xxvi. 18, 19..
167 Canticles ii. 8-13...
210
210
•
243
• •
167 Canticles iv. 12–16 ..
220
INDEX OF SCRIPTURES.
335
PAGE
Isaiah xi. 6–9……….
173
Luke xiv. 1-6.
·
•
Isaiah xxxi. 1…….
254 Luke xx. 9-16.
Isaiah xxxv. 1.
218
Isaiah xl. 5.
John i. 1..
197
Isaiah li. 3..
219
John i. 9
·
►
Isaiah lviii. 6, 7.
264
John i. 51.
51...
Isaiah lxii. 4.
236
John iii, 6, 7
•
Isaiah lxv. 17..
289
John iii. 8...
•
John iv. 35-99
Jeremiah xxxi. 35
151 John v. 1–18………
Jeremiah xxxiii. 20-26.
151
John v. 17...
John vi. 32-58
•
•
Ezekiel xx. 12–20...
257
John vii. 21-24.
Ezekiel xxxvii. 1-10..
•
57
John x. 16……….
Ezekiel xli. 7....
93
John xiv. 2..
John xiv. 8-10..
Hosea vi. 6..
261
John xv. 1-10...
Zechariah iv. 6..
John xv. 5....
255
•
•
John xviii. 37
•
69 John xix. 30.
John xx. 22.
292
PAGE
262
193
66
78
97
134
53
806
263
245, 251
26
263
240
116
183
135
240
183
53, 247
53
Malachi iv. 2……….
Matthew v. 5……..
•
Matthew vi. 9..
Matthew xii. 1-8
Matthew xii. 9-14..
Matthew xii. 36, 37..
Matthew xii. 34-40.
Matthew xiii. 43.
Matthew xix. 3-6...
Matthew xix, 28..
96 Acts ii. 2-4.
261 | Acts iii. 21.
262
•
Acts xxii. 11 ..
212
• •
53
186, 220
77
118 Romans v. 12-21.
221
76 Romaus viii. 19–23.
169
•
234
Romans viii. 21………..
76
•
•
288
Romans viii. 29..
187
+
Matthew xx. 16..
184 Romans xi. 16-24.
135
Matthew xxi. 1-10.
197 Romans xii. 2...
304
Matthew xxi. 33–43.
193 Romans xii. 4, 5...
240
Matthew xxii. 29…….
291 Romans xii. 6-8...
116
Matthew xxv. 1–10……….
240
Romans xiv. 4..
255
•
Matthew xxv. 10-12…….
243
Romans xiv. 5..
258
Matthew xxv. 14-30.
193
Romans xiv. 13
267
►
Matthew Xxxvi. 73...
214
1 Corinthians vi. 3.
306
1 Corinthians vi. 12..
266
Mark ii. 27, 23
252
1 Corinthians vi. 19..
189
Mark iv. 26–29.
27.62
Mark vii. 32-35
212
•
Luke i. 35
Luke iii. 8S
Luke vi. 44
Luke viii. 54, 55…….
Luke x. 7....
4
1 Corinthians xi. 8, 9...
1 Corinthians xi. 11, 12.
1811 Corinthians xii. 4–11..
195 1 Corinthians xii. 12-27..
127 1 Corinthians xii. 14-26.
53 1 Corinthians xiii. 9-11..
205 1 Corinthians xiii. 18..
225
233
115
D
25
114
239
219
Luke xi. 2
+
27
1 Corinthians xiv.
209
Luke xiii. 10-17..
262
1 Corinthians xv. 37-42.
290
Luke xiii. 14...
266
1 Corinthians xv. 45..
25
-;
336
INDEX OF SCRIPTURES.
PAGE
PAGE
2 Corinthians iii. 18..
•
2 Corinthians iv. 6..
2 Corinthians v. 1-4
2 Corinthians xi. 2, 3..
Galatians iii. 28...
Galatians iv. 1-7…….
Galatians v. 22, 23…….
Galatians vi. 7...
Ephesians ii. 20-22
Ephesians iv. 13..
Ephesians iv. 22-24.
Ephesians iv. 25..
Ephesians v. 25-43.
Philippians ii, 5-8
Philippians iii. 21.
Philippians iii. 21..
•
1981 Timothy vi. 15
78 1 Timothy vi. 16..
280
15...
77
216
•
236, 239
Hebrews i. 3..
77
Hebrews iv..
251
•
229
Hebrews xi. 3..
41
267 Hebrews xi. 8
822
136
184 James iii. 2-10..
210
James iii. 9……..
186
240
239 1 Peter ii. 13..
113
• •
•
•
187
112 2 Peter i. 5-7.
25, 237
2 Peter iii. 3–7.
2 Peter iii. 5...
136
282
• • • •
102
305
2 Peter iii. 10–13..
76
273, 305
Colossians i. 15....
Colossians i. 16, 17.
305 1 John i. 5.
1 John iii. 2…….
1941 John iii. 3.
67 1 John iii. 4.
·
·
72
75
298
• • •
+
217
·
Colossians ii. 9...
Colossians ii. 9, 10..
182
61
Colossians ii. 16, 17...
Colossians iii. 9, 10....
258, 267
187
Revelation 1. 6.
Revelation iii. 14.
Revelation iii. 20.
Revelation iv...
197
194
20……….
242
327
1 Thessalonians v. 1-5
1-5..
2 Thessalonians ii. 8.
285 Revelation iv. 8..
Revelation xii. 16.
53 Revelation xv. 28…….
175
196
298
2 Thessalonians iii. 10.
205
1 Timothy ii. 13.
1 Timothy v. 18.
Revelation xix. 6-9.
Revelation xxi. 1
225 Revelation xxi, 23
167 Revelation xxii. 5.
241
• ·
289
...
82
144
INDEX OF AUTHORS.
14
228
Adams, Mrs. Aspiration...
Agassiz: Divine Premeditation..
Immortality of Animals.
Aristotle Archetypal Forms.
Augustine: Origin of Church.
Origin of Universe.
Scripture inexhaustible.
· ·
Bacon: Archetypal Forms..
Atheism...
44
PAGE
98 Faber: Groans of Creation...
125
·
Galen His Life a Hymn...
168
322 Goethe: Theory of Plants.
238 Guyot: Physical Geography
Definition of Life…………
PAGE
170
81
313
105
107
28
322
Helwysse: Religious Liberty.
Herbert: Dignity of Toil....
255
•
206
44
242
The Writer's Prayer. …………….(see Preface)
Berkeley, Bishop: Course of Empire... 200
Bernard of Cluny : The Celestial Country 293
Bonar: Song of the Bride...
Bowring, Sir J.: Star of Bethlehem.... 151
Browne, Sir Thomas: His Source of Di-
vinity
Bulwer: Woman's Royalty.
Jesus, Son of Sirach: All Things double 28
Keble: "Two Worlds are Ours "
Kepler: Conclusion of "Harmony of
Worlds"
29
31
Lewes: Question of Plagiarism.
318
Butler, Bishop: Knowledge of Scripture
Unity of Nature..
Linnæus Theory of Plants..
817
•
812
progressive.....
Carlyle: The Tree Igdrasil ..
Chrysostom: The True Shechinah
Coleridge: Man's Culmination.
Plea for Animals……..
Copernicus
His Epitaph..
17
Longfellow: Immortality of Words.... 212
Lesson of Flowers.
137
Substance and Shadow...
29
214
189
Longinus: (Genesis i. 3)..
67
...
111
168
Macaulay: Tribute to Sabbath..
253
81
Milton: Apostrophe to Light..
74
Cowper: Plea for Animals..
Chaos....
49
168
Cutting Poem on Science..
126
Nature a Phonograph..
211
•
Prayer for Parousia.
175
• • •
.
Rest for Solitude.
255
Dana: Basement Laws true for all
Spirit of God...
59
Worlds.....
310
Draper: Beneficence of Sabbath..
252
Newcomb: The Coming Dissolution.... 284
Dryden St. Cecilia's Day.
311
Dscheladeddin: Aspiration..
98 Ovid: Chaos....
50
Eckermann: Citation from Diary.....
825
Plato: Archetypal Forms..
822
Emerson: Concords of Space and Time. 149
Plotinus: His Thanksgiving
286
15
338
INDEX OF AUTHORS.
PAGE
PAGE
Scott, Sir W.: Shechinah.
Growth of Soul...
Shakespeare: Castigating Rascals.
Hamlet's Sky...
Harmony of Worlds...
Ministry of Sleep..
...
Plea for the Jew…….
·
Ridiculousness of Tyranny...
74 Tennyson:" Flower in the crannied wall" 131
The Coming Dissolution.
The Witnessing Forest.
Undreamed Truths.
227
Future of Creation...
•
138
Glory of Distance...
97
God our Light
153
Growth of Light..
144
Peace of Golden Year..
•
165
The Bolted Door...
226
The Perfect Pair..
....
284
Vision of the Future..
213
Tyndall: Origin of Universe.
166
171
111
153
79
80
243
233
192
42
Shelley: Skylark..
93 Vaughan: Blessedness of Sabbath..
Smith, Horace: Ministry of Flowers.... 219 Virgil: "Felix qui potuit," etc....…………….
256
|
18
Spenser: Archetypal Forms...
307
Tennyson: Birth of Individuality.
...
Birth of Time...
Watts: The Blessed Hope...
108 Wolff: Theory of Plants....
72 Wordsworth: Origin of Soul…….
296
312
194
+
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THE
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CUNNINGHAM
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19
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EPIPHANIES
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natural properties, and as such capable of moving with supernatural celerity,
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same moment. Secondly, it was a period of intense excitement among the dis-
ciples; they had suddenly and most unexpectedly lost their beloved Master: so
absolutely were all their hopes crushed, that the thought did not occur to them
that they would ever see Him again: accordingly, His sudden reappearance was
to them a total, bewildering surprise: no wonder that under such circumstances
absolute harmony of separate accounts would have been almost impossible."
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>
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CHRIST IN MODERN LIFE.
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