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were we to repeat the same flight, and be again wafted through the same distance, it is not improbable that we should behold a new repetition of the same sublimity and glory. In this manner immensity appears, in a sense, to be peopled with worlds innumerable, constituting the boundless empire of Jehovah. How amazing, then, must be the power and greatness of Him who not only telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names,' but who with a word spake them all into being !-Dwight.

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aid of the Herschelian telescope, in so small a part of the heavens that, supposing this part to be sown no thicker than the rest, the same telescope would reach at least 75 millions in the whole sphere. Every one of these is rationally concluded to be the sun and centre of a system of planetary and cometary worlds. Beyond this it is not improbable that, were we transported to the most distant of the visible stars, we should find there a firmament expanding over our heads, studded in the same manner with stars innumerable. Nay, 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 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. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

God did not first create these lights, and then place them in the firmament, as He made man out of Paradise, and afterwards put him into it; but He made and placed them

both at once; with His own hand He lighted up at once innumerable suns, and rolled around them innumerable worlds.-Dwight.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 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. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 28 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

God's blessing is necessary in order to the continuance of the creatures. Life is a wasting thing; its strength is

not the strength of stones; it is a candle that will burn out, if it be not first blown out.-M. Henry.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

The transmission and distinct preservation of the several species affords an admirable proof of the Divine wisdom and providence, and is too little considered and reflected on. It is most wonderful that, whilst there is such a collision in this natural world

-such antipathies and contrarieties in the natures of things-their natures are yet continued and preserved entire from being confounded with each other, through so many thousands of years.Howe.

26 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 air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

'Let us make man,' &c. This, according to Mr. Howe, is the language of self-excitation, and contains an allusion to human methods; as when men intend this or that work, they often use somewhat of self-excitation; in order thereto they do accingere se, they apply themselves to the action they intend, and, as it were, recollect their strength, that is now to be exerted and put forth. So God is here introduced speaking, 'Come now, let us go to work afresh, and make that creature man, even the resemblance of Ourselves.'

As lord of the creation, man sustained a political resemblance to his Maker. In regard to the natural powers with which he was endowed, such as reason, understanding, liberty, conscience, &c., he sustained a natural resemblance to Him. But it was in the original rectitude of his moral character that the chief resemblance

the 'image'-resided; and it was this, pre-eminently, which was lost by sin.

-L.

Mr. Howe has ingeniously shown that, by an analysis of the several parts of the nature of man, we may discover a manifest resemblance to the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead.

'I remember once,' says Andrew Fuller, 'on seeing certain animals which approached near to the human form, feeling a kind of jealousy (shall I call it ?) for the honour of my species. What a condescension, then, thought I, must it be for the eternal God to stamp His image upon man!'

Man was evidently formed to be religious. His assimilation to his Maker shows this, according to the maxim, 'Like associates with like.' Hence we may with certainty determine that ' religion is his great business, whatever else be neglected, superseded, or postponed.'-L.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Mankind throughout the whole world, with some rare and very limited exceptions, enjoy an undisputed dominion and superiority. There is no animal, however powerful, but man can conquer. There is no creature

that attains to an equality with him, none that acquires an analogous dominion over any other species. There is no subduing of one race to another. -Dr. Redford.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 80 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 81 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

V. 31. 1. All things were according to the plan of the Divine mind. 2. Nothing was useless, or spoiled in the making. 3. All things answered the purposes intended by them. 4. Everything was perfect in its kind. 5. All things as a mirror displayed the perfections of God.-L.

I cannot tell by what logic we call a toad, a bear, and an elephant ugly, they being created in those outward shapes and figures which best express the actions of their inward forms, and having passed that general visitation of God,

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CHAP. II.

THUS the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 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. 8 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which

God created and made.

The Divine rest was not a rest of weariness, but of complacency. And how blessed an imitation herein might there be of the blessed God Himself, who beheld His six days' works, and lo! they were all very good! So we may, in some degree of conformity to Him, finding our works to be in that sort good as that He will by gracious indulgence accept them as such, have our own sabbath,-a sweet and peaceful rest in our own spirits. Though we can pretend no higher than sincerity only, yet how sweet are the re

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flections of a well-instructed conscience upon that!-Howe.

A week filled up with selfishness, and the Sabbath stuffed full of religious exercises, will make a good Pharisee, but a poor Christian. There are many persons who think Sunday is a sponge with which to wipe out the sins of the week. Now, God's altar stands from Sunday to Sunday, and the seventh day is no more for religion than any other. It is for rest. The whole seven are for religion, and one of them for rest.-H. W. Beecher.

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

It is God's immediate work to communicate the first principles of things; but their growth is promoted

by the instrumentality of man.-A. Fuller.

But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

It is said that in the island of Ferro there exists a certain tree, from the leaves of which distils a quantity

of water sufficient to supply every living creature on the island. As there is neither spring, well, nor river in

this island, Providence has thus supplied this want. The branches of this wonderful tree are thick and extended. Every morning a cloud rises from the sea, which, being driven by the wind to the summit of the cliff on which the trees grow, by degrees settles on the trees, from the leaves and branches of which the water flows down into a

large stone reservoir to the quantity of many hogsheads. This singular phenomenon is attested by travellers, who affirm that they were eye-witnesses of the fact, and is only contradicted by one who, it is said, is no farther a philosopher than he is sceptical and incredulous.-Universal History.

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 living soul.

We now know from chemical analysis, that the animal body is composed, in the inscrutable manner called organization, of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, lime, iron, sulphur, and phosphorus. Now all these are material substances which, in their various combinations, form a very large part of the solid ground.-Dr. J. Pye Smith.

Imagination here presents to us the heavenly Potter at work. We see Him first collecting the clay; next arranging and tempering it; afterwards setting the wheel in motion, and then there gradually rises up before us the appearance of a perfect man; but it is cold and motionless, like a statue. The blood has not been made to circulate, the heart to beat, the lungs to play. The Divine Artist proceeds next to impart the vital principle: 'He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life' (or 'lives'), 'and man became a living soul.'-Dr. Payne.

Yes, reader, you are not only mortal, but immortal. Immortality! What a

word! what a thing! Did you ever revolve it? A deathless creature, an everlasting existence! Such is your soul. Eternal duration alone, apart from the consideration whether it is to be spent in torment or in bliss, is an awful idea. You are to live somewhere for ever. Should this matter be allowed to lie forgotten among the thousand unconsidered subjects? How can you help being anxious? Going on step by step to eternity, should you not pause, ponder, and say, ' Whither am I tending?' The rational course is either to disprove your immortality, or seriously to reflect upon it; either to persuade yourself that, though you live as a man, you shall die as a brute, or else to act as an immortal being. The careless infidel is more consistent than the unanxious nominal believer in revelation. For a man to express his belief that he is immortal, and yet to care nothing about immortality, is the most monstrous inconsistency in the universe.-J. A. James.

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground made the LORD God 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.

This paradise was the beautiful metropolis of a beautiful world.Dwight.

The tree of life' seems to have been a sacramental pledge of immortality; and by eating the fruit of it life and felicity were sealed to Adam, so long as he continued obedient. The 'tree of knowledge' might be thus

called, because that, by a prohibition of its fruit, a revelation was made to Adam of his Creator's will; of his own duty, interest, situation, and danger; of the consequences of his future conduct; and of the prescribed condition of life and death, happiness or misery; in which things his most interesting knowledge consisted. By ab

staining from this fruit the knowledge of good would be enjoyed; and by eating of it the knowledge of evil would be fatally introduced. It might also intimate that man should set boun

daries to his thirst for knowledge, and covet rather to know and obey the commands of God than to pry into unrevealed secrets.-Scott.

10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. 11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 18 And the name of the

second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 14 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.

Havilah had gold, and spices, and precious stones; but Eden had that which was infinitely better- the tree of life, and communion with God. So we may say of the Africans and In

dians; they have the gold, but we have the gospel. The gold of their land is good, but the riches of ours are infinitely better.-M. Henry.

15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

The garden of Paradise itself, although planted by the hand of God, had its proper cultivation been neglected, would speedily have become a desert.-Anon.

Man, even in Eden, was not to be idle. It is a stupid notion that happi

ness consists in slothful ease, or in having nothing to do. The idle, whether among the very rich or the very poor, are commonly among the most worthless and miserable of mankind. -A. Fuller.

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16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

The probation to which our first father was subjected strongly illustrates the benevolence of God. Man lived in the midst of abundance. The palate and the eye were alike gratified, and the wishes seemed to have nothing left to ask. One fruit only was forbidden; and this merely for the purpose of trying his fidelity. Had he been placed in hard and difficult circumstances, encircled by few enjoyments, exposed to great temptations, and the subject of ignorance and doubt concerning his duty, he would still have been indispensably bound to obey. But his real situation was the reverse of all this. In his circumstances obedience was most reasonable and easy,

and, being confined to a single point, he was enabled to summon all his watchfulness, resolution, and strength to this point only, to keep it supremely in view, and to guard against everything that might tempt him to transgress. Were an earthly parent to try the obedience of a child, and make his right to the inheritance of an estate to depend on the performance of his filial duty, such a mode of trying him would at once be pronounced as most reasonable and generous, and as strongly indicative of parental affection.-Dwight. I marvel, then, that even the infidel himself does not blush when he talks of the little sin' of eating the apple! Can any sin, I ask-even the sin of

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