THE FIRST CHAITER OF GENESIS. 



127 



It is no record of events that came within human experience ; 

 it is no inference from human speculation ; it is the word of 

 God Himself to man ; what is the message which He desires us 

 to hear ? 



IV. — Genesis I reveals seven truths concerning God. 



There are seven great truths, which, 1 believe, are taught in 

 this chapter : — 



1. That God is. 



2. That He Himself created all things. 



3. That He created all things, not in one act, l)ut in 



several. 



4. That He made man in His own image. 



5. That He gave man dominion over all the Earth. 



6. That He rested from creation on the seventh day. 



7. That He hallowed the seventh day. 



The lirst two of these truths are, I believe, accepted by all in 

 this room ; at least the Victoria Institute proclaims its " faith 

 in the existence of one Eternal God, Who in His Wisdom 

 created all things very good." 



But it is worth noting how these truths are taught and the 

 opposing errors condemned. Here it is that the third truth 

 becomes of importance, — that God created all things, not in one 

 act, but in several. There is no enunciation of a series of 

 dogmatic propositions, positive or negative : we are presented 

 instead with the record of a succession of facts ; facts of " history," 

 if we may extend the term " history " to include events before 

 the advent of man, events of which God Himself was the only 

 Narrator. 



But the bearing of these facts on theology and religion is of 

 transcendent weight. Mankind has worshipped the objects of 

 nature and the powers of nature, such as the broad expanse of 

 sky, the solid earth and restless sea, trees and plants and the 

 powers of vegetation, sun, moon and stars, and the varied forms 

 of animal life, or the spiritual essences that are supposed to 

 indwell them, but this polytheism receives its condemnation in 

 the first chapter of Genesis. Here we are told that all these 

 are not gods, but things ; " creatures of His hand," called into 

 existence by the word of His power. 



Not less definite is the condemnation of dualism ; the doctrine 

 of two opposing principles in creation, one good, the other evil. 

 There is but one Grod, and He has created all things very good. 



