136 



E. WALTER MAUNDER^ F.R.A.S., ON 



When He appointed the foundations of the earth. 

 Then I was by Him, as One brought up with Him : 

 And I was daily His delight, 

 Eejoicing always before Him ; 

 Eejoicing in the habitable part of His earth ; 

 And My delights were with the sons of men." (Proverbs 

 viii, 22-31.) 



Six times God uttered the creative word ; six times that 

 word was followed by the instant coming into existence of that 

 which liad been commanded. But when God beheld that which 

 He had made and saw that it was good, does it follow that, 

 could a man have been there to look on, there was anything 

 present which would have been apparent to his sight ; anything, 

 that is to say, that he could have recognized as an accomplish- 

 ment of the command ? Turn back to the text which I have 

 already quoted : " 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." Is not the Psalmist here enunciating a truth 

 that concerns much more than his own bodily existence ? If 

 this earth of ours had consciousness and spirit, as well as mass, 

 might it not repeat the very words of the Psalmist ? Might 

 not sun and moon and all the heavenly host join in the same 

 ascription and so with all the forms of life and energy ? 



And this, not only because God is all-knowing, foreseeing the 

 end from the beginning, and beholding the thing that is afar 

 off as if it were near ; but because He can perceive and gauge 

 the outcome of the hidden forces now secretly in operation. 

 To Him the far-off results are present, both because He is not 

 subject, as the creature is, to the limitations of time, and 

 because He sees the causes that are working towards the final 

 effect. When God spoke it was done, and God saw it, and saw 

 that it was good, for He had then put forth the power that 

 would accomplish His entire purpose. " So shall My word be 

 that goeth forth out of My mouth : it shall not return unto Me 

 void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall 

 prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah Iv, 11.) 



IX. — The Work of the Seven Days of Creation. 



The detailed examination of the work of the separate days of 

 creation is far too large a subject to be dealt with at the 

 conclusion of a paper, already inordinately long, yet I would 

 like to make a few brief suo-gestions — 



