THE FIRST CHAPTER OP GENESIS. 



139 



This was but the fourth day, and man had not yet been 

 created. Yet the Wisdom of God ah^eady was rejoicing in the 

 habitable part of His Earth, and His delights were with the 

 sons of men. For the greater light and the lesser light were 

 not only for signs and for days and years, they were also for 

 " seasons " ; that is to say, for the solemn assemblies for the 

 worship of God. 



A FIFTH DAY. — " And God said Let the w^aters bring forth 

 abundantly, the moving creature that hath life." This would 

 seem to imply, not the creation of new material, but rather the 

 raising of existing material to a higher plane of activity; in 

 other words, life was brought forth from non-living matter. 

 We have, as yet, no scientific experience of any change 

 of this kind, and we may well say concerning it, " This is the 

 finger of God"; it is pecuHarly His operation. But should 

 such experience be ours in the future, it is well that we should 

 remember that such a change is ah^eady chronicled here as 

 having taken place in the past. 



The sixth day. — " And God said Let Us make man in Our 

 image, and after Our likeness, and let them have dominion." 

 This was the word of God ; He spake and it was done ; He 

 did not create new material, but He called into existence then 

 and there the powers and conditions which shall lead up 

 to this glorious consummation. But it was not within a 

 period of twenty-four hours from the time of the speaking of 

 that word, nor yet for thousands of years to come after, that 

 the image of God was fully seen in a Man, Who was God 

 manifest in the flesh. And we still wait for the " dominion " 

 in its fulness ; " we see not yet all things put under Him." 



The seventh day. — " And God blessed the seventh day and 

 sanctified it." I would only note here that, to the senses of 

 man, there is no difference observable between the seventh day 

 and the other six ; the distinction between them does not lie 

 in the region of phenomena. Yet God has distinguished 

 between them, and He calls upon man to do the same, and man 

 is able to fulfil that command ; so that though one day is in 

 itself like the next, yet man can consecrate and keep holy the 

 seventh day, and make an essential difference between that and 

 the rest. And in so doing, man thus far fulfils the purpose of 

 his being, for he shows forth the image of God, " Who rested on 

 the seventh day from all the work which He had made, and 

 blessed the seventh day and sanctified it." 



