REVIEWS. 



157 



they enclosed pointed to a state of life and motion long passed away, and tlie 

 hal^ness of absolute sterility and tlie silence of the grave brooded over all, 



* * * What a change is"^ here ! The earth erst so green and brilliant is 

 novr a wilderness, and man himself, the glory of creation, has been withdrawn 

 from the abodes he occupied on this once blooming world ! 



" The ruin is complete indeed, but we must believe it to be only temporary : 

 the world awaits a new development of its Maker's power, and the preliminary 

 movements towards a state of things more excellent than ever are next 

 announced (chap, ii., v. 6, 7), ' There went up a mist from the earth, and watered 

 the whole face of the ground, 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 

 Hving soul.' There is an entii-e difference here between the pre-adamite and 

 Adam ; the former we have seen starting into being out of nothing, by a word, 

 complete at once in a twofold nature, and invested with power and dominion 

 over aU the earth, and all the creatures that inhabit it : blessed by God, with 

 the privilege of spreading abroad his race, and subduing the earth in aU its 

 regions to his rule. This second man is in all respects a contrast to the first — • 

 in his origin, for he is not created out of nothing, but formed out of the dust 

 of the ground, from which he learns a lesson of humility and dependence. 



* * * No plants or herbs, no leafy shades, no pleasant fruits at the moment 

 of his birth invited his admiration, or offered him sustenance. And lastly, this 

 contrast is manifested in his state, for he is not yet a kmg like the pre-adamite. 



* * * It was not until some time after he had been launched into existence 

 and made to feel his wants — made, perhaps, to cry to God for their supply — 

 that God gave him the happy home he needed * * in that garden eastward 

 ill Eden * * not provided by nature, but planted by God liimself, having 

 been retrieved by special providence from the ruin that still pervaded the 

 world. * * * In this favoured spot, as he looked he beheld the in- 

 stantaneous production, or gradual but wondi'ous development of ' every tree 

 that was pleasant to the eye and good for food, the tree of life also in the 

 midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.' * * * 

 His lot was to remain where God had placed him ; to partake of the bounties 

 provided for him ; to keep and dress the garden in which lie had found so 

 pleasant a home ; and to praise and glorify the God who made him. * * * 

 His predecessor had all the world for his possession; Adam neither enjoyed 

 nor coveted the same wide empire. * * * His food was bestowed by 

 special grant. * * * He was not permitted to be idle, for the duty was 

 imposed on him of keeping and dressing his little territory (v. 15). Nay, 

 more, even this restrained freedom was stiU further limited, for even from 

 among the trees within his reach was one special reservation made. * * * 

 May we surmise that the earliest type of man had abused his freedom, and 

 that the Creator saw good to withhold from his successor the risk of a proud 

 inflation and a self dependence wliich had proved too much for hini." 



To this follows the creation of Eve. " The six days' creation had brought 

 into the world a vast, but already extinct, array of animals ; * * but in this 

 new creation most of these types were * repeated in the new formed species, 

 generally of smaller and finer mould." The present animal creation, then, the 

 author regards as distinct from the previous one. And of Eve he continues : 

 " The female of the sixth day had been made by the same divine process as the 

 male. They were both ' created * * but here in a very special manner the 

 woman di'ew her being from what had ah-eady been formed. She was not 

 modelled from the dust like Adam, but derived both her body and her life from 

 him. ' And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man made he 

 woman, and brought her unto the man.' * * * Her introduction to the 



