REVIEWS. 
157 
they ciidosed poinlcd to a state of life and motion long passed away, and tlic 
baldness of absolute; sterility and the silence of tlic grave brooded o\'(!r all. 
* » « 'What a change is here ! The earth erst so green and brilliant is 
now a wilderness, and man himself, the glory of creation, has been withdrawn 
from the abodes he ocoipied 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 thmgs 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 
living soul.' Tiiere is an entire 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 all the earth, and all the creatures that inliabit it : blessed by God, \\ath 
the privilege of spreading abroad his race, and subduing the earth in all its 
regions to his ride. 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 ont of the dust 
of tlie 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 liim sustenance. Aud lastly, this 
contrast is manifested in his state, for he is not yet a king like the pre-adamite. 
* * * It was not luitU 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 
in Eden * * not provided by nature, but planted by God himself, having 
been retrieved by s])ecial providence from the ruin that stiU pervaded the 
world. this favoured spot, as he looked he beheld the in- 
stantaneous production, or gradual but wondrous development of ' every tree 
that was pleasant to the eye and good for food, the tree of bfe 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 liim ; to keep and dress the garden in which he 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). Naj--, 
more, even this restramed freedom was still further Kmited, for even from 
among the trees within his reach was one special reseiTation made. * * * 
May we surmise that the earliest type of man had abused his freedom, and 
tliat the Creator saw good to withhold from his successor the risk of a proud 
inflation and a self dependence which had proved too much for him." 
To this follows the creation of Eve. " The six days' creation had brouglit 
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 drew her beiug from what had akeady 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 
