Commentary on the Holy Bible

the emphatic j^^AJ/ is used. Now both these words are derived from the root aloha, he luorshipped, adored, was struck with astonishment, fear, or terror; and hence, he adored loith sacred horror and veneration, cum sacro horrore ac veneratione coluit, adoravit. — WiLMET. Hence ilahon, fear, veneration, and also the object of religious fear, the Deity, the supreme God, the tremendous Being. This is not a new idea; God was considered in the same light among the ancient Hebrews; and hence Jacob swears by the fear of his father Isaac, Gen. xxxi. 53. To complete the definition, Golius renders alaha, juvit, liberavit, et tutatus fuit, " he succoured, liberated, kept in safety, or defended." Thus from the ideal meaning of this most expressive root, we acquire the most correct notion of the Divine nature; for we learn that God is the sole object of adoration; that the perfections of his nature are such as must astonish all those who piously contemplate them, and fill with horror aU who w-ould dare to give his glory to another, or break his commandments; that consequently he should be loorshipped with reverence and religious fear; and that every sincere worshipper may expect from him help in all his weaknesses, trials, difiiculties, temptations, &c.; freedom from the power, guilt, nature, and consequences of sin; and to be supported, defended, and saved to the uttermost, and to the end.

Here then is one proof, among multitudes which shall be adduced in the course of this work, of the importance, utility, and necessity of tracing up these sacred words to their sources; and a proof also, that subjects which are supposed to be out of the reach of the common people may, with a little difliculty, be brought on a level with the most ordinary capacity.

Tn the beginning] Before the creative acts mena

6 And God said, ^ Let there be a J-J^:}- ™ firmament in the midst of the wa-

ters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

tioned in this chapter all was ETERNITY. Time signifies duration measured by the revolutions of the heavenly bodies: but prior to the creation of these • bodies there could be no measurement of duration, and consequently no time; therefore in the beginning must necessarily mean the commencement of time which followed, or rather was produced by, God's creative acts, as an effect follows or is produced by a cause.

Created] Caused existence where previously to this moment there was no being. The rabbins, who are legitimate judges in a case of verbal criticism on their own language, are unanimous in asserting that the word X13 bara expresses the commencement of the existence of a thing, or egression from nonentity to entity. It does not in its primary meaning denote the preserving or new forming thipgs that had previously existed, as some imagine, but cieation in the proper sense of the term, though it has some other acceptations in other places. The supposition that God formed all things out of a pre-existing, eternal nature, is certainly absurd, for if there had been an eternal nature besides an eternal God, there must have been two self-existing, independent, and eternal beings, which is a most palpable contradiction.

D'Oiyn HN eth hashshamayim. The word nx eth, which is generally considered as a particle, simply denoting that the word following is in the accusative or oblique case, is often understood by the rabbins in a much more extensive sense. " The particle HN," says Aben Ezra, " signifies the substance of the thing." The like definition is given by Kimchi in his Book of Roots. " This particle," says Mr. Ainsworth, " having the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet in it, is supposed to comprise the sum and substance of all.things." " The particle nx eth (says Buxtorf, Talmudic Lexicon, sub voce) with the cabalists is often mystically put for the beginning and the end, as A alpha and Q. omega are in the Apocalypse." On this ground these words should be translated, " God in the beginning created the substance of the heavens and the substance of the earth," i. e. the pri?7ia materia, or first elements, out of which the heavens and the earth were successively formed. The Syriac translator understood the word in this sense, and to express this meaning has used the word A^ yoth, which has this signification, and is very properly translated in \Valton's Polyglot, ESSE, cceli et esse term, " the being or substance of the heaven, and the being or substance of the earth." St. Ephraim Syrus, in his comment on this place, uses the same Syriac word, and appears to understand it precisely in the same way. Though the Hebrew words are certainly no more than the notation of a case in most places, yet understood here in the sense above, they argue a wonderful philosophic accuracy in the statement of Moses, which brings before us, not a finished heaven and earth, as every other trans-

The separation of the waters below GENESIS, from the waters above the firmament

7 And God made ment, " and divided

the firmathe waters which were under the firmament from the

lation appears to do, though afterwards the process of their formation is given in detail, but merely the materials out of which God built the whole system in the six following days.

The heaven and the earth.] As the word D'Oiy shamayim is plural, we may rest assured that it means more than the atmosphere, to express which some have endeavoured to restrict its meaning. Nor does it apjjear that the atmosphere is particularly intended here, as this is spoken of, ver. 6, under the term firmament. The word heavens must therefore comprehend the whole solar system, as it is very likely the whole of this was created in these six days; for unless the earth had been the centre of a system, the reverse of which is sufficiently demonstrated, it would be unphilosophic to suppose it was created independently of the other paxts of the system, as on this supposition we must

waters which were ° above the firmament: and it was so.

have recourse to the almighty power of God to suspend the influence of the earth's gravitating power till the fourth day, when the sun was placed in the centre, round which the earth began then to revolve. But as the design of the inspired penman was to relate what especially belonged to our world and its inhabitants, therefore he passes by the rest of the planetary system, leaving it simply included in the plural word heavens. In the word earth every thing relative to the terraqueaerial globe is included, that is, all that belongs to the solid and fluid parts of our world with its surrounding atmosphere. As therefore I suppose the whole solar system was created at this time, I think it perfectly in place to give here a general view of all the planets, with every thing curious and important hitherto known relative to their revolutions and principal affe'ctions.

Proportionate bulk, the Earth

Inclination of the axis to the

Attractive power or density, the

Hourly motion in their orbit, in

The following Celestial Bodies, commonly called Planets, revolving between Jupiter and Mars, have been recently discovered ■ all thai is known of their Magnitude, Surface, Diameter, and Distance, I here subjoin.

Mean distance from the Sun.

Least distance from Earth.

Greatest dist. from Eartli.

semi-diameters of Jupiter.

Magnitude, the Earth being 1.

Greatest semiduration of eclipse.

Dist. from Herschel in semidiameters ofHerschel.

Dist. from Herschel in parts of the ecliptic, at the mean dist. ofHerschel from Eartli.

from Earth in English mUes.

In Table I. the quantity of the periodic and sidereal revolutions of the planets is expressed in common years, each containing 365 days; as, e. g., the tropical revolution of Jupiter is, by the table, 11 years, 315 days, 14 hours, 39 minutes, 2 seconds; i. e., the exact number of days is equal to 1 1 years multiplied by 365, and the extra 315 days added to the product, which make In all 4330 days. The sidereal and periodic times are also set down to the nearest second of time, from numjers used in the construction of the tables in the third edition of M. de la Lande's Astronomy. The columns containing the meati distance of the planets from the sun in English miles, and their greatest and least dis tance from the earth, are such as result from the best observations of the two last transits of Venus, which gave the solar parallax to be equal to 8 three-fifth seconds of a degree; and consequently the earth's diameter, as seen from the sun, must be the double of 8 three-fifth seconds, or 17 one-fifth seconds. From this last quantity, compared with the apparent diame '20

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9 And God said, p Let the vv^aters under the

ters of the planets, as seen at a distance equal to that of the earth at her main distance from the sun, the diameters of the planets in English miles, as contained in the seventh column, have been carefully computed. In the column entitled ^'■Proportion of bulk, the earth being 1," the whole numbers express the number of limes the other planet contains more cubic miles, &c., than the earth; and if the number of cubic miles in the earth be given, the number of cubic miles in any planet may be readily found by multiplying the cubic miles contained in the earth by the number in the column, and the product will be the quantity required.

This is a small but accurate sketch of the vast solar system; to describe it fully, even in all its knowyi revolutions and connections, in all its astonishing energy and influence, in its wonderful plan, structure, operations, and results, would require more volumes than can be devoted to the commentary itself.

As so little can be said here on a subject so vast, it may appear to some improper to introduce it at all; but to any observation of this kind I must be permitted to reply, that I should deem it unpardonable not to give a general view of the solar system in the very place where its creation is first introduced. If these works be stupendous and magnificent, what must He be who formed, guides, and supports them all by the ivord of his power! Reader, stand in awe of this God, and sin not. Make him thy friend through the Son of his love; and, when these heavens and this earth are no more, thy soul shall exist in consummate and unutterable felicity.

See the remarks on the sun, moon, and stars, after

Verse 2. The earth was without form and void] The original term inn tohu and IHD bohu, which we translate without form and void, are of uncertain etymology; but in this place, and wherever else they ai-e used, they convey the idea of confusion and disorder. From these terms it is probable that the ancient Syrians and Egyptians borrowed their gods, Theuth and Bau, and the Greeks their Chaos. God seems at first to have created the elementary principles of all things; and this formed the grand mass of matter, which in this state must be without arrangement, or any distinction of parts: a vast collection of indescribably confused materials, of nameless entities strangely mixed; and wonderfully well expressed by an ancient heathen poet: —

Ante mare et terras, el, quod tegit omnia, caelum, Unus erat toto natura. vullus in orbe. Quern dixere Chaos; rudis indigcstaque moles, Nee quicquam nisi pondus iners; congestaque eodem Non bene junctarum discordia semina rerum. Ovid.

heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

Before the seas and this terrestrial ball, And heaven's high canopy that covers all, One was the face of nature, if a face; Rather, a rude and indigested mass; A lifeless lump, unfashion'd and unframed, Of jarring seeds, and justly Chaos named.

The most ancient of the Greeks have spoken ntsarly in the same way of this crude, indigested state of the primitive chaotic mass.

When this congeries of elementary principles was brought together, God was pleased to spend six days in assimilating, assorting, and arranging the materials, out of which he built up, not only the earth, but the whole of the solar system.

The Spirit of God\ This has been variously and strangely understood. Some think a violent wind is meant, because nn ruach often signifies luind, as well as spirit, as Tzvevfia does in Greek; and the term God is connected with it merely, as they think, to express the superlative degree. Others understand by it an elementary fire. Others, the sun, penetrating and drying up the earth with his rays. Others, the angels, who were supposed to have been employed as agents in creation. Others, a certain occult principle, termed the anima mundi or soul of the luorld. Others, a magnetic attraction, by which all things were caused to gravitate to a common centre. But it is sufficiently evident from the use of the word in other places, that the Holy Spirit of God is intended; which our blessed Lord represents under the notion of wind, John iii. 8; and which, as a mighty rushing wind on the day of pentecost, filled the house where the disciples were sitting, Acts ii. 2, which was immediately followed by their speaking with other tongues, because they were filled with the Holy Ghost, ver. 4. These scriptures sufl[iciently ascertain the sense in which the word is used by Moses.

Moved] PiSn'^O merachepheth, was brooding over; for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young. It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters. As the idea of incubation, or hatching an egg, is implied in the original word, hence probably the notion, which prevailed among the ancients, that the world was generated from an egg.

A^'erse 3. And God said. Let there be light] Tl'' niN Tl'l "11N VEHi OR, raihi or. Nothing can be conceived more dignified than this form of expression. It argues at once uncontrollable authority, and omnific. power; and in human language it is scarcely possible to conceive that God can speak more like himself. This passage, in the Greek translation of the Septuagint, fell in the way of Dionysius Longinus, one of the

The earth rendered prolific, and

■A— M- 1- and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God most judicious Greek critics that ever lived, and vfho is highly celebrated over the civilized world for a treatise he wrote, entitled Uepi 'Tfovc, Concerning the Sublime, both in prose and poetry; of this passage, though a heathen, he speaks in the following terms: — TavT^ Kui 6 Tuv lovdaiuv deafioderTjc (ovx 6 tvxuv avijp,) ETreidr] Trjv rov dsiov dvva/icv Kara rrjv a^iav eX^PV^^i ica^e<pT]vev evdvc ev ry £ia[ioXri ypatpac tuv vofiuv, EinEN 'O eE02, (prjai, ti; rENESGK $122 • KaL eyevETo. ' FENESGii FH" kul eyevero. " So likewise the Jewish lawgiver (who was no ordinary man) having conceived a just idea of the Divine power, he expressed it in a dignified manner; for at the beginning of his laws he thus speaks: GOD SAID— What 1 LET THERE BE LIGHT! and there ivas light. LET THERE BE EARTH! and there was earth.'''' — Longinus, sect. ix. edit. Pearce.

Many have asked, " How could light be produced on the Jirst day, and the sun, the fountain of it, not created till the fourth day V With the various and often unpbUosophical answers which have been given to this question I will not meddle, but shall observe that the original word IIX signifies not only light but iire, see Isa. xxxi. 9; Ezek. v. 2. It is used for the SUN, Job xxxi. 26. And for the electric fluid or LIGHTNING, Job xxxvii. 3. And it is worthy of remark that it is used in Isa. xliv. 16, for the heat, derived from W^ esh, the fire. He burneth part thereof in the fire (tyx 103 bemo esh:) yea, he ivarmeth himself, and saith, Aha! I have seen the fire, IIN "TTNI raithi ur, which a modern philosopher who understood the language would not scruple to translate, T have received caloric, or an additional portion -ji the matter of heat. I therefore conclude, that as God has diffused the matter of caloric or latent heat through every part of nature, without which there could be neither vegetation nor animal life, that it is caloric or latent heat which is principally intended by the original word.

That there is latent light, which is probably the same with latent heat, may be easily demonstrated: take two pieces of smooth rock crystal, agate, cornelian or flint, and rub them together briskly in the dark, and the latent light or matter of caloric will be immediately produced and become visible. The light or caloric thus disengaged does not operate in the same powerful manner as the heat or fire which is produced by striking with flint and steel, or that produced by electric friction. The existence of this caloric — latent or primitive light, may be ascertained in various other bodies; it can be produced by the flint and steel, by rubbing two hard sticks together, by hammering cold iron, which in a short time becomes red hot, and by the strong and sudden compression of atmospheric air in a tube. Friction in general produces both fi7-e and light. God therefore created this universal agent on ing seed, and the fruit-tree yielding ' fruit the first day, because without it no operation of nature could be carried on or perfected.

Light is one of the most astonishing productions of the creative skill and power of God. It is the grand medium by which all his other works are discovered, examined, and understood, so far as they can be known. Its immense diffusion and extreme velocity are alone suflicient to demonstrate the being and wisdom of God. Light has been proved by many experiments to travel at the astonishing rate of 194,188 miles in otie second of time! and comes from the sun to the earth in eight minutes lljl seconds, a. distance of 95,513,794 English miles.

Verse 4. God divided the light fro?n the darkness.] This does not imply that light and darkness are two distinct substances, seeing darkness is only the privation of light; but the words simply refer us by anticipation to the rotation of the earth round its own axis once in tiventy-ihree hours, fifty-six minutes, and four seconds, which is the cause of the distinction between day and night, by bringing the different parts of the surface of the earth successively into and from under the solar rays; and it was probably at this moment that God gave this rotation to the earth, to produce this merciful provision of day and night. For the manner in which light is supposed to be produced, see ver. 16, under the word sun.

Verse G. And God said, Let there be a firmament] Our translators, by following the firmamentum of the Vulgate, which is a translation of the cTepeupia of the Septuagint, have deprived this passage of all sense and meaning. The Hebrew word >''p1 rakia, from;.'pT raka, to spread out as the curtains of a tent or pavilion, simply signifies an expanse or space, and consequently that circumambient space or expansion separating the clouds, which are in the higher regions of it, from the 'Seas, &c., which are below it. This we call the atmosphere, the orb of atoms or inconceivably small particles; but the word appears to have been used by Moses in a more extensive sense, and to include the whole of the planetary vortex, or the space which is occupied by the whole solar system.

Verse 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas] These two constitute what is called the terraqueous globe, in which the earth and the water exist in a most judicious proportion to each other. Dr. Long took the papers which cover the surface of a seventeen inch terrestrial globe, and having carefully separated the land from the sea, he weighed the two collections of papers accurately, and found that the sea papers weighed three hundred and forty-nine grains, and the land papers only one hundred and twenty-four; by which experiment it appears that nearly three-fourths of the^ surface of our globe, from the arctic to the antarctic polar circles, are covered with water. The doctor did not weigh the parts m i'hin the polar circles, because

The earth brings forth GENESIS

after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and

there is no certain measurement of the proportion of land and water which they contain. This proportion of three-fourths water may be considered as too great, if not useless; but Mr. Ray, by most accurate experiments made on evaporation, has proved that it requires so much aqueous surface to yield a sufficiency of vapours for the purpose of cooling the atmosphere, and watering the earth. See Ray's Physico-theological Discourses.

An eminent chemist and philosopher. Dr. Priestley, has very properly observed that it seems plain that Moses considered the whole terraqueous globe as being created in?i fluid state, the earthy and other particles of matter being mingled with the water. The present form of the earth demonstrates the truth of the Mosaic account; for it is well known that if a soft or elastic globular body be rapidly whirled round on its axis, the parts at the poles will be flattened, and the parts on the equator, midway between the north and south poles, will be raised up. This is precisely the shape of our earth; it has the figure of an oblate spheroid, a figure pretty much resembling the shape of an orange. It has been demonstrated by admeasurement that the earth is flatted at the poles and raised at the equator. This was first conjectured by Sir Isaac Newton, and afterwards confirmed by M. Cassini and others, who measured several degrees of latitude at the equator and near the north pole, and found that the difference perfectly justified Sir Isaac Newton's conjecture, and consequently confirmed the Mosaic account. The result of the experiments instituted to determine this point, proved that the diameter of the earth at the equator is greater by more than twenty-three and a half miles than it is at the poles, allowing the polar diameter to be jjfth part shorter than the equatorial, according to the recent admeasurements of several degrees of latitude made by Messrs. Mechain and Delambre. — L' Histoire des Mathem. par M. de la Lande, tom. iv., part v., liv. 6.

Aiid God saw that it was g-oorf.] This is the judgment which God pronounced on his own works. They were beautiful and perfect in their kind, for such is the import of the word 2)0 tob. They were in weight and measure perfect and entire, lacking nothing. I3ut the reader will think it strange that this approbation should be expressed once on the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth days; twice on the third, and not at all on the second! I suppose that the words, A7id God saw that it was good, have been either lost from the conclusion of the eighth verse, or that the clause in the tenth verse originally belonged to the eighth. It appears, from the Septuagint translation, that the words in question existed originally at the close of the eighth verse, in the copies which they used; for in that version we still find, Kai eiSev oQeog hri Kalov And God %aw that it tvas good. This reading, however, is not herb yielding seed after his kind,

"* and the tree yielding fruit, whose

seed was in itself, after his kind: and God

acknowledged by any of Kennicott's or De Rossi's MSS., nor by any of the other versions. If the account of the second day stood originally as it does now, no satisfactory reason can be given for the omission of this expression of the Divine approbation of the work wrought by his wisdom and power on that day.

Verse 1 1. Let the earth bri?ig forth grass — herb — fruit-tree, (^c] In these general expressions all kinds of vegetable productions are included. Fruit-tree is not to be understood here in the restricted sense in which the term is used among us; it signifies all trees, not only those which bear fruit, which may be applied to the use of men and cattle, but also those which had the power of propagating themselves by seeds, &c. Now as God delights to manifest himself in the little as well as in the great, he has shown his consummate wisdom in every part of the vegetable creation. Who can account for, or comprehend, the structure of a single tree or plant ■? The roots, the stem, the woody fibres, the bark, the rind, the air-vessels, the sap-vessels, the leaves, the flowers, and the fruits, are so many mysteries. All the skill, wisdom, and power of men and angels could not produce a single grain of wheat! A serious and reflecting mind can see the grandeur of God, not only in the immense cedars on Lebanon, but also in the endlessly varied forests that appear through the microscope in the mould of cheese, stale paste, &c., &c.

Verse 12. Whose seed was in itself^ Which has the power of multiplying itself by seeds, slips, roots, &c., ad infinitum; which contains in itself all the rudiments of the future plant through its endless generations. This doctrine has been abundantly confirmed by the most accurate observations of the best modern philosophers. The astonishing power with which God has endued the vegetable creation to multiply its dif ferent species, may be instanced in the seed of the elm. This tree produces one thousand five hundred and eighty-four millions of seeds; and each of these seeds has the power of producing the same number. How astonishing is this produce! At first one seed is deposited in the earth; from this one a tree springs, which in the course of its vegetative life produces one thousand five hundred and eighty-four millions of seeds. This is the first generation. The second generation will amount to two trillions, five hundred and nine thousand and fifty-six billions. The third generation will amount to three thousand nine hundred and seventyfour quadrillions, three hundred and forty-four thousand seven hundred a.nd four trillions! And the fourth generation from these would amount to six sextillions, two hundred and ninety-five thousand three hundred and sixty-ttoo quintillions, eleven thousand one hundred and thirty-six quadrillions! Sums too immense for the human mind to conceive; and, when we allow the most confined space in which a tree can grow, it of the celestial luminaries.

morning were the third day,

1 4 And God said, Let there be ^ lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide ^ the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and ^ for seasons, and for days, and years.

appears that the seeds of the third generation from one elm. would be many myriads oT times more than sufficient to stock the whole superfices of all the planets in the solar system! But plants multiply themselves by slips as well as by seeds. Sir Ken elm Digby saw in 1660 a plant of barley, in the possession of the fathers of the Christian doctrine at Paris, which contained 249 stalks springing from one root or grain, and in which he counted upwards of 18,000 grains. See my experiments on Tilling in the Methodist Magazine.

Verse 14. And God said, Let there he lights, df-c] One principal office of these was to divide between day and night. When night is considered a state of comparative darkness, how can lights divide or distinguish it? The answer is easy: The sun is the monarch of the day, which is the state of light; the moon, of the night, the state of darkness. The rays of the sun, falling on the atmosphere, are refracted and diffused over the whole of that hemisphere of the earth immediately under his orb; while those rays of that vast luminary which, because of the earth's smallness in comparison of the sun, are diffused on all sides beyond the earth, falling on the opaque disc of the moon, are reflected back upon what may be called the lower hemisphere, or that part of the earth which is opposite to the part which is illuminated by the sun: and as the earth completes a revolution on its own axis in about twenty-four hours, consequently each hemisphere has alternate day and night. But as the solar light reflected from the face of the moon is computed to be 50,000 times less in intensity and effect than the light of the sun as it comes directly from himself to our earth, (for light decreases in its intensity as the distance it travels from the sun increases,) therefore a sufficient distinction is made between day and night, or light and darkness, notwithstanding each is ruled and determined by one of these two great lights; the moon ruling the night, i. e., reflecting from her own surface back on the earth the rays of light which she receives from the sun. Thus both hemispheres are to a certain degree illuminated: the one, on which the sun shines, completely so; this is day: the other, on which the sun's light is reflected by the moon, partially; this is night. It is true that both the planets and fixed stars afford a considerable portion of light during the night, yet they cannot be said to rule or to predominate by their light, because their rays are quite lost in the superior splendour of the moon's light.

And let them be for signs] nnx"? leothoth. Let them ever be considered as continual tokens of God's tender care for man, and as standing proofs of his continual iniraculous interference; for so the word

15 And let them be for lights in

the firmament of the heaven, to

give light upon the earth: and it was so.

1 6 And God ^ made two great lights; the greater light ^ to rule the day, and * the lesser light to rule the night: he made ^ the stars also.

riN oth is often used. And is it not the almighty energy of God that upholds them in being 1 The sun and moon also serve as signs of the different changes which take place in the atmosphere, and which are so essential for all purposes of agriculture, commerce, &c.

For seaso7is] D''n>MO moadim; For the determination of the times on which the sacred festivals should be held. In this sense the word frequently occurs; and it was right that at the very opening of his revelation God should inform man that there were certain festivals which should be annually celebrated to his glory. Some think we should understand the original word as signifying months, for which purpose we know the moon essentially serves through all the revolutions of time.

For days] Both the hours of the day and night, as well as the different lengths of the days and nights, are distinguished by the longer and shorter spaces of timethe sun is above or below the horizon.

And years.] That is, those grand divisions of time by Avhich all succession in the vast lapse of duration is distinguished. This refers principally to a complete revolution of the earth round the sun, which is accomplished in 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 48 seconds; for though the revolution is that of the earth, yet it cannot be determined but by the heavenly bodies.

Verse 16. And God made two great lights] Moses speaks of the sun and moon here, not according to their bull: or solid contents, but according to the proportion of light they shed on the earth. The expres- "^ion has been cavilled at by some who are as devoid of mental capacity as of candour. " The moon," say they, " is not a gi-eat body; on the contrary, it is the very smallest in our system." Well, and has Moses said the contrary ] He has said it is a great LIGHT; had he said otherwise he had not spoken the truth. It is, in reference to the earth, next to the sun himself, the greatest light in the solar system; and so true is it that the moon is a great light, that it affords more light to the earth than all the planets in the solar system, and all the innumerable stars in the v^ult of heaven, put together. It is worthy of remark that on the fourth day of the creation the sun was formed, and then " first tried his beams athwart the gloom profound;" and that at the conclusion of the fourth millenary from the creation, according to the Hebrew, the Sun of righteousness shone upon the world, as deeply sunk in that mental darkness produced by sin as the ancient world was, while teeming darkness held the dominion, till the sun was created as the dispenser of light. What would the natural world be without tho 33 a are set in the Jirmament.

17 And God set them m the firmament of the heaven, to give hght upon the earth,

1 8 And to *= rule over the day, and over the night; and to divide the Hght from the

sun T A howling waste, in which neither animal nor vegetable life could possibly be sustained. And what would the moral world be without Jesus Christ, and the light of his word and Spirit 1 Just what those parts of it now are where his light has not yet shone: " dark places of the earth, filled with the habitations of cruelty," where error prevails without end, and superstition, engendering false hopes and false fears, degrades and debases the mind of man.

Many have supposed that the days of the creation answer to so many thousands of years; and that as God created all in six days, and rested the seventh, so the world shall last six thousand years, and the seventh shall be the eternal rest that remains for the people of God. To this conclusion they have been led by these words of the apostle, 2 Pet. iii. 8: One day is with the Lord as a thousand years; and a thousand years as one day. Secret things belong to God; those that are revealed to us and our children.

He made the stars also.] Or rather. He made the lesser light, with the stars, to rule the night. See Claudian de Raptu Prober., lib. ii., v. 44.

Hie Hyperionis solem de semine nasci Fecerat, et pariter lunam, sed dispare forma, Auroras noctisque duces.

From famed Hyperion did he cause to rise The sun, and placed the moon amid the skies. With splendour robed, but far unequal light. The radiant leaders of the day and night.

On the nature of the sun there have been various conjectures. It was long thought that he was a vast globe of fire 1,384,462 times larger than the earth, and that he was continually emitting from his body innumerable millions oi fiery particles, which, being extremely divided, answered for the purpose of lio-ht and heat without occasioning any ignition or burnino-, except when collected in the focus of a convex lens or burning glass. Against this opinion, however, many serious and weighty objections have been made; and it has been so pressed with difficulties that philosophers have been obliged to look for a theory less repugnant to nature and probability. Dr. Herschel's di.scoveries by means of his immensely magnifying telescopes, have, by the general consent of philosophers, added a new habitable world to our system, which is the sun. Without stopping to enter into detail, which would be improper here, it is sufficient to say that these discoveries tend to prove that what we call the sun is only the atmosphere of that luminary; " that this atmosphere consists of various elastic fluids that are more or less lucid and transparent; that as the clouds belonging to our a 34

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring

earth are probably decompositions of some of the elastic fluids belonging to the atmosphere itself, so we may suppose that in the vast atmosphere of the sun, similar decompositions may take place, but with this difference, that the decompositions of the elastic fluids of the sun are of a phosphoric nature, and are attended by lucid appearances, by giving out light." The body of the sun he considers as hidden generally from us by means of this luminous atmosphere, but what are called the maculoR or spots on the sun are real openings in this atmosphere, through which the opaque body of the sun becomes visible; that this atmosphere itself is not fiery nor hot, but is the instrument which God designed to act on the caloric or latent heat; and that heat is only produced by the solar light acting upon and combining with the caloric or matter of fire contained in the air, and other substances which are heated by it. This ingenious theory is supported by many plausible reasons and illustrations, which may be seen in the paper he read before the Roval Society. On this subject see the note on

There is scarcely any doubt now remaining in the philosophical world that the moon is a habitable globe. The most accurate observations that have been made with the most powerful telescopes have confirmed the opinion. The moon seems, in almost every respect, to be a body similar to our earth; to have its surface diversified by hill and dale, mountains and valleys, rivers, lakes, and seas. And there is the fullest evidence that our earth serves as a moon to the moon herself, differing only in this, that as the earth's surface is thirteen times larger than the moon's, so the moon receives from the earth a light thirteen times greater in splendour than that which she imparts to us; and by a very correct analogy we are led to infer that all the planets and their satellites, or attendant moons, are inhabited, for matter seems only to exist for the sake of intelligent beings.

The STARS in general are considered to be suns, similar to that in our system, each having an appropriate number of planets moving round it; and, as these stars are innumerable, consequently there are innumerable worlds, all dependent on the power, protection, and providence of God. Where the stars are in great abundance, Dr. Herschel supposes they form primaries and secondaries, i. e., suns revolving about suns, as planets revolve about the sun in our system. He considers that this must be the case in what is called the milky way, the stars being there in prodigious quantity. Of this he gives the following proof: { 4*)

forth abundantly the ^ moving creature that hath ^ hfe, and ^fowl that may fly above the earth in the ^ open firmament of heaven.

2 1 And ^ God created great whales, and every living creature that raoveth, w^hich the vv^aters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

face of the firmament of heaven.

On August 22, 1792, he found that in forty-one minutes of time not less than 258,000 stars had passed through the field of view in his telescope. "What must God be, who has made, governs, and supports so many worlds I For the magnitudes, distances, revolutions, <5fC., of the sun, moon, planets, and their satellites, see the preceding tables.

Verse 20. Let tlu waters bring forth ahundantly~\ There is a meaning in these words which is seldom noticed. Innumerable millions of animalcula are found in water. Eminent naturalists have discovered not less than 30,000 in a single drop I How inconceivably small must each be, and yet each a perfect animal, furnished with the whole apparatus of bones, muscles, nerves, heart, arteries, veins, lungs, viscera in general, animal spirits, &c., &c. What a proof is this of the manifold wisdom of God! But \he fecundity of fishes is another point intended in the text; no creatures are so prolific as these. A tench lay 1,000 eggs, a carp 20,000, and Leuwenhoek counted in a middling sized COD 9,384,000! Thus, according to the purpose of God, the ivatcrs Iring forth abundantly. And what a merciful provision is this for the necessities of man! Many hundreds of thousands of the earth's inhabitants live for a gi-eat part of the year on fish only. Fish aiford, not only a wholesome, but a very nutritive diet; they are liable to few diseases, and generally come in' vast quantities to our shores when in their greatest perfection. In this also we may see that the kind providence of God goes hand in hand vvith his creating energy. While he manifests his wisdom and his power, he is making a permanent provision for the sustenance of man through all his generations.

Verse 21. And God created great whales^ Drj.in D''7Tin hallanninim haggedolim. Though this is generally understood by the different versions as signifying ivliales, yet the original must be understood rather as a general than a particular term, comprising all the great aquatic animals, such as the various species of whales, the porpoise, the dolphin, the monoceros or narwal, and the shark. God delights to show himself in little as well as in great things: hence he forms animals so minute that 30,000 can be contained in one drop of water; and others so great that they seem to require almost a whole sea to float in.

Verse 22. Let fowl midtiply in the earth.] It is truly astonishing with what care, wisdom, and minute skill God has formed the different genera and species

the waters in the seas; and let fowl multiply in

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, "^and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

of birds, whether intended to live chiefly on land or in water. The structure of a single feather affords a world of wonders; and as God made the fowls that they might fly in the firmament of heaven, ver. 20, so he has adapted the fo7-m of their bodies, and the structure and disposition of their plumage, for that very purpose. The head and neck in flying are drawn principally within the breastbone, so that the whole under part exhibits the appearance of a ship's hull. The wings are made use of as sails, or rather oars, and the tail as a helm or rudder. By means of these the creature is not only able to preserve the centre of gravity, but also to go with vast speed through the air, either straight forward, circularly, or in any kind of angle, upwards or downwards. In these also God has shown his skill and his power in the great and in the little — in the vast ostrich and cassoiva?y, and in the beautiful humming-bird, which in plumage excels the splendour of the peacock, and in size is almost on a level with the bee.

Verse 24. Let the earth bring forth the living creature, cj-c] rrn '^21 nephesh chaiyah; a general term to express all creatures endued with animal life, in any of its infinitely varied gradations, from the half-reasoning elephant do^\Ti to the stupid potto, or lower still, to the polype, which seems equally to share the vegetable and animal life. The word UTH chaitho, in the latter part of the verse, seems to signify all ivild animals, as lions, tigers, &c., and especially such as are carnivorous, or live on flesh, in contradistinction from domestic animals, such as are graminivorous, or live on grass and other vegetables, and are capable of being tamed, and applied to domestic purposes. See on ver. 29. These latter are probably meant by nr:n3 behemah in the text, which we translate cattle, such as horses, hine, sheep, dogs, <^c. Creeping thing, tyjOl remes, all the different genera of serpents, ivorms, and such animals as have no feet. In beasts also God has shown his wondrous skill and power; in the vast elephant, or still more colossal mammoth or mastodon, the whole race of which appears to be extinct, a few skeletons only remaining. This animal, an astonishing effect of God's power, he seems to have produced merely to show what he could do, and after suffering a few of them to propagate, he extinguished the race by a merciful providence, that they might not destroy both man and beast. The mammoth appears to have been a carnivorous animal, as the structure of the

25 And God made the laeast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their Idnd, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

2 6 And God said, ^ Let us make man in our image, after our Hkeness: and ^ let them have

teeth proves, and of an immense size; from a considerable part of a skeleton which I have seen, it is computed that the animal to which it belonged must have been nearly twenty-Jive feet high, and sixty in length! The bones of one toe are entire; the toe upwards of three feet in length. But this skeleton might have belonged to the megalonyx, a kind o^ sloth, or bradypus, hitherto unknown. Few elephants have ever been found to exceed eleven feet in height. How wondrous are the works of God! But his skill and power are not less seen in the beautiful chevrotin, or tragidus, a creature of the antelope kind, the smallest of all bijid or cloven-footed animals, whose delicate limbs are scarcely so large as an ordinary goose quill; and also in the shrew mouse, perhaps the smallest of the many-toed quadrupeds. In the reptile kind we see also the same skill and power, not only in the immense snake called boa constrictor, the mortal foe and conqueror of the royal tiger, but also in the cobra de manille, a venomous serpent, only a little larger than a common sewing needle.

Verse 25. And God inade the beast of the earth after his kind, <Sfc.'\ Every thing both in the animal and vegetable world was made so according to its kind, both in genus and species, as to produce its own kind through endless generations. Thus the several races of animals and plants have been kept distinct from the foundation of the world to the present day. This is a proof that all future generations of plants and animals have been seminally included in those which God formed in the beginning.

Verse 26. And God said, Let us make man] It is evident that God intends to impress the mind of man with a sense of something extraordinary in the formation of his body and soul, when he introduces the account of his creation thus; Let US make man. The word DTX Adam, which we translate man, is intended to designate the species of animal, as inTI chaitho, marks the ivild beasts that live in general a solitary life; non3 behemah, domestic or gregarious animals; and l^DT remes, all kinds of reptiles, from the largest snake to the microscopic eel. Though the Bame kind of organization may be found in man as appears in tlie lower animals, yet there is a variety and complication in the parts, a delicacy of structure, a nice arrangement, a judicious adaptation of the different members to their great offices and functions, a dignity of mien, and a perfection of the whole, which are sought for in vain in all other creatures. See chap. iii. 22.

In our image, after our likeness] What is said above refers only to the body of man, what is here said dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fow^l of the air, and over

the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every

creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, "^ in the image of God created he him; "^male and female created he them.

refers to his soul. This was made in the image and likeness of God. Now, as the Divine Being is infinite, he is neither limited by parts, nor definable by passions; therefore he can have no corporeal image after which he made the body of man. The imager and likeness must necessarily be intellectual; his mind, his soul, must have been formed after the nature and perfections of his God. The human mind is still endowed with most extraordinary capacities; it was more so when issuing out of the hands of its Creator. God was now producing a spirit, and a spirit, too, formed after the perfections of his own nature. God is the fountain whence this spirit issued, hence the stream must resemble the spring which produced it. God is holy, just, wise, good, and perfect; so must the soul be that sprang from him: there could be in it nothing impure, unjust, ignorant, evil, low, base, mean, or vile. It was created after the image of God; and that image, St. Paul tells us, consisted in righteousness, true holiness, and knowledge, Eph. iv. 24; Col. iii. 10. Hence man was ivise in his mind, holy in his heart, and righteous in his actions. Were even the word of God silent on this subject, we could not infer less from the lights held out to us by reason and common sense. The text tells us he was the work of Elohim, the Divine Plurality, marked here more distinctly by the plural pronouns US and OUR; and to show that he was the masterpiece of God's creation, all the persons in the Godhead are represented as united in counsel and effort to produce this astonishing creature.

Gregory Nyssen has very properly observed that the superiority of man to all other parts of creation is seen in this, that all oth» creatures are represented as the effect of God's loord, but man is represented as the work of God, according to plan and consideration: Let us 7nake man in our image, after our likeness. See his Works, vol. i., p. 52, c. 3.

And let them have donmiion] Hence we see that the dominion w^as not the image. God created man capable of governing the world, and when fitted for the office, he fixed him in it. We see God's tender care and parental solicitude for the comfort and wellbeing of this masterpiece of his workmanship, in creating the world previou.sly to the creation of man. He prepared every thing for his subsistence, convenience, and pleasure, before he brought him into being; so that, comparing little with great things, the house was built, furnished, and amply stored, by the time the destined tenant was ready to occupy it.

It has been supposed by some that God speaks here to the angels, when he says. Let us make man; but to make this a likely interpretation these persons must

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, ° Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fow^l of the air, and over every living thing that p moveth upon the

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb i bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the

prove, 1. That angels were then created. 2. That angels could assist in a work of creation. 3. That angels were themselves made in the image and likeness of God. If they were not, it could not be said, in OUR image, and it does not appear from any part in the sacred writings that any creature but man was made in the image of God. See the note on Psalm viii. 5.

Verse 28. And God blessed them'] Marked them as being under his especial protection, and gave them power to propagate and multiply their own kind on the earth. A large volume would be insufficient to contain what we knoio of the excellence and perfection of man, even in his present degraded fallen state. Both his body and soul are adapted with astonishing wisdom to their residence and occupations; and also the place of their residence, as well as the surrounding objects, in their diversity, colour, and mutual relations, to the mind and body of this lord of the creation. The contrivance, arrangement, action, and re-action of the different parts of the body, show the admirable skill of the wondrous Creator; while the various powers and faculties of the mind, acting on and by the different organs of this body, proclaim the souPs Divine origin, and demonstrate that he who was made in the image and likeness of God, was a transcript of his own excellency, destined to know, love, and dwell with his Maker throughout eternity.

Verse 29. / have givenyou every herb — -for meat.] It seems from this, says an eminent philosopher, that man was originally intended to live upon vegetables only; and as no change was made in the structure of men's bodies after the flood, it is not probable that any change was made in the articles of their food. It may also be inferred from this passage that no anunal whatever was originally designed to prey on others; for nothing is here said to be given to any beast of the earth besides green herbs. — Dr. Priestley. Before sin entered into the world, there could be, at least, no violent deaths, if any death at all. But by the particular structure of the teeth of animals God prepared them for that kind of aliment which they were to subsist on after the fall.

tob meod. Superlatively., or only good; as good as they could be. The plan wise, the work well executed, the different parts properly arranged, their nature, limits,

seed; *■ to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to 'every beast of the earth, and to every * fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is ^ life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

3 1 And "" God saw every thing that he Jiad made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

mode of existence, manner of propagation, habits, mode of sustenance, &c., &c., properly and permanently established and secured; for every thing was formed to the utmost perfection of its nature, so that nothing could be added or diminished without encumbering the operations of matter and spirit on the one hand, or rendering them inefficient to the end proposed on the other; and God has so done all these marvellous works as to be glorified in all, by all, and through all.

And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.] The word y\y ereb, which we translate evening, comes from the root 2'\p arab, to mingle; and properly signifies that state in which neither absolute darkness nor full light prevails. It has nearly the same grammatical signification with our twilight, the time that elapses from the setting of the sun till he is eighteen degrees below the horizon, and the last eighteeh degrees before he arises. Thus we have the morning and evening twilight, or mixture of light and darkness, in which neither prevails, because, while the sun is within eighteen degrees of the horizon, either after his setting or before his rising, the atmosphere has power to refract the rays of light, and send them back on the earth. The Hebrews extended the meaning of this term to the whole duration of night, because it was -ever a mingled state, the moon, the planets, or the stars, tempering the darkness with some rays of light. From the ereb of Moses came the Epe[3oc, Erebus, of Hesiod, Aristophanes, and other heathens, which they deified and made, with Nox or night, the parent of all things.

The moriiing — "ipD boker; From 1p3 bakar, he looked out; a beautiful figure which represents the morning as looking out at the east, and illuminating the whole of the upper hemisphere.

The evening and the morning were the sixth day. — It is somewhat remarkable that through the wHole of this chapter, whenever the division of days is made, the evening always precedes the morning. The reason of this may perhaps be, that darkness was pre-existent to light, (verse 2, And darkness was upon the face of the deep,) and therefore time is reckoned from the first act of God towards the creation of the world, which took place before light was called forth into existence. It is very likely, for this same reason, that the Jews began their day at six o'clock in the evening in imitation of Moses's division of time in this chapter. CcBsa".3"

in his Commentaries makes mention of the same peculiarity existing among the Gauls: Galli se omnes ah Dite patre prognatos pradicant: idque ah Druidibus proditum dicunt: oh earn causam spatia omnis temporis, non numero dierum, sed noctium, finiunt; et dies natales, et mensiiim et annorum initia sic observant, ut noctem dies suhsequatur; De Bell. Gall. lib. vi. Tacitus likewise records the same of the Germans: Ncc dierum numerum, ut nos, sed noctium computant: sic constituant, sic condicunt, nox ducere diem videtur; De Mor. Germ. sec. ii. And there are to this day some remains of the same custom in England, as for instance in the word se^nnight and fortnight. See also ^schyl. Agamem. ver. 273, 287.

Thus ends a chapter containing the most extensive, most profound, and most sublime truths that can possibly come within the reach of the human intellect. How unspeakably are we indebted to God for giving us a revelation of his will and of his works! Is it possible to know the mind of God but from himself? It is impossible. Can those things and services which are worthy of and pleasing to an infinitely pure, perfect, and holy Spirit, be ever found out by reasoning and conjecture? Never! for the Spirit of God alone can know the mind of God; and by this Spirit he has revealed himself to man; and in this revelation has taught him, not only to know the glories and perfections of the Creator, but also his own origin, duty, and interest. Thus far it was essentially necessary that God should reveal his will; but if he had not given a revelation of his works, the origin, constitution, and nature of the universe could never have been adequately known. The world bj/ tvisdom hieiv not God; this is demonstrated by the writings of the most learned and intelligent heathens. They had no just, no rational notion of the origin and design of the universe. Moses alone, of all ancient writers, gives a consistent and rational account of the creation; an account which has been confirmed by the investigation of the most accurate philosophers. But where did he learn this "? " In Egypt." That is impossible; for the Egyptians themselves were destitute of this knowledge. The remains we have of their old historians, all posterior to the time of Moses, are egregious for their contradictions and absurdity; and the most learned of the Greeks who borrowed from them have not been able to make out, from their conjoint stock, any consistent and credible account. ]\Ioses has revealed the mystery that lay hid from all preceding ages, because he was taught it hy the inspiration of the Almighty.

Reader, thou hast now before thee the most ancient and most authentic history in the world; a history that contains the first written discovery that God has made of himself to mankind; a discovery of his own being, in his tvisdom, power, and goodness, in which thou and the whole human race are so intimately concerned. How much thou art indebted to him for this discovery he alone can teach thee, and cause thy heart to feel its obligations to his wisdom and mercy. Read so as to understand, for these things were written for thy learning; therefore mark what thou readest, and imvardly digest — deeply and seriously meditate on, what thou hast marked, and pray to the Father of lights that he may open thy understanding, that thou may est know these holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.

God made thee and the- universe, and governs all things according to the counsel of his will; that will is infinite goodness, that counsel is unerring wisdom. While under the direction of this counsel, thou canst not err; while under the influence of this will, thou canst not be wretched. Give thyself up to his teaching, and submit to his authority; and, after guiding thee here by his counsel, he will at last bring thee to his glory. Every object that meets thy eye should teach thee reverence, submission, and gratitude. The earth and its productions were made for thee; and the providence of thy heavenly Father, infinitely diversified in its operations, watches over and provides for thee. Behold the firmament of his power, the sun, moon, planets, and stars, which he has formed, not for himself, for he needs none of these things, but for his intelligent offspring. What endless gratification has he designed thee in placing within thy reach these astonishing effects of his wisdom and power, and in rendering thee capable of searching out their wonderful relations and connections, and of knowing himself, the source of all perfection, by having made thee in his own image, and in his own likeness! It is true thou art fallen; but he has found out a ransom. God so loved thee in conjunction with the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Believe on hiji; through him alone cometh salvation; and the fair and holy image of God in which thou wast created shall be again restored; he will build thee up as at the first, restore thy judges and counsellors as at the beginning, and in thy second creation, as in thy first, will pronounce thee to be i-ery good, and thou shall show forth (he virtues of him by whom thou art created anew in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The seventh day is consecrated for a Sabbath, and the reasons assigned, 1-3. A recapitulation of the six days' work of creation, 4-7. The garden of Eden planted, 8. Its trees, 9. Its rivers, and the countries watered by them, 10-14. Adam placed in the garden, and the command given not to eat of the tree of knoivledgc on pain of death, 15-17. God purposes to form a companion for the man, 18. The different animals brought to Adam that he might assign than their names, 19, 20. The creation of the woman, SI, 22. The institution of marriage, 23, 21. The purity and innocence of our first' parents, 25. 38 a

A. M. 1. 'PHUS the heavens and the earth were finished, and * all the

2 ^ And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 And God " blessed the seventh day, and

sancttjication of the Sabbath

Verse 1. Afid all the host of them,] The word host signifies literally an armi/, composed of a number of companies of soldiers under their respective leaders; and seems here elegantly applied to the various celestial bodies in our system, placed by the Divine wisdom under the influence of the sun. From the original word X3i* tsaia, a host, some suppose the Sabeans had their name, because of their paying Divine honours to the heavenly bodies. From the Septuagint version of this place, nag 6 Kocfiog avruv, all their ornainents, we learn the true meaning of the word Koa/noc, commonly translated luorld, which signifies a decorated or adorned whole or system. And this refers to the beautiful order, harmony, and regularity which subsist among the various parts of creation. This translation must impress the reader with a very favourable opinion of these ancient Greek translators; had they not examined the works of God with a philosophic eye, they never could have given this turn to the original.

Verse 2. On the seventh day God ended, dfc] It is the general voice of Scripture that God finished the whole of the creation in six days, and rested the seventh! giving us an example that we might labour six days, and rest the seventh from all manual exercises. It is worthy of notice that the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Samaritan, read the sixth day instead of the seventh; and this should be considered the genuine reading, which appears from these versions to have been originally that of the Hebrew text. How the word sixth became changed into seventh may be easily conceived from this circumstance. It is very likely that in ancient times all the numerals Avere signified by letters, and not by words at full length. This is the case in the most ancient Greek and Latin MSS., and in almost all the rabbinical writings. When these numeral letters became changed for words at full length, two letters nearly similar might be mistaken for each other; 1 vau stands for six, t zain for seven; how easy to mistake these letters for each other when writing the words at full length, and so give birth to the reading in question.

Verse 3. And God blessed the seventh day] The original word "ji^ barach, which is generally rendered to bless, has a very extensive meaning. It is frequently used in Scripture in the sense of speaking good of or to a person; and hence literally and properly rendered by the Septuagint evloyrjCTEv, from ev, good or ivell, and ^.eyu, I speak. So God has spoken well of the Sabbath, and good to them who conscientiously observe it. Blessi7ig is applied both to God and man: when God is said to bless, we generally understand by the expres-

sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God ^ created and made.

4 * These are the generations of the hea vens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

sion that he communicates some good; but when man is said to bless God, we surely cannot imagine that he bestows any gifts or confers any benefit on his Maker. When God is said to bless, either in the Old or New Testament, it signifies his speaking good to man; and this comprises the whole of his exceeding great and precious promises. And vi'hen man is said to bless God, it ever implies that he speaks good of him, for the giving and fulfilment of his promises. This observation will be of general use in considering the various places where the word occurs in the sacred writings. Reader, God blesses thee when by his promises he speaks good to thee; and thou dost bless him vphen, from a consciousness of his kindness to thy body and soul, thou art thankful to him, and speakest good of his name.

Because that in it he had rested] r\3ty shabath, he rested; hence Sabbath, the name of the seventh day, signifying a day of rest — rest to the body from labour and toil, and rest to the soul from all worldly care and anxieties. He who labours with his mind by worldly schemes and plans on the Sabbath day is as culpable as he who labours with his hands in his accustomed calling. It is by the authority of God that the Sabbath is set apart for rest and religious purposes, as the six days of the week are appointed for labour. How wise is this provision! It is essentially necessary, not only to the body of man, but to all the animals employed in his service: take this away and the labour is too great, both man and beast would fail under it. Without this consecrated day religion itselfwould fail, and the human mind, becoming sensualized, would soon forget its origin and end. Even as a political regulation, it is one of the wisest and most beneficent in its effects of any ever instituted. Those who habitually disregard its moral obligation are, to a man, not only good for nothing, but are wretched in themselves, a curse to society, and often end their lives miserably. See the notes on Exod. xx. 8; xxiii. 12; xxiv. 16; and xxxi. 13; to which the reader is particularly desired to refer.

As God formed both the mind and body of man on principles of activity, so he assigned him proper employment; and it is his decree that the mind shall improve by exercise, and the body find increase of vigour and health in honest labour. He who idles away his time in the six days is equally culpable in the sight of God as he who works on the seventh. The idle person is ordinarily clothed with rags, and the Sabbath-breakers frequently come to an ignominious death. Reader, beware.

Verse 4. In the day that the Lord God made, dfc] The void mn- Yehovah is for the first time mentioned

5 And every ^ plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not ^ caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man ^ to till the ground. 6 But ' there went up a mist from the earth,

here. What it signifies see on Exod. xxxiv. 5, 6. Wherever this word occurs in the sacred v\T:itings we translate it Lord, which word is, through respect and reverence, always printed in capitals. Though our English term Lord does not give the particular meaning of the original word, yet it conveys a strong and noble sense. Lord is a contraction of the Anglo-Saxon hlapojib, Hlaford, afterwards written Lovejib, Loverd, and lastly Lord, from hlap, bread; hence our word loaf, and pojib, ford, to supply, to give out. The word, therefore, implies the giver of bread, i. e., he who deals cut all the necessaries of life. Our ancient English noblemen were accustomed to keep a continual open house, where all their vassals, and all strangers, had full liberty to enter and eat as much as ihey would; and hence those noblemen had the honourable name of lords, i. e., the dispensers of bread. There are about three of the ancient nobility who still keep up this honourable custom, from which the very name of their nobility is derived. We have already seen, chap. i. 1, Vvitb what judgment our Saxon ancestors expressed Deus, the Supreme Being, by the term God; and we see the same judgment consulted by their use of the term Lord to express the word Dominus, by which terms the Vulgate version, which they used, expresses JElohim and Jehovah, which we translate Lord God. God is the good Being, and Lord is the dispenser of bread, the giver of every good and perfect gift, who liberally affords the bread that perisheth to every man, and has amply provided the bread lliat endures unto eternal life for every human soul. With what propriety then does this word apply to the Lord Jesus, who is emphatically called the bread of life; the bread of God luhich comelh down from heaven, and which is given for the life of the ivorld! John vi. 33, 48, 51. What a pity that this most impressive and instructive meaning of a word in such general use were not more extensively known, and more particularly regarded! See the postscript to the general preface. I know that Mr. H. Tooke has endeavoured to render this derivation contemptible; but this has little weight with me. I have traced it through the most accredited writers in Saxony and on Saxon afl'airs, and I am satisfied that this and this only, is its proper etymology and derivation. Verse 5. Every plant of the field before it was in the earth] It appears that God created every thing, not only perfect as it respects its nature, but also in a state of maturity, so that every vegetable production appeared at once in full growth; and this was necessary that man, when he came into being, might find every thing ready for his use.

and watered the whole face of the ground,

7 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.

8 And the Lord God planted p a garden

Verse 6. There loent up a mist] This passage appears to have greatly embarrassed many commentators. The plain meaning seems to be this, that the aqueous vapours, ascending from the earth, and becoming condensed in the colder regions of the atmosphere, fell back upon the earth in the form of deivs, and by this means an equal portion of moisture w^as distributed to the roots of plants, &c. As Moses had said, ver 5, that the Lord had not caused it to rain upon the earth, he probably designed to teach us, in verse 6, how rain is produced, viz., by the condensation of the aqueous vapours, which are generally through the heat of the sun and other causes raised to a considerable height in the atmosphere, where, meeting with cold air, the watery particles which were before so small and light that they could float in the air, becoming condensed, i. e., many drops being driven into one, become too heavy to be any longer suspended, and then, through their own gravity, fall down in the form \\hich we term rain.

Verse 7. God formed man of the dust] In the most distinct manner God shows us that man is a compound being, having a body and soul distinctly, and separately created; the body out of the dust of the earth, the soul immediately breathed from God himself. Does not this strongly mark that the soul and body are not the same thing? The body derives its origin from the earth, or as "Ii3>' aphar implies, the dust; hence because it is earthly it is decomposable and perishable. Of the soul it is said, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; D"n HDiyj nishmath chaiyim, the breath of lives, i. e., animal and intellectual. While this breath of God expanded the lungs and set them in play, his inspiration gave both spirit and understanding.

Verse 8. A garden eastward in Eden] Though the word p>' Eden signifies pleasure or delight, it is certainly the name of a place. See chap. iv. 16; 2 Kings xix. 12; Isa. xxxvii. 12; Ezek. xxvii. 23, Amos i. 5. And such places probabl)'- received t'iei» name from their fertility, pleasant situation, cjc. In this light the Septuagint have viewed it, as they render the passage thus: Eipvrevaev 6 9eof Tzapadeiaov ev E^ei', God planted a paradise in Eden. Hence the word paradise has been introduced into the New Testament, and is generally used to signify a place of exquisite pleasure and delight. From this the ancient heathens borrowed their ideas of the gardens of the Hcsperides, where tlie trees bore golden frui*; the gardens of Ado- 7iis, a word which is evidently derived from the Hebrew pj' Eden; and hence the origin of sacred gardens

— ■ * he put the man whonri he had

9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow * every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; " the tree of hfe

or enclosures dedicated to purposes of devotion, some comparatively innocent, others impure. The word paradise is not Greek; in Arabic and Persian it sig- /lifies a garden, a vineyard, and also the place of the blessed. The Mohammedans say that God created the \j«^«^|juj \.I1aa^ Jennet al Ferdoos, the garden of paradise, from light, and the prophets and wise men ascend thither. Wilmet places it after the root ^j3 farada, to separate, especially a person or place, for the j)urposes of devotion, but supposes it to be originally a ^'^ersian word, vox originis Persicm quam in sua lingua ■yvnservanmt Armeni. As it is a word of doubtful rrigin, its etymology is uncertain.

S'^brse 9. Every tree that is pleasant to the sight, ifc] If we take up these expressions literally, they aay bear the following interpretation: the tree pleasant d the sight may mean every beautiful tree or plant vnich ibr shape, colour, or fragrance, delights the >rfnses, such as flowering shrubs, &c.

And gooa for food] All fruit-bearing trees, whether w the pulpy fruits, ais apples, &c., or of the kernel or KUt kind, such as dares, and nuts of different sorts, V'vJgether witn all escuCent vegetables.

The tree of life'l O'Tl chaiyim; of lives, or lifegiving tree, every medicinal tree, herb, and plant, wliose heaimg virtues are of great consequence to man in his present state, when through sin diseases of various kinds have seized on the human frame, and have commenced that process of dissolution which is to reduce the body to its primitive dust. Yet by the use of these trees of life — those different vegetable medicines, the health of the body may be preserved for a time, and death kept at a distance. Though the exposition given here may be a general meaning for these general terms, yet it is hkely that this tree of life which was placed in the midst of the garden was intended as an emblem of that life which man should ever live, provided he continued in obedience to his Maker. And probably the use of this tree was intended as the means of preserving the body of man in a state of continual vital energy, and an antidote against death. This seems strongly indicated from chap. iii. 22.

And the tree of knowledge of good and evil.] Considering this also in a merely literal point of view, it may mean any tree or plant which possessed the property of increasing the knowledge of what was in nature, as the esculent vegetables had of increasing bodily vigour; and that there are some aliments which from their physical influence have a tendency to strengthen the understanding and invigorate the rational faculty more than others, has been supposed by the wisest and best of men; yet here much more seems intended, but

^ and the tree of knowledge of good

10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

what is very difficult to be ascertained. Some very eminent men have contended that the passage should be understood allegorically! and that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil means simply that prudence, which is a mixture of knowledge, care, caution, and judgment, which was prescribed to regulate the whole of man's conduct. And it is certain that to knoiv good and evil, in different parts of Scripture, means such knowledge and discretion as leads a man to understand what is fit and unfit, what is not proper to be done and what should be performed. But how could the acquisition of such a faculty be a sin? Or can we suppose that such a faculty could be wanting when man was in a state of perfection? To this it may be answered: The prohibition was intended to exercise this faculty in man that it should constantly teach him this moral lesson, that there were some things fit and others unfit to be done, and that in reference to this point the tree itself should be both a constant teacher and monitor. The eating of its fruit would not have increased this moral faculty, but the prohibition was intended to exercise the faculty he already possessed. There is certainly nothing unreasonable in this explanation, and viewed in this light the passage loses much of its obscurity. Vitringa, in his dissertation De arbor e prudenticE in Paradise, ejusque mysterio, strongly contends for this interpretation. See more on chap. iii. 6.

Verse 10. A river went out of Eden, 4"C-] It would astonish an ordinary reader, who should be obliged to consult different commentators and critics on the situa- Jion of the terrestrial Paradise, to see the vast variety of opinions by which they are divided. Some place it in the third heaven, others in the fourth; some within the orbit of the moon, others in the moon itself; some in the middle regions of the air, or beyond the earth's attraction; some on the earth, others under the earth, and others within the earth; some have fixed it at the north pole, others at the south; some in Tartary, some in China; some on the borders of the Ganges, some in the island of Ceylon; some in Armenia, others in Africa, under the equator; some in Mesopotamia, others in Syria, Persia, Arabia, Babylon, Assyria, and- in Palestine; some have condescended to place it in Europe, and others have contended it either exists not, or is invisible, or is merely of a spiritual nature, and that the whole account is to be spiritually understood I That there was such a place once there is no reason to doubt; the description given by Moses is too particular and circumstantial to be capable of being understood in any spiritual or allegorical way. As well might we contend that the persons of Adam and Eve were allegorical, as that the place of their residence was such.

The command given to Adam

■ Pison: that is it which compasseth

^ the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

1 2 And the gold of that land is good; ^ there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of ^ Ethiopia.

14 And the name of the third river is ^ Hiddekel: that is it which goeth =* toward the 3ast of Assyria. And the fourth river is ^ Euphrates.

The most probable account of its situation is that given by Hadrian Reland. He supposes it to have been in Armenia, near the sources of the great rivers Euphrates, Tigris, Fhasis, and Araxes. He thinks Pison was the Phasis, a river of Colchis, emptying tself into the Euxine Sea, where there is a city called Chabala, the pronunciation of which is nearly the same with that of Havilah, or n S'ln Chavilah, according to the Hebrew, the vau \ being changed in Greek to beta /3. This country was famous for gold, whence the fable of the Golden Fleece, attempted to be carried away from that country by the heroes of Greece. The Gihon he thinks to be the Araxes, which runs into the Caspian Sea, both the words having the same signification, viz., a rapid motion. The land of Cush, washed by the river, he supposes to be the country of the CusscBi of the ancients. The Hiddekel all agree to be the Tigris, and the other river Phrat, or ms Perath, to be the Euphrates. All these rivers rise in the same tract of mountainous country, though they do not arise from one head.

Verse 12. There is bdellium (nS"13 bedolach) and the onyx stone, DHaTI px ehen hashshoham.] Bochart thinks that the bedolach or bdellium means the pearloyster; and shoham is generally understood to mean the onyx, or species of agate, a precious stone whicl; has its name from ow^, a matins nail, to the colour of which it nearly approaches. It is impossible to say what is the precise meaning of the original words; and at this distance of time and place it is of little consequence.

A'erse 15. Put him into the garden — to dress it, and to keep it.^ Horticulture, or gardening, is the first kind of employment on record, and that in which man was engaged while in a state of perfection and innocence. Though the garden may be supposed fo produce all things spontaneously, as the whole vegetable surface of the earth certainly did at the creation, yet dressing and tilling were afterwards necessary to maintain the different kinds of plants and vegetables in their perfection, and to repress luxuriance. Even in a state of innocence we cannot conceive it possible that man could have been happy if inactive- God

man, and '' put him into the garden of Eden to dress it, and to keep it.

1 6 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden ^ thou mayest freely eat;

17 ^But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, ^ thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof ^ thou shalt surely ' die.

18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; ^ I will make him a help ^ meet for him.

gave him work to do, and his employment contributed to his happiness; for the structure of his body, as well as of his mind, plainly proves that he was never intended for a merely contemplative life.

Verse 17. Of the tree of the knowledge — thou shalt not eat] This is the first positive precept God gave to man; and it was given as a test of obedience, and a proof of his being in a dependent, probationary state. It was necessary that, while constituted lord of this lower world, he should know that he was only God's vicegerent, and must be accountable to him for the use of his mental and corporeal powers, and for the use he made of the different creatures put under his care. The man from whose mind the strong impression of this dependence and responsibility is erased, necessarily loses sight of his origin and end, and is capable of any species of wickedness. As God is sovereign, he has a right to give to his creatures what commands he thinks proper. An intelligent creature, without a law to regulate his conduct, is an absurdity; this would destroy at once the idea of his dependency and accountableness. Man must ever feel God as his sovereign, and act under his authority, which he cannot do unless he have a rule of conduct. This rule God gives; and it is no matter of what kind it is, as long as obedience to it is not beyond the powers of the creature who is to obey. God says: There is a certain fruitbearing tree; thou shalt not eat of its fruit; but of all the other fruits, and they are all that are necessary, for thee, thou mayest freely, liberally eat. Had he not an absolute right to say so 1 And was not man bound to obey 1

Thou shalt surely die.] HIDH r\1D 7noth tamuth; Literally, a death thou shalt die; or, dying thou shall die. Thou shall not only die spiritually, by losing the life of God, but from that moment thou shalt become mortal, and shalt continue in a dying state till thou die. This we find literally accomplished; every moment of man's life may be considered as an act of dying, tiR soul and body are separated. Other meanings have been given of this passage, but they are in generai either fanciful or incorrect.

Adam gives names to the cattle. CHAP. II.

The institution of marriage.

19"' And out of the gi'ound the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every {o^N\ of the air; and » brought them unto ° Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam ■called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

20 And Adam p gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him.

alone] \'\':h lehaddo; only himself. I will make Imn a help meet for him; HJ^D "IT;7 ezer kenegdo, a help, a counterpart of himself, one formed from him, and a perfect resemblance of his person. If the word be rendered scrupulously literally, it signifies one like, or as himself, standing opposite to or before him. And this implies that the woman was to be a perfect resemblance of the man, possessing neither inferiority nor superiority, but being in all things like and equal to himself. As man was made a social creature, it was not proper that he should be alone; for to be alone, i. e. without a matrimonial companion, loas not good. Hence we find that celibacy in general is a thing that is not good, whether it be on the side of the man or of the woman. Men may, in opposition to the declaration of God, call this a state of excellence and a state of perfection; but let them remember that the word of God says the reverse.

Verse 19. Out of the ground, <5fC.\ Concerning the formation of the different kinds of animals, see the

A'^erse 20. And Adam gave names to all cattle] Two things God appears to have had in view by causing man to name all the cattle, &c. 1. To show him with what comprehensive powers of mind his Maker had endued him; and 2. To show him that no creature yet formed could make him a suitable companion. And that this twofold purpose was answered we shall shortly see; for,

1. Adam gave names; but how? From an intimate knowledge of the nature and properties of each creature. Here we see the perfection of his knowledge; for it is well known that the names affixed to the different animals in Scripture always express some prominent feature and essential characteristic of the creatures to which they are applied. Had he not possessed an intuitive knowledge. of the grand and distinguishing properties of those animals, he never could have given them such names. This one circumstance is a strong proof of the original perfection and excellence of man, while in a state of innocence; nor need we wonder at the account. Adam was the work of an infinitely wise and perfect Being, and the effect must resemble the cause that produced it.

2. Adam was convinced that none of these creatures could be a suitable companion for him, and thai there-

21 H And the Lord God caused a ideep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof:

22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, "■ made he a woman, and ^brought her unto the man.

23 And Adam said, This w now * bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called ^ Woman, because she was "' taken out of ^^ Man.

fore he must continue in the state that ivas not good, or be a farther debtor to the bounty of his Maker; for among all the animals which he had named there loas not found a help meet for him. Hence we read,

Verse 21. The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, 4"C.] This was neither swoon nor ecstasy, but what our translation very properly terms a deep sleep.

And he took one of his ribs] It is immaterial whether we render yl'^ tsela a rib, or a. part of his side, for it may mean either: some part of man was to be used on the occasion, whether bone or flesh it matters not; though it is likely, from verse 23, that a' part of both was taken; for Adam, knowing how the woman was formed, said. This is flesh of my flesh, and bojie of my bone. God could have formed the woman out of the dust of the earth, as he had formed the man; but had he done so, she must have appeared in his eyes as a distinct being, to whom he had no natural relation. But as God formed her out of a part of the man himself, he saw she was of the same nature, the same identical flesh and blood, and of the same constitution in all respects, and consequently having equal powers, faculties, and rights. This at once ensured his affection, and excited his esteem.

Verse 23. Adam said. This is now bone of my bones, (Sfc] There is a very delicate and expressive meaning in the original which does not appear in our version. When the different genera of creatures were brought to Adam, that he might assign them their proper names, it is probable that they passed in pairs before him, and as they passed received their names. To this circumstance the words in this place seem to refer. Instead of this now is nDJ.'£)n nXT zoth happaam, we should render more literally this turn, this creature, which now passes or appears before me, is flesh of my flesh, &c. The creatures that \i3.A passed already before him were not suitable to him, and therefore it was said, For Adam there ivas not a help meet found, ver. 20; but when the woman came, formed out of himself, he felt all that attraction which consanguinity could produce, and at the same time saw that she was in her person and in her mind every way suitable to be his companion. See Parkhurst, sub voce.

She shall be called Woman] A literal version of

Closeness of the marriage union.

Happy slate of our first parents.

" his father and his mother, and shall

cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.

the Hebrew would appear strange, and yet a literal version is the only proper one. CN ish signifies man, and the word used to express what we term icoman is the same with a feminine termination, niyN ishshah, and literally means she-man. Most of the ancient versions have felt the force of the term, and have endeavoured to express it as literally as possible. The intelligent reader Avill not regret to see some of them here. The Vulgate Latin renders the Hebrew virago, which is a feminine form of vir, a man. Symmachus uses avSpic, andris, a female form of avrip, aner, a man. Our own term is equally proper when understood. Woman has been defined by many as compounded of wo and man, as if called man''s wo because she tempted him to eat the forbidden fruit; but this is no meaning of the original word, nor could it be intended, as the transgression was not then committed. The truth is, our term is a proper and literal translation of the original, and we may thank the discernment of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors for giving it. pombman, of which luoman is a contraction, means the man ivith the ivomb. A very appropriate version of the Hebrew TV^H ishshah, rendered by terms which signify she-man, in the versions already specified. Hence we see the propriety of Adam's observation: This creature is flesh of my flesh, and hone of my bones; therefore shall she be called wombman, or female man, because she ivas taken out of man. See Verslegan. Others derive it from pipiuan or piirman, man's wife or she-man. Either may be proper, the first seems the most likely.

Verse 24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother^ There shall be, by the order of God, a more intimate connection formed between the man and woman, than can subsist even between parents and children.

And they shall be one flesh.] These words may be tmderstood in a twofold sense. 1. These tiuo shall be one flesh, shall be considered as one body, having no separate or independent rights, privileges, cares, concerns, &c., each being equally interested in all things that concern the marriage state. 2. These two shall he for the production of one flesh; from their union a posterity shall spring, as exactly resembling themselves as they do each other. Our Lord quotes these words, Matt. xix. 5, with some variation from this text: They TWAIN shall be one flesh. So in Mark x. 8. St. Paul quotes in the same way, 1 Cor. vi. 16, and in Eph. V. 31. The Vulgate Latin, the Septuagint, the Syriac, tae Arabic, and the Samaritan, all read the word two. That this is the genuine reading I have no doubt. The word tZ3n'Jiy shencyhem, they two or botli of them, was, I suppose, omitted at first from the Hebrew text, by mistake, because it occurs three words after n the following verse, or more probably it originally occurred in the 24th verse, and not in the 25th; and a copyist having found that he had written it twice, in the man and his vf'iie, and were correcting his copy, struck out the word in the 24th verse instead of the 25th. But of what consequence is it 1 In the controversy concerning polygamy, it has been made of very great consequence. Without the word, some have contended a man may have as many wives as he chooses, as the terms are indefinite, THEY shall be, dfc, but loith the word, marriage is restricted. A man can have in legal wedlock but one loife at the same time.

We have here the first institution of marriage, and we see in it several particulars worthy of our most serious regard. 1. God pronounces the state of celibacy to be a bad state, or, if the reader please, not a good one; and the Lord God said. It is not good for man to be alone. This is Goo's judgment. Councils, and fathers, and doctors, and synods, have given a different judgment; but on such a subject they are w^orthy of no attention. The word of God abideth for ever. 2. God made the woman /or the man, and thus he has shown us that every son of Adam should be united to a daughter of Eve to the end of the world. See on 1 Cor. vii. 3. God made the woman out of the man, to intimate that the closest union, and the most affectionate attachment, should subsist in the matrimonial connection, so that the man should ever consider and treat the woman as a part of himself: and as no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and supports it, so should a man deal with his wife; and on the other hand the woman should consider that the man was not made for her, but that she was made for the man, and derived, under God, her being from him; therefore the wife should see that she reverence her husband, Eph. v. 33. The 23d and 24th verses contain the very words of the marriage ceremony: This is flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone, therefore shall a 7nan leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they tivo shall be one flesh. How happy must such a state be where God's institution is properly regarded, where the parties are married, as the apostle expresses it, in the Lord; where each, by acts of the tenderest kindness, lives only to prevent the wishes and contribute in every possible way to the comfort and happiness of the other! Marriage might still be what it ivas in its original institution, pure and suitable; and in its first exercise, affectionate and happy: but how few such marriages are there to be found! Passion, turbulent and irregular, not religion; custom, founded by these irregularities, not reason; ivorldly prospects, originating and ending in selfishness and earthly affections, not in spiritual ends, are the grand producing causes of the great majority of matrimonial alliances. How then can such turbid and bitter fountains send forth pure and sweet waters 1 See the ancient allegory of Cupid and Psyche, by which marriage is so happily illustrated, explained in the notes on Matt. xix. 4-6.

was perfectly temperate, and therefore they had no need of clothing, the circumambient air being of the same temperature with their bodies. And as sin had not yet entered into the world, and no part of the human body had been put to any improper use, therefore there was no shame, for shame can only arise from a consciousness of sinful or irregular conduct.

Even in a state of innocence, when all was perfection and excellence, when God was clearly discovered in all his works, every place being his temple, every moment a time of ivorship, and every object an incitement to religious reverence and adoration — even then, God chose to consecrate a seventh part of time to his more especial worship, and to hallow it unto his own service by a perpetual decree. Who then shall dare to reverse this order of God? Had the religious observance of the Sabbath been never proclaimed till the proclamation of the law on Mount Sinai, then it might have been conjectured that this, like several other ordinances, was a shadow which must pass away with that dispensation; neither extending to future ages, nor binding on any other people. But this was not so. God gave the Sabbath, his first ordinance, to man, (see the first precept, ver. 17,) while all the nations of the world were seminally included in him, and while he stood the father and representative of the whole human race; therefore the Sabbath is not for one nation, for one time, or for one place. It is the fair type of heaven's eternal day — of the state of endless blessedness and glory, where human souls, having fully regained the Divine image, and become united to the Centre and Source of all perfection and exceL 1. shall rest in God, unutterably happy through the _ measurable progress of duration! Of this consun. mation every returning Sabbath should at once be a type, a remembrancer, and a foretaste, to every pious mind; and these it must be to all who are taught of

Of this rest, the garden of Eden, that paradise of God formed for man, appears also to have been a type and pledge; and the institution of marriage, the cause, bond, and cement of the social state, was proTbably designed to prefigure that harmony, order, and blessed ness which must reign in the kingdom of God, ol which the condition of our first parents in the garden of paradise is justly supposed to have been an expressive emblem. What a pity that this heavenly institution should have ever been perverted! that, instead of becoming a sovereign help to all, it is now, through its prostitution to animal and secular purposes, become the destroyer of millions! Reader, every connection thou formest in life will have a strong and sovereign influence on thy future destiny. Beware! an unholy cause, which from its peculiar nature must be cease lessly active in every muscle, nerve, and passion, cannot fail to produce incessant effects of sin, misery, death, and perdition. Remember that thy earthly connections, no matter of what kind, are not formed merely for time, whatsoever thou mayest intend, but also for eternity. With what caution therefore shouldst thou take every step in the path of life! On this ground, the observations made in the preceding notqs are seriously recommended to thy consideration.

Satan, by means of a creature here called the serpent, deceives Eve, 1—5. Both she and Adam transgress the Divine command, and fall into sin and misery, 6, 7. They are summoned before God, and judged, 8—13. The creature called the serpent is degraded and punished, 14. The promise of redemption by the incarnation of Christ, 15. Eve sentenced, 16. Adam sentenced, 17. The ground cursed, and death threatened, 18, 19. Why the woman was called Eve, 20. Adam and Eve clothed with skins, 21. The wretched state of our first parents after 4,heir fall, aad their expulsion fi-om the garden of Paradise, 22—24 lyrOW ^ the serpent was ^ more subtle than any beast of the

Verse 1. Notv the serpent teas more subtle] We have here one of the most difficult as well as the most important narratives in the whole book of God. The last chapter ended with a short but striking account of the perfection and felicity of the first human beings, and this opens with an account of their transgression, degradation, and ruin. That man is in a, fallen state, the history of the world, with that of the life and miseries of every human being, establishes beyond successful contradiction. But hoiv, and by what agency, was this brought about 1 Here is a great mystery; and I may appeal to all persons who have read the various comments that have been written on the Mosaic account, whether they have ever yet been a field which the Lord God had made. b^q^Jq. And he said unto the woman, •= Yea, satisfied on this part of the subject, though convinced of the fact itself. Who was the serpent? of what ki7id? In what ivay did he seduce the first happy pair'? These are questions which remain yet to be anstvered. The whole account is either a simple narrative of facts, or it is an allegory. If it be a historical relation, its literal meaning should be sought out; if it be an allegory, no attempt should be made to explain it, as it would require a direct revelation to ascertain the sense in which it should be understood, for fanciful illustrations are endless. Believing it to be a simple relation of facts capable of a satisfactory explanation, I shall take it up on this ground; and, by a careful examination of the original text, endeavour to fix the meaning, and show the propriety and con-

\id, Ye shall not eat of the garden? lid unto the serpent,

. tne Mosaic account of the fall of man. _ne chief difficulty in the account is found in the question, Who was the agent employed in the seduction of our first parents?