wise, and then a MAN is made. Thus, the statement concerning the making of man, does not, in our judgment, relate to the origination of his physical structure: we look upon it as the description of man in the possession of a high degree of spiritual perfection, to which a preceding series of mental and moral developments had contributed.

The ideas of what constitute a man, will change with the aspect under which he is contemplated. If we take a low and corporeal view of him, we shall be led to think that he is a man by virtue of his form. If we look at him through military eyes, he will be pronounced to be a man, in consequence of his prowess. The law says that he is a man, when he has lived so many years: and there are many other points, from which the conventionalities of society have so regarded him. But it is not any such ideas as these, which God attaches to the term, when it is used approvingly in his Word. That which is a man, in the divine estimation, is intellectual and spiritual excellence. Hence the Lord, when speaking of the destitution of heavenly love in the church, said, "I beheld the earth, and lo, there was no man.” (Jer. iv. 25.) And again, it is written that Jerusalem would have been pardoned of her sins, if "a man” could have been found therein; (Jer. v. 1;) where, by a man, is plainly meant internal superiority of character. This was induced by the Lord upon those human faculties, which he has created for the reception of himself; and, in the proportion in which man received them, he had life from the Lord, and so became an image and likeness of him; an "image,” so far as he was in charity and faith, but a "likeness," so far as he was in love and wisdom. This is the man, about which the Lord has made a revelation, and it is the things constituent of this manhood, which required a revelation, in order that a knowledge of them may be perpetuated with our race. "God said, Let us * make man in our image after our likeness:" such was the divine proposition, but it is to be observed that the image only was now produced. (See 27 verse.) Those who have been accustomed to view the statements of the Word in some general external idea only, will not instantly recognise the particular distinction which

*This plural pronoun may be interpreted consistently, as, indeed, it ought to be, with the idea of one single divine person in the god-head, if we consider it to refer to what must have been the fact, namely, that a plurality of the Divine attributes were specially exerted in the productions here treated of. See the Author's Work on "The Deity of Jesus Christ asserted," pp. 23-27.

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those two terms are intended to convey, and which indeed they must express, unless we consider the holy spirit to have selected tautological and redundant words; which idea need only to be named to be rejected. The nature of the distinction is the same as that which exists between things spiritual and things celestial. It is the spiritual man who is the image of God; the celestial man is His likeness: but that was a development that had yet to be educed, and of which we shall by and by have occasion to speak.

But after the general declaration, that God made man in his own image, it is more particularly said, "Male and female created he them." That this cannot, consistently with the literal sense, be interpreted to mean the creation of the physical sexes, seems evident; for when we carefully consult that sense, it appears, according to the second of Genesis, that she was not created on the sixth day at all; that she did not come into being, until after Adam was placed in the garden, and thus, not until after the seventh day! The criticism, which would have the description of woman's creation, as mentioned in the second chapter, to be regarded as only the detail of what is generally noticed in the first, does not remove these literal discrepancies. Moreover, such a view of the subject is founded in the erroneous idea of these two records being fragmentary pieces, relating to the same circumstance; whereas both ought to be regarded, as we shall endeavor to show, in the progress of our exposition, as the revelation of a series of distinct and progressive facts.

By male and female, that were now created, are meant, the complete evolution of the two characteristics of the human mind, namely, its intellect and its affection. These were designed to form one mind, and therefore, it is afterwards said of them, that they should be one, which indeed, was realized, when the celestial condition was developed. The characteristic of the intellect, from the force and vigor of its nature, is contemplated as male, and the affection, from the delicacy, grace, and beauty, for which it is remarkable, is spoken of as female: hence, they are distinguished as the sexes. These two faculties of the mind exist, indeed, in each of them, but it is plain that they have been differently distributed, and it is the distinctive order in which they exist in each, which constitutes their essential difference. The most conspicuous feature in the female character is that of will and its affections; her intellect is somewhat interior and perceptive. That

which is most evident in the male is his understanding and intellectual energy; his will is more interior and subdued. It is those mental differences in the natural constitution of the sexes, which fitted them to denote those two faculties in the human mind, which their leading characters so much resemble. So that that, which has been popularly understood to describe the creation of the sexes is, when viewed in this light, found to be significant of the orderly development of the human will and understanding, and thus, of the due preparation of those faculties for the reception of the divine love and wisdom, and by which reception they were afterwards to be merged into "one flesh," — one flesh, denoting their intimacy and union in the pursuit of all that is good and lovely.

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These faculties being developed, it is now said that God blessed them; the blessing consisting, not in the utterance of a sentiment, but in the ability to enjoy those excellences which had been communicated. They were, also, commanded to “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it." Fruitfulness is applied to the affections, and their prolifications in all manner of good works of love and use: But multiplication has reference to the increase of the knowledges of truth and wisdom: hence the apostle, treating of the effects of the Divine Word upon the soul, says of the Lord, as the implanter of that "seed," that he will multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness. (2 Cor. ix. 10.) By replenishing the earth, is denoted the infilling of the external man with all the holy principles of intelligence and virtue; and to subdue the earth, means to bring the external man into the order and submissiveness which an enlightened and spiritual love requires: and hence was to result his "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth: " that is, in his spiritual character, as an image of God, he was to be capable of bringing into subjection all the inferior things of science and intellect, represented by the "fish" and the "fowl," together with all the lower affections and appetites belonging to his external man, and denoted by "every living thing that moveth upon the earth." These were to be the prerogatives of the man whose progressive development and elevation we have been tracing: they were to consist in the moral and mental government which the higher principles of his superior nature were to exercise over his inferior part.

And every herb and fruit are said to have been given to him,

VALUE OF THE SPIRITUAL SENSE.

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and every beast for meat; because the state secured would require to be sustained. By the man, is now properly meant that internal humanity which had been developed, and, by the beasts, all the orderly affections thereto belonging. Both of these require to be sustained with appropriate food, and this is described to have consisted in herbs and fruits, because they signify the truths and goods by which it is effected; the truths, or herbs, being for the beasts, or spiritual affections, and the good, or fruits, being for the man, as to his internal human delights.

Man being made, and these instructions given, it is then said that “God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good;" a statement beautifully expressing the Divine approbation of that high spiritual state which had been evolved, and which was emphatically the work of God, as is the case with all good things. Still this state was not one of perpetual brilliance; it, like all the days which had preceded, had its shade as well as light, and therefore it is said, "And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." The work of human development, thus far advanced, was not ended till the seventh; but that is a subject which belongs to the succeeding chapter, and to which we shall presently refer.

Thus, the six successive days of creation, with all the circumstances mentioned to have transpired upon each, are representative of the six progressive states of human development, together with all the phenomena that were proper to the process: and consequently, the narrative is descriptive of the degrees, through which man passed out of the merest rudiments of humanity, into the attainment of the Divine image.

Such are the subjects which we conceive to be treated of in the internal sense, which is the only sense, of this first portion of the book of Genesis. Viewed as a narrative of physical occurrences, it is inconsistent with the facts and discoveries of science, and altogether unintelligible to the fair and free inquiries of reason. This is proven by the whole history of those interpretations, which have taken that notion for their basis. But, regarded as a description of the mental and spiritual elevation of humanity, delivered in the form of figurative history, it is found to be in harmony with the best Christian experience, to agree with the soundest requirements of reason, and to be in beautiful consistency with all the disclosures of true philosophy concerning man's origin and

nature.

CHAPTER IV.

THE SEVENTH DAY, A CELESTIAL STATE OF MAN. - Gen. ii. 1.

"There is one law of criticism, the most important to the thorough understanding of any work. It is that, by which we should be led, by continued habits of mind and action, to approximate to that intellectual and moral condition in which the work originated. · The Bible has mind for its subject, that condition of mind, which is heaven, for its object, and the Father of mind for its Author.". Growth of the Mind, by SAMSON REED.

A KNOWLEDGE of things pertaining to the natural world, is to be procured by the natural powers of men. Supernatural communications are not required to inform us of points in science, philosophy, or history. Narratives, literally expressing such things, may be employed as the vehicle for higher information, and thence derive a sanctity; the parties writing them may, also, have been sensibly directed in the selection of such external vehicles, nevertheless, they do not properly come within the idea of having required supernatural discovery.

A revelation is necessary to bring us acquainted with spiritual things, because they are beyond the reach of the ordinary efforts of the human mind, nor can such things be expressed, in natural language, in any other way than as types and figures; and therefore, what has been said concerning the "creation," is but a brief example of that representative and significant writing, which prevails through every document that delivers an actual revelation. It is the spiritual truths contained within the letter of the Word, which properly constitutes a revelation from God, and the Scriptures are said to be inspired, in consequence of the presence of such truths. Thus, the Word itself is an inspired writing, apart from the abnormal or inspired condition of the individual, by whose instrumentality it was produced. The letter is only the natural and symbolical continent, employed for the delivery of spiritual truth to man.

We do not suppose, that in the preceding exposition, we have anticipated every objection, that may be raised against the literal sense; or, that we have so stated its spiritual meaning, as to remove every difficulty, which may lay in the way of its immediate adoption to effect these results, a more enlarged and particular treatment of the subject would be required, than we proposed to undertake. What has been set forth are only a few of the gen