this, that the language of the Scriptures is not true, that there was something not made in the six days, viz. the substantial elements of the heavens earth, and sea. The interpretation would make Scripture distinctly contradict itself,—would represent it as here saying, that 'in six days the Lord make heaven and earth,' &c.; but at some era before these six days,-(how long before is altogether uncertain, but it is expressed at the opening of the book of Genesis, by the words, in the beginning,')God created the heavens and the earth; which last phrase, again, they will not permit to have its plain and natural meaning, but interpret to signify, not the heavens and the earth, but a confused chaos, from which, in after time, the world was evolved. As well might the sacred historian have said, in the beginning God created man, because in the beginning he formed the dust of the ground, out of which he was afterwards made. "It does not at all aid the interpretation to say, that asah, the ori ginal of the word made, may signify, to fashion out of existing materials, for Mr. C. allows, that it also signifies, to create out of nothing; and what previously existing materials could there be, if in these six days the heavens and the earth, and all that in them is, were made? Be. sides, the language of the second chapter of Genesis completely sweeps away every shelter, that this criticism would seem to afford to the notion, that something was created, and existed long before this six days' work. There it says,Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.' Verse 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.' According to the theory of those who would affirm that creation was not included in the six days,-for the heavens and the earth were only made or fashioned,-the language of the 2d verse, ⚫he rested from all his works, would not be true ;-he only rested from a part. But let us listen to the language of the 3d verse, which is still more decisive. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.' In this last expression, every term that can express the complete accomplishment of the work of creation in six days is employed; and if this is not the meaning of these verses, we must, to adopt Mr. C.'s expression in another place, despair of ever discovering any meaning in language,' and must ever distrust the interpretation of it, according to its plain and apparent meaning. "The criticism upon asah, viz. that it may mean to fashion, will not avail; for, in the same sentence, both asah and barah, which signifies the highest exercise of creating power, are employed. And is it not remarkable that, in a history so concise, the writer thrice repeats the word 'all,' in regard to the perfecting of creation in six days: all the host of them,' 'all his work which he had made,' and, all his work which God created and made,'-language which, guided by the Spirit of inspiration, another writer has transferred to the New Testament, in a similar comprehensiveness,' And God did rest the seventh day from all his works, Heb. iv. 4. It seems, then, as clear to us as language can make it, that there was not any thing created, whether visible or invisible, before this six days' work, and that the Westminster Divines were right in saying, that it pleased God to create, or make of nothing, the world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days.› "This corresponds with other descriptions interspersed through various parts of the sacred record. Thus, Ps. 148,- Praise ye him, all his angels; praise ye him, all his hosts; praise ye him, sun and moon; praise ye him, all ye stars of light; praise ye him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens ;-let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded, and they were created.' This sublime language includes things visible and invisible, material and spiritual, and it expresses, in regard to them, as sublime an action, that at the fiat of the Almighty they were created. Similar to this is the language of Ps. 33,— By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them, by the breath of his mouth.' Verse 9,' He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.' "It is our most solemn conviction, then, that Mr. C.'s objection opposes not only the language of the Confession, but also the language of the Bible; and if it be true, as he says, that the good men who compiled the Confession of Faith fell into the common error of the day, in supposing that by the word 'beginning' was meant, the six days of putting the earth in its present order,'—if in this they fell into an error, the conclusion is unavoidable, that into this error they have been led by the language of the sacred historian, seeing that he so distinctly states the truth they have embodied. Such is the withering conclusion to which Mr. C.'s objection must lead. "The supposition that the earth was created, and continued in a chaotic condition, or that it underwent 'various revolutions previous to the era at which the race of intelligent and moral creatures, who now posses it, were first introduced upon it,' receives no countenance from Scripture. It is true, it is said the earth was without form, and void ;' or, as it is rendered in the septuagint, unfurnished;' but we must interpret the language in harmony with the rest of the record; and hence we infer, that this continued only from its being called into existence till the light was formed, all which was part of the work of the first day. That the Almighty would create a world, and leave it thus in long continued chaos, would be an impeachment of his wisdom, his goodness, and his power. In the very language, a distinction is made of the earth and the waters. Could there be such a thing as an original chaos? It supposes various elements confused and commingled, but they must have been created distinct; and so it is that philosophers understand chaos to mean, not the rudiments of a new, but the ruins of a former world. Buckland describes chaos, geologically considered, as designating the wreck and ruins of a former world.' If we abandon, then, the belief of our confession on this subject, it must be to substitute, as our creed, the language of heathen poetry, or the ravings of Hindoo cosmogony, which represents the immutable power by waking and reposing alternately; revivifying and destroying the world.' 66 Again, the solution which some propose, that day means an era, or long continued period, is equally unsatisfactory. God, in revealing the account of creation, spake to his people in their own language, and in such a manner as to be understood; and that, too, at the time of utterance, and not to remain under protracted unintelligibility, till elucidated by the geologists of the nineteenth century. Let us examine, then, the record of creation in the first chapter of Genesis; let us take the chapter as its own dictionary; and look for the meaning of the word 'day.' We commence, then, with the 14th verse, where the meaning is settled beyond a question. And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light the night.' Verse 19, And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.' Now, can there be any doubt here about the meaning of the word day? If so, there must be equal doubt about the meaning of the word night. Does night, then, also mean some indefinite period of a thousand, or six thousand, or any other number of solar years? or can there be any doubt concerning the meaning of the evening and the morning ? If these are to be understood, as they must be, in their plain and natural signification, there can be no doubt about the meaning of the word day.' Day, then, from the 14th to the 19th verse, means, simply and unequivocally, twenty-four hours, and criticism is put to defiance to torture it into another meaning in the subsequent or preceding narrative. "Why will believers in the Bible leave its plain language without affixing to it its evident meaning, or attempt to fix upon that language a perverted meaning, in order to harmonize with geology, a science so recent in its origin and unfixed in its principles? Hitherto it has consisted more in theory than a regular induction of facts, and each theory has been popular only for a brief period, till displaced by some succeeding one, perhaps more fascinating, because more fanciful, than all the rest. And not only have geologists been divided as to theories, but also as to alleged facts, one affirming that to be certain, for which another assures us there is no foundation. Even now, when it is more wisely studied, we find one of the latest and most illustrious of its expositors, Buckland, acknowledging that it is a science hitherto little regarded, and almost without a name, until the commencement of the present century;' and again, it must be confessed, that the season has not yet arrived when a perfect theory of the whole earth can be fixed. And that very author afterwards shews the unfixedness of men's opinions, and the uncertainty of their theories, when he confesses that his opinions, expressed in a work published in 1823, that certain appearances were caused by the Mosaic deluge, he now sees reason to abandon, a recantation similar to that read by Professor Sedgwick, at the meeting of the great anniversary of the Geological Society. The science of geology is intimately connected with, and the explanation of its phenomena dependent upon, our knowledge of light and heat, electricity and magnetism, &c.,-sciences which are every day receiving some new elucidation. The philosophy of light has lately assumed an entirely new aspect: as to beat, philosophers are still divided, some believing it to be a particular state of the particles of bodies, others that it is a distinct substance. But lately, the sceptical smatterer in philosophy would have cavilled at the Mosaic account of the creation of light before the creation of the sun, and maintained, either that it was not true at all, or to be otherwise than literally understood; but advancing science has taught that light is not merely an emanation from the sun but a subtle element which might exist without it, and does exist independent of it; and thus the statement of Scripture is consistent with the profoundest research in philosophy, as it is, no doubt, with the most intimate acquaintance with God's work. Here science has shewn, that the Mosaic account is philosophically and literally true. Why would Mr. C. have us to distrust the literal account of the six days' creation, for theories that are yet to be unfolded? Geology has confirmed another truth, the era of man's appearance upon this sphere. Neither extent nor minuteness of research have elicited any traces of him, before the period Moses records as the date of his creation. All who have investigated this subject, have agreed in Baron Cuvier's acknowledgment, that the date of his appearance corresponds, so far as natural science can trace it, with the Mosaic account. The best expositors of geology have also assented to another truth,—that there must have been a creation, and that miraculous, a truth which some smatterers, and some fond of clinging to favourite theories of their own, seem to have forgotten, while tracing existing things through various slow, progressive evolutions-through secondary causes; and that, too, acting without any increasing and extraordinary energy, but just as they do at present, loath to admit the agency of the Great First Cause of all. "It is evident, geologists too much lean to natural causes, and forget that there is a supernatural power at work, and that he can at any time produce an instantaneous maturity. Let us for a moment suppose that God were now to exhibit such creating power as is recorded in the first of Genesis, and that some modern geologist were introduced into the newformed paradise. In the garden he sees trees loaded with fruit, he boldly pronounces that these trees must have seen many summers; — that in by-gone years they were saplings, prior to that they were seeds, and prior to that there were other trees from which they sprung,-were he told they were formed yesterday, he would proclaim himself an unbeliever. He goes forth to the fields, and sees the animals browsing there in full-grown maturity, he examines the horn of the ox, or the tooth of the elephant, and decides that they are of a certain age. It does not enter into his philosophy that he who made them, made them at once and perfect. He then examines the ground, and pronounces upon the strata there, that they took particular ages to be deposited. "Let us beware of actually realizing such a scene, exhibiting a conduct of which it might be hard to say which is the most astonishing,its ignorance, or presumption; a conduct which might well provoke the sarcasm of the poet, when he said— "Some drill and bore The solid earth, and from the strata there To Moses, was mistaken in its age.'-COWPER." An Arrangement of the Parables. In a Lecture delivered in Stephen's Church, Edinburgh. By Wm. Muir, D.D. Thomas Paton, Edinburgh. 1837. THIS sensible discourse is founded on Matt. xiii. 34, 35. Its motto might, most appropriately, be multum in parvo. It arranges and simplifies a difficult subject. But its principal excellence is, that it shews the supreme importance and suitableness of our Lord's parables for imparting sound instruction, and promoting practical godliness. Such a publication is most seasonable, at a time when the most fanciful and farfetched interpretations have been too generally given of these remarkable discourses of our Lord. They are reduced to four classes,—those that treat of the nature of the Gospel, its rise and progress, its holy fruits, and its grand consummation. The several parables are shewn to be naturally comprehended under one or other of these classes, and thus all are made to bear on the promotion of pure and undefiled religion. How privileged are the people who sit under the instruction of so sound a teacher. [The publication of the following paper may appear unseasonable, as the time to which it specially refers is past; but it contains so much of general observation, applicable at all times and seasons, that we think it would be wrong to withhold it. Its reasons for united and earnest prayer on a particular occasion, apply to that duty at all times and seasons.-Editor.] LETTER FROM REV. JAMES HALDANE STEWART, TO THE EDITOR OF THE DUBLIN RECORD. OF St. Bride's, Liverpool, Dec. 12, 1836. SIR,-Some few years since 1 published a small work entitled, "Thoughts on the Importance of Special Prayer, for the general outpouring of the Holy Spirit ;" and afterwards travelled through different parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Continent, to promote this object. When in Italy, I met with a very devout and influential Christian, who resides in the United States of America, but who, from diffidence, wishes to remain unknown. From this excellent person I have lately received a very pressing letter, urging me to prepare a paper, inviting "all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," to unite in a general concert for prayer, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, on the first Monday of the ensuing year. I have, in consequence, written the enclosed invitation, which, if you approve, I should feel much obliged by your inserting it in your valuable Paper. I remain, Sir, your's very faithfully JAMES HALDANE STEWART. INVITATION TO UNITE IN A GENERAL CONCERT OF PRAYER, FOR THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, ON THE FIRST MONDAY OF THE NEW YEAR. DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD,-About six years since, it was proposed by some devout Christians in Switzerland, that "all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," should, on the last Monday of the year, hold a general concert for prayer, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This appeal, |
