, 1872-05-02

time when her womb contained no seed
nor germ of life, aud when she was
without form and void" Then it was
that "the Spirit of God moved upon
the face Of the waters,' and, through
various creative processes. brought forth
the different forms of vegetable and ami
NAL life which we behold in beauty and
endless variety on every hand. Why is
not this fact of creation denied !? 1t
stands alone; there is nothing like it.
1t is miracle, and as such Is rs unwor-
thy Of credenee as any other unattested
miracle according to the standard of
evidence raised by those who reject
Jesus Christ because Of his mira .ulous
conception and birth. But there ap-
pears by the record to be close analo-
gy between the two recorded facts, tho
creation and the birth of Christ, and
though Moses and Luke will hardly be
accused of collusion in this case, the
language is almost indentical to an
nounce both events. Moses SAYS that
the spirit of God moved upon the face
of the waters" and the result was good
and beautiful, and holy forms Of life.
st. Luke. using the angels words to the
Virgin Mary, says, "The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the power of
the Highest shall overshadow thee:
therefore also that Holy Being which
shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son Of God" If this language. used
to describe two apparently differing and
very distant events, is not as substan-
TALLY alike as it could we'll be, then We
confess we do not know what would co,
stitute similarity of expression. In
deed, the two facts and events have a
much closer relation to each other than
we are at first inclined to admit. And
to understand the latter physiologically
we must recur 10 the former, and note
another peculiar phrase of the Bible
narrative, which, in its simplicity, con-
tains the key to this mystery.
Immediately after the Fall, when the
Creator pronounced sentence of con-
demnation upon our first parents, He
held ont to the woman promise that
cher seed" should br,rise the serpent's
head. This is the only promise given
in the Sacred Word to the seed of the
woman peculiarly. Invariably the
promises of God regarding offspring
have been made to men. To Ap.
raham the promise of inheritance was
to his seed" and to Isaac and Jaaa
likewise. David and Solomon also re-
ceivcd promises of goodness and mercy
TO their seed and offspring; and the re-
cord is uniform in this respect. save in
this particular instance of the promised
Savior made to woman. And its subse-
quent fultillment produced perfect hu-
man body, sinless and pure, by the same
power aud means as the original life
was produced at the Creation and with.
out at all violating the law which re-
quires the union of two bodies to pro.
duce or reproduce life. In both instan-
ces there was the union of q spiritual
with spiritual body and the offspring
was good or Every good" The pro-
per understanding of these things must
encourage our faith and inspire our
hopes, and enable us to celebrate this
wonderful and important event in be-
coming manner. and with godly sinceri-
ty. And we shall be able, also, the bet
ter to comprehend how "The Word
was made flesh" and how "God was in
Christ reconciling the world unto Him.
SELF and we shall be constrained to ac-
knowledge that greater love than this
cannot be comorehended by human nm
derstanding. Great indeed is the human
mystery of godliness. God was mani
fest In the flesh, justified in the spirit,
seen of angels, preached unto the Gen.
tiles, believed on in the world, and receiv-
ed up into glory.-N.: Y. Herald.