The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1877-03-07
For THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN.
VIEW OF OUR WORLD-ITS UNITY AND
IT'S PLAN.
2. THE EARTH AND MAN.

ciple thing is concealed under the unneanin
scene of hill and vale? You see at first onl
trees here and there, grassy meadow,
river, it may be, at one eide, with cattle an
mountains. But there is no particula
meaning in this. Suddenly as you study
there springs out before you gigantic hu
man figure which you wonder you did no
perceive before; every tree, by its position a
frst thought accidental in its placing, ant
even every shading of the scene contributing
essentially to its formation. Thus physica
gsographers have intently studied the earth
To Maury, beauty, and design, and unity
arise out of confusion and uRmeanipg out
line.
L1ok moment at the globe. Wrapped
in her dense atmosphere and dark clouds, de-
pendent upon the sun for her life and mo
ton, for the throbbing Of her mighty pulse
she maintains without pause and without q
propelling organ the circulation of a giant
frame. Behold those mighty arterial streams
issuing forth from the midst of the tropical
seas, the Gulf stream of the Atlantic, the
Kuro Sivo of the Pacific, with the others,
freighted with genial warmth, and pouring
out their viVifying influences upon the coasts
of frigid lands Look at the innumerable
rills, rivulets, rivers, which gathering the re-
turning waters from the hidden capillaries Of
the soil, empty them again into the ocean
only to be sent out again to be fitted by the
atmosphere, which sweeps the earth with its
breath, for their descent in fructifying show
ers. The earth has circulation as truly as
man.
Again, does not the ground, parched with
thirst, absorb its drink like plant, from the
vopOrs in which this huge organism floats +?
The earth looks up to man. That image be
came less and less distinct in the inferior
animals; still less as we descend through
the world of plants; here it becomes faint.
Man is depicted in embryo. This globe is
not finished. It is but the promise of de-
VslOpment yet to be realized. We are told
the ground was cursed on mans account
Was that curse cOnfaed to thorns and this
ties? Perhaps our world received back
set of which We have never dreamed. Would
it not be wonderful to many to find that al
legged geological facts are no older than the
food? Who can tell what changes it wrought
on the globe. Find for me the river of Eden
with its four heads, and Eden itself with its
filming sword. Is there not here no shadow
of great convulsion, as of the throeS of
death? Who knows what the globe was be-
fore its participation in the fall? Do we not
err if We imagine the primary design of the
food of great waters, to have been the de-
structiou of man Was not the earth de-
strOyed, its organization changed, its perfect
glory reduced, and man simply destroyed
with the earth" (Gen. vi: 49, "It doth
not yet appear what it shall be; but
e" through faith we understand that the
heavens and the earth that now are shall
shortly be dissolved, destroyed again and by
fire, and that there shall be ga new heaven
and new earth" Aud that new earth will
surpaSS this, doubtless, in organization and
in glory, as much as the mature mechanism
and perfection of the human frame excols
its earlier stages of existence.
The unity we observe in the animal crea-
ton is thus seen to extend itself into and
through the vegetable world And it is not
difficult to perceive that the human is the
great model of creation, the one perfect ideal
form in which all created forms recognized
their own high origin. Man combines in his
body the image of every created thing. The
animals are fashioned after this model; the
plant world also; and the globe itself. All
Nature exhibits one plan. Even the angels,
celestial beings, exhibit the same form. As
we descended from man, however, variation
after variation shows itself; modification on
modification is made. And so we have an
infoite variety. The worlds unity is unity
in diversity. Ole grand thought is expressed
in ten thousand different ways. Great va
rity exists in every species. Man alone in
the beginning, stood forth a single form, an
abjact unique among this endless variety
1t was fitting that he, the centre and summit
of life, the model, the focus in whom all
these diverging lines of life took their origin,
who was himself stamped with the divine
image, and united to his Maker in conscious
communion, should be SO constituted. The
human species was without diversity.
But this subj ct heads deeper than We
have yet traced it. 1t must not be limited
to human science. Science alone cannot
give US a true, complete view of our world
There is more in this world than what We
see. In other words, while man can fnt
out great deal about this wonderful worlt
by his own searching-aud this is what VT
call science-yet mau, if he would learr
truly that which be does learn, must submi
to learn something from God, to take OF
His own Word simply, what He tells then
about this world, and that is revelation.
The question is pertinent; if it be sait
that man is the pattern of all creation be
low him, what is that object or pattern abOv
man in the heavenly places which deter
mined the form, the figure of man, afse
which man was fashioned? Was it not tn
body of "the Lord from heaven" the secon