Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-12-30
THE BEGINNING.
DR.. cURTISS' NOTES ON THE SUM-
DAY SCHOOL LESSON.

The History of Redemption Old
Testament contains the history of redemp-
ton. 1t deals mainly with Israel, because
Israel was the people of redemption. To
them were committed the oracles of God;
from them in the fullness of time Jesus
Christ came. The lessons of the first quar-
ter are in Genesis, which treats of the be-
ginning of the universe, of man, of the ma
tions and of Israel 1t mentions other
nations, because in the history of redemp-
ton salvation is to be provided for them
through the Messiah.
The Bible and Science.-The Bible is not
a scientific text book. Its true character is
indicated in 3 Tim. iii, 1917. The evil
dence of its divine origin is not in the fact
that it agrees, or does not disagree, with
the latest researches of the astronomer or
the geologist. If the Bible could thus be
harmonized in every age with the conflict
ing theories of men of science, it would in
deed be open to the charge that anything
may be proved from Scripture.
Superiority of the Bible-But the first
chapter of Genesis is infinitely above any
thing that mans wisdom has attained or
can attain. 1t teaches with certainty that
in the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth. Men without knowledge of
the Bible have believed in Creator They
have seen the evidence in the works around
and above them; but their accounts of
creation are intermingled with the grossest
superstitions. We need only to read the
account of creation as given in heather
co7mogonies to see the divine origin of that
which we have in our Bible; and we may
be certain that science can never drop its
plummet line so low as to diSprove the sub
lime sta cement, SIN the beginning God ere
ated the heaven and the earth. "
THE LESSON.
Creation of Man (Gen. i, 26).-Here we
reach the climax of Gods creative work It
is written of the creation of lower animals,
''Let the waters bring forth;'' ''Let the
earth bring forth;'' but when we come to
the crown of creation we read, 'ELet US
make man in our image, after our likeness" "
Men are expressly forbidden to try to make
an image of God The Scriptures represent
him as being without a bodily form, al
though his hand, his eye, etc, are often
mentioned by necessity Of human speech
as symbols of power and knowledge. But
there is an outward expression which must
be suited to deity. Such a form as Christ
had ON the mount of TRANSPORTATION, and,
such perhaps as the Angel of Jehovah as
sumed in his visits to the patriarchs When
we read Of the image and likeness of God,
we are to understand not only an independ-
ent personality, which has the power of
choice, and whom God especially makes
ruler over all his creatures but also that
man was created with a body most fitted to
express that personality and which was a
type of the resurrection body, which is to
be like Christ's glorious body.
Trinity of the Godhead.-We are not to
suppose that the doctrine of the trinity is
clearly taught In this passage, where God
says, "Let us make man, - although it is in
deed gerninally contained in it, since that
doctrine is first distinctly set forth in the
New Testament. Nor does God (Elohim)
address the angels, for the Scriptures clearly
teach that they are not sharers in the work
of creation; but in the Old Testament sense
God contains everything that is divine in
himself He is plurality in unity, hence
his name Elohim, which is a plural form.
In the New Testament sense plurality be-
comes a unity, although even in the Old
Testament we read Of the Spirit of God as
active in the creation of matter and of man
and of the Angel of Jehovah, the God of
revelation, who corresponds to the Son of
God in the New Testament. Thus we have
intimations of the doctrine of the trinity in
the Old Testament, which prepare the way
for a more complete unfolding in the New.
Man not "Evolved'' ". 20.-This verse
is a fatal blow to the doctrine of the evolu-
ton of man from the lower animals. Even
if the missing monkey should be found that
is said TO constitute the lost link between
apes and man, still the scientists would not
be able to prove that he was the progenitor
of him who was made in the image of God.
In some of the museums one sees wax figures
which bear startling resemblances to GER
tain historical personages, but no power of
man could give wax figure soul, and no
power of nature can ever transform the
highest type of ape into the lowest type of
man. In mans possession of a soul there
is a great gulf fixed between him and the
lower animals Our greatest wisdom is, $50
God created man in his own image, in the
image of God created he him. "
The distinction OF sex was also created by
God. Woman is mans counterpart (Gen.
2-1S; Hebrew, help as over against HIM.
In the divine order, then, man and woman
supplement each other, and are designed to
walk and work together.
Marriage ". 30 is honorable in all. God
not only made man and woman for each
other, but also for their children. The ideal
life even for those who are unmarried is
Eph. iii, IA, Is, Revised Version. Man in
his creation is made king of the earth.
Every living thing is subject to him.
Food for man Tvs. 30, 30.-In these
verses it is implied that God originally gave
the herb to man for food. 1t is only after
the deluge that he solemnly bestows on him
the use of animal food Gen. tx, b. We
may not say that the destruction of animal
life is to be considered the result Of the fall,
although in the picture of Paradise regaiued
tine lion is said to eat straw like the OK.
All Things Good w. 31)-At the end of
the sixth day Gods creative work reached
its elimination. Each stage, except the
second in the first week is pronounced good;
but on the evening Of the sixth day, when
man, the lord of creation, who is a little
lower than God Ps. viii; s. Revised Yer
sion), takes his throne, the Creator of all
sees that it is very good.
Creation Finished CGen. ii, D.-The
seventh day is of such Importance that it is
specially introduced by the emphatic state
ment that God had finished his creative
work. Although chief attention has been
given in the first chapter of Genesis to an
account of the creation of the earth as the
abode of man and is the theater of human
history, yet all other planetary sytems,
WHICH nave dlItduy DcSu AnuCsiOSu III Oeh.
/, 1-16, are included in the words, "And
all the host of them, u since the word ''host,"
which literally signifies an army, is not only
applied most commonly to the host of
angels, but also to the stars by some that
mention of the creation of sun and moon
and the host of heaven is leveled against
the alteration of these bodies, which was
so prevalent among some of the nations Of
antiquity.
Length of the Divine Week ". 2.-It is
a question which has been much discussed
as to the length of the divine week. Some
think that we have here seven human days.
But even centuries before the era of modern
science Augustine died 430 A. d. main
tanned that these days were periods of in
definite duration. As we have seen that
the eye and hand of God are mentioned,
why should we be surprised that God should
be spoken of as creating the world in a
week9 although we may well believe that
divine week is infinitely longer than hu-
man. On the seventh day, or the present
"A L =.