The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1886-12-23
SUNDAY MEDITATION.
Practical Duties Taught By a Study or the Inter.
national Sunday school Lesson Appointed for
Jan. . Gen. 26-3l: 2:I-3

We have in the lesson an account of the
origin of mankind. Adam was made last of all
creatures, viz, on the sixth day. Saturday.
There are evident reasons why he should have
been the final product I. 1t was fitting resi-
dence should be in readiness for man when
ushered into being. The proper order is cage
first and bird afterward. 2. As soon as made,
human beings would need food, and so the
vegetable world should precede their coming
3. Then God could the more clearly point out
to man his mission on earth after things were
all in readiness. 1t was Gods purpose men
should have dominion over the entire animal
(brute) kingdom, and God was to indicate to
them said duty. This could be done the more
effectively when cattle, fowl, ETC., were on the
spot, and men could see their duties and pro-
coed at once to perform them. Further, God
was to tell human beings to subdue the soil.
This was the moro easy and understandable
when God could point to the ground and men
SEQ it; when workman and soil were both ready.
4. Then mans creation as the last stroke Of the
Creator was a compliment to his order Of being.
He was the climax of the six days work. 1t
has been said of man he is diuiHi Opifcii caput-
the head of divine Workmanship.
certain class of scientists dispose of the
question why man was made last by saying he
was not made, but grew. He is the outgrowth
OF unnumbered processes, reaching from the
atom to the man; he must be last, as that to
which all developments before tended and for
which they were set in operation. Another
class who are not so sure of the evolution theory
hold that man was created in state of human
savagery, and is evolving from such condition
up to civilization. These writers do not admit
the Fall of man, but hold to his ascent All
guilt attaching to what we style the Fall would
be removed if man were put in Eden as stupid
as brute; as ignorant as a Patagonian; as saw
age as wild beast. The Fall is significant
from the fact OF mans superior powers, intelli-
gence and instruction from Heaven at the very
start Of his existence. Eden was not menag-
erie. Adam did not crawl out from proto-
plastic puddle. Ewes first active existence was
not spent in playing in the branches and hang
ing from the limbs of Oriental trees preparatory
to walking erect in Eden and talking with God.
Such is the feeling of the great class of COM
mentators, and hence they accepted with in
dignatiOn the theories of Darwin and his school.
1t is singular how the Bible endures the adj
vances of science. Admitting the theories of
evolution, they are not found destructive of
Biblical truth. Granting protoplasm ultimately
developed into beings so pure and intelligent as
we find Adam and Eve in Paradise, we can still
hold to the Bible for our faith. We are not so
concerned as TO the methods of mans creation
or the time required. We hold, however, that
by the time of the temptation in Eden man had
reached n responsible condition-knew good
from evil, could resist the wrong and hold to
tbc ElSnt, anu tn1I neuce MS cO0Uucb IN f3r3-
disc was guilty. The strictest adherence to
evolution does not require us to admit the ig-
norance, deprayity, savagery Of our first parents
when in Eden.
We notice in " 90 u.s." 1t is plural Only
God can create. Whoever are meant by the
Gus" it is a fact they had powers such as we
grant to Deity alone. Here even partnership
of the finite is not allowable in our thought. A
1--WE" after the form Of the editorial is too
ima0inariya for admission in Pihla inf
ton. Nor is it q magisterial I'VE" Royalty
says 81" lex, 8: g.; DAN. 4 3d. 1t has been
believed by the great body of commentators
through the centuries that the Godhead is re-
vealed in three lines so distinct az to give rise
to belief in what is known as the doctrine Of
the Trinity, represented under three persons,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Such verses as
st. Matt, 3:16, II; st. John, :1-3, IA; Eph.,
2:l8; Col, L: 16 are quite readily explicable by
this doctrine. 1t is a fact, striking every stu
dent of the Holy Scriptures, that three and only
three distinctions are made as TO persons styled
God. At the same time the Bible is protest
from beginning to end against polytheism, yea
even against dualism in any form rs applied to
the Deity. No theologian has been presump-
| tuous enough to attempt On explanation of the
Trinity. Mystery in itself is not an objection.
Man must have some margin for faith in God.
| 1t must be admitted that if the doctrine of the
Trinity is true, and God should announce it as
an item of belief, it would not do for the world
to refuse to accept it without full calculation.
No persons are quite so robust in opposing a
strange doctrine as to deny infallibility to God.
They who hold the doctrine of the Trinity
readily explain "us" in v. 20 by saying that
mans creation became matter for execution
| by all three persons Of the Trinity. There are
some things which even mOrtalS do not under
stand, but which they must grant to be true.
Let US make man" (V. 26) Much has
been said about the origin of the human race
Here we have the true account. God made
man.
Weare not able to tell where God made Adam
| Gen.. 2: 10 implies the act was outside Of the
Garden Of Eden. Once made, God put him
/ into Paradise.
| v. q says. "God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he him"
| This gives US an idea of mans rank and i'm.
portance. st. Paul, in Eph, 4 81, furnishes
help in determining what is meant by oul
creation in the image of God. He says, Put
on the new man, which after God like God
in correspondence with his imagel is created
i in righteousness and true holiness" Men
right and holy; image, God. Again, st. Pau
says, Put on the new man which is renewed
! in knowledge after the image Of him that Gre
ated him." (Col., 3: 10) We see the resem.
blance is in moral qualities. In this last verse
1t consists OF renewed religious knowledge, re-
sulting in a revival of spiritual life. Ignorance
is consequence of sin. We regain the image
of God the more accurately as we understand
God, our souls, goodness. God is a spirit and
| so is the soul. God is intelligent, and mer
have rational powers. God often appeals Il
our sense of right and justice and calls on u
to compare our conduct with our consciousness
of his nature, showing we are his images il
these regards. We want God to remember US
and God wants us not to forget him. We hay,
power individuality. will, all in kind, but no
in degree, with the same qualities and facultie:
in God. Having finished the world, God pu
in it picture of himself as a sort of memorial
honor to the Maker. Bishop Tillotson wrote
Man . is made after the image Of Goo
- in respect OF the qualities of his mind, a
holiness and righteousness; or of his faculties
as understanding and will or, which the tex
seems most to favor, in respect Of his dominion
and sovereignty over the creatures" DIR. SOutl
hints at the spiritual makeup Of man, saying
THE decalog of Moses was transcript, not al
original" adding that the original was writer
in the heart of Adam. The likeness is no
physical, for after man is as we say convert
ed, or, as st. Paul puts it. after he has regaine,
the image of God he has the same body as be
fore. Scalager tries to reach the thought, say
ing man is "mHHdi HtTiHSqae RexUs" man is tn
bond of both worlds. He is spirit from
Heaven; he is flesh from earth-spirit ant
flesh-union of Heaven and earth. Mans be
ing in Gods image is quite apparent even il
the cases of those far gone in sin, g.: g. as
evident in the following facts: /. There i
something Of goodness about even the most de
PRAYED. 2. In danger evil men run to God il
prayer for help like alarmed children to thei
parents. 3. 1t is natural to worship L. Me-
left to themselves without Bible, Church, re