The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-02-15

~. JSnoVau-lfIen. w. H. LteEeuyb tHo
Lord will see; that is to say, will see TO it:
equivalent to; will provide. Hence, see V. s.
God will provide. Houbigant adds fact.
The Lord shall be seen, meaning, Christ shall
be sacrificed here on Mt. Calvary. In illustra-
ton one is reminded of the substitute of goat
in the case of Iphigenia.
z. No warrant is given for human sacrifices.
The case bears directly against such practice,
and one object may have been to teach the
world the sin Of such act. They who have
made precedent of this have erred in the
whole spirit of the incident.
Practical Thoughts.
/. God takes will for deed. (St. JAS, 2: 81;
Heb, Il: ~
2. God prefers obedience to sacrifice. Il
Sam. 10: %; Mic, 6:7, 81
g. Obey (Gen., 26 5; st. James 2: 21-23l
A. COnsecrate all to God. (St. Matt, 10: 81;
10: 27-29; st. Luke, IA 26, 80; ROM, ~: IL
s. Learn the office work of trial. which is
to strengthen our religious nature and confirm
our holiness.
g. As to bearing of temptation. (see Deu.,
$50; Cor, 10; ID; Heb, IL: 10, IL; st. James,
%, ~; l Peter, 40
z. Trust. An old divine has said: elf we
could in all our trials lay ourselves down IN
the arms of the Almighty. this all sufhciency
in power and goodness, how much of the haven
should we have in our voyage, how much of
home in our pilgrimage, how much of Heaven
IN this wretched earth! Friends, throw away
your slaves, break the arm Of flesh, lie down
here quietly in every dispensatioD, and you
shall see the salvation of God"
g. There is a significance in this incident for
as also. We were to be sacrificed, but sub
stitute was found, caught, indeed, in thicket,
so bound on the cross as not to escape being
victim, His head covered with thorns. (St.
Matt, 20: %; ROM, 5:8.) There is certainly
some sense in which Christ died for us or in
our interest.
Daily Bible Reading upon this Topic.
Monday. Isaac offered, Gen.. %: LA
Tuesday. St. Paul as to Isaac, Rom, 8.
Wednesday, trusting God, Psalms 40.
Thursday. utility of faith, Heb. IL.
Friday, binding the sacrifice, Psalms, 118.
Saturday, faith and works. st. James, 2.
Sunday, resurrection of Christ, st. Mark, 16.
Question.
A reader of the Meditations raises the ques-
ton as to how long the beginning" was men,
toned in Gen., l.: l. In one sense, beginning
is not process, but fixed fact. We do not
speak of the duration of beginning. And Ger
tainly, it is beyond human power TO fix the
exact moment meant by "the beginning" in
Ehe first verse of the Bible. The view of the
nebular theory is now quite generally accepted.
Originally, by this theory, there was once
vast unit of nebuiar. BY revolutions this cast
off portions which formed the matter out of
which each planet and star was made The
beginning proper was when tho Creator brought
into existence the nebular mass The Begin
ming of each star planet was when its
matter became separated from the original
nebular volume. The word beginning" in
Gen., 1: l. seems to point to the time when the
original nehuar broke up into the heavens and
earth. Some, however hold that heavens
and earth refer to the atmosphere and matter
of this planet. 1t is held by many there is
gap between Gen., Il. and verse 2. When
God began the six days work, he found ths
nebuar mass in its utterly confused state as
just whirled off from the original nebular or
from some portion OF said nebular mass. We
cannot tell how long the matter of the earth
had remained formless and void. That was
the condition of things when Ged commenced
this weeks work. After God begun the pro-
cess OF bringing order out of chaos, the work
moves on and each Of It's stages is definitely de-
tailed in Gen, !: 1-31; 2 1-3. By days we
are to understand periods of process and COM
pletion a process was darkness; a completion,
day. The original word lin Hebrew will bear
the translation period AS we'll as day. and the
idea of an indefinite period is mueh more con-
sistent than the belief in days OF "a hours each,
and this rendering is confirmed by science.