The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-06


And God saw that it was good.
And God said:
Let us make man in our image
After our likeness.
Let them have dominion over the fish
of the sea,
over the birds OF the air,
over the cattle, over all the earth,
And over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth
So God created man in his own image.
In the image of God created he him,
Male and female created he them.
So God blessed them.
And God said to them:
BE fruitful and multiply.
Replenish the earth and suhdue IT.
Have dominion over the fish of the sea,
over the birds of the air,
And over every living thing that
moveth upon the earth.
And God said:
Behold, I have given you every herb
yielding seed.
Which is upon the face of all the
earth.
And every tree
In which is the fruit of a tree yield
To you 1t shall be for food
And to every beast of the earth.
To every bird of the air,
And to every thing that creepeth
upon the earth wherein there is
life.
/ have given every green herb for food
And Ii was so.
And God saw everything he had made,
And behold. it was very good.
SO 1t was evening, and it was morning,
The sixth day.
SO the heaven and the earth were fin
ished,
And all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God finished
his work
Which he had made.
And he rested on the seventh day from
all his work
Which he had made.
So God blessed the seventh day,
And hallowed it,
Because in it he rested from all his
work,
Which God had created and made.
The first StanZa of this ode has the
same form and character as the first
stanza of the ode Introductory to ST.
Johns Gospel. 1t treats of a strik-
ingly similar theme as we'll
The last stanza is also unique with
reference to all the rest; while the
intermediary stanzas which describe
the incidents of the six great creative
days are very similar in fora to each
other. Sometimes they are exactly
alike in construction to each other, as
the stanzas descriptive of the creative
acts on the third and fourth days
Sometimes, while generally similar,
they differ one way or another accord
ing to the poetic varieties common to
Hebrew poetry in general.
d
Like the introduction To St. Johns
Gospel, this great ode naturally di-
Vides itself into three distinct parts.
The first Stanza is the introduction to
the introduction. The last stanza
forms the conclusion. The intermedi-
ate stanzas forming the bulk of the
whole are devoted to the description
of the great six days in graphic and
powerful strokes of poetic detail.
The descriptions of the six days
thmsclves naturally divide themselves
in two. The descriptions Of the first
| three days are nicely balanced by the
| description Of the last three days, just
| as the first part of each successive
| stanza is balanced in the same way
by the latter part.
The stanZa descriptive of the fourth
| days creative acts is the antistrophe
! of the stanza descriptive of the first
| days creative acts.
The stanza descriptive of the fifth
| days creative acts is the antistrophe
to the strophe of the second day.
The first two stanzas in the descrip-
| n hn Vt
are antstrophe respectively to the two
stanZas descriptive of the third days
creative acts.
| The third stanZa OF the sixth days
| description is a condensed or double
antistrophic stanza to its two immod.
| late predecessors. Its first half an
swers to it's immediate predecessor, tn,
second half of the stanza which pre-,
| Cedes that.
creation of light. The stanza descrip
tive of the first day tells us of the
| cdeation of Light. The stanza descrin.
tive of the fourth day tells us of the
creation OF lights The stanza DIES
| criptive Of the second day tells us OF
the creation of the armament to di
| vide the waters from the waters. Tho
| stanza descriptive of the fifth day tells
us of the creation of life in the fir
mament and in the waters.
On the third day we find first the
creation of vegetation. the climax o
inanimate nature. These are thor
Oughly balanced on the sixth day,fir
| by the creation of life on land. anC
then by the creation of man, the eli
max of animate nature.
! -O--
The ode as whole has several othel
| well marked peCuliarities not to bC
| found in st. Johns introduction
For instance: Notice the diff arcn
refrains running through the descrip
tion of the creative acts of the wnol,
| six days.
The first and most frequently used o
ali these is the expression: "And Goo
said" Nine times is this expression
used at the head of the nine distinc
stanzas given up to the description {
| Gods doings on the six creative days
SO we hear the Psalmist singing:
For he spoke. and it was done.
He commanded and it stood fast"
Then the Evangelist st. Johl carr ie
the thought still further Ha give
to us its far deeper meaning. AS on
of the very best of our recent com
mentators put it: John gathers III
all those sayings Of God into a singh
saying, living and endowed with ac
tivity and intelligence, from which al
divine orders emanate; he finds as tn
| basis of all spoken words The spcGlIin!