The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-06
'OD THE CHEATOR
 OF ALL THINGS.

Introduction--The IessoI Tor the zofo I of June pertasned to that part or the vision of John m Patmos in wnicn ne l saw the new heaven and the ne" eartn which is to be the consummatioii o' the Divine purpose. Today we turh back to the beginning of this worio history. John was the seer or the 1 future. Moses of the past. The iatter doubtless was helped by the patriarchs | who may have handed down fIcm | generation to generation. possibly In | writing as some think. more likely by l tradition. what was communicated. ny I the spirit of God to the first man or to some of his earlier descendants. It IS believed by Dr Murphy. professor in Hebrew in the University of Belfast, | that this account of creation formed part of an earlier Bible from which Moses copied and with which men or other nations may have been familiar, while a few modern critics, who have not been. able to impress the people with their theories, contend that this passage together with other parts Of Genesis may be, regarded as folklore. destitute of historic value, but worthy a place in our book because of certain truths contained therein.
 Dimculties-The interpretation of this
 chapter has~been attended with much
 difficulty because men have endeavor- ed to explain it in the light of current science. In this way there has been
 read into 1t at one time what conf1icted
 with later conclusions. and the unbe-
 lievtng have made much out of the
 lack of harmony. Whereas, the only
 trouble lay in setting human opinion of
 one time against human opinion of
 another time. Take illustrations: 1. Some were troubled because light was
 created before the sun. Later it was
 found that light does not all emanate
 from the sun and might therefore pre-
 cede 1t. 2. The word Armament con- veys the idea of something material and permanent. and it was thought the
 notions of the ancients had crept in
 here. But this was the fault of the translators who used this English word to meet their ideas. The Hebrew word means expanse. the region occupied by the atmosphere. B. The sun and moon are mentioned as if produced on the fourth day, leaving the impression that the earth existed before them. Whereas, the text says no such thing. It is simply stated that the luminaries were appointed for times and seasons. They existed from the beginning.
 AHdOS-ln d SlIEle ScnJcIitS ' CioC II the fact is stated that the heaven and earth were created-they were not eternal. Tn this statement are in cIuded all the worlds in space. Atten- ton is then limited to the globe on which we live. Moses does not give an astronomical account, except as the other bodies are related to this. He makes special mention of the fact that the earth was without form and void, in a chaotic state, destitute of lite at the time of which he began to write. He does not say how 1t came to be
 so. There is an intimation that 1t WAS not always in that condition. for the verb translated Is in the past perfect tense and might properly be rendered had become. That is to say that the earth passed through changes prior to the time of Moses's writing. that pos sibly upheavals occurred through the ages until it became an irregular and confused mass, from which all life had perished, over which darkness relgned. At that point Moses began and showed how the globe was set in order and prepared for man. Time-Onk of the most prominent | features of this record, deserving there | fore early attention, is the time ele-
 
 | of the universe was fin the beginning | an expression used in reference to Christ (John i, D No one knows | when that was. Push 1t back as far as may be necessary into the distant past and the narrative is mot affected. The chiet purpose here is, not so much l to fix a chronology, as to designate a starting point. That was the begin ming of time, the beginning of the acts by which the Almighty produced the
 material universe. The stages of the after work are called days, six in num- ber These could not have been solar days of twenty-four hours each, for the term is used here in three different senses, and in the fourth verse of the
 second chapter all the days are i'm cluded in one day. Besides, the
 Hebrew, Tom, translated day, denotes
 period of time of indefinite length
 and Is so used in many parts of the
 clusion is that Moses was not fixing a
 time for Gods work. but rather indi-
 eating an order in that work.
 Mode-It is very important that the
 method pursued by the creator should
 be kept in mind. It Is said that the
 Spirit of God moved upon the face of
 the waters" Verse p that is, brooded
 over the shapeless mass. It was by
 the energy of the Holy Spirit (Psalm
 civ, 30) that the life and beauty and
 order of the globe appeared, not by
 any power inhering in matter. That
 spirit was the force which under vari-
 ous manifestations Is known to modern
 science. It was not merely con-
 tinuous influence exerted by the Spirit,
 but an intelligent putting forth of energy, preceded by a determination
 and decree. God spAke (Psalm xxxiif
 9 and nature obeyed. That speech or
 word was the outgoing of Divine reason
 (John i, 1D which centuries after be- came incarnate in the person of Christ, so that all things were created
 by Him. (Col. i, 16) There were two kinds of acts. One of these was strict
 ly creative-the producing of something out of nothing. indicated in reference to matter. life and spirit, three entities. The other act was that of making, in which existing materials were used. And in this there seems to be an evolu- tionary process expressed by the word brought forth"
 Order-During the six days or periods the results of the Divine working ap- peared in this order-cosmic light, the Armament or expanse with atmosphere. the separation of water from land and vegetation, the luminaries, the lower animals, the higher animals and man. This order is progressive, from lower to higher-chemical, vital, spiritual. It was according to a plan thaA lay in the infinite mind. (Psalm civ, 2D and that plan was in harmony with what is now danOminatad nafnral law In