The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-06
THE sUNDAY-sCHOOL LESSON.
July z, 1901; Genesis 4, 1-2; iii-God
the Creator of All Things


When Michael Angelo overlaid the ceiling Of
the Sistine Chapel with frescoes that make its
common plaster more precious than gold. he
clipped his pencils into the first chapter OF Gene
sis. Each successive panel matches its re-
~spective paragraph-The Separation OF Light and
Darkness; The Creation OF the Sun and Moon;
OF Trees and Plants; OF Adam; OF Eve, and
so on. The frescoes are indescribably majestic;
but they fall short of the narrative which in
spired them. That is unapproachable in litera-
ture or art. 1t is divine. II the i'm
mortal Florence had drawn his inspiration from
any other cosrnogony than that of Moses. that
vatican ceiling would have been marred with
the homogeneous shapes OF mans wild fancy
or wilder fear. Dualism would have been there
"a devil as powerful as God; or Polytheism
gods many. and all in a wrangle. one pulling
down what the others set up; or Pantheism
an eternal matter. insensate yet evolving itself
in various shapes. the thing fashioned greater
than that which made it; or such grotesqye
ideals of the universe, for example. as that Of
the Hindu, with its pyramid OF snake, turtle.
elephant and triple disk. Instead OF
this we see that on that iustrous roof the in
effable Jehovah in the form Of a man (anthropo-
morphized). as the Bible itself must needs pre-
sent Him to us-eternity upon his hoary brow,
omniscience beaming in His eye. omnipotence
in His outstretched arms. and infinite love In
His whole mien. . . . The majestic Pater
Mundi is pictured as proceeding with the COM
placency of Innnity to hang His lanterns in the
sky. to separate air. water. land, and to peopse
them. He pauses in the last Of the great and
long epochs. and announces to himself His in
tention of creating a vicar who shall
visibly represent Him on the earth, who
shall be like Him in goodness-a being
who. by his intelligence and will. shall bring
everything animate and inanimate to its best
estate. 1t pleases Him to create man in a
holy dualism; male and female creates He them.
He ordains their multiplication, and accords
them a glorious coronation in the majestic for
mula, Have dominion" With the solicitude
Of a father. He points them to the abundant
table he had prepared. Now. for the seventh
time. lie spreads His hands in benediction over
all His works. And in the seventh epoch there
is a cessation from creative activity. The
benehcent Former Of the skies thus not only
provides food. but an example Of periodic re-
spite from toll. " . The Mosaic account of
creation is a miracle in words. Not to this
present, highly-cultured age, but back three
thousand years to the beginnings OF literature,
must we look for the most satisfactory state
ment of the origin OF things. There. through
the mists of human speculations. through ris-
ing and falling systems OF philosophy, Genesis
shines like a star, ever ascendant. 1t is not at
tached to any system of geology. astronomy.
or biology; so, as numbers Of these In success
sion have sunk. it has never been submerged.
The book may clash with an hypothesis, it
never does with a fact. The narrative is elias
tic enough to take in all the modern dis
coveries Of physical science. but presents a
rim Of steel to the vagaries OF sciolists. . . .
Whence came this phenomenal writing? From
the genius of man? Then why is not found its
equal in the literature of other nations ?-nations
better situated, humanity speaking. to produce
such a book than the petty and oft-captive
Israel. Inspiration is the only adequate expla-
nation Of Genesis. Holy men OF old wrote it
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The
blessed intent of the book Is seen by the most
casual reader. 1t is a mirror Nefecting the
person and attributes of God. 1t answers, too.
satisfactorily the imperative questions Of the
heart as to the origin Of nature and OF man.
Parker's ALTERATION well describes it: Simple.
sublime sufficient"
THE STUDY LAME.
The Mosaic (ss-caiied) account or creation
is a sublime panoramic ode to nature and
to the God of nature. Orthodoxy has been In
error In treating IL as a technical. literal ac-
count OF the origin of the universe. II is po-
etical. not scientific. But 1t is unscientifc. not
anti-scientifc. 1t represents God as the Creator;
but 1t says Gas a poem, Of course, would nett
nothing as to the method of creation. II is
now generally conceded by scientific men that
the method was by evolution. 1t seems impos-
sibIe to put the facts Of geology and biology
in alignment with the theory OF special crea-
tion. Looking upon the fragment In Genesis
as a poem. we are no longer compelled. as
were the earlier ~exegetes, TO attempt the i'm
possible. Belief in evolution is easier than ac-
ceptance in the stock arguments to prove the