The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1913-01-03
LEsS0N'FOR JANUARY /
u CREATION.

SN .tH Na4IH IM1M
In our scheme Of Lessons we re,~
to the Old Testament and con1ne |,
study for the ensuing year to the |.
six books OF the Bible.
The word Genesis means 'bea
hings," and in the book Of that nss
we see recorded all the informata
Of the beginning of things that \
heavenly father deemed necessary |,
The development of the scheme Of
demption.
After all the assaults Of Its n
mics, and Of the skeptics, the tr
verse OF the book of Genesis contAa
all the clear, concise, and posias
knowledge mar possesses about d
origin OF this Universe. "God al T
ated," not, God is all and all is God
Pantheism has no ground upon whM
TO stand. "In the beginning God ca
ated," therefore he is above and vi
before the heaven and the earl
Moses left us no record of the @hw
and that field has aver been cue II
interesting speculation. Between u
fourth and the fifth words OF iM
verse Is ample room for all and eyas
theory though we still remain In
norance Of any absolute knowledH
both of time and process. Let us nj
forget to emphasize the thought, D H
the beginning Cod in the beginnia n
Of childhood, the beginning Of educ
ton, Of business, Of home life, es
The beginning Of all right thinkiE "
and true living, of every proper reA
ton OF life, is God and yet we al
Withholding that knowledge iron
young America upon the speciog
plea that the bible is seetarian.
Truth OF the Trinity.
Following this statement of the CO
htion come the steps OF rehabilitatim
for the words In verse two denote
waste, void, or confusion and ua
Hebrew scholar contends for the wort \
ruin" See also lisa. 45;18 r. v. Tna
1t seem that upon this created cart I
there must have come a Judgment
presumably upon some pre.Adanfa
race and that what follows, verse two
Ia not the original creation but tn
steps whereby this earth was mad !
ready as a habitation for man.
Lord Kelvin said, scientific though,
Is compelled to accept the idea Of crs4
alive power" There is O wonderfd,
agreement between modern s~ciencs1
and the account In Genesis: "a The,
biblical accounts by their wording
provide for both creation and the eycI
l~utionary development OF c~reatel
things; (2) Science has failed to preI
auce matter, life, Or the soul Of mani
and Of these in each instance thsi
bible says God created while OF III
else 1t Gays he made,
The great truth Of the trinity is rel
vealed in these first three verses Oh
God, v. l.; (2) Spirit, ". 2; and (3l3
God said"--the word, see John III
Verse five does not call the hight 4
day meaning twelve hours. but rathee
a period of time, Just as we speak Of
an Arctic day" which is six monthst
| One OF the mysteries of today is thai
water which is 700 times heavier than
air is held in the sky IN the form Of.
clouds. What holds the storm. the
snow. the lightning, the gorgeous
colors, etc? The answer is found in'
verse Z, land God made the flrmaI
ment and divided the waters, and,
called the armament heaven" Their,
Is nothing more firm than the laws.
which hold this body OF water In thel
sky for he (God) set those laws into
motion. And God said" ". 81. The
cries Of geology and the statement,
Of Genesis agree perfectly as to the
| preparation OF this earth for the ap,
pearance Of vegetable life. The vege'
table derives directly from the air and
water and soil those elements necesI
sary to maintain life.
Animal life cannot assimilate these
elements unless they are already fixed
in organic vegetable life. How and
where life originated no science hal
discovered. Pasteur's dictum that
sit is nothing but life which generi
ates life" still stands mistaken. And
SO the constant and only satisfactory
answer to the questions, how, whersI
and why, Of all these things Of THU,
material universe 10 God. God crei
ated, God made, he created, and thefI
set into being those forces and Laws
whereby the earth, the sky, the sul,
and the noon have gone on with UNI
broken regularity. He made possible
those processes whereby man devel
cps. the oak grows. and animal and
vegetable life reproduce each aftef
its kind.
But creation was not yet complete
Man, the last created. was the crown
ing glory Of this earthly creation
Verses $3.50 will be studied in con
ANSNipo VITAL huAb WSGh . tCSsUH Cas-
are referred to here simply TO give q
complete account OF creation. ~
would be well, however, to refer 70,
the fact that the great God and ere
ator made provision for the immortal
souls OF mankind by arranging for bis
training in the knowledge and charac
ter OF himself, the father. by the ir|
~stitution Of the Sabbath, as soon as
he had prepared a place In which
man was to dwell.
The dignity and majesty of the Ian
guage OF Genesis is sublime.
Astrologers tell us that our sun and
solar system Is only one Of perhaps .
million others. A recent writer tells
US that a ray Of light which would
travel the equivalent OF nine times
around the earth in one second would
take nine years % travel across the