McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1913-01-03

In our scheme of Lessons we return
10 the Old Testament and confine our
study for the ensuing year to the first
six books Of the Bible.
The word Genesis means begin
nings." and In the book of that name
we see recorded all the information
Of the beginning OF things that our
heavenly father deemed necessary In
The development of the scheme OF re-
demption.
After all the assaults Of Its enc
mics, and Of the skeptics, the first
verse of the book OF Genesis contains
all the clear, concise, and positive
man possesses about the
origin Of this Universe. God ere
ated," not. God Is all and all is Cod
Pantheism has no ground upon which
to stand. ''In the beginning God Gre
ated," therefore he is above and was
before the heaven and the earth.
Moses left MS no record Of the how"
and that field has ever been one for
speculation. Between the
fourth and the nth words Of this
verse is ample room for all and every
theory though we still remain in ig-
OF any absolute knowledge.
both of time and process. Let us not
forget to emphasize the thought, I'm
the beginning God" In the beginning
Of childhood. the beginning Of educa-
ton, Of business, of home life, etc.
The beginning Of all right thinking
and true living, of every proper rela-
ton Of life. Is God and yet we are
that knowledge from
young America upon the specious
plea that the bible il sectarian.
Truth Of the Trinity.
Following this statement of the Gre
alton come the steps of rehabilitation.
Tor the words in verse two denote
waste, void, or confusion and one
Hebrew scholar contends for the word
ruin" See also lisa. 46:18 r. v. Thus
It seems that upon this created earth
there must have come judgment,
upon some pre-Adainite
race and that what follows, verse two,
10 not the original creation but the
steps whereby this earth was made
ready a. a habitation for man.
Lord Kelvin said, scientific thought
ls compelled to accept the idea Of Gre
alive power" There Is a wonderful
agreement between modern science
and the account in Genesis: (D The
biblical accounts by their wording
provide for both creation and the evo-
lutionary development Of created
things; (2) Science has failed to pro-
duce matter, life, or the soul of man;
and OF these in each instance the
bible says God created while Of all
else 1t says he made.
The great truth Of the trinity is re-
vealed in these first three verses ~
God. v. 4; (2) Spirit, v. Q; and (3)
God said"--the word, see John III.
Verse FIVE does not call the light q
day meaning twelve hours. but rather
a period Of time, just as we speak Of
an Arctic day" which is six months.
One Of the mysteries Of today is that
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 I. land God made the firma-
ment and divided the waters, and
called the armament heaven There
is nothing more firm than the laws
which hold this body Of water In the
sky for he (God) set those laws into
motion. And God said" ". %. 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 neces.
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 has
discovered. Pasteur's dictum that.
1t is nothing but life which gener
ates life." still stands mistaken. And
30 the constant and only satisfactory
answer to the questions, how. where
and why, OF all these things of this
material universe 10 God. God Gre
ated. God made. he created, and then
set into being those forces and laws
whereby the earth, the sky. the sun
and the moon have gone on with un'
broken regularity. He made possible
those processes whereby man devel
6ps, the oak grows. and animal and
vegetable life reproduce each aftss
itssown kind.
But creation was not yet complete
Man, the last created. was the crown
ing glory Of this earthly creation
Verses $500 will be studied In con
nection with next weeks lesson and
are referred to here simply to give q
complete account Of creation. II
would be well, however, to refer ia
the fact that the great God and ere
ator made provision for the immortal
souls of mankind by arranging for his
training in the knowledge and charac
ter Of himself, the father, by the in
stitution OF the Sabbath. as soon al
he had prepared place in which
man was to dwell.
The dignity and majesty Of the Ian
guage of Genesis is sublime.
Astrologers tell rs that our sun and
solar system Is only one Of perhaps q
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 to travel across the
great nebula In the constellation Of
Orion And aCOd made" all Of fhte