the Lord are right; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. The text does not mean that God himself, at any time, had appointed laws or statutes to be observed that were not good. But any one may see from the context that the passage means thiswhen the people obstinately rebelled against God's holy law, and would not repent of their sins, he abandoned them to their own evil ways: and, withholding from them the restraints of holy teaching and religious influence, he allowed them to take their own course, and practise the polluting rites and follow the degrading abominations of the heathen. Thus, in verse 39, God says, "As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and your idols." And God said by the Psalmist, "My people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels " (Ps. xxi. 11, 12). Let us take care lest we grieve the Holy Spirit by our obstinacy or our trifling, and cause him to leave us, saying, "Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone."

Scripture Lessons-January.

[Larder to derive the desired advantage of these lessons, it will be necesstor the teacher to study each lesson with care before introducing it to his class; and, both in studying it privately, and exercising the scholars of his class, it will be indispensable to read every passage of Scripture to which reference is made. Attention to this will enable both teachers and scholars to acquire an accurate and comprehensive knowledge of the Scriptures. Their harmony and beauty will be discovered, and truth will shine with augmented splendour from the rich convergence of its rays reflected in its varied aspects and relations from the mirror of revelation.-ED.]

LESSON I.-ON THE WORK OF CREATION.

Read Genesis i., the arhole Chapter.

The book is called

This chapter begins God's revelation to man. Genesis, which means generation, because it traces the origin or generation of all things-tells us whence they sprang. In the Hebrew lanage, however, in which the book was written, it is called Bereshith. This name is taken from the first word in the Hebrew Bible, and it means in the beginning," because this book is a record of the beginning of all things. This is the most ancient book in the world. The very didest book now extant among the heathen was written many hundred years later than this; indeed, the language in which this was written

ceased to be spoken more than two thousand three hundred years ago. Was Moses, the writer of this book, divinely inspired? Most assuredly he was. He often affirms that he spoke by inspiration, and the numerous miracles he wrought attest his inspiration. Our Lord and the apostles often refer to his writings as being divinely inspired (John i. 17; v. 46; Luke xxiv. 27; 2 Tim. iii. 16).

We have here a record of the sublime and glorious work of creation, and it is the only authentic record of that work. From it we learn that all things had a beginning, that there is nothing eternal but God, and that nothing exists but by him (see Ps. xc. 2; Isa. xliii. 10-13).

The word create has two meanings; 1. To cause a thing to exist which before had no existence; and 2. To give form, order, and arrangement to anything. Here the word has both meanings. For the first meaning see verse 1, and compare with Heb. xi. 3. From these texts we see that God created matter itself. This is the first and proper meaning of the word. Then, having created the matter itself, he formed it into worlds. This is the second meaning of the word.

Do we see order and progress in the great work of creating the universe? Yes, throughout. First, rude matter was created (ver. 1); then law and motion were imparted to it (ver. 2); then light was created (ver. 3); then land, and water, and air were separated, and suitably proportioned and arranged (vs. 6-9); then vegetable life was produced (vs. 11, 12); then the heavenly bodies (vs. 14-18); then fishes, fowls, and amphibious creatures (vs. 20, 21); then land animals (vs. 24, 25); and lastly, man, as the lord of creation and the noblest work of God (ver. 26, &c.). Thus there was a graduated scale in the work of creation, with man at its summit.

Does the science of geology agree with this representation? The best geologists maintain that it does; but the science of geology is yet in its infancy, and its theories are so diversified, and even contradictory to each other, that it is not to be regarded as a standard. We are sure, however, that the Word of God is true, and true science will agree with its teachings.

We read of light being created on the first day, but the sun was not created or appointed to be a luminary until the fourth day. Perhaps you ask, How could there be light without the sun? This is another proof that Moses wrote under the guidance of inspiration; for, in his day, and for many ages after, all philosophers regarded the sun as the source of light; indeed, until recently, they regarded the sun as a body of fire. It is, however, now ascertained, that the sun itself is a dark body, and the brightness we see on his disc is an immense luminous atmosphere surrounding him. Light itself, therefore, is as distinct from the sun, as a candle is distinct from the lanthorn in which it shines; and, being distinct, we see that it was created before the sun.

The heavenly bodies were appointed for signs, seasons, days, and years (see ver. 14). How truly has this been verified! What determines the period of each day, each month, each year? The motions of the earth, the moon, the planets, and stars. What are our almanacks made from? Are there any chronometers (measurers of time) so true as the heavens ?

LESSON II.-CREATION A WITNESS FOR God.

Read Psalms viii. and xcv.

We are here called upon to glorify God, to celebrate and adore him, to love and obey him. These duties we must contemplate hereafter. At present we must observe the ground of these duties; and that ground is, that God is our Creator, and his works are here appealed to, as both attesting his being and proclaiming his perfections.

Is creation a witness for God? Yes (Rom. i. 19, 20). It proclaims his being; for a house implies a builder, and he that built all things is God (Heb. iii. 4).

Creation proclaims his eternity; for, as God is the origin of all things, his own existence could have had no beginning, and, because self-existent, he can have no end (Ps. xc. 2; Isa. xliii. 13).

Creation proclaims his wisdom, for Nature is full of adaptations, and 1s one great system of means and ends (Ps. civ. 24; Prov. iii. 19).

Creation proclaims his power; for he who created matter from nothing, and constructed the wonderful fabric of the universe, is able to do all things (Isa, xl. 26).

Creation proclaims his goodness, for all things are arranged with a view to supply the wants of man and beast (Ps. cxlv. 9; xxxiii. 5). Creation proclaims his glorious majesty (Ps. xix. 1).

Does creation proclaim a Trinity of persons in the Godhead? Yes; for the same works which are ascribed to God, are ascribed, also, to the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that he did the same works that his Father doeth (John v. 19, 20).

The creation of the universe is expressly ascribed to Christ (John i. 1-3, 10; Col. i. 16; Heb. i. 10).

The preservation of the universe is ascribed to Christ (Col. i. 17; Heb. i. 3).

In the same emphatic manner the work of creation is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. The first act of transforming energy on chaotic nature is ribed to the Spirit (Gen. i. 2). By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens (Job xxvi. 13). "The Spirit of God hath made me" (Job xxxii. 4). "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, and they are created" (Ps. civ. 30). But if the work of creation is ascribed to the Father, how can it be ascribed to the Son and Holy Spirit? and if it be the work of the Son and Holy Spirit, how can it be ascribed to the Father? Answer.-Such is the intimate and essential union in the persons of the Godhead, that they are inseparably united in the work. There is a union of thought, will, council, purpose, and operation. Hence creation is ascribed to eacheach is our Creator and Lord; and the wise man says, "Remember thy Creators (plural in the original) in the days of thy youth" (Eccles. xii. 1). Yet there are not three Gods, but one; for it is proclaimed, "Hear, O Israel. Jehovah, our God, is one Jehovah" (Deut. vi. 4). If God is our Creator, we must worship, love, and obey him (Ps. xcv. 1-7: Matt. iv. 10). But if the Son and the Holy Spirit were united with the Father in creation, they also are entitled to our homage; hence, in our baptism and in the apostolic benediction, we are taught to Worship the three persons conjointly (Matt. xxviii. 19 and 2 Cor.

xii. 14).

and

LESSON III-MAN: HIS NATURE AND ORIGINAL STATE.

Read Genesis i. 26-31, and the whole of the Second Chapter.

Creation of Man.-We observe a wide difference between the crea tion of man and of other creatures. Man is created last-not brought into being until the earth is ready for him: when it is not a chaosbarren desert-but covered with vegetation, supplied with animals, and adorned with beauty and grandeur. This marks man's dignity and importance in the scale of being (see Ps. viii. 5, 6).

There is a consultation between the persons of the Godhead (Gen i. 26). What is meant by the word "Us?" The Holy Trinity (se Isa. vi. 8, and compare with John xii. 38-41; Acts xxviii. 25—28).

What was Man's Nature? Two-fold-consisting of body and sou These, though united, are yet distinct from each other. God has taker care to indicate this distinction in the record of man's creation (rea again Gen. ii. 7). Here we see a threefold distinction between the creation of the body and the soul. 1. A distinction as to time. The body was created first, the soul afterwards. 2. As to substance. The body was made of the dust of the ground; not so the soul. 3. As to the mode or manner of creation. The body was made, or fashioned, a the word means; but the soul was not fashioned, but imparted by a Divine inflatus-breathed into man. The soul being thus distinct from the body, in the time, substance, and mode of its creation, must be distinct from the body in its nature. Though living in the body, it is as distinct from it as God himself is distinct from the universe, which he fills with his presence.

Man was made in God's Image and Likeness. Wherein did this likeness exist? In the body? No; God is a spirit, and a spirit hath not flesh and bones (Luke xxiv. 39). The likeness, then, is in the soul; and in what respects was the soul like God? 1. Like God in spirituality, being not a material, but a spiritual substance (John iv. 24). 2. Like God's eternity, being immortal in its duration (Matt x. 28). 3. Like God's infinity, being endowed with powers of endles progression (Eph. iii. 19). 4. Like God in its freedom, having the faculty of voluntary action. Like God in holiness, being created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. iv. 24; Col. iii. 10). In fact, the human soul was God's image in miniature; like God in its nature and attributes, though infinitely inferior in all its degrees of excellence.

Man was also, immediately at his creation, endued with much knowledge-given at once without the labour and delay of acquiring it; for he knew the nature of the animals, and gave them appropriate names (Gen. ii. 20). He knew also, on the very day of his creation, something of social economy and the future relations of parent and child (Gen. ii. 23, 24). He was also furnished at once with a language sufliciently copious, grammatical, and expressive, to enable him, on the very first day of his creation, to converse on domestic relations and duties, and on the future condition of families (Gen. ii. 23, 24). All this implies both copious knowledge and adequate language to express it. With such a nature, he was fitted to exercise authority and dominion over the creatures as lord of the creation (Gen. i. 28; Ps. viii. 6—8). His body, like his soul, was exempt from death while he retained his innocence; for with

man death is not a law of nature, but a debt to justice. Life, eternal life, is the normal condition of all holy beings; death is superinduced or brought on by sin, of which it is the penalty (Rom. x. 5; v. 12).

Man's first residence was in Eden. The region or country is indicated, though the exact spot cannot now be determined. A river, flowing through Eden, and dividing itself into four heads, marked the spot Gen. . 8-14). Two of these rivers are still known-Hiddekel, or Ters and Phrat, or Euphrates, but the others are not known. Probably the garden of Eden was in Armenia, somewhere near the sources of the Turis and Euphrates; but God, by some convulsion in Nature, has betted out all means of identifying the spot where man incurred the mit of apostacy. In Eden man had all the pleasures of innocence and all the happiness of holiness. Nature yielded all her delights without arduous toil (Gen. ii. 9); and man enjoyed habitual communion with his Maker (111. 8).

LESSON IV.-MAN'S PROBATION AND APOSTACY.

Read Genesis iii. and Romans v. 12-21.

Here we find that man was placed in a state of probation. As an intelligent being, and endued with conscience, freedom, and moral faculties, he was a proper subject for moral government. He owed his

existence and his all to God, and was God's absolute property. He was therefore placed under law, and was bound, by the most sacred obligations, to obey it. The great law of his being was love-that law which apples to all intelligent beings, angels as well as men (Matt. xxii. 37). But, as a test of his love, and as an external manifestation of it, there was added one special command-abstinence from the use of a certain tree that stood in the midst of the garden. Obedience to this precept was red by annexing the penalty of death to transgression (Gen. ii. 16, 17). This threatening involved also the promise of life eternal, to both body and son, as the reward of obedience (Rom. x. 5). The duty of man was easy, for the external command was concentrated within a single point, and we therefore easily understood, and as easily obeyed. Man was urged by the most powerful motives to obey-his own interest and God's glory being inseparably united. Man was under the covenant of works; because, being innocent, he needed no pardon; being holy, he needed no cheating; and being able to obey, his eternal welfare depended on his on conduct-on his remaining in the state in which God had placed aim

He

The Temptation.-Man was tempted, and the agent of his temptafion is called the Serpent-that is, Satan himself, who assumed the or entered into the creature called a serpent, or Nachash. Aile that old serpent, the devil (see Rev. xii. 9; xx. 2; 2 Cor. xi. 3; John viii. 44).

Mark the subtlety of the tempter. 1. He insinuates a doubt as to the prouibition-"Yea," &c. 2. He denies the truth of the penaltyYe shall not surely die." 3. He represents the fruit as having the Wonderful properties of gratifying the palate (good for food); of making ewise, and elevating their condition-" Ye shall be as gods," or er, as God. They listened, they looked, they desired, they believed,