HISTORY OF THE ISRAELITISH NATION.

PART I.

66

THE PATRIARCHS.

SECTION I.

CREATION-GARDEN OF EDEN-ENDOWMENTS OF MAN.

WHEN God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth, it pleased him to bring the work to perfection not in a moment, but gradually, through a period of six days. At first, "the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep." To reduce this confused mass to order, The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light." The expanse or atmosphere was next produced, in which the clouds. and vapours were suspended. The great body of the waters were gathered unto one place, and thus the dry land arose to view. The name EARTH was given to the dry land, and SEAS to the collection of waters.

The vegetable world, in all its freshness, beauty, variety, and fruitfulness, now sprung into existence, at the command of the Creator. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth: and it was so." From the beginning, there was an alternation of darkness and light, causing evening and morning; but it was not until the fourth day of creation that the luminaries-the sun, moon, and stars-were placed in the heavens; or became visible in the heavens. "The waters now brought forth abundantly the moving creature, that hath life;" and winged fowls of every kind were formed "to fly above the earth, in the open firmament of heaven." And a command was given that these

inhabitants of the water and of the air should be fruitful and multiply.

The sea and air being thus stocked with inhabitants, possess-ing natures suited to their respective elements, God proceeded to create the animals adapted to the earth. "And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind; and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind." When the world was thus furnished and prepared, "God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

In the creation of other things, nothing was necessary, but a simple expression of the divine will; but when the lord of this lower world was to be brought into existence, a council is called, and it is said, "Come, let us make man." With whom did the great Creator take counsel on this memorable occasion, but with his Son and Spirit? both of whom we know were efficient agents in the work of creation.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth on the earth. And God said, Behold I have given every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed: to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat."

In this grant of food to man there is no mention of the flesh of animals: it has therefore been generally believed that animal food was not in use before the flood.

We have a still more particular account of the formation of man. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, (lives,) and man became a living soul."

"And the Lord God planted a garden, eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. The tree of life (lives) also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil."

This garden was watered by a river which went out of Eden, and was divided into four heads. Two of these, it is thought, were the Euphrates, and the Tigris, called by Moses, Hiddekel,

but nothing satisfactory has been ascertained respecting the other two. Indeed, although the situation of Paradise seems to have been well known when Moses wrote, great obscurity now rests upon the whole subject; and the conjectures of commentators have served rather to darken than to elucidate it. The most judicious, however, for a long time supposed that the terrestrial Paradise must have been situated not very far from the mouth of the two rivers before mentioned; and they conjectured, that the other two rivers were streams passing from one of these to the other, as it is known that a communication of this kind did exist between them in after-ages. But the more modern cultivators of sacred geography seem more generally inclined to look for the site of this famous garden at the source of these rivers; and allege, that two other rivers running to the north-east and to the north-west, have their source in the same region.

Man, when created, was taken and put into the garden of Eden, "to dress it and keep it." Even in Paradise idleness was not tolerated. Activity and occupation are among the essential ingredients of human happiness.

The permission to eat freely of all the trees of the garden was explicitly granted, with one only exception. "But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." But why this prohibition? Was the fruit of a poisonous nature? So some have supposed. But no; it was "good for food," and beautiful in its aspect. Why, then, was man interdicted its use? Simply as a test of his obedience to his Creator. That all creatures should make it their first and highest object to glorify Him, from whom they received their being, and on whom they depend, is one of the plainest dictates of reason and conscience. It was therefore reasonable and proper that the Lawgiver should require some test or proof of obedience, before man should be confirmed in a state of blessedness. And God selected this thing, in itself of an indifferent nature, as furnishing a fair probation of man's obedience.

It has already been mentioned, that God made man male and female; but the woman was not created as early as the man. For awhile he was alone. "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make an help meet for him." "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, (sides,) and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib (side) which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave

his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh."

That man, from the moment of his creation, must have been endued with all necessary knowledge, cannot reasonably be doubted. Without an original stock of ideas he would have been inferior to all the other animals, for to them instinct is a sufficient guide; but man has no such guide; and if he had been turned loose upon the wide world, without any knowledge until he could acquire it by the slow process of experience, his life could not have been preserved for a single day. Even the danger arising from the common elements of fire and water, which are known to children as soon as they can learn any thing, would have been unknown to him.

Moreover, if man was placed under a law, and required to love and serve his Creator, his new created mind must have been furnished with ideas of the character of God, and of the obligations of a creature to his Creator.

It is also reasonable to think, and indeed may be inferred from the sacred record, that man when created was gifted with the faculty and use of articulate speech. To suppose that Adam and Eve were at first mutes, and incapable of conversing together, except by dumb signs, is neither probable in itself, nor honourable to the wisdom and goodness of their Maker. Indeed, without such a gift, it may well be doubted whether man ever could have invented a language. But we need not argue this point; for we find, that from the beginning of man's existence, God addressed him in words. And as a striking evidence, both of Adam's knowledge and use of speech, the Creator brought to him every beast of the field and fowl of the air, to see what he would call them; "and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field."

This work must have required much time; and if it is true that Adam was able to designate some leading quality of each species by the name given, as seems probable, his knowledge of natural history must have been more accurate and extensive than that of any of his posterity.

But the crowning excellence of the character of this first man, as he came from the hands of his Creator, was HOLINESS, or moral integrity. All his affections were in just proportion. to their objects, and his passions so happily balanced and harmonized, that in all the exercises of the various constituent principles of human nature, there was no jar, nor the least irregularity. Objects were loved and pursued according to their value. The higher and nobler powers of the mind governed, and the inferior and animal principles were in complete subor

dination. This happy state of moral purity seems to have been the chief thing intended by the IMAGE OF GOD, in which man is said to have been created.

The perfect purity of their hearts, and the bland serenity of the atmosphere, may be judged of from a single circumstance mentioned in the narrative. "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."

SECTION II.

FALL OF OUR FIRST PARENTS, AND THEIR PUNISHMENT.

SATAN, by some means, found his way into Paradise, and with much subtlety laid his plan for the seduction and ruin of the innocent pair, whose happiness this fiend envied. Assuming the body of one of the most sagacious and noble of the animal tribes, he accosted the woman, as being the weaker vessel, when she was a little separated from her husband. He had become. acquainted with the prohibition of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; and watching his opportunity, when Eve was near to this tree, he said, "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" This insidious question was intended to suggest a doubt of the reasonableness of the commandment of God. The woman promptly and properly answered, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." It may, indeed, seem strange that she was not filled with astonishment at hearing the serpent speak; but let it be recollected, that, in the beginning of the world, when there had not been time to observe the regular course of the laws of nature, all events were equally new and strange. She might not know but that some of the animal tribes had received the gift of reason and speech. The tempter, finding that the woman was willing to enter into conversation with him, assumed more boldness, and ventured to utter a direct contradiction of the declaration of God. "And the serpent said, Ye shall not surely die." This was the first lie which ever polluted the air of the world; and therefore, he who set this example, which has been followed by so many, is called a LIAR, and the FATHER OF LIES. But not contented with simply uttering a falsehood in direct opposition to the word of God, he went on to confirm his assertion, by saying, "For God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,