TENT of the material universe, with so early a creation of something NEW?

Now, in order to determine the date, for the commencement, as already stated in brief, of the sabbatical rest of the Creator, we must once more advert to the six aves or periods, called "days," of the Great Creator's work. Of the Mosaic history of this work, as contained in the first two chapters of Genesis, we remark, that "in the first chapter, no mention is made of the garden of Eden, nor the particular formation of the woman, nor of any negative command. These circumstances are reserved for the second chapter. The first is a general sketch of primeval nature; the second, a particular sketch of what more immediately concerned the human race, anterior to the introduction of evil. The first is a remote view of a great territory; the second, a near survey of a particular portion of it."

"The whole history of the CREATION" therefore, "comprises the space of six days or periods: and the cosmogony itself, as the Jewish Rabbins very rightly place the division, reaches to the end of the third verse of our present second chapter;" thence, to the end of the second chapter, the history is supplementary to that of the first.

Now, uniting the two together, i. e., the general and supplementary histories, we learn the following facts viz.,

1. That Adam was first created placed in the

1. Faber. Vol. I., p. 68.

1

garden to cultivate it and received his charge from the ALEIM respecting the interdicted tree; and this charge, "while" he was "alone, he rigorously observed." We learn,

2. That, following the creation of Adam, was that of EVE.2

3. We learn, that the creation of Adam and Eve, the first HUMAN PAIR, was the last, the finishing product of God's handy-work. Consequently,

4. That they must have been created at the close of the SIXTH day or period, when, immediately upon the celebration of their marriage nuptials, (at which their creator himself presided,1) and the announcement of his sacred benediction upon them,5 we read as follows "On the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: And he RESTED on the SEVENTH DAY from ALL his work which he had made." "

This, then, is THE point of time whence we date the COMMENCEMENT of the Almighty's sabbatical repose. But to this it may be objected, that, as with the commencement of this sabbatical rest of God, the theory under consideration dates also the commencement of THIS WORLD'S HISTORY; and as, according to the above, it is evident that the sabbatical rest of the Almighty began while Adam and Eve were yet in a

3. Chap. i., 26, 27, with which com. verses 28-31. 4. Gen. ii., 18-25. 5. Chap. i., 28-31.

6. Chap. ii., 2.

state of innocence, it is at variance with the current opinion, which dates the FIRST YEAR in the chronology of the world from the fall of man. To this objection, however, we have only to reply, briefly, that it rests with the objector to prove that the FALL did not take place during the year commencing with the paradisaical marriage of our first parents. What interval of time elapsed between the creation of Adam and Eve has nothing to do with the subject; the question pending relating to the FINISHING of that work, which did not take place till the creation of EVE; which, as we have shown, was immediately followed by their paradisaical marriage, and the bestowment upon them of the divine benediction.

They were now left alone in the garden, to enter upon that state of moral probation, ordained of God as the test of their integrity. Adam, thus wedded to his paradisaical companion, entered upon a new, and previously untried field, for the exercise of his moral feelings. Eve, wrapped in the ecstacies peculiar to her refined sensibilities, gazed with supreme delight upon the enchanting objects which, scattered in luxuriant profusion above and around her, met her fullorbed eye at every turn; and, added to this, was the unutterable bliss of social converse between two beings of kindred natures, who as yet "knew no sin." Yes, as the immortal Milton sang, they were created,

"For contemplation he, and valor form'd;

For softness she, and sweet attractive grace;
He for God only; she for God in him."

In a word, "Paradise was a condition, rather of

exquisite passive enjoyment, than of active moral virtue. It was but the infancy of nature, when she lay at rest on a bed of roses, undergoing a kind of rapture; a state of natural fruition — without fatigue, without satiety."

It was under these circumstances, therefore, that the Tempter came. Nor, reasoning from analogy, could he have granted a long reprieve to the innocent occupants of Eden from his infernal assaults. He felt, he knew, that "delays were dangerous." Not to enter into the details of the temptation, and its results, (with which, doubtless, you are all familiar,) the strongest possible motive to transgress, (the very motive which weighed with Satan himself while yet in heaven,) viz. "Ye shall be as GODS, knowing GOOD and EVIL,” was at once presented; predicated of the presumption, that by securing a preponderance in favor of sense and reason over that of faith, on the part of the fair object of his diabolical assault, he could not fail of success. Nor did he err. The declaration of God's word, "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," to the eye of REASON Stood opposed to the doctrine of man's immortality; as symbolized by "the tree of life," which was planted in the centre of the garden, not only, but which seemed to be corroborated by that very impress of perfection, which stamped all the works of God. Briefly, we mean, that in a state, and at the dawn of original innocence, "by dint of Reason man could not foresee whether he should die or not. The art of the tempter, therefore, consisted in drawing the woman's attention" upon the dangerous

ground of "Sense and Reason, separately and abstracted from from the word of God. When this was

"

done, all was done : for the moment Eve began to regard Sense and Reason as a kind of testimony distinct. and independent of God, her FAITH was gone. When, therefore, her seducer said, "ye shall not surely die," keeping in view the circumstances just adverted to, we can easily discern how her reason, coupled as it was with her desire to "be as GODS, knowing good and evil," triumphed over her FAITH.

Upon the supposition, therefore, that the Paradisaical state, morally and intellectually, though perfect, yet admitted of an expansion of its powers; ther of lies," measuring his prospect of success by the most suitable season for attack, invaded this newly erected empire of innocence, when the mind of the tempted one was most susceptible of the creation of a desire for instantaneous, universal knowledge. And what period, we ask, better adapted to that end than the FIRST YEAR of the Paradisiacal state? To our mind this is conclusive. We proceed, therefore, at once to observe, that the sabbatical rest of the Almighty thus commenced, was destined to run coeval with the whole period of this world's duration while under the curse, as divided into and comprehended under the three great dispensations, Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian: and, that this whole period was to embrace the definite number of six thousand years. Here, however, we are met at once with the objection,

1. John viii., 44.