the Old Testament. And it is profitable in the present hour, for the same edifying purposes; that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. 3. 17. For are not all men in all ages made of the same flesh, prone to the same sins, liable to the same death, and in need of the same Saviour? And might we not continually as we read or hear of God's dealings with his people of old, and their behaviour towards Him, might we not be thinking to ourselves thus: Here is an example which I should do wisely to follow; here is a warning which I should do well to take; here is a temptation by which I am prone to fall; here is a way of safety by which I might be able to stand; here is a proof of how sure God is to visit sin; here is a manifestation of how ready He is to forgive sinners.

And especially, being ourselves Christians, having the New Testament to guide us in the understanding of the Old, we must remember that Moses, and the other writers of the Old Testament wrote of Christ; see John 5. 46; we must read with a view to confirm our faith in Christ, by noting how truly He, and his coming, and dying in the flesh, for the redemption of a fallen world, are the chief subjects of all types and prophecies, the great blessings to which the fathers all looked forward, the great ends to which all their history is directed, and for which all their lives and actions were overruled by God. And how ought it to enlarge our thankfulness, to consider that what they did but hope for we enjoy, that what they wished in vain to see, we have daily before our eyes! And how ought it to quicken our zeal, to observe what holy lives they were enabled in many cases to lead, under all their comparative disadvantages! This, we shall see, is a point constantly insisted on in the Old Testament, holiness of life. God's dealings with his people of old, were all directed to make them holy unto the Lord. And this we know is the design of Christ, in the New Testament, to separate unto Himself a community of saints, out of a world lost in iniquity; or rather, to save all men, if they but would be saved, at once from sin and from perdition.

In "the first book of Moses, called Genesis," we see the foundation of this great design laid down. The creation and fall of man, the promise of a Redeemer, justification by faith, holiness in this present life, and the hope of a life eternal in the heavens, these things are all herein set forth, for the manifestation of our duty, and of God's goodness. Genesis means generating, producing, creating. Whilst we read how God made all things out of nothing, let us not fail to thank Him for his mercy in creating us in Christ Jesus unto good works. See Eph. 2. 10. And when we think of his marvellous power in providing for the succession of generations, let us not fail to bless his name for his having "begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Pet. 1. 3.

The original creation. The first, second, and third day.

1 IN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firma

ment Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas and God saw that it was good.

11 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.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

LECTURE 2.

The wonders of creation and redemption.

At the time when this book was written, nearly all the children of men had been guilty of forgetting the God that made them. They supposed that instead of one God there were many. And they worshipped, as Gods, brute animals, and men, and devils. How appropriate therefore, as well as solemn, and sublime, are these first words of Moses in the book of Genesis, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth!" It is as if he would declare to all mankind for ever, God is one, and one only, the Creator of all things else, whether in heaven, or on earth. "In the beginning," at the commencement of time, though in the midst of the inconceivable duration of eternity, God who neither slumbers nor sleeps, shewed forth his glory by the creation of the universe. He gave life and breath to all things. He made of one blood all the nations of men, who ought all of them to worship Him, and Him alone. He created all things out of nothing. Let every thing that He has made praise the Lord. But further there was a time when this earth, on which we

dwell, " was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." But lo, the Holy Spirit of God was then at work, to order and adorn that confused mass. And hark, a voice, the voice of God, is heard to say, "Let there be light:" “And there was light.' And has not this same voice called us, his sinful creatures, out of darkness into his marvellous light? See 1 Pet. 2. 9. And shall we not agree that the light is good? Shall we not be glad and rejoice in that true light, the light of Christ, which is for a light to every man that is born into the world? Though light dawned upon the earth the first day, no sun was seen in the firmament till the third. There may be light in the outward world without the sun. There can be no light in the soul without the Saviour. O God, who alone art able, make this light to shine in our hearts! Lord, speak the word only, and thy servants shall be healed!

Here

On the second day, "God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament." "And God called the firmament Heaven." This means that a division was made, and an effectual barrier placed, between those waters which were below mingled with the earth, and those which were above in the form of clouds; both of which were once afterwards allowed to rush together, when the fountains of the great deep were "broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." Gen. 7. 11. then was a provision for making the earth habitable to mankind, but at the same time a provision for "bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly." 2 Pet. 2. 5. And scarcely any one of our Maker's many kind provisions for our comfort and happiness can be thought of, which may not yield, if we abuse his goodness, a means of our punishment. The sense, which gives us pleasure, He can make to give us agony of pain. By the affections of the heart, which are designed to afford our best of happiness, He can inflict our bitterest of pain. So fearfully as well as wonderfully are we made! In so many ways does God teach us that He abhors evil, and urge us to cleave to that which is good!

On the third day the dry land was separated from the seas, and brought forth at the command of God all manner of herbs and trees, each yielding seed after its kind, and all seen by the Almighty Maker to be good. But what a grievous case is ours, by the inheritance of a fallen nature, that we should be seed after an evil kind, children of perdition! And then what a privilege to be "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible!" 1 Pet. 1. 23. What a precious assurance to believers, who have been thus themselves regenerate, that their children too are holy! See 1 Cor. 7. 14. Lord, who canst give to every seed, his own body; give to us, we beseech Thee, in the resurrection, that glorified body, which is ours not through our own righteousness, but through the seed sown and abiding in our hearts, by the grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The creation of lights in the firmament, and of living creatures.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 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: and God saw that it was good. LECTURE 3.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above

The invisible things of God may be known from his works. Of all natural objects, none are more striking to the outward sense, than the lights in the firmament of the heaven. Nor have any more generally engrossed the reverence of those amongst mankind, who have been inclined to worship the creature instead of the Creator. In the time of Moses this kind of idolatry was very prevalent. And it was therefore needful for him to insist upon it, that these glorious objects were the workmanship of God. He it was at whose command these lights were set in heaven. And He set them there for these purposes, amongst others, to give light to men who dwell below on earth; and to be signs whereby we might know the order of days, and the seasons of the year, and also signs whereby we might be reminded of the greatness and goodness of Him who made them. Whether it be day or night, we have either sun, or moon, or stars, to declare the glory of God. Whether it be spring, or summer, autumn, or winter, we have still the same manifest witnesses of his majesty,

the same bright and affecting tokens of his love. And if He has taken such care for our comfort and enjoyment here, how excellent must be the things which He has prepared for us to have hereafter? And if the heavens which we behold are so full of glory, how much more those which no eye hath seen? How much more lovely, and more bright, the Star of Jacob, the Sun of righteousness, who there shines in endless day?

But what is light if there be none to see? What are all the fruits of the earth if there be none able to use them for their food? Marvellous as were the things hitherto created, they give but a faint notion of the Creator's skill, when we come to compare them with what next He made, "the moving creature, that hath life." To move by their own will, of their own accord, to live, so as to feel as well as be, so as to love each other and to have pleasure in themselves, such are the powers with which God has wonderfully provided the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea. And to them He added "the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth the earth after his kind." And in the one case, "God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply." And in the other case it is repeated, that "God saw that it was good." So perfect was the enjoyment He had prepared for his creatures; and so gracious his desire in their behalf that they should enjoy it in great numbers, and for many generations!

upon

Would

Would we then judge of the Creator by his works? we know the invisible things of God by the things which He has made? Let us think of the things as they were when first He made them, and when He Himself saw that they were good. Let us endeavour to conceive of skies without storms, of summer without scorching heat, and winter without piercing cold, of plants innumerable, but none poisonous, of beasts many and mighty, but none preying on each other. In this state of universal plenty and universal love, we may see reflected the bounty and benevolence of Him, who made the worlds. Nor are there wanting instances, in the different kinds of creatures, of qualities which help to shadow forth the separate perfections of the divine majesty. In the supreme strength of the lion we have a type of the power which is to be attributed to the everlasting Son, "the Lion of the tribe of Judah." Rev. 5. 5. In the lamb we see some faint likeness of that meekness and lowliness of heart, which can be properly learnt only of "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." John 1. 29. Whilst the hen gathering her chickens under her wings serves to shew us how ready God is to receive them that fly to the arms of his mercy, how able to feed, how willing to defend, them that put their trust in Him. Oh that we had never marred by sin the happiness provided for us by his love! Oh that now, when God offers to give us better things in heaven, we would never prefer pleasures upon earth!