phet, &c. Deut. xviii. 15. And Philip said unto Nathaniel, (speaking of the same person,) "We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write," &c. John i. 45.

Thus, it is not very difficult for those who believe the word of God, to decide who it refers to when it says, "So God created man in his own image. And, however Jewish rabbies may try to misconstrue the text, yet still the whole body of prophecy stands in array against them.

And the Psalmist David saith of him (Ps. ii. 7) by the spirit of prophecy, "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." And again, in the eleventh and twelfth verses, of the same person, "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." And in Isaiah, ix. 6, the prophet speaking of him exclaims, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." And it is not unreasonable to suppose that allusion is made to him in Gen. iii. 22, where it saith, Behold the man is become as one

of us."

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Therefore when it saith, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," and then in the next verse declares that it was the likeness of God that man was created in, it is most inconsistent to say that God spake to his angels, seeing that it was not in the likeness of angels, but of God, that man was made.

Thus much concerning that portion of the text; which brings me now to

:

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Verse 27. · So God created man in his own image in the image of God created he him". speaking of mankind in the singular number. Male and female created he them"-speaking of mankind in the common gender.

Verse 28. "And God blessed them; and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it," &c. And from the 29th verse to the end, it states, that all herbs bearing seed, and every tree bearing fruit, was given to man for food; and to the beasts, and every creeping thing upon the earth, every herb. "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

Thus endeth the general account of the six days of the creation; after which, in the next chapter, there follows a summing up of the whole, and then the first sabbath is noticed, with, likewise, some particular details of facts connected with the foregoing six days' work-to which I now invite the reader's attention.

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Chap. 2nd. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." All complete, all predestinated to be governed by certain laws, from which nothing can be detracted or added to, without producing an unnatural derangement of the same.

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Verse 2. “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made." And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created to make :" for so it reads in the Hebrew,

"created to make." Thus we have the account of the first sabbath, or the sealing up of the six days' work.

There is a mystery contained in the original text, created (y) to make, which is completely lost sight of in our English translation: for in the English it reads, "created and made," which makes nonsense of the text; for the words created and made have a like signification, so that created and made actually means created and created, and the last word is a repetition of the same act which the first implies; whereas created to make, opens up the purpose for which all things were created, namely, to procreate again, to be fruitful, to multiply, and replenish the earth. Consequently the all-wise Creator ordained the great machine of nature to replenish itself; therefore when it says that God rested from his labour, it implies he left off creating, because his work was then perfect and complete, with the power of procreation. Therefore it saith,

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He rested from all his work which he created to make:" that is, all things being created with the power of propagating their kind, all future existence must be the natural production of ordinary generation: therefore "God rested on the seventh day, from all his work which he created to make," and rejoiced in all his wise and handy work and so instituted a day of rest, : wherein mankind may rest from their six days' toil, and meditate upon the kind providence of God to them in the past week-go to his sanctuary, and, with wonder, love, and praise, adore him for his unspeakable love in providing salvation for man, who by transgression has fallen most woefully

from that state in which he was originally created; but to which he may be restored again by Christ, the Sun of Righteousness; who, like the natural sun, hath arisen with healing in his wings. For, as the natural sun is the instrument which the Creator ordained to perpetuate the life of all the natural creation, so is Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, the medium by which all things shall be restored again. "And when all things are subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” 1 Corin. xv. 28. And, however mysterious the ways and decrees of God may appear to us, yet will he make all things to work for his own glory, and the eternal salvation of mankind; and that he hath fully declared in his will, which he has made known to man; but his secret decrees he reserveth to himself. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever." Deut. xxix. 29.

fur

But I must not digress from the text any ther, and so will return to where I left off, namely, 2nd ch. 3rd v., from which further details of the order of the creation are recorded.

Verse 4. "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the

ground." But now follow some further details connected with the creation of man.

MAN RELATED TO EARTH AND HEAVEN.

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Verse 7. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." The word " chajim, translated life, is plural, lives. And God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and man became a living soul." Which appears to me to imply, that man was not only endowed with animal life, but with divine life, which the Almighty breathed into him; an emanation of the Deity, a spirit which can only be satisfied with the living God. Therefore man is related both to earth and heaven; he is not only possessed of animal life, but life of a higher order, an emanation from God, a noble faculty which constitutes him superior to the brute creation, by which he was capacitated to be lord of the earth: animal life to replenish the earth, and spiritual or divine life, to subdue it; that is, by the divine or spiritual life which God gave him, he was to use and rule all things which his Maker had put under his dominion, for the glory of God and his own happiness.

Thus, man being created according to the determinate council of Jehovah, Elohim, the triune Godhead, who "breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives," he was thereby constituted a living soul—that is, a soul united to his Maker, and capable of holding communion with him; a soul manifesting the glory of his Maker; a soul full of love and perfect peace; a soul to live for ever; a soul possessing intelligence and fore