nitely above the world by being thus made in the divine likeness.

No philosophy has ever so well explained the proper basis of physical Science, as the Scriptures here do; which is, that as God has made the world by His Word or Wisdom, so man, being made in the image of God, is created with faculties which put it in his power to explore and to systematize those works. Here we have an answer at once to all sceptical questions about the reality of sensation and of science.

See, too, the vastness of man's moral capacities as thus created, and the love bestowed upon him at his creation, which is the basis of the whole doctrine of Redemption. This does away with the supposed incredibility of an Incarnation; for the end was none other than that which had been the ultimate design of all previous dispensations-a restoration of the Image of God in human nature.

6. Next see in this simple narrative of Scripture how with a master-touch the very essence of successful They detect temptation to sin is exposed to view, and the essence the source of all that disobedience to God which so mars the moral aspect of the world.

of successful

Temptation

tion, and a fall, are absolutely requisite before we can explain anything connected with man. Without these, philosophy would lead us only to a hopeless mystery; we should know absolutely nothing, and never should be able to attain to knowledge; for all the science that has ever been evolved does not advance man a single step in the explanation of his moral nature and moral condition. No man who has rejected these four particulars has ever been able to advance an explanation possessing even the most remote claims to acceptance. They, and they only, solve the perplexing question of human existence-of man endowed with the conception of the virtues, yet constantly practising the opposite evils.' -Dove's Logic of the Christian Faith, p. 352.

What was the snare which Satan so successfully laid to entrap our first parents? What is the bait which so easily draws us from our allegiance to God who made us, and who preserves and blesses us? Is it not summed up in these words 'YE SHALL BE AS GODS?' 'When the woman saw that the tree was to be desired to MAKE ONE WISE, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat;' although God's command was express, Ye shall not eat of it.' (Gen. iii. 3, 6.) Here was the assailable point, the fancied glory of INDEPENDENCE, the heart's revolt against restraint, an uncreature-like rebellion of the will against dependence even upon God, whose service is perfect freedom.

How much is this at the root of all our rebellion now! It was the deification of man's reason, the atheistic pride of vice and intellect combined, the blasphemous assumption of an independence of all that was holy, divine, and true, that distinguished the Infidels of the French Revolution of 1798, as well as of Voltaire and his accomplices, who came to such a wretched end. It was the pride of independence which hurled the devil and his angels down to hell. And how wonderfully does this record of Holy Scripture put it prominently forward as the master-stroke, with which the archdeceiver plied his art with such awful success against our first parents-innocent, but not invulnerable!

7. These chapters contain some remarkable points in History. Here we find the first institution of Marriage, and of the Sabbath. They give the only rational account of that great event, the Deluge, the reflex of which is seen in the

They contain remark. able points in History.

innumerable traditions among nations the widest apart and the most dissimilar in habits and character. They explain, by a simple history of the divine interposition in the dispersion of mankind, because of their pride and wickedness, the singular results at which philologists have of late arrived regarding the 6,000 languages and dialects at present spoken-that such is the internal relationship of their radical words and inflections and constructions, that there is every reason for supposing that they must have proceeded from one primitive tongue, and that the separation into branches must have arisen from some violent and sudden cause-a theory which is a remarkable comment upon the history of the Tower of Babel.

This sacred record gives the only history of the apportioning the earth to the several nations, as we now find them. After an enumeration, These,' says the inspired writer, are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations; and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.' (Gen. x. 12). To which St. Paul, 2000 years afterwards, alludes, 'God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, AND THE BOUNDS OF THEIR HABITATION.' (Acts, xvii. 26.)

Here, too, we have a certain clue to the first institution of SACRIFICES that remarkable method for attempting to appease the Divine wrath, which we find prevailing all the world over, wherever Christianity has not shed its light and superseded the type by substituting the sacrifice of the Redeemer Himself.

They con

tain the

8. Lastly, in these wonderful chapters we have the germ, the rich and fruitful germ, of all Prophecy, in two of the most remarkable and comprehensive predictions which the whole Scripture contains:

germ of all Prophecy.

One, the promise of the Seed of the Woman, who should bruise the serpent's head while he should bruise his heel a prophecy which has been so largely fulfilled in the miraculous birth of Christ of a pure virgin, who by His death upon the cross, His triumphant resurrection and ascension to the Father's throne, has overcome sin and death, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers a prophecy which is fraught with blessings to all nations, and which will be completed in its fulfilment when He comes the second time to judge the world, and to reign for ever and ever, King of kings and Lord of lords :

The other Prophecy-the curse upon Canaan, and the blessing upon Shem and Jap het, spoken in few words, but carrying with them, as years after years still roll on, their own evidence of divine inspiration by the wonderful accomplishment they are perpetually receiving.*

Who can deny, then, that this portion of Holy Scripture is a treasury of unspeakable value, and worthy of its high origin? The simplicity of the narratives, combined with the surpassing importance of the truths conveyed in them, is a confirmation of their authority. Who but one writing under the

* For an able and very instructive article on the accomplishment of this prophecy, see Journal of Sacred Literature, No. XXVI., July 1861.

guidance of inspiration could, not merely have avoided all the inanities of human cosmogonies, but have delivered at that early period, and in the most unassuming way, accounts of the most momentous transactions, which are found to harmonize with the most recent investigations of science, and which supply the most profound information on theological and moral subjects?