this subject. You may think that if geological facts are not interfered with by this narrative, yet that it does, by its fundamental maxim as I have laid it down, interfere with the great astronomical principle which Newton affirmed and demonstrated. If Man is the highest object in the divine order, is it not most natural that he should look upon the earth as the centre round which all the heavenly bodies are revolving? And does not the record of the fourth day's work seem to affirm, that the sun and moon and stars exist to give light to our planet? Unquestionably this was a most natural conclusion for man to adopt. That he did adopt it everywhere is the proof how natural it was. But would you get rid of this natural tendency, by denying the plain fact, to which every one's senses give testimony, that the sun and moon do perform ministeries for this earth, and that the whole economy of our earth is affected by those ministeries? Or would you get rid of it, by denying the fact of which the human conscience testifies as strongly, that a creature endued with a will and a reason must be higher than all the things which his senses contemplate, which his mind can conceive of, that have not a will and a reason? Did any one ever free himself from the delusion that the earth was the centre of the universe, by either of these methods? Did any speculations about the sun or the moon, any reverence for them, any worship of them, destroy this delusion? Were not all these means of strengthening and deepening it in him? And how then can he, consistently with an acknowledgment of plain facts, consistently with the sense of the dignity and glory which has been put upon him, rise to the conviction, that neither the earth, nor he himself, can be looked upon as giving the law and order to Creation?

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I answer, he will rise to this conviction, if he can be taught that he only realizes his own glory when he beholds it in God; if he can be taught that there are other creatures besides himself who share that distinction,-which separates him from all mere sentient and animal existences; if he can be taught upon whom it is that they and he and the whole order to which they belong depend. And these are just the lessons which these chapters of the book of Genesis open to us, and which the whole Bible continues more and more clearly to impress upon us. The chapter we have read this afternoon exhibits the first man beginning to exercise that lordship over the animals which God had given to his race; beginning to realize the meaning of the words, male and female created He them;' subjected to a restriction which told him that he was not an independent being, but made in the image of another. Next Sunday we shall hear how he trifled with that lordship, submitting to a creature whom he was meant to govern,—how the relation of fellowship was broken,-how he set up independence in place of obedience. As we trace the nature and consequences of that act, we are taught more clearly than any words can teach us, what man becomes when he is a centre to himself, and supposes that all things are revolving around him. But we learn at the same time, by fresh discoveries and revelations, why the words the Heavens' have always conveyed to the readers of this book, not merely or chiefly the notion of bright and luminous bodies on which they were to gaze, but much more, of Persons, of Spirits,-dwelling in unknown regions, with reasons and wills like their own, standing in dutiful subjection to the Creator, or revolting against Him. Such a belief, so far as it was maintained, was a preservative

against the disposition to look upon the earth, as if it were the highest and most glorious portion of the universe, though it might be the prize for which two mighty hosts were contending.

But most of all, these chapters prepare us for the announcement of that truth which all the subsequent history is to unfold, that the Word who said, ‘Let there be light,' and there was light, who separated the firmament from the waste of waters, and made the dry land appear, and placed the sun and moon and stars in their orbits, and called all organised creatures into life, and who is in the highest sense, the light of men,—the source of their Reason, -the guide of their Wills,-is the head of all principalities and powers, the upholder of the whole universe.

It was, brethren, the recognition,—the partial recognition at all events,—of this truth, in the sixteenth century, the acknowledgment that the righteousness which dwells in this Word, is that in which alone man can find his own righteousness, which can alone raise him out of degradation and sin,—it was this which prepared men for the scientific discovery of the seventeenth century,-which enabled them to give up the self-exalting dream, that all surrounding worlds look to the earth as their centre, for the acknowledgment of the strange, seemingly monstrous, mystery, that the ball, which appeared to be intended only for its illumination, was that to which all its movements must be referred. A selfish material religion, which consists only of arrangements to secure our individual felicity hereafter, —a selfish material philosophy, which consists only of arrangements to secure our felicity here, a selfish spiritual religion or spiritual philosophy, which glorifies man above God, may, sooner than we are aware, rob us of this scientific

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conviction; or, at least, make it incapable of bearing any newer and riper fruits hereafter.

For the sake then of physical science, it may be necessary that we should study, more earnestly and deeply, that Book which has been thought to contradict it, and yet which has never been hidden without peril to its existence; --has never been simply perused and heartily delighted in, without awakening new and livelier zeal in the pursuit of it. Not for the sake of cultivating such desires however, but for other ends more directly concerning our personal and social life, do I invite you to enter upon this study. I cannot give you an adequate explanation of these or of any chapters in the Bible. I would not if I could. We do not want adequate, self-satisfying explanations. We want to be stirred up to fresh discoveries of our ignorance, to fresh desires for light. I go to the Bible,-I would bid you go to it, because I feel how much darkness surrounds you and me; because I believe that He, in whom all light dwells, is ready to meet us there; to reveal Himself to us; to guide us onward to the perfect day.

NOTE.

The passage of Augustine referred to in the text will be found in the Commentary De Genesi ad Litteram, lib. i. § 39, beginning 'Plerumque enim accidit.' In the previous part of the book the difficulty about 'time' is boldly stated, and the idea of a succession in the divine mind which is the ground of succession in our minds, not dependent upon its conditions, is clearly indicated.

E

SERMON II.

THE FALL AND THE DELUGE.

(Lincoln's Inn, Sexagesima Sunday.-Feb. 23, 1851.)
Lessons for the day, Genesis III. and VI.

GENESIS VI. 5, 6, 7.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

THERE can be no doubt that the chapter we have read this afternoon was chosen because it was supposed to illustrate the one we read this morning. Milton makes the Deluge the most prominent object, in the vision by which Adam is instructed respecting the consequences of the Fall. All readers of Scripture have felt that there is a connexion between them, though they might not be able clearly to perceive the nature of it. Perhaps if we consider what it is, we may gain some light respecting the meaning of the first event as well as of the second.

that the thoughts of men's hearts were only evil Te had said before, 'My Spirit shall not h man, 'Here,' it will be said, 'we see