Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

46

CHAPTER II.

Div. I.

Now, there appear to be two methods of interpreting the opening chapters of Genesis, besides the simple and obvious plan of receiving it as a plain and chronological history, which fixes the origin of the earth at a period rather less than six thousand years since.

The first of these, is by separating the opening verse of Genesis from those which follow, as a distinct proposition of Moses.

The second, by interpreting them as two separate acts of Creation: the one of which gives the history of the original creation of the earth; the other, that of the formation of Adam and the race who now inhabit it.

We examine both these opinions in detail.

The book opens with the following passage: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Now in the first view which we have stated, this is taken as an axiom of Moses;-the great truth on which he founds his title to be received as the lawgiver of Israel. Men believed in the old world,—some, in an unlimited succession of worlds. Some, that matter was eternal. Some,-that the principle of life sprang into Being, by a powerful and

convulsive thought: some,-that it was self-generated; and it was in contradiction to these opinions, which seem to have existed from a very remote antiquity, that Moses wrote: "GOD created the heavens and the earth." In the beginning, or when they had their beginning they were created by God. He designed to give to all future generations a true, single and grand principle for all things; and therefore deduced the first origin of all from God. This is his general and broad position. All that exists in the heavens; all the worlds both visible and invisible to us; all the distant and wide spread systems of unlimited space; and this earth which we inhabit, were formed originally by his power. The time when these heavenly systems were created is not specified; it is indefinite;--"In the beginning.” It might have been myriads of ages before the formation of the earth, that the stars first sprang into being, and "the heavens" were created. It will be observed, and it is most material, that there is no necessary unity of time in the creation of the two; the force of the statement rather resting on the fact of their deducing their origin from God, than on their being formed simultaneously. We take this ground first, as showing the possibility of a complete severance of this verse from the context, without injury to the literal meaning, or opposition to the general views and mind of the writer.

It may however, possibly, be considered, that the connection between the "Heavens" and the "Earth," in this passage, is too close to admit of a disunion in the manner stated; it may seem to have been intended; and therefore, that we have no au

thority to separate them for the mere purpose of explaining away a difficulty. But the expression, in the opinion of Bishop Pearson, appears to arise, rather from a defect in the ancient Hebrew, than from any necessary intent in Moses to join them together. He states that "The ancient Hebrews seem to have had no word in use among them, which singly, of itself, signified the world; and, therefore, they used in conjunction, the Heaven and Earth,' as the grand extremities, within which all things are contained."

In this light it will appear more manifest than ever, that an axiom was intended. It would then stand thus: "In the beginning God created the world."

But even if this view should not be admitted, the idea which we have thrown out will not be weakened by taking it in its plain and evident reading in the language of our translation. Moses gave as a principle that the Heavens were created by God;—and the Earth. Imagining the other systems to have been formed long antecedently to the Earth, we repeat, there is no necessary deduction from the words of Moses, that he taught them to have been made together. It was his object to show that God was the principle of all creation. He therefore

names "the Heavens;" but he also adds, "the Earth," as that which was his principal object, and would stand as an introduction to his subject. God made the Heavens, when they had their beginning; and also the Earth, at the time of its creation.

And this opinion will seem still stronger, if we allow that Moses intended, as seems probable, to give

an account of the modelling of the Solar System, and not of the unnumbered worlds which are scattered through space. It seems almost incredible, that he should intend to impress on our belief, that these systems were created a few days only before the birth of Adam; which yet must be the case, by too close an adherence to the literal form of his statements.

The verse therefore under this impression stands alone; unconnected, in point of time, with the succeeding acts of creation; and may be considered as an authoritative assertion of Moses, by which he designed to stamp his history with an impress of truth and solemnity, by referring to the God of Israel the origin of all created things. We take it under the idea given.

[ocr errors]

"In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth." Here, then, is the act of power. The Heavens;" the host of far distant systems,-divided and spread through the boundless regions of air; and connected together by nought, as far as we can judge, save by the eye and presence of one Almighty Guardian, may have been peopled from periods, for aught we know, to which our broadest computations would form but a faint approximation to truth. And "the Earth" too, formed in God's own time, may thus have seen a race of beings existent on its surface ;-nay, it may be a succession of races,-before that interval of repose commenced, the conclusion of which, was the formation of man. Ignorant of the nature of the beings who are supposed, at the present moment, to inhabit the countless realms of "the Heavens," we may be alike unenlightened in

E

the character of those who formerly dwelt upon "the Earth." But this ignorance is no argument against the truth of both the one and the other. Moses has not told us that either were inhabited; but there is nothing in the sentence as it stands, under any verbal interpretation, which militates against the idea;-if that idea can be corroborated by deductions from established facts. We admit that it is by no means a subject on which mere speculation can be admitted. But, say the Geologists, we know that the Earth was inhabited from an indubitable evidence; and, as far as that evidence leads us, we follow ;-but not a single step beyond. The silence of Moses is no proof that the opinion is fallacious; for there was nothing in his design, that should lead him into such disquisitions. His object was the history and condition of man, impressed by the sanction and authority of God; and his revelations naturally took that character which would be most conducive to that end. Taken in their literal order, and in the plain manner in which men have been accustomed to receive them since they were first written, until within a comparatively short period, they are strictly true. God did create the

world in the beginning; and he exerted the several successive acts of power which are narrated, commencing with "the Light," and concluding with "Man;" nor can the veracity of the record be called into question from the mere existence of the supposed interval, more than it could be, with any show of reason, if it were proved that the reigns of many kings, and the acts of many centuries, had been wholly omitted in the early history. The fact of

« ÎnapoiContinuă »