SECTION I.

OF THE CREATION.

From Genesis, Chap. i. ii.

In the beginning GOD created the heaven and the earth.

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.

And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good: and GOD divided the light from the darkness.

And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night; and the evening and the morning were the first day.

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

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.

And God called the firmament heaven; and the evening and the morning were the second day.

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.

And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He seas: and GoD saw that it was good.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed after his kind, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth: and it was so.

VOL. I.

B

And

And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the fruit tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind, and GOD saw that it was good.

And the evening and the morning were the third day.

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.

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

And God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also.

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

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.

And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

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.

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

And

And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 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.

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.

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 heaven.

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 not a man to till the ground.

But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every thing that creepeth upon the earth.

And the LORD GOD formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

And the LORD GOD said, It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him.

And out of the ground the LORD GOD formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl

of the air, and to every beast of the field: but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

And the LORD GOD caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.

And the rib, which the LORD GOD had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.

And God blessed them; and GoD said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat and it was so.

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.

ANNOTATIONS AND REFLECTIONS.

This Section is taken from the very beginning of The BIBLE, and is part of the Book called Genesis, which contains the Sacred History of 2367 years: it was

written

written by Moses, who was inspired by the HOLY SPIRIT to give a relation of things which GoD in His infinite wisdom saw fit to reveal to mankind, and which never could have been known to them had they not been revealed from heaven, for they were brought to pass before mankind were created.

We are here taught that there is ONE GOD the Creator of Heaven and Earth; that the world we live in had a beginning; that the ALMIGHTY, with infinite wisdom, formed the plan of creation, and brought into existence, by his WORD, the earth, with all its appendages and inhabitants, in a space of time amounting to six of what we call natural days. Each day's work is particularly described, by which we learn the progress of creation, and are led to reflect upon the various and wonderful works of GOD.

We find that the first act of creation, relating to this world, was, to bring out of nothing, a chaos, or mass without form, and void of every thing which now renders the earth a beautiful and convenient abode, and that this unformed world was wrapt up in darkness: yet we may conclude from what follows, that in its first state, this world contained the principles of metals, minerals, salts, vegetable substances, and all the terrestrial elements, which were intended to produce and renew whatever might be necessary for its future inhabitants; together with the rudiments of animal bodies, and in short all that is comprehended under the general name of original matter, one single particle of which, as philosophers demonstrate, can never be destroyed but by the CREATOR himself, though all may undergo various modifications to the end of time*. As a chaos

* See the History of the Heavens by the Abbé de la Pluche, vol. ii, B 3 the