that fly," to nestle in, and food prepared and ready for them; but no part of creation must be idle, or unproductive; and now the waters are called upon to take a share, a great and remarkable share, in this wondrous plan; all fish, all fowl, and "every moving (creeping) creature that hath life," sprang from the waters. And mark the first words which the Creator ever addressed to the creature, and learn from hence the character of Him of whom we speak: "God blessed them." He did not wait, until all living creatures were called into existence, He did not delay, until "man became a living soul," to hear and to appreciate the mercy, but at once, and before a single command was given, God prefaced all commands with one universal blessing. He solemnly pronounced a benediction upon his creatures. His first thoughts to them were thoughts of mercy; his first words, were words of love: "and God blessed them." Happy is it for us, that we, if reconciled to God by the blood of his Son, can still behold him speaking but to bless, can still hear the accents of a Father's voice, proclaiming a Father's blessing, and that abundantly above all that we can ask or think. May we learn more and more to delight ourselves in his word, every chapter of which conveys blessings to his children! May we value those por tions of it which we are permitted to read from day to day; and may the Lord, even God the Spirit, carry it home effectually, as a comforting, saving, blessing communication to our souls! EXPOSITION III. GENESIS i. 24-31. 24. 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. 25. 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. Thus did the work of creation proceed, step by step, from light to order, from order to productiveness, from the herb and the tree, to the fish and the fowl, and from these to the multitude of quadrupeds which cover and adorn the earth. Instructive lesson to the Christian, that his course should always be an advancing one; "The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Believe not yourself a child of God, unless you are thus walking in the footsteps of your heavenly Father; unless your last works are your best works. But is there a retrograding, a falling off? Take alarm, you have full and sufficient reason, your 66 spot is not the spot of God's children." "Repent, and do your first works;" pray earnestly that the thoughts of your heart, and the deeds of your hands, and the words of your mouth, may be forgiven you, and that you may have grace, not merely to remain, but to go forward in the Christian course, from grace to grace, from strength to strength, until you are perfected before God in Zion. 26. 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 creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28. 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. 29. 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. 30. 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. 31. 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. Here is the conclusion of God's great work of creation, the formation of man. As we remarked at the commencement of the chapter, that the word translated "God," implies in the original language, "Gods," and therefore suggested the idea of a plurality of persons in the Godhead, so would we now desire you to observe the language in which the creation of man is recorded. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, three persons and one God," the ever-blessed Trinity, are here represented as holding council together in producing the last, best work of God. "In the image of God created he man, male and female created he them." First the male, then the female, of which a more particular account is given afterwards. And how greatly was man honoured! he was to bear the image, the likeness 66 Not, in pro of his mighty, his Almighty Maker. deed, in outward appearance, for "God is a Spirit," and "a spirit hath not flesh and bones,' as ye see man have; but in the endowments of his mind, the qualifications of his soul. As man came forth out of the hands of his Creator, all within him, as well as all around him, was, "very good;" his understanding was good, his motives were good, his thoughts were good, his heart was good. In all these, though doubtless but a very faint image, still he was an image, of his holy and perfect Creator. For God himself nounced, when all creation was finished, that everything that he had made, man therefore included, was "very good." Surely some most remarkable change must have passed over the spirit of man, before the same Creator, at a future, though no very distant period, could say of this same creature, that " 'every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen. vi. 12.) Some fearful alteration must have taken place, before we could have been informed (Gen. vi. 12) that "God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” Of all that led to this great, this woful change we shall shortly be informed; but now we are to look at man, as coming pure and spotless out of |