man in his two-fold character of male and female? v. 28.

As there was now no curse upon the ground to make agriculture a toil, this subduing the earth' must refer principally to its tenants, implying that Adam, as lord of this lower world, was to exercise dominion over all other creatures, and hold them in subjection and subserviency to himself. This is more fully expressed, v. 26.

How is the primitive honor and authority of man described by the Psalmist? Ps. 8.

What grant did the Creator make to man as to the matter of his subsistence? V. 29. 'Yielding seed,' Heb. 'seeding seed;' i. e. every fruit tree which has the power of propagating itself.

What is said of the similar provision for the beasts? v. 30.

What is the testimony respecting the Divine works when all were finished?

God 'saw that every thing was good,' because it perfectly answered the end for which it was made. The reason of these words being so frequently repeated throughout the preceding narrative is to direct our attention to the contrast between the original state of things and the present, and to intimate that whatever disorders or evils now exist to mar the works of God, they did not originally belong to them, but have been introduced in consequence of man's disobedience. Sce Eccl. 7, 29.

Is not God said to 'create evil,' Is. 45. 7? Not the evil of sin, but of punishment, as a righteous Judge. Rom. 3. 5, 6; Amos 3. 6.

What may we suppose. to have been the reason that six days were occupied in the creation, when Omnipotence could have effected every thing in a moment?

One reason may have been that intelligent creatures of every order and in every age might be able more leisurely and distinctly to contemplate the Creator's works as they proceeded successively from his hand. But another reason more important was that he might lay the foundation of the weekly division of time, and the institution of the Sabbath, an ordinance to be perpetually observed to the end of time. It may here be noted, without affirming its correctness, but merely as a historical fact, that the belief is very ancient both in the Jewish and the Christian church, that each of these days of the creation answers to a thousand subsequent years; and that as God employed six days in creating the world, and rested on the seventh, so six thousand years are to be occupied in the works of Providence preparatory to the seventh, which is to be a millennium of glorious rest and peace to the world. This it was supposed by some of the early Christian fathers was implied in the words of the Apostle, 2 Pet. 3. 8,' One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.' The following passage from the Epistle of Barnabas, Paul's fellow traveller, will shew the faith of many of the ancient believers on this subject. Consider, my children, what that signifies, He finished them in six days. This it signifies, that in six thousand years the Lord God will bring all things to an end. For with him one day is a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six days, that is in six thousand years, shall all things be accomplished-then shall he gloriously rest on the seventh day.' It is certain that the chronological computations of the great mass of expositors of prophecy lead them to suppose that the anticipated millennium will coincide very nearly with the seventh thousand years of the world: how justly time only can determine.

HEADS OF PRACTICAL REFLECTION.

V. 1. The invisible things of God from the creation of the world being clearly seen and understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, they are wholly without excuse who refuse to admit the existence of a God, or to refer the created universe to his power.

V. 3. God's speaking is in fact his doing. With him word and power are one and the same thing.

V. 5. He who has given being to all things is best qualified to give them names; for to Him only are their natures perfectly known.

V. 11. The continued propagation of the fruits of the earth as much dependent upon the powerful word of God as their first creation.

V. 22. All manner of increase and multiplication the effect of the special blessing of God.

V. 25. The poorest worm the creature of God as truly as man. Nothing that exists is to be despised. V. 26. How exalted the original dignity of man! Made in the image of his Creator, not only in moral similitude but in official supremacy, he beheld himself the head of the terrestrial creation, with every department of nature, animate and inanimate, subservient to his use! How deeply is the forfeiture of that honor to be deplored, and how thankfully its recovery in Christ to be acknowledged!

V. 27. How tender the concern evinced on the part of the Creator for the highest happiness of man, in making him male and female, and thus capable of social and domestic endearments, of the exercise of the conjugal and parental affections. Man was originally made not only a good, but a blessed

creature,

V. 28. The subjection in which the lower orders of creatures were placed to man, their constituted lord, should remind him of his own subjection to his Maker.

V. 31. All things originally declared to be good. Therefore the introduction of evil by man's transgression, and the share that each individual of the race may have had in perpetuating it, matter of the deepest humiliation.

What is affirmed in the commencement of this chapter? v. 1, 2.

The first three verses of this chapter properly form the conclusion of ch. 1, and ought not to have been separated from it.

What is the original word for 'host,' and its import?

The Heb. term is 'Sâbâ,' pl. 'Sabaoth,' which signifies a band or multitude orderly disposed and marshalled like an army in battle array. In this passage it is rendered by the Greek of the Sept. kosmos,' i. e. ornament, garnishing, furniture, implying the varied contents of the visible heavens and earth. The Mosaic cosmogony gives us no account of the creation of angels, or of any other planet than our own.

In what connection is the term frequently used in the Scriptures?

Ans. In the title Lord of hosts,' which in two instances in the writings of the Apostles is given in the Heb. form of Lord God of Sabaoth;' Rom. 9. 29; James, 5.4. In another passage, Rev. 4. 8, the same phrase The original occurring Is. 6. 3, is rendered Lord God Almighty.'

To what is the word 'host' applied in the following passages? Deut. 4. 19; 17. 3; Is. 34. 4.

To what in the following? 1 Kings 22. 19; Luke 2. 13, 15.

What is the reason of the same word being applied both to stars and to angels?

'Stars,' in the symbolical idiom of the Scriptures, are a standing emblem of ministering spirits, whether of angels or of men on earth. The host of heaven,' therefore, is equivalent in some cases to a body of ministers. See Rev. 1. 20. The word is clearly applied to the people of Israel as a great organized body of true worshippers, or kingdom of priests, Ex. 12. 41, and to the priests and Levites performing the work of the sanctuary, Num. 4. 3. When therefore the horn of the he-goat in Daniel, ch. 8. 10, is said to have 'waxed great even to the host of heaven,' and to have 'cast down some of the host to the ground,' it is merely predicting in figurative language that the hostile power represented by the horn' (probably Mohammedanism) should violently assault the sacred order of gospel ministers, and compel some of them to apostatize from their religion. So when it is said of the Dragon, Rev. 12. 4, that his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth,' it is implied that the same effect should be produced by the subtle and poisonous influence of the false doctrines and heresies propagated by the symbolical dragon.'

What therefore was probably the origin of Sabianism, or that ancient idolatry which consisted in the worship of the heavenly host? The worship was originally designed to be paid to angels or the spirits of deified men, of which the stars were considered the representatives; but it became at length directed to the stars themselves, from gradually confounding the sign with the thing signified.