The waters separated

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8 And God called the firmament | heaven be gathered together unto Heaven. And the evening and one place, and let the dry land the morning were the second day. appear and it was so.

9 And God said, P Let the waters under the

P Job xxvi. 10; xxxviii. 8; Psalm xxiv. 2; xxxiii. 7; xcv. 5; civ. 9; cxxxvi. 5, 6; Proverbs viii. 29; Ecclesiastes

ters of the planets, as seen at a distance equal to that of the earth at her main distance from the sun, the diameters of the planets in English miles, as contained in the seventh column, have been carefully computed. In the column entitled "Proportion of bulk, the earth being 1," the whole numbers express the number of times the other planet contains more cubic miles, &c., than the earth; and if the number of cubic miles in the earth be given, the number of cubic miles in any planet may be readily found by multiplying the cubic miles contained in the earth by the number in the column, and the product will be the quantity required.

This is a small but accurate sketch of the vast solar system; to describe it fully, even in all its known revolutions and connections, in all its astonishing energy and influence, in its wonderful plan, structure, operations, and results, would require more volumes than can be devoted to the commentary itself.

As so little can be said here on a subject so vast, it may appear to some improper to introduce it at all; but to any observation of this kind I must be permitted to reply, that I should deem it unpardonable not to give a general view of the solar system in the very place where its creation is first introduced. If these works be stupendous and magnificent, what must He be who formed, guides, and supports them all by the word of his power! Reader, stand in awe of this God, and sin Make him thy friend through the Son of his love; and, when these heavens and this earth are no more, thy soul shall exist in consummate and unutterable felicity.

not.

See the remarks on the sun, moon, and stars, after

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10 And God called the dry land Earth;

Before the seas and this terrestrial ball,
And heaven's high canopy that covers all,
One was the face of nature, if a face;
Rather, a rude and indigested mass;
A lifeless lump, unfashion'd and unframed,
Of jarring seeds, and justly Chaos named.
DRYDEN.

The most ancient of the Greeks have spoken nearly in the same way of this crude, indigested state of the primitive chaotic mass.

When this congeries of elementary principles was brought together, God was pleased to spend six days in assimilating, assorting, and arranging the materials, out of which he built up, not only the earth, but the whole of the solar system.

The Spirit of God] This has been variously and Some think a violent wind is strangely understood. meant, because П ruach often signifies wind, as well as spirit, as vενpа does in Greek; and the term God is connected with it merely, as they think, to express the superlative degree. Others understand by it an elementary fire.. Others, the sun, penetrating and drying up the earth with his rays. Others, the angels, who were supposed to have been employed as agents in creation. Others, a certain occult principle, termed Others, a the anima mundi or soul of the world. magnetic attraction, by which all things were caused to gravitate to a common centre. But it is sufficiently evident from the use of the word in other places, that the Holy Spirit of God is intended; which our blessed Lord represents under the notion of wind, John iii. 8; and which, as a mighty rushing wind on the day of pentecost, filled the house where the disciples were sitting, Acts ii. 2, which was immediately followed by Verse 2. The earth was without form and void] their speaking with other tongues, because they were The original term 1 tohu and 1 bohu, which we filled with the Holy Ghost, ver. 4. These scriptures translate without form and void, are of uncertain ety-sufficiently ascertain the sense in which the word is mology; but in this place, and wherever else they are used by Moses. used, they convey the idea of confusion and disorder. From these terms it is probable that the ancient Syrians and Egyptians borrowed their gods, Theuth and Bau, and the Greeks their Chaos. God seems at first to have created the elementary principles of all things; and this formed the grand mass of matter, which in this state must be without arrangement, or any distinction of parts: a vast collection of indescribably confused materials, of nameless entities strangely mixed; and wonderfully well expressed by an ancient heathen poet :

verse 16.

As

Moved on merachepheth, was brooding over; for the word expresses that tremulous motion made by the hen while either hatching her eggs or fostering her young. It here probably signifies the communicating a vital or prolific principle to the waters. the idea of incubation, or hatching an egg, is implied in the original word, hence probably the notion, which prevailed among the ancients, that the world was generated from an egg.

.YEHI OR, vaihi or אור ויהי אור

Verse 3. And God said, Let there be light] Nothing can be conceived more dignified than this form of expression. It argues at once uncontrollable authority, and omnific power; and in human language it is scarcely possible to conceive that God can speak more like himself. This passage, in the Greek translation of the Septuagint, fell in the way of Dionysius Longinus, one of the

most judicious Greek critics that ever lived, and who is highly celebrated over the civilized world for a treatise he wrote, entitled Пept Ypovs, Concerning the Light is one of the most astonishing productions of SUBLIME, both in prose and poetry; of this passage, the creative skill and power of God. It is the grand though a heathen, he speaks in the following terms :- medium by which all his other works are discovered, Ταυτη και ὁ των Ιουδαίων θεσμοθετης (οὐχ ὁ τυχων examined, and understood, so far as they can be known. ανηρ,) επειδη την του θείου δυναμιν κατα την αξιαν | Its immense diffusion and extreme velocity are alone εχώρησε, καξέφηνεν ευθύς εν τη εισβολη γραψας των sufficient to demonstrate the being and wisdom of God. νομων, ΕΙΠΕΝ Ὁ ΘΕΟΣ, φησι, τι; ΓΕΝΕΣΘΩ ΦΩΣ· Light has been proved by many experiments to travel και εγένετο. ΓΕΝΕΣΘΩ ΓΗ· και εγένετο. "So at the astonishing rate of 194,188 miles in one second likewise the Jewish lawgiver (who was no ordinary of time! and comes from the sun to the earth in eight man) having conceived a just idea of the Divine minutes 1133 seconds, a distance of 95,513,794 Engpower, he expressed it in a dignified manner; for at lish miles. the beginning of his laws he thus speaks: GOD SAID-What? LET THERE BE LIGHT! and there was light. LET THERE BE EARTH! and there was earth."-Longinus, sect. ix. edit. Pearce.

The earth brings forth

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after his kind, whose seed is in herb yielding seed after his kind, itself, upon the earth and it" and the tree yielding fruit, whose 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and saw that it was good.

was so.

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seed was in itself, after his kind: and God

Luke, chap. vi. 44.

there is no certain measurement of the proportion of land and water which they contain. This proportion of three-fourths water may be considered as too great, if not useless; but Mr. Ray, by most accurate experiments made on evaporation, has proved that it requires so much aqueous surface to yield a sufficiency of vapours for the purpose of cooling the atmosphere, and watering the earth. See Ray's Physico-theological Discourses.

acknowledged by any of Kennicott's or De Rossi's MSS., nor by any of the other versions. If the account of the second day stood originally as it does now, no satisfactory reason can be given for the omission of this expression of the Divine approbation of the work wrought by his wisdom and power on that day.

Verse 11. Let the earth bring forth grass-herb fruit-tree, &c.] In these general expressions all kinds of vegetable productions are included. Fruit-tree is not to be understood here in the restricted sense in which the term is used among us; it signifies all trees, not only those which bear fruit, which may be applied to the use of men and cattle, but also those which had the power of propagating themselves by seeds, &c. Now as God delights to manifest himself in the little as well as in the great, he has shown his consummate wisdom in every part of the vegetable creation. Who can account for, or comprehend, the structure of a single tree or plant? The roots, the stem, the woody fibres, the bark, the rind, the air-vessels, the sap-vessels, the leaves, the flowers, and the fruits, are so many mysteries. All the skill, wisdom, and power of men and angels could not produce a single grain of wheat! A serious and reflecting mind can see the grandeur of God, not only in the immense cedars on Lebanon, but also in the endlessly varied forests that appear through the microscope in the mould of cheese, stale paste,

An eminent chemist and philosopher, Dr. Priestley, has very properly observed that it seems plain that Moses considered the whole terraqueous globe as being created in a fluid state, the earthy and other particles of matter being mingled with the water. The present form of the earth demonstrates the truth of the Mosaic account; for it is well known that if a soft or elastic globular body be rapidly whirled round on its axis, the parts at the poles will be flattened, and the parts on the equator, midway between the north and south poles, will be raised up. This is precisely the shape of our earth; it has the figure of an oblate spheroid, a figure pretty much resembling the shape of an orange. It has been demonstrated by admeasurement that the earth is flatted at the poles and raised at the equator. This was first conjectured by Sir Isaac Newton, and afterwards confirmed by M. Cassini and others, who measured several degrees of latitude at the equator and near the north pole, and found that the difference | &c., &c. perfectly justified Sir Isaac Newton's conjecture, and Verse 12. Whose seed was in itself] Which has consequently confirmed the Mosaic account. The the power of multiplying itself by seeds, slips, roots, result of the experiments instituted to determine this &c., ad infinitum; which contains in itself all the point, proved that the diameter of the earth at the rudiments of the future plant through its endless geneequator is greater by more than twenty-three and a half rations. This doctrine has been abundantly confirmed miles than it is at the poles, allowing the polar diame- by the most accurate observations of the best modern ter to be th part shorter than the equatorial, accord- philosophers. The astonishing power with which God ing to the recent admeasurements of several degrees has endued the vegetable creation to multiply its difof latitude made by Messrs. Mechain and Delambre.—ferent species, may be instanced in the seed of the elm. L' Histoire des Mathem. par M. de la Lande, tom. iv., This tree produces one thousand five hundred and part v., liv. 6.

eighty-four millions of seeds; and each of these seeds And God saw that it was good.] This is the judg- has the power of producing the same number. How ment which God pronounced on his own works. They astonishing is this produce! At first one seed is depowere beautiful and perfect in their kind, for such is the sited in the earth; from this one a tree springs, which import of the word tob. They were in weight in the course of its vegetative life produces one thouand measure perfect and entire, lacking nothing. But sand five hundred and eighty-four millions of seeds. the reader will think it strange that this approbation This is the first generation. The second generation should be expressed once on the first, fourth, fifth, will amount to two trillions, five hundred and nine thouand sixth days; twice on the third, and not at all on sand and fifty-six billions. The third generation will the second! I suppose that the words, And God saw amount to three thousand nine hundred and seventythat it was good, have been either lost from the con- four quadrillions, three hundred and forty-four thou clusion of the eighth verse, or that the clause in the sand seven hundred and four trillions! And the fourth tenth verse originally belonged to the eighth. It ap-generation from these would amount to six sextillions, pears, from the Septuagint translation, that the words two hundred and ninety-five thousand three hundred in question existed originally at the close of the eighth verse, in the copies which they used; for in that version we still find, Kai eider & Oɛоç Öтɩ Kahov· And God saw that it was good. This reading, however, is not

and sixty-two quintillions, eleven thousand one hundred and thirty-six quadrillions! Sums too immense for the human mind to conceive; and, when we allow the most confined space in which a tree can grow, it

Creation and design

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CHAP. I.

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of the celestial luminaries. 13 And the evening and the 15 And let them be for lights in morning were the third day. the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the

Y

14 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

a

b

cxxxvi. 7.- Heb. between Psa. cxxxvi. 7, 8, 9; cxlviii. 3, 5.2 Heb. for the rule of
Psa. lxxiv. 17; civ. 19.
the day-
Psa. viii. 3.- Job xxxviii. 7.

oth is often used. And is it not the almighty energy of God that upholds them in being? The sun and moon also serve as signs of the different changes which take place in the atmosphere, and which are so essential for all purposes of agriculture, commerce, &c.

For days] Both the hours of the day and night, as well as the different lengths of the days and nights, are distinguished by the longer and shorter spaces of time the sun is above or below the horizon.

And years.] That is, those grand divisions of time by which all succession in the vast lapse of duration is distinguished. This refers principally to a complete revolution of the earth round the sun, which is accomplished in 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 48 seconds; for though the revolution is that of the earth, yet it cannot be determined but by the heavenly bodies.

Deut. iv. 19; Psa. lxxiv. 16; the day and between the night. appears that the seeds of the third generation from one elm would be many myriads of times more than sufficient to stock the whole superfices of all the planets in the solar system! But plants multiply themselves by slips as well as by seeds. Sir Kenelm Digby saw in 1660 a plant of barley, in the possession of the fathers of the Christian doctrine at Paris, which con- For seasons] moadim; For the determinatained 249 stalks springing from one root or grain, and tion of the times on which the sacred festivals should in which he counted upwards of 18,000 grains. See be held. In this sense the word frequently occurs; my experiments on Tilling in the Methodist Magazine. and it was right that at the very opening of his reveVerse 14. And God said, Let there be lights, &c.]lation God should inform man that there were certain One principal office of these was to divide between festivals which should be annually celebrated to his day and night. When night is considered a state of glory. Some think we should understand the original comparative darkness, how can lights divide or distin- word as signifying months, for which purpose we know guish it? The answer is easy: The sun is the monarch the moon essentially serves through all the revolutions of the day, which is the state of light; the moon, of of time. the night, the state of darkness. The rays of the sun, falling on the atmosphere, are refracted and diffused over the whole of that hemisphere of the earth immediately under his orb; while those rays of that vast luminary which, because of the earth's smallness in comparison of the sun, are diffused on all sides beyond the earth, falling on the opaque disc of the moon, are reflected back upon what may be called the lower hemisphere, or that part of the earth which is opposite to the part which is illuminated by the sun and as the earth completes a revolution on its own axis in about twenty-four hours, consequently each hemisphere has alternate day and night. But as the solar light reflected from the face of the moon is computed to be 50,000 times less in intensity and effect than the light of the sun as it comes directly from himself to our earth, (for light decreases in its intensity as the distance it travels from the sun increases,) therefore a sufficient distinction is made between day and night, or light and darkness, notwithstanding each is ruled and determined by one of these two great lights; the moon ruling the night, i. e., reflecting from her own surface back on the earth the rays of light which she receives from the sun. Thus both hemispheres are to a certain degree illuminated the one, on which the sun shines, completely so; this is day: the other, on which the sun's light is reflected by the moon, partially; this is night. It is true that both the planets and fixed stars afford a considerable portion of light during the night, yet they cannot be said to rule or to predominate by their light, because their rays are quite lost in the superior splendour of the moon's light. And let them be for signs] leothoth. Let them ever be considered as continual tokens of God's tender care for man, and as standing proofs of his continual miraculous interference; for so the word light. What would the natural world be without the

Verse 16. And God made two great lights] Moses speaks of the sun and moon here, not according to their bulk or solid contents, but according to the proportion of light they shed on the earth. The expression has been cavilled at by some who are as devoid of mental capacity as of candour. "The moon," say they, "is not a great body; on the contrary, it is the very smallest in our system." Well, and has Moses said the contrary? He has said it is a great LIGHT; had he said otherwise he had not spoken the truth. It is, in reference to the earth, next to the sun himself, the greatest light in the solar system; and so true is it that the moon is a great light, that it affords more light to the earth than all the planets in the solar system, and all the innumerable stars in the vault of heaven, put together. It is worthy of remark that on the fourth day of the creation the sun was formed, and then "first tried his beams athwart the gloom profound ;" and that at the conclusion of the fourth millenary from the creation, according to the Hebrew, the Sun of righteousness shone upon the world, as deeply sunk in that mental darkness produced by sin as the ancient world was, while teeming darkness held the dominion, till the sun was created as the dispenser of

VOL. I.

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33

17 And God set them in the darkness: and God saw that it was firmament of the heaven, to give good.

Jeremiah, chap. xxxi. 35.