Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

menced with Abraham, when the Jews first began to be embodied as a distinct nation; given some leading ideas of the lives of the Patriarchs; the bondage in Egypt, and the corrupt lives of the inhabitants of Palestine. The minutiae of their history might have been omitted; their frequent provocations of God, and the varied turns of their fortune, as irrelevant to his chief and limited design; but having given the great outlines of their previous existence, he might then reasonably commence as in the present instance. "These are the means by which God gave the children of Israel possession of the land, when they subdued it; in the day in which the Lord God gave them possession of the land." Now precise as is this language, it would not appear unnatural to the subject; and for this reason; that our minds, convinced that other events had previously taken place in their history, would only see in this language a mode of expression, peculiar to the writer, by which he intended to fix our attention after the general introduction with which he thought it necessary to open his subject. Imagine an interval, and the language "These are the generations," will appear as natural both to the style of Moses, and his design to fix attention to the subject of the present system, as, in the supposed instance of the history of Canaan, it would be to any writer who wished to give a clear and comprehensive view to his readers of the rise and progress of events which led to the Jews' establishment in it. Imagine him, at this point, entering upon his real subject; and the preciseness of the expressions "when they were "when they were" and "in the day that the Lord God made" will possess a strong

and peculiar force, in drawing our minds to that particular æra at which Adam was created. The time in which the heavens and the earth were created "in the beginning," has long passed; but these are the generations-the original and birth-of the earth as it now exists, and of the present race of mankind; the particulars of which he then proceeds to detail with much minuteness. It may, however, possibly seem an objection, that Moses in this expression "the heavens and the earth," does not confine himself solely to the earth, which under this view is the only renovated body, and that therefore he refers back to the first opening verse of his history, which proves the identity of the two accounts. But independently of this being a usual form of speech to signify the world, as has been shown on the authority of Bishop Pearson-which of itself is a reply of considerable weight, - we may say, that the very fact of his having used that form in the first chapter, necessarily obliged him from mere consistency to use the same now; unless he had intended (which was by no means the case) to give the very ideas to the Jews which we now advocate. Unless this had been his intention, I see not how he could have opened the account of the present system otherwise than he has.*

* Among other speculations on this subject of the Creation, it has been supposed that the first chapter was a record handed down from the most ancient times, and that Moses adopted it; and then gave his own account. There is no evidence whatever for such a supposition; it is pure theory. Proof has been sought intrinsically from the style; but it is extremely inconclusive. As a matter of theory, I should feel inclined to add, that the occurrence of this

H

At this time, then, God commenced his work of again rendering the earth fit for inhabitants on its surface. And how did he commence? By the very means which we should suppose the most natural. The world was necessarily a void; and God therefore first made "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." Herbs and fruits were the destined food of man and beast; and the first act of re-modelling the waste and desolate ruin, is the re-production of plants and herbs. But this was not done by an instantaneous creation; it probably was not necessary. It is possible that vegetation, in the economy of the divine counsels, had not wholly perished, but have lain for ages, preternaturally checked, like shrubs and plants in winter; - or seeds of every kind, under the same influence, may have been preserved, deeply buried in the earth, which only required proper moisture and temperature, again to spring forth slowly into life, and clothe the earth again with trees and verdure. Under the ordinary laws of vegetation, as naturalists assure us,* seeds have retained their vital principle, and sprung into full growth, when redeemed from depths, and peculiar

very expression "the earth and the heavens" three times in thirtyfive verses, looks very like the writing of the same author; and extremely after the manner of Moses.

* White and Jesse, for example, amongst others, who relate extraordinary instances of the longevity of seeds.

-

situations, where they must have remained for centuries, and, to all human probability, for thousands of years. What limit shall be placed, when the same enduring power shall have been preternaturally imposed upon them? But however this may be; we glean, at all events, from the passage quoted, that the growth of vegetation which now commenced, was a gradual growth. Whether the Lord made or preserved the seed or plant, it was clearly done before they grew and, during their growth, there was no rain, nor, at that time, was there a man to till the ground; but, instead of rain, to nourish this vegetation, there went up a mist, to water the ground. When? - From the third day of Creation until the sixth? This can scarcely be allowed. Surely the want of rain in that short space, could scarcely have been sufficient to have been remarked by Moses, any more than that during those two days there was no man to cultivate the ground. Moses has stated already, that man was created on the sixth day. Can we believe that, in the repetition, he would think it necessary to add, as a reflection of his own, and one which had something extraordinary in it, to warrant that particular mention, that from the third day to the sixth, "there was not a man to till the ground?"

It is not in the straight narrative, be it observed; he goes out of his regular course, to make the reflection. He is giving an account of the production of inanimate, and animated nature; the principal end which he had in view, being the formation of man. He commences with vegetation, and in detailing the mode of this, just one short sentence

-

of a few words, before his account of man's creation, --just two days before he is created in reality, — he breaks the order of his history with the interpolation, "there was not a man to till the ground!" Can this view be the correct one? Take it however in the other light, and all then comes forth regularly and consistently. There was an interval. The earth was in process of refittal; and vegetation, as the first step, was commanded to flourish, preparatory to man's being placed upon it. Now while this mandate was in progress, it was the will of God, (and, for what we know, long afterwards, *—even to the deluge,) that no rain should be poured forth to nourish the infant plants; but to supply its place a mist went up and watered all the ground. Surely this supposes a considerable length of time, during which, without the aid of man, trees grew up to their perfection, and bore fruits; and esculent roots and vegetables became widely scattered, and in sufficient abundance to supply resources for the different animals, fowls, &c., which God designed hereafter to create. The earth having been thus prepared for his reception, man is created and endowed with life; and placed in a beautiful and lovely spot, planted by the hand of God with every tree "plea

*This is one of those questions that are incapable of demonstration; and, as such, is perfectly un-essential: we may receive it either way; according to our judgment. The "mist" named in the chapter under discussion, and the appointment of the rainbow at the flood, seem to point in one direction. The preternatural restriction of rain from the natural causes by which it is produced, during so long a period, seem to give weight to the opposite opinion. Very much has been written on the subject. It seems, however, scarcely necessary to keep the question open.

« PoprzedniaDalej »