The First Book of Moses, called Genesis
Genesis 1
Chapter I · Vol. I, pp. 211–213
1 The creation of heaven and earth, 3 of the light, 6 of the firmament, 9 of the earth separated from the waters, 11 and made fruitful, 14 of the sun, moon, and stars, 20 of fish and fowl, 24 of beasts and cattle, 26 of man in the image of God. 29 Also the appointment of food.
1 In the beginning Goda created the heaven and the earth.
B.C. 4004.
a Ps. 33.6; 136.5. Jn. 1.1-3. Col. 1.16,17. He. 11.3.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spiritb of God moved upon the face of the waters.
b Job 26.13.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.1
1 Heb. between the light and between the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day,2 and the darkness he called Night.3 And the evening4 and the morning5 were the first day.6
2 i.e. shining warmer.
3 i.e. wrapping up as in a garment.—C. —i.e. time of howling or uncertainty.
4 Mingling, because composed of light and darkness.—C.
5 Looking out, in reference to the sun.—C.
6 'And it was evening, and it was morning, one day.' There is manifest allusion to the Jewish mode of reckoning. Their day is from sunset to sunset. The word translated 'evening' signifies literally the time between sunset and dark. This introduces one section of the day—the 'morning' introduces the other; the two together constitute the complete day.—P.
6 And God said, Letd there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament:7 and it was so.
B.C. 4004.
7 In the clouds.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven8. And the evening and the morning were the second day.9
8 From heave, because the heavens, in relation to the earth, are heaved or expanded upwards.—C.
9 The only instance in which the work of the day is not, at its close, directly pronounced good. The reason of the omission seems to be, that the process of dividing continues into the next day, when the separation of earth and sea being completed, the whole is pronounced good.—C.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto onee place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth;1 and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas:2 and God saw that it was good.
1 i.e. pressing low downward.
2 i.e. straight spreaders.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind:3 and God saw that it was good.
3 Three distinct kinds of products are here specified:—1. The 'grass;' that is, the green tender blade of that species which is perennial, and which grows without artificial aid or cultivation. 2. 'The herbs yielding seed,' or the grain and vegetables, which must be sown or planted. 3. The tree, whose fruit is a prominent feature and characteristic. The writer ascends from the lowest to the highest species of vegetable life.—P.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lightsg in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night;4 and let them be for signs,5 and for seasons, and for days, and years:
B.C. 4004.
4 Heb. between the day and between the night.
5 A sign is something that represents, confirms, or foretells another, Ro. 4.11. Ex. 3.12. Mat. 16.1-4. The heavenly lights, so attractive and glorious in their peculiar arrangements, are signs of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, Ps. 19.1.—signs of direction by land or sea; signs of the seasons, which are produced by the angle of the earth's axis to the plane of its orbit; signs of days, whereby we count our labour; signs of years, whereby we count our lives. Lord, so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom!—C.
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great6 lights; the greater light to rule the day,7 and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
6 Great, not as bodies compared with other heavenly orbs; but great as lights, in relation to the earth from which they are seen.—C.
7 Heb. for the rule of the day, &c.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth,
18 And to ruleh over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
h Je. 31.35.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving8 creature that hath life,9 and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.1
B.C. 4004.
8 Or, creeping.
9 Heb. soul.
1 Heb. face of the firmament of heaven.
21 And God created2 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.
2 Here the word created is used for the first time since the record in the first verse. All that had been done in the interval was a re-arrangement of matter; now life is introduced, and it requires not simply constructive, but creative power. The three expressions, great whales, every living creature that moveth, and every winged fowl are introduced so as to embrace all forms of animal life in air and water.—P.
22 And God blessedi3 them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
i ch. 8.17; 9.1.
3 The first blessing—that is a gift from a superior to an inferior, He. 7.7, consisting in (1) fruitfulness, (2) multiplication, (3) right to occupancy in suitable places.—C.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
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:4 and God saw that it was good.
B.C. 4004.
4 Vegetables and animals are arranged each after his kind, and referred to no higher denomination. But when Man is to be formed, we read, in ver. 26: 'Let us make man in our image. So God created man in his own image.' Now what is this image? The apostle tells us, He. 1.3, 'The Son is the express image of the Father's person.' He is farther described, 1 Ti. 3.16, as 'God manifest in the flesh.' Being thus ever seen in the eternal purpose, Ep. 1.9, he constitutes the glorious original after which man is formed. Of the image of God in man, knowledge, righteousness, and holiness are the principal features, Ep. 4.24; Col. 3.10; but every other attribute of God, even eternity, Job 10.28, is, in created measure, exhibited in man.—C.
26 And God said, jLet 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.
j ch. 5.1; 9.6. 1 Co. 11.7.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: kmale and female created he them.
k Mat. 19.4.
28 And God blessed them; and God said unto them, lBe 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 moveth5 upon the earth.
l ch. 9.1.
5 Heb. creepeth.
29 And God said,6 Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed,7 which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; nto you it shall be for meat.
6 It is to be remarked, how, at every successive act of creation, ver. 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, God speaks, Ps. 33.9, that is, 'The Word that was with God (Pr 8.22-31), and was God, and without whom was not any thing made that was made,' Jn. 1.3.—C.
7 Heb. seeding seed.
n ch. 9.3.
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,8 I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
8 Heb. a living soul.
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.
Notes
Ver. 1. That is, in the beginning of time, God created the elements out of which all things in heaven and earth were formed. According to the teachings of chemistry there are about seventy different kinds of atoms which are the elements God used as material to build the universe. He. 11. 3, 'Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear;' Ps. 102. 25, 'Of old thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands;' 2 Pe. 3. 5; Je. 10. 12; 51. 15; Ex. 31. 17; 20. 11; Ps. 33. 6, 9; 89. 11, 12; 146. 6; 148. 1-6; Is. 44. 24; Zec. 12. 1; Ac. 14. 15; 17. 24; 4. 24; Is. 42. 5; Re. 4. 11; 10. 6; 14. 7; Ro. 1. 19, 20; 11. 36. The word Elohim, here rendered God, is plural, and denotes the Worshipful Ones, the Divine Persons, who equally concurred in the creation of all things. 1 Co. 8. 6, 'The Father, of whom are all things;' Mat. 11. 25, 'He is Lord of heaven and earth;' Ep. 3. 9, 'God created all things by Jesus Christ;' Jn. 1. 1-3, 'In the beginning was the Word (the Son), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made;' Col. 1. 16; Pr. 8. 27-30; Job 26. 13, 'By his spirit he garnished the heavens;' Ps. 33. 6, 'All the host of them were made by the spirit of his mouth;' 104. 30.—[This verse is the introduction to the whole Bible. It is the introduction to history, for it marks the boundary between time and eternity. It cannot be, as has been generally supposed, a mere summary of what follows—a mere heading to the chapter; for it mentions the 'heaven' first, whereas in the following verses 'the earth' is first spoken of. This of itself is sufficient to show that ver. 1 refers to a prior act of God—an event anterior to those described in the subsequent part of the chapter. The terms 'heaven and earth' may mean the universe of mind and matter. Then heaven would include the celestial spheres with angels and spirits, and the earth would include all the animals which the researches of geology have brought to light, entombed in the various strata. The 'heaven and the earth,' whose creation is thus simply announced, embraced the whole pre-adamic universe. The fact of its creation at some undefined past age is recorded; and then it is indicated that from some cause the earth having been reduced to chaos, God put forth anew creative power, and prepared it for a new race of animals, and for the noblest of all—man. P.]
Ver. 2. Earth, deep, and waters, signify the same mingled mass of earth and water. 2 Pe. 3. 5, 'The earth standing out of the water, and in the water.'—It was without form; without any agreeable shape, order, or ornament: and void, without either vegetables to furnish it, or animals to inhabit it. And the Spirit of God in His almighty power proceeding from the Father as the source of all and through the Son as the Mediator moved upon this mingled mass, to prepare it for the intended separation of earth and water, and for the production of vegetables and animals.—[Philosophy can explain the observed laws of motion both on earth and in the heavens; but never can account for its origin. Moses, divinely instructed, ascribes it directly to the Spirit of God. From him originates also every spiritual movement of the soul in returning to God and entering his kingdom. Jn. 3. 5. C.——And the earth was, or had become, waste and desolate. Its physical features were reduced to utter confusion: its elements were in complete disorder—chaos reigned entirely. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. This implies that there was some dense mist or cloud hovering over the earth's surface, so as totally to exclude light from without. The introduction of light, and the succession of day and night, prove that at the very commencement of what is usually called the creative week the sun existed, and the diurnal motion of the earth on its axis was in operation. P.]
Ver. 3. 2 Co. 4. 6, 'God commanded the light to shine out of darkness.' It, as well as all things else, was produced by Christ, who is God's personal Word, Jn. 1. 3; his wisdom and power, 1 Co. 1. 24. God created all things through Jesus Christ. The Son is not only the Mediator of Redemption, but also of Creation, Administration, and Consummation. He is the Alpha and the Omega.
Ver. 4. God divided the light from the darkness, by making them to take different places by turns; the light always shining upon the one half of the mingled mass, and the darkness covering the other; in much the same manner as our sun by turns illuminates the one half of the globe and leaves the other in darkness.
Ver. 5. The time of the first revolution of the darkness and of the light were the first day; for both the light and the darkness existed together at the same time, but on different parts of the mingled mass.
Ver. 6. This firmament includes the region of the sun, moon, stars, and comets: and the air or atmosphere which surrounds our earth, and separates between the water which is in the clouds and that which is in the seas and rivers. Ps. 33. 6, 9, 'By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast;' Job 37. 18, 'He spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking-glass;' Job 26. 13; Ps. 136. 5; Je. 10. 12; 51. 15; Zec. 12. 1; Je. 10. 13, 'There is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the earth;' Job 26. 8, 'He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them;' 38. 22-26, 'Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow, and of the hail, which I have reserved? Who hath divided a water-course for the overflowing of waters, to cause it to rain upon the earth?' Job 37. 11; Ec. 11. 3; Ps. 148. 4.—[The firmament, or more literally 'the expanse,' is the atmosphere. At first the body of water on the earth's surface seems to have been in contact with another form of water like a dense mist, hovering over the earth. By the atmosphere, and the light acting upon it, the mist was absorbed, and raised in the form of clouds high above the earth. The Hebrew word translated 'above' in ver. 7 signifies 'upon,' as a sustaining power, thus describing with scientific precision the action of the atmosphere in supporting the water. P.]
Ver. 7. [The use of the word 'made' in this and other parts of the narrative must be carefully noted. It must not be confounded with 'created.' 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' He called the universe into existence; but all his subsequent work upon inanimate matter was a work of re-arrangement, which is expressed by the word made, or some such phrase as 'let there be.' P.]
Ver. 9. Job 38. 8-11, 'Who shut up the sea with doors, when I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it, and brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further?' 26. 10, 'He compassed the sea with bounds;' Ps. 24. 1, 2, 'The earth he founded upon the seas, and established it upon the floods;' 136. 6, 'He stretched out the earth above the waters;' Ps. 104. 5-9; 33. 7; 2 Pe. 3. 5; Je. 5. 22; Pr. 8. 29. But the whole globe of earth and sea was hung upon nothing, Job 26. 7. The approbation of the second day's work was deferred till the separation of the waters was completed; and we have it, ver. 10.—[Let the waters gather themselves. No direct force of living agency is employed upon the waters; but such an arrangement of the earth's surface is implied as would bring the waters together by the law of gravitation. Some portions of the earth's crust were depressed, some upheaved. The sacred writer takes no notice of this. He has nothing to do with geology. But the Psalmist appears to indicate the way in which the waters were made to gather themselves. See Ps. 104. 7-10. P.]
Ver. 10. [The term earth is employed in a restricted sense here. It signifies 'land,' as contradistinguished from 'sea;' whereas in ver. 1 it signifies 'world,' as contradistinguished from 'heavens.' P.]
Ver. 11. Ps. 104. 14, 15, 'He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man; that he may bring forth food out of the earth, wine, and oil, and bread;' Job 28. 5. The purpose of the writer of Genesis was not to give a scientific description of the order of Creation, but it was to make it clear that God was the author of all things. Moses saw that God and not chance was the creator of all.
Ver. 14. According to verse 14 God appointed the sun to be the great light in the firmament and the moon to reflect that light. The sun is in itself a very extensive body of light; and the moon, though it hath no light in itself, enlightens our earth by reflecting the light of the sun; and both are called great lights, since by reason of their nearness they appear to us much larger than any of the stars. These lights not only form the day and night, but also form or mark out the seasons of sowing, planting, reaping, sailing, travelling, or the like; and are for signs of the weather, and sometimes of remarkable phenomena. Ps. 136. 7-9, 'God made great lights—the sun to rule by day, and the moon and stars to rule by night;' 74. 16, 17, 'The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast made summer and winter;' 104. 19, 20, 'He appointed the moon for seasons; the sun knoweth his going down. Thou makest darkness, and it is night;' De. 4. 19, 'The sun, moon, and stars, even all the host of heaven, God hath divided unto all nations,' for use; Job 38. 12; Ps. 8. 3, 4; 148. 3, 5; 119. 91; Je. 31. 35; 33. 25; Mat. 16. 2, 3, 'When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day, for the sky is red and lowering;' Lu. 21. 25, 26, 'There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars: men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth;' Mat. 24. 29; Is. 13. 10; Eze. 32. 7; Joel 2. 10-31; 3. 15; Ac. 2. 19, 20; Jos. 10. 13.
Ver. 16. [The specific object of the two great lights is mentioned; that of the stars is not. The former had an important bearing upon the earth as the abode of man; the latter had not, and consequently the writer simply mentions them to show that they are the work of God. In the 17th and 18th verses allusion is made mainly, if not exclusively, to the sun and moon. They are the rulers of the day and of the night—regulating their length, the amount of their light or darkness, and the intensity of their heat or cold. P.]
Ver. 20. [The Hebrew words may be more intelligibly translated, 'Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures.' There is no allusion to any productive power in the waters. God was the producing cause; the waters were merely the place in which that cause operated. The next clause ought to be rendered, 'And let fowl fly above the earth,' &c. The original does not signify that the fowls were produced in the water. P.]
Ver. 21-25. Ac. 17. 25, 'He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;' Ps. 104. 24-26, 'The earth is full of his riches,' minerals, vegetables, animals. 'So is this great sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There is that leviathan,' whales, crocodiles, and other sea monsters; Ps. 50. 10, 11, 'Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are mine,' by creation; Job 40. 15. God's blessing gave the animals a power to propagate their kinds. Ps. 107. 38, 'He blesseth them, so that they are multiplied greatly;' Job 43. 12; Ps. 144. 13, 14.
Ver. 26. The plural is not here used for the singular in the manner of some modern kings. There is not in Scripture one instance of a sovereign's speaking of himself only in the plural number, we, us, our. But the plural us here denotes a consultation of the divine Persons concerning the production of that species of creatures which was to be the most perfect under heaven, and in which the glory of God was to be for ever most illustriously manifested in his work of redemption.—The image of God on man includes, (1) The resemblance of his soul, in respect of spiritual substance, understanding, and will. (2) The happiness of his state, and his honourable dominion over the creatures. (3) And chiefly the moral conformity of his soul to God, in spiritual knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Ec. 12. 1, 'Remember thy Creators,' Heb., i.e. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 'in the days of thy youth;' Job 35. 10, 'Where is God my Makers?' Heb.; Is. 54. 5, 'Thy Makers, the Lord of hosts;' 1 Jn. 5. 7; Ec. 7. 29, 'God made man upright;' Col. 3. 10, 'Renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him;' Ep. 4. 24, 'The new man after God is created in righteousness and true holiness;' 2 Co. 3. 18 with Ex. 15. 11; Ge. 5. 1; 9. 6; Ps. 8. 4-8, 'Man—thou hast made a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea; and whatsoever creeping thing passeth through the paths of the sea;' Ge. 2. 19, 20; 9. 2; Job 5. 23; Je. 27. 6.—[The order of creation was from the lowest forms of vegetable and animal life upwards. Man, as the highest of all, was made last. But man's creation is distinguished in another way. It was not merely accomplished by a divine thought—it was also the subject of a divine council; 'Let us make man.' As in the divine name Elohim, so in this form of expression there seems to be distinct indication of plurality in the Godhead. And yet the whole structure of the sentence shows that there is unity joined with plurality; for in ver. 27 it is said, 'So (as had been decreed in the divine council) God created man in his own image.' It will be observed that the word 'created' is here again used. We can scarcely suppose that the two words 'image' and 'likeness' are synonymous. It seems probable that the former was intended to express man's likeness to God intellectually and physically; he was in his knowledge and commanding aspect God's representative, his image upon earth. The other word most probably refers to man's moral nature, in which he also resembled God. P.]
Ver. 28. Pr. 10. 22, 'The blessing of the Lord maketh rich,' i.e. numerous and happy; Ps. 128. 1-4, 'Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord—thou shalt eat the labour of thine hand—thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, thy children like olive plants round about thy table,' many, healthful, comely, and prosperous; 1 Ch. 26. 4-8. Obed-edom had a large and happy family, for God blessed him. And 1 Ch. 4. 10; Job 42. 12; Ps. 107. 38; Ge. 1. 22; 8. 17.—[The second blessing, adding to the former (ver. 22), conquest over the earth, and universal dominion over the living creatures. C.]
Ver. 29. Ac. 17. 25, 28, 'He giveth all things. In him we live, and move, and have our being;' Ps. 104. 14, 15, 'He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring food out of the earth—wine, and oil, and bread;' Ps. 145. 15, 16, 'The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season;' 147. 9, 'He giveth to the beast his food;' Pr. 30. 8; Ps. 111. 5; Mat. 6. 11, 25, 26; Ac. 14. 17; Is. 33. 16. But it doth not appear that either men or animals would have eaten flesh during the state of innocency.
Ver. 30. [There is a difference between the food assigned to man and that given to the lower animals. The former had the higher classes of vegetable products—the cereal grain and fruits; the latter had 'every green herb.' There is no mention of animal food having been permitted. P.]
Reflections.—Stand still, my soul, and consider this wonderful work of God! O how his eternal power and Godhead shine forth in forming so vast, so well furnished worlds of creatures, rational and irrational, animate and inanimate! What infinite wisdom appears marked in the vast variety, the comely order, and the mutual subserviency of all things to the good of one another, and to his glory! What goodness, in forming such multitudes of beings to partake of his bounty as their all in all! and especially towards man, in forming him after his own image, and in so preparing this lower world to be a commodious lodging for him in his way to the mansions of light! Let me, then, in all things—in heaven, in earth, in air, in sea, and in land—in grass, in herbs, in trees, in sun, in moon, in stars, in fishes, in fowls, in cattle, and creeping things—in angels and in man—behold the excellences of my God! Let me enjoy God himself in all things, and all things in God! Let me use them all as his property, his product, and for his glory and honour! And notwithstanding my nothingness, confusion, darkness, and deadness, let me hope that my all-creating God—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—will fashion me, as an abridged world, into a monument of redeeming mercy, to the praise of the glory of his grace! Am I a Christian philosopher? Let me, as I have access, contemplate the creatures of God, in their almost infinitely diversified natures, qualities, and uses! Light and celestial luminaries, in their mysterious nature, extensive range, prodigious but duly proportioned distance, rapid motions, and powerful influences—Air, fixed and unfixed, inflammable and uninflammable, in its fluidity, weight, elasticity, and usefulness for forming of wind, promoting of animal life, transmission of light, and the like—Water, in its fluidity, plenteousness, dispersion, saltness or freshness, penetration, and fitness for forming rains, dews, sea-productions: and for promoting trade and intercourse between nations—Earths, stones, metals, moulds, in their adhesion, ductility, forms, colours, and uses—Vegetables, in their structure, growth, curious parts, almost infinitely diversified forms, colours, and uses—Animals, in their curious parts, connected structure, mysterious life, and dependence on food; their motions in limits, fitness for procreation and self-preservation, beautiful forms, melodious, awful, or plaintive sounds, exquisite and diversified smell and taste: and, along with these, the unlimited divisibility of matter, the laws of air, attraction, gravitation, electricity, magnetism, of muscular motion, and of nervous influences—Rational spirits, in their powers of thinking, willing, recollection, sociality, and union with bodies—as proofs of the existence and manifestations of the mysterious nature and manifold perfections of God, my God in Christ, of whom, through whom, and to whom, are all things. Let me always consider his creatures as memorials of his creating, preserving, and ruling powers, and as means of delightfully and awfully impressing my heart with his presence, observation, and influence! Let me rejoice to view all creatures as formed and fitted for subserving and promoting God's great and principal work of our redemption through Christ, and multitudes of them as instituted emblems of his persons, perfections, relations, and operations, as manifested in it! Let me, by faith, appropriate a particular new covenant-right to and property in them all, in and through Christ as my head and husband, as means of my present and pledges of my future and everlasting enjoyment of God as my All in All: as means of exciting and leading me habitually to think on, admire, adore, and live to his glory, while I remain here in his lower sanctuary on earth; and to be always mild and humble, as brother and sister to, and dependent on, the meanest animal, insect, or atom in it!