) Then
shall the nations come to their light, and kings to the brightness of
their rising, (Isa.
shall the nations come to their light, and kings to the brightness of
their rising, (Isa.
Childrens - The Creation
net/2027/hvd.
32044024073470 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? 140
THE CREATION.
such is the Lord to his children. The early blessings of grace, and the
final blessings of glory, the seed time now, and the harvest hereafter,
are all from Him, who delighteth in the happiness of his children.
The sun, moon, and stars, are introduced very strikingly in the
second dream of Joseph, which he told to his brethren; and Jacob's
application, or unfolding of the dream, shows us that he understood
the sun to set forth himself the head of the family; the moon de-
riving her light from the sun--his wife; and the eleven stars--his
family. And one may hereby get a key to the understanding of these
figures, in this relation ; for our Lord himself, the head, the bride-
groom of his church, is called the Sun of Righteousness; and the
church deriving all her light from him, is called the moon; and the
children of God are said to shine as the stars for ever and ever, (Daniel
xii. 3;) though in the passage of the Canticles that speaks of the
church as the moon, it also compares her to the sun. " Who is she
that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun,
and terrible as an army with banners? " (Song of Solomon, vi.
10;) so also (Matt. xiii. 43) the children of God are said to shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father: but this blessedly
sets forth the people of the Lord under another figure, even as the
sharers of his glory, (Eph. v. 30;) sitting with him--his bride--his
elect one, in whom his soul delighteth. (Ps. xlv. )
The vision of the Transfiguration, again, most strikingly introduces
this figure of the sun: the Lord had said to his disciples that there
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? LETTER VIII.
141
were some standing by him, who should not taste of death, until they
had seen the Son of man coming in his kingdom, (Luke ix. 27,) con-
cerning which he had just been speaking; and after eight days* he took
Peter, James, and John, and went up into a mountain alone, and
whilst in prayer suddenly that countenance that was so " marred more
than any man's, and his form more than the sons of men," became
transfigured, and shone as the sun, and his raiment became white as
the light; there were also two others with him in glory, whom Peter
recognised at once as Moses and Elijah; the former had died, and
God had buried him, and concerning his body, Satan had been
rebuked by the archangel Michael when contending with him; and
the other--Elijah, without tasting of death had been caught up to
heaven in a chariot of fire. Now, dear children, what did this vision
of glory, for such doubtless it was, signify ? evidently the kingdom
of God,--the foreshowing of the Son of man coming in his kingdom;
for so St. Peter explains it, when he says he was an eye-witness of
his majesty. (2 Peter i. 16. ) There was the King in the dazzling
brightness of his glorified body; Moses as the earnest of the raised
saints; and Elijah of the living; and Peter, James, and John, in the
body; and yet, unlike Daniel by the waters of Ulai, and John in
Patmos, capable of sustaining this superhuman glory; they had not,
? In the seventeenth of Matthew it says six days, hut Luke included the day on
which the Lord spake, and the day of which he spake; this reconciles the
apparent difficulty.
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? 142
THE CREATION.
as the Lord had promised them, tasted of death, and they had seen
the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
But one of the most blessed allusions to the sun, is in the conversion
of Saul of Tarsus. He was on his way to Damascus, bent on the
destruction of the church, when suddenly there shone round about
him a glory above the brightness of the sun--above it; and what
a change was this from that scene of Calvary, then the sun was
darkened, while the righteous judgment of death visited that holy
surety; now the sun is eclipsed by the greater glory of that blessed
One, in his risen splendour, and he that ere now lay a dead man in the
sepulchre of Joseph, can say in all his power as King of kings and
Lord of lords, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and
stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose,
to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou
hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom
now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive
forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified
by faith that is in me. " (Acts xxvi. 15--18; see also chap. ix. 3. )
In the Kevelation also the symbol of the sun is frequently used;
" an angel descended from heaven whose countenance was as the sun. "
(Kev. x. 1. ) " There was a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed
with the sun. " (Rev. xii. 1. ) I refer you to the passages; I do not
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? LETTER VIII.
143
attempt to explain them; but there is a blessing on him that reads,
and hears, and keeps the words of this prophecy, for the time is at
hand. (Rev. i. 3. ) The book of the Revelation is deeply mysterious,*
but the soul that traits upon God gets light on the word; patient wait-
ing in the Spirit, and the shoes from off the feet, is the way we should
approach God's Scriptures. It was a great word of St. Peter, " if any
man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. " (I Pet. iv. 11. )
The figure of the morning star is very striking; often have I at sea
watched this planet, the harbinger of day, than which nothing could
be more beautiful. When the moon was not up, its brightness was
such that its rays might be seen sparkling on the water. At first a
faint streak of light is seen in the eastern sky--in a few minutes it
rapidly increases, till " the morning spreads upon the mountains," and
the east glows with light;--and in a little time the sun arises, and
from beneath its wings sheds health, and verdure, and glory. Both
these figures are applied to our blessed Lord: he is the Root and Off-
spring of David, the bright and the morning star, (Rev. xxii. 16;)
he is the Sun of Righteousness, that rises with healing in his wings.
(Mal. iv. 2. ) Thus, my beloved children, the sun by day, and the
moon and stars by night, not only bring to us temporal blessing, but
also beautifully set forth divine truth.
Sometimes the stars alone are used in illustration. The Lord had
promised Abram, when he called him out of Ur of the Chaldeans,
? See Appendix.
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? 144
THE CREATION.
that he would make of him a great nation, and that all the families
of the earth should be blessed in him, (Gen. xii. 1, 3;) but years
elapsed; and therefore, when the Lord the second time appeared to
him, with the promise of blessing, the answer of the patriarch was,
" / go childless? (Gen. xv. 2;) and then it was that the Lord brought
him abroad, and said, " Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars if
thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be;
and Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteous-
ness ;" after this those sacrifices took place, which were commanded of
God, and these must have occupied the whole day, for it was when
the sun went down, that the horror of great darkness fell upon Abram;
when he saw the smoking furnace, and burning lamp pass between the
divided animals; thus God ratified his covenant with Abram, and
gave unto his seed the land, from the river of Egypt to the great river,
the river Euphrates. (Gen. xv. 18. )
Sometimes, however, the sun is used as the instrument and emblem
of judgment; thus, its scorching rays beat upon the defenceless head
of the disobedient prophet, (Jonah iv. 8;) so also in the parable
of the sower, it detected the shallowness of the stony ground hearer,
(Matt . xiii. 6--21;) but he whose eyes are lifted up to God for strength
and protection, shall not be hurt by it. How sweet is the word
of the Psalmist, " The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade
upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the
moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall
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? LETTER VIII.
145
preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy
coming in from henceforth, and even for evermore. " (Ps. cxxi. 5--8. )
Once in the Old Testament, the stars in their courses are said to have
fought against the enemies of God: it was at the defeat of Sisera;
and mention of it occurs in the triumphant hymn of Deborah,
(Judges v. 20. ) At another time also, the sun and moon stood still
a whole day, until Joshua had fully effected his victory. (Joshua x. 12. )
And for the strengthening of Hezekiah's faith, the sun-dial of Ahaz
went back ten degrees. (Isa. xxxviii. 8. ) These were miracles. And
he that made the sun, and moon, and stars of light, stayed them in
their course: they were miracles, and happy is it for man not to attempt
to explain them; God spake, and it was done; he commanded, and
it stood fast; and this is enough for the humble child of God to
know.
In the Prophecy of Joel, (ii. 31,) also in that of our blessed Lord
himself, (Matt. xxiv. 29,) the heavenly bodies are represented as
being shaken, in the terrors of the approaching judgment; and so also
in the opening of the sixth seal, for then, " the sun became black as
sackcloth of hair, the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven
fell unto the earth, as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is
shaken of a mighty wind," (Kev. vi. 13;) and terrible indeed will be
that day to the wicked and impenitent, to the thoughtless and the
gay; but not to the righteous; to them the future is the day, the
H
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? 146
THE CREATION.
present is the Night;* and the night is far spent, the day is at
hand, (Rom. xiii. 12;) for not only are they not to fear the day of
the Lord, but to long for it, to be looking for, and hasting unto the
coming of the day of God, (2 Pet. iii. 12;) to lift up their heads when
they sec it appear, (Luke xxi. 28;) to groan within themselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body, (Rom.
viii. 23 ;) for when the Son of man shall be manifested, and they shall
see him again, their heart shall rejoice, and their sorrow shall be
turned into joy, (John xvi. 22;) then in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, they shall be translated, (1 Cor. xv. 52;) caught up to
meet the Lord in the air, and so shall ever be with the Lord. (1 Thess.
iv. 17. ) How striking is the description of the redeemed in Rev. xxi.
2, 3, and 22--24 ; "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with
them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them, and be their God. " " And I saw no temple therein: for the
Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the
city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for
the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
* The taunting inquiry of Edom to Israel, and the Prophet's answer, are most
strikingly descriptive of present things: "Watchman, what of the night? watch-
man, what of the night? the morning cometh, also the night: if ye will inquire,
inquire ye : return, come. " (Isa. xxi. 11, 12; see also 2 Peter iii. 6. )
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? LETTER VIII.
147
And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it:
and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. "
But while the church of God will be thus happy and blessed in her
glory celestial, the ancient people of God, the Jews, will also be
blest in their glory terrestrial ; for when the fulness of the Gen-
tiles is come, all Israel shall be saved, for there shall come out of Zion
the Deliverer, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob, (Rom. xi. 26;)
then shall their light be most bright, for this is the word concerning
them:--" Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the
sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven
days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people,
and healeth the stroke of their wound. " (Isa. xxx. 26.
) Then
shall the nations come to their light, and kings to the brightness of
their rising, (Isa. lx. 1 ;) and, anointed in the fulness of the Spirit,
they shall carry out the light to the nations, and Israel shall blos-
som and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit, (Isa. xxvii. 6;)
and so shall Malachi's prophecy be fulfilled: " from the rising of the
sun unto the going down thereof, my name shall be great among the
Gentiles," (chap. i. 11;) then shall the seventh angel sound his
trumpet, and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms
of our God and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.
(Rev. xi. 15. ) Thus:--
To the wicked, that have heard the gospel and rejected it, all will be
sorrow and darkness.
u2
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? 148
THE CREATION.
To the Jew and converted Heathen will be great blessedness.
To the Children of God, waiting for the Lord, will be light and
glory.
Beloved children, may God indeed bless you; may you be his own,
and so shall the day of the Lord open to you with unutterable glory !
Believe me to remain ever,
Your affectionate Father.
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? 5T. MDAY.
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? an i. t>? ? . , SMI? , I. ;. i Tin. . ' ? .
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vnded the vei>>et? 'l||e . '
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thj moving creature thif li. .
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fee- . . I Eden, and the . ? . r
great whales ami li. ^ii i-j,orti
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? THE CREATION.
149
LETTER IX.
AND GOD SAID, LET THE WATERS BRING FORTH ABUNDANTLY THE MOVING CREA-
TURE THAT HATH LIFE, AND FOWL THAT MAY FLY ABOVE THE EARTH IN THE
OPEN FIRMAMENT OF HEAVEN. AND GOD CREATED GREAT WHALES, AND EVERY
LIVING CREATURE THAT MOVETH, WHICH THE WATERS BROUGHT FORTH ABUN-
DANTLY, AFTER ITS KIND, AND EVERY WINGED FOWX AFTER HIS KIND: AND GOD
SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD. AND GOD BLESSED THEM, SAYING, BE FRUITFUL, AND
MULTIPLY, AND FILL THE WATERS IN THE SEAS, AND LET FOWL MULTIPLY IN
THE EARTH. -- Genetis i. 20--22.
My dear Children,
Though the sun had shone with brightness and glory on all
the newly-created beauty of the third day; yet still, up to the
morning of the fifth, all was hushed and silent; life had indeed per-
vaded the vegetable world, yet still it was inanimate; but now the
creative word has gone forth, " Let the waters bring forth abundantly
the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly in the open
firmament of heaven. " Instantly birds of every wing lighted on the
trees of Eden, and the air became vocal with their song; while the
great whales and fish sported in the deep. We can have no concep-
tion of the exceeding joy and happiness that must have accompanied
this fifth day's creation; the Lord himself, in his controversy with Job,
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? 150
THE CREATION.
briefly refers to it. --" Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and
make her nest on high ? doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch
her wings towards the south ? gavest thou the goodly wings to the
peacock,* or wings and feathers to the ostricli ? What time she lifteth
up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and the rider. 1' Purpose
and design mark the whole character of the Lord's creation, and this
is strikingly manifest in these allusions.
The first birds and fishes did not pass through the weakness of
early life, as all future generations, but came at once into a state of
perfect existence.
All was in peace in Eden, for sin had not entered. The eagle and
the lark soared on high in happy company, and the vulture and the
dove lighted on the same branch; no discord existed then, but all
was uninterrupted joy. The sun had opened the flowers of the third
day, and perfectly matured the fruit of the varied trees, and now
birds of the most dazzling plumage, and sweetest melody, sang in
their branches; every bird we now see had its first parent m Eden ;
and the same is also true of the fishes of the deep, for the scriptures
record no creation either before or since--the thorn, indeed, excepted.
But now the shades of evening drew in, and by an instinctive call
(wearied with the ceaseless flight of their first day's existence), the
feathered tribes seek repose, and again creation is at rest.
* See the marginal reading, Job xxxii. 13.
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? LETTER IX.
151
But let us now, my beloved children, consider the mercies of this
day, for they are indeed great and manifold.
Though man has not called into immediate servitude the fowl of
the air, and fish of the deep, yoking the ostrich to his chariot, and the
whale to his ships; as he has the animals of the sixth day, yet both king-
doms come to him in untold blessings, for, not only do they supply
him with food in boundless varieties, but they also minister to his
comfort in many other ways. I will just enumerate a few:--
Before the illumining property of the carburetted hydrogen gas was
applied to light our streets, and great places of resort, oil, both sperm
and common, was in general use; and it was the "great whale" of
two different species that supplied both, as I shall show you when we
come to this part of the subject. Large fleets go out annually to
procure this valuable commodity. But the whale also aids us in
other ways; that tough, and yet elastic bone, which bears the
name of whalebone, comes from this fish, singular fringed plates of
it hanging down from the upper jaw. The uses of whalebone are
various ; light, strong, and elastic, it answers admirably for umbrellas,
&c. , and then by a fine process shavings are peeled from it, and made
into plat, which is manufactured into hats and bonnets of most durable
texture.
And as to the birds, their feathers are useful to us in two different
ways. --First, for beds and pillows; and then the larger feathers of
the wings for writing; for, though steel pens have increased to the
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? 152
THE CREATION.
enormous consumption of some thousands of tons annually, yet still the
good old quill cannot be equalled by the most laboured attempt of
art, though, in justice to our manufacturers, it must be allowed, that
the flexibility and softness of these steel pens are wonderful; but the
quill seems natures pen, and the steel that of art.
I have remarked above, my dear children, that man has not enlisted
the bird or fish into servitude, but there are some few exceptions to
this rule; some hundreds of years since, before gunpowder was in
common use, the falcon and the hawk were trained in this country
and on the continent to take game; and so greatly did this custom
prevail, that one of the highest officers of the palace was called the
Grand Falconer; but it was a cruel sport, though then even ladies of
rank much enjoyed it. In our day, also, the carrier pigeons (the sort
your young friend E. H. has,) have been employed on any great occa-
sion, when swiftness was needed to carry letters; but the journey is
so uncertain, that this plan is rarely used; and now, in this age of
wonderful invention, the electro-telegraphic communication seems to
leave behind all other means. *
There is something very interesting connected with the flight of
the raven and the dove, in the history of Noah, after the ark rested
on Ararat. The raven, it is said, was first sent out; and went and
returned, and went again, going and returning until the waters were
?
? 140
THE CREATION.
such is the Lord to his children. The early blessings of grace, and the
final blessings of glory, the seed time now, and the harvest hereafter,
are all from Him, who delighteth in the happiness of his children.
The sun, moon, and stars, are introduced very strikingly in the
second dream of Joseph, which he told to his brethren; and Jacob's
application, or unfolding of the dream, shows us that he understood
the sun to set forth himself the head of the family; the moon de-
riving her light from the sun--his wife; and the eleven stars--his
family. And one may hereby get a key to the understanding of these
figures, in this relation ; for our Lord himself, the head, the bride-
groom of his church, is called the Sun of Righteousness; and the
church deriving all her light from him, is called the moon; and the
children of God are said to shine as the stars for ever and ever, (Daniel
xii. 3;) though in the passage of the Canticles that speaks of the
church as the moon, it also compares her to the sun. " Who is she
that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun,
and terrible as an army with banners? " (Song of Solomon, vi.
10;) so also (Matt. xiii. 43) the children of God are said to shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father: but this blessedly
sets forth the people of the Lord under another figure, even as the
sharers of his glory, (Eph. v. 30;) sitting with him--his bride--his
elect one, in whom his soul delighteth. (Ps. xlv. )
The vision of the Transfiguration, again, most strikingly introduces
this figure of the sun: the Lord had said to his disciples that there
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? LETTER VIII.
141
were some standing by him, who should not taste of death, until they
had seen the Son of man coming in his kingdom, (Luke ix. 27,) con-
cerning which he had just been speaking; and after eight days* he took
Peter, James, and John, and went up into a mountain alone, and
whilst in prayer suddenly that countenance that was so " marred more
than any man's, and his form more than the sons of men," became
transfigured, and shone as the sun, and his raiment became white as
the light; there were also two others with him in glory, whom Peter
recognised at once as Moses and Elijah; the former had died, and
God had buried him, and concerning his body, Satan had been
rebuked by the archangel Michael when contending with him; and
the other--Elijah, without tasting of death had been caught up to
heaven in a chariot of fire. Now, dear children, what did this vision
of glory, for such doubtless it was, signify ? evidently the kingdom
of God,--the foreshowing of the Son of man coming in his kingdom;
for so St. Peter explains it, when he says he was an eye-witness of
his majesty. (2 Peter i. 16. ) There was the King in the dazzling
brightness of his glorified body; Moses as the earnest of the raised
saints; and Elijah of the living; and Peter, James, and John, in the
body; and yet, unlike Daniel by the waters of Ulai, and John in
Patmos, capable of sustaining this superhuman glory; they had not,
? In the seventeenth of Matthew it says six days, hut Luke included the day on
which the Lord spake, and the day of which he spake; this reconciles the
apparent difficulty.
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? 142
THE CREATION.
as the Lord had promised them, tasted of death, and they had seen
the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
But one of the most blessed allusions to the sun, is in the conversion
of Saul of Tarsus. He was on his way to Damascus, bent on the
destruction of the church, when suddenly there shone round about
him a glory above the brightness of the sun--above it; and what
a change was this from that scene of Calvary, then the sun was
darkened, while the righteous judgment of death visited that holy
surety; now the sun is eclipsed by the greater glory of that blessed
One, in his risen splendour, and he that ere now lay a dead man in the
sepulchre of Joseph, can say in all his power as King of kings and
Lord of lords, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and
stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose,
to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou
hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom
now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive
forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified
by faith that is in me. " (Acts xxvi. 15--18; see also chap. ix. 3. )
In the Kevelation also the symbol of the sun is frequently used;
" an angel descended from heaven whose countenance was as the sun. "
(Kev. x. 1. ) " There was a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed
with the sun. " (Rev. xii. 1. ) I refer you to the passages; I do not
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? LETTER VIII.
143
attempt to explain them; but there is a blessing on him that reads,
and hears, and keeps the words of this prophecy, for the time is at
hand. (Rev. i. 3. ) The book of the Revelation is deeply mysterious,*
but the soul that traits upon God gets light on the word; patient wait-
ing in the Spirit, and the shoes from off the feet, is the way we should
approach God's Scriptures. It was a great word of St. Peter, " if any
man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. " (I Pet. iv. 11. )
The figure of the morning star is very striking; often have I at sea
watched this planet, the harbinger of day, than which nothing could
be more beautiful. When the moon was not up, its brightness was
such that its rays might be seen sparkling on the water. At first a
faint streak of light is seen in the eastern sky--in a few minutes it
rapidly increases, till " the morning spreads upon the mountains," and
the east glows with light;--and in a little time the sun arises, and
from beneath its wings sheds health, and verdure, and glory. Both
these figures are applied to our blessed Lord: he is the Root and Off-
spring of David, the bright and the morning star, (Rev. xxii. 16;)
he is the Sun of Righteousness, that rises with healing in his wings.
(Mal. iv. 2. ) Thus, my beloved children, the sun by day, and the
moon and stars by night, not only bring to us temporal blessing, but
also beautifully set forth divine truth.
Sometimes the stars alone are used in illustration. The Lord had
promised Abram, when he called him out of Ur of the Chaldeans,
? See Appendix.
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? 144
THE CREATION.
that he would make of him a great nation, and that all the families
of the earth should be blessed in him, (Gen. xii. 1, 3;) but years
elapsed; and therefore, when the Lord the second time appeared to
him, with the promise of blessing, the answer of the patriarch was,
" / go childless? (Gen. xv. 2;) and then it was that the Lord brought
him abroad, and said, " Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars if
thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be;
and Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteous-
ness ;" after this those sacrifices took place, which were commanded of
God, and these must have occupied the whole day, for it was when
the sun went down, that the horror of great darkness fell upon Abram;
when he saw the smoking furnace, and burning lamp pass between the
divided animals; thus God ratified his covenant with Abram, and
gave unto his seed the land, from the river of Egypt to the great river,
the river Euphrates. (Gen. xv. 18. )
Sometimes, however, the sun is used as the instrument and emblem
of judgment; thus, its scorching rays beat upon the defenceless head
of the disobedient prophet, (Jonah iv. 8;) so also in the parable
of the sower, it detected the shallowness of the stony ground hearer,
(Matt . xiii. 6--21;) but he whose eyes are lifted up to God for strength
and protection, shall not be hurt by it. How sweet is the word
of the Psalmist, " The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade
upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the
moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall
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? LETTER VIII.
145
preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy
coming in from henceforth, and even for evermore. " (Ps. cxxi. 5--8. )
Once in the Old Testament, the stars in their courses are said to have
fought against the enemies of God: it was at the defeat of Sisera;
and mention of it occurs in the triumphant hymn of Deborah,
(Judges v. 20. ) At another time also, the sun and moon stood still
a whole day, until Joshua had fully effected his victory. (Joshua x. 12. )
And for the strengthening of Hezekiah's faith, the sun-dial of Ahaz
went back ten degrees. (Isa. xxxviii. 8. ) These were miracles. And
he that made the sun, and moon, and stars of light, stayed them in
their course: they were miracles, and happy is it for man not to attempt
to explain them; God spake, and it was done; he commanded, and
it stood fast; and this is enough for the humble child of God to
know.
In the Prophecy of Joel, (ii. 31,) also in that of our blessed Lord
himself, (Matt. xxiv. 29,) the heavenly bodies are represented as
being shaken, in the terrors of the approaching judgment; and so also
in the opening of the sixth seal, for then, " the sun became black as
sackcloth of hair, the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven
fell unto the earth, as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is
shaken of a mighty wind," (Kev. vi. 13;) and terrible indeed will be
that day to the wicked and impenitent, to the thoughtless and the
gay; but not to the righteous; to them the future is the day, the
H
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? 146
THE CREATION.
present is the Night;* and the night is far spent, the day is at
hand, (Rom. xiii. 12;) for not only are they not to fear the day of
the Lord, but to long for it, to be looking for, and hasting unto the
coming of the day of God, (2 Pet. iii. 12;) to lift up their heads when
they sec it appear, (Luke xxi. 28;) to groan within themselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body, (Rom.
viii. 23 ;) for when the Son of man shall be manifested, and they shall
see him again, their heart shall rejoice, and their sorrow shall be
turned into joy, (John xvi. 22;) then in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, they shall be translated, (1 Cor. xv. 52;) caught up to
meet the Lord in the air, and so shall ever be with the Lord. (1 Thess.
iv. 17. ) How striking is the description of the redeemed in Rev. xxi.
2, 3, and 22--24 ; "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with
them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them, and be their God. " " And I saw no temple therein: for the
Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the
city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for
the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
* The taunting inquiry of Edom to Israel, and the Prophet's answer, are most
strikingly descriptive of present things: "Watchman, what of the night? watch-
man, what of the night? the morning cometh, also the night: if ye will inquire,
inquire ye : return, come. " (Isa. xxi. 11, 12; see also 2 Peter iii. 6. )
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? LETTER VIII.
147
And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it:
and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. "
But while the church of God will be thus happy and blessed in her
glory celestial, the ancient people of God, the Jews, will also be
blest in their glory terrestrial ; for when the fulness of the Gen-
tiles is come, all Israel shall be saved, for there shall come out of Zion
the Deliverer, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob, (Rom. xi. 26;)
then shall their light be most bright, for this is the word concerning
them:--" Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the
sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven
days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people,
and healeth the stroke of their wound. " (Isa. xxx. 26.
) Then
shall the nations come to their light, and kings to the brightness of
their rising, (Isa. lx. 1 ;) and, anointed in the fulness of the Spirit,
they shall carry out the light to the nations, and Israel shall blos-
som and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit, (Isa. xxvii. 6;)
and so shall Malachi's prophecy be fulfilled: " from the rising of the
sun unto the going down thereof, my name shall be great among the
Gentiles," (chap. i. 11;) then shall the seventh angel sound his
trumpet, and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms
of our God and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.
(Rev. xi. 15. ) Thus:--
To the wicked, that have heard the gospel and rejected it, all will be
sorrow and darkness.
u2
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? 148
THE CREATION.
To the Jew and converted Heathen will be great blessedness.
To the Children of God, waiting for the Lord, will be light and
glory.
Beloved children, may God indeed bless you; may you be his own,
and so shall the day of the Lord open to you with unutterable glory !
Believe me to remain ever,
Your affectionate Father.
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? 5T. MDAY.
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? an i. t>? ? . , SMI? , I. ;. i Tin. . ' ? .
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? THE CREATION.
149
LETTER IX.
AND GOD SAID, LET THE WATERS BRING FORTH ABUNDANTLY THE MOVING CREA-
TURE THAT HATH LIFE, AND FOWL THAT MAY FLY ABOVE THE EARTH IN THE
OPEN FIRMAMENT OF HEAVEN. AND GOD CREATED GREAT WHALES, AND EVERY
LIVING CREATURE THAT MOVETH, WHICH THE WATERS BROUGHT FORTH ABUN-
DANTLY, AFTER ITS KIND, AND EVERY WINGED FOWX AFTER HIS KIND: AND GOD
SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD. AND GOD BLESSED THEM, SAYING, BE FRUITFUL, AND
MULTIPLY, AND FILL THE WATERS IN THE SEAS, AND LET FOWL MULTIPLY IN
THE EARTH. -- Genetis i. 20--22.
My dear Children,
Though the sun had shone with brightness and glory on all
the newly-created beauty of the third day; yet still, up to the
morning of the fifth, all was hushed and silent; life had indeed per-
vaded the vegetable world, yet still it was inanimate; but now the
creative word has gone forth, " Let the waters bring forth abundantly
the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly in the open
firmament of heaven. " Instantly birds of every wing lighted on the
trees of Eden, and the air became vocal with their song; while the
great whales and fish sported in the deep. We can have no concep-
tion of the exceeding joy and happiness that must have accompanied
this fifth day's creation; the Lord himself, in his controversy with Job,
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? 150
THE CREATION.
briefly refers to it. --" Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and
make her nest on high ? doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch
her wings towards the south ? gavest thou the goodly wings to the
peacock,* or wings and feathers to the ostricli ? What time she lifteth
up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and the rider. 1' Purpose
and design mark the whole character of the Lord's creation, and this
is strikingly manifest in these allusions.
The first birds and fishes did not pass through the weakness of
early life, as all future generations, but came at once into a state of
perfect existence.
All was in peace in Eden, for sin had not entered. The eagle and
the lark soared on high in happy company, and the vulture and the
dove lighted on the same branch; no discord existed then, but all
was uninterrupted joy. The sun had opened the flowers of the third
day, and perfectly matured the fruit of the varied trees, and now
birds of the most dazzling plumage, and sweetest melody, sang in
their branches; every bird we now see had its first parent m Eden ;
and the same is also true of the fishes of the deep, for the scriptures
record no creation either before or since--the thorn, indeed, excepted.
But now the shades of evening drew in, and by an instinctive call
(wearied with the ceaseless flight of their first day's existence), the
feathered tribes seek repose, and again creation is at rest.
* See the marginal reading, Job xxxii. 13.
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? LETTER IX.
151
But let us now, my beloved children, consider the mercies of this
day, for they are indeed great and manifold.
Though man has not called into immediate servitude the fowl of
the air, and fish of the deep, yoking the ostrich to his chariot, and the
whale to his ships; as he has the animals of the sixth day, yet both king-
doms come to him in untold blessings, for, not only do they supply
him with food in boundless varieties, but they also minister to his
comfort in many other ways. I will just enumerate a few:--
Before the illumining property of the carburetted hydrogen gas was
applied to light our streets, and great places of resort, oil, both sperm
and common, was in general use; and it was the "great whale" of
two different species that supplied both, as I shall show you when we
come to this part of the subject. Large fleets go out annually to
procure this valuable commodity. But the whale also aids us in
other ways; that tough, and yet elastic bone, which bears the
name of whalebone, comes from this fish, singular fringed plates of
it hanging down from the upper jaw. The uses of whalebone are
various ; light, strong, and elastic, it answers admirably for umbrellas,
&c. , and then by a fine process shavings are peeled from it, and made
into plat, which is manufactured into hats and bonnets of most durable
texture.
And as to the birds, their feathers are useful to us in two different
ways. --First, for beds and pillows; and then the larger feathers of
the wings for writing; for, though steel pens have increased to the
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? 152
THE CREATION.
enormous consumption of some thousands of tons annually, yet still the
good old quill cannot be equalled by the most laboured attempt of
art, though, in justice to our manufacturers, it must be allowed, that
the flexibility and softness of these steel pens are wonderful; but the
quill seems natures pen, and the steel that of art.
I have remarked above, my dear children, that man has not enlisted
the bird or fish into servitude, but there are some few exceptions to
this rule; some hundreds of years since, before gunpowder was in
common use, the falcon and the hawk were trained in this country
and on the continent to take game; and so greatly did this custom
prevail, that one of the highest officers of the palace was called the
Grand Falconer; but it was a cruel sport, though then even ladies of
rank much enjoyed it. In our day, also, the carrier pigeons (the sort
your young friend E. H. has,) have been employed on any great occa-
sion, when swiftness was needed to carry letters; but the journey is
so uncertain, that this plan is rarely used; and now, in this age of
wonderful invention, the electro-telegraphic communication seems to
leave behind all other means. *
There is something very interesting connected with the flight of
the raven and the dove, in the history of Noah, after the ark rested
on Ararat. The raven, it is said, was first sent out; and went and
returned, and went again, going and returning until the waters were
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