And God called the
firmament
Heaven.
Childrens - The Creation
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? LETTER I 9
1
templating the starry heavens, on the fourth day), we get a demon-
stration of the rapidity with which light travels: it moves at the rate
of 190,000 miles in a second, while sound comes on at the slow and
tardy rate of only 13 miles a minute. The difference between the velo-
city of sound and light is also witnessed in a thunder-storm: if an inter-
val elapses between the lightning and the thunder-clap, every one at
the table says, "Now the storm is at some distance" but if the flash be
instantly followed by that fearful and terrible peal, then paleness
steals on the countenance, and the next shock is waited for in awful
expectancy. Happy, my beloved children, is it to be at peace with
God, and then, though it were the fire going before Him, and the whole
atmosphere very tempestuous round about Him, yet should the word
be full of consolation from the lips of a Father:--" Come, my people,
enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide
thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood,
and shall no more cover her slain. " (Isa. xxvi. 20, 21. ) But though
the Lord shall indeed come forth in indignation, and be revealed in
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ;--yet not so to his people; no, in
them, even his saints, as the next verse is, " He shall come to be
glorified, and admired in all them that believe. " How beautiful is the
word of that hymn you so well remember,--(2 Thess. i. 7--10,)
B3
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? 10
THE CREATION.
" Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
My beauty are,--my glorious dress;
Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head. "
But as the fourth day's creation will afford us a more ample field
for the contemplation of light, I will now close this long letter; and
in my next, ere I leave this subject, I hope to bring before you some
of those beautiful passages from the Scriptures where the Spirit of
God sets forth divine truth by the gracious emblem of light.
Ever believe me,
My beloved Children,
Your affectionate Father.
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? THE CREATION.
11
LETTER II.
I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. --John viii. 12.
My dear Children,
I have sometimes imagined the dismay and terror that would strike
all things living, if, suddenly, at noon-day, a total darkness were to
cover the whole earth; or if, instead of the sun rising, a darkness
deeper than that of night were to spread over all things. Such,
doubtless, was that of Egypt (Exod. x. 21), which lasted three days
--a darkness that might be felt; and such also the awful darkness that
was over the whole land (Matt. xxvii. 45) when our blessed Lord,
bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, died the Just for the
unjust, under the curse of God. But the darkness of Egypt, in God's
mercy, had an end; for He is long-suffering: and the darkness of
Calvary had an end; because the sufferer paid to the full the amazing
debt of death, and satisfied divine justice. (Gal. iii. 13. ) But there is
a darkness hastening on; and oh! the terrors of that darkness that
shall be eternal! It is called emphatically " the outer darkness,"--
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? 12
THE CREATION.
and who may abide it ? But we will turn from this contemplation to
one as much filled with joy, as this is with sorrow. Let us go and
meditate on His Love, who, when He beheld the world buried in dark-
ness, and judgment before it, stood forth at the call of the Father,
and came a Light into the world. Yes, He was the true light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world (John i. 9); for if He
had not taken on Him the seed of Abraham, and stood on this earth
God manifest in the flesh, death must have reigned, and darkness
would have been over the earth for ever, even for ever and ever. But
Jesus came the Light of the world; and whosoever followeth Him shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John viii. 12. )
In the morning of the old creation, we heard the song of the angels
rejoicing over the work of God: now, in the new creation, when God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shines in the
hearts of his children, and gives them the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. iv. 6), there are
songs in heaven also; even joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth. (Luke xv. 10. )
What an amazing scene is presented to us in this most blessed
verse of Scripture! That tongue that was once dried up like a pot-
sherd, now leads the chorus of the skies (Psalm xxii. 15, 25, 27); and
those bright spirits who never fell join in the hymn of salvation, the
great theme of which is, the turning of the sinner from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Yes, even the
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? LETTER II.
13
conversion of a child--the cry of some little Samuel, " Speak, Lord, for
thy servant heareth," (for, until this, Samuel knew not the Lord,) gives
joy through the heavenly host, though their number be ten thousand
times ten thousand and thousand of thousands. Oh! my dear children,
may each of you be turned to the Lord as Samuel was; and so shall
the song of Hannah be true of you,--" He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them
among the princes, and make them inherit the throne of glory. " May
you be adopted into God's heavenly family here, to await the inheri-
tance of the saints in light hereafter--born again of the Holy Ghost--
born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God. (1 Sam. ii. 8; iii. 7, 10. John i. 13. )
But I cannot leave this most instructive and beautiful figure of
Light without calling to your remembrance the use our blessed
Lord made of it in the Sermon on the Mount. (Matt. v. 14--16. ) Ad-
dressing his disciples, gathered around him, He said, " Ye are the light
of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do
men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick;
and it giveth light to all that are in the house. Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father which is in heaven. " It was a great thing for Christ to
say of his disciples," Ye are the light of the world;" for it was the very
name he gave Himself: but it is even so; for his people are one with
Him,--they are partakers of the Divine nature--children of light--
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? 14
THE CREATION.
children of God;--and as it is said, that God dwells within them, and
God is light, therefore light dwells within them: thus, wherever the
true Christian is called to go, he is to shew forth the light of God--
he is to reflect the image of God. You remember when Moses came
down from the Mount of God, his face shone--was radiant with light:
and so the Christian, that has communion with God in the Holy
Mount, should have his face radiant with God's brightness upon it;
and the world should be constrained to take knowledge of him that he
has been with Jesus. (Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30. Acts iv. 13. )
We watched the day break the other morning. At first, it was
faint, but then grew brighter; and so on, brighter and brighter to the
perfect day. Now the Lord says, this is the pathway of the child of
light,--it shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. He may
indeed have storms and tempests in his way; but light is sown for
the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Light is sown.
I cannot conceive any figure more beautiful than this;--a harvest of
light awaits the child of light; and the Scriptures are full and sublime
in their description of that period, when it is emphatically said,--
" There shall be no night there. " The scene of the chapter (Isa. lx. )
is doubtless the conversion of Israel; but in a more enlarged sense,
(as the reference to Rev. xxi. 23 proves,) it refers to the whole family
of God, seated with Christ in the heavenly places,--" The sun shall
be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon
give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting
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? LETTER II.
light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down;
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine
everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy
people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the
branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation:
I will hasten it in his time. "
In passing on in the journey of life, my dear children, you will hear
on the right hand and on the left many saying, " Who will shew us
any good? " O think of the Psalmist's answer:--turning away from it
all, (for unsatisfying is the highest delight of earth,) he says,--" Lord,
lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me; and it shall put
joy and gladness in my heart, more than when their corn and their
wine increase. " (Ps. iv. 6. )
But ere I conclude this letter, I must turn again to the Sermon on
the Mount, where our Lord graciously instructed his disciples by a
similitude, that we are every moment through the day realizing:--
" The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy
whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! " This illustration
is not only very striking, but very searching. When we look at any
object, far or near, the eye is the agent used: it is the light of the
body; it is the wondrous telescope by which we look at all the scenes
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? 16
THE CREATION.
around us. Now if our glass be rightly adjusted, and there be no film
on the eye, and the whole body be in a healthy state, then will the
landscape (be the view ever so extensive) fall on the retina, and the
mind, acquainted thereby with the true distance, proportion, and
colour of the objects, shall send down its wishes to the various mem-
bers of the body, and so the whole body shall be full of light and intel-
ligence ; but if the eye be not single*--be unhealthy--and the view
be obstructed, then will the mind get an imperfect return made to it;
and so no member will be in light, but the whole in darkness. This
is the figure, and it is full of spiritual instruction. If the child of God
is in health and vigour--no obstruction or film on his spiritual sight,
--then shall he look out on the moral scene before him, and every
thing shall come to him in its true proportions;--he will look at every
thing with God's mind, for he is a partaker of his nature; and the
glittering scene around him, the gaudy pageant, will appear in its true
colours,--his soul will be full of intelligence,--he will see all out of
Christ as hastening to destruction,--he will not call light darkness, or
darkness light,--but going on steadily in his path, in the power of
God's grace, and by the guidance of His Spirit, he will choose the
good and reject the evil;--his whole body shall be full of light.
But, my dear children, I will now conclude this letter. I do not
profess to write you a concordance on light or the other blessings of
? The best Greek writers use this word in the sense of health--clearness and
freedom from obstruction.
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? LETTER II. 17
the six days, but just desire to bring a few of the leading passages
before you; and may the word of the Lord, shone upon by HIS
Spirit, be ever a lamp unto your feet, and a light unto your paths.
(Ps. cxix. 105. ) This is the earnest prayer of your affectionate
Father.
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? 18
THE CREATION.
LETTER III.
BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL. O LORD MY GOD, THOU ART VERY GREAT ; THOU ART
CLOTHED WITH HONOUR AND MAJESTY. WHO COVEREST THYSELF WITH LIGHT AS
WITH A GARMENT : WHO STRETCHEST OUT THE HEAVENS LIKE A CURTAIN : WHO
LAYETH THE BEAMS OF HIS CHAMBERS IN THE WATERS ; WHO MAKETH THE CLOUDS
HIS CHARIOT: WHO WALKETH UPON THE WINGS OF THE WIND. --Psalm civ. 1--3.
My dear Children,
In all the days of Creation, as I before remarked, there was a wonderful
provision made for those which followed. This is especially the case
in the second day, when the Firmament, or what is better known to
us as " the Atmosphere," came into existence. The language which
records its Creation is very full:--" And God said, Let there be a firm-
ament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the
waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were
under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and
it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and
the morning were the second day. " Thus did the Lord by this one act
of Creative Power bring into being that by which all life, whether
vegetable or animal, was destined to be sustained. A vast body of
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? LETTER III.
19
water was also gathered up into the atmosphere, and suspended there
in clouds, which became as the garment thereof, (Job xxxviii. 9:)
thus the waters were divided from the waters, and the means provided
by which the earth might be continually refreshed by the early and
the latter rain; for the clouds became from this day God's appointed
reservoir of the rain and snows, which in due season should come and
water the earth, to make it bring forth and bud, giving seed to the
sower and bread to the eater. (Isa. lv. ) But the subject of the atmo-
sphere is so full of interest, both in its formation and various properties,
that we must not hastily pass away from it; and therefore I will
endeavour to inform your young minds as to these two particulars.
And here I must of necessity use some scientific terms; but though I
know such hard names at first sight seem difficult to remember, yet it
is manifest, that the language of science, if not the most beautiful is
the most expressive ; for every word carries within itself its own signi-
fication ; whilst, therefore, dear children, I will seek to avoid an unne-
cessary use of these terms, I have little doubt but we shall soon agree
that they are even easier to retain than words in common use.
First, then, let me explain to you the formation of the atmosphere,
or the air, with which we are surrounded. Naturalists--that is,
men of science who have made these subjects their especial study--
have ascertained that the air is composed of two principal gases, or
elastic fluids, which have been named by them, Oxygen and Nitrogen. ,
The first is emphatically the sustainer of life, animal and vegetable;
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? 20
THE CREATION.
the second has no such power, and so has been also called azote, that
is, without life: but as the oxygen would be too active alone, it is
diluted with nitrogen, as water dilutes wine. The relative proportions
are,--twenty parts oxygen, eighty nitrogen. In addition to these, there
is also a small proportion of carbonic acid gas, and some hydrogen,
but only in the proportion of one part to ninety-nine. The height of
the atmosphere, it is calculated, does not exceed fifty miles,* expanding
all the while as it ascends; and at that height it becomes so ratified
that it cannot be respired: indeed, JEronauts, or air sailors, as the word
means, who have never ascended beyond 5? miles, have even then found
great difficulty in breathing; and on account of the atmosphere being
so much lighter, they have in many cases bled profusely from the
nose and mouth;--but though the air thus expands, yet the parts of
which it is composed never in the least degree vary their relative propor-
tions. One traveller brought some air down from Chimborasso,
the highest of the Andes, (that amazing range of mountains which
I have so often described to you,) and compared it with some
taken from the lowest valley beneath; but the proportions were the
same. Others, again, have examined the atmosphere of the pestilent
marshes near Rome; but in this case also there was not the slightest
variation. If death was there, it arose not from the absence of the vital
oxygen, (that was there true to its proportions,) but from some prin-
ciple of too subtle a nature to be detected by chemical analysis. Indeed,
? See Appendix.
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? LETTER III.
21
the infectious atmosphere of an hospital has been examined with great
care, even when its ill odour was intolerable, but no perceptible differ-
ence could be detected.
Having thus far explained the nature of our atmosphere, I will
now endeavour to make plain to you its properties.
The first great property of the atmosphere, as I have before re-
marked, is to sustain animal and vegetable life. The absence of it
from one or the other would cause instant death. This has been
abundantly proved by experiment: for place either an animal or
vegetable in any vessel air tight, and then exhaust the air, and life is
at once destroyed. But, not only would death instantly ensue, if the
air were taken from us; but if it ever varied its proportions, all would
be in misery: and yet near 6000 years have run out since its forma-
tion ; and the little child just born inhales it with the same freedom
as the first offspring of man. But, let us suppose, for instance, that
we inhaled nothing but the pure oxygen, or vital air; after a very
little, the lungs would become so excited, that nature could not long
sustain the unnatural stifling fulness; and if, on the contrary, we
inhaled only nitrogen, we should die; for it has been ascertained by
experiment, that animals put into a vessel filled only with nitrogen, die
instantly. And then, if the proportions were different:--the
oxygen prevailing, we should be in perpetual excitement, and rendered
perfectly miserable; the nitrogen prevailing, we should be continually
panting for breath, and at last faint away and die. But the air,
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? 22
THE CREATION.
measured and proportioned by the hand of infinite tenderness and com-
passion, the simple act of respiration, which most men enjoy, is in
itself a continual pleasure; but this we seldom think about, until, from
bodily infirmity, or from being shut up in a little room with a great
number of people, like the poor sufferers in the Black-hole at Calcutta,
or walking through a dense fog, or passing some Lime Kilns, (from
which carbonic acid gas is given off abundantly,) as we did the other
day, we learn its value by the painful contrast.
The following beautiful remark on the action of the oxygen I know
will interest you:--
" Animals cannot live without oxygen. By means of this gas, a
change which the eye can detect is produced in the blood,--the dark
coloured fluid of the veins combined with oxygen becomes the bright
scarlet blood of the arteries, and in this blood is the life. "
But not only does man inhale the atmospheric air, but also the
whole of vegetable life depends every moment on it, but with this re-
markable difference, that whilst man and the animal retain the oxygen,
but exhale or give out the carbonic acid gas, the grass and shrubs
and trees care not for the oxygen, but greedily drink in the carbonic
acid gas, which is so prejudicial to man. It is this that makes a walk
in the country so healthy, as well as pleasant. At night, however,
this is reversed: then the vegetable demands its share of the vital air,
and gives out carbon. Thus, while plants, or branches of shrubs in
water, are most useful in a sick room by day, they are very prejudicial
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? LETTER III.
23
by night. I might write you a great deal more on this subject; but
I must pass on now to consider the second great property of the atmo-
sphere, as the great reservoir of rain and snow. Now, suppose you
read in 1 Kings xviii. 2--5, there you see what would be the state of
the land if there was no such reservoir as I have mentioned; for then
God withheld the rain in judgment, and all things perished. The
accounts from Australia, also, received in our last letters, give ample
proof of the same thing in our day. But this is the exception to the
general rule; for since the beautiful Bow has been seen in the cloud,
seed-time and harvest have not failed. But here I imagine a diffi-
culty that would be quickly proposed if I were sitting by you--** Do
not the clouds ever get emptied ? I should have thought that a few
such nights as we had about a month since would have emptied all
the clouds. " The remark, dear children, is not at all a foolish one;
for the clouds of course would empty themselves, but for one thing.
" Now what is that one thing ? " I suppose you are all curious to in-
quire : and I answer,--it is the principle of evaporation, by which, in
infinitely fine particles, lighter than the air near the earth,* there
ascends up to the clouds, and this continually, an amazing body of
water; and so by this invisible agency they are kept always supplied.
And here I place before you, dear children, two calculations of great
interest:--first, it is estimated, that in England and Wales alone,
rain falls yearly to the extent of 100,000 millions of tons (and so I
* See Appendix.
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? 24
THE CREATION.
do not wonder that you should think that the clouds should at last
empty themselves): and secondly, that four-fifths of this rain or snow
returns to the clouds by evaporation. This is truly perpetual motion,
which the Philosophers have sought in vain to discover. It is thus
that these bottles of heaven are kept continually supplied--and thus also
that our earth is continually refreshed with the early and the latter rain.
But the subject of evaporation is one of great interest. Now sup-
pose you go to your large map of the world, and look for the
Mediterranean, known in the Scriptures by the name of the Great
Sea, and in profane history as the Mare-internum. It is entered, you
will observe, by the Straits of Gibraltar, which are about four leagues
in width, having Africa on the right side, and Europe on the left:
these were formerly called the Pillars of Hercules. There is continually
flowing through this entrance a steady current from the great Atlantic
Ocean; you will see also the Nile on the right side, rising in the king-
dom of Gojam, Abyssinia,* full 1300 miles distant from its mouth, and
pouring down its torrents, till at last, through its seven streams, it also
empties itself into the Great Sea. Then, again, if you trace the left
side, there are the Ebro in Spain, the Rhone in France, the Po and
Tiber in Italy. These all flow into the Mediterranean; there is also
the Black Sea, supplied by the great northern rivers, the Danube,
Don, Dnieper, coming down through the Bosphorus, the Sea of
Marmora, the Dardanelles, into the Archipelago, or Sea of Islands,
* See Appendix.
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? LETTER III.
25
(among which you will see Patmos, memorable as the scene where the
Apostle John had the visions of the Kevelation,) and finally joins the
Mediterranean. And yet with all this amazing continual influx, the
Great Sea neither rises nor falls; but is the same to-day as it was
when St. Paul "sailed under Crete, and the south wind blew softly;"
and this simply by the principle of evaporation, which, with a scale
of the most accurate adjustment, preserves the balance in this
astonishing manner. *
If there were no rain from the clouds, the earth would soon present
a desolate wilderness; and if there were no evaporation from the
earth, it would in time be a waste of waters. At the flood, the Lord
opened the windows of heaven, and miraculously poured down in
torrents the waters suspended above, and, it may be, stayed the prin-
ciple of evaporation; but though, my beloved children, these results
may be traced back to natural causes, yet we should never, no not for
a moment, forget, that the Lord presides over the whole of nature. He
has not ordained certain causes and effects, and then left the world
to be governed by these--but Himself, who appoints, rules over all
in infinite Wisdom, Compassion, and Love. I mention this, as it is
now so much the fashion to say--" Nature did this;" but if you again
refer to the beautiful thirty-eighth chapter of Job, it is manifest that
* The remark, which is so common in the country, about the sun drawing
water, has a good deal of truth in it: for its rays, beaming through the at-
mosphere, detect the principle of evaporation, which, however, is going on just as
much all around.
C
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? 2G
THE CREATION.
all creation is always under the most minute government and direction
of Him that made it,--" Who hath divided a watercourse for the
overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause
it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein
there is no man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to
cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth ? Hath the rain a
father ? or who hath begotten the drops of dew ? Out of whose womb
came the ice ? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it ?
The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. "
(Job xxxviii. 25--30. )
Yet even now if a drought prevails, or a flood increases, or the
pestilence rages,* God is acknowledged and prayed to as the immediate
governor of the universe; but the best and happiest state is, to wait
on him in the calm continually--and when the tempest arises, ice shall
find him ever nigh. (Ps. cxix. 114. )
The next blessing connected with the atmosphere, which I will
direct you to, is its power of refraction.
Though the atmosphere may extend in an exceeding rarified
state more than forty-five or fifty miles in height, yet it does not
refract the rays of light beyond that ; but within that distance
the rays of the sun come to us in a bent or arched line, and
thus, excepting when the heavenly bodies are in the Zenith, that is,
* Surely the Lord acknowledged the cry of England in 1830, and turned back
the cholera in answer to that cry, for his mercy endureth for ever.
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? LETTER III.
27
immediately over our heads, they always appear to us some degrees
more elevated than they really are,--so, long after the sun has set
we see it, and this is true of all the heavenly bodies; thus, at the
time of full moon, we see the sun after it is gone, and the moon
before it rises.
Another important property of the atmosphere, is its power of
reflecting light. We watched the setting sun the other evening; the
light of day seemed to linger on the earth long after it was gone,
while colours of every hue glowed in the western sky, seeming to
promise that the sun should rise again. " But how was the light pro-
longed ? " you may inquire. The beautiful arch of refraction had kept
the sun with us long after the orb itself was sunk; and now, when its
hays could no longer reach our eyes, but passed far above our heads,
we got them reflected as from a glass. And what language can de-
scribe that gentle, quiet light, the even-tide ? so sacred to meditation,
(Gen. xxiv. 63,) which an eastern writer beautifully calls " The
curtain of night gently drawn around the closing day. "
Another most gracious property of the atmosphere is its motion,
"the wind.
? LETTER I 9
1
templating the starry heavens, on the fourth day), we get a demon-
stration of the rapidity with which light travels: it moves at the rate
of 190,000 miles in a second, while sound comes on at the slow and
tardy rate of only 13 miles a minute. The difference between the velo-
city of sound and light is also witnessed in a thunder-storm: if an inter-
val elapses between the lightning and the thunder-clap, every one at
the table says, "Now the storm is at some distance" but if the flash be
instantly followed by that fearful and terrible peal, then paleness
steals on the countenance, and the next shock is waited for in awful
expectancy. Happy, my beloved children, is it to be at peace with
God, and then, though it were the fire going before Him, and the whole
atmosphere very tempestuous round about Him, yet should the word
be full of consolation from the lips of a Father:--" Come, my people,
enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide
thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood,
and shall no more cover her slain. " (Isa. xxvi. 20, 21. ) But though
the Lord shall indeed come forth in indignation, and be revealed in
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ;--yet not so to his people; no, in
them, even his saints, as the next verse is, " He shall come to be
glorified, and admired in all them that believe. " How beautiful is the
word of that hymn you so well remember,--(2 Thess. i. 7--10,)
B3
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? 10
THE CREATION.
" Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
My beauty are,--my glorious dress;
Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head. "
But as the fourth day's creation will afford us a more ample field
for the contemplation of light, I will now close this long letter; and
in my next, ere I leave this subject, I hope to bring before you some
of those beautiful passages from the Scriptures where the Spirit of
God sets forth divine truth by the gracious emblem of light.
Ever believe me,
My beloved Children,
Your affectionate Father.
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? THE CREATION.
11
LETTER II.
I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. --John viii. 12.
My dear Children,
I have sometimes imagined the dismay and terror that would strike
all things living, if, suddenly, at noon-day, a total darkness were to
cover the whole earth; or if, instead of the sun rising, a darkness
deeper than that of night were to spread over all things. Such,
doubtless, was that of Egypt (Exod. x. 21), which lasted three days
--a darkness that might be felt; and such also the awful darkness that
was over the whole land (Matt. xxvii. 45) when our blessed Lord,
bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, died the Just for the
unjust, under the curse of God. But the darkness of Egypt, in God's
mercy, had an end; for He is long-suffering: and the darkness of
Calvary had an end; because the sufferer paid to the full the amazing
debt of death, and satisfied divine justice. (Gal. iii. 13. ) But there is
a darkness hastening on; and oh! the terrors of that darkness that
shall be eternal! It is called emphatically " the outer darkness,"--
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? 12
THE CREATION.
and who may abide it ? But we will turn from this contemplation to
one as much filled with joy, as this is with sorrow. Let us go and
meditate on His Love, who, when He beheld the world buried in dark-
ness, and judgment before it, stood forth at the call of the Father,
and came a Light into the world. Yes, He was the true light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world (John i. 9); for if He
had not taken on Him the seed of Abraham, and stood on this earth
God manifest in the flesh, death must have reigned, and darkness
would have been over the earth for ever, even for ever and ever. But
Jesus came the Light of the world; and whosoever followeth Him shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John viii. 12. )
In the morning of the old creation, we heard the song of the angels
rejoicing over the work of God: now, in the new creation, when God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shines in the
hearts of his children, and gives them the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. iv. 6), there are
songs in heaven also; even joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth. (Luke xv. 10. )
What an amazing scene is presented to us in this most blessed
verse of Scripture! That tongue that was once dried up like a pot-
sherd, now leads the chorus of the skies (Psalm xxii. 15, 25, 27); and
those bright spirits who never fell join in the hymn of salvation, the
great theme of which is, the turning of the sinner from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Yes, even the
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? LETTER II.
13
conversion of a child--the cry of some little Samuel, " Speak, Lord, for
thy servant heareth," (for, until this, Samuel knew not the Lord,) gives
joy through the heavenly host, though their number be ten thousand
times ten thousand and thousand of thousands. Oh! my dear children,
may each of you be turned to the Lord as Samuel was; and so shall
the song of Hannah be true of you,--" He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them
among the princes, and make them inherit the throne of glory. " May
you be adopted into God's heavenly family here, to await the inheri-
tance of the saints in light hereafter--born again of the Holy Ghost--
born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God. (1 Sam. ii. 8; iii. 7, 10. John i. 13. )
But I cannot leave this most instructive and beautiful figure of
Light without calling to your remembrance the use our blessed
Lord made of it in the Sermon on the Mount. (Matt. v. 14--16. ) Ad-
dressing his disciples, gathered around him, He said, " Ye are the light
of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do
men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick;
and it giveth light to all that are in the house. Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father which is in heaven. " It was a great thing for Christ to
say of his disciples," Ye are the light of the world;" for it was the very
name he gave Himself: but it is even so; for his people are one with
Him,--they are partakers of the Divine nature--children of light--
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? 14
THE CREATION.
children of God;--and as it is said, that God dwells within them, and
God is light, therefore light dwells within them: thus, wherever the
true Christian is called to go, he is to shew forth the light of God--
he is to reflect the image of God. You remember when Moses came
down from the Mount of God, his face shone--was radiant with light:
and so the Christian, that has communion with God in the Holy
Mount, should have his face radiant with God's brightness upon it;
and the world should be constrained to take knowledge of him that he
has been with Jesus. (Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30. Acts iv. 13. )
We watched the day break the other morning. At first, it was
faint, but then grew brighter; and so on, brighter and brighter to the
perfect day. Now the Lord says, this is the pathway of the child of
light,--it shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. He may
indeed have storms and tempests in his way; but light is sown for
the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Light is sown.
I cannot conceive any figure more beautiful than this;--a harvest of
light awaits the child of light; and the Scriptures are full and sublime
in their description of that period, when it is emphatically said,--
" There shall be no night there. " The scene of the chapter (Isa. lx. )
is doubtless the conversion of Israel; but in a more enlarged sense,
(as the reference to Rev. xxi. 23 proves,) it refers to the whole family
of God, seated with Christ in the heavenly places,--" The sun shall
be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon
give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting
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? LETTER II.
light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down;
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine
everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy
people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the
branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation:
I will hasten it in his time. "
In passing on in the journey of life, my dear children, you will hear
on the right hand and on the left many saying, " Who will shew us
any good? " O think of the Psalmist's answer:--turning away from it
all, (for unsatisfying is the highest delight of earth,) he says,--" Lord,
lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me; and it shall put
joy and gladness in my heart, more than when their corn and their
wine increase. " (Ps. iv. 6. )
But ere I conclude this letter, I must turn again to the Sermon on
the Mount, where our Lord graciously instructed his disciples by a
similitude, that we are every moment through the day realizing:--
" The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy
whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! " This illustration
is not only very striking, but very searching. When we look at any
object, far or near, the eye is the agent used: it is the light of the
body; it is the wondrous telescope by which we look at all the scenes
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? 16
THE CREATION.
around us. Now if our glass be rightly adjusted, and there be no film
on the eye, and the whole body be in a healthy state, then will the
landscape (be the view ever so extensive) fall on the retina, and the
mind, acquainted thereby with the true distance, proportion, and
colour of the objects, shall send down its wishes to the various mem-
bers of the body, and so the whole body shall be full of light and intel-
ligence ; but if the eye be not single*--be unhealthy--and the view
be obstructed, then will the mind get an imperfect return made to it;
and so no member will be in light, but the whole in darkness. This
is the figure, and it is full of spiritual instruction. If the child of God
is in health and vigour--no obstruction or film on his spiritual sight,
--then shall he look out on the moral scene before him, and every
thing shall come to him in its true proportions;--he will look at every
thing with God's mind, for he is a partaker of his nature; and the
glittering scene around him, the gaudy pageant, will appear in its true
colours,--his soul will be full of intelligence,--he will see all out of
Christ as hastening to destruction,--he will not call light darkness, or
darkness light,--but going on steadily in his path, in the power of
God's grace, and by the guidance of His Spirit, he will choose the
good and reject the evil;--his whole body shall be full of light.
But, my dear children, I will now conclude this letter. I do not
profess to write you a concordance on light or the other blessings of
? The best Greek writers use this word in the sense of health--clearness and
freedom from obstruction.
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? LETTER II. 17
the six days, but just desire to bring a few of the leading passages
before you; and may the word of the Lord, shone upon by HIS
Spirit, be ever a lamp unto your feet, and a light unto your paths.
(Ps. cxix. 105. ) This is the earnest prayer of your affectionate
Father.
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? 18
THE CREATION.
LETTER III.
BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL. O LORD MY GOD, THOU ART VERY GREAT ; THOU ART
CLOTHED WITH HONOUR AND MAJESTY. WHO COVEREST THYSELF WITH LIGHT AS
WITH A GARMENT : WHO STRETCHEST OUT THE HEAVENS LIKE A CURTAIN : WHO
LAYETH THE BEAMS OF HIS CHAMBERS IN THE WATERS ; WHO MAKETH THE CLOUDS
HIS CHARIOT: WHO WALKETH UPON THE WINGS OF THE WIND. --Psalm civ. 1--3.
My dear Children,
In all the days of Creation, as I before remarked, there was a wonderful
provision made for those which followed. This is especially the case
in the second day, when the Firmament, or what is better known to
us as " the Atmosphere," came into existence. The language which
records its Creation is very full:--" And God said, Let there be a firm-
ament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the
waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were
under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and
it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and
the morning were the second day. " Thus did the Lord by this one act
of Creative Power bring into being that by which all life, whether
vegetable or animal, was destined to be sustained. A vast body of
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? LETTER III.
19
water was also gathered up into the atmosphere, and suspended there
in clouds, which became as the garment thereof, (Job xxxviii. 9:)
thus the waters were divided from the waters, and the means provided
by which the earth might be continually refreshed by the early and
the latter rain; for the clouds became from this day God's appointed
reservoir of the rain and snows, which in due season should come and
water the earth, to make it bring forth and bud, giving seed to the
sower and bread to the eater. (Isa. lv. ) But the subject of the atmo-
sphere is so full of interest, both in its formation and various properties,
that we must not hastily pass away from it; and therefore I will
endeavour to inform your young minds as to these two particulars.
And here I must of necessity use some scientific terms; but though I
know such hard names at first sight seem difficult to remember, yet it
is manifest, that the language of science, if not the most beautiful is
the most expressive ; for every word carries within itself its own signi-
fication ; whilst, therefore, dear children, I will seek to avoid an unne-
cessary use of these terms, I have little doubt but we shall soon agree
that they are even easier to retain than words in common use.
First, then, let me explain to you the formation of the atmosphere,
or the air, with which we are surrounded. Naturalists--that is,
men of science who have made these subjects their especial study--
have ascertained that the air is composed of two principal gases, or
elastic fluids, which have been named by them, Oxygen and Nitrogen. ,
The first is emphatically the sustainer of life, animal and vegetable;
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? 20
THE CREATION.
the second has no such power, and so has been also called azote, that
is, without life: but as the oxygen would be too active alone, it is
diluted with nitrogen, as water dilutes wine. The relative proportions
are,--twenty parts oxygen, eighty nitrogen. In addition to these, there
is also a small proportion of carbonic acid gas, and some hydrogen,
but only in the proportion of one part to ninety-nine. The height of
the atmosphere, it is calculated, does not exceed fifty miles,* expanding
all the while as it ascends; and at that height it becomes so ratified
that it cannot be respired: indeed, JEronauts, or air sailors, as the word
means, who have never ascended beyond 5? miles, have even then found
great difficulty in breathing; and on account of the atmosphere being
so much lighter, they have in many cases bled profusely from the
nose and mouth;--but though the air thus expands, yet the parts of
which it is composed never in the least degree vary their relative propor-
tions. One traveller brought some air down from Chimborasso,
the highest of the Andes, (that amazing range of mountains which
I have so often described to you,) and compared it with some
taken from the lowest valley beneath; but the proportions were the
same. Others, again, have examined the atmosphere of the pestilent
marshes near Rome; but in this case also there was not the slightest
variation. If death was there, it arose not from the absence of the vital
oxygen, (that was there true to its proportions,) but from some prin-
ciple of too subtle a nature to be detected by chemical analysis. Indeed,
? See Appendix.
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? LETTER III.
21
the infectious atmosphere of an hospital has been examined with great
care, even when its ill odour was intolerable, but no perceptible differ-
ence could be detected.
Having thus far explained the nature of our atmosphere, I will
now endeavour to make plain to you its properties.
The first great property of the atmosphere, as I have before re-
marked, is to sustain animal and vegetable life. The absence of it
from one or the other would cause instant death. This has been
abundantly proved by experiment: for place either an animal or
vegetable in any vessel air tight, and then exhaust the air, and life is
at once destroyed. But, not only would death instantly ensue, if the
air were taken from us; but if it ever varied its proportions, all would
be in misery: and yet near 6000 years have run out since its forma-
tion ; and the little child just born inhales it with the same freedom
as the first offspring of man. But, let us suppose, for instance, that
we inhaled nothing but the pure oxygen, or vital air; after a very
little, the lungs would become so excited, that nature could not long
sustain the unnatural stifling fulness; and if, on the contrary, we
inhaled only nitrogen, we should die; for it has been ascertained by
experiment, that animals put into a vessel filled only with nitrogen, die
instantly. And then, if the proportions were different:--the
oxygen prevailing, we should be in perpetual excitement, and rendered
perfectly miserable; the nitrogen prevailing, we should be continually
panting for breath, and at last faint away and die. But the air,
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? 22
THE CREATION.
measured and proportioned by the hand of infinite tenderness and com-
passion, the simple act of respiration, which most men enjoy, is in
itself a continual pleasure; but this we seldom think about, until, from
bodily infirmity, or from being shut up in a little room with a great
number of people, like the poor sufferers in the Black-hole at Calcutta,
or walking through a dense fog, or passing some Lime Kilns, (from
which carbonic acid gas is given off abundantly,) as we did the other
day, we learn its value by the painful contrast.
The following beautiful remark on the action of the oxygen I know
will interest you:--
" Animals cannot live without oxygen. By means of this gas, a
change which the eye can detect is produced in the blood,--the dark
coloured fluid of the veins combined with oxygen becomes the bright
scarlet blood of the arteries, and in this blood is the life. "
But not only does man inhale the atmospheric air, but also the
whole of vegetable life depends every moment on it, but with this re-
markable difference, that whilst man and the animal retain the oxygen,
but exhale or give out the carbonic acid gas, the grass and shrubs
and trees care not for the oxygen, but greedily drink in the carbonic
acid gas, which is so prejudicial to man. It is this that makes a walk
in the country so healthy, as well as pleasant. At night, however,
this is reversed: then the vegetable demands its share of the vital air,
and gives out carbon. Thus, while plants, or branches of shrubs in
water, are most useful in a sick room by day, they are very prejudicial
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? LETTER III.
23
by night. I might write you a great deal more on this subject; but
I must pass on now to consider the second great property of the atmo-
sphere, as the great reservoir of rain and snow. Now, suppose you
read in 1 Kings xviii. 2--5, there you see what would be the state of
the land if there was no such reservoir as I have mentioned; for then
God withheld the rain in judgment, and all things perished. The
accounts from Australia, also, received in our last letters, give ample
proof of the same thing in our day. But this is the exception to the
general rule; for since the beautiful Bow has been seen in the cloud,
seed-time and harvest have not failed. But here I imagine a diffi-
culty that would be quickly proposed if I were sitting by you--** Do
not the clouds ever get emptied ? I should have thought that a few
such nights as we had about a month since would have emptied all
the clouds. " The remark, dear children, is not at all a foolish one;
for the clouds of course would empty themselves, but for one thing.
" Now what is that one thing ? " I suppose you are all curious to in-
quire : and I answer,--it is the principle of evaporation, by which, in
infinitely fine particles, lighter than the air near the earth,* there
ascends up to the clouds, and this continually, an amazing body of
water; and so by this invisible agency they are kept always supplied.
And here I place before you, dear children, two calculations of great
interest:--first, it is estimated, that in England and Wales alone,
rain falls yearly to the extent of 100,000 millions of tons (and so I
* See Appendix.
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? 24
THE CREATION.
do not wonder that you should think that the clouds should at last
empty themselves): and secondly, that four-fifths of this rain or snow
returns to the clouds by evaporation. This is truly perpetual motion,
which the Philosophers have sought in vain to discover. It is thus
that these bottles of heaven are kept continually supplied--and thus also
that our earth is continually refreshed with the early and the latter rain.
But the subject of evaporation is one of great interest. Now sup-
pose you go to your large map of the world, and look for the
Mediterranean, known in the Scriptures by the name of the Great
Sea, and in profane history as the Mare-internum. It is entered, you
will observe, by the Straits of Gibraltar, which are about four leagues
in width, having Africa on the right side, and Europe on the left:
these were formerly called the Pillars of Hercules. There is continually
flowing through this entrance a steady current from the great Atlantic
Ocean; you will see also the Nile on the right side, rising in the king-
dom of Gojam, Abyssinia,* full 1300 miles distant from its mouth, and
pouring down its torrents, till at last, through its seven streams, it also
empties itself into the Great Sea. Then, again, if you trace the left
side, there are the Ebro in Spain, the Rhone in France, the Po and
Tiber in Italy. These all flow into the Mediterranean; there is also
the Black Sea, supplied by the great northern rivers, the Danube,
Don, Dnieper, coming down through the Bosphorus, the Sea of
Marmora, the Dardanelles, into the Archipelago, or Sea of Islands,
* See Appendix.
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25
(among which you will see Patmos, memorable as the scene where the
Apostle John had the visions of the Kevelation,) and finally joins the
Mediterranean. And yet with all this amazing continual influx, the
Great Sea neither rises nor falls; but is the same to-day as it was
when St. Paul "sailed under Crete, and the south wind blew softly;"
and this simply by the principle of evaporation, which, with a scale
of the most accurate adjustment, preserves the balance in this
astonishing manner. *
If there were no rain from the clouds, the earth would soon present
a desolate wilderness; and if there were no evaporation from the
earth, it would in time be a waste of waters. At the flood, the Lord
opened the windows of heaven, and miraculously poured down in
torrents the waters suspended above, and, it may be, stayed the prin-
ciple of evaporation; but though, my beloved children, these results
may be traced back to natural causes, yet we should never, no not for
a moment, forget, that the Lord presides over the whole of nature. He
has not ordained certain causes and effects, and then left the world
to be governed by these--but Himself, who appoints, rules over all
in infinite Wisdom, Compassion, and Love. I mention this, as it is
now so much the fashion to say--" Nature did this;" but if you again
refer to the beautiful thirty-eighth chapter of Job, it is manifest that
* The remark, which is so common in the country, about the sun drawing
water, has a good deal of truth in it: for its rays, beaming through the at-
mosphere, detect the principle of evaporation, which, however, is going on just as
much all around.
C
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? 2G
THE CREATION.
all creation is always under the most minute government and direction
of Him that made it,--" Who hath divided a watercourse for the
overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause
it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein
there is no man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to
cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth ? Hath the rain a
father ? or who hath begotten the drops of dew ? Out of whose womb
came the ice ? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it ?
The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. "
(Job xxxviii. 25--30. )
Yet even now if a drought prevails, or a flood increases, or the
pestilence rages,* God is acknowledged and prayed to as the immediate
governor of the universe; but the best and happiest state is, to wait
on him in the calm continually--and when the tempest arises, ice shall
find him ever nigh. (Ps. cxix. 114. )
The next blessing connected with the atmosphere, which I will
direct you to, is its power of refraction.
Though the atmosphere may extend in an exceeding rarified
state more than forty-five or fifty miles in height, yet it does not
refract the rays of light beyond that ; but within that distance
the rays of the sun come to us in a bent or arched line, and
thus, excepting when the heavenly bodies are in the Zenith, that is,
* Surely the Lord acknowledged the cry of England in 1830, and turned back
the cholera in answer to that cry, for his mercy endureth for ever.
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? LETTER III.
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immediately over our heads, they always appear to us some degrees
more elevated than they really are,--so, long after the sun has set
we see it, and this is true of all the heavenly bodies; thus, at the
time of full moon, we see the sun after it is gone, and the moon
before it rises.
Another important property of the atmosphere, is its power of
reflecting light. We watched the setting sun the other evening; the
light of day seemed to linger on the earth long after it was gone,
while colours of every hue glowed in the western sky, seeming to
promise that the sun should rise again. " But how was the light pro-
longed ? " you may inquire. The beautiful arch of refraction had kept
the sun with us long after the orb itself was sunk; and now, when its
hays could no longer reach our eyes, but passed far above our heads,
we got them reflected as from a glass. And what language can de-
scribe that gentle, quiet light, the even-tide ? so sacred to meditation,
(Gen. xxiv. 63,) which an eastern writer beautifully calls " The
curtain of night gently drawn around the closing day. "
Another most gracious property of the atmosphere is its motion,
"the wind.
