'Then may I make one or two} other suggestions. When you} approach the chapter bear in mind. that the' narrative is wonderfully coripressed. The record" of a stupendous occurrence crowded! into AL vertes. And in the' second glued we. must "always remember THAT' the: book was written at very. early "date; in '*the' ' very childhood of the race wher! human Jerbwledge was only' at the' dawn, Men's tids were tivakening for the "firkt'time to the'problems bt} THerand"of the world." It was ite But most important of all wel must realize that the purpose of! the writer in the creation story of Genesis 1, is not scientific but] religious.
His scientific knowledge may be bounded by the horizon of his age, but the religious truths he teaches are irrefutable and eternal, What was necessary the primitive world, to save men from grovelling superstition and debasing polytheism was the Knowledge that it was God, holy and good, who made all things: and that the crown and summit of His work was man, And this is the knowledge set forth in the Seek of Genesis.
us in the few minutes re-ing at our disposal this morning gather out one or two of the gros and eternal truths that} this chapter teaches. In the begin. ning God.. God created the heaven and the earth.. God created—man in His own image.
From Unreason to Reason This then is the frst lesson of] the chapter. That at the root and origin of all this vast material universe, rolling majestically through the ages, by with which man yins $0 puny and futile, before whose laws he seems 0 helpless: there abides a living] conscious spirit, who wills knows and fashions all things. this belief the whole world transformed to us. We no longer ive in a blind world of unreasoned forces, but in a world created and controlled by a loving Father. But if on the other hand, w ourselves are but particles of huge unconscious universe; if there is no power that understands us and sympathizes with us, makes provision for our instincts, our aspirations, our capability if all things are the purposeless result of physical forees; if in short there is no God then no thing can be more melancholy than our position. given us in the harmonious and Purposes. Progressive development all around us sufficient indication that even in the material world intelligence and purpose reign. AM is designed, purposeful, controlled. We say with the sacred writer of old, "In the beginning God." He created and He controls.
"he earth with its store, Of wonders untold, Almighty. thy. por Hath founded of eld...
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.