the Creator and Preserver of all things; the King of kings, and Lord of lords, the Ruler of heaven and earth, the Three in One and One in Three; may all the world stand in awe before Thee, beholding "the goodness and severity of God" even in this life, and offer the gratitude of their hearts as the sacrifice most acceptable to Thee. "Holy (Father), Holy (Son), Holy (Ghost), Lord God Almighty."

CHAPTER II

THE CREATION

In the beginning God created the heaven and

the earth.-Gen. 1:1.

THE FACT OF CREATION-THE DIVINE HANDIWORK

It is a self-evident fact that a universe, composed of animate and inanimate things, exists. Whence is it? It did not always exist, nor did it produce itself, but it was created by a Supreme Being. The creation of the universe is the great event which first arrests attention and arouses our interest in the inspired Word of God. The account of the creation occupies the first and part of the second chapter of Genesis, an as the word "genesis" means "origin," or "beginning," so in the book of Genesis we find the first record of the origin or beginning of all things.

The Origin of Matter. By the creation of the world we understand something more than simply the making of one thing from another. Man can do that. With wood he can make a chair or a house. Out of iron he can make a nail or a locomotive. Given suitable material, he can make things almost innumerable. But by creation, as the word is used in Genesis, we understand that it is the making of something out of nothing. God in the act of creation made all things out of nothing. Originally, nothing existed but God. There existed no matter out of which visible things were formed, and no immaterial substance out of which to form angels and human souls. God created them all; not out of Himself, as was held by some of the ancients; not out of the eternal, as some philosophers hold; not out of elemental and chaotic matter, as others imagine, but out of nothing.

It is true, as proven by science, that matter and energy are indestructible and unchangeable as to amount-never more

and never less. But these terms are merely relative, and refer only to time since creation.

God is the first great Cause of all things. He gave all things existence. The Holy Spirit, through Paul, gives us the correct idea of the word "create" as used in the first chapter of Genesis: "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Heb. 11:3).

So then all things seen and realized show the hand and work of God.

Genesis as Compared with other Writings. We feel called upon to make our most ardent protest against the confounding of the inspired and therefore infallible writers. with the modern uninspired and therefore fallible commentat'ors. In the first chapter of the Bible God gives us in logical order a literal statement of facts as they actually occurred. We dare not consider this account as figurative or poetical, for then "in the beginning God" did not create "the heaven and the earth," and did not form "man of the dust of the ground," and did not breathe "into his nostrils the breath of life," and it is quite impossible to determine what He did or did not do. Then each reader would be left to form his own conclusions. It is readily seen that by such a procedure the integrity of the whole Bible would be imperiled. The Scriptures preclude any other doctrine than that of an absolute creation of all things by the direct act of the Divine Will. Before this truth all the errors of pantheism, polytheism, dualism, materialism, atheism, and spiritualism fall.

Heavenly Harmonies.-It must be admitted that the statements made above are in full harmony with Reason, which demands an adequate designer and Creator of all that exists because of the wisdom, scheme, and purpose evident in all material and immaterial things. All things were created and set up by a wise Master-builder so that every part of the divine creation fits its origin and place perfectly.

Again, these statements are in perfect harmony with God's Word. Hear the language of the prophet: "Thou, even thou.

art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their hosts, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all" (Neh. 9:6). The inspired apostle breaks forth in this language: "For by him (Christ) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible. whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers all things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (Col. 1:16, 17). Christ Himself testifies that He was with the Father "before the world was" (Jno. 17:5). Speaking of Christ as the Word, John says, "All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made" (Jno. 1:3). This implies that there was a time when these now existing worlds were not. As already cited, Paul declares, "Things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." There were no other forms of matter older than these which we now see, out of which the elements of the world could have been made. The affirmation, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," implies that in the creative act God originated all things material.

The facts above cited are also in full harmony with the facts revealed in Nature. The field of infinite space was, and still continues to be, God's work-shop. We see in Nature material things--God's first creation work. We then notice height and depth, length and breadth, latitude and longitude, weights and measures, time and eternity, and the laws governing Nature.

Illustrations from Nature.-Go forth into this workshop. Take with you a handful of seeds of various flowers and scatter them promiscuously. They will spring up, possibly a hundred or more, and produce as many varieties of flowers. In each case, however, the flower will be of the same variety as that contained in the seed. There is no variation from this law, even though you plant a thousand or a million seeds a thousand or a million times. There are no mistakes and there is no confusion in Nature. A rose never produces a carnation,

a tulip never grows from a violet, nor a pansy from a sweet william. Every seed knows its kind and produces its own variety. Here is a law-a perfect law. How did this law originate? The answer is, God. Here indeed are two miraclesin one: (1) God created by a miraculous act the first flowers, and then (2) He created the germs in those flowers from which all flowers have since been produced. Nature declares unmistakably a Creator and a creation.

Again, a farmer plants corn. If the season is poor he may find but eight rows of kernels in the ear. If conditions are more favorable there may be ten, or fourteen, or even twenty rows. But there never will be found an ear of corn with five, or seven, or eleven, or thirteen rows upon it. Can plants. count? In this we have conclusive proof that there is a perfect Creator and a perfect creation, as is declared in Genesis.

Let us examine a drop of water from a pond. By the aid of the microscope there is revealed a little world teeming with animal life of the most varied and remarkable forms. There are births, struggles for existence, loves, fights, and deaths Their number and actions are so great as to be beyond comprehension. Yet this tiny world, and the great globe in space, are the handiwork of that one Supreme Being.

Everywhere may be seen the evidences of God's work in Nature: we see it in the growth and development of plants and animals, and in their geographical distribution; in the progressive succession of created life from the lowest form to the crowning work of creation-man. The mysterious and awe-inspiring presence of Nature may be felt in the grandeur of the lofty and rugged mountain, in the calm and security of the valley below, in the moaning and sighing of the forest, im the motionless calm or the terriffic storm of the mighty ocean! The strange and unmistakable voice of Nature permeates the whole universe, calling forth admiration for the wondrous works of God, and constantly reminding us that, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his bandiwork." Victor Hugo must have felt this mighty voice of Nature and rightly interpreted it when he wrote