Genesis 1

Genesis 1:1

That is, In the beginning of time and things, the three Divine Persons, in one Godhead, made of nothing the third heaven, or residence of the blessed, and the whole matter out of which the air and starry heaven, the sea and earth, were afterwards formed. Heb. xi

Genesis 1:3

“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Psal. cii

Genesis 1:25

“Of old thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands.” 2 Pet. iii. 5. Jer. x. 12. and li. 15. Exod. xxxi. 17. and xx. 11. Psal. xxxiii. 6, 9. lxxxix. 11, 12. exlvi. 6. and exlviii. 1—6. Isa. xliv. 24. Zech. xii. 1. Acts xiv. 15. xvii. 24. and iv. 24. Isa. xlii. 5. Rev. iv. 11. x. 6. and xiv. 7. Rom. i. 19, 20. and xi. 36. The word ELOHIM, here rendered God, is plural, and denotes the WORSHIPPUL ONES, the Divine persons, who equally concurred in the creation of all things. 1 Cor. viii. 6. “The Father of whom are all things.” Mat. xi. 25. “He is Lord of heaven and earth."—Eph. iii. 9. “God created all things by Jesus Christ.” John i. 1—3. “In the beginning was the Word (the Son) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God—all things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."—Col. i. 16. Prov. viii

Genesis 1:27-30

Job xxvi. 13. “By his Spirit he garnished the heavens.” Psal. xxxiii. 6. “All their hosts were made by the spirit of his mouth.” And civ. 30. Ver. 2. Earth, deep, and waters, signify the same mingled mass of earth and water; 2 Pet. iii. 5. “The earth standing out of the water, and in the water."—It was without form; without any agreeable shape, order, or ornament; and void; without either vegetables to furnish it, or animals to inhabit it. And not the wind, which was not yet formed, as there was no air, but the Holy Ghost, in his almighty influence, moved, or sat brooding upon this mingled mass, to prepare it for the intended separation of earth and water, and for the production of vegetables and animals. 1 Ver. 3. 2 Cor. iv. 6. “God commanded the light to shine out of darkness.” It, as well as all things else, was produced by Christ, who is God’s personal word, John i. 3. his wisdom and power, 1 Cor. i. 24.—This light was some bright shining body, perhaps somewhat like the pillar of fire in the wilderness; and out of it the sun and stars appear to have been afterwards formed. Ver. 4. God divided the light from the darkness, by making them to take different places by turns; the light always shining upon the one half of the mingled mass, and the darkness covering the other; in much the same manner as our sun, by turns, illuminates the one half of the globe, and leaves the other in darkness. Ver. 5. The time of the first revolution of the darkness and of the light were the first day; for both the light and the darkness existed together at the same time, but on different parts of the mingled mass. Ver. 6. This firmament includes the region of the sun, moon, stars, and comets: and the air or atmosphere which surrounds our earth, and separates between the water which is in the clouds, and that which is in the seas and rivers. Psal. xxxiii. 6, 9. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.” Job xxxvii. 14. “He spread out the sky which is strong, and as a molten looking-glass” Job xxvi. 13. Psal. cxxxvi. 5. Jer. x. 12. and li. 15. Zech. xii. 1. Jer. x. 13. “There is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he canseth the vapours to ascend from the—earth."—Job xxvi. 8. “He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them.” And xxxviii. 22—26. “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow, and of the hail, which I have reserved?—Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters—to cause it to rain upon the earth?” Job xxxvii. 11. Eccl. xi. 3. Psal. cxlviii. 4. A Ver. 9. Job xxxviii. 9—11. “Who shut up the sea with doors—when I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it, and brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors; and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further?” And xxvi. 10. “He compassed the sea with bounds.” Psal. xxiv. 1, 2. “The earth he founded upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.” And cxxxvi. 6. “He stretched out the earth above the waters.” Psal. civ. 5—9, and xxviii. 7. But the whole globe of earth and sea was hung upon nothing. Job xxvi. 7. The approbation of the second day’s work was deferred till the separation of the waters was completed, and we have it—ver. 10. Ver. 11. Psal. civ. 14, 15. “He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man; that he may bring forth food out of the earth—wine—and oil—and bread.” Job xxviii. 5. In this first production of vegetables, the solar heat had no influence, as it was not yet formed; nor had there been any rain. These vegetables have seed in themselves; viz. have a power in their root, branch, leaves, buds, or fruit, to propagate their kinds. Ver. 14. God now formed more glorious and useful enlighteners of the now well-ordered and adorned earth than had been formed on the first day. The sun is in itself a very extensive body of light; and the moon, though it hath no light in itself, enlightens our earth, by reflecting the light of the sun; and both are called great lights, since, by reason of their nearness, they appear to us much larger than any of the stars. These lights not only form the day and night, but also form or mark out the seasons of sowing, planting, reaping, sailing, travelling, or the like; and are for signs of the weather, and sometimes of remarkable providences. Psal. cxxxvi. 7—9. God made great lights—the sun to rule by day, and the moon, and stars to rule by night.” And lxxiv. 16, 17. “The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast made summer and winter.” And civ. 19, 20. “He appointed the moon for seasons; the sun knoweth his going down. Thou makest darkness, and it is night.” Deut. iv. 19. “The sun, moon, and stars, even all the host of heaven—God hath divided unto all nations,” for use. Job xxxviii. 12. Psal. viii. 3, 4. cxlviii. 3, 5. and cxix. 91. Jer. xxxi. 35. and xxxiii. 25.—Mat. xvi. 2, 3. “When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day, for the sky is red and lowring.” Luke xxi. 25, 26. “There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars—men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” Mat. xxiv. 29. Isa. xiii. 10. Ezek. xxxii. 7. Joel ii. 10 to 31. and iii. 15. Acts ii. 19, 20. Josh. x. 13. Ver. 21—25. Acts xvii. 25. “He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” Psal. civ. 24—26. “The earth is full of his riches,” mines, vegetables, animals. “So is this great—sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts—There is that leviathan,” whales, crocodiles, and other sea monsters. Psal. I. 10, 11. “Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the held are mine,” by creation.—Job xl. 15. God’s blessing gave the animals a power to propagate their kinds. Psal. cvii. 38. “He blesseth them, so that they are multiplied greatly.” Job xlii. 12. Psal. exliv. 13, 14. Ver. 26. The plural is not here used for the singular in the manner of some modern kings. There is not in scripture one instance of a sovereign’s speaking of himself only in the plural number, we, us, our. But the plural us here denotes a consultation of the Divine Persons, concerning the production of that species of creatures which was to be the most perfect under heaven, and in which the glory of God was to be for ever most illustriously manifested in his work of redemption.—The image of God on man includes, (1) The resemblance of his soul, in respect of spiritual substance, understanding and will. (2) The happiness of his state, and his honourable dominion over the creatures. (3) And chiefly the moral conformity of his soul to God, in spiritual knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Eccl. xii. 1. “Remember thy Creators,” Heb. i. e. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, “in the days of thy youth.” Job xxv. 10, “Where is God my Makers?” Heb. Is. liv. 5. “Thy Makers—the Lord hosts.” I John v. 7.—Eccl. vii. 29. “God made man upright.” Col. iii. 10. “Renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” Eph. iv. 24. “The new man after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” 2 Cor. iii. 18. with Exod. xv. 11. Gen. v. 1 and ix. 6. Psal. xiii. 4, 5. “Man—thou hast made a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou modest him to have dominion over the works of the hands, thou hast put all things under his feet—all sheep, and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the held, the fowl of the air, and the its’ of the sea; and what—soever creeping thug passeth through the paths of the sea.” Gen. ii. 19, 20. and ix. 2. Job v. 23. Jer. xxvii. 6. Ver. 28. Prov. x. 22. “The blessing of the Lord maketh rich,” i. e. m. and happy. Psal. cxxviii. 1—4. “Blessed is every one that beasts the Lord, thou shalt eat the labour of thine hand—thy wife shall be as a fruitful, thy children like olive-plants round about thy table, many, heathful, and prosperous.” I Chron. xxvi. 4—8. O’rod-ethon had a large and large body, for God blessed him. And iv. 10. Job xlii. 12. Psal. xviii. 38. 22 and viii. 17 Ver. 29. Acts xvii. 25, 28. “He giveth all things.—In him we live, and “move, and have our being.” Psal. civ. 14, 15. “He causeth the grass to grow “for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring food out “of the earth—wine—and oil—and bread.” Psal. cxlv. 15, 16. “The eyes of “all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season.” And cxlvii. 9. “He giveth to the beast his food.” Prov. xxx. 8. Psal. cxi. 5. ii. 16. But it doth not appear that either men or animals would have eaten flesh during the state of innocency

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. I.—Stand still, my soul, and consider this wonderful work of God! O how his eternal power and Godhead shine forth in forming so vast, so well furnished worlds of creatures, rational and irrational, animate and inanimate! What infinite wisdom appears marked in the vast variety, the comely order, and the mutual subserviency, of all things to the good of one another, and to his glory! What goodness, in forming such multitudes of beings to partake of his bounty as their all in all! and especially towards man, in forming him after his own image, and in so preparing this lower world to be a commodious lodgment for him in his way to the mansions of light! Let me then, in all things, in heavens, in earth, in air, in sea, and in land; in grass, in herbs, in trees, in sun, in moon, in stars, in fishes, in fowls, in cattle and creeping things; in angels, and in man; behold the excellencies of my God! Let me enjoy God himself in all things, and all things in God! Let me use them all as his property, his product, and for his glory and honour! And, notwithstanding my nothingness, confusion, darkness, and deadness, let me hope that my all-creating God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, will fashion me, as an abridged world, into a monument of redeeming mercy, to the praise of the glory of his grace! Am I a Christian Philosopher? Let me, as I have access, contemplate the creatures of God, in their almost infinitely diversified natures, qualities, and uses!—LIGHT and CELESTIAL LUMINARIES, in their mysterious nature, extensive range, prodigious but duly proportioned distance, rapid motions, and powerful influences—AIR, fixed and unfixed, inflammable and uninflammable, in its fluidity, weight, elasticity, and usefulness for forming of wind, promoting of animal life, transmission of light, and the like—WATER, in its fluidity, plentiousness, dispersion, saltuess or freshness, penetration, and fitness for forming rains, dews, sea-productions; and for promoting trade and connections between nations—EARTH, stones, metals, moulds, in their adhesion, ductility, forms, colours, and uses—VEGETABLES, in their structure, growth, curious parts, almost infinitely diversified forms, colours, and uses—ANIMALS, in their curious parts, connected structure, mysterious life, and dependence on food; their motions in limits, fitness for preservation, and self-preservation, beautiful forms, melodious, awful, or plaintive sounds, exquisite and diversified smell and taste: and, along with these, the UNLIMITED DIVISIBILITY of matter, the LAWS of air, attraction, gravitation, electricity, magnetism, of muscular motion, and of nervous influences—RATIONAL SPIRITS, in their powers of thinking, willing, recollection, sociability, and union with bodies—as proofs of the existence and manifestations of the mysterious nature and manifold perfections of God, my God in Christ: of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things. Let me always consider his creatures as memorials of his creating, preserving, and ruling powers, and as means of delightfully and awfully impressing my heart with his presence, observation, and influence. Let me rejoice to view all creatures as formed and fitted for subserving and promoting God’s great and principal work of our redemption through Christ, and multitudes of them as instituted emblems of his persons, perfections, relations, and operations, as manifested in it. Let me by faith appropriate a particular new covenant-right to, and property in them all, in and through Christ, as my head and husband, as means of my present, and pledges of my future and everlasting enjoyment of God as my ALL IN ALL: as means of exciting and leading me habitually to think on, admire, adore, and live to his glory, while I remain here in his lower sanctuary on earth; and to be always mild and humble as a brother and sister to, and dependant on, the meanest animal, insect, or atom in it