In the beginning

Front matter

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT,

OR

Preface

The object that the author had in view in presenting this unassuming volume to i:he public, was to furnish a hand-book of information that would help bible students to a better understanding of the many questions connected with the antediluvian age. " That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." (i Cor. 2:5.)

The larger and more scholarly works along this line, are too critical for the average reader, and, generally speaking, are inaccessible to the great mass of readers.

The author has undertaken to supply the demand for a book that would meet the requirements of this class. With this object in view, he has gleaned the field of literature for information bearing on the various subjects contained in the book, and has gathered together the opinions of eminent scholars, and divines, from all parts of the world.

He has not confined his research to the writings of any particular denomination, but has garnered the opinions of the leading scholars of all denominations, being careful to eliminate everything that would tend to weaken the reader's belief in the inspiration of the sacred scriptures.

Where the opinions of scholars have been found to differ on the fundamental doctrines of the Christian churches, he has given the different opinions of the leading writers, and left the reader free to choose for himself which he prefers.

In the preparation of the book, the author has consulted more than a score of standard works on theology, bible dictionaries, commentaries, and devotional books of the early Christian fathers, beside a number of works, such as Moral Science, ancient history, scientific works and encyclopedia.

The author has written from a deep conviction of duty, and has fortified all his opinions by abundant scriptural reference to the sacred text.

He has tried to make the work reliable and authoritative. In the course of the work he has thought proper to add frequent quotations from eminent scholars, but has given credit to all authors whom he has quoted, so far as he knows to whom credit is due.

If any inaccuracies have inadvertently crept into the work, he Will gladly correct them if attention is called to such mistake.

Another feature of the work is its brevity. Many of the great truths that lie hidden in the text, have been merely pointed out to the reader. The intention being to draw che reader's attention to these precious truths, and let him study them out himself, thus teaching him to think.

The writer does not claim originality for much of the matter contained in the book. He has acted more in the capacity of a compiler, having gathered together the opinions of the leading writers on the various topics, using only enough of his own language to cement them together in an abridged form. yiii

With this explanation the writer sends it forth, trusting that God will bless the motive that prompted him to make the effort, and hopes that it will aid those who have not the time, nor the inclination, to study the more ponderous text-books on the subject, to a clearer and more comprehensive knowledge of the sacred scriptures.

James E. Howard.

ii

Chapter I

Use of Paragraphs— Beginning of Time — The Earth Without Form and Void — A State of Chaos — The Spirit of God — Let There Be Light — Day and Night Essential to all Life — The Firmament — Logical Order of the Creation — The Waters Above the Firmament — Prof. Totten's Theory — The Dry Land and Seas Established — Vegetable Matter Created — The Sun and Moon Set in the Heavens on the Fourth Day — Aeonic Days — Augustine — Dr. James Orr — Lower Order of Animal Life Created — Multiply and Replenish — The Sixth Day — Creatures of the Dry Land Created — Reproduction.

Chapter II

Let Us Make Man — The Blessed Trinity — Jesus Christ Perfect God and Perfect Man — Man a Creaation and a Formation — The Image and Likeness of God— Man's Dominion — Mystery of Reproduction — Scriptural Teaching — Physiology — Man's Food.

xi

Chapter III

Man Pronounced Good — God's Plan — The Six Days — Revelations of Geology — Hugh Miller — Allegory and Myth — What Moses Taught— Natural and Supernatural — The Miraculous — God's Power to Transcend the Natural — Cowper.

Chapter IV

Establishment of the Sabbath — Necessity for a Day of Rest — Scriptural Authority — Early Observance of the Sabbath — Jesus Censured for Healing On — Change from Seventh Day of Week to First — The Lord's Day — Ignatius and Others — Paul's Teaching 1 — Council of Laodicea — Punishment for Profaning — Our Duty Concerning.

Chapter V

" The Day the Lord God Made the Earth "—Generation of the Heavens and the Earth — Garden of Eden — Actual History, Allegory, or Myth — Why It Cannot Be Located — Man Forbidden to Eat of the Tree of Light and Knowledge — Penalty for Disobedience — Creation of Eve — The Marriage Re-

xii lation— Discrepancy in Order of Creation— Oral Traditions Inspired.

Chapter VI

The Speaking Serpent — The Serpent Capable of Such a Crime — Evidence that the Serpent Was Satan — Character and Origin of Satan — Hebrew Conception not Persian Mythology — Is Subordinate to Jesus Christ — His Character Fully Revealed in the Christian Era.

Chapter VII

Three Characters Connected With the Fall — Satan's Transgression was Deliberate — Satan Appears to Eve — Eve Sins, Then Adam — Their Eyes Opened — The Voice of God — Satan not Forbidden to Eat of the Fruit — The Call to Judgment — Did Satan Thwart the Purpose of God — Satan's Punishment.

Chapter VIII

The Woman's Sentence — The Sorrows and Suffering of Motherhood — Subject to Thy Husband — Includes Death Penalty — Prejudices of Ancient He-

xiii brews — Woman Redeems Herself and Her Posterity — Jesus Christ Solely the Seed of the Woman — Not Born According to the Natural Order of Humanity — The Sentence of Adam — The Toil and Sweat of Labor, and the Return of His Mortal Body to the Dust — Adam and Eve Equally Guilty.

Chapter IX

Sent Out of Eden — Estranged from God — Man Created Immortal — Became Subject to Death — Sin of Parents Transmitted in the Natural Order — All are Born Enemies of God — Why Man was Left Free to Choose Between Good and Evil.

Chapter X

Birth of Cain and Abel— Their Sacrifices— Cain Rejected — Nature of Sacrifices — God's Expostulation Enrages Cain— Cain Slays Abel— My Brother's Keeper — A Summary of the Law of Moses — Cain Cursed From the Earth — His Wife— Descendants of Cain— Lamech's Two Wives — Lamech's Sons Develope Mechanical Arts — The Increase of Sin in the Line of Cain— Iniquities of Fathers Visited on Children.

CHAPTER XL

The Generations of Adam — Historical Setting of Genesis — The Plan of Moses — The Patriarchs — Enos and Enoch — Longevity of Patriachs — Transmission of Oral Traditions — Life Shortened on Account of Sin — The Restraining Influence of Christianity.

Chapter XII

The Sons of God — Pastor Russell's Theory — Russellism Refuted — Dr. William Smith's Teaching — Sons of God the Descendants of Seth — The Story not a Myth — The Bible Account Inspired — Intellectual and Physical Giants to be Expected.

Chapter XIII

The Deluge an Act of God — Sent as a Punishment for Sin — Scriptural Proofs of the Deluge, Job. 22:15-16; Isa. 54:9; Heb. 11:7; I Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5; Matt. 24:37; Luke 17:26. Traditions of the Deluge — Von Humboldt — Lenormant — Scientific Proofs — Geology, Archaeology — Prof. L. T. Townsend — Discoveries of Dr. Lund in Brazil — Conclusions of Sir William Jones.

Chapter XIV

Date of the Deluge — Noah, the Chief Human Character — God's Grief and Repentance — Dr. Marcus Dodd's Explanation — The Wickedness and Violence of Mankind Due to the Intermarriage of the Sons of Seth to the Idolatrous Descendants of Cain — Only One Righteous Family Left — The Deluge not a Cruel Act — God's Long Suffering — Man Irredeemably Bad — God's Mercy in the Days of Noah — Prof. L. T. Townsend.

Chapter XV

Construction of the Ark— Dimensions of Ark in Feet and Inches Unknown — Objections to Size of Ark — The Ark Completed and Provisioned — The Flood — Dr. Joseph Parker's Description of Flood — Time Occupied by the Flood — Sending Forth of the Dove — Landing of the Ark — Noah's Sacrifice — God's Covenant with Noah— God Still Punishes Sin.

xvi or

THE FIRST AGE

Chapter I

" In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." (Gen. i : 1-2.)

Before beginning the study of the bible the student should remember, that each chapter of the sacred text is divided into a number of paragraphs, and that each paragraph treats of a different subject, or, at least, a different phase of the same subject, and that sometimes many years have elapsed, 1 between the incidents mentioned in one paragraph and that of the next.

If the reader will keep this in mind, it will help him to understand some of the statements of the bible, that have heretofore seemed most perplexing.

The first paragraph (that quoted above) does not fix the date of the creation of the heaven and the earth, it only describes the condition of the earth, before God exercised His creative genius, in preparing it for the reception and sustenance of the vegetable and animal life about to be created.

" In the beginning " refers to the beginning of time, not eternity. Eternity never had a beginning, but time had. Time is that measurable portion of duration which lies between the extremes of two eternities > — eternity before time was, and eternity 2 when time shall be no more — days, years, centuries, are terms used to measure portions of time, they measure no part of eternity. Eternity cannot be measured, neither can it be translated into terms capable of human conception.

It is true that " God created the heaven and the earth," but not at this time, at least, not during the six successive days, or gradations, mentioned here as the creation week.

If the reader will take the account of the creation day by day, he will learn just what God accomplished on each of the days, and he will find that the creation of the earth is not mentioned as being created on any of these days.

Our English translation of the bible, in describing the appearance of the earth at that time, says, " The earth was without form, and void/' That is to say, the earth (existed, but) was without form, and void, i.e., a shapeless, formless mass of matter, desolate and uninhabitable, until God reduced the elements to order, fixing their form and destiny. The words of the Hebrew Bible, " Then the earth had become waste and void," makes it still more plain. There is no doubt, but that, just such a condition as this followed the glacial floods, that scientists tell us overwhelmed the earth a short time before the advent of man.

The earth was unfit for the growth of vegetable matter, and unfit for sustaining the animal life that God was about to create. It was void of light, void of day and night, void of sun and moon to serve " as signs for seasons, and for days, and years," void 4 of every form of life, " and darkness was upon the face of the deep." That boundless, unimaginable, and indescribable darkness known as chaos. Such was the condition of the earth before " The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

" The spirit of God " ; — the essence, energy, genius, and intelligence of God; the third person in the Godhead; the creative Spirit of God, that brooded over the waters, fecundated, energized the chaotic mass, and caused it to bring forth according to the word of His power.

" And God said let there be light : and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.

And the evening and the morning were the first day" (Gen. 1:3-5).

The first step in the preparation of the earth for the growth of vegetable matter, so that it could sustain the animal life to be created later, was the separation of the light from the darkness, instituting day and night.

Light and darkness were both essential for the maintenance of life. Light was required for the growth and development of animal and vegetable life, as well as the development of the arts, and sciences. Man must have light to labor; but the continual glare of the light would soon destroy all animal and vegetable life. All nature requires a period of darkness. We need the darkness to shut out the glare of the sun, we need it for rest, we need it for forgetfulness. At night all nature is renewed for 6 the coming day. In fact, without both day and night, there could be no animal or vegetable life on the earth. And so God placed a line of demarcation, between the light and the darkness.

This settles the mooted question, Which existed first, day or night ? There was night before there was day, " The evening was and the morning was," constituting the first day.

" Let there be light," has been God's plan in a spiritual sense in all ages.

" And God said, let there be a firmament 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. 7

And the evening and the morning were the second day " (Gen. i : 6-8).

The second day's labor was the logical sequence of the first. In the first He separated the light from the darkness, and in the second He separated the waters which were under the firmament from those which were above.

A firmament is an expanse, or space. It is all that vast space which lies between the earth and the starry universe above.

" The waters which were above the firmament ", probably refers to the water contained in the atmosphere.

The height of the atmospheric belt which surrounds the earth, has been variously estimated at from fifty to two hundred miles. It is said to contain in the form of vapor enough water, if suddenly condensed, to 8 cover the whole earth to the tops of the highest mountains. This may have been the source of the water that was poured out of the flood-gates of heaven, at the time of the great deluge.

The theory of Professor Totten, is, that the earth once had a ring or rings composed of water, like that of Saturn, and that, they were brought in contact with the earth, in the time of the deluge.

The same logical order follows on the third day. In it God gathered the waters under the firmament into one place and caused the dry land to appear. " And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he seas " (Gen. i : 10).

The earth was now ready for the creation of the vegetable kingdom. " And God said, 9 let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth; and it was so. And the evening and the morning were the third day" (Gen. i : n-13).

The next paragraph, including the fourteenth to the twenty-eighth verses, brings us face to face with one of the profoundest mysteries of the creation. One-half of the time allotted to the creation — three days and three nights — have been consumed, and there has been no sun and moon created, and set in the firmament, " To give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, to serve as signs for seasons, and for days and years."

If the sun had not been created until the fourth day, from whence was the light for 10 the three previous days derived ? And what was the length of those days ? We may well ask as Augustine did, what kind of days these were that rolled their course, before the sun with its twenty-four hours of diurnal measurement was appointed to that end ?

Dr. James Orr of Scotland, thinks there is no lack of reverence for the word of God in substituting in thought, ceonic days — vast cosmic periods — for the shorter sun-measured days of our calendar.

Whether they were vast ceons of time, or ordinary days, we do not know. We only know that it was at this period in the creation, that God set the two great lights in the heaven. " The greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light 11 upon the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day 1 " (Gen. i : 14-28).

The earth was now able to support the lower order of animal life, and God proceeded to create them. Here the same natural order follows: The creation of the moving creatures of the sea, followed by the fowl of the air. " And God blessed them, saying, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea, and let the fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day" (Gen. 1 : 20-23 ) •

On the morning of the sixth day, there was light, heat, food, and everything necessary to sustain the creatures of the dry land. " And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth 12 after his kind; and God saw that it was good " (Gen. i : 25).

He also gave them the power to bring forth their own kind, to multiply and fill the earth, as he had previously given the vegetable kingdom, the creatures of the seas, and the fowls of the air.

Biologists have sought for ages to unravel the mystery of that inherent power that God gave all living matter, to reproduce their own species. By the aid of the microscope they have analyzed living matter and found that every form of life springs from a single cell — a mere mass of protoplasm with a germinal spot — but by what mysterious power it imparts life to its offspring, and brings forth its own kind, has baffled the curiosity of man, it is beyond the ken of man. All we know is that God willed it so, and beyond this we know nothing. 13

Jn The Beginning

Chapter II

" And God said, let us make man, in our own image, after our likeness ; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth " (Gen. 1 126).

The words " let us make man ", were probably spoken to the second and third Persons in the Godhead. True there is only one God, but in this one God there are three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. " In our image ", — the plural " our " would indicate that God consulted with others equal in power and 14 wisdom to Himself. In verse 27, we read " in the image of God " — the Triune God — " created he him ; male and female created he them ".

Jesus Christ, the Son, and Second Person, in the Blessed Trinity, is perfect God, and perfect man. " He is over all, God blessed forever " (Rom. 9:5). " He is God of the substance of the Father begotten before time; He is man of the substance of his mother, born in time " (Athanasian Creed).

In verse twenty-seven, we are told, " God created man in his own image ", and in verse seven, chapter two, we are told that " The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground ". There is a distinction between a creation and a formation. To create is to form out of nothing, to cause to come into existence. To form is to mold 15 into shape, or orderly arrangement, using material that already exists.

Man, therefore, is a creation, and a formation. He is a creation in the sense, that no other creature in the form of man, and the image of God, had ever existed before. He is a formation in the sense, that he was made out of material that already existed, i.e., the dust of the ground.

" In our image after our likeness ". Every one who will reflect on this subject must be convinced, that, inasmuch as God is infinitely beyond the range of human analogy, His image must also be beyond the grasp of our conception. How does man reflect the image and likeness of the creator? Not in the composition of his physical body. Man's body is earthly, and must return to dust again, while God is a spirit, and no part 16 of Him can ever perish. Neither can His image be obliterated by death.

Surely not in the principal attributes, omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence. Where then is the image and likeness of God to be found? The soul bears a striking resemblance to the immortality of God.

The spirit of God is reflected in the intellectual attainments of man, ever demanding new worlds to conquer, and in his victories over time and space. This spirit of knowledge and wisdom, is no other than the spirit of God. " In apprehension how like a God."

It is again seen in the gift of language, and in the political status of man. No other creature possesses either language or dominion. We see this likeness far more in our moral nature. With all the weaknesses that 17 are inseparable from fallen humanity there is still something of the Divine left. Something in man's heart that reflects a strange sympathy with the holiness and love of God. Although our moral natures are blighted and blurred by sin, there is still a dim consciousness that we were not only formed in His likeness, but formed to be like Him. Even though " we have this treasure in earthen vessels " (2 Cor. 4:7). This I think is because we are " partakers of the Divine nature ". But we should not restrict the bible statement, that man was created in the likeness and image of God to either man's spirit or to his body, it may refer to his united whole, including spiritual qualities, and bodily form. When we come to see God and to know Him as He is, it may be found that we resemble Him more fully than we suspect.

" And let them have dominion ". Man was the crowning glory of the creation, made in His image, the only creature endowed with dominion. To have dominion implies supreme authority, and the right of possession. How fully man has established his dominion, may be seen in what he has accomplished. He has searched the interior of the earth, and brought to the surface, gold, silver, precious stones, coal, iron, gas, oil and many other useful minerals. He has subjected the surface of the earth to his dominion. He has tunnelled the mountain, built railroads, and canals, and dammed back the seas, irrigated the deserts, and made them to " blossom like a rose ". He controls the planting and harvesting of 19 grain, and other useful plants. He has subjected the domestic animals to his use, and driven the wild beasts back from the habitation of man. By means of canals, he has united the seas, and by the use of steamships, has subjected the seas to his dominion and made them his servants. By the use of diving bells, and submarine boats, he has explored beneath the seas to some extent. He has extended his dominion to the air, which he has compressed and used to turn mills and machinery for mining and suchlike. By the use of wireless telegraphy, he sends messages thousands of miles. By the use of balloons and airships, he travels through the air with incredible speed, and rises to enormous heights.

Such is but an epitome of man's dominion. All this is within the rights of man. 20

" He was created to have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowls of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth ". Where does the dominion of man end, and the sovereignty of God begin? God is supreme over all. " I have made thee and thou art mine ".

" Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" (Gen. 1:28).

This is the first command that God gave to Adam and Eve, after He had made them and blessed them. These simple words are frought with the profoundest mystery of the creation. The power to reproduce their own species was given alike to all the animal and vegetable kingdoms. If we cannot understand the manner in which animal and vegetable life reproduces its own species, how much more mysterious is the propaga- 21 tion of the human species, endowed as it is with immortality. Who can tell in what manner the soul enters the body? Is the soul, as well as the body, begotten by the parents ? When does the human child .become a living soul, reflecting the image and likeness of the Creator?

Physiology teaches that just as soon as the male and female pronucleus unites life begins. Job says, " The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life" (Job 33:4). Moses says, " God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Let him who knows, answer.

" And God said, behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat " (Gen. i : 29).

Man in his pristine innocence, was permitted to eat of every herb and tree bearing seed, which was upon the earth, except the tree of light and knowledge. But after Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, and brought sickness and death on the human family, as well as light and knowledge, God cursed the ground for his sake, causing it to bring forth thorns and thistles. Many plants and trees, the fruit of which bears seed, are now poisonous to man, that were formerly fit for food. Man must now use the knowledge that he gained by eating of the tree of light and knowledge, to discriminate between the poisonous and the edible.

" And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good " (Gen.

1:31).

When God created man, He pronounced him very good, and that is the only way that he will ever be wholly acceptable to Him again. The fact that man is deathdoomed and imperfect as a result of his disobedience and sin, is no proof of a change in the Divine plan to have him very good. But the way back to human perfection is hard to find, and still harder to walk upon.

In view of the seemingly inaccessible heights of human perfection, and the dangers that lurk in our path at every stage of life's journey we may well ask, "If thou, Lord, mark iniquities, who shall stand ? " To the heart cry of every penitent soul this is the answer : " My grace is sufficient for thee." " Ask, and it shall be given you." 24

Why then need we faint or fear, now that we can ask and be sure of receiving, can seek and be sure of finding, can knock and be sure that the door will be opened unto us?

Chapter III

The first chapter of Genesis sets forth in detail the days in which certain parts of the creation were completed, allowing six days to complete the whole. Whether the six days mentioned here were days of twenty-four hours each, has long been a matter of dispute. When geology revealed the fact that the earth was of gradual formation, and was immensely older than the six thousand years, which the older bible chronology gave it, doubt and suspicion naturally arose as to the truth of the bible account. This seeming conflict between geology and the bible led many of the scientists to reject the bible entirely. If those men of 26 science who rejected it would have taken the pains to carefully and candidly study it, they would have found that it is in harmony with science. Hugh Miller, who was well acquainted with geology, and was also a firm believer in the inspiration of the bible, in his book " Footsteps of the Creator ", says, " It is truly wonderful how thoroughly in its general scope, the revealed pieces on to the geological record. By piecing the two records together, — that in the revealed scripture and that revealed in the rocks — records which, however geologists may mistake the one, or commentators misunderstand the other, have emanated from the same great Author; we learn that in slow and solemn majesty has period succeeded period, each in succession ushering in a higher and yet higher scene of existence, — 27 that fish, reptiles, mammiferous quadrupeds, have reigned in turn, — that responsible man, made in the image of God, and with dominion over all creatures, ultimately entered into a world ripened for his reception : but, farther, that this passing scene, in which he forms the prominent figure, is not the final one in the long series, but merely the last in the preliminary series : and that that period to which bygone ages, incalculable in amount, with all their well proportioned gradations of being, form the imposing vestibule, shall have perfection for its occupant, and eternity for its duration."