On the Formation of the Union of the Congregations of
Israelites In The United States.
(Exposition of the Divine Plan for the Government of
Man, Continued.)
Genesis.
What must have been his sensations on learning that
the sole object of these labours and cares was the unbounded and universal
diffusion of happiness throughout the creation! What the sense of his own
exalted position when commanded to subdue the earth, and informed that
dominion was given him over every living thing that moveth upon it! How
strongly impressed, by the display of so much wisdom and beneficence
around him, that his being invested in such powers implied, that it
behooved him, in imitation of his Maker, to use them for benevolent
purposes only, towards the creatures under him, and more especially
towards his own species! The lesson, thus given, being evidently intended
not for the first man exclusively but for his descendants likewise.
The description just given of the first man’s
education, is no fanciful hypothesis, for it is strictly conformable to
scriptural authority, as may be seen by referring to the first and second
chapters of Genesis, from which the following specially corroborative
passages are extracted. “And God said, Let us make man in our 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,
<<135>>and
over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man
in his own image, in the image of God, created he him; male and female
created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have
dominion over the fish of the, sea and over the fowl of the air, and over
every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 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 the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed;
to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every
fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein
there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.”*
“And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden;
and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made
the the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good
for food. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the
field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what
he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that
was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl
of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not
found an helpmeet for him.Ӡ
At this stage we pause, to consider the nature and
extent of the instruction received by the first man, and both will be
better understood by calling to mind the divine attributes, which may, not
improperly, be divided into essential or inherent, and contingent
attributes. To the former belong the attributes eternal, increate,
self-existent, incorporeal, perfect, and unparalleled unity, ubiquity,
free will, holiness, omnipotent, omniscient, prescient, and others of this
class: among the latter, justice, righteousness, beneficence, loving
kindness, and mercy.
It may be affirmed without fear of contradiction,
that without laws there can be no order—that the universe itself could not
exist one moment, were it not that there has nothing been created which is
not subjected to laws.
This proposition is in nothing so clearly
demonstrated as in the Creator, who has imposed laws on all things, having
instituted laws for himself, such as have been classed as contingent
attributes, and properly so termed; because, unless it had pleased God to
create beings upon whom and for whom they are continually operating, there
would have been no object or motive for those attributes.
The more its details are examined, the more beautiful
does the divine economy for the government of the creation appear. Could a
Being, such as the humblest intellect can now conceive of, since a more
correct knowledge of Him has happily become so general, could He, without
laying down for himself rules, or laws, for beneficially governing them,
<<136>>have called into existence beings that, through the very wisdom and
beneficence that presided over their creation, are all, necessarily,
subjected to many physical and moral evils—subjected to them by Him who
has declared “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God
beside me.—That they may know from time rising of the sun, and from the
west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I the
Lord do all these things?”*
A just God who has declared this could not omit, nor
has He omitted, to provide just laws or rules for himself; for, if man’s
nature is to be liable to err, is there not the attribute of mercy to
forgive and receive him again into favour? And does he not experience the
attribute of justice, in having been carefully instructed to avoid evil
and choose good? May not even his faculty to err be a manifestation of the
attribute of beneficence, in order to render it necessary for him to have
constant recourse to his Maker, and thence imbibe those living truths
which exalt his nature here and fit him to enter the kingdom of heaven?
If among the creatures below man some prey upon
others, is it not that all might live and partake of the enjoyments and
pleasures allowed to each? If there is pain and sorrow, surely there is
pleasure and happiness, the latter in far greater measure than the former.
Shall we, then, dare to question the motives of Him
whose justice is manifested, by his having impartially mingled a few drops
of that we deem evil, in each and every cup of existence overflowing with
his bounties?
The Creator’s care is over all his works: had it been
exclusively bestowed on a part, it is clear the rest must have been
condemned to unmitigated misery. If some pain and suffering have been
distributed to all, do not the divine justice and righteousness shine
forth in the discovery that ample compensation has been provided, through
innumerable bounties likewise conferred on all’?
The nature and purports of the instruction received
by the first man, will now be better perceived and understood.
By having had the works of the creation unfolded and
explained to him, he would become acquainted with both the contingent and
essential divine attributes; thence the sublime abstract truths and
righteous principles, connected with the attributes, would be thrown into
his mind, fitting him properly to perform on earth the part assigned him
<<137>>in being made in the likeness of his Maker, and in having dominion given
him over all other living things.
We can imagine none but the most thrilling emotions
in his breast from this kind of instruction, and that its natural effects
would be the creating in him intense love towards his divine Benefactor,
implicit faith in his wisdom and justice, and a consequently becoming fear
lest he should offend Him—the three great elements of that pure and
rational religion which, as was originally intended, will eventually be
that of the whole human race.
The purpose of impressing these primary elements of
religion on the human mind was, undoubtedly, to dispose man to obey
unreservedly whatever the beneficent author of his being might command.
The extent of the instruction he received, up to that
stage, had been confined to the instilling of abstract truths and
principles, and exhibiting their effects on the creation; but, the race of
man being destined for the social state, the complex interests and
relations of that state required an infinity of rules for conduct, and for
rendering man’s lot here on earth that which his Creator designed it
should be, a foretaste of heavenly happiness.
Preparatory to a fuller and appropriate instruction
being given, the obedience of the first pair, as the fruit of their
education, was put to the test by the command to the man: “Of every tree
of the garden thou mayest freely [eat] it; but of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,”*—in the Hebrew, dying thou
shalt die—a very important point to be attended to.
It will be our melancholy task to comment, in our
next, on the deplorable record of man’s first act of disobedience.
A. A. Lindo
Cincinnati, February, 5609.
(To be
Continued.) |
