Leading Homily.

GOD AS THE CREATOR OF MAN.

IF I SHOULD

"FOR THOU HAST POSSESSED MY REINS: THOU HAST COVERED ME IN MY MOTHER'S WOMB. 1 WILL PRAISE THEE; FOR I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE: MARVELLOUS ARE THY WORKS; AND THAT MY SOUL KNOWETH RIGHT WELL. MY SUBSTANCE WAS NOT HID FROM THEE, WHEN I WAS MADE IN SECRET, AND CURIOUSLY WROUGHT IN THE LOWEST PARTS OF THE EARTH. THINE EYES DID SEE MY SUBSTANCE, YET BEING UNPERFECT; AND IN THY BOOK ALL MY MEMBERS WERE WRITTEN, WHICH IN CONTINUANCE WERE FASHIONED, WHEN AS YET THERE WAS NONE OF THEM. HOW PRECIOUS ALSO ARE THY THOUGHTS UNTO ME, O GOD! HOW GREAT IS THE SUM OF THEM! COUNT THEM, THEY ARE MORE IN NUMBER THAN THE SAND: WHEN I AWAKE, I AM STILL WITH THEE."-Ps. cxxxix. 13-18. ANNOTATIONS:-Ver. 13 to 18. "Thou hast possessed my reins," &c. The translation of Delitzsch will preclude the necessity of any expository remarks. “For Thou hast brought forth my reins, Thou didst interweave me in my mother's womb. I give Thee thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made.. Wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knoweth it right well. My bones are not hidden from Thee, I who was wrought in

HOMILETICS :-The words

secret, curiously wrought in the depths of the earth. When an embryo, Thine eyes saw me, and in Thy book were they all written days which were already sketched out, and for it one among them. And how precious are Thy thoughts unto me O God; how mighty is their sum! If I would count them, they are more than the sand; I awake, and I am still with Thee."

present to us God as the

Creator of man, and four remarks are here suggested concerning this creative act

VOL: L. No. 5.

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I. He created man, who Is A WONDER TO MAN'S SELF. "For Thou hast possessed my reins, Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made," &c. Both the physiologist and the psychologist will endorse the utterance of this poet. Man is "wonderful" in body and wonderful in mind, a microcosm, an epitome of the universe. Carlyle says, "The essence of our being, the mystery in us that calls itself 'I,' ah, what words can we have for such things?-is a breath of heaven. The Highest Being reveals Himself in man. This body, these faculties, this life of ours is it not all as a vesture for the Unnamed?" "There is but one temple in the universe," says devout Novalis, "and that is the body of man. Nothing is holier than the human form. Bending before man is a reverence done to this revelation in the flesh. We touch heaven when we lay our hand on a human body! This sounds much like a mere flourish of rhectoric: but it is not so. If well meditated, it will turn out to be a scientific fact: the expression in such words as can be had of the actual truth of the thing. We are the miracle of miraclesthe great inscrutable mystery of God. We cannot understand it. We know not how to speak of it: but we may feel and know if we like that it is verily so." Our great dramatist also felt the wonderfulness of human nature. "What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel: in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world-the paragon of animals! yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust ?"

And

II. He created man who COMES BY THE PROCESS OF EVOLU

TION. "My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect." The doctrine of evolution is not an atheistic doctrine. The oak is not less a Divine creation because it came out of the acorn, nor the acorn a less Divine production because it is composed of various substances of the earth: and man is not less the creation of God because he came by a process of evolution. "If any one should object to," says Dr. Draper, "or deride the doctrine of the evolution, or successive development of the animated forms which constitute that unbroken organic chain reaching from the beginning of life on the globe to the present times, let him reflect that he has himself passed through modifications the counterpart of those he disputes. For nine months his type of life was aquatic, and during that time he assumed in succession many distinct but correlated forms. At birth his type of life became aërial: he began respiring the atmospheric air: new elements of food were supplied to him: the mode of his nutrition changed, but as yet he could see nothing, hear nothing, notice nothing. By degrees, conscious existence was assumed; he became aware that there is an external world. In due time, organs

adapted to another change of food, the teeth, appeared, and a change ensued. He then passed through the stages of childhood and youth, his bodily form developing, and with it his intellectual powers. At about fifteen years, in consequence of the evolution which special parts of his system had attained, his moral character changed. New ideas, new passions, influenced him. And that, that was the cause, and this

the effect is demonstrated, when by the skill of the surgeon, these parts have been interfered with. Nor does the development, the metamorphosis end here: it requires many years for the body to reach its full perfection, many years for the mind. A culmination is at length reached, and then there is a decline.'

III. He created man who APPEARS BY A DIVINE PLAN—
"In Thy book all my members were written,
Which in continuance were fashioned,
When as yet there was none of them."

In all God works by plan, not by impulse or caprice, but by settled methods. He has His "ways" of doing things. Everything in the universe, from the smallest to the largest, is constructed on a fixed and unalterable type. In truth, the whole creation existed in His mind in architype, millions of years before it took its present form. "In Thy book," metaphorically, God is represented as having written a "book," it is the book of an architect, full of plans. There are the plans of worlds and systems that have been and are no more. The plans of all that now exist, and the plans of all that are yet to appear. First Because God works by method, we should study all His works as revelations of Himself. Secondly: Conformity to His methods should be the supreme aim of all our activities. Whatever we do out of keeping with His plans will come to rain, and involve us in distress. Houses that are built not in conformity with the law of gravitation must fall to pieces sooner or later, they are like the house upon the sand.

IV. He created man, who IS CAPABLE OF APPRECIATING HIS THOUGHTS.

"How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

If I should count them,

They are more in number than the sand:

When I awake I am still with Thee."

The most precious thing in the universe is thought. It is the seed of character, and the soul of history. Some human thoughts are more precious than others. The thoughts of a few great men are more valuable than the thoughts of a whole generation of ordinary men. The thoughts of God are infinitely more precious than the thoughts of the loftiest created intelligences. They are the roots and architypes of the universe. It would appear that the author of the text in referring to God's plan, that is, the "book in which the members were written," in written," in creating, man was reminded of God's thoughts; in fact, saw in the plan some of God's thoughts. God's thoughts are indeed absolutely "precious." They are original, all comprehensive without succession, infinitely infinitely beneficent, immutable, and essentially holy.*

Soul Growth.

"FOR WHICH CAUSE WE FAINT NOT," &c.-2 Cor. iv. 16.

Observe at the outset, (1) Man has a duality of nature, the "outward" and the "inward;" the latter the man of the man. (2) The decayableness of one of the natures. "Our outward man perish." This is constantly going on. (3) The constant growth of the inner nature. "The inward man is renewed day by day.' Soul growth implies three things-I. Soul LIFE. Dead plants and dead animals can no more grow than stones. The inner man unrenewed is morally dead: its life consists in supreme sympathy with the supremely good. Soul growth implies-II. Soul NOURISHMENT. No life can live upon itself. The appropriation of outward elements is essential to sustentation and growth. Moral and spiritual truths are the nutriment of souls. Soul growth impliesIII. Soul EXERCISE. All life seems to require exercise. Even the productions of the vegetable world cannot grow without it, though they cannot move themselves, they are moved by the breezes of heaven. Animal life requires it, and the soul must have it in order to grow. It must "exercise itself unto godliness." They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." †

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*See "Homilist," Vol. xlvi., page 254.

† See "Homilist," Vol. viii., page 296.