of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth."-Ps. xxxiii. 6. "In the beginning was the Word, 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."-John i. 1, 3. This Word, the Divine Truth, the inmost power of the universe, flowing from the inmost love of Deity in Him, is one, and is meant by the singular El Elyon, the Most High God. But as it forms the heavens, and acts through them, as it creates the earths, and makes them the footstools of its glorious energies, it becomes innumerable powers, and is expressed by the term Elohim. All the heavenly influences flowing from the Divine Truth are powers, Elohim. When heaven became peopled with inhabitants, the angels, so far as they were receptive of the divine influences, became subordinate, Elohim. In the 82nd Psalm it is written, "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty (literally of God, El, singular); he judgeth among the gods" (Elohim), v. 1. "I have said ye are gods (Elohim); and all of you are children of the most High," v. 6. Our blessed Lord, in alluding to this passage, said, "Is it not written in your law, Ye are gods? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came."-John x. 35. Thus, then, all in heaven and on earth who partake of the power of divine truth, become in a subordinate sense Elohim or gods; and it is to shew that all the powers of heaven and earth are, under the Highest, instruments of forming man, of raising human beings up to the character implied in that exalted appellation-man. "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation ?"-Heb. i. 14. Even the powers within one human being, are sometimes called Elohim. "I will make thee an Elohim, a god to Pharaoh," was said to Moses, Ex. vii. 1.

We need not, therefore, wonder at the use of the plural form Elohim, or the pronouns us and our, in relation to the image and likeness of God, but rather adore that Infinite Goodness which works in all things, heavenly and earthly, angelic and human, intellectual and physical, to produce that godlike result, a true and real man. "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." The Lord, the only Divine Person, Himself, however, is the real prime mover of all the operations of creation, natural and spiritual. Isaiah says, "Thus saith the Lord (Jehovah, singular), thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am Jehovah that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens ALONE; that spreadeth abroad the earth BY MYSELF."-Isa. xliv. 24. And in the verse following

our text it is written, "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created HIE him; male and female created HE them." He employs others, to give them the happiness of co-working with Him. He needs us not, but we need the holy employment of being instruments in His hands, of working out His divine designs of love and mercy, and therefore He says, "Let us make man."

But what is man? The ready answer of the inconsiderate would be, a person in human shape. Our Lord did not judge so, when speaking concerning Herod, he said, "Go, tell that fox, to-day and to-morrow I do cures, and cast out devils, and the third day I shall be perfected." Herod displayed the cunning which makes the peculiar life of the fox, and the blessed Saviour called him by that name.

Animals have no moral sense,-they obey their instincts. No conscience can be formed in them, for this involves knowledge, judgment, decision, choice, and inward determination, to carry out the right. The moral adoption of what is good and true, constitutes true manliness. The more goodness and truth a person adopts, the more is he a man. Infinite goodness and infinite truth form the one perfect divine man, the Lord Jesus Christ; and we become His image as we receive from Him these essentials of manhood.

"Run ye, to and fro, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it."-Jer. v. 1. Here is the divine definition of a man. He executeth judgment. He is aware he has a rational faculty, and he uses it. Undeterred by fashion or by folly, he judges for himself. He cares little for the decisions of counsels, or for creeds, except as making him acquainted with what other men have thought. He has faith in God, who gave him the powers of judgment, and who, he feels assured, expects him to use them. He has faith in the truth which God thus enables him to see, and the good to which it leads; and he is daily and fearlessly executing judgment, and doing the truth. This is a man. This will be an angel. He loves the truth above his prejudices, above his passions. He loves it, as the Lord loves it, freely. He is the image of God. He is a child of the light. He follows the light he rejoices in it. The Saviour calls him his friend. "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command ye."-John xv. 14. A true man asks only, in the requirements of duty, What has the Saviour commanded? for what he commands must be the highest truth. What does the truth teach?

and what he sees to be true, this he does. God is his law, and his example. His whole aim is to be an image of God. To raise man up to this state of true dignity and real freedom, is what is placed before us as the object of the Deity, expressed in the sublime words of our text, "Let us make man.' In all the days which precede this, man acts under some sense of restraint or fear; now he is to be raised to perfect freedom. "The truth shall make you free."-John viii. 32. To see the subject in its true and real character, we must think of it, not so much as so many spoken words, uttered at a particular time, as the expression and purpose of God at all times. He is for ever saying, "Let us make man." To the angels, when he appoints them to watch over the infant spirit, and to lay therein those sweet remnants of holy goodness which form the foundation of heaven, in the soul, he says, "Let us make man."

To parents, when the young immortal is received as a gift from him, when the father admiringly regards the babe peacefully resting on its happy mother's lap, and dreams, perhaps, of possible wealth and greatness, the spirit of our Father in heaven whispers, "Let us make man." So to teachers, so to friends, so to all society; all are intended to assist in this glorious work, to produce and train beings to become images of their Maker: "Let us make man."

For this, heaven and earth have been formed and are sustained; heaven with its excellencies, and earth with its glories, are both impelled to carry out this exhortation of the Divine Creator, "Let us make man."

"Let them have dominion, continues the divine speaker, 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."

He who has arrived at the liberty of the children of God; who, made free by truth, is free indeed, has dominion over all the lower principles of his mind, marshalled here before us by the various orders of animals. He goes to the sea of knowledge, and there presses into his service such principles of science as he can make truly serviceable in his life and conduct. “The kingdom of heaven, with him, is like unto a net."-Matt. xiii. 47. He casts his net on the right side of the ship, by his Saviour's command, and he gathers the good into vessels. He takes care to rule his science and make it subservient to religion. He does not become, like Pharoah of old, absorbed by it, so as to become a mass of scientific vanity, and nothing else. The prophet called Pharoah a "whale in his seas."-Ezek. xxxii. 2. "A great

dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, my river is my own, and I have made it for myself." The spiritual man has dominion over his fish. However numerous they may be, they must all move in the order of divine truth. แ They swim in the river of God."-Ezek. xlvii. 10.

"The

He has dominion, also, over the fowls of the air. kingdom of God, with him, once like a grain of mustard-seed, has grown up, and become a greater than all herbs, and shot forth great branches, so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it."-Mark iv. 32. Or, in other words, his thoughts, however high they may soar, however wide and far they may fly, will go only to seek for higher illumination, and greater power for good. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; shall mount up with wings as eagles: they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint."-Isaiah xl. 31.

"When

Cattle are the symbols of the affections of the heart. these are dedicated to the Lord, they are sheep which follow the good shepherd who goes before them, and whose voice they know."-John x. 4.

A spiritual man has dominion over his cattle, and over all the earth; over his whole natural mind. The sceptre of heavenly order rules all within him, even his creeping things, his lowest appetites. "Whether he eats, or whether he drinks, he does all to the glory of God."-1 Cor. x. 31.

Such, my beloved hearers, let us become. How solemn and how inspiring is the thought, when we assemble together, to open our hearts for the divine influences, to mingle our prayers and praises together; to hear the Divine Word: the innumerable company of angels is with us, to sympathize with us, to aid us, and to rejoice with us. The God of angels himself has deigned to assure us that he, too, is there. O let us seek to rise above all earthly cares, into the atmosphere of these holy beings. Let us attend to the sacred suggestions they make. Let us cooperate with their inward breathings. Let us listen to the voice which is uttered from the eternal Father in the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and descends through all these shining ranks until it whispers in our inmost consciences-and this will be the spirit of all its utterances,- "Let us make man." Let us co-operate with the sacred impulse, and strive at all times to execute judgment and do the truth; so shall we become true men upon earth and angels in heaven.

SERMON II.

THE GARDEN OF EDEN-ITS TREES AND

FOUNTAIN.

"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 Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads."—Gen. ii. 8-10.

THE outer creation is a sublime symbol of the inner one. Matter is the outbirth and covering of spirit, and therefore corresponds to it. The universe on a grand scale is in all respects similar to the smaller world in man. These truths we have endeavoured to illustrate in the Discourse on the Days of Creation, and trust it has been seen that they afford the key to solve the difficulties in the Mosaic account of creation, which under any other view have hitherto been found so stubborn. Nothing can be conceived grander than this rule. All things of nature are the words of its dictionary. The rules of its grammar are the laws of the universe. All the scenery of our beautiful world, and all the movements which give endless variety to the grand theatre of life, are its illustrations. The sun, the moon, the stars, the air, the clouds, the vineyards, gardens, fields, and wilds of our green. carpeted earth, are the letters in this wonderful book. Through these, God's Divine Wisdom is ever teaching the wise who know how to read His lessons. And the fact which we hope to demonstrate, as we proceed to open the Divine Word by this law, that the Bible and nature are unfolded by the same rule, leads the thoughtful mind gently, but firmly and irresistibly, to the conviction that the Bible and nature are equally divine, being the work of the same Divine Hand.

We have already observed that the relation of things seen to things unseen, was well understood by the men of early times.

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