The Theology of Creation (I)

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. — Gen. i. 4,

Man naturally asks for some account of the world in which lie lives. Was the world always in existence? If not always in existence how did it begin to be? Did the sun make itself? These are not presumptuous questions. We have a right to ask them — the right which arises from our intelligence, and justifies our progress in knowledge. The steam-engine did not make itself, did the sun? JJiveiling -houses did not make themselves, did the stars? The childs coat did not make itself, did the childs soul? If it is legiti. mate to reason from the known to the unknown, and to establish an a fortiori argument in relation to common phenomena, why not also legitimate in reference to the higher subjects which are within the province of reason? At present we wish to know how the heavens and the earth came into existence and we find in the text an answer which is simple J sublime J and sufficient, and is therefore likely to be right,

I. The answer is Simple. There is no attempt at learned analysis or elaborate exposition. A child may understand the answer. It is direct,, positive, complete. Could it have been more simple? Try any other form of words, and see if a purer simplicity be possible. Observe the value of simplicity when regarded as bearing upon the grandest events. The question is not who made a house, but who made a world, and not who made one world, but who made all worlds; and to this question the answer is, God made them. There is great risk in returning a simple

‘answer to a profound inquiry, because when simplicity is not the last result of knowledge, it is mere imbecility.

II. The answer is Sublime. God! God created! {) Sublime, because far-reaching in point of time: in the beginning! Science would have attempted a fact. Religion has given a truth. If any inquirer can fix a date, he is not forbidden to do so. Dates are for children. (2) Sublime because connecting the material with the spiritual. There is, then, something more than dust in the universe. Behind all shapes there is a living image. Every atom bears a superscription. It is something surely to have the name of Godb associated with all things great and small that are around us. Nature thus becomes a materialised thought. The wind is the breath of God. The thunder is a note from the music of His speech. (3) Sublime, because evidently revealing, as nothing else could have done, the ]pov)er and wisdom of the Most High. All these things were created; they were called into existence, and therefore must be less than God, who so called them j and if lesSj how great must their Creator be! We justly infer the greatness of the artist from the greatness of his ])ictures. Judge God by the same standard.

III. The answer is Sufficient. It might have been both simple and sublime, and yet not have reached the point of adequacy. Draw a straight line, and you may describe it as simple, yet who would think of calling it sublime? Look at the rising sun pouring floods of light upon the dewy landscape: it is undoubtedly sublime, but is it credible that the landscape was created by the sun? We must have simplicity which reaches the point of sublimity, and sublimity which sufficiently covers every demand of the case. The sufficiency of the answer is manifest: Time is a drop of Eternity; Nature is the handiwork of God; Matter is the creation of Mind; God is over all blessed for evermore! This is enough. In proportion as we exclude God from the operation we increase difficulty. Atheism never simplifies. Negation works in darkness.

The answer of the text to the problem of creation is simple sub lime J and sufficient j in relation — (1) To the inductions of Geology. Assume that the heavens and the earth have existed for ages which arithmetic cannot number, what then? It was in the beginning that Gods work was done! {2) To the theory of Evolution. Assume that in some time incalculably past there was but the minutest gernij what then? Who created the germ? If man cannot create an oak, can he create an acorn?

There are some practical inferences suggested by these reflections.

First: If God created all things then all things are under His government. This assurance should give rest and hope to the religious inquirer. Be right with the Creator, and thou hast nothing to fear from creation.

Second: If God created the heavens and the earth, then the heavens and the earth may be studied religiously. Science need not be atheistic. Scientific inquiry will be most successful when most religious.

This is reasonable. Know the writer if you would really know his works. Know the Creator if you would profoundly and accurately know creation. The highest study is spiritual. We may know Nature and yet know nothing of God. The tailor knows my figure does he therefore know my soul?

Third: If God created all things then it is reasonable that he should talie an interest in the things which he created. Analogy suggests this. Scripture confirms it. “He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man.^^ “He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.^^” He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: He toucheth the hills and they smoke.’’^

What has been said of Creation may be said in a still loftier sense of Redemption. The answer of God to the sin of the world is simple, sublime, sufiicient. ^’ God so loved the world,^^ etc. This shows the unity of the works of God. All created things are made to be the ministers of man. For man the sun shines, the rain falls, the seasons revolve. ‘^ If God so clothe the grass of the field,^^ etc.