nnve fonncl II. be.sis for nil those fundamental principles of religion and morality which tho universal conscience of rn:m cannot but recognise. We trace distinctly tho lines of a Divine order, to which the nature of man, created aa he is in God's imago oncl liltonese, itself bears witness. But it is certain, not only from the ex- porienca of man in his fallen condition, but from considerations that would er1ually npply if sin had never entered the world, that, for the maintenance of the re- ligious life in mnn, more is required than nil these principles which may be inferred from his nntnre.1 relations to God and to the rest of mankind. The very charge com- mitted to man by hie Maker, of subduing the earth and exercising dominion therein, in fulfilling which man imitates the Creator so far as his limited powers enable him, would have itself interfered with the development of his spiritual life, even in his state of innocence, unless there had been some provision for the culture and sustenance of that life. Thie was made by the revelation of God as an example to man in hie rest- ing, as well as in his working. Of course it is not to be supposed that by the words, "God rested on the seventh day from all bis work that he bad made," the idea. is meant to be conveyed to our minds, either that God needed repose as we need it, or that with him "who inhabiteth eternity" there is succession of days and times. He is indeed in one sense.ever working,1 nnd in another ever resting. Dut during the six days of crea- tion hie work had gradually proceeded to its consummation, and a.II being now completed nnd set in order and pronounced to be very good, that exercise of the Divine Will and Reason which distinguished the operation of God's power in creating the heavens and the earth and nil that are therein, from his providential government of them, ceased.' The Genesis was accomplished; nature, which itself snbsists in God,-for in him nil things live nnd move and hnve their being,-and which is the effect of a series of causations which all centre in him,-had attained a determined form and order which bore the same relation to those that preceded as the newborn infant bears to the embryo. 'l'his is the first and most obvious meaning of the rest of God. It also seems, as Augustine suggests, 3 that God's resting from the. work of creation is intended to imply that these created things were not such as he could rest in. 4 However, the rest of God is not merely negative. In the Epistle to the Hehrews,s the apostle re- minds those who were familiar with the teaching of the Old Testament, that this rest of God, of which the law speaks ns succeeding to the work of creation, is the very rest promised to nil that believe, of which the rest of the Israelites in the land into which Joshua brought them was a figure, of which David speaks in the Psalms as yet in prospect, into which we must still labour to enler by faith in God's promises, for tlrn enjoyment of that rest 6 is reserved for the people of God when they shall have ceased from their earthly labours; From this argument of the apostle we must con- clude that the seventh day of God's rest, which followed the six days of his work of creation, is not yet completed. It must be noticed indeed that after the mention of lhe seventh day the words do not recur, which nre used of all the preceding days, and which, whatever be their exact meaning, imply that each had its beginning and its close. 'l'his rest of God, therefore, while it precludes the continued exercise of
1 John v. I 7 ; cf. Isa. xl. 28. 2 ~f. Thom. Aq. 'Summro Prim. Qurest.' LXXIII. iii.: "Diccndum quod requics Dei in dio scpllmu duplicitcr accipitur: primo quidem quantum ad hoe quod cessavit o. novis opcrib·19 condendis ; ita tamen quod crenturam conditum couservat et administrat. Alia modo sccunu.um quotl post opera requicvit in scipso." • 'Do Gen~si acl Litomm,' IV. xv. ' Cf. tho beautiful idel\ in Zoph. iii. 17, "He ,vill rest in his love.'' But the word there fa not shabath, rest from labour, but charash, be at pence or silent. ~ Chap. iii. 11 to iv. ll. ' O'a,Gpar<<Tµ.o,;. J( IN'l'RODUCJ'r!ON TO 'l'HE Pl•)NTA'l'Irncn.