HOMILETICS. Ver. 1.-T/i,e t•isiUe tniive;·se. I. O~r., yet NOT srnru:. t. One. In age orig-in and n~ture on~, "the hea,·ens and the earth" also constitute one vast ~ysten/ ~oh_ermg phys1cnlly ~hrougb the f~r.ce of graYitation, which, in its ultimate nnnlysis, 1s s1T?ply R!1 express1~n of the D1_v1,ne P?Wer, they are unified spiritunlly by Christ, who 1s the 1mp~rso!1at1on of the D1vme wisdom and love (John i. 3, 9; Col. i. 15, 17). !lence, :15 consti~tm11; one stupendous _system, ~h~y are not inrlcpendent, but mutually mflnentrnl--ph,ysi.ca[~!,' nccordmg to _science, spiritually according to Scripture (Luke X\'. ?, _10; Ephes. m. 10; 1. Pet. 1. 12, &c.). Y_et--;--2, !fot ~mple, but complex, cons1stmg of two parts-of 1lns mundane sphere, with its d1vers1fied contents of men animals, and plants; and of those shining heavens, with their starry hosts and angeli~ races. Hence the histories of those two realms may be widely divergent-an infer- ence wliich astronomy warrants as to their physical developments 1 and revelation endorsc-s with regard to their spiritual experienc-es. Hence to arguo from the one to the other is to reason hypothetically; as, e. g., to conclude that the planets must be inhabited because the cnrth is, or to affirm that the Divine treatment of the human and angelic races must of necessity he alike. II. VAST, yet NOT mFmITE. 1. Va.st. Enlarged as were Shemitic notions of the dimensions of God's universe, modem astronomy, hy the grandeur and sublimity of its rcYelations, gives definite shape to what were then only vague and shadowy eonceptions. Imagination becomes bewildered in the attempt to comprehend the circle of the universe. Commencing with the sun, the central body of our planetary system, with a diameter about three times our distance from the moon, and passing, on her outward journey, no fewer than seven worlds in addition to our own, most of them immensely larger, she only reaches the outskirts of the first department of creation at a distance of 2,853,800,000 miles. Then, when to this is added that the ll('arest fixed star is so remote that three years are required for its light to reach the earth ; that from some of the more distant nebulre the light has been travelling for millions of years; that the number of the stars is practically infinite; and that each of them may be the centre of a system more resplendent tl1an onr own,-even ihen it is but a faint conception wl,icb she reaches of the dimensions of the universe (Job =Yi. 14). Yet-2. It is not infinite. Immeasurable by man, it has already been measured by God (Isa. xl. 12). Undiscoverable by science, its limits are known to its Creator (Acts xv. 18). The stars which man is unable to compute God calls by their names (Pa. cxlvii. 4; Isa. xl. 26). That the universe must have a boundary is inYol,ed in its creation. Two finites cannot make an infinite. Hence the 11U?a.sure,d earth (IIab. iii. 6) and the b01tnded heavens (Job xxii. 14) cannot compose an illimitable universe. Still less can there be h.;•o infinites, one filling all space, and another outside of it. But Elobim is such an infinite (Isa. lvii. 15; Jer. xxiii. 24) ; hence the universe is not sucl1 another. III. OLD, yet NOT E'fERNAL. 1. Old. How old God has not revealed and man l,qs not discovered ; geology and astronomy both say millions of years; one hundred millions at least, Sir W. Thomson alleges the sun to have been burning. Genesis gives ample scope to physicists in their researches by saying they may go as for back as "the beginning; " only that beginning they must find. For - 2. '.fhe universe is not eternal, though its antiquity be vast. The frequency and certamty with which Scripture enunciates the non-eternity of the material universe is one of its most distinguishing characteristics (Ps. xe. 1 ; cii. 25, 2G; IIeb. i. 10). This may also now be regarded as the laBt word of Bcience: "We have tl111s reached the L.-ginning es well as the end of the present visible universe, and have come to the conclusion that it began in time, and will in time come to an end" (' '!'he Unseen Universe,' p. 93). IV. RxrnTE~T, yet NOT SELF-EXISTENT. 1. Existent; i. e. standing out ne an enti1y in ibe i!dinite realm of space; standing out from eternity in the sphere of Cll.1. 1,2.] 'l'IIJ~ BOOK OF GENESIS. 7
time; and nlso standing out from God, as essentially distinct from hiH pr,nonality. Yet--2. Not self-existent, not standing there in virtue of its own inherent energy, Leing neither self-produced nor Relf-sustained; but standing solely anrl alwc1.ys in obedience to tho creative fiat of Elohim, the almighty and self-existent God. Ver. 2.-Cliaos an emblem of the unrenm,ed soul. I. W1-rnouT onnEn: exiHting in a state of spiritual ruin, and requiring a special process of rearrangement to evolve symmetry and beauty from its confusion (2 Cor. v. 16). II. WITHOUT LIFE: being dead in trespasses and sins (Ephes. ii. 1); absolntely 11 void" in the sense of being untenanted by lofty thoughts, pure emotions, holy ,·olitions, spiritual imaginations, such as are the inmates of sinless and, in great part also, of renewed souls. III. WITHOUT LIGHT: shrouded in darkness (Ephes. iv. 18); walking, perhaps, in the sparks that its own fire has kindled (Isa. 1. 11 ), but devoid of that tme light which is from heaven (John i. 9). IV. Yet NOT WITHOUT Goo. As the Spirit brooded over chaos, so does God's Holy Spirit hover over fallen souls, waiting, RB it were, for the forthcoming and insonnding of the commanding word to introduce light, order, life.