to piety.-For, "He withdraweth not His eyes from the righteous.' He careth for them. He is their everpresent Helper. 5. God's providence should be remembered.-Children should never forget Him who is about their bed, and about their path, and who spieth out all their ways. 6. God should be praised for His providence. See Ps. cxlv. 21; cxlvii. 1, 12. To praise Him is at once "good" and "pleasant." If it were pleasant, but not good, we should have nothing to do with it; had it been good without being pleasant, we should have done it for its own sake: but, since it is both good and pleasant, it is contrary to both our duty and our interest to neglect it. QUESTIONS.-What is meant by God's providence? How is it shown to be over the heavens? inanimate objects? living things? nations? the righteous? the wicked? children? Who are God's chief delight? What lessons does this subject teach? Illustrations.-I. COLD. See Ps. cxlvii. 17. "Such extreme colds are not known unless particular winds prevail. When the sky is agitated by those tempestuous winds, known to sailors by the name of Levanters, the cold is so piercing, the conflict of hail, ice, snow, and rain is so terrible, that many of the poor people and their cattle perish."-Paxton. II. A PARTICULAR PROVIDENCE. "Pope treats this doctrine with ridicule, and asks whether the law of gravitation will be suspended, supposing a good man to be passing by a hanging wall, so that it will not fall till he is out of the reach of danger; assuming that there can be no particular providence in the case unless a miracle be wrought. The answer is, There may be no miracle in the case, no suspension of the law of gravitation; and yet there may be a direct and merciful interposition of the Providence of God. The man may be induced, by motives to us unknown, and coming from a quarter we may not suspect, to pass by the wall before the law of gravitation causes it to fall; or he may be induced by the same means to defer his walk till the wall has actually fallen; or he may prosecute his walk in another direction; or it may please God that the wall should fall upon him, and inflict upon him such an injury as may prevent a greater calamity, or be to him matter of salutary discipline, or even extinguish his life, and thus end his sufferings for ever."— Rev. Thomas Jackson's "Providence of God." JANUARY 31.-MORNING LESSON. MAN A CREATURE OF GOD.-Genesis ii. 7-9, 15, 18, 21-24. SUMMARY.-Man is made, provided for, employed, and mated. I. MADE.-V. 7. Of the dust of the ground, that is, his bodily frame. The breath of life,-literally, "the breath of lives." A living soul.-The way in which the Creator communicated life to man, indicates an important difference between the human soul and the soul of the beast. See Eccles. iii. 21. All other living creatures were "brought forth" by the earth and the water at His word, and no mention is made of the communication of spirit to them, ch. i. 20, 21, 24, 25; but God breathed directly into the nostrils of man the breath of life, and thus made him a living soul. This gave him his preeminence over all other earthly creatures. He thus received the image of God Himself,-became rational, immortal, holy; and was made capable of loving, serving, and enjoying God for ever. II. PROVIDED FOR.-V. 8, 9. Planted a garden,-literally, "a place hedged round." Eastward in Eden,-i.e., in the east of a country of that name, probably in Asia; but on this point few scholars are agreed. The name signifies "delight;" and it, no doubt, appropriately described the fruitful and beautiful place assigned by God to His "favourite creature." In the Greek translation of the Bible, the word is rendered Paradise,-a pleasure-garden, or park, or orchard. In this garden God caused all kinds of trees to grow, -some for pleasure, and some for use; and among them were two to which He gave names to indicate their peculiar significance to man. The one was called the tree of life, to signify the effect that would follow obedience; and the other, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, to denote the effect which would follow disobedience. Of this tree alone man was forbidden to eat. See v. 16, 17. III. EMPLOYED.-V. 15. To dress it, and to keep it.-Employment, therefore, was one of God's provisions for the happiness of man. He was to lead a life of ease, but not of inactivity. He had constant work assigned him; but that work was wholly different from the restless and wearying toil to which he was reduced by sin. It was an honour to the creature to be permitted to keep, and dress, and cultivate the works of the Creator. Nature, which was made for man, was made capable of gradual development; and in this way he had power and scope to glorify his Maker. IV. MATED.-V. 18. It is not good, -i. e., pleasant, or fit, or profitable, or likely to result in the ends of his existence, that the man should be alone.Happy as he was in his situation, his work, and in the favour of his Creator, there was a better thing than solitude. He would be happier, and in all ways better, with a suitable companion. An help meet for him,-literally, "a help of his like,"-i.e., a helper resembling and related to himself. The inferior and subordinate creatures were appropriately matched, v. 19, 20; so that, in this respect, God's noblest work was less blessed than they. V. 21-24. A deep sleep,-a sleep more than natural. He took one of his ribs.-"Not out of his head to top him, not out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved." - Henry. And Adam said, &c.-On awaking he perceived at once the design of this new creation. Seeing before him "his fair and beautiful companion," he exclaimed, in joyful surprise, She shall be called Woman,-literally, 66 a female man!" The words in v. 24 are not Adam's. REFLECTIONS.-1. "Dust we are.' We are "of the earth, earthy," 1 Cor. xv. 47. Our "foundation is in the dust," Job iv. 19. Our food is from the dust, Job xxviii. 5. And we must return to dust, Gen. iii. 19; Job xxxiv. 15. 2. "There is a spirit in man."-It came from God; it is intelligent and immortal; it may remain polluted, or be made holy; and it must return to God who gave it, Eccles. xii. 7. 3. "Ye are not your own."-He who made us must be our God, and has a right to all we have and are; yet who saith, "Where is God my Maker?" Job xxxv. 10. Besides, "Ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's," 1 Cor. vi. 20. 4. "In all labour there is profit."— Man was not meant to be idle; and it is foolish to imagine that happiness consists in having nothing to do. They who have no useful employment, whether they are rich or poor, are mostly miserable and good-for-nothing men. 5. "Do all to the glory of God." All the skill mankind exhibit in their various callings comes from God, and for His glory; e. g., tailors, Exod. xxviii. 3; goldsmiths, silversmiths, and mechanics, Exod. xxxi. 1-6; brassfounders, 1 Kings vii. 13-15; ploughboys, harrowers, sowers, threshers, millers, Isai. xxviii. 24-29. All labourers, in all departments of useful toil, should regard themselves as keeping the Lord's plantations, or developing the works of their Maker. 6. "Two are better than one."-So many a bereaved child has found it, crying, ་ "O, bring my brother back to me, I cannot play alone!.. The summer comes with flower and bee,Where is my brother gone ?" Thank your Maker, if you have kind companions and friends, that He has not left you "alone" in the world! QUESTIONS. Of what was man formed? How was life imparted? What did he thus become? How does he differ from beasts? Where was he placed? What was his work? Why did he not remain "alone?" How was his want supplied? Illustration.-EDEN. WHERE? "In the Mosaic account of Eden, it is evidently implied, that even in the writer's day there existed marks whereby its situation might be discovered. The channel flowing through Eden, whence issued four other channels, or rivers, may be regarded as that formed by the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates; and the four other channels, or rivers, belonging to it, the two rivers above this junction, and the two principal streams into which, after having flowed together for some considerable distance, they diverge, and by which they empty themselves into the Persian Gulf.”— Bible Cyclopædia. The remaining Lesson for January will be given in the next Number. J. ROCHE, PRINTER, 25, HOXTON SQUARE, LONDON. |