earth ... and rested the seventh day; wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." How imposing is this record as compared with other cosmogonies. What simplicity! What fine reasonableness! What a scientific tone of absolute certainty! And if this be not scientific, how shall we account for the fact that Moses or somebody else was able thus to anticipate the approved results of modern science? And this so many thousands of years ago! It is pleasant in this connection to recall the testimony given by one of the most eminent scientists of our time, Professor Dana of Yale University. In his farewell interview with the Class of '67, of which I was a member, he said: "Young men, let me say in parting with you, after our pleasant association in scientific study in this classroom, that in my judgment, when you are puzzled and bewildered amid the conflicting views of men who claim to present scientific truth in the form of hypotheses, you can never go far astray if you will receive as your scientific ultimate the teaching of the Word of God." The practical outcome.-But what is the practical bearing of all that has been said? Much every way. If the story of creation is true it furnishes an antecedent probability that the Bible is true and trustworthy in every respect. On the other hand, if the veracity of the author of Genesis is success fully impugned, what reason have we for assuming the truth or trustworthiness of other portions of Scripture wherein we are advised with respect to spiritual things? The first chapter of Genesis and the first chapter of John go hand in hand. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. . . . All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that hath been made. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." I see two thrones: one is on the Circle of the Universe, whereon God sits, high and lifted up, with veiled face, calling into being things that are out of those that were not. The other is on Calvary; and here His face is unveiled. The God of creation is the God of salvation. "The God that rolls the world along speaks all the promises." The problem of origins is the problem of destiny. "'Twas great to call a world from naught, I hear two fiats: one is, "Let there be light!". and cosmos emerges from chaos in the glory of the sun. The other is recorded in the saying, "The light shineth in the darkness," and further in the words, "Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." It is related of Dr. Simeon of Cambridge that when he was dying he said, "I am not afraid; I find my comfort in the saying that is written, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; for He who created is able to save. The God who framed the world can uphold and will never forsake me." THE GOD OF PROVIDENCE A definite plan.-Universal activity.-Universal harmony.-Universal benevolence.-Three kinds of Providence. A distinction.-All things: Prosperity, adversity, doubt, temptation, sorrow, sin.Through Christ. A definite plan.-Let us be glad that we are not living in a topsy-turvy world. I wouldn't like to live in a home where every child was left to his own sweet will. Would you? I wouldn't like to live in a country where there was no government or executive but where every citizen was a law unto himself. Would you? I wouldn't like to ride on the Empire State Express at the rate of sixty miles an hour unless I knew we were going on a good roadbed, with an engineer in the cab. Would you? But we are living in a world that revolves on its axis at the rate of a thousand miles an hour and also around its orbit at the rate of a thousand miles a minute; yet somehow we keep our equilibrium! Let us rejoice in the fact that God is on his throne and rules the world according to a definite plan. Paul knew that there was such an overruling plan when he wrote: "To them that love God all things work together for good." When a man can say like Paul, "I believe that there is a well ordered plan in mundane affairs and a God behind it," he is on the way toward a comprehensive philosophy of life. This plan is called Providence. It is a great word, full of mysteries. But what of that? There isn't a petty government on earth that has not its state secrets. Why should God reveal everything to us? In Paul's words we have a clear setting forth of all that really concerns us. It is a compendium of all necessary information as to the divine method of managing this world of ours. Universal activity.-The first fact here set forth is universal activity. "All things are at work." There is no such thing as inertia. The science of nature is not statics but kinematics. The stars wheel around their courses, and even the atoms in a block of granite are in state of perpetual flux. Universal harmony.-The second fact is universal harmony. All things "work together." This means that they are under a common law. Order is the result of co-ordination. Nothing is independent of anything else. In the depths of the ocean there are coral insects at work making continents; in the course of time those continents will be occupied by busy men. It thus appears that men and animalculæ are in a sort of partnership; and Wall Street becomes a corollary of the bottom of the sea. The "music of the spheres" is real music. Scientists say there is a point in the upper |