whole burnt-offering for the world's sin. The logic, here also, is unanswerable. In all the world there is no other gospel which adequately sets forth the divine love. By the power of truth, by the triumph of righteousness, by the logic of events, by the philosophy of history, by the blood of the atonement, let the world answer, "Our God is the God of Salvation; and there is none other beside him!"

The failure of other religions and philosophies has been grotesquely pathetic. The irony of Elijah on Carmel is merely an echo of the divine burst of laughter out of heaven in response to those who cry, "Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us!" "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh!" The Pantheons crumble and the priests die; one altar remains, to wit: the cross on Calvary. It is the sole altar and supreme argument of the true God.

The grapple with God.-But every man must for himself make answer to the argument. Each for himself must fight his way into the truth. It is like the grapple which Jacob had with an unseen antagonist at the brookside. As the night wore on he came to understand that he was at close quarters with God. He wrestled with the Theophany hand to hand and thigh to thigh. He knew that at last Omnipotence had laid hold upon him. Then came a sudden wrench and Jacob fell, disabled. God had thrown him! He sank a helpless man,

but clinging still, he cried, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me!"

Thereupon the blessing was given, a blessing which God had waited through the weary years to bestow upon him. "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob," the Supplanter, "but Israel; for thou hast striven with God. . . . and hast prevailed." Then and there he received the guerdon of knighthood and entered into the higher life. At the close of that conflict the light of morning was glowing on the hills of Edom: how significant the words, "And the sun rose upon him!" The new life had begun; the long quest was over; Jacob had found God. And he went his way limping on his shrunken thigh, to bear through all the after years the token of that struggle until he came to heaven's gate, at peace with God.

It is thus that every man finds God; in a close grapple that ends in self-surrender, an utter yielding to his almighty grace.

So life begins with knowing God. It begins when a man, oppressed by doubt and uncertainty, hears his voice saying, "Reach hither thy hand and put it into my side!" It ends when standing under the Cross he realizes, as Luther did, "He died for me, for me!" Then the day breaks and the shadows flee away. Love conquers doubt; and the soul, beholding the unveiling of the infinite in the passion of Christ, cries out "My Lord and my God!"

THE GOD OF CREATION

In the beginning God created. Other cosmogonies.Science in the Genesis record.-A beginning.-God. -Created. When?-Length of creative epochs.Order of creative epochs.-Authorship of the account. The panorama of creation. The practical

outcome.

In the beginning God created.-So begins the divine account of the origin of things.

In some quarters this narrative is called "The Creation Myth," or "The Creation Fable." It is not the scientists, however, but the neophytes and dilettanti of science, who speak on this wise. Your true scientists-such as Newton, Faraday, Dana, Agassiz, Henry, Gray, Dawson, Kelvin and countless others have been accustomed to refer to the cosmogony of Genesis in reverent terms. Their concept of wisdom has not been so vainglorious as to prevent their sitting at the feet of God.

It is frequently affirmed that "the Bible is not a scientific book." This is granted, but it is a true book. And whenever it affirms anything with respect to science its statements are scientifically correct, and can be relied on.

Other cosmogonies.-The majesty of the Genesis story is instantly apparent, when contrasted with corresponding records; for of making many cosmogonies there is no end. If there is any appreciable value in mere human wisdom, the Greeks should have been able to speak advisedly in these premises. The starting-point in their cosmogony, as elucidated by Thales, was water. In process of time this water was wrought upon by an all-prevailing energy, as the body is animated by the soul. Out of this operation proceeded in some inscrutable manner the present order of things. But here is no solution of the mystery. The Gordian knot is rudely cut; and we are still left to ask, Whence the final element and the pervading force?

Let us turn to the Egyptians for a contribution to our scientific lore. The starting-point in their cosmogony was a promiscuous pulp, from which the elements separated of their own accord, in some unexplained way. The mass took fire; and the upper portion warmed the lower into life. From beneath crept forth the reptiles, and from the rising smoke the winged creatures of the air. The ooze of the river-bed, like the evolutionists' bathybius, furnished the raw material for man.

Or perhaps the scientifically inclined would prefer the cosmogony of the Hindus. They began with darkness. In the darkness was a golden egg. The egg broke and Brahma issued forth. He, turning, made of half the shell the heavens and of the other half the earth. His body then fell asun

der; and from it proceeded the various castes of

men.

Or possibly the Babylonians may help us. They too started with darkness. In the darkness was born a giantess who contributed half of her body to make the heavens and the other half to make the earth; while her blood, mixing with the dust, produced the human race.

Or suppose we turn to the mythology of the Norsemen. The starting-point was a vast chasm, wherein a conflict went on between fire and ice. Out of that conflict was born Ymyr, the giant. His flesh produced the earth, his bones the mountains, his hair the forests, his blood the seas and rivers, his skull the dome of heaven; and from his eyebrows was made a wall around the earth to prevent its inhabitants from falling off.

Such are the cosmogonies of the so-called sacred books of the false religions. How instantly do all thoughtful men, not to say scientists, take issue with their puerilities! Yet these are the results of the best efforts of human wisdom to produce a rational theory of origins. They leave unanswered the great question: Whence came I, and whence came the present order of things?

Science in the Genesis record.-We turn from all such speculations to science; and it is science that speaks in the Genesis record. Here are three stupendous facts, set forth in the three opening words of Scripture: B'reshith Elohim bara; that