ad made.
And God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it,
Because that in it he rested from all his work that he had
created and made.

CHAPTER III.

OBJECTS AND NATURE OF A REVELATION OF ORIGINS--_Continued._

"What if earth
Be but a shadow of heaven, and things therein
Each to the other like; more than on earth is thought."
MILTON.

(3) _Character of the Biblical Cosmogony, and general Views of Nature
which it Contains or to which it Leads._--Much of what appertains to the
character of the revelation of origins has been anticipated under
previous heads. We have only to read the Song of Creation, as given in
the last chapter, to understand its power and influence as a beginning
of religious doctrine. The revelation was written for plain men in the
infancy of the world. Imagine Chaldean or Hebrew shepherd listening to
these majestic lines from the lips of some ancient patriarch, and
receiving them as truly the words of God. What a grand opening to him of
both the seen and unseen worlds! Henceforth he has no superstitious
dread of the stars above, or of the lightning and thunder, or of the
dark woods and flowing waters beneath. They are all the works of the one
Creator, the same Creator who is his own Maker, in whose image and
shadow he is made. He can look up now to the heavens or around upon the
earth, and see in all the handiwork of God, and can worship God through
all. He can see that the power that cares for the birds and the flowers
of the field cares for him. He is no longer the slave and sport of
unknown and dreadful powers; they are God's workmanship and under his
control--nay, God has given him a mission to subdue and rule over them.
So these noble words raise him to a new manhood, and emancipate him from
the torture of endless fears, and open to him vast new fields of thought
and inquiry, which may enrich him with boundless treasures of new
religious and intellectual wealth. Imagine still farther that he wanders
into those great cities which are the seats of the idolatries of his
time. He enters magnificent temples, sees elaborately decorated altars,
huge images, gorgeous ceremonials, priests gay in vestments and imposing
in numbers. He is invited to bow down before the bull Apis, to worship
the statue of Belus or of Ishtar, of Osiris or of Isis. But this is not
in his book of origins. All these th