Now, since there could be no conceivable obstruction to his bringing all the worlds and creatures throughout the realms of space into being at one epoch; and since the administration of which they were to be the scene was to comprehend them all, it would seem better to comport with the admitted object of them and with his infinite perfections, to believe that he created them all at once, than to suppose that he laid the foundation of his empire in part at one and in part at a later epoch. On the latter supposition, it would be easy, at least, to suggest very plausible objections and difficulties, for which, on the former, there is no room.
The passage in Job xxviii., “Whereupon are the foundations of the earth fastened? or who laid the corner-stone thereof, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” is by some supposed to imply, that when the earth was created, there were preëxisting worlds and intelligent creatures to witness and celebrate the event. But if such were the meaning of this poetical description, those morning stars must have been such as were visible from the earth, or else the earth could not be supposed to be visible from them. The Scriptures, however, refer to the visible stars as being created at the same time with the earth. In the narrative of the fourth day it is said, “And God made two great lights; ... he made the stars also; and set them in the firmament of heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night,” &c. Gen. i. It is not conceivable that the reference in Job should have been meant to exclude the visible stars; and if it included them, then it included celestial worlds which were created simultaneously with the earth. The phrase, “morning stars,” doubtless signifies stars visible in the morning. The terms employed in Job may, perhaps, be better rendered, “The stars burst forth together as light, or as the morning.”
From the narrative of the temptation in Eden, some imagine that Satan had existed and fallen before the creation of Adam. But there is no reference to that evil being till after Adam and Eve were placed in the garden. How long they were there before the temptation, we know not. It was long enough, however, for them to receive instruction as to the prohibited tree, and for Adam “to give names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field;” long enough for them to become familiar with the place, and with the voice and other tokens of the Creator’s presence. Now, on the supposition that all the angelic hosts were created simultaneously with the heavens and the earth, what was there to hinder the apostasy of Satan between the date of that creation and his assault upon Adam, which would not equally have hindered the apostasy of man so soon after his creation? Is it not, from the nature of the case, more probable that Satan revolted very soon after his creation, than at a remote period? As in the case of Adam, who, had he continued holy for scores or thousands of years, would, we may well presume, have been less likely to fall than at the outset of his career, before he had formed habits of obedience, or had the benefit of experience.
It is remarkable with what facility the most preposterous assumptions have been adopted and perpetuated respecting the Creator, the works of creation, providence, moral government, &c., to aid in support of preconceived religious, philosophical, physical, and social theories. The principal religious heresies, whether propounded under the garb of theology or that of philosophy and science, falsely so called, have rested upon false assumptions respecting the character and condition of man as a fallen creature, and the one only Deliverer and way of deliverance, and respecting the character, prerogatives, and rights of the Creator and Ruler of the world, and the nature, epoch, and object of the work of creation. Witness the Gnostic, Arian, Pelagian, Socinian, and other ancient religious heresies, on the one hand; and on the other, the theory of our modern geologists, in its relation to the inspiration, authority, and meaning of the Scriptures, the nature, date and purpose of the creation of the world, and the causes and reasons of the physical changes it has undergone.
The fact that all the great heresies and false systems by which the post-diluvian world has been deceived and held in the bondage of corruption, have risen from false assumptions and erroneous theories concerning the Creator and the work of creation; and from those assumptions and theories, as starting-points, have diverged from the truth as revealed in Scripture; this fact, and the consideration that the rights and prerogatives of Jehovah, in relation to his creatures and their obligations and duties towards him, are founded in the fact of his being the Creator, demonstrate that the account which he has given of his works is of equal authority with the other contents of his Word. It lies at the foundation of his moral law and government, and of his providential administration over all worlds, and is essential to his claim of supreme allegiance and homage from all intelligent creatures. It lies at the foundation of all scriptural faith in God and in the doctrines of his Word, and is the basis of the true, in contradistinction to all false religion.
[CHAPTER XXV.]
The great Antagonism—in what manner will it terminate?
The great peculiarity in the history of the human race took its rise in the apostasy of man, and is exhibited in the antagonism between the rightful Sovereign of the world and the instigator of that apostasy, and in the agency, relations and destiny of their respective followers. In the progress of the conflict between the righteous and the wicked, holiness and sin, happiness and misery, light and darkness, truth and falsehood, the desperate malevolence of the Evil One, and the guilt and ruin of his followers, are made manifest to all observers; and on the other hand, the infinite riches of the wisdom, goodness, righteousness and mercy of the great Deliverer towards his followers, in their renewed allegiance and recovery to holiness and happiness, are equally made public. In the announcements of his Word, and in the administration of his moral and providential government over them, the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. The angels who kept not their first estate were reserved to an inevitable doom. The early descendants of the first human pair wholly corrupted their way and filled the earth with violence, and “the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” The immediate successors of those who were preserved in the ark, when, from the works of creation, the teachings of Noah, and the institutions of revealed religion, they knew God, glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God—misrepresented his invisible attributes, eternal power and Godhead, and the glory of his perfections, visibly displayed in his works of creation and providence—by an image made like to corruptible men, and to birds, and four-footed beasts and creeping things; and changed the truth concerning God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Therefore, even as they did not like to retain the true God in their knowledge, he gave them over, in his righteous judgment, to a reprobate mind, to the indulgence of their evil propensities under the instigation of their chosen leader, “the Devil, who deceiveth the whole world;” assuming to be, and usurping the place of, God; leading his deluded followers “captive at his will,” and foreshowing, by their condition and conduct on earth, their ultimate doom, as the final destiny of the angels who kept not their first estate is manifested by their conduct while under sentence of condemnation prior to the final judgment.
Throughout the history of this antagonism as recorded in the Old Testament, the great question was, Who is the true God, the Creator, Ruler, Benefactor, to whom all creatures owe allegiance—Jehovah or the Baal? This question was specially and publicly tried on various occasions, as in the plagues of Egypt, in the controversy conducted by Elijah, in that relating to the image erected by Nebuchadnezzar, and many others of less notoriety. In several scores of instances it is the declared purpose of particular dispensations and events that those to whom they referred might be made to know that He, the true God, in opposition to the Baal, was Jehovah. And such, at the final termination of the conflict, will be the resistless and universal conviction: “every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Having, in his official character and complex Person, maintained the conflict throughout all the periods and in all the forms of its exhibition, vanquished the great Adversary, redressed the consequences of the fall, and destroyed even death itself, his triumph is complete and final; vindicating all his offices and agency, establishing the facts and doctrines, prerogatives and rights upon which his government is founded, securing for ever the loyalty and bliss of the unfallen and ransomed portions of his empire, and filling the universe with the glory of his person and his name, and with the boundless riches of his wisdom, grace and love. Then will be displayed the vastness and grandeur of the scheme purposed in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, and involving this conflict between the Divine Mediator and the Arch-rebel and his party, that through the redemption, resurrection, and final exaltation and glory of the Church, the Divine perfections might be made known to the unfallen, the principalities and powers in heavenly places.