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order of creation is considered, the more philosophy-the more wisdom will be discovered in it. The creation is a grand original. It had no model. It was no imitation or resemblance of antecedent existences. The archetype of the whole and of each part lay eternally in the deep recesses of the Supreme Intelligence. But we must interrogate you more particularly on the formation and primitive state of man. This, however, we must reserve for the evening lesson

CONVERSATION 11.

AFTER reading on Monday evening the first, second, and third chapters of Genesis, Olympas resumed his interrogations on the creation of

man.

Olympas. Tell me, James, of what materials did God make man?

James. We are not told in the first chapter of what he was made. It reads, "God created man in his own image; " but it does not say of what. Olympas. But we have a second narrative of the creation of man in the second chapter. What do you learn from it, Susan?

Susan.

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God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and thus he " became a living soul." Father, how did God "breathe into his nostrils?"

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Olympas. He caused the air, which is the breath of lives—of all animal lives, to enter his lungs, and thus to put them in motion; and so man began to live but he also inspired him with a spirit-as Elihu says, There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding;" and thus "he teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven." We are not, indeed, told of

*The words created and formed are as different in the original Hebrew as they are in the Greek and English. God created man, he formed him out of the dust, and breathed into him the breath of life; and thus man became a living soul.

the manner of the communication of the spirit, because we could not understand it; for man cannot understand any thing about the nature of spirit. We only know that God has given us a spirit as well as a body.

Olympas. Can any of the senior class mention any passage of scripture that distinctly states the two-fold origin of man—as springing from Heaven and from Earth?

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Thomas Dilworth. Solomon, when speaking of death, seems to refer to this double origin of man. His words are, Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God that gave it." Eccles. xii. 7.

Olympas. But does not the same Solomon elsewhere say that the beasts and their souls, and man and his soul, alike return to the earth? His words are, All go unto one place; all are of dust, and all turn to dust again." And the all in

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this connexion relates to man and beast,

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T. Dilworth. But he only there speaks of all that is visible: for concerning the invisible spirit of both, he immediately adds, "Who [discerneth or] knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward,' ascends to God; "and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth." Man's spirit, then, ascends to God, and the beast's spirit or animal soul goes with it to the dust.

Olympas. Reuben, can you name any portion of the New Testament scripture that speaks of the compound nature of man?

Reuben. Paul somewhere speaks of the body, soul, and spirit of man; but I know not where. Olympas. You allude to his praying that God would sanctify the Thessalonians-body, soul, and

spirit, I presume. It is evident, then, that man has a spirit that at death goeth not downward as the spirit of the beast. But we must ask the

junior class some more questions. Henry, when God made man, what did he give him? Henry. Dominion.

Olympas. Dominion over what?

Henry. Over all cattle, fowl, and fish-over the earth and every thing upon it.

Olympas. And where did he put him?

Henry. In a garden he planted for him eastward in Eden.

Olympas. What kind of fruits and trees grew in this garden, Susan?

Susan. "Every tree that was pleasant to the sight and good for food."

Olympas. The senses were all consulted in this garden. The word Eden and the word Paradise, both mean delight, pleasure. It was eastward in reference to the land of Canaan, or to the place where Moses wrote the law. But let me ask, What were the most celebrated trees in this garden?

James. The Tree of Life, and the Tree of Death.

Olympas. I have sometimes called one of these the Tree of Death in contrast with the other; but I enquire for the name which God gave it?

James. "The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil."

Olympas Where did these trees stand?

Henry. The Tree of Life grew in the midst of the garden; but I do not know where the Tree of Knowledge grew.

Olympas. It would seem as though it were not

far from the Tree of Life. It is, however, of little consequence as to its position in the garden. What was Adam to do in this garden?

Susan. He was to dress it and keep it in order. Olympas. But we have gone too fast. I must return and ask the second class some questions. Have we not, William, a sort of double narrative of the creation of all things?

William. We have a history of what God done, and a history of what the Lord God done.

Olympas. I do not understand you, William. Explain yourself.

William. The history of what God done ends with the third verse of the second chapter. And the history of what the Lord God done begins with the fourth verse of the second, and ends with man's expulsion from Eden and the third chapter of Genesis.

Olympas. Why do you make this difference between God and the Lord God?

William. On counting the first section, I find the word God by itself thirty-four times, and the Lord God never: the Spirit of God once. But in the second section, which ends with the third chapter, I find Lord God twenty times, and God

not once.

Olympas. Have you all made the same obser

vation?

Mary. I find the word God by itself three times in the third chapter.

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Edward. But Moses never uses it. The serpent uses it three times. He never says Lord God, but only God. William and I have made the count twice, and find it just as he says. The first account ascribes it all to God, whom Moses

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