MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 1:24-26
THE ANIMAL WORLD
I. That the Animal World was created by God. All the creeping things of the earth are created by God. The cattle upon a thousand hills were made by Him. There is not an insect in the universe, but is the outcome of Divine power. Life, in its very lowest form, is the gift of God. Science cannot obtain it; Art cannot evoke it; dexterity cannot conjure it: God is its only source. If the animal world is created by God:—
1. We should regard the animal world with due appreciation. Man has too low an estimate of the animal world. We are apt to think that there is very little difference between it, and the vegetable world. We imagine that a tree has as much claim to our attention and regard as a horse. This should not be the case. The latter has a spirit; is possessed of life; it is a nobler embodiment of Divine power; it is a nearer approach to the fulfilment of Creation. We ought therefore to place a higher estimate upon animal life than we do, as we are largely ignorant of its capabilities, and of the development and progress of which it is capable. A worm may teach the soul of man a lesson. We are not cognizant of its hidden power.
2. We should treat the animal world with humane cousideration. If all the animals of the universe, which are so useful to man, are the creation of God, then surely they ought to have the most kindly treatment of the human race. Surely, we ought not to abuse anything on which God has bestowed a high degree of creative care, especially when it is intended for our welfare. Also, these animals are dumb; this ought to make us attentive to their wants, as well as considerate in all our treatment of them. Men should never manifest an angry spirit toward them. The merciful man is merciful to his beast. True, the brute world was designed by God for the use of man, and it renders its highest service in the gift of its life for the sustentation of the human family.
II. That the Animal World was designed by God for the service of man.
1. Useful for business. How much of the business of man is carried on by the aid of animals. They afford nearly the only method of transit by road and street. Many men get their livelihood by trading in animals. The commercial enterprise of our villages and towns would receive a serious check if the services of the animal creation were removed.
2. Needful for food. Each answers a distinct purpose toward the life of man; from them we get our varied articles of food, and also of clothing. These animals were intended to be the food of man, to impart strength to his body, and energy to his life. To kill them is no sacrilege. Their death is their highest ministry, and we ought to receive it as such; not for the purpose of gluttony, but of health. Thus is our food the gift of God.
III. That the Animal World was an advance in the purpose of Creation. The chaos had been removed, and from it order and light had been evoked. The seas and the dry land had been made to appear. The sun, moon, and stars had been sent on their light-giving mission. The first touch of life had become visible in the occupants of the waters and the atmosphere, and now it breaks into larger expanse in the existence of the animal creation, awaiting only its final completion in the being of man.
IV. That the Animal World was endowed with the power of growth and continuance, and was good in the sight of God.
1. The growth and continuance of the animal world was insured. Each animal was to produce its own kind, so that it should not become extinct; neither could one species pass into another by the operation of any physical law.
2. The animal world was good in the sight of God. It was free from pain. The stronger did not oppress, and kill the weaker. The instinct of each animal was in harmony with the general good of the rest. But animals have shared the fate of man, the shadow of sin rests upon them; hence their confusion and disorder, their pain, and the many problems they present to the moral philosopher.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 1:24-25. The beasts inferior to man:—
1. In nature.
2. In advancement.
3. In spiritual estate.
The difference between the creation of beasts and man cannot be passed over without special observation. Man’s body was indeed taken out of the earth, as well as the bodies of the beasts; but his soul was not from the earth, but from heaven. But in the creation of beasts, the body, and soul, or life, is wholly out of the earth; for the earth is commanded to bring forth the living creature—that is, the creature, with the life thereof. So that we find no original of the soul, or life of the beast, but from the earth only.
The beasts were created by God, and therefore are His:—
1. Let us ascribe all the store that we have unto God.
2. Let us regard them as the gift of God.
3. Let us serve and honour Him with all we possess.
By an almighty word God doth create all the brutes upon the earth.
The earth is the appointed place for beasts.
Not only individuals of creatures, but kinds, are made of God.
SUGGESTIVE ILLUSTRATIONS
Creatures of God! Genesis 1:24. One day a boy was tormenting a kitten, whereupon his little sister—with her eyes suffused in tears—exclaimed, “Oh! do not hurt what is God’s kitten.” That word of the little girl was not lost; for a word fitly spoken—i.e., a word set on wheels—how good it is. The boy ceased to torment God’s creature, but he could not leave off thinking about what his sister had said. The next day, on his way to school, he met one of his companions most mischievously beating a poor, half-starved dog: “Don’t do that to God’s creature.” The boy looked ashamed, and tried to excuse himself by saying that the dog had stolen his dinner. But a poor drunkard passing heard the expression, and said within himself, “I, too, am God’s creature; I will arise, and go to my Father.” All are then God’s creatures!
“Here on the hills He feeds
His herds, His flocks on yonder plains;
His praise is warbled by the birds;
Oh! could we catch their strains.”—Montgomery.
All Things! Genesis 1:25. Some men have the power of attending to several things at once. Napoleon the Great had the power of keeping six men engaged in writing letters for him at the same time, and this was thought a wonderful feat. It was remarkable, and very few men could do it; but it was nothing to what God does every day. Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty. He keeps all things in life:
“Lord, thou art great! In Nature’s every form;
Greater in none, simply most great in all;
In fears and terrors, sunshine, smile and storm,
And all that stirs the heart, is felt Thy call.—Seidel.
Man! Genesis 1:25. There is a beautiful propriety in the Bible commencing with the creation of the heavens and the earth. The account of this magnificent scene serves as a portico to the august Temple of Truth. It is a kind of outer court, and the wonders which we here behold prepare us for the glories which beautify the inner temple. But in the hands of Moses this theme, mighty as it is, is only the introduction to others still mightier. He does not detain us in the outer court, but leads us straight to the gates of the Temple. By the Divine Word the world passed through all its various stages in its progress from chaos to the wondrous scene of order and beauty, when, in Genesis 1:25, God saw that it was good. “How in the household,” writes Beecher, “are garments quilted and wrought, and curiously embroidered, and the softest things laid aside, and the cradle prepared to greet the little pilgrim of love when it comes from distant regions, we know not whence! Creation was God’s cradle for Adam—curiously carved and decorated, flower-strewn and star-curtained.” As Milton says: “There wanted yet the master-work, the end of all yet done: so God took
“Some handfuls of the dust, and moulded it
Within His plastic hands until it grew
Into an image like His own, like ours,
Of perfect symmetry, divinely fair,
But lifeless, till He stoop’d and breathed therein
The breath of life.”
Temple-Man! Genesis 1:26. It has been carefully noted that our Lord was the first who applied to the human body a term previously employed to denote a building consecrated to God. His example was followed by St. Paul, with whom the expression was a familiar and favourite one. And yet, strange to say, this symbolism fell into abeyance during all the Christian centuries. The body was treated with neglect or contempt. It was regarded as the drag and prison house of the soul; so that even Trench writes:—
“Plumage which man shatters in his rage,
And with his prison doth vain war engage.
We represent it as the cause of all the moral failures and intellectual weaknesses of mankind. By the ascetic it has been mortified and tortured in every way. By the philosopher it has been ignored, so that Sir William Hamilton inscribed in golden letters upon the wall of his class-room the singular sentiment: “In man there’s nothing great but mind.” It is true that man’s body was formed out of the dust, and that thus it is the same as the forms of the mineral, vegetable, and animal creations. As Oken says, the whole animal world is repeated and represented in man, the animal kingdom is man broken up into fragments. But human nature is not, therefore, to be despised; for though the human body takes all nature into it, it does so to make it a temple for the worship and service of God. And that God designed such a view of the human frame is evident from the fact of the incarnation. Jesus entered the human body and purified it of his indwelling, making it a palace for the divine glory and a shrine for the divine worship.