Twilight and Dawn; Or, Simple Talks on the Six Days of Creation Part 34

We have before noticed that by instinct and memory all the wants of the brute creation are met; G.o.d has given them all that they need to teach them to live, each in its own life, after its kind, and to provide for their young ones; but He has not given to the "beasts that perish" the power of, as we sometimes say, "putting this and that together," nor, as far as we know, of learning by experience; although it does seem as if the spiders, in making their webs, improve by practice.

Instinct teaches every living thing to get its own food, choosing that which is suited to itself, and rejecting that which is not. It teaches the bird or the insect to seek out a fit place in which to deposit its eggs, or to make a nest or "homie" for them, even before they are laid; and it can teach even such a free creature as a bird to leave for a time its airy life, and to sit patiently upon its eggs, even carefully turning them, as if it knew that the life of the unfledged nursling within the sh.e.l.l-wall depended upon its being kept warm.

Instinct leads the b.u.t.terfly, as we have seen, to lay its eggs upon the leaf of the very tree upon which the caterpillar, when hatched, will feed--though its own food has been taken from flowers.

Instinct guides the swallow in its flight, as it leaves us in the autumn for the sh.o.r.es of Africa; and the redwing on its way from its summer home in the far North to winter in our warmer country--each arriving in its appointed season.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SWALLOW.]

And so, as we study the habits of birds and beasts, we see how instinct everywhere guides and directs them; but what this sense _is_ we cannot tell. It has been well remarked, that all that can rightly be said of it is, that it is "a guide which G.o.d, in His care for His creatures, has given them, and caused them to obey."

We also noticed in reading these verses that until man was formed, there was no lord over the Creation, but that to Adam G.o.d gave dominion over all; nothing was expected, and he was owned as head, G.o.d Himself bringing the creatures to him that they might receive their names from him, though Adam himself was still under G.o.d, and every benefit with which the Creator loaded him, only left him so much more bound to own His right over him.

As G.o.d has made us for Himself, He has given to every man, even the rudest savage, something within him which reminds him of One to whom he of right belongs; however far he may have got away from Him, or may have tried to satisfy his conscience--that "eye of the soul"--by seeking to please some idol-G.o.d which he has made for himself.

G.o.d has also given proof of His "eternal power and G.o.dhead" by "the things that are made"--His glorious works in Creation.

Listen to what a Red chief, far away in North America, said to a missionary the other day:--

"I have long lost faith"--this was his confession--"in the old paganism.

They know I have not cared for the old religion. I have neglected it. And I will tell you, missionary, why I have not believed in our old paganism for a long time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NORTH-AMERICAN INDIANS.]

"I hear G.o.d in the thunder, in the tempest, and in the storm; I see His power in the lightning that s.h.i.+vers the trees into kindling-wood; I see His goodness in giving us the moose, the reindeer, the beaver, and the bear; I see His loving-kindness in giving us, when the south winds blow, the ducks and geese; and when the snow and ice melt away, and our lakes and rivers are open again, I see how He fills them with fish. I have watched these things for years, and I see how every moon of the year He gives us something; and He has so arranged it that, if we are only industrious and careful, we can always have something to eat.

"So, thinking about these things which I had observed, I made up my mind years ago that this Great Spirit--so kind and so watchful and so loving--did not care for the beating of the conqueror's drum, or the shaking of the rattle of the medicine man. So for years I have had no religion.

"Missionary, what you have said to-day fills my heart, and satisfies my longings. It is just what I have been expecting to hear about the Great Spirit. I am glad you have come with this wonderful story; stay as long as you can." [Footnote: From _By Canoe and Dog-Train_, p. 119.]

Nothing more than the fact that man was made, not like even an angel or an archangel, but in the image of G.o.d, is needed to show how far beyond and above every creature he was; and, as no creature owed so much to the Creator, none was responsible to Him in the same way. No one had any right over him except the One who had made him for Himself, his Creator, without whom he would not have been.

"The ox knoweth its owner, and the a.s.s his master's crib." (Isa. i. 3.)

G.o.d has made the animals faithful and affectionate, and there are many true and touching stories of the way in which they have attached themselves to those who have cared for them. A dog will devote itself to its own master, and even give its life for him; but no mere animal has that within him which can have to say to G.o.d and be in relations.h.i.+p with Him. And how sad it is to think that the only creature of G.o.d who could know Him is the one who has turned away from Him and listened to the spoiler!

At the beginning G.o.d could say of all Creation "_very good_"; though there is a wonderful beauty still--beauty everywhere if we have eyes to see it--He cannot say "_very good_" where decay, pain, sorrow, death are all around; where we grow weak and old, and even while we are young and strong, the most pleasant things tire us; where hatred and envy, shame and fear--all the sad feelings brought by sin--exist in the heart of the last and best of His creatures, to whom His voice and His presence once brought only joy. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." And who can say how terrible has been the change thus wrought?

Sad indeed is the wreck which Satan has made of G.o.d's fair Creation, but a sadder wreck still is the man whom He made upright; and yet the day is surely coming when round and round the throne of "Him that liveth for ever and ever" shall echo and re-echo the words, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created."

G.o.d does not mend things, but replaces what has been spoilt or marred by something far better. Even the poor earth, so ruined by sin and its consequences, He will not mend; but He will make "new heavens and a new earth" (never more to bear the marks of the spoiler's hand) "wherein dwelleth righteousness."

But before the new heavens and new earth are created, a great deal will take place upon this earth of which we have been speaking. The Jews, now scattered in every land, will pa.s.s through much trouble, the lost tribes will be found and restored, and the Lord will put down all His enemies, and "reign in righteousness" as King over His once again united people Israel.

There will be a thousand years of wonderful peace, and Jerusalem will be the centre of earthly blessing; for He says of it, "The name of the city from that day shall be 'Jehovah Shammah' (the Lord is there)" (Ezek.

xlviii. 35); and again, "They shall call thee 'the city of the Lord'"; and "Thou shalt call thy walls 'Salvation,' and thy gates 'Praise'" (Isa. lx.

14-18).

Those who know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour now, will be with Him when He thus reigns over the earth, for they will be caught up to be with Him for ever, before the time of trouble (followed by earthly blessing) begins. In those thousand years of peace even the animals which have so long suffered through man's sin and oppression will share in the rest of that happy time, and G.o.d's ancient people Israel, once more dwelling safely in their own land, will sing many of the Psalms in His Word for joy and happiness.

The following hymn speaks of that good time which is surely coming:--

"Hail to the Lord's Anointed, Great David's greater Son!

Hail, in the time appointed, His reign on earth begun!

He comes to break oppression, To set the captive free, To take away transgression, And rule in equity.

"He shall come down like showers Upon the fruitful earth, And love, joy, hope, like flowers, Spring in His path to birth; Before Him on the mountains, Shall peace the herald, go, And righteousness in fountains From hill to valley flow.

"Kings shall fall down before Him, And gold and incense bring; All nations shall adore Him, His praise all people sing; For He shall have dominion O'er river, sea, and sh.o.r.e, Far as the eagle's pinion Or dove's light wing can soar.

"O'er every foe victorious.

He on His throne shall rest; From age to age more glorious, All blessing and all-blest; The tide of time shall never His covenant remove; His name shall stand for ever, That name to us is Love."