06.0.4.7. The Sixth Day

VII. -- THE SIXTH DAY TO this last stage of the work we now proceed, when the earth also having brought forth its living creatures, man, the image of God, His last and crowning gift, is set to rule as lord of all. This is the sixth day’s work. Now the life of the Lamb and Man is added to the likeness of the Dove in the redeemed creature.

These forms speak for themselves. They are but the continuation, in greater perfection, of the work of the fifth day. Then the work was in the seas and heaven: now the earth, that is the will, brings forth in like manner. I need not here repeat what I have said, upon the fifth day, as to the principle on which these living creatures are to be interpreted; how they represent emotions good in themselves, only evil when fallen and independent; the living creatures of the earth representing the emotions connected with the will; the birds of heaven those connected with the understanding. (Note: Respecting the heaven and the earth, as figuring the understanding and will respectively, see above on the second and third days. Both have their own emotions.) The instinct of mankind has always read these forms aright, nor has the difference of age or country made any difference in their interpretation. To this day, wherever the primitive language of symbol yet remains, the passions are still characterised by the names of different beasts. And those to whom heaven is opened see "the living creatures" there, in the midst of the throne of God, and round about it (Revelation 4:6; Revelation 4:8), proving that powers like to these creatures, if not in God, may yet be most holy and very near to Him. It was but the perversion of this very truth, seeing in these creatures some trace or glimpse of the Divine, which ended in the worship of the creature, as in Egypt, where the ox and other beasts were deified; just as, to this day, in mystic Egypt, those gifts which are given as witnesses for God are made to take His place; the creature, in whom some trace of God is seen, being worshipped instead of the Creator. Still the gifts are good, each added form expressing but some further fulness which was in Christ Jesus: the ox, the spirit of unselfish toil (1 Corinthians 9:9); the lion, that holy wrath in which we may judge and be angry, and yet sin not (Ephesians 4:26); the lamb, that meekness which beareth all things, which is oppressed and afflicted, and yet openeth not its mouth (Isaiah 53:6). (Note: It is well known that the early church applied these figures, the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle, to the four Gospels, conceiving that these "living creatures" were apt representations of those peculiar relations of Christ, which are respectively set forth in the four Gospels. See Ambros. Prol. in Lucam, § 8.) These and like gifts now appear, till at length the man is seen, the "image of God," to crown and perfect all.

What is this image? It is the mind of God; for Christ is that Mind or Word to rule in us. The man is Christ, the perfect mind of God. The light, and heaven, and herb, and moving creature, were all but partial glimpses of Him, preludings of that perfect revelation which should be seen in God’s image. That image now is come, to rule all things, itself containing all within itself. O the depth that opens here! Who shall take the measure of that which is the likeness of the immeasurable God? For He made the heaven, and yet He rested not, -- the earth and its fruits, and yet He rested not, -- the sun, and the moon, and the creatures of the sea, and sky, and of the earth, and yet He rested not. But He made man, His image in the earth, and then He rested; for it was "very good." This image is the mind of God in us. When this is come, the "man" is formed, erect in walk, and looking upward, able to recognise the mind and will of One above him, with an understanding to know, and a will to love, God. This it is which marks man: a mind able to understand and bow to a superior. Lose this, and we at once become as beasts, incapable of recognising, save by force, the will of One above us; "like the horse or mule which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle" (Psalms 32:9); or like Nebuchadnezzar, in vain self-exaltation, losing his reason, and with a beast’s heart, becoming as a beast (See Daniel 4:1-37). The "man" is not strength, or grace, or piercing sight; but a mind thinking God’s thoughts, and in communion with Him. Strength, and grace, and sight, and light, and warmth, are in him; for the inward as the outward man is in himself a little world. But a mind to recognise and hold communion with One above him, is that which, above all, marks and makes the man. And this is the secret of his rule over others; as it is said, "Subdue, and have dominion" (Genesis 1:28). For no one can rule who is not ruled. And just as Adam, while subject to God, had power over every living creature, a power he lost as soon as he rebelled, and instead of being subject became independent; so in us the "man" has power over beasts, that is the emotions within, only while it remains subject. Let the reason take God’s place, then the beasts will be unruled until God again is recognised. This, I may add, is true on every platform. It is only the recognition of One above which gives power. It is the lack of this that now makes the rulers of this world helpless. Beasts are rebelling against them, because they have rebelled. And here let none forget the weighty fact, that the best powers in the new creation need ruling. Good as the ox is to labour, he needs a lord; man, therefore, is given to subdue and guide him; as God said, "to have dominion over all fish and fowl, and every living thing that moveth on the earth" (Genesis 1:28). Proofs abound on every hand that God’s gifts need rule. How often is the "ox," -- the spirit of true service, -- unless subdued by the "man," found wasting its strength, or even grossly misusing it! Have fences never been broken down by strong oxen? Have weak children never been sorely injured? Have sweet vines never been crushed or trodden under feet, which were set as plants to cheer both God and man? These things have I beheld, where the "man" is not yet seen. And so of every blessing; whether lion, lamb, or eagle, all require rule. Without it, the very abundance of gifts will only cause confusion. The Church of Corinth is a proof, enriched with knowledge, but carnal, for the "man" had not yet come. The gifts indeed were there, but the mind of God was wanting. They need one like Paul, in whom the "man" is come, to set them right. Some yet have to learn this, who have reached the fifth day stage, and to whom the eagle’s eye and soaring wing are not wanting. They will find the "man" to rule must come at length, God’s Mind directing God’s Spirit. In a word, that as in nature the powers God gives, strength, speech, or desire, if unruled by reason, become curses; so in grace the higher powers of God’s Spirit must be subject to His Mind, or Word, or Reason, that is, Christ, in us. This man was created "male and female," that so he might be a perfect image of God. God is infinite Wisdom and Love. No image of Him would be complete which did not express both. Man, as His image, is, therefore, male and female, that he may be a figure both of the wisdom and love of God; the man representing the understanding, the woman the will or love-part of the mind, which united make up that inward man or mind, by which we can both know and love, and so commune with, God. The seventh day will shew us more of this, when the taking of the woman out of the man is clearly set forth. But, seen or not, a work is now wrought in us, the type of which is the man and the woman. Saints in bygone days have thought and spoken much of this, though few now care for such matters. (Note: See Augustine’s interpretation of this in his Confessions, book xiii. chaps. 24 and 32. Also in his First Book against the Manichees, chap. 25, and book ii. chaps. 11-15. Also De Opere Monach. c. 32, § 40. So too De Civitat. Dei, l. xv. c. 7, ad finem. Origen gives the same explanation, Hom. in Gen. i. fol. 4. The following passage, from a modern writer, speaks the same language: "Man, that he might be capable of being an image of God, was endowed with two faculties, designed for the reception of love and wisdom from his Maker. These are known by the names of the will and the understanding, the will being designed for the reception of the divine love, the understanding of the divine wisdom. I am aware that, although the ancient metaphysicians universally adopted this general division, some of the moderns have doubted its correctness. ... Respecting the understanding, there can be little dispute; nor, I should think, respecting the will. ... As to the will, a man assuredly wills whatever he loves. Thus every species of love that can have an abode in his mind, may be considered as belonging to a certain general faculty, which is most correctly denominated the will. The mistake seems to have arisen from confounding this general faculty, by which we are only inclined to certain actions, with the determination to action, which is the result of the operation of the will and understanding together." -- Noble on Inspiration, p. 79.) As to the food of this man, too, much is taught here (Genesis 1:29). The fruits of the third day sustain the "man" in vigour. Just as faith, which is the mother of all the virtues, is often when weak supported and nourished by her children; so the "man," the highest form of the life of Christ in us, is sustained by the lower acts and fruits of righteousness. But all this, and much more, will meet the prayerful reader, who looks for teaching from above. At this stage the work ends, and then the seventh day comes, the day of rest, without an evening; the day on which the creature is shewn in another form; when a garden is seen, with trees of life and knowledge; and God Himself walking in the midst of it, conversing with the man; and when for unquiet seas there are only sweet rivers. Who shall attempt to count the blessings here? When this comes, can anything be asked or added? A heart to praise only then is needed; nor is this wanting; for every faculty in the rest of the new creation praises God. (Note: Bernard has a very beautiful passage, on the inward application of the work of the Six Days. De Amore Dei, l. iii. c. 14, § 52.)