A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin Franklin. Бенджамин Франклин

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      AFTER Moses states the wonderful fact that “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” without stating when it was, only that it was “in the beginning,” he proceeds to give a brief account of the state of things after this first fact, and before the work of the six days. He says: “The earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” This state of things was preceded by the creation of the heaven and the earth. The next thing in the successive acts was to operate on material created, brought into existence; to form or fashion it. What was the first thing? “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” This was not bringing into existence, but operating on that which was in existence. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Here we have the work of the first day. What was done on that day was not the same, no matter how we describe it, as the first act. It was forming, shaping, operating on material previously brought into existence.

      Moses proceeds, “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And he called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” Here we have the work of the second day, like that of the first day, forming, fashioning and bringing order out of chaos. This “firmament,” that God made, and “called Heaven,” is not the same as mentioned in the first verse, but is included in the words: “The heavens and the earth.” This is the work of arrangement, ordering, etc.

      Then follow the gathering together the waters into one place, and the bringing to view the dry land, the naming of the dry land, Earth, and the gathering together of the waters of the seas; the ordering of the grass, the herb, the fruit-tree upon the earth. This was the work of the third day. Then comes the ordering the heavenly bodies, the great lights for day and night, the dividing the light from the darkness, etc., the work of the fourth day. All this is fashioning, forming, arranging, ordering, and not creating from nothing. Then follows the ordering of the waters, to bring forth the fishes, the fowl, and all the inhabitants of the seas on the fifth day. This is followed by the ordering the earth to bring forth the cattle, the creeping thing, and all the lower orders of the inhabitants of the earth, and concludes the work of the sixth day by the creation of man, or forming him in the image of God.

      We have both the words “made,” and “created,” used and applied to this work of the six days, where it is manifestly used in the sense of shaping, forming, fashioning, ordering, arranging, and not in the sense of the word “created” in the first sentence in the Bible, where it manifestly means creating from nothing or bringing into existence. This wonderful act of the Infinite One, of bringing into existence the heaven and the earth—this stupendous universe—may have been performed an indefinite period of time before the commencement of the work of the six days described by Moses. In this view there is no danger. It makes the work of the Creator none the less wonderful, glorious and overwhelming. It matters not how long before the work of the six days it was that “God created the heaven and the earth,” or brought the universe into existence. Nor need we be startled at this. The work of the six days, as described by Moses, is wonderful beyond all human imagination. We can comprehend but little of it. We may well exclaim, as Paul did, in view of a different matter: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? For of him, and through him, are all things; to whom be glory forever. Amen.”

      LOTTERIES.

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      THE entire lottery scheme is gambling. The desire and intention in lotteries is to get money by a base method, or, in other words, dishonestly. The desire and intention is to get money without rendering an equivalent, or to get something for nothing. The man or company that conducts a lottery knows the precise per cent. that is made in selling out the tickets. If everything is conducted fairly; that is, what they call fairly; that is, to conduct according to their proposed rule, some few would draw prizes of much value and some larger number will draw small prizes, while the great body of them will draw nothing. They simply give their money to make up the prizes that others draw, and make a fine purse to run the establishment. Think of the following:

      1. We do not profess to know, but probably if the green ones that buy lottery tickets would pay $100,000 for tickets, all the prizes they would all draw would not amount to more than $66,000, thus leaving $34,000 in the concern. This is swindle No. 1, to the tune of $34,000!

      2. There can be but very few who can draw prizes of any considerable value, for there are but few of that kind in the concern. The purchasers of lottery tickets would be astonished to know how few could possibly draw a prize to the amount of $1,000, if enough would draw tickets to pay in $100,000.

      3. They would be still more astonished to know how few can draw even small prizes, and most of all astonished to know how few can draw anything.

      4. The concern proceeds on a principle of dishonesty on both sides—the principle of getting something for nothing. The man that studies how to do this, and tries to accomplish it, studies dishonesty and how to practice it. In its very nature it is corrupting, and must end in degrading a man. Young men ought to shun it as they would a viper.

      NO PREACHERS ON DANCING, ETC.

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