“Replenish the Earth and Subdue It.” Gen. 1:28.
By C. GREEN
What does “subdue” mean in this place? Was not the earth, coming freshly made from the hands of its Creator, and given by him to man, in a state of perfection? Did it want any human skill, or hard toil, or taxing labor, to render its surface more beautiful to the eye, or productive to supply the wants of man? Eden was given as the garden of God. Here was the residence of the representatives of the human race, ere they fell by disobedience. It was the home of Adam, the capital ground of the world. As the garden, may it not have been given as a model for the children of Adam to pattern after, as they went forth upon the earth to make homes of their own? If so, there must have been a certain wildness, a kind of disorder that required subduing and arranging, to make it like that spot rendered perfect in every particular by an all-wise Creator. Man must have something on which to bestow labor and exercise his mind, even in a holy state of being. If the earth needs subduing, there must be a model to pattern after. And what could be more stimulating to all the faculties of the mind and heart, than to strive to bring it up to compare as nearly as possible with the beautiful Eden, the home of those they could and would ever look up to as their first parents, the father and mother of them all? C. GREEN.