r every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him.... And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living
soul."

Michelangelo takes these words, and expresses, in his own way, the
supreme creative moment when "man became a living soul."

The man Adam lies on a jutting promontory of the newly made land.
Though his body is formed, he lacks as yet the inner force to use it;
he is not yet alive. The Creator is borne along on a swirling cloud of
cherubs, moving forward through space like a rushing mighty wind.
Perhaps the painter was thinking of the psalmist's beautiful
description of God's coming:[20] "He rode upon a cherub, and did fly:
yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind."

[Footnote 20: Psalm xviii, verse 10.]

[Illustration: THE CREATION OF MAN. _Sistine Chapel, Rome._]

In His fatherly face is expressed the good purpose to create a son "in
his own image." The cherubic host accompanying him are full of joy
and awe. We are reminded of that time of which the poet Milton
wrote,[21] when

"All
The multitude of angels, with a shout
Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
As from blest voices, uttering joy,--Heaven rung
With jubilee, and loud hosannas filled
The eternal regions."

[Footnote 21: _Paradise Lost_, book iii. lines 344-349.]

The sign of the Almighty's creative power is the outstretched arm
extended towards Adam with a superb gesture of command. As if in
answer to the divine summons, the lifeless figure begins to stir,
rising slowly to a sitting posture. The face turns towards the source
of life as the flower turns to the sun. The eyes are lifted to the
Creator's with a wistful yearning. It is the look we sometimes see in
the eyes of a woodland creature appealing for mercy. It is such a look
as might belong to that imaginary being of the Greek mythology, the
faun, half beast, half human. Thus Adam, still but half created,
begins to feel the thrill of life in his members, and is aroused to
action. He lifts his hand to meet the Creator's outstretched finger.
The current of life is established, the vital spark is communicated,
and in another moment Adam will rise in his full dignity as a human
soul.

This picture was painted long before there was any knowledge of
electricity, of electric