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The
central theme in the left lancet is God's creation of Adam.
Here we see the creating hands of God emerging from the circle.
We also see pictured the passage of breath from the mouth
of God to the mouth of man. 'God breathed into his nostrils
and he became a living soul.'
Below
Adam we see yet another phase of Creation, that of the animals
of the field, the fish and foliage. Above God's head are stars
and planets and birds flying through the air.
The creation
of the world of things was a perfect success, but since God
was a God of holiness, His creation of man had to be tested.
Would man believe the Word of God or would he, lacking faith
in his Creator, choose to act upon his own judgment and desire?
Alas, his faith in God was not adequate; the left predella
shows Adam and Eve hurriedly leaving the Garden in sin and
disgrace, pursued by the Angel of Expulsion. Near them is
the symbol of the foot crushing the Serpent, the foot surrounded
by the Christus Nimbus. 'It shall bruise thy head, and thou
shall bruise his heel,' (GENESIS 3:15) for 'as in Adam all
die, even so, in Christ shall all be made alive.' (I COR.
15:22).
Because
this window presents the Creation and the Fall of Man, as
well as the need for and the promise of a Saviour, it serves
to suggest all that is to follow in the other windows.
The Faith
Lancet of this window depicts the Angel of God interrupting
Abraham as he attempted to carry out God's command that he
sacrifice his beloved son, Issac. As the Angel of God arrests
the hand of Abraham, he ends forever the offering of human
sacrifice among the Jews. (GENESIS 37:28)
The lower
predella shows the boy Joseph being sold into slavery by his
brothers for twenty pieces of silver. (GENESIS 37:28).
The symbols
in the traceries at the top of this window represent four
of the tribes of Israel: the sea, Reuben; the ass, Issachar;
the hind, Naphtali; and the vine and the palm, Ephriam and
Manasseh.
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