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