Life bears fruit every month which some think is a restoring of it to its primitive fruitfulness and for want of which some think the Fig-tree was cursed in the Gospel so Mr. Brightman And there are who think that one day Sodom and Gomorrah now a dead Sea shall again become a fruitful and pleasant Land And for this see Ezek. 16.53.55 There are too who think that the Creatures waiting groaning and longing to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Rom. 8. doth hint some Restitution of the Creatures to their first good and sound state Which whether it do or no I leave it to you to judge Only this I say that if the visible World shall pass through a purgatory-fire at the day of Judgment and if it shall be continued for the blessed Saints to contemplate God's goodness therein at first and the glory of Christ the second Adam who came to repair the ruins which the first made that then it is not improbable that the Creatures may then attain to their primitive goodness However sure I am that the Humane Nature is already in the Person of Christ advanced far above what it was in Adam at first The first Adam was of the Earth earthly the second Adam was the Lord from Heaven heavenly And again That all those that are Christs are already in part and shall hereafter in Heaven perfectly be restored to the Image of God wherein they were made at first and to a better and more happy estate then ever Adam had in Paradise V. There 's one Query more to be briefly spoken unto and then we shall have done with the Fifth thing propounded in the beginning of our Discourse and that is what is required of us towards the repair of the ruins of the Creation to restore the Creatures to their primitive goodness and beauty To this I answer 1. That God doth not require that we should repair the Angelical Nature that we should pour Wine and Oyl into their wounds or bind up their bruises their stroke is incurable there is no Balm in Gilead no Physician for their disease Only we must by endeavouring to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit our selves to fill up those vacant places in the Heavens from whence they fell God can make of us if we duly apply our selves to him although we be but earthen Pitchers Vessels of Grace and Vessels of Glory Vessels every way fit for our Masters use both in Earth and in Heaven Col. 3.9 10 2. God doth expect that we should put off the old Man with his deeds and put on the new Man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him That being in Christ id est being indeed Christians we should become new Creatures be renewed in the spirit of our minds and walk in newness of life that as in Adam we all dyed and became dead in Sins and trespasses so in Christ the second Adam and by a lively Faith in him we should all be made aliue And because Adam was the Son of God by Creation at first that we should all be Partakers of the Divine Nature be his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Live and walk as the Sons of God all as the Children of the most High that the Lord may take pleasure in us again as he did in Adam in Paradise before he sinned 3. We must make a good use of all God's good Creatures getting a new right to use them although the old one be not utterly lost and using them alway aright according to the Creators will and for his glory Many are the good uses we may make of the Creatures this Doctrine of the Creatures usefulness and goodness U I Hence we may be informed that God made not sin For all that he made was good and Sin that is evil and as Sin only evil and that continually There was no Anomy or Ataxy in all God's works but Sin it self is an Anomy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then God is not the Author of this evil and confusion This is the Truth we teach in all the Churches of the Saints and not as we are slanderously reported by the Romanists that we say that God is the Author of Sin God is Summum Bonum yea Goodness it self but Sin is Summum Malum the chiefest Evil and so bad that Hell and the Devil cannot make it worse Ye cannot call it worse than to call it by an Epithite drawn from its own name viz. sinful Sin This calls the Devil Father and Author God the good Husbandman sow'd nothing but good Seed in his Field 't is the Devil that Enemy that sow'd these tares Again hence we infer that Sin is very evil because it hath poyson'd so many good things yea hath been the cause of all evils in the World For at the first God made every thing very good That must needs be bitter indeed which hath imbittered so many and so great sweets Sin is the great Troubler of the World this is it which makes God's good things turn to be evil to us that curses our Blessings that makes a Garden of Eden a desolate Wilderness that turns the World upside down and makes that when Jeremy looked upon the Land of Canaan that Garden of God Chap. 4.22 23. He beheld the Earth and lo it was a Tohu Vabohu without sorm and void and the Heavens and they had no light Further hence we may learn that the Lord Jesus Christ is very good a Fountain of goodness For God made all good Col. 1.16 and he created all things by Christ By him not as a mere Instrument but a Co-worker with him He is the beginning of the Creation of God in this sense also Is there any good in the World and the Lord Christ hath not done it and he hath done all things Well Heaven and Earth are full of the goodness of our Lord Jesus and there 's No Man good but one and that is one who is God and Man the Man Christ Jesus Lastly as to information hence we are taught that the work of Redemption is very good exceeding good For this is a better and greater work than that of Creation If that deserve thousands of praises this doth ten thousands The song of the Lamb is to be a higher Note than the song of Moses Creation was a work of God's fingers but in our Redemption there was put forth the strength of his holy arm by which he got himself us the victory Behold now a new Heaven a new Earth the light of the Moon is as the light of the Sun the light of the Sun is seven-fold Old things are passeth away all things are become new And therefore if when God laid the foundation the Corner-stone of the World the Morning-stars sang together all the Sons of God shouted for joy No marvel now that Christ by whom all things were made
Trades and Imployments The Birds Nightingals excepted sing not in the night but the Dogs bark in the night and this Creature alone betrays the Thief at what hour of the night soever he comes 4. They delight in a diverse kind of Dyet feed on several Dishes and God gives every one his proper Dish his Meat in his season The Sheep doth not feed on flesh nor doth the Horse take pleasure to gnaw the bones like the Dog nor the Fish to eat hay like the Oxe 5. They have several Dwellings or Hiding-places The Hare does not lye down at the Crib nor doth the Dog delight constantly to abide in the Wood amongst Wolves Tygers and Lyons Of the Second God first made the Dwelling-houses of the Creatures before the Inhabitants thereof yea he first furnished and stored those several Mansions of the Creatures before he made and brought the Creatures into them First God made the grass for the Beasts and then the Beasts themselves First the inferior Creatures and then Man the Epitome under God supream Lord of all First God made Vegetative Creatures then Sensitive and then Rational First the simple bodies as the Elements and then compound and there first a being without life then a being and life without sense then a being life and sense without reason then altogether all in one and that is Man Again goodly was the order which God set for the propagation of the Creatures He gave them a seed whereby to beget others in their own likeness Or from whence should grow alway another to continue and replenish the World It is admirable to think that so much should come of so little that the seed of Plants is not quickned except it dye that when seed is sown in the Earth the seed should grow and spring up and the Sower knoweth not how For The Earth bringeth forth fruit of her self first the Blade then the Ear then the full Corn in the Ear Mar. 4.27 28. And all this comes from the goodness and blessing of God upon it in the first Creation Gen. 2.11 12. Again it had been a goodly pleasant sight to have seen the Waters bring forth Fish and Fowl of themselves first and so the Earth to bring forth Beasts and all kind of Cattel after their kind and all at God's Word of Command at first And that all these Creatures should have virtue to multiply and increase and to replenish the Sea and the dry Land this is very wonderful This is a goodly order too that God hath set namely that sensitive Creatures should some bring forth living Creatures some egs only that the Ostrich should bring forth egs and leave them And yet God take order with the Beams of the Sun as with his wings to keep them warm and hatch them That God should seed the young Ravens when they cry and the old one the Dam hath left them viz. as some tell us by causing a little worm to grow out of the dung in the nest and to crawl into their very mouths to feed them Again that the great Creatures are not so fruitful as the small and that the wild beasts do not so multiply as the tame and more useful Creatures do this is also admirable That the Waters greater than the Earth and at first above the Earth should not overflow it but be bound in by a girdle of Sand and that a light body which the wind can blow too and fro where it listeth That the Fire doth not consume and devour all the other corporal Creatures That the Beams of the Chambers of the World should be laid in the Waters Psal 104.3 and yet not be moved That the Globe of the Earth and Waters should hang upon its own Center only like a ball in the air this is indeed wonderful Again a most beautiful sight it is to behold and consider the good order and concatenation of Causes first set by God God appointed the Heavens to hear the Earth and the Earth to hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oyl and these to hear Jezreel Hos 2.22 This is that sight which the poor Heathens had some glimps of in the night of Gentilism as appears by that Poetical Fancy of the chain fastned to Jupiter's Chair and reaching down to the Earth What should we say more When God finished the Heavens and the Earth and all the Host of them he left them like a well govern'd Army standing in Battel-aray every one set in his rank every one ordered to march on in his way and none to break their ranks no one to thrust another So that if the greatness and glory of King Solomon and the goodly order of his House or Court was a sight which put the Queen of Sheba to an extasy what a sight had it been to have been with Adam in Paradise and to have seen the general muster of the Creatures before him that he should give them their names and to have seen that excellent order which was observed in this great House of the World and in all the Family of Heaven and Earth when God looked upon them all and behold they were very good Surely a far greater sight than that of Solomon's Court was here for a greater than he hath said Mat. 6.29 That Solomon in all his glory was not arayed like one of these Of the Third 3. The Creatures are very good because they are very useful to us In the state we are now some are for food some for Physick some for defence some for covering some for ornament some for our service some for our delight and recreation To instance in some particulars The Heavens were made spread out and garnished for Mans benefit and advantage Every Man has his portion in the Stars of Heaven Deut. 4.19 as well as in the clods or glebe of the Earth For as God hath determined to all Nations and persons the bounds of their habitations on the Earth so hath he divided unto them all the Sun Moon and Stars of Heaven The third Heaven is the Seat of the Blessed the Receptacle and Mansion of Saints and Angels the Palace and Paradise of the second Adam and his Seed The visible Heavens compass the World as a glorious wall of fire are a goodly Mount and fence yea a goodly covering and canopy to the sublunary World and to the Inhabitants thereof The Sun Moon and Stars distinguish Times and Seasons separate Day and Night give light to the Inhabitants of the Earth render it fruitful by their heat and influences Job 38.31 The Meteors in the middle region of the Air Fire and Hail Snow and Vapour stormy Winds Thunder and Lightening the small Rain and the great Rain of his strength these all set forth the Power of God are good for the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof they all fulfil his Word and this Word of his that Lo he beheld them and they were very good How doth the Snow though cold
Cases of Conscience saith thus For exercises such should be chosen as bring publick utility as the hunting of such Beasts as are an annoyance to the Country such as Foxes Badgers Wolves c. Aquinas cites Aristotle for the lawfulness of Hunting upon this ground or reason because thereby a Man challengeth to himself that he hath a right to by Nature Venatio Sylvestrium Animalium est justa naturalis quia per eam Homo vendicat sibi quod est naturaliter suum Sariburiensis in his Book called Policratic 500. years since brings Isaac the Patriarch his practice in sending his Son Esau to hunt to justify the lawfulness of Hunting Mr. A. J. And a late judicious and learned Commentator comparing and considering the holy Scriptures one place with another viz. Levit. 17.13 with Prov. 12.27 doth thence conclude that Hunting is lawful the covering of the blood of the Beast taken and killed in Hunting may imply according to him the lawfulness of killing the Creatures in this manner the covering of their blood signifying that it should not be imputed unto them that shed it as may appear by those places where the not covering of the blood doth imply the contrary So Job 16. 18. and Ezek. 24.7 8. The main Objection I conceive against Hunting is this viz. That the Antipathy betwixt the Creatures is usually reckoned as an effect and fruit of our Sin and therefore is not to be delighted in To this Objection I suppose that Huntsmen may answer that they delight and recreate themselves in the sagacity and swiftness c. of them and not in their tearing of one another And if we will believe Aquinas p. 1. q. 96. Artic. 1. he teacheth us that there would have been naturalis discordia inter quaedam Animalia a natural discord betwixt some Animals although Sin had never been Non enim per peccatum Hominis natura Animaliu est mutata i. e. For the nature of these Creatures is not changed by Mans Sin 2 Pet. 2.12 Besides it may be argued and pleaded that the Apostle speaks of some of those Creatures that they are made to be taken and destroyed And our own reason and sense and experience teach us that there are other Creatures who seem to be made on purpose for this use namely to find out pursue and take others But supposing this Antipathy betwixt the Dog and the Hare c. should be a fruit effect or consequent of Mans Sin I conceive that it doth not necessarily follow that we may not moderately delight in Hunting for our Clothes are a consequent of Mens Sin and yet we may moderately delight in our Clothes or Ornaments Isa 61.10 Jer. 2.32 I suppose as well as in our Meat and Drink These things then premised I shall not dare to condemn Hunting as unlawful but shall rather apply my self to give such directions and cautions to those that use this recreation that they may not offend in it 1. Men must not make Hunting Hawking or any other recreation how lawful soever their calling not their Meat and Drink but as their Sawce both to their meat and to their work to get them a stomach to both Those certainly are to be condemned saith learned Rivet on Gen. 11. Qui voluptatem venationis praeferunt officiis suis quid Reipublicae subditis debeant obliviscuntur 2. Men must not give all their goods to feed their Hounds their Hawks their Horses and have no ability or charity to feed the Poor It was well done of King Stephen who converted a Rent-charge of 24 sheaves of Oats payable out of every Plough-land betwixt Trent and Edinburgh-Frith for the King's Hounds to his new built Hospital in York for though as the Historian observes it is not lawful to take the Children's bread and give it unto Dogs F. H. b. 3. p. 29. yet it is lawful to take the Dogs bread and give to the Children 3. Men must not be lovers of Pleasure more than lovers of God nor let either the cares or pleasures of the World hinder the profitable and saving hearing of the Word of God 'T is observable that amongst all those that made excuses from coming to the Feast when invited although we find one saying I have bought a yoke of Oxen and go to prove them Lu. 14.18 19. Another I have bought a Form and I go to see it I pray thee have me excused Yet I find none so hardy as to say I have bought a pack of Hounds or a cast of Hawks and must go to prove them I pray thee have me excused 4. Men must not injure or wrong their Neighbours in their Goods or Lands or Profits whil'st they follow their own pleasures Our Princes saith Luther do grievously sin with their Hunting they destroy the seeds and grounds of poor People And these are to be reproved saith Rivet on Genesis 11. Qui misellis Rusticis plagas inferunt sata laeta boumque labores diruunt c. Much more are they to be reproved and condemned that depopulate Towns and Countries to make room for Beasts wild or tame Deer or Sheep 'T is observed in our Chronicles that VVilliam the Conquerour did depopulate 30 or more Parishes to make his new Forest and that in that Forest one of his Sons namely King VVilliam sirnamed Rufus and one of his Nephews or Grand-children came to untimely ends there 5. Men must be cautioned to be careful lest while they pursue their sports their game they lose not or hazard not their own or others limbs or lives Our own Histories tell us of some that shot at Beasts and kill'd Men So one Tyrel kill'd King VVilliam Rufus Archbishop A. the Keeper And we read elswhere of Adrian the Emperour that he broke his shoulder in Hunting If we must not be cruel to the bruit Beasts then surely not to our selves hazarding or exposing our own lives whiles we hunt them to death And this makes way for these Third Observations viz. III. That wicked or unrighteous Men are cruel unmerciful to the bruit Beasts And this appears in that 1. They keep them hardly provide not carefully and conscientiously Food Physick Harbour for their hungry sick and weary Beasts 2. They work drive lead or burden them immoderatly and not as they are able to bear 3. They will rail at them be in rage with them and curse them bitterly these poor Beasts which were justly cursed for them are again cursed by them without a cause 4. They will beat and misuse them shamefully How oft are these poor dumb Creatures beaten cruelly with many stripes and that when they know not their Masters will what it is they would have them do How have I heard wicked Men curse and ban their Beasts How have I seen them beat and abuse them without a cause threatning with Balaam if there were a Sword in their hand to slay them If these dumb Creatures should have their mouths opened as Balaam's Asse's