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
still obedient unto his Word The Angel destroys Senacharib's mighty Host The Stars in their courses sight against Sisera The Ravens feed Elijah The dumb Ass reproves the madness of the Prophet The Frogs and Flyes plague Pharaoh and the Egyptians The Lice or Worms devour proud Herod Aelian Var. Histor Lib. 4. Cap 28. and destroy profane and impious Pherecydes And so we are on a sudden fallen on an implicite Answer to our Third Query namely whether the Creatures be all now so good as when they first came new out of Gods hands How are the mighty Angels fallen and become Devils multitudes of them And over Adam and his posterity we may lament as David over Saul and Jonathan his Son a little alter'd 2 Sam. 1. The beauty of Paradise is slain upon the high places How are the Mighty fallen There the Shield of the Mighty was vilely cast away The Shield of Adam as if he had not been anointed with the Oyl of Sanctity and Soveraignty How are the Mighty fallen and the Weapons of war perished Man that was so very good when God made this general survey of his Creatures by sin became so very evil that Gen. 6. God repented and it grieved him at his heart that ever he made him How is the goodly Picture marr'd the beautiful Face deformed the sweet Instrument broken Bethel made a Babel or a Bethaven Light become darkness Man that was naturally very good become by nature very evil As for the inferiour Creatures Man's fall exceedingly crushed them yea brought a curse on his own head and theirs too So that now they are not generally so pleasant so useful so serviceable and obedient to us as they would have been if we had not sinned Rom. 8.20 Rom. 8.20 The Creature it self is made subject to vanity Which place if we understand in the most ordinary sense there is a two-fold vanity to which the Creatures are now subject 1. To be abused vainly by sinful Men to ryot luxury and excess And 2. The Creatures are subject to corruption And thus far we answer by way of concession that the Creatures are not so very good as they were at first But yet we say 1. That the Creatures are still good in respect of their essence or being which they have from God 2. With the Apostle Paul 1 Tim. 4.4 That every Creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving To the Pure all things are pure 3. And again That all things shall work together for good Rom. 8.28 to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose That if they touch any deadly things they shall not hurt them To them is the promise made Psal 91.13 Thou shalt tread upon the Lyon and the Adder and the young Lyon and Dragon shalt thou trample under feet Either there shall no evil betide us from the Creatures or God will turn it unto good to us 4. We say too that 't is good as things now stand 'T is for the peace and tranquility of the Common-wealth of mankind that God hath made some Creatures instrument wrath and vengeance upon Disturbers and publick Enemies as in a well-ordered Common-wealth 't is good that there be Goals and Gibbets c. for the terror and punishment of Evil-doers IV. And now if any ask me Whether the wound which the Creatures got by the fall of Adam crushing of them be incurable waether the Creatures ever yet have had or shall hereafter have a Restauration to their primitive goodness and integrity I answer 1. That when God the Builder of this great House of the visible World had been so provoked by his Tenant Adam that he might justly have sworn in his wrath that he would pull down this House about his ears and either make a Dung-hill of it or consume it with the Timber thereof and the Stones thereof Then the Lord Jesus Christ he by whom all things were made which were made at first he interposed step'd in held the hand of Divine Justice and put under his shoulders to uphold the tottering Creation He undertook and covenanted to make God full satisfaction and reparation and to establish the World again upon its own Basis Reconciling or making all things meet again and sweetly kiss each other Col. 1.20 Whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven Thus did Christ become surety and bound for us or else a writ of execution had been presently served upon us and the Creatures under us id est upon us Body and Goods 2. When we read that God reprieved Adam from execution and gave him that great Mother Promise of the blessed Seed we may rationally suppose that he did in some measure at least alleviate or mitigate the justly deserved curse upon the Creatures for his sake and cause For if God spared not to promise us his own Son and to deliver him up for us all how should he not with him freely promise to give us all things even all things richly to enjoy If he will promise to give us his Son the Heir of all things in Marriage to us surely the Inheritance too that shall be ours Again God will not pardon the Principal Man and execute those who are instruments rather than Accessaries to wit the Creatures 3. If we consult the latter end of the eighth the beginning of the ninth Chapter of Genesis we shall find that upon Noah's building an Altar and offering burnt Offerings unto the Lord after the Flood God did covenant and promise to uphold and establish the World and did renew Adam's forfeited Character by which he made him Lord of the Creatures unto his posterity blessing and restoring Noah and his Sons and in them us in a great measure to that Right and Royalty which their and our great Grand-father Adam had lost 4. The Lord Christ God blessed for ever by being made actually a curse for us in the fulness of time hath purchased and given unto us the use of the Creatures as a blessing and hath utterly taken away the partition wall of typical uncleanness as to many Creatures which stood for a time betwixt Jew and Gentile and now every Creature of God is good being sanctified by the Word and Prayer that is good Men may now have a good and holy use of all God's good Creatures 5. We cannot but acknowledge that the Scriptures of truth speak of Gospel-times as of the World to come Acts 3.21 Heb. 1. As of times of Reformation Heb. 9.10 As of times of Restitution of all things according to our last Translation As of a new Heaven and a new Earth And sometimes since Christ they speak of New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven Rev. 22. Of the Paradise of God of a Tree of Life and of a Water of Life Revel 2.7 Rev. 22.12 And this seems to be upon the Earth And 't is observed that then and there the Tree of
and that with a Sentence of approbation and commendation upon every particular thing which he had made And behold saith the Text it was very good God's survey of all his Creatures and his judgment of them upon his survey and review of them these two divide the Text. From the words we shall deduce these two Observations 1. That God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he doth look upon again again and consider his works 2. That it is a true and righteous Sentence or Judgment namely this which he passed upon his Creatures at first as they then were as they came out of his hands Behold they were very good The former I shall very briefly dispatch the latter I shall insist upon 1. Of the first It cannot be that ever any thing should be hid from Gods all-seeing Eye which is a thousand times brighter than the Sun Which if it look on the Sun the eye of the World that shineth not yea God who is All-eye Totus oculus sees more than the eye of Faith doth and yet that sees things that are invisible and therefore nothing which was registred in Moses's Natural History of the Creation could possibly lye undiscovered unto him No not the Angels of Heaven above which because not to be seen with corporal eyes much less Minerals hid in the bowels of the Earth beneath which because not actually seen without much digging and delving or because not so soon perfected by the heat of the Sun are therefore omitted altogether in the preceding Narration I say there was never any thing either in Heaven above in the Earth beneath or in the Waters either above or under the Earth which was not alway visible and actually seen and beheld by him And yet if you look over this Chapter you will find that 't is said that God had seen his works four times before now He saw the work of every day in the end thereof and pronounced it good except the second day which some think was because the Angels were created that day and that day fell multitudes of them Others because that day was a work of division for then God made the Firmament and divided the Waters which were under the Firmament from the Waters which were above the Firmament verse 7. Or lastly and most probably because the work which was begun that day was not so fully perfected until the third day when God gathered the Waters under the Heaven into one place and call'd it Seas when 't is said that God saw that it was good Vers 10. I say God had seen his works four times before this sixth day and never looked on any thing that he had made but he saw it was good and yet this satisfies not but he sees and surveys them again a fifth time namely now on the sixth day God saw every thing that he had made If any wonder at this and say in their heart what doth this mean if it was so why was it thus I answer that it was not done for that it was possible for God to have overseen himself in any of his works and to have omitted either any part or parcel of work which he had designed to do or any punctilio of workmanship requisite It was not because that any thing either actually did or possibly could miscarry in his hands or be marred by him in the making of it It was not because there was any want of harmony or due proportion of the parts one to another or because all together they could possibly render the Universe ugly or monstrous It was not for any one nor for all these causes put together that God is said thus often to see his works But it may be for some such ends as these 1. To teach us seriously to contemplate and wisely to consider the operation of his hands to study the Book of Nature well that large Volume of two Tomes Heaven and Earth and therein to see the invisible things of God even his eternal Power and Godhead which being of themselves not seen yet are manifest by the things that do appear In the Sun Moon and Stars you may see digitum Dei In the inferior or sublunary Creatures vestigia Dei Gods footsteps for quaelibet Herba quaelibet Bestiola Deum refert In Man you may see Dei Speculum Imaginem the Glass Image and Representation of God In the Universe as in a fair Book and very legible Characters you may read yea you may run and read the Name and Nature of God and by reading and studing this Book only you may prove good Scholars in Divinity God would have no Atheist in the University of the World But if any such there be who shut their eyes against the light of the knowledge of God in the face of the whole Creation let them know that God's eye is ever upon them and that for evil for this horrid ingratitude in that that they would maâ—â— him that made them not allow him a being who give them and all things or Creatures else theirs 2. To teach us to view and review our own works If God who could not err surveyed every days work one excepted in the end of the day and the whole weeks work in the end of the sixth day Let us go and do likewise Let 's consider our ways daily and again let 's consider our ways weekly Let there be no man amongst us but who reviews his works saying What have I done This was the way wherein David if we judge him the pen-man of the 119. Psalm was converted or restored after his fall he thought on his ways look'd them over and over again and turn'd his feet unto God's Testimonies 3. To secure to himself his own honour and glory and to render the Creatures inexcusable in case of any future miscarriage Now if any thing fall and be marr'd the fault cannot justly and reasonally be imputed unto God for he was exceeding careful to make and overlook and examine his works and to make and leave all well good and very good If therefore there happen hereafter to be any errour any crack flaw spot or blur any fault in any of the Creatures it must be acknowledged to be by some abuse neglect miscarriage or fall out of our hands for before they came out of God's hands he looked them over and over again and found and left them all right and good and very or vehemently good 4. To prevent our carping quarrelling and finding fault with God's works Ne aliter de suis operibus sentire vel loqui quisquam audeat Calvin That we say not no not in our hearts Cui bono Or Quorsum perditio haec Concerning any of the Creatures that none may say What is this Wherefore is that For all the works of the Lord are exceeding good And he hath made all things for their use saith the Author of Ecclesiast Cap. 39.16 17 21. That none might blaspheme Gods works as that profane Spaniard
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
of it self yet keep the Fruits of the Earth warm like Wool He giveth Snow like Wool How do the Winds as God's Besom sweep the Air and carry about the Clouds which are his Chariots though these Chariots of God are twenty thousand even a thousand thousand of them yet all these move very swiftly upon the wings of the Wind. Come we to the lower region of the Air and there to the Fowls of Heaven Their flight above the Earth being made most of earth and water is very admirable The Ostrich doth partly go and partly fly makes use both of her legs and wings and so they say moves as swift as if she did sly The very feathers and wings of the Birds are of goodly sight Gavest thou the goodly wings to the Peacock Job 39.13 Besides the Fowls are of use some for food some for physick some for our recreation Even the very Swallow and the Bat some may think useles Creatures do the one by day and the other at even purge the Air of Flyes The Crows Ravens and Eagles devour those dead Carkases which lye on the Earth and else might corrupt the Air and make it pestilential The Crows pick up the Worms after the plough and so better the soil Some Birds are meat for the rest and they again for us Come we to the Beasts of the Field God hath put all these into our hands Psal 8.7 yea under our feet The Horse and the Cow Creatures of great and ordinary or daily use God hath not given them so great galls as to other Creatures lest being much used or misused by us they should wax angry and turn again and rent us The Horse doth not bite or kick his Keeper when he gives him chaff instead of provender The Beasts are for our food or physick or for the food of other Beasts who are useful or serviceable to us either to our necessities or our delights Even venomous Creatures themselves the Physicians make good use of they say these pick up or suck up poyson which is scattered up and down the Earth and make the places where they are more wholsom Again some of those poysonous Creatures are meat for other Creatures which are good food for us as Hens pick up Spiders and yet yield us good nourishment Besides it may be questioned whether there were any such thing as poyson before Sin came and brought it into the World we find no Antipathy then betwixt the Woman and the Serpent and so possibly no venom neither in the Serpent until the Devil that great Poysoner possessed it however poysons should not have been hurtful As for Flyes and creeping Things these are many of them for physick some for food so some sort of Locusts and Snails for our sport some with these other Creatures are fed and some taken as the Fishes Of what admirable use are these to us to the Silk-worm we owe our soft rayment and to the Cocheâ—-â—al our scarlet-dy And as for the Air it self 't is a fit Medium for us to breathe in to move in to derive the influences and light of Heaven to us Come we to the Earth our Bodies are made of it we dwell therein It brings forth Grass and Fruits and so food for us and the other Creatures It is our Bed to sleep in after death In the Earth the Valleys and Plains are sit conveyances of water to water the Earth are very fruitful stand so thick with Grass and Corn that they sing and shout for joy Psal 65.13 The Mountains are a shadow against the storm and heat they are for the grasing of the Cattel and thence we have our most goodly prospects Come we to the Waters there Fish are useful to us for food or delight or for other uses The Waters themselves yield matter of Rains and Dews to refresh the dry and thirsty ground serve to wash us and refrigerate us or to refresh us The Ebbing and Flowing of the Seas prevent the corruptions of the Waters is very useful for speedy transportation of Men and Merchandize and of the best Merchandize the Pearl of price And now if after all this there be yet any doubt or scruple concerning the goodness of God's Creation or his Creatures I answer God knows wherefore he made them all and to what use they serve although we do not When we come into a Goldsmiths or other Artificers Shop and see many Tools there which we know not how to use In officinâ non audeâ— vituperare fabrum audes in hoc Mundo reprehendere Deum Aust or what they are good for yet we do not straight way condemn them as useless because the Artificer knows what good use they serve for Neque in potestate hominis est indagare quam ob causam produxerit Natura formicarum alias alis instructas alias absque alis Quamobrem etiam vermium alios pluribus pedibus alios paucioribus produxerit quisvè sit hujus vermis hujus formicae finis 2. We say that if there be any deformity at present in the whole Creation if there be any Insects or other Creatures which are noxious I answer this comes from Mans sin Creantur quidem a Deo sed ultore saith Calvin in Gen. 2. If Man that was good and very good for till he was made God only saw and said of his Creatures that behold they were good but then very good prove Apostate from God and Rebel against him no wonder if God do begin to pull the house about his ears If Man himself become a Briar and a Thorn no wonder if the Earth bring forth Briars and Thorns to him Whil'st Adam continued in his goodness Heaven and Earth was full of God's goodness of God's good Creatures If there be any Creatures which are evil and pernicious to Man he must blame the evil of sin for that that is the fly in this Box of Ointment And yet as things now are in statu quo we may say as the Son of Syrach doth For the Good are good things created from the beginning so evil things for Sinners And a little after enumerating some of the principal things for the whole use of Mans life he saith All these things are for good to the Godly so to the Sinners they are turned into evil Eccles 39. 4. And so we come to our Fourth Head or Topick from whence we are to evidence the goodness of the Creatures namely their obedience unto their Maker It may be said of all God's Creatures as they were made at first by him from the highest Angel in Heaven to Man on Earth and the meanest Worm in or under the Earth that God commanded and they were created and they rebelled not against his Word And now since the Angels so many of them and Adam sell they from Heaven and he from Paradise yet the residue of the Creatures even the whole Creation these excepted keep the Law that their Maker set them and are
at first and who hath restored all things and redeemed his People to God by his blood out of every kindred and Tongue and People and Nation If with the Apostle John Rev. 5.11 12 13. We behold and hear the voyce of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders the number of them ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voyce Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing And every Creature in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and in the Sea saying Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever If God had his Sabbath to celebrate his work of Creation good reason Christ should have his Sabbath wherein we should commemorate his work of Redemption And now this being the Lords day and our Christian Sabbath let us do the duty of the day in the season thereof Bless the Lord O our Souls and all that is within us bless his Holy Name Forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all our iniquities who redeemeth our life from destruction who crowneth us with loving kindnesses and tender mercies Psal 103.1 2 3 4. U II I shall conclude all with a few words of Exhortation When God looked upon his works did he see every thing very good 1. Then let us not cavil or carp at any of all God's works Wo to him that striveth with his Maker Let the Potsherd strive with the Potsherds of the Earth Let 's not blame or find fault with God for any of all his works either of Creation or Providence for God hath made all things well and he hath made every thing beautiful in his season If any of God's Creatures or Providences prove evil and hurtful to us let 's blame our selves let 's blame our sins For Sin that it might appear Sin worketh death in us by that which is good Rom. 7. 2. Let 's admire and adore God Let 's bless and praise and magnify him for ever for all his goodness For his goodness is in and over all his works Let 's have high thoughts of God and low of our selves And this is the use the Prophet David makes of this Doctrine Psal 8.147 148 149 150. Yea this is the use which God himself would have Job make of it when he preached upon part of this Text in the 38 39 40 41. Chapters of the Book of Job And let us say with the Psalmist Ps 103. when we take a survey of Gods works Bless the Lord ye his Angels who excel in strength ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure Bless the Lord all his Works in all places of his Dominion every one of us Bless the Lord O my Soul 3. Let 's learn good from the Creatures God would have us go to school to the Creatures to learn many good Lessons from them He would have the Sluggard go to the industrious Ant to consider her ways and be wise Those who are ignorant of God their Lord and feeder are reproved by the bruit Creatures For the Oxe knows his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib Those who do not or cannot discern the times and seasons even the times of their Visitation the Prophet would that we go to the Stork the Crane and the Swallow for all these know their appointed seasons And because Christians and Ministers especially are sent out in the World as Sheep among Wolves Christ would have them to be as wise as Serpents and innocent as Doves Last of all did God look upon daily and at the end of the sixth day again review all his works Did he examine judge and find them all very good Let us go and do likewise let us imitate God we cannot have a better precedent or example to follow Let us every evening look back upon the works of the day and at the end of the week upon the works of the week Let 's examine and judge them This has been the practice of many precious Saints as the Lord Harington Mr. Herbert Palmer and others Yea some such thing as this viz. calling himself to an account at night for what had passed him in the day Seneca tells of himself These examples we shall do well if we follow so as they followed God himself This is a right method to proceed from good to very good to have all good but our latter work better than our former But because that in many things we offend all whil'st we are in this World here upon Earth let us look for and long after that place and state I mean for Heaven when we shall be made like unto God and our works like his works When from day to day and Sabbath to Sabbath even to all eternity we may look upon every thing that we have done and behold it shall be very good The END of the first Sermon Proverb 20.10 The righteous Man regardeth the life of his Beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ACcording to the Hebrew 'tis A righteous Man knows that is regardeth taketh care of the life of his Beast If on the one hand we consider the great commendations which the Holy Scriptures give of diverse of the bruit and unreasonable Creatures together with God's great care of and cost about them himself and his charge and laws to Men concerning them And on the other hand compare therewith Men's vilifying disregarding abusing of them It may seem not unreasonable nor unprofitable to bestow one lecture about them namely for this end to instruct and teach Men who have a right to use them how to use them aright to make them good Lords to those good Servants As he that rules over tnen must be just so he that is Lord over these bruit Creatures must not be cruel towards them As God will require the life of a Man of the Beast that slayeth him Gen. 9.5 Ex. 21.29 the Beast shall be put to death So will God call Men to accompt for the lives of their Beasts if they be cruel unto them For my own part I would not when my Lord cometh be found causelesly or cruelly beating or misusing these my Servants and my fellow Servants From the words we may observe 1. That Man hath a Right and Title to the Beasts of the Earth and that not only in common but each Man hath a particular Right and Propriety in them The righteous Man regardeth the life of his Beast 2. That a good or righteous Man is good or merciful to his Beast 3. That unrighteous or wicked Men are unmerciful or cruel to their Beasts I. Psal 8.6 7. Of the First God the soveraign Lord of Heaven and Earth the Maker of Man and Beast hath made him Lord over the Beasts he hath put them all under his hand or under his feet Gen. 1.25.26 28. He that made the Beast of the Earth
after his kind and Cattel after their kind made Man also after his own Image and gave him dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl of the Air and over the Cattel and over all the Earth and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth God indeed made these Creatures and all things else for his own glory but in order thereunto he made these to be our Servants Gen. 2.19 20. And therefore we find that God assembled before Adam all the Beasts of the field to see what he would call them Gen. 5.2 Luk. 1.62 63. And his giving Names to them was a part and proof of his Dominion or Lordship over them At first 't is thought that Mans Dominion over the Creatures the Fishes of the Sea the great Whales not excepted and over the Fowls of Heaven was like that of the Centurion which he had over his Souldiers He might say to one Go and he goeth and to another Come and he cometh and to a third Do this Luk. 7.8 and he doth it They were all ready to come and go at his word of Command And this was the Language of their Obedience to Adam their Lord Lo we are all thy Servants Before Sin came into the lower World Adam commanded without rigour and they obeyed with obediential reverence and readiness without the least force or compulsion And since the fall God hath in a great measure renewed our forfeited Charter and Men have been able by force or art to subdue and govern over the greater wilder sort of Beasts such as Elephants Lyons Leopards Bears Tygres Plin. Hist B. 8. C. 2. c. Elephants have been brought so far under Mans yoke as to be yoked together to draw a Chariot and in some places to draw the Plough if we will believe Pliny But behold a more sure word of Prophecy St. James tells us Chap. 3. V. 7. That every kind of Beasts and of Birds and of Serpents and things in the Sea is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind As if he had said It was not so only before the Fall or by miracle as the Whale not hurting Jonah Jonah 2. Dan. 6. but casting him up on dry Land and the Lyons not hurting Daniel though cast into their Den to be devour'd by them or that all the Creatures came tamely to Noah into the Ark but as if he had said Nothing is so violent and noxious by Nature but humane art and industry hath made it serviceable to Mans use For instances and stories saith D. Manton in Loc. Interpreters abound in them How Lyons have been tamed and brought to hunt as Dogs or draw the Chariot as Horses you may see Pliny in his Natural History Lib. 8. C. 16. and Aelian Lib. 15. C. 14. How Birds have been taught you may see Plin. Lib. 10. C. 42. and Macrob. Lib. 2. Saturnal C. 10. Of Elephants Lipsius Gen. 1. Epistâ—… 50. And although we are told by D. Cowel that wild Beasts Birds Fishes by the Law of Nature are not the goods of any one particular person yet he that first gets the possession of them by the Law of Nature hath a Title to them And as for the tamer Creatures we have a right to them ordinarily either by Descent as Heirs to our Parents or by Donation as free gift or by purchase or else as found when lost or gotten in or by means of a lawful War from an Enemy And so it may be said of any particular person though but a private Man who is by any of these lawful means Possessour of the Beasts as God saith of King Nebuchadnezzar Jer. 27.5 6. I have given him the Beasts of the Field also to serve him For God made the Earth the Man and the Beasts that are upon the ground by his great Power and his stretched out Arm and giveth it to whom it seemeth meet unto him Though God be the soveraign Lord of Heaven and Earth and all that therein is yet the Earth hath he given to the Children of Men. He made Man to have dominion over the works of his hands He hath put all things under his feet Psal 8.7 8. All Sheep and Oxen yea and the Beasts of the Field the Fowl of the Air and the Fish of the Sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the Seas From God Lord Paramount of all we have a good â—â—tle to and a propriety in these Creatures Isa 1.3 The Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib God having granted and thus setled property in particular persons to the Beasts of the Earth 't is not in the power of Men or Devils but by Gods Commission or Permission at least to alter or overthrow it The Devil could not touch Job's Sheep or Camels without leave first had obtained And as for Man God hath made a hedge about every Man's Cattel by the Eighth Commandment Thou shalt not steal And to keep him far from such an evil Matter he forbids in the X. Commandment so much as to covet or desire our Neighbours Oxe or his Ass or any thing that is our Neâ—ghbours And now is it so that we have a Right to and Authority over the bruit Creatures yet let us be cautioned against abusing or misusing of them Say not in your hearts Our Beasts are our own who is Lord over us May we not do what we will with our own and doth God take care for Oxen May we not rather wish with Balaam that there were a Sword in our hands to slay them when they stop or start aside since they are our own May we not rather say to them Our Fathers made your yoke heavy but our little finger shall be heavier than our Fathers loins To such absurd and unreasonable Men I shall oppose the reproof which the Ass gave to his Master Balaam Num. 22.28 What have I done to thee that thou hast smitten me these three times And again the reproof of the Angel V. 32. Wherefore hast thou smitten thine Ass these three times Although God hath given us a Right to the bruit Creatures and a Dominion over them yet 't is with subordination to himself and his Laws yet 't is with certain limitations and restrictions We are Lords over them 't is true but we must not play the Tyrants over them The Israelites God's own People had a good Title to their Beasts or Cattel and yet he bound them to their good behaviour towards them by sundry Laws and Rules in reference to them They might not deal with them as they pleased as to their meat Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the Coriâ—… Nor as to their work neither for the time when they should work nor for the manner of their working Thou shalt keep the Sabbath-day that thy Oxe and thy Ass may rest as well as thou And again Thou shalt not plough with an Oxe and Ass God gave
oftentimes even devoted the Beasts as well as their sinful Masters Owners to destruction And doth he not in some cases command the Beast to be put to deâ—th and so to be sacrificed to justice And again Did not God require under the old Law frequent yea daily sacrificing of Beasts making the life of the Beast to go for the life of a Man And lastly as to this Objection Did not our Saviour permit the Devil to go into the herd of Swine and so they 2000 of them ran violently into the Sea and were choked in the Sea Answ 1 I say that God hath a supreme Right Title to all the Beasts of the Fold Psal 50. the Field or the Forest All the Beasts of the Field are mine and the Cattel upon a thousand hills And that he may dispose of or do what he will with his own Who may say to him what dost thou That when God destroys Mens Cattle he doth it not out of the least hatred to the Beast but to testify his hatred and abhorrence of the Sins of the Owners of them and hereby to punish them or to bring them to repentance to melt or mollify at least their hard hearts and cause them to say as David 'T is I or 't is we that have sinned these Sheep or Oxen c. what have they done Or to prove and try them and do them good in their latter end as was the case of Job If God may justly punish Parents in their Children because they are their goods surely then he may punish Masters and Owners in their Cattel because they have a propriety in them and the taking away the lives or the loss of their Cattel redounds to them As for the Beasts that were offered up in Sacrifice by Gods Ordinance and Institution He might as justly do it as to give Men a Charter or Patent to Arise Kill and Eat for the preservation of their natural lives For by the Sacrifice the Sinner was freed from that temporal death which the Sin deserved for which it was offered And besides this Sacrifice was typical of Christ the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World and so was of use also to the saving of the Soul of the Sinner As for the Gergesens Swine I say 1 Our Lord Jesus Christ was Lord of all and therefore might justly permit or suffer the Devils to enter into them and to hurry them headlong into the Sea 2 Thereby their Owners should have learnt how good and merciful God was to them that he did restrain the Devil and not suffer him to possess their whole Country And that goodness and mercy of Christ that whereas there was a Legion of Devils in one Man he suffered them not when cast out to disperse themselves about the Country and possess a Legion of Men i. e. above 6000 Men but only this herd of Swine 3 Our Saviour teaches us that natural Men value and prefer their Swine before their Saviour 2 Let us consider that we may deal merciful with these Creatures that they are Fellow-creatures with us yea our Fellow-servants to the great Lord of Heaven and Earth as well as they are our Servants and we Lords over them And must give an account when our Lord Christ comes if he find us beating our Fellow-servants if he find us drinking with the Drunken and presently falling upon these our Fellow-servants 3 As they are our Servants to consider that they are good Servants to us who are too often bad Masters to them If we will use them they submit their necks to our yoke If we abuse them they do not complain In their mouth is no reproof That which usually inflames Masters against Servants is when Servants will answer again will contradict or at least dispute it with them Now these our Servants they are mute dumb Creatures they cannot plead their own cause they return not a word for a blow not a word for many blows though without a cause or a sufficient cause 4 Let us consider these Creatures were partakers of the curse of Mans Sin by reason of this they groan and travail in pain their yoke is harder and their burden heavier We should look on their sorrows and sufferings as occasioned as merited by us by our disobedience to our soveraign Lord. How do they spend their days in our service end their lives for our service for Food for Physick sometimes for a Sacrifice and oftentimes even for a Pleasure Delight or Recreation They suffer for us We eat the sour Grapes and their Teeth are set on edge and this justly too because they are our proper goods and we are Lords over them Many times they suffer with us as in War and other publick calamities and let this suffice let them never suffer unnecessarily from us If we do we make them exceeding miserable the poor abused Beast hath no knowledge or foresight of death as Men in misery have to put an end ere long to his bondage and misery nor any hopes of a Resurrection or a future reward for his sufferings as good Men have to comfort them The Turks I read hold that the Beasts shall rise again and although that is no part of my Creed yet I dare say if they should they will rise in judgment against those that have cruelly used them here 5 We may go to school to them and learn many a good Lesson from them How great is the love and faithfulness of Dogs the meekness of Elephants the shamefastness of the adulterous Lyoness the chastity of the Turtle the watchfulness of the Cock the utility of the Sheep 'T is said of King Porus his Elephant that he exposed his own life to save his Masters How often doth the Holy Ghost send us to school to the unreasonable Creatures Go to the Ant thou Sluggard consider her ways and be wise Those who do not know God that hath nourished and brought them up how are they reproved by the Oxe and the Ass Isa 1. The Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib but Israel doth not know my People doth not consider Those which know not the day of their Visitation may go to school to the Crane Swallow who know their appointed seasons Those Children who are without natural affection to their aged Parents let them go to the Stork and learn of that Creature to requite their Parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to feed their Parents when they are old 6 Consider that if we be Friends with God the very Beasts themselves are not only our Servants but our Friends also Our Lord Christ hath reconciled all things in Heaven and Earth Whiles we were Rebels and Traitors to God our soveraign the Angels of Heaven and the Beasts of the Earth became Enemies to us and in pursuit of their allegiance were ready to fight against us but now being reconciled to our Soveraign and returned to our obedience these our Fellow-subjects are again at peace