to himself what he has If he had given to inferiour things what they have he had bin their creatour If inferiour things had given him what he has they had given him more then they have in themselvs and would be superiour to him The same almighty lord made order'd proportion'd and limited all within their severall bounds All are the works of his hands He made us and not we ourselvs Ps. 100. 3. Again the excellent order of so different and innumerable things demonstrates the creatour to be but one Every inferiour order of things is exactly calculated and fitted to the use and service of it's superiour The elements enter the constitution of trees and plants nourishing them continually Herbs and the fruits of trees enter into creatures endued with sense and nourish them Elements herbs fruits and the flesh of beasts enter into man and nourish him The celestial bodies Sun moon and stars do influence and give vigour and warmth unto all Thus do inferiour things help the superiour in great unity harmony and order Things in the first second and third degrees are ordeined for the service of man who is the only creature in the fourth Now if the many particular and speciall natures comprehended in the three general degrees of inferiour things be ordeined for the relief and Service of one nature only to wit man's much more ought that nature to yeeld itself wholly up to the service of one only nature above it the divine There are many distinct special natures comprehended under one generall in the three inferiour degrees of things There are many species or natures in the first elements sun moon stars metals mineralls stones c. In the second are many several natures species or kinds of trees and plants In the third are several kinds of birds beasts fishes and creeping things very different in their natures But in the fourth we find only one nature or species wherein all the individuals do agree All the severall species or distinct natures of things in the first degree are united in one generall consideration as having being only All the several species in the second have being and life only All in the third agree in this that they have being life and sense only not reason Thus may we observe a generall unity of the distinct respective species under the three inferiour degrees of creatures In the fourth all are of one species or particular nature differing only individually And that nature which is above humane and all the rest must have one degree of unity above humane to wit numericall without any diversity so much as in individuals One degree of unity ought to be acknowledg'd incident to the divine nature above humane which can be no other or lesse then this that one and the same undivided substance nature or essence be found in three divine persons really distinct from and yet most intimately one with each other Otherwise would nor the unity of divine nature in three persons be superiour to the unity of humane nature in three or more men All created natures are gathered up and knit together in humane nature which is but one species and humane nature is united with the supream nature of all So comes the whole world to be consummated and terminated in the greatest unity that is possible Moreover he that gave being life sense and understanding to his creatures has all these eminently and incomparably in himself beyond what they are in the creature He has being life sense and understanding in supream perfection and unity He had them from all eternity in himself He received them not from any other nor did he give them to himself They are not limited in him For who should measure them out unto him They are infinite immeasurable and boundless They are all one and the same thing in him Life sense and understanding are the self-same thing with his being In him is no composition What then is attributable unto his being is attributable to all the rest If his being be infinite his understanding is infinite c. Thus having found out the infinite perfection of God by the finite things which he hath made we may further conclude from such infinite perfection that he made not the world as standing in need of any thing his creatures could be or do unto him for ever But in meer bounty did he communicate unto them their being in order to bring them into a final state of indissoluble union with himself which is their utmost perfection and eternall blessednes Chap. 3. Section I. The special agrement or harmony that is found in the constitution of man with other creatures 1. MAn has a special harmony with the lowest sort of inferiour things in the frame or composition of his body as also in the scitâ—ation of the parts thereof He is made up of the same elemental materials with them The nobler and more excellent of them are scituated above those of lesser value The celestial bodies are highest the earth is the lowest part of the visible creation The elements according to their different intrinsecall worth and usefulnes have their place and scituation in the universe higher or lower So in the body of man the head as the noblest part is the highest the feet as the meanest are the lowest And as the heavenly bodies do influence and rule the inferiour parts of the world so do the head hands and other superiour parts of man's body govern and order the inferiour 2. Man has a special agrement or similitude with things of the second degree in the production of his body The seed of plants and trees is sown and lies hid for a season in the earth so is the seed from which man in due time springs up sown and covered in the lowest parts of the earth Again from one small seed wherein is no apparent diversity but great similitude of parts many very different things do spring up and come forth as roots stock bark pith leaves flowers fruits and seeds In like manner from the small seed of man wherein is no discernable dissimilitude or diversity of parts do so many different and wonderfull parts come forth head eyes nose ears tongue hands fingers leggs feet toes brain heart lungs stomack liver spleen reins bones nervs veins arteries c. When we duly consider such a number of different parts so fitly disposed qualified temper'd and scituated for our use we may well conclude that we are fearfully and wonderfully made curiously wrought or embroidered by the hand of the lord 3. Thirdly man has a special agrement and much more likenes yet with things of the third degree in the production constitution and life of his body They are generated by male and female so is he They are formed and in due season brought forth as he They have head eyes nose mouth tongue teeth heart liver stomack and other parts as he They can se hear goe from place to place eat drink digest and be
nourish'd as he And as in time they come to die and return to the earth from whence they sprung up so he For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts as the one dieth so dieth the other All go unto one place All are of the dust and all turn to dust again The spirit of man goeth upward and the spirit of the beast goeth downward to the earth as well as his body but the bodies of both return alike unto dust SECT II. The fruit that 's to be reaped from this special agrement of man with inferiour creatures 1. THe knowledg hence to be gained is like unto the former as a farther strengthning and confirmation thereof The special agrement of man does more and more confirm us in this perswasion that the same workman made all and that the same lord that made them orders and disposes all things by his counsell and providence to the uses and ends by him intended 2. The infinite power wisdom and goodnes of the creatour and disposer of all things does appear in this that out of the same elementary matter he form 's up such innumerable different things as are to be found in the visible creation â— the chief and most excellent whereof is the body of man qualified and organized for the performance of all manner of rationall sensitive and vegetal operations by his Spirit We may farther conclude that he who could form up such an excellent thing as is the body of man out of the lowest element can exalt it yet higher out of the state and fashioÌ„ of an earthly mortal body into the state of a spiritual heavenly and immortal body 1 Cor. 15. 44. This advance of knowledg may we gain from our special agrement with other creatures 'T is our duty and concern thus to mark and spell out the significant instruction which by the voices of the creatures is ministred unto us in the book of nature So much of the agrement of man with other creatures general and special with the fruits of both Chap. 3. Section 1. The generall difference of man from other creatures THe difference of man from other creatures is also general and special as well as his agrement with them A greater degree of knowledg is atteinable by considering his difference from or excellency above them then by considering those things faculties powers organs and operations wherein he agrees with them The knowledg atteinable from his agrement with them wil profit us little or nothing unlesse we proceed also to take notice of his difference from them In order to this we are first to consider the difference that the three inferiour degrees of creatures have from one another which is also general and special Their general difference hath bin already spoken to Things of the second degree excell those of the first by having life which is not to be found in the first Things of the third excell them both by having sense which is not found in either of them Man haâ—s being life and sense in a generall community or fraternity with them and he has over and above reason and free-will which none of them have Herein lies his general difference from or excellency above them all There are also special differences to be found amongst inferiour creatures under each of the three general degrees There are many distinct natures species or kinds under the same general degree 1. Under the first the elements differ in dignity nature qualities and scituation one from another Amongst metals gold has a peculiar nature and excellency above silver silver above tinn tinn above lead c. Amongst stones one is more excellent then another by its peculiar nature and specifical difference from others Yet all these things do agree and meet together in one general degree of creatures that have being only not life sense or understanding 2. Under the second general degree of things that have being and life only there are many also and great specifical differences All the various kinds of trees and plants have their peculiar natures distinct from one another 3. In the third general degree of creatures there are many kinds of beasts birds fishes and creeping things that have their peculiar natures very different from one another 4. In the fourth and highest generall degree are no such special differences We find only one nature or species humane All men are of one and the same nature or kind They differ only as distinct individuals One man may have many individual differences from and excellencies above another in his personal constitution qualifications acquirements or gifts but his nature is one and the same with his fellows If God strip such a man of his accidental ornaments in mind or body whereby he excell'd others as is familiar to observation he does not thereby lose his nature which demonstrates that those differencing incidents to his person advanc'd him not above the sphere of that nature which all men partake of When many peeces of cloth equal in worth are variously coloured the different value of the superadded tinctures makes them to be of different prices But all such differences are accidental to the clothes All men have the rational powers called understanding and will which equally difference them from all inferiour creatures But accidental differences incident to these rational powers may render some men fit to ascend over the heads of others into places of superiority Having thus taken notice of the differences that are found in the three inferiour orders of things both general and special let us now observe the difference that is found in the nature of man from them all which also is both general and special is wholly delectable and that in him alone is absolute satisfaction to be had He is an infinite boundless good and he is communicable to us or capable to be enjoy'd by us Yea even his own infinite understanding and desire have absolute and compleat satisfaction in his own infinite being and unutterably desireable goodnes 2. Having thus ascended by the creatures to some general knowledg of the creatour as infinite in wisdom power goodnes and all possible perfections let us descend again to the consideration of ourselvs and of our duty towards God Man is generally differenced from brut's by his understanding and will All things then that we rightly conclude from this general difference must be concluded from the due consideration of his understanding or will or both together Whatever he is bound to doe as a man perteins to one or both of these powers These ought he to use in such a way only as is conducible to his own true good perfection and blessednes and not against himself to his own disadvantage damage and destruction Whatever any creature received from the haÌ„d of God that made it it received to its own advantage and ought to use it so Inferiour creatures fail not so to use it and shall man only the master-peece and lord of all the
unto God love fear praise obedience hope faith confidence c. belong's to his honour and the neglect thereof or opposit's thereunto are a dishonour to him He that does not love fear and obey him beleeve hope and trust in him dishonour's contemn's and injur's him Chap. 17. Sect. I. The private honour of man is the capital enemy of God's honour MAn cannot be a more direct capital enemy of God in any thing then by contriving and designing his own honour praise glory fame or name in and by all he does and by seeking the encrease and multiplication thereof He that seeks his own honour busies himself to procure the encrease and multiplication thereof in the hearts of other men So his own foolish vain heart and the hearts of others all which ought to be vessels and living temples of God's honour are made temples of his own honour fame and name His own private honour which is the enemy of god's intrudes into and possesses the room thereof in his own and others hearts which is the greatest injury that can be offered unto God Such temper'd men desire to jussle the honour of god quite out of the world out of all hearts to make room for their own the capital enemy thereof Every man is for or against God the friend or enemy of God seek's his own honour or God's There 's no middle way The seeking of self-honour does so blind a mā that he cannot se or think aright of the honour of god He ought therefore to avoid his own honour as the most poisonous deadly destructive vanity of all vanities that will finally appear to be nothing and will expose him to be eternally worse then nothing All honour will perish but god's and so will all that seek any other honour then his Who can defend his own honour against the omnipotent God What transcendent folly and blindnes is it for the thing formed to think of prospering in a contest with him that formed it SECT II. The honour of God is attended with man's profit the honour of man tends directly to his own damage and ruine GOd made all things for his own honour as the principal end of all He then that seeks any other honour in oppositiō to that does what in him lies pervert the whole world and frustrate God's intention in making it He sets himself up by his own private autority will and pleasure in the room of God and would have the world filled with his name fame and praise as a temple of his own private selfish honour Hast thou o man an arm like God Job 40. 9. contend not with him then If thou do 't is easy to guesse what wil be the issue betweē a poor fraile impotent creature and the omnipotent creatour to whom all nations are lesse then nothing and vanity Isai. 40. 17. The fruit of all such contests must needs be unutterable damage unto man The more a man muse's upon and seek's his own honour the more is he still dark'ned and blinded as to any right knowledg or consideration of God and his honour He madly digg's his own grave hasten's to his own eternal ruine He lay's the foundation of his self contrived hapines in a lie an errour a meer nullity his own honour He not only loses all his labour in such a self-seeking trade but is sure to be ruin'd by it As he therefore tender's his own hapines he ought to flee and avoid his own honour praise and glory that is enmity to God as the greatest evil Eternal shame perpetual confusion and everlasting contempt wil be the certain portion of all that finally seek their own honour But if a man honour God God will put honour upon him and glorify him for ever in himself Vain man that 's eager and hot in the pursuit and maintenance of his own private honour though unjust and undue will not patiently endure the least diminution thereof as we may ordinarily find And can we then think the almighty God will suffer any diminution of his honour that 's most justly due unto him without punishing the offendour Chap. 18. Section I. Concerning Angelical nature HAving thus read over the book of the visible creation and considered of some special and highly concerning instructions unto man deducible there-from let us proceed to take notice of a third sort of created nature which is invisible In the three former of the four degrees of creatur's already spoken to we find meer bodily nature in the fourth to wit man bodily and intellectual or spiritual nature joyn'd together By these things so manifested and known may we ascend to the consideration of intellectual nature as found alone by itself in separation from bodily Bodily nature has two wayes of existing one by itself in the three inferiour degrees of created beings another in conjunction with intellectual nature in the fourth man Intellectual nature then being far more excellent then bodily and much more neer and like to its creatour will doubtless be found to have the like priviledg of existing also two wayes first singly as a whole being in angels secondly in composition with bodily as part of a being in man We may farther conclude also that angels as the choicer sort of first-created beings excelling all others in understanding and strength Psal. 103. 20 were first made Man though the most excellent creature in the visible world lord and master of all the rest was last created because in respect of the bodily part of his constitution the other visible creatures were a requisite provision for his enterteinment and subsistence But angels being meer spirits unconcern'd in and independent on the visible or material parts of the creation for their subsistence and operations might well be before any of this visible fabrick was set up These morning stars and sons of God sang together and shouted for joy when the foundations of the earth were fast'ned and the corner-stone thereof was laid by the hand of the creatour Job 38. 6. 7. Now forasmuch as angelical nature had the same kind of free-will that man had in his first make the things above proved concerning the obligation duty and true interest of man may be look'd on as equally proved in reference to angels So have we by ascending natur's ladder found out the divine nature uncreated which is the same numerical nature in three persons and then three created natures meer bodily meer intellectuall and mixt SECT II. The sin of Angels ANgels sin'd before men Sin and depravation were first found in intellectual nature Angelical nature sin'd without any instigation to evil by any superiour nature already fallen Humane nature sin'd and fell by the instigation of angelical the highest kind of created nature already fallen Sin therefore was first in angelical nature For till angels were sinners they would not tempt man to sin Sin was brought into humane nature differently from the way it entred into angelical It was first brought into the weaker
union with god's to his unspeakable advantage is signified to him by such natural and advantageous transmutations as are observable in inferiour creatures Things of the lowest degree are changed or tranform'd into things of the second things of the second into those of the third and all into man the only creature in the fourth The elements are transform'd as they run-together into the composition of trees and plants These with their fruits roots c. are transform'd into things of the third degree whereby they receive a more noble being in the life of sense And all are farther advanc'd by way of transformation into the life of man in whom they do attein a yet more noble and excellent kind of being And man by rightly placing his love upon God so as to live in his will advances all in his own person and nature into unchāgable union with God By this last transformation do all things in man attein the most excellent kind of being that is possible for them to have If man be not induced freely to yield up himself to the will of God by this last and utmost transformation he thwart's the naturall order and course of the whole universe to his own destruction Inferiour things do most orderly attein their advance by quitting their own form's and ascending into personal union with rational nature in him If he refuse to quit the naturall activity life and freedom of his rationall powers to live in the transcendently more excellent freedom and power of the mind and will of God as partaker of the divine nature he for whom all the rest were made is the only disorderly creature to his own eternal damage and confusion Chap. 9. Section I. Two first loves or chiefly beloveds THere are properly but two principal loves or beloveds God and self his will or our own The love of God carries our will forth to a right general universal love of all things as the works of his hands loved and approved by him If our own will be by way of reflexion upon itself our chiefly beloved such a narrow private love will not carry us forth to a right love of any other things but will cause us to regard or value them no otherwise then as relating or subservient unto the great idol self-interest We shall love only ourselvs in them not them as the works of God's hands related to and approved by him To these two chief loves of God or self are all other loves reducible as flowing from the one or other of them There can be but one thing chiefly beloved for whose sake only other things in connexiō therewith or as related thereunto are loved All other subordinate loves to all other things considered as in harmony correspondence union and connexion with the chief beloved are included in the first love as the basis and cause of all the root and fountain whence they do pullulate and arise All are but as one love centring in and relating to the chief beloved T is the chief beloved only that is properly loved in all other things Whatever is in conjunction with that must necessarily be loved and whatever is against it or contrary to it will as certainly be hated It is so strongly and intimately united with the will does so vehemently and intirely draw and engage it unto itself that it suffers it not to love any other thing but for it's sake as in harmony with and subserviency thereunto By necessary consequence so many particular hatreds wil be begotten in the will as there are things contrary to or against its chief beloved and as many particular subordinate and secondary loves as there are things in harmony and union therewith If the radical or chief love be good just and orderly all the rest are so too if evil corrupt and disorderly so are the rest As is the root such are the branches as the fountain so are the streams issuing there-from Self-love is a narrow private unlawfull destructive thing the fountain and root of all false and unlawful loves of other things If the love of God be not the chief the love of the creature is And amongst the creatures that which is most neer and dear unto the will wil be its chief beloved and that is the will itself which can reflect its love upon itself as the most dear lovely and desireable thing to itself If then God be not a man's chief beloved his own will or himself most certainly is And then he loves neither God nor any other creature but as conducible to the gratifying and pleasing of his selfish private narrow will If he do seem to have some regard unto God so as to pray to him he does in such demeanour but make use of God in a subserviency to his own selfish will He askes things of God to consume upon his lusts Jam. 4. 3. He regards not God any body or any thing else but as conducible and helpful towards the bringing in provisions for his flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Rom. 13. 14. In the first sin of Adam we all turn'd away from God into the love of our own will in distinction from and opposition to his Such self-love can never be destroy'd or eradicated but by the irresistible grace of God which alone can cause man's will freely to draw off and disengage its love from every thing else in order to the receiving of the omnipotent creatour in the room of a fraile impotent creature as its chief beloved By receiving God for its beloved it is furnish'd with the power and armour of God ha's the power of godlines in it whereby to withstand all the powers and works of darkness No created being can bear up against a man that 's thus furnished with power from on high If God be for us in us with us who can be against us Rom. 8. 31. SECT II. THese two chief loves are capital enemies of each other contending for primacy The primacy is due to god alone and he has no enemy to contest with but self love As he is infinitly above all so ought he to be loved above all The prerogative and honour of being our chief beloved does on all accounts belong to him alone Whatever then stands in competition with or oppositiō to him in this point ought to be look'd upon and handled as the capital enemy of god Self-love is an unjust false tortuous inordinate love contrary to god to truth to the good of man to the order and voice of nature in the whole universe T is the root of all other evil loves of all vice injustice iniquity To deny God the first place in our hearts and to place our selvs in his room is a high contempt of him a denying and jusslling him out of what is his due by the law of nature When a man bestow's his chief love on himself he offends God both as he is the giver and receiver of his own love He gives and receiv's that unto
advance the soul into a higher and more excellent state then at first he gave it will proportionally rarefy spiritualize and exalt the body at the resurrection into a far more excellent state then when formed by him out of the dust of the ground Gen. 3. 19. or fashioned in the lowest parts of the earth his mother's womb Psal. 139. 15. The spirit of man transform'd by the love of God ascends to a partaking of the divine nature 2. Pet. 1. 4. the body by its proportionable transformation will ascend into a spiritualty of being as partaker of the very nature of the spirit In the essentials of his constitution thus advanced compleated and perfected will he have an absolute fulnes of joy and blessednes for ever He will for ever have all he can desire and for ever be rid of all he hates and would not have And then farther from this radical fundamental joy in God will spring up innumerable other secondary joy's on the account of all that are in the same state of blessednes with himself His joy wil be multiplied according to the numberless multitude of saved men and angels Rev. 7. 9. The elect angels rejoyce in man's hapines why should not elected men rejoyce eternally in theirs Every man in heaven will ever love every one as himself that 's in the same blessed condition with himself and therefore equally rejoyce in the joy of every one as in his own If then therebe innumerable men that will have the like joy in God every one of them will have innumerable joyes Every ones unspeakable joy in God wil be innumerably multiplied by the like unspeakable joy in others All this is the necessary certain eternal fruit and consequent of man's wel-fix'd love of God Chap. 13. Sect. I. The temporary fruit of self-love THe temporary fruit of self-love in this world cannot be any true joy but only a sophistical deceptive seeming joy carrying reall sadnes in the womb of it He that loves his own will praise honour glory and bodily pleasur's loves and seek's after such things as conduce thereunto worldly riches dignities offices sciences c. Such a man when he has any considerable hopes or enjoyment of such things he has a proportionable kind of joy And because all these things may pass away be lost or destroy'd he fear 's to lose them and hates all that would diminish or destroy them From such danger fear and hatred sadnes must needs arife His joy then at best in such delusive transient vanities hath sorrow and vexation of spirit most intimatly connexed with it From the properties and conditions of self-love may we certainly conclude the properties of the joy arising there-from If such love be an inordinate unjust tortuous false vicious corrupt unclean thing contrary to the nature of God and man as also to the order of the whole universe if it be a most wicked filthy malignant abominable thing the joy arising from it must needs be of the same complexion and have the self-same evil qualities properties and conditions Self-love is the leading injustice and injury dishonorable to God and destructive to man It sets up a false God in the room of the true the will of man in opposition to the will of God Any joy man can have in such a course must needs be a false deceptive inordinate unjust vicious corrupt joy contrary to the nature of God and man as also to the nature and order of all creatures T is a most wicked filthy poisonous mortal dark lying joy As the root is so is the fruit And forasmuch as self-love render's a man the capital enemy of God as thereby usurping a power of living in the absolute Soveraignty and unsubjected exercise of his own will which is the peculiar prerogative and incommunicable priviledg of God alone all the joy he can possibly find in such a course is but yet a higher strein of enmity to God All his joy and complacency in things temporal is but a rebellious exulting and rejoycing in his contempt of and enmity to God The more a man has of such joy the greater enemy of God is he Self-love and the love of God cannot stand or dwell quietly together in the same will but as capital enemies will destroy and expell one another In like manner is it with the two opposite joyes thence arising The joy that spring's up from the love of God strengthen's man's union with God The joy which spring's from self-love divides separat's and alienat's a man more and more from God For the maintenance of a false joy such a multitude of temporal things appear's requisite as cannot usually be gotten without damage and destruction to others and ourselvs The love of such riches as are the nourishmēt and maintenance of a false joy will put us upon the exercise of many such foolish and hurtful lusts as drown men in destruction and perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. True joy in the lord render's a man bountiful courteous merciful humble mild and sweet False joy in the creature make's him cruel wicked proud implacable revengful and all that 's naught The former preserv's peace unity friendship and all that 's good amongst men the latter tend's to the dissolution of all right friendship sowes envy strife divisions animosities and all that 's evil amongst them The former alway's profit's the latter alwayes hurt 's him that has it The former enlighten's and cleer's up mans understanding the latter more and more darken's and blind's it The former will have the greatest reward the latter the greatest punishment SECTION II. The eternal fruit of self-love IMmediatly after this life he that had nothing but a false temporary momentany joy in the fleeting things thereof wil for ever be deprived of all that he loved desired or rejoyced in He wil be compelled by the hand of God to have all that he would not have and he wil be everlastingly deprived of all he would have his own honour glory praise and bodily pleasur's The soul of man in hel cannot but think of such things as will give it perpetual sorrow It will look upon itself as the most deformed filthy disorder'd thing imaginable contrary to God in the utmost extreamity contrary to the uprightnes and glory of its own first-created natural being and much more contrary to the yet more excellent glory of spiritual life it was capable of having bio advanced into by a new creation or the true regeneration which it wilfully refused The soul finding itself in this dismal posture will most vehemently desire to be rid of itself by annihilation but never can Man in such case will most earnestly desire God may lose his being that there may be no omnipotent hand to keep him up in being and punish him He wil be eternally displeased that either God or himself or any other creatur's are continued in being because all makes for his woe Thus will fond self-love end at last in eternal self-abhorrency sorrow and