his labor untill the evening Psal. 104. 23. They which are not in labore hominum Psal. 73. But lye on their beds imagining mischief Pro. 26. 14. They shall not rest in the Lord because God made them for good works to walk in them Ephes. 2. vers 10. There are a number of superfluous Creatures as one calleth the idle ones of whom if we should demand What is thy calling or work They cannot say we are exercised in the works of men neither doe they work in the will of God therefore if they doe any thing they busie themselves in meddling about other mens matters It is strange to see how busie we are in taking in hand evill things and how earnest we are in doing them and how constant in not giving them over or ceasing from such works Gen. 11. 6. Judas can watch all night to work his treason but Peter and the rest could not watch one hour to pray with Christ Mark 14. 37. c. Non habemus tantum perseverantiae in bono quantum constantiae in malo Husbandmen in their works for earthly things are earnest they follow his counsell Preach 11. 6. Not to cease sowing from the morning untill the evening but will make an end but in the works of God we cannot follow his counsell 9. 9. to doe all that thou takest in hand with all thy power and strength quicquid agis instanter age saith one after the example of Abrahams servant who would not eat nor rest untill he had done his Masters work Gen. 24. 33. And as David who vowed That he would not suffer his eyes to slumber nor his eye-lids to take any rest untill he had found out a place for Gods Arke Psal. 132. 2 3. c. The proportion between work and rest Now we are come to the last point which is the proportion between work and rest which is as great odds as six to one for he wrought six dayes and rested the seventh This then if we apply will sit somewhat neer us for though happyly we doe some work at some times and perhaps doe perfect it at last Yet this is the manner of the world when they are weary of idlenesse or can doe no other worldly thing then it cometh into their mindes to say operemur opera Dei and when we take it in hand we work not six dayes as God did and rest one but we rest six daves and labor one we should use rest as a sauce and labor as our meat Job 4. 34. And we know there is great odds and difference between the dishes in which they are served but it is our fashion to use labor as a sauce to get us a stomack to rest But we must not be as Jobs Sonnes and Daughters Job 1. 4. that is to spend whole dayes yea many dayes in delights and jollity and few hours in the works of our vocation for this is not to rest after Gods example The last use which we are to make of this is that which the Apostle gathereth out of the Heb. 4. 10. As God did rest from his works so let us from ours we must esteem our righteousnesses and best works as filthy rags Esay 64. 6. Yea as very dung Phil. 3. 8. And say as Job did Job 9. 28. Verebar opera mea thus we must rest from our own works because there is no safety or quietnesse in them but leave our own righteousnesse that we may rest in Christ and in the works he hath wrought for us And great reason it is that we should only and wholly rest in him Act. 17. 28. Quoniam in ipso movemur therefore requiescamus in illo if he be Lord of hoasts that is of all works then let him be to us the Lord of Sabbath also both are noted in this preposition in for seeing our work and labor in this life is in Deum 1 Cor. 15. 10. Therefore let our rest for the life to come be in Deo which St. Paul seemeth to joyn together Rom. 11. 10. We are of him that is for creation we are by him that is for preservation and we are in him that is our end and finall rest in him To whom be all honor praise power and dominion for ever Amen Et benedixit Deus diei septimo sanctificavit iplum quum in eo quievisset ab omni opere suo quod creaverat Deus faciendo Gen. 2. 3. vers Aprill 27. 1591. WE are now come to the period or full point of the work of Creation This third verse containing in it the dedication or sanctifying of that most wonderfull and beautifull work of the whole World and all things therein contained For as in the Law both House and Temples untill they were dedicated and hallowed were counted prophane and unclean and not to be used of Gods people though they were fully made as we may see for Temples 2 Chron. 7. 1. and for houses Deut. 50. 5. So we are to conceive of the frame of heaven and of earth and all the hoasts of them for both they and the governor Man were an unhallowed work untill God blessed it for though God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath yet benedictio Sabati tranfit super observantes Sabati As the Fathers say by which means the blessing came to man Wherefore as we have said his rest was active So now we shall see it in the last greatest and chiefest works of all for now in his rest he blessed and sanctified the Sabbath day As Man was the end of all so the end of man is holinesse which is nothing else but the Image of God before spoken of wherefore this is the performance of that word of God Gen. 1. 27. Let us make man in our Image that is let us make him a holy and a happy one for man by Gods blessed work coming to holinesse in this life shall thereby aspire to eternall happynesse in the life to come 2 Pet. 1. 〈◊〉 11. There are two parts of this verse the first containeth the blessing and sanctifying of the Sabbath the second containeth the reason why he did so namely Because in it he rested from the work that he had made which reason because it was before rehearsed in the second verse let us first see the dependance of it God doth not rather extoll the seventh day than the other six dayes as if he did more favor and like idlenesse then labor and work for this is truly affirmed both of God and godly men of the Sabbath which that heathen man said of himself Nunquam minus otiosus quam cum otiosus fui for as one saith Circumcisio cordis durior labore corporis wherefore by this God only 〈◊〉 requiem sanctam and not idle passage over the time Object But why did God passe over the six dayes and appropriate this speciall exaltation to the seventh day only Resp. Surely it was to teach us to passe by all the creatures which God had made
the tongue who will finde fault in this or that which God hath made this commeth to passe when men will seem to see more than God himself did see When that God did trie every work of his here seven times in this chapter as for the words of the Lord they are pure as silver tryed in a furnace of earth fined seven fold Psal. 12. 6. So are his works also and this is a bridle to our licentiousness to suspend our judgment and not to finde fault with Gods works God hath said they were very good habent ergo bonitatem etsi nobis ignotam Divers things are good in their place divers in their time Fire in the cold of Winter is good in the heat of Summer it is not so good Water in the Summer is good It is Gods curse and a great grief to eat in darknesse Preach 5. 17. In time things be good all things have their time Preach 3. In a word let every one say thus with himself God hath seen this or that good I silly man cannot see it otherwise Omnia sunt munda mundis sicomnia bona bonis all things are clean to the clean and all things good to the good God createth good things he ordereth evil things the thing is not ill but the ill applying is evil not the power There is potest as ad infestandum if it be applyed to the Malefactor it is even bonum justitiae Sic non est dedecus culpae sine dedecore vindictae God saith It shall be well with the just for they shall eat the fruit of their works but woe be to the wicked for it shall be evill with them Esay 3. The punishing the wicked and rewarding the just is good for we know that all things work to the best unto them that love God Rom. 8. 28. If any thing be amisse the evill is in man not in God God hath made us good but by Adams transgression and our daily sinne we are evill It is our iniquities that hath separated between us and our God it is our sinnes that have hid his face from us Esay 59. 2. and Jer. 5. 25. Say not then this is ill or that is ill but say I am ill and I am wicked God who made all things could best see that every thing was very good but either by ignorance or by ill desert we are dymme sighted 3. Lastly For imitation we must see as God did that we may see our works good Bonitas bonitatum omnia bonitas was the state of the first creation By sinne it was that Salomon saith the beginning of the Preacher that vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas and therefore let us be warie Gods deeds were visible they were not good words only but good gifts let not us say only ecce dixi but let our acts be good to the needy with ecce dedi let us imitate God in that his goodnesse There are two good things come from man the one in 2 Pet. 1. 9. Knowledge temperance love c. The other in the 4. to the Philippians 14. to communicate to the afflicted benefacite communicate is the summe of all So the evening and the morning were the sixth day In the former dayes there was creation of nothing a disposition and ordering of things created and an adorning of things ordered Here is an accomplishment of all his works God before man was observed the dayes and the number but here he delivereth unto man the Kalender of times which we have received and shall be received to the worlds end The evening goeth before the morning rest is in the evening labor in the morning to the which man is ordained After this his last work cometh the seventh day the day of rest God he resteth not in the waters nor in the Earth he resteth not in the Heavens but to conclude with the excellent saying of St. Austin Requiescit Deus in homine ut homo in Deo requiescat God took his rest in man that man might take his rest for ever with God Which God of his mercy grant us all to whom be all honor glorie and praise world without end Amen AMEN LECTURES PREACHED UPON the second Chapter OF GENESIS LECTURES Preached in Saint PAULS Church LONDON Itaque perfecti sunt Coeli Terra omnisque exercitus illorum Gen. 2. 1. April 22. 1591. IN the course of the former Chapter ever we have seen the closing up of every dayes work to have this usuall and ordinary return dixit Deus Now the seventh day being come we are not to look for the old usuall dixit but for a new course of speaking and manner of dealing for as God finished and perfected his Law in ten words when he spake in Sinay So here in ten words he perfectly finished the whole work of Creation and therefore now need no more to command any thing else to be made because Heaven and Earth and all the fullnesse of them are thus perfectly done and finished If there be any thing in all the world either they are here spoken of or else are in lumbis terrae Creatoris in the loyns of the efficient or in the womb of the World For within the six dayes all things were made so that we may say with the wise man Preach 1. 9. What is now or shall be hereafter but that which hath been made or done before hand therefore there is now no new thing under the Sunne As that first Chapter was for the world so this Chapter some call Mans Chapter for it is but the remainder of the former Chapter and is accompted as only a glosse or Commentary of the Creation of man set down in the 27. verse of the first Chapter The former Chapter doth describe the great world in general but this speaketh especially of the lesser World viz. Man This Chapter doth consist of three parts 1. The first is the Complement of the Creation with the description of the Sabbath or rest or seventh day in the first three verses 2. The second containeth a brief summe and abridgement of the Creation of the great World from the 4. to the 7. verse 3. The third part is a repetition of the Creation of the little World or the continuation of the history of man from the 7. to the end Touching the first as it is contained in three verses so in it there are three parts or members to be marked 1. In the first The Holy Ghost standeth upon the perfection of Gods works 2. In the second he sheweth That having perfectly finished all he gave himself to rest 3. In the third That he instituted that day and sanctified it to be a sabboth for ever to be used observed and kept Which three parts doe depend one upon another for God having perfected all he rested and in that rest he blessed the seventh day and instituteth the Sabboth these are the three branches of the
too But God doth all things not only with faculty but with the greatest facility that may be for nothing is hard to him or beyond the compasse of his power therefore we cut off all wearinesse from God and say That his resting was only a ceasing or leaving off to make any more new things for his rest is only negatio operis non affirmatio laboris Object The other question is Doth God then cease and rest from all manner of work hath he ever since done nothing more Resp. That is impossible for seeing he is Actum primum therefore he cannot be idle and rest from all things as we may imagine as he bath quietem activam so hath he motum stabilem a quiet motion without any labor and this we may learn out of Moses words for he saith not simply that then God rested but he rested from his works and not absolutely from every work but only from the works which he had created that is A novis condendis sed non a veteribus conservandis from creating any more things from the works of creation he rested a novis condendis sed non a veteribus conservandis for this was the Sabbath dayes work which then he began So saith Christ pater meus adhuc operatur ego operor John 5. 17. That is both in the propagation and bringing forth the things which he made also in preserving of them We say in the Schools that there is a double cause of things the one is causa sieri the other is causa esse The first is the cause of making As a Carpenter having made a house perfect forsaketh it and careth no more for it till it fall down or as the fire is of heat or as the clock keeper is of the going of the clock who when he hath set it to his minde leaveth it untill the plumets fall down causa esse is as the candle is of light which being taken away the light is gone So is God the cause of our life being as a candle whose being is of light And in that respect David saith Lift up the light of thy countenance as if God were our candle who being taken away our life and light is clean put out and become darknesse Psal. 104. 29. If he take away his breath from us we dye We say then that he rested not from preserving and governing though he did rest from making Hermes by the light of reason could say That it were very absurd to think that God should leave and neglect the things he had made and God imputeth it as a fault to the Ostrich Job 39. 18 19 to leave her eggs without care and regard in the sands therefore God himself will be free of that blame and blemish which he condemneth in others As we say of the Father so we say of the Sonne which is the word of God Psal. 33. 9. He commanded and they were made there is creation He said the word and they stood fast which is the second work of preservation and guiding Also Psal. 148. 5 6. He first made them with his word which is the first work of creation long sithence ended and he gave them a Law which they should not break which is the other work of establishing and governing things made So Coll. 1. 17. Paul speaking of Christ saith By him all things have their being or existence and Heb. 1. 3. By him all things have their supportance and are held up He resteth not also from the ruling and governing of the World A Sparrow is one of the basest and meanest Birds Matth. 10. 29 30. Yet their motion is directed by his providence and will yea the hairs of our head are numbred and none of them fall without his providence how much more then is he provident in disposing and governing mans motions He hath a stroke in all that we doe Prov. 16. 1. The answer of our tongue is guided by God and in the 9. verse the direction of our wayes and the end and issue of their purposes and thoughts yea he ordereth and governeth our hands and feet Psal. 33. 10. Psal. 56. 13. He I say fashioneth all our thoughts and knoweth them long before so that we have no power in our heart to think in the tongue to speak or hand to doe ought but as we are directed by God yea for things most casuall as Lots and Chances which are attributed to fortune Prov. 16. 33. Even that is ruled by the Lord God Act. 1. 26. The Lot of Matthias and Joseph called Barsabas is cast into the Lap but the Lord doth dispose it and causeth it to fall unto Matthias That also which we call Chance-medley as when many men walking in the street one of them is killed with a stone falling on him of such a chance God saith Ego Dominus extuli illum hominem Exod. 21. 13. So that God hath his stroke even in ordering such things If this be so then let us not say as they did Job 22. 13. Tush God walketh above and regardeth not the things on earth or with them God seeth us not For he both seeth governeth and preserveth all on earth For though the Lord be in heaven yet he humbleth himself to look down and behold the sonnes of men and considereth that there is none of them good Psal. 14. 2. And God hath not only Librum rerum creatarum Psal. 139. 16. But he hath a register verborum factorum of words and deeds also Mal. 3 16. And that we may know not our being only but our preserving and guiding is of the Lord and his work he will at the last bring all these things to Judgment Preach 12. 14. As for Gods rest after That he had made all things for himself Prov. 16. 4. Then did he introire in regnum suum Heb. 4. 10. So that he went out of his rest for our sakes and having made all for us he is said not to rest in his work nor after his work but from his work for he had no need of these things for he had most perfect rest in his own glory which he had before the World was made John 17. 5. into that rest then he now returned Secondly we see that in Gods rest his works goe before it for the word is not quievit but requievit which sheweth that if we be first imployed about the works of God and then rest it may well be called Gods rest but that rest which is without work is Issachars rest Gen. 49. 15. that is idlenesse and such as give themselves to that are called Cretians idle and slow bellies as St. Paul calleth them and those shall never enter into Gods rest for it is pigra vocatio and not a return to rest If God had his work six dayes before he rested in creation and if Adam had his work in the state of innocency then it is much more meet now That man should goe forth to
waters are stored with 〈◊〉 and the aire and firmament was replenished with Fowl For yet hitherto they were like to wide and great store-houses which were empty and void In which dayes work are four branches 〈◊〉 the Edict or Precept Secondly the Execution or performance of 〈◊〉 Thirdly the allowance and commendation of it in the end of the twenty first verse Lastly another special Precept for the preserving of these things so made in 22. verse Touching the Commandement we may note That to say or to command in word may seem to be but a weak thing for words we hold to be but winde yet such words as God speaketh doe receive such and so great power and authority from the Speaker or Commander that of necessity that which is said must needs be done If a King doe command the power of his authority being joyned with the weaknesse of his word doth cause it to be very powerfull and effectual If a Princes authority can make his word so great how much more can Gods omnipotencie give strength to his word and cause that which he saith to be most certainly done This the reason that by the virtue and force only of his word what 〈…〉 faith is done and cometh to passe The second thing to be noted is to whom God spake namely to the Waters For as Moses was willed to speak to the stony rock Numbers the twentieth chapter and the eighth verse so doth God here speak to the waters neither is it a fond thing thus for God to speak to deas and senselesse creatures for though they have no cares and cannot heare yet they can understand when God doth call and speak to them and have power to doe his will when he commandeth If then the waters and rocks can heare and understand and doe what God doth say and bid them how much more should we which have eares and understanding hearts and active hands take heed we doe the like Now touching the Tenor of Gods precept we see it concerneth the producing and bringing forth of living things in abundance and great multitude And though God saith Let the waters bring forth fowles it argueth not as Symplicius the Atheist absurdly gathereth that here the water is said to be the matter of which the 〈◊〉 were made for in the second chapter of Genesis and the ninteenth verse this is explained that they were made of the earth though they were brought forth of the waters Touching the creatures moving in the waters the word here used doth in a generall term signifie such things as are quick and live and move comprehending therein all the particular creatures besides fish or fowle which either creep or crawle or move in either of these elements as Froggs Snakes Flyes c. Man by practice can attain to the Fishes motion that is to swim and move upon and in the waters but he cannot by any devise attaine to fly and move as Birds or mount in the ayre It is a wonder to heare that iron could swimme in the second of Kings the sixt chapter and the sixt verse but it is by the same power of God by which a feather can fly aloft By the firmament or Aire is meant the nether and grosser part of the aire which region is full of foggy fumes and vapours which come from the earth and so high and farre the sowls can abide and endure to flie But the farther and higher part and region of the aire which is more pure and cleer are called penetralia 〈◊〉 which is so free from grosse vapours and earthly mists that no earthly thing can breath or abide therein As therefore Water is a 〈◊〉 element for Fishes which breath not so this lower region of the aire is for all Fowls But let us come to that which is common both to fish and fowls and maketh both of them live and move the one by swimming the other by flying and that is the soul of life Concerning which generally It signifieth a breath or 〈◊〉 it of life For seeing we can understand and conceive best things sensible therefore spiritual things for our capacity are termed by things sensible The breath therefore being of 〈◊〉 things the most pure and 〈…〉 is called by 〈…〉 these things are in their 〈…〉 distinct breath life and soul 〈◊〉 life is the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of a soul so breath is the effect and 〈◊〉 of life Neither is it 〈◊〉 that here is added to the soul life because it 〈…〉 needfull instruction and distinction between the soul of man hereafter 〈◊〉 be handled which is a soul of more than 〈…〉 life of a double life and therefore 〈◊〉 whereas these 〈◊〉 have a soul of a single life and therefore are mortal Deinde dixit Deus Producat terra animantia in species ipsorum Pecudes Reptilia bestiasque terrenas in species suas et fuit ita Gen. 1. 24. Place this Sermon and the next betwixt pag. 92. and 93. THIS verse and all the rest to the end of the chapter doe contain the furnishing and 〈◊〉 of the earth with living Creatures and so 〈◊〉 to passe the finishing and 〈◊〉 of the whole work of Creation For this sixt 〈◊〉 work 〈◊〉 the bringing forth of Beasts and Cattel of all 〈◊〉 and the bringing in of Mankinde into the world to be Lord and 〈◊〉 of them and all the rest In which we observe the three usual parts Gods Decree commanding the Execution performing it and Gods 〈◊〉 of it being done For the Decree we may note as before That God is the Commander the Earth is that which is commanded and the effect of the commandement is that it should bring forth Cattle and 〈◊〉 things Having shewed before how God speaketh and 〈◊〉 his will to dumb deaf and senselesse Creatures as here he doth to the Earth we will come to the tenor and meaning of the Decree and Commandement to it For that phrase here used of bringing forth is taken from the manner of women great with 〈◊〉 which when their time is come to bring forth their young therefore the Fathers doe call this Parerperam terre as it were by resemblance the children of the earth or her travail not that 〈…〉 before made and hid in the bowels and 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 For as the waters were not in the rock before Numbers 〈…〉 chapter and the eighth verse but even at that 〈…〉 God commanded it gushed out waters only by the power 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 the virtue of Gods word and the power of the Commander caused the Earth to bring forth all these things 〈◊〉 of it 〈◊〉 it 〈…〉 power to doe it Now the several kindes of Creatures which here the Earth is willed to bring forth are reduced to three heads Beasts Cattle and creeping things Cattle are called Jumenta à 〈◊〉 because they are made to be our servants to help us in our labours and affairs And they are such as doe need us as much as we need them for Sheep Oxen
an instant the world must needs bee by fatall destiny and necessity and might not bee otherwise Epicuremum The other were the Epicures which taught The world was a thing made at a venture by casual chance and happy hazard by a divine essence the one taught that God could doe no otherwise then but make it the other thought that God did hee could not tell what But Psal. 115. 3. Deus fecit quecunque voluit in Coelo Terra And Revel 4. 11. All things were made for him and by his will And Esai 45. 18. God made not Heaven and Earth in vain to no end but the word fignifieth that hee made it with Wisdome and Counsell Esai 43. 13. God was before any day was and hee asketh Who could constrain him by necessity to make it or not to make it Heb. 3. 4. If a man being in a strange Country shall see a house hee will certainly affirm that there hath a man builded it that it is a mans worke so saith hee when wee see all Creatures Heaven and Earth wee know that God made them all A reason against that opinion of Fortune is this That things done by Chance are without cunning But God with infinite wisdome devised all things the Eye to see Colors to bee seen and the Light as the meanes by which wee see also all things are in such wonderfull order succeeding one another in their course as the seasons of things which shew them not to bee by Chance therefore the Philosophers were glad when they found out that 〈◊〉 intelligentia that was the cause of all so that they confesse all things to bee made by a wonderfull wise Counsell and discourse of an understanding minde So that it was made by another not by Necessity nor Chance Creavit Coelum Terram omnia in illis Gen. 1. vers 1. NOw are wee come to the fourth and last point which wee are to consider in this verse and that is That the things which were Created by God are both Heaven and Earth which here is said to bee his workmanship Which though it be here set downe in two generall things yet are his works manifold yea infinite and cannot be numbred All which Creatures and things Created cannot bee better expressed then in these two which contain all the rest for hee so faith Exod. 20. 11. In six dayes hee made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that is therein So doth David expound his meaning Psal. 146.6 and Revel 10. 6. therefore Job saith 38. 6 7. That God made not only the Starres with the Heavens but also the Angels or Children of God which are in them and Psal. 24. 1. God when hee is said to make the round World he meaneth also all that dwell therein that is Man also yea hee is also the Lord and Creator of the Soules and Spirits of all Flesh as well as their bodies Numb 27. 16. So that to conclude with Saint Paul by these two is understood and comprehended all the Creatures visible and invisible which God made Coll. 1. 16. For the Heavens are the bound upward and the Earth is the bound below which conclude all between them Let us therefore first consider these two joyntly then in the order wherein they stand and in the last place severally Touching the first David saith Psal. 102. 25. Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the worke of thy hands Esay 40. 12. It is God that made Heaven and Earth Job 37. 17. 18. Job 38. 5 6. The Heavens doe shew this in that they resemble their Creator because they are moveable and yet subject to alteration and the Earth unmoveable and not subject to motion 2. Point Moses meaning is That not the Earth alone was made by God but also the Heavens that is both of them and all in both were his worke not the Earth only but also the Heavens against the Philosophers which thinke therfore that the Heavens were not made because none can assigne the point where the Heavens began nor in what part God began to make them nor where the Heavens first began to move by which reason they might hold that the heart of man was not made because none can tell how it began its motion to pant and beat whether by sustole or diastole but as the heart was made though unknown where the first motion of it is so were the Heavens That hee made not the Heavens only but also the Earth below against the errors of the Manichees which hold that there were two causes of Heaven and Earth That the good and white God made the Heaven and Man from the middle upward And the black and evill god was the efficient cause of the Earth and of Man from the middle downward but as Gods power and wisedome is shewed and seen as well in an Ant as in an Elephant as one saith as well in the creeping Wormes and basest Creatures as in the Angels and most excellent Creatures So doth his Majesty and Might appeare in the Earth as well as in Heaven 3 Point Now in regard of the order here set downe wee have a consideration first of the Heavens for if there were any Order observed in Gods Creation surely the Heavens were made in the first place which sheweth the glory of the Creator for who ever in building his house would or could begin it at the Roofe first and then afterwards lay the Foundation of the Earth but his omnipotency is such that hee beginneth to make his house from the Roofe downeward as wee see in the second and third verses And this is strange saith Job 26. 7. That hee hath made the Heavens turn round like a wheele without an axeltree and that hee hath caused the Earth to hang and stand without any prop to uphold it When wee therefore consider the Heavens and Earth the worke of thy hands wee must needes know that the corners of the Earth are upholden by his hand 4 Point Let us consider them severally and apart in which wee must regard them after three sorts 1. First in respect of God as they are compared with him 2. Secondly as they are compared to themselves 3. Thirdly comparing them to us 1. Esay 66. 1. Comparing them with God Heaven was made to bee his Seate and Earth to be his Foot-stoole 2. In respect of themselves Heaven was made as the male part of the World by whose influence motion and dewes the Earth as the female part should as it were out of her womb bring forth all living and necessary things Hermes the AEgyptian the Persian wife men and Orpheus the Grecian appoint these two as the matter of all things that are 3. In regard of us our selves Heaven and Earth are the meanes of our moving and rest for the motion of the Heavens is the beginning of our bodily motion and the unmoveable Earth is
good we must not call light darkness nor good evill Esay 5. 16. Secondly In regard of the light of grace we see as Job saith that there are some which are Lucifugae which fly and hate the light such Creatures are unclean Levit. 11. 19. 30. as Batts and Owles among birds Moules and Rats among Beasts they are odious to all men so among places Dungeons and darksome Roomes are odious also And as this is so in things natural so in things spiritual lucifugae actiones are of the like evill nature and odious to God and good men because both such men and their doings have an opposition to light and the author of light They come from darkness of the minde that is ignorance and unbelief and they are begotten by the Prince of darkness the Divell Ephes. 6. 12. and in the end they goe to utter darkness and therefore they are called the works of darkness Rom. 13. 12. And so no marveil though they love darkness and hate light if any cannot abide the light of Gods word to be reproved by it as Herctiques and Hypocrites such dig deep pits to hide their Counsells Esay 29 15. because they see the light is to them evill and as the shadow of death Job 24. 17. The emptiness of good things and the bottomlesnesse of ill things and the deformity of both proceedeth and commeth from darknesse and was inclosed in it as we have seen in it And so spiritually is all found in the ignorance of the truth Ephes. 4. 18 19. either the blindness of mens mindes which is natural or else that which is wilfull when men doe wittingly winke and will not see the light Wherefore we see God made light first before any other good And so our selves must receive spiritual light of knowledge before he will give us any better grace The third sort of men are catchers and fault finders with Gods Creatures such which think to know how Gods works which now are good might have been farre better as if God might have done well to have craved their counsell and help but Gods works both in particular and general are so good and perfect that they could not be mended Wherefore if the light seem ill for us we must confesse and acknowledge that the fault is not in Gods work but in the illnesse and infirmity of our eyes and understanding If the Word seem evil to us know that it seemeth so to us because we and our works are evil and therefore cannot abide the light John 3. 20. Wherefore to conclude that which God hath called and sealed up to be good let no man presume to call and count to be evill Act. 10. 15. For a work belongeth to such which call that is good evill and evill things good and darknesse light Esay 5. 20. But if we love the light of nature and praise God for it Psalm 148. 5 6. And if we love the spirituall light of grace in his word and glorifie and praise God for it 1 Pet. 2. 9. that hath called us out of darknesse into his marveilous light then God will at last reward us with his light of glory and bring us to that inaccessible light wherein he dwelleth which is the father of lights unto which no man can attain unlesse Christ the light of the World bring him and therefore let us pray that the father for his sonnes sake will make a way for us by his spirit of light to which three persons in unity be all praise and glory for ever Amen Et distinctionem fecit Deus inter hanc lucem tenebras Gen 1. 4. verse THere was in the first verse nothing before God made something of nothing after which at the first we saw it to be a 〈◊〉 dark heap without any good form or ability to receive any better But after followed the impregnation and indowment which God gave by which the things first created had a faculty and power given to receive this form which now they have Fourthly ensued the essence and being of all creatures they were prepared by the Spirit and perfected by the word of God where we considered first the essence and being of light and then the nature of it And lastly of all the goodnesse of the light both in regard of the presence of God who in his counsell thought it to be good and also after the creation by his approbation allowed the use and continuance of it unto us Now followeth the distinction and dividing which giveth yet a degree of perfection to the former light more than it had before for at the first he gave light such a being which should prodire in actum and not every being but a speciall good being which is a degree further of order and distinction against disorder and confusion to be in all respects laudible and that not every good being but that which is more an ordered and distinguished and comely good being which work of all other is the perfection of Creation as we shall see in the rest for things though they be never so good in them selves as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 14. 7. of another thing in the like case yet they cannot be discerned of men to be so neither are they meet for any good use of men unlesse they have a certain distinction and order Order Therefore order is as some say very goodnesse of goodnesse it self for there are many good things which doe cease from being good to us yea become hurtfull being without the rank order and degree either of their set and distinct place or time As fire though it be good in the Chimney yet it is not good nay it is very evill in the top of the house Fire is very good in the Winter to warm us but in the Summer it is not so good but shunned of men So the light not being tempered and proportioned orderly but being any degree too-bright it hurteth and blindeth our eyes that we cannot see Act. 22.6 11. Excellens objectum corrumpit sensum So the fire being in any degree too fierce and too hot in the Chimney and Winter that is not moderated and ordered in a good degree it doth us no good Wherefore we see that a set and a distinct order must be observed in good things both touching the place time and degree And that the contrarie inordination deordination or want of order in these things which is called Babell hereafter that is a confusion maketh things to cease from being good to us which in their own nature are very good It was necessary therefore that God should proceed to this work of distinction as he in wisdome doth This then is as if Moses had said the light was good for else extingueret non distingueret Deus si non esset bonum he would not else have distinguished it but dashed it in peeces and destroyed it again Therefore because it was good he separated it and set it apart from darknesse by it self
of time for there is no beauty without order The day and the night were before divided what needeth God now to make a second division here You must understand that there are two dividings the one is a division in duo into day and night the other is inter duo the day is assigned to the Sunne the night to the Moon When the whole is parted it is divided The man in the 12. Luke 13. said to Christ Bid my brother divide the inheritance with me So that a thing is divided tum separatur cum separatum diversis assignatur The Sunne is as it were the surveyor of mens worke the Moon and Starres are our watch-men when we doe take our rest The Lord giveth the Sunne for a light for the day and the courses of the Moon and Starres for a light to the night Jer. 31. 35. By the ascending and descending of the Sunne we have our hours our dayes our seasons hereby we have dayes shorter and longer and for that the Sunne had so many good qualities and was so worthy a Creature men of other Nations and in times past gave glory and worship to the Sunne to it they did erect Altars build Temples and offered sacrifice But non dominium sed ministerium dedit Deus Soli. The second use is for signes Homer did say so much that they were as signes to admonish us It is good for Star-gazers and out of this place they doe gather that by the Starres they may foretell things to come Ambrose imputeth no fatall destiny that cannot be shunned to these signes but rather that they are signes for direction The Chaldees and the Persians did foretell by the conjunction of Starres that there should be inundations and that such things are inevitable but for the most part even then when they said should be wet there was the greatest drought Hereby they cast figures and shew mens Nativities but the Lord saith Jeremy 10. 2. Learn not the way of the Heathen be not afraid for the signes of Heaven though the Heathen be afraid of such Most excellently saith the Lord in the 44. Esay 25. I destroy the tokens of the Soothsayers and make them that conjecture fools and I make their knowledge foolishnesse Their knowledge is foolish vanity it is inutiles querenti and impossibilis profitenti No inevitable destiny is to be ascribed to the Starres for all that is is in the hands of God They are signes to the Husbandman by them God giveth him discretion to sow and to reap in season Esay 28. 26. They are signes to the Mariners to them which sailed with Paul toward Rome nor Sunne nor Moon appeared for many dayes Acts 27. 20. They are signes to the Physition for his criticali dayes The Sunne is a signe and as trumpet to the Beasts which when it riseth they doe retire to their dens and then goeth man forth unto his work Psal. 104. 22. They are also spirituall signes and holy signes they that dwell in the uttermost parts of the Earth shall be afraid of thy signes Psal. 65. 8. The Sonne of man at the latter day shall be as the light of the Heaven Luke 17. 24. God will then shew wonders in Heaven and tokens in the Earth blood and fire and vapours of smoake Acts 2. 19. So that these lumina when we behold them and think of the later day are signa poenitentiae they are buccina poenitentiae from whence are certain influences the Moon to the waters the Sunne to the Earth If God be pleased sweet is the increase of the Sunne and sweet is the increase of the Moon Deuteronomy 33. 14. But if God be angry then is it otherwise And they are for seasons they are signes for place Deut. 4. 47. Moses bids the Israelites to remember the signes and Acts that God did in AEgypt Deut. 11. 3. They are for times to every purpose there is a time Preach 8. 6. for oportunity is the very bud of time They were for seasons inrebus sacris in Gods feasts and holy-dayes God hath appointed the Moon for certain seasons the Sunne knoweth his going down Psal. 104. 19. By the Sunne the dayes are hotter and colder The Moon is made to appear according to her season the feasts are appointed by the Moon the moneth is called after the name thereof Ecclesiasticus 43. The Moon is a direction of the Passover every seventh day is the Sabbath state tempora sunt a Sole in things civill Faires meeting and ordaining Magistrates is by ordinata tempora The Moon hath a short motion the Sunne hath a great wheele for his whole course in a year for his compasse by dayes There is the morning Starre shining from the end of the night to the beginning of the day the evening starre the end of the day to the beginning of the night The Sunne in the day the Moon in the night are for their seasons the revolution of the Sunne is in a year of the Moon in a moneth The Sunne did rise to Jacob after he had wrastled with the Angell chap. 32. 31. The Passover was to be offered at Even at the going down of the Sunne in the moneths of Abib Deut. 16. begin So that the Sunne and the Moon are for seasons as it is in the 104. Psal. God saith Job in his 26. chapter 13. Hath furnished the Heavens and framed the crooked serpent which is taken for the Zodiack God saith to Job Canst thou bring forth Mazaroth in their time Canst thou guide Arcturus with his sonnes Job 38. 32. The Sunne runneth about in a day and in a year it goeth to each Tropick In accessu begins the Spring in decessu the Winter For themselves They are for illumination to be a light that is to give light to be a light even at midnight The Sunne is a light perpetually when it is absent from us it giveth light elsewhere to us it giveth light while we doe need it It is for us so that we may say to the lights sit vos non vobis they are for the Earth and for the Heavens they are for lights in the Firmament and to give light upon the Earth Sol est propter terram this is an honor to us and humility in them The Sunne commeth forth as a Bridegrome out of his chamber and rejoyceth like almighty man to runne his race Psal. 19. 5. So that it is for the Earth it was made to serve and lighten the earth take thou therefore heed lest thou lift up thy eyes unto Heaven and when thou seest the Sunne and the Moon and the Starres with all the hoste of Heaven thou shouldst be driven to worship and to serve them Deut. 4. 19. It cutteth off their adoration for creavit eos in ministerium cunctis Gentibus Sol o Deus est famulus Luna est ancilla tua ambo sunt in ministerium homini Non sunt conservi sed servi hominum Non sunt cum terra sed propter
Levit. 26. 26. 2. Sometimes also the men of this world have their portion in this life they have their bellies filled with Gods hidden treasure Psal. 17. 14. It is Gods curse to have sown much and bring in little to eat and not to have enough to drink and not to be filled to be cloathed and not to be warm Aggey 1. 6. 3. The third benefit in meat is that it nourisheth While the flesh was yet between their teeth before it was chewed the wrath of God was kindled against the people who lusted and God smote them with an exceeding great plague Numb 11. 33. The meat of the wicked in his bowels was turned he hath devoured substance and shall vomit it for God shall draw it out of his belly Job 20. 14. So that to eat to be satisfied and to be nourished are three several benefits as to have and not to eat to have and eat and not to be satisfied to have eat and be satisfied and not to be nourished are three several curses and plagues Some there are who though they eat never so much or never so good meat are ever lean whereas others are fat though their dyet be small and of the basest sort For though that Daniel and his fellows did eat pulse and drink water for ten dayes yet at the end of the ten dayes they were fairer and in better liking than they which did eat of the portion of the Kings allowance Daniel 1. 15. God hath created meats to be received with giving of thanks neither is any to be refused being sanctified by the word of God and prayer 1 Tim. 4. 5. So that in a word as Gods benefits descend upon us so our prayer and praises must ascend up to God for the same Omnibus autem Bestiis Terrae omnibus Volucribus Coeli omnibusque Reptantibus super Terram in quibus est anima vivens dedi omnes Herbas virides ad comedendum fuit ita Vers. 30. The meat of Beasts HEnce you gather that God provideth for men and for beasts for our Tables and beasts Mangers which providence stretcheth to all that hath life in itself The beasts being ours we should have provided them meat but God herein sheweth his love unto man Nunquid de bobus de passeribus cura est Deo God provideth fodder for the Cattel and meat for the Sparrows he causeth grasse to grow for the cattel and herb for the use of man Psal. 104. 14. He giveth to Beasts their food and to the young Ravens that cry Psal. 147. 9. It may seem at the first sight that God alloweth men and beasts the same dyet Things planted and sowed by Husbandry are for Men but that which the Earth giveth of her own nature without tillage as quae sunt spontanea are for Beasts The seed in Corne the fruit in Trees is allowed unto Man the stalks to Beasts So that there is not the same allowance unto both although both had their allowance Et fuit sic And it was so Some doe aske whether the Beasts as Lyons the Birds as Hawks lived upon their prey in the state of innocencie Surely no for they had herbs allowed them the Lyon did eat grasse as the Oxe for if they had preyed so then even in Noahs time he must have layed up meat in store for the wild beasts in the Arke The wild beasts were fed before with grasse The ravning and preying of savage beasts came by mans trangression It is Austins opinion That the Lyon did eat grasse before the fall Esay prophecieth saying That at the comming of the Redeemer Christ Jesu the Lyon shall eat straw with the Bullock Esay 11. 7. Tum inspexit Deus quicquid fecerat ecce autem bonum erat valde sic fuit vespera fuit mane diei sexti Vers. 31. A general survey of all God had made All were very good HEre is a generall Survey of Gods works and a generall approbation also Before when he did behold them severally he beheld them to be good in this general survey behold they are very good which is another degree of goodness God then when he had surveyed all his former works and likewise Man the accomplishment of the rest he 〈◊〉 in them an excellent harmony Hitherto there was a state of imperfection but here God saw that everything was very good God here maketh a general muster of all and of Man the Captain Creature cui cunt caetera ut insignia for man is the abridgment and accomplishment of all the other Creatures Good things joyned together must needs be very good when that even ill things joyned together may be good A theef is ill an halter is ill joyn both together they are good that is bonum justitiae Good things joyned together having their Captain are very good Love is applyed to the heart meat is for the belly the head is the perfection of the body and Man is the perfection of the Creation God saw each day bonum but when he saw man with the rest he saw that they were valde bona at summè bonus est solus Deus Man is the chief Creature caetera omnia sunt propter vos 2 Cor. 4. 15. all other things are for mans sake The Lord all things hath made saith Salomon for his own sake yea even the wicked for the day of evill Prov. 16. 4. so that God hath made caetera propter vos the other Creatures for you and you and them propter se. Then give praises unto his name give him thanks for his loving kindnesse give glorie due to God unto him that so by him we may have full assurance of future immortalitie Three things hence to benoted Hence we are to learn three things 1. That men would survey their works as God doth here how great and how excellent they are this is perfect wisdome and virtue though commonly men set forth their rude works for perfect without any survey For Salomon though he were the wisest man of his age yet could he say that when he looked upon all the works that his hand had wrought and in the travail he had laboured to doe and behold all was but vanity and vexation of spirit Preach 2. 11. When God seeth man's wicked wayes he will reprove him and set them in order to them that dispose their way aright God will shew his salvation Psal. 50. 21. This is a rumination and a consideration of our works which are unperfect to reform them and of Gods works which being good were being accomplished very good Oh men glorifie God and follow him he is the patern of goodnesse it self Therefore let men see and know let them consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this and the holy one of Israel hath created it Esay 41. 20. 2. Secondly Hence we learn to rectifie our judgments and to see as God did see Divers men have an itch in
first part The first whereof I will handle at this time 1. He perfected all when man was created Moses by way of sequell telleth us by joyning the perfection of things to mans Creation That is a singular and an honourable prerogative in that behalf unto man For recounting the perfection of all Creatures presently after mans making he inferreth that they were not perfect but defective before for untill man was made that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that wheel of generation and course of nature whereof St. James spake 3. 6. which never stood still God took no rest before nor made holy-day because there was no end nor perfection of his work untill man was made Insomuch as God may seem to have made such a vow as David did Psal. 132. 4 5. That he would not suffer himself to take any rest until he had found that earth of which he would make man and had placed him in the World which argueth that there was a defect and imperfection and as yet something to be supplyed for the Earth lacked and therefore looked for her possessor which was man who carried therefore the Earth in his name that he might shew that the earth depended on him The Host of Creatures for the perfection of Heaven and Earth is in him who as he was Princeps Terrae A Captain so was he Infans Coeli one born to inherit Heaven also for seeing Heaven is a body and capable of a body it must needs be that it was not made only for spirits but for a body which was to be made Therefore in that he saith Thus were the Heavens and the Earth perfected he sheweth that their perfection was suspended and they held as unperfect and not compleat until man was made Though the Heavens were made 1. 19. yet until now they were not perfected There was Urim as the Hebrews say but there was not Thummim i. there was light but there was not the perfection of light Thus then were the Heavens and the Earth perfected for though there was a power in God to make more Creatures and create more things besides these yet note he maketh his full point and saith all is perfected which is that consummatum est of the Creation Thus much generally for the copulation sic Now to descend to the particulars we see thy are distributed into two joynts 1. First Heaven and Earth which are the Continents 2. Secondly The host of them which are Contents and fulnesse thereof That a thing be made perfect there are required two degrees of perfection which are opposite to the double imperfection spoken of in the former Chapter Barrennesse Emptinesse called Tohu Tobohu the one being an outward perfection opposite to barrennesse and emptinesse without the other is inward opposite to rudenesse and deformity within The one is called perfectio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is integritas partium when all the parts are orderly in a comely proportion framed and well set together The other outward perfection is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a due supply of decent furniture and the accessory of needfull ornaments which being added it is also outwardly perfect both which you may see in a body for when a mans body is rightly knit together in every joynt with good colour and countenance he hath his first inward perfection of nature but so long as there is nakednesse there is yet a defect and want outwardly But being adorned with jewels and apparel it hath then the outward perfection also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We see them also in a house for when it is framed and the frame set together orderly and the rooms of the building well contrived and conveyed then it hath the first perfection Integritas partium i. integritatem partium but when it hath the hangings furniture and implements which is called suppellex then it hath also the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for by that means every room is furnished and adorned The like order we may observe in Heaven and Earth First they were imperfect nothing done nor disposed then they were facta that is perfectly made and disposed as great spacious and stately rooms as yet empty and void but now being filled with the hosts of of them then they are perfectly furnished indeed The Septuagint doe translate that which is here called the host 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. the beauty of Heaven and Earth but the propriety of the word in the original tongue importeth Armies or Hosts or Bands Quest. Whereupon the question is Why Moses doth expresse the fullnesse of Heaven and Earth and the furniture and implements thereof by this comparative name of Armies Resp. For answer some say That it may be that the Israelites were then in Camp and Garrison when Moses wrote this which estate of theirs being militarie he useth a military word Indeed if we consider the form of Heaven the Prophet saith It is as a Tent spread abroad Esay 40. 22. In regard of which the furniture which is under it is fitly compared to Armies and Bands or Troops to inhabit it But many other good and forcible reasons there are why Heaven is called a Tent or Pavilion and the furniture in it compared to Squadrons of Souldiers in a Camp 1. As first in regard of the huge multitude of things in them for one cannot say the furniture or implements of a house is comparable to them therefore the furniture of an Host doth best expresse it Every Creature therefore in Heaven or Earth is Gods Souldier in pay with him and hath received some weapons to punish Gods Enemies and the several kindes are as it were the Ensignes of his Army and the company of all are the Host and Army Royall 2. The second reason is in respect of order because no Camp can be more orderly trained than the course of Nature in the order of Gods Creatures The dayes in Winter cast themselves as it were in a ring in the Summer abroad and so come long The Starres keep duly their assigned place time and course without disorder or disturbance to the rest So the Herbs doe in their order and seasons one follow another And so doe the Fish gather together in skuts and squadrons and march about the Sea coasts in their kindes 3. Thirdly There is a respect beyond these which is in regard of their head and Captain for in an Host there must needs be imagined a Leader or head Governour of all which we cannot say of houshold-stuffe or apparel for it implyeth not a head necessarily Man therefore is made the Captain and guide or head of this Host In which regard they are thus called 4. Fourthly There is a higher regard which is of God the chief and supreme head or Emperor in which respect God is called The Lord of Hosts Exod. 15. 3. Therefore as man on Earth is Lieutenant to lead you so in Heaven and
Army of Frogs which God hath in the Waters where you shall see that God hath such great power in these weak things that they can annoy the mightiest Kingdomes upon Earth Exod. 8. 14. Armies of Earth For the Earth it self that can swallow up Gods enemies Numb 16. 32. And on the Earth you may take the Lyons for a strong Army 2 Kings 17. 25. but his power is most of all seen in the weak Host of Grashoppers Exod. 10. 14. and of Locusts and Caterpillers Joel 2. 25. Yea of Lice he can make such an Army that c. Exod. 8. 16 17. If we come to men the Inhabitants of the Earth they are Gods Host but they fight not against other Creatures but with their own kinde not one against one but thousands against thousands even in pitched fields not with natural Instruments as the Boare with his tusk the Bull with his horne but with artificial weapons of divers sorts with whose kinde of forces the World is too well acquainted Thus we see that there is no creature in Heaven or Earth but is a Souldier in pay with God and all these hoasts are in league with us so long as we serve God Job 5. 23. And keep our sacramentum militare which we make in our Baptism otherwise they come upon us like armed men and are prest against us to punish our disobedience And every part of Heaven and Earth then will send out an Army to conspire our destruction and overthrow and this may suffice for a brief view of these Armies A word of the third perfection we have seen perfection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now we are to consider 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First The World was a great House perfect in respect of the parts but yet the rooms were emptie and unfurnished Then God replenished garnished and furnished it with its hoasts as we have heard But yet there wanted a third perfection which is a head to guide and an owner to possesse manure and occupie all Man the perfection of Gods work God made the Earth as his work-house and shop and Heaven as his chamber and place for a rest and reward and both for one and that is man God made the Earth as the Tent to prepare our selves and to put on our Armour as the Field Lists or Tiltyard to trye masteries or to fight in against Gods enemies 1 Pet. But the Heavens and Firmament he made as locum triumphi that is the Court to triumph in So that when man was made to be a Souldier in the one and a Conqueror in the other all was perfected God made the Earth in its parts absolute and gave it erecta 〈◊〉 depressa vallium densa silvarum and furnished it with beasts and cattell of divers kinds but did perfect all by making man the owner of all In a Battell though the Field be appointed the Ordinance planted and the Souldiers encamped yet all is unperfect till there be a Generall of the field to marshall them and a Captain to lead them so was all unperfect till man was made Object Seeing man was the perfection of all things what ayleth it now That being so many men we can see nothing absolute and in its perfect estate David saith Psal. 119. 96. I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Law is perfect as if he should say there is nothing else perfect now the Heavens are called often imperfect Levit. 26. 19. The Ayre is infectious the Seas dangerous the Earth also groweth in her imperfections So the Beasts are unto us In our bodies we finde troops of diseases and in our souls heaps of sorrows and care which shew our imperfections Resp. Perfectio creationis Though the finishing of Heaven Earth and Man be the perfection of Creation Deformatis 〈◊〉 perfectionis Yet now we must understand that the sinne of man brought in death and so an imperfection or deformation Finis peccati mors Rom. 6. 21. Et peccati finis damnatio Phil. 3. 19. verse Thus then standeth our estate and condition Ratio The reason of it is because the Captain and Lieutenant man being set to resist the enemy Satan grew in a league and conspiracy with him against God and so apostatavit non militavit as saith St. Ambrose wherefore seeing he was not content with his estate to be Lieutenant but would be chief generall sicut Deus Gen. 3. Therefore consequently followed his decay And this is the means whereby from perfection he came to desection and so to imperfection for when he which was the perfection of all things became imperfect then all things which were ordeined for and given to him grew subject to alteration and vanity Rom. 8. and so per consequence imperfect And thus saith David we have seen an end of all perfection under the Sunne Perfectio redemptionis Yet that perfection of nature being lost see the unspeakable mercy of God we have another new perfection 2 Cor. 5. 17. in Christ In whom we are made new creatures And that perfection to the which nature would have brought us that is never to dye but to be translated with Enoche to the same will Gods grace through Christ restore us again And as in the sixt day man was here perfected So in the sixt age of the World Christ came and made his Consummatum est which is the second perfection of redemption at which time as St. Peter saith all things lost by nature shall be restored by grace Yet there is another further perfection then this of grace and redemption that is the perfection of glory in the life to come for then shall the last end and perfection come Matth. 24. 14. When that which is imperfect is done away then that which is perfect shall come 1 Cor. 13. vers 11. Quam autem perfecisset Deus die septimo opus suum quod fecerat quievit ipso die septimo ab omni opere suo quod fecerat Gen. 2. 2. vers April 24. 1591. THe other day I shewed you that these two verses doe as links in a chain depend one upon the other for the Holy Ghost telleth us that when he had made man he perfected all his works and here when he had perfected and finished all then he rested It is the right order to work and labour still untill we have attained to the perfection of our work which done it is reason we should leave off and rest For whereas that is perfect whereunto nothing can or may be added and Gods works now being so having that perfection within which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fit joyning and knitting together of parts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the furnishing and adorning of the parts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the setting a head over them there wanteth now nothing else to be added but only an end and conclusion to be
made which here God performeth For as it is a fault in working to labour and not to perfect so it is a fault also not to leave off when the work is well and perfect because by being over curious we make the work worse is we marre it not altogether and so make it imperfect again Yet there are some of so curious minde and withall of so restlesse a spirit Heb. 10. 25. as cannot be content with perfection it self but will depart from the fellowship of the Church They are such as Salomon speaketh of Prov. 30. 33. who will not be content when all is clean but will still be blowing the nose untill the blood follow These may be called fellows of the preterpluperfect tense whom nothing can please be it never so perfect unlesse it feed their giddy and brain-sick humors But Moses telleth us that as God is not defective in his works so he is not excessive sed manum detorquet when all was perfect he stayed his hand gave over his work and betook himself to rest And thus much of the dependance of this verse Touching the parts they are two in number 1. The one is the perfection of the works in respect of God 2. The other is his rest when he had made an end For the first we have to consider three things 1. First the action of finishing 2. Secondly the time in which he did finish 3. And the third is touching the rest it self Touching the first There was a beginning when nothing was made after he made all things he commeth to an end and there finisheth all If he be Alpha i. the beginning of a thing he will be Omega that is bring it to a happie and perfect end Revel 1. 8. Man beginneth but cannot bring to an end for these causes But with man it is otherwise he beginneth many things which he finisheth not If he purposeth good things oftentimes his courage doth quail before it come in act as Peter did Or else if they be 〈◊〉 in their purpose their strength faileth them before they can effect it Psal. 21. 11. They imagine such a devise which they are not able to bring to passe because their arme is too weak and short to doe it Or if we have strength yet oftentimes the cost and charge is too great which the work requireth Luke 14. 30. So some men take in hand to build houses which for lack of sufficient store are not able to finish Last of all Man himself very often before he can finish and come to an end of his work hath his dayes finished and his years come to an end Wherefore fear not what man can doe unto thee seeing his breath is in his nostrills for there are many wayes to prevent and alter or hinder their purpose for God can take away his breath before he can bring it to passe But God is not as man he cannot repent or alter his minde Numb 23. 19. If God saith he will doe any thing Quis impediet he would know Who can let or hinder it Esay 43. 13. Therefore this is our comfort which Moses saith Deut. 32. 4. Omne opus Dei perfectum And therfore if he hath begun any good work in us he will throughly finish it in the end Phil. 1. 6. Wherefore let us also when we have well begun never give over any good thing untill we have finished it and having well done one thing we must not then and there leave off and start aside like a broken bow from doing any more Psal. 78. 57. for God ceaseth not he never giveth over dixit fecit untill the return came fuit sic perfecit We must persevere then the Philosophers said that Perseverantia est virtus virtutum And Gregorie saith Of all Virtues only Perseverance is crowned The goodnesse and good works of the wicked are as shooting starres falling and vanishing suddenly and as a Land-flood or plash of water Ose 6. 4. which continue not but are soon dried up They are as a fire of thornes Psal. 118. 12. Therefore let us not frame our selves to their manner of doing well For Pharao ten times began well but still declined from amending the faults which he knew and confessed Exod 8. 8. c. This is their behaviour But the estate of the Godly is the state and manner of the Nazarites as St. Augustine saith that is be holy and clean all their dayes for if they touch any unclean thing the last day then all their dayes are reckoned unclean Now as we draw this from Gods perfection so for the time when he rested namely the seventh day we learn to avoid protraction and delayes For God doth not only end but he endeth also in a short time even within seven dayes which is not the manner of men who in good things are as a Snayle Psal. 58. 8. Seeing God then within seven dayes finished omnia opera sua his great works of Creation what a shame it is that we cannot finish our opuscula a few small good things in many yeers Now we are come to opus suum quod fecerat of which I will only shew you some notes which St. Augustine hath gathered out of it First saith he We may see that all that which was created before so infinite Hosts of Creatures in number and so diverse in kinde on every side and part of the World all that innumerable plurality is here by God in one rolled up and is called opus suum Though Heaven and Earth be so farre asunder and so contrarie in nature yet here they are brought to an unity and attonement the means whereof as he saith is man who being both of Heaven and Earth became vinculum perfectionis joyning both together in Man as they both together were for man and under his government Now in that he saith Opus suum quod fecerat Agustine noteth it because there are some men which doe brag of opus suum but they cannot boast of quod fecerant because there are some which doe not only build upon another mans foundation which St. Paul would not doe but also upon another mans Timber and Stones too as one having gotten St. Pauls Parchments or Epistles should say and set them out as his own but these cannot say as God here doth opus suum quod fecerat Object Now touching the third point I ask first Whether God was weary of working because he rested Resp. To which the School-men answer That rest is here not opposed to wearinesse but to work for he could not be weary of his work because all that he did was done without labour for he made all by saying only let it be But happily a man with long and much speaking may be weary But we see that God spake but even one word at least few and short words and therefore could not be weary so Also a man is not weary of that which he doth with faculty and facility
but as it is a help to sanctific us and a furtherance to true holinesse for if it be a hindrance to piety or a cause to make us lesse holy rest is evill and farre worse than work and honest labour Wherefore they which spend the Sabath day not in the publique Congregation but privatly at home in their houses and chambers doe ill and were condemned by that ancient Conncell of Gangren which was holden in France And we read in 44. of Ezecbiel 19. that there were Officers to look that the Sabath day should be well kept it must much lesse then be made a Sabath of belly cheer spent in no other then such as whereof commeth nothing but dung being the only fruit of their festivall and holy-dayes and God so hated it that he cast it in their faces that so kept it neither must it be spent in wanton recreation and lascivious pastime Nor yet as the men of Ashedod did Nehem. 13. 15. by making it a Market day and Faire to sell their Merchandises for this is to make our purse and our belly Mammon and Bacchus our Gods and to consecrate a holy-day to them Nor as Shiloh did to dancing Nor as our L. in frequenting Theaters and Playes Bear and Bull baiting for this is to turne away our foot from the Sabath and from doing Gods will on the holy-day We must not doe so but we must call the Sabath a delight to consecrate it to the Lord and honor it not doing our own wayes nor seeking our own will nor speaking a vain word I say 28. 13. but we must I say delight in the Lord upon that day and then his blessings of all sorts shall light upon us verse 14. But let us come now to speak of these two things apart which respecteth our sanctification and observation of the Sabath to see what we should not doe and then what we should doe as is required of us Touching the rest from things inhibited it is somewhat dangerous to speak of it because our nature is given to such extremes for there are two ancient Councels which doe bewray our corrupt disposition The one is Concilium Aurelianense in France which sheweth that in those dayes the People were so straight laced that they were perswaded that it was utterly unlawfull to doe any thing either Adjutorem or ad necessitatem to trim up their houses and themselves or to dresse meats We read again within fourty years after that their mindes were so 〈◊〉 gone wide from that that they fell into the other extreme clean contrary that they thought it was lawfull for them by Christian liberty to doe in it what they list To 〈◊〉 which foul error there was made the second Counsell of Mascon which made a Cannon That the people should sequester themselves from all mechanicall works of their vocations Hinderances to the observation of the Sabbath The things which are now interdicted to Christians as hindrances of this holy 〈◊〉 six in number 1. The first is bearing of burdens Jer. 17. 24. 2. The second is travailing journeyes Exod. 16. 29. 3. The third is earing ploughing carting or taking in of harvest Exod. 34. 21. 4. The fourth for bearing merchandizes buying and 〈◊〉 Nehem. 13 15 16 17. c. 5. The fifth not to build Temples or Churches Exod. 31. 13. c. 6. The sixth idle playes and pastimes to which men are too much given at such times Which because they are divers and men are diversly given thereunto in sundry places I will name some which the Fathers in their times have sharply reproved and inveighed against as the abuses and prophanings of Sabaths in their ages and severall places in which they lived for we read that the Councels of the Church doe not only concur joyntly with Gods word in interdicting the former things but also other particular abuses of their age and place As proper then St. Jerome upon the 20. of Ezekiell sharply reproveth stage playes on that day Augustine 119. Epistle inveigheth against Dauncing Gregorie against Hunting and Hawking which great personages then used Leo spake against Dice and Cards by which the Sabbath was prophaned in his time I will come to the Heathen and we will see the things which they by the light of reason condemned on their holy-dayes as prophane abuses of them which did 〈◊〉 them as they thought Of the which this is one of their rules die sacra requiescat aratrum for they thought it a pollution to their holy-dayes for though they were lawfull and necessary on their dayes yet they thought them not ad decorem hujus diei They which doe these things inhibited and forbidden by God as a hinderance of sanctification God so misliketh that he appropriateth to this sinne a speciall punishment Jer. 17. 27. and that is to send fire to their Cities As this is against the one extreme so we are to give a caveat for the other least while men avoid prophanesse Precisenesse â—…ching the Sabbbath they fall into that precisenesse of the Jews as to think it death and deadly sinne to doe any thing at all on the Sabbath day This was the jewish error of Kiffon a 〈◊〉 who held it necessary that on the evening before the 〈◊〉 if any man were found siting in the same place and state he must remain sitting untill the end of the Sabbath But Origen speaking of him as too strickt expoundeth that place of Exod. 16. 29. Maneat quisque in loco suo thus in his place saith he that is within the space of two thousand Cubits So that he thought it no breach of the day to keep within that compasse but this is to strain at a Gnat c. For God hath not made restraint of works in such labors in matters of piety and necessity For Christ saith That Priests in the Law did break their bodily rest And yet were blamelesse as in blowing of Trumpets in stead of ringing of Bells in fetching water carrying of wood and killing of oxen These things being sacrorum causa were accounted holy labors as to goe about to see the Sabbath day kept Ezech. 44. 14. He made custodes Sabati to the which use are our Church-wardens to attend So say we also for necessity for the Maccabes 1. Book condemneth those which on the Sabbath day would not fight to resist the rage of the enemy then presently setting upon them Elias walking fourty dayes must needs travail some Sabbath and break the bodily rest In this case of absolute necessity the labor of Midwives and such as are attending on so needfull and present a businesse may not be deferred Periculum animae pellit Sabatum for it is a work of mercy to save a mans life God will have mercy rather than sacrifice yea Christ will excuse them which doe toyle and labor on the Sabbath day to pull a beast out of the mire Matt. 12. 11. But let not this liberty give occasion to
goe forth on the Sabbath notwithstanding they went forth to make triall though they found none Exodus the sixteenth chapter the twentieth and the twenty seventh verses so Cain would trie whether there were not a plot of ground free from the curse but not finding any such piece of ground he turned himself to handycrafts when husbandry failed He and his Children fall to occupations some work in brass some to make Tents and others to make Organs That is the civill reason of the building of the City The spirituall reason is that fear is the first beginner of Cains City for this place though it were a place of pleasure yet it gives him no rest or security therefore he deviseth to himself a new means to safeguard him from fear that is by building a City and walling it that if the Sonnes of Seth or any that were privie to his fact came against him he might be safe from them As Adam hid himself from Gods presence in his bushes so doth Cain goe about to defend himself with walls Howbeit so it is that a guilty conscience cannot finde any rest or security by any such means but it findes the truth of that which the Apostle saith in the second to the Corinthians the seventh chapter and the fifth verse pugnae for is intus terrores And yet by the taking order for the continuance of his name it appeares he had not only fear but a secular desire of fame in the world he contenteth not himself with Adams dwelling but builds a City Adam and his Children dwelt under Trees or some Tents but the Posterity of Cain builds themselves Cities to dwell in For the generall as the beginning of good Lawes is the evill fashions and naughty manners of men so the remedy against fear is Cities that by them people may be safe from wilde beasts and wicked and cruel men more wilde than beasts But as first necessity invented Garments since pride so it is of Cities A City was founded first in regard of fear but since they are become the only places of pride for in the Country where men are imployed in husbandry we see no such pride they content themselves with plain dwelling but in the City all things are for pride That is for the building of the City Touching the Builder we see the beginning of buildings is hominem occidere urbem condere Therefore the Prophets crie out that the faces of the poor are ground for the maintenance of Cities Jeremiah the twenty second chapter and the thirteenth verse Habakkuk the second chapter and the thirteenth verse Micha the third chapter Even as we see Cain that killed his brother is the Builder of this City so there are many like Cain that kill and undoe a great company of young Occupiers to build themselves a City For they content not themselves with their Fathers Houses but build themselves Houses of Cedar Jeremiah the thirty second chapter Secondly Out of the Builder Augustine hath this note that as the building of this City of Enoch by the blood of Abel was a soretelling what kinde of City this should be namely full of cruelty so in as much as Rome was founded by Romulus in the blood of Remus that was a signe that it would be a cruel and bloody City as we see it came to pass that it hath been the chief persecuting City and shed most blood Thirdly We are to speak of the name wherein the itch of Cains vanity breaks forth for in giving this name he saith as much as they doe Genesis the eleventh chapter paremus nobis nomen he seeks to make his posterity famous for it is the course of the world And men think their houses shall continue for ever and therefore call their lands by their names Psalm the fourty ninth and the eleventh verse when they cannot be written in the book of life they seek to be in remembrance of men We see it is in Saul when God took his honor from him he would be honoured of the people in the first of Samuel the fifteenth chapter so that upon these three things in satisfying the flesh in building Cities for the glory of this world and in leaving a name behinde stands all Cains desire But the giving of this name is in one of these two respects First If a man will see what is true dedication let him look upon the worldly minded man for none doe so truly dedicate themselves to the true God as they doe consecrate themselves to the World It is indeed sacra fames for as Christ saith The Children of this world are wiser in their generation than the Children of light Luke the sixteenth chapter Therefore in them we may see the lively example of true dedication Secondly If not that yet for as much as every dedication is the first act for the first thing to be done when a new House is to be built is to dedicate it by great feastings This sheweth that as all the things of this life are but beginnings for as Christ kept the best wine last John the second chapter so the consummation of all things is in Salem which is Gods City But Cains Enoch is nothing but fair shewes of joy and feastings which shall end in mournings Where it is said Cain was building a City and not that he built it it is to teach us that he did but begin it we see the like in the worlds course men are ever building and pulling down they are never at rest but continually in the Land of Nod Nunquam aedificavêrunt as the Preacher saith The soul still desireth but is never satisfied Ecclesiastes the fifth chapter even so Cain is alwayes occupied in building the City but never makes an end but even before he hath done he drops into the grave like the rich man Luke the twelfth chapter that suddenly while he was consulting how to build Barns was taken away These are Cains three waies 〈◊〉 Prolis extruxio Urbis propagatio Nominis the one is the lust of the flesh the other the lust of the eyes the third the pride of life John the second chapter And these are the waies of the world All the desires of worldly men stand in these three to have many Children to build fair houses and to get an honorable name among men Thus far goeth worldly men and no farther as we see not only in Cain but in Nimrod and Pharaoh all whose studdy was in getting Children in building Cities and seeking to make their name famous These are the men of this world from whom the Prophet prayeth to be delivered That have their portion in this life their bellies are filled with hid treasure their Children have enough and leave the rest to their Children and this is all they seek for but the Godly say with the Prophet Psalm the seventeenth and the fourteenth verse But I will seek for thy presence in righteousness that is Seths Enoch and not Cains We have
is to be praised would not accept their praise but answered them Why tempt ye me O ye Hypocrites And when one said to him Magister bone good Master which was a praise of simplicitie not of hypocrisie as the other he refused it and said Why dost thou call me good Mark the tenth chapter When one said Blessed is the womb that bare thee he repelled that saying Nay rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Luke the eleventh chapter and the twenty eighth verse For as the shewing of the Kings treasure was the means of the betraying them Isaiah the thirty ninth chapter so when we shew our good works with a desire to be praised for them it takes away all commendation from them This thing being dangerous if notwithstanding we be desirous to have our good deeds seen that shall be fulfilled which Sirach saith He that loveth dangers shall perish therein Qui amat periculum peribit in co cap 3. 27. But to disswade us from this the Apostle saith Be not desirous of vain glory Galatians the fift chapter and Philippians the second chapter and the third verse The Preacher saith all is vanity which men seek after in this life and therefore concludes Time Deum Ecclesiastes the twelfth chapter to teach us that without God all the praise of the world is but vanity Now as we fail in having respect to God First when we make not him the fountain of our praise Secondly if we make him not the end of it so in doing good works to be seen we commit two vanities First when we content not our selves with this perswasion that God sees our works and will reward them unlesse man see them and praise us for them The tryall whether we make God the fountain of our praise is if we seek it by wayes agreeable to his will not by wickednesse Secondly not by vanity for his delight is not in beautie riches or strength he delighteth not in any mans Legs in the hundred and fourty sixt Psalme Thirdly not by falshood as the Apostle saith I will not glory of any thing which the Lord hath not wrought by me in the second to the Corinthians and the eleventh chapter Hereby we shall seek the praise of God rather than of men in the twelfth chapter of John nay though they seek praise by righteousnesse and doing good works yet they make not God the fountain of their praise the Hypocrites when they would be praised did those works that were most glorious as to offer sacrifice in the temple but they neglected mercy and justice which are the chief things that God respecteth in the twenty third chapter of Matthew They washed not their hearts in the fifteenth chapter of Matthew which God especially regardeth but looked only to outward things and they that doe mercy and justice which are the chief things of the Law yet they will not doe them but when they may be seen Whereby they shew that they make not God the fountain of their praise and so the praise they seek for is hatefull to God Secondly this desire of vain glory is injurious to God when we make not him the end of our praise for we may doe good works coram in the sight of men but not with purpose to have them seen that so we may receive glory For God hath given us the joyes and use of all his Creatures but reserveth the glory of them to himself therefore the Apostle saith howsoever ye have the joy of Gods Creatures in eating and drinking yet let God have the glory Doe all to the glory of God in the first to the Corinthians the tenth chapter and the thirty first verse For though he giveth us the use of all things yet gloriam meam alteri non dabo in the fourty second chapter of Esay Therefore if we doe good works to commend our selves and not to glorifie God we are injurious to him for he hath testified that he will not give his glory to any other And therefore Peter and John say It is not by our own godlinesse that we have made this man whole but it is the name of Christ and faith in him that hath raised him in the third chapter of the Acts Therefore not only Nabuchadnezar when he snatched Gods glory to himself was punished in the fourth chapter of Daniell But even Herod also because he did but suffer that glory to rest upon him that was attributed to him by others when he should have ascribed all to God in the twelfth chapter of the Acts and the twenty second verse Then as it is injurious to God so it is hurtfull to our selves for though we see many miracles wrought by Christ yet they are afraid to confesse and believe him Because they love the praise of men more than the praise of God in the twelfth chapter of John and the fourty third verse And therefore Christ saith How can you believe which seek glory one of another and seek not the honor that commeth of God alone quomodo potestis credere qui gloriam sibi quaeritis in the fift chapter of John and the fourty fourth verse Secondly as it is an obstacle to grace so it is a provocation to all wickednesse For the Jews doubted not to crucisie the Lord of glory to get praise of the wicked Secondly that we may doe this Christ willeth us to take heed for there is a double corruption in us First a rebellion against Gods precepts which make us say quare as Pharaoh in the fift chapter of Exodus and the second verse Who is the Lord that I should hear his voice And as the Scribes and Pharisees said to Christ By what authority doest thou these things in the twenty first chapter of Matthew and the three and twentieth verse Secondly the blindnesse of our understanding which makes us ask quomodo which is the question of ignorance so that it is not without cause that he bids us take heed that we beware of this sinne as being a hard precept both for our rebellion to yeeld unto and also in regard of our ignorance which is such as we cannot see how it should be lawfull to seek praise by well doing the hardnesse of avoiding this sinne is of two causes First it ariseth from the nature of sinne it self for as we are corporall and visible so we are most affected with those things that are visible as John reasoneth He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen in the first Epistle of John and the fourth chapter whereupon it commeth to passe that our corruption that though we believe the reward of God to be great yet because it is invisible and the worlds reward is present therefore pleaseth us more Secondly from the originall of vain glory for when the woman looked upon the fruit albeit it greatly pleased her yet that which did strike the stroak was eritis sieut dii in the third chapter of Genesis the hope of present
Horses c. must first be served and 〈◊〉 and tendded by us before they can attend to serve our turnes The second sort are Worms or creeping things called Reptilia because they crawl upon the ground and therefore they are said natare super terram as it were to swim or glide upon the ground and so they are distinguished by their motion And these are of two sorts either they have no feet or leggs at all crawling on their belly or else very short feet creeping low by ground The third kinde are wilde beasts which doe live alone in terra inculta as the word signifieth in the waste wildernesse and in the unprofitable and barren Land which is desert and 〈◊〉 of men In which they live for the most part by blood preying on the spoyle one of another and therefore to some of them is given strength to some swiftnesse to some 〈◊〉 and craft by which they know how to get their prey And lest these savage wilde and cruel beasts should annoy hurt or destroy Mankinde we see the Lord hath provided for us divers wayes allotting to them only the barren Wildernesse giving to us the profitable ground appointing the night for them to goe abroad whereas the day is specially granted to us Psalm the hundred and fourth and the twenty second verse Besides God hath not made them so fruitfull they doe not multiply as other profitable and meek Cattel doe which will not hurt us And thus much for the special kinde of things which the Earth bringeth forth Now for the performance of Gods Precept it is generally set down in the end of the twenty fourth verse as in other places that it was so even as God had commanded which general is more particularly set down in the twenty fift verse ensuing Fecit enim Deus bestias terrenas in species suas pecudes in species suas omniaque reptilia terrae in species suas vidit Deus id esse bonum Gen. 1. 25. THE first part of this verse is the performance of his word and Decree in every point the end of it is the approbation thereof For the execution of all that God said because as he said so it came to passe and was truly and fully performed and done we note how true and certain and undoubted Gods word is Shall he speak the word and shall it not come to passe Surely Heaven and Earth may passe away but not one jot or title of his word shall fail Which as we see in the word of Creation so shall we finde it in the Gospel the word of Salvation And here we may observe that God will be made known not only to be the maker of the Lyon and the Elephant those great and goodly beasts but also of the poor creeping Creature and the Ant Qui fecit Angelos fecit vermiculos saith Augustine Neither is it any disgrace or dishonour to God because there is no lesse power wisdome shewed and seen in these than is in the greatest and hugest beasts that be 〈◊〉 for the most part the excellencie of Gods handy work is more admirably 〈◊〉 in the least and smallest living things that are As strange things are known of the poor Shrimp as of the Whale More virtue is to be found in the silly Bee than in the Eagle So as great art may be seen in the Ant as in the Elephant Which may be known if we observe the great providence and forecast of the little Ant his great industry and diligence in laboring without 〈◊〉 while the Summer doth last and the great strength this little Creature hath which is able to carry a corne farre greater than himself Wherefore these small creeping Creatures which God hath made are not to be passed over without regard but to be considered to his glory and praise which made them The last part of this verse is the liking and 〈◊〉 of this work for this censure is given of this as of the rest that it was right good and therefore very well done Which must teach us this lesson That if we will have the like praise and commendation of all works they must be 〈◊〉 so answerable to Gods will and word in every point so diligently and speedily and perfectly done as these things were But here God doth not purpose so much to commend the manner of doing his will as the works themselves and the things that were done that is the goodnesse of these natures which are made and brought forth And if we enquire of the goodnesse of these things particularly the Wise-man will tell us 〈◊〉 the thirty ninth chapter and the thirty fourth verse Every thing in his time place and kinde is profitable and good For touching the Cattle which are servants and helpers to us Who knoweth not how good and beneficial the Oxe the Cow the Sheep and such things are both for work and food and cloth But you may ask Wherefore are wilde beasts which 〈◊〉 devour one another and oftentimes kill men For answer whereto we must consider That God made these before sinne was in the world and therefore in that estate and time of 〈…〉 God did commend them we must not doubt but 〈◊〉 were good without any evil or hurt at all Quamdiu 〈…〉 in Deum nihil peccabat in eum while we were good servants to God they were good servants to us It is our 〈◊〉 and sinne therefore which causeth them to be evil and hurtfull to us And as in our first holy estate they were good so if we be converted to God 〈◊〉 his Image again they will be good and doe us 〈…〉 Job the fift chapter the twenty second and twenty third verses for then the beasts of the forest shall be in league with thee as they were with Daniel in the Lyons den Daniel the sixt chapter and the sixteenth verse Super ventrem tuum ito pulverum comedito omnibus diebus vitae tuae Gen. 3. 14. Jun. 25. 1598. Place this and the two following Sermons betwixt pag. 〈…〉 THESE words with those that went before contain that Sentence that was given by God upon the Serpent whom the Devil the invisible Serpent used as an instrument to deceive Adam and Eve and as we have heard it hath three branches That which we are to consider in this Sentence is first That he is condemned to be under the curse of God Secondly To creep upon his belly Thirdly To eat the dust all the dayes of his life Which three punishments are 〈◊〉 to that three fold fault which the Serpent committed and whereunto he perswaded our Parents that was the sinne first of Malice Secondly of Pride Thirdly of intemperate desire to eat of that which was forbidden The Curse of God hath relation to the Serpents malice the creeping upon his belly was inflicted as a punishment for his pride and the feeding upon the dust hath a correspondencie with his inordinate desire These three sinnes are necessarily to be