pronounced both upon the brute Serpent and the spirituall Serpent the question may be how this phrase Upon thy belly shalt thou go dust shalt thou eat can be accommodated unto Satan Per analogiam in a spirituall sense we Resp shall finde that the Scripture makes use of such expressions as these are to note unto us the lowest and most ignominious debasement when God threatens heavy judgements against Jerusalem mark how he phrases it Thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground thy Isa 24.4 speech shall be low out of the dust and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust The Spirit of God seemes to allude to the carriage of a poore captive taken in warre and lying prostrate at the feet of the Conquerour hardly daring so much as to whisper out of the dust You may finde also expressions something like to these Esay 49.23 Lam. 3.29 Mic. 7.17 So then these expressions signifie the debasement of Satan from his primitive excellency A wonderful stoop indeed this was when that which was advanced as high as heaven was made to fall down as low as hell It is the observation of a learned Author that as food is made use of for the repairing and preservation of nature so the goodnesse or badnesse thereof doth make the temper of the body better or worse hence according to the degrees of excellency in the creatures their food is finer or courser Plants suck moisture from the earth beasts live upon plants man of beasts fowle and fish so that this expression Dust shalt thou eat notes unto us the lownesse and basenesse of the Serpent Quest 33. Verse 15. What is meant by the woman in this verse It seemes to be that woman with whom Resp the Serpent had treated viz. Eve as if God had said Seeing thou hast by a treaty with the woman tempted her to sinne I will put enmity between thee and the woman Now the woman is mentioned and not the man not because God had not put enmity between the man and the Serpent as well as the woman and the Serpent but because Eve was immediately seduced by the Serpent the man by the perswasion of his wife Quest. 34. Verse 15. Whether we may not with the Church of Rome expound the woman of the Virgin Mary Neg. And amongst others this reason Resp may be rendred The enmity the Spirit of God speaks of in this verse was immediately to follow the curse now the Virgin Mary was not borne many hundreds of years afterward But God speaks in the future tence Object I will put enmity between thee and the woman c. God speaks in the future tence when Resp 1 he pronounces that other part of the curse upon the Serpent Vers 14. Upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat now this curse immediately followed upon the sentence and why not the other God speakes in the future tence to note the duration and continuance of this curse Quest 35. Verse 15. What is meant by the Serpents seed This cannot be expounded but in a Resp spiritual sense for daemones propriè semen non habent nec gignunt sibi similes therefore we are to understand by the Serpents seed the reprobate wicked world They which imitate God and obey him are called his seed or his children in the Scripture as Be ye followers of God as dear children so they that imitate the Eph. 5.1 devil and obey him are called his seed or his children as Ye are of your father Joh. 8. 44 the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do He that committeth sinne is of the devil 1 Joh 3. 8. Quest 36. Verse 15. What is meant by the seed of the woman First and principally Jesus Christ Resp 1 It implieth all the Elect viz. all Eves seed that should not become the seed of the Serpent By the seed of the woman can be Object meant onely Christ who was so the seed of the woman that he was not of the man 'T is true Christ was born of a Virgin Resp and was so the seed of the woman that he was not of the man but yet that by the seed of the woman Christ singularly and individually should be meant by the Spirit of God in this place is not sufficiently demonstrated by this phrase and the reason is this because such persons as have been conceived and born in an ordinary way have been called the seed of the woman or that which amounts thereunto so Adam knew his wife again Gen. 4.25 and she bare a sonne and called his name Seth for God faith she hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew there you have Eve calling Seth her seed so the wicked Jews are Isa 57.3 called the sonnes of the forceresse Quest 37. Verse 15. How is this particle it to be expounded It shall bruise thy head Some and those very learned though Resp 1 they expound the seed of the woman collectively and take it for Christ and his Church this particle notwithstanding say they referres unto Christ singularly and individually considered Their reasons are three Say they the Septuagint renders it Arg. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and though the Greek word which is used for seed be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet the pronoune relative is of the masculine gender 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now if it had been to be taken collectively as the seed of the woman before it would have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But we must consider that both in Latine Resp and Greek Authours pronouns many times agree rather cum re then cum voce and so it is in this case by the seed of the woman though we do not say is meant Christ onely yet we say Christ principally and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clearly relates to Christ now that in Latine and Greek Authors pronouns do not only convenire cum verbo but sometimes cum re appears Terence hath such a phrase as this Ubi est scelus qui me perdidit And as for the Greek frequent instances we may finde in the New Testament Mat. 28.19 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 8. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so in Luke where the noune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of the masculine gender and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the neuter It is opposed to one individual Serpent Arg. 2 it shall bruise thy head The seed of the Serpent is implied Resp 1 there though not expressed for as the Serpent not alone but with his seed shall bruise the heele of the seed of the woman so Christ the seed of the woman not individually considered but with his seed shall break the Serpents head For the further clearing of this the seed of the woman may be said to bruise the Serpents head two manner of wayes 1. As the Lord Jesus spoiled principalities and powers and blotted out the handwriting of
Ordinances against us and nailing it to his crosse 2. As he overcomes the plots the assaults the rebellions of this conquered and broken enemy In both senses we may say of the seed of the woman collectively considered it shall break the Serpents head It viz. Christ and his Church head and members In the first sense the Saints break the Serpents head in Christ in the second sense Christ breaks the Serpents head in and with his Saints In the first sense Christ breaks the Serpents head without the actual concurrence of his Saints it is true the Saints do it in him but they do not concurre with him in it as all of us sinned in Adam though we did not actually concurre with him in his sinne and in this sense he is said to tread the Wine-presse alone In the second sense Christ breaks the Serpents head with the actuall concurrence of his Saints not that Christ receives any help from them for to do it but because he is pleased to make use of them in the doing of it and in this sense is that Scripture to be understood The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly Rom. 16. 20. Christ hath throwen Satan down and wounded him and he will enable his people to keep him down and tread upon him As Ioshua caused the Princes of Israel to set their feet on the very necks of the five Kings They urge to break the Serpents head notes a Divine power and therefore it is Arg. 3 to be understood onely of Christ This Argument would be something Resp 1 against those that shut out Christ from this great work but not in the least against those who say the Church breakes the Serpents head but that power whereby it doth it is derived from Christ Since therefore besides what hath been already said according to the judgement of those who hold this first assertion the seed of the woman is to be taken collectively therefore I rather close with others as Learned who say that this particle it is to be expoūded collectively also for it being a pronoune relative and pointing to the seed of the woman which the Adversary saith is to be expounded collectively I conceive we cannot without straining of the Grammar of the Text interpret it otherwise Nor doth this detract from the honour of Christ the victory is Christs principally ours onely relatively and as his members Nor doth this advantage the Jew for according to this construction in this Scripture you have a Prophecy concerning the Messiah It is said here The seed of the woman shall breake the Serpents head now this being a work above the spheare of the activity of any creature it will follow that the Messiah is principally intended in this promise or Prophecy Quest 37. verse 15. Why we may not translate this verse according to the vulgar Latin she viz. the Virgin Mary shall breake the Serpents head Because according to the Hebrew text Resp 1 it is not she but according to our translation it Because this detracts much from the honour of Christ It was a rare saying of Seneca Similiter esse exprehensibilem nimiam laudationem et immoderatam vituperationem I but say the Romanists Christ did it by Object his own power the Virgin Mary by Christs If you say that of the blessed Virgin Resp as we have formerly concerning other Saints of God we have no cause to be offended but they intend more by it then this comes to Doth not the worth and eminency of a Object childe cast a shine of honour upon the Parents If it be said of Abraham In thee shall all Nations be blessed though it was not Abraham that made them blessed but his seed why not of the Virgin Mary In thee shall the Serpents head be broken though she did not do it but Christ It is one thing to say a parent is blessed in a child or to say that in a parent a Nation Resp is blessed because of a child and to attribute the worthy atchievements of the child to the parent as if a woman should beare a sonne who when he came to years ceserved worthily of the Common-wealth a shine of honour would be cast upon this woman because of her son but we could not with any sense nor indeed with honesty ascribe the worthy acts of the sonne to the mother Thus they endeavour to paint over their black and horrid blasphemies with the fairest colours they will take The chimney-piece is commonly the fairest part of the Roome and yet it covereth the foulest and blackest place Quest 38. verse 15. Why is it said I will put enmity between thee and the woman in the Abstract To note unto us the bitter inveterate Resp irreconcileable hatred of the wicked against the godly enemies may be reconciled but enmity cannot c. It is observable that profane persons Hereticks blasphemous Popish superstitious persons are more loving favourable each to other though vastly differing in their judgment then either of them to the people of God Edom and Ishmael Moab the Hagarens Gebal Ammon Amaleck the Philistines the men of Tyre Ashur had each several gods yet all conspired against the true God Ps 83. 5 6 7 8. They have consulted together with one consent they are confederate against thee The Tabernacles of Edom the Ishmaelites of Moab the Hagarens Gebal and Ammon and Amaleck the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre Ashur also is joyned with them they have holpen the children of Lot Darknesse and darknesse agree better together then light and darknesse Quest 39. vers 15. Whether man had any share in this curse pronounced in these two verses Man hath a share in that which was pronounced Resp against the Serpent but all his share is mercy for though it be a curse to the Serpent yet a blessing to man The truth is there seems to be spirituall checker-work in this 15. verse halfe white and half black much of judgement and terrour and much of mercy and consolation resembling Moses who saved the Israelites and slew the Egyptians In this verse you have the Sun in a cloud the Gospel with its masque on the day-break of that glorious mystery which was hid in God from before the foundation of the world the light whereof though it were faint and shadowy in regard of our Noon-day-brightnesse yet at that time through the help of the prospective of faith they might see thereby 1. Mans Redemption from the Tyranny of Satan and by consequence from sin death and hell noted in that expression of breaking the Serpents head 2. That man should be redeemed by a Mediatour viz. by the intervention of the seed of the woman 3. That this Mediator should be true man intimated by the seed of the woman and that he should have a divine power being able to break the Serpents head which is tantum mount to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man 4. That this Redemption should
was a beast Resp yet the most sagacious and subtile beast of the field as in the text in the opinion of some the most excellent creature next unto man wit unsanctified is a fit toole for the Devil to work withal Quest 3. verse 1. Why did not Satan rather appear in the shape of a man or woman for so he might have gained an opinion with Eve of more excellency and knowledge then appearing in the forme of a Serpent 'T is answered by Learned men that the Resp Devil could not appear in humane shape whilest man was in his integrity because he was a spirit fallen and therefore God would not suffer him to appear in any shape but that which might argue his imperfection and abasement which was the shape of a beast it is observed that the good Angels can take upon them no other shape then the shape of a man the shape of an inferiour creature would be unsuitable to their excellent and glorious state so the Devill could not appear in the shape of a man because he was fallen from that state wherin he was created 'T is true since the fall of man the case is altered yet it is said the Devill cannot take upon him the shape of a compleat man but appears with some deformity or other Quest. 4. verse 1. Seeing it is cleare by the Scripture that our first parents were seduced by the Devil the Question is why we finde no mention of the Devil in this Chapter but onely of the Serpent Some conceive because Moses herein Resp 1 would conforme himself to the weaknesse of the infant state of the Jewish Church as formerly he made no mention of Angels so neither here of Satan being a spirit Others say Moses did not write as an Interpreter but as an Historian and therefore layes downe the matter of fact as it was presented to Eve she saw the Serpent heard the Serpent treated with the Serpent therefore Moses in this place makes mention onely of the Serpent So he relates unto us the story of Abraham entertaining three men which were onely in the shape of men but indeed Angels yet he so gives us Gen. 8. the history that by the circumstances we may easily gather that it was not the Serpent alone that seduced our first parents but the Devil in the Serpent for the Serpent being an irrationall creature could not speak at least not so as to discourse by way of question and reply and therefore must be acted by some being of an intellectuall nature now if what had been said had been good and holy we should in reason have ascribed it to God or a good Angel but being a Lie and sinfull we ascribe it to Satan Quest 5. verse 1. How could the Serpent be said to speake The Devil spake by the Serpent as he Resp did afterwards by those that were possessed Persons possessed had naturall Organs Object fit for the forming of speech so had not the Serpent 'T is true they had but the Devil hath Resp spoke in them whether they would or not yea when their mouth hath been shut and their teeth set now as to the matter in hand it is all one to have no proper Organs for speech and not to make use of them Thus by the eare death is brought into the world but blessed be God through Christ life is brought in by the same doore Quest 6. verse 1. How came it to passe that Eve was not astonished to hear the Serpent speak and so dreaded to treat with him Some conceive that in the beginning Resp 1 it was natural for Serpents to speak Julian laughs at this conceit and saith he Quo idiomate usus est serpens This I am sure it was not naturall for the Serpent to speake after this manner by way of rationall discourse Some say that Eve knew that a spirit spake in the Serpent and upon that account treated with him but this ties the knot faster then it was for she might and indeed she ought before she entered into a treaty to consider why a spirit good or bad should make use of such an instrument What if it should be asserted that Eve did not know but that other creatures might have a faculty to speake as well as man Was knowledge imperfect in innocency Object Say some It is probable Eve had lesse Resp knowledge then Adam and yet had as much as was required to the perfection of a woman and that state and condition that God had placed her in It was not necessary for her to know things by their causes and to understand the naturall properties of all the creatures but she was skilled in those things that concerned her family and related to her husband and children The state of innocency was free from Object all kind of evill both of body and minde error is an evill of the minde now if Eve did not know but that other creatures might speak as well as the Serpent she was in an error There is a twofold ignorance Resp 1 Ignorantia pravae disposiâ—ionis when we are ignorant of that we are bound to know and this indeed was repugnant to the state of innocency 2. Ignorantia purae negationis which is when a person barely not knowes a thing this the Learned call Nescience this was not repugnant to the state of innocency Christ as man might be said Nescire not to know some things viz. the day of judgement and yet Christ as man was without sinne so children in the state of innocency should not have known so much as men yea for ought I know Adam himself might have attained to a greater measure of knowledge by experience 3. Though I have high thoughts of those learned Authors that are of this perswasion yet dogmatically to affirme that Eve was created with lesse knowledge then the women of after-ages have attained to is an assertion hard of digestion to my understanding c. 4. It is likely therefore Eve was something astonished at first at the speech of the Serpent but being desirous to heare what the Serpent would say the understanding of a rationall creature being as much delighted with knowledge as the stomack with meat engaged in a treaty with the Serpent which was the occasion both of her sinne and punishment Quest 7. verse 1. Why Satan setteth upon the woman and not upon the man 1. Because the precept was given to Adam by God himselfe say some Adam Resp 1 had the precept from God immediately and so had deeper impressions of it in his soul then Eve that had it by tradition from her husband The woman was the weaker vessell and the Devil delighteth to set upon us where we are weakest as he set upon Christ when he was an hungry the Devill will be sure to force us there most where we are least able to resist Adam would sooner be seduced by his wife then by the Serpent Saul knew what he did when he married his daughter unto
delivered by a man is called the voice of God Samuel also said unto Saul The Lord sent me to anoint 1 Sa. 15.1 thee to be King over his people now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. The Learned conceive that the voice of God in this place is not to be taken for a sound or a noyse but for an articulate voice but now whether this voice was formed in the aire As at the time of the Baptisme and transfiguration of our Saviour or whether it was formed in some body God at that time assuming the visible shape of a man is not very cleare yet the latter seems to be probable 1. He deals with man by way of judiciall processe as a man first he calls him to an account for the crime he had committed and then pronounces sentence against him 2. Ye read of the Lord God walking in the garden which seems as it were to point toward this opinion Quest. 21. verse 8. 'T is said They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden and yet it is said in Jeremiah that the Lord filleth heaven and earth Jer. 23.24 The Divine essence fills heaven and Resp earth and yet that visible forme whereby God manifests his presence may be circumscribed to a place and so it was in this Case Quest 22. verse 8. It is said they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord and yet the Psalmist Ps 139.7 8. sayes Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence c. 'T is true we cannot hide our selves from Gods presence yet we may from that visible Resp forme that God appears in for the present and possibly this may be the meaning in this place c. In vaine doth the sinner endeavour to run away from God and the terrours of Conscience This is just as if the wounded Deere should go about to run from the deadly Arrow that sticks in his side this is like the fish which swimmeth to the length of the Line with the Hooke in its mouth The best way to run from God is to run to God viz. from his wrath to his mercy To close and get in avoids the blow when a storme arises the Mariner puts forth to sea Quest 23. verse 9. God calls man Adam where art thou and yet in Jeremiah Mine eyes are upon all their wayes neither is there iniquity hid Jer. 16.17 from mine eyes Non interogat ut ipse sciat sed ut hominem Resp 1 scire et agnoscere faciat God doth not propound this question to Adam that he might know but that man might know that he did know Non est vox ignorantis sed ad judicium citantis It is not the voice of one that desired to be informed but of a Judge calling man to an account for the transgression of the Command Quest 24. verse 9. Why doth not God call Eve by her name as well as Adam they having both sinned Some say to note it concernes the husband Resp to take heed not onely of what is done by himselfe but also by his wife or family he may be called to an account for it Quest 25. vers 10. It is said I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid did not Adam feare God before Yes but he feared him before with a Resp sonne-like filial feare now with a base unworthy servile feare He feared him before because of his goodnesse now he fears him because of his vengeance so when the image of God is repaired The people of God have not a slavish wiredrawen and compelled affection towards God but their affections freely melt and drop towards God as the honey drops out of the Comb feare and love must be mixed and tempered together indeed they do not well asunder as if a man would make the most perfect beautifull colour he would temper the purest white and the fairest red together such is that for which the spouse giveth her beloved the Commendation that he was candidus et rubicundus white and ruddy feare without love would set us in the forlorne hope and precipitate us into despaire and love without fear would make us wanton and secure therefore there is not onely magnitude but pulchritude in God he is not onely great to cause us to feare him but he is good to cause us to love him Quest 26. verse 12. The man said The woman whom thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the Tree and I did eat And yet the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 2. 14. That Adam was not deceived but the woman The Apostle may speake of the manner Resp 1 of the seduction of our first parents Adam was not deceived viz. by the Serpent but the woman The Serpent deceived Eve but Eve could not in propriety of speech be said to deceive Adam for that person may be said properly to deceive who perswades to something false and injurious animo fallendi with an intention to wrong another and in this sense the Serpent may be said to deceive Eve But Eve had no thoughts of over-reaching her husband therefore Adam was not deceived but the woman Quest 27. vâ—rse 14. Why the Serpent was not examined by God as well as the man or woman The examination of the man and woman Resp was in order to their repentance and so by Consequence in order to their salvation but God would shew no mercy to the Serpent Quest 28. verse 14. Upon whom this curse was pronounced upon the Serpent or Satan or Satan and the Serpent Some would have it onely spoken of the Resp 1 brute Serpent and the Jews are very zealous in the maintaining of this assertion But if this were a truth then it would follow that the brute creature that Satan made use of should be punished but Satan himselfe who was the principall actor in tempting our first parents to sinne should escape unpunished Some would have it onely spoken of the spirituall Serpent the Devill because the brute was onely passive and abused by the Devil for the calling on of his sinfull designes But neither can this be for if this curse had not beene pronounced upon a true Serpent why should this Serpent be reckoned amongst the beasts of the field And why doth not Moses make mention of Satan in this whole Chapter Some would divide the controversie applying the first part of the curse in the 14. verse to the brute Serpent and the latter in the 15. verse to the Devil the spiritual Serpent But neither can this be for 1. The subject the Spirit of God speakes of is not changed but the same in the 14. and 15. verses ver 14. The Lord said to the Serpent Thou art cursed above all cattel And verse 15. I will put enmity between thee and the woman c 2. It is cleare that the words in the 15. ver without any straining are applicable to the brute Serpent viz.
It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heele you know the Serpent being a creature going upon his belly is obnoxious to be tread upon and to have his head bruised but being not able to reach mans head it is said of the Serpent that it should bruife mans heels Some conceive that the curse was pronounced both upon the brute Serpent and the spirituall Serpent and this I hold to be the Truth the Devil when he beguiled man came not as a naked spirit but in the shape and figure of a Serpent and therefore that his punishment might be suitable and answerable to his offence he was to receive his doome likewise under the figure of a serpent Quest 28. verse 14. Whether Satan was not under the curse of God before this was pronounced Affir but Resp 1. After he had tempted man to sin his curse was augmented 2. In this verse God declares the curse pronounced upon the Serpent to be irrepealable Upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life We may observe that there is a great difference between the sentence prenounced upon the man and woman and the sentence pronounced upon the Serpent 1. You have a curse pronounced upon the Serpent but none upon the person of man or woman 2. The punishment inflicted upon them is temporall but the punishment inflicted upon the Serpent is eternall which is noted unto us by that expression All the dayes of thy life viz. as long as Satan hath a being Quest 29. verse 14 How it could be just with God to punish the brute Serpent being an unreasonable creature knowing neither good nor evil and had no will to sin but spake meerly as it was acted and possessed by Satan Why should we question the justice of Resp 1 God here more then in Adams Censure vers 17. where the whole earth was cursed for Adams sake what had the earth done or how was it guilty of Adams transgression And afterwards we read And behold I even I do bring a flood of waters on the Earth to destroy all flesh Gen 6.17 How were the beasts the creeping things the fowles of the Aire partakers of mans wickednesse God cursed the Serpent as well as Satan because Satan made use of the Serpent as his instrument to tempt our first parents to sin against God God was so displeased with sinne that he would curse not only the principall cause of it but the instrumentall also so in other cases God doth not onely punish the offender but the instrument made use of in the committing of the offence As if a man defil'd himself with a beast if a man lye with a Lev. 20.15 beast he shall surely be put to death and ye shall slay the beast We may see this in a Case where there is no dispute when a man hath committed murder his body suffers now what is the body but an instrument the soule makes use of The hand cannot move otherwise then as it is acted by the soul yet this would not be a plea in humane Courts Oh see the vilenesse of our hearts we can reason against God when in the very same case we dare not reason against man Quest. 30. verse 14. Whether the Serpent went upon his belly before the curse Some conceive that it did but that Resp 1 this was made ignominious and cursed to him after the fal of man and they illustrate this two manner of wayes 1. Nakednesse was naturall to man at first and yet afterwards he was ashamed of it and it became his punishment 2. Briars and thornes were created before mans fall but afterwards became a curse But to both these instances we may give this answer 1. That nakednesse simply considered was not the cause of mans shame but nuditas turpis Adamus videns faedos et inordinatos membrorum motus pudefactus est 2. For briars and thornes consider them in puris naturalibus in their pure naturalls and so they did not become a curse but as after the fall they grew out of their proper places and were blended and mixed with the fruits of the earth for the punishment of man c. Therefore others conceive that the Serpent did not go on his breast till the curse but had a body erected as man hath and they render these reasons amongst others 1. We know the more excellent and sublime the nature of a creature is the more it raiseth it self upwards the more ignoble and base the more it falls down-ward this we see in the Elements the fire the most excellent operative of the four raiseth it self above the rest the earth the most unactive and basest of all the lowest 2. As there is this difference amongst elements so among living creatures the basest is the most creeping as wormes c. whilest the noble Lyon advanceth his head and breast so farre as the frame of his body is capable so man being of all creatures most excellent is therefore of all others most advanced in body Os homini sublime dedit coelúmque tueri Jussit The Serpent therefore being of a sublime nature insomuch that the Scripture sayes it was more subtile then any beast of the field the frame and shape of his body was suitable thereunto Quest 31. verse 14. In what sense we must understand this phrase Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life when we find that Serpents feed upon herbes and devour other creatures also These two phrases Upon thy belly shalt Resp thou go and dust shalt thou eat ought to be joyned together in the opening of this Scripture the one ought to be considered as the cause and the other as the effect So that eating dust in this place is not so to be understood as if the Serpent should live and feed onely upon dust but that the Serpent going upon his belly should be forced to eat dust viz. take in dust into his mouth whether he will or not the Learned phrase it thus Haec verba non referuntur ad alimentum sed ad incommodum et velut coactam terrae in os receptionem Against this Exposition some object Object and say that we have a promise concerning the happy and peaceable condition of the Church in the latter dayes and amongst other things it is said The dust shall be the Serpents meat The Wolfe and Is 65.25 the Lambe shall feed together and the Lyon shall eat straw like the bullock and dust shall be the Serpents meat These words are not to be understood literally Resp but allegorically as the very expressions in the text clearly intimate and when it is said The dust shall be the Serpents meat the meaning is no more but this that in those dayes man shall not need to feare hurt from any creature the Serpent it selfe shall be confined to his dust and shall not be able to prejudice man in the least Quest 32. verse 14. Seeing this sentence was
when many neither labour nor sweat and yet have bread enough As for idle persons whilest they think Resp 1 to shake off that yoke that God hath put upon their necks they bind it faster and make it heavier To a person of any ingenuity idlenesse is a toyle nor is a man more weary then when he doth nothing We must distinguish of a three-fold labour 1. Labor Oeconomicus or mechanicus the labour of mechanicks as we call them or handicrafts-men of this the Apostle speaks Let him that stole steale no more Eph. 4.28 but rather let him labour working with his hands the thing which is good 2. Labor Politicus the labour of Magistrates and Governours so the Apostle speaking of the Magistrate He is the Minister of God to thee for good but if thou do Rom. 13.4 that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vaine for he is the Minister of God c. 3. Labor Ecclesiasticus the labour of Ministers we may observe that whilest the world takes this to be an easie calling the Spirit of God in the Scripture frequently speaks of the labour and the work that doth attend it He that desires the office of a Bishop desires a good work And The workman is worthy of his hire And They that rule well are worthy of double honour especially they that labour in the Word and doctrine Ministers are called Starres now the Starres are in continuall motion for the good of the Universe they are to cry aloud and to lift up their voice like a Isa 58.1 trumpet Durante pugnâ non cessat Tuba The trumpet must be sounding all the while the battell is fighting The Church of God is Gods husbandry and the Ministers are his husbandmen Redit agricolis labor actus in Orbem The husbandman hath never done his work but the end of one task is still the beginning of another so it fares with the Ministers of the Gospel sometimes they are instructing poor ignorant souls then they are like Starres that shine in a cold winters night another while convincing gain-sayers then they are like those Starres that fought in their course against Sisera every man must be accountable for his idle words and a Minister for his idle silence Qui claves habent Ecclesiae ostia suorum labiorum aperiant A Minister had better be worne out with whetting then with rusting A way then with the fanatick Spirits of our dayes who call upon Ministers to work with their hands as if there were no other labour but hand-labour Consider 1. They confound those things that God would have distingushed there is the labour of the head and brain as well as of the hand 2. They overthrow as much as in them lyes the well-being if not the being of Kingdomes States Common-wealths in which they live for we stand in as much need of the Magistrate and Minister as we do of the Husbandman and handy-craftsman 3. Aaron with his posterity were Priests Ioshua David Iosias were Magistrates yet it might be said of them that they are their bread in the sweat of their browes Quest 46 vers 19. It is said here In the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread and yet our Saviour hath taught us to pray Give us this day our daily bread If we earne our bread with our labour how is it a gift We earne it of man but not of God from man it is a debt but from God it is a Resp 1 gift It is an act of free grace that we have bread for our labour God might have said that we should labour and sweat and after all we should eat husks with hogs as the Prodigall or grasse with the Oxe as Nebuchadnezzar that in the sweat of our brows we eat bread is a mercy As the Scripture speaks of bread so of the staffe and stay of bread For behold the Lord the Lord of hosts doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the Isay 3.1 stay and staffe the whole stay of bread And the truth is a man is strengthened more by the staffe that is in his body then by the staffe that is in his hand it is not the corne and floure but the staffe of bread which supports the life and that is not any thing that comes out of the earth but the blessing of God which comes down from heaven The creature cannot hold up it selfe much lesse contribute to the subsistence of other things unlesse God continue the influence of his blessing upon it It is the observation of a Learned Author As soone as ever Christ cursed the figge-tree it withered and dried Ma. 11.20 up from the roots to shew that it was not the root alone but the blessing of Christ which did support the figge-tree it is pronounced Hos 4. 10. as a curse They shall eat and not have enough and again Ye shall eat and not Lev. 26. 26. be satisfied when I have broken the staffe of your bread ye shall eat and not be satisfied As good take a mouthfull of gravel as a mouthfull of bread and as able it is to nourish without Gods blessing The means by which we live are without life If they be living creatures as sheep and oxen and beasts and birds and fishes they must lose their lives before they can come to be helpes to ours so true is that saying mortibus vivimus we live by deaths now reason tells us Nihil dat quod non habet nothing can give that which it hath not How should food of it selfe preserve and further life which in it self is void of life the death of the creatures sheweth that our life is not from them but from something else By all which we may perceive how these Scriptures may be reconciled of Eating our bread in the sweat of our browes and yet to pray according to the forme our Saviour hath prescribed us Give us this day our daily bread Quest. 47. vers 19. Whether from this Scripture we have a command from God to labour To eat our bread in the sweat of our browes I conceive we have though some think that this was laid upon man after his Resp transgression rather as a curse which he must indure then a duty which he should performe for the clearing of this consider 1. It is granted that this was a curse laid upon man for his transgression 1. As some of Gods curses are promises as well as curses to set out his goodnesse so some of Gods curses are precepts as well as curses to set forth hâ—s justice Some of Gods curses are promises as well as curses so I will put enmity between thee and the woman It is a curse on he Serpent and yet a promise of the Messiah Some of Gods curses areprecepts as well as curses so Thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee this is Gen. 3.16 a curse and yet it is a precept Let our