Gross God was pleased therefore to display his Glory before the Angels and by several steps and degrees to excite their Praise and Love and Adoration which moved them to Songs and Shouts of Joy and by this means his Glory and their own Happiness was advanced much beyond what it would have been if all things had been created and disposed into their Rank and Order at one Moment They look'd into the first Principles and Seeds of Things and every day presented them with a glorious Spectacle of New Wonders the first Seven Days of the World they kept a continual Triumph or Jubile and thus their Voices were tuned and raised as I may say to those Praises which were to be their Employment and their Happiness to all Eternity the more they saw the more they knew and the more they knew of the Works of God the more they for ever loved and adored Him This affords us a Reason why so much more time was spent in the forming of the Earth and the Creatures belonging to it than in the formation of the Heavenly Bodies Because the Heavens are of a Uniform and Similar Nature and a vast Vacuum is now supposed to be in them and therefore the Nature of them might without any successive Production be displayed at once to the Angels but the Earth being of a Compound Nature and containing Creatures of very different kinds it required more time to give a distinct perception of the several Parts and Species of it And the Planets being of the like Nature with the Earth since the Earth the Seat of Man's Habitation was framed by such leisurely degrees as might give a suitable Idea of it the other Planets might be framed at once there being nothing more in them than what was observeable in the Formation of the Earth or they might be framed together with the Earth by the same Measures and Degrees But according to the Mechanical way the Angels would have only the Prospect of a vast Chaos rolling and working for many thousands of years perhaps before any thing considerable could have been framed out of it And those tedious delays must yet according to this Notion have been carried on by such certain Methods that there could have been little wonderful in it to an Angel when the Mechanical Philosophers themselves think they can point out the several Steps and Motions by which all was done The making of Man was the last and finishing Work of the Creation when the World was prepared for the Reception of him and he was made with much solemnity Let us make Man in our Image after our Likeness Gen. i. 26. and the Man and the Woman were made apart For Adam was Created with all the Perfections suitable for him both as a Man and as the first Man out of whom Eve was to be formed As Man he was to have all the Parts and Faculties which Men have now but in greater Perfection as the first Man he was besides to have a Rib or (c) Dicunt etiam Vnam ex eostis ejus idem esse quod unam ex partibus ejus vel unam partem ejus quam explicationem confirmant ex eo quod in Targum vocabulum Tzelah costa redditur per Setar ut Tzelah costa Tabernaculi redditur in Targum per Setar latus Tabernaculi ita hic dicunt Mitzalotar idem esse quod Missitrohi Maimon More Nevoch Part 2. c. 30. Part out of which the Woman was to be made Which being the Principal and as it were the seminal Matter no mention is made of any other but as Animals and Plants are properly said to come from the Seed tho' they are not made of that only so Eve was properly made of Adam's Rib tho' other Matter besides might go to her Composition This way of Formation was to betoken that Love and Duty which ought to be between Husband and Wife And as the Creation and Happiness of Man provoked the Envy of Evil Angels so no doubt it occasioned the Joy and Praise of the Good ones 2. By this successive and Gradual Production and Disposition of things in six days at the Creation the Glory of God is likewise more manifested to Men than it would have been if all had been done at once or by slow and tedious Methods This gives us a more clear and distinct comprehensive Notion of the Works of God than we could otherwise have had It is acknowledged that Moses has given such an Account of the Creation as is more intelligible and better adapted to the Capacities of the generality of Men than that which any one would now obtrude upon us as a true Account of it But whatever Reasons can be assigned why the Creation should be described as it is in the Book of Genesis the same Reasons will prove that it was fitting it should be so performed If it be more suitable to the Capacities and Apprehensions of Men that the Creation of the World should be delivered to us as finished in six days rather than in a less or a longer time it was fit that it should have been really finished in this space of time and should be indeed so performed as might make the History the more useful to us For in respect of God it was alike to Create all things in an instant or to do it successively in a shorter or a longer time and in respect of Mankind no reason can be assigned why the History of the Creation should be delivered so as to represent it to Men as performed in this manner but the same Reason will hold why it should have been in the same manner performed God Blessed the Seventh day and Sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his Work which God Created and Made Gen. ii 3. and so Exod. xx 10 11. the Observation of the Sabbath or of one day in Seven to the Honour of God is established upon the Worlds being Created in six days and therefore if it be reasonable to keep one day in Seven Holy in Remembrance of the Creation it must be reasonable that the Creation of the World should have been performed in six days since the Obligation to observe a Seventh day in remembrance of the Creation implies that God rested on the Seventh day after he had Created the World in Six or in the same space of time which is contained in six days God saw it fitting that a day should be set apart to Commemorate the Creation and to Praise him for all his wonderful Works and that this day should return at such a distance of time and he observed such Order in the Creation that every day between these Periods of time might bring some particular work of it to Remembrance and every Seventh day might conclude in the Commemoration of the whole Creation Our Saviour answers the Pharisees when they proposed the Question to him about Divorces by putting them in Mind of the Order which God used in the Creation Have
were kept of every Family made them have a more separate and distinct Interest in every Tribe and a more exact Account of Times and perfect Knowledge of things in every Family and therefore they were not so capable of being imposed upon in things of this nature as the People of other Nations might be where Marriages and Inheritances are promiscuous and no occasion is given for the like emulation and watchfulness over one another and where no such Remembrances and Notices of the Transactions of Affairs are to be consulted by any one of every private Family In the wilderness of Sinai on the first day of the second month in the second year after they were come out of the land of Aegypt Moses and Aaron assembled all the congregations together and they declared their pedigrees after their families by the house of their fathers according to the number of their names from twenty years old and upward by their poll Num. i. 1 18. and this was done again in the Plains of Moab at the end of Forty Years chap. xxvi And these Genealogies we preserved not only during the Captivity Ezra vii and down to the Reign of Herod but even to the time of Josephus who in his First Book against Apion says That they had the Genealogies of their Priests then still extant for two thousand Years By which means it came to pass that every Tribe had a kind of separate Interest which was the occasion of Korah's Sedition against Moses And every Man amongst their Tribes might certainly hereby know how many Generations he was removed from those who first took possession of the Land of Promise and might find the Names of his Ancestors registred who were in the Wilderness with Moses or came with Joshua over Jordan And this must make the memory of their Ancestors more dear and familiar to them and it must make them have a greater regard for any thing they had left behind them especially for a Book upon which their Rights of Inheritance and the Title they had to all they enjoyed depended This was the Deed by which they held their Estates and the Last Will and Testament as it were of their Ancestors amongst whom the Land was divided But it is certain Men are more careful of nothing than of the Writings by which they enjoy their Estates and there is no great dauger when a will is once come to the hands of the right Heir that it will be lost or salsified to his prejudice but if the Books of Moses were altered it must be upon the account of some advantage to such as must be supposed to make the Alterations and consequently to the disadvantage of others who therefore would have found themselves concerned to oppose such Alterations But as the Books of Moses were in the nature of a Deed of Settlement to every Tribe and Family so they were a Law too which all were obliged to know and observe under the severest Penalties And being so generally known and universally practised it could no more be falsified at any time since its first Promulgation than it could be now at this day For 2. Another thing which made the People of Israel less capable of being imposed upon in this matter was That they were by their Laws themselves obliged to the constant study of them they were to teach them their Children and to be continually discoursing and meditating on them to bind them for a sign upon their hand that they might be as frontlets between their eyes to teach them their children speaking of them when they sate in their houses and when they walked by the way when they lay down and when they rose up to write them upon the door-posts of their houses and upon their gates Deut. xi 18 19 20. Nothing was to be more notorious and familiar to them and accordingly they were perfectly acquainted with them and as Josephus says knew them as well as they did their own Names they had them constantly in their mouths and thousands have died in defence of them and could by no Menaces or Torments be brought to forsake or renounce them And to this end One Day in Seven was by Moses's his Law set apart for the learning and understanding of it The Jews have a Tradition That Moses appointed the Law to be read therice every Year in their publick Assemblies And Grotius (q) Grot. ad Matth. xv 2. is of this opinion However the Scripture informs us that Moses of old time had in every city them that preached him being read in the synagogues every sabbath-day Act. xv 21. It is indeed the common opinion That there were no Synagogues before the Captivity But then by Synagogues must be understood Places of Judicature rather than of Divine Worship for there is no reason to question but the Jews had their Proseuchas or Places of Prayer from the Beginning since it is incredible that those who lived at a great distance and could not come to Jerusalem on the Sabbath-days and other time of Divine Worship besides the three great Festivals when all their Males were bound to be at Jerusalem should not assemble for the Worship of God in the places where they dwelt nay they were by an express Law obliged to it on the Sabbaths The seventh day is the sabbath of rest an holy convocation ye shall do no work therein it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings Lev. xxiii 3. They must therefore have places in all their Dwellings to resort to where they held their Convocations or Assemblies and these they went to on the New Moons as well as on the sabbaths 2 King iv 23. which made the Psalmist lament that the Enemy had burnt up all the synagogues of God in the land Psal lxxiv. 8. And being met together there is as little doubt to be made but that they read the Law which was to be read by them in their Families and much more in their Publick Assemblies on their solemn Days of Divine Worship The Books of Moses therefore were â—ead in their Synagogues in every City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from ancient Generations or from the first settlement of the Children of Israel in the Land of Canaan And then at the end of every Seven Years the Law was read in the most publick and solemn manner in the Solemnity of the Year of Release in the Feast of Tabernacles Moses wrote a Book of the Law and commanded it to be put in the side of the Ark Deut. xxxi 29. as the Two Tables of Stone were put into the Ark it self chap. x. 5. and this he delivered to the Priests and to all the Elders of Israel and commanded them saying At the end of every seven years in the solemnity of the year of release in the feast of tabernacles when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their
it is true because it is for the benefit of Mankind that it should be so and upon that account it carries the visible Characters of Divine Wisdom and Goodness in it for it is certain that the Religion which God has established in the World must be of this nature that none but wicked men can dislike it and that all sober and good men must be well satisfied with it and mightily enclined to believe it nay even the worst men must be forced to confess that they owe their own safety and protection to the Doctrines of it And that such is the nature of the Christian Religion will be evident if we consider that I. It teacheth an universal Righteousness both towards God and Man II. It layeth down the only true Principles of Holiness III. It proposeth the most effectual Motives IV. It affords the greatest helps and assistances to an Holy Life V. It expresseth the greatest compassion and condescension to our infirmities VI. The propagation of the Gospel has had mighty effects towards the Reformation and Happiness of Mankind VII The highest mysteries of the Christian Religion are not merely speculative but have a necessary relation to Practice and were revealed for the advancement of Piety and Virtue amongst men I. The Christian Religion teacheth an Universal Righteousness both towards God and Man It teacheth us the nature of God that he is a Spirit and therefore ought to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and gives us an account of the Power and Wisdom and Goodness of God in the Creation of the World and in the various dispensations of his Providence in the preservation and Government of it and especially in the wonderful work of our Redemption God is represented in the Scriptures as slow to anger and great in Power and who will not at all acquit the wicked Nahum i. 3. and we are required to love and serve him with all our Abilities both of Body and Mind Deut. vi 5. Matt. xxii 37. The Duties of men towards one another are no less strictly enjoyned than our duty towards God himself For the Scriptures oblige all men to the Conscientious performance of their several Duties in their respective capacities and relations They teach Wives and Children and Subjects and Servants Obedience not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake and they teach Princes and Husbands and Fathers and Masters a proportionable care and kindness and affection they check and restrain the rich and powerful from violence and oppression and command them to relieve those that are in want and to protect all that are in distress and to root up the very seeds and principles of Vice in us they regulate our desires and give Laws to our words and looks and thoughts they command an universal Love and Charity towards all Mankind to hurt no body so much as in a Thought but to do all the good which is in our power they oblige men to do as they would be done unto in all cases to consider others as men of the same nature with themselves and to love and respect them accordingly upon all occasions I may add what Grotius has not omitted that more favour and equity is extended to one half of humane kind by the Christian Religion than ever had been by any other for among Infidels Women are esteemed but as slaves to the Lusts of men who may have as many Wives as they please and change them as often as they think fit II. The Scriptures propound to us the only true Principles of Holiness For they teach us to perform all Duties both towards God and Man upon Principles of Love and Charity which are the only Principles that can make men happy in the performance of their respective duties and that can cause them to persevere in it What men do upon Principles of Love they do with delight and what men delight in they will be sure to do but fear hath torment and men will use all Arts to get rid of their fears and of that sense of Duty which proceeds only from an apprehension of Punishments and therefore is perpetually grievous and burthensom to them Rewards themselves may become ineffectual by proposals of contrary Rewards for smaller advantages which are present and in hand may be more prevalent than never so much greater which are future and looked upon only at a distance But a sense of Love and Gratitude and Charity can never fail of its effect because this brings its reward with it and makes our duty a delight He who loves God will certainly obey him and he that does not love him never can truly obey him as he ought but will be ever repining at his Duty and will be for seeking all pretences to excuse himself from it He who doth not love his Neighbour will be for taking all opportunities of pursuing his own advantage against him but he who loves him as himself will never do him any injury He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law For this thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness thou shalt not covet and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Love worketh no ill to his neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. xiii 8. The Love of God and of our Neighbour comprehends the whole duty of man which is a Doctrine no where to be met withal but in the Holy Scriptures all the Wisdom of Philosophers could never discover this Doctrine which sets before us the only infallible principles of obedience And it must be a most gracious and wise Law which makes Love the Principle and Foundation of our whole duty both towards God and Man III. The Christian Religion proposeth the most effectual motives of Obedience and Holiness of Life The moral Reasons and Arguments for a vertuous Life are so great and evident that those who live otherwise are generally convinced that they ought not to do it but because the Arguments from Reason are to faint and lifeless to oppose to sense and passion therefore the Christian Religion is purposely fitted to every faculty and presents us with greater objects of fear and love and desire than any thing in the world can do And as God will be served by us upon no other Principle but that of love so the chiefest Motive to our Obedience express'd throughout the Scriptures is the Divine Love They represent to us all the methods which God has been pleased to use as necessary to reclaim the world by his mercies and his judgments by sending his Prophets at sundry times and in divers manners and at last by sending his own Son He saw the fondness that men have for this World and for the pleasures and sins of it how subject they are to Temptations and how prone to comply with them and therefore he has been pleased to pursue
to concern himself in it And yet he cannot but know every thing being Omniscient and he cannot but concur in every Operation of natural Causes being Omnipresent and wherever he is he Acts. It is the Perfection of the Eye to see all that is within View how small and inconsiderable soever it be nay the smaller the Object discerned is the more perfect it proves the sight to be And if a Man could do every little thing at the same time that he does things of Importance and with no trouble to himself it would be surely more perfection in him than to do these only But a Variety of business is troublesome to Men and small Affairs hinder and call them off from those of moment Tho' with God it is quite otherwise he acts with the same Ease wherewith he sees or knows or exists he knows all things with one Omniscient Thought and he does all things by one omnipotent Act nothing can be in the least difficult to him and nothing can be done without him In Him we live and move and have our Being Act. xvii 28. And what the Scripture delivers relating to the Creation and Preservation of the World may in strictness of Philosophy be taken in a proper and litteral Sense But do Men indeed consider what it is to make and preserve a World when they pretend to shew by what steps God proceeds in it and to explain the whole Process as it were of the Operation Is there not infinite Wisdom required to know what infinite Power only can effect And after all it is very probable both from Scripture and from Reason that the invisible and immaterial part of the Creation has a greater Share in the guidance and conduct of the visible and material part of it than is commonly supposed For since the wonderful improvement of experimental Philosophy and the various Hypotheses which have been raised upon it Men have been apt to look upon natural Philosophy not only as a distinct Science but as wholly separate from the rest as if there were no subordination and dependance between the visible and invisible World whereas it is reasonable to believe that there is a continued Connexion and Chain of Causes in the Operations and Productions of things and a constant influence and intercourse between the Superior and Inferior Created Beings It is certain that God useth the Ministry of Angels in the Government of the World but how far and to what particular purposes and upon what occasions no Man is able to determine However those who have been the most curious inquirers into Nature daily meet with so many new and strange Discoveries that they have been forced to complain that the contrivers of Hypotheses have been too hasty in framing them without a sufficient number of Experiments from whence we may conclude that if Men will first content themselves to make Experiments in order to give a true History of the Phaenomena of Nature before they attempt to solve them upon their own Principles the World will have an end before any compleat System can be contrived to give any tolerable Account of them I will conclude this Chapter in the Words with which M. Huygens concludes his Conjectures concerning the Planetary Worlds For my part says he I shall be very well contented and shall count I have done a great matter if I can but come to any knowledge of the Nature of things as they now are never troubling my Head about their Beginning or how they were made knowing That to be out of the reach of Humane Knowledge or even Conjecture CHAP. X. Of other Habitable Worlds besides this Earth THose who think that there must be other World 's inhabited besides this Earth where we dwell or that else the Planets would be useless and the Stars which are like so many Suns would shine to little purpose do not consider that I. It is as easy for Omnipotence to make a Planet or Star as it is to make the least thing in Nature II. The Glory of God Almighty in manifesting his Power and Wisdom by making and preserving such vast Bodies in their several Orbs and Motions may be a sufficient Reason for their Creation tho' his Wisdom should see it fit not to have them inhabited For tho' every thing be equally easy for God to perform yet men are apt to admire the Works of this kind most They employ the Wits of many Men in all Ages to consider their End and Nature and to calculate their Distances and Motions whose Curiosity might otherwise be very ill employed there are some Genius's design'd as it were for these Studies and they would want Matter to work upon without such Objects III. As the Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn and many of the fixt Stats were not discovered till the Invention of Telescopes so there are admirable Marks of Wisdom in many other Parts of Nature which were never known till of late and never could have been discovered but by the help of Mycroscopes But Men are not the only Creatures which are capable of praising and magnifying God for his wonderful Works Angels who know them more perfectly do it much more and they have need of no Artificial Instruments to make Discoveries of the Divine Wisdom and Power IV. The Stars may be of great Benefit and Usefulness in the World tho' they neither have that Influence which Astrologers vainly suppose nor are as Suns to other Earths For they serve to keep the circumjacent Air or Aether in Motion which otherwise would congeal or stagnate and to maintain that perpetual Circulation or Fluid Matter which passes from Orb to Orb through the Universe and gives Life to all Things V. Tho' this Earth be but small in comparison of the Ambient Heavens yet the Inhabitants of it from the Beginning of the World to this time have been exceeding numerous and may be still vastly more numerous before the end of it And we must consider the Earth not as it is at one particular Time but as it is the Seat of Mankind and the Habitation of all Generations for all Successions of Ages And under this Notion the Earth is no such contemptible Place tho' it be very small in respect of the Heavens that surround it Nor is it strange that the Material World how capacious soever it be should be made for Mankind to whom the Angels are Ministring Spirits and for whom the Son of God himself was pleased to die VI. There are few or none of the Planets but what by reason of their too near or too remote Distance from the Sun seem incapable of being inhabited M. Huygens in his Conjectures concerning the Planetary Worlds says that this (x) Lib. 1. Water of our Earth would in Saturn and Jupiter be frozen up immediately and in Venus and Mercury it would be evaporated and he concludes that every Planet must have its Waters of such a Temper as to be proportioned to its Heat Jupiter's and Saturn's must