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A44070
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The creatures goodness, as they came out of God's hands, and the good mans mercy to the brute creatures, which God hath put under his feet in two sermons : the first preached before the University of Oxford : the second at the lecture at Brackley / by Thomas Hodges ...
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Hodges, Thomas, d. 1688.
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1675
(1675)
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Wing H2319; ESTC R17986
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37,570
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50
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at first and who hath restored all things and redeemed his People to God by his blood out of every kindred and Tongue and People and Nation If with the Apostle John Rev. 5.11 12 13. We behold and hear the voyce of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders the number of them ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voyce Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing And every Creature in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and in the Sea saying Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever If God had his Sabbath to celebrate his work of Creation good reason Christ should have his Sabbath wherein we should commemorate his work of Redemption And now this being the Lords day and our Christian Sabbath let us do the duty of the day in the season thereof Bless the Lord O our Souls and all that is within us bless his Holy Name Forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all our iniquities who redeemeth our life from destruction who crowneth us with loving kindnesses and tender mercies Psal 103.1 2 3 4. U II I shall conclude all with a few words of Exhortation When God looked upon his works did he see every thing very good 1. Then let us not cavil or carp at any of all God's works Wo to him that striveth with his Maker Let the Potsherd strive with the Potsherds of the Earth Let 's not blame or find fault with God for any of all his works either of Creation or Providence for God hath made all things well and he hath made every thing beautiful in his season If any of God's Creatures or Providences prove evil and hurtful to us let 's blame our selves let 's blame our sins For Sin that it might appear Sin worketh death in us by that which is good Rom. 7. 2. Let 's admire and adore God Let 's bless and praise and magnify him for ever for all his goodness For his goodness is in and over all his works Let 's have high thoughts of God and low of our selves And this is the use the Prophet David makes of this Doctrine Psal 8.147 148 149 150. Yea this is the use which God himself would have Job make of it when he preached upon part of this Text in the 38 39 40 41. Chapters of the Book of Job And let us say with the Psalmist Ps 103. when we take a survey of Gods works Bless the Lord ye his Angels who excel in strength ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure Bless the Lord all his Works in all places of his Dominion every one of us Bless the Lord O my Soul 3. Let 's learn good from the Creatures God would have us go to school to the Creatures to learn many good Lessons from them He would have the Sluggard go to the industrious Ant to consider her ways and be wise Those who are ignorant of God their Lord and feeder are reproved by the bruit Creatures For the Oxe knows his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib Those who do not or cannot discern the times and seasons even the times of their Visitation the Prophet would that we go to the Stork the Crane and the Swallow for all these know their appointed seasons And because Christians and Ministers especially are sent out in the World as Sheep among Wolves Christ would have them to be as wise as Serpents and innocent as Doves Last of all did God look upon daily and at the end of the sixth day again review all his works Did he examine judge and find them all very good Let us go and do likewise let us imitate God we cannot have a better precedent or example to follow Let us every evening look back upon the works of the day and at the end of the week upon the works of the week Let 's examine and judge them This has been the practice of many precious Saints as the Lord Harington Mr. Herbert Palmer and others Yea some such thing as this viz. calling himself to an account at night for what had passed him in the day Seneca tells of himself These examples we shall do well if we follow so as they followed God himself This is a right method to proceed from good to very good to have all good but our latter work better than our former But because that in many things we offend all whil'st we are in this World here upon Earth let us look for and long after that place and state I mean for Heaven when we shall be made like unto God and our works like his works When from day to day and Sabbath to Sabbath even to all eternity we may look upon every thing that we have done and behold it shall be very good The END of the first Sermon Proverb 20.10 The righteous Man regardeth the life of his Beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ACcording to the Hebrew 'tis A righteous Man knows that is regardeth taketh care of the life of his Beast If on the one hand we consider the great commendations which the Holy Scriptures give of diverse of the bruit and unreasonable Creatures together with God's great care of and cost about them himself and his charge and laws to Men concerning them And on the other hand compare therewith Men's vilifying disregarding abusing of them It may seem not unreasonable nor unprofitable to bestow one lecture about them namely for this end to instruct and teach Men who have a right to use them how to use them aright to make them good Lords to those good Servants As he that rules over tnen must be just so he that is Lord over these bruit Creatures must not be cruel towards them As God will require the life of a Man of the Beast that slayeth him Gen. 9.5 Ex. 21.29 the Beast shall be put to death So will God call Men to accompt for the lives of their Beasts if they be cruel unto them For my own part I would not when my Lord cometh be found causelesly or cruelly beating or misusing these my Servants and my fellow Servants From the words we may observe 1. That Man hath a Right and Title to the Beasts of the Earth and that not only in common but each Man hath a particular Right and Propriety in them The righteous Man regardeth the life of his Beast 2. That a good or righteous Man is good or merciful to his Beast 3. That unrighteous or wicked Men are unmerciful or cruel to their Beasts I. Psal 8.6 7. Of the First God the soveraign Lord of Heaven and Earth the Maker of Man and Beast hath made him Lord over the Beasts he hath put them all under his hand or under his feet Gen. 1.25.26 28. He that made the Beast of the Earth
THE Creatures Goodness As they came out of God's Hands AND THE GOOD MANS MERCY TO THE BRUTE CREATURES Which God hath put under his Feet IN TWO SERMONS The first Preached before the University of Oxford The second at the Lecture at Brackley By Thomas Hodges B. D. late Rector of Souldern in OXFORDSHIRE London Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside 1675. To the much Honoured RICHARD WINWOOD Esq SIR I Here humbly present to you and under your Name and Patronage publish to the World two Sermons the one concerning the primitive Goodness of the Creatures as they first came out of God's hand the other of the righteous Man's goodness kindness and mercy to the Creatures which God hath put into his hand or under his feet If any question me for preaching on the first Subject saying wherefore is this loss My answer is that God himself Psal 8. who is infinitely wise did preach on the Creatures goodness and excellency unto Job and thereby brought him on his knees See Job Ch. 38 39 40 41. even to abhor himself in dust and ashes That Solomon the wisest of Men since Adam shewed his Wisdom not in Metaphysical Speculations or Notions not in Logical Sophisms or Terms of Art not in Philological Criticisms But in that he spake of Trees from the Cedar-tree that is in Libanon unto the Hyssop that springeth out of the Wall he spake also of Beasts and of Fowls 1 Kings 4.33 c. and of creeping Things and of Fishes And I have heard of Mr. Wheatly of Banbury an eloquent and a famous Preacher that he made a whole Sermon in commendation of a Horse And truly where God gives a Text and preaches on it himself his Ministers have a sufficient warrant to make a Sermon As for my choice of the subject of the second Sermon and my Discourse thereon my apology is if it need one that it hath often grieved my Soul to see how the poor bruit Beasts have been used or abused rather by their inhumane merciless absurd unreasonable cruel Masters who having no understanding became worse than the Beast that perisheth And I would if it was possible put a stop to the rage of brutish Men and however hear testimony to the truth namely that 't is a good Character of a good Man to be merciful to his Beast As for this Address to you I may say that of all Men living of quality that I have known you are most free from this fault You are like the good Man in the Text you do regard the life of your Beast And I wish all your Servants may be like their Master or like Eleazir Gen. 24. Abraham's Steward that had such a care of his Masters Camels Further SIR give me leave to tell you that I have read a Treatise of Monsieur de la Chambre to prove that Beasts have reason B. M. and that one of the Ancients saith that Canis is Logicus Ethicus Theologus Now if so it be that Dogs make Syllogisms and that they do discurrere as well as currere discourse as well as course I presume you may know as well as most Gentleman in England Honoured SIR although I never did preach to those irrational Animals as the Book of Conformities tells us S. Francis did to the Wolf and the Birds to teach them their duty to God or Man nor do I pretend to preach in these Sermons to stir up Men's Devotions from what is reported of the great Reverence which S. Anthony's Mule V. D. S. 2. D. p. 502. S. Francis his Sheep and the Cook of Lisbon's Dog shew'd to the Sacrament yet I may and must profess to learn Gratitude to my Benefactours and particularly to your Worthy self from Patroclus his Lyon who fawned on him when thrown to him in the Theatre at Rome to be devoured by him A. G. l. 5. c. 14. and all this for a good turn the Man had formerly done him in Africa by pulling something out of the Lyons foot that hurt him SIR I shall not hold you long in the porch by prefixing a large Epistle to so small a Piece I shall only add one humble and hearty Request unto all Gentlemen who delight in Hunting who shall read these Sermons if any such shall happen to cast their eyes in them That they would often think of Amedeus Duke of Savoy who was chosen Pope but too good to hold it who shewing a Company of poor People nourished by him said these were the Hounds wherewithal he did hunt after the Kingdom of Heaven And however never to take the Childrens bread to cast it to the Dogs I mean to provide always that the Poor may not fare the worse because their Hounds fare so well And so I conclude with my humble and hearty Request to the Almighty GOD for you that he would be pleased long to continue you a Lover Practiser and Countenancer of the true Protestant Religion a loyal Subject to his Majesty a worthy Patriot a Son of Peace and like that great and good Man your Father when he was Ambassadour in Holland remonstrated against Vorstius a Lover of the Truth and a Lover of good Men. So wishing you and your virtuous and religious Consort all happiness I rest as in duty bound Your obliged humble Servant T. H. May the 12th 1675. Gen. I. Part of the 31. Verse And God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good THE Holy Scriptures even from the beginning of them speak of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men And because 't is the ordinary practice of the best Artificers often to take a view of the works under their hands to compare them with the Idea which they have in their minds or with the Model or Pattern which they have before their eyes to the end to see how well they agree thereunto Therefore also doth the Text represent to us Almighty God the great Architect Builder or Maker of Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all things therein having in six days finished this glorious Fabrick now in the close of the sixth day taking a general survey or review of all his works as it were to see whether all things were made according to the Idea or platform of things which he had in his own mind from all eternity to see as it were whether there was any necessary Creature wanting any thing made superfluous or redundant how the several particulars did correspond and conspire to adorn the Universe whether any Momus or Aristarchus could ever after come forth and justly criticise upon any of his works upon any tittle or jota in all the great Book of the Creatures from the beginning to the end thereof And God saw every thing that he had made And when God had viewed and reviewed supervised and revised his whole work and every particular of it he passed judgment righteous judgment