00000000 LECTURES, Preached at Saint In Principio Deus creavit Cælum Terram, &c. EE have heard of the undoubted credit and un- In all which Bookes, wee may obferve two principall parts of his intent and purpose: The one was to deliver to Gods Church the Law and Word of God: The other is to write the History of Gods Works. Firft hee fets downe the Creation of the Wold, and all flesh; that after hee might fhew the Lawe which was given to all flesh in the World. This Hiftorie of the worlds Creation aptly divideth it selfiato two parts; The first concerneth the old World (2 Pet. 2.5.) which was in Paradife. The other, that World which hath been fince, and fhall be to the end thereof. Touching the old World, hee confidereth it in its perfection, integrity, and happineffe, in these first two Chapters; and in its defection, decay, and mifery, in the third Chapter: For the perfeЯtion of it, wee are led to confider the Creation of the World, in the beginning of this Chapter, and the Creation or making of Man, and invefting him in Paradife, to bee the Lord and Governor of all the World and the things therein. The fum of these verses, is the narration of the manner of the rearing up of the frame of all things wee fee in heaven and earth; which is a matter of fo high, huge, and infinite confideration, that wee fhould quickly confound and lofe our felves in it, if God had A ΠΟΣ Gen. 1. 1. I I. I. 2. 3. 4. not given us this thred of direction in our hands, to bring us out of this intricate maze, which elfe would astonish us. This Creation is divided into fix dayes works,in which is fhewed the fix joynts, as it were, of the frame of the whole World: In which fix dayes the proceeding of God in this worke, confifteth in these three points. First, the creating of all Creatures, of and after an indigeft, rude and imperfect matter, and manner: For, the first day was made a rude male or beape, which after was the Earth. Secondly, a bottomleffe huge gulfe, which was the Waters. Thirdly, over both was a foggie obfcure myft of darknesse which was the Firmament. After that, in the fecond place, is fet downe the distinction, which is in three forts. First, of Light from darknesse. Secondly, of the nether Waters from the upper Waters, (viz.) of the Seas and Clouds. Thirdly, of the Waters from the Earth. After the diftinction and dividing of this, enfueth in the third place, Gods worke in beautifying and adorning them after this order which wee now fec. Firft, the Heaven with Starres. Secondly, the Ayre with Fowles. Thirdly, the Earth with Beafts, Herbs and Plants of all forts. Fourthly, the Sea and Waters with Fishes. And having thus finished this great frame of all the World, and beautified the fame as wee fee, Then he framed and made Man,the little world, after his Image, and placed him therein, as his Pallace to enjoy and poffeffe. Touching the firft part of the Creation, it is fet downe in the first verfe; in which are foure workes of great weight and importance. The firft, In principio; Second, Deus; Third, creavit, Fourth, Cælum & Terram: For these two, being coupled, doe fall under in one part of the divifion. In which are offered unto us four principall matters of great regard. Firft, That this World and the things wee fee, were not so ever, but had a beginning at a certain time. Secondly, At the beginning, these things had not their being of themfelves, but of another. Thirdly, That the Creation and working of them was only of God, and of that God which is in unity of effence and trinity of perfons. Fourthly, That Heaven and Earth are God's, and that they were made and preferved by him. Touching the first (in principio) hath admitted a three fold fence, according to the diverfe conceits of divers men; all which have beene received, and may bee, without error or danger : First, origen and Ambrofe doe take and interpret it as the Caufe, which was the beginning of all, and that is Gods Wifdome, which (as the Caufe) began all. And they may feeme to bee led to understand thus, by these two places, the one in the 4 Prov. 7. Wifedome is the beginning, &c. the other 104 Pfal. 24. In Wifedome haft thou made them all, Therefore they thought, that in the beginning is meant, In Wifedome God created, &c. Secondly Secondly, it is taken for the order of time, as who should say; First of all, and before any thing else was done, God made Heaven and Earth, in the very first beginning of time; that is, in a moment, or as it were in the twinckling of an eye 1 Cor. 15. 52. So had all things their beginning and motion, in the beginning of time, as they fhall leave and lose it at the end and laft period of time, which is the Worlds end: It is no danger of error thus to understand ( In prin. cipio. Thirdly, It is faid (11 Heb.3.) that it is a Mystery and matter of Faith, to beleeve this, of the Creation, in the beginning, and so it is; yet God hath not made our reafon fo repugnant from Faith,even in naturall men, but that even by the fenfe and fight of things,mans reason cannot deny, but muft needs gather and conteffe this to be true, That all things were made, and had a beginning; And this all Heathenith Philofphers (as may appeare by all books of the Gentiles, in all ages, fince the ftudy of learning, and learned men hath beene) doe plainly fhew,that they had in remembrance themselves, and did commend to others by their writings, the knowledge and acknowledgment of this univerfal Creation. This hee proveth by those Philofophers which were as ancient as the Prophet Efdras, untill late times, and that they had a remembrance of Noah, naming him Fanus, and painting him with two faces, one looking into the old world before the Flood, and the other beholding the world after Befides fuch writers, of naturall men, very reafon doth confent hereunto, That the world was made by fome wonderfull Power, and fo had a beginning; for Reafon is ever naturally led to look and confider the beginning and cause of any thing it feeth; as when it feeth a great Tree, though it fee not the roote, yet it conceiveth, for certain, that it hath a roote which conveyeth fapp to the Tree, by which it groweth and encreaseth: So when it feeth a great River, it by and by concluderh, there is a great Fountain and head where it hath his originall and beginning. Again, Reafon cannot abide infinite Causes, as 1 Cor. 11. 3. to fay, the woman came of man, the man of Christ, and Chrift of God; Becaufe divers Caules have divers times and motions, but Reafon will bring things to their particular head and chief caufes, which by one motion and at one time did it. Alfo in that we fay things are done fucceffively, by order of times neerer and farther off, it argueth neceffarily a beginning, and therfore faith David fal.119 91. Allthings continue alike, from the begining, through thy Ordinance. All things fince in the world have beene yb Gods appointment and Decree.Pfal, 65.9.Paul telleth this to the wife and learned of Athens, as a thing which they knew and taught in their Schools to bee true 17 Acts 24. And Plato faith it was a faying of great antiquity and credit in his time, and long before; That God made all things, and man, at a certain time, which was their beginning. Plutarch fheweth that fome deemed the world to bee conceived A 2 and and brought forth, and to grow to perfection as a man; and others, that it was the stamp which God fet on it, and fo all learned men in all ages, and all men endowed with natural fence and right reason have beene refolved in this, That the world was the workmanship of God, and had his beginning. The partie adverse to this truth, was the first of the fect of the Peripateticks, which (contrary to his mafter Plato, and all that were hefore him, and contrary to his Scholar Theophraftus, and the moft that followed him after) held that Mundus erat æternus, and fo had no beginning nor maker at all; yet (notwithstanding this new conceit and opinion) hee confeffeth this twice or thrice, that hee giveth credit to thofe ancient men which were before him, which by long grounded experience, and by evident demonftration, and credible teftimonies held and taught otherwise then hee thought, and in his book de Calo, hee faith that there was a Chaos, a darkneffe and light which had a beginning, therefore as hee feemeth to differ,and leave his ancients, of fingularity only, on a conceit and devife of his own, fo his Scholers and followers after him, forfook him in that opinion, and therefore this point ftandeth undoubted; as ratified both by evidence of reason, and by the judgement of the learned in all ages. The fecond Point is the Creation, in which wee are to note firft, that the things which wee fee were not of themselves, when they had their being and beginning, because they are an effect and worke of fome efficient caufe; for it is very abfurd in reafon, that one and the fame thing fhould bee both a Cause and an Effect of it felfe, for so it must bee granted that a thing both was and was not at one time; for as it is the Caufe, it must needes bee before it was, and as it is an Effect, it could not bee at the firft; fo it should bec and yet not bee at one time: Therefore David teacheth us to fay, It is hee that made us, and not wee our felves, wee are the Sheepe of his pafture, for prefervation, and the works of his hands, for Creation; fo that Fob laith, we must resolve That it was another that made all things, and that one is God. These two points, that not the World, but another, made the World and all in it, doth overthrow two errors of the Philofophers, pinio Stoico- the one was of the Stoicks, which taught quod omnia fiunt fato, as if by the revolution of things and times, at fuch an instant the world muft needs bee, by fatall destiny and neceffity, and might not bee otherwise. Yum, Epicurearum, The other were the Epicures, which taught; The world was a thing made at a venture, by cafual chance, and happy hazard, by a divine effence; the one taught that God could doe no otherwife then but make it; the other thought that God did hee could not tell what. But Pfal. 115.3. Deus fecit quesunque voluit in Cælo & Terra. And Revel. 4. 11. All things were made for him and by his will. And Efat 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. Efai 43.13. God WAS |