and Sea, the Fowls and Fishes, is the ground of a Common-wealth. Gen. 1. 28. Februar. 9: 1590. The creating of Mankinde. Propagation, Two parts of propagation. A Heir: an Deinde benedixit eis Deus; & dixit eis Deus, Fætificate, ac augefcite, & implete Terram, eamque fubjicite: dominamini in pifces Maris, & in volucres Cæli, & in omnes beftias reptantes Juper Terram. HE fecond speech God here ufeth concerning man, is whereby he createth Mankinde,as before he created Man For though creation be a great benefit, yet this is a further benefit of propagation or continuance, God, by Nathan, promifeth to David, that his Kindome should be stablished for ever, though David faid,Who am I oh Lord,and what is my house? 2 Sam. 7. 18. Though Davids people were fmall, yet did God multiply them, and gave continuance to his feed. There are two parts of propagation, The one is to have an Heire, the other to have an Heritage, both are here given unto Man. Of them in order. God reftraineth not his bounty unto these two Adam and Eve,Efay, in his 49. chapter 6. prophecying of Chrift, faith, It is a small thing to raife up the Tribes of Ifrael; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentils: God giveth not the Earth to two only, for the Earth is too big for two, there must be many to inhabite it; there be thofe that dwell in the uttermost place of the Earth, Pfal. 65.9. They only are not the two veffels of his mercy; there are more veffels then they, andthat he might declare the riches of his glory upon the veffels of mercy which he hath prepared unto glory, he hath called both Jew and Gentil, Rom. 9. 23. By the multitude much glory is given to God: Inthe 26. verfe, was the planting of this principall work; this is the watering thereof by his bleffing. Creation and procreation are both bleffings, yet feveral bleffings; all have the one, yet not all the other. Though the Eunuchs be as dry trees, yet God hath for them a bleffing, Efay 56.3. Divers have their wombs closed: this is a restraint of Gods bleffing. When the Prophet did even confult what curfe God fhould give Judah for their Idolatric, he faith, Give them a barren womb and dry breasts, Ofee 9.14. When Jacob bleffed his children, he faid to Jofeph, He shall be a fruitfull bough, that is, in the Hebrew, a fonne of increase, chap, 49.23. As As Gods curie is a reftraint of increafe, to his bleffing is the fountain of procreation, bene voluit is the fountain alfo of Gods benedixit ; For God bath created all things, and for his will's fake they are, Rev. 4. 11. Gods bleffing is not res voti, as mans is, only to wish well, but it is as dew and oyle that soaketh to the bone. Dem Increase is an actual bleffing, An handfull of Corn is fown, and the Benedixit iis fruit thereof fhall shake like the trees of Lebanon, the Children fhall flourish like the graffe of the Earth, Pfal. 72. 16. So that Children are Gods bleffing. God could at once, at the first, have filled the Earth with men, but God made one for that he would have an holy feed, for woman was out of the rib of man, chap. 2.22. God blessed them, therefore the eftate of Marriage is bleffed; therefore God made woman an help for man, chap. 2. 18. The School-men say, Eft enim hac benediitio remedii, a bicffing of remedy: this is a remedy for filthy luft and concupifcence: And therefore faith Paul, to avoid fornication, Let every man have his wife,& every woman have her own husband, 1 Cor.7.2. Humiliata eft benedictio. This bindeth not every one to marrie; Sermo eft dans facultatem, non addens neceßitatem: this is no precept, but a power and facultie to increase and multiply. When God said, chap. 2.16. Thou shalt eate freely of every tree of the Garden,he bound him not as of neceffity to cate of all, but gave him liberty to eat of any. Matrimony, fome fay, is a carnal filthineffe, and full of finne; therefore they difalow Marriage. There are fome other fay, that Marriage is a matter of neceffity, faying that all must needs marrie; but both of these opinions are moft wicked. God faid before to the fishes, crefcite & multiplicamini & replete aquas maris : and to the Birds maltiplicentur fuper terram. Here repleteterram especially concerneth man. With the bleffings Repleti terram wherewith he bleffed Plants and Beasts, he bleffeth Man, and with more, faying, Crefcite, multiplicamini, & replete terram: By the first is given us ftature, by the fecond, power of iffue, by the laft, a power of plenty: He would not have man fmall in ftature, nor folitary in number, but he made him to fill the Earth. He proceedeth in a good course, firft there is maturity; for before maturity there is no feed after maturity and ability,he giveth him a will to multiply; wherein is a pleasure: Sara laughed saying, After I am waxed old, and my Lord alfo, fhall I have luft? chap.18.12. She feeing her felf barren, gave her maid Agar to Abraham for wife, chap. 16.3. God giveth a power unto man of the rains, God openeth the womb and moiftneth the breasts for propagation. When God had opened Rachels womb, the fonne which he had conceived and born fhe called Fofeph faying the Lord will give me yet another fonne, chap. 30. 24. So that Fofephs name is not reftrained to one or two, but the hoped to have further increase. Every bird and fish had these words, dixit Deus in: Though the words spoken here to man are the fame, yet the accent in the holy tongue maketh the difference: But the expreffing of the diffe rence is in dominamini, after these three, which fheweth the digni N 3 tie 1 tie of this Creature. Before it was faid to the other Creatures, fubSubjicite ter jicimini, be ye fubject; but here it is faid to Man fubjicite terram, which being added to the three former, maketh a great difference, which fheweth man to be of a noble condition, being ad imaginem Dei, among whom God hath his Elect: Who fhall not only replere terram morientium, but even replere cerlum, id eft, terram viventiam. I should have fainted, faith David, except I had beleeved to fee the goodneffe of God in the Land of the living, Pfal. 27. 13. Even for mans fake was the world created, and the confummatum of the world dependeth upon them. Bafil and Ambrofe doc fay, thefe words doc concern Adams minde, that he grew in the gyfts of the minde. There is a growing up in Chrift, by faith and knowledge, to a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullneffe of Chrift, Ephef. 4. 13. this is to grow in favour and in wisdome; applying the filling of the Earth to replete terram viventium, nempe, cælos: And unto them that grew in these gifts, and doe perfevere to fulnesse, and overcommeth, God promifeth dominion, that he shall be a pillar in the Temple of God, he fhall have written on his head the name of God, the name of the new Jerusalem, Rev. 3. 12. The value of the benefit. An Heir. dren. Now concerning the value of the benefit: it is a benefit to have iffue, to have Heirs. When Adam faw the World, he named it a Globe. When Adam had a fonne by Eve, he was called Cain, that is a poffeffion, chap.4.1. Abraham esteemed it a great benefit to have an heir of his own loynes, therefore, in chap. 15.2,3,4. Hefaish To have Chil. to God, what wilt thou give me, feeing I goe childleffe, and again loe behold, unto me thou hast given no feed; the Steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damafcns; wherefore loe a fervant of my house fhall be mine heir? But God doch comfort him faying, This man fhall not be thy heir, thy feed shall be innumerable. When Facobs fonnes told him that Fofeph was living, and governor of the land of Egypt, and fhewed him the chariots which he had fent for him, Ifrael laid, I have enough, Foseph my sonne is yet alive, chap. 45. 28. So then children are a comfort to their Parents and a staffe to their age they are a beauty to the Commonwealth; The fonnes growing up in their youth as plants, and the daughters as the corner ftones graven after the fimilitude of a Palace, Pfal. 144. 12. They are alfo a ftrength unto the Common-wealth, As the arrows in the band of the strong man, fo are the children of youth, Pfal.127.4. The Propher, in repeating the bleffed eftate of Ferufalem, after the return from her captivitie faith, in the 8. Zecharie 5. That the streets of the Citie fhould be full of children playing in the streets thereof. Heritage. The other is an The other benefit in this place is the Heritage, the latter part of this verse. This is an approving of his former counfell, it is a Deed of gift of Gods Creatures of the Earth it felf, and an intayling of it unto man and his pofterity. The firft is a tenure of the Earth, faying fubjicite eam, and giving to man an intereft in the furniture of the Sea, Aire, and Land. God he is the chief and abfolute Lord of all things, and over all things: The Heavens are his, the Earth also is his, he bath laid the foundation of the World, and of all that therein is, Pfal.89.12. Sabjicite ter TAM. . God is the chief Lord of all. The The furniture alfo is his: All the Beasts of the foreft are his,and the Beasts on a thousand mountains, Pfal. 50,10. The glorie of Lebanon, the beauty of Carmel is the Lords Efay, 35. 2. The riches of the Earth, the gold is his, and the filver is his, Aggey 2. 9. God in his own person, in 41. Jøb. 2. faith, that all under Heaven is his. Fee-farm. But God here delivereth unto man poffeffion, of the Earth and his Mankinde hath Creatures, bidding him to rule over them. God referveth the Hea- the Earth, Sea, vens to himself, even the Heavens are the Lords: terram autem dedit fi and the Aire in liis hominum, Pfal. 115. 16. He giveth the Earth as it were in Fee-tarm to the fonnes of men. God, the cheef Lord of all things, makech man ruler over the Earth, maketh the Earth (as the Germans doe fay) a Countie Palatine. So that men are no ufurpers, but lawfull rulers: All titles in the Law, in Manors, Lands, and Dominions are from hence. Jure Belli. In fubjicite terram are imployed these three, feifing, keeping, and imploying of the Earth: Jus eft prima poffeßionis, firft, poffeffion was Jus prime a right in the beginning: wherefore it is faid in the 11. Deut. 14. All the pollefionis. places wheron the foles of your feet fhall tread, shall be yours. Iftwo came together to one place, they divided the poffeffion by confent, as did Abraham and Lot, chap. 13. 11. Or elfe they divided the fame by lots, as in the 15. of Joshuab 1. The Earth was at firft, as a dish of meat at a A comparison. Table, where every man might cut where him pleased; but when one had cut forth his peece and layed it on his trencher, it became private, and it were injury to take from him, that is now his own by poffeffion. God promifed to the feed of Jacob,the Land of Canaan, the lot of their inheritance, Pfal. 105. 11. For the Ifraelites, by their just carriage and honeft converfation obtained the promife,and having injury offered them by the Canaanites, took revenge under Fofhuah, and poffeffed the Land jure belli. Jacob gave unto Jofeph, as his death, one Poffeffion portion above his brethren, which he got out of the hands of the Amorites by the sword and by the bow, chap. 48. 22. The right he had, was by the fword and by the bow, and this was his own. That the former world had by juft warre and fubduing of Tyrants, was a right. If we winne a Countrie where no habitation hath been, or which hath not been ha bitable for wilde beafts,by chafing from thence the beasts,and by subduing that Countrie,it becommeth our own by fubjicite terram. When the most high God divided to the Nations their Inheritance. When he feparated the fonnes of Adam, he appointed the borders of the people, according to the number of the children of Ifrael, Deut. 32.8. Every one had a mark stone, to know their own feveral, Deut. 27. 17. Thereupon faith the wife man, in the 22. Proverbs 28. Thon shalt not remove the ancient bounds which thy fathers have made. David fmote the Philistins and the Moabites, he subdued them and made them tributaries, 2 Sam. 8. a. God hath aßigned unto Mankinde the bounds of their habitation, A&ts 17. 26. Ifraels poffefsion three hundred years was a good·right, Judges 1 1. 26. Thus much of Heirs and Heritage, concerning the feifing upon others lands, and keeping their own. The last point of fubjicite terram, is the imploying, that is, to labor, turmoil, Dominamini, In ufe, turmoil, to break it up,to harrow and plough it; this is for Husbandrie, to dung it and manure it for paftures, to make houses and buildings for Architect, to make gardens and inclofures for folace. The mold allo is to be imployed, as the find, the chalk, the clay for the brick and tyle, is to be imployed. Salomon, when he builded the Temple, had great occafion to fearch quarries of ftone, there were great and coftly ftones fent from Hyram for the foundation and beautifying thereof, 1 Kings 5. 17. God gave to man induftrie whereby to finde the me tals, alfo the riches of the Earth in the bowels of the fame. God gave the Earth to man, God fubdued it not for, but he bad man fubdue it : Subjicite eam, non dedit fubjectam, fed fubjiciendam. God made man, not of loofe fand, but of a molde, of gleeb to labour, not to be idle; and therefore Adam, in the ftate of his innocencie, was put into the garden of Eden that he might dreffe it and keep it, chap. 2. 15. Man labored then not with fweat, for his labour was not laborious; for by mans tranfgreffion Gods curfe came, that in the sweat of his face he fhould eat his bread, chap. 3.19. 1 Now of Dominamini. Plenitudo terra eft jam hominis. In dominie funt hæc quatuor, ufus, fructus, confumptio, & alienatio.. First for Ule, we have power to tame fome, as the Horfe, for all his strength; yea even the Lyon, for all his courage; and the Elephant for all his hugeneffe: Those which will not be tamed, we rule over them by imprifoning them. In regard of fruit, We have the wooll of Sheep, the teeth Confumption, of Elephants, and the horn of Unicorns. For confumption, or fpending, They are fome unto us, for meat, and others for medicine. In respect of alienation, we buy and fell them daily. Fruit, Alienation, Further, Over what fhall you rule? Even as it is in the text, Over the fishes of the Sea,by the Angle. Chrift bids Peter caft in his angle and take the fijn, Matth.17.27: Orby the net: Chrift alfo bid Peter let down bis net tomake a draught, Luke 5.4. Angling and fishing are to man both for profit and for pleasure. And over the fowl of Heaven. By Fowling,by Hawking,by power or by policie, either killing them with arrows, or taking them in pits, or by fnares, as in Prov. 7.23. the 20. Joshua 13. God for the Ravens and for the young birds prepareth their meat Job 39.3. So that the fowls and birds are to man for fervice, for folace, and their notes of mufick. And over every beaft. This is indeed a large Charta de forefta : We are permitted and authorized hereby to hunt the wild beasts of the fo reft, and being hunted, to eatethe fefh thereof, Levit. 17. 13. Thos mayeft eat flesh,even what foever thy heart defireth: Even as the koe-buck and the Hart is eaten, fo fhalt thou eat it, Deut. 12. 22, 23. There they were permitted the eating of all kinde of flesh, they might before cat the flesh ofthat they had hunted, as of the Roe-buck and of the Hart. It was care juftitia which they got by hunting; it was dainty meat unto the Hunter; for unto the hungry foul every thing is sweet, Prov. 27.7. The Hunter had his fnares, Pfal. 91. 3. The Hound hunteth the Deer: both are serviceable unto man;there is pleasure in the hunting and cha |