Page images
PDF
EPUB

I

how much more can Gods omnipotencie give firength to his word, and cause that which he faith, to be most certainly done? This the reason, that by the virtue and force only of his word, what foever he faith is done and cometh ro paffe,

The fecond thing to be noted, is to whom God fpake, namely, to the Waters: For,as Mofes was willed to speak to the stony rock, Numbers the twentieth chapter and the eighth verte; fo doth God here ipeak to the waters; neither is it a fond thing thus for God to fpeak to deaf and fenfelcffe creatures; for though they have no cares and cannot heare, yet they can understand when God doth call and fpeak to them, and have power to doe his will when he commandeth. If then the waters and rocks can heare, and under ftand, and doe what God doth fay and bid them; how much more fhould we, which have cares, and understanding hearts, and active hands, take heed we doe the like ?

Now touching the Tenor of Gods precept, we fee it concerneth the producing and bringing forth of living things in abundance and great multitude. And though God faith, Let the waters bring forth fowles, it argueth not (as Symplicius the Atheift abfurdly gathereth) that here the water is faid to be the matter of which the fowles were made; for in the fecond chapter of Genefis, and the ninteenth verie, this is explained, that they were made of the earth, though they were brought forth of the waters.

Touching the creatures moving in the waters, the word here uled doth, in a generall term, fignifie fuch things as are quick, and live, and move, comprehending therein all the particular creatures befides fish or fowle, which either creep or crawle or move in either of thefe elements, as Froggs, Snakes, Flyes, &c.

Man by pra&ice can attain to the Fishes motion, that is, to swim and move upon, and in the waters, but he cannot by any devife attaine to fly, and move as Birds, or mount in the ayre. It is a wonder to heare that iron could swimme, in the fecond of Kings the fixt chapter and the fixt verle; but it is by the fame power of God, by which a feather can fly aloft.

By the Firmament or Aire is meant the nether and groffer part of the aire, which region is full of faggy fumes and vapours which come from the earth, and fo high and farre the fowls can abide and endure to flie: But the farther and higher part and region of the aire, which is more pure and cleer, are called penesnalia Cæli, which is fo free from groffe vapours and earthly mifes,that no earthly thing can breath or abide therein : As therefore Water is a fic element for Fishes, which breath not, fo, this lower region of the aire is for all Fowls.

But let us come to that which is common both to fill and fowls, and maketh both of them live and move,the one by fwimming,the other by flying, and that is the foul of life. Concerning which gcnerally, It fignifieth a breath or spirit of life: For fecing we can understand and conceive beft things fenfible, therefore fpiritual things

for

for our capacity, are termed by things fenfible. The breath therefore, being of fenfible things the most pure and fubtil, the foul is called by that name: Yet thefe things are in their proper nature diftin&t, breath, life, and foul, for life is the adjunct and effect of a foul; fo breath is the effect and figne of life. Neither is it fuperfluous, that here is added to the foul life, because it ferveth for a needfull inftruction and diftinction between the foul of man hereafter to be handled, which is a foul of more than one only life, of a double life, and therefore immortal; whereas these Creatures have a foul of a fingle life, and therefore are mortal.

[ocr errors]

:

Deinde dixit Deus, Producat terra animantia in fpecies ipforum, Gen. 1. 24. Reptilia, beftiafq; terrenas in fpecies fuas:

Pecudes fuit ita.

next betwixt

HIS verfe, and all the reft to the end of the chapter, Place this Ser doe contain the furnishing and replenishing of the mon and the earth with living Creatures; and fo bringeth to pag. 92. and paffe the finishing and perfecting of the whole work 93. of Creation. For this fixt dayes work fheweth the bringing forth of Beafts and Cattel of all forts, and the bringing in of Mankinde into the world, to be Lord and Ruler of them and all the reft.

In which we obferve the three ufual parts Gods Decree.commanding, the Execution performing it, and Gods approbation of it being done.

. For the Decree we may note, as before, That God is the Com
mander, the Earth is that which is commanded, and the effect of the
commandement is that it should bring forth Cattle and creeping
things. Having fhewed before, how God fpeaketh and revealeth
his will to dumb, deaf, and fenfeleffe Creatures, as here he doth to
the Earth, we will come to the tenor and meaning of the Decree
and Commandement to it. For that phrafe here used of bringing
forth, is taken from the manner of women great with childe, which
when their time is come to bring forth their young therefore the
Fathers doe call this Parerperam terra, as it were by resemblance,
the children of the earth, or her travail, not that thefe things were
before made and hid in the bowels and womb of the Earth: For
as the waters were not in the rock before, Numbers the twentieth
chapter and the eighth verfe, but even at that instant when God
commanded, it gushed out waters only by of God: So
e power
the virtue of Gods word and the power of the Commander, caufed
the Earth to bring forth all these things, when of it felf it had no
powerto dos it.

a

PPPP 3

Now

Gen, 1:25.

Now the feveral kindes of Creatures, which here the Earth is willed to bring forth, are reduced to three heads, Beafts, Cattle,and creeping things. Cattle are called Fumenta, à juvando, because they are made to be our fervants, to help us in our labours and affairs. And they are fuch as doe need us as much as we need them; for Sheep, Oxen, Horfes, &c. must first be ferved and fed and tend ded by us before they can attend to serve our turnes.

The fecond fort are Worms or creeping things,called Reptilia, because they crawl upon the ground, and therefore they are faid natare fuper terram, as it were to fwim or glide upon the ground; and fo they are diftinguished by their motion. And there are of two forts, either they have no fect or leggs at all, crawling on their bel ly, or elfe very short feet, creeping low by ground.

The third kinde are wilde beafts, which doe live alone in terra inculta (as the word fignifieth) in the waste wilderneffe, and in the unprofitable and barren Land, which is defert and torfaken of men. In which they live, for the most part, by blood, preying on the fpoyle one of another; and therefore to fome of them is given ftrength, to fome fwiftneffe, to fome sub.ilty and craft, by which they know how to get their prey. And left these favage, wilde, and cruel beafts,fhould annoy, hurt, or destroy Mankinde, we see the Lord hath provided for us divers wayes, allotting to them only the barren Wilderneffe; giving to us the profitable ground: appointing the night for them to goc abroad, whereas the day is fpecially granted to us, Pfalm the hundred and fourth and the twenty fecond verfe Befides God hath not made them fo fruitfull; they doe not multiply as other profitable and meek Cattel doe, which will not hurt us. And thus much for the special kinde of things which the Earth bringeth forth.

Now for the performance of Gods Precept, it is generally fet down in the end of the twenty fourth verse, as in other places, that it was fo, even as God had commanded; which general, is more par ticularly fet down in the twenty fift verse ensuing.

Fecit enim Deus beftias terrenas in fpecies fuas, & pecudes in fpe= cies fuas,omniaque reptilia terra in fpecies fuas: & vidit Deus id effe bonum.

HE first part of this verfe is the performance of his word and Decree in every point; the end of it is the approbation thereof. For the execution of all that God faid, because as he said, fo it came to paffe, and was truly and fully performed and done, we note how true and certain and undoubred Gods word is : Shall be speak the word, and shall it not come to paffe? Surely Heaven and Earth may passe away, but not one jot or title of his word

Shall

"shall fail :: Which, as we see in the word of Creation, so shall we finde it in the Gospel, the word of Salvation. And here we may obferve, that God will be made known, not only to be the maker of the Lyon and the Elephant,thofe great and goodly beasts,but also of the poor creeping Creature, and the Ant, Qui fecit Angelos, fecit & vermiculos,laith Auguftine: Neither is it any dilgrace or dishonour to God, because there is no lefle power & wifdome fhewed and seen in thefe, than is in the greatest and hugeft beafts that be; yea, for the moft part, the excellencie of Gods handy work is more admirably feen in the leaft and smallest living things that are: As ftrange things are known of the poor Shrimp as of the Whale : More virtue is to be found in the filly Bee, than in the Eagle. So as great art may be seen in the Ant as in the Elephant: Which may be known, if we obferve the great providence and forecaft of the little Ant, his great induftry and diligence, in laboring without wea1in: ffe while the Summer doth laft, and the great strength this little Creature hath, which is able to carry a corne farre greater than himself. Wherefore thefe fmall creeping Creatures which God hath made are not to be paled over without regard, but to be confidered to his glory and praise which made them.

The last part of this verfe, is the liking and approbation of this work; for this cenfure is given of this, as of the reft, that it was right good, and therefore very well done.

Which must teach us this leffon, That if we will have the like praise and commendation of all works, they must be done fo anfwerable to Gods will and word in every point, fo diligently and Ipeedily and perfectly done as these things were.

But here God doth not purpose so much to commend the manner of doing his will, as the works themselves, and the things that were done, that is, the goodneffe of these natures which are made and brought forth: And if we enquire of the goodneffe of these things particularly, the Wife-man will tell us, Ecclefiaftes the thirty ninth chapter and the thirty fourth verfe, Every thing in his time, place, and kinde, is profitable and good:

For touching the Cattle, which are fervants and helpers to us, Who knoweth not how good and beneficial the Oxe, the Cow, the Sheep, and fuch things are, both for work, and food, and cloth? But you may ask, Wherefore are wilde beafts, which cruelly devour one another, and oftentimes kill men? For answer whereto, we must confider, That God made thefe before finne was in the world; and therefore in that estate and time of innoceticie wherein God did commend them, we must not doubt but they were good, without any evil or hurt at all: Quamdia Adam non peccavit in De· um, nihil peccabat in cùm ; while we were good fervants to God,they were good fervants to us. It is our evilne ffe and finne therefore, which caufeth them to be evil and hurtfull to us. And as in bur fiift holy cftare they were good; fo if we be converted to God; after his Image again, they will be good and doe us no hurt, Fob the fift

chapter

chapter, the twenty fecond and twenty third verles, for then the beasts of the foreft fhall be in league with thee, as they were with Daniel in the Lyons den, Daniel the fixt chapter and the fixteenth verse, e

Gen. 3.14 Super ventrem tuum ito, pulverum comedito omnibus diebus

Jun. 25. 1598,

Place this and

T

[merged small][ocr errors]

HESE words with those that went before, contain that Sentence that was given by God upon the Serpent, whom the the two follow- Devil, the invifiole Serpent, uled as an inftrument to deceive Adam ing Sermons and Eve, and, as we have heard, it hath three branches.

betwixt pag.

3.

That which we are to confider in this Sentence, is first, That he is condemned to be under the curse of God Secondly, To creep upon his belly: Thirdly, To eat the duft all the dayes of his life. Which three punishinents are proportionable to that threefold fault which the Serpent committed, and whereunto he perfwaded our Parcats, that was, the finne first of Malice; Secondly, of Pride, Thirdly, of intemperate defire, to eat of that which was forbidden. The Curfe of God hath relation to the Serpents malice; the creeping upon his belly, was inflicted as a punishment for his pride, and the feeding upon the duft, hath a correspondencie with his inordi nate defire. These three finnes are neceffarily to be considered, that confidering how God hath plagued them in the Devil, we fhould beware that we fall not into the like finnes.

Touching the Curfe of God, As it is the firft, fo the greatest part of this Sentence, And is a punishment most fearfull, for all men doe abhorre to be cursed, and to incurre the displeasure of a man, much more of God, whofe word is his deed; fo that he no fooner (peaks, but it is done. Facob was loth to doc any thing to deceive his Father, because fo, faith he, I shall bring a surfe upon me, and not a bleßing, Genefis the twenty leventh chapter. Indeed, as the Wile-man fpeaks, the curse that is caufeleffe and proceeds from foolish people fhall not light upon a man, Proverbs the twenty fixt chapter and the fecond verfe. But if a godly man, fuch as Facob and Ifaac were, doe curle, it shall not fail but come to paffe: Much more hill the curfe of God take effect; for it shall come into a mans bowels like water, and like ogle into his bones, Pfalm the hundred and ninth, the seventeenth verie. For the meaning of this Curse, the Holy Goh hath ftdown a large commentary, in Deuteronomie the twenty eighth chapter, and in Leviticus the twenty fixt chapter 3 and the Prophet faith Gods curfe is a flying book, twenty cubits long, and ten cubits broad, containing the curse that goeth over the whole carib, Zechariah the file chapter and the third verfe: It is a book written within and without, with lamentations, mournings and woes, Ezekiel the

fecond

« PreviousContinue »