Secondly, I come to give you some directions how to reflect upon the creatures with comfort and profit.
I. Be much in occasional meditation. There is nothing within the whole circumference of nature but will give matter to you. The creatures that are all round about you, are as the phylacteries that were worn under the law; the Jews were to have 'fringes on the borders of their garments, that they may look upon them, and remember all the commandments of the Lord to do them,' Numb. xv. 38, 39. The creatures are as it were those fringes and borders, that wherever we turn our eyes, we may read God in the creature. Therefore when you are walking in the fields, or going to your country-houses, consider the works of the Lord; look round about upon the beautiful frame before your eyes; do but consider what a rich canopy God hath stretched out over your heads; you should be full of good highway thoughts, Luke xxiv. 17; Christ inquires after their highway speeches; 'What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as ye walk?' So the Lord looks after your highway thoughts. When you see the sun glittering and shining forth in his beams like a bridegroom newly dressed, you should be then forming of some thoughts of the excellency and glory of God, who is the maker of it, When you pass by the sea, consider the immensity and dreadfulness of God by the horror of the waves and his wonderful works: Ps. cvii. 23, 24, 'They that go down into the sea, see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.' When you are cast upon storms and tempests, remember by whose breath all these are blown. When you hear the thunder, this is the voice of the Lord; look upon it as a trumpet the Lord hath sounded to call the world together to a dread and reverence of his majesty. There are day thoughts, and there are night thoughts; David had his day meditation, and his night meditation; the 19th psalm seems to be penned in the day, for there he speaks only of the sun; when David in the morning saw the sun breaking out, and enlightening the world, then he thinks of the glory of God. And the 8th psalm was a night meditation: 'Lord, when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars that thou hast ordained, what is man! It is probable that meditation was in the night, because he doth not mention the sun, but the moon and stars.
2. There must be also set and solemn meditation upon special occasions. Set meditation brings in profit to the soul. Passant and transient thoughts are more pleasant, but not so profitable. Meditation that is deliberate, is of most use. Usually sudden thoughts pass away from us, and do not return with such advantage; as children shoot away their arrows at rovers, and do not look after them; or as a ball stricken in the open field goes out from us but a ball stricken against a wall doth return to our hand again; so those passant thoughts go away from us; but when there is a fixed mark, some bound set, those thoughts return to our hand again with much comfort and spiritual advantage; when we aim at some particular thing and fix our mark, our thoughts return with advantage. Scattered rays heat, but burn not. When the beams of the sun are contracted in a burning-glass, a narrow place, then they fire; so when our thoughts are more particular and set, then they warm the heart, and return to us with advantage. There are several special occasions when we should propose to ourselves the thoughts of the creation.
[1.] When we are not affected with the majesty and glory of God.
Usually we are moved more with God's benefits than with his glorious essence. This is our infirmity; we should rise up to such a height as this, to love God as he is, diligibilis natura, lovely in himself, all self-respects secluded and laid aside. This is pure love without self-love, when we can love God, and respect God for the greatness and glory of his essence, though there were no influences and comfort going out from him to the creature; for then he is honoured as the chiefest good, and the utmost end. But how should we get our hearts affected with God's glorious essence? Study the perfections of God in the creation, that you may not only love him for his influences of mercy, but reverence him for his majesty and glory: Ps. civ. 1, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul: O Lord my God, thou art very great.' David would praise and bless God for his greatness; how doth he do it? he spends his thoughts upon the creation throughout the psalm.
[2.] When you are haunted with thoughts of atheism. The best of God's children are sometimes tried and exercised in the sorest way, and we are apt to doubt sometimes of the supreme truth, whether there be a God or no? Now if your hearts make any question of it, go ask of the creature, as Job saith, 'Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee, and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee;' nay he sends them to the fishes, that are mute and make no noise, ' And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these, that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?' Job xii. 7 - 9. The world could not make itself; that which is supported by another must needs be framed by another. Now the creatures hanging upon God as a garment upon a nail; take away the nail, the garment falls down; they all proclaim they have an excellent, powerful, and a wise creator. If you see a great house, and nothing in it but mice and vermin, you conclude, surely the mice could not frame such a glorious palace, neither could the pieces come together by chance. As the letters of Homer's poem could not come together by chance; so survey the creation, all these things could not come together by chance, they must be made by something; the very heathens could argue thus.
[3.] When you doubt of the promises of God, because there are appearances to the contrary. When you look for trouble think of the creation, that you may trust in the power of God when you see no means. Tully brings an Epicurean disputing thus against the creation: If the world were created, where are the tools and instruments? where are the workmen employed in so great a work as this is? and because these could not be assigned, he concludes such a thing could never be, but all things came together by chance. So we say, If the Lord means to bless us and do us good, where are the instruments? and where is the appearance of any probability in the course of second causes? 'Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath,' saith the prophet, Isa. ii. 6 ; from whence came all this excellent harmony that is in the parts of the creation? So Isa. xl. 1, 2, 'Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem.' God sends his prophet with glad tidings to afflicted Israel; ay, but where is the comforter? we are under sorrows and bondage. Consider who made the heavens, ver. 12, 'Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?' See he produceth the works of the creation for their encouragement. So David, Ps. cxxiv. 8, 'Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth;' that is, as long as I see such a glorious fabric before mine eyes, heaven and earth made out of nothing, I will never doubt and distrust God.
[4.] When your hearts faint in regard of outward supplies and temporal provision, survey the creatures. Who is it that feeds the beasts of the earth, and makes some of the fowl fattest in winter when provisions are scarcest? At whose charge are all the fish of the sea and the beasts of the forest maintained? Who spreads a table for all creatures? The world is but God's great common; he is landlord, he looks after all his creatures, that they be all supplied: Mat. vi. 25, 'Take no thought what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on; is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?' As if he had said, God that gave you life out of nothing, certainly he will give you food; and he that gave you a body, he will provide for you raiment. And Christ sends us to the creation, ver. 26, 'Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them; are ye not much better than they?' So David, Ps. cxlv. 16, 'Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.'
[5.] Greaten the privileges of your covenant interest. Now if you would know what it is to have God for your God in covenant, consider the creation, the work of his hand; the mighty power of that God that made the world is made over to you in the covenant of grace. See Jonah i. 9, 'I am an Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which made the sea, and the dry land.' You have the creator to provide for you: 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23, 'All things are yours, for you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' Thou hast God himself, and he hath all creatures at his command and beck, and by possessing God, who is all in all, we possess all things. This will help us to enlarge our thoughts according to the extent of the covenant.
3. There are proper objects for God's several and special excellences. Because one creature could not represent the infinite perfection of God, therefore he hath multiplied them, and given to every one some special property, whereby he may be known and discovered. For instance, if you would meditate of God's purity and holiness among the creatures you must single out the light, which of all qualities is most pure; though it pass through the most impure places, it is not tainted; it is some resemblance of the holiness of God: 1 John i. 5, 'God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.' Look upon the sun, by that means you may the better' consider the purity and holiness of God; the sun is but as the black and sutty bottom of a caldron in regard of God. So for God's immensity and greatness, pitch upon the vastness of the firmament, or the sea, or of any other immense or great body. Of the vast magnitude and huge extension of the firmament, how many millions of miles do the stars take up in their tract and course? Astronomers reckon two hundred thirty-nine thousand miles; what is this to God? 1 Kings viii. 27, 'The heaven of heavens cannot contain him.' Isa. xl. 12, 'He hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span,' &c. The sun is reckoned to be a hundred and sixty-six times bigger than the earth; what is this to God? The psalmist speaks of the 'great and wide sea,' Ps. civ. 25. Man cannot think of such a vast body as the sea without some religious horror and dread of God: it represents to us the infiniteness of God. So for the power of God, think of his upholding the earth; there is the great instance of God's power, that so vast a weight as the body of the earth and waters is together should hang in the thin air, which of itself will not so much as sustain a tennis ball or feather, yet this is the only supporter of the earth and the waters; the immovable dwelling-place of all the living creatures is hung upon nothing but upon the air. Sometimes it is said that the earth is founded upon the waters, as Ps. xxiv. 2, 'He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods;' at other times, as Job xxvi. 7, 'He hangeth the earth upon nothing.' This great weight, it hangs merely upon the power of God, and therefore this discovers the greatness of the creator, So in bridling the sea, Job xxxvii. 10, 'The breadth of the waters is straitened.' God handles it as a nurse her babe, who turns and sways the child by the fire; so doth God with the sea: Job xxxviii. 8, 9, 'Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it.'
If you would meditate upon the faithfulness of God, you cannot have a better object than the constant course of the heavens and recourse of the seasons; they still remain as they were from the beginning of the world, and so they will continue: Ps. cxix. 90, 91, 'Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances; for all are thy servants.' Ps. lxxxii. 9, 'Thy faithfulness wilt thou establish in the very heavens;' that is, in the constant motions and courses of the stars in the heavens, God hath given the world a document of his truth and faithfulness. How many thousand years hath the sun kept his course without errors and alterations? So constant are the courses of the heavens, that astronomers are able for a great while before to tell when an eclipse shall be to an hour and minute. Jer. xxxi. 35, 36. 'Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun to be a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon, and of the stars, for a light by night; which divideth the sea, when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is his name: If these ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever,' If you would think of the wisdom of God, then think upon the multitude of creatures that are in the world, yet they are all marshalled and guided in their order and course; such an innumerable company of creatures kept like a well-ordered army without any rout or confusion. Ps. cxlviii. 6, 'He hath established them for ever, he hath made a decree which shall not pass.' All the creatures, though so many, they keep their path and their course, and God wisely orders all for the service of the whole; and that discovers the wisdom of God. So for the unweariedness of his mercy and bounty; the stars go long journeys, yet are never tired, but continue their beneficent influences: Job xxxviii. 31, 'Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades?' The sun riseth fresh every morning to communicate its influences; so the compassions of God come in fresh every morning: Lam. iii. 22, 23, 'It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not: they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.'
4. Above all things meditate much upon the heavens, and upon man, Upon the heavens, that you may know God; upon man, that you may know yourselves. The smallest things are of use and profit. Christ takes notice of the lilies of the field in Mat. vi 28, 29, the beauty nature hath bestowed upon the lilies; 'so that Solomon in all his glory is not arrayed like one of them;' but now the heavens and man are the chiefest objects. The heavens are God's dwelling-place, and man is God's image; therefore here are the chiefest representations of the deity and godhead.
[1.] Look up to the heavens; there is God's royal house and pavilion, and a lively character of the divine perfections. Job and David were great students in the heavens: Ps. xix. 1, 'The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handywork.' Some of the heathens made gods of the sun and stars for their glory and beauty. And indeed the Lord speaks to his own people, as if they were in danger, being such glorious bodies, and lively representations of the divine glory: Deut. iv. 19, ' Take heed, saith God, lest thou lift up thine eyes to heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them, and serve them.' The sun is a representative of God, so the psalmist sets him out, Ps. xix. There is the omnipresence of the sun, ver. 6, 'His going out is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it.' The omnisciency and omni-efficiency of it, 'nothing is hid from the heat thereof;' the sun is totus Oculus, one broad eye that looks over all the world. So is God, 'all things are naked and open to him,' Heb. iv. 13; and his virtue reacheth to the smallest creatures. I have heard of a philosopher that would lie upon his back all the day, to look upon the beauty of the sun. Certainly we may stand gazing and admiring the heavens, and, oh, how many sweet thoughts might it occasion of the majesty of God, and the glory of the everlasting state! This is but the canopy, but the outward veil, and the covering of the beauty and glory that is within; it is but the outside of the heavenly palace where we shall reign with Christ for ever. There are some have gathered all divinity out of the heavens. There is but one heaven and one sun, to teach us there is but one God. The properties of heaven, motion, light and heat, are some kind of resemblance of the mysterious trinity. The vast extension of the heavens shows the infiniteness of God; the thinness of the air shows the spiritual essence of God; the incorruptibility of the heavens shows the immortality and immutability of God; the influences of the heavens discover the sweet emanations of the divine goodness; the order of heaven, God's wisdom; the brightness of heaven, the majesty of God; the purity of heaven, the holiness of God; the subtility and thinness of heaven, the simplicity of God; and the spheric form of the heaven discovers to us the eternity of God, without beginning and without end. The heavens are the natural catechism out of which you may read all points that are not mysterious, and do not depend merely upon revelation.
[2.] Think upon man. Man is not only the creature of God, but the image of God. One calls man the masterpiece of nature; it is good to consider ourselves; there is nothing nearer to ourselves than ourselves. Man, as he is the image of God, so he is the image of the world, the short draft and model of all the rest of the world. Look upon soul and body, all is full of wonders. In the body to consider the excellent symmetry and proportion of all the parts, how the joints and muscles are ordered for the service and beauty of the whole frame, the outward shape and the inward motion full of wonder. Oh, how excellent a painter is the creator, that can draw such an image out of the dust, and scarce two men alike in face! to see so many millions in the world, and everyone known from the other by some notable mark of difference in the face; yet the outward part is nothing to the inward parts. It is reported of Galen, that great physician, when he was cutting up a man, and saw the wise disposing of all the entrails, certainly, says he, He that made man doth not require the sacrifice of beasts, but only to admire his wisdom, goodness, and power. The psalmist saith: Ps. cxxxix. 14, 'I am fearfully and wonderfully made.' There is much of God in our very bodies. You will say, our bodies we have them from our parents; no, you shall see all we had from our parents was but a title to the first Adam's guilt and sin, and a pledge of misery and of our everlasting unhappiness; we have nothing else. Our parents of themselves could not form such an excellent body; therefore not only the soul but the body is of God; they are but lower servants, God himself was the architect, the wise builder. If thy parents could form thy body, then they could tell how many muscles there are, and how they are placed in the body, how many veins and sinews, how many bones greater and lesser; but they know not, it is a thing of chance to their work, therefore it is the exact composure of God. Besides, if thy parents could make thy body, then they could repair it when it is wounded, and restore it when sick. He that makes a watch can mend it when it is broken and discomposed. It is God alone that made it. Then for the soul, there is the chief part of man. There is nothing nearer to God than the soul but only the angels, therefore we can hardly know him by the creature without considering our own souls. This leaves man without excuse; he had a rational soul to know his creator. Thy soul is a spirit as God is, in the same rank of being. The sun is not a spirit. Those glorious bodies that shine in the heavens, they are not advanced to the nobleness with thy soul. Then thy soul is invisible as God is; you may as well deny your own soul as deny God is because he cannot be seen. Thy soul is immortal and incorruptible, as God is. In the very essence of thy soul there is much of God to be seen, in the operations of the soul, it is in every part of the body; tota in toto, et tota in qualibet parte; all in all parts, and all in the whole; so God fills all the world, for he is everywhere, and yet nowhere in a sense. When a member is withered or cut off, the soul suffers no loss: so the Lord in all the changes of the world suffers nothing; sometimes he lets out his goodness in the creature, and sometimes the creature is destroyed, yet there is no alteration in God. And then who can trace the several traverses and flights of reason? The soul cannot only hear, see, smell, and taste, but it can discourse also of things invisible, the essence of God and angels. If there were nothing to discover God in your souls, and the impressions of God upon your souls, yet the several arts and crafts that are abroad in the world, (these inventions are common, therefore less observed), how could these things be found out? they display the wisdom of God. For to instance in common things: in the craft of husbandry, who doth not admire to see the various inventions in husbandry and gardening, in ordering the corn and fruits of the earth, Isa, xxviii. from ver. 24 to the end? He concludes all, ver. 29, 'This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts.' And so for the smith's craft: Isa. liv. 16, 'I have created the smith that bloweth the coals,' &c, It is God that teacheth to cast iron into various shapes and figures. The inventors of arts among the heathens they counted gods. It is God teacheth men curious inventions. It is true, other creatures have their arts, but nothing like man. The birds curiously build their nests, the foxes dig their holes, and the little spider can make a curious web to catch flies, but they do these things by instinct of nature, and therefore do them always in one and the same manner; but the arts of man are various and innumerable. Nothing can escape that which the wit of man cannot take, neither birds by their flight, nor beasts with their greatness, nor fishes in the depth of the water: James iii. 7, 'For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind.' Man is able to tame all beasts, to bring them to his own use and purpose; but God made them. In the art of navigation consider the wonders of the Lord; that such great vast burdens should dance upon the tops of the water, that ships should as it were fly with sails as with wings, and run with oars as with feet. And then in painting and architecture much of the wisdom of God is seen. Oh, consider and use this as an argument to set out the glory of God. Man can build houses, but God built heaven and earth. The painter is able to paint with colours; but admire him that could paint so fairly that had no other pencil but his hand, and no other paint but a little dirt.
5. You must not only consider what is made, but to what end. In the works themselves we may consider God's power and wisdom; but in the end we may consider God's goodness, and our own duty. Now the ends of the creation were many, chiefly these three; man's good, the creator's praise, the glory of Jesus Christ.
[1.] When thou art thinking of the creation, consider, all this was made for man's good. The whole world is but the great house and palace of little man. Oh, how great is the goodness of God to sorry man! whole nature is but his servant. The angels were made for man: Heb. i. 14, 'Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?' Those courtiers of heaven, those masterpieces of the creation are man's servants. The stars were made to give us light and heat, to cherish man and to cherish the earth; and the waters were made for man's good. The whole earth is but man's garden; the plants of it for our use for meat and medicine; the beasts for our food and clothing; nay in the bowels of the earth there are laid up veins of treasure to maintain commerce between nation and nation; though men be scattered in the several climates of the world, yet God will bring them together by traffic. Nay, all sublunary things were not only created for man's use, but most of them subjected to man's dominion. See the charter, all is made over to us: Gen. i. 28, 29, 'Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.' They all serve for the uses of man, and are made over to him. It is true, the heavens are for the use of man, but they are not under the dominion of man; that is reserved to God alone; therefore it is said: Ps. cxv. 16, 'The heaven even the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth he hath given to the children of men,' But though the heavens be the Lord's, that is, reserved in his power, yet they serve for the use of man, The air serves to give man breath; the firmament serves to give man light and heat; and the heaven of heavens serves for his eternal and blessed habitation. Oh, the goodness of God to man! 'Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him!' How may we break out into such a holy wonder and admiration!
[2.] They were made for God's glory: Rom. xi. 36, 'All things,' saith the apostle, 'are of him, and through him, and to him:' 'of him' in creation; 'through him' in the sustentation of his providence; and 'to him,' that is, for the uses and purposes of his glory; all things return to the womb of their original, out of which they once came. The Lord deals with us just as Potiphar dealt with Joseph, he gave him power over all things, but only his wife, that he kept to himself; therefore by way of meditation we may reason as Joseph, Gen. xxxix. 8, 9, 'Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house: and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand. There is none greater in this house than I, neither hath he kept any thing back from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?' So do you reason with yourself; Oh, I have a bounteous creator, God hath given me all things, for my use and comfort, and all the articles of the lease and grant are only that I should serve his glory! Oh, let me not rob him of that; let me enjoy the creature, but give God the glory; let me not pervert the end of my creation; all should be to his praise. All the creatures do as it were proclaim to us, Man! glorify thy creator; God hath given us to thee to serve thee, that thou mightest serve him; we die for thy good and support, that thou mayest live; we are ready to fall down and perish for thy food. Oh, therefore be thou contented to suffer any inconvenience, if it be the loss of life, that the glory of God may live. We will give thee food, meat, nourishment, all that thou requirest, if thou wouldest love him, and praise him, and live to the glory of God. Saith the sun, I will give thee light and continued influences and rays every morning, if thou wilt but glorify thy creator'. It is said: Prov. xvi. 4, 'The Lord hath made all things for himself.' In a sort we may say. God made all things for man, and man for himself; it follows, 'and the wicked for the day of evil.'
[3.] Therefore doth he create the world to make a fair way for Jesus Christ, Col. i. 15. The apostle proves the godhead of Christ by this argument: 'He is the first-born of every creature; for by him all things were created, that are in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him and for him.' Creation is but one step to the execution and advancement of God's decrees. We were first made that we might afterwards be redeemed. Christ gave us our lives at first, and afterwards he saved our lives. First he created us, and then prevented our execution. The world was but one step to heaven. First he gives thee thyself, then all things in the world, then he would give thee himself. The angels were made ministering spirits, and the Son of God was made a servant for thy sake. Oh, the wonderful love of God! When he founded the world, then he prepared heaven for thee that art a member of Christ. All was in a subordination to his wise decrees.
6. We should specially meditate upon the goodness and beneficence of God. When we taste the sweetness of the creatures, then is a special time of devising arguments of praise and studying thanks. It is said, Acts xiv. 17, 'Nevertheless he left not himself without a witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.' Mark, this was God's testimony to the gentiles; this preached God to them. Oh, therefore lift up a solemn thought on these occasions. In the spring-time, when nature is in its pride, think who it is that milketh out the fruits of the earth, that ripeneth the apples on the tree, that seasons the grass, and makes it fit for food for the beasts. Or else when you have had any liberal or comfortable use of the creature, then the heart should be raised up to God. Usually when God remembers us most, and we abound in creature comforts, we forget God and slight the creator. Oh! remember this is to despise God in the day of his magnificence. Look, as when Vashti refused to come, when the king was minded to show himself to his nobles, it is said, Esther i. 12, 'The king was very wroth, and his anger burned in him;' so here, the lord sends to invite thy soul to come to him in the spring-time, in the time of gladness of heart; when you abound in comforts, he sends these messengers that thou mightest come and solace thyself with him. Should we not come then, his anger wound be raised; especially when we abuse the creatures to riot, and our abundance to vanity and excess; consider what an injury this is to God, to abuse that which he hath made. If we have made any thing, and another come and scorn and abuse it, it enrageth us: consider what it is to abuse the workmanship of God.
Hebrews
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