7. COME not off from any meditation, till you have found some sensible profit. I will show you what are the usual fruits of solemn and serious thoughts of the creation. If your thoughts be serious, thus it will be:
[1.] There will be a greater disposition and aptness to praise the Lord. If you have meditated aright the heart will be more affected with the lustre of his glory shining forth in the creature: Rev. iv. 11, 'Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.' Cold and dead thoughts vanish without use and profit. When you think of the creation aright, there will be found in you dispositions to praise God that he should devise all this for man. Who can touch the harp of the creatures without being ravished with the music? who can read that book that is framed with such excellent art, and not commend the author? who can hear the creatures preach a sermon, and not say, Blessed be the God that made them?
[2.] The soul will be raised into some wonder and admiration at- the goodness and wisdom of God. Pythagoras boasted he had gotten this advantage by philosophy, Nihil admirari, to wonder at nothing; but certainly when we survey the works of God, we cannot choose but wonder at all things. This is the least respect you owe God to wonder at his works; and till your hearts be thus heightened, your thoughts have not been ponderous and serious, nor sufficiently exercised. It is very observable the children of God never come off from the meditation of his works without admiration: Ps. viii. 3, 4, 'When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon, and the stars which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him! and the son of man that thou visitest him!' So Ps. civ. 24, there is another meditation of the creation, and see how he concludes: 'O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.' We are apt to wonder at the workmanship of man; at a curious picture, or at a building fairly contrived, we wonder at the skill and art of the workman. Certainly you set God much below a painter and a carver, when you can look upon this goodly frame of the world, and never wonder at it. Consider, you never rightly glorify and praise him till there be admiration. Admiration is that operation of the understanding by which it is carried out to objects above its reach and perception. Wonder seizeth upon you either by new things, or by miraculous things. You cannot tell how to comprehend strange things, they do for a while suspend the act; but things that are wonderful indeed, and which after contemplation and search we cannot apprehend and find out to their perfection, they wholly astonish and overwhelm the faculty. Now such are the works of the Lord; upon an intimate contemplation of them we shall find them above the reach of our understanding, and we can only say, 'O Lord how wonderful are thy works!' Till there be this admiration, the affections are not proportionably lifted up to the object. There is no object within the whole circumference of nature but, so far as we discern God in it, will raise our wonder.
[3.] If you meditate aright, the heart will be more drawn off from the creature to God. This is the main end either of making the creature, or of meditating upon the creature. Of making the creature: Acts xvii. 26, 27, 'He hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek after the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him.' We are apt to stay in the creature, and forget the creator; this is quite contrary to the end of God, they are to show us how good and how sweet the Lord is. This was the reason why God made the world, and filled it with inhabitants, that the world might wonder at him; but we doat upon shadows, and leave the substance. This is as if a mighty emperor should gather all his nobles together, that they might come and admire his royalty; and when they come, they turn their back and admire his picture and shadow. Consider, all the creatures are but rude adumbrations or shadows of the glory of God, to help the memory; but they must not intercept the affection, and forestall the heart. Should we be so foolish as go to the shadows, those obscure resemblances. and leave the creature that is so full of majesty and glory? Would we be contented with a painted horse for our use, or painted bread for our food? Why are we then contented with those shadows of God? Meditation is nothing but a parley and discourse with the creature about the chiefest good. Job makes hue and cry after wisdom, Where is the chiefest good? Is it in the earth? no, that is too gross. Is it in heaven? no, the heaven of heavens cannot contain him. Is it in the depth? no, he is a greater depth than can be fathomed. What is the husk of the creature to the bread of eternal life? what are the drossy shadows and obscure resemblances to God, who is the substance himself?
[4.] If you have rightly meditated upon the works of creation, there will be more fear and dread of God, that will arise from the consideration of his majesty and power impressed upon the creature. When we look upon God in his works we see him in his royalty, therefore there must needs be a great deal of fear upon the heart: Jer. v. 22, 'Fear ye not me, saith the Lord? will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?' Mark, he calls for fear, because he hath made the creature, and hath ordered all things with such exact wisdom. Who can think of the dreadful waves that are bound up by God, and not have some horror upon his heart? They that do not thus discourse upon his works, God saith, they are brutish: ver. 24, 'And say not in their hearts, Let us now fear the Lord our God that giveth rain, both the former and latter in its season.' Oh, when we come to take abroad God's greatness and excellency, how can we but dread and reverence him?
[5.] If you meditate rightly upon the workmanship of God, there will be more love to God for all his kindness, and for all those effusions and communications of his goodness to the creature. Here we come to see how much we are bound to God. Usually we are far more affected with what man doth for us, than with what God doth for us; as, for instance, we love him that helps us and delivers us out of straits; but we do not love him that made us out of nothing; this seems nothing to us. Every petty courtesy obligeth us to men, and we do not consider we owe all to God, life, breath, and being, and all. If man should do half so much for us, how are we obliged to him? God hath done incomparably more, and we do not esteem it. What is the reason? is it this, man's courtesy seems more, because his abilities are less? or is it because he gives from himself? how poor is this! Doth water lose its nature, because it is in the sea, and not in the bucket and cistern? Are God's benefits the worse because he is the author, whose nature it is to do good? Consider, waters are sweeter in the fountain than in the rivers. There is more condescension in God than in man. When man loves us, he does but love his equal, and draws out his bowels to his own flesh, Isa. lviii. 7. Consider, the earth is full of the riches of his goodness, therefore love the creator.
Another fruit of meditating upon the works of God will be obedience. Oh, what an interest hath God in you by making you out of nothing! what a title hath he to your heart! If the husbandman counts that tree his own which he hath planted; or the carver that image his own which he has made; certainly thou art God's, and he may call thee his own, who hath made thee out of nothing. There is a difference between making out of nothing, and making out of something. Men cannot make any piece of workmanship, but they must have matter to work upon; but the Lord made thee out of nothing, therefore certainly thou art his; and therefore the right and dominion of God must be infinitely greater than that of man; and what a right hath God by his providence! Thou hast a right in thy servant, who hath his wellbeing from thee, and therefore surely God hath a right to thee, who by his providence supplies thee with all things thou wantest.
[7.] Meditation on the creature will beget trust and dependence on God; this is the main thing that God aimeth at, that we be drawn to trust in God, when we think of the creature. The heathens knew much of God in the general, they were able to discourse of his eternal power and godhead; but when they came to draw practical inferences, how they should trust in him, then 'they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened,' Rom. i. 20, 21. When we consider the great effect of his mighty power, and yet do not trust in the Lord, these are but vain imaginations. The chief thing in meditation on the creation is, that you should come away with the greater trust, for in the creation there are all arguments of trust. There you learn the freeness of God's grace, when God made all things out of nothing, certainly the creature could merit nothing; and there you learn the exactness of his care, because in his wise decrees he had a care of thee when thou wert not, therefore he will have a care of thee when thou art: Ps. cxlv. 15, 'The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season;' therefore he will supply man. And so then you learn the greatness of his power; and that is the reason of the apostle's expression: 1 Peter iv. 19, 'Commit your souls unto God as unto a faithful creator.' Thence doth the quiet rest and establishment of spirit arise; he is able to raise means, to create deliverances, to supply all your wants, and relieve you in all your distresses.
Doct. 2. We understand the truth and wonders of the creation by faith, and not by reason.
Take these propositions to clear the point -
1. There are three sorts of lights which God hath bestowed upon men: the light of nature, the light of grace, and the light of glory. These are like the three several lights God hath set up in the firmament, the sun, the moon, and the lesser stars. There is the daylight of glory, which is the sun when it arises in its strength and brightness; and there is the light of faith, which is like the moon, a light which shines in a dark place; then there is the weak and feeble ray of reason, which is like the light of the lesser stars. By the first light, we see God as he is in himself; by the second, God as he hath discovered himself in the word; by the third, God as he is seen in the creature. By the light of glory we behold God in himself, 'we see him face to face,' 1 Cor. xiii. 12. The expression is used in opposition to the veil of the shadows of the law: here we can only behold God as he is veiled under words of corporeal and sensible significations; but there 'we shall see him as he is,' 1 John iii. 2. By the second light we see God as he is pleased to reveal himself in his word: and by the light of reason we see God in his works, as he hath displayed his glory in the whole frame of the world: so that there is vision, faith and reason. The one is the fruit of our glorification, and the other of our redemption, and the last of our creation.
2. In this world reason had been enough, if man had continued in his innocency. His mind then was his only bible, and his heart his only law and rule ; but he tasted of the tree of knowledge and hereby he and we got nothing but ignorance. It is true, there are some relics of reason left for human uses, and to leave us without excuse; therefore it is said, John i. 9, ' That Christ is the true light, which enlighteneth every one that cometh into the world.' It is by his grant that a little reason is continued to us. But now in matters of religion, we had need of external and foreign helps. Man left to himself would only grope after God. In many things reason is altogether blind; in other things the light of it is very faint, weak and ineffectual. This is the sad state of man since the fall, his reason is blind; and that not only out of weakness, but out of prejudice; there is not only darkness in our mind, but there is pride and malice too, by which we are set against the truths of the word.
3. The only remedy and cure for this is faith, and external revelation from God. The blindness of reason is cured by the word; the pride of reason is cured by the grace of faith. Revelation supplies the defect of it; and faith takes down the pride of it, and captivates the thoughts into the obedience of the truths represented in the word; so that reason now cannot be a judge; at best it is but a handmaid to faith. And though the mysteries of religion transcend reason, yet that is not an argument of the falsity of the word, but of the imbecility and weakness of our own reason: and those mysteries, which we cannot comprehend, do but put us in mind of the sad consequences of the fall of man.
4. The doctrine of the creation is a mixed principle; much of it is liable to reason, but most of it can only be discovered by faith. We must consider the creation two ways, either ex parte rei, or ex parte modi; either the thing itself, or the necessary circumstances. For the thing itself, that was known to the heathens, that there was a creation; but the manner how was wholly hidden from reason, and can only be supplied by revelation of the word. Nature doth confess a creation, but faith must teach us what it is.
More distinctly I shall lay down my sense in these further propositions -
[1] By the light of nature it may be known that there was a creation. It may be proved by evident reason that there was a first cause, from whence all propagation begins; otherwise we shall be left to a perpetual wandering, and shall not know out of what womb all things that are in the world issued forth. Plutarch propounds the question; whether the hen were before the egg, or the egg before the hen? Look upon all creatures; is the acorn before the oak, or the oak before the acorn? the spawn before the fish or the fish before the spawn? therefore at first there must be fishes created, and there must be oaks created. To this purpose the apostle quoteth Aratus, Acts xvii. 28, tou gar kai genoi esmen, for we are his offering.
[2.] The heathens discovered that there was also a first mover, a first cause of all things in the world. Aristotle, though he held the eternity of the world, confesseth there was prootan aitian kosmou kai tès taxeoos pasès; and he saith that Homotimus and Anaxagoras were necessitated by the appearance of the truth to acknowledge it; and that all perfections which are in other things by participation, are in the first cause essentially; and that this first cause was of such infinite power and wisdom, as appeared, because all things are ordered to such good uses and purposes. The apostle saith, Rom. i. 19, 20, 'That which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead.' And he disputes upon it as a granted principle, that there was a first cause: Acts xvii. 28; 'For in him we live, and move, and have our being;' and Acts xiv. 15, 'He is the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein.'
[3.] This knowledge in the heathens was but faint, and full of hesitancy and confusion, of very little profit and comfort. Though they did acknowledge a God and first cause, yet they multiplied feigned deities and set up many gods; they had not any full and saving light, which might be a comfort and profit to their souls; they could not see this first cause, so as to fear him, and trust in him for his power, love him for his goodness, and honour him and adore him for his wisdom: Rom. i. 21, 22, 'They become vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.' They could not draw out the necessary consequences of these truths, to love, trust, fear, worship, and honour this first cause; there they were vain in their imaginations. Therefore our Lord proposeth the gentiles as a pattern of unbelievers: Mat. vi. 32, 'After all these things do the gentiles seek,' when he spoke how we should trust God. They had but rude and imperfect notions of the power and care of God, and could not apply them for their profit and benefit, therefore they are carking and caring, and cannot trust God.
[4.] The manner and the necessary circumstances of the creation were wholly unknown to the heathens. Effects discover the cause, but they cannot discover the circumstances of action, because those depend wholly upon the will of the agent. So because the circumstances of the creation were not necessary, but did wholly depend upon the will of God, reason and nature cannot know them, unless God make them known in the word; as, for instance, they knew not perfectly who made the world; not when, nor how it was made, nor whence it was made. Not who made the world: though they had some rude and gross conceits of the first cause, yet they looked upon him as a servile agent, working out of mere necessity, communicating his influences, because he could not choose to do otherwise. So when the world was made, the beginning and duration of it, this was wholly hidden from the heathens. The scripture can only show it to us. Therefore many of the heathens complained of the great defect that was in their chronicles, that they had not an ancienter monument than the destruction of Troy; Cur supra bellum Trojanum, et funera Trojae; so Lucretius, Macrobius. The writings of Moses are much more ancient than all the gods of the heathens. The wars of Troy were about the time of the judges. The youngest prophets of the old testament were before the oldest philosophers and historians of the gentiles. Then they knew not whence, from what term, God should begin his work. This is a maxim of nature, ex nihilo nihil fit - that nothing can be made, out of nothing; therefore this puzzled them how the creature should be first made, since it was contrary to that natural maxim, that the whole world should be framed out of nothing, and that by the mere word of God; this never sunk into the heads of the wisest heathens. Hence proceeded such difference of opinions among them; some held the world to be a work of mere chance, as Epicurus and Leucippus; others, that it was eternal and coeval with the first cause, as Aristotle; and the Platonists, that it was made out of some eternal pre-existent matter. Then they could not tell how it was made in six days; nature, reason, and discourse could never have found out that, which Moses hath written concerning the distinct originals of all propagation, and the framing of every creature in its rank and place; they could see such things, but not the original of the fowls, of fishes, of man, and of all the beasts of the field. Nature could propound questions, how were these made? but nature could never assoil them. Then they could not tell the end why the world was made. Aristotle saith, We are not at all bound to the first cause, whether he did good or evil, because he did work out of servile necessity, and could do no otherwise. Moses tells us, God made all things for his glory, that he may be worshipped, and honoured, and served by the creature; that the highest heaven was a place for man; that the soul might enjoy bliss and eternal communion with God. All these circumstances were hidden from them; they were not matters of sense, they were not before our eyes; but faith makes us to apprehend the six days' works, as if we had seen and stood by, as the angels did, applauding every day's work. They were not matters of reason, because transcending those principles that are agreeable to the rules of nature; and they depend merely on the unlimitedness of God's will, and the exuberancy of his power.
Use 1. For information. If by faith only we can understand the truth and wonders of the creation, then,
1. It informs us, that reason is not the judge of controversies in religion, and the doubts that do arise about the matters of God are not to be determined by the dictates of nature. If then we leave the written word and follow the guidance of our own reason, we shall but puzzle ourselves with impertinent scruples, and leave ourselves under a dissatisfaction. Usually men of parts and ingenuous education are liable to this snare; for having the highest claim to the exercise of reason, they are apt to set up reason above the word. Celsus said to his fellow heathens, that we should follow reason, and that all error was brought into the world by faith. And Galen, when he read some passages of Moses, said, Multa dicit, nihil probat - he saith much, but he proves nothing. In many things we have only the saying of scripture, and it is enough the scripture saith it. If we should believe no more than the strength of reason and discourse will assure us, we should soon deny the doctrine of the trinity, the deity of Christ, and the creation; reason can never trace these things. This is the inlet of all atheism and profaneness, when men set up reason as the highest tribunal. Indeed there are many uses of reason; partly to prepare and induce us to hearken to the word of God; this is the mind God hath given us to know him, the stock left in nature, upon which he would implant faith. And partly, it is of great use, that after we have believed, we may receive an additional confirmation; when we believe a thing, reason may judge, if it be not equal and fit we should believe it. Faith makes advantage of the confessions and acknowledgments of nature: there is no truth we believe, but afterwards we may find excellent advantages to confirm us in it by rational searches. These confirmations of reason are of great use for the quenching those fiery darts which Satan flings into the soul, by which he would bear down all principles of religion. And partly, to prevent absurd intrusions upon our belief and fanatical opinions. Ignorance and error have many times been veiled under a pretence of mystery, and things hidden from reason. Though reason must be captivated to faith, yet not to fancy. Reason is made a judge many times where the word is silent; but for the truths revealed in the word, though they are above reason, yet they are not against reason; though reason cannot comprehend them, yet they are not repugnant to reason. And partly reason is of great use, that we may search the scripture, and draw out necessary consequences from the truths revealed in the word; this we may do by the warrant of Christ. The mysteries of salvation must be believed first, that we may understand them; we must receive them from God's bare testimony, afterwards search them out, that our belief may be the more distinct and explicit. Thus reason serveth faith. There is a great use of reason in religion, so it keeps its place, being subordinate to faith.
2. It informs us that the heathens had never light enough for salvation. Their charity is too large who think that the heathens may be taught enough by those natural apostles, sun, moon, and stars. Certainly they are blind in the work of redemption, since they are so blind in the work of creation. Though God hath not left himself without witness, Act xiv. 17, that is, such as may lead them to God the creator, yet not to lead them to God the Redeemer, there is enough given to the heathens for conviction, but not for conversion. Therefore all those that God would call to himself, he gave them a higher light, even the revelation of the word. Though nature tells us, there is a God, yet what he is, and how to be worshipped, and how he came to be displeased with the world, and how he came to be reconciled, of all this it telleth us nothing. Nature finds itself depraved, but it knows not the remedy and cure.
3. It shows us the great advantage that we have by faith, and by the written word. If we had been left to the puzzle and distraction of our own reason, how should we have known whence the world came, and how it was made by God? Reason, as it exerciseth itself in several ways since the ruin of it in Adam's fall, is of several dimensions, according to men's natural constitution, moral education, and industry. But he hath given us the blessed rules of his word. What a puzzle and distraction were the philosophers left in? A poor child learneth more by a catechism, than all the philosophers by their profound researches; those that have the smallest abilities of reason may here learn. The philosophers, though they spent all their days in painful studies, and were endowed with rare abilities of learning, yet what novices were they in spiritual things! they cannot tell what the happiness of the soul is, nor where it shall be enjoyed, nor the means to attain it; they know not how the world was made, nor how it shall end.
4. It informs us, that religion is not illiterate. Grace doth not make men simple, but rather perfects human learning. None discern truths with more comfort and satisfaction than a believer; it solves all doubts and riddles of reason. Quod ratio non capit, fides intelligit. Simple men despise learning, and carnal men despise grace, both on the same grounds. Faith and reason must go together, though reason must be subordinate. We should not despise the help of human learning, neither should we despise grace, as if it did make men dull, and blunt the edge of their parts. Reason and faith, when kept in their proper place, are of excellent advantage. Join faith with your study, and all will be more clear, otherwise we shall stumble at truths. When these three lights are in conjunction, the light of parts, the light of refined reason and the light of grace, they bring forth admirable and happy effects. But on the other side, the decay of learning hath been the sensible abatement of religion. Religion hath never lost more than when outward helps have been despised, which men do to hide their own ignorance. When the apostle speaks against the vain abuse of learning, he gives God thanks: 1 Cor. xiv. 18, 'I thank God, I speak with tongues more than you all,' implying that it is the usual course of men to speak against that which they want. A heated iron pierceth into a board though blunt, more than edged tools when cold. Holiness and outward advantages must go together.
5. We learn hence the properties of faith to have knowledge, assent, and obedience in it; therefore it is not a blind reliance, but a clear, distinct persuasion of such truths, concerning which human discourse can give us no satisfaction. Faith is opposite to three things. The knowledge of it is opposite to ignorance; faith brings the soul to the understanding of the things of salvation. And it is opposite to folly; it makes us improve the mysteries of salvation to our spiritual comfort: Luke xxiv. 25, 'O ye fools, and slow of heart to believe;' and Eph. 1. 18, 'That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened,' &c. There is the wisdom of believers to apply truths to their spiritual advantage. And it is opposite to incogitancy and carelessness of spirit, it makes us turn our minds upon the things of religion.
6. It is the nature of faith to subscribe to a revelation in the word, though reason give little assistance and aid. The word is enough to faith, though the thing seem unlikely to reason; it stands not upon appearance or probabilities. When we have a doctrine laid down in the word, we must not mind whether it be probable, otherwise we should never believe a creation, which is the making of all things out of nothing.
Use 2. It serves to stir you up to act faith. What is the use of faith upon the creation? To answer all the objections of reason, and settle the truth in the soul, and to improve it for spiritual uses and advantages, and to facilitate the belief of other truths upon this ground; did he make the world out of nothing? Many truths are less wonderful than this.
Hebrews
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