Use. 2. It showeth us the excellency of order; how pleasing order and method is to God: God hath always delighted in it. All his works are managed and carried on in an accurate order. So in all artificial works; God speaks like a wise architect about the ark of Noah; God gave directions how it should be framed: Gen. vi. 15, 'The length of it shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth fifty cubits, the height thirty cubits.' So for the tabernacle, it was according to the pattern in the mount, Exod. xxv.; so for the table of show-bread, the knobs, bowls, and shafts of the candlestick, God gave special directions about them. Certainly God is a God of order, and not of confusion, 1 Cor. xiv. 33. All order is from God; but all discord and confusion is from the devil. Order is pleasing to him in the state and civil administrations, in the church, and in the course of your private conversations.
1. In civil administrations in the commonwealth, there are several orders and constitutions that God hath made. The beauty of the world lieth in hills and valleys; so in the state, some advanced to high places, others are low and poor. To bring all to one size, pitch and level, would soon introduce confusion into the world. There is order in heaven, order in hell, and there should have been order in innocency. There is order in heaven among the good angels. The scripture speaks of an archangel, 1 Thes. iv. 16; though he be not a monarch, there are others of the same rank and order: Dan. x. 13, 'Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me.' And we read in Job of the morning stars,' Job xxxviii. 7; that is, the archangels that excel the rest in glory. There are many of them, and God himself presides among them. Then there are inferior ministering angels, thrones, principalities, powers, dominions. Though we cannot define the difference, yet the scripture plainly intimates one, and lays down an order and subordination among the angels. Nay, there is some kind of order in hell itself. There is a prince among the infernal spirits; whence comes that expression, 'The devil and his angels,' Mat. xxv. 41; and Rev. xii. 7, 'The dragon and his angels,' who is 'called the devil and Satan,' ver. 9. Jesus Christ, though he doth not positively lay it down, yet he doth not deny the common opinion of the Jews, that Beelzebub was the prince of evil spirits. The devils are not without their head and prince. And in innocency there should have been order too, if we had continued in that state. There would have been government and some inequality; there would have been difference of sex, women and men; the relation of fathers and children; the disparity of age, young men and old; now much more is there need of it since the fall. There can be no peace without it. Pace est tranquillitas ordinis - peace is the quiet of everything in its proper place: it is a great blessing when all keep their due subordination, when magistrates keep their place, ministers and tradesmen keep their place; otherwise things will be shamefully brought into confusion. Thus civil peace is the fruit of order, when every one keeps their place. When the elements are out of their places, then there are confusions in nature.
2. The Lord loves order in the church. I have observed the church is set forth in scripture by the same similitudes and resemblances by which the frame of the world is; by an army, and by a house, and by the body of man. By an army or host: the church is 'terrible as an army with banners,' Cant. vi. 4; when all administrations are regularly carried according to the mind of God. It is compared to a house: Eph. ii. 22, 'In whom you also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.' And the prophet speaks of the order of the church: Isa. liv. 12, 'I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles.' It is compared to the body of man, which receives supplies and nourishment from the head: Col. ii. 19, 'And not holding the head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.' Usually we are very loose and arbitrary in point of order. That is the great security, the fence and hedge of religion, when some instruct in the word, some are for inspection of manners, some minister to the poor; when there are some to govern, and others to be governed; when all keep their place, the church is beautiful, and terrible as an army with banners. This was the rejoicing of the apostle, Col. ii. 5, 'To behold their order and steadfastness.' The order of the church doth not consist in idle foppish ceremonies, but in decent administrations. But when men set the feet where the head should be, make every one to be guides to the church, then the beauty of the church is defaced, and all error and confusion is let into the church. The apostle complains of 'Some that did walk disorderly,' 2 Thes. iii. 11, ataktoos the word signifies out of rank; this provokes the just suspension of the influences of his grace.
3. The excellency of order in private conversation. We must be more orderly in disposing our actions for the conveniency of the spiritual life. Nothing so fit for a man as order and method in his private conversation but more especially in the spiritual life. We should not walk at random and at large. Till there be a settled frame in the course of our lives, it will never do well; that we may not live at adventure in religion, and do good by flashes. God complains of them that are only good by fits, Hosea vi. 4. If we do not task ourselves, and propose a settled course, we shall be fickle and inconstant, off and on with God: Ps. 1. 23, 'To him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I show the salvation of God.' We should state all the courses and exercises of religion in the holy life; that so our duty may not be a hindrance, but a help to another. We act loosely when we act arbitrarily, and at random; and shall be soon taken off by every allegation and plea of the flesh, if we do not lay a necessity upon ourselves, and settle a stated course of religious duties in our lives. You may do this lawfully: to this end God hath given us spiritual prudence and christian discretion. There are precepts in general for giving and doing, but for measure, number, and order, God would leave that to christian discretion. It is said, Ps. cxii. 5, 'A good man guides all his affairs with discretion.' Do not think such a stated course will be a snare to you, but it will prove a great advantage, and be a hedge to duty. All the experiences of the saints seal to it; they could not else secure themselves against neglects and omissions, if they did not lay an engagement upon themselves by their own purposes and constitutions. Duties of ordinary recourse may be easily thus disposed. I confess it requires some wisdom to state it aright, lest we lie bound in chains of our own making, and watchfulness and resolution that we may keep it. When the proportions are rational, every idle objection should not take us off, for it is in the nature of paying a vow. Time dedicated to God is not in our power, nor revocable upon every slight occasion, only in case of inviolable necessity, to which duties of a divine institution do give place.
Use. 3. It discovers the odiousness of sin that disjointed the frame of nature. When God made the world, 'he saw everything he had made, and behold it was very good,' Gen. i. 31; but Solomon when he looked upon it, he saw all was 'vanity of vanities,' Eccles. i. 2. What is the reason? sin intervened and so the course of nature was altered. It had been otherwise but for sin; the creature had continued in their order, had we continued in our innocence. Let me spread a few considerations before you.
1. Do but consider what cause God hath to be angry with us. We are angry with those that break down a curious frame or contrivement we have made, as if any break curious glasses, pictures, or images, or a handsome structure. But consider, we have cracked the frame of the universe. The ties which hold the world are loosened by our sins, and much of the accurate order of the universe is inverted. There is a vanity among the creatures themselves, and sin and rebellion to us. Therefore when thy thoughts are cold and barren in acknowledging sin, especially in conceiving the evil that is in original sin, consider of this circumstance it turned a paradise into a wilderness and rude common; it broke the frame of nature. As Moses, when he was angry with the Israelites, broke the tables so God hath broken the great frame of nature. Let that break your hearts which hath broken the world; and that which hath wrought so much mischief in nature, let it trouble your souls.
2. Consider what a fit circumstance and consideration this is to represent the odiousness of sin; here we have a sensible and constant memorial of the fruits of our rebellion. Man, being in a lower sphere of understanding, knows causes by their effects. Oh, see what a cause sin is; look upon the effects of it in the disorders that are in the world: Jer. ii. 19, 'Know therefore, and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God.' What would you think of that gall, a drop of which is enough to embitter an ocean of sweetness? Such is sin. One sin poisoned all mankind at once, and cracked and dissolved the frame of nature. There were indeed presently upon the fall two dreadful effects of sin's influence, the misery Adam brought upon his own posterity, and the vanity he brought upon the creature; both are sad and continual resemblances. The first I confess is a very great representation of the evil of sin; every child that is born is a new memorial of the fall. God as it were said to Adam, as the prophet to Gehazi, 2 Kings v. 27, 'The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and to thy seed for ever;' now thou hast sinned, every child born shall be a leper. So all the children of Adam are as so many pledges and memorials of the folly and disobedience he had committed against God. But look without, and the creatures are made unhappy by man's fall. When we have drawn company with us into misery, their sight and presence doth but increase our sorrow; as if a prodigal should look upon the lean faces of his family, he cannot but with the more regret own the shame of his own excesses. We may all go to God, and say with David, 2 Sam. xxiv. 17, 'Lord, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but as for these sheep, what have they done?' so, Lord, we and our forefathers have all sinned against thee; but what have the creatures done, that they are destroyed and devoured? These memorials are constantly represented; not a bit we eat, not a cloth we put on, but may return these thoughts into our minds, these are the fruits of our sin. In innocency Adam was not ashamed of his nakedness, and the creatures might not be slain for our food.
3. We have no cause to exempt ourselves from this duty of mourning by laying the guilt upon Adam; as if he only were unthankful and rebellious against God. Consider, by sin we do as it were consent to Adam's act, and so we are accessory post faction to his guilt. Imitation is an approbation, and an implicit and interpretative consent. Saith Christ to the Jews, Mat. xxiii. 37, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets;' and ver. 36, 'Whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.' How did they slay them? Because they continued still vexing the servants of God, therefore they are said to slay Zacharias. They that go on in any sin, do subscribe to the acts of those that went before them; we have continued in Adam's course of rebelling against God, therefore we are justly chargeable with his act. The father is fore-faulted for rebellion, and the child, continuing in the same course, doth approve his act, and besides his own personal guilt, is chargeable with the crimes of his forefathers. So that we may say, we have unsettled the universe. Jude 11, it is said 'these perished in the gainsaying of Korah.' How could that be, when there was such a huge distance and space of time between these and Korah? The meaning is, by practising the same sins, they came into a fellowship of the guilt; and imitating the fault, they became liable to the same judgment. Adam's first act brought on the original curse upon the creature, but our actual sins bring in an actual curse. As there is original and actual sin, so there is an original and an actual curse. It is true, Adam alone brought on the original curse: Gen. iii. 17, 'Cursed be the ground for thy sake:' but we bring on an actual curse: Ps. cvii. 33, 34, 'He turns rivers into a wilderness, and water-springs into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.' Our actual sinning spoils the earth, and makes it barren and disorders the elements, and makes the rain from heaven unseasonable. Yea, we are guilty every day of doing that which Adam did once - laying a greater burden upon the creatures by abusing them to pomp, pride, excess, and carnal trust; so you need not complain of Adam, but of your ownselves. The creatures do not say, Lord, avenge our quarrel upon Adam, but upon these who have abused us: Hab. ii. 11, 'The stone out of the wall shall cry out, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.' The stone and timber shall cry, Lord, avenge us against this oppressor; the house that is builded by extortion is crying to God against the unjust possessor. So James v. 3, 4, 'The rust of the gold and silver shall be a witness against them. Behold, the hire of the labourers, which have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth.' The rusty coin out of the coffer crieth, and requireth vengeance at God's hands; the creatures that have been abused to disorder and excess do cry out of the glutton's belly and drunkard's throat, O Lord, avenge us! The clothes upon our backs do as it were cry, Lord, we are abused to pride and vanity; take notice of our quarrel and plea against man!
4. If we do not bemoan this disorder of nature, the very creatures will shame us. They groan under this burden of vanity that is brought upon them; but we are senseless, slight and careless. It is even true what Christ said in another case, Luke xix. 40, 'If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.' So, if we hold our peace, the creatures will speak to our shame. Whither is man fallen? The senseless and inanimate creatures are more moved with the evil of the present state than we are. That is the reason the prophet doth turn so often to the creatures, and address himself and speak to them: Jer. xii. 4, 'How long shall the hand mourn, and the herbs of every field wither for the wickedness of them that dwell therein?' And Lam. ii. 18, 'O wall of the daughter of Sion, let tears run down like a river day and night.' The prophet calls upon the wall because the people were senseless. We go dancing like madmen to our misery and execution; and the creatures mourn and groan under the burden of our sins: Hosea iv. 3, 'The hand mourneth,' viz, for oaths, hut where is the swearer that mourns? The prophets often turn from men, and speak to the creatures: Deut. xxxii. 1, 'Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.' And Micah vi. 2, 'Hear, O mountains, the Lord's controversy.' And, Jer. xxii. 29, 'O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord;' because men will take no notice. The prophets may fret out their hearts, and spend their lungs in vain, before men will be sensible; therefore he speaks to them. You hear the ox lowing, and the creatures groaning under the present vanity, and you do not lay it to heart. When you see unseasonable weather and barrenness, consider all these are the fruits of the original curse.
5. We of all the other parts of the creation have most cause to lay it to heart, because there is none so disordered and shattered by the fall as man is. There was none so excellent as man, being at first framed by the counsel and contrivance of God. When the world was made, it was said, ' Let it be;' but man was made by counsel, 'Let us make man after our own image,' Gen. i. 26. Man was made at first after the image of God, now he is scarce the image of himself; like a defaced picture, that hath some obscure lineaments of a fair draft. Man was a comely, beautiful, orderly creature at first; but now there are but some obscure relics of this left. The soul was to be a good guide to the body, and the body a dexterous instrument of the soul; but now both are out of frame; we have spoiled the temper of our bodies, and the order of our souls. The rabbis say, when Adam tasted the forbidden fruit, his head ached; certainly it is true in a spiritual sense, then began aches and pains; how is all shattered and discomposed! We read in ecclesiastical story of a famous captain who triumphed in many battles, but afterward he fell into disgrace with the emperor, and first his lady was deflowered before his face, then his eyes bored out, and he was turned out like a blind beggar begging, Date obolum Belizario, give one halfpenny for poor Belizarius. Before the fall, man was the favourite of heaven, but after the fall he was presently made a slave of hell, his will was deflowered, then his eyes were pulled out, so that now having little knowledge and little wisdom even to guide ourselves in a moral course, the passions rebel against reason, and many times man is not only tempted, but drawn aside by his own lusts, and enticed, James i. 14. Nay, many times the body riseth up in arms against the soul. Paul groans because of a law in his members, Rom. vii. 23. Oh what a poor disordered routed creature man is! body and soul all discomposed and out of order.
6. There is a loss to us by the disorder of nature, and by the distempering of the creature. Man by the fall lost imperium sui. the command of himself, and imperium suum, his command over the creatures; they are enemies to man because he hath rebelled against God. If ever we find them hurtful and rebellious, we may thank ourselves, they do but revenge their maker's quarrel. They think it is their duty to turn off their allegiance from him that hath proved a traitor to God, therefore they sometimes oppress us with their power and greatness. It is usual with God to execute his judgments by the creature: Pharoah and the Egyptians were drowned in the sea; the earth opened to swallow up Korah and his company; the stars fought against Sisera; Herod was eaten up with lice; Egypt devoured with frogs. Therefore the vanity of the creature is a loss to us; there is not only an enmity between them one among another, but they have lost their allegiance to man. Nay, they are ready to go if the Lord do but hiss for them. Job xxxviii. 35, 'Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?' The lightnings say unto God, Here we are; the winds say, Shall we go and blast their fruits and trees? here we are, Lord, send us. The clouds say, Shall we pour out in abundance, and overwhelm the earth? Isa. vii. 18, 'The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.' It is an expression that sets forth the power of God over the creatures. If God do but signify his pleasure, they are very ready to avenge their creator's quarrel against man.
The second circumstance in the creation is the instrument or means by which all things were created, and that is, 'By the word of God.'
Here a question ariseth, what is meant by the word of God? whether that which they call God's external imperial word, or whether God's essential and substantial word? The reason of the doubt is, because God made all things by Christ, and Christ is often called the word. It is his solemn title, and that in reference to the creation: John i. 1, 'In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God;' and ver. 3, 'By him were all things created.' And Heb. i. 2, 'He hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.' So that Jesus Christ is the eternal word. I shall answer this doubt in these propositions.
1. It is very true that the second person, the Lord Jesus Christ, had a great stroke in the creation: Ps. xxxiii. 6, 'By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.' There is the whole trinity; there is the Lord, and the word of the Lord, and there is the breath of his mouth; that is, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Prov. viii. 22, 'The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.' There is Christ's eternity, and his hand and power in the creation: ver. 23, 'I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was; that is, in the first emanation of his power, Christ was then discovered: John i. 3, 'By him were all things made that were made.' Col. i. 16, 'By him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth.' Probably this may be held forth in that speech ten times repeated: 'The Lord said, the Lord spake.' Nay some of the Jews acknowledge an uncreated word in all those expressions. Philo saith, ho logos ton kosmon epoièsev. And it is not to be disregarded, that the Chaldee paraphrase makes the word to be God himself.
2. Yet, besides this essential word, it is clear that we must understand also his imperial word, or the word of his command; so it is interpreted, Ps. xxxiii. 9, 'He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.' Here was God's imperial word. So Ps. cxlviii. 5, 'He commanded, and they were created.' God did create the world by his call and imperial word. So Rom. iv. 17, 'He believed in God, who quickened the dead, and called things that be not, as though they were,' that is, by a call he maketh them be. Moses bringeth in God speaking imperially, 'Let it be.'
3. This imperial word must not be understood properly as if God spake; as if there were an audible voice, 'Let there be light;' but it must be understood anthroopoopathoos, after the manner of men. It is an allusion to princes, if they would have anything done, they do but say, Let it be done, that is enough; as the centurion in the Gospel, Mark viii. 9, 'I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.' When God said, 'Let it be,' he did but signify his will, and the, effect presently did follow. So that by the word of God you must understand the effectual decree of his will concerning the making of all, the creatures, and the present execution of it. And this manner of speaking is used to show with what swiftness and easiness all things were brought to pass which God willeth, and that it is infinitely more easy with God to do what he pleaseth, than for man to speak a word, or think a thought of what he would have to be done.
Quest. Here is another question. If nothing is to be understood but God's will, and willing the creation of all things? then whether the making of the world in six days be only for our understanding, or whether it be so really and indeed; whether all things were not created in the twinkling of an eye by God's will and pleasure; or whether it were done by distinct days, as the history in Genesis seems to intimate? The doubt hath been moved by divines of the greatest note. Austin expressly was of this opinion; so Cajetan, and some among the reformed; their reason is, because God is omnipotent, and could make all things in a moment, therefore why should he make such a slow progress, and go from day to day? And the author of Ecclesiasticus saith, 'He that liveth for ever, made all things at once.' They quote scripture for it: Gen. ii. 4, 5, 'In the day that God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in earth, and every herb of the field before it grew.' - in that very day say they, when God created the heaven and the earth, he created all the other creatures. And they say that the mentioning of the six days was only inserted by Moses, because by so many distinctions and representations God showed his creatures to the angels, and to declare the natural dependence of all things upon one another, and also for our incapacity to conceive distinctly of things at once.
Ans. But all this is but a figment and gross supposition without the scripture. Though God could make all things in a moment, yet we must not reason from God's power to God's will, nor instruct him how to bring forth his work: Rom. xi. 34, 'For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?' And for that place, Gen. ii. 4, 5, 'In the day that the Lord made the earth and the heavens,' some answer thus: It is true they were all made, potentia, in power, though not actu, actually in one day. Or rather the word day must be twice repeated: in the day that God made the heavens and the earth; and in the day that God made the plants, &c, for day there is taken more largely for time. But to confirm you in the history of Moses, it is plain that God made the world in that order; there are these apparent reasons for it -
[1.] If God made the world all at once, how could Moses with truth put down such a distinct commendation of every day's work?
[2.] Moses wrote historically, therefore his words must be properly understood.
[3.] Why should he say, God made light before the firmament and stars, if we go to natural dependence and order? It should be first the firmament, then the stars, then light. Therefore it is certain Moses followed that order in his history, that God observed in the production of all things.
[4.] If all creatures were thus created together, how could there he darkness upon the face of the deep? And how could the earth be said to be without form and void? Then it would have plants and beasts, if all were made together.
[5.] The reason of the sabbath would be to no purpose; how could Moses say with truth, Therefore the sabbath must be sanctified, because God rested the seventh day? Therefore we may conclude, that though the effect followed as soon as God willed it, yet God willed the creation of all things in order; such a creature this day, and such a creature the next day.
Use 1. It helpeth us to conceive of the creation, all things were done by his word according to his will. The Gnostics feigned the aspectable world was made by the angels; but the scripture is plain: 2 Peter iii. 5, 'By the word of the Lord the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and in the water.' He made them all without help and without labour; no creature, no instrument was serviceable to him in it; all was infinitely more easy to God than the conceiving of a thought can be to yourselves.
Use 2. Here is much comfort and profit to you.
1. Much comfort to poor souls that are smitten with remorse, and touched with a deep sense of their misery and wretched and sinful condition by nature. Usually, at first conversion, you may observe men have such a strong sense of the present evils and distempers of their spirits, that they are apt to sink under the burden of their discouragements, and to say, surely this hard heart will never be softened! this blind mind will never be enlightened! these stubborn affections will never he subdued and mortified! Consider the first creation when you expect the new creation. Think of the power of him that can call the things that are not, as though they were; one creating word is enough. Compare the benefit of the first creation and the second together: 2 Cor. iv. 6, 'God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into your hearts,' &c. In the original it is ho eipoon - he that spoke light out of darkness, by his word he could bring it forth presently; he can speak light to our souls, though there were nothing but darkness, confusion and disorder. You may go to God as the centurion, Mat. viii. 8, 'Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.' So do you say, Lord, speak but the word, then my soul shall be clean. It is observable that Jesus Christ, when he would discover any notable effects, he speaketh creating words; as 'Be thou clean;' 'Be thou made whole;' 'Follow me;' 'Lazarus, come forth.' How may a poor soul go to God when he is thus discouraged, and say, Speak light out of darkness, speak grace, O Lord, one word is enough, thou canst easily reach the bottom of the electing faculty.
2. It is of great use to encourage believers to wait for the accomplishment of the promises. Every promise rightly understood is a creating word. When God saith that he will make them perfect to every good work, it is as much as if he said, Be thou perfect, be thou justified, be thou sanctified, be thou enabled to every work of holiness, be thou glorified. When he saith, 'It is your Father's pleasure to give you a kingdom,' to make you able to every good work, to keep you by his power to salvation, he hath signified his pleasure, and that is enough to assure us it shall be effected. Look upon the word of God in creation as a pledge of the accomplishment of the promises. We doubt, because we are ignorant of the power of God's word. Your unbelief would be much abated if you would consider his creating the world, - how God could bring all things out of nothing. All the creatures are looking-g1asses, that we may read what God can do by his word; in them his sufficiency and efficacy are proposed to us to behold. When we have nothing left us but a promise, we may see all things in it. If God hath made heaven by his word, he can give thee heaven, and make good his promises by his word. God's word is the foundation of the creature's being, and the foundation of your faith, If heaven could be made and prepared by the word of his power, certainly the promises will be accomplished and made good to your souls, and you shall be brought to heaven by the word of his truth.
The third and last circumstance is the matter, or rather term, from which God's work began; there was no prejacent or pre-existent matter. It is a note of form and order; ex nihilo, that is, post nihilum - 'So that things that are seen were not made of things that do appear.' The words have undergone variety of constructions. Calvin, leaving out the preposition, rendereth it, Ut non apparentium spectacula fierent, making it parallel with Rom. i. 20, '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.' But this is to force the grammatical construction. Some understand by 'things not seen,' the idea or module of all things in the divine mind; but this is to bring down the apostle's language to the doctrine of the school of Plato. Some understand the chaos, and that the apostle alludeth to the translation of the Septuagint of what is in the original, 'And the earth was without form, and void,' Gen. i. 2, the Septuagint renders hè de gè aoratos kai aparaskeuastos - The earth was invisible and unprepared. This may be in part respected here, for 'darkness was upon the face of the deep;' and so it may well be called, 'things not appearing.' Rather by ta mè fainomena you may understand ta mè onta - out of nothing. And the word was suited with the apostle's scope, which is to prove that faith contents itself with the word of God, though nothing be seen; that which was not at all could not be seen. Though these two latter expositions may be compounded, all things were made either immediately by God out of nothing, or immediately out of the chaos.
Quest. But here may be a doubt: How did God make all things out of nothing, since man was made of the dust of the earth? and all things were made out of the chaos, the first mass and lump that was without form? I answer, There is a double creation: out of nothing, and out of that which is as good as nothing.
1. There is a creation out of mere nothing; so the Lord framed many things, as the heaven of heavens, the dwelling-place of God and angels, and the spirits of blessed men. He could not make that from the earth and water, for that was not. So the chaos, or the earth that was void and without form, God made that out of nothing. And God made light out of nothing - ' He commanded light to shine out of darkness,' 2 Cor. iv. 6. So the angels, and the souls of men, which were breathed into them by the breath of God: Gen. ii. 7, 'God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.' God made all these out of mere nothing.
2. God made some things out of foregoing matter, which is yet called a creation, because the matter was altogether indisposed and unfit for such a use. There was no disposition in the matter to receive such a shape as God bestowed upon it; the form was merely from the power of God, as the firmament was made out of the water: Ps. civ. 3, 'He layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters;' that is, the firmament, which was made by the rarefaction and expansion of the waters. So the sun, moon, and stars were made out of the first light; for either it was annihilated or it yet remaineth. Annihilated it could not be, for the wise God made nothing but for some end, and we do not read that he abolished anything he had made; therefore it remaineth dispersed in the sun, moon, and stars, otherwise what is the use of it? Fishes were made out of the waters: Gen. i. 20, 'Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life.' Birds were made out of the earth, and so beasts: Gen. ii. 19, 'And out of the ground the Lord formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air.' The body of man was made out of the dust of the ground; Gen. ii. 7, 'And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground;' and the woman was taken out of the man: Gen. ii. 22, 'And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman.'
Use. God by this would teach the world what to think of him. He created the world out of mere nothing, or out of matter not prepared; he created them wholly by his word, having no partaker with him. The great thing that we should learn hence is God's power. That you may consider it with profit, I shall lay down a few propositions.
1. Power is one of God's greatest perfections; that serves most for the comfort of the creature. It is love to make a promise; truth to regard his promise; and it is his power that makes good his promise. The warrant of our faith is the truth of God; but the proper ground of our faith is the power and sufficiency of God. When the apostle speaks of Abraham that was the father of the faithful, his faith is bottomed and founded on God's power; he believed that God was able to do it: Rom. iv. 21, 'Being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform.' This is the proper ground of our faith, that God is every way sufficient to make good his promise. It is the prime perfection of God; for it is the power of God that maketh all other the perfections of God valid and effectual for the comfort of poor creatures. Therefore may we receive comfort from his mercy, because he is able to show mercy; therefore may we depend upon his goodness and truth, because it is seconded with the power and all-sufficiency of God: Eph. iii. 20, 'He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.'
2. In the creation there is no attribute so eminent as God's power. There was wisdom and goodness shown in the creation, but the main attribute is power. God's wisdom and his goodness appear in the creation, as they exist in created things; but God's infinite power is in himself. Therefore, when the apostle speaks of the knowledge of heathens, Rom. i. 20, he saith in the creation was manifested 'his eternal power and godhead.' That was the principal thing discovered in the work of creation: Rev. v. 12, 'Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches,' &c.
3. 'We must not only with a naked, idle speculation reflect upon God's power but improve it to the uses of religion, as to fear and to trust.
[1.] To fear: Ps. xxxiii. 8, 'Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him;' Job xxxvii. 23, 24, 'Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out; he is excellent in power... men do therefore fear him.' We should have a dread of God because of such power. Who would not fear to enter into the lists with him? By sins committed against God you draw omnipotency about your ears. Would you engage the mighty God against you? There are two causes of carnal compliance: we presume of God's mercy, and fear man's power. To check it, consider God is able by the rebuke of his countenance to turn us to nothing, that made us out of nothing.
[2.] Improve it to trust. In all your straits and exigencies, when nothing appears, then wait upon the Lord; he can create means when he finds none; he can produce all possible things into act, or leave them still in the womb of nothing. He can do you good by contrary means; as Christ cured the blind man's eyes by clay and spittle, by that which seemed to put them out.
Hebrews
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