dayes for Divine service how improbable is it that Cain and Abel should concurre at the same time in bringing their offerings unto the Lord and if not at the same time how could Cain discerne that Abels offering was respected and accepted of God when his was Gen. 4.3 not and besides it is said In processe of time it came to passe that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. In the processe of time or at the end of days as it is in the margin of your Bibles and as the original will bear it viz. on the Sabbath-day when there is an end of the dayes of the week and they begin again I might adde that it is not improbable but that Noah and his family kept the Sabbath in the Ark for it is said that he stayed Gen. 8. 10 12. other seven dayes and sent forth the Dove out of the Ark and verse 12. He stayed other seven dayes and sent forth the Dove why did Noah this on the seventh day It was likely that then Noah and his family were at prayer and engaged in the worship and service of God and at such times it is good to make experiments of Gods fatherly care of us and providence over us Quest. 3. verse 4. In the first Chapter it is said that God made the heavens and the earth in six dayes and in this verse it is said These are the generations of the heaven and the earth in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens From this place some would gather that Resp 1 all the world was made in one day and that Moses doth divide the creation into six dayes propter captum that it might be the better understood Others conceive that Moses relates to that first matter or substance of which all things were created now this was made in one day Others think with whom I close that Moses doth not speak strictly here but indefinitely in the day the Lord made the earth that is to say in the time the Lord made the earth so it is taken in other places of Scripture To day if you will hear Psal 95.7 his voice c. Quest. 4. verse 5. How God could be said to create every plant of the field before it was in the earth Either the meaning is that they were Resp 1 created potentialiter in the first masse and so created before they were in the earth Or else the meaning is this God created every plant of the field before it was in the earth viz. there was not a plant in the earth before God created it Quest 5. verse 7. It is said God formed man of the dust of the earth How can man be said to be made of dust or earth when he is made of the four elements earth fire aire water Moses saies God formed man of the dust Resp 1 of the earth but not only of the dust of the earth Moses loquitur de terra ut de causa partiali non totali Moses speaks of the dust but as part of that matter of which man was made But he expresses the one and therefore Object by consequence denies the other This is just as if a man by calling one his Resp fathers sonne should deny him to be his mothers Quest 6. verse 7. Why doth the Lord speak distinctly in this verse concerning mans body and soul We shall finde God speaks of other creatures in the bulk body and soul together Let the waters bring forth abandantly the moving creature that hath life and so verse Gen. 1. 20 24 24. Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kinde c. To note the spirituality and immateriality Resp 1 of the soul the soul of man non educitur ex potentiâ materiae as the Learned phrase it but the body was made of one kind of substance and the soul of another for Consider 1. The condition and nature of its object speaks this truth Seneca could say Hoc habet argumentum anima suae divinitatis quòd illam divina delectant This argument of its spirituality hath the soul of man in its own essence that it is delighted with things divine and spiritual If the soul were material we could not reach to the knowledge of any thing but that which is material and we might as well see Angels with our eyes as understand them with our mindes We say Receptio fit per modum recipientis you cannot fill a chest with vertue 2. It s independence on the body it is able of it self to performe its own actions without the help and concurrence of the outward man It seeth when the eys beshut and sometimes seeth not when the eyes be open It travelleth while the body resteth resteth when the body travelleth Rev. 1. 10. When John saw his glorious revelation he is said to be in the spirit when Paul had his revelations and saw things unutterable he knew not whether he were in the body or out of the body for beleevers to know that there are laid up for the Saints such joyes which eye hath not seene nor eare heard what is this but to leave sense behinde us and out-run our bodies 3. Time that wears out all corporeal things addes perfection to the souls and understandings of men old men who have the weakest bodies have the most lively and vigorous souls yea we may observe that men who have the most admirable soul-accomplishments have usually the weakest bodies and are not of the longest lives 'T is a remarkable passage that of Saint John to Gaius I wish saith he that thy body prospered even as thy soul prospers Here is a clear text against the Atheists of these dayes that question whether there be a soul or not the truth is a man cannot doubt of it without it as a man cannot prove Logick to be unnecessary but by Logick as a man cannot say he is dumb without speaking Quest 7. verse 7. In what sense these words are to be understood He breathed into his face the breath of life for the Manichees from hence held that the soul was part of Gods Essence as the breath is part of a mans substance It is true in mans breath there is part of Resp his substance but these words are not spoken of God properly but metaphorically if Moses should have said Jehovah by the power of his Spirit without making use of any elementary matter breathed into man a vital soul An horrid blasphemy to think the Essence of God should be subject to change ignorance sinne c. as the soul is Quest. 8. verse 7. Why is God said to breath into his nostrils or face the breath of life rather then into any other part of the body Because the operations of the soul discover themselves in no part of the body Resp 1 more then in the face hence a living man is usually pictured smiling or reading c. And besides the face and head
even Moses sheweth when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham c. So Iohn 3.14 Ioh. 6.32 which cannot be said of the books called Apocryphal Quest 1. verse 1. What is meant by the heaven and the earth By the heaven I conceive we are to understand two things Resp The highest heaven the heaven of the blessed the dwelling place of glorified Saints and Angels called also the heaven of heavens 1 King 8.27 This heaven I conceive was made before the earth although I lay not any stresse upon the order of the words Repentance is not before Faith because sometimes set in the first place in the text nor was David before Abraham because David is set in the first place in the text Matth. 1. 1. By the heaven we are to understand Angels Iob 38. 7. Where wert thou saith God when I laid the foundations of the earth viz. when the first matter was made of which the world was composed for the earth to speak strictly is without foundations and hangeth upon nothing like a round ball in the aire when the morning starres viz. the Angels for the lights of heaven Sunne Moone and Starres were not yet created sang together c. To this purpose consider That all kinds of beings were created the first six dayes Angels are like the heaven in their spirituality and incorruptibility as also in their power over sublunary and earthly bodies and therefore may be so called The Saints are called heaven seven times in one Chapter as carnal and eathly-minded men are called earth verse 16. And the Rev. 12. earth helped the woman now if the Saints be called heaven in the Scripture why not the Angels From the consideration of the method that was taken by God in the Creation of man so soone as mans seat was perfected man was created It is probable that proportionably when those blessed invisible mansions were finished on the first day the Angels were created By the earth is meant that whole confused Chaos of earth and water which was yet without forme and void as is afterwards described in the second verse now this might be called the earth as when an house is in fieri we call it an house and say an house is a building Quest 2. verse 1. It is said God created the heaven and the earth and yet 2 Cor. 4. 4. Satan is called the God of this world God is the God of the world ratione Resp creationis in regard of creation Satan is the god of the world ratione cultûs in regard of service He rules in the children of disobedience Quest 3. verse 2. Why God should begin time with darknesse It is no greater a wonder then that the Resp Lord should begin a glorious world with a rude and confused Chaos the progresse of his Wisdome in making the world being for the most part from more imperfect things to perfect from a Chaos to beauty from the servants and furniture to man the Lord and Master of this great house Darknesse is a privation now the habit Object must alwayes actually go before the privation in the same subject This darknesse was rather a negation Resp 1 then a privation Take privation largely and so it may be first in subjecto capaci As silence may be before speech and blindnesse before sight in a man who is a subject capable of both so here darknesse might be before light because the subject of the first matter was capable of both Quest 4. verse 3. God said verse 3. Let there be light and yet Sun Moon and Stars not created till the fourth day That light which before the fourth day Resp was scattered up and down upon the earth was afterwards gathered together into the bodies of the Sun Moon and Stars Quest 5. verse 5. It is said The evening and the morning was the first day now how could there be morning or evening before the Sun was created Evening and Morning in this place is Resp 1 not to be taken according to their usual signification but Morning for all that time it was light Evening for all that time it was dark There is no argument from the present state of things since the Sun was created to the former state of things before the Sun was created morning is now caused one way by the rising of the Sun then caused another way by light scattered up and down upon the earth Quest 6. verse 11 12. Whether the World began with the Autumne Some have thought that it began in the Resp 1 Spring and that upon two grounds 1. Because the spring is the time of encrease as we fin de by experience in fish and fowle 2. Because Adam was thrust out of Paradise to till the ground and spring-time is aptest for tillage Others and I conceive more probably thiâ—k the world began in the Autumne for it is said expressely that the earth brought forth â—â—â—sse and herb yeelding seed after his â—workâ— the tree yeelding fruit whose seed 〈…〉 self after its kind so that as man 〈…〉 a childe but a perfect man so the trees and plants were created in their perfection and therefore when the Serpent tempted our first parents which was immediately after their creation the Tree of knowledge of good and evil had fruit fully ripe on it The woman saw that the tree Gen. 3. 6. was good for food and that it was pleasant for the eyes Quest 7. verse 14. Whether from those words let them be for signes and for seasons and for dayes and for years Astrological predictions be warrantable Neg. There are two sorts of predictions Resp lawful from the consideration of the position of the heavens 1. Praedictiones naturales natural predictions viz. when by the rising or setting of the heavenly luminaries by their opposition conjunction and various aspects we are able to foretel natural events viz. the Eclipse of the Sun and Moone c. 2. Praedictiones civiles civil predictions viz. when the husbandman by the course of the Sun Moone and Stars is able to say when it will be a commodious season for sowing setting ingraffing pruning c. So that we say with the Scriptures that the Stars are for signes viz. for signes and seasons and dayes and years And that they are not only ornamental but influential As trees and herbs were created not only to beautifie the earth but otherwise for the use of man and beast to feed them and to cure them so the Stars were created not only to beautifie the heavens but for the use and comfort of man Certainly if God hath given vertue to springs and fountains stones minerals plants every spire of grasse that growes upon the earth much more to the Stars of heaven But 3. Praedictiones Astrologicae Astrological Predictions when men from the consideration of the face of the heavens will take upon them to foretel contingent events which shal befal Kingdoms or Common-wealths or particular persons these are unlawful 1. They are Antiscriptural
Deut. 18. 14. Esay 44. 25. Esay 47. 13. Jer. 10. 1 2. 2. They are unreasonable if there were any certainty in the Astrological Art it would appeare in those Predictions that concerne the weather which is the proper subject of the Planets operation but how false and uncertaine those are I shall leave to any to judge that will read them without prejudice 'T is the observation of a learned Author that the weather may be guessed by the heavens when the time is near and natural causes have begun to work As in the Evening we may guesse of the weather the next day and in the Morning of the weather in the Afternoone that a cloud will bring a shower and South-winde heat according to that of our Saviour When a cloud Luke 12. 54 55. ariseth out of the West straightway ye say There cometh a shower and when ye see the South-winde blow ye say There will be heat but long before to declare these things is impossible To this purpose is that of Ambrose saith he when raine was desired of all and one said the new Moone will bring raine although we were desirous of raine it did me good no raine fell till it came at the prayers of the Church that it might appear it came not by the influence of the moon but by the providence of God A man can no more tell what God will do by looking upon the Stars and Heavens then one can tell the counsels and determinations of a Prince by looking on his Palace 'T is sad to think how apt we are to run into extreams some are so bold as to ascribe the knowledge of future contingencies unto man some so disingenuous as to deny it to God have a care of both the one is Scylla the other Charybdis things are contingent to us which are not so to God In a Syllogisme if the major be necessary yet if the minor be contingent the conclusion is contingent the first cause is certaine the second causes fluctuating and wavering hence flowes contingencie We use to say Omne quod est quando est necesse est esse God sees things in termino in periodo hence they are certain to God we see things in motu in itinere hence they are contingent to us those things which are contingent in regard of their own natures are certaine in regard of Gods fore-knowledge and in subordination to his decree Quest 8. verse 14. Why the Lord made the light and dayes and nights as also the earth to yeeld her encrease before the Sun and Stars were created That the Lord might teach us though Resp he commonly makes use of means for the preservation of the creatures yet he is not tied to means He hath bound us to them but he hath not bound himself He hath made the Sun to give us light yet he is able to give light without the Sun God with all the creatures that he hath made is no more then God without any of the creatures that he hath made Quest. 9. verse 24. It is said Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kinde cattell and creeping things Now the question is whether in the beginning every creeping thing was created Neg. Augustine was of opinion that Resp creatures that were generated of dead bodies were not created at first and Vallesius in his book de sacra Philosophia renders the reason of it Frustrà fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora God saw that these would be produced by generation alone and therefore what need was there of creation Quest 10. verse 25. It is said God made the beasts of the earth the sixth day Now the question is why the beasts were created with man rather then with fishes or fowles The reason may be this man was not Resp made to swim with fishes in the Sea or to flie with fowles in the aire but to live and move with beasts upon the earth therefore on the same day whereon man was made the beasts were made Quest 11. verse 25. Whether those kindes of creatures which are brought forth by a mixt generation as the Mule by the mixture of the Asse and the Mare were created Neg. Saith the judicious Willet for Resp these Reasons 1. Because these are not distinct kindes of creatures from others but the first kinds made in the creation mixed and conjoyned together 2. Because we finde it directly expressed that Anah found the Mules in the Gen. 36. 24 Wildernesse as he fed the Asses of Zibeon his father this is set down as strange and therefore they were not created ab initio Quest 12. verse 26. Wherefore God said Let us make man in our Image and not Let there be man as he said Let there be a firmament Let there be light Let the earth bring forth the living thing The Scripture herein speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resp after the manner of men and would commend unto us the excellent workmanship of God in the Creation of man a work farre more choice then the light heaven and all the rest of the creatures men of wisdome when they are to handle matters of importance enter into consultation and take the greater care in the performance of them Quest. 13. verse 26. God said Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowles of the aire and the cattel but the question is whether if man had not fallen one man had had power over another Superiority and inferiority dominion Resp and subjection were not incompatible with the state of Innocencie the authoritative power that a father hath over his childe and an husband over his wife is founded in the light of nature and therefore not inconsistent with our primitive state Divines therefore distinguish betweene natural subjection and civil natural subjection should have continued in the state of integrity but as for civil subjection there had beene no such thing in the world if man had continued to serve God he needed none to serve him service come in by sinne and the encrease of it by the encrease of sinne We see when Canaan was so vile as to forget the duty of a sonne he is set in the lowest condition of a servant Cursed be Canaan a servant of servants shall he be unto Gen. 9. 5. his brethren viz. the lowest and most abject servant As God of gods the greatest God the Lord of lords the highest Lord so servant of servants the lowest and basest servant Quest 14. verse 27. God is said to create man after his owne image and Paul saies that the man is the image and glory of God but the woman is the 1 Cor. 11. 7. glory of the man the question is whether the woman was not made after Gods image as well as the man We may consider man and woman two Resp manner of wayes either as they were both rational creatures and so without question the woman was made after the image of
It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heele you know the Serpent being a creature going upon his belly is obnoxious to be tread upon and to have his head bruised but being not able to reach mans head it is said of the Serpent that it should bruife mans heels Some conceive that the curse was pronounced both upon the brute Serpent and the spirituall Serpent and this I hold to be the Truth the Devil when he beguiled man came not as a naked spirit but in the shape and figure of a Serpent and therefore that his punishment might be suitable and answerable to his offence he was to receive his doome likewise under the figure of a serpent Quest 28. verse 14. Whether Satan was not under the curse of God before this was pronounced Affir but Resp 1. After he had tempted man to sin his curse was augmented 2. In this verse God declares the curse pronounced upon the Serpent to be irrepealable Upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life We may observe that there is a great difference between the sentence prenounced upon the man and woman and the sentence pronounced upon the Serpent 1. You have a curse pronounced upon the Serpent but none upon the person of man or woman 2. The punishment inflicted upon them is temporall but the punishment inflicted upon the Serpent is eternall which is noted unto us by that expression All the dayes of thy life viz. as long as Satan hath a being Quest 29. verse 14 How it could be just with God to punish the brute Serpent being an unreasonable creature knowing neither good nor evil and had no will to sin but spake meerly as it was acted and possessed by Satan Why should we question the justice of Resp 1 God here more then in Adams Censure vers 17. where the whole earth was cursed for Adams sake what had the earth done or how was it guilty of Adams transgression And afterwards we read And behold I even I do bring a flood of waters on the Earth to destroy all flesh Gen 6.17 How were the beasts the creeping things the fowles of the Aire partakers of mans wickednesse God cursed the Serpent as well as Satan because Satan made use of the Serpent as his instrument to tempt our first parents to sin against God God was so displeased with sinne that he would curse not only the principall cause of it but the instrumentall also so in other cases God doth not onely punish the offender but the instrument made use of in the committing of the offence As if a man defil'd himself with a beast if a man lye with a Lev. 20.15 beast he shall surely be put to death and ye shall slay the beast We may see this in a Case where there is no dispute when a man hath committed murder his body suffers now what is the body but an instrument the soule makes use of The hand cannot move otherwise then as it is acted by the soul yet this would not be a plea in humane Courts Oh see the vilenesse of our hearts we can reason against God when in the very same case we dare not reason against man Quest. 30. verse 14. Whether the Serpent went upon his belly before the curse Some conceive that it did but that Resp 1 this was made ignominious and cursed to him after the fal of man and they illustrate this two manner of wayes 1. Nakednesse was naturall to man at first and yet afterwards he was ashamed of it and it became his punishment 2. Briars and thornes were created before mans fall but afterwards became a curse But to both these instances we may give this answer 1. That nakednesse simply considered was not the cause of mans shame but nuditas turpis Adamus videns faedos et inordinatos membrorum motus pudefactus est 2. For briars and thornes consider them in puris naturalibus in their pure naturalls and so they did not become a curse but as after the fall they grew out of their proper places and were blended and mixed with the fruits of the earth for the punishment of man c. Therefore others conceive that the Serpent did not go on his breast till the curse but had a body erected as man hath and they render these reasons amongst others 1. We know the more excellent and sublime the nature of a creature is the more it raiseth it self upwards the more ignoble and base the more it falls down-ward this we see in the Elements the fire the most excellent operative of the four raiseth it self above the rest the earth the most unactive and basest of all the lowest 2. As there is this difference amongst elements so among living creatures the basest is the most creeping as wormes c. whilest the noble Lyon advanceth his head and breast so farre as the frame of his body is capable so man being of all creatures most excellent is therefore of all others most advanced in body Os homini sublime dedit coelúmque tueri Jussit The Serpent therefore being of a sublime nature insomuch that the Scripture sayes it was more subtile then any beast of the field the frame and shape of his body was suitable thereunto Quest 31. verse 14. In what sense we must understand this phrase Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life when we find that Serpents feed upon herbes and devour other creatures also These two phrases Upon thy belly shalt Resp thou go and dust shalt thou eat ought to be joyned together in the opening of this Scripture the one ought to be considered as the cause and the other as the effect So that eating dust in this place is not so to be understood as if the Serpent should live and feed onely upon dust but that the Serpent going upon his belly should be forced to eat dust viz. take in dust into his mouth whether he will or not the Learned phrase it thus Haec verba non referuntur ad alimentum sed ad incommodum et velut coactam terrae in os receptionem Against this Exposition some object Object and say that we have a promise concerning the happy and peaceable condition of the Church in the latter dayes and amongst other things it is said The dust shall be the Serpents meat The Wolfe and Is 65.25 the Lambe shall feed together and the Lyon shall eat straw like the bullock and dust shall be the Serpents meat These words are not to be understood literally Resp but allegorically as the very expressions in the text clearly intimate and when it is said The dust shall be the Serpents meat the meaning is no more but this that in those dayes man shall not need to feare hurt from any creature the Serpent it selfe shall be confined to his dust and shall not be able to prejudice man in the least Quest 32. verse 14. Seeing this sentence was