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
1. pro à vel abs ut Gen. 44. 4. We may conclude therefore with safety that the Originall will beare this translation I have gotten a man from the Lord. That those that are of the other perswasion affirme that Eve understood that the Messiah should be God which was the occasion of the speech I have gotten a man the Lord. That to me it sounds discord to say that Eve should know so much of the Messiah as that he was God and yet that she should think that he should be born after the ordinary way of mankinde as Cain was Therefore I judge it safer to keep to our translation I have received a man from the Lord viz. by the favour and gift of God especially when I consider that good women have used such expressions in the like case as Leah And Leah conceived and bare a sonne and she called his Gen. 29. 32. name Reuben for she said Surely the Lord hath looked upon mine affliction and verse 33. And she conceived againe and bare a vers 33. sonne and said Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated he hath therefore given me this sonne also and she called his name Simeon See also ver 34. 35. of the same Chapter Let us Learne that riches and honours and children and servants and houses and lands are the gifts of God as well as grace and peace When the Jews should come to Canaan and grow great there was a caution given them to look up unto God as the donor When thou hast eaten and art full then thou shalt blesse the Lord Deu. 8. 10 11. thy God for the good land which he hath given thee beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God c. Many who are perswaded that God gives grace and God gives heaven and salvation are hardly perswaded at least do not consider it that God gives riches and health and wealth and liberty Oh it is a sweet thing when a man can look upward from these lower things and can say that his earth hath dropped down to him from heaven There is no creature in the world that God hath made capable of knowing any thing of the first cause but onely the rationall creature And it is the excellency of man not onely to enjoy the good that he hath but to be able to rise up to the highest and first cause of all good It is observed of the doves that they peck and look upwards hence the Church in the Canticles is said to have doves eyes because they look so much up to heaven upon every good they receive As the Church hath doves eyes so the men of the world have dogs eyes dogs you know look up to their Master for a bone and when they have it they presently look down to the earth again wicked men will look up will pray to God when they want any thing but when they have received what they would have God shall not have one good look from them Quest 3. verse 2. Why did Adam bring up his sonnes one to be a keeper of sheep and the other a tiller of the ground To teach us that parents should bring Resp up their children to some employment and that it is the duty of every one industriously to apply himselfe to some calling or other Cain and Abel were heires apparent to the whole earth and yet they had their employments I know we ought to distinguish between manuall labour and mentall labour in the manner of employment may be some odds Manuall servile and mechanick labour is fit for men of a lower condition generous and ingenuous and liberall employments for persons of the greatest births and brightest intellectualls and this kinde of labour possibly might have suited best with Cain and Abel had it not been for the scarcity of persons then living in the world and the necessity of engaging in such callings for the present but every one ought to be industrious And therefore as a Learned Author very well observes That those Gallants who live in no setled course of life but spend their time in pleasure and vanity there is not the poorest contemptible creature that cryeth Oysters and Kitchin-stuffe in the street but deserveth his bread better then they and his course of life is of better esteeme with God and every sober wise man then theirs An horse that is neither good for the way nor the cart nor the race nor any other service let him be of never so good a breed never so well marked and shaped yet he is but a Jade His Master setteth nothing by him every man will say Better knock him in the head then keep him His skin though not much worth is yet better worth then the whole beast besides Let us have a care therefore of giving up our selves to the vanities and pleasures of the world An idle mans brain is the Devils shop where he forges all manner of sinne Nihil agendo malè agere disces Hierom thought that action and lawfull employment was a disheartning to the Devil and therefore he gives this advice Semper aliquid age ut te Diabolus inveniat occupatum Put thy selfe upon some businesse or other that when the Devil comes to tempt thee to sin he may not finde thee at leasure Quest 4. verse 3 4. Why did Cain bring of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord and Abel of the firstlings of his flock Both Cain and Abel brought such offerings unto the Lord as were suitable to that Resp way or calling in which God had set them Cain was a tiller of the ground and therefore brings as his offering the fruits thereof Abel was a keeper of sheep and therefore brings as his offering the firstlings of his flock As Old Testment Saints had their sacrifices under the Law so New Testament Saints have their sacrifices under the Gospel Almost every duty of Christianity in which a man consecrates himselfe to God is called a sacrifice righteousness is a sacrifice Offer the sacrifices of righteousnesse prayer is a sacrifice Let my prayer Psa 4.5 Psal 141. 2. be set before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as an Evening sacrifice Ps 51.17 Repentance is a sacrifice The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart Lord thou wilt not dispise Almes-deeds Heb. 13.16 that is a sacrifice But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased Thanksgiving is a sacrifice I will offer to thee the sacrifice Psal 116. 17. of thanksgiving and will call upon the Name of the Lord. It is usuall for the Spirit of God in the Scripture to describe spirituall duties by expressions drawn from Ceremonies and usages under the Law As Repentance is called Washing Wash ye make ye Isay 1.16 cleane put away the evill of your doings from before mine eyes So prayer is called Incense Let my prayer be
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
may be Object expounded thus God did actually purpose to sanctifie it after the giving of the Law If to sanctifie the seventh day be only Resp to purpose to sanctifie it then the Sabbath was no more sanctified since the creation then ab aeterno for then God purposed it should be sanctified c. For the further clearing of this truth I shall give you the Arguments of some learned persons why they conceive that the Sabbath was not instituted till the giving of the Law on mount Sinai Adam in innocency should not have Arg. 1 needed a Sabbath not his soul for every day was a Sabbath to that nor his body because his body was not then subject to wearinesse neither could it be appointed for the ease of servants because then no such thing as servitude in the world The Sabbath was instituted not for Resp 1 common rest or rest from natural wearinesse principally but for holy rest that the soul might have more immediate communion with God Returne to thy rest O my soule saith the Psalmist The rest of the soule is not a ceasing from all operation for that cannot stand with the nature of a spirit hence the soul is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an act because it is still in action a spirit cannot be and not act but when the soule centers on God then it is said to rest Bodies rest in their proper places and souls rest in the enjoying of their proper objects Now Adam in innocency thogh his body was not subject to wearinesse might stand in need of such a rest as this is Adam was to serve God in a particular calling God took the man put him into the garden of Eden that he might dresse it keep Gen. 2. 5. it now Luther professeth It followes from hence saith he that if Adam had stood in his innocency yet he should have kept the seventh day holy viz. on that day he should have taught his children what was the Word of God wherein his worship did consist and wholly have sequestred himself to his service on other days he should have dressed and kept the garden though every day was to be spent in holinesse mediately in seeing God in the creatures and meeting with God in his labour yet it was not unsuitable for that estate to have one day in the week for more immediate and special converse with God and though it was no paine to him to dresse the garden yet this must needs take up his thoughts while he was about it The Saints and Angels in Heaven have Object had no set Sabbath and why man in innocency The state of innocency on earth should Resp not have been in all things alike to the state of glory in heaven and particularly in this there should have been marriage dressing of the garden day and night in Paradise but no such thing in Heaven We do not read that there was any other Arg. 2 positive precept or law given to our first parents in the state of innocency but only this that they should not eat of the forbidden fruit Now the command of God for the observation of the Sabbath is a positive command and that appears because although the worship of God do belong to the Law natural viz. founded in the Law of nature yet the circumstance of time when God in an especial manner is to be worshipped that we should keep an holy rest unto the Lord every seventh day this is a positive precept and was never determined by the Law of nature That Adam had from the creation at Resp least that which amounted to a positive Law for the observance of the Sabbath is plaine It is said God sanctified the seventh day Now though this word is variously taken in the Scripture yet in this place the seventh day must be said to be sanctified one of these two wayes Either by infusion of holinesse or sanctification into it now the circumstance of a seventh day is not capable of sanctification in this sense only rational creatures Angels and men may be said thus to be sanctified By separation of it from common use and dedication of it to an holy use as the Temple and Tabernacle were which had no inherent holinesse in them Now if the Sabbath were thus sanctified it must either be for the use of God or man either God must impose upon himself the observation of every seventh day to keep it holy which is absurd or else it was dedicated and consecrated for mans sake and use and if so man had that which amounted to a positive Law for the observation of the Sabbath When Moses makes repetition of the Arg. 3 Law of God Deut. 5. 15. he laies downe this as a ground of the observation of the seventh day as a Sabbath the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt therefore the Sabbath was not instituted from the creation This that is urged is placed by God by Resp way of preface and motive as an argument for the observation of all the Commandments yet who will say that none of them were in force till the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt This was one reason why the Sabbath Resp 2 should be sanctified but not the only reason therefore Exod. 20. 6. the reason that is rendered there why the seventh day is the Sabbath is this for in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth c. The Jewes were to observe the Sabbath not only upon the ground of its first institution but upon reasons proper and peculiar to that Nation It is likely their deliverance out of Egypt was on the Sabbath day and therefore urged by Moses as a ground of their observation of it We finde not any expresse mention Arg. 4 that the Patriarchs before Moses time did sanctifie a Sabbath We may as well argue it was not kept Resp all the time of the Judges and Samuel because no expresse mention made in those Books of any such thing No doubt but they observed it because Object it was published on mount Sinai The like may we say of the Patriarchs Resp 1 before the promulgation of the Law on mount Sinai because it was sanctified from the Creation Abraham is commended for keeping Gods Commandments and the Sabbath is one of Gen. 26.5 them We may as well argue that the Patriarchs for two thousand five hundred yeares together observed not any day at all for the worship and service of God for there is in Scripture as much mention of a Sabbath as any other day yea It is plaine in the Scripture that the Jewes did keep the Sabbath before the Law was given This is that which the Lord hath said To morrow is the rest of the holy Exo 16.23 Sabhath unto the Lord c. I might adde that it is not improbable but the sacrifices of Cain and Abel were upon the Sabbath-day the usual stated time for such services If a time had not beene set apart even in Adams
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
God as well as the man but now consider them as to their sex or as to their relations of man and wife so man is her superiour and in regard of that authority that the man hath over the woman the man is said to be the image of God and the woman the glory of her husband and well may she be called the glory of man for it was a far greater honour for man to have dominion over one of his own kind then over all the beasts Quest. 15. verse 27. 'T is said both man and woman were created the sixth day male and female created he them and yet after the six days were over it is said The Lord caused a deep sleep Gen. 2.21 22. to fall upon Adam and he slept and of one of his ribs he made a woman These Scriptures are easily reconciled In the first chapter the Spirit of God tells Resp us what God did the sixth day viz. he created the man and woman male and female In the second chapter he tels us Gods manner of doing it Quest. 16. verse 28. 'T is said God blessed them and said Be fruitful and multiply and yet our Saviour saies Luke 23. 29. Behold the days are coming when they shall say Blessed are the barren c. and so in another place Woe to them that are with child in those dayes Mat. 24.19 To have children to be fruitful in its self considered is a mercie and to be preferred Resp before barrennesse but yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in some respect barrennesse is to be preferred before it As when enemies are approaching and a place is like to be destroyed with the sword women with childe are not able to flie and shift for themselves and therefore Woe to women with childe in those dayes And 't is better to have no children then to see them butchered and massacred before our eyes And this shewes the singular difference between spiritual mercies and temporal spiritual mercies are alwayes desirable and never out of season Quest 17. verse 29. Whether the eating of flesh or fish was allowed by God to our forefathers before the flood for after the flood we finde this liberty was given Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you but in this Gen 9.3 chapter when God speaks of the provision made for man he only speaks of Trees and Herbs and Vegetables I humbly conceive the Affirmative enclined Resp thereunto by these reasons 1. God did not forbid them eating of flesh therfore left them to their liberty 2. What use could there be made of fish and many other creatures if they had not been allowed for meat 3. They offered up Sacrifices of their cattel Abel brought of the firstlings of his Gen. 4.4 flock Now it was a thing received and taken for granted among the Jews that they might eat of their Sacrifices 4. They wore the skins of beasts and therefore it is likely they ate also the flesh Unto Adam also and unto his wife did the Gen. 3.21 Lord God make coats of skins But after the flood God expressely permitted the eating of flesh and therefore he Object did not permit it before Negativa non probant By the same reason Resp 1 it would follow that because the Rainbowe was not mentioned before the flood the Rainbowe was not before the flood which we have no cause to beleeve for Positâ causâ ponitur effectus Now the Rainbowe is caused by the Sun shining upon a watery cloud It is true it was not the token of Gods Covenant till after the flood but it was before God did not after the flood give man a right to that which he had not before the flood but only reinvested him with those possessions and priviledges which he had been cast out of by reason of his sinne Notes on the second Chapter Quest 1. verse 1 2. HOw is it said that God ended his work the seventh day when God is totus actus and besides John 5. 17 our Saviour saith My Father worketh hitherto and I work Cessavit ab actu creationis non ab actu Resp 1 Moses doth not say simply he rested from all his work but from all his work which he had made viz. from the works of creation and therefore that of our Saviour my Father worketh hitherto and I work must be understood of the works of providence But the souls of all the men and women Object in the world from the beginning have been created to this very day God rested from the creation of species Resp or kinds not from the creation of individuals But the earth afterwards brought forth Object briars and thorns therefore new kinds were created Gen. 3.17 18. I know no inconvenience will follow Resp if we affirme that briars and thornes were created the first six dayes it is true they should not in the least have been prejudicial either to man or to the fruits of the earth if man had not sinned and therefore it is likely if man had continued in his primitive state of integrity briars and thornes should have growen in their place and the fruits of the earth in their place this blending and mixing of briars and thornes amongst the fruits of the earth is the product of the sin of man But there are several things in the world Object the creation whereof we read not the first six dayes as wine milk c. Some things were created in their perfection Resp some things in their principles though wine was not created the grape was though milk was not created the brest was Quest 2. verse 3. Whether God did from the first creation appoint that the seventh day should be kept as an holy Sabbath or whether this be spoken by way of Prolepsis or Anticipation viz. because God rested from his work upon the seventh day therefore he did afterwards at the time of the giving of the Law ordaine that every seventh day of the week should be kept holy as a Sabbath of rest unto the Lord. The Sabbath was appointed from the Resp creation 't is true It cannot be denied but that it is an usuall thing in Scripture to set down things in way of Prolepsis or Anticipation as they call it to set down things aforehand in the History which happened many years afterward but there is no such Prolepsis here as if the meaning should be that he did this two thousand five hundred years after the creation It is observable that throughout the whole Scripture we shall not finde one Prolepsis but that the History is evidently and apparently false unlesse we do acknowledge a Prolepsis and Anticipation to be in the History the necessity of establishing the truth of the History only can establish the truth of a Prolepsis in the History but in this place alledged can any say that the story is apparently false unlesse we imagine the Sabbath to be first sanctified on mount Sinai But Gods sanctifying the Sabbath
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
pronounced both upon the brute Serpent and the spirituall Serpent the question may be how this phrase Upon thy belly shalt thou go dust shalt thou eat can be accommodated unto Satan Per analogiam in a spirituall sense we Resp shall finde that the Scripture makes use of such expressions as these are to note unto us the lowest and most ignominious debasement when God threatens heavy judgements against Jerusalem mark how he phrases it Thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground thy Isa 24.4 speech shall be low out of the dust and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust The Spirit of God seemes to allude to the carriage of a poore captive taken in warre and lying prostrate at the feet of the Conquerour hardly daring so much as to whisper out of the dust You may finde also expressions something like to these Esay 49.23 Lam. 3.29 Mic. 7.17 So then these expressions signifie the debasement of Satan from his primitive excellency A wonderful stoop indeed this was when that which was advanced as high as heaven was made to fall down as low as hell It is the observation of a learned Author that as food is made use of for the repairing and preservation of nature so the goodnesse or badnesse thereof doth make the temper of the body better or worse hence according to the degrees of excellency in the creatures their food is finer or courser Plants suck moisture from the earth beasts live upon plants man of beasts fowle and fish so that this expression Dust shalt thou eat notes unto us the lownesse and basenesse of the Serpent Quest 33. Verse 15. What is meant by the woman in this verse It seemes to be that woman with whom Resp the Serpent had treated viz. Eve as if God had said Seeing thou hast by a treaty with the woman tempted her to sinne I will put enmity between thee and the woman Now the woman is mentioned and not the man not because God had not put enmity between the man and the Serpent as well as the woman and the Serpent but because Eve was immediately seduced by the Serpent the man by the perswasion of his wife Quest. 34. Verse 15. Whether we may not with the Church of Rome expound the woman of the Virgin Mary Neg. And amongst others this reason Resp may be rendred The enmity the Spirit of God speaks of in this verse was immediately to follow the curse now the Virgin Mary was not borne many hundreds of years afterward But God speaks in the future tence Object I will put enmity between thee and the woman c. God speaks in the future tence when Resp 1 he pronounces that other part of the curse upon the Serpent Vers 14. Upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat now this curse immediately followed upon the sentence and why not the other God speakes in the future tence to note the duration and continuance of this curse Quest 35. Verse 15. What is meant by the Serpents seed This cannot be expounded but in a Resp spiritual sense for daemones propriè semen non habent nec gignunt sibi similes therefore we are to understand by the Serpents seed the reprobate wicked world They which imitate God and obey him are called his seed or his children in the Scripture as Be ye followers of God as dear children so they that imitate the Eph. 5.1 devil and obey him are called his seed or his children as Ye are of your father Joh. 8. 44 the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do He that committeth sinne is of the devil 1 Joh 3. 8. Quest 36. Verse 15. What is meant by the seed of the woman First and principally Jesus Christ Resp 1 It implieth all the Elect viz. all Eves seed that should not become the seed of the Serpent By the seed of the woman can be Object meant onely Christ who was so the seed of the woman that he was not of the man 'T is true Christ was born of a Virgin Resp and was so the seed of the woman that he was not of the man but yet that by the seed of the woman Christ singularly and individually should be meant by the Spirit of God in this place is not sufficiently demonstrated by this phrase and the reason is this because such persons as have been conceived and born in an ordinary way have been called the seed of the woman or that which amounts thereunto so Adam knew his wife again Gen. 4.25 and she bare a sonne and called his name Seth for God faith she hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew there you have Eve calling Seth her seed so the wicked Jews are Isa 57.3 called the sonnes of the forceresse Quest 37. Verse 15. How is this particle it to be expounded It shall bruise thy head Some and those very learned though Resp 1 they expound the seed of the woman collectively and take it for Christ and his Church this particle notwithstanding say they referres unto Christ singularly and individually considered Their reasons are three Say they the Septuagint renders it Arg. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and though the Greek word which is used for seed be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet the pronoune relative is of the masculine gender 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now if it had been to be taken collectively as the seed of the woman before it would have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But we must consider that both in Latine Resp and Greek Authours pronouns many times agree rather cum re then cum voce and so it is in this case by the seed of the woman though we do not say is meant Christ onely yet we say Christ principally and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clearly relates to Christ now that in Latine and Greek Authors pronouns do not only convenire cum verbo but sometimes cum re appears Terence hath such a phrase as this Ubi est scelus qui me perdidit And as for the Greek frequent instances we may finde in the New Testament Mat. 28.19 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 8. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so in Luke where the noune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of the masculine gender and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the neuter It is opposed to one individual Serpent Arg. 2 it shall bruise thy head The seed of the Serpent is implied Resp 1 there though not expressed for as the Serpent not alone but with his seed shall bruise the heele of the seed of the woman so Christ the seed of the woman not individually considered but with his seed shall break the Serpents head For the further clearing of this the seed of the woman may be said to bruise the Serpents head two manner of wayes 1. As the Lord Jesus spoiled principalities and powers and blotted out the handwriting of
Cain and that God is said to speak to Cain because Adam had it by instinct from God But this consideration hath not strength enough in it to beat us off from the received opinion for what wickednesses are there imaginable but we should commit with greedinesse if God should give us up to the wickedinesse of our own spirits Well then learn How the commission of one sin leads us as it were by the hand to the commission of another There is in wicked courses a praecipitium when a man is at the top of an hill it is at his choice whether he will thence throw himself down or not but once let him head-long himself there is no stay till he come to the bottome It is an easier matter to keep our selves from entring into desperate courses then when once we have given our selves the reines to make a stop Nemo repente fit turpissimus As no man on the sudden becometh most excellent in vertue so no man on a sudden becomes desperate in evil There is such a combination of sinne as in the links of a chaine if a man draw one link all the rest will follow so malice follows after anger murther after hatred Adultery after drunkennesse If a man cast a stone into the water there ariseth presently a circle in the place presently after that another and so another till at last all the water be full of circles In like manner if a man commit one sinne another will follow upon it and after that another unlesse the grace of God prevent till he be out of measure sinfull Take heed therefore of the beginnings of sinne take Babylons brats and dash them against the stones We may learn that private spiritednesse is not a thing well pleasing to God we are commanded to shew our love and compassion to a beast Exod. 23. 5. If thou see the Asse of him that hateth thee lying under his burden and wouldest forbeare to help him thou shalt surely help with him and more should we shew compassion and love to our brother Am I my brothers keeper Take heed of that profane speech Christians ow a mutual serviceablenesse one unto another God makes no Patentees nor will he endure any Monopolies Christians must drive an open and free trade The excellency of other creatures is in their communication of themselves the Sun raying out his warme and cherishing beames the Fountain bubling out his purling streams the Earth yielding forth sovereign herbs and plants Christians are then in their excellency when they are communicative and useful I have read that the Art of Medicine was perfected thus As any one met with an herb and discovered the vertue of it by any accident he would post it up in some publick place and if any were sick or diseased he was laid in some beaten passage that every one might communicate the best receipt and say they the Physicians skill was perfected by a collection of those posted experiments and receipts of all things take heed of the napkin wrap not up your Talents As every one hath received the gift even 1 Pet. 4. 10. so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God Quest. 17. vers 10. What is meant by this phrase The voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto me from the ground This is to be understood figuratively a Resp Metaphor taken from Courts of Justice Thy brothers blood crieth that is as if God should have said I know what thou hast done as clearly as if I had called thee to the barre of justice and the whole matter of fact had been heard and determined before me and upon the whole I should be called upon for justice By the way by what hath been said some light may be given for the understanding of that Scripture I saw under the Altar the soules of them that were slaine for the Word of God and for Rev. 6 9 10. the Testimony which they held and they cryed with a loud voice saying How long Oh Lord holy and true doest thou not judge and avenge our blood Which must not so be understood as if the soules of the blessed Saints should earnestly desire vengeance on them that shed their blood which is hardly competible with an heavenly State but may be expounded in the same manner as the words in this ver The voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto me viz. The Lord hath the blood that hath been shed for his Names sake fresh in his thoughts and will as certainly be revenged on them that shed it as if every drop of their blood were a tongue and continually crying in his eares for justice c. Well then Learn to avoid crying sins crying is applied to severall sins in the Scripture 1. To blood so in this vers Thy brothers blood cryeth 2. To the wickednesse of Sodome Gen 18. 10. The Lord God said Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sinne is very grievous c. 3. The oppression of Gods servants Exo. 2. 24. God heard their groaning c. 4. The oppression of the widowes and fatherlesse Exo. 22.23 Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherlesse child if thou afflict them in any wise and they cry at all unto me I will surely heare their cry 5. The oppression of the Labourer Jam. 5.4 Behold the hire of your labourers which have reaped downe your field which is of you kept back by frand crieth And let us blesse God for Jesus Christ the Apostle doth ascribe a cry to the blood of Christ as Moses here to the blood of Abel And to Jesus the Mediatour of the new covenant and to the blood Hâ—b 12. 24. of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel In that speech of the Apostle there is an allusion made to the blood of Abel and to the cry thereof and he illustrates the cry of Christs blood for us by the cry of the blood of Abel against Cain yet see the dissimilitude as a reverend Author hath it thus 1. Abel was a Saint The blood of a wicked man if innocently shed cries if Abel had murdered Cain Cains blood would have cryed and called upon God for justice against Abel but Abels blood cryes according to the worth of the person Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Now if the blood of a Saint cry so how much more the blood of the King of Saints 2. Abels blood cryes from the ground but Christs blood is carried up to heaven The cry of the blood of a Saint may come up to heaven yet the blood it self doth not come up thither 3. Adde to this the intercession of Christ himselfe Christ by his own prayers seconds the cry of his blood the blood of a man doth cry though the man be dead but Christ ever liveth to make intercession for his people Quest. 18. vers 11 12. Why did the Lord pronounce against Cain
of age verse 21. of this Chapter now how could this be if he lived but so many moneths 2. Metheuselah lived 969 yeares but if you cast up these by moneths you will find that in our dayes some might be said to live longer then Methuselah 3. Abraham is said to live 175. yeares Gen. 25.7 and in the next verse it is said that Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good old age an old man and full of yeares How could this also be said if he lived but so many moneths Quest. 6. verse 4. Whether in any sense it may be said that Adam was the longest liver amongst the Patriarchs Affir Vritually though not formally Adam Resp was created in a perfect state of body apt for generation which probably then was not under 60 yeares for none of the Patriarchs begat children under that age Now adde 60 yeares unto the time that Adam lived and you will finde he lived longer then Methuselah Quest 7. vers 4. What account may be given of the long lives of the Patriarchs For the right understanding of this consider Resp 1. That since Moses time who was borne in the yeare of the world 2434. when the world was well peopled and necessary sciences depending upon observation perfected the length of mans age hath little or nothing abated as appeares by that famous testimony of Moses himselfe Psal 90. 10. 2. That in all times since Moses we shall finde some that have exceeded the number of yeares accounted the utmost period of mans life as Joshua Chap. 24.29 3. That reasons both naturall and morall are given by the learned why the Patriarchs lived by many yeares longer then those who succeeded them in after-ages viz. The first reason is the feeding of the infant with the milk of a strange brest Now because this is growne into fashion in these licentious and corrupt dayes and unnaturall curiosity hath taught all women but the beggar to finde out nurses for their children which onely necessity should allow let it not seeme a digression if I propound some Queries concerning this practice 1. Quaere Whether God hath not given brests to women for this very end and purpose that they might feed and nourish their children 2. Quaere Whether this be not clearly demonstrated by the milk flowing into the breasts immediately after the child is borne and a great part of the parents meat being converted into that substance 3. Quaere Whether putting out of children to nurse be not the occasion of unnaturall affection both in the Mother to the child and the child to the Mother 4. Quaere Whether God hath not taught us by his dispensations to other creatures that the Mothers milke is most kindly and naturall to the child we see other things are nourished by the same of which they are bred the earth yields plants and nourishes them the trees bring forth fruit and yield sap unto them and the same also may be said of Brutes 5. Quaere Whether such children as are nursed by the mother do not usually thrive best 6. Quaere Whether parents that might have nursed their owne children and will not be not accessory to the death of those that are cast away by the nurses negligence 7. Quaere Whether this may not be a great cause of bodily distempers in the parents the drawing of the brest if moderation be observed having a rationall tendency toward the preservation of Health 8. Quaere Whether strange milke may not be a cause of distempers in the childe for as Contraria contrariis curantur so similia similibus alunter and whether the blood which was first the fabricator should not be the altor when turned into milk 9. Quaere Whether the milke of the nurse hath not a great influence upon the body of the child The learned tell us that take a kid and let it suck an ewe the hair of it will become like unto wool and take a Lambe and let it suck a goat the wool of it will become like goats haire we our selves finde a difference in the flesh of creatures according to the coursenesse or finenesse of that food with which they are brought up 10. Quaere Whether the soul following in some measure the temper of the body the milke of the nurse may not have some influence upon the manners and disposition of the child Some give us this reason why Tiberius caesar was a drunkard because he sucked a drunken nurse and whether in this the parents may not be the occasion of the drunkennesse and excesses of their children 11. Quaere Whether when God pronounces it as a curse to have dry brests it be not an unworthy piece of ingratitude for parenrs when God gives them nourishment for their child not to account it worthy of their acceptance And whether to turne the back upon any courtesy would not be accounted a piece of incivility among the Heathens themselves in their dealings one with another 12. Quere Whether when God provides proper nourishment for a child to be ministred by the brest of the parent and refused this act doth not interpretatively charge God with folly and whether in such a case the parent doth not set up his or her wisdome above Gods 13. Quaere Whether Sarah might not have pleaded as much and more then the Gallants of our age for putting out her child to nurse being the wife of an honourable person and of a great age 14. Quaere Whether although we read of nurses in the Scripture it can be made out that any good woman put forth her child when she was able to nurse it her self A second reason why our lives are shortened in regard of our ancestours is hasty marriages while nature is yet greene and growing we rent from her and replant her branches while her selfe hath not yet any root sufficient to maintaine her own top The use of much physick and little exercise The pressing of nature with weighty burdens and when we finde her strength defective the help of strong waters hot spices and provoking sawces which ordinarily used impaires our health and shortens our dayes That which may for the present cheare and exhilarate the spirits may be an enemy to long life Hence it is that the Highlanders in Scotland and the wild Irish commonly live longer then those of a softer education and more tender bringing up Seneca Multos morbos multa fercula fecerunt Variety of dainty dishes hath bred variety of diseases A man may die wirh cordials and fire nature out of its place Besides this which hath been said I suppose there may be two main reasons given of the long lives of the Patriarchs 1. Propagation of posterety 2. Promotion of piety for at that time the Church having not the Scriptures but being guided by extraordinary revelations from God lest the worship of God might be brought into contempt by posterity the lives of Holy men were of long continuance which might be an expedient to enforce
snout so is a fair woman without discretion Certainly there is a vast difference between a swine and between a woman between a Jewell of Gold in a swines snout and the beauty of a foolish woman Yet the similitude is apt enough for that for which it was urged viz. as a Jewell in a swines snout is rather hurtfull then profitable so is beauty to a foolish woman In the Canticles it is said of Christ that Can. 5. â—3 his lips were like lillies now if the comparison be not marked rightly here we may be deceived for to make Christs lips as white as a lilly were impertinent therefore the comparison is in odore non in colore in regard of the smell not of the colour 16. Rule In Scripture sometimes a number certain is put for a number uncertain numerus finitus ubi intelligi debet infinitus and e contrâ— sometimes a number uncertain is put for a number certain numerus infinitus ubi intelligi debet numerus finitus for instance 1. A number certaine is put for a number uncertain Prov. 24.16 A just man falleth seven times a day viz. many times So. Psa 24.16 Psal 119. 164. David Psal 119. 164. seven times a day do I praise thee viz. crebrô ofttimes do I Esay 4.1 praise thee So the Prophet Esay In that day seven women shall lay hold of one man viz. many women and some times you have more numbers then one in a Scripture when you have this very thing intended by the Spirit of God For instance Psal 91.7 A Psal 91 7. thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee A thousand and ten thousand viz. very many So Mat. 18.21 22. Peter came to Christ and said Lord how oft shall my brother Mat. 18.21 sinne against me and I forgive him till seven times Jesus saith unto him I say not unto thee till seven times but untill seventy times seven viz. as oft as thy brother sinnes against thee 2. A number uncertaine is put for a number certaine So the Lord speaking of the Passeover You shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations you shall keepe Ex. 12.14 it a feast by an Ordinance for ever viz. as long as these Ceremoniall rites are in force So it is said of Hannah that she said unto her husband I will not go up untill the 1 Sam. 1. 22. child be weaned and then I will bring him that he may appeare before the Lord and there abide for ever And yet we shall finde Numb 8. 24.25 that the Levites were to wait upon the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation but from twenty five yeares old to Deut. 25. 15 16 17. the age of fifty So in Deuteronomy If thy servant shall say unto thee I will not go away from thee because he loveth thee and thy house because he is well with thee then thou shalt take an Aule and thrust through his eare unto the doore and he shall be thy servant for ever viz as long as he lives 17. Rule In computation of times the Spirit of God frequently speakes by a synecdoche of the whole for the part or the part for the whole For instance When Matthew speakes of the transfiguration Mat. 17.1 2. he speakes of six dayes After six dayes Jesus taketh Peter James and John his brother and bringeth them up into an high mountaine apart and was transfigured before them But now Saint Luke speakes of eight dayes And it came to passe about eight dayes after these sayings he tooke Peter Luc. 9.28 and James and John and went up into a mountaine to pray c. For the reconciling of these places we must know that Saint Luke speakes of part of the first and the last dayes as two dayes and so he reckons upon eight dayes Saint Matthew omits them being but part of two dayes and so reckons but upon six So we say Christ was raised the third day after his crucifixion whereas he lay but one whole day in the grave but per synecdochen part of friday and part of the Lords day are reckoned for two dayes 18. Rule There are some propositions unto which a note of universality is affixed and yet ought not to be accounted altogether universall So Adam called his wives name Eve because she was the mother of all living viz. viventis hominis Gen. 3.20 non bruti of every living man not of every living creature So the Lord Jesus If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all Joh. 12.32 men unto me viz. all beleevers unto me So All seeke their owne not the things which are Jesus Christs all viz. many So I Phil. 2.21 will poure out my Spirit on all flesh which Joel 2.28 is spoken of beleevers as appeares Act. 2. 17. Now this ought to be heedfully observed that notes of universality in Scripture whether affirmative or negative ought to be restrained or limitted to that subject matter of which the Spirit of God speakes in the context For instance â—auâ— spake not any thing that day viz. concerning David that day 1 Sam. 20. 26. For certainly the King spake concerning other things So in John But ye have an unction from the Holy one and ye know all 1 John 2. 26. things viz. all points necessary to salvation of which Saint John formerly treated So Paul Who gave himselfe a ransome 1 Tim. 2. 6. for all viz. Some of all sorts quaties and conditions and this appeares by the context For in the first and second verses Paul speakes of Kings and all that are in authority and vers 7. he speakes of the Gentiles I am ordained saith Paul a Preacher and an Apostle a teacher of the verse 7. Gentiles in faith and in verity So then the meaning is Christ gave himselfe a ransome for all viz. Kings as well as subjects Gentiles as well as Jewes 19. Rule In Scripture the species is not rarely Lev i9 36 put for the genus For instance A just Ephah and a just Hin shall ye have Where you have one certaine kinde of measure put for every measure So againe Whosoever he be of the children Lev. 20.2 of Israel or of the strangers that sojourne in Israel that giveth any of his seed unto Moloch he shall surely be put to death unto Moloch viz. unto that or any other kinde of Idol 20. Rule Many things are spoken in Scriputre rather ex vulgi opinione according to the common opinion of men then as the things are in themselves considered For instance it is said And God made Gen. 1.16 two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night meaning the Sun and the Moone whereas the Moone is the least of all the planets onely thought to be one of the greatest by most people So the
except they did abide in the ship they could not be saved If I say to a Reprobate If thou beleeve thou shalt be saved this Proposition is true though that the Reprobate shall either beleeve or be saved is false 33. Rule To say this or that opinion is untrue because it doth in â—erminis contradict some place of Scripture will not hold For instance To say that Christ is not equall with the Father is expressely contrary to that Scripture He thought it no robbery to be equal with God yet agreeable enough to that of Christ himselfe My Father is greater then â— To say God cannot repent is in terminis to contradict some places of Scripture To say God can repent is in terminis to contradict other places of Scripture yet neither of these are unsound because in terminis onely to contradict the Scripture is not to contradict indeed the Scripture but when we contradict the meaning of the Scripture then and not till then we are justly said to contradict the Scripture For instance To deny Gods delight in the destruction of sinners is to contradict in terminis that place of Scripture I will laugh at your calamity and to say God doth delight in the Prov. â— 26 destruction of sinners doth in terminis contradict another place of Scripture As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked And yet never a whit Ezek. 33.1 the more contradiction found in the Scripture for all this As for example it is both true that the Father is greater then the Son as touching the Sonnes manhood and the Son equall to the Father as touching the Sonnes God-head So of repentance it cannot be attributed unto God as it signifies a change of minde or counsell but it may be attributed unto God as it signifies change of sentence according to that Axiome Deus mutat sententiam nunquam consilium So as touching Gods pleasure or delight in the death of a sinner as it is the destruction of a creature he delights not in it but as it is the just punishment of a sinfull creature he delights therein God delights in the execution of justice as appeares in Jeremiah But let him that glorieth glory in Jer. 9.24 this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindnesse judgement and righteousnesse on the earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord God delights in the exercise of judgement and righteousnesse as well as in the exercise of loving kindness In like manner we say that two Propositions may contradict each other in terminis and yet may agree well enough as to the sense and meaning of them For instance These two Propositions 1. Adam might not have sinned 2. It could not be but that Adam would sinne are both true That Adam might not have sinned is true of Adam in the sense of division considered as in himself It could not be but that Adam would sinne is true of Adam in the sense of composition being considered as subordinate to the decrees of God 24. Rule Pray unto God for the illumination of the Spirit Luther used to say Bene or are est bene studuisse he will study well that can pray well It is a singular comfort and priviledge to every godly man to see with his owne eyes It is a great comfort to a blinde man to meet with a faithful guide whom he may trust to lead him in his way but it comes nothing neer to the content which a man that hath eyes takes when with them he sees the way on which he walks 35. Rule Labour for true holinesse The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Saint Iohn tels us That the anoyâ—ting 1 Joh. 2.27 which the people of God have received and have abiding in them shall teach them all things God will not reveal his will to those that will do their own So Paul Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind Rom. 12.2 that ye â—ay prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God 36. Rule Get an humble heart With the lowly is wisdome God will break Prov. 11.2 his minde to the broaken in heart Who am I saith Moses and yet who â—itter then he to go unto Pharaoh He that refused to be called Pharaohs daughters sonne was afterwards called to be Pharaohs God See faith the Lord to Moses I have made thee a God to Exod. 7.1 Pharaoh How shall that Christian be satisfied Quest who notwithstanding the heedful observing of these or such like Rules is in the dark as to many texts in the book of God These things may be said for the satisfaction Resp of such a Christian 1. That it is not necessary that a Christian should understand every Text in the Scriptures if he understands so much as is absolutely necessary to his salvation he is a good Scholar in Christs schoole 2. As often as thou meetest with any thing that is above the reach of thy capacity be humbled in the sense of thine owne weaknesse Thou art so farre carnal as thou doest not perceive the things of God which are spiritually to be discerned 3. Pray unto that God who hath the Key of David that he would open thy understanding that thou mayest rightly conceive of the great mysteries of Religion Christ hath told us if we knock he will open unto us he hath commanded us to knock that we may not be slothful he hath promised to open that we may not be distrustfull 4. The complete knowledge of Divine Mysteries is reserved for our heavenly state whilest we are in this world we know but in part Yea Irenaeus addes saith he In glory to all eternity the Saints shall be learning something of God that so God to eternity may be a Teacher and the Saint a learner There is such another like expression that the Schools make use of when they speak of our state in glory they say The Angels and glorified Saints are full vessels and yet are alwayes a filling FINIS Books Printed and are now to be sold by Nathanael Wâ—bb and William Grantham at the black Bear in St. Pauls Church-yard neer the little North-door of Pauls Church MAster Isaac Ambrose Prima Media Vltima first middle and last things in three Treatises of Regeneration Sanctification with Meditations on Life Death Hell and Judgement in 4. Mr. Nathanael Hardy severall Sermons Preached upon Solemne occasions collected into one Volume in 4. History Sorvey'd in a briefe Epitomy or a Nursery for gentry comprised in an intermixt discourse upon Historicall and Poeâ—icall Relations in 4. Dr. Stoughton's 13 Sermons being an Introduction to the Body of Divinity in 4. Dr. John Preston The Golden Scepter with the Churches Marriage and the Churâ—hes Carriage in three Treatises in 4. Mr. Walter Cradock Gospell-Liberty in the extension and limitation of it in 4. Mr. Thomas Parker The Visions and Prophecies of
and yet he crieth out Every one that findeth me shall slay me If it be such an intolerable burden for a man to read one page or leafe of the booke of conscience as Cain the killing of his brother how dreadfull will it be to read the booke of conscience leafe by leafe from one end to the other at the day of judgement The accusings of conscience are one part of the punishment of the damned in Hell when Dives desired that his brethren might not come into that place of torments it is conceived by some that it is not spoken from a principle of love to his brethren for all naturall affections cease in Hell but from a principle of self-love because their presence would tend to his further conviction and be a means to encrease his torment Quest 22. vers 15. Why did the Lord so farre indulge Cain that he would not permit him to suffer death though guilty of murder Some say Credibile est antiquitus gravium Resp 1 delictorum leves fuisse poenas sed cùmeae progressu temporis contemnerentur ventum ad mortem If this could be cleared it would be a strong argument for punishing theft with death Propter hominum raritatem Because of the scarcity of persons then living that God might provide for the encrease of the world he spares Cain Because there was then lesse feare of doing hurt by example Malefactors are punished for others sake as well as their owne that by their example others may beware of committing the same crime lest they bring upon themselves the same punishment God would convince Cain that he was in an errour when he said Every one that findeth me shall slay me God is not the God of confusion A taxy Levelling 'T is not for every one for private persons to act as Magistrates in determining matters criminall nor yet as executioners in binding or killing those that are worthy of bonds or death It is true He that sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed by man that is not by every man but by the Magistrate saith Paul speaking of the Magistrate He is the Minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that Rom. 13.4 doth evill Quest 23. vers 17. It is said And Cain knew his wife why is she not call'd his sister There is no question but Cain married Resp his sister but she is not so called because God would not have this to be a standing rule lest therefore any from hence for the future might take occasion to transgresse the command there is no mention made of Cains wife being his sister but onely Cain knew his wife The truth is Cain could not do otherwise for being under a command to encrease and multiply and God creating but one man and one woman viz. his father and mother Marriage could not have been continued nor mankinde propagated if he had not married his sister But will necessity make a thing unlawfull Object to be lawfull Yes If that necessity be founded upon Resp the command of God and not else as in this case Quest 24. vers 17 Why Cain builded a city It may be for these reasons Resp 1. That if possible he might evade the sentence God had pronounced against him that he should be a runagate and a vagabond 2. Securitatis ergo that being in a strange place he might secure himselfe from the wild beasts 3. Ad sui defensionem that he might be the better provided against any that should go about to slay him for his conscience told him that every one that met him would kill him Quest 25. vers 17. How was it possible for Cain to build a city for where had he builders and labourers for the work or how could he replenish it with multitudes of men wherein Cities and Common-wealths do principally consist 'T is likely that this city was not so magnificent Resp 1 and large as those which were afterwards built but suited to the number of persons then being in the world That Adam had many Sonnes and Daughters at that time which the Scripture doth not mention That these Sonnes and Daughters did begin to encrease and multiply That Cain at the building of this City had not onely Enoch mentioned in the text but many other Sonnes and Daughters That he calls the name of the City after the name of his sonne Enoch not because he had no other children but because he was his first-borne That it is likely that Cain lived after the common age of those times which was seven hundred yeares especially if you consider the Lord did reserve him for an example unto life and set a maâ—ke on him that no man by violence might take it away It is probable that Cain built this City in the four hundreth or five hundreth year of his age We read concerning the children of Jacob that they were six hundred thousand Exod. 11 37. men of warre Now these were enough to replenish a City and why not Cains posterity Quest 26. vers 17. How could Cains building of a City suit with that punishment that God had pronounced against him that he should be a fugitive and a vagabond 'T is not expressed how long Cain should Resp 1 be a fugitive and a vagabond Cain and his family for some time might be in such a condition and afterwards settle Some distinguish between a prediction or Prophecy and a threat A Prophecy say they is alwayes fulfilled but a threatening such as this is may be mitigated and that it is in the power of him who pronounces it to abate the severity thereof Though he built a City yet he continued an exile banished from his fathers house his native countrey from communion with the Church of God Although this may seem at first to be contrary to what the Lord had denounced yet doth it marvellously in truth agree with it The stock of Adam encreaseth as well by Seth as by Catn and yet none of that family is said to build a City before the flood And wherefore not Because the Lord had given them the plenty of the earth and was a stronger defence to them then the walls of any City but Cain who was departed from the presence of the Lord was compelled to build a City for his defence not for pleasure but for security Learne from hence Worldly and wicked men chiefly set their minds on worldly things You may observe amongst others two things concerning the sin of worldlinesse 1. It is the sin of professors what is the cry in the world I would there were not too much cause for it it is true they professe much and heare Sermons and would be accounted Saints but are as griping as covetous as earthly as others 'T is a thousand pitties that they that have heaven at their tongues end should have the earth at their fingers end 2. As it is the sin of Professors of them that pretend to holinesse so you read not in the
Scripture of any truly holy that are branded for this sinne Once Noah was overtaken with the love of Wine never with the Love of the world Lot was twice incestuous never covetous once David was besotted with the flesh never bewitched with the world Peter denyed his Master but it was not the love of the world but the feare of the world that caused him to fall into that sin Zaccheus had been a covetous person but no sooner doth he take Christ by the hand but the first thing he doth is to shake hands with covetousness Halfe my goods I give to the poore Qest 27. vers 19. From this Scripture where it is said That Lamech tooke unto him two wives it may be demanded whether Polygamy was a sinne in the time of the Law or not This question hath more perplexities Resp twining about it then at first I thought it might have I shall give you the opinion of learned men concerning it 1. Some conceive that Polygamy was not a sinne in the time of the Law the reasons they render are these Because we finde a Law made by God as touching those who had more wives then Arg. 1 one as in that text If a man have two wives one beloved and another hated and they have borne Deut. 21 15 16. him children both the beloved and the hated and if the first borne sonne be hers that was hated then it shall be when he maketh his sonnes to inherit that which he hath that he may not make the sonne of the beloved first-borne before the sonne of the hated who is indeed the first-borne Now if the Lord makes a Law concerning those who had more wives then one how could it then be a sin This is a non sequitur we finde Laws Resp in Scripture concerning things sinfull as If a man strive and hurt a woman so that her Ex 21.22 23. fruit depart from her and yet no mischiefe follow he shall be surely punished c. And if any mischief follow thou shalt give life for life So concerning theft He that stealeth a man Exo. 21.16 and selleth him he shall be surely put to death So concerning the price of an harlot Thou shalt not bring the hire of an whore Deut. 23. 18. or the price of a dogge into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow Arg. 2 They urge those words of the Lord to David Thus saith the Lord I anointed thee 2 Sam. 12. 7 8. King over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul and I gave thee thy Masters house and thy Masters wives into thy bosome this the Lord reckons as one of the mercies he had bestowed on David and therefore it was not a sin That phrase say some I gave thy Masters Resp wives into thy bosome is not to be understood of Gods giving them in a way of marriage unto David but of giving them into his power To clear this consider 1. This phrase of giving into a mans bosome in Scripture doth not alwayes signifie a marriage-union Render unto Psal 1 our neighbour seven-fold into their bosome So in Esay Your iniquities and the iniquiâ— of your fathers together saith the Lord which have burnt incense upon the mountaines and blâ—sphemed me upon the Hills therefore will I measure their former worke into their bosome 2. David had married Sauls Daughter Miâ—hol so that Sauls wives were Mothers in Law to David now you have an expresse Law Thou shalt not uncover the Lev. 18. 15. nakednesse of thy Daughter in Law Now if a father ought not to uncover the nakednesse of his Daughter in Law then certainly a Sonne ought not to uncover the nakednesse of his Mother in Law 2. Others conceive that Polygamy was a sinne perswaded thereunto by these reasons From the institution of marriage in Paradise Argu. 1 Therefore shall a man leave his Father and Mother and shall cleave to his wife and Gen. 2. 24. they shall be one flesh 'T is not said they two shall be one flâ—sh Object the word two is not found in the Hebrew text Though it be not explicitely yet 't is Resp implicitely in the text and therefore see how our Saviour renders the words when he urges them Have ye not read that he Mat 19.4 5. that made them at the beginning made them male and female and said For this cause shall a man leave Father and Mother and cleave to his wife and they twaine shall be one flesh The word two or twaine doth not Object exclude plurality as you may see in other Scriptures At the mouth of two witnesses Deu. 17.6 or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be put to death So in Matthew saith Christ Mat. 18. 19. If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall aske it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven The word two or twaine is taken in Resp Scripture inclusively or exclusively in those places urged it is taken inclusively but here exclusively By those words two shall be one flesh Object is onely noted unto us the entire love that should be between man and wife that a man should love his wife as his own flesh But this doth not exclude plurality of wives A man may love his neighbour as himselfe and yet may love many neighbours There may be conjunctio animorum many Resp may be united in regard of their spirits but in marriage there is not onely conjunctio animorum sed corporum an union of spirits but of bodies God commends this unto us as that Object which is well pleasing to him that an Husband should have but one wife but he doth not command it Neg. For Matthew 19. 5. The Resp question was asked Is it lawfull for a man to put away his wife for every cause Christ urges in answer to this question Gen. 2.24 Lamech primus Polygamus Polygamy had Argu. 2 its rise from Cains wicked race therefore likely sinfull and displeasing to God 3. There is a third opinion which I finde some learned persons inclinable to close with viz. That though Polygamy was a sin under the Law that is to say to Lamech and to the rest of Cains wicked progeny yet it was not a sinne to the Patriarchs and that though there was a law from the beginning that one man should have but one wife as Gen. 2.24 yet as to the obligation of it God gave a dispensation to the Patriarchs The reasons that encline them to this opinion are such as these If there were a Law whereby plurality Argu. 1 of wives were forbidden either it was known to the Patriarchs or not If it were known to them then they lived and died in a known sinne without Repentance as far as we can gather from the Scriptures If any say it was not known to them then this will follow that holy men from one generation to another lived and died