is by way of allusion and tends to teach us not that the tree of life in Paradise was a Sacrament of Christ and of saving grace and eternall life in him but that as that tree was a pledge and meanes to confirme man in his naturall life so Christ and his graces and his holy and healing word are the pledges and meanes of heavenly and supernaturall life And this is all that I can learne out of the Scriptures concerning this tree of life The other speciall tree is called the tree of knowledge of good and evill which I conceive to bee so called not because it did beget reason and understanding in man or did sharpen his wit by any vertue or power in it as Iosephus and divers Hebrewes imagined for then it had beene good for man to eat of it and hee should have gained thereby Nor because Satan by the lying Serpent perswaded the woman that being eaten of it would make them as God in knowing good and evill for it was so called of God before when hee forbad them to eat of it But the true reason why it is so called is because God having forbidden man to eat of it man could not eat of it but by disobeying God and transgressing his commandement and so bring sin and the bitter knowledge and the wofull experience and sense of evill upon himselfe which taste and knowledge of evill makes the sweetnesse of good better relished and the profit thereof better knowne and acknowledged Againe because the eating of this tree was mans sin and full and gave occasion to God to promise Christ and to the Son of God to undertake as mans surety to make satisfaction for him and to redeeme him and out of his evill to raise up a new kind of good greater and better then that which man knew before even to bring him to the knowledge of spiritual supernatural good In this respect God might well call it the tree of knowledge of good and evill upon his owne foreknowledge of that event which hee in himselfe purposed to bring about upon that occasion As for searching and inquiring what kind of tree it was whether a vine as some hold or a figge tree as Theodoret thought or an aple tree as others I hold it vaine curiosity because the text cals it by another name by which none of those trees were ever called Certainly the fruite of it in it selfe was naturally good and had no evill quality in it which could corrupt or staine mans nature or infuse malice into him as I shall hereafter shew when I come to Gods commandement by which hee forbad man to eat of it And thus much for the opening and expounding of this part of the history concerning Paradise the place of mans habitation in the state of innocency The doctrines which hence arise I will but as it were point at and name unto you First wee here are taught that Gods bounty to man in the creation was great and wonderfull in that hee made him not onely a reasonable creature endowed with wisedome knowledge and ability to choose out and make an habitation for himselfe above all other living creatures on earth but also did provide and prepare for him before hand and did plant for him a garden to his hand a place of singular pleasure and delight stored with all delicacy for his dwelling and habitation Wee count it a great bounty that God gives us large places wherein to dwell and gives us wisedome and art to build Houses and Cities and materialls necessary for building And if God blesse us with Sheepe Oxen and other profitable cattell wee rejoyce to build stals and folds and enclosures for them and Houses and Cities for our selves and acknowledge our selves bound to bee thankfull But God in the creation was so kind to man that though hee left other living creatures to the wide World yet hee provided a Paradise of pleasure for man to dwell in and to delight himselfe so that this point is manifest Whence wee may gather steadfast hope and comfortable perswasion that seeing God was of himselfe so kind to man being then but a meere naturall creature as to prepare for him so pleasant an habitation now when wee are made spirituall and by one Spirit united to him in Christ and made Sons by regeneration and adoption he will much more provide an excellent habitation for us even an heavenly which shal so farre exceed the earthly Paradise as the state of a Son exceeds the state of a servant and spirituall exceeds naturall Secondly here wee see how unnaturall and monstrous mans ingratitude was and is declared to bee in that hee would bee drawne by the subtility of the Divell perswading him by the Woman and the Woman by the Serpent to yeeld upon any promise or hope of an higher estate to transgresse any commandement of God and disobey his word and revealed will who had so highly magnified his kindnesse and made his singular care and providence for him most cleare and manifest But most of all may wee all bee ashamed and confounded for this that our first Parents and wee in them would beleeve Satans lyes in the mouth of a Serpent and would give more credit to them then to the word of the Lord our Creatour as if all his goodnesse and bounty were nothing in our eyes which hee shewed in our creation and in providing so pleasant and well furnished an habitation for us Secondly Gods putting of Adam into the garden that hee might dresse it and keep it doth teach us That man in the creation was made and is by pure nature most averse and abhorring from idlenesse and his true content and pleasure in this World is to bee in exercise of his wit reason and bodily activity The earth before mans fall was all fruitfull and brought forth for mans use all necessary and delightfull things without art toile or labour so that man might have spent all his time in contemplating upon his creation and all things created but yet God would not that man should live neither did hee see or thinke fit for man to live idle and therefore put him to dresse and keep the garden in which hee had occasion to exercise his minde and body without toile or labour onely for pleasure and contentment And therefore this doctrine is naturally gathered from hence and all those Scriptures confirme it which condemne sloth and idlenesse and send the sluggard as a creature degenerate from his kind to learne of the Ant and meanest creatures as Prov. 6. 6. And tell us that idlenesse and slothfulnesse bring hunger and want and ruine and decay to the houses of the idle and sluggish Prov. 19. 15. Eccles. 10. 18. and aboundance of idlenesse was the roote of all the evils which came upon Sodom Ezech. 16. 49. But the diligent hand maketh rich and brings plenty of all blessings Prov. 10. 4. and brings men to promotion rule and honour
againe it may seeme strange that Adam should need an helpe in the state of innocency for helpe is required when a man is in need and wants necessaries for avoiding evill or gaining some good which Adam being created in Gods image and having all the World at will seemed not to want But to this I answere that by an helpe here wee are to understand not an helpe to resist any evill or to gaine some naturall good which hee wanted but an helpe for obtaining an higher and more blessed estate even the supernaturall and heavenly estate of grace and glory in Christ the seed of the Women Whence wee may learne That the Woman was created not to bee a servant to man to serve his naturall necessity for hee needed no such helpe or service in that estate being made good and perfect with naturall perfection but to bee an helpe and furtherance to heavenly happinesse and in things which tend thereunto And albeit the Woman by being first in the transgression and a meanes of mans fall is made in her desire subject to man and to his rule and dominion over her yet by Christ the promised seed of the Woman shee is restored to her first honourable estate to bee an helpe to man in heavenly things and a meanes to winne man and to bring him to God in Christ by her chast and holy conversation and by shewing a lively example of piety and of the true feare of God and giving due reverence to her husband as Saint Peter testifieth 1 Pet. 1. 23. This Doctrine is of good use First to teach men how to use and esteeeme their Wives and wherein especially to seeke their helpe even in heavenly things and in earthly and temporall so farre as they serve to further them in spirituall If men could bee brought to understand and beleeve this they would bee carefull to marrie in the Lord and to match themselves with Wives of the true religion godly and vertuous well approved for piety faith and knowledge and truly fearing God Secondly to direct Women how they ought to frame beare and behave themselves towards their husbands and wherein they ought to strive study and endeavour to bee helps to them even in the way to heaven Let the daughters of the cursed Idolatrous Canaanites beare this just brand that like Iezabel they are snares and stirre up their husbands to wickednesse and to Idolatry and cruelty To reprove Men and Women who onely or chiefely seeke fleshly carnall and worldly helpe content profit and pleasure one from another and in their mutuall society and conjugall communion and so quite swerve and stray from the rule of this Doctrine where wee have much matter of reproofe ministred to us both of men who take Wives according to their lust and greedy desire of wealth and riches not for religion and the feare of God or who make drudges and slaves of their Wives whom God made to bee helps meet for them and also of Women who give themselves to bee no helps to their husbands except it bee for the World no furtherers at all but rather pul-backs and hinderers in the way to heaven and in heavenly and spirituall things The second thing in the preparation to the Womans creation is Gods setting of Adam a worke to view all living creatures and to employ his reason and wisedome in giving names to them Where wee are to note and observe First that here is no mention made of the living creatures in the Sea but onely of those which God formed out of the ground that is beasts and cattell and fowles of the aire all which were ready at hand and God might quickly present and make to passe before Adam all kinds of them that hee might view and name them Secondly wee here may observe the intent and purpose of God in bringing them to Adam to wit the exercise and triall of Adams naturall reason wisedome and knowledge which were made manifest by his giving to every kind fit names which God approved and confirmed Thirdly the manifestation of Adams wisedome and Gods confirming of his judgement which hee shewed in naming every kind of earthly creature with a name agreeable to the nature of it For whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name of it that is that name was ratified by God Yea also because there was no use of names whereby the creatures might bee knowne to any other or revealed there being as yet no man besides Adam himselfe nor the Woman yet made to whom hee might shew them by their names I am induced to thinke that Adam gave such a fit and proper name agreeable to the nature and qualities of every creature that the creature being called by that name would come to Adam whensoever hee called upon it such was the obedience of the creatures to Man and such was mans wisedome to rule them and so excellent was his knowledge of their severall natures and qualities From which observations thus opened wee may learne That in the state of innocency in the first creation man had perfect naturall knowledge of all naturall things arising and springing immediatly from his naturall soule and the powers and faculties thereof which were naturall principles created in him he had no need to bee taught by any instructor in any art or knowledge fit for his state and condition nor to learne by experience as now we doe since the fall Now seeing Adam was thus perfect in naturall knowledge of all things which concerned his naturall state and condition and yet was seduced by the woman the serpent This serves to teach us that no naturall knowledge gifts and abilities can uphold and sustaine a man against spirituall enemies and temptations that power is proper to supernaturall grace neither can naturall reason dive into the depth of heavenly and supernaturall things If naturall wit and reason could have conceived the spirituall meaning of the tree of life and of the tree of knowledge of good and evill surely Adam would first have eaten of the tree of life and not by any meanes have beene tempted and drawn to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evill For he who was created good could in no case wittingly have neglected the tree of life and desired the other upon any false suggestion Wherefore let us not build upon nature but wholly upon grace in things which concerne eternall life and heavenly happinesse He that followeth naturall reason for his guide in the way to heaven may easily bee carried aside and fall into the crooked wayes of errour which lead unto hell and speedily fall into the pit of destruction The third thing to be noted in the preparation to the womans creation is the inequalitie which Adam found in all the creatures to be his mates and companions and their unfitnesse for his conversation to be an helpe meet for him this is in these words but for Adam there was not found
Ioseph professeth ascribing all his piety and charity which hee shewed in nourishing his bretheren and their families to God And all naturall good things God worketh either immediatly by his owne hand alone as in the creation wherein hee gave being to all things without any meanes at all or by instruments and meanes which hee himselfe hath first created hee giveth light by the Sun Moone and Starres and by them and the whole Heavens which are turned about by his counsels and by their influâ—nce hee refresheth and nourisheth all creatures on Earth and also doth by them both use correction and shew mercy Iob 37. 12 13. and Matth. 5. 45. There are besides these other things which are good and profitable not simply in their owne nature but by accident and in some respect as for example for men to abstaine from marriage and from begetting children for the increase of mankind is not a thing naturally or morally good in it selfe being a refraining from the use of Gods ordinance but yet in case of urgent necessity when Gods Ministers and Servants doe live in times and places of persecution and are driven to flee and wander from place to place naked and destitute of meanes whereby to maintaine Wives and Children Saint Paul tells us it is good for a Man to live single and not to touch a Woman 1 Cor. 7. 1 35. for by this meanes he shall avoid much distraction and more freely attend the service of God Also for men to fast and afflict their bodies by abstaining from comfortable nourishment and necessary food for a time is not simply good in it selfe but yet it is profitable for taming the proud and rebellious flesh and for furthering of our humiliation in times of private and publike calamities when Gods hand is heavy upon us or upon our Land and the feare of his threatning judgments which hang over our heads doe terrifie us these and such like are called good things that is profitable expedient and by accident and in some respect and condition good Other things there bee which in their owne nature are evill and hurtfull and evils of affliction and punishment as crosses of Gods people and plagues which though they hurt and destroy the outward man and the flesh yet by God gracâ— they worke to the saving of their soules and the amendment of their lives as wee read Psalme 119. 67 71. and 1 Cor. 5. 5. and 11. 32. and in that respect are called good And the plagues and destructions which befall the wicked which to them are dreadfull and wofull evils and curses but as they tend to the deliverance of Gods Church from their 〈…〉 rsecutions and oppressions to the purging of his land and the magnifying of Gods justice and power so they are good in the issue and event and in respect of Gods purpose intending good by them Now in all these God hath an active and working band as well as a permitting will and his actuall providence ruleth in them Hee gives men the gift of continency and power over their owne wils to live single and to make themselves Eunuches for his Kingdomes sake as our Saviours words shew Matth. 19. 11 12. and the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 37. Hee cals upon men in his word and by his grace stirres them up to fasting weeping mourning and afflicting of their bodies for the greater humiliation of their soules Joel 1. 14. and 2. 12. and Zach. 12. 10. Hee doth sometimes by his owne hand afflict his people when hee sends among them sore diseases which are the stroke of his hand Job 36. 18. and Psalme 39. 10. and by his owne immediate hand hee strikes and consumes the wicked Iob 34. 25 26. as wee see in the drowning of the old World in the destruction of Pharaoh Ananias and Saphyra and divers others Sometimes hee doth by good instruments afflict and punish his people and plague and consume the wicked as by his Angell hee punished Israels sin and Davids pride 2 Sam. 24. 17. and destroyed the host of Senacherib 2 King 19. and smotte Herod Act. 12. And by Joshua Moses David destroyed the Canaanites and the Philistines and other enemies of his Church Sometimes by evill instruments hee afflicteth and punisheth his owne people and plagueth and destroyeth the wicked by Absalom and Shimei hee punished David and by wicked Jehu hee destroyed the wicked family of Ahab by Satan and the wicked Sabaeans and Chaldâ—ans hee afflicted and tryed Job and by the proud King of Ashur hee punished Israel and Judah and destroyed the Idolatrous nations as appeares Isa. 10. where hee is called the rod of Gods wrath and proud Nebuchadnezar is called his servant in punishing his people the Iewes and destroying the obstinate among them and in crushing the wicked nations Ier. 25. 9. For he in whom all doe live move and have all being Act. 17. 28. gave to those wicked Kings power and might and though their owne lusts and unsatiable desire and ambition stirred them up and so â—he act was in the wicked themselves yet hee over-ruled and disposed their malice to performe his purpose and to execute his most just judgements And thus wee see that Gods actions are most wise and just in those evils which hee executeth by wicked instruments and that which they doe with a wicked mind and for an evill end God doth justly give them power to doe and permits them to abuse his power to their owne ends when hee purposeth to direct all to a good end and so doth And therefore though no evill is done in the World but by his providence yet is hee no author or efficient cause of sin the sinfulnesse of the action is of the evill instruments and the power of it and the disposing of it to good that onely is Gods And although men who are limited by Gods law may doe no least sin or evill for a good end that greatest good may come thereof and if they doe it is sin in them yet God who is supreme Lord of all and whose will is the rule of all righteousnesse and who by his omnipotency can raise out of the greatest evill a farre greater good and can make the Divels malice and mans fall the occasion of bringing Christ into the World and a way to shew his infinite goodnesse and mercy in saving and redeeming his elect and to magnifie his glorious power and justice in their eyes by destroying the wicked with eternall destruction the sight whereof brings them to a more full fruition of his glory and makes them farre more sensible of his goodnesse to them and of their owne eternall blessednesse hee may doe what seemes good to his heavenly wisedome and evill so farre as he willeth it and hath an hand in the ordering of it is no sin but doth more shew his goodnesse and unspotted purity and holinesse The third thing is that God by his actuall providence disposeth all things which are done in the World
point in the Description of Gods actuall providence Now the meanes which God hath ordained for the manifestation of the glory of his grace and goodnesse in the eternall blessednesse of his elect they goe before in execution though the end is first in Gods intention And therefore they come to bee handled in the first place And they all may be reduced to two maine heads The first is mans fall The second is mans restauration In the fall of man sive things come to bee consideredâ— First the Commandement of God at which man stumbled and which the Divell made the occasion of mans fall The second is the fall it selfe what it was and wherein it did consist The third is the state of rebellion into which man did fall The fourth is the multitude of evils which did accompany and follow mans sin and fall The fifth is the small reliques of good which remained in mans nature after his fall The Commandement of God is plainely laid downe Gen. 2. 16 17. And therefore I will first insist upon that portion of Scripture and after will proceed to the description of the fall as it is laid downe in the third Chapter But before I proceed further let me conclude this Doctrine of Gods actuall providence with some use and application First it is matter of admirable comfort to all true Christians and faithfull people of God in that the Lord whom they have chosen for their God their rocke and confidence is so wise and provident above all ordering and disposing all things which come to passe in the World in wonderfull wisedome and by an omnipotent hand to his owne glory and the salvation of his elect in Christ. Whatsoever good commeth at any time it is the gift of God and all good blessings and benefits which they receive and enjoy from any hand or by any meanes they are so many tokens and pledges of his love and fatherly care and of his eye of providence watching over them for good And whatsoever evils of any kind breake into the World by the malice of the Divell and the outrage of wicked men they are no other nor no more but such as God in his wisedome and goodnesse is pleased willingly to permit and suffer for a far greater good to his own people and as he over-rules them all and hath set them their bounds beyond which they cannot passe so he disposeth and turneth them all to his owne glory and the manifestation of his justice and power in saving of his Church and people and in confounding and destroying all his and their enemies wherefore in times of peace plenty and prosperity when all good things and blessings of all sorts abound Let us rejoyce and glory in the Lord and give him the praise of all and offer up daily and continuall sacrifices of thankfulnesse with cheerefull hearts and willing minds studying and striving with all our might and to the utmost of our power to use and employ all his blessings to the best advantage for his glory the good of his Church and the profit of our owne soules being well assured that these are his talents committed to our trust which if wee by our faithfulnesse doe increase wee shall in the day of account and reckoning receive the reward of good stewards and faithfull servants and bee received into the joy of our Lord. But on the contrary in evill and perillous time when iniquity aboundeth sinnes of all sorts are increased piety and charity are waxen cold religion is skorned the godly persecuted and oppressed justice judgement and truth troden downe and trampled Let us not faint nor feare nor bee dejected as men without hope For the Lord our God and our keeper is a provident God his eyes neither slumber nor sleep hee seeth and observeth all these things and without his will and knowledge no evill can come to passe As the Scripture saith of Pharaoh to may wee say in this case that even for this same purpose God hath raised up these wicked persecutors and outrageous sinners that is in his just wrath hath given them up to Satan and their owne lusts to multiply sin and oppression that he may shew his power in them and make his justice glorious and name famous throughout all the earth When the nations rage and the Kingdomes are moved God can give his voice and the earth shall melt and all the works of the wicked shall bee dissolved Secondly here is matter of terrour to the wicked both them who commit sins in secret and presume to goe on in their lewd courses with a conceipt that none seeth nor taketh notice of their abominations and also them who multiply their sins openly and without feare increase their persecutions and oppressions and vex and afflict the meeke of the Earth and breake Gods people in pieces thinking that they shall never bee called to account and putting farre from them the day of reckoning Behold here the Lord who is the judge all the earth is a most provident God all their doings are naked and opened to his eyes and he observes all their wayes and wicked workes their power strength and greatnesse is from him and he wittingly and willingly suffers them to abuse them to sin and to oppression and wrong and onely so long as he pleaseth that when they have filled up their measure hee may bring them to judgement and may make them a skorne derision and footestole to the righteous whom they have skorned hated and oppressed Thus much for the actuall providence of God FINIS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Masoreth sepes legi Use 1. Use 2. Use 3. Use 4. Use 5. Creation 1 2 Creatures To create what 1. 2. Author of creation Time Object Forme What word it was 1 2 3 A large description of Creation Taken into parts and proved 1. Opus ad extra Heb. 11. 3. opened 7. Manner of creation in foure things Rom. 1. 20. None but God wrought in the creation Arguments 1 2 3. 4. 8. Use 1. By creatures ascend to know God And his soveraignty over all Use 2. Confutation of six sorts of men Use 3. Repâ—oofe to â—vo sorts Use 4. Comfort for the godly Names of the creatures 1 2 3. 4. Instructions concerning the creatures Use 1. The world not eternall Use 2. Admire Gods eternity Use 3. Overlove not the world now degenerate Use 4. Not God but we need the world Use 5. Hare sin Motives The words expounded I. The beginning of time here meant Argum. 1. 2 II. III. IV. V. Doct. 1. By the creation God is seen to be infinitely wise and powerfull Use 1. Look up to the omnipotencie of the Creatour To rejoyce and â—est in him Use 2. Bewaile the contrary negligence Use 3. Checks all Atheisticall thoughts of Gods power Doct. 2. The three personsâ— are equal Use 1. Against Antitrinitaries Use 2. Trust in Christ the holy Spirit John 1. The time In the beginning Doctr. The world and all in it