Trades and Imployments The Birds Nightingals excepted sing not in the night but the Dogs bark in the night and this Creature alone betrays the Thief at what hour of the night soever he comes 4. They delight in a diverse kind of Dyet feed on several Dishes and God gives every one his proper Dish his Meat in his season The Sheep doth not feed on flesh nor doth the Horse take pleasure to gnaw the bones like the Dog nor the Fish to eat hay like the Oxe 5. They have several Dwellings or Hiding-places The Hare does not lye down at the Crib nor doth the Dog delight constantly to abide in the Wood amongst Wolves Tygers and Lyons Of the Second God first made the Dwelling-houses of the Creatures before the Inhabitants thereof yea he first furnished and stored those several Mansions of the Creatures before he made and brought the Creatures into them First God made the grass for the Beasts and then the Beasts themselves First the inferior Creatures and then Man the Epitome under God supream Lord of all First God made Vegetative Creatures then Sensitive and then Rational First the simple bodies as the Elements and then compound and there first a being without life then a being and life without sense then a being life and sense without reason then altogether all in one and that is Man Again goodly was the order which God set for the propagation of the Creatures He gave them a seed whereby to beget others in their own likeness Or from whence should grow alway another to continue and replenish the World It is admirable to think that so much should come of so little that the seed of Plants is not quickned except it dye that when seed is sown in the Earth the seed should grow and spring up and the Sower knoweth not how For The Earth bringeth forth fruit of her self first the Blade then the Ear then the full Corn in the Ear Mar. 4.27 28. And all this comes from the goodness and blessing of God upon it in the first Creation Gen. 2.11 12. Again it had been a goodly pleasant sight to have seen the Waters bring forth Fish and Fowl of themselves first and so the Earth to bring forth Beasts and all kind of Cattel after their kind and all at God's Word of Command at first And that all these Creatures should have virtue to multiply and increase and to replenish the Sea and the dry Land this is very wonderful This is a goodly order too that God hath set namely that sensitive Creatures should some bring forth living Creatures some egs only that the Ostrich should bring forth egs and leave them And yet God take order with the Beams of the Sun as with his wings to keep them warm and hatch them That God should seed the young Ravens when they cry and the old one the Dam hath left them viz. as some tell us by causing a little worm to grow out of the dung in the nest and to crawl into their very mouths to feed them Again that the great Creatures are not so fruitful as the small and that the wild beasts do not so multiply as the tame and more useful Creatures do this is also admirable That the Waters greater than the Earth and at first above the Earth should not overflow it but be bound in by a girdle of Sand and that a light body which the wind can blow too and fro where it listeth That the Fire doth not consume and devour all the other corporal Creatures That the Beams of the Chambers of the World should be laid in the Waters Psal 104.3 and yet not be moved That the Globe of the Earth and Waters should hang upon its own Center only like a ball in the air this is indeed wonderful Again a most beautiful sight it is to behold and consider the good order and concatenation of Causes first set by God God appointed the Heavens to hear the Earth and the Earth to hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oyl and these to hear Jezreel Hos 2.22 This is that sight which the poor Heathens had some glimps of in the night of Gentilism as appears by that Poetical Fancy of the chain fastned to Jupiter's Chair and reaching down to the Earth What should we say more When God finished the Heavens and the Earth and all the Host of them he left them like a well govern'd Army standing in Battel-aray every one set in his rank every one ordered to march on in his way and none to break their ranks no one to thrust another So that if the greatness and glory of King Solomon and the goodly order of his House or Court was a sight which put the Queen of Sheba to an extasy what a sight had it been to have been with Adam in Paradise and to have seen the general muster of the Creatures before him that he should give them their names and to have seen that excellent order which was observed in this great House of the World and in all the Family of Heaven and Earth when God looked upon them all and behold they were very good Surely a far greater sight than that of Solomon's Court was here for a greater than he hath said Mat. 6.29 That Solomon in all his glory was not arayed like one of these Of the Third 3. The Creatures are very good because they are very useful to us In the state we are now some are for food some for Physick some for defence some for covering some for ornament some for our service some for our delight and recreation To instance in some particulars The Heavens were made spread out and garnished for Mans benefit and advantage Every Man has his portion in the Stars of Heaven Deut. 4.19 as well as in the clods or glebe of the Earth For as God hath determined to all Nations and persons the bounds of their habitations on the Earth so hath he divided unto them all the Sun Moon and Stars of Heaven The third Heaven is the Seat of the Blessed the Receptacle and Mansion of Saints and Angels the Palace and Paradise of the second Adam and his Seed The visible Heavens compass the World as a glorious wall of fire are a goodly Mount and fence yea a goodly covering and canopy to the sublunary World and to the Inhabitants thereof The Sun Moon and Stars distinguish Times and Seasons separate Day and Night give light to the Inhabitants of the Earth render it fruitful by their heat and influences Job 38.31 The Meteors in the middle region of the Air Fire and Hail Snow and Vapour stormy Winds Thunder and Lightening the small Rain and the great Rain of his strength these all set forth the Power of God are good for the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof they all fulfil his Word and this Word of his that Lo he beheld them and they were very good How doth the Snow though cold
THE Creatures Goodness As they came out of God's Hands AND THE GOOD MANS MERCY TO THE BRUTE CREATURES Which God hath put under his Feet IN TWO SERMONS The first Preached before the University of Oxford The second at the Lecture at Brackley By Thomas Hodges B. D. late Rector of Souldern in OXFORDSHIRE London Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside 1675. To the much Honoured RICHARD WINWOOD Esq SIR I Here humbly present to you and under your Name and Patronage publish to the World two Sermons the one concerning the primitive Goodness of the Creatures as they first came out of God's hand the other of the righteous Man's goodness kindness and mercy to the Creatures which God hath put into his hand or under his feet If any question me for preaching on the first Subject saying wherefore is this loss My answer is that God himself Psal 8. who is infinitely wise did preach on the Creatures goodness and excellency unto Job and thereby brought him on his knees See Job Ch. 38 39 40 41. even to abhor himself in dust and ashes That Solomon the wisest of Men since Adam shewed his Wisdom not in Metaphysical Speculations or Notions not in Logical Sophisms or Terms of Art not in Philological Criticisms But in that he spake of Trees from the Cedar-tree that is in Libanon unto the Hyssop that springeth out of the Wall he spake also of Beasts and of Fowls 1 Kings 4.33 c. and of creeping Things and of Fishes And I have heard of Mr. Wheatly of Banbury an eloquent and a famous Preacher that he made a whole Sermon in commendation of a Horse And truly where God gives a Text and preaches on it himself his Ministers have a sufficient warrant to make a Sermon As for my choice of the subject of the second Sermon and my Discourse thereon my apology is if it need one that it hath often grieved my Soul to see how the poor bruit Beasts have been used or abused rather by their inhumane merciless absurd unreasonable cruel Masters who having no understanding became worse than the Beast that perisheth And I would if it was possible put a stop to the rage of brutish Men and however hear testimony to the truth namely that 't is a good Character of a good Man to be merciful to his Beast As for this Address to you I may say that of all Men living of quality that I have known you are most free from this fault You are like the good Man in the Text you do regard the life of your Beast And I wish all your Servants may be like their Master or like Eleazir Gen. 24. Abraham's Steward that had such a care of his Masters Camels Further SIR give me leave to tell you that I have read a Treatise of Monsieur de la Chambre to prove that Beasts have reason B. M. and that one of the Ancients saith that Canis is Logicus Ethicus Theologus Now if so it be that Dogs make Syllogisms and that they do discurrere as well as currere discourse as well as course I presume you may know as well as most Gentleman in England Honoured SIR although I never did preach to those irrational Animals as the Book of Conformities tells us S. Francis did to the Wolf and the Birds to teach them their duty to God or Man nor do I pretend to preach in these Sermons to stir up Men's Devotions from what is reported of the great Reverence which S. Anthony's Mule V. D. S. 2. D. p. 502. S. Francis his Sheep and the Cook of Lisbon's Dog shew'd to the Sacrament yet I may and must profess to learn Gratitude to my Benefactours and particularly to your Worthy self from Patroclus his Lyon who fawned on him when thrown to him in the Theatre at Rome to be devoured by him A. G. l. 5. c. 14. and all this for a good turn the Man had formerly done him in Africa by pulling something out of the Lyons foot that hurt him SIR I shall not hold you long in the porch by prefixing a large Epistle to so small a Piece I shall only add one humble and hearty Request unto all Gentlemen who delight in Hunting who shall read these Sermons if any such shall happen to cast their eyes in them That they would often think of Amedeus Duke of Savoy who was chosen Pope but too good to hold it who shewing a Company of poor People nourished by him said these were the Hounds wherewithal he did hunt after the Kingdom of Heaven And however never to take the Childrens bread to cast it to the Dogs I mean to provide always that the Poor may not fare the worse because their Hounds fare so well And so I conclude with my humble and hearty Request to the Almighty GOD for you that he would be pleased long to continue you a Lover Practiser and Countenancer of the true Protestant Religion a loyal Subject to his Majesty a worthy Patriot a Son of Peace and like that great and good Man your Father when he was Ambassadour in Holland remonstrated against Vorstius a Lover of the Truth and a Lover of good Men. So wishing you and your virtuous and religious Consort all happiness I rest as in duty bound Your obliged humble Servant T. H. May the 12th 1675. Gen. I. Part of the 31. Verse And God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good THE Holy Scriptures even from the beginning of them speak of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men And because 't is the ordinary practice of the best Artificers often to take a view of the works under their hands to compare them with the Idea which they have in their minds or with the Model or Pattern which they have before their eyes to the end to see how well they agree thereunto Therefore also doth the Text represent to us Almighty God the great Architect Builder or Maker of Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all things therein having in six days finished this glorious Fabrick now in the close of the sixth day taking a general survey or review of all his works as it were to see whether all things were made according to the Idea or platform of things which he had in his own mind from all eternity to see as it were whether there was any necessary Creature wanting any thing made superfluous or redundant how the several particulars did correspond and conspire to adorn the Universe whether any Momus or Aristarchus could ever after come forth and justly criticise upon any of his works upon any tittle or jota in all the great Book of the Creatures from the beginning to the end thereof And God saw every thing that he had made And when God had viewed and reviewed supervised and revised his whole work and every particular of it he passed judgment righteous judgment
did That none might speak or think falsely and foolishly concerning God as the Jews do viz. Deum ultima vespera praeventum quaedam animantia imperfecta reliquisse Calvin in Gen. 2.1 God the Judge of Heaven and Earth did in the beginning of the World strictly look and enquire into truly try and righteously judge all his Creatures and he returns Omnia benè I find no fault in any thing that I have made God having newly printed the Book of the Creatures in six days and having compared it sheet by sheet as it were before with the original in his own mind and found no fault in it he doth now again that the whole work is finished read it and examine all over again and sees no jota or tittle amiss in it from the beginning to the end thereof no place for the least dash of the pen of Men or Angels and no need of the least touch of his own hand either to correct or compleat it And this brings us to the other Observation that it was a true and righteous judgment which God passed upon his Creatures as they came out of his hands at first that they were very good They were good before and well approved of four or five times by God but now that all is done and polished by God's own hand now 't is perfect very good nothing need to be added thereunto When God saw the parts of this body of the Universe part by part each was good and beautiful as he made and viewed it day by day But now the body being fully compleated by that which every part supplyeth and now this body of the visible World being headed with a visible head Man God's Deputy and Vice-roy made and set to rule and govern all his Creatures here below Now 't is added they were very good God assembled the Creatures before Adam to see what names he would give all his Subjects and Adam gave names to all Cattel and to the Fowls of the Air and to every Beast of the Field Gen. 2.20 Adam gave them every one his name and God gave them all an Epithitâ—e very good I shall endeavour with Gods leave and help to shew 1. How and in what sense the Creatures may be said to be good and very good 2. To prove that the Creatures are so very good 3. Whether all the Creatures have always been and now are so very good as when they first came out of God's hands and if not then 4. Whether ever there has been or shall be a restauration of the Creatures to their primitive goodness 5. What God requires that we should contribute towards the repair of this great House of the World and towards the restoring the Creatures to their first goodness and beauty Of the First 1. The Creatures are all good Metaphysically as they had a being Ens bonum convertuntur And so they were drops of that Ocean of goodness that is in God 'T is good by some participation of his goodness and conformity to his Word and Will without which it could not have been at all So the Scripture testifieth that every Creature of God is good here and in the 1 Tim. 4.4 All that was made was every way agreable to his Will and contrary to or without that was nothing made that was made 2. The Creatures were all good Morally There was no Anomy or Ataxy amongst them all Nothing prejudicial to God's glory and every thing serviceable for mans benefit The Creatures were good that is were goodly fair pleasant to the eyes Again they were good that is profitable or commodious So the word may import for that which one Evangelist calleth good Mar. 9.42 another calleth profitable Luk. 17.2 3. They were Theologically good They were as so many Letters out of which men might spell the Name of God Almighty Psal 19. Yea from these Creatures as from so many Teachers men might learn many profitable Lessons touching service and obedience to their Maker The Creatures proclaim to us God's goodness and glory and again the homage and duty which we owe unto God our Creator The Creatures are a kind of Ladder whereby we may always ascend up unto God The World is Templum Dei God's Temple and in this Temple doth every one of his Creatures speak of his honour Of the Second we shall endeavour to evidence the goodness and beauty of the Creation 1. From the various Natures of the Creatures 2. From the goodly Order of their creation propagation and working 3. From their great Usefulness and serviceableness unto Man 4. From their extraordinary Obedience unto God their Maker Of the First 1. Every Creature of God is good and it is a pleasant thing to behold or consider the beauty of them all in their first creation How much are we delighted with a good Prospect yea with a fair Landskip sometimes The shew which the Devil tempted our Saviour withal for from the top of an exceeding high Hill he shewed him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them was of it self a tempting and would have been a ravishing sight to us But alas this sight was nothing to that view which God took of all the Creatures of the World and the goodness of them Let 's behold God's six days works beginning from the Angels in Heaven to the meanest Creature on the Earth or in the Waters and we shall see a delightful sight rendred so by the excellent variety of the Creation Some Creatures as Angels are all spirit and no bodies Some again corporal Creatures and no spirits Some half the one and half the other as Man Again some Creatures have life and some are without life Of those that have life some are rational some are irrational Of unreasonable Creatures some are integra Animalia some Insecta and of both sorts some live in the Air and some in the Water and some on the Earth and some are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Crocodils c. which live partly in the Water and partly on the dry Land Again there is a Creature which is partly a Plant and partly an Animal and that is a Sponge and what if we say the same of the sensitive Plant Come we to instance only in the bruit Creatures and there we shall see an admirable variety God hath not fill'd the World with all great or all small or all of a middle size but with some of every sort I shall be beholden to the Naturalist Franzius to shew a five-fold observable Variety amongst these And this is our First 1. God their Maker hath set to all their several quantities their bounds which they shall not pass The greedy Swine shall never grow to be so big as the Elephant nor the Pigeon to be so great as the Swan 2. They have their several Voices and Tones the Cuckow doth never crow like the Cock nor the Lyon grunt like the Hog nor the Dog neigh like the Horse 3. They have their several
Life bears fruit every month which some think is a restoring of it to its primitive fruitfulness and for want of which some think the Fig-tree was cursed in the Gospel so Mr. Brightman And there are who think that one day Sodom and Gomorrah now a dead Sea shall again become a fruitful and pleasant Land And for this see Ezek. 16.53.55 There are too who think that the Creatures waiting groaning and longing to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Rom. 8. doth hint some Restitution of the Creatures to their first good and sound state Which whether it do or no I leave it to you to judge Only this I say that if the visible World shall pass through a purgatory-fire at the day of Judgment and if it shall be continued for the blessed Saints to contemplate God's goodness therein at first and the glory of Christ the second Adam who came to repair the ruins which the first made that then it is not improbable that the Creatures may then attain to their primitive goodness However sure I am that the Humane Nature is already in the Person of Christ advanced far above what it was in Adam at first The first Adam was of the Earth earthly the second Adam was the Lord from Heaven heavenly And again That all those that are Christs are already in part and shall hereafter in Heaven perfectly be restored to the Image of God wherein they were made at first and to a better and more happy estate then ever Adam had in Paradise V. There 's one Query more to be briefly spoken unto and then we shall have done with the Fifth thing propounded in the beginning of our Discourse and that is what is required of us towards the repair of the ruins of the Creation to restore the Creatures to their primitive goodness and beauty To this I answer 1. That God doth not require that we should repair the Angelical Nature that we should pour Wine and Oyl into their wounds or bind up their bruises their stroke is incurable there is no Balm in Gilead no Physician for their disease Only we must by endeavouring to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit our selves to fill up those vacant places in the Heavens from whence they fell God can make of us if we duly apply our selves to him although we be but earthen Pitchers Vessels of Grace and Vessels of Glory Vessels every way fit for our Masters use both in Earth and in Heaven Col. 3.9 10 2. God doth expect that we should put off the old Man with his deeds and put on the new Man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him That being in Christ id est being indeed Christians we should become new Creatures be renewed in the spirit of our minds and walk in newness of life that as in Adam we all dyed and became dead in Sins and trespasses so in Christ the second Adam and by a lively Faith in him we should all be made aliue And because Adam was the Son of God by Creation at first that we should all be Partakers of the Divine Nature be his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Live and walk as the Sons of God all as the Children of the most High that the Lord may take pleasure in us again as he did in Adam in Paradise before he sinned 3. We must make a good use of all God's good Creatures getting a new right to use them although the old one be not utterly lost and using them alway aright according to the Creators will and for his glory Many are the good uses we may make of the Creatures this Doctrine of the Creatures usefulness and goodness U I Hence we may be informed that God made not sin For all that he made was good and Sin that is evil and as Sin only evil and that continually There was no Anomy or Ataxy in all God's works but Sin it self is an Anomy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then God is not the Author of this evil and confusion This is the Truth we teach in all the Churches of the Saints and not as we are slanderously reported by the Romanists that we say that God is the Author of Sin God is Summum Bonum yea Goodness it self but Sin is Summum Malum the chiefest Evil and so bad that Hell and the Devil cannot make it worse Ye cannot call it worse than to call it by an Epithite drawn from its own name viz. sinful Sin This calls the Devil Father and Author God the good Husbandman sow'd nothing but good Seed in his Field 't is the Devil that Enemy that sow'd these tares Again hence we infer that Sin is very evil because it hath poyson'd so many good things yea hath been the cause of all evils in the World For at the first God made every thing very good That must needs be bitter indeed which hath imbittered so many and so great sweets Sin is the great Troubler of the World this is it which makes God's good things turn to be evil to us that curses our Blessings that makes a Garden of Eden a desolate Wilderness that turns the World upside down and makes that when Jeremy looked upon the Land of Canaan that Garden of God Chap. 4.22 23. He beheld the Earth and lo it was a Tohu Vabohu without sorm and void and the Heavens and they had no light Further hence we may learn that the Lord Jesus Christ is very good a Fountain of goodness For God made all good Col. 1.16 and he created all things by Christ By him not as a mere Instrument but a Co-worker with him He is the beginning of the Creation of God in this sense also Is there any good in the World and the Lord Christ hath not done it and he hath done all things Well Heaven and Earth are full of the goodness of our Lord Jesus and there 's No Man good but one and that is one who is God and Man the Man Christ Jesus Lastly as to information hence we are taught that the work of Redemption is very good exceeding good For this is a better and greater work than that of Creation If that deserve thousands of praises this doth ten thousands The song of the Lamb is to be a higher Note than the song of Moses Creation was a work of God's fingers but in our Redemption there was put forth the strength of his holy arm by which he got himself us the victory Behold now a new Heaven a new Earth the light of the Moon is as the light of the Sun the light of the Sun is seven-fold Old things are passeth away all things are become new And therefore if when God laid the foundation the Corner-stone of the World the Morning-stars sang together all the Sons of God shouted for joy No marvel now that Christ by whom all things were made
after his kind and Cattel after their kind made Man also after his own Image and gave him dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl of the Air and over the Cattel and over all the Earth and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth God indeed made these Creatures and all things else for his own glory but in order thereunto he made these to be our Servants Gen. 2.19 20. And therefore we find that God assembled before Adam all the Beasts of the field to see what he would call them Gen. 5.2 Luk. 1.62 63. And his giving Names to them was a part and proof of his Dominion or Lordship over them At first 't is thought that Mans Dominion over the Creatures the Fishes of the Sea the great Whales not excepted and over the Fowls of Heaven was like that of the Centurion which he had over his Souldiers He might say to one Go and he goeth and to another Come and he cometh and to a third Do this Luk. 7.8 and he doth it They were all ready to come and go at his word of Command And this was the Language of their Obedience to Adam their Lord Lo we are all thy Servants Before Sin came into the lower World Adam commanded without rigour and they obeyed with obediential reverence and readiness without the least force or compulsion And since the fall God hath in a great measure renewed our forfeited Charter and Men have been able by force or art to subdue and govern over the greater wilder sort of Beasts such as Elephants Lyons Leopards Bears Tygres Plin. Hist B. 8. C. 2. c. Elephants have been brought so far under Mans yoke as to be yoked together to draw a Chariot and in some places to draw the Plough if we will believe Pliny But behold a more sure word of Prophecy St. James tells us Chap. 3. V. 7. That every kind of Beasts and of Birds and of Serpents and things in the Sea is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind As if he had said It was not so only before the Fall or by miracle as the Whale not hurting Jonah Jonah 2. Dan. 6. but casting him up on dry Land and the Lyons not hurting Daniel though cast into their Den to be devour'd by them or that all the Creatures came tamely to Noah into the Ark but as if he had said Nothing is so violent and noxious by Nature but humane art and industry hath made it serviceable to Mans use For instances and stories saith D. Manton in Loc. Interpreters abound in them How Lyons have been tamed and brought to hunt as Dogs or draw the Chariot as Horses you may see Pliny in his Natural History Lib. 8. C. 16. and Aelian Lib. 15. C. 14. How Birds have been taught you may see Plin. Lib. 10. C. 42. and Macrob. Lib. 2. Saturnal C. 10. Of Elephants Lipsius Gen. 1. Epistâ—… 50. And although we are told by D. Cowel that wild Beasts Birds Fishes by the Law of Nature are not the goods of any one particular person yet he that first gets the possession of them by the Law of Nature hath a Title to them And as for the tamer Creatures we have a right to them ordinarily either by Descent as Heirs to our Parents or by Donation as free gift or by purchase or else as found when lost or gotten in or by means of a lawful War from an Enemy And so it may be said of any particular person though but a private Man who is by any of these lawful means Possessour of the Beasts as God saith of King Nebuchadnezzar Jer. 27.5 6. I have given him the Beasts of the Field also to serve him For God made the Earth the Man and the Beasts that are upon the ground by his great Power and his stretched out Arm and giveth it to whom it seemeth meet unto him Though God be the soveraign Lord of Heaven and Earth and all that therein is yet the Earth hath he given to the Children of Men. He made Man to have dominion over the works of his hands He hath put all things under his feet Psal 8.7 8. All Sheep and Oxen yea and the Beasts of the Field the Fowl of the Air and the Fish of the Sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the Seas From God Lord Paramount of all we have a good â—â—tle to and a propriety in these Creatures Isa 1.3 The Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib God having granted and thus setled property in particular persons to the Beasts of the Earth 't is not in the power of Men or Devils but by Gods Commission or Permission at least to alter or overthrow it The Devil could not touch Job's Sheep or Camels without leave first had obtained And as for Man God hath made a hedge about every Man's Cattel by the Eighth Commandment Thou shalt not steal And to keep him far from such an evil Matter he forbids in the X. Commandment so much as to covet or desire our Neighbours Oxe or his Ass or any thing that is our Neâ—ghbours And now is it so that we have a Right to and Authority over the bruit Creatures yet let us be cautioned against abusing or misusing of them Say not in your hearts Our Beasts are our own who is Lord over us May we not do what we will with our own and doth God take care for Oxen May we not rather wish with Balaam that there were a Sword in our hands to slay them when they stop or start aside since they are our own May we not rather say to them Our Fathers made your yoke heavy but our little finger shall be heavier than our Fathers loins To such absurd and unreasonable Men I shall oppose the reproof which the Ass gave to his Master Balaam Num. 22.28 What have I done to thee that thou hast smitten me these three times And again the reproof of the Angel V. 32. Wherefore hast thou smitten thine Ass these three times Although God hath given us a Right to the bruit Creatures and a Dominion over them yet 't is with subordination to himself and his Laws yet 't is with certain limitations and restrictions We are Lords over them 't is true but we must not play the Tyrants over them The Israelites God's own People had a good Title to their Beasts or Cattel and yet he bound them to their good behaviour towards them by sundry Laws and Rules in reference to them They might not deal with them as they pleased as to their meat Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the Coriâ—… Nor as to their work neither for the time when they should work nor for the manner of their working Thou shalt keep the Sabbath-day that thy Oxe and thy Ass may rest as well as thou And again Thou shalt not plough with an Oxe and Ass God gave
oftentimes even devoted the Beasts as well as their sinful Masters Owners to destruction And doth he not in some cases command the Beast to be put to deâ—th and so to be sacrificed to justice And again Did not God require under the old Law frequent yea daily sacrificing of Beasts making the life of the Beast to go for the life of a Man And lastly as to this Objection Did not our Saviour permit the Devil to go into the herd of Swine and so they 2000 of them ran violently into the Sea and were choked in the Sea Answ 1 I say that God hath a supreme Right Title to all the Beasts of the Fold Psal 50. the Field or the Forest All the Beasts of the Field are mine and the Cattel upon a thousand hills And that he may dispose of or do what he will with his own Who may say to him what dost thou That when God destroys Mens Cattle he doth it not out of the least hatred to the Beast but to testify his hatred and abhorrence of the Sins of the Owners of them and hereby to punish them or to bring them to repentance to melt or mollify at least their hard hearts and cause them to say as David 'T is I or 't is we that have sinned these Sheep or Oxen c. what have they done Or to prove and try them and do them good in their latter end as was the case of Job If God may justly punish Parents in their Children because they are their goods surely then he may punish Masters and Owners in their Cattel because they have a propriety in them and the taking away the lives or the loss of their Cattel redounds to them As for the Beasts that were offered up in Sacrifice by Gods Ordinance and Institution He might as justly do it as to give Men a Charter or Patent to Arise Kill and Eat for the preservation of their natural lives For by the Sacrifice the Sinner was freed from that temporal death which the Sin deserved for which it was offered And besides this Sacrifice was typical of Christ the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World and so was of use also to the saving of the Soul of the Sinner As for the Gergesens Swine I say 1 Our Lord Jesus Christ was Lord of all and therefore might justly permit or suffer the Devils to enter into them and to hurry them headlong into the Sea 2 Thereby their Owners should have learnt how good and merciful God was to them that he did restrain the Devil and not suffer him to possess their whole Country And that goodness and mercy of Christ that whereas there was a Legion of Devils in one Man he suffered them not when cast out to disperse themselves about the Country and possess a Legion of Men i. e. above 6000 Men but only this herd of Swine 3 Our Saviour teaches us that natural Men value and prefer their Swine before their Saviour 2 Let us consider that we may deal merciful with these Creatures that they are Fellow-creatures with us yea our Fellow-servants to the great Lord of Heaven and Earth as well as they are our Servants and we Lords over them And must give an account when our Lord Christ comes if he find us beating our Fellow-servants if he find us drinking with the Drunken and presently falling upon these our Fellow-servants 3 As they are our Servants to consider that they are good Servants to us who are too often bad Masters to them If we will use them they submit their necks to our yoke If we abuse them they do not complain In their mouth is no reproof That which usually inflames Masters against Servants is when Servants will answer again will contradict or at least dispute it with them Now these our Servants they are mute dumb Creatures they cannot plead their own cause they return not a word for a blow not a word for many blows though without a cause or a sufficient cause 4 Let us consider these Creatures were partakers of the curse of Mans Sin by reason of this they groan and travail in pain their yoke is harder and their burden heavier We should look on their sorrows and sufferings as occasioned as merited by us by our disobedience to our soveraign Lord. How do they spend their days in our service end their lives for our service for Food for Physick sometimes for a Sacrifice and oftentimes even for a Pleasure Delight or Recreation They suffer for us We eat the sour Grapes and their Teeth are set on edge and this justly too because they are our proper goods and we are Lords over them Many times they suffer with us as in War and other publick calamities and let this suffice let them never suffer unnecessarily from us If we do we make them exceeding miserable the poor abused Beast hath no knowledge or foresight of death as Men in misery have to put an end ere long to his bondage and misery nor any hopes of a Resurrection or a future reward for his sufferings as good Men have to comfort them The Turks I read hold that the Beasts shall rise again and although that is no part of my Creed yet I dare say if they should they will rise in judgment against those that have cruelly used them here 5 We may go to school to them and learn many a good Lesson from them How great is the love and faithfulness of Dogs the meekness of Elephants the shamefastness of the adulterous Lyoness the chastity of the Turtle the watchfulness of the Cock the utility of the Sheep 'T is said of King Porus his Elephant that he exposed his own life to save his Masters How often doth the Holy Ghost send us to school to the unreasonable Creatures Go to the Ant thou Sluggard consider her ways and be wise Those who do not know God that hath nourished and brought them up how are they reproved by the Oxe and the Ass Isa 1. The Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib but Israel doth not know my People doth not consider Those which know not the day of their Visitation may go to school to the Crane Swallow who know their appointed seasons Those Children who are without natural affection to their aged Parents let them go to the Stork and learn of that Creature to requite their Parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to feed their Parents when they are old 6 Consider that if we be Friends with God the very Beasts themselves are not only our Servants but our Friends also Our Lord Christ hath reconciled all things in Heaven and Earth Whiles we were Rebels and Traitors to God our soveraign the Angels of Heaven and the Beasts of the Earth became Enemies to us and in pursuit of their allegiance were ready to fight against us but now being reconciled to our Soveraign and returned to our obedience these our Fellow-subjects are again at peace
and friends with us When articles of peace are made with the General of an Army and published none of the Souldiers dare act any hostility against us The Lord of Hosts hath now made a Covenant viz. of peace for us with the Beasts of the Field Hos 2.18 and with the Fowls of Heaven and with the creeping Things of the ground 7 Consider that we stand in more need of God's mercy than the bruit Creatures do of ours We have sinned against God which these Creatures never did Man being in honour understandeth not Psal 49.20 but is compared to the Beast that perisheth 'T is no Sin to be a Beast but 't is a great Sin to be like a Beast And yet which of us but hath cause sometime or other not only to confess with Agur Prov. 30.2 Surely I am more brutish than any Man I have not the understanding of a Man but also with David So foolish was I and ignorant Psal 73.22 and even as a Beast before thee We read that all manner of Beasts have been tamed by mankind but yet the same Scripture tells us to our shame The Tongue can no Man tame Jam 3.7 8. 't is an unruly evil full of deadly poyson And hence we may learn that we stand in need of more mercy from God than these Creatures are able to receive from us or we to give them For we stand in need not only of temporal mercies as they do but even of spiritual mercy of grace to pardon us and of grace to reform us and over and above of eternal mercy or else we shall be more miserable than the Beast that perisheth For as a Reverend Author saith when a Dog dyeth there 's an end of all his misery but when a Man dyes that is that lives and dyes in his Sin there 's the beginning of his wo. And so much for the considerations that should move us to shew mercy to the bruit Creatures I shall in the next place lay down some cautions for the regulation of our kindness to them 1. Let us take care that as we do not depress these Creatures too low so that we do not advance them too high as we must not despise them in any degree so we must not deify them in any wise As we must not tear and worry them without a cause so not worship them for any cause We must not change the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like as not to corruptible Man so to Birds and four-footed Beasts and creeping Things We must not be Devils Tormentors to them nor make them Gods to us so as to fall down and worship them as the Egyptians did to Apis from whence the Israelites learnt to worship the golden Calf 2. As we must not adore them as Gods so neither make them our equals We must take heed of too much fondness of them or familiarity with them Hence comes that Sin wich the Scripture calls Confusion viz. Bestiality a descent nearer Hell by one degree than the Sin of Sodom which brought a kind of Hell viz. Fire and Brimstone out of Heaven upon them And yet some have conjectured that some sort of Creatures have come into the World this way because of their great likeness to Men. Monsieur de la Chambre tells us that there have been Beasts discovered which are so like Men that there is scarce any difference as to the outward form And I read in Mercator's Geography in his Description of Ireland pag. 48. of a Lake there about 30 miles in length and 15 in breath of which those that live near it say it was formerly inhabited Agrum fuisse cultivissimum but for the Sin of Bestiality was turn'd into a Lake superfusis aquis in Lacum redactum If so their Sin being worse than the Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah no marvel if their punishment was somewhat like theirs that were turned into a bituminous Lake or a dead Sea and remain so to this day 3. Much less must we prefer them before Men We must not be cruel to Men pretending to shew mercy to the bruit Creatures The life of a Beast must go still to save or preserve the life of a Man I cannot but condemn the Turks who set Birds at liberty out of their Cages redeeming with money these Captives and yet make no conscience of chaining Christians to their Galleys As also the hypocrisy that cheat amongst the Romanists whose Clergy are forbid to hunt Beasts and yet some made Lords Inquisitors on purpose to hunt down tear and devour the harmles Sheep and Lambs of Christ Surely the good the great and the chieâ— Shepherd of the Flock and the Bishop of our Souls will count them but little thanks for their so doing when he shall come to hold his general Visitation and to judge the World These things notwithstanding I dare not condemn those if necessitated to save and defend their own lives which in the Civil Wars of France cut off their Horse-legs and so made themselves a breast-work of their bodies Nor dare I judge King David for houghing his Enemies Horses thereby to make them unserviceable for the Wars 2 Sam. 8.4 Let 's not be superstitiously afraid to use these Creatures either for Food Physick or Service no nor for our honest Delight and Recreation See your Charter for so doing if not implicitely given to Adam yet expresly to Noah and again renewed Act. 10. under the Gospel in the Vision and Voice to Peter Arise Peter Kill and Eat And though 't is said the Disciples of the Nazarites may be known by their abstinence from the flesh of all living Creatures Gen. 9. yet our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth and he that in substance though not in vow and ceremony was the true Nazarite gave his Disciples no such Commandment Those who refuse altogether to eat the flesh of living Creatures when duly kill'd deserve the name of Pythagoreans Followers of Pythagoras the Philosopher rather than to be called Christians or Disciples of Christ our Saviour So then use these Creatures we may we must without scruple for our meat yea and we may use these Creatures for our work to plow and harrow the Ground and to carry our Corn into the Barn and for any other necessary use And although many condemn those Persons who promote the generation of Mules so doth Maimonides in his More Nev. p. 3. cap. 4. and our own Writers on Gen. 36.24 Yet we may use them lawfully for we find them brought to Solomon 1 King 10.25 2 Chron. 9.24 and amongst the Israelites at their return from captivity Ezra 2.66 and Nehem. 7.68 And we no where find that ever they were commanded to put these away though Monsters in Nature as they were to put away their outlandish Wives 4. Then hence may be condemned the horrible cruelty of the old Sicilian Tyrants Phalaris c. of the Roman Emperour Caligula who was called for