on a Tree This curse of God Christ was willing to undergo to free us from the eternall curse of God which mans sinne had deserved Esa 53.3 4. Esay 53.3 4.5 10. He is despised and rejected of men Vir dolorum a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief c. Surely he hath born our grief and carryed our sorrows c. Vers 5. Hee was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed And Verse 10. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sinne in this sense he was made sinne for us and thus became Author of Salvation to all that obey him Heb. 5.9 Heb. 5.9 But not every one who walk according to their own lusts and then tell of Christ of the merits of Christ the mercies of Christ and the like have Christ often in their mouthes but seldome in their mindes often in their words but seldome in their workes such walk not as they have Christ for an example but as enemies to the Crosse of Christ 2. As he was willing so likewise he was able to undergo the punishment for us Thou hast laid help upon one that is mighty so he did indeed when he laid it upon Christ Acts 2.24 Acts 2.24 It was not possible that he should be holden of the pains of death Iohn 2.19 Iohn 2.19 Solvite templum hoc c. Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it up again for I have power I have abilitie and strength so to do Iohn 10.18 Iohn 10.28 Potestatem habeo deponendi eam potestatem habeo rusus eam assumendi I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it up again 3. And lastly hoc praesupposito this being praesupposed that man should not be saved except Gods infinite justice was satisfied and actually in the fulnesse of time was to bee done then none but one of an infinite value as was his Son could have made this satisfaction or have paid this price no meer Creature Man or Angel could have done it So that being brought to this point though Christ was innocent yet was it thought fitting in the wisdome of his Father that he should suffer Rom. 3.25 Rom. 3.25 God hath set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Secondly though the Creature was innocent and kept that station wherein God had set it and placed it and was not Created in any gift of reason by which it was inabled to receive conceive or obey any positive Law yet was God an absolute Lord over it and having neither determined nor made any absolute promise to the contrary might dispose of it as he in his great and over-ruling Wisdome thought fitting and God having given it to man for a Possession in the state of innocency when man sinned God as you have heard did not onely punish the person that offended but his Possession also and being absolute Lord over the Creature he was not bound to conserve it in that integrity in which he first created it but as it was subject to mutability in it self so likewise might he change it as in his wisdome he would And though the Creature as we have heard had not propensity to be changed from the better to the worse yet the soveraign Lord of it can be touched with no injustice in making this change and as the creature was punished and made subject to vanity for the sin of man so man is in some sort punished by the Creatures some of them runne wilde live out of his compasse will not obey him other some obey him but by constraint unwillingly others rise up against him to destroy him some by venome and some by violence many times God arms the Creature against man to revenge himself of his disobedience and how often have we instance of this in the Book of God yea even by insensible Creatures as the Elements either Fire Water Earth or Ayr by Fire as Genes 19.24 Gen. 19.24 Brimstone and Fire were rained upon Sodome and Gomorrah Gen. 7.4 out of Heaven By Water Gen. 7.4 I will cause it to raine upon the earth forty dayes and forty nights and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from the face of the earth By the Earth Numb 16.32 Num. 16.32 33. The Earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their Houses and all the men that appertained to Korah and all their Goods and Verse 33. the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the Congregation By the Ayre corrupted Deut. 28.22 Deut. 28.22 where amongst other Plagues God threatned to plague the disobedient Israelites with Blastings Aere corrupto as the Vulgar reads it with corrupt Aire Thus we see how by all the Elements God can punish man If we take a short view of the sensible Creatures that are made subject to vanity by reason of the sinne of man we shall finde them to appear in a great number letting passe the noisome qualities of divers Herbs and Plants that God hath often armed with vengeance to punish man whose sinne occasioned the bringing of them within the common course of corruption First let us begin with the Lion which is accounted the King of the Beasts of the field and stoutest of any When David let me say in carmine lugubri or in his Elegies for Saul and Ionathan would much magnifie them he said 2 Sam. 1.23 2 Sam. 1.23 that they were Leonibus fortiores stronger then Lions 2 Sam. 17.10 1 Sam. 17.10 when Hushai would set out the valiant among the souldiers of Absolon he saith And he also which is valiant whose heart is as the heart of a Lion c. By these God hath punished man whom he once made Lord over them 1 Kings 13.24 1 Kings 13.24 a Lyon met the disobedient Prophet and slew him 2 Kings 17.25 2 Kings 17.25 when the King of Babylon had carryed the Israelites Captives and had sent the Gentiles into their Possessions so it was in the beginning of their dwelling there that they feared not the Lord therefore the Lord sent Lions among them which slew some of them So that the Idolatrous Gentiles felt the smart of Gods revenging Hand within his Land as well as did the Idolatrous Jews and ignorance of worshipping the true God proved no shelter to save them from his stroke These instances are remarkable out of the holy Story how many more might I adde out of humane Stories written by men of great judgement and credit to shew how God in other ages hath done the like Sebast Munst in Cosmogr de terris Asiae Majoris lib. 5. in ipsa calce Sebastian Munster in his Cosmographie writing de terris Asiae Majoris tells us of the City of Sana and the Countries thereabout and that in the Inlands more remote
he may bestow it upon other parts of the world then onely those which that Doctor names And howsoever many Individuals of every species have and shall perish so likewise have parts of the Elements perished though not the tota so the species of severall Creatures shall continue as long as the Elements that now are shall and why then by the gift of immortalitie may not these species continue of which many Individualls have perished as well as the Elements from whom parts have so much and so often perished His fifth Those Creatures that shall be delivered shall be glorified and immediately passe from their corruptible estate into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God but the unreasonable Creature not thus Ergo. I answer To be glorified properly is incident to the rationall Creature he onely shall enter into the glory of God in the third Heaven and have the Image of God perfectly renewed in him Secondly the Creature may come into the glorious libertie of the Sons of God and yet be not thus glorified but sutable to its nature immortalized dono gratuito as we have heard and have an Analogie to glorified bodies Again where he saith they fall into corruption and their life and spirit is extinguished with them c. true to all that shall not be renewed this shall come to passe but whether God shall not renew the species of them is adhuc sub judice and to affirm he shall not is but to begge the question and to conclude that for a certaintie which is in controversie And whereas he renders this reason why the Heavens and earth shall rather be restored then the rest of the Creatures namely because they have been from the beginning to the ending subject to vanitie after man had sinned but other Creatures that succeed by generation but a while I answer this had been some reason against the Individuals of the species but against the species none for the species of the Creatures have been as long subject to vanity as they though not their successive individualls His sixth If any such Creatures restored then either the same that were before or some other of the same kinde newly created But neither of these Ergo. I answer this will fall to be handled in the fourth and last ranke of Creatures but in all probabilty not those that are already perished in individualls Secondly we say they shall have a renovation or restauration not a new Creation for substance but shall be renewed in their qualities state and condition as we have heard before His seventh and last Argument produced against the most generally received opinion is this Nulla promissio facta est there is no promise made for the restitution of any such Creatures as there is for Heaven and Earth Ergò they shall not be restored To this I answer that there is a promise as I conceive in generall though not so particularly as for Heaven and Earth For this I conceive a promise as also do many others in that the Scripture saith the Creature shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption Rom. 8.21 into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God and before the Creature was made subject to vanity But Heaven Earth and man were not all the Creatures that were made subject to vanity Peter Martyr to the same purpose in 8. P. Martyr in Rom. 8. ad Rom. quamvis enim Scriptura harum Creaturarum mentionem seorsim expresse non fecerit satis tamen est quod in genere Creaturas restaurandas significaverit nequè unquà m quicquà m exceperit saith he Although the Scripture make no mention of the Creatures severally and expressely as it doth of Heaven and Earth yet its sufficient that it hath signified that the Creatures shall be restored in generall or indefinitly neither any where hath it made any exception Thus have you seen the Arguments and reasons of that laborious and learned Divine answered upon which reasons and Arguments he dissented as much following Bucan from the most generally received opinion Let us now come to the fourth and last ranke of the Creatures the Heavens the Earth and Mankinde this last ranke many of the School-Divines fall upon which Peter Martyr also mentions in oct ad Rom. thus P. Mart. in 8. ad Rom. Scholastici saith he putant homine qui praecipua est pars Orbis terrarum renovato etiam Creaturas esse restituendas quae sententia verissima est colligitur enim ex dictis Pauli quòd autem ad partes attinet tantum Coelum Elementa hominum corpora putant esse relinquenda The Schoole-men saith he do suppose that man who is the chiefe part of the world being renewed the rest of the Creatures also shall be restored which sentence is most true for it s gathered from the sayings of Saint Paul but concerning what Creatures they think that Heaven the Elements and the bodies of men shall be restored for they thinke that not the Earth onely but also the rest of the Elements shall remain Beda indeed saith glossa in 2. Beda in gloss in 2 Pet. ult Pet. last quòdignis duo ex toto consumet duo verò in meliorem restituet faciem c. that the fire shall totally consume two of the Elements and renue or purifie other two Others thinke quod manebunt omnia quoad substantiam sed mutabuntur quoad imperfectionem sed duo retinebunt propriam formam substantialem scilicet Aer Terra sed in igne aqua non remanebit forma substantialis sed ad formam Coeli commutabuntur sic tria Elementa Ignis Aer Aqua dicentur Coelum quamvis Aer retineat eandem formam substantialem quam nunc etiam habet quia et nunc etiam Coelum dicitur c. That all the Elements shall remaine for substance but shall be changed from their imperfection but yet two of them that is to say the Aire and Earth shall retain their own substantiall forme but in the fire and water that substantiall forme shall not remaine but shall be changed into the forme of Heaven and so three of the Elements Fire Aire and Water shall be called Heaven although one of these that is to say the Aire may retaine the same substantiall forme which now it hath and because now the Aire is called Heaven And this they would collect from Apoc. 21. Apoc. 21.1 1. because mention is made onely of Heaven and earth but others reject this opinion because say they repugnat Philosophiae quòd corpora inferiora sint in potentia ad formam coeli cum materiam non habent ejusmodi this is repugnant to Philosophie that bodies sublunary should be in capacity to be informed by the forme of Heaven when as they are not of the same matter with the Heavens for so Aristotelians as you have heard It may also resist Theologie in the most generally received opinion for if two of the foure Elements
that perished lib. 20 de civitate Dei cap. 24. and those were the Aereal Heavens or the regions of it To which I answer that the comparison in Peter is not between the Heavens that then perished and these that now are being indeed for substance still the same but between the world that then was 2 Pet. 3.6 is qui tum erat mundus 2 Pet. 3.6 that is as Beza well hath it Beza in loc aspectabilis ille terrae decor quaecunque animantia in terra degebant iis duntaxat exceptis quae in arca erant inclusa nec enim aquae in coelos redundarunt imò ne ipsa quidam terrae substantia periit sed futurae conflagrationis longe alia erit ratio ideò coelum terram id est rerum universitatem distinctè nominavit in proximo versu that visible comelinesse of the earth and whatsoever living Creatures then was upon it except onely those that were shut up in the Ark neither did the Waters then reach unto the Heavens yea not so much as the very substance of the earth perished But the matter shall be farre otherwise about burning of the world by fire therefore in the next Verse he distinctly named the Heaven and the earth that is the whole world to which the forenamed world was opposed And Beda by the Elements understands all the four Elements Beda in verba yet thinks two onely shall utterly perish that is Fire and Water and other two remain renewed that is the Air and earth called the new Heavens and the new Earth Yet what hath been said against this before shall suffice neither doth this plâ—â—se the Pontificians Others thinke onely three here meant Water Earth Aire because they cannot see how the Element of fire should be consumed by fire To which I would answer with Aquin in suplem ad 3. Aquin in supplem ad 3. part sum qu. 74. art 3. partem summarum qu. 74. art 3. respond ad 1. having shewn that the fire that shall burn the world shal be of the same species with ours he adds non tamen est idem numero notwithstanding it s not the same in all respects with ours And we see saith he that in two fires of the same species one may destroy the other major scilicet minorem the greater the lesse consumendo materiam by consuming the matter of it c. Again loco quo supra Respond ad secundum Loco quo supra Resp ad 2. the fire that shall burn and purge the world shall not have its calefactive power ex principiis essentialibus sed ex divina virâ—ute vel operatione out of its own essentiall Principles as usually it hath but from the Divine power or operation of God in it as his Instrument inabled from him to produce this effect And actio instrumenti magis manifestat virtutem moventis quà m virtutem moti the action of the Instrument rather manifests the power and efficacie of the Mover of it or Worker by it then of it self and the fire which God shall stirre up to purge the world shall have such efficacie in it from him that it shall work beyond the ordinary course of nature and shall be able to melt the Elements and that with fervent heat as S. Peter speaks yet non ad eorum funditus consumptionem sed solum usque ad eorum purgationem not to the totall or utterly abolishing of their substance but to the purging of them from their grosser attracted qualities Neither will that of Gregory hold Greg. magnus who saith in tantum accendet ignis Judicii in quantum ascenderunt aquae diluvii the fire shall burn as high towards heaven as the waters of the Flood ascended but that should be no higher than fifteen Cubits above the high Mountains which would not extend to the melting of all the Elements much lesse to the burning of the Sphaericall Heavens Dr. Willet qu. 29. in 8. Dr Willet qu. 29. in 8. ad Rom. ad Rom. there is not any visible thing that had a beginning but shall also have an ending In which he saith truth and for which the Psalmist will warrant him Psal 102.25 26. Psal 102.25.26 The Heavens are the works of thy hands they shall perish but thou shalt indure they all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed If any visible thing should escape change these were likest but not these must escape And Heavens are here taken as opposed to the Earth as Gen. 2.1 Gen. 2.1 Thus the Heavens and the earth were finished and all the Host of them Psal 8 3 Psa 8.3 When I consider thy Heavens the work of thy Fingers the Moon and the Starres which thou hast ordained Even these heavens in which are the Moon and the Starres shall perish shall be burned with fire Thus much briefely for the former point that Aethereall Heavens shall burn as well as the Aereall But as we have seen what Heavens shall burn let us a little consider what Heaven shall not burn When I say the Aethereall heavens I mean the Sydereall and all the sphaericalls under the highest or third heaven as the primum mobile and the coelum crystallinum c. but the third heaven I mean not which is the Seat of the Blessed and which was a Creature created the first day Gen. 1.1 Gen. 2.4 Gen. 1.1 and Gen. 2.4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth Heb. 11.10 when they were created Heb. 11.10 Abraham looked for a Citie which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God This Heaven is corpus supremum immobile incorruptibile amplissimum ac totum lucidum c. First it is a body and a substance though most subtile for that in which bodies are contained its necessarie that that should be corporeall for inter locatum locum inter contentum continens there must be aliqua proportio some proportion between the things contained and the thing containing Now the bodie of Christ is alreadie in the highest heaven and ours shall be howsoever the bodies of Enoch and Eliah now be Secondly quicquid est apertibile est corpus But so was the highest heaven Acts 7.56 Acts 7.56 otherwise Stephen had not seen Christ standing at the right Hand of God if that Heaven had not been opened for howsoever I know that some think there was nulla scissura in coelis no division at all in the Heavens and that miraculum non fuit in coelis sed in Stephani oculis not in the opening of the Heavens but in the eyes of Stephen Others that he saw this in a Vision c. or mentall contemplation not with bodily eyes yet Gual hom 55. in Act. saith Gualter Hom. 55. in Acta Ego haec illi revera visibiliter apparuisse nec mentis duntaxat contemplationi objecta fuisse intelligo I do
31. the Flax and the Barley were smitten Esa â—8 46 47. Psalm 78.46 47. reflecting upon these Passages He gave also their increase unto the Caterpiller and their labour unto the Locusts he destroyed their Vines with Hail and their Sycomore Trees with Frost Amos 4.9 I have smitten you with blasting and Mildew Amos 4.9 when your Gardens and your Vineyards c. increased the Palmer-Worme devoured them Zeph. 1.3 Zeph. 1.3 I will consume man and beast I will consume the Fowls of Heaven Gen. 19.25 and the Fishes of the Sea c. Genes 19.25 when Gods anger was kindled against Sodome not onely man that offended but the senslesse Creatures were also punished by reason of his sinne he overthrew those Cities and all the Plain and all the Inhabitants of the Cities and that which grew upon the ground so that when man seeth this punishment upon his Possession upon his Lands Fruits and Goods he may say properly as David did metaphorically 2 Sam. last 17. 2 Sam. last 17. Lord I have sinned and I have done wickedly but as for these Sheep yea and these Lands these Fruits these goods quid fecerunt what have they done Yet we see that for our disobedience that were Lords they that were servants were also made subject to vanitie Hactenus de Creatura ejus subjugatione Thus much then of the Creature and its subjugation or being subject to vanitie And now are we to fall upon the way how it was subjugated but before we come to that we are to observe the aversnesse from or the unwillingnesse to this subjugation found in the Creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non volens not willing the Creature was not willing to it Tertul. Beza Invite as Tertullian it was non sua sponte as Beza not of its own accord Paraeus that is non ex nativa propensione as Paraeus not of any naturall propensitie to it Cicer. lib. 1. Offic. for as Cicero observed lib. 1. Officiorum Generi animalium omni est natura tributum ut se vitam corpusque tacatur It s naturall to every Creature to preserve its own being in nature and Scaliger contra Cardanum exercit Scal. de sub lit Exerc. 12. sect 3. 12. sect 3. Nam quae natura consumit sua principia What Creature is there in nature that would give way to destroy its own Principles The naturall Philosopher tells us that Omnis creatura naturali inclinatione fertur ad suipsius conservationem Every Creature is carryed on with a naturall inclination to its self-preservation therefore no marvell that the Apostle expresseth it with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non sua sponte Not of its own will or accord Ex pede Herculem or ex ungue Leonem as we say Let us guesse at the whole series of the Creature by some particulars We see by daily expeperience that the sensible or irrationall Creature is not willing to corruption neither the Fowls of Heaven nor the Fishes of the Sea nor the Beasts of the Earth but are a verse from it and resist it to the utmost of their skill and cunning the very Elements are not willing to yeeld to forcible corruption for when the fire would lick up the water or the water would quench the fire you know there is pugna or a great strife between them one of them quoad posse sui quanti resisting the other as not willing to be corrupted or forcibly changed from its nature and one reason as the learned know why the guttae pluviales or dropps of rain do fall down figuâ—â— rotunda in a round form is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propter incolumitatem for the more safetie of their nature and greater strength to passe through the Ayre undissipated as naturall Philosophie teacheth Secondly we see how the Creature tends ad centrum tanquam ad locum proprium praeservationis as to the proper place of its preservation thus leviâ— do tendere sursum gravia deorsum tanquam ad locum proprium et naturalem et ubi illis sit optime light things move upward as fire smoak and the like heavie things downward as Stones Earth Brasse Iron Lead and such like mixed bodies because that 's their naturall place and such as agrees the best with the preservation of their nature and when they are detained elsewhere it is a violent detension so that it is supposed if an hole could be digged thorow the Bodie of the earth as it is thorow the Nave of a Wheel and a Milstone cast done by it that it would not rest untill it came at the Center having nullum impedimentum or corpus crassum interpositum having no impediment in its motion or grosse body to interpose it and the Center yea and though that by violence of the motion or gathering strength in its continuance it should exceed the Center yet would it not rest untill it reverted to its proper place Thirdly observe the sensible Creature if it be sick or weak or in danger of corruption or of resolving into its Principles by instinct of nature it hath appetition of such things as will help it or of such places as will secure it Look but upon the Swallow and wilde Bees Flies and such like which in the extremity and unmercifull season of the stormy and sturdy Winter appears yet have they an appetition by nature to Caverns and Holes where they preserve their Beeing untill the tender-hearted and gentle Spring invite them to appear the Dog by instinct of nature knows how to give himselfe a Vomit and some Physitians write man first learned this point of Physick from his practice The Fowls can scowre themselves by gravell the Cattell by licking up of Mould The Salmon wounded by his present return to the salt waters which exsiccate and drie up his wound but if he want opportunity to return or be detained in the fresh Streams by Nets lying in his way in the Summer season by great and high locks built in the water or the like and grow weak upon his wound the ingluvious Eels no sooner discern an imbecilitie in him but presently they fall upon him bite him tosse him and tugge him out of his very Skinne and devour him And this I have seen and observed with mine own eyes at a place called the Force in the River of Kent neare unto the House of Sir Henry Bellingham and not farre from the Town of Kendall in Westmerland and therefore dare more confidently report it yet when many such things are reported to be in nature from the credit of learned men the ignorant beleeve them not because themselves have not seen them Plutarch in Grillo Origanum Plutarch in his Moralls in Gryllo writes of the Swallows Vt quando Viperam adederunt supermandant origanum When they have eaten or fed upon a Viper presently they eat wilde Marjorane and this delayes the Poison and quis instituit Hierundines who saith he did teach