The autlior of the creation is God, so it is in tlie text, ' God created.' The world was created in time, and could not be from eternity, as Aristotle thought. The world must have a maker, it could not make it- self. If one should go into a far country, and see stately edifices there, he would ne- ver imagine that these could build them- selves, but that there had been some artifi- cer tliere to raise such goodly structures ; so this great fabric of the world could not ci'eate its(.'lf, it must have some builder or maker, and that is God ; " In the beginning God created." To imagine that the work of the creati(m was not framed by the Lord Jehovah, is as if we should conceive a cu- rious landscape to be drawn without the hand of a limner: Acts xvii. 24., " God that made the world and all things there- in."
In the work of creation there arc two things to be considered; II. The adorninor of it.
I. The making.
I. The making of the world. Here con-
sider, 1. God made the world without anv i pre-existent matter. This is the dift'erence between generation and creation. In ge- neration there is materia habilis et disposita-y — some matter to work upon ; but in crea- tion there is no pre-existent matter. God brought all this glorious fabric of the world out of the womb of nothing. We see our beginning, it was of nothing. Some brag of their birth and ancestry; you see how little cause they have to boast, they came of nothing.
2. God made the world with a word. When Solomon had to build a temple, he needed many workmen, and they all had tools to work with, but God wrought with- out tools, Ps. xxxiii. 6., " By the word of the Lord were the heavens made." The disciples wondered that Christ could with a word calm the sea, Mat. viii. 26, 27. But it was more with a word to make the sea.
3. God made all things at first very good, Gen. i. 31., no defect or deformity. The creation came out of God's hands a curiou.s piece ; it was a fair copy, without any blot, written with God's own fingers, Ps. viii. 3. So perfect was God's work.
II. The adorning of the world. 1. God made this great lump and mass, — rudis in- (Ugeslaque moles, and then beautified it, and put it into a dress. He divided the sea and the earth, he decked the earth with flowers, the trees with fruit; but what is beauty when it is masked over? Therefore, that we might behold this glory, God made the light. The heavens were bespangled Avith tlie sun, moon, and stars, that so the world's beauty might be beheld and admired. God, in the creation, began with things less no- ble and excellent, vegetables and sensitives ; and then the rational creatures, angels and men. Man was the most exquisite piece in the creation. He is a microcosm, or lit- tle world. Man was made with delibera- tion and counsel, Gen. i. 2G., " Let us make man." It is the manner of artificers to be more than ordinary accurate, wlien they are about their master-])ieces. Man was to be the master-piece of this visible world, therefore God did consult about the making of so rare a piece. A solemn coim- cil of the sacred persons in the Trinity was
OF THE CREATION.
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called, " Let us make man, and let us make him in our own image." On the king's coin his image or effigies is stampt ; so God stampt his image on man, and made him partake of many divine qualities.
I shall speak, 1. Of the parts of man's body. (1.) The head, the most excellent architectonical part, it is the fountain of spirits, and the seat of reason. In nature the head is the best piece, but in grace the heart excels. (2.) The eye, it is the beau- ty of the face ; it shines and sparkles like a lesser sun in the body. The eye occasions much sin, and tliercforc well may it have tears in it. (3.) The car, which is the conduit-pipe through which knowledge is oouA'cyed. Better lose our seeing than our hearing, for " faith cometh by hearing," Rom. X. 17. To have an ear open to God, is the best jewel on the ear. (4.) The tongue. David calls the tongue his glory, Ps. xvi. 9., because it is an instrument to set forth the glory of God ; the soul at fii-st was a viol in tune to praise God, and the tongue did make the music. God hath gi- ven us two ears, but one tongue, to shew that we should be swift to hear, but slow to speak. God hath set a double fence before the tongue, the teeth and the lips, to teach us to be wary that we offend not with our tongue. (5.) The heart, this is a noble part, and seat of life.