Col. I. IG.] christ the creator of all things. 437
him that passeth by or looketh on it ; but before the world was made there was no such glass to represent God. Others would express it thus — that the world cometh out from God as a shadow from the body. But yet this will not fit the turn neither : for the shadow doth not come out from the body, but follows it, because of the deprivation of light from the interposition of another body. Others say — all cometh from God as a footprint, or track in clay or sand, from one that passetli over it; but there was nothing on whicli God, by passing, might make such an impression. Whatever good intention they might have by setting forth the creation by these expressions, yet you see they are not proper and accurate. These expressions may have their use to raise man's understanding to contemplate the excellency and majesty of the Creator ; for they all show his incomparable excellency and perfection, together with the vanity, nothingness, or smallness of the creature if compared with him, as great a bulk as it beareth in our eye. They are but as a ray from the sun, a stream from the fountain, or a drop to the ocean ; an image in the glass, or a shadow to the sub- stance ; or like a footprint of a man in the clay or sand; and so are but certain signs leading up to the thing signified, or letters and syllables out of which we may spell God — as the streams lead us to the fountain, the image to the man, the shadow to the body, or the track to the foot that made it. But the scripture, leaving those com- parisons, showeth us that the world came out from the Creator as the workmanship from the artificer, the building from the architect, Heb. xi. 10. Now every artificer and builder worketh merely out of the counsel of his own will. And herein they resemble God ; but only what they do with great labour, God doth with the beck of his own will and word : Ps. xxxiii. 6, ' By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.' A bare word of his immediately created all the world, the heavens and earth, and all that is in them.
2. When did he make the angels ? for in the history of Moses there seemeth to be a great silence of it.
I answer— We read. Gen. i. 1, that in the beginning — that is, when God did first set himself to create — that then he created the heaven and the earth ; but we read again in the 20th verse, ' That in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is.' I argue, that if within that compass of time, the Lord made heaven and earth, and all things that are in them, angels are included in that number, being the inhabitants of heaven, as men and beasts are of the earth, and fishes of the sea ; as here, by things in heaven, the apostle principally understands the angels, and by things on earth, men. Therefore, as things on earth were not made but after the earth, so things in heaven were not created but after the lieavens were created. The heavens were not created till the second day, nor perfected and fitted till the fourth. Therefore, as God did furnish the earth with plants and beasts before men, so did he adora the heaven with stars before he filled it with angels ; for he first framed the house and adorned it before he brought in the inhabitants. There- fore, probably they were made the fourth day. If this seemeth too short a time before the fall of the apostate angels, you must remember
438 CHRIST THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS. [SeR. III.
liow soon man degenerated. Some think he did not sleep in in- nocency, quoting that Ps. xlix. 12, ' Man being, in honour abides not, but is like the beasts that perish.' The word signifies a night's lodging in an inn — shall not lodge or stay a night. Others make his fall on the next day, the Sabbath, for at the end of the sixth day all was good, very good. The angels fell from their first state as soon as they were created — so short and uncertain is all created glory.
Secondly, All things were created for him — that is, for the honour of the Son, as well as for the honour of the Father and the Holy Grhost. Now this is necessary to be thought of by us, because there is a justice in the case that we should return and employ all in his service from whom we have received all, even though it be with the denial of our nearest and dearest interest. He is worthy of this glory and honour from us, and that we should trust upon him as a faithful Creator in the midst of all dangers.
1. I will prove that the greatest glory the creature is capable of is to serve the will and set forth the praise of its Creator, for everything that attain eth not its end is vain. What matter is it whether I be a dog, or a man, a beast, or an angel, if I serve not the end for which I was made ? And that is not the personal and particular benefit of any creature, but the glory of the Creator, for God made all things for himself, Prov. xvi. 4 ; whether he made beasts, or man, or angels, it was still with a respect to his own glory and service. God is indepen- dent and self-sufficient of himself and for himself. Self-seeking in the creature is monstrous and incongruous. It is as absurd and un- beseeming to seek its own glory as to attribute to itself its own being : Piom. xi. 36, ' Of him, and through him, and to him are all things.' God's glory is the end of our being and doing, for being and doing are both from him, and therefore for him alone. Above all, it con- cerneth man to consider this; who can glorify God not only objectively by the impressions of God upon him, and passively, as God will over- rule all his actions to his own glory, but actively, as he is the mouth of the creation — not only to honour God himself, but to give him the praise which resulteth from all his works. It was well said of a heathen, Si essem luscinia — if I were a nightingale I would sing as a nightingale ; Si alauda — if I were a lark I would pere as a lark. When I am a man what should I do but know, love, and praise God without ceasing, and glorify my Creator ? Things are unprofitable or misplaced when they do not seek or ser\-e their end ; therefore for what use are we meet, who are so unmeet for our proper end ? Like the wood of the vine that is good for nothing, not so much as to make a pin whereon to hang anything, Ezek. xv. 2 — good for nothing but to be cast into the fire unless it be fruitful. What are we good for if we be not serviceable to the ends for which we were created ?