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162 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeR. XXVIL
it be put by its natural use, it hath a resemblance of violence. There- fore if you take vanity for the disorder or perishing of the creature,, you may say, not willinghj; for all tilings tend naturally to their own pre- servation ; irad so what tendeth to its destruction cannot be said to be- done willingly. Or if you take it for falling from its end and use, as the service of wicked men in their lusts ; the creature is not subject to this bondage willingly, but forced to submit to it, as the world is now constituted.
2. Positively ; 8ia Tw uTTOTafai'Ta. God by his judgment hath sub- jected the creature to this curse for man's sin ; man as the meritorious, and God the efficient cause of this vanity which is brought upon the creature ; so that it is brought upon them by man as a sinner, by God as a judge.
[1.] First, by man as a sinner ; that brought the hereditary and old curse. As the lower world was created for man's sake, so by the just judgment of God the curse came upon the whole earth for man's sake : Gen iii. 17, 18, ' Cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; thorns and thistles also shall it bring forth unto thee.' This was the original curse. So for the actual curse : Ps. cvii. 33, 34, ' He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs into dry ground ; a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.' Barrenness or fertility is not a natural accident, but ordered by God for the punishment of man's sin. Therefore we should lift up our eyes above all natural causes, and fix them upon God, who chastiseth men for their unfruitfulness towards him, and punisheth countries whose plenty hath been infamously abused, and spent upon their lusts.
[2.] Secondly, by the will and power of the creator ; he it is who hath the sovereign disposal of the creature, and to order it as he pleaseth with respect to his own glory.
(1.) Herein we see God's justice, who by the vanity of the creature would give us a standing monument of his displeasure against sin. Creatures are not as they were made in their primitive institution ; the enmities and destructive influences of the several creatures had never been known, if we had not rebelled against God ; we should never have been acquainted with droughts, and famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes ; these are fruits of the fall, and introduced by our sin ; and by these God would show us what an evil thing sin is : Jer. ii. 19, ' Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee ; know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord of Hosts.' We being in a lower sphere of under- standing, can only know causes by the effects ; here is an effect ; it hath brought misery upon us and upon the whole creation. When God looked upon the whole creation, all the creatures were good, Gen. i. 31, 'very good ;' but when Solomon had considered them, all was vanity, very vain. What is the reason of this alteration ? Sin had interposed.
(2.) The power and sovereignty of God. All the creatures are sub- ject to the will of God, even in those things which are contrary to their natural use and inclination ; for therefore he employeth them to destroy one another, and man who hath brought this disorder upon them. If
VeR. 20.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS Vlir. 163
God bid the fire burn, however kindled, what can withstand its flames ? If he bid the earth cleave and swallow up those who had made a cleft in the congregation of the Lord, the earth presently obeyeth : Num. xvi. 31, 'As he had spoken these words, the ground clave asunder that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up.' So if God bid the sea stand up like a mountain and wall of con- gealed ice, it will do so, and afford passage for his people ; and return again to its wonted course and fluidness and drown the Egyptians, it will do it: Exod. xiv. 28, ' The waters returned, and covered the chariots.' So for other things : Job xxxvii. 6, ' He saith to the snow. Be thou upon the earth ; and likewise to the great rain. Be thou upon the earth.' Not a drop of rain falleth from the clouds but by God's per- mission ; so verse the 12, ' The clouds are turned about by his counsels, to do whatever he commandeth them upon the face of the earth.' Nothing seemeth to be more casual than the motion of the clouds, or at least to arise from mere natural causes ; yet still are at the direction of God ; for it followeth, ver. 13, ' He causeth it to rain for the correction of a land, or for mercy.' Sometimes it is sent in mercy, and sometimes in judgment ; this bridle God keepeth upon the world, to check their licentiousness, and awe them into obedience to himself.