3. The consort and harmonious agreement that is between all the parts of the world ; iraa-a rj KriaK ' the whole creation' collectively, or every creature distributively ; they all groan together, and travail in pain together.
4. The duration and continuance, ' until now ; ' that is, from the time that sin entered into the world unto this present time.
Doct. That the whole creation groaneth under the burden of our sins.
First. What is this groaning of the creature ; or in what sense the creature is said to groan.
Secondly. How we are concerned in these groans.
Thirdhj. How we know it; for who ever heard the groaning of the whole creation ?
First. What is this groaning of the creature ? Or how can tliat lie ascribed to things without reason, sense, and life? There are two causes of groaning in sensitive creatures, — labour and pain ; that which answereth to labour is unwearied motion ; that which answereth to pain is corruption and decay.
1. Labour and motion. So we may say the creature is worn out with hard labour to serve the uses of man ; because it is in continual motion. The sun moveth from east to west in the day, and in the night from
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west to east again : Eccles. i. 5, ' The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place, where he arose ; ' the Hebrew, panteth, as pressing forward to be at his appointed place ; to give man light to go about his labour. How many thousands of miles hath it travelled to come to us again, since we went to bed P So Job xxxvii. 11, ' By watering he wearieth the thick cloud, and scattereth the bright clouds ; it is turned about by his counsels.' He speaketh of the clouds as things that could be wearied, being hurried hither and thither, to serve the earth in divers places, and spendeth itself in that service. The earth is digged, and rent, and torn with the plough, seldom suffered to enjoy its sabbaths, that it may bring forth fruit to man ; the rivers flow, and the sea hath its ebbs and tides ; all things in the lower world are full of labour ; and so the creature is wearied and worn out to serve even rebel man, to whom God continueth this favour.
2. That which answereth to pain, is their passing away by corrup- tion; the four elements being contrary one to another, are still wasting one another, till all fail ; heat against cold, and moisture against dry- ness ; all things being compounded of these four elements do in the end return to them again by dissolution and corruption. And besides, by God's judgment the creature is often blasted in its greatest glory and beauty. Look, as in a fruitful season the valleys are said to laugh with fatness, Ps. Ixv. 12, 13 ; and the flourishing of the spring is as it were nature's smile ; it is a pleasant sight to behold when the earth is blessed of God with increase and variety of fruits ; the creatures do as it were rejoice in God's bounty, and invite us to rejoice with them ; so on the other side, when these things are taken away, it doth as it were mourn, and look sorrowful- like under the judgment ; as they laugh in their kind, so they mourn and groan in their kind : as Jer. xii. 4, ' How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein ? ' Isa. xxiv. 4, ' The earth mourneth and fadeth away ; the world languisheth and fadeth away ; ' Isa. xxxiii. 9, ' The earth mourneth and languisheth, Lebanon is ashamed ; ' Jer. xxiii. 10, ' Because of swear- ing the land mourneth;' Joel i. 10, ' The field is wasted, the land mourneth, for the corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.' In all these places, and many more, the earth is said to mourn when it lieth waste, stripped and despoiled of its wonted verdure and bravery in grass, corn, plants, fruits, wherewith it was once clad and adorned. Now this may come to pass, partly, by external drought, as when the grass was burnt up, that there was no fodder for the beast, 1 Kings xviii. 5. Partly, by storm and tempest, which maketh spoil and havoc of it : Prov. xxviii. 3, ' A sweeping rain leaveth no food.' Partly, by vermin : Joel i. 4, ' That which the palmer-worm hath left, the locust hath eaten ; that which the locust hath left, the canker-worm hath eaten ; that which the canker-worm hath left, the caterpillar hath eaten.' Sometimes by the irruption and invasion of an enemy : Isa. i. 7, ' Your country is desolate ; your cities are burnt with fire ; your land, strangers devour it in your presence ; and it is desolate, as over- thrown by strangers.' Sometimes by murrains and pestilential diseases, which hinder all cultivation and tillage : Amos iv. 10, ' I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt ; your young men