\'ki;. 3.j SEKMOXS UPON HEIiUEWS XL 4UL>
cannot make any piece of workmanship, but they must have matter to work upon ; but the Loid made thee out of nothing, therefore certainly thou art his ; and therefore the right and dominion of God must be infinitely greater than that of man ; and what a riglit hath God by his providence ! Thou hast a right in thy servant, who hath his well- being from thee, and therefore surelv God hath a riglit to thee, who by his providence supplies thee with all things thou wan test.
[7.] Meditation on the creature will beget trust and dependence on God ; this is the main thing that God aimeth at, that we be drawn to trust in God, when we think of the creature. The heathens knew much of God in the general, they were able to discourse of his eternal power and godhead ; but when they came to draw practical inferences, how they should trust in him, then ' they became vain in their imagi- ations, and their foolish hearts were darkened,' Rom. i. 20, 21. When we consider the great effect of his mighty power, and yet do not trust in the Lord, these are but vain imaginations. The chief thing in medi- tation on the creation is, that you should come away with the greater trust, for in the creation there are all arguments of trust. There you learn the freeness of God's grace, when God made all things out of nothing, certainly the creature could merit nothing ; and there you learn the exactness of his care, because in his wise decrees he had a care of thee when thou wert not, therefore he will have a care of thee when thou art : Ps. cxlv. 15, ' The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season ; ' therefore he will supply man. And so then you learn the greatness of his power : and that is the reason of the apostle s expression : 1 Peter iv. 19, ' Commit your souls unto God as unto a faithful creator.' Thence doth the quiet rest and establishment of spirit arise ; he is able to raise means, to create deliverances, to supply all your wants, and relieve you in all your distresses.
Doct. 2. "We understand the truth and wonders of the creation by faith, and not by reason.
Take these propositions to clear the point —
1. There are three sortsof lights which God hath bestowed upon men ; the light of nature, the light of grace, and the light of glory. These are like the three several lights God hath set up in the firmament, the sun, the moon, and the lesser stars. There is the daylight of glory, which is the sun wlien it arises in its strength and brightness; and there is the light of faiih, which is like the moon, a light which shines in a dark place ; then there is the weak and feeble ray of reason, which is like the light of the lesser stars. By the first light, we see God a.s he is in himself ; by the second, God as he hath discovered himself in the word ; by the third, God as he is seen in the creature. By the light of glory we behold God in hira.self, ' we see him face to face,' 1 Cor. xiii. 12. The expression is used in opposition to the veil of the shadows of the law : here we can only behold God as he is veiled under words of corporeal and sensible significations ; but there ' we shall see him as he is,' 1 John iii. 2. By the second light we see God as he is pleased to reveal himself in his word : and by the light of reason we see God in his works, as he hath displayed his glory in the whole frame of the
410 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. [SeR. IX.
world : so that there is vision, faith and reason. The one is the fruit of our glorification, and the other of our redemption, and the last of our creation.
2. In this world reason had been enough, if man had continued in his innocency. His mind then was his only bible, and his heart his only law and rule ; but he tasted of the tree of knowledge and hereby he and we got nothing but ignorance. It is true, there are some relics of reason left for human uses, and to leave us without excuse ; there- fore it is said, John i. 9, ' That Christ is the true light, which enlight- eneth every one that cometh into the world.* It is by his grant that a little reason is continued to us. But now in matters of religion, we had need of external and foreign helps. Man left to himself would only grope after God. In many things reason is altogether blind ; in other things the light of it is very faint, weak and ineffectual. This is the sad state of man since the fall, his reason is blind ; and that not only out of weakness, but out of prejudice ; there is not only darkness in our mind, but there is pride and malice too, by which we are set against the truths of the word.