ObJ. But because the objection speaks of many things, Whence come venemous things, &c. therefore take another question, what that is we may properly look upon to be a fruit and issue of the fall ?
I answer; all corruptive and destructive alterations ; for in entire
422 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. [SeR. X.
nature all alterations should have been perfect. So also tlie dying of the creature to feed and clothe man is a fruit of the fall, the issue of sin. It was sin that took away the usefulness of the creature to man ; for in innocency they were all obedient to man ; the creatures were ready to fall at his foot, and were at his beck. So all the enmities of creatures among themselves are the fruit of the curse. All monstrosities and deformities came in by the fall. Therefore the prophet when he speaks of our restoration by Christ, it doth imply .the restoration of the creature. The sun, by reason of sin, hath lost much of his light. When man is fully restored in glory, ' The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun ; and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days,' Isa. xxx. 26, ' then the lamb and the lion shall lie down together,' Isa. xi. 6, 7, for thus it was in innocency. Those places decipher the happiness of the creature upon man's full restoration ; and imply how it was before man's fall, God made all things good,' Gen. i. 31. But now before the fall I suppose there were some things poisonous, and some things corruptible ; and my reason is, because God would have the world to be furnished with all kinds of natures ; therefore there ought to be corruptible natures as well as incorruptible, and poisonous creatures as well as those that are whole- some, though they could do man no harm. If a man comes into an artificer's shop, and seeth many instruments, he thinks them superfluous ; at length he takes up a sharp-edged tool which wounds him ; this is no blame to the artificer but to himself; it is his own fault, because he did not know the use of it : so these things were to set forth the glory of God ; but when man by sin lost his knowledge, they proved obnoxious and hurtful to him. Now for toads and venomous plants, I believe most of them were the fruits of the curse of the earth, they being not so much parts of the world, as plagues of the world ; therefore they came in by the fall, and so should put us in mind of the degeneration of the creature.
Use 1. It discovers the glory of God.
1. The whole world is but God's shop, where are the masterpieces of his wisdom and majesty ; these are seen very much in the order of causes, and admirable contrivance of the world.
[1.] The wisdom of God and his counsel is mightily seen. The world is not a work of chance, but of counsel and rare contrivance. All that the Lord did here, he did it by art, and according to the inward idea and frame that was in his own mind ; therefore the prophet saith, Isa. xl. 12, ' He hath weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance.' God did as it were take a balance into his hands and weigh out all the creatures ; he hath disposed all things by number, weight, and measure ; he hath done it in exact proportion. Oh, let us admire the wisdom of God! it is above our search: Eccles. iii. 11, 'No man can find out the work of the Lord from the beginning to the end ; ' we may admire it in the general, and say it is all good, but we cannot find it out. Some little glimpses of his wisdom we have, that we may cry out, He is a great God, wonderful in counsel, mighty in working. But oh, the rare and wonderful contrivance ! we cannot discern all the beauty and all the order of it. Did we but consider the various disposition of light and darkness, of heat and cold, of moisture and dryness, the artifice that
VeE. 3.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 423
is seen in all things that he hath made, we should say, certainly he that made these things is a wise God, and wonderful in counsel. We know the power of God by making all things out of nothing ; but we know the wisdom of God by making all things in such an exquisite frame and order. Do but compare it with yourselves ; we are soon tired, it is much to us to promote a petty interest in the world, to spread our small nets, and extend and reach out our heart to the cares of our private families ; but how wise is that God that had the model of all things within himself, from the elephant to the ant, that disposed of all things in such a manner, that hath made and formed them with such apt proportions, that guideth the courses of the heavens, and keepetli the stars in their paths and order !