This was that which puzzled the heathens to find out TrpoiTov alnov — the first cause of the world, and all the order that is therein. Plutarch disputes it, which could be first, the ^<^g before the hen, or the hen before the &^% ; the acorn before the oak, or the oak before the acorn. Such an uncertainty will there be in an all debates till we come to this supreme truth, and to determine upon a first cause, which Anaxagoras and others were necessitated and driven to acknowledge at last ; and therefore surely he that looks upon the world, and upon all the order therein, he wuU see that ' there is a God.'
The world is sometimes compared to a book, sometimes to a preacher. To a book ; the book of the creature is a large volume wherein God would set forth himself ; the diversity of creatures are as so many letters out of which we may spell his name ; the most excellent creatures are capital letters, and the lower creatures lesser letters : so that a man may plainly see God in all those things that are before his eyes. If you cannot read yourselves, the very beasts will teach you ; nay, go to the mute fishes, that can hardly make any sound, yet they have voice enough to pro- claim their creator: Job. xii. 7-9, 'Ask of them and they will tell thee ; ' that is, go, look upon them ; consider them in their number and in their variety and difierent kinds ; their frame and make, and how they are wonderfully preserved; they all proclaim some wise creator which made them.
Look upon the glorious bodies that are above, the constancy of their motion, their admirable beauty, their variety, their regularity ; as to the general ends of their creation, this cannot be from itself, but there must be some supreme and infinite cause. Look upon the sun, that
VeR. C] sermons upon HEBREWS XI. 131
l•epre.sentati^•e of a God, the brightness of whose beams will speak out an infinite majesty that made it, and the extent of his influence — ' Nothing is hid from the heat thereof," Ps. xix. 6. That will speak him omnipresent God, and the indefatigableness of his motion, an infinite God. The sun, moon, and stars in the heavens, they go abroad into all lands, and speak to every people in their own tongue — English to the English ; to other nations, in their own tongue — tliat there is one infi- nite, eternal power, which made me and all things else. Nay, let man but look upon himself; let him but consider the flights and traverses of reason, the wonderful workings of his own soul, the admirable structure of his body, the symmetry of all the parts, the different faces that are in several sorts of men, though there be so many millions in the world, yet not one like another in the compass of the face — all which proclaims a wise creator, who made all things.
And again, look upon nature, and you will find an order, an ascending proportion still lifting you up to something that is more excellent ; for there is always a gradation in the creatures.
In the general, there are elements, metals, plants, living creatures, and then living creatures of a higher and lower rank, still leading to something that is more perfect.
In metals, there are some more base, and others more noble, to lead you higher and higher ; there is iron, lead, tin, brass, silver, gold.
In plants, some bear leaves, others flowers, others fruits, others aromatical gums and spices.
There is a progress in nature in all kinds of creatures, to lead up man still to something more excellent ; especially in living creatures, there is an ascending proportion which leads them up to God, and more especially in man.
Some creatures have only being ; others besides being, have life ; others, besides life, have sense ; others, besides sense, have reason and understanding ; and man is in a lower sphere of understanding than the angels, and the angels than God. And so we may come up to the most perfect and the highest of all beings : for instance, a stone hath not life, that grows not as a plant ; a plant hath life, but feels not as a beast who hath sense ; a beast who hath sense, discourseth not as a man who hath reason ; and man's reason is lower than that of the angels, because it needs the ministry of fancy and imagination ; fancy needs outward sense, which an angel needeth not ; and an angel he is lower than God, because angels, that they may know anything, need either the presence of the object, or some revelation (if it be to come) concerning it. Therefore they are said to know the Avisdom of God by what he hath revealed to the church : Eph. iii. 10, ' To the intent that now, unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.' But now, God's understanding is a pure act, who knoweth all things past, present, and to come ; who needs nothing without himself ; neither organ, imagination, nor presence of the object ; he knows all things that may be, or can be, by his own all-sufficiency, and all things that shall be by his wise purpose and decree. Thus the creatures discover a God.^