350 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP II.
this goodness, and been but a dead lump, or mass of being. But in this great variety and diversity of things which we behold, every one hath its proper place and service, and nothing is useless, As the apostle says that it is in the several parts and members of the lesser world, man, that though some of them seem more worthy and comely than others, yet all have their proper use, so that they cannot say one unto another, “I have no need of thee;” so is it in the universe,—though some parts of it seem to be very glorious, and others mean and to be trampled on, yet they cannot say one to another, “I have no need of thee,” each having its proper use. The eye is a most noble part of the body; ‘ but,’ saith the apostle, ‘if the whole body were an eye, the beauty of the whole were lost, and the very use of the eye.’ How glorious is the sun in the firmament, in comparison of a poor worm on the earth! yet if the whole creation were one sun, it would have neither beauty nor use, nor indeed be a sun, as having nothing to communicate light or heat unto. But God hath brought forth his works in unspeakable variety, that they might all have this goodness of usefulness accom- panying of them. 4. A goodness of an orderly tendency unto the utmost and last end; which is the glory of him by whom they were made. This also is implanted upon the whole creation of God. And hence the psalmist calls upon all the inanimate creatures to give -praise and glory unto God; that is, he calls upon himself and others to consider how they do so. This is the point, the centre, where all these lines do meet, without which there could be neither beauty nor order nor use in them; for that which errs from its end is crooked, perverse, and not good. On all these considerations it is said that “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good,” Gen. i. 31. Now, what an infinite, eternal ocean of goodness must that be, which by the word of his mouth commu- nicated all this goodness at once unto the whole creation! How deep, how unfathomable is this fountain! how unsearchable are these springs! This the holy men in the Scripture often express by way of admiration, “ How great is his goodness! how great is his beauty!” The first goodness, the fountain of all goodness, must needs be ab- solutely and infinitely so; in which sense “there is none good but one, that is, God.”
In these things consist somewhat of the glory, excellency, and honour of God, which the psalmist falls into an admiration of upon the contemplation of the works of his hands, and which made him so astonished at his condescension in the regard that he is pleased to bear unto the nature of man. But besides this consideration, he adds also an intimation, as we have showed, of the mean condition of man, unto whom this respect is showed, and that both in the manner of his expression, “ What is man?” and in the words or names
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VER. 5-9.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 351
whereby he expresseth him, “Hnosh” and “ Adam;” which we shall also briefly add unto our former considerations of the glory of God. First, “What is man” as to his extract? A little dust, made of the dust of the ground ;—one that may say “ to corruption, Thou art my father; and to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister,” Job xvil. 14, His fabric was not one jot of any better materials than theirs. That God put this honour upon hin, to breathe into the dust whereof he was made, that he should become “a living soul,” is part of that goodness wherein he is to be admired. Otherwise we are what God said to Adam: “ Dust thou art.” Poor creature, that wouldst be like unto God, thou art dust, and no more! And in the sense of this extraction did holy men of old abase themselves in the presence of God, as Abraham, Gen. xviii. 27, “ Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes?” Poor, proud man! which scornest to touch that which thou art made of, and thinkest thyself I know not what, whilst the re- mainder of thee, that which was left in the making of thee, lies under the feet of all the creatures which thou despisest,—what is this handful of dust that God should regard it? But yet,— Secondly, This fabric, being erected, is perhaps durable, strong, and abiding, and so may be considerable on that account. But, alas! his frazty is inexpressible. It is true, that before the flood the life of man was prolonged unto a great continuance; but as that was not in the least any advantage unto the most of them, giving them only an opportunity to increase their sin and misery, nor to the whole society of mankind, seeing by that means “ the earth was filled _with violence,’ and became a woful habitation of distress, so they also came to their end, and long since nothing remaineth of their memory but that they lived so many years and then they died, which is the common end of man. But since that, in which our concernment lies, how do the holy men of God set forth, and as it were complain of, the woful frailty of our condition! So doth Moses, Ps. xc. 5, 6, “Thou carriest them away as with a flood;” which he spake in contemplation of those thousands which he saw die before his eyes in the wilderness. “In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.” The like also pleadeth Job, chap. xiv. 1,2; and then turning unto God he saith, “ And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one?”—‘re- gard such a poor, frail, perishing creature?? And David doth the like, Ps. cii. 24. And indeed no tongue can express the miserable, frail condition of this poor creature. From within, from without, from himself, from all other creatures, and principally from the rage and cruelty of those of the same nature with himself, his misery is great, and his life of short continuance. And God abun-