THE Holy Scriptures, even from the beginning of them, speak of God [...], after the man­ner of men; And because 'tis the ordinary pra­ctice of the best Artificers, often to take a view of the works under their hands, to compare them with the Idea which they have in their minds, or with the Model or Pattern which they have before their eyes, to the end to see how well they agree thereunto; Therefore also doth the Text represent to us Almighty God, the great Ar­chitect, Builder, or Maker of Heaven and Earth, and the Sea and all things therein, having in six days finished this glorious Fabrick, now in the close of the sixth day taking a general survey or review of all his works, (as it were) to see whether all things were made, according to the Idea or plat­form of things which he had in his own mind from all eterni­ty; to see (as it were) whether there was any necessary Creature wanting, any thing made superfluous or redun­dant, how the several particulars did correspond and con­spire to adorn the Universe, whether any Momus or Aristar­chus could ever after come forth and justly criticise upon any of his works, upon any tittle or jota in all the great Book of the Creatures from the beginning to the end there­of. And God saw every thing that he had made. And when God had viewed and reviewed, supervised and revised his whole work, and every particular of it; he passed judgment, righ­teous judgment, and that with a Sentence of approbation and commendation upon every particular thing which he had made. And behold (saith the Text) it was very good.

[Page 2]God's survey of all his Creatures; and his judgment of them upon his survey and review of them; these two divide the Text. From the words we shall deduce these two Obser­vations.

1. That God, who is [...], he doth look upon again & again, and consider his works.

2. That it is a true and righteous Sentence or Judgment, namely this which he passed upon his Creatures at first, as they then were, as they came out of his hands: Behold they were very good.

The former I shall very briefly dispatch, the latter I shall insist upon.

1. Of the first. It cannot be that ever any thing should be hid from Gods all-seeing Eye, which is a thousand times brighter than the Sun; Which if it look on the Sun, the eye of the World, that shineth not; yea God who is All-eye, To­tus oculus, sees more than the eye of Faith doth, and yet that sees things that are invisible; and therefore nothing which was registred in Moses's Natural History of the Creation, could possibly lye undiscovered unto him. No not the Angels of Heaven above, which because not to be seen with corporal eyes, much less Minerals hid in the bowels of the Earth be­neath, which because not actually seen without much dig­ging and delving, or because not so soon perfected by the heat of the Sun, are therefore omitted altogether in the preceding Narration; I say there was never any thing▪ either in Heaven above, in the Earth beneath, or in the Waters either above or under the Earth, which was not alway visi­ble, and actually seen and beheld by him. And yet, if you look over this Chapter, you will find that 'tis said that God had seen his works four times before now. He saw the work of every day in the end thereof, and pronounced it good, except the second day; which some think was because the Angels were created that day, and that day fell multitudes of them; Others because that day was a work of division; for then God made the Firmament, and divided the Waters which were under the Firmament, from the Waters which were above the Firmament, verse 7. Or lastly and most pro­bably, [Page 3] because the work which was begun that day was not so fully perfected until the third day, when God gathered the Waters under the Heaven into one place, and call'd it Seas, when 'tis said, that God saw that it was good. Vers. 10. I say, God had seen his works four times before this sixth day; and never looked on any thing that he had made, but he saw it was good; and yet this satisfies not, but he sees and surveys them again a fifth time, namely now on the sixth day, God saw every thing that he had made.

If any wonder at this, and say in their heart, what doth this mean? if it was so, why was it thus? I answer, that it was not done for that it was possible for God to have over­seen himself in any of his works, and to have omitted either any part or parcel of work which he had designed to do, or any punctilio of workmanship requisite; It was not because that any thing either actually did, or possibly could miscar­ry in his hands, or be marred by him in the making of it: It was not because there was any want of harmony, or due proportion of the parts one to another, or because all toge­ther they could possibly render the Universe ugly or mon­strous. It was not for any one, nor for all these causes put together, that God is said thus often to see his works: But it may be for some such ends as these;

1. To teach us seriously to contemplate, and wisely to consider the operation of his hands, to study the Book of Nature well, that large Volume of two Tomes, Heaven and Earth; and therein to see the invisible things of God, even his eternal Power and Godhead, which being of themselves not seen, yet are manifest by the things that do appear. In the Sun, Moon, and Stars you may see digitum Dei; In the inferior or sublunary Creatures vestigia Dei, Gods footsteps, for quaelibet Herba & quaelibet Bestiola Deum refert. In Man you may see Dei Speculum & Imaginem, the Glass, Image, and Re­presentation of God. In the Universe, as in a fair Book and very legible Characters, you may read, yea you may run and read, the Name and Nature of God; and by reading and stu­ding this Book only, you may prove good Scholars in Di­vinity. God would have no Atheist in the University of the [Page 4] World: But if any such there be, who shut their eyes a­gainst the light of the knowledge of God in the face of the whole Creation, let them know that God's eye is ever upon them, and that for evil, for this horrid ingratitude, in that that they would ma [...] him that made them, not allow him a being who give them, and all things or Creatures else, theirs.

2. To teach us to view and review our own works. If God, who could not err, surveyed every days work (one excepted) in the end of the day, and the whole weeks work in the end of the sixth day: Let us go and do likewise; Let's consider our ways daily, and again let's consider our ways weekly; Let there be no man amongst us, but who reviews his works, saying, What have I done? This was the way where­in David (if we judge him the pen-man of the 119. Psalm) was converted, or restored after his fall, he thought on his ways, look'd them over and over again, and turn'd his feet unto God's Testimonies.

3. To secure to himself his own honour and glory, and to render the Creatures inexcusable, in case of any future mis­carriage. Now if any thing fall, and be marr'd, the fault cannot justly and reasonally be imputed unto God; for he was exceeding careful to make, and overlook, and examine his works, and to make and leave all well, good, and very good. If therefore there happen hereafter to be any errour, any crack, flaw, spot or blur, any fault in any of the Crea­tures, it must be acknowledged to be by some abuse, neg­lect, miscarriage, or fall out of our hands: for, before they came out of God's hands, he looked them over and over a­gain, and found and left them all right and good, and very or vehemently good.

4. To prevent our carping, quarrelling and finding fault with God's works, Ne aliter de suis operibus sentire vel loqui quis­quam audeat. Calvin. That we say not, no not in our hearts, Cui bono? Or, Quorsum perditio haec? Concerning any of the Creatures, that none may say, What is this? Wherefore is that? For all the works of the Lord are exceeding good; And he hath made all things for their use, saith the Author of [Page 5] Ecclesiast. Cap. 39.16, 17, 21. That none might blaspheme Gods works, as that profane Spaniard did.

That none might speak or think falsely and foolishly con­cerning God, as the Jews do, viz. Deum ultima vespera prae­ventum quaedam animantia imperfecta reliquisse. Calvin. in Gen. 2.1.

God the Judge of Heaven and Earth, did in the beginning of the World strictly look and enquire into, truly try and righteously judge all his Creatures; and he returns Omnia benè, I find no fault in any thing that I have made. God ha­ving newly printed the Book of the Creatures in six days, and having compared it sheet by sheet (as it were) before, with the original in his own mind, and found no fault in it; he doth now again that the whole work is finished, read it and examine all over again, and sees no jota or tittle amiss in it from the beginning to the end thereof; no place for the least dash of the pen of Men or Angels, and no need of the least touch of his own hand, either to correct or com­pleat it.

And this brings us to the other Observation, that it was a true and righteous judgment which God passed upon his Creatures, as they came out of his hands at first, that they were very good. They were good before, and well approved of, four or five times, by God; but now that all is done and polished by God's own hand, now 'tis perfect, very good; nothing need to be added thereunto. When God saw the parts of this body of the Universe part by part, each was good and beautiful as he made and viewed it day by day: But now the body being fully compleated, by that which every part supplyeth; and now this body of the visible World being headed with a visible head, Man, God's Depu­ty and Vice-roy, made and set to rule and govern all his Creatures here below; Now 'tis added, they were very good. God assembled the Creatures before Adam, to see what names he would give all his Subjects; and Adam gave names to all Cattel, and to the Fowls of the Air, and to eve­ry Beast of the Field, Gen. 2.20. Adam gave them every one his name; and God gave them all an Epithit [...]e, very good. I [Page 6] shall endeavour, with Gods leave and help, to shew,

1. How, and in what sense, the Creatures may be said to be good and very good.

2. To prove, that the Creatures are so very good.

3. Whether all the Creatures have always been, and now are so very good, as when they first came out of God's hands; and, if not, then

4. Whether ever there has been, or shall be, a restauration of the Creatures to their primitive goodness?

5. What God requires that we should contribute to­wards the repair of this great House of the World, and to­wards the restoring the Creatures to their first goodness and beauty.

Of the First:

1. The Creatures are all good Metaphysically, as they had a being, Ens & bonum convertuntur: And so they were drops of that Ocean of goodness that is in God. 'Tis good by some participation of his goodness, and conformity to his Word and Will, without which it could not have been at all. So the Scripture testifieth, that every Creature of God is good, here, and in the 1 Tim. 4.4. All that was made was every way agreable to his Will, and contrary to, or without that was nothing made that was made.

2. The Creatures were all good Morally. There was no Anomy or Ataxy amongst them all. Nothing prejudicial to God's glory; and, every thing serviceable for mans benefit. The Creatures were good; that is were goodly, fair, plea­sant to the eyes; Again, they were good; that is, profitable, or commodious: So the word may import; for that which one Evangelist calleth good, Mar. 9.42. another calleth pro­fitable, Luk. 17.2.

3. They were Theologically good. They were as so many Letters, out of which men might spell the Name of God Al­mighty, Psal. 19. Yea from these Creatures, as from so ma­ny Teachers, men might learn many profitable Lessons, touching service and obedience to their Maker. The Crea­tures proclaim to us God's goodness, and glory: and again, the homage and duty, which we owe unto God our Creator. [Page 7] The Creatures are a kind of Ladder, whereby we may always ascend up unto God. The World is Templum Dei, God's Temple: and in this Temple doth every one of his Creatures speak of his honour.

Of the Second, we shall endeavour to evidence the good­ness and beauty of the Creation.

1. From the various Natures of the Creatures.

2. From the goodly Order of their creation, propagation, and working.

3. From their great Usefulness, and serviceableness unto Man.

4. From their extraordinary Obedience unto God, their Maker.

Of the First.

1. Every Creature of God is good; and it is a pleasant thing to behold or consider the beauty of them all in their first creation. How much are we delighted with a good Prospect, yea with a fair Landskip sometimes. The shew which the Devil tempted our Saviour withal (for, from the top of an exceeding high Hill, he shewed him all the Kingdoms of the World, and the glory of them) was of it self a tempting, and would have been a ravishing sight to us. But alas! this sight was nothing, to that view, which God took of all the Creatures of the World, and the good­ness of them.

Let's behold God's six days works, beginning from the Angels in Heaven, to the meanest Creature on the Earth, or in the Waters: and we shall see a delightful sight, rendred so by the excellent variety of the Creation. Some Creatures, as Angels, are all spirit, and no bodies: Some again, cor­poral Creatures, and no spirits: Some half the one and half the other; as Man. Again, some Creatures have life; and some are without life: Of those that have life, some are ra­tional, some are irrational; Of unreasonable Creatures, some are integra Animalia, some Insecta; and of both sorts, some live in the Air, and some in the Water, and some on the Earth, and some are [...], as Crocodils, &c. which live partly in the Water, and partly on the dry Land. Again, [Page 8] there is a Creature which is partly a Plant, and partly an A­nimal; and that is a Sponge; and, what if we say the same of the sensitive Plant? Come we to instance only in the bruit Creatures, and there we shall see an admirable variety. God hath not fill'd the World with all great, or all small, or all of a middle size; but with some of every sort. I shall be beholden to the Naturalist (Franzius) to shew a five-fold observable Variety amongst these; And this is our First.

1. God their Maker hath set to all their several quantities, their bounds, which they shall not pass. The greedy Swine shall never grow to be so big as the Elephant; nor the Pi­geon to be so great as the Swan.

2. They have their several Voices and Tones; the Cuc­kow doth never crow like the Cock; nor the Lyon grunt like the Hog; nor the Dog neigh like the Horse.

3. They have their several Trades and Imployments; The Birds, Nightingals excepted, sing not in the night; but the Dogs bark in the night, and this Creature alone be­trays the Thief, at what hour of the night soever he comes.

4. They delight in a diverse kind of Dyet, feed on se­veral Dishes, and God gives every one his proper Dish, his Meat in his season; The Sheep doth not feed on flesh; nor doth the Horse take pleasure to gnaw the bones like the Dog; nor the Fish to eat hay like the Oxe.

5. They have several Dwellings or Hiding-places; The Hare does not lye down at the Crib; nor doth the Dog delight constantly to abide in the Wood, amongst Wolves, Tygers, and Lyons.

Of the Second.

God first made the Dwelling-houses of the Creatures, before the Inhabitants thereof; yea he first furnished and stored those several Mansions of the Creatures, before he made and brought the Creatures into them.

First, God made the grass for the Beasts, and then the Beasts themselves. First the inferior Creatures, and then Man the Epitome, & under God, supream Lord of all. First, God made Vegetative Creatures, then Sensitive, and then Rational. First the simple bodies, as the Elements, and [Page 9] then compound; and there first a being, without life; then a being and life, without sense; then a being, life, and sense, without reason; then altogether, all in one; and that is Man.

Again, goodly was the order which God set for the pro­pagation of the Creatures. He gave them a seed, whereby to beget others in their own likeness; Or, from whence should grow alway another to continue and replenish the World.

It is admirable to think, that so much should come of so little; that the seed of Plants is not quickned except it dye; that when seed is sown in the Earth, the seed should grow and spring up, and the Sower knoweth not how; For, The Earth bringeth forth fruit of her self; first the Blade, then the Ear, then the full Corn in the Ear, Mar. 4.27, 28. And all this comes from the goodness and blessing of God upon it in the first Creation. Gen. 2.11, 12.

Again, it had been a goodly pleasant sight, to have seen the Waters bring forth Fish and Fowl of themselves first; and so the Earth, to bring forth Beasts, and all kind of Cat­tel after their kind, and all at God's Word of Command at first. And that all these Creatures should have virtue to multiply, and increase, and to replenish the Sea, and the dry Land; this is very wonderful.

This is a goodly order too that God hath set; namely, that sensitive Creatures should some bring forth living Crea­tures; some, egs only; that the Ostrich should bring forth egs, and leave them; And yet God take order with the Beams of the Sun (as with his wings) to keep them warm and hatch them; That God should seed the young Ravens, when they cry, and the old one, the Dam, hath left them; viz. (as some tell us) by causing a little worm to grow out of the dung in the nest and to crawl into their very mouths to feed them.

Again, that the great Creatures are not so fruitful as the small; and that the wild beasts do not so multiply, as the tame, and more useful Creatures do; this is also admira­ble. That the Waters, greater than the Earth, and, at first, [Page 10] above the Earth, should not overflow it; but be bound in by a girdle of Sand, and that a light body which the wind can blow too and fro where it listeth. That the Fire doth not consume and devour all the other corporal Creatures. That the Beams of the Chambers of the World should be laid in the Waters, Psal. 104.3. and yet not be moved. That the Globe of the Earth and Waters, should hang upon its own Center only, like a ball in the air; this is indeed wonderful.

Again, a most beautiful sight it is to behold and consider, the good order and concatenation of Causes, first set by God. God appointed the Heavens, to hear the Earth; and the Earth to hear the Corn, and the Wine, and the Oyl; and these to hear Jezreel. Hos. 2.22. This is that sight which the poor Heathens had some glimps of in the night of Gentilism; as appears by that Poetical Fancy, of the chain fastned to Ju­piter's Chair, and reaching down to the Earth. What should we say more? When God finished the Heavens, and the Earth, and all the Host of them; he left them like a well govern'd Army standing in Battel-aray, every one set in his rank, every one ordered to march on in his way, and none to break their ranks, no one to thrust another. So that if the greatness and glory of King Solomon, and the goodly or­der of his House, or Court, was a sight which put the Queen of Sheba to an extasy; what a sight had it been to have been with Adam in Paradise, and to have seen the general muster of the Creatures before him, that he should give them their names; and to have seen that excellent order, which was observed in this great House of the World, and in all the Family of Heaven and Earth; when God looked upon them all, and behold they were very good. Surely a far greater sight, than that of Solomon's Court, was here; for a greater than he hath said, Mat. 6.29. That Solomon in all his glory was not arayed like one of these.

Of the Third.

3. The Creatures are very good, because they are very useful to us. In the state we are now, some are for food, some for Physick, some for defence, some for covering, some for ornament, some for our service, some for our de­light [Page 11] and recreation. To instance in some particulars.

The Heavens were made, spread out, and garnished, for Mans benefit, and advantage. Every Man has his portion in the Stars of Heaven, Deut. 4.19. as well as in the clods or glebe of the Earth. For, as God hath determined to all Nations, and persons the bounds of their habitations on the Earth; so hath he divided unto them all, the Sun, Moon, and Stars of Heaven.

The third Heaven is the Seat of the Blessed, the Recepta­cle and Mansion of Saints and Angels, the Palace and Para­dise of the second Adam and his Seed. The visible Heavens compass the World as a glorious wall of fire, are a goodly Mount and fence, yea a goodly covering and canopy to the sublunary World and to the Inhabitants thereof; The Sun, Moon, and Stars, distinguish Times and Seasons, separate Day and Night, give light to the Inhabitants of the Earth, render it fruitful by their heat and influences. Job 38.31. The Meteors in the middle region of the Air, Fire and Hail, Snow and Vapour, stormy Winds, Thunder and Lightening, the small Rain, and the great Rain of his strength; these all set forth the Power of God, are good for the Earth and the Inhabi­tants thereof, they all fulfil his Word, and this Word of his, that Lo, he beheld them, and they were very good. How doth the Snow, though cold of it self, yet keep the Fruits of the Earth warm, like Wool; He giveth Snow like Wool. How do the Winds, as God's Besom, sweep the Air, and carry about the Clouds which are his Chariots; though these Chariots of God are twenty thousand, even a thousand thousand of them, yet all these move very swiftly upon the wings of the Wind.

Come we to the lower region of the Air, and there to the Fowls of Heaven. Their flight above the Earth, being made most of earth and water, is very admirable; The O­strich doth partly go and partly fly, makes use both of her legs and wings; and so (they say) moves as swift as if she did sly. The very feathers and wings of the Birds are of goodly sight; Gavest thou the goodly wings to the Peacock? Job 39.13. Besides the Fowls are of use, some for food, some for [Page 12] physick, some for our recreation; Even the very Swallow and the Bat (some may think useles Creatures) do the one by day, and the other at even, purge the Air of Flyes. The Crows, Ravens, and Eagles, devour those dead Carkases which lye on the Earth, and else might corrupt the Air, and make it pestilential. The Crows pick up the Worms after the plough, and so better the soil; Some Birds are meat for the rest, and they again for us.

Come we to the Beasts of the Field, God hath put all these into our hands, Psal. 8.7. yea under our feet. The Horse, and the Cow; Creatures of great, and ordinary, or daily use; God hath not given them so great galls as to other Crea­tures, lest being much used, or misused by us, they should wax angry, and turn again, and rent us. The Horse doth not bite, or kick his Keeper, when he gives him chaff instead of provender. The Beasts are for our food, or physick, or for the food of other Beasts, who are useful or serviceable to us, either to our necessities, or our delights; Even venomous Creatures themselves, the Physicians make good use of; &, they say, these pick up or suck up poyson, which is scattered up and down the Earth; and make the places, where they are, more wholsom. Again some of those poysonous Crea­tures are meat for other Creatures, which are good food for us; as Hens pick up Spiders, and yet yield us good nourish­ment. Besides, it may be questioned whether there were any such thing as poyson before Sin came and brought it in­to the World; we find no Antipathy then betwixt the Wo­man and the Serpent; and so, possibly, no venom neither in the Serpent, until the Devil, that great Poysoner, possessed it; however, poysons should not have been hurtful. As for Flyes and creeping Things, these are many of them for physick, some for food, so some sort of Locusts and Snails; for our sport some; with these other Creatures are fed, and some taken, as the Fishes. Of what admirable use are these to us; to the Silk-worm, we owe our soft rayment; and to the Coche [...]- [...]al, our scarlet-dy.

And as for the Air it self, 'tis a fit Medium for us to breathe in, to move in, to derive the influences and light of Heaven to us.

[Page 13]Come we to the Earth; our Bodies are made of it; we dwell therein; It brings forth Grass, and Fruits; and so, food for us, and the other Creatures; It is our Bed, to sleep in after death. In the Earth; the Valleys and Plains, are sit conveyances of water, to water the Earth; are very fruitful, stand so thick with Grass and Corn, that they sing and shout for joy. Psal. 65.13. The Mountains are a shadow against the storm and heat; they are for the grasing of the Cattel; and thence we have our most goodly prospects.

Come we to the Waters; there Fish are useful to us, for food, or delight, or for other uses. The Waters themselves yield matter of Rains, and Dews, to refresh the dry and thirsty ground; serve to wash us, and refrigerate us, or to refresh us. The Ebbing and Flowing of the Seas prevent the corruptions of the Waters; is very useful for speedy transportation of Men, and Merchandize, and of the best Merchandize, the Pearl of price.

And now if after all this, there be yet any doubt or scru­ple concerning the goodness of God's Creation, or his Crea­tures: I answer; God knows wherefore he made them all, and to what use they serve; although we do not. When we come into a Goldsmiths, or other Artificers Shop, and see many Tools there, which we know not how to use, In officinâ non aude [...] vituperare fabrum, & audes in hoc Mundo re­prehendere Deum. Aust. or what they are good for; yet we do not straight way condemn them, as useless; because the Artificer knows what good use they serve for. Neque in potestate hominis est indagare quam ob causam produxerit Natura formicarum alias alis instructas, alias absque alis: Quamobrem etiam vermium alios pluribus pedibus, alios paucioribus produxerit; quisvè sit hujus vermis & hujus for­micae finis. 2. We say, that if there be any deformity, at pre­sent in the whole Creation; if there be any Insects, or other Creatures, which are noxious; I answer this comes from Mans sin. Creantur quidem a Deo, sed ultore; saith Calvin in Gen. 2. If Man that was good, and very good, (for, till he was made, God only saw, and said of his Creatures that be­hold they were good; but then, very good;) prove Apostate from God, and Rebel against him; no wonder, if God do begin to pull the house about his ears. If Man himself be­come [Page 14] a Briar and a Thorn; no wonder if the Earth bring forth Briars and Thorns to him. Whil'st Adam continued in his goodness, Heaven and Earth was full of God's good­ness, of God's good Creatures. If there be any Creatures which are evil and pernicious to Man, he must blame the evil of sin for that; that is the fly in this Box of Ointment. And yet as things now are, in statu quo, we may say, as the Son of Syrach doth; For the Good are good things created from the be­ginning, so evil things for Sinners. And a little after, enumera­ting some of the principal things for the whole use of Mans life; he saith, All these things are for good, to the Godly; so, to the Sinners, they are turned into evil, Eccles. 39.

4. And so we come to our Fourth Head, or Topick, from whence we are to evidence the goodness of the Creatures, namely, their obedience unto their Maker. It may be said of all God's Creatures, as they were made at first by him, from the highest Angel in Heaven to Man on Earth, and the meanest Worm in or under the Earth; that, God command­ed and they were created, and they rebelled not against his Word.

And now since the Angels, so many of them, and Adam sell; they from Heaven, and he from Paradise; yet the re­sidue of the Creatures, even the whole Creation (these ex­cepted) keep the Law that their Maker set them, and are still obedient unto his Word. The Angel destroys Senacha­rib's mighty Host. The Stars in their courses sight against Sisera. The Ravens feed Elijah. The dumb Ass reproves the madness of the Prophet. The Frogs and Flyes plague Pha­raoh and the Egyptians. The Lice or Worms devour proud Herod; Aelian. Var. Histor. Lib. 4. Cap 28. and destroy profane and impious Pherecydes.

And so we are on a sudden fallen on an implicite Answer to our Third Query, namely, whether the Creatures be all now so good as when they first came new out of Gods hands. How are the mighty Angels fallen, and become Devils; mul­titudes of them. And over Adam and his posterity, we may lament, as David over Saul, and Jonathan his Son, a little al­ter'd; 2 Sam. 1. The beauty of Paradise is slain upon the high places; How are the Mighty fallen! There the Shield of the Mighty was vilely cast [Page 15] away; The Shield of Adam, as if he had not been anointed with the Oyl of Sanctity and Soveraignty. How are the Mighty fallen, and the Weapons of war perished.

Man that was so very good, when God made this general survey of his Creatures, by sin became so very evil, that, Gen. 6. God repented and it grieved him at his heart that ever he made him. How is the goodly Picture, marr'd, the beautiful Face, deformed, the sweet Instrument, broken! Bethel made a Babel, or a Bethaven; Light, become darkness; Man that was naturally very good, become by nature very evil. As for the inferiour Creatures; Man's fall exceedingly crushed them; yea brought a curse on his own head, and theirs too: So that, now, they are not generally so pleasant, so useful, so serviceable, and obedient to us, as they would have been, if we had not sinned. Rom. 8.20. Rom. 8.20. The Creature it self is made subject to vanity. Which place if we understand in the most ordinary sense, there is a two-fold vanity to which the Crea­tures are now subject; 1. To be abused vainly, by sinful Men, to ryot, luxury, and excess; And 2. The Creatures are subject to corruption. And thus far we answer by way of concession; that the Creatures are not so very good as they were at first. But yet we say,

1. That the Creatures are still good in respect of their es­sence, or being, which they have from God.

2. With the Apostle Paul, 1 Tim. 4.4. That every Creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanks­giving. To the Pure all things are pure.

3. And again, That all things shall work together for good, Rom. 8.28. to them that love God, and are the called according to his purpose. That if they touch any deadly things, they shall not hurt them. To them is the promise made, Psal. 91.13. Thou shalt tread upon the Lyon and the Adder, and the young Lyon and Dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Either there shall no evil betide us from the Creatures; or, God will turn it unto good to us.

4. We say too, that 'tis good as things now stand: 'Tis for the peace and tranquility of the Common-wealth of man­kind, that God hath made some Creatures instrument [Page 16] wrath and vengeance, upon Disturbers and publick Enemies; as, in a well-ordered Common-wealth, 'tis good that there be Goals and Gibbets, &c. for the terror and punishment of Evil-doers.

IV. And now if any ask me, Whether the wound, which the Creatures got by the fall of Adam crushing of them, be incurable? waether the Creatures ever yet have had, or shall hereafter have, a Restauration to their primitive goodness and integrity? I answer,

1. That when God, the Builder of this great House of the visible World, had been so provoked by his Tenant Adam, that he might justly have sworn in his wrath, that he would pull down this House about his ears; and either make a Dung-hill of it, or consume it, with the Timber thereof, and the Stones thereof: Then the Lord Jesus Christ, he by whom all things were made which were made at first; he in­terposed, step'd in, held the hand of Divine Justice, and put under his shoulders, to uphold the tottering Creation; He undertook and covenanted to make God full satisfaction and reparation; and to establish the World again upon its own Basis; Reconciling, or making all things meet again, and sweetly kiss each other; Col. 1.20. Whether they be things in Earth, or things in Heaven. Thus did Christ become surety and bound for us, or else a writ of execution had been presently served upon us, and the Creatures under us, id est, upon us Body and Goods.

2. When we read that God reprieved Adam from execution; and gave him that great Mother Promise of the blessed Seed; we may rationally suppose, that he did, in some measure at least, alleviate or mitigate the justly deserved curse upon the Creatures for his sake and cause: For if God spared not to promise us his own Son, and to deliver him up for us all; how should he not with him freely promise to give us all things, even all things richly to enjoy? If he will promise to give us his Son, the Heir of all things, in Marriage to us; surely the Inheritance too, that shall be ours. Again, God will not pardon the Principal, Man; and execute those who are instruments, rather than Accessaries, to wit the Creatures.

[Page 17]3. If we consult the latter end of the eighth, & the beginning of the ninth Chapter of Genesis, we shall find that upon Noah's building an Altar, and offering burnt Offerings unto the Lord, after the Flood, God did covenant and promise to uphold and establish the World, and did renew Adam's for­feited Character, by which he made him Lord of the Crea­tures, unto his posterity: blessing and restoring Noah, and his Sons, and in them, us, in a great measure, to that Right and Royalty, which their and our great Grand-father Adam had lost.

4. The Lord Christ, God blessed for ever, by being made actually a curse for us in the fulness of time, hath purchased and given unto us the use of the Creatures as a blessing, and hath utterly taken away the partition wall of typical un­cleanness, as to many Creatures (which stood for a time be­twixt Jew and Gentile) and now every Creature of God is good, being sanctified by the Word and Prayer; that is, good Men may now have a good and holy use of all God's good Creatures.

5. We cannot but acknowledge, that the Scriptures of truth, speak of Gospel-times as of the World to come, Acts 3.21. Heb. 1. As of times of Reformation, Heb. 9.10. As of times of Resti­tution of all things, according to our last Translation; As of a new Heaven and a new Earth; And sometimes, since Christ, they speak of New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven, Rev. 22. Of the Paradise of God; of a Tree of Life, and of a Water of Life, Revel. 2.7. Rev. 22.12. And this seems to be upon the Earth. And 'tis observed, that, then and there, the Tree of Life bears fruit e­very month; which some think, is a restoring of it to its pri­mitive fruitfulness; and, for want of which, some think the Fig-tree was cursed in the Gospel, so Mr. Brightman. And there are who think that one day Sodom and Gomorrah, now a dead Sea, shall again become a fruitful and pleasant Land; And for this see Ezek. 16.53.55. There are too, who think that the Creatures waiting, groaning and longing to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God, Rom. 8. doth hint some Restitution of the Creatures to their first good and sound state. Which whether it do or no, I leave it to you to judge. Only this I say, that if the visible World shall [Page 18] pass through a purgatory-fire at the day of Judgment, and if it shall be continued for the blessed Saints to contemplate God's goodness therein at first, and the glory of Christ the second Adam, who came to repair the ruins which the first made; that then it is not improbable, that the Creatures may then attain to their primitive goodness. However sure I am that the Humane Nature is already, in the Person of Christ, advanced far above what it was in Adam at first. The first Adam was of the Earth earthly, the second Adam was the Lord from Heaven, heavenly: And again, That all those that are Christs, are already in part, and shall hereafter in Heaven perfectly, be restored to the Image of God wherein they were made at first; and to a better and more happy estate then ever Adam had in Paradise.

V. There's one Query more to be briefly spoken unto, and then we shall have done with the Fifth thing propounded in the beginning of our Discourse, and that is, what is re­quired of us towards the repair of the ruins of the Creation, to restore the Creatures to their primitive goodness and beauty. To this I answer,

1. That God doth not require, that we should repair the Angelical Nature; that we should pour Wine and Oyl into their wounds, or bind up their bruises; their stroke is incu­rable, there is no Balm in Gilead, no Physician for their di­sease: Only, we must, by endeavouring to be [...], fit our selves to fill up those vacant places in the Heavens from whence they fell. God can make of us, if we duly apply our selves to him, although we be but earthen Pitchers, Ves­sels of Grace, and Vessels of Glory; Vessels every way fit for our Masters use, both in Earth and in Heaven.

Col. 3.9, 102. God doth expect that we should put off the old Man with his deeds, and put on the new Man which is renewed in knowledge, after the Image of him that created him. That, being in Christ, id est, being indeed Christians, we should become new Crea­tures, be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and walk in newness of life, that, as in Adam we all dyed, and became dead in Sins and trespasses; so in Christ, the second Adam, and by a lively Faith in him, we should all be made aliue. And, because [Page 19] Adam was the Son of God by Creation at first; that we should all be Partakers of the Divine Nature; be his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works; Live and walk as the Sons of God; all as the Children of the most High, that the Lord may take pleasure in us again; as he did in Adam in Paradise, before he sinned.

3. We must make a good use of all God's good Creatures: getting a new right to use them, (although the old one be not utterly lost) and using them alway aright, according to the Creators will, and for his glory.

Many are the good uses we may make of the Creatures & this Doctrine of the Creatures usefulness and goodness.

U I Hence we may be informed, that God made not sin. For all that he made was good; and Sin that is evil, and as Sin, only evil, and that continually. There was no Anomy, or Ataxy, in all God's works; but Sin it self is an Anomy, [...] is [...]. Then God is not the Author of this evil and confusion. This is the Truth we teach in all the Churches of the Saints; and not, as we are slanderously re­ported by the Romanists, that we say, that God is the Au­thor of Sin. God is Summum Bonum, yea Goodness it self: but Sin is Summum Malum, the chiefest Evil; and so bad, that Hell and the Devil cannot make it worse. Ye can­not call it worse than to call it by an Epithite drawn from its own name, viz. sinful Sin. This calls the Devil Father, and Author. God, the good Husbandman, sow'd nothing but good Seed in his Field: 'tis the Devil, that Enemy, that sow'd these tares.

Again, hence we infer that Sin is very evil; because it hath poyson'd so many good things; yea hath been the cause of all evils in the World. For, at the first, God made every thing very good. That must needs be bitter indeed, which hath imbittered so many, and so great sweets. Sin is the great Troubler of the World, this is it which makes God's good things, turn to be evil to us; that curses our Blessings; that makes a Garden of Eden a desolate Wilder­ness; that turns the World upside down; and makes that, when Jeremy looked upon the Land of Canaan, that Garden [Page 20] of God, Chap. 4.22, 23. He beheld the Earth, and lo it was a Tohu Ʋabohu, without sorm and void; and the Heavens, and they had no light.

Further hence we may learn, that the Lord Jesus Christ is very good: a Fountain of goodness. For God made all good, Col. 1.16. and he created all things by Christ. By him, not as a mere Instrument, but a Co-worker with him. He is the be­ginning of the Creation of God, in this sense also. Is there any good in the World, and the Lord Christ hath not done it? and he hath done all things▪ Well; Heaven and Earth are full of the goodness of our Lord Jesus; and there's No Man good, but one; and that is one who is God and Man, the Man Christ Jesus.

Lastly, as to information, hence we are taught that the work of Redemption is very good, exceeding good. For this is a better and greater work than that of Creation. If that deserve thousands of praises, this doth ten thousands. The song of the Lamb is to be a higher Note, than the song of Moses. Creation was a work of God's fingers; but in our Re­demption there was put forth the strength of his holy arm; by which he got himself, & us the victory. Behold now a new Heaven, & a new Earth; the light of the Moon is as the light of the Sun, & the light of the Sun is seven-fold: Old things are passeth a­way, & all things are become new. And therefore, if when God laid the foundation, the Corner-stone of the World, the Morning­stars sang together, & all the Sons of God shouted for joy; No marvel now that Christ, by whom all things were made at first, and who hath restored all things, and redeemed his People to God, by his blood, out of every kindred; and Tongue, and People, and Na­tion; If, with the Apostle John, Rev. 5.11, 12, 13. We be­hold, and hear the voyce of many Angels round about the Throne, and the Beasts and the Elders, the number of them ten thousand times ten thousand; and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voyce, Worthy is the lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing; And every Creature in Heaven, and on Earth, and under the Earth, and in the Sea, saying, Blessing, honour, glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.

[Page 21]If God had his Sabbath, to celebrate his work of Creation: good reason Christ should have his Sabbath, wherein we should commemorate his work of Redemption. And now, this being the Lords day, and our Christian Sabbath, let us do the duty of the day in the season thereof. Bless the Lord, O our Souls, and all that is within us bless his Holy Name: Forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all our iniquities, who redeemeth our life from destruction, who crowneth us with loving kindnesses, and tender mercies, Psal. 103.1, 2, 3, 4.

U II I shall conclude all with a few words of Exhortation. When God looked upon his works, did he see every thing very good? 1. Then let us not cavil or carp at any of all God's works. Wo to him that striveth with his Maker: Let the Potsherd strive with the Potsherds of the Earth. Let's not blame, or find fault with God, for any of all his works, either of Creation, or Providence: for God hath made all things well, and he hath made every thing beautiful in his season. If any of God's Creatures, or Providences, prove evil and hurtful to us, let's blame our selves, let's blame our sins: For Sin, that it might appear Sin, worketh death in us by that which is good, Rom. 7. 2. Let's admire and adore God. Let's bless, and praise, and magnify him for ever, for all his good­ness: For his goodness is in and over all his works. Let's have high thoughts of God, and low of our selves. And this is the use the Prophet David makes of this Doctrine, Psal. 8.147, 148, 149, 150. Yea this is the use, which God himself would have Job make of it, when he preached upon part of this Text, in the 38, 39, 40, 41. Chapters of the Book of Job. And let us say with the Psalmist, Ps. 103. when we take a sur­vey of Gods works, Bless the Lord ye his Angels, who excel in strength, ye Ministers of his, that do his pleasure: Bless the Lord all his Works in all places of his Dominion, & every one of us: Bless the Lord O my Soul. 3. Let's learn good from the Creatures. God would have us go to school to the Creatures, to learn many good Lessons from them. He would have the Sluggard go to the industrious Ant, to consider her ways, and be wise. Those who are ignorant of God their Lord, and feeder, are re­proved by the bruit Creatures; For the Oxe knows his Owner, [Page 22] and the Ass his Masters Crib. Those who do not, or cannot discern the times and seasons, even the times of their Visita­tion, the Prophet would that we go to the Stork, the Crane, and the Swallow, for all these know their appointed seasons. And because Christians, and Ministers especially, are sent out in the World as Sheep among Wolves, Christ would have them to be as wise as Serpents, and innocent as Doves.

Last of all, did God look upon daily, and at the end of the sixth day again review all his works? Did he examine, judge, and find them all very good? Let us go and do like­wise: let us imitate God, we cannot have a better prece­dent or example to follow. Let us, every evening, look back upon the works of the day, and, at the end of the week, upon the works of the week. Let's examine and judge them. This has been the practice of many precious Saints, as the Lord Harington, Mr. Herbert Palmer, and o­thers. (Yea, some such thing as this, viz. calling himself to an account at night, for what had passed him in the day, Seneca tells of himself.) These examples we shall do well if we follow, so as they followed God himself. This is a right method to proceed, from good, to very good; to have all good, but our latter work better than our former. But, because that in many things we offend all, whil'st we are in this World here upon Earth, let us look for, and long after, that place and state, I mean for Heaven, when we shall be made like unto God, and our works like his works: When from day to day, and Sabbath to Sabbath, even to all eter­nity, we may look upon every thing that we have done, and behold it shall be very good.

ACcording to the Hebrew 'tis, A righteous Man knows, that is, regardeth, taketh care of the life of his Beast.

If on the one hand we consider the great com­mendations, which the Holy Scriptures give of diverse of the bruit and unreasonable Creatures, together with God's great care of, and cost, about them, himself, and his charge, and laws to Men, concerning them: And on the other hand compare therewith Men's vilifying, disregard­ing, abusing of them: It may seem not unreasonable nor unprofitable to bestow one lecture about them, namely for this end, to instruct and teach Men, who have a right to use them, how to use them aright, to make them good Lords to those good Servants. As he that rules over tnen must be just, so he that is Lord over these bruit Creatures must not be cruel towards them. As God will require the life of a Man of the Beast that slayeth him, Gen. 9.5. Ex. 21.29. the Beast shall be put to death. So will God call Men to accompt for the lives of their Beasts, if they be cruel unto them. For my own part, I would not when my Lord cometh, be found causelesly, or cruelly beating, or misusing these my Servants and my fellow Servants.

From the words we may observe,

1. That Man hath a Right and Title to the Beasts of the Earth; and that not only in common, but each Man hath a particular Right and Propriety in them. The righteous Man regardeth the life of his Beast.

[Page 24]2. That a good or righteous Man is good or merciful to his Beast.

3. That unrighteous or wicked Men are unmerciful or cruel to their Beasts.

I. Psal. 8.6, 7.Of the First. God the soveraign Lord of Heaven and Earth, the Maker of Man and Beast, hath made him Lord over the Beasts; he hath put them all under his hand, or under his feet. Gen. 1.25.26, 28. He that made the Beast of the Earth after his kind, and Cattel after their kind, made Man also after his own Image, and gave him dominion over the Fish of the Sea, and over the Fowl of the Air, and over the Cattel, and over all the Earth, and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth. God indeed made these Creatures, and all things else, for his own glory; but in order thereunto he made these to be our Servants: Gen. 2.19, 20. And therefore we find that God assembled before Adam all the Beasts of the field, to see what he would call them; Gen. 5.2. Luk. 1.62, 63. And his giving Names to them, was a part and proof of his Dominion or Lordship over them. At first 'tis thought, that Mans Dominion over the Creatures, the Fishes of the Sea (the great Whales not ex­cepted) and over the Fowls of Heaven, was like that of the Centurion which he had over his Souldiers: He might say to one Go and he goeth, and to another Come and he cometh, and to a third Do this, Luk. 7.8. and he doth it. They were all ready to come and go at his word of Command: And this was the Language of their Obedience to Adam their Lord, Lo we are all thy Servants. Before Sin came into the lower World, Adam commanded without rigour, and they obeyed with obedien­tial reverence and readiness, without the least force or com­pulsion. And since the fall, God, hath (in a great measure) renewed our forfeited Charter, and Men have been able by force or art to subdue and govern over the greater & wilder sort of Beasts, such as Elephants, Lyons, Leopards, Bears, Tygres, Plin. Hist. B. 8. C. 2. &c. Elephants have been brought so far under Mans yoke, as to be yoked together to draw a Chariot, and in some places to draw the Plough, if we will believe Pliny. But behold a more sure word of Prophecy, St. James tells us Chap. 3. V. 7. That every kind of Beasts, and of Birds, and of [Page 25] Serpents, and things in the Sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. As if he had said, It was not so only before the Fall; or by miracle, as the Whale not hurting Jonah, Jonah 2. Dan. 6. but casting him up on dry Land; and the Lyons not hurting Daniel, though cast into their Den to be devour'd by them; or that all the Creatures came tamely to Noah into the Ark; but as if he had said, Nothing is so violent and noxious by Nature, but humane art and industry hath made it servicea­ble to Mans use: For instances and stories, saith D. Manton in Loc. Interpreters abound in them; How Lyons have been tamed and brought to hunt as Dogs, or draw the Chariot as Horses, you may see Pliny in his Natural History Lib. 8. C. 16. and Aelian. Lib. 15. C. 14. How Birds have been taught; you may see Plin. Lib. 10. C. 42. and Macrob. Lib. 2. Saturnal. C. 10. Of Elephants, Lipsius Gen. 1. Epist [...]. 50. And al­though we are told by D. Cowel, that wild Beasts, Birds, Fishes, by the Law of Nature, are not the goods of any one particular person; yet, he that first gets the possession of them, by the Law of Nature hath a Title to them. And as for the tamer Creatures, we have a right to them ordinari­ly, either by Descent, as Heirs to our Parents; or by Dona­tion, as free gift; or by purchase; or else as found when lost, or gotten in, or by means of a lawful War from an E­nemy. And so it may be said of any particular person, though but a private Man, (who is by any of these lawful means, Possessour of the Beasts) as God saith of King Nebu­chadnezzar, Jer. 27.5, 6. I have given him the Beasts of the Field also to serve him. For God made the Earth, the Man and the Beasts, that are upon the ground, by his great Power, and his stretched out Arm; and giveth it to whom it seemeth meet unto him. Though God be the soveraign Lord of Heaven and Earth, and all that therein is, yet the Earth hath he given to the Children of Men. He made Man to have dominion over the works of his hands; He hath put all things under his feet; Psal. 8.7, 8. All Sheep and Oxen, yea and the Beasts of the Field; the Fowl of the Air, and the Fish of the Sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the Seas. From God, Lord Paramount of all, we have a good [...]tle to, and a propriety in, these Creatures. Isa. 1.3. The [Page 26] Oxe knoweth his Owner, and the Ass his Masters Crib. God having granted and thus setled property in particular persons to the Beasts of the Earth, 'tis not in the power of Men or Devils, but by Gods Commission or Permission (at least) to alter or overthrow it. The Devil could not touch Job's Sheep or Camels, without leave first had & obtained. And as for Man God hath made a hedge about every Man's Cattel by the Eighth Commandment, Thou shalt not steal; And to keep him far from such an evil Matter, he forbids in the X. Com­mandment so much as to covet or desire our Neighbours Oxe, or his Ass, or any thing that is our Ne [...]ghbours.

And now is it so, that we have a Right to and Authority over the bruit Creatures, yet let us be cautioned against a­busing or misusing of them. Say not in your hearts, Our Beasts are our own, who is Lord over us? May we not do what we will with our own? and doth God take care for Oxen? May we not rather wish with Balaam, that there were a Sword in our hands to slay them when they stop or start aside, since they are our own? May we not rather say to them, Our Fathers made your yoke heavy, but our little finger shall be heavier than our Fathers loins? To such absurd and unrea­sonable Men I shall oppose the reproof, which the Ass gave to his Master Balaam, Num. 22.28. What have I done to thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? And again the reproof of the An­gel, V. 32. Wherefore hast thou smitten thine Ass these three times? Although God hath given us a Right to the bruit Creatures, and a Dominion over them; yet 'tis with subordination to himself and his Laws; yet 'tis with certain limitations and restrictions. We are Lords over them, 'tis true; but we must not play the Tyrants over them. The Israelites, God's own People, had a good Title to their Beasts or Cattel, and yet he bound them to their good behaviour towards them by sundry Laws and Rules in reference to them. They might not deal with them as they pleased, as to their meat. Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the Cori [...]. Nor as to their work, neither for the time when they should work, nor for the manner of their working. Thou shalt keep the Sabbath-day, that thy Oxe and thy Ass may rest as well as thou. And again, [Page 27] Thou shalt not plough with an Oxe and Ass. God gave Man the Beasts and other living Creatures for food, but yet with this condition, provided always they did not eat Membriun de vi­vo, not like salvage. Beasts tear and eat of living Creatures, whiles the life was in them, but that they should first kill them, and pour out their blood before they eat them. Arise, kill, and eat. Kill first, and then eat. Nor were they at liber­ty in all things as to their cooking, or dressing of them. Thou shalt not seeth a Kid in his Mothers milk. God most wise, most mer­ciful would have his People not only abhominate all cruelty to the bruit Creatures, but even to abstain from all appea­rance of it. And that he might teach them mercy by his own example, that they might be merciful to the bruit Creatures as their Father in Heaven is merciful, He ordained them to be offered up upon his Altar, but not till they were first slain, and their blood in which their life is, was poured out, at the foot of it. God would have no Sacrifice no not of a Beast to be burnt alive upon his Altar.

Accordingly a good Man, who is the Child of God and Image of God, the work of his Heavenly Father he will do; he will be mild, gentle, merciful, not only to Brethren, Neighbours, and Strangers, but even to the bruit Creatures, so saith the Text, A good Man, a righteous Man, is merciful to his Beast.

1. He takes care of the life of his Beasts: [ Curat animam ju­menti sui, Vatablus] in providing food convenient for them. He gives them their meat in due Season. They do not wander for lack of meat, nor low or complain for lack of sodder. What God gives him sor them, that they gather from his hand. If God send a Drought and the Fire burn up or devour the Pastures of the Wilderness, so that the Beasts groan, and the heards of Cattel are perplexed, because they have no Pasture; the righteous Man, their Lord and Master, sympathizeth with them, is grieved for them, and modo suo, as God for his People, so he for his Cattel, in all their afflictions he is afflicted; and therefore when the Beasts cry unto him, 'tis not in the power of his hand to help them; what doth he but stretch out his arms and cry unto God for [Page 28] As 'tis Joel 1.19. O Lord, to thee will I cry, for the Fire hath de­voured the Pastures of the Wilderness.

2. A good or a righteous Man provides Physick for them, I mean Remedies for them, means to cure them when they are amiss. He doth what he can to prevent, or else to re­move their sicknesses, ails, and maladies. It was a great sin in Pharaoh that he mattered not the threatning, and so did not prevent (by letting Israel go) the grievous murrain on the Cattel in the Field, upon the Horses, upon the Asses, upon the Camels, Exod. 9.3. upon the Oxen, and upon the Sheep.

3. A good Man provides Harbour for his Cattel accord­ing to their condition, against the weather. We read of Ja­cob that as he built himself an House, Gen. 33.17. so he made Booths for his Cattel. Yea when God threatned a grievous hail upon Egypt, he commanded them to send and gather the Cattel that were in the Field, lest they should be slain with the hail; and the Scripture tells us, He that feared the Word of the Lord amongst the Servants of Pharaoh, Exod. 9.18 19, 20 made his Servants and his Cattel flee into the Houses, and he that regarded not the Word of the Lord, left his Servants and his Cattel in the Field.

4. As a good Man takes care for Food, Physick, and Har­bour for his Cattel, so he hath a care not to overwork them. He doth not load, or ride, or drive them beyond what they are able to bear. Hear how careful and tender Jacob was not only of his Children, Gen. 33.13 14 but also of his Cattel, My Lord (saith he to his Brother Esau) knows that the Children are ten­der, and the Flocks and Herds with young are with me, and if Men should overdrive them one day, all the Flock will dy: Let My Lord, I pray thee, pass over before his Servant, and I will lead on softly, according as the Cattel that goes before me, and the Children are able to endure, &c.

5. He takes care that the weak and tame Beasts be Kept and Defended from the violence of the strong, wild, and ra­venous. 1 Sam. 17.34, 35. So David when he kept his Fathers Sheep, in de­fence of a Lamb or a Kid, slew a Lyon and a Bear.

6. He seeks them, brings them Home, when they have gone astray, and have lost themselves. So much may be learnt from the Parable Luke 15.4. where we read, that he [Page 29] that hath 100 Sheep, if he lose one, will leave the 99 in the Wilderness, and go after that which was lost, until he find it; and when he hath found it, lays it on his shoulders, re­joycing. A good Shepheard will gather his Lambs with his arm, will carry them in his bosom, and will gently lead those that are with young, when they are out of the way, and gone astray, unto the Fold and to the Flock. Even Saul himself when he found a Kingdom, 1 Sam 9 20 was busied in seeking his Fathers Asses that were lost.

7. When he is necessitated to kill them, he pitties them and doth that office in mercy. He was a Tyrant that said, he would make his Enemy ut sentiat se mori: that he might feel or be sensible of dying; And he is but little better that shall torment the poor Beasts, when he puts them to death. A good Man doth not delight in slaying the Beasts, nor doth he seek or use ways to torment them, 'Tis to the commendation of Mr. Fox, that wrote the Book of Martyrs, F. H. Book 9. pag. 105. what I read of him in Mr. Fuller, namely that he did not use to pass the Slaughter-houses without some sense, grief, or trouble of mind. Macellum ipsum ubi mactantur etiam pecudes vix praetereo, quin tacito quodam doloris sensu mens refugiat.

If the Question then should be, what say we to hunting of wild Beasts? Is this cruelty? And may not a good Man de­light in such sport or recreation?

I answer, that some of the Ancients held it unlawful. S. Hierom observes that a Hunter is never taken in a good sense, In Mich. l. 2. c. 5. and that Ismael and Esau are Hunters. There's a saying also of S. Austin on the 102. Psalm, alledged against it: Qui ve­natoribus donant, non homini donant, sed arti nequissimae; nam si homo esset & venator non esset, non donares; honor as in eo vitium, non naturam. But on the other side the reverend and learned Mr. Perkins allows for recreation the hunting of wild Beasts, alledging that place, Take us the Foxes, Cant. 2.15. the little Foxes that spoil the Vines. And another late Writer of Cases of Con­science saith thus, For exercises, such should be chosen, as bring publick utility; as the hunting of such Beasts, as are an annoyance to the Country; such as Foxes, Badgers, Wolves, &c. Aquinas cites Aristotle for the lawfulness of Hunting, [Page 30] upon this ground or reason; because thereby a Man chal­lengeth to himself that he hath a right to, by Nature. Ve­natio Sylvestrium Animalium est justa & naturalis, quia per eam, Homo vendicat sibi, quod est naturaliter suum. Sariburiensis in his Book called Policratic. 500. years since, brings Isaac the Pa­triarch his practice in sending his Son Esau to hunt, to justi­fy the lawfulness of Hunting. Mr. A. J. And a late judicious and learned Commentator comparing and considering the holy Scriptures one place with another, viz. Levit. 17.13. with Prov. 12.27. doth thence conclude that Hunting is lawful; the covering of the blood of the Beast taken and killed in Hunting, may imply (according to him) the lawfulness of killing the Creatures in this manner: the covering of their blood signifying that it should not be imputed unto them that shed it; as may appear by those places, where the not covering of the blood doth imply the contrary. So Job 16. 18. and Ezek. 24.7, 8.

The main Objection I conceive against Hunting is this, viz. That the Antipathy betwixt the Creatures is usually reckon­ed as an effect and fruit of our Sin, and therefore is not to be delighted in.

To this Objection I suppose that Huntsmen may answer, that they delight and recreate themselves in the sagacity and swiftness, &c. of them; and not in their tearing of one an­other. And if we will believe Aquinas p. 1. q. 96. Artic. 1. he teacheth us, that there would have been naturalis discordia inter quaedam Animalia, a natural discord betwixt some Ani­mals although Sin had never been. Non enim per peccatum Ho­minis natura Animaliu est mutata. (i. e.) For the nature of these Creatures is not changed by Mans Sin.

2 Pet. 2.12.Besides it may be argued and pleaded that the Apostle speaks of some of those Creatures, that they are made to be taken and destroyed. And our own reason, and sense, and ex­perience teach us, that there are other Creatures who seem to be made on purpose for this use, namely to find out, pursue, and take others.

But supposing this Antipathy betwixt the Dog and the Hare, &c. should be a fruit, effect, or consequent of Mans [Page 31] Sin; I conceive that it doth not necessarily follow, that we may not moderately delight in Hunting: for our Clothes are a consequent of Mens Sin; and yet we may moderately delight in our Clothes or Ornaments, Isa. 61.10. Jer. 2.32. I suppose as well as in our Meat and Drink.

These things then premised, I shall not dare to condemn Hunting as unlawful; but shall rather apply my self to give such directions and cautions to those that use this recrea­tion, that they may not offend in it.

1. Men must not make Hunting, Hawking, or any other recreation (how lawful soever) their calling; not their Meat and Drink; but as their Sawce both to their meat and to their work to get them a stomach to both. Those cer­tainly are to be condemned, saith learned Rivet on Gen. 11. Qui voluptatem venationis praeferunt officiis suis, & quid Reipublicae & subditis debeant, obliviscuntur.

2. Men must not give all their goods to feed their Hounds, their Hawks, their Horses, and have no ability or charity to feed the Poor. It was well done of King Stephen, who con­verted a Rent-charge of 24 sheaves of Oats payable out of every Plough-land betwixt Trent and Edinburgh-Frith, for the King's Hounds, to his new built Hospital in York; for though (as the Historian observes) it is not lawful to take the Chil­dren's bread and give it unto Dogs; F. H. b. 3. p. 29. yet it is lawful to take the Dogs bread and give to the Children.

3. Men must not be lovers of Pleasure, more than lovers of God, nor let either the cares or pleasures of the World hinder the profitable and saving hearing of the Word of God. 'Tis observable, that amongst all those that made excuses from coming to the Feast when invited, although we find one saying, I have bought a yoke of Oxen, and go to prove them; Lu. 14.18, 19. Another, I have bought a Form and I go to see it, I pray thee, have me excused; Yet I find none so hardy, as to say I have bought a pack of Hounds, or a cast of Hawks, and must go to prove them, I pray thee have me excused.

4. Men must not injure or wrong their Neighbours in their Goods, or Lands, or Profits, whil'st they follow their own pleasures. Our Princes, saith Luther, do grievously sin [Page 32] with their Hunting; they destroy the seeds and grounds of poor People; And these are to be reproved, saith Rivet on Genesis 11. Qui misellis Rusticis plagas inferunt, sata laeta, boumque labores diruunt, &c. Much more are they to be reproved and condemned that depopulate Towns and Countries to make room for Beasts wild or tame, Deer or Sheep. 'Tis observed in our Chronicles that VVilliam the Conquerour did depo­pulate 30 or more Parishes to make his new Forest, and that in that Forest one of his Sons, namely King VVilliam, sir­named Rufus, and one of his Nephews or Grand-children, came to untimely ends there.

5. Men must be cautioned to be careful, lest while they pursue their sports, their game, they lose not, or hazard not their own or others limbs or lives. Our own Histories tell us of some that shot at Beasts and kill'd Men: So, one Tyrel kill'd King VVilliam Rufus, & Archbishop A. the Keeper. And we read elswhere of Adrian the Emperour that he broke his shoulder in Hunting. If we must not be cruel to the bruit Beasts, then surely not to our selves, hazarding or exposing our own lives, whiles we hunt them to death. And this makes way for these Third Observations, viz.

III.That wicked or unrighteous Men are cruel, unmerciful to the bruit Beasts. And this appears in that,

1. They keep them hardly, provide not carefully and conscientiously Food, Physick, Harbour, for their hungry, sick, and weary Beasts.

2. They work, drive, lead or burden them immoderatly, and not as they are able to bear.

3. They will rail at them, be in rage with them, and curse them bitterly; these poor Beasts which were justly cursed for them, are again cursed by them, without a cause.

4. They will beat and misuse them shamefully: How oft are these poor dumb Creatures beaten cruelly with many stripes, and that when they know not their Masters will, what it is they would have them do! How have I heard wicked Men curse and ban their Beasts! How have I seen them beat and abuse them without a cause; threatning (with Balaam) if there were a Sword in their hand to slay [Page 33] them! If these dumb Creatures should have their mouths opened as Balaam's Asse's mouth was; how might they com­plain and say, Wherefore hast thou smitten me, it may be, not these three times only, but these three-score times! Al­though many Men live on the labour and sweat of their Beasts; yet they care not in their rage and fury to slay them, to spill their blood. Well may the whole Creation groan wayting to be delivered from this bondage unto corrupt and cruel Men. How many unreasonable and cruel Masters are there, which are like Pharao's Taskmasters to the Israe­lites, who required brick and gave them no straw, who de­mand of their Beasts to labour, to travel, to work, and al­low them no meat, or not meat sufficient! How do Men load their Beasts, more than they are able to bear, and drive them faster than they are able well to go; and if they stumble, fall down, or stand still, how are these their Servants beaten, when the fault is in their cruel Task masters! I confess I have often wished, that some law might be made for the ease of these poor Beasts, even to bind their Masters to their good behaviour towards them: Good reason I think there is, as that he that steals his Neighbours Beast should be punished, so, that he that slays his own Beast, making it a sacrifice to his passion, madness or folly should not escape unpunished.

Hence we may be informed, that although in our days the Use I calling of Shepherds and Herdsmen, &c. be mean and con­temptible, yet they are lawful and commendable Callings. The Angels of Heaven though they are above us, both in na­ture and office, yet they are our Ministers and Servants, to keep us in all our ways, Psal. 91. Heb. 1.14. to minister to them that are Heirs of Salva­tion. And so Men, though they be above and Lords of these Creatures; yet may they attend on them, look to them, and provide for them. Job 1. As the riches of the Ancients consisted mostly in their Cattel, so their imployment was mostly about them. The Patriarchs were Keepers of Sheep, and they bred up their Sons and Daughters to the same Calling. And Saul lost nothing by seeking his Fathers Asses, for he found a Kingdom whiles he was seeking of them. And David was taken from following the Ews great with young, and anoint­ed [Page 34] King over Israel. God himself appeared to Moses in the Bush whiles he was feeding Jethro's Flock; when he was a Shepherd, and not when he was in Pharao's Court, and he made him King in Jesurun. And not only the Poët calls the King [...], the Shepherd of the People; but the ho­ly Prophets also do the like. Yea God himself in Scripture is called a Shepherd: Hear O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a Flock. And our blessed Saviour as he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, so is he also called the good, the great, and chief Shepherd. Therefore if there be any Shepherds, &c. that hear me this day, let them go away com­forted and incouraged to go on in their callings, therein a­bide with God. Consider that David was beloved of God, and pleased God, not only when he had a Crown and Scepter, and led his People Israel, but also when he had his Scrip and Shepherds Crook, when he followed the Ews great with young. Art thou a Shepherd? thou art not a foot the farther off from being a Sheep of Christ, from Christ's fold. Often think whiles you are keeping your Flocks by day, or watch­ing them by night, how the glad Tidings of Salvation, the News of Christ's B [...]rth, was brought by a multitude of the Heavenly Host, the Angels of Heaven, to the Shepherds whilst they were keeping their Flocks by night, saying and singing, Glory be to God in the highest, Behold we bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all People, Luke 2. for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Use II 2. Then let us shew our selves good Men, righteous Men, let's be merciful, no ways cruel and unmerciful to the bruit Creatures; considering,

(1) Hereby we shall shew our selves merciful as our Fa­ther which is in Heaven is merciful; For as he made Man and Beast, Psal. 36.5. and is the Owner of them, Psal. 50. so he preserveth Man and Beast. He provides food convenient for them: Grass for the Cattel for meat, and Water for them to drink, Water in abundance, Psal. 104.10, 11. so that the wild Asses, the most thirsty Creatures, may quench their thirst.

(2) God would that no Man should do them wrong. He reproved Balaam for the Asse's sake; Jude. the dumb Ass speaking [Page 35] with Mans voice, rebuked the madness of the Prophet. Ju­mentum Balaami semel in omnes aetates os aperuit, ut illo suo sermone damnaret omnem in muta jumenta saevitiam, Ct. in Prov. 12.10. The Ass opened his mouth once, to teach all Generations to abhor cruelty to the dumb Creatures. Yea,

(3) 'Tis the will of God, that we should be so far from hurting or misusing cruelly our own Beasts, that he com­mands us to be friendly to our Enemies Oxen or Asses, if we find them fallen under their burden we are to help them up. Ex. 23.5.

(4) And as God made the Sabbath, that thy Oxe and thy Ass might rest as well as thou; So he dispenseth with the bodily rest of the Sabbath to shew mercy to the bruit Crea­tures. It is lawful to loose the Oxe or Ass from the Stall on the Sabbath-day, and to lead them to water, &c. So that not only the Priests in the Temple break the Sabbath, and are guiltles in slaying and offering up the Beasts in Sacrifice; but Herdsmen and Shepherds, and those that are Keepers of Cattel, that attend upon them, although they break the outward rest of the Sabbath; yet are they guiltles & blame­les in so doing for the preservation of the health or lives of their Cattel: and in this case God will have Mercy rather than Sacrifice. We may omit for a time, or give over pray­ing to save the life of a Beast, Acts 20 as St. Paul did his preaching to save the life of a Man, of Eutychus. Further;

(5) When God would drown the World for the Sin of Man, and only save eight Persons alive, he took care also to preserve alive by miracle in the Ark, the bruit Creatures as well as Men and Women.

(6) And after the Flood, God was pleased to make a Co­venant with the Beasts of the Field, &c. as well as with Man, Gen. 9. That he would drown the World no more.

(7) Afterwards when God spared the great City of Nini­veh, he is pleased graciously and mercifully to take notice of the abundance of Cattel in it, that must have perished in the destruction of the City, and he speaks of this as a reason or motive to spare the City. Jonah 4.

If it should be objected; Doth God take care for Oxen? [Page 36] Hath not God oftentimes even devoted the Beasts as well as their sinful Masters, Owners to destruction? And doth he not in some cases command the Beast to be put to de [...]th, and so to be sacrificed to justice? And again, Did not God re­quire under the old Law frequent, yea daily sacrificing of Beasts, making the life of the Beast to go for the life of a Man? And lastly as to this Objection, Did not our Saviour permit the Devil to go into the herd of Swine, and so they, 2000 of them ran violently into the Sea, and were choked in the Sea?

Answ. [1] I say that God hath a supreme Right & Title to all the Beasts of the Fold, Psal. 50. the Field, or the Forest. All the Beasts of the Field are mine, and the Cattel upon a thousand hills. And that he may dispose of, or do what he will with his own. Who may say to him, what dost thou? That when God de­stroys Mens Cattle, he doth it not out of the least hatred to the Beast, but to testify his hatred and abhorrence of the Sins of the Owners of them, and hereby to punish them; or to bring them to repentance, to melt (or mollify at least) their hard hearts, and cause them to say as David, 'Tis I, or 'tis we, that have sinned, these Sheep (or Oxen) &c. what have they done? Or to prove and try them, and do them good in their latter end; as was the case of Job. If God may justly punish Parents in their Children, because they are their goods; surely then he may punish Masters and Owners in their Cattel, because they have a propriety in them; and the taking away the lives or the loss of their Cattel redounds to them.

As for the Beasts that were offered up in Sacrifice by Gods Ordinance and Institution: He might as justly do it, as to give Men a Charter or Patent to Arise, Kill, and Eat, for the preservation of their natural lives: For by the Sacrifice the Sinner was freed from that temporal death, which the Sin deserved for which it was offered; And besides, this Sacrifice was typical of Christ the Lamb of God, which taketh away the Sins of the World; and so was of use also, to the saving of the Soul of the Sinner.

As for the Gergesens Swine, I say:

(1) Our Lord Jesus Christ was Lord of all, and therefore [Page 37] might justly permit or suffer the Devils to enter into them, and to hurry them headlong into the Sea.

(2) Thereby their Owners should have learnt, how good and merciful God was to them, that he did restrain the De­vil, and not suffer him to possess their whole Country; And that goodness and mercy of Christ, that whereas there was a Legion of Devils in one Man, he suffered them not, when cast out, to disperse themselves about the Country and pos­sess a Legion of Men, i. e. above 6000 Men; but only this herd of Swine.

(3) Our Saviour teaches us that natural Men value and prefer their Swine before their Saviour.

[2] Let us consider, that we may deal merciful with these Creatures, that they are Fellow-creatures with us, yea our Fellow-servants to the great Lord of Heaven and Earth, as well as they are our Servants, and we Lords over them. And must give an account when our Lord Christ comes, if he find us beating our Fellow-servants, if he find us drinking with the Drunken, and presently falling upon these our Fel­low-servants.

[3] As they are our Servants, to consider that they are good Servants to us, who are too often bad Masters to them. If we will use them, they submit their necks to our yoke; If we abuse them they do not complain; In their mouth is no reproof. That which usually inflames Masters against Servants is when Servants will answer again; will contradict or at least dispute it with them: Now these our Servants they are mute, dumb Creatures; they cannot plead their own cause, they return not a word for a blow, not a word for many blows, though without a cause, or a sufficient cause.

[4] Let us consider, these Creatures were partakers of the curse of Mans Sin; by reason of this they groan and travail in pain; their yoke is harder and their burden heavier: We should look on their sorrows and sufferings as occasioned, as merited by us, by our disobedience to our soveraign Lord. How do they spend their days in our service! end their lives for our service, for Food, for Physick; sometimes for a Sa­crifice, and oftentimes even for a Pleasure, Delight, or Re­creation! [Page 38] They suffer for us; We eat the sour Grapes, and their Teeth are set on edge: and this justly too, because they are our proper goods, and we are Lords over them. Many times they suffer with us, as in War and other publick calamities; and let this suffice, let them never suffer unne­cessarily from us. If we do, we make them exceeding mi­serable: the poor abused Beast hath no knowledge or fore­sight of death (as Men in misery have) to put an end ere long to his bondage and misery; nor any hopes of a Resur­rection, or a future reward for his sufferings (as good Men have) to comfort them. The Turks, I read, hold that the Beasts shall rise again; and although that is no part of my Creed; yet I dare say, if they should, they will rise in judg­ment against those that have cruelly used them here.

[5] We may go to school to them and learn many a good Lesson from them. How great is the love and faithfulness of Dogs! the meekness of Elephants! the shamefastness of the adulterous Lyoness! the chastity of the Turtle! the watchfulness of the Cock! the utility of the Sheep! 'Tis said of King Porus his Elephant, that he exposed his own life to save his Masters. How often doth the Holy Ghost send us to school to the unreasonable Creatures! Go to the Ant, thou Sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise. Those who do not know God that hath nourished and brought them up, how are they reproved by the Oxe and the Ass! Isa. 1. The Oxe knoweth his Owner, and the Ass his Masters Crib: but Israel doth not know; my People doth not consider. Those which know not the day of their Visitation, may go to school to the Crane & Swallow, who know their appointed seasons. Those Chil­dren who are without natural affection to their aged Parents, let them go to the Stork, and learn of that Creature to re­quite their Parents [...], to feed their Parents when they are old.

[6] Consider, that if we be Friends with God, the very Beasts themselves are not only our Servants, but our Friends also. Our Lord Christ hath reconciled all things in Heaven and Earth. Whiles we were Rebels and Traitors to God our so­veraign, the Angels of Heaven, and the Beasts of the Earth [Page 39] became Enemies to us, and in pursuit of their allegiance were ready to fight against us; but now being reconciled to our Soveraign, and returned to our obedience, these our Fellow-subjects are again at peace and friends with us. When articles of peace are made with the General of an Army and published, none of the Souldiers dare act any hostility against us. The Lord of Hosts hath now made a Covenant, viz. of peace for us with the Beasts of the Field, Hos. 2.18. and with the Fowls of Hea­ven, and with the creeping Things of the ground.

[7] Consider, that we stand in more need of God's mer­cy than the bruit Creatures do of ours. We have sinned a­gainst God, which these Creatures never did. Man being in honour, understandeth not, Psal. 49.20 but is compared to the Beast that perisheth. 'Tis no Sin to be a Beast, but 'tis a great Sin to be like a Beast. And yet which of us, but hath cause sometime or other, not only to confess with Agur, Prov. 30.2. Surely I am more brutish than any Man, I have not the understanding of a Man; but also with David, So foolish was I, and ignorant, Psal. 73.22 and even as a Beast before thee. We read that all manner of Beasts have been tamed by mankind, but yet the same Scripture tells us to our shame, The Tongue can no Man tame, Jam 3.7, 8. 'tis an un­ruly evil, full of deadly poyson. And hence we may learn, that we stand in need of more mercy from God, than these Crea­tures are able to receive from us, or we to give them. For we stand in need not only of temporal mercies as they do, but even of spiritual mercy, of grace to pardon us, and of grace to reform us, and over and above of eternal mercy, or else we shall be more miserable than the Beast that perisheth; For as a Reverend Author saith, when a Dog dyeth, there's an end of all his misery; but when a Man dyes (that is, that lives and dyes in his Sin) there's the beginning of his wo. And so much for the considerations that should move us to shew mercy to the bruit Creatures. I shall in the next place lay down some cautions for the regulation of our kindness to them.

1. Let us take care that as we do not depress these Crea­tures too low, so that we do not advance them too high: as we must not despise them in any degree, so we must not [Page 40] deify them in any wise: As we must not tear and worry them without a cause, so not worship them for any cause. We must not change the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like (as, not to corruptible Man, so) to Birds, and four-footed Beasts, and creeping Things. We must not be Devils, Tormen­tors to them; nor make them Gods to us, so as to fall down and worship them; as the Egyptians did to Apis, from whence the Israelites learnt to worship the golden Calf.

2. As we must not adore them as Gods, so neither make them our equals. We must take heed of too much fondness of them, or familiarity with them. Hence comes that Sin, wich the Scripture calls Confusion, viz. Bestiality, a descent nearer Hell by one degree, than the Sin of Sodom; which brought a kind of Hell, viz. Fire and Brimstone out of Hea­ven upon them. And yet some have conjectured, that some sort of Creatures have come into the World this way, be­cause of their great likeness to Men. Monsieur de la Chambre tells us that there have been Beasts discovered, which are so like Men, that there is scarce any difference as to the out­ward form. And I read in Mercator's Geography in his Descri­ption of Ireland, pag. 48. of a Lake there, about 30 miles in length and 15 in breath, of which, those that live near it, say, it was formerly inhabited, & Agrum fuisse cultivissimum, but for the Sin of Bestiality was turn'd into a Lake, superfusis aquis in Lacum redactum. If so, their Sin being worse than the Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, no marvel if their punishment was somewhat like theirs that were turned into a bituminous Lake, or a dead Sea, and remain so to this day.

3. Much less must we prefer them before Men: We must not be cruel to Men pretending to shew mercy to the bruit Creatures. The life of a Beast must go still, to save or pre­serve the life of a Man. I cannot but condemn the Turks, who set Birds at liberty out of their Cages, redeeming with money these Captives, and yet make no conscience of chain­ing Christians to their Galleys; As also the hypocrisy, that cheat amongst the Romanists, whose Clergy are forbid to hunt Beasts, and yet some made Lords Inquisitors on pur­pose to hunt down, tear, and devour the harmles Sheep and [Page 41] Lambs of Christ. Surely the good, the great, and the chie [...] Shepherd of the Flock, and the Bishop of our Souls will count them but little thanks for their so doing, when he shall come to hold his general Visitation, and to judge the World. These things notwithstanding, I dare not condemn those (if necessitated to save and defend their own lives) which in the Civil Wars of France cut off their Horse-legs, and so made themselves a breast-work of their bodies. Nor dare I judge King David for houghing his Enemies Horses, thereby to make them unserviceable for the Wars, 2 Sam. 8.4. Let's not be superstitiously afraid to use these Creatures, either for Food, Physick, or Service, no nor for our honest Delight and Recreation. See your Charter for so doing, if not impli­citely given to Adam, yet expresly to Noah; and again re­newed Act. 10. under the Gospel, in the Vision and Voice to Peter, Arise Peter, Kill, and Eat. And though 'tis said, the Disciples of the Nazarites may be known by their abstinence from the flesh of all living Creatures; Gen. 9. yet our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and he that in substance though not in vow and ceremony was the true Nazarite, gave his Disciples no such Commandment. Those who refuse altogether to eat the flesh of living Creatures, when duly kill'd, deserve the name of Pythagoreans, Followers of Pythagoras the Philosopher, rather than to be called Christians, or Disciples of Christ our Saviour. So then, use these Creatures we may, we must, without scruple, for our meat; yea and we may use these Creatures for our work, to plow and harrow the Ground, and to carry our Corn into the Barn, and for any other ne­cessary use. And although many condemn those Persons who promote the generation of Mules, so doth Maimonides in his More Nev. p. 3. cap. 4. and our own Writers on Gen. 36.24. Yet we may use them lawfully; for we find them brought to Solomon, 1 King. 10.25. 2 Chron. 9.24. and amongst the Israelites at their return from captivity, Ezra 2.66. and Nehem. 7.68. And we no where find that ever they were commanded to put these away, though Monsters in Nature, as they were to put away their outlandish Wives.

4. Then hence may be condemned the horrible cruelty [Page 42] of the old Sicilian Tyrants; Phalaris, &c. of the Roman Emperour Caligula, who was called for his cruelty, Lutum sanguine maceratum, dirt or clay soaked in blood; and of the rest; as also of the Popes of Rome; The first sort against Men, the second against Christians, the third against Protestants, or such as concurr'd in Doctrine or Tenets with them. The truth is, Rome was, and is, a bloody City, and well set out in the Revelations by a Woman cloathed in Scarlet, a bloody colour. It was at first planted, and afterwards watered with blood. The ten per­secuting Roman Emperours slew so many Christians, as that we are told 5000 Martyrs may be assigned to every day in the year except one. And the learned Mr. Mede tells us, that the Persecution of the Beast, or of the Papacy, was as great as that of the Roman Heathen Emperours. And here, Qualis Rex, talis Grex, as were their Rulers and Governours, such, so cruel and bloody were the common People; witness the great delight the Roman Citizens took, in beholding the Sword-sights, where sometimes out of an opinion, that it was good against the Falling-sickness, they sucked the reak­ing blood out of the fresh wounds (as well as bathed their hands in the blood) of the slain. D. H. from Pl. They were void of natural affection; they had no Bowels for them that came out of their own Bowels; for they sometimes exposed, and some­times murthered their own Children, if Females, if deform­ed, or if the Parents were poor, &c. Yea sometimes they of­fered their own Children in Sacrifice to their Idol-Gods, as also did the Carthaginians, the Gaules, and some of the ancient Britains; Thus they became more brutish, more savage than the very wild Beasts; for which of these doth not love, em­brace, nourish, and cherish their Young, the fruit of their own Bodies?

And well it were if only Heathens were guilty of such cruelty, and liable to such reproof. How many Christian Parents are there, of whom it may be said, as the Emperour said of Herod, that it was better to be his Swine, than his Son? Better to have been their Beasts, than their Children? I can­not excuse King Philip the II. of Spain, that delivered up, or at least permitted his own Son Prince Charles, the Heir of the [Page 43] Crown to be put to death in the Inquisition. Beloved, these things ought not so to be; If you must be kind to you Cat­tel, then much more to your own Children, you must not hide your eyes from your own flesh; you must not make their lives bitter to them, bitter as death, by reason of your harshness and severity.

Again, hence be convinced of your duty, and perswaded to it. Ye that are Masters of Servants, be kind not cruel to them. If we must not be cruel to the Beasts, much less to our Brother, flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone. Your Ser­vants, if Christians especially, are your Brethren, your Fel­low-servants; you and they have one and the same Master in Heaven.

To draw towards a Conclusion, Let's not be cruel to our own selves, our own Souls or Bodies. Let not any Man lay violent hands upon himself. Let not any Man that is a Chri­stian be felo de se. Let not suicide or self-murther be once named among Christians. We are Souldiers, have our place and station set us, and must not stir off the Guard till our General, the Lord of Hosts, call us off again. We must not break Prison to set our Souls at liberty, but stay till death come with power and authority from the Lord of liberty, life, and death to let them out. Who ever hated his own flesh?

Lastly, Let's be kindly affected one towards another, e­very Man to his Brother and his Neighbour; be not Men-eaters in the worst sense; do not bite and devour one ano­ther; do not eat one another as one eateth Bread. If we must not rent Christ's seamles Coat, surely we must not tear and devour Christ's living Body. Let not our Swords any more eat one anothers flesh, or drink one anothers blood any more. The Sword hath a mouth, the edge of the Sword in the He­brew signifies the mouth of the Sword. If we do thus eat up one another, or cruelly shed one anothers blood any more, know, that the voice of thy Brothers blood will cry to Heaven for vengeance, as the blood of Abel did against Cain, & the Souls under the Altar in the Revelations, How long Lord, Holy and True, will it be, before thou avenge our blood upon them that have un­justly shed it! or rather, spilt our blood, like water upon the [Page 44] Earth! Doth God take care for Oxen or other Beasts, in this Text? Doubtless as unto us, so for our sakes chiefly and ultimately was this written: A good Man is merciful to his Beast, but the mercies of the wicked are cruel: As if the Wise-man had said, A just or good Man is merciful to the Beasts; but a wicked Man is cruel and merciles to Mankind. And take this along with you; That, to use to shew mercy to our Beasts, is a way and means to make us merciful to our Brother and Neighbour. Si quis Conscientiâ Divini mandati ad cruentandum jumentum, tardior suerit; eum certè ad Hominem violandum, multo magis aversum & alienum habebi­mus. So Chrisost. in Loc. 'Tis thought that God most merciful forbad to eat Blood after the Flood, to prevent the violence that did overflow the earth before the Deluge came; for those two go together, Gen. 9. He that shed­deth Man's blood, by Man shall his blood be shed; And, Ye shall not eat the blood of the Beast, because, or for, the life is in the blood Those who are used to shed blood though the blood of Beasts, and though for necessity and publick good, as Butchers amongst us, are forbidden by the Law (or may be excepted against) if impannel'd upon a Jury of life and death; because their calling, as is conceived, doth harden their hearts, or at least make them less inclined to mercy and pity than other Men. Even doubtless the cruel Spectacles at Rome did render the People less mer­ciful. 'Tis very probable that the custom there, of casting Malefactours to the Lyons and other wild Beasts, to be devoured by them; and the custom of setting Beasts to sight with, and kill one another in the Thea­tre, might dispose them the more easily to delight in the Sword-sights, wherein Men slaughtered one another, to the great content, satisfaction and joy of the Beholders, and so though their hands were not, yet, they had their eyes in blood, and as he that lo [...]ks on a Woman to lust after her, hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart; so he that looked on these bloody Spectacles with a desire that one should kill the other, and delighted therein when done, committed Murther against his Brother in his heart: And as 'tis said of some that they had eyes full of Adultery, so we may say of the Spectatours of these bloody Fights, that they had eyes full of Murther; Their eyes were blood shot in the worst sense, their eyes were full of blood.

Beloved, let it not be so amongst you; you are Christians, Children of the Father of Mercies; your Bosoms are the nest of the Heavenly Dove; & you expect to follow the Lamb where ever he goes. You who before your call & conversion were as Lyons, Tygres, Wolves, Bears, as cruel as such one to another, Put on as the Elect of God, bowels of mercy, kind­ness, gentleness; you who formerly lived in malice & envy, hateful & ha­ting one another; now that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man hath appeared; see that all bitterness, wrath, clamour and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice; & be ye kind one to another, tender hearted like the good Samaritan, not only kind to your Neighbours, but even to Strangers, and like to the righteous Man in the Text, whose character is, that he is merciful to, or regardeth, the life of his Beast.