fcending, watered the earth and made it very plenteous, without incommoding any of its inhabitants. For there were then no impetuous currents of Air, no tempeftuous winds; no furious hail, no torreats of rain, no rolling thunders or forky lightnings. One perennial fpring was perpetually fmiling over the whole furface of the earth. 9. On the third day God commanded all kind of vegetables to fpring out of the earth. It pleafed him firft to clothe "The univerfal face with pleafant green.": And then to add thereto innumerable herbs, intermixed with flowers of all hues. To these were added Shrubs of every kind, together with tall and ftately Trees, whether for fhade, for timber or for fruit, in endless variety. Some of thefe were adapted to particular Climates or particular expofures: while vegetables of more general ufe, (as Wheat in particular,) were not confined to one country, but would flourish almoft in every climate. But among all these there were no Weeds, no useless plants, none that incumbered the ground. Much lefs were there any poifonous ones, tending to hurt any one creature: but every thing was falutary in its kind, fuitable to the gracious defign of its great Creator. 10. The Lord now created the Sun to rule the day, and the Moon to govern the night. The Sun was, "Of this great world both Eye and Soul." The Eye, inaking all things vifible: imparting light to every part of the fyftem, and thereby rejoicing both Earth and Sky : and the foul, the principle of all life, whether to vegetables or animals. Some of the ufes of the Moon we are acquainted with her caufing the ebbing and flowing of the Sea, and influencing, in a greater and fmaller degree, all the fluids in the terraqueous globe. And many other ufes fhe may may have, unknown to us, but known to the wife Creator. But it is certain, fhe had no hurtful, no unwholesome influence on any living creature: he made the ftars alfo: both those that move round the Sun, whether of the primary or fecondary order: or those that being at a far greater diftance, appear to us as fixt in the firmament of heaven. Whether Comets are to be numbered among the Stars, and whether they were parts of the original Creation, is perhaps not fo easy to determine, at least with certainty as we have nothing but probable conjecture, either concerning their nature or their use. We know not, whether (as fome ingenious men have imagined) they are ruined worlds; worlds that have undergone a general Conflagration: or whether (as others not improbably fuppofe) they are immenfe refervoirs of fluids, appointed to revolve at certain feasons, and to fupply the ftill decreafing moisture of the earth. But certain we are, that they did not either produce or pretend any evil. They did not (as many have fancied fince,) "From their horrid hair Shake Peftilence and War." 11. The Lord God afterward peopled the Earth with animals of every kind. He first commanded the waters to bring forth abundantly; to bring forth creatures which as they inhabited a groffer element, fo they were in general of a more ftupid nature, endowed with fewer senses and less understanding than other animals. The bivalved Shell-fish in particular, feem to have no fenfe but that of feeling, unless perhaps a low measure of tafte; fo that they are but one degree above vegetables. And even the King of the waters (a title which fome give the Whale, becaufe of his enormous magnitude) though he has Sight added to Tafle and Feeling, does not appear to have an underfianding proportioned to his bulk. Rather, he is inferior therein not only to moft birds and beafts, beafts, but to the generality of even Reptiles and Infects. However, none of thefe then attempted to devour, or in any wife hurt one another. All were peaceful and quiet, as were the watery fields wherein they ranged at pleasure. 12. It feems the Infect-kinds were at leaft one degree above the Inhabitants of the waters. Almoft all these too devour one another, and every other creature which they can conquer. Indeed fuch is the miferably difordered ftate of the world at prefent, that innumerable Creatures can no otherwise preferve their own lives, than by deftroying others. But in the beginning it was not fo. The paradifiacal Earth afforded a fufficiency of food for all its inhabitants. So that none of them had any need or temptation to prey upon the other. The Spider was as harmless as the fly, and did not then lie in wait for blood. The weakest of them crept fecurely over the earth, or fpread their gilded wings in the air, that waved in the breeze and glittered in the fun, without any to make them afraid. Mean time the Reptiles of every kind were equally harmless, and more intelligent than they. Yea, one fpecies of them was more fubtle, or knowing than any of the brute creation which God had made. 13. But in general, the Birds, created to fly in the open fir mament of heaven, appear to have been of an order far fupe rior to either infects or reptiles: although ftill confiderably inferior to Beafts: (as we now reftrain that word to Quadrupeds, four-footed animals, which too hundred years ago included every kind of living creatures.) Many species of these are not only endowed with a large measure of Natural Understanding, but are likewife capable of much improvement by Art, fuch as one would not readily conceive. But among all thefe there were no birds or beafts of prey; none that deftroyed or molefted another: but all the creatures breathed in their feveral kinds the benevolence of their Great Creator. 14. Such was the ftate of the Creation, according to the fcanty ideas which we can now form concerning it, when its great great Author furveying the whole fyftem at one view, pronounced it very good! It was good in the highest degree whereof it was capable, and without any mixture of evil. Every part was exactly fuited to the others, and conducive to the good of the whole. There was "a golden chain (to use the expreffion of Plato) let down from the throne of God," an exactly connected series of beings, from the highest to the loweft; from dead earth, through foffils, vegetables, animals, to Man, created in the image of God, and designed to know, to love and enjoy his Creator to all eternity. 1. Here is a firm foundation laid on which we may fland,, and answer all the cavils of Minute Philofophers; all the objections which vain men who would be wife, make to the Goodness or Wifdom of God in the Creation. All these are grounded upon an entire miflake, namely, That the world is now in the fame ftate it was at the beginning. And upon this fuppofition they plaufibly build abundance of objections. But all thefe objections fall to the ground, when we observe this fuppofition cannot be admitted. The world at the beginning was in a totally different ftate, from that wherein we find it now. Object therefore whatever you pleafe to the present ftate, either of the animate or inanimate Creation, whether in general, or with regard to any particular inflances; and the answer is ready, These are not now as they were in the beginning. Had you therefore heard that vain. King of Caftile, crying out with exquifite felf-fufficiency, If I had made the world, I would have made it better than God Almighty has made it; you might have replied, "No: God Almighty, whether you know it or not, did not make it as it is now. He himself made it better, unfpeakably better than it is at prefent. He made it without any blemish, yea without any defect. He made no corruption, no deftruction in the inanimate Creation. He made not Death in the Animal Creation, neither its harbingers, Sin VOL. V. Cce 66 and and Pain. If you will not believe his own account, believe your brother Heathen. It was only Poft ignem athereá domo Subductum that is, in plain English, After man, in utter defiance of his Maker, had eaten of the tree of Knowledge, that Macies & nova febrium that a whole army of evils, totally new, totally unknown till then, broke in upon rebel man, and all other creatures, and overspread the face of the earth. 2. "Nay (fays a bold man, who has fince perfonated a Chriftian, and fo well that many think him one!) God is not to blame for either the natural or moral evils that are in the world. For he made it as well as he could: feeing evil muft exift, in the very nature of things." It muft, in the prefent nature of things, fuppofing man to have rebelled againft God. But evil did not exist at all in the original nature of things. It was no more the neceffary refult of Matter, than it was the neceffary refult of Spirit. All things then, without exception, were very good. And how fhould they be otherwife? There was no defect at all in the power of God, any more than in his Goodnefs or Wifdom. His Goodness inclined him to make all things good; and this was executed by his Power and Wisdom. Let every fenfible infidel then be ashamed of making fuch miferable excufes for his Creator! He needs none of us to make Apologies, either for Him or for his Creation! As for God, his way is perfect: and such originally were all his works. And fuch they will be again, when the Son of God shall have deftroyed all the works of the devil. 3. Upon this ground then, that God made man upright, and every creature perfect in its kind, but that man found out to himfelf |