Natural Theology, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI.
The ſeveral Moral Duties that reſult from Man to God, as the Creator of the World. Self-Debaſement. Dependance. Awful-Fear. Praiſe. Admiration; which is deſcribed in the Ground, Kind, and proper Effects of it.
BUt yet further to improve the Doctrine in hand, I ſhall next ſpeak of ſome other Duties which are more expreſly in the Law of Nature, and the great parts of Natural Worſhip, and which a Chriſtian, by conſidering God as the Creator of the World, is obliged to perform.
1. Is, to humble and debaſe our ſelves before him: Conſidering him in the greatneſs of his Works, which yet are but the ſhadow of his Greatneſs. And if all Nations before him are but as the drop of a Bucket, and the duſt of the Ballance; How humbly ſhould this make us to walk before him, and come unto him? When David looked upon part of God's Creation, in Pſal. 8. it had this effect upon him, to make him ſhrink into a narrow compaſs of ſelf-eſteem; O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth! thou haſt ſet thy Glory above the Heavens. And verſ. 3. When I conſider thy Heavens, the Work of thy Fingers, the Moon and the Stars which thou haſt ordained: What is Man that thou art mindful of him, &c? And it was the courſe that God took with Job to take down his Spirit and to lay him at his foot, to ſet himſelf before him as the Creator of the World. Job 38. 3, 4. Gird up now thy loyns like a man, &c. Where waſt thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth? Who hath laid the meaſures thereof, if thou knoweſt? Or who hath ſtretched the Line upon it, &c? and ſo he proceeds in the following Chapters; and it had this effect, for he was brought hereby to acknowledg himſelf vile, chap. 40. 4. and to ahhor himſelf, and repent in duſt and aſhes. Job 42. 6. The words may be read, Wherefore I deſpiſe my ſelf; foreignand that meant upon the account of his Parvity and Nothingneſs compared with the great God, as well as his ſinfulneſs and folly. And to lie in the Duſt, is the deepeſt expreſſion of an humbled Soul. Or, as one gloſſeth upon the words; It grieves me what I have ſpoke againſt the great God; Cum ipſe pulvis ſim & abjectiſſimus, when as I my ſelf am but Duſt, and moſt contemptible.
Can a Man behold God in the vaſt Works of his Creation, and not be ſelf-debaſed, and as it were ſelf-annihilated thereby; and ſay as one ſpeaks, Lord, thou art an Abyſs of Being, and I of Nothing; eſpecially conſidering how infinitely his Greatneſs tranſcends them all. They tell us, that the Earth is but as a Punctum, a ſmall Point in compariſon of the Heavens; but Earth and Heaven both are leſs than a Punctum compared with the great God. For there is ſome proportion betwixt Finite and Finite, but none betwixt Finite and Infinite. And therefore the Prophet Iſaiah, to expreſs this infinite diſproportion, ſpeaks thus, Chap. 40. 17. All Nations before him are nothing; and they are accounted to him leſs than nothing, and vanity. Which is to ſhew that betwixt him and the Works of his Creation there is indeed no proportion at all.
So that our minds may behold God's greatneſs in the greatneſs of his Works; and much more in the littleneſs and nothingneſs of theſe Works compared with his Greatneſs; and from both ſhould lay us very low, and humble us deeply before him. It made Solomon have a mean opinion of the great Houſe he had built, conſidering the great God that was to dwell in it; 1 Kings 8. 27. Behold, the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee, much leſs this Houſe that I have builded. It is Man's unacquaintedneſs with the great Creator of the World, that makes him admire any greatneſs in himſelf, or in the greateſt things of this World.
foreign, ſaid the Philoſopher. Men that have true greatneſs of mind are not ſo apt to wonder, as men of little Souls. So that this acquaintance with the great God will greaten the Soul towards God, but will diminiſh and leſſen it towards a mans ſelf, and the World in our eſtimation thereof.
2. We ought from hence alſo be led to a dependance upon him; for he that made Heaven and Earth, muſt needs be ſufficient to help us in all caſes whatſoever. The Heathens are ſaid to truſt in a God that could not ſave, Iſa. 45. 20. And the Reaſon is given, becauſe their gods did not make Heaven and Earth, as we read, verſ. 18. He that brought all things out of the Abyſs of non-entity into Being, can raiſe us out of the loweſt depth of affliction and miſery. He that ſaid, Let there be Light, and made the Darkneſs vaniſh before it▪ is able to bring us out of the greateſt darkneſs of trouble. He that made the Waters retreat from covering the Earth, can diſcharge us of the Waters of Sorrow and Affliction, wherewith we ſometimes ſeem to be covered or overwhelmed.
The Church of Iſrael comforts her ſelf in ſuch a proſpect of God; Pſal. 124. 8. Our help is in the Name of the Lord who made Heaven and Earth. That is to ſay, Our help is in one that is All-ſufficient, and upon whom we may ſafely depend.
One great cauſe of the Saints diſtruſtful heart-fainting fears, is, the not conſidering this: Haſt thou not known? Haſt thou not heard that the everlaſting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not? Iſa. 40. 28. Why then doth Jacob faint in his diſtreſs? And when we are afraid of Man, it is becauſe we forget the Lord our Maker, that ſtretched forth the Heavens, and laid the Foundations of the Earth, Iſa. 51. 13. Did we well remember this, it would ſtrengthen our Faith, and vanquiſh our Fears; and make us able, under the greateſt Difficulties, and Dangers, and Deaths, to commit our Souls to him as a faithful Creator, 1 Pet. 4. 19. For as in the Works of Creation, we behold him a powerful Creator, ſo in Chriſt Jeſus, and the Covenant made with us in him, we may behold him alſo a faithful Creator, and ſo be encouraged to depend upon him, and commit our ſelves to him.
3. Hereupon we ought to have an holy awe and fear of him. As the conſidering God the Creatour of the World ſhould diſpel diſtruſtful fear, ſo it ought to beget an awful fear of him. All appearances of God are tremendous to the Creature. As when he appeared in Tranſient Viſions to the Prophets, it ſtruck them with dread, as we read of Daniel, Chap. 10. And thoſe Beams of Glory that ſhone forth in Chriſt's Transfiguration made the Diſciples fear, Matth. 17. 6. So verily his appearances in in the Works of Creation are wonderful and dreadful.Aquin. 1. 2. q. 41. Art. 4. Here we may firſt wonder and then fear, as the Schoolmen have made Admiration one of the kinds of Fear. Greatneſs and Majeſty are apt to ſtrike this Heart with Fear; and both theſe are viſibly written upon God's Creation. What cannot he do either for a Man, or againſt him that is the Maker of the World? what is exceeding high hath a dread in it. As in Ezekiels Viſion of the Wheels, it's ſaid, Chap. 1. 18. As for their Rings, they were ſo high that they were dreadful. In the Creation of the World we behold the ſublimity of God's Majeſty; and his Wiſdom, and Greatneſs in a Stupendious Elevation. As Bildad tells Job, Job 25. 2. ſpeaking of God, Dominion and Fear are with him. Theſe are joyned together as Cauſe and Effect. And he ſhews Job this Dominion of God in the Works of his Creation. He maketh peace in his high places. All the Creatures of the upper World, quietly ſubject to the Creator's Law. And verſ. 3. Is there any number of his Armies? &c. which are the Hoſts in Heaven and Earth, as the Creatures are called, Gen. 2. 1. Here is God's Dominion, which ſhould ſtrike us with an holy awe of him.
The Heathen beholding theſe glorious Works of the Creation, had thereby a fear of a Deity impreſt upon their hearts, which was the occaſion of that Atheiſtical Speech of the Poet;
Primus in Orbe Deos fecit timor.
Fear …irſt made gods upon the Earth.
Yet this is a Truth; the Works of God's Creation ſhould ſtrike our Hearts with a reverend Fear of the Creatour; which the Pſalmiſt exhorts men to, Let all the Earth fear the Lord; let all the Inhabitants of the World ſtand in awe of him: For he ſpake, and it was done; he commanded, and it ſtood faſt. Oh, how ſhould the whole World ſtand in awe of ſuch a Being! Our very praiſes are to be mixt with fear. He is therefore ſaid to be fearful in praiſes, Exod. 15. 11. For thoſe Excellencies of his Works for which we praiſe him, have ſuch Impreſſions of his Glory and Power upon them, that may make men fear while they are praiſing of them.
But becauſe I would ſtill make my Diſcourſe to ſerve the Deſign of true Chriſtianity, I therefore add, That this Fear ought not to be afrighting, or meerly aſtoniſhing, to enſlave the Soul, or drive Man into fond ſuperſtition, as it did the Heathen, but ſuch as may ſuit a ſtate of Sonſhip, and may be proper to him that is not only our Creator, but our Redeemer, and Father in Chriſt Jeſus. And by that Principle of Grace we have received of him as our Redeemer, to fear him as our Creatour.
Upon this account alſo we owe him Praiſe and Admiration. 1. Praiſe; It is the ultimate end of theſe Works of Creation that the Creator may be praiſed in them; and it is the ultimate end of Man to give Glory and Praiſe to him. After God had made and finiſhed the reſt of his Works, he laſtly made Man, that he might have a Creature to contemplate the Works of his hands, and praiſe him in them all, and by him reduce all his Works back again to himſelf. And without queſtion Adam, as ſoon as he had a Being, and was placed in the Theatre of this World, he ſaw the Creator in his Works, and found in himſelf a Principle that naturally led him to adore and magnifie him.
And as this Principle is renewed in any Man, and the Image of God reſtored to him, ſo is he diſpoſed to the performance of it. How often do we find David's heart in a rapture of praiſe upon the contemplation of God's Workmanſhip in the Worlds Creation; as we may find in Pſal. 8. 1. Pſal. 33. 6, 7. Pſal. 104. 24. And when he calls upon irrational Creatures to praiſe their Creator, as in Pſal. 148. Praiſe him Sun and Moon, praiſe him all ye Stars of Light: Praiſe him ye Heavens of Heavens, and ye Waters that are above the Heavens: And thence he comes down to this lower World, verſ. 7. Praiſe the Lord from the Earth; ye Dragons, and all Deeps, &c. All this is but to quicken up his own heart to that Duty which was his, rather than theirs. And ſo all God's Works are ſaid to praiſe him, as they become to Man both the Motives and Subjects of his Praiſe.
Had this Creation ſprung from God, as it were, by Natural Emanation, or neceſſity of Nature, as ſome have ſaid, as Light out of the Sun, or Water from the Spring.
Or had he made it, as men build an Houſe, becauſe he needed an Habitation, or ſome ſervice from the Creatures exiſtent therein, it might ſeem to be ſome eclipſe to the Glory due to him. But when he was led to it only by a moſt free Act of his own Will, and the infinite goodneſs of his Nature; this renders him therein infinitely praiſeworthy.
Epicurus that did not believe God to be either the Creator or Governor of the World, yet ſaid he ought to be magnified for the excellencies of his Being; how much more ſhould he be adored by us, who know that all things were made by him, and behold an infinite goodneſs manifeſted therein.
And we may from the Creation learn theſe three things concerning the Creator to commend him to us. 1. Is, Self-ſufficiency. For he exiſted of himſelf, and is truly foreign,Vide Lact. lib. 1. p. 29. as the Oracle of Apollo once ſaid of him, and was infinitely bleſſed in himſelf before any Creature had a Being, and the Creation added nothing to him. 2. All Fulneſs and Perfection of Being exiſting in him; for the Beings of all Creatures,Infinitum quodaam Eſſentiae Pelagus. As Damaſcen ſpeaks of him. with their ſeveral Perfections, did ſpring out of his Being, as Rivers out of the Sea. And therefore he muſt needs have all Fulneſs and Perfection of Being in himſelf; as what-ever is in the Effect doth either formally, vertually, or eminently pre-exiſt in the Cauſe. Logicians that have reduced all natural things under ten Heads or Predicaments, do well leave out God as Ens tranſcendens, as a tranſcendent Being. For he is infinitely above all natural things, and his Nature infinitely differing from theirs, though he comprehends all their perfections eminently in himſelf.God is foreign, &c. And much to that purpoſe we may read in Dionyſ. Areop. De divinis nominibus. He is Eſſence, Subſtance, Life, Light, Wiſdom, Act, Power, &c. Yet not according to what we apprehend of theſe things; And therefore we muſt take heed of forming finite Images and Repreſentations of him in our Minds; as the Heathen did of old form viſible Images of him to worſhip him by. But to whom will you liken me? ſaith the Lord, Iſa. 40. Though God, ſpeaking in his Word to us finite Creatures, repreſents himſelf to us by finite Things; Se quaſi finitum finitis mentibus offert. Yet he is infinitely above all theſe things; and it is a true rule, nothing can be predicated univocally of God and the Creatures. 3. Alloſufficiency to his People. For he that hath all Good eminently in himſelf, muſt needs be an All-ſufficient Portion. For God, as one ſaith him, he is foreign, He is all things that the Creature is, and yet nothing that the Creature is. All things are in him as in the Fountain; and he that abides with God, and enjoyes him, he drinks at the Fountain, whereas others drink at the Stream; and at the Fountain the Waters are in their greateſt ſweetneſs, fulneſs, and purity. And though he hath communicated Being to ſuch innumerable Creatures, yet he is not in the leaſt exhauſted in his own Being; no more than the Sun is exhauſted in its Light, by thoſe ſtreams of Light it is daily pouring forth upon the World. In our Metaphyſicks, we read a diſtinction of Mundus Archetypus, and Mundus Emanationis: The former is the Eternal God himſelf, and the other is the Created World. So that what-ever is in the World, was in God before as the Archetype. The Frame and Fabrick of it was firſt in his own infinite Mind; and all the Good, Beauty, Sweetneſs, that are ſcattered abroad among the Creatures of the Univerſe, were all firſt tranſcendently in himſelf; ſo that he muſt needs be All-ſufficient to our Happineſs.
For what-ever is the firſt Original of any Good, hath the whole of that Good in it ſelf; as the Sun that is the Original of Light, hath all Light in it ſelf; and ſo the Sea, with reſpect to Water. Now God is the Original of all that Good that is in the Creature, of what-ever kind it is, and therefore the whole of all Good is in himſelf. Here we have Unity bringing forth Plurality, and all Plurality eminently comprehended in Unity. As Du Bartas divinely to this purpoſe ſpeaks;
Ere Time,Du Bart. firſt week, p. 5. Form, Subſtance, Place, to be themſelves attain'd;
All God in all things was, and All in God remain'd.
And hereupon alſo we may ſit down and be ſatisfied. Though we want many good things that are in the Creature, and which others enjoy, yet we have them all eminently in him that is the Fountain of all Good; and is the totum univerſale, the Univerſal whole of that partial and particular Good that the Creatures have in their ſeveral Beings.Omnia habeo, neque quicquam habeo, nihil cum eſt, nihil deeſt tamen. Terent. Eunuch. Acts 2. This is true in Divinity. So that we need not be overwhelmed with ſorrow, when we meet with loſſes of ſome created finite Good, if we have the Lord himſelf to be our God. That he is a Good ſufficient to make the Soul happy, appears in this, That the Angels are happy in God alone, who are Spirits of wider Capacities than the Souls of Men. Yea, God is his own Happineſs, much more is he ſufficient to be the Creatures Happineſs. Whereupon we ought to acquieſce in him.
Now (to reduce this Duty alſo to Chriſtian Practice) let every true Saint that is in Covenant with God, praiſe this God as his God. Let him look upon the great Creator of the World, as ſtanding in a particular Relation to himſelf in Jeſus Chriſt, and that infinite Goodneſs out of which all created Good doth originally ſpring, to be ingaged to him, to ſatisfie him, and make him bleſſed for ever; as the Prophet Jeremy calls the Former of all things the Portion of Jacob, Jer. 10. 16. And by this he hath an advantage of lift up the Praiſes of God to an higher degree than the Light of Nature could ever raiſe Man to; when he ſhall praiſe him, not only as a Creator, but as his God, and his Portion for ever. So that Praiſe is due to him from us.
But, 2. we owe him alſo the Duty of Admiration. For ſeeing we cannot comprehend him in the myſterious and glorious Works of his Creation, we ſhould therefore admire him. As one having read an obſcure Author, and being askt his Judgment about it, anſwered, foreign. What I have underſtood in it is excellent, and ſo I judge alſo is what I have not underſtood. Or rather, as one that having read the Book of the Revelation, ſaid this of it, Non Reprobo quod non Intelligo, ſed eo magis admiror, quo minus aſſequor; I do not reject what I do not underſtand, but the leſs I can underſtand the more I wonder. By Admiration we give God the glory of his Incomprehenſibleneſs.foreign. Dionyſ. Areop. De Divinis nominibus. Whereby (as one ſpeaks) not only our Knowledge but our Ignorance turns to his Praiſe. This is that Act of the Soul that beſt agrees to Infinity. While the Soul is admiring God, it is as it were gone out of its own finitneſs into his infinitneſs;Quando mens ſe ad Deum cum amore integre convertit, rationis & Intellectus oculus reverberatus Caligat. Iſagoge Corderii ad Myſt. Theol. where it is gone beyond its depth; as in the deep Ocean where men may ſwim but cannot wade. And hence it is that the Works of God are ſo often ſaid in Scripture to be wonderful Works, which ſhews they are above Knowledg; and ſo they, and much more their Maker, are the Objects of our Admiration.
Only, let me add here alſo, Let us admire him as Chriſtians; not only to aſtoniſh our Reaſon, but to the ſanctifying our Hearts. 1. Let our admiration of him lead us to love him; and that not only for what we know of him, but for that alſo which is above our knowledg; and if poſſible, to love him infinitely, which we come neareſt to, when after all our love of him we are ſtill wiſhing we could love him yet more abundantly.
2. It ſhould alſo lead us infinitely to eſteem him,Hic nec videri poteſt, viſu clarior eſt, nec comprehendi, tactu purior eſt; nec aeſtimari, ſenſu major eſt, & ideo ſic eum digne aeſtimamus, dum inaeſtimabilem dicimus. Cypr. De Idolorum Vanitate, p. 289. and to deſpiſe all things in compariſon of him, and account them as nothing; for ſo indeed they are compared with him. Our higheſt eſteem is of thoſe things which we do not comprehend. Any Excellency, the more we admire it, the more we eſteem it. As the Eye that hath been gazing upon the Sun is darkned to the ſight of other things. So the Soul that is employed in the true beholding and admiring the excellencies of God's Being, hath thereby the glory of this World darkned to it.
3. Again, it ſhould lead the Soul forth with ſtrong deſires to the knowledge and fruition of him.
1. Knowledg of him; As things that are wonderful are moſt deſirable to be known. The Mind of Man hath a natural propenſion to Knowledg, eſpecially to the knowledg of things great and wonderful.foreign. Ariſt. And the Philoſophers defined Wiſdom to be the knowledg of things great and wonderful. And admiration put them upon the ſtudy of them. Firſt, They admired, and then ſearched. And therefore it was well ſtiled, Principium Philoſophiae; the Original of Philoſophy. So God being the Object of our admiration, it ſhould excite our Minds to more diligent enquiries into the knowledg of him. Although, he being an infinite Object, we cannot comprehend him, yet to ſearch after him ſo far as our finite capacity may extend, and then ſit down and leave the reſt to an holy admiration. As the Apoſtle prayes for the Epheſians, that they may know the Love of Chriſt which paſſeth knowledg, Epheſ. 3. 18. So though the infinite Being of God paſſeth Knowledg, yet we ſhould ſearch into the knowledg of him.
2. The Fruition of him. For God is an Object, not only to be known, but enjoyed. And to enjoy him ſo far as we are capable in this Life, and to ſend forth our earneſt Deſires to the fuller fruition of him in the Life that is yet to come, eſpecially ſeeing he is beſt known by enjoying, as every good is. So that as the Mind is to travel into the knowledg of him, as he is the moſt excellent Object to be known, ſo is the will to purſue after him as the chiefeſt Good to be enjoyed. The admiring any Good, ſatisfies not, without the enjoying it.