and drink, and to be hungry again, and still to round that same course, which to souls that are raised above sensual things is burdensome and grievous.

But there is a spiritual desire of death, which is very becoming a Christian. For Jesus Christ hath not only opened very clearly the doctrine of eternal life, but he himself hath passed through death, and lain down in the grave. He hath perfumed that passage and warmed that bed for us; so that it is sweet and amiable for a Christian to pass through and follow him, and to be where he is. It is a strange thing, that the souls of Christians have not a continual desire to go to that company which is above, finding so much discord and disagreement among the best of men that are here; to go to the spirits of just men made perfect, where there is light, and love, and nothing else; to go to the company of angels, a higher rank of blessed spirits; but, most of all, to go to God, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament. And to say nothing positively of that glory (for the truth is, we can say nothing of it), the very evils that death delivers the true Christian from, may make him long for it; for such a one may say -I shall die, and go to a more excellent country, where I shall be happy for ever; that is, I shall die no more; I shall sorrow no more; I shall be sick no more; and which is yet more considerable, I shall doubt no more, and shall be tempted no more; and, which is the chiefest of all, I shall sin no more.

PSALM VIII.

Ver. 3. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast

ordained.

4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

THAT which is needful and competent for us to know concerning God, he hath been pleased to reveal; and our most excellent and happy employment in this world is to learn it.

The third verse of this psalm affords us clearly the doctrine of the creation. That part in the psalmist's eye,

the heavens, being the highest and largest of the visible world, surrounding and containing all the rest, is mentioned;-the work of thy fingers, importing the curious embellishments of them;-the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, placed them in their orbits, and set them going, and appointed them the periods and revolutions which they observe. So the same hand hath fetched all other things out of the same nothing, as we have it in the beginning of this Book, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;-and it is therefore to be believed, because we find it there.

Can the worker and his operation be discovered by strength of reason? Certainly they who have been of most confessed and famous ability in that way have been partly of another mind; and we see it reduced to its truest principle, Heb. xi. 4; Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Yet this we may boldly affirm, that there is not only nothing in sound reason crossing it, but that all the cavils alleged against it are most weak of themselves; and there be many things in nature that plead strongly for it, which we may, yea, ought to take notice of.

The continual turnings and changes of things, the passing of one thing to another, the destruction of some things and the production of others, and the general decaying of all, the very heavens waxing old as a garment, declare that the whole frame is mutable and corruptible, and therefore not from eternity, but terminable in its beginning.

There is in this a very strong appearance of the beginning of the world, and of time being according to the sacred history we have of it and which faith receives, that there are not any records nor any memoirs or history of time or things produceable in the world, that go higher up, no, nor any human histories that go near so high. Now if there were thousands of ages before, whence is so deep a silence of what passed in them?

They who can conceive it may take this reason into consideration, that if the world had been from eternity, then certainly the number of revolutions would be infinite. Now to that which is so, nothing can be added; so that it were impossible there could be any new days or years.

PSALM VIII.

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But above all dispute, we believe it upon HIS word, who by his word gave all things a being. The whole Trinity, as in all works without they are together equally concerned, so in that first and great work of making all things.

As by the Father, so by the Word were all things made, and the Spirit moved upon the face of the deep. Trinity in unity created.

It is most vain to inquire why the world was not created sooner, yea, it is nonsense; for the same question might equally be moved whensoever the world had been made, though it had lasted now millions of years; still there would have been an eternity preceding, wherein it was not; and time itself was concreated. Nor was there any preexistent unformed matter. It is a poor shallow conceit, that any such thing was needful to the Almighty. It is even a monstrous, absurd conceit, that any such thing was possible; and it destroys itself; for if this framed world could not have a being from eternity, much less frameless matter. So, of necessity, all things were made of nothing; received a being from the infinite Being as the spring of all being. His hands stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth. His fingers set them all in this sweet and admirable order, in a beautiful frame.

Now these expressions are suited to our reach, but the truth is, his finger and his whole hand are all one, and his hand is his word; Psalm xxxiii. 6; Gen. i. 3. And his word is his all-powerful and eternal will; that is the breath of his mouth, and his stretched out arm. He said, that is, he willed it, and it was so. When as yet there was no man nor angel, no heaven nor earth, no time nor being, but the alone blessed Trinity, eternally self happy, upon the simple act of his absolute will came forth this whole frame out of the womb of Omnipotence. And this is that certain truth which we believe under the name of creation.

This supposed, it is very easy to conceive, yea, it is impossible to question it, that it had been as easy for that power to have brought forth all in complete perfection at one instant, as to have divided the work into six days. And as we cannot think it easier, so, we cannot but think it better, since he chose, yea, because he chose it, as for that reason better. Well may his will be sufficient cause why that way of his production of all things was better,

seeing that his will was purely the cause of the production and being of all.

But in part we may observe some advantage in that way, that he made so many days' work of it, and proceeded by degrees to bring it to perfection; that we might the more clearly perceive and more distinctly consider the greatness and excellency of the work, and the wise contrivance of it in its several parts and progress, which we could not so well comprehend altogether. Now we consider him as first framing one great mass, and then proceeding to beautify it, first with that which is indeed the first beautifier of all things, light, and then ordering the successive interchange of it with its opposite, darkness, that sets it off and makes its beauty appear the more, giving them their names, day and night; then, proportioning and dividing the rooms of the great house into upper and lower, according to his model and design; then decorating them with rich furniture, and providing all kinds of store in great variety and abundance. And thus, having first prepared all, having built, beautified, and replenished so stately a palace, then framed he the guest for whom he intended it, and whom he appointed to dwell in it. Then he said, Let us make man in our image.

Thus the work of itself, and the order of it, and all the parts, carry on them his name who formed them. How do his power, and wisdom, and goodness, appear in them! And yet how little do we see and observe it! It shines bright in all his works, but we are blind. We look on them and see him not. O what a childish, trifling thing is man in all his ways, till he learns to remark God in all, and to have his soul upon all occasions musing and admiring, and sweetly losing itself in God, that immense sea of excellencies! What a bottomless wonder is that Power, from which, by a simple act of will, issued forth all being! This vast fabric and all things in it, he willed they should be, and where never any thing was, there appeared, on a sudden, heaven and earth: the earth settled upon his word, so that it cannot be moved, and enriched with such a variety of plants, and flowers, and fruits growing forth, and springs and mines within the bowels of it; the seas fitted for navigation, together with the multitudes of creatures in it, small and great, and the impetuousness of it, yet confined and forced to roll in its channel, so that it

cannot go forth, the small sands giving check to the greatwaters. O how strong and large that hand, which without help expands the heavens as a curtain! Look up and see; consider their height and roundness; such a glorious canopy set with such sparkling diamonds! Then think how swift their motion, and yet imperceivable to us; no motion here below comparable, and yet they seem not to stir at all! And in all, their great Lord and ours so conspicuous! And yet who looks on them with such an eye, as to behold him, as David here beholds him, When I consider thy heavens, the work, &c.

He is admirable in all. The very lowest and smallest creatures have their wonders of divine wisdom in their frame, more than we are able to think. He is great in the least of his works. The smallest flies-how strange the fashioning of the organs of life and use in so little room! The man who is still in search of wisdom, will find a school and a lesson in all places, and see every where the greatness and goodness of his God. If he walk forth in the evening, when this lower world is clothed with the dark mantle of the night, yet still he can look upwards to the pavement of the throne of God, and think how glorious it is on the other side, when the moon and stars make this side, even in the night, so beautiful. And this saying of David's looks like a night meditation by the view of moon and stars

Thy heavens, these thy works so glorious; thou therefore infinitely more glorious; then can I not but increase in wonder, that, dwelling above these heavens, thou regardest so poor a worm as man creeping on this earth.

What is man? Enosh, weak, mortal man; and BenAdam, the son of earth, the earthly man; David was taught so to look on his mean part and low condition; and on his better part, as follows in verse 5, as a sort of divinity freely conferred upon him. Thus men should learn to view themselves in this twofold light. By the grace of God I am that I am, saith St. Paul. Truly man is a wretched and proud creature, a bundle of vanity and vileness; and yet he thinks himself some great matter, while God is hid from him, and he is ignorant of his greatness.

No discourse or reasoning will humble the foolish heart of man though he be even of the most worthless and basest sort of men, and hath in this condition nothing but