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Quest. HOw is it that nothing here is of continuance? [ I]
Resp. 1. The very law of their Crea∣tion subjecteth the world, and all crea∣tures therein, to dissolution and corrup∣tion: Every creature, qua creature, is corruptible; look but upon their com∣position, the materials, the principles are corruptible; and there is a contra∣riety and opposition between them: how can creatures stand and continue which are divided within themselves?
look upon the things we are most apt to dote upon; our Cities, Houses, are they not made of dissoluble materials? though some continue for many gene∣rations, yet either water, fire, or war, or if none of these, their age consumeth them. We see how among men, some dye of old age; so age ruineth Cities, Towns, and all other things: the hea∣vens, which of all creatures are the most durable, yet saith the Psalmist, they shall wax old like a garment, Psa. 102.26. which Text is enough to con∣fute the Philosophical opinion, that maintaineth the heavens to be made of incorruptible matter.
2. Mans rebellion against his Lord and Creator, hath put the whole crea∣tion in subjection to great vanity and corruptibility, Rom. 8.20, 21. The crea∣ture was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. By the crea∣ture there, is meant, the heavens and the earth, with all the creatures in them, Angels excepted, who are only specta∣tors of this vanity, not vassals to it, as all other creatures are. By vanity] we are to understand a state of imperfecti∣on, opposite to their created condition
and perfection; they have lost much of their Primitive excellency and perfecti∣on. And they are made subject to va∣nity, which denoteth, that they are unavoidably in a state of vanity; they cannot help themselves. But yet not willingly.] Here the Apostle continueth his Prosopopeia, attributing will to ina∣nimate and sensitive creatures, which have no will at all: It sheweth, that this vanity that is upon the creature, is against the natural inclination of the creature. Creatures by natural instinct do abhor corruption: all creatures are strongly carried with a desire of self-preservation, to preserve their own per∣fections. Moreover, it noteth, that all the vanity in the creature is not from it self, but it is meerly adventitious; mans rebellion, and Gods curse, is the cause of all their vanity: As Death passed on all men, because all had sinned, so Va∣nity and Corruption hath passed upon the whole Creation, because man hath sinned. — But by reason of him who hath subjected the same.] These words clearly shew, how and by whom this yoke of vanity came to be laid on the creatures; not by themselves, but by him who hath subjected the same, viz.
God; who being provoked by the sin of Adam, layes this bondage of vani∣ty on the creature, as part of the pe∣nalty of mans disobedience. Cameron passionately contendeth, that it must be meant of man, not of God; be∣cause the Apostle doth not mention the Name of God; but the fol∣lowing words sufficiently confute him, and evince, it is God who sub∣jecteth the creature to vanity; because though he hath powred forth vanity on them, yet he hath left in them a hope of restitution. And to reconcile Cameron with other Interpreters, this distincti∣on may be used: Man is the procuring and deserving cause of the creatures sub∣jection unto vanity; and God is the ef∣ficient or imposing cause of this subje∣ction unto vanity. All creatures in their own being were by nature corrup∣tible, but our sin makes them two-fold more the Children of vanity and cor∣ruptibility: Mans sin and Gods curse on the creature for sin, hasteneth the creatures to their dissolution. As the house of the Leper was in it self not un∣clean, but the walls thereof being once infected with Leprosie, it was the soon∣er pulled down.
I know it is a Dispute among Di∣vines, whether there be a decay of Na∣ture in all creatures: Some strongly af∣firm, that yet there is no decay, but they are as vigorous now as they were in their first Creation. Others (and I think more truly) affirm, a decay in Nature, both in the Heavens and the earth; the Sun and the Heavens have not those vigorous influences as former∣ly. What meaneth the curse upon the earth; (thorns and bryars shall it bring forth) but a decay of its Nature? What is meant by vanity and corrup∣tion under which it groaneth, but their natural decay? Why are not the lives of men of that duration▪ as formerly? One reason given is, because the fruits of the earth are not so nourishable and healthful as before the flood? A gene∣ral Deluge brought saltness and barren∣ness upon the earth: so that now there is a gradual privation of the creatures of their original beauty, goodness, plea∣santness, sweetness, which they received from God in their Creation, by which privation they are rendered unable to
perfect the particular uses for which they were created. The Sun, Moon and Stars, though still they remain excel∣lent creatures, yet it is supposed by sundry Divines, they have lost much of their Primitive splendour, and that they shine not so bright as at their first Creation: The Moon hath her spots; it is disputable, whether she had them from the beginning: Some Stars (though great bodies) yet are scarce perceptible by the eye: The ayr, the waters, have lost much of their sweet∣ness, pleasantness and clarity; the earth hath lost much of her beauty; the herbs, plants, fruits, trees, have lost much of their virtue; all the living creatures have lost much of their crea∣ted goodness. All men see with what art, toyl and labour, the husbandman provokes the earth to its present fruit∣fulness, seeing the whole earth was na∣turally propense to bring forth fruits of all kinds in great abundance▪ but for our sakes it is subject to much barren∣ness; all the Heaths and wilder wasts in the world, are marks of this curse of vanity on the earth: had not the soul of man become a Wilderness in respect of grace and holiness, there had been no
Wilderness in the earth in respect of barrenness. All mans labour and sweat to make the earth bring forth, is a part of mans punishment also: Had not man sinned (though Adam in Innocence should have laboured) yet it should have been without sorrow, sweat, and wearisomness: Men may thank their own sin for every drop of sweat that trickleth down their face, and for every miscarrying of the earth.
Moreover, it consisteth in a positive malignity, which through sin and the curse of God is now cast upon the whole Creation; the Sun it self worketh de∣liquia, eclipses, it suffereth, it worketh a contrary evil to the good for which it was created: the heat thereof scorch∣eth the earth, and maketh it to become iron under our feet, whose light and heat was created to comfort and cherish the earth, it now scorcheth the crea∣tures, yea man himself: the Ethiopi∣ans are so scorched with it, that for an∣ger they shoot arrows against the Sun. —The Moon, besides her Eclipses and Changes, doth also emit sad influences
on the creatures below, witness the Lunatick, the Paralitick; the Moon cau∣seth many humors in the body to stir: You read in the book of Job of the sweet influences of Pleiades, but these also do sometimes send out their ma∣ligne influences: the ayr is oftentimes very contagious and pestilential, as we have seen by sad experience of late; and yet is manifest in many Towns and Cities, and other lesser places of this Kingdome at this day: Now the ayr scorcheth, then it cooleth; now it is calm, then boisterous: The earth bringeth forth bryars and thorns, and unwholesome weeds, instead of whole∣some fruit. In all living creatures, you shall see how sin hath put into them an hatred, and antipathy, and opposition, the one seeking to destroy each other▪ the curse of vanity hath put the whole Creation out of order: Hence are all those mutations, alterations, corrupti∣ons, and destructions among the crea∣tures, and of the creatures.
Quest. Here it may be demanded, Why doth God inflict this punishment of vanity and corruption on the creature for mans sin, without any fault in the creature?
Resp. 1. It is no injury to the crea∣ture at all. Chrysostome saith well, Ra∣tio aequi & iniqui non ad creaturas in∣animatas transferenda est. The consi∣deration of right and wrong, justice and injustice, is not to be transferred to the creatures void of life, but only to the rational, who were subjects capable of both.
2. Because the creatures were made for man; therefore if man rebelled a∣gainst his Soveraign Lord, they shall suffer for man also. Chrysostome saith, Si propter me factae sint, nihil admitti∣tur injustitiae, si propter me patiantur: If they were made for my use and ser∣vice, there is no injustice if they suffer for me to my shame and vexation; and the reason is, because seeing they were made for the use and service of man, therefore the change to the worse, which is now come upon them, is not their punishment, but a part of the punishment of man.
Cameron Praelect.
Chrysost.