Verse 1. THere was a Time ( or something like to that ) before the beginning of Time , when God did not work , and yet was not idle . For though we grant that there was no External work of the Godhead until the making of the World , yet can there be no necessary illation of Idleness in the Deity : seeing it might have ( as indeed it had ) actions immanent , included within the circle of the Trinity . Just so ought it to be with every Christian , who though he doth not alwayes perform the outward actions of Religion , yet he may alwayes be imployed within himself in some practice of Christianity : holy Thoughts , religious Meditations , mental Prayer , faithful Vows and Resolutions are those inward immanent operations of a Christian , whereby he may imitate his Creator in not working , and yet not being idle . But then when he doth begin to express himself in some outward action , let him here also follow the example of his Maker : and whereas it is said , in the Beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth , first the Heaven , and then the Earth ; so et our actions respect chiefly Heavenly matters , in the first place let us exercise our selves in those things that are above ; and when from those we descend to things below , let even those Terrestrial affairs look upwards , and be fix'd and terminated in Heaven : and let all this be done by way of Creation too ; let our Gifts , and Graces , and Endowments be acknowledged to arise from nothing in our selves , and let every faculty of our Souls be subject to Gods Will as the Creation was to his Command , for he spake the word and they were made : so when God speaks let us hear , and let our will be actuated , and formed , and regulated by his voice , as the whole World was by his Word .

Verse 2. The word ( Ferebatur ) in the vulgar Latine , in the English ( moved ) denotes both motion and rest , beginnings , and wayes , and ends . We may best consider the motion , the stirring of the Holy Ghost in zeal , and the rest of the Holy Ghost in moderation . If we be without zeal , we have not the motion , if we be without moderation we have not the rest , the peace of the Holy Ghost : he moved and he rested upon the Waters in the Creation ( as the word Incubabat doth imply ; ) he came and tarried still upon Christ in his Baptism . He moves us to a zeal of laying hold of the means of Salvation which God offers us in the Church , and he settles us in a peaceful Conscience , that by having well used those means , we are made his Children . A holy hunger and thirst of the Word and Sacraments , a remorse and compunction for former sins , a zeal to promote the cause and glory of God by word and deed , this is the motion of the Holy Ghost ; and then to content my self with Gods measure of temporal blessings , and for spiritual , that I do serve God faithfully in that Calling which I lawfully profess , as far as that Calling will admit ; this peace of Conscience , this acquiescence of having done that that belongs unto me , this is the Rest of the Holy Ghost of the Spirit of God .

Verse 3. In the first the old Creation , God the Father said , Fiat lux , let there be light in this greater World ; in the Second the New Creation or Regeneration of Man , God the Holy Ghost said , Fiat cognitio Dei in anima hominis ; let there be the knowledge of God in the mind of man , of man this lesser world . God the Father said , Fiat Firmamentum , let there be a Firmament ; God the Holy Ghost said , Firmetur volunt as in bono , let the will of Man be confirmed in that which is good . God the Father said , let the Waters be gathered together in one place ; God the Holy Ghost said , let many graces be united in one soul. God the Father said , Fiant luminaria in Coelo , let there be lights in Heaven ; God the Holy Ghost saith , let the lights of Faith , Hope , and Charity be fixed in a believing Soul . God the Father said , Fiant volatilia , let there be flying Fouls ; God the Holy Ghost saith , let there be religious Meditations in the mind of man soaring upward . And thus in every thing the work of our spiritual Creation is answerable to the Work of our temporal in the beginning of the World , and the operations of the Third Person in the blessed Trinity upon our Souls now are but as so many parallel Lines drawn from the actions of the First Person of the same blessed Trinity upon our bodies then .

Verse 10. In this and several other Verses of this Chapter it is said , that at the dayes end , God looked upon the whole that he had made , and he saw that it was good , and at the end of the week taking a view of all his works together , he saw every thing that he had made , and behold it was very good , Gen. 1. 31. which sheweth , that after God had done his Works , he did reflect upon them , and considered the quality and the condition of them . In imitation hereof Wise men do wish us , that at every dayes end we should reflect upon our Works , and take a view of what we have done that day , and at the Weeks end take an account of all our doings for that space of time , and fo further as further occasion shall require . And this enquiry or account taking of our Works , they call the examination of our Souls or Consciences . And surely if we did observe this rule , though we could not find our Works , as God did his Works , to be good , and very good , but rather naught , and very naught , yet by this searching into our Works we may without all doubt make our Works for the future much better than they are for the present .

Verse 16. God here calls the Sun and the Moon two great Lights , because , though there be greater in the Firmament , they appear greatest to us : those Works of ours are greatest in the sight of God that are greatest in the sight of men , that are most beneficial , most exemplary , and conduce most to the moving of others to glorifie God .

Verse 7. AS when Man was nothing but Earth , nothing but a body , he lay flat upon the Earth , his mouth kiss'd the Earth , his hands embraced , his eyes respected the Earth , and then God breath'd the breath of Life into him , and that rais'd him so far from the Earth , as that only one part of his body ( the soles of his feet ) touches it , nd yet Man so rais'd by God , by Sin fell lower to the Earth again than before , from the face of the Earth , to the Womb , to the Bowels , to the Grave ; so God finding the whole Man as low as he found Adams body , then fallen in Original Sin , yet erects us by a new breath of Life in the Sacrament of Baptisme , and yet we fall lower than before we were rais'd , from Original into Actual , into Habitual Sins , so low as that we think we need not a Resurrection ; and this is a wonderful , this is a fearful Fall .

Verse 8. Every Earth was not fit for Adam , but a Garden , a Paradice : what excellent pleasures and rare varieties have men found in Gardens planted by the hands of men ? and yet all the World of men cannot make one twigg , or leaf , or spire of grass : when he that made the matter undertakes the fashion , how must it needs be beyond our capacity excellent ? No Herb , no Tree , no Flower was wanting there that might be for ornament or use , whether for sight , or for sent , or for taste : the bounty of God wrought further than to necessity , even to comfort and recreation . Why are we niggardly to our selves when God is liberal ? but for all this , if God had not there convers'd with man , no abundance could have made him blessed .

Verse 9. The Tree of Life was a real Tree in Paradice , but it was not able to give immortality : for no corruptible food can make the body incorruptible ; and if it could have given immortality , it must have had a power to preserve from Sin , for by sinning Man became mortal ; therefore it was called , The Tree of Life , not effectivè , but significativè , as a signe of true immortality which Adam should have received of God if he had continued in obedience ; and so also was that other Tree call'd , The Tree of Knowledge , of Good and Evil , not because it gave Knowledge , but was a Seal unto them of their miserable Knowledge which they should get by the experience of their Transgression , which is call'd , a Practical Knowledge . And yet here by the way , though God forbad Man to eat of the Tree of Knowledge , yet not of the Tree of Life , to shew that he desired we should be Saints , not Rabbies and Doctors .

Verse 15. That which was mans Store-house was also his Work-house , his pleasure was his task : Paradice serv'd not only to feed his sences , but to exercise his hands . If happiness had consisted in doing nothing , man had not been imployed ; all his delights could not have made him happy in an idle life ; Man therefore is no sooner made than he is set to work : neither greatness nor perfection can priviledg a folded hand ; he must labour because he was happy ; how much more we that we may be so ? this first labour of his was as without necessity , so without pains , without weariness ; how much more chearfully we go about our businesses , so much nearer we come to our Paradice .

Verse 17. Here is a double comfort from these words to the Children of God ; the first consists in this , in that it was the Lord of Life that first named death , Morte morieris , saith God , thou shalt dye the death . I do the less fear and abhor Death , because I find it in his mouth ; even a Malediction hath a sweetness in Gods mouth : for there is a blessing wrapt up in it , a Mercy in every Correction , a Resurrection upon every Death ; from whence issues the other spiritual comfort , that as God did cast upon the unrepentant sinner two Deaths in the Text , a temporal , and a Spiritual Death ; so hath he breath'd into us two lives : for so as the word for Death is doubled , Morte morieris , thou shalt dye the Death , so the word for Life is expressed in the plural at the seventh Verse of this Chapter , Chaim , vitarum , God breathed into his Nostrils the breath of Lives of divers lives : though our Natural life were no life but a continual dying , yet we have two Lives besides that , an eternal life reserved for Heaven , but yet an Heavenly Life too a spiritual Life even in this World .

Verse 18. One cause of Marriage is to avoid the inconvenience of Solitariness , signified in these words , It is not good for Man to be alone : as if he had said , this Life would be miserable & irksome to Man , if the Lord had not given him a Wife to bear a share in his troubles and afflictions . Now if it be not good for Man to be alone , then is it good for him to have a Companion ; and therefore as God created a pair of all other Kinds , so also of this . And this was that help in the Text ; in which we see that God did provide an help for Man before he saw his own want , and while Adam slept and thought nothing , God was working and laying out for his good , and preparing him an Helper . Shewing that Man is stronger by his Wife : for as God hath knit the bones and sinews together for the strengthning of Mans body , so hath he knit Man and Woman together for the strengthening of their Life , because two are firmer than one .

Verse 20. As Adam gave every Creature the Name according as he saw the Nature thereof to be ; so God gives every man reward or punishment , the Name of a Saint or Devil in his purpose , as he sees him a good or a bad user of his graces . When I shal come to the sight of the Book of Life , and the Records of Heaven ; amongst the Reprobate I shall never see the Name of Cain alone , but Cain with his addition , Cain that kil'd his Brother ; not Iuda's Name alone , but Iudas with his addition , Iudas that betrayed his Master . God did not begin with a Morte moriendum , some Body must dye , and therefore I wil make some Body to kill ; but God came to a Morte morieris , yet thou art alive , and maist live , but if thou wilt rebel thou must dye .

Verse 21. This Sleep that man was cast into while his Wife was created , doth teach us that our Affections , our Lusts and Concupiscences should sleep while we go about this Action , the choice of a Wife ; for as the Man slept while his Wife wa● making , so our flesh should sleep while our Wife is choosing : lest as the love of Venison wone Isaac to bless one for the other , so the love of Gentry , or Riches , or Beauty should make us take one for the other .

Verse 22. Woman was not made of the head , and therefore must not be the head , nor yet of the foot of man , and therefore must not be set at his foot ; but the man must set her at his heart , near the place from whence she came . She which should lie in his bosome , was made in his bosom , & should be as close to him as the Rib of which she was fashion'd .

Verse 25. Comparatively , Adam was better than all the world beside , and yet we find no act of pride in Adam when he was alone . When there was none in the world but himself and his Wife , who was not another , but himself , though they were both naked , they were neither of them asham'd . Soliture is not the scene of pride ; the danger of pride is in company when we meet to look upon one another . Thus in Eve , her first act was an act of Pride , a harkening to that voice of the Serpent , Ye shall be as gods . As soon as there were more than themselves there was pride . How many have we known that have been content all the week at home alone with their worky-day-faces as well as with their worky-day-cloaths , and yet on Sundaies when they come to Church and appear in company , will mend both , their faces as well as their cloaths .

Verse 5. THE first Sin that ever was , was an ascending , a climing too high . When the purest understandings of all the Angels fel by their ascending ; when Lucifer was tumbled down by his Similis ero altissimo , I will be like the most high ; then the Devil tryed upon them , who were next to the Angels in dignity , upon man how that clambring would work upon him , he presents to man the same ladder , he infuses into man the same ambition ; and as he fell with a Similis ero altissimo , I will be like the most high , so he overthrew man with an Eritis sicut Dii , ye shall be like gods . It seems this Fall hath broke the neck of mans ambition , and now we dare not be so like God as we should be ; ever since this Fall man is so far from affecting higher places than his Nature is capable of , that he is still groveling on the ground ; and participates and imitates , and expresses more of the nature of the beast , than his own . Fond man that is thus cheated of an assurance of Immortality , by a false perswasion that he shall be immortal : this Eritis sicut dii hath damn'd all . The Serpent perswades him if he does but taste , he shall be as God , when he hath tasted finds himself worse than a man , a very beast ; being thus at once fool'd out of his Everlastingness , and the favour of his Maker .

Verse 7. Till man had sinn'd his eyes wereshut , but afterwards he sees the greatness of his sin as David did ; and yet for all this he was more ashamed of his nakedness than of his sin : and therefore he endeavours by figg-leav'd aprons to cover his nakedness ; but we read of no preparation that was made to hide and take away the deformity of his sin : Thus many fear more to offend because of publick shame , than for any conscience of sin , as Cain rather grieved that he was made a vagabond , than that he kill'd his Brother .

Verse 10. How would he that were come abroad at midnight to do a mischief sneak away if he saw the Watch ? what a damp must it necessarily cast upon any sinner in the nearest approach of his sin if he can see God . See him before thou sinnest , then he looks lovingly : after the sin , remember how Adam would have sain hid himself from God : he that goes one step out of Gods sight is loath to come into it again . That therefore thou maist begin thy Heaven here , put thy self in the sight of God , put God in thy sight in every particular action . In all our senses , in all our faculties we may see God if we will ; and therefore Saint Augustine in his Twentieth Chapter de moribus Ecclesiae , hath collected places of Scripture where every one of our sences is called a seeing ; there is a Gustate & videte , and audite , and palpate , tasting , and hearing , and feeling , and all to this purpose are call'd seeing . Let us therefore make use of our sences , and endeavour alwayes to see God as he alwayes sees us ; God sees us at midnight , he sees us then when we had rather he look'd off : if we see him so it is a blessed interview .

Verse 11. Wherefore is it , may some ask , that the Word of God more than any other Book doth still speak in this singular person , and in this familiar person , still tu , and tibi , and te , Who told thee ? and hast thou eaten ? and so in other places , thou must love God , God speaks to thee . Surely the Scripture phrase is as ceremonial , and as observant of distance as any , and yet full of this familiar word to , thou , and thine . You are to know then , that in the Scripture God either speaks to the Church his Spouse , and to his Children , and so he may be bold and familiar with them ; or else he speaks so as that he would be thought by thee to speak singularly to thy Soul in particular : and therefore when thou hearest his mercies distributed in that particular , and that familiar phrase Thou and Thee , and thou knowest not whether he speak to any other in the Congregation or no , be sure that he speaks to thee : but if thou canst not find that he means thee , but thinkest that he speaks rather to some other whose Faith and good Life thou preferrest before thine own ; Do but begin to think now of the blessedness of that man to whom thou thinkest he speaks , and say to God with thy Saviour , My God , my God , why hast thou forsaken me ; why art thou gone to the other side : or why to the next on my right or my left hand , and left out me ? why speakest thou not comfortably to my Soul ? and he will leave the ninety nine for thee , and thou shalt find such a weight and burthen , and load of his love upon thee , as thou shalt be fain almost to say with Peter , Exi a me Domine , O Lord go farther from me , i. e. thou shalt see such an obligation of mercy laid upon thee as puts thee beyond all possibility of comprehension , much more of retribution , or of due and competent Thanks-giving .

Verse 12. When Adam said by way of alienation , and transferring his fault , the Woman whom thou gavest me , and the Woman said , The Serpent deceived me : God took this by way of information to find out the principal , but not by way of extenuation or alleviation of their faults . Every Adam eats with as much sweat of his brows , and every Eve brings forth her children with as much pain in her Travail as if there had been no Serpent in the case . If a man sin against God , who shall plead for him ? if a man lay his sins upon the Serpent , upon the Devil it is no plea , but if he lay them upon God , it is blasphemy .

Verse 15. Here was a heavy war denounced in this Inimicitias ponam , when God raised a war between the Devil and us : for if we could consider God to stand Neutral in that war , and meddle with neither side , yet were we nigh a desperate case , to be put to fight against powers , and principalities , against the Devil : how much more when God the Lord of Hosts is the Lord of that Host too ? when God presses the Devil , and makes the Devil his Souldier to fight his battels , and directs his arrows and his bullets , and makes his approaches and attempts effectual upon us . It is a strange war where there are not two sides , and yet that is our case : for God useth the Devil against us , and the Devil useth us against one another , nay he useth every one of us against our selves ; so that God , and the Devil , and we are all in one Army , and all for our destruction .

Verse 20. Saint Augustine proposeth to himself a wonder , why the first Woman was call'd at first and in her best state but Isha , Virago , which was a Name of diminution as she was taken from the man , ( for Isha is but a she-man , ) and when in her worse state , when she had sinn'd she was call'd , Eva Mater viventium , the Mother of all living ; she had a better name in her worst estate ; but this was not in respect of her sin saith that Father , but in respect of her punishment : now that she was become mortal by a sentence of death pronounced upon her , and knew that she must dye , and resolve to dust , now saith he there was no danger in her of growing proud by any glorious title , affliction had tamed her , and rectified her now ; and thus doth God sometimes bit and bridle us by afflictions lest we be too proud .

Verse 5. VVHat was the occasion of this capital malice , and mortal wrath in Cain ? Abels Sacrifice was accepted , what was this to Cain ? Cains was rejected , what could Abel remedy this ? O envy the corrosive of all ill minds , and the root of all desperate actions ; the same cause that moved Satan to tempt the first man to destroy himself and his posterity , the same moves the Second man to destroy the Third . It should have been Cain's joy to see his Brother accepted ; it should have been his sorrow to see that himself had deserved a rejection ; his Brothers example should have excited and directed him : could Abel have stayed Gods fire from descending ? or should he ( if he could ) reject Gods acceptation , and displease his Maker to content a Brother ? was Cain ever the farther from a blessing because his Brother obtain'd mercy ? How proud and foolish is malice , which grows thus mad for no other cause , but because God or Abel is not less good ? It hath been an old and happy danger to be holy : indifferent actions must be careful to avoid offence ; but I care not what Devil , or what Cain be angry that I do good or receive it .

Verse 8. Now might Adam see the image of himself in Cain , for after his own image begot he him ; Adam slue his posterity , Cain his Brother : We are too like one another , in that we are unlike to God ; however , one would have thought that these being Brethren , and but two Brethren , the beams of their affection should have been so much the hotter , because they reflect mutually in a right line upon each other ; and yet behold here are but two Brothers in the world , and one is the Butcher of the other . Who can wonder at dissentions amongst thousands of Brethren , thousands of Christians , when he sees so deadly opposition between two , and these the first roots of Brother-hood ? who can hope to live plausibly and securely among so many Cains , when he sees one Cain the death of one Abel ?

Verse 9. No sooner doth Abels blood speak to God , than God speaks to Cain : there is no wicked man to whom God speaks not , if not to his ear , yet to his heart : what speech was this ? not an accusation , yet such an enquiry as would infer an accusation . God loves to have a sinner accuse himself , and therefore hath he set his Deputy in the breast of man : neither doth God love this more then nature abhors it : Cain answers stubbornly , the very name of Abel wounds him no less then his hand had wounded Abel . Consciences that are without remorse are not without horror : wickedness makes men desperate , the murtherer is angry with God , as of late for accepting his Brothers oblation , so now for listning to his blood .

Verse 11. There is a holy league offensive and defensive betwixt God and his children : God shall not only protect us from others , but he shall fight for us against them , our enemies are his enemies : Nolite tangere Christos meos , saith God , of all holy people , you were as good touch me , as touch any of them . Thus when Cain had trespass'd against God himself in this , that he would bind God to an acceptation of his Sacrifice , God comes no farther for that , then to , Why dost thou thus ? but in his murther committed upon his Brother ( who was a child of God ) God proceeds so much farther as to say , Here now art thou cursed from the Earth . When Ieroboam suffered idolatry , God let him alone , that concerned but God himself , but when Ieroboam stretched forth his hand to lay hold on the Prophet , his hand withered .