Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/62

30 God reviewed his, all was very good. He did not pronounce it good, till he had seen it so; to teach us, not to answer a matter before we hear it. The work of creation was a very good work. All that God made, was well made, and there was no flaw or defect in it. 1. It was good. Good, for it is all agreeable to the mind of the Creator, just as he would have it to be; when the transcript came to be compared with the great original, it was found to be exact, no errata in it; not one misplaced stroke. Good, for it answers the end of its creation, and is fit for the purpose for which it was designed. Good, for it is serviceable to man, whom God had appointed lord of the visible creation. Good, for it is all for God's glory; there is that in the whole visible creation, which is a demonstration of God's being and perfections, and which tends to beget, in the soul of man, a religious regard to him, and veneration of him. 32 [sic]. It was very good. Of each day's work, (except the second,) it was said that it was good, but now, it is very good. For, 1. Now, man was made, who was the chief of the ways of God, who was designed to be the visible image of the Creator's glory, and the mouth of the creation in his praises. 2. Now, all was made; every part was good, but altogether, very good. The glory and goodness, the beauty and harmony, of God's works, both of providence and grace, as this of creation, will best appear, when they are perfected. When the top stone is brought forth, we shall cry, Grace, grace, unto it, Zech. 4. 7, Therefore judge nothing before the time.

III. The time when this work was concluded. The evening and the morning were the sixth day. So that in six days God made the world. We are not to think but that God could have made the world in an instant. He that said, Let there be light, and there was light, could have said, "Let there be a world," and there would have been a world, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, as at the resurrection. 1 Cor. 15. 52. But he did it in six days, that he might show himself a free-agent, doing his own work, both in his own way, and in his own time; that his wisdom, power, and goodness, might appear to us, and be meditated upon by us, the more distinctly; and that he might set us an example of working, six days, and resting, the seventh; it is therefore made the reason of the fourth commandment. So much would the sabbath conduce to the keeping up of religion in the world, that God had an eye to it, in the timing of his creation. And now, as God reviewed his work, let us review our meditations upon it, and we shall find them very lame and defective, and our praises low and flat; let us therefore stir up ourselves, and all that is within us, to worship him that made the heaven, earth, and sea, and the fountains of waters, according to the tenor of the everlasting Gospel which is preached to every nation, Rev. 14. 6, 7. All his works, in all places of his dominion, do bless him; and therefore, bless thou the Lord, O my soul.

CHAP. II.

This chapter is an appendix to the history of the creation, more particularly explaining, and enlarging, upon, that part of the history, which relates immediately to man, the favourite of this lower world. We have in it, I. The institution and sanctification of the sabbath, which was made for man, to further his holiness and comfort, v. 1..3. II. A more particular account of man's creation, as the centre and summary of the whole work, v. 4..7. III. A description of the garden of Eden, and the placing of man in it under the obligations of a law and covenant, v. 8..17. IV. The creation of the woman, her marriage to the man, and the institution of the ordinance of marriage, v. 18..25.

HUS the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made.

We have here,

I. The settlement of the kingdom of nature, in God's resting from the work of creation, v. 1, 2. Where observe, 1. That the creatures, made both in heaven and earth, are the hosts, or armies of them, which denotes them to be numerous, but marshalled, disciplined, and under command. How great is the sum of them! And yet every one knows and keeps his place. God uses them as his hosts for the defence of his people, and the destruction of his enemies; for he is the Lord of hosts, of all these hosts, Dan. 4. 35. 2. That the heavens and the earth are finished pieces, and so are all the creatures in them. So perfect is God's work, that nothing can be added to it, or taken from it, Eccl. 3. 14. God that began to build, showed himself well-able to finish. 3. That after the end of the first six days, God ceased from all works of creation. He has so ended his work, as that though, in his providence, he worketh hitherto, (John 5. 17.) preserving and governing all the creatures, and particularly forming the spirit of man within him, yet he does not make any new species of creatures. In miracles, he has controlled and over-ruled nature, but never changed its settled course, or repealed, or added to, any of its establishments. 4. That the eternal God, though infinitely happy in the enjoyment of himself, yet took a satisfaction in the work of his own hands. He did not rest, as one weary, but as one well-pleased with the instances of his own goodness, and the manifestations of his own glory.

II. The commencement of the kingdom of grace, in the sanctification of the sabbath-day, v. 3. He rested on that day, and took a complacency in his creatures, and then sanctified it, and appointed us, on that day, to rest and take a complacency in the Creator; and his rest is, in the fourth commandment, made a reason for our's, after six days' labour. Observe, 1. That the solemn observation of one day in seven, as a day of holy rest, and holy work, to God's honour, is the indispensable duty of all those to whom God has revealed his holy sabbaths. 2. That the way of sabbath-sanctification, is the good old way, Jer. 6. 16. Sabbaths are as ancient as the world; and I see no reason to doubt that the sabbath, being now instituted in innocency, was religiously observed by the people of God throughout the patriarchal age. 3. That the sabbath of the Lord is truly honourable, and we have reason to honour it; honour it, for the sake of its antiquity, its great Author, the sanctification of the first sabbath by the holy God himself, and, in obedience to him, by our first parents in innocency. 4, That the sabbath-day is a blessed day, for God blessed it; and that which he blesses is blessed indeed. God has put an honour upon it, has appointed us, on that day, to bless him, and was promised, on that day, to meet us and bless us. 5. That the sabbath-day is a holy day, for God has sanctified it. He has separated and distinguished it from the rest of the days of the week, and he has consecrated it, and set it apart to himself and his own service and honour. Though it is commonly taken for granted, that the christian sabbath we observe, reckoning from the creation, is not the seventh but the first day of the week, yet being a seventh day, and we, in it, celebrating the rest of God the Son, and the finishing the work of our redemption, we may and ought to act faith upon this