Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

4. All Creatures obey him. All Creatures punctually observe the Law he hath imprinted on their nature, and in their several capacities acknowledge him their sovereign, they move according to the inclinations he imprinted on them. The Sea contains it self in its bounds, and the Sun steps not out of its sphere, the Stars march in their Order, they continue this day according to thy Ordinance, for all are thy Servants. Psal. 119.91. If he Orders things contrary to their primitive nature, they obey him. When he speaks the word, the devouring fire becomes gentle, and toucheth not a hair of the Children, he will preserve. The hunger-starved Lions suspend their ravenous nature, when so good a morsel as Daniel is set before them. And the Sun which had been in perpetual motion since its Creation, obeys the writ of ease God sent it in Joshua's time, and stands still. Shall insensible and sensible Creatures be punctual to his Orders, passively acknowledge his Authority? Shall Lions and Serpents obey God in their places, and shall not man, who can by reason argue out the sovereignty of God, and understand the sense and goodness of his Laws, and actively obey God with that will he hath enriched him with above other Creatures? Yet the truth is, every sensitive, yea every senseless Creature obeys God more than his rational, more than his gracious Creatures in this World. The rational Creatures since the fall have a prevailing principle of corruption. Let the Obedience of other Creatures incite us more to imitate them, and shame our remissness in not acknowledging the dominion of God, in the just way he prescribes us to walk in.

4. All Creatures obey him. All Creatures punctually observe the Law he hath imprinted on their nature, and in their several capacities acknowledge him their soveraign, they move according to the inclinations he imprinted on them. The Sea contains it self in its bounds, and the Sun steps not out of its sphear, the Stars march in their Order, they continue this day according to thy Ordinance, for all are thy Servants. Psal. 119.91. If he Orders things contrary to their primitive nature, they obey him. When he speaks the word, the devouring fire becomes gentle, and toucheth not a hair of the Children, he will preserve. The hunger-starv'd Lions suspend their ravenous nature, when so good a morsel as Daniel is set before them. And the Sun which had been in perpetual motion since its Creation, obeys the writ of ease God sent it in Joshua's time, and stands still. Shall insensible and sensible Creatures be punctual to his Orders, passively acknowledge his Authority? Shall Lions and Serpents obey God in their places, and shall not man, who can by reason argue out the soveraignty of God, and understand the sence and goodness of his Laws, and actively obey God with that will he hath enricht him with above other Creatures? Yet the truth is, every sensitive, yea every senseless Creature obeys God more than his rational, more than his gracious Creatures in this World. The rational Creatures since the fall have a prevailing principle of corruption. Let the Obedience of other Creatures incite us more to imitate them, and shame our remissness in not acknowledging the dominion of God, in the just way he prescribes us to walk in.