still continued an order among them ever since the Creation and that notwithstanding all the changes that have happened in the mean while men may perceive that all things have been so well disposed that the world hath still been preserved in his right state and it is impossible that this orderlinesse which we see among them should come either of the Stars themselves or of any other moving cause than of the hand of that God which governeth all things by his wise Providence The Stars are for divers uses God hath set them for signs and seasons and for dayes and years Gen. 1.14 They are for a two-fold sign 1. Natural and ordinary they shew by their rising and setting and by their Eclipses heat and cold drought and moisture stormes and tempests fair and pleasant weather 2. They are sometimes signs extraordinary to shew Gods judgments and the great alterations that he will bring on the world Sometime they signifie extraordinary blessings Matth. 2.2 Of this nature was that Starre that appeared to the Wisemen when Christ was borne which they call Christs Star Quest Here it may be demanded How they came to know it to be Christs Star and pointed out the place of his Nativity and would at last conduct and direct them to him Answ 1. Some say there was an Apocriphal tradition fathered upon Seth which fore-told at the Nativity of the Messiah such a Starre should appear and such presents be offered unto him 2. Others say That these Magi being of the posterity of Balaam of whom we read Numb 22. Chap. 23 24. had their light from his prophecy Numb 24.17 There shall come a Starre out of Jacob c. whereupon say they twelve of them by turns watched continually upon the top of an high Mountain and prayed that God would reveal unto them that Star which they say he did that very night that Christ was born and upon the sight thereof they presently addressed themselves for their journey to Jerusalem 3. Others think that they had the hint thereof out of Dan. 2. or at least from some other Prophecies which were in those times translated into Greek and extant in many places among the Gentiles and this seemeth a probable conceit because they go to Jerusalem to be further instructed all do agree that it was none of the Stars made in the beginning Gen. 1.16 for these have numbers and names Isa 48.26 and doubtlesse most of them were well known to these Magi but it seemeth by their relation that this Star was never seen before as is also manifested by its perpendicular motion moving from North to South contrary to the motion of other Stars that move from East to West else when they went from Jerusalem it could not have directly pointed out the house at Bethlehem where the holy Child Jesus and his Mother lay for Bethlehem standeth thirty miles south from Jerusalem as the Learned do observe Augustine saith It was a new Star created by God to point out the place of his Sons Birth Haec stella magnifica Coeli lingua August calling this Star the wonderfull tongue of Heaven 4. Others say It was an Angel appearing not in the nature but form fashion and figure of a Starre and therefore called so And why might not an Angel as well appear to these Wise men of Persia as to the shepherds of Bethlehem And why might they not as well be taught from Heaven how to set forth and undertake this journey as they are which way to return home again when they have dispatched and finished it Mat. 2.12 5. Nay some go further and say that it was the holy Ghost himself who as he appeared in the likenesse of a Dove at Christ's Baptism Luke 3. so say they He appeared in the likenesse of a Starre at his Birth In a word as the cloudy and fiery pillar went before the Israelites and left them not till it brought them to Canaan the promised Land so this Star Angel or Meteor or whatsoever it were in the likenesse of a Star left not these men till it brought them to Christ the promised Lord. Magnum aliquod in parvo latere August Serm. 7. de Epith. For as Austin tels us This certainly told them that no mean guest lay in that poor house at Bethlehem but one that was no lesse than a King and farre greater than any mortal man 2. As the Stars are for signs so likewise they are for seasons they serve to give times to every imployment as to the Physician Though the motion of the stars through the Aequator were much more simple yet they move by an oblique circle to the end the benefit of their benign aspects might be communicated to-more parts of the earth Ex plan Ver. relig to the Mariner to the Husbandman shewing him when to set sow plant c. to the Mathematician They serve for the bringing about the Spring the Summer the Harvest and Winter Genes 8.22 Arcturus riseth in September and beginneth Autumn Orion ariseth in December and beginneth Winter and bringeth rain Pleiades arise in the Spring the Dog-star and others arise in the Summer And although the Starres have their seasons to mount above us and likewise to go down again out of our sight yet doth it not happen at all adventure but by the Providence of God so disposing it and though he hath given them their influences from Heaven yet do they not any thing of their own peculiar motion but God hath still the guiding and overruling of them Tantum officium habent significandi res futuras nòn autèm vim fatandi ac necessitatem inferendi Zanch. de luminar Coeli 3. The Starres are for dayes and years they serve for the dividing the day from the night and the light from the darknesse the Sunne being the fountain of light measureth the dayes by four and twenty hours and the years by returning from one point to the end of the other They serve likewise for political observations as the computation of dayes weeks moneths and years and the celebration of Festivals among the Jews they signifie things to come but predictions from the Stars and the discovering of secrets are false and uncertain CHAP. XI Of Gods Providence to be seen in the Winds and in the blowing of them An Objection answered Plin. Nat Hist lib. 2. cap. 8. IN the next place I shall shew how God's Providence is much to be seen in the Air which filleth up this vast and empty place which we see above us and also filleth those crannies in the Earth which are not to be seen by us yea the very fishes of the Sea though we perceive not their breathing do die without it the Air invironeth the whole Earth and all living Creatures receive the benefit of it it is a vital element heavier than fire lighter than Earth and Water the cause of sounds and breathing capable of heat cold drinesse and moisture having no light of
it self but from the fire distinguished into three Regions viz. the upper the middle and the lower The Air is the Kingdome of the winds there the winds have their circuit but where their treasure is we cannot understand God bringeth the wind out of his treasuries when he pleaseth Psal 136.7 and he maketh use of the holy Angels as his treasurers in raising directing and withholding the winds as may be collected from Revel 7. Hagius de Ventis The Wind is a hot and dry exhalation elevated by the Sunne-beams to the middle region of the Air by reason of the coldnesse whereof it is driven downwards again and repelled by the Clouds unto the lowest region which it fanneth up and down lest the Air should be corrupted by too much stillnesse Weems Natural and moral observat The Wind is an exhalation more grosse than the pure and subtil Air but more subtil than the gross exhalations that come out of the Earth saith a Learned man therefore the Wind for the subtilty of it Ventus quòd sit vehemens violentus Frytsch de metaeoris ascendeth upwards but the weight of it carrieth it down from the pure and clear Region of the Air yet can it not descend to the Earth by reason of the thick vapours which arise out of the Earth continually Great is the force and power of the Winds that they throw down houses and pluck up Trees by the roots The same Wind which now shaketh the leaf and maketh the feather to move being charged against a Mountain would have turned it up from the foundation and the same strength that bloweth up the dust Dearing in Heb. 1. Lect. 2. Ventus est exhalatio five flatus aerem valdè agitans commovens Keckerm Syst Physic l. 6. c. 7. if it came against the Earth would shake the bottome of it saith a judicious Divine The Wind sometimes troubleth Heaven and Earth and disturbeth the Sea They that are cunning in the Sea-card know there are four cardinal or chief Winds these are spoken of Ezek. 37.9 Mat. 24.31 and that these have their subordinate collateral side-winds belonging to each of them in their several quarters they say seven apiece and so there be thirty two in all Some of them we have specified Acts 27. in the Description of the Tempest that befell St Paul and his companions in their Sea journey towards Rome Now the Lord raiseth the Winds and sendeth them forth at his pleasure He walketh upon the wings of the wind Psal 104.3 A wind came from the Lord and brought an innumerable company of Quails into the tents of the Israelites Numb 11.31 Jonah 1.4 5. So the Lord sent out a great wind into the Sea so that the Ship wherein Jonah was was like to be broken And Jonah 4.8 it is said That after the worm had smitten Jonahs gourd that when the Sunne arose God prepared a vehement Eastwind and the Sunne beat on the head of Jonah that he fainted c. Object But it may be said That the Eastwind is commonly rough and boisterous as appeareth Exod. 14.21 where it is said That the Lord by a strong Eastwind drove back the red Sea and made it to forsake his wonted chanel to yeeld passage to his people out of Aegypt So it is said The Lord breaketh the ships of Tarshish with an Eastwind Psal 48.7 one might think that this Eastwind which God prepared against Jonah should have cooled the Air or abated and asswaged the heat of the Sunne Resp This Wind was not Coecias the North-east wind which is indeed boisterous and bloweth very cold but Subsolanus the South-east wind which is a hot and dry wind therefore Tremellius tells us Tremel ad loc it is called Eurus silens a quiet or silent East-wind to distinguish it from the other and so it is in the Margin of our Bibles of the last Translation If it be further urged that the Text saith It was a vehement East-wind I answer again That that might be as well in regard of the ferventnesse and soultry heat thereof Ventus calidus urens Hieron ad loc apud Lyram as of the highnesse and loudnesse thereof or noise it made and so Hierom tells us it was a hot and burning wind as Lyra noteth such a wind as did not cool the Air but the more warm it being as a waggon or chariot to carry the heat of the Sunne whereupon it attended the more forcibly forth-right to the object and that the East-wind blasteth besides our daily experience the Scriptures testifie unto us Gen. 41.6 where it is said that Pharaoh in his dream saw seven thin ears of corn blasted with the East-wind Ezek. 19.12 Hos 13.15 Hence we learn that not Aeolus or Neptune Jupiter or Mars or any of the Idols and feigned gods of the Heathen but Jehovah Elohim the Lord God of Israel he that made Heaven and Earth Sea and all things he stirreth up winds Exod 10.13 19. storms and tempests at his pleasure Psal 29.3 Exod. 9.23 God caused an East-wind to bring Locusts upon the Land of Aegypt and a West-wind to remove them He maketh the South-wind to bring heat and the North-wind to purge the Air and drive away rain Winds come not by chance or Fortune nor altogether from natural causes howbeit God worketh by them he is the great Lord Treasurer of the winds he sendeth them forth or shutteth them up at his pleasure Nay Witches and Wizards and the Devil himself cannot raise a storm but by leave as appeareth Job 1. The wind and storms have a Law by which they move there is not a storm so impetuous but it is directed by a Law Psal 148.7 8. Why doth the Psalmist call forth those creatures to praise the Lord but to teach men that they do observe the Law that their great King and Lawgiver hath given them to observe He hath made a Decree which shall not passe or shall not be transgressed as in the original Fire hail snow and vapours and stormy winds are said to fulfill his Word the wind and the Sea were calm at our Saviours command when he said Peace and be still insomuch as the Mariners cried out What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him Mark 4.39 41. CHAP. XII Gods Providence to the Birds of the Air and in particular to the young Ravens the Ostriches young ones and the little Sparrows I Shall now treat of God's Providence with relation to the Birds of the Air Beza Ver. Transl Genev. in Mat. 6.26 which Beza and the old translation read volucres or volatilia Coeli so doth the Geneva translation also on Mat. 6. Gods providing for the Fowls is propounded as an argument to disswade from carking cares Behold the fowls of the Air saith our Saviour for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them Luke mentioneth
For so Demosthenes observeth it was a usual speech among the Greeks Such and such things saith he were not done without the people of Athens that is without their authority and approbation CHAP. XIII Of God's Providence to be seen in the Seas in the Nature of them An Objection answered Of the saltness of the Sea and the Reasons thereof Of the bounds of the Sea of the Fishes of the Sea of their multiplication of the several sorts of Fishes taken in every moneth Of their provision An Objection answered FRom the Heavens I shall descend to the Sea and therein Gods Providence is very remarkable The Sea is a gathering together of many waters Gen. 1.10 it is the common receptacle of flouds and Rivers and as the Liver in the body by the veins sendeth bloud to the whole parts of the body so doth the Sea send water to all the parts of the earth Solomon tells us That all waters come from the sea Eccles 1.7 He compasseth the whole earth as with a girdle and bedeweth the world with his pleasing streams In the depth of the earth there be many concavities which breed winds Weems observ natur moral these winds lift up the waters the waters again presse down the winds which being thus prest down seek a passage through the earth making a way for the Sea to runne through the veins thereof and because of the continual strife between the Sea and the winds therefore the water in springs and fountains never faileth and coming back to the fountains then they run back again to the Sea Aristotle's opinion will not hold here who saith That the water contendeth to runne to the lowest place and if the waters should have this vicissitude of course from the fountains to the Sea from the Sea to the fountains then the same place should be both higher and lower than it self but some parts of the Sea are lower than the fountains and into them the fountains send forth their streams to runne Other parts of the Sea are higher than the fountains especially in great storms and tempests which mount up the waves of the Sea to Heaven as the Psalmist speaketh Psal 107 25 26. and they by secret channels send forth springs of water to supply the fountains Cotton Exposit in Eccles 1.7 as a Learned Divine hath well noted This is further noted by Strabo Strabo concerning the situation of the waters which if we consider the quality of their matter ought to be placed in the middle between the earth and the Air whereas the same are now included and dispersed within the earth to the end they might be no hindrance either to the fruitfulness of the ground or to the life of man neither are all things ordained only for their proper ends but also for the good and benefit of the whole Universe as appeareth particularly in the water which against its own proper nature is moved upward that there should be no gaping vacuity in the world which is so composed that the parts thereof do mutually uphold one another Quest If all waters come from the Sea how is it then that the waters in Rivers are sweet and fresh and that the waters in the Sea are salt Resp That the earth through the veins whereof the waters pass to the fountains doth percolate and strain the Salt out of it and so those waters by reason of the length of their course and their distance from the Sea lose their saltness therefore some fountains of water are salt as the Sea that are nearest to the Sea the pores of the earth being more open between the Sea and them which also is the cause of the flux and reflux of some of them God hath made the Sea salt by the fervent heat of the Sun which sucks out the sweet and thin substance thereof and this being easily drawn up all the tarter and grosser parts thereof remain behind Hence it is as Pliny Plin. Nat. Hist l. 2. c. 100. noteth that the deep water toward the bottome is sweeter and less brackish than that which is above in the top and surely this is a better reason of that unpleasant tast that it hath than that the Sea should be a sweat continually issuing out of the earth The learned have observed that God hath made the Sea salt for divers necessary uses 1. To keep it from putrefaction which is not necessary in Rivers because of their continuall running as also because of the celerity of their motion 2. Salt waters agree best to the nature of those great Fishes being both hotter and grosser that are bred and nourished in it which is not so necessary to the Rivers breeding smaller Fishes It is likewise an evident Argument of Gods Providence that the Ocean being higher than the Land doth not overflow his Banks Astronomers and naturall Philosophers can give no substantiall reason hereof but out of the Scriptures we may answer in a word that Gods Decree hath bounded and barred it in all the wild Beasts of the world might more easily be tamed than the Sea yet God ruleth and over-ruleth it in a most wonderfull manner he hath shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb he made the Cloud the garment thereof and thick darkness a swadling band for it he established his Decree upon it and said Hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed Job 38.8 9 10. Fear ye not me saith the Lord that have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall Decree that it cannot pass and though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it Jer. 5.22 Chrysostome saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Cor. Homil. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil Hexam Homil. 4. The Lord hath walled about the Sea with the sand with a very weak thing doth he bridle the rage of it even with the sand which a poor weak silly worm can creep over The Lord sits upon the flouds and ordereth them and though they roar and lift up their waves yet the Lord on high is mightier than the mighty waves of the Sea Psal 93.3 4. The Sea is in the hand of God as a little Babe is in the womb of his Mother so that the Child lieth not more still in his Mothers womb than doth the Sea within his bounds and though it make a great noise and be tossed with winds and tempests and swell and threaten to overwhelm the earth yet cannot it get over its bounds Likewise God useth the mists and clouds to restrain the Sea that it shall not pass out of its limits as swadling bands are to keep in a young Babe who would fain pull out his arms and legs to make sport but he is so held in with his swadling cloathes that he is forced there to abide as a
godly and also shew how it reacheth the wicked First Toward the Godly 1. In afflicting them he is said in Scripture to send affliction to his people all afflictions either inward as passions of the mind grief of heart and sorrow of spirit or outward as diseases sicknesses pains of the body come from God and are inflicted by him David confesseth Psal 32.4 saying That Gods hand lay heavy upon him day and night Yea God himself tells us as much Isa 45.7 I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil that is the evil of punishment Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3.6 Affliction springeth not out of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground saith Eliphaz Job 5.6 This form of speaking is proverbial Proverbialis quaedam sententia est qua tollat easum asseratque divinam erga res humanas impiorum supplicium providentiam Pineda ad loc as the Learned note and frequently used in those times when they would remove Chance or Fortune as men commonly say or deny any event to be without a certain directive power they spake in this language This sprang not out of the dust nor came from the ground We must not therefore stay upon the second causes as the common corrupt custom of the world is blaming themselves for over-sight and want of good heed taking and in other cases blaming the falsnesse of friends and want of seasonable supplies and sometimes crying out of the unseasonablenesse of the weather and times causing infection in the air and putrifying the bloud c. But as Cratippus was wont to say Fata per causas agunt populi peccata evertunt imperia Cratippus That the destinies do act by causes and Empires are overthrown by the sins of the people So it 's not the influences of the Heavens nor the positions of the Stars nor the unseasonablenesse of the weather or the like that be the causes of sore diseases at any time among us but the just hand of God that punisheth our strange sinnes with strange sicknesses These have their places it cannot be denied but there 's an hand that over-rules them whereat we must look and which we must confesse and acknowledge Else shall we be like those of whom God complaineth by his Prophets Isa 1.5 Isa 9.13 Jer. 5.3 This is as if one that were wounded should fret and chafe at the spear dart sword bullet or arrow that hit and hurt him but never to regard the striker nor yet apply any medicine to the hurt-place this must needs be extream folly Thus did not David accuse Shimei for railing upon him but acknowledgeth the hand of God stirring him up and setting him a work 2 Sam. 16.11 and holy Job knew as much therefore he doth not cry out upon the Sabeans for taking away his Oxen and Asses nor blame the Chaldeans for carrying away his Camels no nor the Devil himself for raising the winds and hurling down the house upon his children but he confesseth the just hand of God in it all The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken Job 1.21 And so in all afflictions we should do as Nazianzen tells us he did A te Domine percussus ad te respicio Nazianz. viz. go to God and say to him Lord I am smitten of thee and to thee doe I look And so the Prophet calls upon us Come let us return to the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up Hos 6.1 Object But some body perhaps may say Is it not very strange that we should therefore come to God because he hath smitten and afflicted us Doth not Reason teach reasonable creatures and even Nature it self all creatures to seek their preservation and avoid all things that may any way tend to their destruction as tearing and smiting may seem to do When Adam perceived that God was angry with him he ran away and hid himself among the bushes Genes 3. and we may observe that even horses dogs and other unreasonable creatures are easily brought to come to such as feed them and make much of them but they will flie and runne away from such as beat them therefore it may seem that afflictions should rather drive us from God than draw us to him Resp. 1. I cannot deny but must grant these things to be thus in Nature and Reason and therefore we must also know that the Prophet here being endued with Gods Spirit speaketh Metaphysicè above the reach of natural reason for these things come not to passe Vi tribulationis by the force of afflictions which have no power in their own nature but virtute tribulantis by the strength of him that afflicteth who maketh afflictions thus powerfull by his grace and who being infinite in power can produce contrary effects by contrary causes as he brought light out of darknesse Genes 1.3 Water out of a flinty rock Exod. 17.6 Wisdom out of foolishnesse 1 Cor. 1. Yea life out of death for out of Christs death came our spiritual yea eternal life for by his bloud he saveth his children from spiritual and eternal death as the old Pelican by his bloud saveth her young from natural death 2. Or we may answer that howbeit the Argument be not good in sensu diviso yet it is in sensu composito taking all together As therefore men go not to the Physician or take not physick to make them sick and yet are content by his direction to take physick though it doth make them sick for the time present to the end they may recover and be the more healthy for the time to come so the Prophet perswadeth not the people to come and return to him barely because he had torn and broken them so likewise he would heal and bind them up again In a word he wills them to consider and look upon God not as an angry Judge punishing them in his justice and displeasure for their destruction but as a loving Father correcting and chastening them in his mercy for their amendment and their profit For 1. Afflictions to the godly are an eyesalve to make them see and acknowledge their sins as to Josephs Brethren Gen. 42.21 Tribulation enlargeth the understanding making men to see into themselves Prosperity so blindeth men that they cannot know their own estate A man under the cross doth better understand the frailty of his body the uncertainty of his life and doth evidently perceive his manifold infirmities he learneth what little progress he hath made in the wayes of godliness he knoweth his interest in God he knoweth the strength of his faith and is not ignorant of Satans devices he seeth Gods infinite power by which he is able in our extream necessities to give relief and comfort he seeth the unalterable truth of God whereby he performeth all his promises and threatnings hereby he seeth the unmeasurable goodness