eminenter these faculties which he hath not actually habitually and subjectively in himself as faculties yet he contains them eminently as being able to produce all but no creature can produce any thing but by some vertue put into it Dr Stoughtons Burning Light If the Stars be not fiery why are waters saith Vossius placed above the Heaven as Moses and in other Scriptures but to temper their burning heat least the Heavens should be destroyed by their burning Vossius de orig progress Idol l. 2. c. 39. Vide c. 38. Secondly The Moon is also called a great Light not for the bignesse of the body of it but because it is the lowest of all the Planets and nearest unto the earth and therefore appears biggest of all next unto the Sunne and gives to the earth a greater light then any of the Stars which are far greater in substance and brighter in light Some say it is the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea for it agreeth exactly with the Revolution of the Moon it causeth it 1. By its motion as it brings its beams 2. By its beam as that brings the influence 3. By infusion as that stirs the waters It is called in Latine Luna à lucend◠saith Tully or because Solâ lucet nocte saith Varro In Hebrew Iareach and Ierech which words signifie a moneth because it is renewed every moneth A Star is the thicker part of Heaven round and full of light In the day the glistering light of the Sun say some obscures all the Stars but in the night how many hundred thousand of them do we see besides those that are hidden from us in the other part of the Sphere which is not seen by us The number of Stars set upon the Globe are 1025. and divers of them have proper names All the Stars of the Heaven are not numbred nor cannot since divers of them are so small but these 1025. are the principallest amongst them and all that have ever been accounted of Philosophers distinguish them into fixed Stars and Planets The Planets are apparently seven Saturn Iupiter Mars then the Sun in the midst as it were the King of all after Venus Mercury and the Moon Neither Moses Iob nor the Psalms the most frequent in Astronomical observations mention any of the Planets but the Sun and Moon Of these Stars some are greater then other and are distinguished into six sorts of quantities Their proportions are thus delivered viz. a Star of the first bignesse or magnitude is a hundred and seven times bigger then the earth A Star of the second magnitude ninety times bigger then the earth A Star of the third bignesse seventy two times bigger then the earth A Starre of the fourth bignesse is four and fifty times bigger then the globe of the earth A Star of the fifth magnitude is six and thirty times bigger then the earth A Starre of the sixth bignesse is eighteen times bigger then the globe of the earth We are to bewail our own great solly and blindnesse that we have not more admired honoured feared loved that great worker to whom these Creatures do point us We do not often enough tell our selves this Moon this Sunne these Stars could not nor did not make themselves They could not possibly be without any beginning at all for they are but parts of the whole world and no part of any whole can be eternal because there must be something before that did unite those parts together wherefore they were made by some superiour essence and more excellent then themselves and that is God How great how wise how good how infinitely excellent is he whose hand framed and ordered these things The Sunne ariseth to us constantly the Moon also keeps her course with like constancy Doth not that mighty Army of Stars which in a clear night shew themselves even speak to us as it were to consider of his incomprehensible excellency which made and rules them See Iob 38. 31 32 33. Let us accustome our selves hereafter to these Meditations if God had not beautified Heaven with these excellent bodies light and heat could not have been equally and in due quantity conveyed into all the quarters of the world We must observe this work so as to praise God for it to inform our selves of his nature and strive to work more love fear obedience and confidence in our selves towards him The Apostle saith That in the times before the Gospel the Gentiles might have found God as it were by groping Act. 17. 27. Now we that have the Scripture to direct us as in the day-light shall not we find God out by these illustrious works of his CHAP. VI. Of the Fishes Fowls Beasts THe fifth Dayes work was the Creation of all living Creatures which live and move in the two moist Elements the Water and the Air viz. Fishes and moving Creatures which live and move in the waters and all kind of Fowls which flie in the open Region of the Air divers in nature shape qualities and manner of living The Hebrew verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here translated The moving Creature is derived is used as here so in other Scriptures frequently first to signifie creeping or moving forward without feet as Gen. 7. 21. Levit. 11. 19. And secondly also to bring forth abundantly as here and also Exod. 1. 7. Fishes breed and bring forth young in great abundance more then any other creatures do by the multitude of spawn they would encrease beyond all measure and number if by one means or other the spawn were not devoured and consumed Who can render a reason of their ability to swimme so in the waters to support themselves in the midst of the waters and convey themselves up and down in it Fishes are in Scripture termed Reptilia Psalm 104. 25. In the great and wide Sea there are things creeping innumerable both small and great so called because things when they swim seem to creep along in the water As Birds have their wings and trains by means whereof they cut their way and make smooth passage through the Air so Fishes are furnished with fins wherewith they guide themselves in their swimming and cut the current of the streams and waves for their more easie passage wherein their course is directed by their tail as Ships are conducted by their Helm The Sea gives more and greater dainties then the Earth those that did most affect to please their Palate of old set great store by Fishes and paid dearer for them then flesh God hath furnished them with a strong power of encreasing Birds bring forth some four or five in a nest some three and some but two the most but twenty as the little Wren for being so little the kinde would be consumed by the things which devour such weak creatures if those that be did not bring forth very many But every Fish brings
Lord did gather light which before was scattered in the whole body of the Heavens Secondly The use of them they were to give light to the world to distinguish the Night from the Day the Day from the Week as also to distinguish seasons Summer and Winter Spring and Autumne Seed-time and Harvest They are Signs 1. Natural By them we may guesse of the Weather Matth. 16. 2 3. from the colour and figure of the Moon some will conjecture what weather is like to be 2. Civil Husbandmen Gardners Fishermen Mariners gather observations from them 3. Ecclesiastical To know the New Moons and strange apparitions in them are signs of Gods anger as extraordinary Eclipses blazing-stars The works of the fifth day were The Fishes of the Sea and Fowls of the Air divers in nature shape qualities vertues and manners of living the fishes were appointed to increase multiply and fill the waters and the fowls to increase multiply and flie in the air The work of the sixth day is two-fold 1. All terrestrial bruit creatures Beasts Cattle and every thing which creepeth upon the earth in their kinde having vertue and power from God to increase and multiply 2. Man Male and Female Adams body of the dust of the Earth viz. that he might have in his own bosom an argument and incentive of humility lest for his excellency he should wax proud against God Eves body out of a rib of Adam for a sign of most near conjunction and love betwixt man and wife The Creation ceased in man as in the Master-piece of Gods skill and as in the end to which all other things were destinate For all other Creatures by the bounty of the Creator were to serve Adam as their Lord and Prince CHAP. III. Of the Creation of the Heavens the Angels the Elements Light Day and Night I Shall now insist more largely on the particular Creatures and draw some Consectaries from them saying little of the reasonable Creatures Angels and Men because I intend more fully to treat of them by themselves The Creation of the Heavens is a great and wonderful work of God the Heavens were not alwayes neither came they by chance or any other way but by the wonderful power of God creating them So the Scripture telleth us often Psal. 102. 15. Isa. 40. 12. 22. 42. 5. 45. 2. 48. 13. God frequently challengeth to himself the glory of this exceeding great work alledging it as an effect of his wonderful power and greatness The excellency and greatness of this work appears in divers things 1. The Abstruseness of the matter 2. The Perfection of the form 3. The exceeding hugeness of its Quantity 4. The height of it 5. It s swift motion Lastly The excellent Usefulness of it for the Creatures here below and all other things contained in it First The Matter of the Heavens is dark and hidden and goes beyond the power of mortal Creatures certainly to determine of it Philosphers know not what to say here some of them do think that the upper Heavens are made of the same matter with these inferiour bodies and some again do deny it and think it consists of another which they call the fifth Essence because they perceive it to be of such different working and qualities from the things below Secondly The Perfection of the Figure of the Heavens and all the Starres of Heaven doth marvellously grace it For it is of an Orbicular or round form a circle encompassing the earth and waters round which is of it self also for the main Orbicular and this concerning the Stars our senses do declare and concerning the whole Heavens the motions of the Stars which our eye doth tell us for the Sun riseth every Morning over against the place it did set the Evening before and so evinceth that its course is round The round figure is the most beautiful strong perfect and capacious figure and this may minde us of Gods Infinitenesse Perfection and Unchangeableness Thirdly Consider the hugeness of its Quantity for who can measure the back-side of Heaven or tell how many miles space that mighty Circle doth contain The Globe of Earth and Water is very great but all that is as it were an undiscernable point compared to the whole Globe of Heaven how incomprehensibly great is he which hath made a building so great The whole circuit of the heavens wherein are the fixed Stars is reckoned by Astronomers to be a thousand and seventeen millions of miles at least Fourthly It is a high and stately building Iob 22. 12. an hundred and sixty millions of miles high from Earth to Heaven It is so farre by the Astronomers rules It is a wonder saith one that we can look up to so admirable a height and that the eye is not tired in the way If this ascending line could be drawn right forward some that have calculated curiously have found it five hundred years journy unto the starry Heaven This putteth us in minde of the infinite mercy and goodness of God Psal. 103. 3. and of his Majesty The highest Heavens are a fit Palace for the most High Psal. 104. 3. Fifthly It s admirable swift Motion and Revolution in four and twenty hours which our conceits cannot follow teacheth us that God is farre more swift and ready to help us in our need A Bullet out of a Musket flies swiftly it will slie an hundred and eighty miles an hour according to its motion The Sun moves swifter 1160000 miles in one hour the fixed Stars some of them two and fourty millions of miles each hour Macrobius saith by Hercules the driver a way of evils is meant the Sun whence Porphyry interprets those twelve labours of his so often celebrated by the Poets to be the twelve Signs of the Zodiack yearly run thorow by the Sun The Philosophers have ascribed certain intelligences to the Orbs to move them but there is no warrant for it in Scripture they say the Orbs move regularly which cannot be without some understanding mover there is the same order in inferiour creatures and that which worketh by nature worketh equally alwaies Archimedes the great Mathematician did make Sphaeram automatam a Sphere to move it self which many yet imitate Poterit ergo sine angelis movere sphaeram suam homo non poterit Deus saith Ludovicus Vives Vossius also denies it Lastly the use of it is admirable the motion of the heavenly bodies is the cause of generation and corruption here below if they should cease moving the being of sublunary bodies would cease The inferiour heavens are fitted for the generation of Meteors Rain Snow Thunder Lightning by their fit distance as it were from the Earth and Stars Here is room for the making and shewing of them all The lower part of it also by reason of its thinnesse and subtilty is fit for the flying of Birds and for the breathing and the living of
and praise him Gods great works call for great praise Commend him with our tongues and speak good of his Name Psal. 19. 2. The Heavens declare the glory of God i. e. give occasion to man of declaring it 5. This is a comfort to those who acknowledge God to be such a one as he is Is not he rich enough to maintain them Wise enough to direct them Strong enough to protect them If thou want goodness he can create in thee a new heart it may comfort the godly in regard of the Resurrection God can raise them up at the last day 6. It is a great terror to the wicked which do not fear but despise him God will hate despise and destroy them God can do it he made Heaven and Earth and he will do it because he is true he hath threatned it Oh the misery of that man which hath him for his enemy 7. We may learn from all the creatures in general 1. To bewail our Rebellion against God which all of them reprove for they all stand in their kinde and station in which God set them at first The Sunne rejoyceth to runne his course the Sea keepeth her bounds the Earth stands upon her foundation the Heavens keep their motion and declare Gods glory the very Windes and Seas obey him 2. All of them teach the invisible things of God Rom. 1. 20. as was before-shewed 8. We should make a right use of the creatures use them 1. Devoutly 1 Tim. 4. 5. in Faith Rom. 14. 14. ult with Prayer and Thanksgiving Mat. 15. 36. Act. 27 35. 2. Soberly 1 Cor. 10. 31. 3. Thankfully 1 Tim. 4. 4. Having handled the works of Creation in general I now proceed according to Moses his Method to a more particular enarration of each dayes work The whole first Chapter of Genesis may be thus divided 1. The Author of the worlds Creation God 2. The Work 3. The Approbation of it Verse 1. In the beginning of time or being therefore the World was not eternal Iohn begins so and took it hence But beginning there may mean from Eternity or as here Christ did not begin then but was then Prov. 8. 22. Bara Elohim Gods Created That difference between the Noun Plural and Verb Singular saith Rivet signifieth not the mystery of the Trinity but is an Idiotism of the Hebrew Tongue in which such Enallages are frequent as Numb 32. 25. Most of our men take the joyning of a Singular Verb with the Plural Elohim for a mystical expressing the holy Trinity But the Jewish Grammarians make it an Enallage of number chiefly to expresse excellency in the Persons to whom it is refer'd Mr Seldens Titles of Honour part 1. chap. 6. However there is no difference in the thing it self for the Name of Gods being taken here essentially not personally is common to the three Persons Gods created is as much as the Father the Sonne and holy Ghost created for elsewhere it is manifest from Scripture that not only the Father but the Sonne and holy Ghost also created the world Created signifieth an act of infinite power and is not communicable to any creature i. Ex nihilo fecit quidem potentissimè ac magnificentissimè Junius Heaven and Earth In the first day were created Heaven and Earth as it were the foundation and roof of the building Psal. 104. 5. Isa. 40. 21 22. The work of the first day was 1. Heaven under which name are comprehended partly the Empyraean first and immovable Heaven which is called in Scripture the third Heaven and Heaven of Heavens Ephes. 4. 10. 2 Chron. 6. 18. Acts 1. 11. and partly the celestial Spheres which it is probable were made the first day but without those lights of the Stars with which at length in the fourth day they were adorned the Hebrew word for Heaven being of the Dual number may imply both The heavenly Intelligences or Angels the Inhabitants of the invisible Heaven were then made as is probable saith Chemnitius Coelum id est extimum illum hujus universitatis ambitum cum super coelestibus incolis illius spiritualibus formis atque intelligentiis Gen. 2. 1. Job 38. 7. Iunius in loc 2. The four first simple things or elements as some think Earth Water Air Fire and the fitting of them for use by making day and night Though others hold that the Air and Fire are comprehended under Firmament the work of the second day For the Earth there is He emphatical this Earth which we dwell in though then unpolished The Earth is described in the second verse It was without form and void Informity and Vacuity in the original without inhabitants and without ornament the Earth and Waters were joyned together among themselves the waters at first did encompasse and cover the Earth round about as it were a cloathing and garment Psal. 104. 6. Darknesse was on the face of the deep that is the waters which inclosed the earth in themselves Vers. 3. There is an extraordinary Light mentioned the ordinary fountain of light is the Sunne which in what subject it did inhere is not certain Some say water in the thinner parts of the Superficies some the heavenly Spheres others say the Element of fire for that say they is either included under light or we know not whether to referre it and God created not accidents without subjects The works of the second day were twofold First That most vast firmament viz. that space between the Earth and Skie The Hebrew word signifieth the extending of any thing or the thing it self Secondly The division of the waters above from the Waters below that is of the clouds which are in the middle Region of the Air from the Fountains Rivers and Sea which remain under the lowest Region But by the name of Clouds and Waters above the Firmament we may understand all the Meteors both watery and fiery which were created then in their causes Ier. 10. 13. The approbation given of other dayes is here omitted in the Hebrew not because Hell was created on this day as the Hebrews say but because this work of distinguishing the waters was yet imperfect and finished on the third day The work of the third day was threefold First The conflux or gathering of the waters below into one place in regard of the greater part of them called Sea that so they might not overflow the Earth and by this command of Gods they still continue so Luther said well that all a mans life upon the Earth is as great a miracle as the Israelites passing thorow the red Sea Secondly The drying of the earth to make it habitable and fit for nourishing plants and living creatures Thirdly The producing of Herbs and Trees of all kindes The works of the fourth day were the Lights both greater as Sun and Moon and lesser as the other Stars placed in the Heavens as certain receptacles or vessels wherein the
man and beast and it is fitted to be enlightned by the Sun-beams and to receive that illumination and heat without which the Creatures here below could not subsist and the stars chiefly the Sun are placed at a convenient distance and it is sitted for the swift motion of the heavenly bodies in regard of its rarity and subtilnesse which if it were thick and grosse could not have so speedy a passage through or about the same especially the highest heavens are fitted for the in habitation of those immortal persons some of which do and others shall inhabit a being so spacious bright and every way glorious that the multitude of those happy persons may have space enough to see the beauty of God The Philosophers divide the Region of the world into two Regions the Celestial and Elementary Region The Celestial they divide into divers Orbs or Globes for the Heaven of heavens sedes Beatorum the seat of the blessed Saints and Angels they had little knowledge of if any at all The first moveable as they termed it the highest Orbe by the unspeakable swift circumrotation of which they thought all the other Orbes were carried from East to West in the space of 24 hours This is the tenth Globe or Orbe the next they call the Chrystalline or watery Orb because it is clear bright and apt to shine through as water The next is the Starry heaven which hath eight Spheares one for the fixed Stars and seven other for the Planets each Planet having as they say his distinct Orbe Saturne is the uppermost next Iupiter then Mars in the middest the Sun then Venus next Mercury the last and lowest of all is the Moon So is the division of the heavenly Region the Elementary they divide into the region of fire next to the Moon and of aire next to that and that they distinguish into three Regions the highest middle and lowest then that of the Water and Earth compounded together so they But now the Scriptures divide the World into two parts Heaven and Earth as you reade in the first words of the Bible In the beginning God made Heaven and Earth By Earth it meaneth this Globe of Earth and Water where Men Beasts and Fishes are By Heaven all the space from the Earth upward and of this Heaven it maketh three parts 1. The highest Heaven the Heaven of Heavens 1 Kings 8. 27. the habitation of God himself and all his Saints and Angels Iohn 14. where God reveals his glorious presence to them for ever This is called by Paul the third Heaven 2 Cor. 12. 4. for its scituation above the Aire and Skie both which have the name of Heaven and Paradise 2 Cor. 12. 4. because the earthly Paradise was a figure of it and because it is a place of endlesse joy and pleasure 2. The Starry Skie where the Stars are it is described ie Iob to be firm as a molten Looking-glasse 3. The lower Heavens all that place above our heads to the Starry Heaven Hence the clouds are called the clouds of Heaven and the Fowls of Heaven and Birds are said to flie in the face of the Heavens Every one is to fall out with himself and blame himself for slighting and neglecting the consideration of this work that offers it self so constantly to our eyes even this so curiously wrought Curtain which God hath spread forth especially let us blame our selves for not seeing God in the workmanship of heaven that we take not notice of him as the Author of it and raise our hearts higher then the heavens to him that measures them forth as with a Span we should beleeve that he is so Great Good and Wise as this Heaven proclaimeth him the Maker thereof to be Let us see and bewaile this blindnesse there is no place in the earth which hath not the Heavens spread over it Oh that we could put our selves in minde of him that did spread out the Heavens and remember that be sees us every where for where any work of his is to be seen surely there is himself to be seen and there he sees all things that are there especially let us learn to presle this knowledge upon our will and affections that it may be get in us obedience love fear joy considence and other holy vertues without which all talking yea and thinking of God is idle and fruitlesse Let us presse our selves to become subject to him who hath the heavens at command because he made them to love him that hath formed for our use so excellent an house so richly vaulted above see the invisible things of him that made all in these things which you behold thy conversation should be there where Christ is Col. 3. There is thy Fathers house thine own Country thy inheritance It is a great deale of comfort to Gods people that have such a Father who can so easily stretch out Heaven trust in him for house-room that can build a world with so much ease For the Angels because I intend to speak more largely of them afterwards I shall here only answer one question about them Why are they not spoken of in the Creation where man and beasts are mentioned and why is not the special day named wherein they were made Answ. Not so much for fear the Jews a people prone to Idolatry should have worshipped them for then by the same reason Moses should have forborn to have mentioned them in the whole story of Genesis which was publisht at the same time and to the same people that the first part of it but it may be to give us to understand that God did not use any of their help in the Creation and had no need of them at all but made the whole world without them or because he relates the making of sensible things only but that they were created appears Col. 1. 16. The Scripture hath not so clearly expressed the precise time and day of their Creation therefore Ambrose and Danaeus confesse that they know not when they were created But it is probable they were made with the highest Heaven the first day of the week As man was then first made after his habitation the earth was made and adorned so it is probable that the Angels were made together in a great multitude after the Heavens their habitation was finished Chemnit in loc commun Gen. 2. 1. The heavens and all the host of them It is plain from Iob 38. 7. that they were made before the Earth When God laid the foundations of the earth and laid the Corner stone thereof then the Sons of God that is the Angels Iob 17. shouted for joy An Element is that whereof any thing is compounded and it self uncompounded Each element is superiour to other not more in place then dignity The dry land is called earth which is a firm cold and dry Element round and heavie hanging unmoveably in the midst of the world fit for habitation
parts of the world that they will suffer any crossing of their own particular natures rather then not maintain the general course of nature in the close joyning together of things for if they might be sundred one from another at length the whole must needs be quite out of frame and a general confusion would follow We must even chide and reprove our selves for our extream stupidity that are so little if ever a whit affected with this work so great in it self and so behoveful for our very life and being How are we daily and hourly preserved from the swelling waves how comes it that in all this length of time the Sea hath not broken in upon us and over-topped the earth We do not tell our selves of our debt to God for commanding the waves not to be so bold as to drown us It may exhort us to fear him that hath appointed the Sands for a bound of the Sea and will not let the waves prevail over us for all their tossing and tumbling He is of great power and can over-rule so furious an Element and fear not though the waters roar and though the Mountains were cast into the midst of the Sea This commends unto us Gods greatness who doth so infinitely surpasse the Seas greatness and who hath made so much water for it and it a place for so much water Let us think of it in particular and dwell a little upon it that we may also know our nothingness What a great thing is the Sea in it self considered What is this Island in comparison of the Sea and yet we call it Great Britain It must needs be greater then the earth for the waters did round about involve and encompasse the Earth what then is the whole Globe of Earth and Water and yet that whole Globe is a thing of nothing in comparison of Heaven and yet all that is nothing in comparison of God Oh how great is he and how much to be admired Great not in quantity and extension of dimensions but in perfection of Essence How great is he that is beyond Earth Sea and World and all more then these are beyond Nothing And let us a little compare our selves with this great and wide Sea The Sea is but part of this Globe yet hath in it water enough to drown all the men that are in the world if either it were suffered to overflow as once at Noah's floud or else they were cast into it so that all men are but a small trifling thing in comparison of this Sea and then What am I must every one say to himself and what compared to God the maker of the wide Sea and this wide world Oh how nothing is man am I my self among other men and why am not I humble before God Why do I not cast down and abase my self in his presence and carry my self to him as becometh so poor mean and small a creature to so infinite and great a Creator Let us morally use the things we see else the natural knowledge will do us no good at all We may see in the Sea a Map of the misery of mans life it ebbeth and floweth seldom is quiet but after a little calm a tempest ariseth suddenly So must I look for storms upon the Sea of so troublesom a world For the great work of Navigation and so of transportation of things by Sea and for the fitnesse of the Sea to that use we must praise God every man hath the benefit of it By vertue of it we have Pepper Cloves and Mace Figs and Raisms Sack and Wines of all sorts Silks and Velvets and all the Commodities of other Kingdoms distant a thousand of miles from us and by this they have from us such Commodities as our Land affords above theirs There is no art which helps more to enrich a Nation and to furnish it with things for State pomp and delight And yet how is it abused by Mariners who behold Gods wonders in the deep being the worst of men and never good but in a storm and when that is gone as bad or worse then ever The materials of a Ship are wonderful First It is made of the strongest and durablest Wood the Oake and Cedar Now it is a strange work of God to make such a great Tree out of the Earth Secondly The Nails in it are made of Iron that the pieces may be closely compacted Thirdly Tarre and Pitch to stop every crevise that no water or air might enter this they learned of God himself who bid Noah to plaister the Ark within and without with pitch Fourthly Cords made of Flax a multitude of strange things concurre to this work What pity is it that Souldiers and Mariners as was said who are so subject to dangers and have such frequent experience of Gods goodness and mercy to them in their preservation should generally be so prophane and forgetful of God For the Souldier it is an old saying Nulla fides pictasque viris qui castra sequuntur And for the Mariner Nautarum vota is grown into a Proverb In the third dayes work were likewise created Grasse Herbs Plants and Trees The first is Grasse or green Herb which is that which of it self springs up without setting or sowing 2. Herb bearing seed that is all Herbs which are set or sown and encrease by mans industry The third Trees and Plants which are of a woody substance which bear fruit and have their seed which turns to fruit in themselves God by his powerful word without any help of mans tillage rain or Sunne did make them immediately out of the Earth and every one perfect in their kind Grasse and Herbs with Flowers and Seeds and Trees with large bodies branches leaves and fruits growing up suddenly as it were in a moment by Gods word and power The great power of God appears in this He is able to work above nature without means the fruitfulnesse of the Earth stands not in the labour of the Husbandman but in the blessing of God He also caused the Earth to yeeld nourishment for such divers Herbs and Plants yea Herbs of contrary quality will grow and thrive close one by another when those which are of a nearer nature will not do so The Herb was given at first for mans use as well as beasts Gen. 1. 9. Psal. 104. 14. Herbs are one wonderful work of God The greatnesse of the work appeareth in these particulars 1. The Variety of the kinds of Herbs 2. The Variety of their Uses of their shapes and colours and manner of production and of their working and growth Some come forth without seed some have seed some grow in one place some in another some are for food some for medicine and some for both That out of the earth by the heat of one Sun with the moisture of one and the same water there should proceed such infinite variety of things so differing one from another is
forth a great multitude many hundreds as we may see in their spawn That God should give unto these things a power to multiply so very fast is wonderfull and it is agreeable to reason too for the fishes do more devour one another then the beasts do the greater being much more ravenous then any beast as being bigger and their stomacks by an Antiperistasis of the cold water more vehement in digesting They are said to be without number Psa. 104. 25. not simply but to us for we cannot tell the number of them though God which made them do know the particular number of them He can tell how many fishes there be in the Sea though to us they exceed the power of counting yet he hath the precise and exact number of them We know not the kindes of fishes how much lesse the particulars There be saith Pliny of fishes and other creatures living in the Sea one hundred seventy and six severall and distinct kindes What Philosopher can tell how many Dolphins Herrings Whales Sword-fishes there be in the Sea A Crocodile equals eighteen cubits it comes from an Egge as bigge as that of a Goose Nec aliud animal ex minori origine in majorem crescit magnitudinem Pliny lib. 8. cap. 25. From so small a beginning it encreaseth to eight or ten yards in length Their bodies are not much longer then their tails which is of like use with them as the Proboscis is to the Elephant their mouths are very wide at one gulph able to swallow horse or man The name is taken a Croceo colore or per Antiphrasin quòd Crocum timeat The Ichneumon steals into his belly and gnaws his guts whilest he opens his chaps to let the little Troclill pick his teeth which give it feeding Herb. Trav. l. 3. The Echeneis Remora or stop-ship but half a foot long is able to stay the greatest Ship under sail Keckermannus humori frigido à remora fuso adscribere videtur qui aquam circa gubernaculum conglaciet in Disput. Physic. The Cramp-fish Torpedo is able to benumn and mortisie the arms of the lustiest and strongest Fishers that be by touching onely the end of any part of an angle-rod which they hold in their hands although they stand aloft and a great way from her hence it hath its name quod torpore manus afficiat because it benummeth the hands See Voss. de orig progres Idol l. 4. c. 11. both of the Remora and Torpedo The Naturalists tell us of one fish which they call the Uranoscope which hath but one eye and that in a verticall point on the top of the head directly upward by which it avoids all rocks and dangers There have been known Whales six hundred foot long and three hundred and sixty foot broad some like mountains and some like Islands God himself speaking of his own power over all the creatures rehearseth only two the Behemoth Job 40. 15. to the end that is the Elephant and the Leviathan Job 41. per tot that is the Whale this being the greatest among the Fishes as that among the Beasts The Sword-fish hath a beak or Bill sharp-pointed wherewith he will drive through the sides and planks of a Ship and bore them so that they shall sink withall The Dolphin is said to be a fish of such exceeding great swiftnesse as that oftentimes he out-strippeth a Ship under sail in the greatest ruffe and merriest winde in swiftnesse of course In this fish is propounded to us an example of charity and kinde affection toward our Children as Plinyb in his description of the nature of this fish sheweth and Aelianus l. 5. c. 18. As also of his singular love toward man whereof Aelianus produceth strange examples It may seem strange that it should please the Pope to forbid flesh to men rather then fish that is the lesse dainty and luxurious before the more for what is by some alledged that the curse fell upon the earth and not the Seas is fondly affirmed seeing when it is said cursed be the earth by earth is meant the whole globe of the earth consisting of Sea and dry Land Some fishes are exceeding small and for their smalnesse and workmanship bestowed upon them admirable In the Sea the Cockles a little kinde of shell-fish yet in its kinde very artificiall somewhat resembling a Cre-fish which are dainties for rich men Those little and small things are made with so many joynts and parts and turnings such a proportion and shape and every thing so exact and suitable as would stir up astonishment in any beholder Gods power is likewise seen in the greatnesse of some fishes as the Whale some of which are 80. yards long their eyes are as big as an hogshead and their mouth so wide that a man sitting on horseback might be held in it God hath created the Fowls of Heaven among other creatures Psa. 104. 12. Gen. 1. 20 21. The things wherein the Fowls differ from other creatures are 1. That they be winged having feathers and wings by which they are covered and by which they do passe through the air and the place wherein they fly viz. in the open firmament in this lower heaven Their creation is wonderfull in divers respects 1. Their making is wonderfull far differing from that of beasts fishes and men 2. They have great variety of kindes some wilde some tame some great some little some Sea or water birds some land birds 3. Their manner of breeding they lay egges and hatch them and out of a kinde of confused substance that to us seems void of life by the heat of their bodies they doe bring forth their young naked at first which after by the same cherishing of warmth do bring forth feathers to cover them Many of them are so beautifully adorned with their feathers for colour and are so glorious as a man cannot but look upon them with wondring and delight for where doth nature shew more variety and a pleasinger composition of colours then in Doves neck a Peacocks tail and some other like Birds 4. For their swiftnesse of flying that they can with such celerity passe through the air 5. They are many waies serviceable to many they are a dainty food for weak stomacks they pull up many kindes of worms and vermine that else would be harmfull to us Fowls or Birds are more worthy then Fishes because they do more participate of air and fire the two noblest Elements then of water and earth All birds are mastered under the name of Fowls as under their Genus There are examples of vertues in the fowls propounded for us to imitate and of vices for us to shun In the Phaenix an example of the Resurrection in the Stork of loving affection In the Dove of innocency and conjugall faith in the Crows and Estridges of unnaturalnesse We should imitate the Storke Crane ond Swallow in acknowledging the seasonable time of our
indeed it was in some respect a false notion for they conceived them to be a certain kinde of petty Gods and did perform worship unto them the evil angels beguiling them and if there be evil angels there must needs be likewise good The Angels are diversly called in Scripture Spirits Psal. 104. 4. to express their nature and Angels to express their Office as Messengers sent from God They are called Sons of God Job 1. 6. 38 7. Yea Elohim Gods Psal. 8. Cherubims Gen. 3. 24. Ezek. 10. 1. from the form they appeared in viz. like youths Caph is a particle of similitude and Rabiah signifies a young man in Chaldee witness R. David But Ludov. de Dien in his Animadversions upon Mr. Medes Clavis Apocalyptica saith Hoc est puerile frivolum Seraphim Isa. 6. 2. Burning quasi accensi ardore justitiae divinae they execute those things which God commands when he sits in the Throne of his justice and according to it judgeth mankinde Not from their burning love toward God as some imagine Watchmen or the watchfull ones Dan. 4. 10. 13. being in heaven as a watch-tower and keeping the world Starres of the morning Job 38. 7. from their brightness of nature A flaming fire Psal. 104. 4. because God useth their help to destroy the wicked In the New Testament they are called Principalities for their excellency of nature and estate and Powers for their wonderfull force Reasons why God made Angels The will and power of God therefore they are because God saw it fit to make them yet two reasons may be rendred of this work 1. God saw it â—it to raise up our thoughts from meaner to more excellent creatures till we came to him First things say some were made which had no life then living things without fense as plants and trees then sensible then reasonable 2. It was convenient that every part and place of the world should be fill'd with inhabitants fit for the same as the air with birds the earth with beasts and men the sea with fishes and the heavens which we behold with stars and the highest Heavens with Angels God is the maker of Angels These glorious Creatures which shall have no end had a beginning as well as the silliest beast bird or fish and they are equally beholding nay more because they have received more excellent endowments unto God for their Being with the silliest worm And though Moses mentions not in particular either the act of creating them or the time yet St Paul saith that By him were all things made visible and invisible and it is evident by discourse of reason that the Angels were made by God That is too bold an assertion of Mr. Hobbes his in his Leviathan part 3. c. 34 Concerning the creation of Angels there is nothing delivered in the Scriptures See more there What can be meant but the Angels by Thrones and the words following Col. 1. 16. Vide Grotium in loc For either they must be made by God or some other maker or else they must be eternal for whatsoever is not made by some maker cannot be made at all and whatsoever is not at all made is eternal Now if the Angels were eternal then were they equal with God in self-being they might be called self-subsisting essences and so should be equal with God standing in no more need of him then he of them owing no more service homage and praise to him then he oweth to them and so they were Gods as well as he and then we should have multitude of Gods not only one God and so should not God be the first and best Essence there being so many others beside him as Good and Omniscient as he wherefore they must be made by some Maker because they cannot be Eternal and if made then either by themselves or some other thing besides themselves not by themselves because that implies an absolute contradiction and if by some other thing then by a better or worse thing not by a more mean for the lesse perfect cannot give being to a more perfect thing for then it should communicate more to the effect then it hath in it self any way which is impossible that any efficient cause should do not by any better thing then themselves for excepting the Divine Majesty which is the first and best there is no better thing then the Angels save the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ which could not be the Maker of them because they were created some thousands of years before the humanity was formed in the Virgins womb or united to the second person in Trinity We are not able to conceive of their Essence they are simple incorporeal Spiritual substances therefore incorruptible An Angel is a Spiritual created compleat substance indued with an understanding and will and excellent power of working An Angel is a substance 1. Spiritual that is void of all corporeal and sensible matter whence in Scripture Angels are called Spirits Psal. 104. 4. Heb. 1. 14. Therefore the bodies in which either good or evil Angels appeared were not natural to them but only assumed for a time and laid by when they pleased as a man doth his garments not substantial but aerial bodies they were not Essentially or personally but only locally united to them so that the body was moved but not quickned by them The Hebrew Greek and Latine words for Spirit signifie breath there is no more subtill being that we are acquainted with then breath being condensed by the cold indeed it may be seen The Angels good and bad are Spirits because 1. They are immaterial and incorporeal 2. Invisible 1 Tim. 1. 16. That was a foolish fancy of the disciples Luke 24. 37. If Christ had been a Spirit he could not have been seen 3. Impalpable Luke 24. 37. compared with vers 39. 4. Incorruptible and immortal they end not of themselves and no creature can destroy them God alone hath immortality 1 Tim. 6. 16. Origine in himself so as to communicate it to others 5. They are intellectual beings all understanding 6. Their spirituality appears in the subtilty of their moving It is a question whether they do transire ab extremo ad extremum without going through the middle parts yet they â—ove like lightening 7. In respect of their strength and power there is a great deal oâ—â—orce in a natural spirit extracted Isa. 31. 3. 2. Created By which name he is distinguished from the Creator who is an infinite Spirit Iohn 4. 24. Nihil de Deo creaturis univocè dicitur 3. Compleat By which an Angel is distinguished from the reasonable soul of man which also is a spiritual substance but incompleat because it is the essential part of man 4. Indued with 1. An understanding by which an Angel knoweth God and his works 2. A will by which he desireth or refuseth the things understood 3. An excellent power of working by which he effects what the
will commands this is great in them Psalm 103. 20. See 2 Kings 19. 35. The Angels are most excellent creatures when the highest praise is given of any thing it is taken from the excellency of Angels Psal. 78. 25. 1 Cor. 13. 1. They are called holy Angels Luke 9. 26. Mark 8. 36. therefore they are cloathed with linen Dan. 11. 4. to signifie their purity and are called Angels of light 2 Cor. 12 14. to note the purity wherein they were created All the individual Angels were made at once and as God made Adam perfect at the first so they were made of a perfect constitution They have all our faculties save such as be badges of our weakness They have no body therefore not the faculties of generation nutrition augmentation They have reason conscience will can understand as much as we do and better too they have a will whereby they can refuse evil and chuse good a conscience reasonable affections though not such as depend upon the body They are endowed with excellent abilities know more of God themselves us and other things then we do love God themselves and men are obedient to God The good Angels obey God 1. Universally in all things Psalm 103. 20. 2. Freely and readily make hast to do what he would have done therefore they are said to have Harps Revel 15. 2 as a sign of their chearfull minde 3. With all their might They serve God with diligence and sedulity therefore they are said to have wings to fly 4. Constantly Rev. 7. 15. 14 4. They have incredible strength and therefore by an excellency they are called Strong in strength Psal. 103. 20. Angels of the power of the Lord Iesus 2 Thes. 1. 7. Powers Ephes. 3. 10. Col. 2. 10. One Angel is able to destroy all the men beasts birds and fishes and all the creatures in the world and to overturn the whole course of nature if God should permit it to drown the earth again and make the waters overflow it to pu◠the Sun Moon and Starres out of their places and make all a Chaos Therefore we reade of wonderfull things done by them they stopt the mouths of Lions that they could not touch Daniel they quencht the violence of the fire that it could not touch so much as a hair of the three Childrens heads nor a threed of their garments they made Peters chains in an instant fall from his hands and feet they can move and stir the earth say the Schoolmen as appears Matth. 28. 2. The Angels shook the foundation of the Prison where Paul and Silas lay and caused the doors to fly open and every mans bands to fall from him They destroyed the first born of Aegypt Sodom and Gomorrah One Angel slew in one night in the host of Senacherib an hundred fourscore and five thousand men Reas. Their nature in respect of bodily things is wholly active not passive they are of a spiritual nature what great things can a whirl-winde or flash of lightning do They are swift and of great agility they have no bodies therefore fill not up any place neither is there any resistance to them they move with a most quick motion they can be where they will they move like the winde irresistibly and easily without molestation and in an unperceivable time they move more swiftly then the Sun can dispatch that space in as few minutes which the Sun doth in twenty four hours They have admirable wisdom 1 Sam. 18. 14. 14. 20. The knowledge of the good Angels is increased since their Creation for besides their natural knowledge they know many things by revelation Dan. 9. 22 23. Matth. 1. 20. Luke 1. 30. either immediatly from God or from his Word Ephes. 3. 9 10. 1 Pet. 1. 12. Luke 15. 18. by experience and conjecture Ephes. 3. 10. So perfectly knowing are they as that the very Heathen Philosophers have stiled them by the name of Intelligences as if their very being were made up of understanding How an Angel doth understand is much disputed their understanding is not infinite they know not all things Mar. 13. Of that day the Angels know not Again they cannot know future contingent things any further then God reveals these things to them neither can they know the secrets of mans heart 1 Kings 8. 39. Psal. 7. 10. for that is proper to the Lord alone They are said indeed to rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner but that is no further then their inward conversion puts it self forth into outward actions They do not know the number of the Elect nor the nature of spiritual desertions the manner of mortifying sin unless by the Church and Ministry of the word So again for the manner of their knowledge That of the Schools about their morning and evening knowledge is vain but it is plain they know discursivè as well as intuitivè though some say they are creaturae intelligentes but not ratiocinantes There are three degrees of their knowledge say the Schoolmen 1. Naturall which they had from the Creation Iohn 8. 4. Some abode in the truth others fell from it 2. Revealed 1 Pet. 1. 12. Ephes. 3. 10. The Greek word signifies to look into it narrowly Piscaetor thinks it hath reference to the Cherubims who did turn their faces to the propitiatory which was a type of Christ. 3. Experimental which they have by the observation of those things which are done among us so they know the repentance of the godly Luke 16. 10. 2. The will of Angels is to be considered Will in the good Angels is that whereby they desire good things known and forsake evil The Angels would never have sinned if they had not been voluntary for although the good Angels be now so confirmed in holiness that they can will nothing but good yet that hinders not liberty no more then it doth in God or Christ himself to be a free Agent is a perfection to sin is a defect and ariseth not from the liberty but the mutability of the will 3. Their motion and place That they are in a place is plain by Scripture which witnesseth that they are sometimes in heaven and sometime on earth as their service and office doth require They are not in a place as bodies are they are not circumscribed by place for a legion of devils was in one man Luke 8. 30. They are so here that they are not there and therefore one Angel cannot be in many places although many Angels may be in the same place and they move not in an instant though they move speedily They continue in the highest heavens unless they be sent thence by the Lord to do something appointed by him where being freed from all distractions and humane necessities they behold the glorious presence of God their understanding and will being pitcht upon him Mat. 18. 10. 22. 30. Ps. 68. 1. Luk. 2. 13. 4. Their society and communion for it
that Petition and so when evils are praied against their causes occasions and events are praied against 5. What we pray for we ask not for our selves alone but for others specially our brethren in the faith There be three parts say some of the Lords Praier the Preface the Praier it self and the Conclusion Others say two the Preface and the Praier it self consisting of Petitions and the conclusion containing a confirmation of our faith joyned with the praising of God and also a testification both of our faith and the truth of our desire in the word Amen The Preface is laid down in these words Our Father which art in heaven The Petitions are six in number all which may be reduced unto two heads 1. Gods glory 2. Mans good The three first Petitions aim at Gods glory as this Particle Thy having relation to God sheweth The three last Petitions aim at mans good as these Particles Our Us having relation to man imply Of those Petitions which aim at Gods glory The first desireth the thing it self Hallowed be thy name The second the means of effecting it Thy Kingdome come The third the manifestation of it Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Of those that aim at mans good the first desireth his temporal good Give us this day our daily bread The two last his spiritual good and that in his Justification Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us 2. In his Sanctification And leade us not into temptation but deliver us from evil In the Conclusion or form of praise three things are acknowledged 1. Gods Soveraignty Thine is the Kingdome 2. Gods Omnipotency And the Power 3. Gods Excellency And the Glory All these are amplified by the perpetuity of them For ever which noteth out Gods Eternity The entrance or preparation to the praier contains such a description of God as is meet for us whensoever we addresse our selves to praier to have him in our hearts Christ leads us here to direct our Petitions in the terms of affection faith and fear in the terms of affection while we call God Father in the terms of faith whilst we call him our Father and by faith make him to be ours in Christ Jesus and in the terms of fear whilst we acknowledge his power in heaven and earth M. Wischart on the L. P. The Preface containeth a description of God to whom we pray taken 1. From his relation to us that he is Our Father 2. From the place where his Majesty principally appears that he is in heaven The former signifying especially his love the other his power the one his goodnesse the other his greatnesse therefore he is both able and willing to grant our requests A due consideration of these both together is a special means to preserve in us both confidence and reverence Our Father Father is taken 1. Personally My Father is greater then I. 2. Essentially so here God is a Father to us only in Christ and in him only w◠are adopted and born again Ephes. 1. 5. Iohn 1. 12. Gal. 4. 4 5. Adoption is an act of the free grace of God the Father upon a believer accounting him a Sonne through the Sonship of Christ. All by nature are strangers and enemies to God have lost their Sonship Adoption is to take a stranger and make him his Son Extranei in locum liberorum samuntur saith the civil Law 2. It is an act of the free grace of God the Father none but he hath power to adopt Ephes. 1. 5. 1 Iohn 3. 1. Men adopt because they want a posterity God had a natural Sonne and the Angels which never sinned were his Sonnes by Creation 3. An act of God upon a believer none are adopted but believers Iohn 1. 12. Gal. 3. 26. till then we are enemies to God 4. The nature of Adoption lies in accounting a man Sonne and that by God 1 Iohn 3. 10. 5. Through the Sonship of Christ imputing Christs righteousnesse to us makes us righteous God accounts you also sons through Christ he gives you the priviledge of sons Iohn 1. 12. It is lawful and sometime profitable for a childe of God to say in his praier My Father to declare his particular confidence not his singular filiation yet it never ought to be so used exclusively in respect of charity but we ought usually to call upon God as our Father in common In secret praier which a man makes by himself alone he may say My Father or my God but not in publick or with others yet in secret praier there must be that love and affection toward others which must be expressed in publick and with others If God be your Father know your priviledges and know your duty 1. Know your priviledges a Father is full of pity and compassion Psal. 103. 13. a Father is apt to forgive and passe by offences Father forgive them said Christ Matth. 6. 14. a Father is kinde and tender good and helpfull you may then expect provision protection Matth. 6. 32. an inheritance from him Luke 12. 32. As he gave his Sonne in pretium for a price so he reserveth himself in praemium for a reward Tam Pater nemo tam pius nemo saith Tertullian Gods love towards us is so much greater then the love of earthly parents as his goodnesse and mercy is greater Isa. 49. 15. 63. 15. Psal. 27. 10. Luke 11. 13. 2. Know your duty Where is the filial disposition you expresse towards him do nothing but what becomes a childe of such a Father Rules to know whether I am the childe of God or have received the Spirit of Adoption First Where ever the spirit of Adoption is he is the spirit of Sanctification 1 Iohn 3. 8 9 10. Secondly Where the spirit of Adoption is there is liberty 2 Corinth 3. 17. Psal. 51. 12. Thirdly The same Spirit that is a Spirit of Adoption is a Spirit of Supplication Rom. 8. 15. Fourthly This works in that mans soul a childe-like disposition makes one tender of his Fathers honour willing to love and obey him Fifthly It raiseth up a mans heart to expect the full accomplishment of his Adoption Acts 3. 19. 1 Iohn 3. 16. Rom. 8. 32. He desires to partake of the inheritance to which he is adopted Heaven is a purchase in reference to the price Christ hath paid an inheritance in reference to his Sonship Isa. 63. 15. Which art in Heaven In Heaven sets forth his Greatnesse Psal. 12. 4. Gods Being Majesty Glory Ioh 4. 19. Heaven is all that space which is above the earth of which there are three parts Coelum Aëreum Gen. 1. 8. Aethereum Gen. 1. 14. Empyreum Acts 3. 21. The first Air in which are the Birds Fowls of Heaven The second is that Heaven wherein the Stars are which are called the hoast of Heaven The third is the seat of the blessed and throne of God called
19. and Psal. 19. beg seem to prove it Cardinal Perron having in an excellent Oration before Henry the 3 King of France proved that there was a God and his Auditory applauding him he offered if it pleased the King the next day to prove the contrary whence saith Voetius de Atheismo He was commanded to depart the Court Because saith Vedelius in his Rationale Theologicum l. 1. c. 3. He favoured that opinion of not admitting the principles of reason in arguments of faith Hence it was easie for him from that foundation to plead for Atheisin since it is impossible to prove that there is a God without the principles of Reason Principles can onely be demonstrated testimonis effectis absurdis shewing the absurdities that will else follow There are two kindes of Demonstrations or proofs 1. A demonstrating of the effects by their causes which is a proof à priori Principles cannot be demonstrated à causa and à priori because they have no superior cause 2. A demonstrating of causes by their effects which is a proof drawn à posteriori So principles may be demonstrated All principles being Prima and Notissimae of themselvâ—s are thereby made indemonstrable Vide Aquin. part 1. Quest. 2. Art 2. 3. Quod fit Deus c The weightiest Testimony that can be brought to prove there is a God is to produce the Testimony of God speaking in his word None other in the world can have equal authority Iohn 8. 13 14. Yet this Testimony is not allowed by the Atheists For as they deny that there is a God so they deny likewise that the Scripture is his word Atheomastix l. 1. c. 2. See Rom. 1. 20. Nulla gens tam effera ac barbara quae non cognoscat â—sse Deum Cicero de natura Deorum Epicurum ipsum quem nihil pudendum pudet tamen Deum negare pudet Mornaeus Numen esse aliquod sumitur à manifestissimo consensu omnium gentium apud quos ratio boni mores non planè extinctâ— sunt inducta feritate Grotius de rel Christ. l. 1. Inveniuntur qui sine regâ— sine lege vivunt qui sub dio degunt qui nudi ferarum instar sylvas oberrant avia quaerunt obvia depascuntur Qui religionis specie qui sacris qui numinis sensu planè carerent nulli inventi sunt nulli ctiammon inveniuntur Mornaeus de veritate Christianae relig c. 1. * The most pregnant and undeniable proof of the God-head with the Heathen was the voyce of conscience The Scripture sheweth that the wicked were much terrified in their consciences after the committing of hainous sins Rom. 2. 15. Isa. 57. 20 21. Mark 6. 14 16 So doth common experience teach in Murtherers Theeves and the like Richard the third after his murthers was full of horror and fear the night before he was slain he dreamed that the Devils were tormenting him Credo non erat somnium sed conscientia scelerum Polyd. Virgil. Wicked men may be without faith they cannot be without fear Isa. 33. 14. they are afraid after committing of sin though in secret because they know there is a Supreme Judge who can call them to account Psal. 53. 5 6. Quid resert veminâ—m scire si tu scias Vide Grot. de relig Christiana l. 1. * Acts 16. 25. and 12. 6. Psal. 3. 6. and 46. 1 2. Si fractus illabatur orbis impavidum ferient ruinae Horat. Every effect hath its cause whatsoever is wrought or done is wrought or done by some thing which hath ability and fitness to produce such an effect seeing nothing can do nothing and what hath not sufficiency to produce such and such effects cannot produce them Of whom there be works and effects he is of God there be works and effects therefore there is a God As God is to be felt sensibly in every mans conscicience so is he to be seen visibly in the Creation of the world and of all things therein contained Man the best of the Creatures here below was not able to raise up such a Roof as the Heavens nor such a floor as the earth Doctor Preston Iob 12. 9. Serviunt omnia omnibus uni omnia Mundi Creatio est Dei Scriptura cujus tria sunt folia Coelum terra mare The Sun Moon and Stars move regularly yea the Bee and Ant according to their own ends wonderfully The creatures which have no reason act rationally therefore some supreme reason orders them Finis in sagittâ— determinatur a Sagittante say the Schoolmen Vide Bellarm. de Gratia libero arbitrico l. 3. c. 15. Vos de â—â—ig Progres Idol l. 3. c. 31. The preserving and ordering of the world and humane societies in it the planting and defending of the Church A number of wheels in a Clock do work together to strike at set times not any one of them knowing the intention of the other therefore they are ordered and kept in order by the care of some wise person which knows the distance and frame of each and of the whole An Army of men could not meet together at one time and in one place to fight for or against one City if the wisdom of one General did not command over all A number of Letters cannot all fall orderly together to make perfect sense without some Composer Protogenes by the smalness of a line drawn in a Table knew Apelles the chiefest Artificer He that sees but the shape and effigies of man presently thinks of a Painter Nec terram propter se vel Sol calefacit vel nubes irrigat nec terra vel tepefacta à Sole vel madesacta à pluvia sui gratiâ herbas ac fructus producit sed propter muta animantia ac hominem imprimis qui mentis altae capax in â—oetera dominatur Non suo id confilio faciunt Alius igitur est qui dirigat universum Voss. de orig progres Idol l. 1. par 1. c. 1. Pulchra sunt omnia faciente te Et ecce tu inenarrabiliter Pulchrior qui fecisti omnia Aug. Confess l. 13. c. 20. Hic compoâ—o canticum in Creatoris nostri laâ—dem Sâ— Humani corporis admirabilem constructionem intus extráque conspicimus ut omnia ibi etiam minima suos usus habeant nullo studio nulla industria parentum arte verò tanta ut philosophorum ac medicorum praestantissimi nunquam eam satis possint admirari Ostendit hoc opificem naturâ— esse mentem excellentissimam Qua de re videri potest Galenus praesertim qua parte oculi manus usum examinat Grotius de relig Christ. l. 1. * Astrology is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the speech of stars Astronomy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the law of the stars The Sun is moved by another by whom he is tyed unto such a strict and unaltâ—rable morion that Astronomers can surely tell unto the very minute all the Eclipses that shall ever fall out so long as the world
proclive sit eludere quasi de re ipsa triumphata ex taltum argumentorum refutatione gloriari Rivetus in loc Vide Galatin de Arcanis Cathol verit l. 2. c. 9. Phaâ—us Vet. Test. Sect. 8. Capel Diatrib de nomine Elohim c. 7. 11. Non puto argumentum esse admodum solidâ—m Siquidem Scripturae consuctudo id habere videtur ut nomina illustrium personarum ponantur in numero multitudinis licet verba retineant numerum singularem Quam consuâ—tudinem nos Itali exparte imitamur dum viris gravibus non dicimus Tu sed Vos licet unum non multos â—lloquamur Bellarm. de Christo l. 2. c. 6. Vide plura ibid. Per Coelos intelligendum esse statuitur omne quod in Coelo supra lunam est per terram verò omne quod in terra infra lunam est ita ut hisce duobus comprehendatur Creatio universi mundi Menasseh Ben Israel Problem 25. de creatione Easdem habes voces Hebraicas Jer. 4. 23. Vide Heb. 11. 3 Picherellus in Cosmopoeiam Annot. It is questioned whether this light was spiritual or corporeal a Substance or Accident Vide Fulleri Misc. sac l 1. c 13 The out-spread thing Expansum in Latine Estendue in French c This made some hold that there were waters above the Skies as Brâ—ntias saith alledging that place Psal. 148. 4. The Schoolmen understand it of the crystalline Heaven d Mere. in Gen. Vide Voss. â—c orig progres Idol l. 2. c. 67. Eccles. 1. 7. Job 26. 10. 38. 13. Psal. 104. 9. Gen. 8. 22. Pallida luna pluit rubicunda stat alba serenat Rouge soir blanc matin Cest le plaisir du Pelerin Sâ—â—â— Plinies Nvtural Hist. lib. 18. cap. 35. See Iosephus and Luke 21. 25. c As at Christs Death which Eclipse Dionysius Areopagita a great Astronomer beholding and little knowing of Christs Death cryed out Aut Deus naturae patitur aut mundi machina dissolvetur f The Beasts of the earth are here distinguished into three ranks 1. Cattel that is all tame and domestical Beasts 2. Creeping things wherby are understood those which have no feet as Serpents or those which have but very short feet as Worms Ants. 3. Beasts whereby are understood all wilde Beasts which have their name from life in the Hebrew The Jewish Rabbins gather from Gen. 1. 27. that the first man was both Man and Woman both Male and Female an Hermophrodite Paget of Talmud Alleg. cap. 1. All Philosophy is in the first Chapter of Genesis Basil Ambrose Zanchy Plotinus have drawn Discourses of Philosophy hence Du Bartas hath most excellently described the Creation of the world in his Week Ronsard being asked what he thought of that Book answered wittily Mounsieur Du Bartas à plus fait en une Sepmaine que je n'ay fait en toute ma vie Bartas hath done more in one week then I have done in all my life g Among all Geometrical Figures the Sphaerical or the round is the most perfect amongst all natural bodies the heaven is the most excellent It was therefore good reason the most beautiful body should have the most perfect and exquisite shape Mr Pemble h The Earth it round but not precisely there are Hils like Warts and Vallies like Wrinkles in a mans body Exact roundnesse it not found in any body but the Heavens i How else could it contain the Sun Moon Stars in convenient distance from the Earth one from another Prov. 25. 3. The Philosophers think that the highest Heaven must be their Primum mobile because they finde no motion beyond it is not necessary that every heaven must move k Mr Greenhill on Ezek. pag. 104. l Bishop Hall in his Contemplations on the Creation Vide Vossium Orig. Progress Idol lib. 2. cap. 35. * Vide Fulleri Miscellanea lib. 1. cap. 15. Insita à Deo vis quae in Scripturis saepâ— appellatur praeceptum Domini est causa motus m Mr Greenhill ubi supra Philosophers say the Heavens work up on Inferiour bodies by three instruments viz. Lâ—â—ht Motion â—â—iluence The Ancients speak of the musick of the Sâ—heres caused as they conceived by their circumvolution audible as they affirmed but not heard or rather not discerned because we heard it alwaies Philo saith it is not audible to us men and the reason why God would not have it audible he faith is left men ravished with the sweetnesse of it should give over all care and thought of worldly affairs Casaub. Treatise of Use and Custome p. 53. 55. a Some say the Orbs are contiguous each to other and closely infold each other as the skins of an onyon contain one another and others think there is no such variety or multitude of Orbes but alone one first moveable in which they conceive the fixed stars to be placed and they think the planets move not in Orbes but of themselves as birds flie in the aire b It is called the Paradise of God Rev. 2. 7. c It is called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is altogether shining because of the great number of stars in it The Sanctum Sanctorum was laid within with gold a most glorious place and the type of Heaven Psal. 104. 2. There he alludes to Gen. 1. 6. Let there be a Firmament or stretching forth God made the heavens with as great ease as one can stretch out a curtain when it is folded up Anaxagoras â—um ab â—o quaererâ—tur â—ujus rei causa natus esset respondit Coeli ac Solis vâ—â—â—â—â—i Hanc voâ—â—m â—â—â—irantur omnes ac Philosopho dignam judâ—cant At ego hunc puto non invenientem quid responderet esfudisse hoc passim ne taccret quod quidem secum si sapiâ—us suisset commentatum meditatum habere debuit quia si quis rationem sui neseiat non homo sit quidem Sed putemus non â—o tempore dictum illud effusum Vidâ—amus in tribus verbis quot quanta peccaverit Primum quod omne hominis officium in solis oculiâ— posuit nihil ad mentem reserens sed ad corpus omnia c. Lactant. Divin Instit. l. 3. de falsa Sapientia Consectaries fâ—om the Angels Angelâ— non sunt praetermissi in illa prima rerunt creatione sed significantur nomine coeli aut etiam lucis Ideo autem vel praetermissi sunt vel nominibus rerum corporalium significati Quia Moses rudi populo loquebatur qui nondum capere poterat incorpoream naturam Et si els fuissâ—â— expressum aliquas res esse super omnem naturam corporcam fuisset eis occasio idololatriae ad quam proni erant à qua Moses â—os praecipuè revocare intendebat Aquin. prima parte Quaest. 61. Artic. 1. * Quia Moses ruditati se nostrae accommodare voluit ideo quae altiora nostro captu erant praetermissis â—a tantùm commemoravit quae
sub oculis sunt Zanchius de Symb. Apost Ego Mosen puto voluisse populo creationem rerum aspect abilium proponere nihil de invisibilibus dicerâ— unde in toto sex dicrum opere ne unius quidem invisibilis Creaturae mentionem fecit Mercerus in Gen. 1. 1. ideâ— habet in caput secundum versum primum idem habet Parâ—us Vide Menass Ben. Isr. Probl. 25. 26. de Creatione Vide Aquia Partem primam Quaest. 6â— Artic. 4. Gen. â— 1. Job 38. 7. See Sir Kenelm Digbies Treatise of Bodies ch 4. The German Erde and the English Earth as the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Base is the lowest part of a pillâ—r Nec circumfuso pendebat in acre tellus ponderibus librata suis. Ovid met Carpenter in his first book of Geog. ch 4. saith the earths circular motion is probable Copernicus said that the earth moved and the heavens stood still See more of this after about day and night And in Fullers Miscel Sac. l. 1. c. 15. At terram quae immota in perpetuum manet locum mutare incongruum puto rationi rectâ—e contrarium non moror ingeniosa Copernici commenta quae nervosè convellit Libert Fromondus in sua vesta ubi Copernici Galilei Kepleri Moestlivi Lanbergii Hortensii sophismata ad examen revocat suam terrae quietem restituit Barlow Exercit. 6. Aristotle would have Earth-quakes to proceed from a spirit or vapour included in the bowels of the earth 2d. of his meteors 7 ch which finding no way to passe out is enforced to turn back and barred any passage out seeks every corner and while it labours to break open some place for going forth it makes a tumultuous motion which is the Earth-quake It is 1. Universal which shakes the whole earth in every part at least in the upper face the cause whereof is not natural but the immediate and miraculous power of God such a one happened at our Saviours passion 2. Particular that which is limited to some one or more particular places What Thunder is in the clouds the Earthquakeis in the Earth Exod. 17. 6. Numb 20. â— 1 King 3. 16 â—0 * Aqua quasi â—qua of the equal and plain face and superficies thereof or as Lactantius quasi à qua â—ata sunt omnia because hence all things are bred and nourished Because waters are either without motion as in Lakes or of an uniform motion as in Rivers or divers as in the Sea the Heathen ascribed a Trident or threefold Scepter to Neptune their supposed Sea-God Purchas Pilgrimage l. 5. c. 13. sect 1. Lysimachuâ— in Plutarchs Apothegmes for great thirst yeelded up himself and his army and being captive when he drank said he O dâ—â— quam brevis voluptatis gratia â—e â—x râ—ge feci serâ—um The qualities and use of the Aire Act. 17. 28. Fire is a most subtil Element most light most hot most simple and immixt Therefore the Persians worshipped fire as a god The Chaldeans adored Ur and the Romans worshipped holy fire Vide Vossium de orig progres Idol l. 2. c. 64 65 66. Job 38. 19. 24. Bonaventure hath seven opinions de quidditate luminis it is an old saying Non constat ex lumine naturâ— quid sit natura luminis See Sir Walter Ralâ—gh's history of the world l. 1. c. 1. Sect. 7. If this light be not spiritual it approacheth nearest unto spirituality and if it have any corporality then of all other the most subtil and pure for as it is of all things seen the most beautiful and of swiftest motion so it is most necessary and beneficial Sir Walter Ralegh It is a great paradox to think light to be a body which yet is maintained by Sir Kenelme Digby in his Treatise of bodies But that light should be a spiritual substance is much more absurd for how then should it be visible Vide Aquin. partem primam Quaest. 66. Art 1 2 3. Consectaries The eye cannot see any thing without a double light Lumine innato an inward light in the Chrystalline humour of the eye 2. Lumine illato an outward light in the aire and on the object Gen. 1. 4 5. The day is in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gentle or tame because it is appointed for tame creatures or of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I desire because it is to be desired In Latine it is dies à Deo of God as a divine thing The night is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to strike as in latine nox à nocendo of hurting This incredible swiftnesse gave occasion to Câ—pernicus and others to conceive the globe of the earth did rather move and the Sun stand still See Dr. Hackwels Apologie and Carpenâ—ers Geography Some think there is a greater probability the earth should move round once a day then that the heavens should move with such an incredible swiftnesse scarce compatible to any natural body Others deny it grounding their opinion upon Scripture which affiâ—ms the earth to stand fast so as it cannot be moved and upon sense because we perceive it not to move and lastly upon reasons drawn from things hurled up and let fâ—ll upon the earth Mr. Pemble in his brief Introduction to Geography p. 12. Vide Wiâ—helmi Langi de Annis Christi l. 1. c. 2. The night easeth the burthen of the day and the day driveth away the terrour of the night Consectaries from day and night Night is the time of rest Sleep is the parenthesis of our troubles Psal. 104. 20. 21 22 23. Spiritual blindnesse Sol exprobrat dormientem Erasm. Esay 40. 5. The glory of the Lord that is Christ in the doctrine of the Gospel Shall be revealed that is made publick and openly known And all flesh shall see it that is men generally and universaliy in the far greater number and in a manner all the Nations Together at one and the self same time * Meteora à loco quia in sublimi regione pendent Brierwood There are three sorts of Meteors one of fire and hot the other of aiâ—e or water and cold the other mingled He sendeth snow like wooll Vapor est calidus humidus oriturque ex acre aqua exhalatio calida sicca oriturque ex igne terra Zab. a Like chesnuts or eggs breaking in the fire b Cum exhalatio Calida sicca in nubibus occurrit humidae frigidae illam violenta eruptione perrumpit atque ex hac collisione fragor oritur qui tonitru dicitur atque accenâ—io inflammatio exhalationis quae fulgur nominatur Arist l. 2. Meteor c. 2. 8. Job 37. 4. 1 Sam. 7. 10. 29 Psal. per tot 18. 13. A winters thunder is a summers wonder In Autumn or Spring are oftner meteors seen then in the summer and winter except in such places where the Summer and Winter are of the
Meteoris See Purchas his Pilgrimage l. 5 c. 13. Sect. 2. Vide Voss. de orig progres Idol l. 2. c. 6. * Lib. 7. cap. 13 a See Dr Iorden of Bathes c. 3. Purchas his Pilgrimage l. 5. c. 13. Sect. 3. Rivers are said to be ingendred in the hollow concavities of the Earth and derive both their birth and continual sustenance from the air which penetrating the open chinks of the earth and being congeaâ—ed by the extream cold of that element dissolves into water as the air in winter nights is melted in a pearly dew sticking on our glasse windows * Hâ—c est origo fontium fluvâ—orum ut Salomon etiam apertius indicat Eccles. 1. 7. Hoc tamen nâ—sâ—ivit doctus Aristoteles rerum naturalium diligentissimus indagator Fooâ—d in Psal. 104 10 11 12. Dr Halls Contempl It must be large to contain so many creatures Amos 5. 8. 9. 6. Psal. 104. 25. 107. 23 24 25 26 27 28. Dr Halls Contempl Psal. 104. 1 King 19. 26. 10. 22. Consectaries from the Seâ— See the History of Canutus in Cambâ—en The safety of this Kingdom consists much in its wooden wals Our Navy exceeds all others in the world in beauty strength and safety * See Plinics Natural History lib. 16. c. 40. He that carries his life in his hand must carry grace in his heart Docto. Sibbs in his Epistle to Sir Horatio Vere prefixed before his Bruised Reed Qui nescit orare discat navigare Latini distribuunt plantas in tria genera herbam fruticem arborem Hebrai aliter in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mercerus in primum caput Gen. 5. 11. Voluit Deus per primam germinationem terrae non modo pastui animantium sed etiam immortalitati speciei consuluim Paraeus * A poor man in Kent mowing of Peason did cut his Leg with a Sithe wherein he made a wound to the bones and withall very large and wide and also with great effusion of bloud the poor man crept unto this Herb which he bruised with his hands and tied a great quanity of it unto the wound with a piece of his shirt which presently stanched the bleeding and ceased the pain insomuch that the poor man presently went to his dayes work again and so did from day to day without resting one day untill he was perfectly whole c. Gerrards Herbal Book 2. Chap. 390. of Clowns Wound-wort or All-heal Job 28. 1 2. Ezek. 6. 16 17. Joel 3. 5. Hag. 2. 8. Gen. 1. 11 12. Vide Mercer in Gen. 1. 29. Before the floud both herbs fruits of trees were so wholsome and good as that man needed no other food after it the earth was so corrupted by the inundation thereof and mans body became so weakned that he stood in need of more solid and nourishing meat * Gen. 1. 11 13 It is a Carpet upon the earth to adorn and beautifie it See rare things of a tree called Coquo in Doctor Primrose on the Sac. p. 30. and Purchas his Pâ—â—grimage l. 5. c. 12. pag. 56. 7. The Palm is a famous Tree which bringeth forth Dates and is so called because upon the top the boughs are thick and round extending out like fingers from whence it is called Dactylus that is a finger Travels of the Patriarks Rem mirandam Arist. in 8â— problematum Plutarch in 8â— Sympofiacorum dicit Si supra Palmae inquit arboris lignum magna pondera imponas ac tam graviter urgeas ut magnitudo oneris sustiâ—ere non queat non deorsum Palma cedit nec infra flectitur sed adversus pondus resurgit sursum nititur recurvaâ—urque Aul. Gel. Noct. Attic. lib. 3â— cap. 6. Iosephus Acosta writeth of a tree in America that on the one side being situated towards great hils and on the other being exposed to the hot Sun the one half of it flourisheth at one time of the year and the other part at the opposite season Corollaries * Serunt arbores quae prosint alteri saeculo Cicero Gen. 1. 14 15. 2 Chron. 33. 3 Jer. 44. 17. Deut. 4. 19. * Sol ufitatissimè Hebraeis dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schemesh à ministrando quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schimmeâ—ch quia Dei Minister in natura clarissimus aliter à calor◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chammah Graecis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. splendore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Latinis Sol vel quiâ— solus ex omnibus â—ideribus est tantus vel quia quum est exortus obscuratis aliis solus appareat Martinius See Dr Browns Enquities lib. 6. cap. 5. * Non tam ad magnitudinem corporum quà m splendoris eorum respexit Moses ad popularem captum aspectum qui haec judicat esse maxima sydera in Caelo juxta sensum Mercer See Doctor Hackwels Apology of Gods Providence pag. 74 76. 77. Dominatur corporibus humidis as over women the brain shâ—ll-sish From the new Moon to the full all humours do encrease and from the full to the new Moon decrease again To think that the brightnesse of the Suns body above doth drown oâ—â— discerning oâ—â—he lesser lighâ—s is a popular errour the sole impediment being that lustre which by reflection doth spread about us from the face of the earth Sir Henry Wottons Elem. of Architect part 2. Only God can number the Stars Psal. 147. 4. It is impossible for man to number them which God intimates to Abraham Gen. 15. 5. 1 Cor. 15. 41. All Stars are not Primae magnitudâ—nis Corollaries Ethnici colebant Solem Lunam prius quam alias creatur as terresâ—res usque aâ—â—â— ut Moses Deut 40. 19. notans duos sontes idololatriae prius facit mentionem Solis Lunae deinde similitudiuem viri aut soeminâ— aâ—t quaâ—rupedis Job 31. 26. â—er 44. 17 18. Rainold de lib. Apoc. Tom. 2. Praelect 237. Sol ab antiquissimis ut Deorum maximus colâ—batur nominaque Jovis Saturni Martis Liberi Ari Osiridis aliaque multa Solem significarunt Quâ— dâ— re Macrobius l. 1. Saturn c. 16. Voss. in Maimon de Idol c. 6. Gen. 1. 20 21 22. * The Fishes were appointed to encrease and multiply and to fill the waters the Fowls were appointed to increase multiply and flie in the Air. Plinies Naturall History l 32. c. 11. Quidam hoc unum animal quam diu vivit crescere arbitrantur Pliny l. 8. c. 25. Naturalists write of the Crocodile that it grows as long as it lives Scribunt humanum caputà Crocodilo ob crassitiem ossis non posse devorari Cum vero persentiat medullam hoc est cerebrum cranio subesse lacrymas in id effundere quarum vi suturae protinus dissipentar inde medullam exsorberi à truculentissima bestia Abiere hinc in Proverbium Lacrymae Crocodili quae non a commiseratione sed ab immanissima crudelitate proveniuâ—â— Wendelinus de admirandis Nili c 16.