Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	day_n	earth_n	firmament_n	2,551	5	11.8366	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32805	Of God Almighty's providence both in the sending and dissolving great snows & frosts, and the improvement we ought to make of it a sermon occasioned by the late extreme cold weather, preached in it to his neighbours, and now thought fit to be made more public, for the common good / by Benj. Camfield ...	Camfield, Benjamin, 1638-1693.	1684 (1684)	Wing C382; ESTC R5822	19,660	35

Paraphrase And God himself in the XXXVIII Chapter approves of this kind of discourse and takes the very same method to give Job a sensible representation of his own tremendous Majesty verse xxii c. Hast thou enter'd saith he into the treasures of the Snow or hast thou seen the treasures of the Hail which I have reserved against the time of trouble against the day of battel and war * See Exod. IX xviii c. Hath the Rain a Father Or who hath begotten the Drops of the Dew Out of whose womb came the Ice And the Hoar-frost of Heav'n who hath gender'd it The waters are hid as with a stone and the face of the deep is frozen And again Verse xxxiii c. Knowest thou the Ordinances of Heaven Canst thou set the Dominion thereof in the Earth Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds that abundance of waters may cover thee Canst thou send lightnings that they may go and say Here we are viz. ready at thy beck and call as they are always at mine All these Meteors as we stile them go and come at God's bidding onely He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth and his word runneth very swiftly Every Creature gives the word with all expedition to its next fellow And again He sendeth out his Almighty word and melteth them c. He commands the Clouds that they rain and that they rain not too Isa V. vi He with-holdeth the waters and they dry up Also he sendeth them out and they overturn the Earth Job XII xv But I pass on now to what I principally aim at which is to give you those useful and important Lessons we are every one to take out from this matter of common knowledge and observance I. Then from hence we learn Not to attribute these notable Effects of God's Providence to Chance or Blind Fortune nor yet so to ascribe them to any natural Causes as to leave God out of our Philosophy 'T is certainly preposterous vain and wicked so to do for all Second Causes necessarily suppose the First and depend upon him in all their motions The whole link of Nature's Chain of Causes and Operations is bound to his Throne who gives influence and sets Rules and Measures to them all Nay I will add there is no Reasonable account at all to be given of any of these Things which we daily converse with see and behold no solving of these ordinary Phoenomena without recourse had unto God as chief and principal And strange it is that so great a part of the World should be yet stupid amidst so many miraculous Testimonies of the Divine Being and Presidency Whereas we ought certainly as Elihu exhorteth Job to stand still and consider the wondrous works of God Ch. XXXVII xiv and to magnifie praise and adore him in and for them all Chap. XXXVI xxiv We should cry out with the Psalmist O Lord our Governour how excellent is thy Name in all the world Psal VIII And again O Lord how manifold are thy works In wisdom hast thou made them all Psal CIV And yet again O Lord how glorious are thy works Thy thoughts are very deep An unwise man doth not well consider this and a fool doth not understand it Psal XCII v vi Therefore are they all call'd upon to praise God because they afford us so much matter occasion and motive so to do continually They are the standing and universal witnesses of his infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness in the world They are the natural Preachers of Divinity whose voice is every where to be heard declaring the glory of God and shewing his handy work as the Psalmist speaks particularly of the Heavens and Firmament with the stars of light Psal XIX There is neither Speech nor Language but their Voice is heard among them Their sound is gone out to all Lands and their words to the ends of the world We may say of them therefore God gave the Word great was the company of Preachers Psal lxviii And among the other works of God we call more particularly in the Benedicite to these Meteors to bless and praise and magnifie him for ever O ye showrs and dews O ye winds of God! O ye Winter and Summer O ye Frosts and Cold O ye Ice and Snow Bless ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever Which kind of language by way of Address to insensible Creatures whoever are offended at must first blame the Holy Penman who set the Copy of it Psal Clxviii viii as I before quoted it And again Psal Ciii ult O speak good of the Lord all ye works of his in all places of his Dominion We see as Clarius notes upon the Text what occasions devout and pious men take of praising God and yet blockish and ungrateful worldlings amidst all this plenty of Instances can think of nothing to extort and exercise their Religion and Thankfulness II. We learn from hence not to murmur and complain or Repine at whatsoever comes to pass for in so doing we challenge God foolishly * * Job I. xxii or Impute Folly and weakness to him We Blaspheme his Soveraignty and call his Wisdom and Power and Goodness into question And yet This is the Fault which querulous mortals are every where almost too prone unto If the weather be hot saith Sabrian we complain of Drought if Rainy of Deluge and inundation If the year be Vnfruitful of Dearth and Scarcity If fruitful of Cheapness De Gub. Dei. And so If it be cold and piercing of Bitter Blasts and Winds c. Every one so acts and speaks as if he himself could order things better than they are But herein we do only betray our own Ignorance and Rashness sottishness and impiety We judge of Things falsly by their present appearance and out-side only and not by that Reference or Relation which one Thing hath unto another and all have as parts to the Good and Benefit of the whole We would in some odd moods have no Winter or the least that may be of it and so should have but barren and unhealthful Springs and Summers too As the Heathen Pliny said wisely He who prays for none but warm and serene Winters Non pro Arboribus vota facit makes no Good wishes for the Trees no nor the Fruits of the Earth or the Inhabitants of it either Could we once see it we are infinitely better under the Conduct and Government of God's Providence than we could possibly be at our own or other mens choice III. We Learn from hence to be deeply humbled in the sense of our own Ignorance of God Almighty's works and That Infinite wisdom and power whereby they are contrived and managed The more we discern of God's Majesty in them the more we shall see also of our own vileness and imperfection and how unreasonable it is for us to take upon our selves peremptorily to determine of them which are all beyond our Grasp and comprehension

When Job had spoken sundry Great Things of God he adds These are parts of his ways But how little a portion is heard of him but the Thunder of his power who can understand chap. xxvi xiv q.d. These are but a small parcel of his works For alas It is very little indeed that such as we can understand of him but the utmost Force of his power is quite out of our ken But then if we are posed in these vulgar Things which every were affect our Senses how absurd and presumptuous is it for us to pry boldly into more hidden mysteries or take upon our selves to contradict any of the Divine Revelations concerning them Canst thou by scarching find out God saith Zopar well Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection It is as high as Heaven what canst Thou do Deeper than Hell what canst thou know The measure thereof is longer than the Earth and broader than the Sea Job XI vii viii ix That is Thou maist as as well go about to take the measure of the height of Heaven or the Depth of Hell the length of the Earth or Breadth of the Sea as think to comprehend the Reasons of God's Doings Nay all These have their certain Bounds and Limits but He hath none We shall do well to make an Essay and try our selves first with the Resolving of the me mest of these common Instances which are about us before we presume upon those which are more Remote and Hidden And by this very means God himself silenceth Job shewing of him that He who found himself Gravel'd and Non-plus'd in accounting for the meanest of his visible works should nor dare to penetrate into the wisdom of his secret Counsels convincing him all along of his ignorance and weakness by shewing him how little he understood of the most obvious Things of the world And thus also our Blessed Saviour deals with Nicodemus St. John III. Tho the wind bloweth where it listeth saith he and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the Spirit If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things Teach us saith Elihu in a due sense of humane infirmity and blindness what we shall say unto him for we cannot order our speech by reason of Darkness Fair or Cold weather cometh out of the North with God is Terrible Majesty Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out He is excellent in power and in plenty of Justice Job XXXVII xix c. Let me here put you in mind therefore of the counsel of the wise son of Sirach Seek not out the things that are too hard for thee neither search the things which are above thy strength but what is commanded thee think thereupon with reverence For it is not needful for thee to see with thine eyes the things that are in secret Be not curious in unnecessary matters for more things are shewed to thee than men understand For many are deceived by their own vain opinion c. Eccles III. xxi c. And then add that of the Author of the Book of Wisdom What man is he that can know the Counsel of God or Who can think what the Will of the Lord is For the thoughts of mortal men are miserable and our devices are uncertain For the corruptible Body presseth down the soul and the earthly Tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth and with labour do we sind the things that are before us But the things that are in heaven who hath searched out And thy Counsel who hath known except thou give Wisdom and send thy Spirit from above Wisd IX xiii c. There is more edifying and useful Truth and Philosophy which indeed should never be made two distinct things in saying that God bringeth the Rain and Hail and Snow and Winds out of his Treasures his to us unknown and unsearchable Magazines or Store-houses than in any particular reasons we can otherwise assign of them without or besides him IV. We learn from hence farther Not to expect or look for any setled or fixed state of affairs to last and abide long with us in a world that is continually uncertain and mutable liable to such variety of changes from his Almighty Word who presides and governs all things in it He trains us up by the very course of his Providence to look and provide continually for Changes even by the circular Revolution of the several Seasons of the year and the manifold difference which we feel and experience time after time in those Seasons The Spring introduceth Summer and Summer Autumn and Autumn Winter and then Winter again is succeeded by the more welcome Spring c. But we have a strange Interchange sometimes of Winterly weather with our Summers and Summer-weather again with our Winters The day is thine and the night is also thine saith the Psalmist thou hast prepared the Light and the Sun that is the Moon and Sun thou hast set all the borders of the Earth thou hast made them Summer and Winter Psal LXXIV xvi xvii The Heavens are thine the Earth also is thine Thou hast made the North and the South Psalm LXXXIX xii xiii Which if we would allegorize the Preacher tells us That God hath set the day of Prosperity and Adversity over against each other that man should find nothing after him Eccles VII xiv That is Nothing justly to blame or amend in God's works and yet be at continual uncertainty what shall befall him that he may live the rather in a submissive Dependence upon him who orders all according to the Counsel of his own Will even all things in Measure Number and Weight with the greatest Skill and Exactness though we know it not or cannot give an account of it Good is set against evil and Life against Death Yea Look upon all the works of the most High saith the son of Sirach and there are two and two one against another Eccles XXXIII xiv xv And again All things are double one against another saith he and he hath made nothing imperfect But one thing establisheth the good of another Ch. XLII xxiv xxv V. Therefore we are from hence trained up in the midst of our greatest Serenity and Happiness in our summer days of Prosperity to be moderate and sober considering how we and all we have and are related to are at the Disposal of the sovereign Ruler among the Children of men Who sendeth forth his Commandment upon Earth and his Word runneth very swiftly who can soon blacken our Skie with Clouds and from thence send forth his Artillery of Snow and Hail and Rain and Cold upon us This also is well expressed by the son of Sirach When thou hast enough remember the time of Hunger and when thou art Rich