for whom thou wast made thy light shall tend downward Besides the Sun never goes out of his way yet is in continuall motion there is a diversity in every day of the year yet notwithstanding if we compare one thing with another through the whole year we shall see it is constant in its motion and when it hath touched those limits which we call tropicks it is retrograde and turneth back again and though the Sun rise at one point of the Sky to day and at another a few dayes after and likewise do set yet at the end of the year he returneth again to follow the same trace which he hath continued ever since the Creation of the world except once in Joshuaes dayes This is that great light which God made to rule the day 3. From the Sun I shall proceed to speak of the Moon Luna à Phaenicibus coelestis regina appellata est est humorum domina oeconoma The Moon is called a great light not because it is greater than the other Stars for there are many bigger than the Moon they seem little to us because of their distance from us Calvin which runneth a much shorter compass than the Sun whereby it appeareth that she is in the midst between the earth and the Sun This is that other great light made by God to rule the night Gen. 1.16 called by the Phaenicians the Queen of Heaven by others the Wife of the Sun for the Moon is the last receptacle of all the influences and vertues that go forth from the Sun into other Stars which afterwards she communicateth to the earth and here the wisdome of God is admirable for therefore is the sphear of the Moon placed in the lowest place of the heavenly bodies and in the highest of the elementary bodies and albeit the benefits of the Sun seem to be more apparent because it maketh notable mutations of times of Summer and Winter and with his heat cherisheth and maketh the earth fruitfull nourisheth Plants and living Creatures yet the Moon also is very beneficiall to man because it nourisheth and governeth the humours for the life of Plants and Animals ariseth from the mixture of heat and moisture and is nourished by a due temperament of both The Moon is a celestiall Calendar for most Nations in times past used Lunar moneths describing their Moneths Festivall dayes and times appointed for publick meetings and debates by the Moon and for this cause David saith Psal 104.19 that God hath appointed the Moon for seasons The Hebrews reckoned their Moneths from one new Moon to another whence from the newness thereof A novitate ejus mensis Chodes dicitur quasi dicas nova Luna Flac. Illyr Clavis Script the Moon was called Chodes which is as much as to say the new Moon and here the wisdome of divine Providence is much to be observed that this Planet the most familiar with the earth appointed by God for the remedy of nocturnall darkness should outgo the admiration of all the rest She with her manifold windings and turnings into divers shapes hath much troubled the wits of the spectators fretting and fuming that of this Star being the nearest of all they should be most ignorant growing as it doth or else waining evermore one while bended point-wise into tips of horns another while divided just in the half and anon again in compass round sometime shining all night long and other-while late it is ere she riseth one while big and full and another while little or nothing to be seen as every mans experience maketh evident Plin. Natural Hist l. 2. c. 9. And Pliny saith that the Moon being next to the Center and therefore of least compass performeth the same course and circuit in twenty seven dayes and one third part of a day which Saturn the highest Planet runs in thirty years after this making conjunction with the Sun two dayes forth she goeth and by the thirtieth day at the most returneth to the same point and ministery again wherein is to be seen much of the Providence of God CHAP. IX Of the Eclipses a large discourse on the miraculous Eclipse that happened at the death of Christ IN the next place we may observe the operation of Gods Providence in the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon for every year both Planets are eclipsed at certain dayes and hours under the earth Pliny observeth Plin. Natural Hist l. 2. c. 13. that all Eclipses in two hundred and twenty two moneths have their revolutions and return to their former points Although Eclipses arise from naturall causes yet is it contrary to the property of the lights of Heaven whose nature and office is to shine therefore when their light is obscured they are in a suffering condition whence Eclipses are called by Heathens Defectus Solis lunaeque labores When the Sun is obscured all the Stars and Creatures which receive their strength from the Sun do as it were suffer together with him The examples of all ages do testifie that great mutations drought inundations pestilences warres and great destructions have followed immediately after great Eclipses At the death of our Saviour there was a great Eclipse of the Sun there being darkness over all the earth till the ninth hour Luk. 23.44 45. The Sun the eye of the world as the Poets call him was darkned but how he was darkned and how this Eclipse was occasioned there 's the difficulty and that it was not naturall but miraculous all Interpreters new and old consent and agree for it is concluded by Divines Philosophers and Astronomers that there cannot be a naturall Eclipse of the Sun but in the new Moon when those two Planets may be in conjunction and so the body of the Moon interposed between the Sun and the earth but this was at the full Moon for it was the day before the Jews Passeover which ever was celebrated the fourteenth day of the Moneth Nisan or the first full Moon after the Vernall Equinoctiall Besides there could not have been darkness of so long continuance by that means but the Sun would have recovered his light sooner by reason that he is by many hundred degrees bigger than the Moon Solis eclipsis nòn potest esse universalis Lyra. Istae tenebrae fuerunt factae per retractionean radiorum Solis virtute divina Hieron Per interpositionem nubium densarum Origen Dionys Aereop Epist ad Polycarp And Lyra saith that an Eclipse of the Sun cannot be universall And Hierom saith that darkness hapned through the retraction of the Sun-beams by a divine power And Origen saith it was by the interposition of a thick Cloud And Dionysius the Aereopagite in an Epistle to Polycarpus whereto Nicholas Lyra giveth much credit which Mr Beza thinketh to be counterfeit saith that being at that time in Aegypt where the air is wondrous thin and there be seldome any clouds or rain but the Land is watered and made fruitfull by the overflowing of
appeareth in preserving a Church to himself from several parts of the world Psal 110.2 He ruleth in the midst of his enemies like a King that is able to keep up his Court and royal Family in the midst of rebels though they may sometime prevail against yet they shall never be able to root up the Church of Christ Object But it may be objected That when the seventh Angel sounded there were great voices in Heaven saying The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever And the four and twenty Elders fell upon their faces and worshipped God saying We give thee thanks O Lord God Allmighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned Revel 11.15 16 17. Divers circumstances shew this to be a new event and that God had not alwayes actual possession of all the Kingdoms of the world it happening at the sound of the seventh Trumpet and when be took this great power to himself and entered upon the government of all the Kingdomes of the world it was then entertained by the Church with praise and thankesgiving which seemeth to shew that God did not governe universally at all times and in all Ages of the World Resp. I answer that the Lord hath a two-fold Kingdom Regnum Potentiae Regnum Gratiae A Kingdom of Power A Kingdom of Grace In the exercise of his power he hath alwayes reigned over the world The Lord hath prepared his Throne in Heaven and his Kingdome ruleth over all Psal 103.19 God hath always ruled over all the world when the world hath reigned most in wickednesse but in respect of the exercise of his government in regard of the Kingdom of his Grace by the Spirit of his Son in the hearts and consciences of men he hath reigned over but a very few This therefore is meant of the Kingdom of his Grace that the Lord upon the sound of the seventh Trumpet would bring them in subjection to his Gospel causing men in all places to yield subjection to the golden Scepter of Christ held forth in the preaching of the Gospel CHAP. XXXIII Corol. 6. Corol. 7. Cor. 6. IF God govern the whole world then it must needs be that he cannot want Instruments to execute vengeance upon his Enemies he need not seek far for Instruments for there is not a creature in Heaven in Earth or in Hell but is at his command If he speak to the fire it burneth the Sodomites if to the water it destroyeth the wicked old world if to the Earth it openeth its mouth and swalloweth up Corah and his companions Two Bears at his command tear in pieces two and fourty children that mockt the Prophet Worms at his command devour Herod that persecuted the Apostles Act. 12. He plagueth a proud King by poor creatures as Frogs Lice Flies Ut per animalcula ostenderetur opitulatoris omnipotentia Theodoret Pompon Laetus Locusts or Grashoppers Exod. 8. that by those little animals the omnipotency of his peoples helper might be manifested as Theodoret speaketh Prophane Histories tell us also that Honoricus King of Vandals and Arnulphus the Emperour were fed upon alive and gnawn till they were dead by Worms and lice Fabius the proud Senator was suddenly taken away with an hair swallowed in milk And Pope Adrian the fourth after that he had accused Frederick the first was choked with a Flie in a draught of cold water Yea the Angels good and bad are pressed at his command to do what he pleaseth And should God make use of none of these Instruments yet his own immediate wrath were enough to confound his Enemies as Saul Judas Joseph Naucler Egesippus Atalus King of Pergamus and Aristobulus son of Hircanus who living in horrour of conscience died in fearfull sort which examples serve to shew that his means are as his power is infinite to chastise and scourge the proudest and greatest of his Adversaries And if God arm not the creatures against us yet he can make one man to devour another Such a judgment the Lord threatneth Jer. 13.13 14. viz. to fill the King of Judah the Priests Prophets and all the Inhabitants of the Land with drunkenness and dash them one against another As drunkenness depriveth men of the use of common sense and reason and worketh so upon some tempers as to fill them with rage and fury that like mad men they spare not those that are near and dear unto them Carion Chron. lib. 2. as is evident in Cambyses the second King of Persia notwithstanding he was well brought up and dealt valiantly during the life of his Father Cyrus who committed the Kingdom to him while he lived yet falling to drunkenness he slew his brother married his own sister and slew her afterwards being great with child for but lamenting the death of her brother So Alexander the Great being drunk slew his dearest friend Clitus Wit overcome with wine is like a Horse that hath cast his rider Even so such a spirit of drunkenness and madness did God threaten to give up the people of Jerusalem unto that like drunken men they should destroy and consume one another Yea God can cause sinners themselves to become their own Executioners and to lay violent hands upon themselves And as God hath all the hosts of Heaven and Earth and Sea ready prest at his command to perform his pleasure against his Enemies so likewise to do any good office for his children and friends the jaw-bone of an Ass is both a sword and a bottle to Sampson Judg. 15 15 19 And the Earth helpeth the woman by opening her mouth and swallowing up the floud which the Dragon cast out of his mouth Revel 12.15 16. Euseb Eccl. Hist l. 5. c. 15. Eusebius tells us That at the same time God sent rain to refresh the Souldiers of M. Aurelius his Army at the prayers of the Christian Legion Comment Relig. Reipubl Galliae and a tempest to affright their Enemies It 's likewise recorded that God provided wonderfully for the poor Protestants of Rochel sending them plenty of Fishes to feed upon during the siege which ceased also when the siege removed Whence was it that Stephen Brune that godly French Martyr could not be consumed with a fire of Faggots twice made about him so that the Executioner was compelled to thrust him thorow with a Sword Was it not from God's over-ruling Providence Cor. 7. If God govern the world by his Providence then it is in his power to deny us the use and benefit of any of his creatures and of any thing that is most dear unto us and can at his pleasure take them from us For the Earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof and as the original right and title to all things is the Lord's so he never parteth from the Fee-simple of any thing no he
is a notable manifestation of Gods Providence They are in a great errour that say this Providence is extended unto universall things only and not to particulars for if they will have God to be ignorant of particular things as some atheistically have professed then verily God could not understand himself neither should he be infinite in knowledge as I have shewed him to be before if his Providence were not extended to every thing Now if God have a certain knowledge of every particular thing why can he not then also take the care of them especially since particulars as they are particulars are appointed for some certain end Explan verae Relig. l. 1. §. 10. as well in speciall as in generall and the very entities or common essences of things which are preserved by God the same cannot subsist but in their singulars as one observeth so that if these singulars being left by divine providence do come to ruine then likewise may these generall essences also Let us consider the extent of this particular Providence to the Heavens to the Sea the Earth and all Creatures that are therein And 1. For the Heavens We read not only of a Covenant made with day and night a Covenant as between King and Subject but also of the Ordinances of Heaven and earth which he hath appointed Jer. 33.25 On the second day of the Creation God raised up the Firmament like a Circle of Brass or rather like a Globe of Gold and Azure which served to divide the seven Orbs of the Empyreall Heaven Causin hist sac l. 1. now it was in the midst of the Waters that this admirable work was formed whether they were necessary to temper the rayes and orders of the Stars or that the course and revolutions of a moving body would be more even and free in an Element so pure and so pliable to all sorts of motions or for what other reason it were the Learned have not determined Now as we may have cause to admire the Almighty power of God in stretching out this huge spatious body of the Heavens stretching out the Heavens like a Curtain as the Psalmist speaketh Psal 104.2 then may we also exceedingly admire at the Providence of God in that the Heavens should be carried about compassing the rest of the world every day for thousands of years together and yet hold on in one tract and keep one way and never go out of it this fully sheweth the continuall Providence of God the Lord carrieth about the Wheels of Heaven in a continuall motion still holding them to their diurnall task 2. Let us look further to the Sun in the Heavens The Sun ariseth every morning this great Eye of Heaven openeth his eye-lids every morning The Sun is the image of the Soveraign King the heart of nature it daily speaketh to us out of the gates of the East with as many tongues as it hath rayes Causin twinckling and moving continually no sooner doth he peep above the Horizon but he sendeth forth his rayes and beams and streams of light which the Poets call the wings of the morning The beams of the Sun are called wings partly because of its swift disparckling of them and partly because it spreads its light in its rising like wings whence Homer called the Sun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the golden-haired Sun and the Scripture speaks of the wings of the morning Psal 139.9 If I take the wings of the morning c. and of the morning spread upon the mountains Joel 2.2 The benefits that we enjoy by the Sun are very many and principally these 1. Light how comfortable is it to see the light and to walk by it Truly the light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun Eccl. 11 7. Thus he may be called the Torch Candle or universall eye of the world 2. Heat the beams thereof have a wonderfull and universall efficacy there is nothing hid from the heat thereof Psal 19.6 These beams are of a searching nature great are the influences of the Sun he ariseth with healing in his wings The beams of the Sun do warm refresh quicken and cherish all things dries up cold moistures that are noxious to the Creatures excites and quickens Plants Beasts and Men in the Spring-time and reviveth all that seemed well nigh dead in the Winter We read of pretious things brought forth by the Sun Deut. 33.14 Perkins on Mat. 5. now in regard hereof some call it the universall fire of the world Sol in media quidem ferè coelorum altitudine suam ex Dei iustituto obtinuit regionem 3. Distinction of times and so it may be called the great Clock or Calendar of the world The Sun ariseth and the Sun also goeth down saith Solomon and hasteneth to the place where he arose Eccl. 1.5 In the Heavens God hath set a Tabernacle for the Sun Arias Montan. ad Psal 19. Psal 19.4 5. Arias Montanus saith that the region of the Sun is almost in the middle height of the Heavens and there it is as in a flitting habitation because it never stayeth in one place but is as a Bridegroom coming out of his chamber Deut. 4.19 Basil calleth the Sun a solitary creature because it shines alone obscuring all other lights with his clearness Basil Hexam Homil. 6. and rejoyceth as a strong man to run his race The Sun when he ariseth is gloriously adorned with shining rayes and seemeth like a Bridegroom to be very cheerfull with all celerity performing his course even as a Giant that runneth for a prize The Sun in the Hebrew is called Shemesh that is a Minister or Servant being a common servant to the whole world Mathematitians considering the greatness of the Sun being as they say an hundred and sixty times bigger than the earth wonder that he burneth not the earth to ashes but herein appeareth the wisdome of divine Providence so to place the Sun in the Heavens viz. in the middle space so as it shall not scorch the earth and albeit it be at an unspeakable distance from us yet doth it cast out his influences downward quite contrary to the nature of light or fire unto the lowest of Creatures Thus Chrysostome discourseth upon this Subject This great light thus doth as if the great Creator thereof had charged it thus to do Send forth thy light against the nature of the same Chrysost ad pop Antioch Homil. 9. Cor coeli est Sol uti cor nostrum est Sol corporis sicut cor est in medio corporis humani ita Sol quantitate maximus luce plenissimus actione efficacissimus in medio coeli positus est Alsted Theolog. Natural part 2. cast thy beams down towards man to guide and direct him there do so for for him thou wast made his candle cannot do so it is against its nature whose flame tends upward but so shalt thou do that thou maist serve man
For so Demosthenes observeth it was a usual speech among the Greeks Such and such things saith he were not done without the people of Athens that is without their authority and approbation CHAP. XIII Of God's Providence to be seen in the Seas in the Nature of them An Objection answered Of the saltness of the Sea and the Reasons thereof Of the bounds of the Sea of the Fishes of the Sea of their multiplication of the several sorts of Fishes taken in every moneth Of their provision An Objection answered FRom the Heavens I shall descend to the Sea and therein Gods Providence is very remarkable The Sea is a gathering together of many waters Gen. 1.10 it is the common receptacle of flouds and Rivers and as the Liver in the body by the veins sendeth bloud to the whole parts of the body so doth the Sea send water to all the parts of the earth Solomon tells us That all waters come from the sea Eccles 1.7 He compasseth the whole earth as with a girdle and bedeweth the world with his pleasing streams In the depth of the earth there be many concavities which breed winds Weems observ natur moral these winds lift up the waters the waters again presse down the winds which being thus prest down seek a passage through the earth making a way for the Sea to runne through the veins thereof and because of the continual strife between the Sea and the winds therefore the water in springs and fountains never faileth and coming back to the fountains then they run back again to the Sea Aristotle's opinion will not hold here who saith That the water contendeth to runne to the lowest place and if the waters should have this vicissitude of course from the fountains to the Sea from the Sea to the fountains then the same place should be both higher and lower than it self but some parts of the Sea are lower than the fountains and into them the fountains send forth their streams to runne Other parts of the Sea are higher than the fountains especially in great storms and tempests which mount up the waves of the Sea to Heaven as the Psalmist speaketh Psal 107 25 26. and they by secret channels send forth springs of water to supply the fountains Cotton Exposit in Eccles 1.7 as a Learned Divine hath well noted This is further noted by Strabo Strabo concerning the situation of the waters which if we consider the quality of their matter ought to be placed in the middle between the earth and the Air whereas the same are now included and dispersed within the earth to the end they might be no hindrance either to the fruitfulness of the ground or to the life of man neither are all things ordained only for their proper ends but also for the good and benefit of the whole Universe as appeareth particularly in the water which against its own proper nature is moved upward that there should be no gaping vacuity in the world which is so composed that the parts thereof do mutually uphold one another Quest If all waters come from the Sea how is it then that the waters in Rivers are sweet and fresh and that the waters in the Sea are salt Resp That the earth through the veins whereof the waters pass to the fountains doth percolate and strain the Salt out of it and so those waters by reason of the length of their course and their distance from the Sea lose their saltness therefore some fountains of water are salt as the Sea that are nearest to the Sea the pores of the earth being more open between the Sea and them which also is the cause of the flux and reflux of some of them God hath made the Sea salt by the fervent heat of the Sun which sucks out the sweet and thin substance thereof and this being easily drawn up all the tarter and grosser parts thereof remain behind Hence it is as Pliny Plin. Nat. Hist l. 2. c. 100. noteth that the deep water toward the bottome is sweeter and less brackish than that which is above in the top and surely this is a better reason of that unpleasant tast that it hath than that the Sea should be a sweat continually issuing out of the earth The learned have observed that God hath made the Sea salt for divers necessary uses 1. To keep it from putrefaction which is not necessary in Rivers because of their continuall running as also because of the celerity of their motion 2. Salt waters agree best to the nature of those great Fishes being both hotter and grosser that are bred and nourished in it which is not so necessary to the Rivers breeding smaller Fishes It is likewise an evident Argument of Gods Providence that the Ocean being higher than the Land doth not overflow his Banks Astronomers and naturall Philosophers can give no substantiall reason hereof but out of the Scriptures we may answer in a word that Gods Decree hath bounded and barred it in all the wild Beasts of the world might more easily be tamed than the Sea yet God ruleth and over-ruleth it in a most wonderfull manner he hath shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb he made the Cloud the garment thereof and thick darkness a swadling band for it he established his Decree upon it and said Hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed Job 38.8 9 10. Fear ye not me saith the Lord that have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall Decree that it cannot pass and though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it Jer. 5.22 Chrysostome saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Cor. Homil. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil Hexam Homil. 4. The Lord hath walled about the Sea with the sand with a very weak thing doth he bridle the rage of it even with the sand which a poor weak silly worm can creep over The Lord sits upon the flouds and ordereth them and though they roar and lift up their waves yet the Lord on high is mightier than the mighty waves of the Sea Psal 93.3 4. The Sea is in the hand of God as a little Babe is in the womb of his Mother so that the Child lieth not more still in his Mothers womb than doth the Sea within his bounds and though it make a great noise and be tossed with winds and tempests and swell and threaten to overwhelm the earth yet cannot it get over its bounds Likewise God useth the mists and clouds to restrain the Sea that it shall not pass out of its limits as swadling bands are to keep in a young Babe who would fain pull out his arms and legs to make sport but he is so held in with his swadling cloathes that he is forced there to abide as a
prisoner Calvin in Job 38. The mists and clouds are nothing but vapours engendred in the air and herein Gods Providence appeareth for as soon as a mist ariseth by and by the Sea becometh calm though before tempestuous and thus they get the upper hand of the Sea thus God restraineth the Sea from swallowing us up tying up the Sea even as a little Infant that is tyed in swadling clouts When mention is made of the floud that once drowned the whole earth except eight persons it is said Gen. 7.11 that all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows or floudgates of Heaven were opened so as the waters were not restrained but let loose by that dreadfull judgement of the deluge God shewed us as in a mirrour that which should have been continually upon the earth had not he miraculously restrained the waters Woodw Childs patrim Seafaring men are neither inter vivos nec inter mortuos they are between the living and the dead Consider we further Gods Providence in the Ship that saileth upon the Sea which reeleth to and fro upon the waters like a drunken man sometimes it is carried down into the great deep then mounteth up again and is carried sate to his harbour Gods work is as admirable in steering and conducting this sinking tottering Vessel whose passengers are in deaths door often to their desired Haven as it is in those Creatures that live in the Ocean their proper Element They that go down to the Sea in Ships that do business in great waters these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep Psal 107.23 24. The Psalmist having said that the earth is full of the riches of God saith further so is this great and wide Sea wherein are things creeping innumerable c. there go the Ships there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein these wait all upon thee that thou maist give them their meat in due season that thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good Psal 104.24 25 26 27. From the little Anchoie to the great Whale Apua Gods Providence is wonderfull By reason of the great multitude and diversity of Fishes that are there to be seen even many Heathens were constrained to say that whereas men saw many miracles upon the Land the Sea was the true storehouse of the wonders of nature Is it not almost an incredible thing that so great a Creature as the Whale should live in the water for in all probability he should come forth to prey upon the Land and there should not be food to suffice him in the water The fruitfulness of the Fishes in the Sea proceedeth from Gods speciall blessing for when the waters brought forth the Fishes abundantly after their kind God blessed them saying be fruitfull and multiply and fill the waters in the Seas Gen. 1.21 22. for being in a moist element they do most easily conceive Plutarc l. 5. Sympos quaest 10. by reason of the abundance of humour which is greater in the female Fishes than in the males and therefore the female kind of Fishes are bigger commonly than the males Some kind of Fishes bring forth twice in a year some three times some six times in a year and that in great abundance the most wise Creator would have them thus fruitfull partly by reason of the vastness of the Element which they must replenish viz. the water which is far greater and more spacious than the earth which besides animals is stuft with vegetables and partly that there might be variety and plenty of them for man to feed upon Ambrose saith Ambros Hexam l. 5. c. 10. that Fishes by infinite numbers out of many places from sundry creeks of the Sea with a joynt flote as it were make towards the blasts of the North-wind and by a certain instinct of nature hasten into that Sea of the Northern parts so that a man that saw the manner of them would say a certain tide were coming down from the current they rush so forwards and cut the waves as they pass with a violent power through Propontis into Pontus Euxinus And Alsted saith Alsted Theol. Natural part 2. there are often such multitudes of Fishes in the Northern Sea that Ships are stopt by them And Camden maketh mention of one sort of Fishes viz. Herrings Cambden's Britan. descript of Yorkeshire which in some ages past kept as it were their station only about Norway but now in our time not without the divine Providence as he well noteth do swim yearly round about this Isle of Brittain by skulls in very great numbers about Midsummer they shoal out of the deep and vast Northern Sea to the coasts of Scotland hence come they to the English East coast and from the midst of August to November is the best and most plentifull taking of them Besides we read in holy Writ that when Peter let down his Net into the Sea at Christs word they inclosed a great multitude of Fishes and their Net brake but they lost not the Fishes but by the help of their fellows that were in the other Ships they brought off so many Fishes to shoar as were even ready to sink two Ships and the phrase of breaking in Scripture sometime signifieth abundance as Prov. 3.9 10. where Solomon pronouncing a blessing upon such as shall bestow their goods on pious uses saith thus Honour God with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thy increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine that is thou shalt not need to fear to be brought to beggery but it shall procure thee an abundant blessing And here the providence of God is further manifested that at certain times certain kinds of Fishes do enter in or go out of the Sea and that which is yet more wonderfull new sorts of Fishes are taken almost in every Moneth especially in places near the Sea-cost and herein Gods goodnesse appeareth that such multitudes of Fishes of several kinds should draw near to the Sea-shores Plin. Nat. Hist l. 9. c. 12. and in many Moneths be taken for the use of man and more admirable it is that those creatures that live and breed in the water be not all covered and clad alike For as Pliny noteth some have a skin over them and the same hairy as the Seals others but a bare skin as the Dolphins some have a shell like a bark as the Tortoises and in others the shell is as hard as a flint and such be the Oysters Muscles Cockles and Winckles some be covered over with crusts or hard pils as the Locusts others have sharp prickles some be scaled as the ordinary Fishes others be rough-coated as the Soals some have a tender and soft skin as the Lampreys others none at all as the Porcontrell Of these we may say with the Psalmist O Lord
use of variety of Agents in the world led by divers principles some by the spirit and power of grace some by the flesh and by the spirit of the world and by the Prince of the power of the air some labour to build up the Church of God others like Sanballat and Tobiah do hinder the building and crosse others who seek the welfare of Sion and altogether seek for honour and preferment for themselves Now by these contrary effects of men the Lord bringeth forth contrary events and causeth his Glory to shine thorow all How justly then are they to be reproved that have lived long yet make no special observations of those events that have happened in their dayes Some are so much taken up with vain and foolish delights as pleasant Musick jovial company feasting and carousing that they regard not the work of the Lord neither consider the operation of his hand Isa 5.12 Whoredome and wine and new wine hath stollen away their hearts Hos 4.11 Others there are whose hearts are wholly taken up with worldly business only minding earthly things It is an argument of a bruitish spirit to neglect observation Wherefore is a price put into the hand of a fool seeing he hath not an heart Prov. 17.16 Gods work is about us and in us at least in a common providence and yet few there are that see it or see God in it It is the part of fools to passe by these things without observation Who so is wise will observe these things Psal 107. ult He that is endued with heavenly wisdom and taught by the Spirit of God will observe them and shall understand the loving kindnesse of God It is admirable to consider God's Providences without the Church among the Enemies thereof The Kings of Assyria had overcome divers Nations therefore Sennacherib sends messengers to Hezekiah to tell him That the gods of the Nations could not deliver them whom his fathers had destroyed as Gozar Haran c. therefore he would have Hezekiah to have believed that he could have done the like to his God also Now the use that he makes of it was not slightly to passe by these things but makes a contrary use of it acknowledging his God to be the living God and able to save him out of his hand and that the gods whom the Assyrians had cast into the fire were no gods but the work of mens hands therefore they had destroyed them Now the issue was dreadfull to the Assyrians Isa 37.11 12 18 19 36 37 38. An Angel of the Lord in one night slayeth an hundred fourscore and five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians and Sennacherib himself was afterwards slain by two of his own sons as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god So likewise it is very observable concerning the Turks the vassals of that base and grand Impostor Mahamet who are great enemies of the Church that the Lord hath so ordered it by his Providence that they have not sent such huge armies against the Christian Church for many yeares past as they did heretofore Within the Church Christ bids us discern the signes of the times Mar. 16.2 and makes it a note of hypocrisie to be able to discerne the face of the skie and of the earth and not to discern the signes of the times as he sad to the Pharisees which then were admirable the Scepter being then departed from Judah and one of Esau's race enjoying it John Baptist the promised Elijah the forerunner of Christ being now come before the face of the Messiah as a messenger to prepare his way before him Great Miracles wrought by our Saviour the blind receiving their sight the lame walking the Lepers cleansed the deaf hearing the dead raised and the poor having the Gospel preached unto them all which shewed him to be that Messiah that was to come and not another So in Luther's time there was an admirable change What warrant have the Papists for their Jubilees but the Popes knocking at Rome-Gates with his golden hammer promising pardon to whomsoever shall enter in at them that year bringeth much Gold to St Peter's chair and the Pope's coffer keeping their Kitchen smokeing Jubilees were of use before Christs coming but ever since out of date clear light shining out of thick darknesse the year of Jubilee proclaimed the acceptable year of our Lord the year of release from Babilonish thraldom and Popish superstition free justification by the blood of Christ preached An Angel cometh down from heaven having great power and the earth was lightned with his glory and he crieth out mightily with a strong voice saying Babylon the great is fallen c. Rev. 18.1 2. and vers 4. Another voice from Heaven saith Come out of her my people that ye be not pertakers of her sinnes and that ye receive not of her plagues And is it not vrey needfull for us to observe the Signs of these our times how many Nations professing the truth of the Gospell with us have of late endured many hard and sore trials God hath destroyed the strength of many Kingdomes overthrowing the Charets and those that rode in them the Horses and their riders have come down Hag. 2.21 22. every one by the Sword of his Brother God hath even shaken the Heavens over us and the earth under us for the great formality and lukewarmnesse intemperance earthlymindednesse of the Nations and for the great opposition of the Kingdom of Christ the beauty of holynesse and the truth of God clearly revealed in the Gospell Furthermore It is very observable how that many men in all ages have been taken away by suddain judgements and that divers waies Herod on a suddain cometh upon the Galileans and killeth them as they were Sacrificing mingling their Blood with their Sacrifices Luk. 13.1 upon eighteen others a Tower falls suddainly and killeth them as the house upon Job's Children Thus some men have been taken away in their drunkennesse and in their riotous meetings some fall from scaffolds some be slain with timber some killed with the overthrow of earth some drowned some with falls from Horses some with Tiles or Stones falling from Houses Mayer Exposit in Jam. Paenitentia est animi medicina Lactant. Secunda Tabula post naufragium Hieron as that worthy Roman Captain riding through the streets of Rome in Triumph after a famous victory was killed by a Tile of a House falling on his head Now the use and end of God's judgments upon some is to work amendment and repentance upon all Repentance as Lactantius calls it is the Physick of the soul which all that be sin sick as all Adam's brood be must take before they can be recovered and all that will not be drowned in the Sea of Sinne must of necessity swim out upon the plank of repentance CHAP. XXXV Instruction second Instruct 2 AS we must observe So likewise we must be carefull to remember and not forget