to stones and pillars have been the preservatives and memorials of his wonderfull works The works of God are his holinesse justice power mercy truth made visible The administrations of God in one age are for the instruction of all ages God spake with Jacob only in person at Bethel yet there the Scripture saith he spake with all his posterity Hos 12.4 He found him in Bethel and there he spake with us It is then a debt to posterity to shew them what God hath done for us Observe Secondly That it is our duty to enquire into the dealings of God in all ages It was their duty before the word was written and it is a duty still The works of God are to be studied and read over as well as his word Deut. 4.20 32. Ask now of the daies that are past which were before thee since the day that God created man upon earth and ask from one side of heaven to another enquire every way to see whether ever God dealt with a people as he hath dealt with thee whether God did ever assay to take to himself a Nation from the middest of another Nation by temptations and by signs and by wonders c. Enquire this of all the former times So Deut. 32.7 Remember the daies of old consider the years of many generations ask thy father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee The Psalmist promises to rehearse what these were enjoyned to record Psal 78.3 4. I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us Our speaking of and enquiring into what God hath done shews the harmony between his word and works And the former providences of God are food for our faith as well as the promises of God Thirdly That which I shall rather insist upon is this True antiquity ever gives a testimony to the truth Hence the Prophets send the people back to antiquity Jer. 6.16 Enquire for the good old-way Every old way is not a good way but in every good old way we may walk safely and see the footsteps of truth Quod antiquissimum verissiâ—um It is a received rule That is truest which is ancientest It is certainly so for truth is not only ancient but eternall Truth is as old as God himself for truth is nothing else but the minde of God truth was with God from everlasting Truth is commonly called the daughter of time yet in a sense it is the mother of time for it was before time was and therefore no question that which is ancientest is truest Yet there is a great abuse of this principle Look back to antiquity and consult with your fathers say many and see what they did how they believed But what is the antiquity they call us to consult with It is not as Moses spake in that place of Deuteronomy antiquity since God created man upon earth or since Jesus Christ was upon the earth and gave out his Gospel-laws but it is the antiquity of some later ages and editions an antiquity far short of what is indeed the ancient time The Apostle 1 Joh. 2.7 gives us the definition of an old commandment This is the old commandment which was from the beginning Our sinfull nature is called the old man and yet it is a corrupt man It is called the old-man not that it is older then the new man the new man is not of a younger house or later date then the old man Holinesse was before corruption And the image of God upon man elder then sinne the image of the devil There are many corruptions in doctrine in opinion in worship in practice which go for very old And there are many doctrines which we call new truths Is it because those corruptions are older then these new truths No new truths are elder then the oldest corruptions That which we call the new world was created in the beginning though discovered but yesterday So new truths were given from the beginning only they were unknown till of late and we may well conceive that some goodly regions of truth are still terra incognita undiscovered God having reserved them for the honour and industry of some divine Columbus who may give us an exacter sea-card of divine mysteries then the world hath yet seen though enough hath been seen from the beginning for the safe steering of our course to heaven He that would enquire and make a diligent search for truth must goe to the first institutions That 's the old commandment which was from the beginning The Prophet Ezekiel Chap. 23.43 speaks of some who were grown old in adulteries that is old in adulterating and corrupting the truth and worship of God That which is old may be old in evil and fuller of errours then it is of daies We finde when the good Kings of Judah reformed they did not search only into what was done in the ages immediately before them or what their next fathers had done but they searcht what was done in the times of their godly fathers how many removes soever distant from them Hezekiah 2 Chron. 29.6 tels the Levites that their fathers were in an errour that they had trespassed and done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and had forsaken him and Chap. 30.5 speaking of the observation of the Passeover he saith They had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written therefore v. 7. he dehorteth them saying Be not ye like your fathers which trespassed against the Lord God of your fathers he doth not mean that they should not be like their first fathers who had the truth purely committed to them and so worshipped God purely but be not like your immediate fore-fathers or your corrupt fore-fathers how many descents and generations so ever ye can number from them And this was a thing so strange that when Hezekiah sent the Posts from City to City thorow the Countries of Ephraim and Manasseh with this message that he would have a reformation according to the first institution or patern and would not have them stay in what their fore-fathers had done It is said vers 10. That they laughed the messengers to scorn and they mocked them what must we now be wiser then our fathers Yes saith he you have done evil a long time you and your fathers therefore I must bring you back to your first fathers in comparison of whom the fathers you claim by were but children and those degenerate children It is said of Josiah's reformation 2 King 23.22 That there was not the like from the daies of the Judges nor in all the daies of the Kings of Israel and Judah he went to the very beginning of all there had not been such a thing done before So that if any should have objected why may not such a reformation serve us as served those Kings and Judges No saith Josiah I will search
of the mighty power of God See how Jobs discourse moves from earth to heaven and from the heavens down to the sea He searches for the wonders of Gods power and wisdome in heaven and earth and in the waters Before he shews God stopping the course of the Sunne and sealing up the stars now spreading out of the heavens and treading upon the sea He spreadeth out the heavens The heavens in reference to the earth are the upper part of the world The heavens are as it were the roof of the great house which God made or as a spangled Canopy over our heads He spreadeth out the heavens The word is of the Duall number in the Hebrew and hath divers derivations which are considerable to enlighten us in the point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à He spreadeth out the heavens Some derive it from Shem which signifies a name a name of honour and dignity Men of Name are men of renown Gen. 6.4 Nomen gloria decus quia coelum est nominatissima pars mundi Mâ—rtin in Lex â—bilos Anshi Hashem the heavens are the most glorious beautifull and renowned part of the Creation Their name is above every name of inanimate creatures Others because there are waters above in these heavens derive the word from Sham which is an adverb of place and Majim which signifies waters as much as to say there are waters or there is the place where God hath fountains and stores of water All his waters are not upon the earth he hath waters and springs in heaven A third takes it for a simple not a compound word Paulus Fagius in Gen. 1. being neer the Ishmaelitish word Shama noting only superiority in place high or above A fourth opinion derives it from Schamem which signifies to be amazed or to make one at a stand with wonder And the reason is given because the heavens are such a vast stupendious body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obstupuit propter insignem vastitatem istius corporis quae ipsa nos aspicientes in stuporem rapit Pisc in Gen. 1. that if a man look upon them exactly they will amaze him Who can observe the Sunne Moon and Stars and not wonder and be transported at their vastnesse and beauty at the swiftnesse and regularity of their motions it is above the reach and apprehension of naturall reason how the Lord should fashion and spread out such heavens But what are these heavens which he spreadeth forth Heaven is sometimes expressed with an addition the highest heavens the third heavens in 2 Cor. 12.12 The heaven of heavens 1 King 8.27 Paul was rapt up to the third heavens that is in visions and revelations he was brought as neer to God himself as a creature possibly can Of this heaven we are to understand that Gen. 1.1 where Moses saith In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void He doth not say the heaven which God created at first was without form and void but the earth was without form and void for that heaven was a perfect creature We read further of the creating of those heavens which we see of the visible heavens which are the continent of the Sunne Moon and Starres But In the beginning God created the heaven that heaven which by way of eminency is called The habitation of his holinesse and of his glory Isa 63.15 This was created in the beginning and then it is conceived the Angels were likewise created but the earth which was then made was an imperfect creature and all other corporeall creatures with their severall forms and fulnesse were extracted out of that earth which was without form and void The very heavens which we see were made out of that first earth the Sunne Moon and the Stars yea the very light it self was made out of that earth that generall heap of matter which the Lord created at first and is said to have been without form and void But the heaven which we call the heaven of heavens the third heaven or the highest heaven was a perfect creature the first day made without any pre-existent matter whatsoever by the power of God This heaven is the largest of all the heavens which God spread out Secondly Take heavens for the visible heavens I intend not to stay upon philosophicall considerations only what the Scripture holds forth we finde heavens put first for the starry heavens or the firmament where the stars have their motion that 's the heaven meant Gen. 1.17 Psal 8.7 Psal 19.1 This aâ—cording to the doctrine of Astronomers is distinguished into severall orbs and sphears in seven of which seven speciall starres are said to move and all the rest to be fixed in the eighth The Apostle Jude seems to give a hint of those planeticall orbs Jude v. 13. where he justly reproacheth unsetled spirits by the name of wandering stars or planets to whom is reserved the blacknesse of darknesse for ever Thirdly Heaven is taken in Scripture for a nearer heaven for all that which is below the Moon for the air and the clouds Hence the birds are said to flie in the heavens and Gen. 8.2 the rain from heaven was restrained that is the rain from the clouds for there is no rain in that heaven above the clouds Triplex est coelum aerium sidereum ac aliud his superius invisible divinum Dam. l. â— de orthodoxa fide Heaven is a building of three stories The first story is the air and the clouds up to the moon The second story reaches all the planets and stars The third story is also called the third heaven or the heaven of heavens the place of his most glorious residence who filleth heaven and earth All these heavens the Lord spreadeth out There is a threefold spreading forth of a thing First By contusion or beating with hammers as a masse of gold or silver c. is spread into thin plates and leaves Secondly By way of rarefaction or attenuation water is rarefied by fire and so are metals when they are melted or caused to runne with extreme heat In allusion to which Elihu speaks in his challenge to Job Chap. 37.18 Hast thou with him spread out the skie which is strong and as a molten looking-glasse The skie is of a weak sleight matter not hard massie or elementall yet it is strong the nature of it being incorruptible the figure of it round and indissoluble And it is compared to a looking-glasse for the clearnesse of it those instruments were made some of glasse some of steel or brasse molten and polisht for that purpose Thirdly A thing is spread forth by unfolding the parts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Extendit disteâ—dit sicut tentoriâ—m as a tent or a curtain is spread and thus the spreading of the heavens is described Psal 104.1 2. O Lord thou art cloathed with honour and majesty thou stretchest out the heavens
but I have not set them for Prophets If any presume to declare or resolve what shall be done I resolve to punish their presumption I take delight to frustrate men who delight in this and to befool them who would be thus wise This is my name The God that stretcheth out the heavens alone and that maketh diviners mad Great disappointments enrage and some men lose their reason when they lose the credit of doing things above reason Because they cannot be as Gods to fore-tell good or evil they will not be so much as men He makes the diviners mad The Law was peremptory and severe against them Deut. 18.9 There shall not be found amongst you any one that useth divination or is an observer of times why not an observer of times may we not observe times and seasons May we not look up to the heavens and consider their motions Yes we may observe times holily but not superstitiously as if some times were good others bad some lucky others unlucky as if the power of God were shut up in or over-ruled by his own instruments and inferiour causes this is dishonourable unto God and thus the Jews were forbidden to use any divination or to observe times The heavens and stars are for signs but they are not infallible signs They are ordinary signs of the change of weather Mat. 16.2 3. They are ordinary signs of the seasons of the year Spring and Summer and harvest and winter they are ordinary signs of a fit time to till and manure the ground to plow sowe and reap The earth is fitted and prepared for culture by the motion of the heavens The heavens are at once the Alphabet of the power and wisdom of God and of our works we may read there when to do many businesses Gen. 8.22 While the earth remaineth seed-time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease Those seasons shall continually return according to the time of the year measured by the Sun Moon and Stars Thus they are signs of ordinary events And God sometimes puts the sign of an extraordinary event in them Mat. 24.29 Immediately after the tribulation of those daies shall the Sunne be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken which some understand allegorically others literally of strange apparitions and impressions in heaven either before the destruction of Jerusalem or the day of judgement So Act. 2.19 20 c. Thus God puts a sign in them of extraordinary events But shall man from them prognosticate and fore-tell extraordinary events as when there shall be famine and pestilence war and trouble in Nations This the Lord abhorreth The counsels of God about these things are written in his own heart what is man that he should transcribe them from the heavens But if men will say they are written there God will blot out what they say and prove theirs to be but humane divinations yea that they were received from hell not written in heaven Isa 47.13 I will destroy the signs of them that divine let now the Astrologers the star-gazers the monethly Prognosticatours stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee Behold they shall be as stubble they shall not be able to deliver themselves It is good to be a starre-beholder but a wicked thing to be a starre-gazer that is to look upon the stars so as if we could spell out the secret providences of God and read future events in the book of those creatures It is our duty to look upon the heavens as they declare the glory of God but it is a sin to look upon the heavens as if they could declare the destinies fates and fortunes of men All which vanities are largely and learnedly confuted by M Perkins in his book called The resolution of the Countrey-man about Prognostications Now that the successe of every creature is in God not in the stars we may see first in the order of the creation God created the earth and commanded it to bring forth fruit upon the third day but the lights in the firmament were made the fourth day The earth can bring forth without the midwifery or help of the heavens God himself made the earth fruitfull without yea before the stars were made Philo Judaers de opificio munâ—i Upon which one of the Ancients gives this observation Surely saith he the Lord in his providence made the earth fruitfull in all its glory before he put the stars in the heavens to the intent to make men see that the fruitfulnesse of the earth doth not depend upon the heavens or stars God needs neither the rain of the clouds nor the warmth of the Sun to produce these effects He that made all second causes to work in their ranks can work without the intervention of any second cause And because the Lord fore-saw men would dote much upon second causes and venture to prognosticate by the heavens the fates of men and the fruitfulnesse of the earth therefore he made the earth fruitfull before he made Arcturus or placed those constellations in the heavens Secondly The providence of God works under the decree of God His providence is the execution of his decree Therefore we must not bring the decrees down to providence but we must raise providence up to the decrees Thirdly The heavens and those heavenly bodies Arcturus c. are but generall causes there are speciall causes besides of the earths barrennesse or fruitfulnesse of tempests at sea and troubles at land and the Lord is able to invert all causes to work beyond causes without causes and against causes So that nothing can be infallibly fore-told from the positions conjunctions or revolutions of those heavenly bodies Lastly Observe That it is our duty to study the heavens and be acquainted with the stars In them the wonderfull works of God are seen and a sober knowledge in nature may be an advantage unto grace Holy David was such a student Psal 8.3 When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained Consideration is not a transient or accidental but a resolved and a deliberate act Shall we think that God hath made those mighty bodies the stars to be past by without consideration Shall men only pore upon a lump of earth and not have their hearts lifted up to consider those lamps of light Shall man make no more use of the stars then the beasts of the earth do namely to see by them When I consider thy heavens saith David Heaven is the most considerable of all inanimate creatures and more considerable then most of the animate and Davids when when I consider the heavens notes not only a certainty that he did it but frequency in doing it Some of the Rabbins tell us that when Isaac went out into the field to meditate Gen.
they teach thee Certainly they shall thou shalt not come away empty undirected uncounsel'd Shall not they teach thee How could they teach They were dead and gone they were past many ages before Bildad may be conceived to answer Though the fathers are dead yet they will speak to thee and counsell thee as well as if they lived and stood before thee with our selves They shall teach thee and they shall instruct thee And more then that they will not onely teach thee in a complement and speak words to thee but they will speak their very hearts to thee thou shalt finde that they will give thee cordial counsell They will utter words to thee out of their heart Vtter words out of their heart The meaning of that is either First in generall they will give thee the reall conceptions of their mindes about these points they will speak sincerely they will not speak to thee from the teeth outward but from the heart inward Secondly they will speak wisely and judiciously to thee about these things they will utter not so much words as oracles to thee out of their heart The heart is the seat of knowledge and understanding and a wise man is homo cordatus a hearty man Eloquia ex corde proferre est sapienter loqui sapiens cordatus dicitur stultus excors a man with a heart and a fool in Scripture is said to be a heartles man a man without a heart he cannot utter words from his heart who wants a heart he utters them from his mouth or from his tongue A fools heart is in his mouth and a wise mans mouth is in his heart he speaks that which lies in the in-most recesses and closets of his spirit he speaks from meditation he brings what he speaks to his heart Cor loquitur quae animus praemeditatus est os loquitur sine meditatione and from his heart utters what he speaks Christ assures us That a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things Every heart is a treasury When a good man speaks evil he speaks not from his heart though he hath a stock of sinfulnesse in him but from his lips and when an evil man speaks good he speaks it not from his heart but from his lips for he hath no stock or treasury of good within An hypocrite speaks good with a heart and a heart with a double heart A fool speaks without a heart yet of the two it is better to have no heart then two Or we may take the meaning of the words as a secret reproof of Job If thou wilt look after these fathers and search them they will not speak as thou hast done rashly unadvisedly and indiscreetly but they will speak from their hearts they will utter things of weight and serious consideration From hence observe First That old men are presumed to have a great stock of knowledge Go to the fathers they will certainly teach thee Every man should labour to have a proportion of knowledge to his proportion of years we should not be children in understanding when we are men in time The Apostle reproves such as are so Heb. 5.2 When saith he for the time you ought to be teachers look upon the yeers that are gone over your heads and you ought to be teachers you should have much in your hearts for the instruction of others yet so it is you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God and you are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat Secondly observe They who are dead and gone yet speak to us as if they were living Bildad sends Job to the ancient fathers Go they will teach thee and utter words out of their heart Whilest we consider what they have spoken and done it is as if they now spake Heb. 11.4 Abel by faith offered a better sacrifice then Cain and being dead he yet speaketh They who are dead speak by their works and they speak by the words which they spake while they were alive The records which they have left give us counsell to this day When the rich man it is the scope of the Parable I say when the rich man Luk. 16 2â— desired that Lazarus might go from the dead to speak to his brethren Abraham answers him They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them c. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead They have Moses and the Prophets but Moses and the Prophets were dead and gone how have they Moses and the Prophets they have not the men before them but they had their writings and records they who read the Prophets writings hear their speakings Books are silent voices If Moses and the Prophets may be heard when dead and gone then much more may we hear Christ since he died and rose and his Apostles who are dead And whereas some have an opinion that they do not know the minde of Christ or that they cannot reform the Church or their Churches till Christ himself come from heaven to do it or till there be Apostles sent personally to do it they wanting an Apostle cannot order the vvorship and ordinances of God and therefore conclude against a present Church-state I say to such if that be your ground that you must have Christ and his Apostles to settle all for you you have your desires Look into the vvorks and vvord of Christ into the vvritings and practices of his Apostles both for your rule and patern If Abraham could say they have Moses and the Prophets they may hear them surely vve may say much more we have Christ and his Apostles vvhom vve may hear and consult about all the institutions and orders that concern the frame of his Church We need not stay till Christ come down in person from heaven or till new Apostles are sent and furnished vvith instruction for this vvork for we have Christ and his Apostles already vve hear what Christ spake vve read the rules vvhich he gave concerning the vvaies of his vvorship and government of his Church in all the essentiall and constitutive parts of either to the end of the world Thirdly observe They that teach others should teach their own hearts to speak It is best speaking to others with the heart The heart will teach better then the tongue yea better then the understanding â—he word which comes from the heart of the teacher goes soonest to the heart of the hearer Fourthly observe The heart is the true repository or treasury of holy truths You may see where the fathers the holy men in ancient time laid up truth they utter words out of their heart then truth was laied up there Truth is as it vvere the heart of God and therefore we must put it into our hearts
like a curtain God took the vast matter folded together and spread it as a curtain tabernacle or tent And the * Hîc Dolapum manuâ— hîc saevus tendebat Achillis Virg 2. Aeneiad Iuxta hortos tendâ—bat Suct in Galb c 12. de Germanâ—rum Cohorte Et milites tendere omnes extra vallum jussit Tac l 13. Latine word which carries the interpretation of this in the Hebrew is frequently applied by ancient Authours to the pitching of tents in warre In this third sense we are specially to understand the Text Alone spreadeth out the Heavens And so this spreading is either an exposition of the nature of the heavens Gen. 1.8 The Lord said Let there be a firmament the Hebrew is * CoeluÌ„ sive firmamentum vocaâ—ur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eo quid est expansum extensum super terram Solus sine cujusquam auxilio Let there be an expansion or a stretching forth These heavens are so much spread forth that they are called a thing spread forth and so the text is a description of the heavens in their first Creation Or it may referre to the words going before and so these are a reason to shew that God can command the Sunne and seal up the stars why He spreadeth forth the heavens that is the heavens are all of his making and at his disposing he set the Sunne there and put the starres there he fashioned the orbs in which they are placed and therefore he can stay the Sun and seal the starres And as he thus spreadeth out the heavens so which is more observable He spreadeth them out alone When a piece of hangings or the like of a large extent is to be spread forth one man cannot doe it many hands are put to that work Instrumentum creationis creatura esse non potest It is an axiome in Divinity That no creature can be an instrument in Creation this stretching forth of the heavens is an act of Creation therefore he alone doth it there is none to help him Yet we finde that God had some other with him when he stretched out the heavens though it be here attributed to him alone and though Elihu expostulates with Job in this point Chap. 37.18 Hast thou with him spread out the skie which is strong and as a molten looking-glasse Elihu would bring down the thoughts of Job which he conceived were too much lifted up by shewing that God did this alone Solus quia nemo extra ipsum cuÌ„ ipso sed una cuÌ„ iâ—so illi qui in ipso per identitatem substantiae sunt verbo enim Domini firmati sunt coeli spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum Solum enim divinitas sacit quae ut una ita sola Job saith he didst thou hold one part of this great Curtain or Canopy of heaven in thy hand and God another and was it so spread out between you No neither man nor angel was his helper who then was with God in this work Solomon tels us Prov. 8.27 When he prepared the heavens I was there when he set a compasse upon the face of the depth Who was that I wisdome was there Jesus Christ was there Christ was he by whom God prepared and stretched forth the heavens No creature was there only the uncreated creating Sonne of God God created alone that is without the help of any creature but he created all things by the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made Observe from hence First The heavens are as the royall tent and pavilion of the Lord. He spreadeth them out The Lord is often exprest comming out of the heavens with warlike preparations There his tent is pitcht and he sitteth there as a great Commander in his pavilion to give out Orders to his Armies He hath an host in heaven and therefore he hath a tent in heaven or rather heaven is his tent The Lord hath his way in the whirlwinde and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet Nah. 1.3 God pitches his battell in heaven The stars in their courses fought against Sisera He fought from heaven from thence he discharged his great Artillery his Cannons thundered and lightened against the enemies of his people He hath also his store-houses for ammunition his Magazines there Job 38.22 Est allâ—so ad armamentaria publica ubi armorum ma hinarum tormentorum ingens apparatus reconditur B l. Quicquid habeÌ„t telorum armamentaria coeli Juven Sat. 13. Hast thou saith God to Job entred into the treasures of the snow Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail which I have reserved against the time of trouble the day of battell and warre He speaks of heaven as of a great store-house where he hath his arms his powder and ball all his warlike provision laid up against the day of battell Heathens have spoken such language calling storms and tempest hail and thunder The weapons and engines of the Armory of heaven Secondly In that he saith He stretcheth out the heavens alone observe That the Lord needs not the help of any treature to doe his greatest works He hath power and he hath power in himself to doe what he hath a will should be done let all the creatures in the world stand still yet God can carry his work forward What work is like this the stretching forth the heavens There cannot be a work of so much difficulty under heaven as the spreading forth of the heavens He who did that alone what can he not doe alone Though men will not though men cannot help the Lord can and will alone Isa 59.16 He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessour no man to do no man to speak in that businesse not a man appeared what then Doth the Lord say well seeing there is no man to do I also will let it lie No Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him and his power sustained him he did it alone Paul speaks of himself that at his first appearing before Nero all men forsook him not a man would own him but saith he The Lord stood by me 2 Tim. 4.15 This is a great encouragement to us in great affairs and businesses in the greatest straits and difficulties of the times if men forsake and desert the Lord alone can doe all for us if men have not power to doe what they have will to doe nor will to doe what they have power then remember He that stretcheth out the heavens alone can order our works alone compose our differences alone conquer our enemies alone God alone is infinite greater stronger wiser then all creatures together God can be now as he will be hereafter all in all unto us God is enough for us without any creature yea God and all that he hath made cannot do more than God
rage of the mysticall as of the literall waters yea we finde these two matcht together Psal 65.7 He stilleth the noise of the seas the noise of their waters and the tumult of the people Hence the Apostle Jude vers 13. cals wicked men raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame The Lord sitteth upon these flouds yea the Lord sitteth King for ever Psal 29.10 There are other mysticall waves even waves within us which will not be trodden upon by any foot but Gods There is a sea of wickednesse in every mans heart by nature Every wicked man is nothing but a sea he is a sea of wickednesse The wicked Isa 57.20 are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest And as the windes blow from all quarters of the heavens and strive upon the seas So there are divers lusts which as windes strive upon the face of mans heart the lust of pride the lust of covetousnes the lusts of ambition of envy of malice these enrage and swell the waters The Lord treads upon the high waves of this sea also he restrains and keeps lust down by his power it would drown all else These raging waves swell too high in his own people it is the work of his Spirit to tread these down and when the windes of severall temptations raise those waves he it is that commands them down Who amongst us is there that one time or other findes not corruption raging as the high waves of the sea How mighty and powerfull is the Lord in that great work of his effectuall grace treading upon the waves of this sea remaining corruption in his servants and children Verse 9. Which maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the South In the verse immediately before we heard of the power of God in stretching out the heavens and in this we have his excellent skill and infinite wisdome displaied in adorning decking and beautifying those heavens which he had stretched forth He hath not only drawn out a vast piece of work In astroruÌ„ pulchritudine situ ordine vi stupendiso in haec infortora operationibus admirabilis prorsus creatoris magnificentia magnitudo plurimuÌ„ clucet Bold like a large Canopy such are the heavens but he hath embroidered this Canopy and set it with rich sparkling stones he hath made severall engravings images figures and representations upon it Or we may make the connexion with the later clause of the former verse Job having said that the Lord treadeth upon the high waves of the sea that when the seas are most stormy and tempestuous they are at his command and that their confusions are under his Empire and order he adds this verse by way of answer to a possible objection For some might say the motion of the seas is from the power and influences of the stars Cum multa sint astra hominibus fluctibus infensa eorum praecipuè memâ—nit quorum vis ad ciendas tempestates hominibus magis est explorata San. from the rising and setting of the moon with other planets and constellations True saith Job yet the Lord is he that treadeth upon the waves of the sea it is the Lord that orders them and not the stars Though the stars and constellations have a dominion over the seas in their ebbings and flowings motions and revolutions yet there is a Lord who hath power not only over the seas but over that which over-powers the seas even over the stars of heaven He maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the South which stars according to the doctrine of Astronomy have a speciall power upon the seas Either of these waies we may make the connexion First That Job would expresse the adorning of the heavens after he had spoken of their making and stretching forth Or secondly He would teach us that though the heavens work upon the seas yet God works upon the heavens He maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the South I shall endeavour to speak of these distinctly The holy Ghost giving us such a Text it is not lightly to be passed by And though here are strange words and uncouth expressions yet we may I hope bring them down to an easie meaning and fit them to the understanding of the simplest I shall touch a little in the generall before I come to every one in particular Iob under these names couches many of the stars of heaven Stella est densior pars orbis ideo lucent astra non coeli quia hi diaphani sunt rari asâ—ra autem densa eoque lucem retinentia reflectentia Migir Phys A Star according to Philosophy is the thicker part of its orb â—r sphear it is thicker then other parts of the heavens for otherwise as it could not hold the light so it could not reflect and send forth the light It could not be a vessel for light or a conveiance for light Light was created the first day Gen. 1.3 but the lights were created the fourth day Gen. 1.14 that is certain vessels were created to hold the light And God said Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven that is let the light which is now scattered thorow all be gathered in certain receptacles fit to keep and yet fitted to transmit and disperse it into all parts of the world Let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light vers 15. Of these lights or stars some are called moving and others fixed That 's the doctrine of Astronomers and it is the doctrine of the Scripture The Apostle Iude ver 13. calling some wandering stars seems to admit of that distinction of the stars into wandering and fixed The unfixt or wandering stars are seven known by their names and motions These in the Text are none of them these are placed above them The seat of these Asterismes is in the eighth sphear to take that doctrin for granted though many dispute it or story of the heavens so the Prophet Amos speaks Chap. 9.2 He buildeth his stories in the heavens we put in the margent sphears He buildâ—th his sphears in the heavens which being one above another are elegantly called the stories of heaven And in the eight sphear innumerable stars are fixed Some of which fall under speciall observation and numeration Astronomers give us a Catalogue of a thousand three and twenty stars which they exactly distinguish which is the ancient account And since that we have had many more discoveries by those noble Navigatours who have made thorow-lights to the world that the East might look into the West and the South into the North The travell study and experiments of these Masters in navigation have brought us in an additionall number of three hundred stars more And so we reckon a thousand three hundred and twenty three fixed stars known by name of which these in the text are a part Thâ— other stars are both innumerable and unnameable beyond number and