Octob. 3. 1639. Imprimatur Cantabrigiae per Rogerum Daniel Ra. Brownrigg Procan Samuel Ward Tho. Bainbrigg Jo. Cosin The Mind of the Frontispice How firmely hangs this Earths rich cabinet Twix't fleeting Air on floting waters set By this one argument fond Atheist see The Earth thou tread'st on shew's a Deitie On such a liquid basis could it stand If not supported by a Pow'rfull hand But what 's the Earth or Sea or Heav'n to mee Without Thee Three-in-One and one-in-Three Nec caelum sine Tâ—terra noâ— unda placet THE DIVINE COSMOGRAPHER by 〈…〉 Quum te pendenti reputaâ—… insiâ—tere terrae nonne vel hinc clarâ— conspiciâ—… 〈◊〉 â—â—um Printed for Andrew Crooke 1640. Wâ—… sulpâ—it To my much honoured friend WILLIAM HODGSON Esquire on his elegant and learned descant on the Eighth Psalme WHen I peruse with a delighted eye Thy learned descant on a text so high The choice of such a subject first I praise And then thy skill and Genius that could raise A style in prose so high as to expresse This holy Panegyrick and no lesse The Use to view through this varietie Of creatures the Creatours majestie And must condemn those vain Cosmographers Who whilest they strive to search and to rehearse All creatures frame and beauty while they toyl To find the various nature of each soil The Oceans depth through whose vast bosome move 〈◊〉 many wonders nay to skies above And higher spheres their contemplations raise They loose the pith of all the Makers praise Thomas May {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} HOdsonus ille Lector ut vides novâ Illustrat arte flammei poli plagas MundÃque tractus ceu Syracosius Senex Ingentis olim Iuserat coeli vias Suúmque magno reddidit mundum Jovi Humana Divi dum stupent ars quid queat Sic sic aperti tramitem aeris secans Stagnantis olim transiit terrae vias Columba justi missa de manu Senis Miro volatu remigans liquidum aethera Qualisve docti quae Tarentini manu Efficta veras arte lusit alites Hodsonus ille Lector ut spatio brevi Se continere non queat ampliùs vides En ille mensor aeris liquidi poli Percurrit orbem tranat quod aethera Pinnisque quicquid turbidum findit mare Accessus illi haud invius Diespiter Quà promit orbi syderis radios novi Vesperéque sero condit ubi lumen suum Ali isque tentat coeli inaccessas domus Humero efficaci sic priùs coelumtulit Laturum erat quod se vice Atlantis pueâ— Tonantis olim pondere haud pressus gravâ— Linguâque doctâ sic Hodsonus potens Stylóque docto jam viam adfectat polo Terrásque notas linquit coelum petit Radiavit ipse quod priùs lumine suo Scrib V. Optimo amiâ— Guilielmus Burtonus Kingstoniae ad Thamesin apud Regnâ— To my worthy learned frienâ—W H. Esquire upon his divine meditation and elegant explanation of the Eighth Psalme MOngst all the reverend rites the Church dains None melts the mind so much so mildly reignâ— O're mans affections warming our desire And ycie frozen zeal with heavenly fire As th' Hebrew Siren's musick Jordans swan Gods darling David that Prophetick man Whose manna-dewing layes with charming strains And anthemes chanted from inspiring veins Do mount our winged souls aloft which flie Ravish't to Heaven in blessed theorie This sacred Hymn the subject of thy quill Limn'd in such orient colours by thy skill As a rich tablet shewes in lively features Gods love to man mans rule o're the creatures Fowls of the air and beasts on earth residing The scaly frie in the vast Ocean gliding With all the numerous host of heaven past counting In spangled order and bright beauty mounting These all by thee are taught to speak the story Of the worlds fabrick and their Founders glory Nor hast thou marr'd the majestie of those Mysteries sublim'd dress'd statelier in thy prose But rather clear'd those rubs and doubts which did â—n obscure knottie arguments lie hid And in this * wine-pâ—esse trode the grapes whose jnvce â—hall to weak fainting souls such heat infuse â—s will not only cheat their hearts but be Thy glories Truchman to posteritie Reuben Bourn To his ever honoured friend William Hodgson Esquire on his contemplations on the Eighth Psalme Sir GOd hath blessed you with a lovely vine And you have blessed your God in so divine Soul-ravishing fansies wherewith you are fill'd From the pure * wine-presse of this Psalme distill'd I do conceive what pangs were in thee when Thou formd'st and brought'st forth with thy skiâ—full penne This perfect feature whose alluring face Smiles on the world with an attractive grace When thou beholdest with a single eye The spangled heavens the embroidered skie That looks upon the earth with thousands we Confesse and know that thy divinitie Doth much irradiate the celestiall tapers Bright in themselves but brighter by thy papers Curious contriver how dost thou enrobe The great and small ones of each massie globe In fine-weav'd ornaments Such is thy skill The Persian needle comes not near thy quill Richly hast thou adorn'd the Earth our mother Sea the Earths sister and the Air their brother And which is most praise-worthy each I see And all that 's in them laud the Deitie William Moffet Mr. of Arts Sydn Coll. Camb. Vic. of Edmonton The DIVINE COSMOGRAPHER or A brief Survey of the whole world delineated in a tractate on the VIII Psalme By W. H. sometime of S. Peters Colledge in Cambridge Printed by Roger Daniel Printer to the Universitie of CAMBRIDGE 1640. PSAL. VIII To the chief musician upon Gittith A psalme of David O LORD our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth who hast set thy glory above the heavens 2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger 3 When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the starres which thou hast ordained 4 What is man that thou art mindfull of him and the sonne of man that thou visitest him 5 For thou hast made him a little lower then the angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet 7 All sheep and oxen yea and the beasts of the field 8 The fowl of the aire and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas 9 O LORD our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth The Divine Cosmographer or A brief survey of the whole world delineated in a tractate on the eighth Psalme SECT. 1. A preface on the book of Psalmes in generall THe Holy Ghost describing the genealogie of our Saviour from how many kings he was descended vouchsafeth none of them the style and title
SECT. 3. THe ground upon which the Psalmist sweetly runneth through the whole Psalme is a twofold rapture expressed in a sacred rapsodie in an exstaticall question of suddain wonder a wonder at God and a wonder at Man In his wonder at Man the parts be Antitheta first of his Vilenesse Debasement Secondly of his Dignitie and Exaltation In the first each word hath its energie What is man and then What is the sonne of man paraphrastically thus according to the Chaldee What is man Not man that rare creature endowed with wisdome understanding not man as he is cura Divini ingenii the Almighties master-piece the Epitome of the greater world But What is Enosh or Enosch miserable dolefull wretched man or What is the sonne of Adam whose originall is Adamah earthie What is the sonne of calamitie or earth What is he Nay what is he not what not of calamity and earth And because the life of opposites is in comparing them the Prophet in a deep speculation looking over that great nightpiece and turning over the vast volume of the world seeth in that large Folio among those huge capitall letters what a little insensible dagesh-point Man is and suddenly breaks forth into this amazed exclamation Lord what is man Having considered in his thoughts the beauty of the celestiall host the Moon and the Starres he brings up man unto them not to rivall their perfection but to question his and after some stand and pause in stead of comparison makes this enquirie What is man or the sonne of man Secondly we are here to take notice of Mans dignitie Though the Prophet abaseth himself with a What is man yet withall he addes having an eye at Gods favour and mercie towards man Thou takest knowledge of him Thou makest account of him making him onely lower then the Angels but Lord over the rest of the creatures And this knowledge this account oâ— God doth more exaâ— man then his own vilenesse can depresse him In his wonder towards God as if Gods glory were the circle of Davidâ— thoughts he both beginâ— and ends the Psalme with an elegant Epanalepsis Priùs incipit Propheta mirari quà m loqui O Lord our Governour how excellent is thy name in all the world vers. 1. And desinit loqui non mirari Oâ— Lord our Governour how excellent is thy name c. vers. 9. Sicut incipit itâ— terminat geminatio reâ— ejusdem intentionem habeâ— animi ardorem saith Musculus on Psal. 117. To which agreeth that of S. Augustine upon this hymne Incipiendum cum Deo desinendum cum â—o To praise God is the first thing we must begin with and the last we must conclude with And it is easie to observe how that the universall underlong of most of these Ditties is Praised be the Lord Davids gracious heart in a sweet sense of the great goodnesse of his God every-where breathes out this doxologie or divine Epiphoâ—ema Praised be the Lord This is the resolution and Logicall Analysis oâ— the whole Psalme Bâ— should I fold up so riâ— a work in so small a compasse I did but shew yoâ— the knotty outside of a Arras-hanging I wiâ— now open and draw oâ— at length and present tâ— your eyes the pleasanâ— mixture of colours iâ— each piece thereof Anâ— least I should lose my seâ— in this Zoan in this fielâ— of wonders my meditations shall keep pace witâ— the Princely Prophetâ— method and among those magnalia Jehovae mirifica Domini the wonderfull works of the Lord I will first consideâ— how that out of the â—outhes of babes and suckâ—ngs he ordaineth strength 〈◊〉 still the enemie and the â—venger SECT. 4. SAint Hierome writeth of Paula that noâ—le matrone that she joyâ—d in nothing more then â—uòd Paulam neptim audieâ—t in cunis balbutiente linâ—uâ Halleluja cantare that â—e heard her niece Paula â—ven in the cradle with a â—retty stammering tongue 〈◊〉 sing Haleluiah unto â—e Lord O God thou â—eedest no skilfull Rhetorician to set forth the praise Ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores even new-born babeâ— and sucklings do sufficiently declare thy power wisdome and goodnesse Qui matrum ex uberâ— pendent Elingues pueri dictâ— mirabile vires Immensas numénque tuuâ— muto ore fatentur Thus did the blessed Innocents those primitiâ— Martyrum witnesse ouâ— Saviours glory non lâ— quendo sed moriendo noâ— by speaking but by suâ—fering for him so the God out of their moutâ— made perfect his praise Christ assuredly got praise â—n that hymn which the Angels sung Glory be to God on high he got great praise by S. Stephen his Protomartyr and by S. â—ohn whom he loved but â—s praise was made perâ—ect by the mouth of those â—abes and Innocents Marvel not that children â—ake up that train for â—nto them and unto us â—en was born a Child as â—e Prophet speaks and â—ch an one as ever deâ—ghted in little ones like â—s Father To him was â—ver sacrifice more acâ—ptable of beasts then â—mbes of birds then pigeons and that Lambâ— of God carried the samâ— mind Suffer little children to come unto me and foâ—bid them not for unto such belongeth the kingdome â— heaven And if the kingdome of heaven belong to them good reasoâ— they should belong unâ— the king As great Princes will have their seâ—vants to attend on hiâ— whom they honour 〈◊〉 God commands the glorious Angels in heaveâ— to take charge of his litâ— ones here on earth aâ— they are ever reaâ— pitching their teâ— round about them aâ— do ever attend either 〈◊〉 their safegard or revenge Nay they are no longer Angels as S. Gregorie well observes then they are so employed for acâ—ording to S. Augustine Angel is a name of office â—ot of nature They are alwayes Spirits but not alwayes Angels For no â—onger messengers from God to man no longer Angels since to be an Angel implyes onely to be a messenger It was a witty Essay of â—im who styled Woman the second edition of the eâ—itome of the whole world â—eing framed next unto â—an who was the abâ—ridgement of the whole creation and though aâ— Infant be but man in 〈◊〉 small letter yet saith another Characterist he 〈◊〉 the best copie of Adam bâ—fore he tasted of Eve or the apple Felix sine fraudibâ— aetas Thrice happie Infancie in which no guile 〈◊〉 gall is to be found Câ—jus innocentia ignosceâ—tia saith Culman Whosâ— humblenesse and harmlesnesse abundantly coâ—founds the enemie and the avenger For a littlâ— child being injured takes not any revenge but onely makes complaint to its parents Iâ— this respect we should â—mitate little children and when any wrong us not suddenly break into Gods office who saith Vengeance is mine whose prerogative royall it is to â—epay it but onely make complaint to God our Father in heaven or to the Church our Mother on earth He that upon an ambiâ—uous word to which he â—rames
and Sympathies which are as it were hidden in the bowels of nature The hand thereof is this goodly and beautifull embowed frettizing of the heavenly orbs which we behold with our eyes The twelve Signes are as it were the distinctions of the twelve howers of the day The Sunne exerciseth the office of the steel and Gnomon to point out time and in his absence the Moon The Starres contribute thereto their lustrous brightnesse The flowrie carpet of the earth beneath us the spangled canopie of the heavens above us the wavie curtains of the aire about us are so many Emblemes to exercise the wisest in the knowledge of this great Workman The living creatures are the small chimes and Man is the great clock which is to strike the howers and rende◠thanks to the Creatou◠S. Chrysostome saith that the Angels are the Morning-starres whereo◠mention is made in Job who incessantly praise God and Men are the Evening-Starres fashioned by the hand of God to do the same office Briefly God hath made man the Charge of Angels the sole Surveyour of heaven the Commander of the earth the Lord of the Creatures And thus am I led by the hand to consider his Regencie and Dominion over them SECT. 6. WHen God had formed of the earth every beast of the field and every fowl of the aire of their own fit matter he brought them unto Man who was their Lord to acknowledge his sovereigntie and to receive from him their names Gen. 2.19 Some have conceited Adam sitting in some high and eminent place his face shining farre brighter then ever the face of Moses did and every beast coming as he was called and bowing the head as he passed by being not able to behold his countenance Most probable it is that either by the help of Angels or by that which the Greeks call {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a naturall and secret instinct from God by which every creature perceiveth what is good bad for them they were gathered to Adam God brought them to man for diverse reasons First To let him see how much he did excell them and how much the more he should be thankfull God made other creatures in severall shapes like to none but themselves Man after his own image others with qualities fit for service Man for dominion Secondly That he should give them their names in token of his power over them Thirdly That posteritie might see what admirable knowledge Adam had in giving names to the creatures according to their kinds All the Arts were ingraven upon the Creatures yet none but Man could see them for he receives them both actively and passively and therefore by Logick he understood their natures and by Grammar their names If God had given their names it had not been so great a praise of Adams memorie to recall them as it was then of his judgement at first sight to impose them By his knowledge he fitted their names to their disposition and even in this he shewed his dominion over them in that he knew how to govern them and order them also To witnesse their subjection they present themselves before him as their awfull king to do their first homage and to acknowledge their tenure Such was the wonderfull beautie of mans body such a majestie resulting from his face that it struck a reverence into them all The image of God as it were the Lords coat of Arms which he had put upon Man made the creatures afraid of him Though God made Man paulò inferiorem Angelis little lower then the Angels yet he made him multò superiorem reliquis farre above all the creatures He that made Man and all the rest praeposuit set Man above all the rest Thus while man served his Creatour he was feared of every creature But did he not lose this patent of Dominion by his fall Are not the beasts now become his enemies May we not now take up the complaint of Job chap. 39.7 The wilde asse derideth the multitude of the citie and heareth not the crie of the driver The vnicorn will not serve nor tarrie by the crib 9. The hawk will not flie by our wisdome neither doth the Eagle mount up at our command v. 26 27. We cannot draw out Leviathan with an hook neither pierce his jaws with an angle Job 41.1 2. How then is the fear of Man upon the creatures Though Adam in the state of innocencie had this rule over them in a more excellent manner for then they were subject by nature of their own accord without compulsion yet by his transgression Man did not altogether lose this power and dominion For it was one of the prerogatives which God gave to Noah and his sonnes Gen. 9.2 The fear of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every fowl of heaven upon all that moveth on the earth and upon all the fish of the sea into your hands are they delivered That is saith the Paraphrast The outward priviledges of your first creation I do now though imperfectly renew unto you Let the fear and dread of you be planted naturally in every beast of the earth whether tame or wild and in every fowl of the aire and generally in all that treadeth on the earth and in all the fishes of the sea All these my will is shall be subject to your will and command that as by you and for you they were preserved so they accordingly serve to your use When Christ was in the wildernesse with the beasts fourty dayes and fourty nights they hurt him not Mark 1.13 So when the image of God is restored to man in holinesse all the creatures begin willingly to serve him but they are enemies to the unregenerate The dogs did eat the flesh of Jezebel 2. Kings 9.36 yet they licked the sores of Lazarus Luke 16.21 The ravens pick out the eyes of those that are disobedient to their parents Prov. 30.17 yet they fed Elias in the wildernesse 1. Kings 17.6 The serpents stung the people of Israel Num. 21.6 yet the viper that leaped on Pauls hand hurt him not Acts 28.6 The lions that devoured Daniels accusers touched not him Dan. 6.23 24. And still there are some reliques of God left in man which make the beasts to stand in aw of him For first they cannot do that harm to man which they would because God restrains their power Secondly they do not offend man but when he offends God Thirdly the nature of every wild beast hath been tamed by the nature of man James 3.7 Fourthly the most salvage beasts stand in fear of him they flie his company they shunne his arts and snares they fear his voice and shadow When man goeth to rest the beasts come forth to hunt their prey Psal. 104.20 Fifthly they serve man and submit themselves to his will The Lion will crouch to his keeper the Elephant will be ruled and led about by a little dwarf the Horse yeelds
his mouth to the bridle the Ox his neck to the yoke the Cow her dugs to our hands the Sheep her wooll to the shearers He can now stoop the Hawk to his lure send the Dog on his errand teach one fowl to fetch him another one beast to purvey for his table in the spoil of others I am fallen upon a subject not more large then pleasant hÃc pinguescere potest oratio my lines could here more easily swell into a volume then be contracted into a manual For as Aeneas Sylvius noteth That there is no book so weakly written but it conteines one thing or other which is profitable and as the elder Plinie said to his nephew when he saw him walk out some howers without studying Poteras has horas non perdere You might have chosen whether you would have lost this time so if we would improve our most precious minutes to the best and contemplate on this great school of the world where men are the scholars and the creatures the characters by which we spell and put together that nomen majestativum as S. Bernard calls it that great and excellent name of God we should find that there is no creature so contemptible but may justly challenge our observation and teach a good soul one step towards the Creatour There is not any so little a Spider which coming into the world bringeth not with it its rule its book its light It is presently instructed in what it should do The Swallow is busie in her masonrie The Bee toyleth all day in her innocent theft The Pismires a people not strong prepare their meat in summer and labour like the Bees sed illae faciunt cibos hae condunt but these make the others hoard up meat As Vulcan is commended in the Poet for beating out chains and nets quae lumina fallere possunt non illud opus tenuissima vincunt Stamina so thin that the eye could not see them being smaller then the smallest thread So the smaller the creature is the more is the workmanship of God to be admired both in shaping using thereof Our God is as cunning and artificiall in the organicall body of the smallest creature of the world as of the greatest And what application we may make thereof I shall have fair occasion given me again to treat of when I come to consider the Fowls of the aire and the Fish of the sea In the mean time having selected this Psalme for my meditations on Mans Lordship and Sovereigntie over the creatures I proceed according to the Prophets method and from his Omnia subjecisti from some generalls come to handle some particulars and as he hath ranked them in order I will next declare how the Lord hath put under his feet all Sheep and Oxen and the beasts of the field SECT. 7. THere be beasts ad esum and ad usum Some of them are profitable alive not dead as the Dog Horse serviceable while they live once dead they are thrown out for carrion Some are profitable dead not alive as the Hog that doth mischief while he lives but is wholesome food dead Some are profitable both alive and dead as the Ox that draws the plough the Cow that gives milk while they live when they are killed nourish and feed us with their flesh Yet none of them is so profitable as that quiet innocent harmlesse creature the Sheep Whose every part is good for something the wooll for raiment the skin for parchment the flesh for meat the guts for musick In Sacrifices no creature so frequently offered in the Sinne-offering Peace-offering Burnt-offering Passeover Sabbath-offering and especially in the daily-offering they offered a Lambe at morning and a Lambe at evening Num. 28. Lorinus observeth out of the Fathers why a Lambe was so continually offered namely as a type of the offering of Christ who in eight and twenty severall places of the Revelation is called the Lambe of God For the name of Sheep notatissima est dicendi forma saith Bucer in the 34. of Ezekiel the Prophets are thirteen times called Shepherds and the people one and twentie times called Sheep In what honour the name function and person of Shepherds hath been is every-where apparent through the sacred Scriptures A Shepherd was the first tradesman though the second sonne of all the children of Adam And after Abel many Shepherds were in near attendance upon God A Shepherds life saith Philo est praeludium ad regnum ideò reges olim dicti sunt {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Of which phrase Homer and other Grecians have made use The old Testament hath none in more esteem then Shepherds Moses that kept Jethro's sheep Jacob that kept Labans sheep Amos a Prophet taken from the herd Moses a Priest and a Prophet from the sheep Elisha the Lords Seer and you know whose spirit Elisha had yet taken from the cattel David the Lords Souldier and who ever got such victories as David yet fetched from the fold and by the choyce of God destined to the Throne When he had lien long enough close among his flocks in the field of Bethlehem God sees a time to send him to the pitched field of Israel where at his first appearance in the list with that insolent uncircumcised Philistine whose heart was as high as his head he takes no other spear but his staff no other brigandine but his shepherds scrip no other sword but his sling no other artillerie but what the brook affords five smooth small peebles and yet by these guided by an invisible hand he overcame the Giant Afterwards when the diademe empaled his temples his thoughts still reflected on his hook and harp All the state and magnificence of a Kingdome could not put his mouth out of taste of a retired simplicitie As a Musician often toucheth upon the sweetest note in his song pavin or galliard so our Kingly Prophet in diverse Psalmes but especially in his three and twentieth which we may call his Bucolicon hath most daintily struck upon the same string through the whole hymn There have you Shepherd sheep green fields still waters wayes pathes valleyes shadows yea the rod and the crook But more then all this God the Father is called a Shepherd Psal. 80.1 God the Sonne doth name himself a Shepherd John 10.11 God the Holy Ghost is named a Shepherd and Bishop of our souls 1. Pet. 2.25 These very terms of Shepherd and Sheep have led me farther than I thought besides the waters of comfort The night hath now furled up her sails and a clear thin cloud laden onely with a light dew besprinkleth with drops the whole earth like pearls which sparkle as little eyes in the faces of the flowers and plants The glorious Sun is now unlocking the doore of the morning to run his race The winged Choristers of heaven do now begin to prune and pick themselves and in their circling