knowledge enough to see their ignorance of it Of all those things that are extant concerning the principles Essence and Natures of the Creature how many of them are such Quae docti fingunt magis quam norunt which you must either believe gratis or may easily be forgiven if you believe not at all When a confused multitude of Contradictions are competitors for your Assent it is meerely at your courtesie which or whether any of them shall have it The Schoolmen thinke that some Objects are not intelligible by reason of their perfection Such are those Natures that are abstracted from matter as Angels and Soules Others by reason of their imperfection as the first matter privations and all things else Quae debilem habent entitatem Idest we are ignorant of many things by reason of our want of knowledge There being nothing in the whole Creation that is not knowable objective in it selfe And that there be so many thousand things that are not so subjective unto the wisest of us must needs be from some defect at home which I hope may prevaile with us to a penitent consideration of that which is lost and a wise and holy improvement of what we have left In order whereunto we shall have no great need of any mans Rhetorick to perswade us that such a Volumne as that of the Creature is was not written to be neglected A piece made up of innumerable varieties where there is nothing superfluous nothing defective nothing out of order no Errata's at all where the Matter the Method the Stile are all unimitable whence if the Author should strike out but one sillable all the Angels in Heaven could not supply it again This Epistle was not written to the sons of men to be laid aside No Reader we should study the works of God Psal 111.2 3 4. They are such as ought to command our meditations Not to please our phancies but to further our duty In every creature we may read God and we look upon it to little purpose if we doe not in the least Creature much of God Deus ita artifex magnus in magnis ut minor non sit in parvis He is so great a Work-man in his greatest works that he is not a jot lesse in the smallest His omnipotency wisdome and goodnesse in ALL. No power below Almighty no wisdome that is not infinite can make a Sparrow a Gnat a Straw No goodnesse lesse then Gods could give the great benefit of Being to so many usefull necessary pleasant excellent Creatures for the comfort of one And our Duty will be altogether as legible as our God that we ought to feare love obey praise admire adore such a workman and not to censure despise abuse any part of such a work If we take this course even in those Operations of that Almighty hand which have most of mysterie wrapping them about though we may misse of finding out the worke of God we shall yet light upon the God of the worke and though we may not satisfie our Curiosity which would be but the payment of contribution to a vanity we shall discharge our duty and if not in knowledge yet which is a more desirable proficiency we shall grow in grace It will never Reader I assure you repent either you or me upon our death-bed that the creature which hath retarded the motion of so many towards heaven hath facilitated ours or that we could never looke upon Heaven Earth Sea Beast Fish Fowle Plant Worme but wee saw our God For our help in this my much Honoured Friend and Neighbour the Reverend and Industrious Author hath taken a great deale of learned pains in reference especially to those works of God which lie much out of sight If you will Reader search the worke of this good man that is before you 't will the better enable you to profit by the unsearchable works of that great God which are beyond you and this he hath done in the former part of this Treatise And for your better direction in the view of such a prospect as the works of God will afford you And to teach you how to use your naturall eye-sight to a spiritual advantage you have already from the same hand DIVINE OPTICKS Divine Opticks by R.D. 1655. and a Tast of God besides what it gathered from his works in his DIVINE RELISHES Divine Relishes by R. D. 1648. that first and last he might furnish you a Table wanting nothing of what shall feast you to all Eternity the cheere being now and hereafter the same Only we shall then be called nearer and have better Stomachs Whilst you are in the way thitherward you are in Gods The Angel Guardian by R. D. 1654. and the Author will assure you of a Particular Angell to be your Guardian And how high a favour from God is such an Attendant for such Creatures For you and I Reader are inconsiderable pieces of Dust and Ashes The latter part of Thunder was occasioned by hose claps that sounded so often in our eares the last Winter I hope the Proverb is cross'd Winters Thunder never did English man good If this do not having brought forth these leaves laden with so much rich fruit 't will be English mens fault Men are naturally apt to entertain low thoughts of God Psal 42.3 Iob 21.15 Exod. 5.2 Iob 22.13 Psal 73.9 Deut. 32.15 and out of the abundāce of their hearts have wicked mouths accordingly spoken where is your God what is the Almighty I know not the Lord Can he judge through the dark clouds Thus They set their mouth against Heaven and lightly esteem the rock of their salvation I have read of a King that reigned in no very remote part of the world who having received a blow from the hand of God tooke a solemn Oath to be revenged on him and ordained that for ten yeares space no man should pray to him or speake of him Nor so so long as he was in Authority believe in him And of a Pope that would have his Pork forbidden him by the Physitian Al despetto de Dio Pope Julius the third in despight of God To root these undervaluations out and in their stead to fill our hearts with holy awfull reverentiall apprehensions of the infinite power greatnesse glory and majesty of the Almighty God beside what we have in his holy Word we have such a full demonstration of him in his Works that wee must either deny them to be his or confesse him to be a God greatly to be feared Psal 89.7 Deut. 7.21 Pal. 33.8 humanas motura tonitrua mentes A mighty God and a terrible whom all the earth should stand in awe of And what worke of God hath he qualified into more advantages of leaving upon our spirits awfull apprehenhensions of the Author then this of Thunder when the Scriptures mention it seldome if at all is it without the addition of some Declaration either of the Majesty
at once confessing it to be very defective Behold these are part of his wayes how little a portion is heard of him But the Thunder of his Power who can understand Observe two things from the Text 1 In generall The Lords highest operations and most excellent Works cannot be reached by Mans understanding 2 In speciall The terrible Meteor of Thunder is a loud Manifestation of the Lords Greatnesse and power And the Trumpet of his glorious Excellency Majesty and Perfection Obser 1 First The highest Operations and most Excellent Works of our God cannot be reached or grasped by mans understanding As the ebbing flowing saltnesse and roaring of the Sea How Gold Silver Brasse are produced in the Earth The causes of Sympathy and Antipathy The nature of Angels and Soules What he hath wrought in the Earth in the Seas What under the Heavens what in the Heavens and what above them What he did before the World was created and what he will doe after its dissolution I grant that men have attained to much knowledge of Gods visible works 'T is said of King a 1 Reg. 4.33 Solomon the wisest of men Christ excepted that he knew all Plants from the Cedar to the Hysop growing on the wall And of b Acts 7.22 Moses that he was learned in all the wisdome of the Aegyptians Of Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego c Dan. 1.17 that the Lord gave them knowledg with all learning and wisdom Job also had great knowledge of Gods works and so had David and Paul Pliny is called by Erasmus Thesaurus imo mundus rerum cognitu dignissimarū A store-house Nay a world of Things most worthy to be known Austin saith concerning Jerome Quae Hieronimus nescivit nullus hominum unquam scivit No man ever knew that thing of which Jerom was ignorant Aristotle is stiled by one Vltimus conatus Naturae The very Master-piece of Nature for knowledg and understanding in all things Yet notwithstanding that the highest Works of God cannot be grasped by mans understanding will evidently appeare by these seven Mediums As Medium 1 First Mans darknesse and sloth since the Fall joyned with the brevity of his Life will demonstrate this Truth Darke we are since the cloud of sin overshadowed our minde our brightest Notions are stained our light ecclipsed our Intellectuals darkned I say all this since the unhappy Fall of Man For who questions but Adam in his state of Perfection had vast knowledge of the Creatures They were all brought to him d Gen 2.19 20. to see what he would call them So he gave names to all the Creatures and whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the standing name thereof This plainly shews us Adams great knowledg and wisdom in Naturall things For names were given at the first according to the severall Natures and Properties of the creatures Plato in Cratillo shews us that the Man who would give the right Name to a thing must first know the Nature of it very well And so questionlesse Adam did when he gave a Name to every creature But this knowledge of Gods works was much stained and darkned by the Fall and Apostacy of Man As we now see but the Back-parts of God Christ thorow e Cant. 2.9 the Lattesse only so saith Job we see but part of his wayes As well may an Hive of Bees fathom the Actions of Princes as we the Works of Creation and Providence Saint Paul saith f 1 Cor. 13.9 10. We know but in part g Austine Maxima pars eorum quae scimus est minima eorum quae ignoramus All that we know is little if compared with that which we know not He that hath read and considered the story of h Plato de Re-publ l. 7. Plato's Cave will not wonder that ignorant folk nurst up in darknesse should please themselves with poor shallow conceipts as having never heard or seen better He will also collect how absurd their former conceptions will appeare to them when afterwards they shall have imbib'd a little knowledge i Camerarius his Historical meditat l. 3. c. 3. By nature we are chained up in a Cave of Darknesse taking meere shadows to be things substantiall and substances to be shadows Imperita Rusticitas credit se omnia scire Ignorant confidence hath the wings of an Eagle the eyes of an Owle One that hath little knowledge may be admired by the Ignorant Inter saecos luscus regnare potest A purblinde man is King among the blinde From the Darknesse and Pride of men came those many odd opinions concerning the works of God For Critias the Philosopher held the soule to be Blood Porphiry did attribute Reason to bruit creatures k Sir Walt Ral. Hist of the world l. 2. cap. 13. and Melampus Language Nay Empedocles held that not onely Beasts but Plants had Intellectum The Stoicks on the other side would not grant Vitam stirpibus that Plants have life Olympiodorus Platonicus held the l Nieremberg Nat. Hist l. 2. c. 3 P. 18. Elements were animated and distinguished by Sexes m Idem li. 2. c. 11. Seneca will needs have it that Comets are ingendred not in the Aire but above the Moon Those two great Lights Austin and Lactantius denied there were Antipodes which Hackwell may have leave to wonder at Many School-boys now being able to resute that Errour Aristotle Natures Secretary held the world to be Eeternall that there are but 8 Spheares and that the n Aristot Meteor l. 2 c 11. Torrid and Frigid Zones are inhabitable which experience contradicts The Basilidians held there were as many Heavens as days in the year The o Nierem Hist Nat l. 2. c. 8. Chaldeans believe that strong lusty men help move the Heavenly Orbs. p Sir Walt. Ral. Hist of the world l. 1. Chap. 3. Eusebius misled by Josephus supposed that before the Floud Angels taken with the beauty of women begat those Gyants Philip Melancthon saith the Sun is nearer the Eearth almost by ten thousand Germane miles then it was in Ptolomies dayes yet this Melancthon a very learned man Copernicus held that the Earth moves and the Heavens stand still Which strange opinion so contradictory not onely to Reason but q Psal 104.5 19.5 Josh 10.13 Ergo fol movet Scripture hath found too many favourers in our Schools of Learning To all which let me add a witty conceipt in Ludovicus Vives upon Austin He tells of a Barbarous Nation that condemned executed and ript up an Asse to recover the Moon out of his belly which they supposed he had swallowed because they saw him drink at the water where the Moon appeared by reflexion And immediately thereupon shee being muffled up with Clouds they missed her Thus you have abundant proof of that darknesse which hath been on the Intellectuals of Man since the Fall in relation to Gods wonderfull Works And as our Eyes are dim and cannot
yet we heed we regard them not Aristotle was otherwise minded for he held the meanest creature having life exceeded the best void of life In which Axiome he prefers a Fly before an Oak and a Worm before the Sun Such an admirer was he of life in generall and especially in little creatures That in pursuance thereof he ran into this absurdity which peradventure he was not aware of Pliny wonders how the Gnat being so small a creature should be able to make so great a buzzing Gallen much extolls the wisdome of God in making a Gnat o Gallen de usu partium c 7. yea the thigh of that poor creature confesseth the hand of God and magnifies that Name which many Christians blaspheme p Mat. 10.29 30. Providence reaches little Sparrows nay the smallest and meanest things even one hair of our head Which Doctrine 't is said that Pompey could by no meanes digest I might here add what Pliny Aristotle Ambrose and Basil have written of the Bee Ant such like poor little Animals and how they magnifie the wisdome of God in the structure and properties of these creatures But to speak something of Pearls Diamonds and other precious Stones which are not smaller in quantity then great in worth and estimation Charls Duke of Burgundy q Alsted chronol lost a Diamond in Battle which is said to be of so much worth that therewith a man might buy an whole Countrey And much is written of Cleopatra's Pearl Yet r Dr Reynolds behold that which is such an ornament to the Lady that wears it is said to be a disease in the Fish that breeds it Strange things are written of the rare vertues of Precious stones containing in worth what they have not in bulk The little Pearl being more admirable then a Rock Borrheus saith the Emrauid preserves chastity Rueus that the Chrysolite helps breathing Tostatus of the Saphir that it frees from wrath and envy also of the Jasper that is full of veines Quot venae tot virtutes The Diamond saith Pliny is an admirable remedy against poyson Dioscorides saith the Agat will keep him moist that wears it The Beril saith Abulensis cureth watrish and running eyes nay sharpneth the wit saith Ystella And Albertus affirms that the Å¿ Dr Featlies Sermons p. 498 c. Onix strengthens the whole Body There is not any Precious stone or Herb of the Field but hath rarer properties and more virtues in it then men can discover or observe Medium 5 Fifthly we admire such men as have any thing wel imitated Gods works yet we have more reason to marke and admire the works themselves We are apt to wonder at Appelles who drew the picture of an Horse so like in t Erasmi Apoph lib. 8. Ephesus that horses seeing it neighed as surprized by the fortunate imitation so the Birds came and pecked the Grapes which were painted by Zeuxis Albertus Magnus made the Statue of a Man which could walke and pronounce certain words it was 30 year about Phidias is much praised by Julian for a Grashopper and Bee which he made in brasse The wooden Dove of Architas could flye by curiosity of Art Wonderfull was that Globe of Silver sent by Ferdinand King of Romans to Solyman the Turk for it expressed the time of the day the motions of the Planets change of the Moon and the wonderful revolutions of the Heavens If we see a glasse Eye an ivory Tooth we praise the skill of the Artist but we do not observe a special power and providence in the frame and composure of the members themselves All the united power and wisdome of men and Angels are not able to make a Primrose or Fly if they might have more worlds for their paines then the aire hath flies or the Sea-shore pibbles They must let that alone for ever Medium 6 Sixthly A multitude of wonders attend the visible Heavens The Moon is the Queen of Planets a very great and goodly Creature to look upon when she is in the full of her glory Yet the Sun is said to be six thousand sixe hundred forty and five times bigger Heidfeldius tells us that the Sun moves two hundred seven thousand Dutch miles an hour He moves so fast u Day on Cor. p. 260. saith another as if a Bird should flye fifty times the space of the world in halfe a quarter of an hour You have my Author in the margent Jupiter is as many yeares in going his circuit as the SUN is moneths The ninth or Christallin Sphear is said w Plato to accomplish his Revolution in thirty sixe thousand years Who can number the Stars none but God x Psal 147.4 who calleth them all by their names Some have pretended to tell them distinctly and could make but a thousand three hundred and odd Yet they had not names for all these and they were faine to reckon them by Constellations as we number Grapes by the cluster so they give one name to an huge Family of Stars y Day on 1â— Cor. 15. p. 271. Some Mathematicians have adventured to say That there are no more but a thousand thousand and two and twenty Stars according to the 48 Images which they chalke out in the Firmament and those they sort into sixe Magnitudes the sixth Magnitude being the least and yet the least Star is said to exceed the Earth in bignesse 18 times And z Aristot De Caelo lib. 2. c. 15. such as pretend to know the bigness of the Earth say it is four hundred thousand miles about 'T is generally held a Origen Austin Eusebius and Clem. Alexandrinus by Learned men that the Earth after the Flood was divided into 70 Languages Cant. 4.8 How much is thy love better then wine The Chaldee paraphrase reads it Thy loves are better then the seventy Nations If the Earth be so big as to hold 70 Nations and that the girdle of the Earth is four hundred thousand miles long judg then how big and spacious the circumference of the heavens is to which the whole Earth is by all acknowledged a Punctum in the midst of that Circle Who can understand or speak exactly of the Heavenly bodies who can fully declare the Names Motions Magnitude and several Influences of the Stars Not a Star riseth to morrow in the same manner as he doth to day Thus hath God adorned the goodly Canopie of Heaven with a multitude of golden spangles and shining Diamonds for the use and comfort of man b Psal 19.1 The Heavens declare his glory and the Firmament so embroidered his handy-worke Unsearchable is the wisdome of God in these glorious works which he hath created Medium 7 Lastly Providence is a kind of continuall creation By this the blinde Whelp seeks for the Nipple till he find it The Swallow so curiously builds his clay house or nest and every Bee of the Hive goeth readily to his owne little Cell and waxen
Apostle are clearly seene from the creation ef the world being understood by the things that are made even his eternall power and God-head so that they are unexcusable who neglect God in his creatures For the works of God q Calvin in Rom. 1.20 Artificem suum perspicue declarant saith Calvin Thay plainly in large golden Letters declare their wise and all-powerful Creator An Apelles need not put his Name to his Pictures Every judicious eye may read the Author in the worke Protogines well knew Apelles had been at his house when he found a certain line drawn on his Table which he knew no other hand could perform Every spire of Grasse stands up to proclaim a Deity r Dubartas The World 's a Book in Folio Printed all With Gods great works in Letters Capitall Inference 4 Fourthly Let this revive and comfort the Saints that in Heaven they shall attain to more knowledg of God and his works You that know something of God here it is nothing to that which you shall know in Heaven rightly s John 17.3 To know God is eternall life Here Providence may write in very strange and uncouth Characters Though now t Watson in Christian Charter p. 150. our Candle be in a dark Lanthorn and the Saints know not what GOD is a doing yet in Heaven wee shall see the reason of all Transactions and perceive their tendency to fulfill the Promise that u Rom. 8.28 All things shall worke together for good to the Church and people of God In Heaven we shall see divine Promises and Providences kissing each other We Pilgrims see little in this valley of Tears but our Prospect wil be glorious on the mountain of Spices Then you shall see the chiefe of Gods works the most glorious person CHRIST JESUS whom yet your Eyes cannot reach and whom having not seene you love To whose beauty the SUN is but a Globe of darknesse or spot of dirt And in comparison of him all the glory of Men and Angels is but obscurity The name of CHRIST is used by S. Paul five hundred times and no wonder for there be in it a thousand treasures saith Chrysostome Note As many pieces of silver are contained in one piece of gold so all those petty excellencies dispersed among the creatures are more eminently united in CHRIST Yea all the whole volumn of Perfections which is spread through Heaven and Earth is epitomized in CHRIST There also shall you see that goodly City which with reverence spoken God hath been * Mat. 25.34 John 14.2 1 Cor. 2.9 adorning and preparing for his chosen from the foundation of the world Now suppose there were a certain City or Palace on earth as all the men of the world famous for Art had beene rearing from the Creation to this day Note having all the Marble Chrystal Agat Pearl Rubies Diamonds and Emralds in the world to make adorn it with all the Silver and Gold which the creation affords to build it with and all the united strength and wisdome of Men and Angels to erect and furnish it Yet no Believer dare question but this Palace would be a Shepheards Cottage it compared with the New Jerusalem It would be in truth a meere Dungeon to Heaven Nineveh saith Diodorus Siculus had ten thousand Work-men at a time about it yet was 8 yeares in building Pliny saith that three hundred thousand Workmen were employed allong time about the building of Babylon And that the Aegyptian Pyramides had three hundred and sixty thousand men about the raising of them yet could not be finished in 20 yeares The Temple was a goodly structure and said the Jewes was x Iohn 2.20 46 yeares in building In a word The famous Temple of Diana was two hundred twenty years about Now if the World which GOD made in six dayes be so beautifull how glorious then is that y Revel 21. Mat. 25.34 Iohn 14.2 New Jerusalem which God hath been preparing from the foundation of the world And I goe said Christ to prepare a place for you If then you consider this worke of God you may well say with Job concerning ALL his works below here on Earth These are part of his wayes but how little a portion is heard of him Ad to this we shall not only see but enjoy Christ and these glorious things in Heaven Note For enjoying God you possesse all In him is all thine eye ever saw thine heart ever desired thy tongue ever asked thy minde ever conceived that was good Here is all Light in this Sun all Water in this Fountain Thou shalt drink down the refined sweetness of all creatures in Heaven Christ will keep for us the best Wine till last There you shall see and enjoy that New Heaven and new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse So glorious and transcendently beautifull even to astonishment is that work of God that saith the a Isa 65.17 Prophet in comparison thereof the former work of God on earth shall not be remembred nor come into minde Europe is the Garden of the world Italy of Europe and Naples of Italy You may over-praise that or Rome or the Isles where there be two Summers yearely But you cannot over-praise over-thinke or in your ranging thoughts reach Heaven Yet you can fancy Cities made of Gold Rocks of Pearl Mountaines of Diamond and Rivers of Christal Note but all this cometh short of Heaven Assuredly no such trash is found there onely the Lord seeth we are taken with these toyes and he would draw our Mind and Faces thitherward This is certain the visible Heavens are but the ragged Suburbs of that City And all these created things though beautifull and goodly in themselves shall make one Bon-fire when the day of our Coronation comes And so much of the first Point that the Lords highest and most excellent Works cannot be reached by mans understanding Obser 2 The second and main thing intended in the Text and Treatise now comes to be handled which is this that The terrible Meteor of THUNDER accompanied with Lightning is a manifestation of the LORDS Greatnesse and Power the loud Trumpet of his glorious Excellency Majesty and matchlesse perfection In the opening and unfolding of which Truth our Method shall be this viz. To make diligent Enquiry 1 How this Expression of holy Job's may be taken and understood The Thunder of his Power who can understand 2 What THUNDER is What its Name Nature and effects are still keeping this of Job in our eye that no man can fully understand much lesse expresse what it is 3. Whether the Author be any other then God 4 In what cases especially GOD hath manifested or will discover to the Sons of men his Power and Glory by supernatural THUNDER Enquiry 1 First Let us enquire how this Expression of Jobs may be rendred and expounded The thunder of his power who can understand To which I answer from the best b Mr. Caryl
Christ saith the Apostle 'T is Treason to undertake an Embassy without commission I sent them not yet they ran saith the Lord RAN not knowing Why nor Whither like Ahimaaz in Samuel and like him too they can tell no tidings as one very well observes Note For climbing on high with the Ape they do but shew their own deformities Many now alive shall see the blasting of these Men either with Lightning or in their gifts I pray God give them repentance to life that they no longer play the young Vipers in gnawing out the bowels of their mother the Church 2 As Thunder or Lightning or both have appeared for the Church against the enemies of her Truth so also of her Peace You have seene how the Lord hath fought for Israel against f Exod 9.23 38. 1 Sam. 7.10 Psalm 18.13 14. Pharaoh with Thunder Lightning and against the enemies of Samuel and David with the same Artilery Never count your estate low and desperate so long as Heaven hath Hail-shot Lightnings and Thunder-bolts to relieve his people and crush their enemies Comfort 4 4 No storm no Thunder in Heaven but that of Halelujahs Though the glory of Jesus Christ be much brighter then Lightning yet it shall neither terrifie nor scortch us in Heaven Note Who shall endure everlasting burninge saith the Prophet g Isa 33.14 15. Isaiah He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly Saints triumphant shall be able to abide and endure the flame of Gods glory For gold and Jewels such are believers will not suffer by fire Above the Moon there is nothing but serenity peace and tranquility There will be an everlasting calm in Heaven Nothing but rest and joy nothing to molest or affright us On Earth stormes and Tempests Thunder and Lightning Hail and showrs Wars and commotions terrours and troubles The Sea is restlesse and all that sail therein All the creatures on the earth in the Aire and great Deep are in continual agitation in perpetual labour and motion Then looke a little lower not one moment of rest or ease in Hell But oh the blessed Tranquility that is in Heaven What a glorious change will there be When Peter was on the Mount encompassed with glory by and by a cloud overshadowed him But no cloud in Heaven to darken us No cloud in Heaven big with storms and Thunder to break over us and to terrifie and annoy us There will be Summer without Winter Day without night Sun-shine without shade Calm without any interposing storm for all motion ends at the Center There is no Earthquake in Heaven Heb. 12.28 opened That is a City that hath Foundations 'T is a kingdome that cannot be shaken Consider that place with the coherence Heb. 12.28 Just before he spake of Gods shaking the earth with his voice For at the delivery of the Law there was dreadful thunder by whose cracks the Mount quaked and trembled And yet once more the Lord will shake by most violent Thunders Not onely the Earth but the Heavens Not only Men but Angels who shall quake and stand amazed at the dreadfull appearance of Christ in judgment This will be such a shaking of Heaven and Earth as will loosen and dissolve the whole Frame so that the things shaken viz. Earth Heaven shall be removed and abolished But Heaven which is above all visible heavens the seat of blessed Souls is saith the Author a kingdome that cannot be shaken That is to say by Thunder or any thing else Then h Iob 37.2 Caution for Saints Elihu shall say no more Heark it Thundreth There shall be no more sorrow nor crying no paine nor feare all former things being passed away Our Thunder is no more heard by glorified Saints then their Halelujahs are by us And now having spread before Saints these Consolations Let me adjoyne thereto a necessary caution which concerns all Believers but especially those of the weaker Sex The Caution is this Not to be scared Caution for Saints affrighted or transpored in the time of Thunder and Lightning storms and Tempests by Land or Sea as to speak or act things unbeseeming their most holy profession And that there may be no mistake i Weems portraicture of Gods image in man p. 218 volumn 4. Divines tell us of six sorts of Feare 1. Naturall whereby every creature shuns its destruction 2. Humane which ariseth from a too vehement desire of this life with the continuance and comforts thereof Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life 3. Mundane when a man feares the losse of Transitories more then the losse of Gods favour Many that thought well of Christ did not confesse him for fear of the Pharisees Excommunication Note 4. There is a Servile fear whereby men long to avoid the punishment of sin yet k Isay 35.4 Luke 12.32 still entertain a love and liking to sin Some call it Esau's feare Others the Adulterous feare because the Adulteress is afraid of her husband lest he should surprize and punish her She feareth the l Qui recte timet Deum nihil timer praeter eum Origen in Levit. 16. Law and shame more then her husbands displeasure 5. Initiall Fear is when we are deterred from sin partly out of feare to displease and grieve the Lord and partly because of the consequence and wofull wages of sinne 6. There is a Filiall feare in Saints m Mat. 10.28 Acts 10.2 Heb. 11.26 Mal. 1.6 Luke 2.25 as a good Wife fears her Husband lest he should be grieved and a loving Child feares the frown of his Father more then the Rod. Now observe it well Note 1 Some sorts of Feare are From and With the spirit of Grace as Initial and Filial fear 2 Some Fear is From but not With the Spirit as Servile fear 3 Again some feare is With the Spirit but not From him As Natural and Humane fear 4 Lastly some Fear is neither From nor With the Spirit and such is Mundane Base Feare If then your fear of Thunder be only naturall it is neither good nor evill If it proceed from a n Res est imperiosa Timer Martial lib. 2. Epist 59. passionate and inordinate desire of life we must strive against it and begin to suspect things are not with us as they should be If you fear Thunder more then the Thunderer and his displeasure Then it is sinfull If you fear when it Thundreth least God should then smite you in and for your sin This is a slavish Fear and wicked men have it Note But if you fear Thunder and Lightning only as signes of Gods Power and Majesty desirous to honour worship him and hoping you shall not grieve or displease so good and gracious a Father though ten thousand worlds were folded up in a Temptation THIS certainly is a Filial Holy and Blessed Fear You then that have a share in Christ give not way to a servile and slavish
of the Author or the awe and terrour it doth or should beget in the Auditors When the Lord Thundreth in the Heavens Psal 18.3 29.3 Job 37.4 5. 't is the HIGHEST that gives his voice The God of GLORY Thundreth He thundreth with the voice of his EXCELLENCY God Thundreth MARVELLOVSLY with his voice The clouds poured out water the Skies sent out a sound thine arrowes also went abroad the voice of thy Thunder was in the heavens the Lightnings lightned the world What then The earth trembled and shook Psal 77.17 18. Virgil. lib. 1. Georg. Ipse pater media nimborum in nocte corusca Fulmina molitur dextra Quo maxima motu Terra trêmit fugere ferae mortalia corda Per gentes humilis stravit pavor Many dreadfull effects of Thunder you are remembred of in this Treatise If it fill our hearts with high holy reverential thoughts of the Thunderer that you constantly feare before him it is one I am sure that the Almighty Author doth designe and the very best that the work can produce Bede gives us the Relation of a holy man who never heard a great gust of winde but he would presently call upon God for mercy beseech him to be gracious to the sons of men If the winde increased he would lay all other businesse aside and attend alone to that one of Prayer If Thunder and Lightning followed he would then make hast to the Church and spend his time in Religious exercises till the storm was over And being asked by his friends why he did so His answer was have you not read Psal 18.13 14. The Lord thundred in the Heavens and the Highest gave his voice He sent out his Arrows scattered them Lightnings and discomfited them And it is recorded of Aquinas that when it Thundered he was wont to fall down and with much devotion to pray Lord help and succour thy servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood Job Iob 38. 39. cap. 40. ver 4. Cap. 41. 42. vers 6. if we be not mistaken in those definitions which we have received of that vertue had not many equals for Magnanimity and Fortitude and yet after an account of the greatnesse of God discovered in his mighty works how full is his heart of awfulnesse and feare And his friend Elihu being to mention the excellent marvellous roaring voice of Thunder they are his owne expressions knows not how to do it without a preface cloathed in feare and reverence At this also my heart trembleth and is moved out of his place Job 37.1 c. Neither should it be any abatement of our respects to the great God that Thunder is known to have its naturall causes For those causes are knoâ—n to have their cause too and are but the effects of an higher Nature hath nothing to boast of but what God endoweth her with who acteth without it beside it above it Contracteth or enlargeth it even as he pleaseth And when he doth not either of these yet doth he not leave any thing at any time meerly to the hand of its Causes but hath himselfe an Agency in the Production of it and that an immediate one Immediatione virtutis suppositi say some At least virtutis is confessed by all Nature hath nothing that she hath not received neither is she Independent in any one in the smallest operation For that would argue an Independency of power and that of being which none can challenge but God alone Do not say Then every thing that comes to passe in the world and even the daily imployments of Nature must call out our hearts to I know not how many duties For can you tell why they should not Is there any possibility of supererogation Can you love fear praise admire adore our God too much But yet Reader the greatest manifestation of the power majesty of God should work most Thunder is one of these and a voice of the Almighty loud enough to awaken our hearts to all these sorts of acknowledgments The reverend Author hath made it his present businesse in the ensuing Treatise to perswade our attention to it The discourse is pious and hath cost him some pains Your Prayers are desired that it may be useful and afford the people of God much profit which I am the more perswaded to hope of it when I finde it to be though in more words not a jot more then that pathetical exhortation of the Apostle Heb. 12.28 29. Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly feare for our God is a consuming fire Which will abundantly praeponderate the prejudice it might otherwise receive from its Conduct into the world by the unable hand of so obscure and inconsiderable a Person as Reader Your servant in the work of the Gospel of Christ Jesus Edw Buckler THE CONTENTS TWo Observations raised from Job 26.14 Obser 1 That the highest operations most excelent works of GOD cannot be reached by Mans understanding The Reasons 7. Reason 1 Mans darknesse and sloath since the Fall Ubi of the grosse errors of Philosophers Of our want of Reading Travelling Meditation Of the Brevity of Life Reason 2 The variety of Species and Individuals Reason 3 The infinite wisdome of God which is stamped upon all his works Ubi of imperfect false Descriptions of Gods works Of some Rarities in Nature for which no reason can be given Reason 4 Gods Power and Wisdome is displayed in GREAT and SMALL creatures Ubi of the Whale Elephant and Precious Stones Reason 5 Men are admired who have any thing well IMITATED Gods Works Reason 6 A Mass and multitude of wonders do attend the visible Heavens Reason 7 PROVIDENCE is very mysterious and is a kinde of continuall Creation The Inferences follow which are four Inference 1 See their presumptuous folly and madnesse who pretend to know GOD and all his works Inference 2 See the necessity of Vniversities Learning Ubi of unwearied diligence in study Philosophy a faire Hand-maid to Theology Inference 3 Read what you can of GOD in the Volumn of Creation and Providence Inference 4 Comfort for Saints In heaven we shall know more of GOD and his works Heaven the rarest of Gods Works It hath been long preparing for us Obser 2 The terrible Meteor of THVNDER is a most lively manifestation of the LORDS greatnesse and power The trumpet of his glorious Majestie and matchlesse Perfections Four enquiries in the opening of this Truth Enquiry 1 How this expression in holy Job may be taken and understood Answ 3 wayes Enquiry 2 What Thunder is Ubi of it's Name Nature Effects Also of the Thunder-bolt Tempests Lightnings Earth quakes Haile great and fearefull Of violent Thunders and Lightnings mentioned in our Chronicles with dreadful effects Enquiry 3 If any other then GOD be the Author Instruments of these things Answ 1. GOD the efficient cause of Thunder which is his
see much so our sloth is great and our inadvertency and heedlesnesse inexcusable in that we seldome look into the volumn of Creation or at best but with carelesse and transient eyes Few there be that will give themselves or bend all the Faculties of their soules to study and consider God in his Workes The r Pierij Hieroglyph lib. 24. cap. 22. Sybaritae would not suffer a Cock to crow in their City nor any Smith to work till Noon lest their sleep should be disturbed How many live without the sweat of their Brow in labour or of the Brain in study and meditation The Cat would faine have water but is loth to wet her foot Idlenesse is a Step-mother to the Muses The Cyclopes thought mans happinesse did consist in Nihil agendo in doing nothing But no excellent thing can be the child of Sloth Who can expect if a multitude of leaden letters be cast off the hand to finde amongst them an exact poem God s Exod. 13.13 ordained the neck of the consecrated Asse should be broken in stead of sacrificing him peradventure because that Creature hath ever been the Heroglyphick of sloth and lazinesse Here may justly deserve blame the want of Reading Travelling and Meditation 1 The want of reading and studying such Authors as write of the Works of God Vita hominis sine literis mors est The unlearned is a dying life The Scholer like a Bee gathers honey from every flower knowledg from every Book he touches Yet Lewis the 11. King of France charged his Son to learn no more Latine but this Qui nescit dissimulare nescit vivere He that cannot dissemble and flatter said he knows not how to live When the People t Aelian of Mytilene became masters of the Sea they inflicted this punishment on those that were revolted from them that they should not teach their children to read He that is minded to apply himself to Reading saith Seneca may have private conference with Zeno Pythagoras Aristotle Theophrastus and other Authors of good Arts and he shall ever finde them at liesure to commune with him The want of reading and learned education makes people as a barren soile unmanured unplanted No marvail such are grosly ignorant of Gods works 2 Next The want of Travelling in such as have Time and Meanes for it Alexander speaking of his Travels would often say that he had discovered more with his eye then other Kings had comprehended in their thoughts Men do but guesse at the works of God abroad that go meerly by the relations of others One journey to the Alpes will shew thee more then many Histories do record Let Claudian mention it as a point of happinesse for ones Birth Life and Burial to be all in a Parish But how great advantages have those that Travell into divers Nations How many Rarities of Nature do they see What strange creatures which be not in our Countrey what craggy Rocks Mountains aspiring towards the Sky magnificent Buildings goodly Vine-yards choice and delicate Fruits of the Earth which our cold Climate affords not Divers Antiquities and Monuments of great note Rare men the Courts of Princes the customes of Nations c. Such as go voyages by Sea must needs see u Psal 107.24 many wonders of God in the Deep He hath lived saith one but in a large chest that hath seen but one Land Italy Feltham Resolves Cap. 10. France and Spain are the Court of the World Germany Denmark and China are as the Citie of the World The rest are most of them Country and Barbarisme It were an excellent thing in a State to have a select number of judicious Persons Note thus employed into several parts of the world and be bound once in seven years to give the Nation some account of their Travels in writing for the benefit of such as stay at home and that Pensions might be allotted for that end This would be a better employment for the youth of our Nobility and Gentry then to rust at home Bowl Dice and Drink away their golden Time Again our ignorance of God and his Volumn of Creation may be charged on the want of Meditation in all men We see divers of Gods works in the poorest Village but we doe not weigh and ponder them in the Ballance of Meditation Christ therefore x Mat. 6.26.26 calls upon us to Behold the Fowls of the aire and to consider the Lillies of the field Wee see these things but doe not bend and buckle our minde to the Object that we consider the workmanship of God in them The generality of men y Job 37.14 Isa 5.12 regard not the works of the Lord neither consider the operations of his hands They heare it Thunder but it strikes no awe upon their hearts because they never consider it is the voice of God They heare the whistling of the Winde the ratling of the Hail Behold the Snow that feather'd raine come down reap benefit by the former and latter rain but they never consider of these works and wonders of God When do they with Isaak walk into the Fields for meditation or with Daniel by the River side or with Peter on the house top to survey admire God and his works The love of contemplation made z Hieron Epist 4. ad Rusticum Jerome say that Solitude was a Paradise a Cogitare est vivere M. T. Cicero Acad. Quaest l. 1. Cicero that to think was to live Basil wept when he handled a Rose to consider the prickles thereof were the fruit of mans Fall The same did Persius when he saw a Toad to think of his owne ingratitude in that God had made him a Man and not a filthy Toad When Estius heard the little Birds sing O the Musick said he that is in Heaven So when David not onely saw but well considered the Sun Moon and Stars he cryed out Lord what is man that thou art mindefull of him q. d. That thou settest up such huge burning Tapors for him that doth so little work for thee Surely the want of considering the choice and admirable things which God hath made is one main reason of our knowing them so little and our being affected with them no more To all which considerations let me add the brevity of our Life Ars longa vita brevis It requires much time observation and experience to know the works of God and our life is fraile and short as a Span as a Vapour as a Bubble And many times saith Seneca b Seneca Epist 23. we begin not to live till our life is ending Sicknesse also and old Age steal upon us Then we grow oblivious unteachable overcast with clouds full of pain and infirmities Now our Life is very short 1 If compared with other creatures Some say of the Eagle Nec annis debilitatur nec morbis obnoxia est Pliny saith It is neither Age nor Sicknesse killeth the Eagle but the
seen that certain holes have been made in strong Buildings in time of Thunder which is done saith he by the strength of Thunder-bolts called by the Poets Sagittae jacula Jovis The Thunderstone saith r Idem ibid. p. 358. Zanchy is thus begotten in the clouds with the exhalation which is hot and dry a more grosse matter may be drawn up by the Sun from the Earth and Minerals which with the enclosed Exhalations and the violent heat of the Sun is at lengh formed into a Thunder-stone Some have held it is done after the manner that stones are produced in the Kidneys and Bladders of living Creatures Anaxagoras Å¿ Plin Nat. Hist li. 2. c. 58. foretold that within certain days a stone should fall from the Heavens which also came to passe in Thrasia in the day time the stone is reported to be as great as a Cart or Wain-load a Comet also appeared that night Pliny tells us the stone was seen of many and was shewed as a Wonder in his time It was of a parched or burned colour It puzled t Aristot Meteor l. 1. cap. de cometâ Aristotle and the best Philosophers to give a reason of this Stones production and growth to such a bulky masse Zanchy writing of it u Zanchius Tom 3. lib. 3. cap. 3. p. 360. saith we may see the great power of God and his wonderfull works Which is the best account he is able to give of this businesse Reason can produce little more for the Thunderbolt Again Thunder is commonly attended with Raine and showers that violently fall to the Earth The moist Cloud being rent by the Thunder dissolves in Raine Thunder blasts Vines and other Fruit burns trees and houses destroys Men and Beasts beats down the lofty Turrets turns up oaks and other mighty trees by the Roots Fire w Job 1.16 fell from Heaven viz. terrible Lightning and burnt Jobs sheep and his servants so that one onely escaped Beer Wine and other Liquors are spoiled with much Thunder and Lightning which may proceed not onely from noise and concussion of the Aire but also impure and noxious spirits or Influences mingle therewith and draw them to corruption whereby they do not onely become Dead themselves but also sometimes deadly to others As that mentioned by Seneca whereof all that drank lost their life or wits Thunder x Psal 29.9 makes the Hinds to calve and other Cattell to cast their young Thunder is many times followed with violent storms and terrible Earth-quakes especially in other Countreys where Earth-quakes are usuall The y Nahum 1.5 6. mountains quake the hills melt the earth is burnt at his presence Who can stand before his indignation who can abide the fiercenesse of his anger His fury is poured out like water and the Rocks are thrown downe by him The Prophet Nahum alludes to Thunder Lightnings and Earthquakes crowding together But the Prophet Isaiah doth more plainly expresse it z Isa 29.6 Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of Hosts with thunder and with Eareh quakes and a great noise with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire a Seneca Qu. Nat. l. 2. c. 27. Seneca writes of one kinde of Thunder which murmurs but cracks not and saith Terrae metum antecedit if fore-goeth an Earth-quake Aristotle saith an b Aristot Meteor li. 2. c. 7. Earth-quake proceeds from vapors imprisoned in the bowels of the Earth which finding no passage to escape are inforced to recoil to search every nook and corner And while they thus struggle and labour to get out a trembling agitation and tumultuous motion of the Earth is occasioned as of a woman in travail which is called an Earthquake that So look what Thunder is in the hollow part of a cloud the very same is an Earth-quake in the belly of the earth which hath then a fit of the Wind collick Alsteed tells of a great Earth-quake at Plures in Rhetiae Anno Dom 1618. Aug. 17. where the whole Towne was on a sudden covered with an huge mountain that with it's swift and violent motion slew 1500 people The greatest Earth-quake I have read of is described by c Evagrii hist Eccâ—es lib. 1. cap. 17. Evagrius to fall out in the time of Theodosius which is said to move and shake well nigh the whole Earthly Globe And for our owne Country Cambden d Cambden Britan. writes of a strange Earth quake in Herefordshire Anno Dom 1571. March 12. about six of the clock in the evening being Saturday a great Hill lifted up it self with a huge noise jumped into an higher place carried along with it trees and Cattell and continued walking about till Monday noon over-turning a Chappel that stood in its way You have seen what the usual effects of Thunder and Lightning are Now for the benefit of my own Countrymen it will not be amisse here distinctly to set downe the most remarkable Thunders which have happened in England with their effects As I finde them recorded in our English Chronicles which will help to shew us the dreadful consequents of Thunder and Lightning that we may learn to feare before the great and terrible GOD Knowing that whatsoever hath been may be again the e Gen. 9.11.15 universal deluge excepted Yea that our God is unlimited in his power and working and can do more then yet he hath done Nor is it known what he will do In the Reign f Mr. Stowes abridgement of English Chronicleâ— printed 1618 p. 55. of Henery the first Anno Christi 1116. in the moneth of March was exceeding Lightning and in December Thunder and Haile The Moon at both times seemed as if shee were turned into blood Not long before there was a blazing Star In the 15 yeare of g Idem p. 88. Henry the 3d. Anno Domini 1230. on Pauls day when Roger Niger Bishop of London was at Masse in Pauls Church suddenly it waxed darke and an horrible Thunder-clap lighted on the Church the same was shaken as though it would have fallen All the Church seemed to be on fire with Lightnings The people thought of present death Thousands of men and women ran out of the Church fell on the ground through astonishment None tarried in the Church save the Bishop and a Deacon In Queen h Idem p. 279. Maries Reign Anno Domini 1558. July 7. within a mile of Nottingham a tempest of Thunder as it came through two Townes beat down all the Houses and Churches The Bells were cast to the outside of the Church-yards and some webs of Lead four hundred foot in the Field writhen like a pair of Gloves The River of Trent running between the two Townes the water and mud were carried a quarter of a mile and cast against Trees Trees were pulled up by the Roots and cast 12 score off A child was taken forth of a mans hands and carried an hundred foot and then let fall
d Acts 8.29 to Philip Goe neare and joyne thy selfe to this Charet So still by his Spirit he speakes unto our hearts 4 By his elect Angels So an Angel spake to Cornelius saying e Acts 10.4 Thy Prayers and Almes are come up for a memoriall before God 5 By his Ministers and Prophets f Luke 1.70 He spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began g Luke 10.16 He that heareth them heareth Christ I have sent my servants the h Ier. 7.26 27 Prophets but they hearkned not to me saith the Lord. We should receive their doctrine i 1 Thes 2.13 Not as the word of men but as it in truth the word of God saith St. Paul 6 God speaks to us by his Works We are bid To hear the Rod and him that hath appointed it k Mieâ— 6.9 The Lords voice cryeth to the City thereby All the creatures of God are as so many Organ pipes to convey his voice minde to us He speaks to us by all operations but especially by Thunder That is more immediately and eminently his VOICE Efficacior lingua quam litera saith Bernard The voice saith Austin hath an occult and hidden influence on the Hearers If l Sir Walter Raleigh Hist of the world l. 2. cap. 13. Melampus m Nieremb Hist fl 3. c. 12. and Thales are said to understand the voices of Birds and Beasts which the Hebrew Doctors thought Solomon could do Then much more may we in Thunder Gods voice hear him chiding threatning all obstinate sinners and proclaiming his owne Greatnesse Majesty and Power How should this Voice of God warn and alarm us out of our sins Loud Terrible and Perswading hath beene the voice of men Loud so was the voice of Stentor the Grecian concerning whom it it reported that with his voice onely he could make as great a noise as 50 men Terrible Solomon saith n Prov. 16.14 19.12 The wrath of a King is as Messengers of Death and as the roaring of a Lion Cornelius Gallus was threatned to Death by Augustus and the * Cambden Eliz. 406. Lord Chancellour Hatton by Queen Elizabeth The Frown or Voice of a great Man is terrible His eyes seem to cast out live sparkles of Fire and his voyce to thunder The voice of man hath been very o Dr. Reynolds of Passions c. 39. p. 5â—7 Charming and Perswading Caesar with one word quiets the commotion of an Army Menenius Agrippa with one Apologue the sedition of a people Flavianus with one Oration the fury of an Emperour And Abigail with one Supplication the revenge of David It is reported of Cynias that he overcame more by his Tongue then Pyrrhus by the Sword And of Damonides that through Rhetorick he perswaded any one to what he would Now remember that in Job p Job 40.9 Canst thou thunder with a voice like God Hath the voice of filly man a contemptible worm a humming flye beene so loud terrible and charming as you have heard how then should THUNDER the VOICE of God work upon us How should it scare us from the love of sin and draw us to love feare and obey the great GOD All creatures Man excepted obey Gods VOICE The Sun is stopped in his course The hunger-bitten Lions touch not Daniel And if CHRIST stand up and utter his voice the rough winds and foaming waves are charmed into a calm Note Nay Thunder saith one which seems to be all Voice is all Eare when God speaks So then when it Thunders conceive the great Jehovah is now speaking to thee and addresse thy selfe to all diligent attention when it Lightneth imagine his flaming Eyes doe now sparkle and flash indignation against sin and sinners So terrible is the Voice of God that it doth not only shake the Earth but the q Heb. 12 26. Heaven By the way If THUNDER be Gods voice bold and sawcy is their practice that stop their eares when it thunders For if a King speak to one and he turn away his face or stop his eares it is held a point not onely of neglect but scorn and disdain How darest thou slight and neglect God when his Voice is sounded and hee speaks to thee by Thunder Is not this to be r Psal 58.4 like a Deafe Adder that stoppeth her eares If it be a sin to stop our eares at the cry of the Å¿ Prov. 21.13 poore or t Acts 7.57 voice of Steven Much more is it Rebellion to stop our eares at this voice of God Is it not in the words of Zechary to u Zach. 7.11 12. refuse to hearken to pull away the shoulder stop our eares that we should not heare his voice and make our hearts like an adamant stone What a childish weaknesse is this to think the not hearing of Thunder can shield you from it Nay what a sin is this to stop your ears when God hath commanded w Iob 37.2 3 4 5. you to heare it Job 37.2 Heare attentively the noise of his voice and the sound that goeth out of his mouth Mark 1 You must heare it when it Thunders 2 Not onely so but hearken and listen attentively thereunto x Trap in Locum p. 320. Mercer doth thus paraphrase it out of Kimchi Hear ye hear ye hear ye again and again and then ye also will tremble 3 He doth not onely require us to heare Gods voice in generall for so we might thinke hee meant the voice of his Word or Spirit but the Noise of his Voice and the Sound of his mouth when God thundreth from Heaven As you may see in the following verses How can these things be done if you stop your eares when it thundreth as though you would be too hard for God How oft are we bid y Deut. 26.17 28.1 2 15 45. 30.10 Hearken to the voice of God If Thunder then be his Voice you must hearken to that and other Voices of God Never feare it will make you deafe as the fall of Nile doth the Catadupe z Bernard Aura prima mortis janua Prima aperiatur saluti The eare was the first doore of sin now let it be opened for thy spiritual good Thus you have seene God is the Thunderer because Thunder is stiled his VOICE so often in the Bible The ancient Romans would say Heark God thundreth The meer heathens still ascribed Thunder to God They stiled Jove Altitonantem thundring from on High The Romans had a multitude of gods yet the power of sending Thunder they restrained to a L. Vives in Aug. de civ Dei lib 4. cap. 23. Jupiter and Pluto Day-thunder to the former and Night-thunder to the latter Fulmen supremi Jovis Gestamen est saith b Pierii Hierogl Pierius But d Tertull. Advers Gent. p. 33. Tertullian shews the Pagans that Thunder was before Jupiter and so he concludes it is not from
the Messiah so long expected or to hear his comfortable voice Answ 3 Next our Saviour knew the obstinacy of the Jewes that except they saw signes and wonders they would not believe in him Answer 4 Lastly This was done that there might he some harmony between the Law and Gospel Mr. Calvin writing of the terrible Promulgatiō of the Law saith thus Hic timor Evangelio quoque fuit communis This fear was also common with the Law to the Gospel Applying moreover that of the Apostle thereunto Heb. 12.26 Whose voice then shook the earth and now hath declared saying Yet once more will I shake not the Earth onely but Heaven The very day q Bishop Halls Contemplations lib. 5. of the Law p. 825. saith Doctor Hall wherin God came down in Fire and Thunder to deliver the Law even the same day came also the Holy Ghost downe upon the Disciples in fiery Tongues for the propagation of the Gospel No man receives the Holy Ghost but he that hath felt the terrours of Sinai Venerable r Bede Hom. vigil Pentecost Bede also shewes the harmony between the Law and Gospel in this respect There was Thunder Here the noise of a ſ Acts 2.2 mighty Winde There fiery flashes Here fiery cloven Tongues There the Mountain trembled and here the place where they assembled was moved There the sound of a Trumpet here they spake with divers Tongues Another thus describes it t Marlorat in Acts 2.2 p. 48. Sicuti lex Mosis est data in monte Sinai u Exod. 19.16 cum tempestate caeca nubibus caliginosis fumo ignifero vapore denso Tonitru diro Fulgore clangore divinae tubae terribili ita quoque datus est spiritus sanctus Jerosolimis insolito ingenti strepitu impetu venti quo Deus amborum Legis simul Evangelii virtutem expressit As the Law was given with a dark Cloud Thunder Lightning and shrill Trumpet So the Gospel saith he was confirmed by that violent rushing wind Acts 2. If those then that slighted Moses his Law were punished with death what shall become of them that dis-believe and disobey the Gospel of Jesus Christ For Fourthly and lastly 4 At the day of judgment There will be supernatural miraculous and most violent astonishing and prodigious Thunder and Lightnings at the day of Judgement That this is very probable will appeare 1 By divers Scriptures looking that way 1 Proved by divers Scriptures if not speaking fully to the point 2 By the consent of many learned Authors 3 By divers Arguments and Reasons shewing That and Why it will be so First see it proved by divers Scriptures looking that way For the time of Judgement will be w Zeph. 1.15 A day of trouble and distresse a day of darknesse and gloominesse a day of clouds and thicke darknesse Then x 2 Pet. 3.12 The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved y Isa 34.4 And rolled together in a scroll There shall be z Luke 21.25 Signs in the Sun Moon viz. Stupendious Ecclipses flaming Comets Earth quakes and divers Apparitions The Earth shall have the Palsie and the Heavens Convulsion fits a 2 Thes 1.8 Christ shall come in flaming fire to be revenged on sinners Then saith Peter b 2 Pet. 3.12 The elements shall melt with fervent heat q. d. Like scalding lead upon the wicked Christ saith c Mat. 24.29 The powers of heaven shall be shaken Which I suppose will be by Thunder and supernatural storms The Sun shall be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light So men shall stumble at noon day as if it were midnight You know it grows very dark before a storm The Stars shall be shaken and misplaced Those goodly Lamps of Heaven shall tremble CHRIST will loosen with one shake of his Arme all the Stars of Heaven A fearfull confusion wil then appear All the Elements shall be d Isaac Ambrose of Doomsday p. 94. disordered Fire shall fall from heaven whereas naturally it ascends the Aire shall be full of tempests thundrings the waves of the Sea swelling roaring foaming and mounting above the Clouds the Earth full of yawning clifts and violent tremblings Sea monsters will appeare on the Land and all Dumb creatures run about enraged so that none can tame them e Luke 21.26 Mens hearts failing them for feare f Revel 6.16 The great ones that were not good shall call to the rocks and mountains to cover them and yield some shelter from this terrible storm g Mat. 24.31 Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet shall gather the Elect from the 4 Winds h Mark 13.8 There shall be fearfull Earth-quakes which wil astonish the world i Mat. 24.27 As the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth to the West so shall the coming of the son of man be In a word k 2 Pet. 3.7 10. The world and all in it shall be burnt with fire Which fire in all likelihood l Pareus in Rev. 16.18 saith Pareus will be kindled and cherished by Lightning from Heaven Aquinas hath many subtle discourses about that fire yet he still maintains that it will be m Aquin. sum in suppl 3. Part. Quaest 74. Artic. 9 p. 130. Ex concursu mundanorum ignium from a meeting together of all mundane Fires Therefore Lightning will be amongst them Yet all these may be thought generall Scriptures There are four places of holy Writ which speak more particularly to the point in hand viz. that most terrible Thunder shall precede Christs Appearance 1 Sam. 2.10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces out of heaven shall he thunder upon them The Lord shall judge the ends of the Earth The best n Annotations super 1 Sam. 2.10 Commentators understand this place of the day of Judgement On that day the hearts of Gods enemies shall be frighted with loud Thunder-claps and their bones broken with hot THUNDER-bolts What enemy of Jesus Christ can then lift up his head Next consult we Psal 50.3.4 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devour before him it shall be very tempestuous round about him He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people Saint Peter saith The heavens shall passe away with a great noise A fearfull noise indeed As a Whirl-wind or tempestuous roaring o Jun. Tremel and our Annotations on 2 Pet. 3.10 say Expositors To these let me add that place in Rev. 16.18 And there were voices thunders and lightnings there was a great Earth-quake such as was not since men were upon earth This is St. Johns prophetical description of the Day of Judgement as appears by the p Revel 16.15 16 18 20. compared together context and so q Pareus Seb Meyer Hez Holland on Rev. 16. Pareus and others understand it
Secondly 2 Proved by divers Authors this may also be confirmed by the consent of divers Learned and godly Writers So that wee are not singular in this opinion that Thunder will be one solemnity at the day of Judgement Gerhard writing of the day of Judgment Gerhard tells us Then Thunder and Lightning shall amaze men and Angels the Sea and the waves thereof roaring Mendoza saith Mendeza Christ will thunder marvellously that day Gregory saith Gregory The Saints with loud shouts will thunder against the damned This grants that the many millions of Saints shouting will frame a noise more terrible to the wicked then they can imagine It will make their very hearts sink and faile within them Thunder and Lightning saith r Seb Meyer apud Mnrlora in Rev. 16.18 p. 34 p. 1173. Meyer do now terrifie those that confesse not a GOD It makes palenesse and trembling to seize on them Quid igitur facturi sunt omnes impii ubi haec super humanam aestimationem qualia nunquam antea à condito mundo horrenda apparebunt Vbi tota Orbis concutitur machina jam jam una cum impiis collapsura What then shal wicked men do when such horrible Thunders and Lightnings will appear as are beyond humane imagination or any thing hath hapned from the Creation when the whole frame of Nature shall be so shaken and broken therewith that with sinners it shall be demolisht and destroyed Pareus also is full to this Point more then once ſ Pareus in Apoc. 11.19 There shall be Lightniugs Thundrnigs and Voices Now saith he John is in the description of the last judgement and shewes how Lightnings Thundrings Earth-quakes and great Hail-stones will oppresse the wicked Tossanus also writes to the same purpose Tossanus and applieth it to the melting of the Elements and the shaking of the whole earthly Globe at the last day Here Pareus t Pareus in Apoc. 16.18 again There are Lightnings and Thunders in the aire Such as the shaking of the heavenly Powers melting of the Elements and horrible Tempests spoken of by Christ and Peter wherewith the Lord will at last come to judgement The Earthquake will be unsual and supernatural And no wonder for the earth being smitten with Lightning from Heaven shall be shaken and torne into a thousand pieces and by fire utterly consumed Oats on Jude saith thus u Samuel Oats on Jude 6. p. 166. If other Sessions and Assizes be feared by Malefactors what will this be Then Fulminabit Dominus in coelo The Lord will thunder from Heaven and the highest will give his voice And if Thunder or the ratling of a cloud be so terrible what terrour will there be when he shall thunder that sits above the clouds Then w Jerome Terra tremet mare mugit The earth shall quake the sea roar the Aire ring and the world burn If the Angels stand then amazed how agast shall wicked men be whose portion is with the Devil and his Angels And x Oates on Iude 14. p. 315. again Thunder saith Oates doth but demolish Mountains root up Trees but when God shall thunder out his Judgements he will crush and cast down Kings Princes and People that have not made him their Tower Thunder doth but shake the clouds and make them flye up and down as Birds in the Aire but when God shall thunder out his judgements he will shake and astonish the heart and conscience O miserable sinner how wilt thou tremble at that time Another thus speaks y Iohn Trap Com. on Rev. 16.18 p. 561. And there were Voices and Thundrings and Lightnings This is a description of the last Judgement when Heaven and Earth shall conspire together for the punishment of the wicked Another thus z Isaac Ambrose of Doomsday p. 95. What shall we then see but Lightnings Whirl-winds Coruscations blazing Stars flashing Thunders Here a Comet runs round in a circuit there a Crown compasseth that Comet Neare them a fiery Dragon sumes in flames Every where appeares a shooting fire as if all above us were nothing but inflamed aire a Joel 1.10 All the earth shall tremble before the Lord. Another b Hez Holland Expos of Rev. 16.18 p. 124. writes thus These things shew the horrible effects of the last Viol when Christ shall come to take vengeance at the last day Lightnings burning the earth and Thunder from Heaven All the Elements conspiring against the wicked Thus out of the mouths of ten Witnesses you have it confirmed that most dreadful and fatal Thunders will attend the last Judgement Let us now 3 ' Proved by Arguments or Reasons in the third Place see it further establisht by Arguments or Reasons shewing That and Why it will be so which are chiefely these four Reason 1 First because Christs second coming must be far more terrible then the first Christ at his first Appearance was attended by a general Peace in the world and with Carols of Angels He came as c Psalm 71.6 Rain upon the mown grasse silently sweetly into the world Then a babe cryed in the Manger but now Judah's Lion will roar and thunder in the Heavens Then he came riding on an Asses colt but now on the clouds Not attended with 12 poor Apostles but 12 thousand millions of Angels At his first coming he offered grace and mercy but now he will come in flames of Fire to execute Wrath and Vengeance d Aug. de sym bolo lib. 3. Jam locus misericordiae ibi justitiae Then he was judged and condemned of men but now he will judge the world Yet his first being on earth was not without glory interwoven with shame and sufferings Note There came to him Thunder and Voices from Heaven as I have shewn When he spake storms were husht when he called the dead arose when he commanded the Devils were cast out when he died the Sun put on sable weeds when he arose the Earth trembled and when he ascended the Heavens opened But his latter coming shall be far more glorious and terrible St. Austin brings in our Saviour speaking thus at the last day Behold the Carpenters son whom ye have disregarded Christ will then come in all his glory and the glory of his holy Angels Reason 2 Secondly this he will do to perplex and astonish all reprobate men and evil Angels e Mendoza in Reg. Vol. 1. p. 359. Quanto igitur terrore ac tremore improbi formidabunt quando his è Christ Domino Tonitruis ac Fulminibus quatientur saith Mendosa How great will the feare terrour and trembling of wicked men be when they shall be shaken with these Thunders and Lightnings from Jesus Christ If Belshazzar quaked when he saw the hand-writing on the wall how will he tremble and quiver when he shall see Christ in the Clouds Mille fulmina jaculantem hurling a thousand Lightnings and Thunder stones at him What care can
endure those Ratlings What eye can beare those Flashes Yet who can flye from the one or the other The Areopagita of Athens heard all their causes in the night But Christ will heare his in such a light as will astonish and confound the wicked Lactantius saith the day of Judgement shall be at Midnight not confidering when it is mid night with some it is broad day with others in the world If it finde us in the natural midnight of darknesse or f Mat. 25.6 Morall of security The light of that day will be so much the more terrible If Jerom said Quoties diem illum considero toto corpore contremisco Semper videtur illa Tuba terribilis sonare in Auribus meis c. When ever I consider that day my whole body trembleth And me-thinks the sound of the last Trump is ever in my eares c. Then what will all prophane men think of that day when it comes like a Whirl-winde upon them Then the wicked shall crawl out of their graves like filthy Toads against this terrible storme Then Jezabel shall ring her painted hands Then the oppressor shall wish himselfe in the room of the man he hath injured And the simple may have more boldnesse then the learned In illa Dic ultiouis g Hugo de S. Vict. nihil habebit quod respoudere possit homo peccator Vbi coelum Terra Sol Luna totus mundus stabunt adversus nos in Testimonium peccatorum nostrorum saith Hugo What shall a poor sinner answer at that day when all the Creatures shall be up in Armes when the Heaven the Earth the Sun and Moon and whole creation shall come to give Testimony against our sins Thirdly Reason 3 Christ will come in Thunder and flames of Fire to advance the glory and super-excellent Majesty of our great Judge It is for the honour of Christ Personal and Mystical of Christ and his Members that it should be so carried to the great satisfaction and ineffable Triumph of holy Men and Angels Nam Judex in tribunali terrore horrore pleno sedit h Chrysostom in Gen. Hom. 17. saith Chrysostome The Judge sits in a Throne full of Terrour and horrour One observes that in stead of Lamps and Candles there shall be continuall Lightnings And that in the Generall Assizes cracks of Thunder will supply the room of the Trumpets Note All this will terrifie the bad but revive the good Zion loves that quarter of the Skie which being rent and cloven with Thunder shall yield unto her Husband When he shall put through his glorious Head crowned with Stars riding on the Rainbow to receive and embrace her and so carry her to his Fathers house The Trumpet is very terrible in Battel Note But a consort of Trumpets is pleasing at Nuptiall Solemnities So Thunder though terrible to Saints now shall be pleasing and welcome to us then the time of our Espousals and Coronation being come Blessed be our Lord who hath armed and provided us to approach the horrible terrour of that day with unutterable triumph and comfort as being fully assured it shall do us no harm Not a Thunder-bolt shall touch us and in all that Fire and Lightning not a haire of our head shall be singed All Saints i Luks 21.28 will lift up their heads as knowing their Redemption draws nigh Reason 4 Lastly Christ will come thus gloriously in Thunder Lightning Tempest and Earth-quakes for the full vindication of his Law so solemnly given as you have seen already God delivered the Law in Thunder and Lightning k Ferus in Exod. saith Ferus Vt ostenderet se vindicem Legis To shew himselfe a Judge and Revenger of the Law and in what an hideous and astonishing manner he will come in judgement to make the world accountable for the breaches of that Law Si Promulgatio tantum pavorem hominibus incussit quid putamus futurū esse in postremâ mundi die l Vict. Strigel Com. in Exo. 19. Fol. 80. saith Strigelius If the Promulgation of the Law was terrible then what may sinners look for on the last day For a Law without execution may fitly be compared to a Bell having no clapper or a glittering Sword having no edge In the Promulgation a Flame was onely on Mount Sinai All the world shall become a Bonfire at the Execution In the one there was Fire Smoak Thunder and Earth quake In the other The Heavens shall be dissolved and the Elements melt The Fire wherein the Law was delivered did but terrifie at most The Fire wherein it shall be required is consuming O God! how abundantly able art thou to inflict vengeance upon sinners who didst thus in Flames forbid sin What will become of the breakers of so fiery a Law and the m 2 Thes 1.8 Despisers of so glorious a Gospel n Bishop Hals Contempl lib. 5. p. 827. Happy are those that are from under the terrours of that Law which was given in Fire and in Fire shall be required saith Doctor Hall in his Contemplations O Let us ever prepare and expect and wait for this great day That this dreadful Thunder do not finde and strike us in our sins Who would willingly be found at his cups or his cards with his Dalilah or telling his mony got by extortion The Day is therefore unknown to us that we might ever be preparing for it Note Great hath been their presumption who have set the time of Christs thundering appearance As Joachimus Abbas the Year 1258. Arnoldus 1345. Stiphelius 1533. on St. Lukes day Regiomontanus 1588. Thermopedius 1599. Aprill 3. o Alsted Chr. Others the last yeare 1657. for that the Deluge fell out in the same yeare of the Worlds Creation And for the time yet to come p Trap on Mat. 24. Cusanus sets the year 1700. Cordanus 1800. And Picus Mirandula 1905. So great hath been the folly and sin of many Learned men Though Christ hath told us no man knows the q Mat. 24.36 time of his second coming r Mr. W. S. One of late also presumed to set the Time about the yeare 1646. with the particular day of the year and when his set time was come it Thundred and Lightned very much in the Afternoon which helpt to affright divers ignorant people who stood gazing upward to see when Christ would appear I end with that of Jerom Mieron in Mat. 23. Sic quotidie vivamus quasi Die illâ judicandi simus Let us live every day as if it were to be the last day of the world that when our Lord comes he may find us in a wel-doing posture And thus much of the four times wherein the Lord hath manifested his glory or will do it by supernatural miraculous Thunder viz. At the subversion of his potent enemies when his People are in streights At the delivery of the Law at the Promulgation of the Gospel and at the
feare of Thunder and Lightning which makes People hide themselves and be almost at their o In metu consilia prudentium vulgi rumor juxta audiuntur Tacit in Hist lib. 3. cap. 11. wits end speaking rashly and unadvisedly with their Lips and doing those things which are far from suiting with their holy profession That we should rather take them to be Children or Mad-men to be Pagans or Robbers of Churches In a word to have some notable guilt upon them as Parricide Incest Adultery Murder or Perjury then to be serious intelligent and blamelesse Christians But that we are commanded to judge no man before the time O let the fear of God dispossesse your hearts of all servile inordinate and slavish p Mar. 18.28 Timorem Timere pellit us clavum clavo Fears If the feare of any thing unhinge you and render you unfit for Gods service or the employments of your Calling sit down and sadly conclude That feare is not of God Object But may some objest when it Thundred on Mount Sinai Moses quaked feared exceedingly Heb. 12.21 Solution To this I answer 1. q Exo. 19.16 All the people feared so Moses might be drawn by their example it might be his infirmity 2 Moses well knew this Thunder was supernaturall and miraculous so had reason to quake 3 Austin saith Brevis differentia legis Evangelii timor amor The Law produced feare but the Gospel love 4 Moses was afraid when it thundered but not as the people were Timuit Moses sed non Timore servili ut populus saith Ferus Moses indeed feared but his feare was not like the peoples servile but Filial which was r Timere Deum est nulla quae facienda sunt Bona praeterire faith Gregor in Mor. nothing else but a religious reverence and holy observance and Å¿ Nemo melius diligit quam qui maxime veretur offendere Salvian Ep. 4. awe of Gods Majesty and Power Feare should be the childe of goodnesse not cruelty the one is joyned with love the other with hatred Let wicked men feare Thunder with a slavish and hellish feare Omnes conscius strepitus timet saith Seneca A guilty conscience feareth every noise t Philip. in Job Aliud est timere quia peccaveris aliud ne pecees 'T is one thing to be affrighted after villany another thing to fear lest you offend God u Juvenal 13. Juvenal writing of guilty persons calling to minde their wickednesse when it thundreth saith thus Hi sunt qui trepidant ad omnia fulgura paellent Cum tonat Exanimes primo quoque murmure Caeli Let it passe for the true character of a wicked wretch to be still intrepidus ad culpam timidus ad paenam fearlesse in sinning and fearfull of vengeance 'T is a vile heart that fears Thunder more then sin which saith Chrysostme w Chrysostome Hom. 5. in Ep. ad Rom. is to be feared more then Hell We are worthy saith he of Hell if for no other cause yet for fearig Hell and the evills of punishment more then Christ Manifest you have the spirit of Love Adoption by crushing all unworthy and uncomely feares in the time of Thunder A greater Thunder must come wherein the Saints shall not fear but shout for joy For when the waves of the Sea shal mount up their foaming Billows when the Earth under us shall tremble with most terrible Earthquakes and have throws like a woman in travell When Lightnings shall be our chief Light and the Heavens over us roar with dreadful Thunder In a word When this goodly frame of Nature shall be on fire Then all true Believers shall lift up their heads because their Redemption draws nigh LAVS DEO Sylvester his Translation of Du Bartas his second day of the first week p. 44. BUt hark what hear I in the Heavens methinks The Worlds wall shakes and his Foundation shrinks It seems even now that horrible Persephone Loosing Meges Alecto and Tysiphone Weary of reigning in black Erebus Transports her Hell between the Heaven and us 'T is held I know that when a Vapour moist As well from fresh as from salt water hoist In the same instant with hot Exhalations In the airy Regions secondary Stations The fiery Fume besieged with the crowd And keen cold thicknesse of that dampish Cloud Strengthens her strength and with redoubled vollies Of joyned heate on the cold Leagher fallies Like as a Lion very late exil'd From 's native Forrests spit at and revilld Mockt mov'd and troubled with a thousand toyes By wanton children idle Girles and Boyes With hideous roaring doth his Prison fill In 's narrow Cloister ramping wildly still Runs too and fro and furious lesse doth long For liberty then to revenge his wrong This Fire desirous to break forth again From 's cloudy Ward cannot it selfe refrain But without resting loud it groans and grumbles It roules and roars and round round round it tumbles Till having rent the lower side in sunder With sulphry flash it have shot down its Thunder Though willing to unite in these Alarms To 's brothers forces his owne fainting Arms And th' hottest Circle of the world to gain To issue upwards oft is strives in vaine For 't is there fronted with a Trench so large And such an Host that though it often charge On this and that side the cold Camp about With his hot skirmish Yet still still the stout Victorious For repelleth every push So that despairing with a furious rush Forgetting Honour which the valiant prize Not as it would but as it may it flies Then the Ocean boyls for feare the Fish do deem The Sea too shallow to safe shelter them The Earth doth shake The shepheard in the Field In hollow Rocks himselfe can hardly shield Th' affrighted Heav'ns ope and in the Vale Of Acheron grim Pluto's selfe looks pale Th' aire flames with fire for the loud roaring Thunder Renting the Cloud that it includes asunder Sends forth those flashes which so blear our sight As wakefull Students in the winters Night Against the steel glauncing with stony knocks Strike sudden sparks into their Tinder-box Moreover Lightning of a Fume is fram'd Through't selfs hot drinesse evermore inflam'd Whose power past credit without razing skin Can bruise to powder all our bones within Can melt the Gold that greedy Mizers hoord In barred cophers and not burn the boord Can break the blade and never singe the sheath Can scorch an Infant in the womb to Death And never blemish in one sort or other Flesh bone or sinew of the amazed Mother Consume the shooes and never hurt the feet Empty a Cask and yet not perish it c. Methinks I heare when it begins to Thunder The voice that brings Swains up and Caesars under By that Tow'r tearing stroak I understand Th' undaunted strength of the divine right hand When I behold the Lightning in the Skies Methinks I see th' Almighties glorious Eyes When I perceive it rain down timely showers Methinks the Lord his Horn of Plenty pours When from the Cloud excessive water spins Methinks Heaven weeps for our unwept-for sins THE END