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

Vatablus Upon his bidding it is that the Earth yieldeth her increase and Nature with all her Auxiliaries is at his pow'rful beck In the Text it self we have 1. A general Acknowledgment of God's over-ruling Providence He sendeth forth his Commandment upon earth and his word runneth very swiftly And 2. A particular Illustration or Exemplification of it by way of Instance both in the Giving and Removing great Snows and Frosts with Hail and Ice He giveth Snow like wool and scattereth the Hoar-frost like Ashes He casteth forth his Ice like Morsels Who is able to abide his Frost or who can stand before his cold He sendeth out his word and melteth them He bloweth with his wind or causeth his wind to blow and the waters flow 1. I say A General acknowledgment of Gods over-ruling Providence throughout the world He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth and his word runneth very swiftly Mandat tantum statim executio sequitur Scultetus He only calls and all things answer him he commands and the Execution follows upon it Thus at first by the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth He gathereth the waters of the Sea together as an heap and layeth up the Deep in Store-houses viz. by the same word of his mouth Let all the Earth fear the Lord let all the Inhabitants of the World stand in awe of him For he spake and it was done He commanded and it stood fast Psal XXXIII vi x. see Genes I. His Almighty Fiat produced all things out of nothing And by the same are they still preserved Upholding all things by the word of his power saith the Apostle Hebr. I. iii and so are they also Ruled and Governed as here we have it He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth and his word runneth very swiftly This sending forth his commandment is nothing else but that hidden yet effectual way whereby he orders all things Calvin He no sooner speaks gives out the word of order issues out his Warrant and Commission but praestò ad parendum concurrunt omnia all things are at hand upon it ready to obey him yea quick and nimble in their observance of him His word runneth very swiftly Verbo solo quicquid vult efficere potest Munster By his word alone he can do every where whatsoever he will And this 2. he goes on to evidence and illustrate by examples namely by his sudden sending of Great Snows and Frosts with Hail and Ice and as sudden dissolving of them again when he pleaseth In the expressing of which he is very Poetical We will take the Particulars as they lie i. He giveth Snow like Wool Nix aemula lanae Vellera nivis Virg. He turns the moist vapours of the Air into white flakes of Snow which descend silently and within a while lie a great thickness as a Fleece of wool on the ground wherewith it is no less warmly clad and nourished and defended from the biting winds than the sheep is by its wool or our bodies by garments made of it Thus Snow hath not only the colour and likeness but the defensive and comforting properties of wool It is not an injury but a benefit to the Earth And Rabbi Arama said Dies unus nivium prodest plus quam quinque Dies pluviae Viccars Decapla in loc One day of Snow doth more good than Five of Rain ii He scattereth the Hoar-frost like ashes Instar Cineris that is as some of the Hebrew Doctors comment upon it Parum hic parum illic Ibid. Here a little and there a little or it may be as we do ashes to dry up superfluous moisture in wet places Vitreâ cum Terra pruinâ Spargitur By his word the Frost comes which he gently strews upon the surface of the Earth iii. He casteth forth his Ice like morsels Tanquam Frusta Some refer it unto Hail-storms q.d. Dr. Patrick's Par. Sometimes he congeals the moist vapours into Ice which he breaks as it were into bits and throws down in a violent Hail Lapidosae grandinis imber Others rather to the Freezing of the earth and waters Dr. Hammond when the whole Surface is congealed into a firmness as strong as Chrystal able to bear the greatest weight and a multitude of pieces of Ice are scattered on the face of the ground like morsels of bread without any appearance of moisture in them which the Poets also are wont to express after a like manner speaking in Great Frosts of Drinking morsels of Wine swallowing it down by Gobbets Nec hausta meri sed data frusta bibunt Ovid. And whole Rivers stop'd in their course Glacie cursus fraenantur aquarum as a Horse by his Reins and standing with a thick Crust of hard Ice over them Stabant jam Flumina duro incrustata gelu Id. Nay and High-ways made by this means for Men and Horses and Carriages on the Deeps and standing Bridges erected as it were over the Great Waters As Ovid phraseth it speaking of the Cold upon Pontus Quáque rates ierant pedibus nunc itur undas Frigore concretas Vngula pulsat Equi Perque novos pontes subter labentibus undis Ducunt Sarmatici barbara plaustra boves iv It is added who is able to abide his Frost or who can stand before his Cold such is sometimes the severity of this pinching weather such the extremity of the cold that neither Man nor Beast on the Earth nor Birds in the Air nor Fishes in the Rivers are able to resist the Force of it or long to support and endure under its assaults It stupifies and benumbs all our senses Non tractabile Frigus and stagnates our blood Torpetque vinctus frigido sanguis gelu c. and turns us almost into so many petrified monuments of its rigorous fury It cuts off Intercourse between Country and Country blocks up the Merchant and Mariners in the Haven or which is worse starves them abroad at Sea It confines the Traveller from his journeys It clogs the Mills that they cannot Grind our Corn and so produceth a kind of Dearth in the midst of abundance Nay it converts our very Bread and Meat and Drink into Stones It retains the busie Husbandman within from his Field-●…ork and makes the very savage Creatures keep to their Hideing places And though the more Northern Climates are usually more sensible of this as the Inhabitants of Russia and Muscovie who are put to all the Art they have to make Defensatives against it yet whensoever God pleaseth he can call it also into the most temperate and warm Regions under Heaven as we have had of late some considerable Feeling of it His hand you see is all along to be owned and observed in these things He giveth the Snow He scattereth the Hoar-frost He casteth forth his Hail or Ice And it is his Cold too

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

OF God Almighty's Providence Both in the SENDING and DISSOLVING Great Snows Frosts AND The Improvement we ought to make of it A SERMON Occasioned by the Late Extreme Cold Weather Preached in It to his Neighbours And now thought fit to be made more Public for the Common Good By Benj. Camfield Rector of Aileston near Leicester LONDON Printed for R. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1684. To the READER ST Paul speaks of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 somewhat considerable that may be known of God from the Book of his Creatures and this with a competent degree of evidence and satisfaction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where men have nothing else but the light of common Reason to guide them For saith he the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood or considered by the things that are made even his eternal Power and God-head so that they the very Heathens are without excuse Because that when they knew God or by this means might have known him they glorified him not as God neither were thankful Rom. i. xix xxi The Author therefore of the Book of Wisdom deservedly proclaims Surely vain are all men by nature who are ignorant of God and could not out of the good things that are seen know him that is neither by considering the works did acknowledge the Workmaster Chap. xiii i. That is as he proceeds who did not collect and infer his surpassing Beauty Power and Goodness from the visible Prints and Images of those Divine Excellencies to be found in the Universe He saith the Son of Sirach hath garnished the excellent works of his wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only ordered but adorned them whence the world is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he is from everlasting to everlasting unto him may nothing be added neither can he be diminished Cui summum proprium est semper id esse quod est And he hath no need of any Counseller O how desirable are all his works and that a man may see even to a spark The least of them affording some glimmerings of his Majesty All these things live that is exert their respective powers and remain for ever for all uses whereto he hath appointed them And they are all obedient viz. to his Commands or the Laws which he hath set them Ps cxix xci Eccles xlii xxi xxiii And this he prosecutes more particularly Ch. xliii But I will only take notice of what may serve to illustrate the following Text and Discourse Ver. xiii to xxii By his commandment he maketh the Snow to fall apace Unget accelerat nivem And sendeth swiftly the lightnings of his judgment that is by which he is wont sometimes to execute his judgments when he makes the Creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies c. See Wisd v. xvii xx xxii xvi xxiv Through this or for this same end and purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ejusdem judicii exequendi causâ the Treasures or Magazines of Heaven are opened and Clouds charged as he pleaseth flie forth as Fowls on the wing with speed Isa lx viii Madidis Notus evolat alis By his great power he maketh the Clouds firm Condensat Nubes And the Hail-stones are broken small As so many fragments or shivers of a pellucid Rock of Chrystal * Here follow the Order of the best Copies for in our Translation there is a Transposition See Grot. The noise of the Thunder maketh the earth to tremble or groan as a woman in her travail saith the Margin puts Nature as it were into an agony and labour by the fright of it See Psal xxix viii ix At his sight the mountains are shaken Psal civ xxxii And at his will the South-wind bloweth so doth the northern storm and the whirlwind As Birds flying he scattereth the feather'd Snow And the falling down thereof is as the lighting of Grashoppers or Locusts which come in full and continued Swarms or Bands as it were each one gently setling upon the ground See Prov. xxx xxvii Joel ii The eye marvelleth at the beauty of the whiteness thereof which is such as dazleth us to look intensely upon it And the heart is astonished at the raining of it The Hoar-frost also as Salt he poureth on the earth And being congealed it lieth on the top of sharp stakes Or it is as the point of sharp stakes saith the Margin Quasi quaedam fastigia palorum Velut Aculeorum cuspis We call them Swords and Daggers When the cold North-wind bloweth Aquilonis Horrida Flabra as the Poets express it And the water is congealed into Ice it abideth upon every gathering together of water that is the Rivers as well as standing Pools And cloatheth the water as with a Breast-plate or Coat of Mail. It devoureth the mountains and burneth the wilderness and consumeth the grass as fire that is it dries up the juice and wasts the verdure of every green thing Penetrabile Frigus adurit Torret hiems say the Poets A present Remedy of all is a Mist coming speedily a dew coming after heat or upon heat refresheth that is the warm Spring by its Mists and Dews relieves us after a tedious Winter Thus far the Son of Sirach And had this come to mind before I had transcribed the ensuing Sermon I would have alotted another place for it But since it did not have thought good however to recommend it here to the Reader 's perusal And that is all the Entertainment or Trouble I design to give him B. C. OF GOD ALMIGHTY'S PROVIDENCE Both in The Sending Dissolving Great Snows and Frosts AND The Improvement we ought to make of it c. Psalm CXLVII xv xvi xvii xviii He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth and his word runneth very swiftly He giveth snow like wool and scattereth the Hoar-frost like ashes He casteth forth his Ice like morsels Who is able to abide his Frost or cold He sendeth out his word and melteth them He bloweth with his wind and the waters flow THese words are a most elegant Description of God Almighty's providence in the Government of the world and disposing of the seasons of it especially in the sending and Removing of Great Frosts and Snows The Psalmist had touched immediately before upon the Blessing of Peace and Plenty which God had vouchsafed his Jerusalem He maketh Peace in thy borders and filleth thee with the Flower of Wheat or the finest of the wheat The Hebrew hath it The Fatness of Wheat And from hence He naturally proceeds to the more Immediate Causes of this fruitfulness and plenty * * See Psal CIV xiii xiv xv The Clouds that drop fatness but all of them directed by the hand of Heaven all of them depending upon the divine Command and Influence He sendeth forth his Commandment upon Earth and his Word runneth very swiftly c. Summâ celeritate persiciuntur quae jubet