wisdome of God is one Countrey the helper and mutuall supporter of anothers welfare He maketh one the Granarie to furnish her neighbours with corn another the Armourie to furnish the rest with weapons another the Piscarie to furnish the rest with fish another the Treasurie to furnish the rest with gold By this is the Merchant the key of the land the treasurer of the kingdome the venter of his soils surplussage the combiner of nations and the adamantine chain of Countreys The sea and the earth saith a learned Prelate are the great coffers of God the discoveries of navigation are the keys which whosoever hath received may know that he is freely allowed to unlock these chests of Nature without any need to pick the wards Here could I spread my meditations and train on my Reader with delight but my principall aim is to shew how wonderfull the Sea is in the great varietie and abundance of Creatures that live and move within this wombe of moisture Almighty God hath so richly sown the great and boisterous element of waters with the spawn of all sorts of fish which so innumerably multiply and hath crowned the deeps with such abundance that the Sea contendeth with the Earth for plentie variety and delicacy The Breed of it is yeelded to be full of wonder As there is miraculum in nodo a wonder in the knitting of those two elements of Water and Earth in one sphericall and round bodie so is there miraculum in modo a miracle in the manner of the operation For eodem modo producitur balaena quo rana totidémque syllabae ad creandum pisciculos quot ad creandum cete Small fishes are not the superfluitie of Nature There is as much admirablenesse in the little Shrimp as in the great Leviathan both are miraculous There are miracula magna miracula parva saepe parva sunt magnis majora saith Saint Augustine The basest fish even that shelfish called Murex giveth our Purples the most sumptuous and delightfull colours And Margarites the most precious pearls that beautifie Princes robes come from the sea And this is first the Bonum jucundum the pleasure good which we find in them The tast of many fishes in all manner of magnificence is more delicate and exquisite then that of flesh And Fish hath ever had the priviledge which at this day it hath That chief Gentlemen are pleased and have skill to dresse it Nor is Fishing it self lesse delightfull to them that use it then Hunting and Hawking are to others They are indeed Princely disports studium Nobilium the study the exercise the ordinary businesse of many great Ones yet much riding many dangers accompany them hilares venandi labores c. whereas fishing which is a kind of hunting by water be it with nets weels bait angling or otherwise is still and quiet And if so be the Angler catch no fish yet hath he a wholesome walk Among the curled woods and painted meads Through which a silver-serpent river leads To some cool courteous shade He whiffes the dainties of the fragrant fields he sucketh in the breath of fine fresh meadow-flowers which like the warbling of musick is sweetest in the open aire where it cometh and goeth he heareth the melodious harmony of birds a quire whereof each tree enterteineth at Natures charge he sees the Swans Herons Ducks Water-hens Coots and many other fowl with their brood which he thinketh better then the noise of Hounds or blast of Horns or all the sport that they can make This is true of those that use fishing for recreation But what shall we say of the poore stipendiarie fishermen qui cruribus ocreati who booted up to the very groins toil and take much pains for a little pay Certainly God crowneth their labour with a sweet repose and their diet is more wholesom nourishing whereas surfets light frequently on the rich and the gentle bloud groweth quickly foul The bread of him that laboureth as Solomon saith of his sleep is sweet and relishable whether he eat little or much This hath he prettily expressed in his Sicelides Happie happie fisher-swains If that you knew your happines Your sports taste sweeter by your pains Sure hope your labour relishes Your net your living whe◠you eat Labour finds appetite and meat When the seas and tempests rore You either sleep or pipe or play And dance along the golden shore Thus you spend the night day Shrill wind 's a pipe hoarse sea 's a taber To fit your sports or ease your labour Moreover by fishing and using themselves thereto men are enabled to do service for their countrey When Reuben abode among the sheep-folds to heare the bleating of the flocks when Gilead did stay beyond Jordan and Issachar took his rest in his tents then the people of Zebulun did jeopard their lives unto death in the field against Sisera Zebulun is a tribe of account as well as Judah Benjamin and Nepthali Psal. 68.27 Moses by a spirit of prophesie as likewise remembring what old Israel had prophesied of this sonne and his posteritie Zebulun shall dwell by the sea-side he shall be an haven for ships Gen. 49.13 breathed but this propheticall patheticall dying farewell They shall suck of the abundance of the seas and of the treasures hid in the sands Deut. 33.19 And here doth fall into our contemplation the Bonum utile the great benefit commoditie and profit that we reap from the Sea Which according to our English proverb is a good neighbour in that it yeelds such store of fish whereby the inhabitants may be nourished and other creatures the better preserved For Abrahams servant to fetch a calf from the stalls Jacob to bring a kid from the fold Esau◠to bring venison from the field doth not so much expresse how God filleth us with plenteousnesse as the unseen prey which the fisherman bringeth from the sea Who can number the sand of the sea saith the sonne of Sirach Ecclus 1.2 nay what man is able to number the fish of the sea which are so many that the Patriarch Jacob prayed that Josephs children might encrease like the fish Gen. 48.16 Beasts of the field and birds of the air bring forth but one or two young ones if they be big or if they be little some three or foure others five or six few above ten none usually above twenty but fish as experience teacheth every day bring forth hundreds at one time In the great and wide sea saith our Prophet are things creeping innumerable both small and great Psal. 104.25 In the creation God said Let the waters bring forth in abundance every creeping thing that hath the soul of life Gen. 1.20 Howbeit in all that abundance as it is observed there is nothing specified but the Whale as being the Prince of the rest and to use the phrase of Job king of all the children of pride Wherein the workmanship of
names may make a Dictionarie and yet we shall not know them all First for the profunditie of the sea which is the distance between the bottom and superficies of the waters it is of that immensitie that in many places no line can touch it The common received opinion that the depth of it being measured by a plummet seldome exceeds two or three miles is not to be understood saith Breerwood a worthy writer of the sea in generall but onely of the depth of the Straits or narrow seas which were perhaps searched by the Ancients who dwelt far from the main Ocean For the site and bounds of it it is excellent The naturall place of the waters by the confession of all is above the earth This at the first they enjoyed and after repeated and recovered again in the overwhelming of the old world when the Lord for a time delivered them as it were from their bands and gave them their voluntarie and naturall passage And at this day there is no doubt but the sea which is the collection of waters is higher then the land as sea-faring men gather by sensible experiments Thou coverest it with the deep as with a garment saith the Psalme As a vesture in the proper use of it is above the body that is clothed therewith so is the sea above the land And such a garment saith one would it have been unto the earth but for the providence of God towards us as the shirt that was made for the murdering of Agamemnon where he had no issue out Therefore the Psalmist addeth immediatly At thy rebuke they fled at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away They go up by the mountains they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them Thou hast set a bound that they may not passe over that they turn not again to cover the earth Though that fluid Element is alwayes running and often roring as if it would swallow up the earth though this untamed beast be unresistable by the power of man yet is it ruled like a child by the power of God The sea is his and he made it Psal. 95.5 He stilleth the raging of the sea and the noise of the waves Psal. 65.7 He hath shut up the sea with doores Job 38.8 He hath established his commandment upon the sea and said Hitherto shalt thou come and no further here will I stay thy proud waves vers. 11. By many texts of Scripture the earth is said to have the sea for its foundation Psal. 24.2 and Psal. 116.16 yea to be made out of the matter and to consist in it 2. Pet. 3.5 God would have his servant Job admire hereat when he asked him Whereupon are the foundations set and who laid the corner-stone thereof Job 38.6 Elsewhere it is said to have no foundation Job 26.7 onely to hang in the midst of the world by the power of God immoveable Psal. 93.2 Psal. 104.5 Isaiah 40.12 and 42.5 c And these which haply may seem most inept and weak pillars are firm bases Psal. 104.5 and mighty foundations Mich. 6.2 All which is an argument demonstrative of Gods power and providence who as he brought light out of darknesse so hath he set the solid earth upon the liquid waters and that for the convenience of mans habitation Secondly it is wonderfull for its motion Why it moveth forward why it retireth is to us above all reason wonderfull That such a motion there is experience sheweth but the searching out of the cause of it is one of the greatest difficulties in all naturall Philosophie Aristotle was so much admired for his Logicall wit that by some he hath been charactered by three speciall Epithets first that he was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a lover of universalities secondly that he was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a lover of method lastly and chiefly that he was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a subtile searcher out of causes Yet this Genius and Secretarie of Nature this acute Philosopher this prince of Philosophers is reported to have stood amazed at the flowing and ebbing of Euripus and despairing of finding out the cause thereof cast himself into the river and was comprised of that he could not comprehend What Aristotles opinion was concerning this matter is an uncertain conjecture for as much as little or nothing can be gathered touching this out of any booâ— which is certainly known to be Aristotles for the tractate of the propriety of Elements is judged to be none of his but of some later Authour This is more at large most judiciously discussed by Mr Nathanael Carpenter in his Geographie Lib. 2. cap. 6. Thirdly it is wonderfull in the art of Navigation on it Is it not strange that there should be a plough to delve a passage through the unwieldy Ocean that the Water should be of such fidelitie as firmly to bear up all vessels from the shallop to the ship from the smallest carvel to the mightiest and greatest carack and by the help of favourable and propitious winds convey them on their woven wings from climate to climate to the benefit and commoditie of their farre-distant owners Concerning the originall of shipping I find it to be Gods own invention If God had not said to Noah Fac tibi arcam and when he had said so if he had not given him a designe a module a platform of the Ark we may doubt whether ever man would have thought of a means to passe from nation to nation of a ship or any such way of trade and commerce This Ark resting afterwards on the mountain of Ararat gave a precedent to other nations neare-bordering how ships were to be framed Thus Navigation first taught by Almighty God was afterwards seconded by the industrie of famous men in all ages For the use and commodity of Navigation may be produced many arguments The first and principall is the promotion of religion How should the Gospel have been divulged through the whole world had not the Apostles dispersed themselves and passed the sea in ships to convey their Sacred message to divers nations and kingdomes Again Sea-traffick and Merchandizing is of that excellent use that the state of the world cannot subsist without it Not the Lyon and the Unicorn but the Plough and the Ship under God are the supporters of a Crown Non omnis fert omnia tellus No countrey yeeldeth all kind of commodities There must be a path from Egypt to Asshur and from Asshur to Egypt again to make a supply of their mutuall wants Mesha the king of Moab was a king of sheep Hiram king of Tyre had store of timber and workmen Ophir was famous for gold Chittim for ivorie Basan for oaks Lebanon for cedars Saba for frankincense We have our gold from India our spices from Arabia our silks from Spain our wines from France And thus by the goodnesse and
the Maker is most admirable for it is said Then God created the whales and not singly the whales but with an additament the great whales So doth the Poet term them immania cete huge whales as being the stateliest creatures that move in the waters God made the whale saith a Father to be vectem maris the barre of the sea He like the Serpent in the Revelation casteth out of his mouth water like a floud this monstrous whirle-about into the sea another sea doth spout In creating of them creavit Deus vastitates stupores For as Plinie writeth of them when they swim and shew themselves above water annare insulas putes you would think that Islands swam towards you and that great hills did aspire to heaven it self with their tops The greatnesse and strength of a whale in a most elegant narration is expressed by Job which for acutenes vigour and majestie of style doth farre exceed what ever we can fetch from the schools of Rhetoricians He beginneth it at his first verse of his 40 chap. and so to the end where he leaveth it â—s an Epilogue of Gods great work This Emperour of the Ocean this unequald wonder of the deep this balaena the great whale for so Tremellius translateth Leviathan in that passage of Job is very profitable to the Merchant for its oyl bones and ribs In Isleland as Munster writeth of the ribs and bones of the biggest whale many make posts and sparres for the building of their houses I will land this point with an observation of such fish as are for the food and sustentation of man I never find that Christ enterteined any guests but twice and that was onely with loaves and fishes I find him sometimes feasted by others more liberally but his domestick fare for the most part except aâ— the Passeover was fish He that chose but twelve Apostles out of the whole world took foure of those twelve that were by profession Fishermen â— as Simon Peter and Andrew his brother and the two sonnes of Zebedee James and John And the ancient Fathers observe that our Saviour did expresse himself to the Sea-tribe more than to any of the rest For he was conceived at Nazareth a citie in the portion of Zebulun and in that citie was he brought up and began to preach first there and mount Tabor upon which he was transfigured was in the tribe of Zebulun also With the Hebrews the same word doth signifie a pond or a fish-pool which is used for a blessing And surely it is a blessing to any countrey among other commodities which enrich a kingdome to have the benefits of fish-ponds and sluces in which commodious stews men may preserve the fishes which they take and sell them for advantage and gain The Prophet Isaiah foreseeing the destruction of Egypt saith The waters shall fail from the sea and the river shall be wasted and dried up And they shall turn the rivers farre away and the brooks of defense shall be emptied and dried up the reeds and flags shall wither The fishes shall mourn and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament and they that spreade their net upon the waters shall bâ— weakned And we find that among other plagueâ— of Egypt this was one That their fish the chief part of their sustenance died with infection and their Nilus did not onely yeeld them a dead but a living annoyance it did never before so store them with fish as it did then plague them with frogs If it be such a curse to be deprived of so great a blessing what a blessing it is not to know such a curse To descend to the particulars Among this scaly footlesse nation I likewise find Bonum honestum For from them we may draw symbola virtutum quae imitemur many exquisite emblemes for our instruction As fishes when they are hurt heal themselves again by touching the Tench finding the slime of his body to be as a sovereigne salve so must we when we are wounded with sinne repair to our Saviour Christ cujus sanat fimbria saith Ambrose whose garment is our plaister whom if we do but touch tactu fidei by a true faith we shall be whole Thus the woman in the Gospel that twelve yeares long had laboured of an issue of bloud to whom the art of the Physician could neither give cure nor hope at length by a touch of the verge of his garment was revived from the verge of death She came trembling to our blessed Saviour and though her tongue were mute yet her heart spake for she said within her self If I may but touch the hemme of his garment I shall be safe That she supposed to find more sanctitie in the touch of the hemme then of the coat I neither dispute nor beleeve But what said she If I may but touch a weak action the hemme of his garment the remotest part with a trembling hand a feeble apprehension Here was the praise of this womans faith that she promised her self remedy by the touch of the outmost hemme In the old law those fish were onely reputed clean which had fins and scales The fins of the fish are for steering of their motion the scales for smoothnesse of passage for safeguard for ornament So are those onely clean in the sight of God qui squamas loricam habent patientiae pinnulas hilaritatis who have the scales and coat-armour of patience and the sins of joy and cheerfulnesse to spring up to God-ward Or as the Paraphrast there saith Those men that have no knowledge and faith to guide them no good dispositions to set them forward no good works to set them forth are not for your entire conversation By the story of the Dolphines assembled in sholes upon the sea-shore to celebrate the obsequies of Ceraunus who had before freed them from the snare of the fishermen we learn That good turns are golden nets which catch the swiftest gliding fish The Dolphines moving from the upper brimme of the water to the bottom when she sleepeth condemneth those that streak themselves upon their beds of down and snort so long indo mitum quod despumare Falernum Sufficiat quintâ dum linea tangitur umbrâ as would suffice to sleep out a surfet till high noon c. I cannot set forth this King of Fishes in more orient and better colours then he before hath done Brave Admiral of the broad briny regions Lover of ships of men of melodie Thou up and down through the moist world dost flie Swift as a shast whose salt thou lovest so That lacking that thy life thou dost forgo Seas of examples in this kind are infinite Sallust du Bartas a Poet above the ordinary level of the world for the choice of his subject most rare and excellent is admirably copious on this theme I will therefore forbear to write Iliads after Homer And although for the most
Octob. 3. 1639. Imprimatur Cantabrigiae per Rogerum Daniel Ra. Brownrigg Procan Samuel Ward Tho. Bainbrigg Jo. Cosin The Mind of the Frontispice How firmely hangs this Earths rich cabinet Twix't fleeting Air on floting waters set By this one argument fond Atheist see The Earth thou tread'st on shew's a Deitie On such a liquid basis could it stand If not supported by a Pow'rfull hand But what 's the Earth or Sea or Heav'n to mee Without Thee Three-in-One and one-in-Three Nec caelum sine Tâ—terra noâ— unda placet THE DIVINE COSMOGRAPHER by 〈…〉 Quum te pendenti reputaâ—… insiâ—tere terrae nonne vel hinc clarâ— conspiciâ—… 〈◊〉 â—â—um Printed for Andrew Crooke 1640. Wâ—… sulpâ—it To my much honoured friend WILLIAM HODGSON Esquire on his elegant and learned descant on the Eighth Psalme WHen I peruse with a delighted eye Thy learned descant on a text so high The choice of such a subject first I praise And then thy skill and Genius that could raise A style in prose so high as to expresse This holy Panegyrick and no lesse The Use to view through this varietie Of creatures the Creatours majestie And must condemn those vain Cosmographers Who whilest they strive to search and to rehearse All creatures frame and beauty while they toyl To find the various nature of each soil The Oceans depth through whose vast bosome move 〈◊〉 many wonders nay to skies above And higher spheres their contemplations raise They loose the pith of all the Makers praise Thomas May {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} HOdsonus ille Lector ut vides novâ Illustrat arte flammei poli plagas MundÃque tractus ceu Syracosius Senex Ingentis olim Iuserat coeli vias Suúmque magno reddidit mundum Jovi Humana Divi dum stupent ars quid queat Sic sic aperti tramitem aeris secans Stagnantis olim transiit terrae vias Columba justi missa de manu Senis Miro volatu remigans liquidum aethera Qualisve docti quae Tarentini manu Efficta veras arte lusit alites Hodsonus ille Lector ut spatio brevi Se continere non queat ampliùs vides En ille mensor aeris liquidi poli Percurrit orbem tranat quod aethera Pinnisque quicquid turbidum findit mare Accessus illi haud invius Diespiter Quà promit orbi syderis radios novi Vesperéque sero condit ubi lumen suum Ali isque tentat coeli inaccessas domus Humero efficaci sic priùs coelumtulit Laturum erat quod se vice Atlantis pueâ— Tonantis olim pondere haud pressus gravâ— Linguâque doctâ sic Hodsonus potens Stylóque docto jam viam adfectat polo Terrásque notas linquit coelum petit Radiavit ipse quod priùs lumine suo Scrib V. Optimo amiâ— Guilielmus Burtonus Kingstoniae ad Thamesin apud Regnâ— To my worthy learned frienâ—W H. Esquire upon his divine meditation and elegant explanation of the Eighth Psalme MOngst all the reverend rites the Church dains None melts the mind so much so mildly reignâ— O're mans affections warming our desire And ycie frozen zeal with heavenly fire As th' Hebrew Siren's musick Jordans swan Gods darling David that Prophetick man Whose manna-dewing layes with charming strains And anthemes chanted from inspiring veins Do mount our winged souls aloft which flie Ravish't to Heaven in blessed theorie This sacred Hymn the subject of thy quill Limn'd in such orient colours by thy skill As a rich tablet shewes in lively features Gods love to man mans rule o're the creatures Fowls of the air and beasts on earth residing The scaly frie in the vast Ocean gliding With all the numerous host of heaven past counting In spangled order and bright beauty mounting These all by thee are taught to speak the story Of the worlds fabrick and their Founders glory Nor hast thou marr'd the majestie of those Mysteries sublim'd dress'd statelier in thy prose But rather clear'd those rubs and doubts which did â—n obscure knottie arguments lie hid And in this * wine-pâ—esse trode the grapes whose jnvce â—hall to weak fainting souls such heat infuse â—s will not only cheat their hearts but be Thy glories Truchman to posteritie Reuben Bourn To his ever honoured friend William Hodgson Esquire on his contemplations on the Eighth Psalme Sir GOd hath blessed you with a lovely vine And you have blessed your God in so divine Soul-ravishing fansies wherewith you are fill'd From the pure * wine-presse of this Psalme distill'd I do conceive what pangs were in thee when Thou formd'st and brought'st forth with thy skiâ—full penne This perfect feature whose alluring face Smiles on the world with an attractive grace When thou beholdest with a single eye The spangled heavens the embroidered skie That looks upon the earth with thousands we Confesse and know that thy divinitie Doth much irradiate the celestiall tapers Bright in themselves but brighter by thy papers Curious contriver how dost thou enrobe The great and small ones of each massie globe In fine-weav'd ornaments Such is thy skill The Persian needle comes not near thy quill Richly hast thou adorn'd the Earth our mother Sea the Earths sister and the Air their brother And which is most praise-worthy each I see And all that 's in them laud the Deitie William Moffet Mr. of Arts Sydn Coll. Camb. Vic. of Edmonton The DIVINE COSMOGRAPHER or A brief Survey of the whole world delineated in a tractate on the VIII Psalme By W. H. sometime of S. Peters Colledge in Cambridge Printed by Roger Daniel Printer to the Universitie of CAMBRIDGE 1640. PSAL. VIII To the chief musician upon Gittith A psalme of David O LORD our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth who hast set thy glory above the heavens 2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger 3 When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the starres which thou hast ordained 4 What is man that thou art mindfull of him and the sonne of man that thou visitest him 5 For thou hast made him a little lower then the angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet 7 All sheep and oxen yea and the beasts of the field 8 The fowl of the aire and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas 9 O LORD our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth The Divine Cosmographer or A brief survey of the whole world delineated in a tractate on the eighth Psalme SECT. 1. A preface on the book of Psalmes in generall THe Holy Ghost describing the genealogie of our Saviour from how many kings he was descended vouchsafeth none of them the style and title
part it be true that wit distilled in one language cannot be transfused into another without losse of spirits yet who so is able judiciously to compare the Translation with the Originall will confesse to the immortall glory of our Countrey-man that from the French more weak He Bartas taught his Six-dayes-work to speak In naturall English and so hath lighted from a flame devout As great a flame that never shall go out SECT. 10. THus have I made a brief circuit over the whole earth and a short cut over the vast Sea And now before I put my ship into the creek before I conclude I must draw these scattered branches home to their root again The generall substance of them all together is this As it is a most pleasant kind of Geographie in this large mappe of the World in the celestiall and terrestriall Globe to contemplate the Creatour so there is nothing that obteineth more of God then a thankfull agnition of the favours and benefits we daily receive at his bountifull hands If we be not behind with him in this tribute of our lips he will see that all creatures in heaven and earth shall pay their severall tributes unto us the Sun his heat the Moon her light the Starres their influence the Clouds their moisture the Sea and Rivers their fish the Land her fruits the Mine their treasures and alâ— things living their homage and service Oâ— the contrary If the familiaritie of Gods blessings draw them into neglect he will have aâ— just quarrel against us for our unthankfulnesse and our ingratitude which is a monster in nature a soloecisme in maners a paradox in Divinitie will prove a parching wind to damme up the fountain of his favours toward us I will seal up all with a pretty note that Hugo hath There is no book of nature unwritten on and that which may not â—e a teacher to inform â—s will be a witnesse to â—ondemn us It is the â—oice of all the creatures â—nto Man Accipe Redde â—ave Accipe Take us to thy â—se and service I Heaven â—m bid to give thee rain I Sunne to give thee light â— Bread to strengthen thy â—ody I Wine to chear thy heart We Oxen leave our pastures we Lambes our mothers to do thee service Redde Remember to be thankfull He that giveth all commandeth thee to return him somewhat It is hard if thou canst not thank the great Housekeeper of the world for thy good chear This is the easiâ— task and impositioâ— which the supreme Lord of all layeth upon all the goods thou possessest on all the blessings of this life Minimo capitur thuriâ— honore Deus Cave Beware of abusing us The Beasts of the field do crie Do not kill us for wantonnesse the Fowls of the aire Do not riot with us the Wine Devoure not me to disable thy self The Howers which ever had wings will flie up to heaven to the Authour of Time and carrie news of thy usage toward us And now Manum è â—abula I have finished my meditations on this Psalme wishing I could have had S. Ambrose his facultie qui in Psalmis Davidis explicandis ejus lyram plectrum mutuatus who in the expression of Davids psalms is said to have borrowed Davids own harp so rightly did he expresse his meaning But my fear is that I have muddled and made this Topaz but so much the darker by going about to polish it To end as I began with the commendation of the book of Psalmes Est certè non magnus verùm aureolus ad verbum ediscendus libellus The Psalter is not a great but a golden book and throughly to be learned This method our Prophet observeth in this excellent hymn The Proposition and Conclusion thereof are both the same carceres meta the head and the foot as iâ— were the voice and the echo The whole psalm being circular annular serpentine winding into iâ— self again as it beginneth so it endeth O LORD our Governour how excellent is thy name in all the world FINIS * Tit Psal. Pro Torcularibus * Titulus Psalmi Pro Torcularibus Judg. 13.20 Hier. B. King Lect. 26. on Jonas Dr Hakewell in his Davids Vow pag. 2. K. James Psal 84.11 Cant. 4.12.13 Revel. 21. Prolog in Psalm Lib. De scalâ claustrali Aug. lib. confess cap. 6â— The title of the Eighth Psalme explained Emblemes of Perseverance Mans abasement Mans dignitie Virgil Beza Matth. 19.14 The tender care of Pharaohs daughter to the infant Moses The Howers compared to young maidens The Sun The Moon The Starres The Empyreall heaven Psal. 139 14. The world compared to a large clock Job 38. Adam the first Nomenclâ—tor and why he gave the creatures their names Observ. Answ. Lib. De mundo universo Plin. lib 3. cap. 5. Nascitur aranea cum lege libro lucerâ—â Prov. 30.25 Mactabant agnum jugis nostri sacrificii typum Lorin. in Act. Apost. c. 8. Shepherds in high esteem with God B. Hall Num. 11. Job 39.16 Cant. 1.14 Cant. 4 1. Cant. 5.12 The Dove Matth. 10.16 The Pelican The Eagle Exod. 19.3 4. Homil. 46. in Matth. The Saints resembled to Eagles Judg. 1.15 Lilium lacrymâ suâ seritur Ambr. in Job 39.30 Exod. 3.2 Dan. 3. 2. Kings 6.17 Rom. 8.18 Tertull. De corona militis cap. 3. Ovid Met. lib. 1. Thus elegantly translated by Mr George Sandys The Sea wonderfull in many respects Whether the Waters be higher then the Earth Psal. 104.16 Reciprocatio aestus maris The ebbing and flowing of the sea Aristotle Navigation The benefit thereof Quò vaâ—ts Nec laborat Deus in maximis nec fastidit in minimis Ambros. Aquarum est quod in regibu adoratur Mountaign in his Essayes Lib. 1. Cap. 49. Eccleâ— 5.12 Judg. 5. Boiâ— Apoc. 12.15 Plin. lib. 9. cap. 2. The Tench the Physician of fishes B. Hall Levit. 11.9 Deut. 14.9 â—ern Serm. 1. in die S. Andreae The Dolphine Aelian lib. 8. c. 3. Optick glasse of humour cap. 4. p. 5 Sylvester Mich. Drayton Sam. Daniel Hugo de S. Vict.
of the mountain saying Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and bow I bare you on Eagles wings By the Eagles some there understand Moses and Aaron the two guides that led the children of Israel out of Egypt will have them compared thereunto propter acumen intelligentiae altitudinem vitae by reason of their piercing judgement and holy life They indeed were as Chrysostome saith mollissimae pennae misericordiae Divinae as it were the down-feathers of Gods mercie because they handled the people committed to their charge tenderly in imitation of Eagles Of whom some report that whereas other birds carry their young ones in their talons or claws which cannot be done without some griping they lay them upon their wings and so transport them without any grievance Which is a good embleme for Magistrates and teacheth them paternall affection towards their people Gorran in his Exposition of Saint Lukes Gospel cap. 17. v. 37. saith that the Saints resemble the Eagles in these five properties First Calvitie peccatorum For as the Eagles moult off their feathers and so become bald so the Saints pluck off their sick feathers from their soul they circumcise the old man with the lusts thereof and weed out sinne by the roots The Prophet Micah exhorting the people to repentance bids them to inlarge their baldnesse like the Eagle Micah 1.16 Mary Magdalene did more then cast her feathers when she converted her eyes her hairs her lips feathers of wantonnesse into pledges of repentance She had been parched with sinne and the heat of concupiscence as the wife of Othniel complained of an hot countrey when she begged of Caleb and Joshua the springs above and the springs beneath This holy Sinner at her conversion brought unto our Saviour irriguum superius springs of tears in her eyes above irriguum inferius springs of bloud if I may so speak in her heart beneath even a bleeding contrite and a wounded spirit As Plinie saith of the fleur de lis or flower-de-luce that it is begotten by its own tears in the same manner are the Saints produced to beatitude by their proper afflictions The second resemblance is in renovatione novi hominis in their new birth Who reneweth thy youth like unto the Eagle Psal. 103.5 The Eagle by casting her beak and breaking her bill upon a stone receives a new youthfulnesse in her age This rock is Christ upon which the Saints break their hearts by repentance Paul had cast his bill and his feathers when he said Now I live not but it is Christ that liveth in me Gal. 2.20 Extinctus fuit saevus persecutor vivere coepit pius praedicator saith Gregorie The third resemblance is in volatûs elevatione in their loftie flight Doth not the Eagle mount up and make her nest on high Job 39.27 So it is with the Saints As their conversation so their contemplation is as high as Heaven Such elevations had our Prophet David Psal. 25.1 Psal. 121.1 Such an Eagle was Saint Paul qui in terra positus à terra extraneus He lived here yet a stranger while he lived here Of all fowls saith Munster the Eagle onely moves herself straight upward and downward perpendicularly without any collaterall declination By her playing with thunderbolts and confronting that part of heaven where lightnings and storms and tempests most reigne she teacheth great and couragious spirits how to encounter all disasters And by beating her wings on high we are taught Sursum corda to ascend up in our thoughts where our Saviour is What the Poets feign of the Eagles laying her egs in Jupiters lap fabulously that doth the faithfull man by Davids counsel truly and with Isaiahs Eagle flying up to Heaven casteth his whole burden upon the Lord The fourth is in visionis claritate in the clearnesse of vision Saint Augustine writeth of the Eagle that being aloft in the clouds she can discern sub frutice leporem sub fluctibus piscem under the shrub an hare under the waves a fish So the faithfull being Eagle-eyed can with Moses in a bramble see the Majestie of God with the three children in the furnace see the presence of Christ with Elizeus in the straitest siege see an army of Angels to defend him with S. Paul in the heap of afflictions behold a weight of glory provided for him The last is in viae occultatione in the secrecy of their way One of those things which the Wise man admired at was the way of an Eagle in the aire Prov. 30.19 See them flie we may but their wayes and subtle passages we cannot discern So the Saints good works are seen of men but their intentions with what mind they do them are not discoverable I have the longer insisted on this princely bird the Eagle because among all other birds is ascribed to her maximus honos maxima vis and in the Scriptures are grounded many proverbs and similes upon the strength and length of her wing upon her lofty flight and sharp sight It were infinite to follow the Allegorists in moralizing her qualities and to trace Plinie or Aelian for the varietie of Eagles were a course easie but a discourse tedious It would likwise in my poor conceit something savour of his spice of pride that numbred his people to reckon and heap up all that I have read on this argument I have already shewed what excellent lessons the Bee the Swallow and diverse other birds do read unto us and I must not per eandem lineam serram reciprocare draw my saw the same way back again I discharge this point The next that attendeth our consideration is the other part of Gods work on the fifth day which I may call his Water-work And so I take into my thoughts the fish of the sea and whatsoever walketh through the paths thereof SECT. 9. WHen Argus in the Poet had the custodie of Io Constiterat quocunque loco spectabat ad Io Ante oculos Io quamvìs aversus habebat Which way soere he stands he Io spies Io behind him is before his eyes So may I say of them that go down into the sea in ships On every side which way soever they look they see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep Psal. 107.23 First the Element in it self is wonderfull First in regard of the depth situation and termination of it Secondly in regard of its motion its afflux and reflux its ebs and flowes its fulls and wanes its spring and neap-tides Thirdly in regard of Navigation or the art of sayling which now is so ordinarie and common that we almost cease to bestow wonder on it Again it is wonderfull in the numberlesse number of Creatures which it containeth This one word FIAT hath made such infinite numbers of fishes that their