Chap. 38. t/In Expo/rion .ropon the Book of Jos, Verf. o. a o 3 Secondly , Confider what the Lord makes the fwadling-band of the fea ; fome wrong thing nodoubt : the Text tells us it is but a dark cloud or a milt arifing from the fea ; there are the bands with which God binds this mighty giant the fca. Hence Obferve , The Lord can make weak and improbable means to do and ef. feíl the greate fit things. One would think we (hould have heard of fome other matter, even of adamantine chains , to bind the Sea with ; but we fee milts and fogs and clouds (hall do it , if God will. Mills are but vapours gathered up and thickened a little in the air. Is it not a wonder, that they fhould get the upper hand of, and bind the fea ? fo that as foon as amilt rifeth in the air by and by the fea is an There is indeeda natural reafon why, as calms are fel- dcme without mills, fo milts can never be without calms ; be- caufemifs cannot endure nor live in the wind, much lefs in a form , but mull prefently be difperfed or .blown away by it ; yet 'cis much , that a miff, or a fog, or a cloud in the air , fhould have a binding force upon the fea. This was the Lords work, to keep the fea quiet in its place. And havingconfidered this , we are called to confider another Work of God , whereby he keeps the lea from roving out of its place , in the two verfes fol- lowing. Verf. a o. Ard brake op for it my decreedplace , andfee bar, anddoors, &c. Here the Lord fpeaks of the fecond hateof the lea , accord- ing to one reading , though according to ours of the firft. When the Lord had laid , Let the waters begathered together into one place, he prepared a place to receive the waters ; as when a, man would have a place to hold water , he digs or makes anearthen wife) or receptacle forit. So when the waters iflued out of the earth in their nativity, the Lord gathered them toge- ther into a lea, and prepared a flupendious pic ; or as fome fol- low the allufion here of a new-born infant wrapt in fwadling- bands, he provided a great bed or cradle to put it into. That vat+ concave into which the waters are put , is fomewhat like a cradle; thofe channels (1 fay) which Godmade for the lea , are as
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