a~;itap. 7. Ax Expoktsoxupfn tbt Book of J QB. Verf. to. reafonwhy theholyGhoft fpends fo much time ; and is fo frequent in giving us t he meafureofour felvesby creatures; there arc every hour inour eye, we weet with,and fee, and handle, and feci them continually: The wind, thevapours,tlae clouds,fet forth what w e are,When I confider(faith Dávid Pfal.S 3, 4..) the Heavexs,the'work of thy fingers, the Moon, and the Stars which thou haft ordained, what is roan that thou art mindful ofhim ? To confider the'great- ncfs of the works ofGod,tlaould abafe man ; it fhould amaze us, to remember, that God hath made fuch things for our ufe, who are our felves fo ufelefs (in comparifbn of we ought.) to God. And when man confiders the Heavens and the Earth , and weighs how many things therearc in them, which let forth his frailty, he hath reafon to cry out, 0 Lord wh.rt is man.? Man is but a wind, a cloud,a vapour, even fuch a thing, as I fee molt pe- riffling and vanifhing in the whole compafs of the Creation. pJalme 3 g. t. The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament fhetvetb his handy work; the Heavensare excellent creatures , and full of glorious wonders, they (peak the pow- er and wifdom of God, they (hew forth his handy work, they can be the work of none, but of God only ; the clouds alto ¡hew forth the handy work and power of God, Pfalme 147. 8. Wbo covereth the Heavens with clouds The hand. of God draws thofe curtaines, and puts that mask upon the-face of Heaven. But as the Heavens declare the glory of God, fo they publifb and declare the weaknefs cerrman, the vapours and the winds Phew forth, how fraile he is: As the invifible things ofGod, to wit hiF etcrnalpower and Godhead, are feen in the things which are made God is (as it were ) vifible in the creatures ; fo likewife the frailty and mutability, the weaknefs and inconflancy of -man, it vifible in the things whichare created ; we may read a leetiare of our own tranGcorinefs,in the molt tranfitory texts ofnature : lgne that is an admirable contrivance and complication of things, that out of the very fame text of the creature, where the infinite wife dom and power of God may be learned, man alto may, learn his own frailty : He thatftxdies that creature mtsch,fhallfind much Of .God and ofbimfilf,Sotne conceive when lfaae (Gen. 24. 63,4vvettt forth into the field to meditate, that he ftudied the book of thecreatures, probábiy the holy man.did fo, but we are fusehe might. Hew will itflume tholemen at laft, who knownot God K kk k not
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