Chap. g. An,Expofttionupon the Boakof J p B. Veri g. 22r vid was fuch à ftudeut (Pf 8. 3.) When I confider thy heavens, the tvorkofthy fingers,the Moon and the Stars which thou haft ordained. Confideration is not a tranfient or accidental,but a refolved and a deliberate aft.. Shall we think that God hath made thofe mighty bodies, the fears to be pall by without confideration ? Shall men only pore upon a lump of earth, and not have their hearts lifted up to confider thofe lamps of light ? Shall manmake no more Life ofthe liars then the beafis of the earth do, namely to fee by them? When I confider thy heavens, faith David. Heaven is the moll cone fiderable of all inanimate creatures, and more confiderable then moil ofthe animate : and Davids,when,when I confider the heavens, notes not only a certainty,that he did it,but frequency in doing it. Some of the Rabbins tell us, that when /Joac went out into the field to meditate (Gen. 24. 63.) The fubjea ofhis meditation was the liars, or the heavens. It is good to take field-room fometimes to view and contemplate the works of God round about. Chicly take heed of the former folly, ofAftrological curioftties, confining the providence of God to fecondary caufes avoid that, and the heart may have admirable elevations unto God, from the medita, tion of the works of God. (Pfd. 19. r.) The heavens declare the glory ofGod, and the firmamentJhecveth his handywork if the hea- yens declare.tl e glory ofGod, we fhould obferve what that glo, ry is which they declare. The heavenspreach to tts everyday. Their line isgone out thorow all the earth, and their words to the end of the world, Pf. 19. 4.. Sun, Moon and.Stars are Preachers, they are u.. niverfall preachers , they are natural AIpofiles ; the world is their charge, their words, faith the Pfalm,go to the ends ofthe earth. We may,have good doctrine from them, efpecially,.thisdoetrin in the text, of the wifdom and power of God. And it is very obferva- bie that the Apolife aludes to this text in.the Pfalm,for a proof of Gofpel-preaching to thewhole world, Rom. i o. i 8..So then, faith cometh by hearing, andhearing by the Word of God. But 'fay, have they not heard ?, Yes verily, their foundwent into all the earth, and their words unto the endofthe word. The Gofpel like the Sun calls his beams over, and fheds his light into all the world. David in the Pfalm faith, Their line is gone out, &c. By which word he thews, that the heavens being fo curious a fabrick, made (as it were) by line and level, do clearly, though fluently preach the skill'and perfe6ions of God. Or, that we may read divine truths in them, as in a Iine formed by a pen into words and fentences (the
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