tÿo Chap. 7.8. An Expofition upon the Book of 1 o, Térra quondam ferzilis tririci, f rece,jru tenpo- rivflerilir red ditur ett fubter eant ignu etfe- mina"ria queedä fulp'fiuris ejfa videantur. Merc. Verf. v. Farther, fame interpret thefe words, as if bere were incirn- red a wonderful -work of providence in charging the nature of the ground, l'o as that which before brought forth bread becomes barren, and is turned, as it were into fire and brimfione. Hifio- riana make 'force fuch reports of the Country where Sodom and Gomorrah once flood,which.chough it was in thole times (as Mofes calls ir, Gen. 13. to;) like Eden, or the garden of God, yet now the foyl is not only unfruitful, but fulphureous. And thus the Lord threatnedprefucnptuous finners (Dent. 29. 23.) Their whole Land to brimffone and Salt, it is n't foreen, nor beareth, nor any graft groineth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Ad- mah.andZeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and in his wrath. But I (hall not flay upon that. The 6th verfe is of the fame tendency. Verf. 6. The flows of it are the place of Sapbirs : and it bath dust of Gold. Thus lob defcribes the furniture of the Earth, Corn grows above, Cole-flones and lewd for the fire, underneath, yea not only thole with other common, but many precious Bones. The flanes ofit are the place of Saph rs. The Saphir being one of the choicefi Bones, is here named for the re(i. We have theSaphire mentioned again (v. 16.) It (that is, wifdam) cannot be valued with the Gold ofÓpbir, with the preci.. eue Onyx, or the Saph r. The excellency of this (}one may be col- lc&ed from the defcriptionof that vifion (Exod. 24.. 1 o.) Then went up twofes and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and feventy of the Elders of ifrael, and theylaw the God of Ifraal, (not that God was vifible in himfelf, but only in thofe vifional appearances and mani- ffellations of hisglory) and there was under hie feet as it were a pa-. ved wok of a Saphirefone, and as it were thebody of Heaven in his clearnefs. How appofirely doth ei ofes joyn the Saphire none, and the body of Heaven in his clearnefs ? as implying (which is its natural beauty ) that the Saphir (tone, is diaphanous and dear, or in colour like the body of Heaven. Again, that myffical vifion of the Cherubim: and wheels, is concluded with the appearance; of Corifi upon a glorious throne (Ez,ck. a . 26.) Above the firma- ment that wasover theirheads, was the lr ,exefs ofa throne, as the appearance
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