An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…

Taking the former signification of the words, He draweth up the drops of water,

Observe; The ordinary rain which watereth the earth, is first fetched from the earth.

¹God raiseth vapours from the earth, and then watereth the earth with them. All the rain which falls upon the earth was raised from the earth. If I were to answer that question in nature, What is Rain? I might resolve it thus; Rain is the moisture of the earth, drawn up by the heat of the Sun, into the middle Region of the Air, which being there condensed into clouds, is afterwards at the will of God, dissolved, and dropped down again in showers. The Clouds, at the command of God, hold fast, and at his command they break and let out their waters upon the earth. This is, as was touched before, a very ordinary, yet a very admirable work of God. As in spirituals, all those acts of grace in faith, and love, and joy, &c. by which our hearts and souls are carried up to heaven, come first from heaven; so that rain which comes down upon us from heaven, ⟨p. 389⟩was first fetched from among us by the mighty power of God. Rain, according to natural Philosophy, is thus generated: The water and moisture of the earth being attenuated by the heat of the Sun-beams, become vapours, which being so rarefied and resolved into an airy substance, are by the same heat of the Sun drawn up to the middle region of the air, where being again condensed or thickened into water, they melt down into rain, at the appointment of God.

¹God raiseth vapours from the earth, and then watereth the earth with them. All the rain which falls upon the earth was raised from the earth. If I were to answer that question in nature, What is Rain? I might resolve it thus; Rain is the moisture of the earth, drawn up by the heat of the Sun, into the middle Region of the Air, which being there condensed into clouds, is afterwards at the will of God, dissolved, and dropt down again in showers. The Clouds, at the command of God, hold fast, and at his command they break and let out their waters upon the earth. This is, as was toucht before, a very ordinary, yet a very admirable work of God. As in spirituals, all those acts of grace in faith, and love, and joy, &c. by which our hearts and souls are carried up to heaven, come first from heaven; so that rain which comes down upon us from heaven,