An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second,…

Secondly, We may Infer; If God hath placed the Stars in heaven, to drop down sweet influences upon us, then at every sight of the Stars our hearts should be raised up, in the admiring thoughts of the wisdom, goodness, and power of God. We usually look upon the Stars, as if they were only so many lights bespangling the Canopy of heaven, and sparkling, as so many fires in the firmament; but we seldom consider their virtues, their influences, or the wonderful effects which they produce How few are there, who behold the heavens with Davids eyes. (Psal. 8.3, 4.) When I (said he) consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers; the Moon and the Stars which thou hast made: What is man, that thou are mindful of him? God is mindful of man, not only to give him light by the Moon and Stars, by the benefit whereof he sees other things; but God gives many unseen benefits by the Moon and Stars. The influences of the Stars are as beneficial to us,¹ and as great a treasure as their light. We indeed have great cause (as we are commanded, Psal. 136.7, 8, 9.) to pay the tribute of thanks to God for setting up the Sun, Moon, and Stars in the heavens to give us light; O give thanks to him that made great lights, the Sun to rule by day, the Moon and Stars to rule by night. Yet we must not confine our thankfulness to God for them only as they give us light, for they give us heat as well as light, and wonder working influences as well as either. Moses (their civil Father) blessing the twelve Tribes, as Jacob their natural Father did before his departure out of the world, thus bespake the blessing upon Joseph (Deut. 33.13, 14, 15.) Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and also for the deep that coucheth ⟨p. 241⟩beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the Sun, and for the precious things put forth by the Moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth, and the fullness thereof, &c. Here we have two sorts of precious things. First, The precious things of heaven. Secondly, The precious things of the earth, of the hills and mountains. The former precious things are the cause, the latter the effect: