The Latin translation renders at a great distance from us, yet the letter of the Text may bear that reading also. Who hath given understanding to the Cock? Interpreters following this translation, conceive that here the Lord begins to question Job about irrational living creatures; Having said, who hath put wisdom into the inward parts? to wit, of man; he now adds who hath given understanding to the Cock? The same word that signifieth the heart, signifies also a Cock; as the heart foreseeth and looketh upon things afar off, so the Cock foreseeth the rising of the Sun and the break of day, and therefore hath his name from his fore-sight. They who follow this Translation, speak many things of the wonderful fore-sight of the Cock: and surely God hath placed a natural wisdom in that creature constantly to understand the hours of the night. A Cock is a natural clock ⟨p. 271⟩to any family, he hath his first, and second, and third crowings;1 and having a kind of natural instinct concerning the course and return of the Sun, he claps his wings and crows, as rejoicing at his coming, and willing to awaken all to entertain him and prepare themselves for labour, study and business, at his approach. But I shall not stay upon this; And the general stream of interpreters keeps in the former channel, expounding this latter part of the Verse as the former, with respect to man. Who hath given understanding to the heart? It is a truth (I grant) which the Jewish Talmudists teach, that God is to be praised who hath given such understanding to the Cock, that he is able to distinguish the hours of the night, and tell us of the approaching day, that it surprise us not like sluggards unawares. The natural Historian reports the useful qualities of the Cock: And one of the Ancients wittily takes notice of the Cocks crowing in the Gospel, which awakened Peter, according to Christs prediction, Before the Cock crow twice, thou shalt deny we thrice: The Cock (saith he) was a Preacher to call Peter to repentance. Christ made use of a Cock to press that eminent Disciple into a conviction of, and sorrow for his sin; for at the crowing of the Cock, he remembered the words of Christ, went out and wept bitterly.
The Latine translation renders at a great distance from us, yet the letter of the Text may bear that reading also. Who hath given understanding to the Cock? Interpreters following this translation, conceive that here the Lord begins to question Job about irrational living creatures; Having said, who hath put wisdom into the inward parts? to wit, of man; he now adds who hath given understanding to the Cock? The same word that signifieth the heart, signifies also a Cock; as the heart foreseeth and looketh upon things afar off, so the Cock foreseeth the rising of the Sun and the break of day, and therefore hath his name from his fore-sight. They who follow this Translation, speak many things of the wonderful fore-sight of the Cock: and surely God hath placed a natural wisdom in that creature constantly to understand the hours of the night. A Cock is a natural clock ⟨p. 271⟩to any family, he hath his first, and second, and third crowings;1 and having a kind of natural instinct concerning the course and return of the Sun, he claps his wings and crows, as rejoycing at his coming, and willing to awaken all to entertain him and prepare themselves for labour, study and business, at his approach. But I shall not stay upon this; And the general stream of interpreters keeps in the former channel, expounding this latter part of the Verse as the former, with respect to man. Who hath given understanding to the heart? It is a truth (I grant) which the Jewish Talmudists teach, that God is to be praised who hath given such understanding to the Cock, that he is able to distinguish the hours of the night, and tell us of the approaching day, that it surprize us not like sluggards unawares. The natural Histo•ian reports the useful qualities of the Cock: And one of the Antients wittily takes notice of the Cocks crowing in the Gospel, which awakened Peter, according to Christs prediction, Before the Cock crow twice, thou shalt deny we thrice: The Cock (saith he) was a Preacher to call Peter to repentance. Christ made use of a Cock to press that eminen• Disciple into a conviction of, and sorrow for his sin; for at the crowing of the Cock, he remembred the words of Christ, went out and wept bitterly.
- 1Talmundici in Judaicis precationibus dicunt at docent cum gallus canit dicendum esse, Laudetur qui gallo dat intelligentiam. Gallus enim haud dubio non aliunde quam à Deo didicit noctis momenta dis•ernere proclivius tamen estut pro cord exponamus, Merc. Plin l. 10 c. 21. Cantavit Gallu• non ut tempora distingueret, sed ut petrus paenitere•, Ambros.Talmundici in Judaicis precationibus dicunt at docent cum gallus canit dicendum esse, Laudetur qui gallo dat intelligentiam. Gallus enim haud dubio non aliunde quam à Deo didicit noctis momenta dis•ernere proclivius tamen estut pro corde exponamus, Merc. Plin l. 10 c. 21. Cantavit Gallu• non ut tempora distingueret, sed ut petrus paenitere•, Ambros.