As soon as the child is born and come into the world, the Mother or Midwife provides suitable garments for it, and a swaddling band. Thus the Lord continues the metaphor of childbirth; I, saith the Lord, provided a garment and a swaddling band for the new-born sea. And as the Text tells us, that the Lord made the sea a garment, and a swaddling band, so it tells us what they were: What was the garment made for the sea? The Cloud. When the Lord had separated the sea from the earth, he made the clouds to cover it, as garments do a child, that comes naked into the world; and the cloud is a fit garment for the sea. Clouds are water condensed, and they dissolve into water, and here the Lord having separated the sea from the earth, made the cloud, which is a kind of sea, a sea in the air, as a garment to cover and keep it warm. And because a new-born child, lest the limbs should not grow right, hath not the liberty of its arms and feet for a time; but is wrapped up with a swaddling band: therefore, in pursuance of the Allegory, the Text speaks of a swaddling band prepared for the sea, as soon as it was born. But what was the swaddling-band of the sea? As the matter of its garment is a cloud, so its swaddling-band is thick darkness; that is, say some, very dark clouds; making this latter part of the verse but a repetition of the former: because clouds are dark in themselves, they are often expressed by darkness, they are called black clouds, and dark clouds, yea, sometimes clouds are called darkness. So that the cloud, and the thick darkness, ⟨p. 102⟩may be the same; only it is here expressed in different terms, to show the exactness of the Lords proceeding, and the accurateness of his providing for the due ordering of the unruly child the sea. And that the sea had at first such a swaddling-band, we find (Gen. 1.2.) Darkness was upon the face of the deep.
As soon as the child is born and come into the world, the Mother or Midwise provides sutable garments for it, and a swadling band. Thus the Lord continues the metaphor of childbirth; I, saith the Lord, provided a garment and a swadling band for the new-born sea. And as the Text tells us, that the Lord made the sea a garment, and a swadling band, so it tells us what they were: What was the garment made for the sea? The Cloud. When the Lord had separated the sea from the earth, he made the clouds to cover it, as garments do a child, that comes naked into the world; and the cloud is a fit garment for the sea. Clouds are water condensed, and they dissolve into water, and here the Lord having separated the sea from the earth, made the cloud, which is a kind of sea, a sea in the air, as a garment to cover and keep it warm. And because a new-born child, lest the limbs should not grow right, hath not the liberty of its arms and feet for a time; but is wrapt up with a swadling band: therefore, in pursuance of the Allegory, the Text speaks of a swadling band prepared for the sea, as soon as it was born. But what was the swadling-band of the sea? As the matter of its garment is a cloud, so its swadling-band is thick darkness; that is, say some, very dark clouds; making this latter part of the verse but a repetition of the former: because clouds are dark in themselves, they are often expressed by darkness, they are called black clouds, and dark clouds, yea, sometimes clouds are called darkness. So that the cloud, and the thick darkness, ⟨p. 102⟩may be the same; onely it is here exprest in different terms, to shew the exactness of the Lords proceeding, and the accurateness of his providing for the due ordering of the unruly child the sea. And that the sea had at first such a swadling-band, we find (Gen. 1.2.) Darkness was upon the face of the deep.
