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

Secondly, Note; The creature can go no farther than God permits or suffers.

Rational creatures often go beyond the commands of God; but neither they, nor any creature, can go beyond the counsel of God: They who transgress or pass over the line of his revealed will, cannot pass over the line of his secret will. The Lord secretly puts a stop to all creatures, as here, to the sea. How extravagant soever mens spirits are, or their practices are, yet they are under an over-ruling power. The sea hath continued under this command ever since God made it; it hath gone no further than the Lord would. Though it be a truth that the sea hath broken visible and natural, yea artificial banks, and bounds, and bars; yet it hath never broken those special invisible banks, bounds, and bars,¹ which God hath made for it, his decree. When God gave the sea visible banks, and bounds and bars, he did not intend them for banks, and bounds, and bars to his own will; and therefore he sometimes bids the sea go beyond and break its visible bounds and bars. He commanded a general deluge in Noah's time; then all was sea, no dry land appeared: And though we have the Lords promise that he will never destroy the world, how sinful soever, by an universal deluge any mo•e (Gen. 9.11.) yet Histories and experiences have told us there have been many particular inundations of the sea, breaking its anciently known bounds and bars; nevertheless it never did nor ever shall break the bars of this word, hitherto shalt thou come, but no further. The divine pillar of this (Ne plus ultra) No further, stands inviolable. If the sea break bounds at any time, 'tis because God hath given it a special commission to do so, for the punishment of men, who break their bounds by sin. The sea is still Gods prisoner, and goes not out of those doors which God hath set up and barred, without his licence; it stirs not a foot from the decreed place which God broke up for it, but as he lengthens its chain.

Rational creatures often go beyond the commands of God; but neither they, nor any creature, can go beyond the counsel of God: They who transgress or pass over the line of his revealed will, cannot pass over the line of his secret will. The Lord secretly puts a stop to all creatures, as here, to the sea. How extravagant soever mens spirits are, or their practices are, yet they are under an over-ruling power. The sea hath continued under this command ever since God made it; it hath gone no further than the Lord would. Though it be a truth that the sea hath broken visible and natural, yea artificial banks, and bounds, and bars; yet it hath never broken those special invisible banks, bounds, and bars,