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

As in this 29th verse Go• declares himself the Author of the Frost and of the Ice, and, in opening it, somewhat hath been said of their effects, so in the next verse one remarkable and very forcible effect of the Frost is held forth, that we may learn (and 'tis no more than our experience and eye-s•ght have often taught us) what Cold or Frost can do. Why, what can it do? It can tu•n water into stones. Such is the power of Cold, that it hardens the liquid water like a stone. Ice in its very first appearance hath the resemblance of a stone, and being very thick (as in long Frosts) 'tis like a rock, like a mountain of stone: Thus t•e Text speaks Vers. 30. The waters are hid as with a stone.

As in this 29th verse Go• declares himself the Author of the Frost and of the Ice, and, in opening it, somewhat hath been said of their effects, so in the next verse one remarkable and very forcible effect of the Frost is held forth, that we may learn (and 'tis no more than our ex•erience and eye-s•ght have often taught us) what Cold or Frost can do. Why, what can it do? It can tu•n water into stones. Such is the power of Cold, that it hardens the liquid water like a stone. Ice in its very first appearance hath the resembl•nce of a stone, and being very thick (as in long Frosts) 'tis like a rock, like a mountain of stone: Thus t•e Text speaks Vers. 30. The waters are hid as with a stone.

That is, when extreme cold freezes the waters into Ice, the waters are not seen, they are lo•kt up, and (as it were) paved over with a stone; or the waters seem to suffer a strange metamorphosis, and leaving their natural liquidity and softness, are condensed or hardened into rcks; such is the force of cold. Some express it actively, not as we, The waters are hid, but the waters hide themselves like a stone. Thus Mr. Broughton expresseth it. Naturalists tell us that in some cold Countries,