A55305:161
The divine will considered in its eternal decrees, and holy execution of them. By…
The divine will considered in its eternal decrees, and holy execution of them. By Edward Polhill of Burwash in Sussex Esquire
London : printed, and are to be sold by Thomas Shelmerdine, at the sign of the Rose-Tree in Little-Britain, 1695
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
CHAP. VI. Of the Work of Creation.
Having treated of the Divine Will as to its Eternal Decrees, I proceed to speak thereof as to its External Works, which are (as it were) the Royal Display thereof. And that there may not be a Chasm in my Discourse, I shall first touch upon Creation as the first of ⟨p. 131⟩God's ways. There are besides the Ens Entium, three several Worlds or Ranks of Beings, viz. Spiritual, Material and Mixed; the first, is the Intellectual World, made up of those invisible Glories, Spirits by Nature, Angels by Office, Principalities and Powers, spiritual Stars of Light and Flames of Love, all of them at first Inhabitants of that pure spiritual Body the Heaven of Heavens; but afterwards part of them were for their proud Apostasy cast into Hell. The second is the World of visible wonders; the stupendous Heavens eyed with a glorious Sun, and spangled with Moon and glittering Stars, encircling all the rest with their spherical Stories, and wheeling round about with an indefatigable Motion, spinning out time for all the World, and with admirable influences hatching and hovering over all the living Creatures. Under these is the vast Air, encompassing the Earth and Sea, coated with woolly clouds, and those sometimes laced with the curious Rain-bow; every morning putting on the bright-shining Robes of Light, and at evening exchanging them for the black Mantle of the night: now all on a flame with flashes of Lightning, and anon all ⟨p. 132⟩in a Sea with the Bottles of Heaven: sometimes rent in pieces with thundering Tempests, and then made up again into serenity, and clear as a molten Looking-glass. This is the Fan of all Creatures breathing on the Earth, and it self is fanned with various Winds: This is the Inn where the visible Species, the Imagery of the Worlds Beauty and Glory, and the audible Species, the multiplied progeny of Sounds and Voices, lodge together: This is the common Road, where the influences of the Heavens and the vapours of the Earth, the beams of the Sun and the sweet perfumes of Herbs and Flowers meet and embrace each other in their passage.