The Eye and Wheel of Providence, Chapter 12
CHAP. XII. Gods Providence to the Birds of the Air, and in particular, to the young Ravens, the Oſtriches young ones, and the little Sparrows.
I Shall now treat of God's Providence with relation to the Birds of the Air,Beza Ver. Tranſl. & Genev. in Mat. 6.26. which Beza and the old tranſlation read volucres or volatilia Coeli, ſo doth the Geneva tranſlation alſo on Mat. 6. Gods providing for the Fowls is propounded as an argument to diſſwade from carking cares: Behold the fowls of the Air, ſaith our Saviour, for they ſow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Luke mentioneth one particular kind, viz. the Ravens, Luke 12.24. Conſider the Ravens, for they ſow not, neither do they reap, which neither have ſtore-houſe nor barn, Aves fine patrimonio vivunt. Minut. Fael.and God feedeth them; The Birds live without a patrimony, ſaith Minutius Faelix: The inference our Saviour would have his children draw from thence is, That God will much more feed them. Oh be thou (ſaith Chryſoſtom) as ſecure as the Birds are, Chryſoſt. ad pop. Antioch. Homil. 12.that thy heavenly Father will feed thee too.
It is conceived that our Saviour ſpeaketh of this kind of Fowl, becauſe of all other Birds the young Ravens are moſt helpleſſe; and therefore the Kingly Prophet ſpecifieth them in particular, Pſal. 147.9. for having in the 8th verſe obſerved Gods provident care for all his creatures, ſaying, He covereth the Heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth; he maketh the graſſe to grow upon the mountains; he addeth, And to the young Ravens when they cry. The like you have expreſſed Iob 38.41. He provideth for the Raven his food, when his young ones cry unto God, foreign. Ariſtot.they wander for lack of meat. The Raven is noted by Naturaliſts to be foreign, without natural affection, not uſing that care and diligence in providing for her young,Plin. Nat. hiſt. l. 10. c. 12. as is ſeen in other Birds. Divers Authors do affirm, That theſe Birds are very greedy, and do ſcarce abide two together in barren places, but many of them will be together in corn-fields, and fruitfull places; for they quickly drive their young ones out of their neſt, yea out of the Region where they are,Aelian. Nat. hiſt. ſo that they are compelled to wander being forſaken of their Dams, and ſeek their meat lamenting and caſting out their ſorrows: Now the Ravens are then ſaid to cry to God,Franz. Animal. hiſt. ſacr. not that they cry in faith or underſtanding, but that they cry for want of food and means to help themſelves; their crying is their praying, the roaring of the hungry Lions, and the crying of the Ravens is their ſeeking meat of God: they know not God, but confuſedly utter their deſires to him; yet then when the Ravens flie abroad to ſeek their prey, and leave their young ones half ſtarved, and no body provideth for them; now God feedeth them, either by giving them worms to jobb at, or by ſome other ſecret means, as Calvin Calvin Serm. in Job 38.thinketh; and ſeeing this Bird is ſo voracious, God's Providence is the more admirable in providing for them. We read that Noah ſent out a Raven and a Dove out of the Ark after the waters began to be aſſwaged; the Dove finding no reſt for the ſole of her foot returned unto him into to the Ark,Heſychius noteth in the Raven want of natural affection, in that being ſent out of the Ark he returneth not again, as having no affection to the place where he had made his neſt. Willet on Levit. 11. As the Ravens neglect their young ones, ſo the young ones again do neglect the old, and ſometime ſet upon them when they are not able to reſiſt. Aelian. hiſt. nat. l. 3. c. 43. but the Raven (which he firſt ſent forth) returned not to him again, but went to and fro ſeeking after his prey to ſatisfie his devouring nature, Gen. 8.7. yet even then God provided for him, before the waters were abated from off the face of the ground: Yea ſuch was the providence of God towards Elijah the Prophet in a time of great ſcarcity, that the Lord commanded the Ravens (thoſe greedy Fowls) to feed him by the Brook Cherith that is before Iordan, And the Ravens brought him bread and fleſh in the morning, and bread and fleſh in the evening, and he drank of the brook, 1 King. 17.6.
From the Ravens let us proceed to the conſideration of God's providence towards the Oſtriches young ones; the Oſtriches neglect of her eggs is excellently deſcribed, Iob 39.14, 15, 16, 17. She leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the duſt, and forgetteth that the foot may cruſh them, or that the wild beaſt may break them: ſhe is hardened againſt her young ones, as though they were not hers, her labour is in vain, without fear, becauſe God hath deprived her of wiſdome, neither hath he imparted to her underſtanding. The Oſtrich is called Struthio camelus, being partly like a Camel in his long legs and feet, partly like a Sparrow in his head and bill, though much greater. Vatablus. Lorinus.This Bird-beaſt is very nimble (for it is half a Bird of the Air, and half a Beaſt of the earth) and ſhe hath ſuch a weighty body, as ſhe cannot mount up to flie aloft, yet maketh ſuch ſpeed as ſhe cannot be outgone: no man is able to overtake her, and what with her half-leaping upon her clees, and what with her half-flying with her wings, ſhe paſſeth all the ſwiftneſſe that can be in Horſes, or in any other Beaſt; and the ſame ſwiftneſſe is matcht with policy, ſo as thoſe Birds being cloven-footed, they gather up ſtones as they runne, and caſt them backward at ſuch as purſue them: therefore the Oſtrich is ſaid to ſcorn the Horſe and his rider: Yet notwithſtanding, they ſit not upon their eggs, but abiding in hot Countreys, as Arabia, Africa, and Ethiopia, they hide them in the ſand, and leave them, and the Sunne giving warmth to them, doth by that means hatch them; the Hens of them are ſo fooliſh, that they forget their own eggs, and their Chicken that ſhould come of them, and this cometh to paſſe by God's providence;The particular frames of the bodies of Birds and Fowls, are palpable ſigns of divine providence, and the gizzern they have, which is a ſupply for their want of teeth; as alſo their having no paps as beaſts have, their young ones being nouriſhed ſo long in the ſhell, that they are preſently fit to be fed by the old ones; theſe things plainly ſhew the providence of God. Moores Antid. againſt Atheiſm, chap. 11. for ſhould they ſit upon them with the weight and heavineſſe of their bodies, they would break them all in pieces: thus God takes care both for their propagation and preſervation, and provideth for them, till they are able to get proviſion for themſelves.
Neither doth God's Providence extend it ſel… to great Fowls onelyonly and Birds of value, but to ſuch alſo as are of leaſt eſteem, even to the little Sparrows, who (notwithſtanding they are ſo laſcivious as the Males are reputed to be) and ſo apt to ſpoil Corn and other Commodities, as all men deſire to deſtroy them, and being dead will give little for them, (Five of them being ſold for an half-penny, Luk. 12.6.) yet not one of them is forgotten before God: And as St Matthew hath it, Not one of them fals to the ground without our heavenly Father, Matth. 10.29. that is, without his knowledge, approbation and appointment: For ſo Demoſthenes obſerveth, it was a uſual ſpeech among the Greeks: Such and ſuch things (ſaith he) were not done without the people of Athens, that is, without their authority and approbation.