Philosophical Historical and Theological Observations of Thunder, Title page – Dedication
Vox Caeli; OR,
Philoſophical,
Hiſtoricall,
and Theological
Obſervations, OF THUNDER. With a more General view of Gods wonderful Works. Firſt grounded on Job 26.14. but now enlarged into this Treatiſe.
By Robert Dingley, M. A. once Fellow of Magdalen Colledge in OXFORD; now Miniſter of Gods Word at Brixton in the Iſle of WIGHT, and County of SOVTHAMPTON.
Pſal. 29.4.
The voice of the LORD is powerfull, the voice of the LORD is full of Majeſty.
Job 37.5.
GOD thundreth marvellouſly with his Voice: Great things doth he which we cannot comprehend.
Propterea Tonitrua; Propterea Fulminum Terrores; Ne Bonitas DEI contemnatur:
Baſil. in Proaem. ad Regulas fuſius diſputatas.
LONDON, Printed by M S. for Henry Cripps, and are to be ſold at his Shop in Popeſ-head Alley, 1658.
TO My Honoured Friend Major Samuel Bull, Juſtice of Peace, and Captaine of Cowes Caſtle in the Iſle of WIGHT.
SIR,
MEn of your profeſſion have beene Lovers of Learning; Rudis miles ad Bellum concurrit, qui cauſam Beili ignorat. Tacitus.And Great Souldiers have beene good Scholers. Moſes, the Leader of Iſrael, was skill'd in all the Learning of the Aegyptians. aAriſtot. Rhet. lib. 5.Alexander was ſo bookiſh, that he ſent for the Works of Philiſtus into Greece, being gone ſo far in Aſia, that Books were wanting: Alſo it is ſaid of him, that Homer was ſtill under his Pillow, when he ſlept. Julius Caeſar; a great Conqueror, and as great a Scholer, witneſſe his Commentaries. I need not tell you, that in our Nation, bWaterhouſe Apol. for learning. 127, 128.Edward the 3d. Henry the Eighth, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Harding the Hiſtorian, (beſides many others) were excellent both for Learning and Valour; and could equally handle both the Sword & Pen. Nihil firmius, faelicius, laudabilius que Republica, in qua abundant milites eruditi, ſaith cVegetius de Re nal. lib. 1.Vegetius. All which I mention to provoke our Military Worthies to the Love of the Muſes. And, thanks be to GOD, Religion and Learning do grow every Day more and more in requeſt. Plato ſaid, There was as much difference between a Learned and Ignorant Man, as between the *Non intellects nulla eſt curetio morbPhyſitian and his Patient; Ariſtotle thought, as between the Living and the Dead.
Rome ſaw her beſt dayes under her moſt Learned Kings; ſuch as Numa, Auguſtus, Titus, Antoninus, Scientia non habet inimicum praeter ignorantem ſui. Quintil.Conſtantine, and others. Yet Learning hath had her Enemies in all Ages, this not excepted: Licinus gave this Motto, Pestes Reipublicae Literae; Learning is the bane of a Commonwealth.
But Sir, I know you wiſh well to our Univerſities, the Fountains of Learning. Your Activity and zeal for God, and the Truth, are ſo remarkable; your Love to the faithfull Miniſters of Chriſt ſo cordial; and the particular Favours you have conferred on me ſo Numerous; that, not to Love and Honor you for the firſt, would be Impiety; and for the latter, *The Spiders Motto, Nemini Debea; is alſo the ungrateful mans ſong.Ingratitude.
You have been the Inſtrument of conveying the Goſpel to a dWeſt Cowes in this Iſle.Town that never before enjoyed it; conſiſting of about a thouſand ſoules; and have helpt to build them a eLuke 7.5.Synagogue. Nay, the beams of your Goodneſſe, Juſtice, and Vigilancy doe ſtretch themſelves into all places of the Iſle: And O that wee had many *Rari quippo boni, Numero vix ſunt totidem, quot Thebarum Portae. Juvenal. 13. Satyr.more ſuch as your ſelfe to countenance Religion and good Men in this place: I wiſh that all our Gentry were ſuch as you are; Then would our fAt Newport.Lecture, and conference be more frequented; Vice and Hereſie be more curbed; and the hands of good Paſtors and People more ſtrengthened in the work & way of the Lord: And then ſhould our Iſle be more happy then any of thoſe call'd the gTurk. Hiſt.Fortunate Iſles; or then Cyprus, that is called the Bleſſed Iſle, for her great variety and abundance of all things.
So commending you, and all fearing the Lord, to the Bleſſing, Guidance and Protection of the Almighty, I ſhall ever approve my ſelf,
Sir, Yours in the things of Chriſt, Robert Dingley. From Brixton in the Iſle of Wight, 1658.