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The Works of Thomas Traherne from Appendix
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2016
Let the Words of my Mouth, and the Meditations, &c.
And God said, Let the Waters bring forth abundantly, the moving Creature that hath Life, and Fowl that may fly about the Earth in the open Firmament of Heaven. And God created great Whales, and every living Creature that moveth, which the Waters brought forth abundantly after their Kind, and every winged Fowl after his Kind, and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the Waters in the Sea, and let Fowl multiply upon the Earth. And the Evening and the Morning were the fifth Day.
Consider now, O my Soul, that altho’ Almighty God had made the Heavens and the Earth, Light and Darkness, and had gathered the Waters into the Sea, and kept another part of them above the Sky, in the Bottles of Heaven : Tho’ he had adorned the Heavens with Sun and Moon, and Stars, the Earth with Woods, Grass, Corn, and Flowers, and underlaid it with rich Mines and Minerals, yet all these were yet void of Inhabitants ; and in that Prospect how useless were they, both in themselves and to us? Observe therefore what Degrees and Steps Almighty God doth take for the Perfection of his Works.
Had Man been created before the Beasts, Fowls and Fishes, he had had none of these to sustain him. Had the Beasts been created before the Fruits of the Earth, they also had not been sustained. Or had the Fowls and Fishes been made before the Air and the Water, they could not have subsisted neither. But behold the Wisdom and Goodness of our God : He makes Provision for all things to which he intends Being, that none of those Beings which he gives should perish. How then can Man distrust him, since he thus careth for Beasts, Fishes, Fowls and Birds, and the very Flowers of the Field, to which he hath given the Sun, Moon, and Stars, to enliven, quicken, and replenish them with wonderful Virtues?
This Day God did command the Waters to co-operate in the making of the Fishes which were to live therein, as he did the Earth to contribute to the Production of her Plants.
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