But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:
Ver. 7. But ask now the beasts of the earth, and they shall teach thee] Even the wildest of them that abide in the wilderness. There is not one of these, or else of the fowls of the air, but can both teach thee, and tell thee that the world is ordered by a providence, that God is powerful, wise, just, &c., and must therefore be loved and served. That he suffereth the bad to oppress the good, as the beasts do devour the little ones; as the hurtful fowls destroy the harmless; as the great fishes eat up the smaller: man, who was once the captain of God's school, is now, for his truantcy, turned down into the lowest form, as it were, to learn his A B C's again; yea, to learn it from the meanest creatures. See Pro 6:6 Jeremiah 8:7 Matthew 6:26; where it appeareth, that in the ant, stork, swallow, &c., God hath set before us, as in a picture, the lively resemblance of many excellent virtues, which we ought to pursue and practise. These are the right laymen's books, the images that may truly teach people the knowledge of God, and of his will, of themselves, and of their duties; which we should the rather learn, because God hath given us wisdom beyond them, Job 37:11, and yet by sending us to them, shameth our dulness and disobedience.