John Trapp on Job 26:7

Verſe 7. He ſtretcheth out he North ever the empty place] Heb. Over Toh[illegible: 1 letter]. Ariſtotle ſaith, that beyond the moveable heavens, there is neither body, nor time, nor place,De cal[illegible: 1 letter] text. 99 nor vacuum. But on this ſide of the heaven there are bodies, time, place, and as it may ſeem to ſome, an empty place: for ſo the Air is here called, over which, and not over any ſolid matter, for a foundation, God hath ſpread and ſtretched forth the heavens which are here called the North, becauſe they are moved about the North-Pole, and beſides the North is held the upper part of the world, according to that of Virgil, Mundus ut ad Scythiam Riphaeaſque arduus arces Conſurgit; premitur Libya dovexus ad anſtres. Hènce it is here put for the whole heaven, which held up by the Word of Gods power, without any other props, leaneth upon the liquid Aire, the Aire upon the earth, and the earth upon nothing.

And hangeth the earth upon nothing.] Terra pilae fimilis, nullo fulcimine nixa, Aere ſublato tam grave pendet onus.Ovid. 6. Faſtor. The earth hangs in the midſt of heaven, like Architas or Archimedes his Pigeon, equally poiſed with his own weight. Of this great wonder,This is the very finger of God Ariſtotle himſelf admireth it. De Cal. l. 2. c. 13 the Philoſophers after much ſtudy, can give no good reaſon, becauſe ignorant of this, that God hath appoined it ſo to be, even from the firſt Creation, Pſal. 104.5. Heb. 1.2. The Poets fable, that Atlas beareth up heaven with his ſhoulders: but we confeſſe the true Atlas; viz. the Lord our God, who by his Word alone beareth up heaven and earth: And it is here fitly alledged as an Argument of his Almightineſſe. The greatneſs of this work of God, appeareth hereby, ſaith Merlin, that men cannot ſpread aloft the thinneſt curtaine, abſque fulcris, without ſome ſolid thing to uphold it.