fruits or abortions of Adultery and Fornication shall be seen in the same fire CHAP. XXXII Against the unjust usurpation of other mens goods THou shalt not Steal The seventh Commandement Non furtum facies Exod. 20. v. 15. Alas how many unknown Theeves are there in Country Houses and Cities That wise Senator who said that Gibbetts and Gallowes were onely for the miserable spake truth The spoils made by a Vulture or a Wolf in one hour are greater than all those petty thefts which a thousand Flyes can commit in a year Yet more Flyes are taken in an hour than Wolves in many years There are some Fishes in the Sea which take and devour others but are scarce ever taken themselves There are others which seize on all and part with nothing What pitty would it be if the Planets should draw up all the humors of the Earth without letting fall one single drop of dew Motto of the Hook Capior ut capiam There are some also who bear for their Devise that Motto of the Hook I suffer not my self to be taken but that I may take others And yet themselves are the first who cry out theeves This sport would be passable if we were not obliged to restore all that we have taken detained or unjustly required But restitution is unto theft what the shadow is to the Body and a Man must either restore in this World if he be able or be eternally damned This is a strange dilemma let Men think of it what they please CHAP. XXXIII Condemnation of false witnesses and Lyars THou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour The eight Commandement Non loqueris contra proximum tuum salsum testimonium I have seen certain antient aenigmaes where the tongue was painted on a Throne in the form of a Queen who carryed life and death in her Hand In effect there needs but a good word to save the lives of a thousand Innocents and a bad one to render them all culpable War Plague Famine and the scourges of Heaven and Earth have never committed so many Murthers and given so many wounds as this little mischievous two-edged Knife It is this Murthering blade with which Brothers and Sisters cut one anothers Throats The Mouth of a Lyar of an Hypocrite of an Impostor of a Backbiter of a False witness of a Flatterer of a Traitor and a Calumniator was for this reason most justly called an Arcenal out of which all the arms of death and all the instruments of misery are taken It is also a fatall source out of which issue a thousand poysonous streams which flow as well over Cities as Villages The whole World is subject unto these cruel inundations which raise tempests in the midst of Hearts and drown the most holy amities There are also dead waters which are sometime more dangerous than the most impetuous torrents and the most Rapid Rivers There are some who scoff play the buffoons and bite when they smile We ought to fear nothing so much as those remedies of Empericks which have a sugured out-side and a little leaf gold wherewith they cover a poysoned pill You shall sometimes see also these kind of people using criminall complyances and flattering the disease when we see them and irritating it when they think themselves unknown But nevertheless God hath mortall hatreds for these little Tyrants who wage War against the first verity and above all he will cause the excess of his anger to be felt by those who daily set to sale the reputation of others and to such as will bid the most These are certain little Pigmie Spirits which desire to become Gyants by debasing others Sunt homicidi interfectores fratrum sunt homicidi detractores eorum S. Clem. Ep. 1. And since St. Clement after St. Peter saith that there are two sorts of Murthers the one by the Hand and the other by the Tongue I may stile as well those who commit the last as well as the first Murtherers Executioners Assassins and Canibals which cat more raw than rosted flesh and live only upon the honours goods and lives of other Men But since God is the same Verity it is unto him we ought to remit the sentence and condemnation of these accursed Tongues for the other World although it be the most usuall course of his Justice and Providence to cause even in this World truth to shine forth and to ingrave it with sensible lights on the foreheads and in the consciences of Criminals CHAP. XXXIV The Tomb of Concupiscence THou shalt not covet thy Neighbours Wife nor any thing that is his The two last Commandements Non concupisces domum proximi tui nec desiderabis uxorem ejus Exod. 20. v. 17. Some there are who imagin that it is sufficient to have a vermillion colour upon their Cheeks and for the rest it little imports what they have upon their Bodies These are Sepulchers outwardly white and inwardly inwardly eaten with Worms fair and clear waters but impoisoned bodyes cloathed in Sattin and Velvet but eaten with Cankers and ordures And such are those who figure to themselves that it is enough for them to put no man to death and not publickly to ravish Maids to make a prey of their lubricity but otherwise that it is lawfull to bear a cut throat in their hearts and to make their souls a retreat for all sorts of impurity where like so many Harpees they devour at least by their unjust desires all that their eyes behold These are strange Maximes whereof the Devils themselves have been the first Authors but it is a brutish Ignorance and a stupid blindness not to discern that both good and evill proceeds from the heart and that our desires are like so many Western gales which may cause fair dayes and as many Northern Winds which occasion foul and stormy weather But a worldly and libertine soul will tell me that there is much trouble in it and that we must be blind deaf dumb and leprous not to feel the wounds of those darts which passe suddenly through our senses and I will answer her that we must be Turks and no Christians to give up our selves for a prey and for a mark unto all the shafts which the World Flesh and Hell use to shoot at us But I confess that it is very difficult never to be surprised yet it is sufficient First if it be possible never to give the least occasion thereunto Secondly to avoid dangers namely when they are discovered Thirdly we must often replace in our minds a Hell a death a life and a Jesus who dyed onely to preserve us from them Fourthly we must alwayes remain in a diffidence of our selves and place all our hopes on God Fiftly we must have alwayes arms in our hands not to be surprized by this roaring Lion who both day and night walks round about us Sixthly the prize we expect and the victory which shall crown our Combats is no
Mouth and Heart He calls Heaven to witness and protests that Bethel is the Temple of God where the most glorious rayes of his Majesty are seen Ah saith he how venerable is this place and how full of a holy terror It is the gate of Heaven and if Jacob could live a hundred Thousand years he would have no other God than he that appeared to him Besides more authentically to seal his confession and promise he powred oyl out of a Bottle which he carried for his provision Surgens ergo Jacob manâ— tulit lapidem quem supposuerat â—piti suo exerit in titulum sundens oleum desuper and annointed therewith the stone which during the Night had served him for a Pillow Behold in truth strange mysteries but I would willingly have demanded of God the explication of them if I had been in Jacobs place I know neverthelesse that some have thought that it was a figure of the Temporall Generation of the Word who descended from Abraham even unto Joseph and Mary and who ascends from Joseph and Mary unto Adam and God himself It is the Incarnation of the Word whereby God descends on Earth and Meâ—mount up to Heaven A picture of the Incarnation As God he is impassible in the bosome of his Father and mortall in the Womb of his Mother Subject to time and death It is God united unto Man who rests on this sacred wood and it is hâ— who sends his Angels as his Nuncios and Embassadours St. Austin frames another sense upon this Enigma and he conceives that this Ladder was a draught of the life and death of Jesus Christ Isaack represents God the Father Jacob is the Image of the Son The image of the life and death of Jesus Aug. ser 79. de temp and the Angels which ascend and descend are the Apostles and preachers who Elevate themselves unto God by their Thoughts and stoop even to the grossest understandings by means of their Words These two Explications to speak the truth are most Sublime But St. Basill expounding the three and thirty Psalm gives an other explanation which will be more profitable This Ladder saith he is the Exercise The description of a perfect Soul or rather the picture of a Soul which raiseth her self unto the highest pitch of Perfection First to the end God may descend into this Soul The forsaking of Creatures and that this Soul may ascend unto God shee must forsake the Earth and renounce the World This is the first step Secondly shee ought to make a generous divorce from all Creatures and even efface out of her memory all their Footsteps and all the species of her dearest affections Thirdly Contempt of the World shee must have nothing but Contempt and disdain for that which before shee adored At the fourth step shee must resolve to trample over her Friends and all her kindred Estimation of God that is to say shee must preferr God before them and boldly reject their designs when they are opposite unto the Will of God The fift step passeth even unto Death Extreme Mortification for the Soul ought lesse to esteem Life than her God and if God suffers her to live Longer her life is but a Living Death which finds its Tomb in her Nothing It is for this consideration shee remains in a most profound Humility Annihilation of oâ—â— selves and in a most inflamed Charity which communicats her flames and zeal not onely to her Friends but also to her Enemies In fine Union of the soul God is present at the top of the Ladder united unto the Soul and it is upon her he reposeth and is united to her and she to him Philo and Origen have yet layd some other touches on this picture many also have since laboured therein But having perused all their works and collected all their opinions I think that Gods design was to manifest unto Jacob in this vision the care his Divine providence took of him The Ladder of Divine Providence Jacobs Ladder then was a most lively draught of the wise conduct of Almighty God concerning Jacob and of the Universall Government of the World which is in the Hands of the Divinity The Bounds and Limits of this Empire are infinite Huic ex alto cunesa tuenti nulla terrae mole resistunt Non nox atâ—is nulubus obstat Vno cernit mentis erictu quae sint quae fueriat quae veniantque Boet. lib. de cons and his Scepter extends it self over the Earth and over the Heavens where he absolutely resides and beholds all the events like a Sun saith Boetius which penetrates every where and guides all Creatures by means of his splendor The two sides of the Ladder represent Power and Sweetness which are as the Hands of the Divine Providence which goes mounting and descending from Heaven to Earth by divers steps that is to say by divers sweet and admirable walks and ways through which the World is insensibly guided unto the period and term proposed to it God nevertheless rests himself on the top of this Ladder and from thence deputes his Angels and Embassadours which are as St. Gregory saith the Ministers of the Divine Providence It is then in the Company of these most Heavenly Spirits that Jacob is on his way to renew his Journey unto Mesopotamia In fine Ego sum Dominus suÌ„ Dominus Deus Abraham Patris tui Deus Isaac terram in qua dormis tibi dabo semini tuo Gen. 28. v. 13 Eritque semen tuuÌ„ quasi pulvis terrae Dilat aberis ad occidentem orientem septentrionem meridiem Gen. 28. v. 14. Et ero custos tuus quocunque perrexeris reducam te in terram hanc nec dimittam nisi complevero universa quae dixi Gen. 28. v. 15. under the protection of the Divine Providence Jacob pursues his design and this was the promise made him during his Vision Yeas Jacob saith God I am the Lord of thy Progenitors Abraham and Isaack and I will bestow the Land where thou reposest on thy self and all thy Children I will multiply them as grains of Sand which are upon the Earth and their Progenie shall extend as far as the four Corners of the Universe I my self will be thy Guardian during all thy voyages and will bring thee back to thine own House Thou mayst be affur'd of it Jacob and constantly believe that God speaketh unto thee and that his Providence will never abandon thee untill he hath accomplished his Oath and promises O God! what happiness for Jacob and for all those who live under the favour of thy Providence what Peace in a Soul when God is the primum mobile or first mover of all his Actions what assurance when we walk in the way his increated wisdom hath marked out to us with his own Hand and enlightned with the purest rayes of his Eyes My Soul is it true Ah! if
Vt indicaretis ci alium vos habere fratrem Gen. 43. v. 6. and to heap afflictions on me O Children void of compassion Alas what have you done why did you say that you had yet a Brother doth it not satisfie you to have lost Joseph and left Simeon a Captive Must Benjamin leave me and must I remain a Father without Children What death what punishment to see my self torn in pieces and by parcels What Martyrdome to give up first his hands afterwards his arms then his Eyes and at last his life Alas what have you done and who hath inforc'd you to say that I had yet a Child Whither shall I goe when I have him no more with whom shall I entertain my self when he shall be absent and who will have care of me when he is departed At illi responderunt Interrogavit nos homo per ordinem nostram progeniom si pater viveret c. Gen. 43. v. 7. Adducine fratrem vestrum vobiscum Gen. 43. v. 7. Judas quoque dixit patri suo Matte puerum mecum c. Gen. 43. v. 9. Ego suscipio pueâ—um de manu mea requiâ—e illam c. GeÌ„ 43. v. 9. Sâ— non intercessisset dilatio jam vice alterá venissemus Gen. 43. v. 10. Igitur Israel pater eorum dixit ad eos Si sit necesse est facite quod vultis sumite de optimis terrae fructibus in vasis vestris Gen. 43. v. 11. Pecuniam quoque duplicen ferte vobiscum illam quem invenistis in saculis reportate ne fortè errore factum sit Gen. 43. v. 12. was there any necessitie then to speak of him and what need was there of ingaging him for my whole Family Pardon us answered they for this man by order of the state made enquiry concerning your Family who you were whether you were alive and how many Children you had To which we answered conformably to his demands without fore-seeing that he would afterwards command us to bring him our youngest Brother Permit us then said Judas to carry him lest we all chance to dye for very hunger and that our poor Children perish before our eyes For my part I am ready to Answer for him and to ingage my life for his that in case I doe not bring him back you may take mine and let me for ever remain culpable of his death besides we should be already upon our return a second time Goe then answered Jacob Since you will have it so and since it is a necessity which admits of no remedy Goe then in the name of God and carry with you the fairest Fruits and the most pretious Perfumes you can find forget not to carry Frankincense Honey Mirrh Terebinth and Almonds Take also twice as much Money as yon need and above all adde unto that which you found in your Sacks lest the same came to you but by mistake In fine Sed fratrem vestrum tollite ite ad virum Gen. 43. v. 13. Deus autem meus omnipotens faciat vobis eum placabilem remittat vobiscum siatrem quem tenet c. Gen. 43. v. 14. Tulerunt ergo viri munera pecuniam duplicem Benjamin descenderuntque in Aegyptum Gen. 43. v. 15. carry your Brother with you and goe find this man whom I beseech God with my whole heart to render propitious and favourable to you to the end he may speedily send back to me your brother Simeon with my Benjamin Mean while I shall be the most unfortunate of all Fathers because I shall be without Children They loaded themselves then with Presents to carry into Egypt and with the Mony which Jacob had appointed them they took Benjamin by the hand and after Jacob had embraced and watred him with some tears they took him with them What separation and what ravishment Alas what can Jacob from henceforth doe all alone and in the absence of Benjamin Poor father whither goes this Son through what place will he pass And with how many dangers will he meet before his arrivall in Egypt he is young he is weak and he is tender he knows not what the toyl of a journey meaneth what will he doe in a Forein Country and amongst persons who seeing him will be either touched with Love and pitty towards him or not and if he please them and move them unto Compassion they will never send him back on the contrary they will use him as a Slave and as they shall perceive him more Innocent and more simple than the rest they will make a Victim of him which shall satisfie for all the rest Why have I then consented to his departure and why did I not rather goe than he but I have been enforced to leave him and I know not who will have the care of him in my absence At least if I might have carried him in my arms or on my shoulders and what ever hapned he would have alwayes found safety in me during his life and repose after death I should have been his refuge Bed and Tomb But now I know not where he is Benjamin is gone Ah where is he It is not to be doubted but these were the entertainments and the most usuall thoughts of Jacob during the whole Journey of his Children Et steterunt coram Joseph Gen. 43. v. 15. Quos cum ille vidisset Benjamin simul praecepit dispensatori domus suae dicens Introduc viros domuÌ„ occide victimas instrue convivium quoniam mecum sunt comesturi meridie Gen. 43. v. 16. Ibique exterriti dixerunt mutuò propter pecuniam quam retulimus prius in saccis nostris introducti sumus ut devolvat in nos calumniam violenter subsiciat servituti nos asinos nostros Gen. 43. v. 18. Quamobrem in ipfis foribus accedentes ad dispensatorem domus Gen. 43. v. 19. Locuti sunt Oramus Domine ut audias nos Jam ante de scendimus ut emeremus escas Gen. 43. v. 20. Sed aliud attulimus argentum ut emamus quae nobis necessaria sunt Gen. 43. v. 21. At ille respondit pax vobiscum nolite timere Deus vester Deus patris vestri dedit vobis thesauros in saccis vestris nam pecuniam quam dedistis mihi probatam ego habeo Gen. 43. v. 23. Eduxitque ad eos Simeon Gen. 43. v. 23. Et introductis domum attulit aquam c. Gen. 43. v. 24. Illi verò parabant munera donec ingrederetur Joseph meridie Gen. 43. v. 25. Mean-while they travell into Egypt where being arrived they are brought unto Joseph who casting his Eyes on them and upon Benjamin caused immediatly Victims to be killed and commanded the Steward of his house to conduct them unto his Palace and to prepare a Feast by reason about Noon he intended to dine with them It was at this these poor men were astonished for since they did not expect so good a reception they
which would fall in the new Law and should continue even unto the last consummation of the world and of the Church It was an Antepast of the Body of Jesus Christ hidden under this adorable bread whose species hath a particular resemblance with the Manna and a more excellent sweetness than that of this bread of the desart It must not also be taken untill we have abandoned the carnal alurements of Egypt and the deceiptfull delights of the world and sin This is the food presented by the hand of Magnificence and received by those of faith Whence it comes that covetous and unbelieving people find there nothing but wormes and putrefaction It is also a fruit and there is no need either of cultivating the Earth or sowing any graines or seedes to gather it But without humane labour it comes out of the bosome of God its Father and out of the Bowels of the Virgin and amidst the influences and dewes of the holy Ghost on a Table where souls meet with their most pleasing repast It is little and inclosed under small appearances of bread The people are astonished at it they ask in this great astonishment what it is and how that could be done which was told them and what they were to believe concerning it Every one might take it and how little soever it appeared it was given in such a proportion that men received is as great and immense as it is in Heaven It will cease on the Great day of Sabbath and repose after the course of this life and when we shall see it with our own Eyes without veil or figure in the Land of promise There shall we drink large draughts of it in the torrents of delight and in stead of the dew of Manna we shall be satiated in an Ocean of Nectar and Ambrosia that is without boundes measure limit or bottome Ah! I think the time long till we be out of Egypt and free from these chaines which linck us to so shamefull services and so unworthy of a Soul ransomed by the blood and life of a God Alas When will this so much desired moment come When shall we hear the Canticles of victory and when shall we goe amongst the daughtes of Sion to our Country crying out with a loud voice that Pharaoh is swallowed up under the Abysses and that all those troops of Enemies which pursue us have suffered a dismal shipwrack not onely under the waves of the Red Sea but under the lakes of fire Sulphur blood and Malediction Mean while let us content our selves with the real Manna whereof our forefathers have had but the Figure Let us goe unto the Sanctuary where it is deposited for us and our generations Let us eat this bread of Angels and let us drink of this wine which germinats virgins Let us make use of it according to the Lawes which are prescrib'd us Let us goe then early in the morning that is to say before the noise and tumult of this great World hath strucken our eares with so many importune unprofitable extravagant and dangerous discourses before our Eyes have been surprised by the sight of these Objects of Vanity Ambition Envy or of some other vice which is yet more infamous and finally before the great day be arrived in which we are commonly so dazled by some false splendors as we can hardly discern the truth Above all since this bread of Heaven hath all sorts of Savours let us not mix with it any earthly food or any of all those meates which the Flesh the World and Hell use to season for this were to mingle remedies with poison and convert a Feast of life into a repast of death and it had been much better for them to have remained amongst the Flesh-pots and onyons of Egypt or at least to have dyed of famine in some desart than to have immolated themselves at the foot of an Altar and Sanctuary as a victime of terror perfidiousness and Execration CHAP. XXI The Fountain of Horeb. IT is our condition here In hoc positi sumus Thes 1.3 saith the Apostle to be tempted on all sides and it is as natural to man to live in the midst of Combats and assaults as unto Fishes to Swim in the water and Birds to fly in the Air. It is our profession our Imployment and one of our most usual exercises to be in this conflict and we must necessarily always attacque or defend And often to repulse an assault were to be a Conquerour in this kind of war and though sometimes we be almost vanquished yet we may have the glory of triumphing provided we hold out to the last the reason of this is most evident for as much as the assailer being afterwards wholy constrained to make a dishonorable retreat he that hath been so couragious as strongly to ward all his blowes and to smile at his threats remains like a fortress and strong hold which after a long siedge sees at last the rout of those who had assaulted it and where if the Gates out-works Bulwarks and walls had mouths they would be heard to cry out victory and all these breaches would serve onely to say that even the defences have overcome Now that which causeth many to yeeld at the first approaches is the little courage they have to resist or an over-great confidence in their own forces imagining that they can doe what is impossible for them and that it is easy long to preserve a place whereof God is not the Govenour There are also some who are affrighted at the first difficulty and presently despair as if God were not gratious enough to help them and powerfull enough to furnish them with what they need His magnificent hand hath been pleased to doe us all the good we have and can expect Nevertheless we doe like the Hebrews who in the midst of the raines and dewes of Manna complain and murmur for want of one drop of water What ingratitude and what cruelty What would a man say who after he hath been delivered out of the midst of Slaves and Gallies or rather out of some dark prison where he could expect nothing but death and after he hath been conducted into Palaces and royall Courts educated and treated as a King amidst all the honours and delights which could be invented should be so brutish as to complain if once it should happen that some small attendance were not soon enough given him Would not the Prince and Redeemer of this infamous wretch have just cause to use him according to his desert and to change all his favours and bounties into punishments to chastice so horrid an ingratitude God notwithstanding after all the good entertainments he had bestowed on the people of Israel Igitur profecta omnie multitudo filiorum Israel de deserto Sin per mansiones suas ubi non erat aqua ad bibendum populo Exod. 17. v. 1. Et murmuravit contra Moisen dicens cur fecisti nos exire de
took his Sex enim diebusfecit Dominus caelum terram mare omnia quae in eis sunt requievit die septimo c. Exod. 20. v. 11. seven dayes after the Creaation of the World and to the end every week we might have a set time to think on this amiable benefit and to render thanks for it unto our Creator It was done also to the end the Hebrews might have this day to celebrate that of their departure out of Egypt and of their deliverance and that all men and maid-servants might at least have this day to give some ease unto their labours Plutarch was then deceived who affirms that the Hebrews had Instituted this Sabbath in honour of Bacchus as well as the other Gentiles who believed that it was done in honour of Saturn for the ground of this Feast was no other than what I newly related And the Order observ'd in gathering up of the Manna was but for the same end CHAP. XXIX The duty of Children towards their Parents HOnour thy Father and Mother The fourth Commandement that thy dayes may be long upon the earth which the Lord thy God will give thee Honora Patrem tuum matrem tuam ut sis longaevus super terram quam Dominus Deus dabit tibi Exod 20. v. 12. In truth it is a very reasonable thing to bear respect and love to succour and obey those to whom next unto God we owe our lives and we must be more insensible and more unnaturall than beasts to refuse these affectionate duties to our Parents and to those whom we ought to esteem as Fathers Mothers and Superiours such as heaven hath plac'd over our heads to rule and govern us either concerning temporall or spirituall matters We must banish then out of the world and out of Families all those little Dragons and domestick Vipers which have neither teeth claws gall nor poison but to tear the heart and bowels in which they have been formed and conceived and to destroy those of whom they hold their lives All houses ought to be Temples consecrated unto love and pietie as that which was built at Rome in lieu of a Prison where a young Lady had nourished her Mother with her own Milk seeing the Gaolers hindred her from carrying any food to her O holy piety where are now these Temples and Altars where doe we see such Daughters give suck unto their Mothers as this gallant Roman did or Fathers to have Daughters like this other of whom Valerius Maximus makes mention Valer. Max. lib. 5. who found out the means to nourish her Father in the same manner and had the honour to be the Mother of her Father who rendred his last sighs in her bosome sucking a drop of Milk from her breast Moreover if I am not deceived can there be found more Daughters than Sons who work the like Miracles their Sex is more inclinable to sweetness and piety and to those amiable tendernesses which reach even to the highest pitch of generosity There have been heretofore Men who desiring to suffer death for their Fathers have rendred themselves immortall Such a one was that Lock-smith of Toledo who exposed himself unto the extremest tortures to free his Father and to obtain his life with his pardon But the example of Alexius Son to the Emperour Isaack is more illustrious who in the midst of the Acclamations of Greece which saluted him King had no ears but to hear the plaints of his Father no eyes but to behold his miseries and no power but to replace him on his Throne and in the Empire whereof his Brother had deprived him It is not then against this young Prince nor against his like that Sina will shoot poisonous Darts and deadly Arrows as against Paricides but on the contrary after a long sequel of years they shall have lived in this world the course of their glory will not find its period but in Eternity which can never have an end CHAP. XXX A sentence of Death against Murtherers THou shalt not kill The fift Commandement Nonoccides Exod. 20. v. 13. This Precept doth not only forbid those execrable Murtherers whose Swords and Daggers are plunged into mens bosomes and those horrid butcheries where furie is animated against a body to gnaw it as a Vulture would doe his prey or like a Tyger to tear and eat it even to the bones or to consume it with a slow fire like a Devill whose torments give death without taking away life It is then by this Law that God prohibits not only Murthers but all sorts of exteriour violences and injuries which may be offered unto the body and life of our Neighbour It is also a Sentence of death pronounced by the mouth of God against all those who are causers of other mens deaths and make no more account of a mans life than of a flye I would gladly know whether they find in the Decalogue a Challenge an assassination and all those violences which are practised upon a man as upon a beast I would willingly see them making their randezvous and assignations upon Mount Sina where they shall behold a God thundring and lightning over their heads but it would be more gratefull unto me to see them performing an honourable penance in this life and satisfying Justice and Piety before their deaths than afterwards to expect an Eternity of punishments and severities CHAP. XXXI The Triumph of Chastity THou shalt not commit Adultery The sixt Commandemâ—â—t Nonâ—â—aechaberis Exod 20. v. 14. Honour ought not to be less pretious unto men then life and if both were in danger it is certain we should rather abandon the last than the first and say as the Ermine Motto of the Ermine Malo mori quam fâ—â—â—ari I had rather dye than receive a stain For my part I admire that Christian Woman who in the time of Maxentius plunged a Dagger in to her heart to end her life by eternizing her honour For indeed it is a glorious Death to find by a particular inspiration from Heaven a Purple Robe in our bloud and in our tears a veil of white Sattin to cover our purity which is the soul of our life and the glory of the body This is the Nuptiall garment which we must never put off even in the Sepulchre and he that is cloathed with it ought to be so full of respect and circumspection as he must even blush saith Tertullian at his own vertue And if we meet with Souls which have impudence enough not to change Countenance neither in respect of God who looks upon them nor in regard of men who behold them they shall one day feel him whom they have not seen and such as have been Complices or Witnesses of their Crimes shall be their Executioners And then shall all the Lightnings of Hell inkindle Flames to stiffle theirs and lascivious hands wandring and impure eyes unchast breasts Maegera's heads Diabolicall hearts and the
sunt dii eorum in quibus habebant fiduciam Deut. 32. v. 37. De quorum victimis Comedebant adipes bibebant vinum libaminum surgant opitulentur vobis in necessitate vos protegant Deut. 32. v. 38. Videte quòd ego sim solus non sit alius Deus praeter me Ego occidam ego vivere faciam percutiam ego sanabo non est qui de manu mea possit eruere Deut. 32. v. 39. Levabo ad caelum manum meam dicam Vivo ego in aeternum Deut. 32. v. 40. Si acuero ut fulgur gladium meum arripuerit judicium manus mea reddam â—ltionem hostibus meis his qui oderunt me retribuam Deut. 32. v. 41. Inebriabo sagiteas meas sanguine gladius meus devorabit carnes de cruore occisorum de captivitate nudati inimicorum capitis Deut. 32. v. 42. and the dreadfull period of an irritated patience Alas what day what Tribunall What Assises and what Judgements This will be the fortunate moment which mercy hath ordained to crown the merits of Virtue and the frightfull Instant which Justice hath decreed for the punishment of sins Then all the force pride and power of the Jews shall appear but weakness and even those who think to be in Cities and in their Towers as in places of security shall be miserably oppressed And then what Answer will these miserable wretches make unto the voice of God who will lay a thousand reproaches on them and in deriding their Miseries will say Alas then where are those Gods whom you idolatrize and in whom you place your Assurances where are those who did eat the fat of the Victims which they have immolated and drank the Wine of their Sacrifices Let them now rise up and succour you in so pressing necessities In fine now acknowledge whether there be another God than my self who is able to dispose of life and death of Evill and the remedy and whose power is so absolute as no man can resist it It is I the living God that I am who will lift up my hand unto Heaven and if I sharpen my Sword and if I inkindle its Edge like Lightning to make you undergoe the rigour of my severest Judgements the thunder of my vengeances shall fall on my enemies and upon all those who shall wage War against me as a furious lightning which shall consume all that it strikes by the breath of its ardours and devouring flames afterwards I will steep my merciless darts and arrows in the bloud of Rebels and I will satiate my justest furies in the most horrid slaughter of those bodyes which have been massacred sparing neither Masters nor slaves Let the Gentiles learn then from hence the praise they ought to give unto this people who have a God whose goodnesses are alwayes favourable to those whom he loves Laudate gentes populum ejus quie sanguinem servorum suorum ulciscetur c. Deut. 32. v. 43. and whose vengeances are dreadfull to his enemies Behold my dear Reader the end of this famous Canticle which was first recited in the presence of all the people of Israel and which contains a description of the miracles God wrought to deliver them out of Captivity It was likewise a powerfull exhortation which ought to oblige them either by force or sweetness to remain faithfull in the service of so good and powerfull a Master But this was to sing in the ears of Tygers whose fury is the more irritated when they hear any Musick Christians let us not doe the like but benefit our selves at the expence of this people And faithfully keep the Lawes and Commandements God hath given us let us listen once more unto the last words of Moses and of our Prophet who speaks both to them and us My dear Children I have nothing else to say Et dixit ad eos Ponite corda vestra in omnia verba quae ego testificor vobis heaie ut mandetis ea siâ—â—iâ— vestris custodire facere implere universa quae scripta sunt legis hujus Deut. 32. v. 46. Quia non in cassâ—â— praecepta sunt vobis sed ut singuli in eis viverent quae facientes longo perseveretis tempore in terra ad quam Jordane transmisso ingredimini possidendam Deut. 32. v. 47. and ask of you before my death but that you would seriously consider what I have delivered to you and that you would deeply imprint it both in your own and your Childrens hearts to the end you may all practise and accomplish it for these Lawes have not been established in vain but to the end they may keep you if you keep them and that they may conserve you with bonds of peace and love in this blessed Land into which you are going after your passage over Jordan CHAP. XLIX The Death of Moses at the sight of the holy Land IN fine after forty years of travell behold us with the people of Israel upon the Confines of the Land of Promise All our enemies are vanquished our Chains are broken the Sea hath suspended its billows to make us a passage the bitternesses of Mara are changed into delights the Heavens have rained down nothing but Manna on our deserts and totall Nature hath wrought miracles to serve us But alas we know not what will be the issue of all these happy accidents and of these admirable prodigies for the Aspects of this amiable Intelligence which have been as it were our starrs amidst so many obscurities and these arms which have been so often lifted up towards Heaven for our safety after they had conducted and delivered us amidst so many dangers are now even ready me-thinks to languish and decay In truth the Judgements of God are frightfull Abysses and it were to lose our selves to enter into them with other lights than those of Faith and Love All our fairest designs are sometimes but the draughts and Images of a dream where our proudest hopes meet only with a Tomb. Have we not seen Conquerours who having measur'd by their Triumphs the richest parts of the Universe banish'd into some corner of the Earth and into the Gates of some Cities where they scarce found any Sepulchre Behold the period of their Combats the end of their Triumphs and the Occident of all these Stars which shined not but amongst Laurels Behold them in lamentations in bloud and under some Cypress tree which formeth the funestous Crown of their ambition and the Tomb of their memory Is this the fatall end of their desires the subject of their tears and the period of their projects At least if their Children were their heirs and if these dolefull issues could open them a passage and give them some entrance into the Empires of honour and immortality after which they had so long sighed they would receive this consolation that their death had been the life of others and that in dying they had rendred
approach of the skins of Wolves and that Lambs scarce come out of the Yeows belly have neverthelesse natural apprehensions of the Wolf My soul hast thou not seen Chickens hiding themselves under the wings of a Hen at the meer shadow of a Kite Partridges flying before Haukes and even Lyons roaring at the sight of a Cock I ask of thee From whence proceeds this fear these affrightments and Antipathies If thou tellest me they are Natural and have bin as it were infused by Nature even from the first to the last of each kind I likewise answer that this Original stain of culpable Nature is derived from father to son and from the first man to all his of-spring and so it comes to be imprinted in the substance of their Souls And if thou hast a desire to passe further and know the reason I am content stand then upon thy guard my Soul for I intend to fight thee with thy own Weapons Is it not true that when by thy desires thou kindlest fires and infamous flames in thine Eys thou art the cause of this Burning and that it is thy self who renders them Criminal Is it not as true that when thou armest thy Hands to commit a Murther and thy Tongue to detract and bite like a Dog or to vomit forth some Blasphemy it is thou that makest both thy Hand and Tongue culpable which are thy Members thy Officers thy Slaves and Executioners which act perform and execute what thou hast commanded them In like manner Adam having bin chosen by God for the Head and Father of all mankind Original sin his Heart was the Fountain which should powre out it's qualities into the substance of their Souls even as doth the Head and Heart into the armes into the tongue and into all the Members of the Body Moreover the Will of Adam was so streightly united to that of his Children as when he acted they seconded all his Actions From whence I conclude that as Actuall sins committed by the Ears Eyes and Hands take their Malignity from the Heart and Will which is their Cause and Origin so likewise those sins which are commonly called Originall The first Contagion and are found in the Soul of all Mankind have as it were crept in and taken their Descent from Adam as their Author and beginner which having been once infected hath afterward made its venom pass from Father to Son as by Hereditary right Poor Children of Adam pittifull Reliques of an unfortunate Father behold your Patrimony the Rights of your Families and what Adam and Eve have left you for Legacies Let no Man hereafter be astonisht to see you wandring about Countryes Pittifull Reliques of Sin and going from door to door in Cities with Tears in your Eys Sighs in your Mouths with dusty Hair and Sun-burnt Faces Let no Man be any more astonished to see you goe bare-Headed and bare-Footed a Wallet on your Shoulders and a Staff in your Hand for these are the portions of Sin Miserable Mortals the Earth from henceforth shall be to you but a Dark Prison Life but a Gally and the World but a great Chain of Misfortunes The Elements shall joyn in Arms against you The Fire shall inkindle frightfull Comets over your Heads The Air shall dart forth merciless Thunder-bolts upon your Houses The Sea shall raise its Billows against your Towers and the Earth shal be the Theater of VVars the Meadow in which the Plague shall Mow and the Field of Battail where all the powers of the VVorld and Hell it self shall deliver you up to Tragick Combats In fine your Bodies shal be Subject to all sorts of Maladies and your Minds to all kinds of Passions I hear already Envie grumbling and murmuring in the Heart of Cain I hear the cry of Abell Let us observe a while what passeth CHAP. VI. The Murther of Abel and the Despair of Cain ANtiently in Temples Houses and Closets Concil 6. in Trullo Can. 32. the Images of Jesus Christ were drawn in form of a Lamb which was the most lively Mark and Symbol that Painters could find out to frame some Copy of Meekness Abel was this Picture from his Birth and shewed from the beginning so sweet and facile so plyant and tractable a disposition as Adam and Eve were even inforced to bestow on him their most tender affections Cain on the contrary who was his Elder Brother Diversity of Natures appeared to be of so fierce and imperious a Nature that at length to sweeten it they resolved to oblige him to cultivate the Earth that his spirit might learn how to soften the hardest of Elements and to temper the harshness of his Courage Abel at the same time employed himself in keeping Sheep Fuitque Abel pastor ovium Cain agricola Gen. 4. v. 2. and guiding his Fathers Flocks amidst the Pastures His mind in repose and amidst the silence of the Fields began to take its flight And as God had chosen his Heart to powre into it his dearest favours he easily felt himself surprised with a Holy thought and a Sacred desire which was elevated to God to offer unto him the purest and choicest Sacrifices Cain also felt some touch of Piety Factum est autem post multos dâ—es ut offerret Cain de fructibuâ— terrae munera Domino Gen. 4 v. 3. Abel quoque obtulit de primogenitis gregis sui de adipibâ—s corum Gen. 4. v. 4. and but passingly beheld a glorious Light which sufficiently shewed him all he was to doe from whence I gather by the way That there is no Clymate so barbarous no Land so desart nor no Cave so tenebrous into which God casts not his Shafts and darts not his Lights to illuminate our Hearts and Souls But it often comes to pass that we shut the Doors and Windows suffering our Day and Life to slip away to expect Death and Blindness in the Night Abel received the Day from its Aurora and neither the Interests of the World nor the Goods of the Earth were ever able to separate his Soul from the Interests of Heaven and Piety His Intentions were still most pure and he had no other Object than the Glory of a God who requires the whole and not a single part who demands Hearts and not bare Words and who cannot permit upon his Altars but the fairest and most liberall Victims of Love Now this is what our innocent Shepheard did when he rendred his Sacrifice most perfect offering unto God what he had most beautifull most fat and rare among his Flocks having first set apart the First Fruits and afterwards Immolated them with the rarest Lights of his Understanding and the purest Flames of his Will Cain on the other side erects Altars Very different Sacrifices Rupert lib. 4. in Gen. c. 2. Cain cum Deâ— of seriet sua scipsum sibi retinet and offers Fruits But in offering his Presents saith Rupertus he retains Himself And his Earthy
out then Pharaoh cry out and awake so many sleepy Souls which lie in soft Downy Beds as Coles under Ashes to entertain the ardor of their impurity Doe you see these lascivious men and these ravinous Wolves who are in quest of their Golden fleece and seek out Flesh and Bloud to satiate the rage of their brutality For this they ingage their Servants and Hand-maids they subborn confidents they lay ambushes every where and either soon or late some chast Sara must be taken away But at the same time Luxuria dulce venenâ—m pernicâ—osa potio humanum corpus debâ—itaâ— vâ—â—lâ—s animi robur â—nervat Hugo à S. Vict. lib. 4. inst Monast lâ—t l. saith Hugo Victorensis the poyson of their infamous Mouths cast forth into the Bosom of Virginity reascends into its Source and steals almost insensibly into the Veins of a Body which immediatly becomes corrupted from whence ariseth that the Heart it self is presently infected and it is from this Plague of Souls and this Canker of Bodies so many fatall blindnesses so many blind furies and so many furious errors doe afterwards Spring which cause in the Body an Abysse of Maladies and in the Soul a Maze or Labyrinth of reason These burning coales and these flames saith Justinian which beget such sad fires in the body and fill souls with so black Ignis internalis est luxuria cujus materies gula cujus flamma superbia cujus sintillae prava colloquia cujus fumus infamia cujus cinis inopia cujus finis gebenna Laur. Just c. 3. de sop in lig vitae and thick a smoak rise from the fire of hell It is this fire to which good chear serves for Nourishment It is this fire which Pride and Presumption inflame and inkindle on all sides It is this fire whose sparkles are Lascivious provocations its smoak is but a most dishonorable Fame its ashes are Miseries and Calamities and in fine it is onely in the Hells of this World where this intestine fire is found Let us judge then after this of the Greatnesse of Evill by the excesse of Punishment and if some one have a mind to die the most detestable death in Nature let him lead the most enormous and execrable life which can be in the sight of Heaven But let us return to Pharao who was constrain'd to stifle his unlawfull Loves in the Ocean of his miseries and who at last restor'd to Abraham the flower which had bin cruelly wrested from him CHAP. III. The Agreement of Abraham and Lot upon the Controversy between their Shepheards PEace and Purity are two sisters which have no other Father or Origin but Love and the Spirit of God which cannot breath but in a calm and in cleannesse there is its native Air Element Temple and the usuall place of its residence And it is peradventure for this reason Solomon was accustomed to adorn the gates of his Temple with Lillies and Olive-branches Inseparable companions desiring thereby to inform us that none are to enter there but by the doors of Peace and under the shade of the Olive-branches which are marks and symboles of Peace and Purity This being so I wonder not that Abraham who was animated with the Spirit of God and endued with no other than the purest passions did express so much love and inclination to Concord and Peace He seemed Neverthelesse to have some cause to commence a sute Unde et facta est rixa inter pastores gregum Abram Loth. Gen. 13. v. 7. to wage war against Lot for the preservation of his rights and authority which might receive some prejudice by the strife which arose between his servants and those of Lot their design being to become Masters contrary to Justice and Reason Which Abraham seing to prevent all the disorders which might ensue on this first design he saith unto Lot Nephew I pr'y thee remember Dixit Abram ad Loth ne quaeso sit jurgium inter me te pastâ—res meos pastores tuos fratres enim sumus Gen. 13. v. 8. that hetherto I have not treated thee as an Uncle but rather as a Brother what a scandal would it be if we should begin to live together either like strangers or else as Enemies I had rather lose all the goods of the world than that of thy friendship But I see clearly that these Shepheards Ecce universa terra coram te est recede à me obsecro si ad sinistram eris ego dexteram tenebo si tu dexteram elegeris ego ad sinistram ibo Gen. 13. v. 9. and mercenary friends are the persons who endeavour to engage our passions with their interests It would then be more prudently done to sever our flocks than to disunite our Mindes and therefore dear Nephew take what you please If thou goest to the right hand I will take the left and if the left I will passe to the right Well then is not this to love peace and to purchase at his own expence so pretious a treasure Is not this to be magnificent and can any one seek an accord with more Prodigality Interessed Souls Where are then these little hearts and these narrow Souls which are still bury'd amidst their own interests Where are these worldly People whose Eyes may sooner be turn'd out of their heads than monies out of their hands Where are all these Pertifoggers and these Lawiers who are alwayes for delatory futes and place all their hopes on a forged will or a false contract They are like Moles which have alwayes their Noses in the Earth and incessantly inlarge their holes and graves What shame is it for a man of courage to be still fighting on a flight occasion and to contest upon the point of a Needle who shall carry it Alas where are the Abrahams where are the brothers kindred and friends who shall say one to the other for Gods sake let us live peaceably rather let us dye a thousand times than wage war for those goods which either soon or late we must leave My God! These are generous The Golden Age and heroick thoughts To hear them I conceive my self to be in those golden Ages when men carry'd their hearts on their lips Crowns of Olive-branches on their heads hornes of plenty in their hands their eyes in each part of their body and the Chains of a holy friendship as bracelets and collers of Gold Finally where the goods of the earth were trodden under foot as common to all men And this caused that plenty of all things was carry'd every where upon a Triumphant Chariot casting Gold and Silver to all that would but take the paines to gather it God himself governed the Reignes of this fortunate Chariot and as if he had a purpose to make every man a Monarch of the universe he said the very same to them as to Abraham when the love of Concord and Peace had sever'd him from Lot My friend Abraham lift
and the Banishment of Agar and Ismael IN fine Visitavit autem Dominus Saram ficut promiserat implevit quae locutus est Gen. 21. v. 1. Concepitque peperit filium in senectute sua tempore quo praedixerat ei Deus Gen. 21. v. 2. Rursumque ait quis auditurum crederet Abraham quod Sara lâ—ctaret filium quem peperit ei jam seni Gen. 21. v. 7. Dixitque Sara risum fecit mihi Deus Gen. 21. v. 6. Heaven hath heard the vowes and prayers of Abraham Isaack is born and Sara is so much ravished at the sight of this happy prodigy that she can hardly believe what she sees This Child neverthelesse come by Miracle into the World growes visible and who ever hath Eyes to behold him may quickly discern that he is the Image of Abrahams and Saras virtues He is the fruit of Benediction which came in the Autumn and therefore is almost ripe even in his birth He is a Phenix on whom all the hopes of his race depend and a Sun whose Aurora shewes what will happen all the remainder of the day His dear Mother hath no other pains and throws in her Labour than smiles and admirations Scarce was he weaned but his Father changeth his Nurses Milk into good cheer and invites his Friends unto a solemn Feast to rejoyce with them for his happiness What a wonder is it to see this Child of Tears and Desires become an object of a Ravishing Joy Cumque vidisset Sara filium Agar Aegyptiae Iudentem cum Jsaac filio suo dixit ad Abraham Ejice ancillam hanc filium ejus Gen. 21. v. 9. Durè hoc accepit Abraham pro filio suo Gen. 21. v. 12. Sara art thou afraid that the life of thy son will bring thee death and that the excesse of a joy so little expected will even melt thy heart For my part I already apprehend lest the pastime of Jsaack and Jsmael prove the occasion of a quarel and that at last either the Mother or child must be chased away In effect Sara could not endure the sight of Agar and Ismael she intreates Abraham to put both of them out of his House But Abraham who hath the Tenderness of a father for Jsmael cannot condescend to her desires It seemes to this good man that the severing of Jsaack and Jsmael would even cut his heart in two There is a necessity Neverthelesse of obeying the request of Sara Cui dixit Deus Non tibi videatur asperum super puero super ancilla tua omnia quae dixerit tibi Sara audi vocem ejus quia in Jsaac vocabitur tibi semen sed filium ancillae faciam in gentem magnam quia semen tuum est Gen. 21. v. 13. Surrexit itaque Abraham tolleus panem utrem aquae imposuit scapulae ejus tradiditque puerum dinusit eam Gen. 21. v. 14. for God commands Abraham in this occasion to execute all his injunctions with promise that Notwithstanding all contrary appearances Isaack and Ismael shal be the first seedes of a most ample and happy posterity Neverthelesse I would very gladly know what was Abraham's thought and whether he could abstain from mingling some tears with the water and bread he gave unto Agar when he carried her the newes of the will of God and Sara What pitty was it to see this poor handmaid enter with her son into a solitary and uninhabited Desart and leave a plentifull House where she had ever lived as a Mistris Are not these very rigorous commands and most austere providences for those who have onely Eyes for their own Interests and for what appeares to them a present good To see Agar and Ismael in the desarts of Bersheba with hunger and thirst Quae cum abiâ—sset orabat in solitudâ—â—e Bâ—rsabâ—c Gen. 21. v. 14. and in a generall want of all the conveniences of Nature will not men believe them to be as it were dead in the world and alive in a Tomb What hope is there amongst stones and Rocks What society in the midst of Woods where nothing is heard but cryes and the roarings of Monsters What succour amidst Wild places and out of the road of men What light under the shades of grots and caverns where the Sun dates not approach What means of Livelihood where all Animals are dead Where nothing but frightfull dens are seen but aride sandes and some old Trunk of a Tree without branches leaves or fruit What then will Agar doe Cumque consumpta â—ssâ—t qqua in utre abjecit puerum subter unâ—marborum quae iberat Gen. 12. v. 14. she hath no more water nor bread And mean while her life her Love and her dear Ismael can no Longer endure the torments of hunger and thirst he is already constrained to stay at the foot of a tree and there to cast forth lowd cryes Distressed Mother what will you do What a happynesse would it be for you to die first that you might not die twice Sara what have you don Abraham where are you Ah God! what grief is it unto a Mother to see between her Armes the Tomb of her son Agar have you not Tears to shed upon the Tongue of Ismael to quench the Thirst which consumes him with a slow fire Have you not a Heart to satiate and qualify his Hunger Where are those maternall Bowels and that holy passion which Parents ought to have for their Children Ismael hath lost his speech he is without hope and Agar abandons him as no longer able to live seeing her heart half dead before her Eyes Farewell Ismael Farewell poor Orphan A pittifull separation farewell all the affections and hopes of Agar And when any man shall chance to passe by this solitary place let him ingrave upon this Trunk that here Agar and her son found their Exile their death and at length their Monument Agar what do you say Flente enim matre mortem filii miserabiliter praestolante Deus exaudivit puerum D. Hieron Et sedens contra levavit vocem suam flevit Gen. 21. v. 16. Is this the hope you repose in God And are these the promises he made unto Abraham Ah! do you not know that Heaven hath Eyes alwayes open to Innocency and the least of Ismaels sighes is able to draw God into this Desart Joyn then boldly your Cryes and lamentations with those of Ismael for one cannot hear the Child without hearing the Mother In effect Et abiit seditque è regione procul quantion potest arcus jacere dixit enim non videbo morientem puerum Gen. 21. v. 16. Vocavitque Angelus Dei Agar de caelo dicens quid agis Agar Noli timere exaudivit enim Deus vocem pucri de loco in quo est Gen. 21. v. 17. when Agar was removed a flight shot from Ismael as she sent forth her Cryes after the Moanings of her son an Angel called her by her name
and said unto her Goe Agar and return to thy son take him by the hand and reanimate this little dying body O God! who will not admire thy sage Providence and the miraculous Conduct of thy Designes Who will not remain astonished in contemplation of thy works and above all when he shall discern the care thou hast of thy Elect Alas Surge tolle puerum tene manum illius quia in gentem magnam faciam eum Gen. 21. v. 18. how stupid is the Wisdom of men how imprudent are their conceptious and how feeble are all the forces of their understandings when they are severed from thee There needs but one Heavenly Ray to inlighten all the obscurities of the Earth but on single drop of dew to soften all the rocks and but one glance of Gods Eye to give a Soul and life unto all the most Inanimated bodyes in Nature In fine when a man thinks himself lost he presently finds his way in the midst of all his wandrings and there is no climate nor Earth so dry Aperuitque oculos ejus Deus quae videns puteum aquae abiit implevit utrem deditque puero bibere Gen. 21. v. 19. and aride where his Omnipotent goodness may not cause a Thousand Fountains and springs to rise to the end it may be every where known that he is the Source of Living and salutiferous Waters who is able to quench as he shewed to Agar the most ardent thirsts in the midst of Desarts and Solitudes CHAP. X. The Sacrifice of Abraham and the admirable Artifices of God to try his Constancy and Fidelitie I could almost have a mind to complain of God and to accuse the apparent rigours he exerciseth on his favorites If the little experience I have in the life of Saints had not taught me that there are admirable Secrets to try his most faithfull Servants To this effect Mobilis semper incâ—ssâ—bilis calidus fervidus Dionys. cap. 7. coel hicracb saith St. Denis He is alwayes in Motion never at rest and his ardors are so penetrating and lively that he passeth like an inflamed Arrow even into the bottom of the heart to see there all that is inclosed Neverthelesse he is not like those petty Tyrants who cover their Eyes place veiles over their foreheads and hold Torches Bowes and Arrows in their hands as Weapons which they use to give death with blindness But if Divine Love hath Veiles they are wrought with the purest lights of Heaven Triall of Love and if it hath Shafts it is to open hearts and its Torch serves but to disclose all the secrets of souls in which nothing can remain concealed It is for this he is compared to a Gold-smith who purifies Gold and Silver in the crucet to a Captain who tryes the valour dexterity and Courage of a Souldier or rather to a Friend who neither promiseth nor bestowes his Amity but after very Long triall Behold doubtless what God did when he tempted Abraham as the most faithfull most constant and most affectionate person that lived in his time Neverthelesse I am troubled to say God can perform the office of a Temptor since the least of his looks pierceth all the Cloudes of future things Nemo cum tentatur dicat quia à Deo tentatur Jacob. c. 1. epist and that St. James in his Canonicall Epistle saith in expresse termes that God can tempt no man because he cannot be the Author of Evill But this is to be ignorant in the nature of temptation Ambros. lib. 1. de Abraham cap. 8. Aug q. 57. in Genesâ—â— and to have never read St. Ambrose St. Austin and the major part of the Fathers concerning this point who sufficiently evidence that there are blind and wicked temptations which cannot come from God as also prudent and officious ones which are as the shafts and stimulations of Love or else like sounding plummets wherewith the extents and capacity of hearts are measured so God knew but too well how great was the Love of Abraham but it was requisit that this Love should appear and with armes in its hand to acquire a force wholly new and in a fresh combat We must not wonder that God tempted Abraham Exercise of faith since this kind of temptation was but an excercise of his fidelity and a triall of his affection Exercitium fidei tentatio D Ambr. in 8. Luc. Tentat vos Deus ut sciatsi diligitis illum Deut. 13. Just as the Masters in Academies and Fencers in their schools use to doe when by some sophism or feigned thrust they exercise the spirits dexterity and courage of their bravest scholars I feel a horror nevertheless Tentavit Deus Abraham dixit ad eum Abraham Abraham at ille respondit adsum Gen. 22. v. 1. when I think of the matter on which God resolved to tempt Abraham I tremble and my Heart grones when I hear him twice called by his name and that all the Commissions which are given him tend but to the death of his Son Abraham Abraham can it possibly be that this so sweet so amiable and so Holy a Name must serve to summon thee to an office which appears so cruell and unnaturall as the Murther of thy Son Is it peradventure to carry thee more promptly to the execution of this sad decree that thou art twice called Art thou deaf to the first words of thy God or dost thou not perform readily enough what God commandeth Art thou so fixed on thy Isaack that thou no longer thinkest on God what is the matter Art thou stupified and hast neither Heart nor care for thy Master Lord behold me here saith Abraham what is thy will and where and in what may I manifest my Obedience and Love There are many who have complements enough in their Mouths Fruitless Complements and offer themselves freely enough but if a Man must ingage either life goods honor or the least of his interests he instantly retires and his dearest friends remain without offers and effects Let us examin whether Abrahams Heart be of the same temper of those faint friends God calls him and he returns answers unto God God calls him again and he protests that he is ready to execute all his commands much more for this Holy Man never contradicted the least injunction God had laid on him he left his Country he forsook his Parents and his life was but a voyage of Obedience and an exile of Love What can God desire more of him This is yet not all God requires of him and the trials though too long and too harsh God hitherto made of his fidelity were but the Prologues of a combat which must be far more rigorous Love is content to put a staff in his Hand to walk him through the World but he immediatly presents him with a Sword to undertake a dreadfull Duel though it be a Duel of Love Well then Abraham take your dear Isaack
Ait illi tolle filtum tuum unigenitum queÌ„ diligis Isaac vade in terram visionis atque ibi offeres cum in Holocaustum super unum montium quem monstravero tibi Gen. 22. v. 2. this only Son and this Amiable Child on whom you fix all your hopes and all your most solid contentments Abraham it is time to restore unto me the depositum I gave you he is mine I lent him to you but now demand him back and I command you to immolate him unto me take him then without further delay and from this instant goe whither I shall conduct you Is it not unto God alone the absolute power of command belongeth and is it not the duty of Abraham to be silent and to perform without reply what God commands But what I beseech you would a passionat Father say upon this occasion would he not have some ground to say if he had the same cause as Abraham Alas Lord The Speech of a passionat Father who speaks for Abraham where are the advantagious promises thou hast so often made me Hast thou lost the remembrance of Abraham Sara and Isaack Dost thou not take me for some other or at least if thou lookest upon me as a Father why dost thou enjoyn me to perform so rigorous an office I hambly beseech thee my God Semel beâ—tus es Deus Psal not to forget thy words and thy own self remember that thy Mouth is as unchangeable as thy Heart and that it is an injury unto the immutability of thy Essence to alter the least of thy Decrees How can we then believe that the Sacrifice of humane Bodies are detestable in thy sight if thou dost command them whither will Innocency goe to seek life if thou Judgest an Innocent to death what incouragement shall we have to serve thee if thou thus treatest thy Servants what attractives will creatures have to love thee if Massacres be the pleages of thy Love for my part I am afraid lest the strongest spirits may revolt and that the weak be scandalized at the instability of thy oaths thou hast swern by thy self that my Isaack should be a spring of Grace and behold how thou dryest it up even when it is upon the point of becomming an Ocean of Benedicities My God! what shall I say unto my Son when he shall intreat me to tell him the cause of his death How shall I tye his hunds when he shall imbrace me and if I have the Heart of a Father to love him how can I have armes to kill him Ah! surely no Man shall ever perswade me that a God who is the anther of Nature will command me a streak which appears to me so unnaturall and should I assent Sara would even snatch the weapon out of my hand she would rather offer her self to serve as a Victim than give way to the Sacrifice of her Son Let us then no longer think of it O my God my Eyes would be dimmed with tears at the sight of my Ifaack my Heart would burst into a thousand pieces at the lest dart of his affection and my Hands could never be cleared of this stain if I had once sullied them in the bloud of my Son My God permit me rather to Sacrifise unto thee the Remnant of my old age and receive rather this Soul which I have upon my Lips and which is but too weary of the World But as for Isaack suffer a flower to grow which thou hast planted with thine own hand and according to thy promises water it with thy Benedictions What! An Abraham to Massacre an Isaack A Father the most Cordiall and the most affectionate of the World to kill the most amiable and the most accomplished Son that hath ever been A Father who for the space of a hundred years hath expected a Son to lose him in a moment The preparation for his Mariage was already in my thoughts and they shew me an Altar a Pile and a Sepulcher for his Nuptiall Bed What rigour more inhumane what Laws more barbarous And what command more cruell can we figure to our selves My God pardon me it is visible to me that I have erred but grief even extorts these Blasphemies and my Tongue betrayes my Heart I will speak then from benceforth with more respect Give me I beseech thee the Eyes of a Tyger the Teeth of a Wolf and the Soul of a Lion if thou wilt have me devour this Lamb blind me lest I behold this Fore-head this Face and these Eyes on which my Love hath ingraven his Picture Lord I acknowledge my fault for having so often begged him of thee my vows have been over-violent my desires too importune and I still feel an over-ardent fire in my Bosom cast then into it a Deluge of Wormwood to stiflle such sweet ardors However if thou dost command me to be the Executioner of thy severest Judgements and if thou absolutely desirest I should strike off my Isaacks head and that I should bury him in the fire I beseech thee instead of a Sword put a Thunderbolt into my Hands to the end at the same instant I shall give him the stroak of death I may soe him invironed with the flames of thy severest Justice Without doubt this would be the discourse of a Father whose Soul should be agitated with various passions and the most part of these resentments are more proper for a Man whose Eyes Nature Bloud the World and Infidelity had snut against the purest lights of Heaven than for Abraham who never followed other Torch than that of Divine Providence Never then were such Sacrilegious Complaints and shamefull murmurs heard to issue forth of his Mouth as daily proceed from Fathers and Mothers who have nothing but worldly respects and no other care but to erect upon the Cradle of their Children all the Trophies of their desires and hopes Abraham wils but what God wils The resignation of Abraham and instead of following the Motives of Reason and humane discourses he abandons himself into the arms of a perfect Obedience and of that Faith which shewed him Life even in the Bosom of Death He was ready to immolate Isaack and the Love he had for his God made him wish to himself a Destiny like that of his Son This Man saith Origen was not astonished at the voice of so harsh a Command he refused nothing and took Counsell of no living Soul resting content to obey his God This Just Patriarch saith St. Zenon preferred the Love of the Creator before that of the Creature And albeit a naturall resentment tore his very Bowels and Heart yet at the same time his Soul did Swim in the delights of a passion which hath nothing in it but Supernaturall so that two Loves offered two Sacrifices the one Immolated the Father the other Sacrifised the Son O Love The Empire of Love Love delicious Tyrant adorable Conqueror Independent Monarch how powerfull are thy Darts when God casts
death What ever happens Jacob shall be vanquisner For Heaven is on his side and the supplanting of Esau shall rather proceed from the Hand of God than that of Jacob. It is not then the office of Jacob to supplant his Brother and to ruin the fortune of his most intimate friends They that contrive such designs are not the Imitators of Jacob but the Disciples of Cain Jacob followed only the Instinct of the Divine Providence Supplanting Brothers and Brothers for the most part regard nothing but humane prudence and blind interests which convey Impiety into their Souls Treasons into their Mouths Venom into their Hearts and Weapons into their Hands to assault bloud and nature and to confound all Humane and Divine Laws But alas what strife what victory what triumph when the Crowns we gain are but Roses staind with Bloud and Laurels which wither in a moment and transform themselves into eternall Thorns It is not for this prize Jacob so ught in his Mothers Womb but he assaults and supplants Esau for the purchase of Immortall Crowns CHAP. II. The Education of Esau and Jacob and the shamefull sale he made of his right of Primogenture SCarce hath the return of the Sun chased away Night and Darkness but the Aurora shews on its Horizon Image of Mans life what the Day would be at high Noon and in its Evening It is an Image of Mans Life who usually at his Birth gives assured marks what he will be even till death he bears on his Forehead and Body saith Pythagoras a Divine Impression which is even against his will the visible Character of his Soul and Disposition In vain is it for him to feign and dissemble his Eyes are living Myrrours in which all the Cogitations of his Heart are discovered the Horoscope as we see by daily experience is formed not only of Men but also of Children and oft times the very Cradles and Swath-bands give out Oracles touching their adventures and destinies We need not be over-much versed in Physiognomy Assured marks of our disposition to foretell what Esau would prove for in his Birth he gave so many evident signs as we cannot be ignorant of his future inclinations Totus in morem pellis hispidus Gen. 25. v. 25. His Body Hairy like a Bear could not be animated but by the soul of a Beast his Eyes his Hair his Skin and all that appears exteriourly was too frightfull and ardent to be the Element of Meekness and Humanity In fine from his very Child-hood all his inclinations seemed so brutish that we cannot wonder if he being in the flower of his age Quibus adultis factus eâ—t Esaii pergnarus venandi homo agricola Gen. 25. v. 27. his most usuall entertainments and most serious exercises were to ramble over the Fields and lead a savage Life which besides the exercises of Tilling the Earth and Hunting which of themselves are commendable gave him but the imployment of a Wolf or a Vulture Jacob on the contrary had onely the qualities of a Dove Jacob autem Vir simplex halitabat in cabernaculis Gen. 25. v. 27. and his Heart had less Gall than a Lamb. He went scarce ever out of the House and shewed so much simplicity sweetness and moderation as but to see him a Man was constrained to Love him Notwithstanding Isaack had more violent inclinations towards his Eldest Son Isaac amabat Esâ—ii to quod de venaniouibus ejus vesceretur and herein Interests were more prevalent than Reason For this Love was onely grounded upon Esau's constant custom in bringing him every Day some piece of Venison The Love of Rebecca Et Rebecca deligehat Jacob. Gen. 25 v. 28. who preferred Jacob before Esau was then more wise and considerable This prudent Woman saith St. Cyril had no passion but for the goodness and virtue which shined in the behaviour of her Son she accorded her Heart to the Words of God and most tenderly Loved him to whom God promised more Favours that is to say as Procopius observes this virtuous Mother framed her Will unto the impulses of Heaven and her inclinations followed the assistance of this Intelligence which is the Dart and stimulation of the purest affections We must grant then that Isaack had thoughts somewhat too humane toward Esau But Rebecca was a good Mother who rendred unto Jacob those duties which his sweet disposition deserved and as soon as he came into the World she had inclinations suitable to the goodness which appeared in him and endeavoured with her Milk to infuse into his manners all that could render him most amiable and accomplished It is also particularly from Mothers as heretofore said one of the seaven Sages of Greece that Good and Evill flows into the Souls of those to whom they give Suck Hence it ariseth that Nurses are sought out with so much care in the Houses of Great Men Advantage of good Education for fear lest by some defect of Nature the Milk become corrupted and converted into poyson This happens but too often and experience teacheth us that Children from the Breast suck their most Malignant inclinations and afterwards as Child-hood which is most susceptible of good and evill is usually spent under the wings of Mothers so we ought not to wonder if they be the sources from whence Spring those humours which are generated with Education Such was the belief of the Romans seeing the Cruclties of their Emperor Caligula Dio Cassius who was Nursed by a Woman who had a Beard like a Man and who had nothing sweet in her but her Milk And on the contrary France acknowledged the blessing of the Sanctity of Lewis the Ninth whom his Mother Blanch had made as it were to suck Virtue with his Milk There are no Palaces no Cortages no Houses in the World where wee shall meet with families and communities without seeing examples and proofs of this verity Moreover we must not imagin that Fathers are therfore more exempt from those Duties which Education requireth Oblation of Fathers and Mothers than Mothers For they can equally cause Vices to flow into the Souls of their Children It will proceed saith St. Parentes sensimus paricidas Cypr. de lapsis Cyprian from Fathers and Mothers that their Children shall complain in the Day of Judgement and cry out upon the Brink of the Abyss that their Parents have been their Murtherers Isaack then would have deserved more commendation if he had had less indulgent affections and less interressed towards Esau But I will believe that if Rebecca should have presumed to reveal the secrets wherewith God had intrusted her by the means of some good Inspirations he would have had like her more affection for the Younger than the Elder Brother However it were the Liberty Isaack gave to Esau of running all the Day long through Woods and Forrests was the occasion which brought him to his first misfortune Coxit
and under the veiles of the Divinity Jacob. c. 3. It comes from heaven as the Apostle St. James affirms and there its Origine and Source is to be found Baruch v. 3. as the Prophet Baruch assureth It issues out of hearts and out of the most intimate secrets of our souls Diodorus as the Sun and light from the obscurest nights and it was peradventure for this reason the Egyptians drew the picture of Osiris the Husband of Isis who presided over Wisdome like a Sun Wisdome like the Sun whose rayes were as so many eyes which penetrated the darkest obscurities In like manner also in the most holy Pictures of the Old Testament Wisdome was represented as a good Mother and as a brave Mistresse which kept an Academy and changed men into Planets full of brightness I know not whether this were not the reason Artemidorus lib. 26. c. 36. as Artemidorus believed which heretofore moved Fathers and Mothers to call their children Suns having no cleerer termes to flatter their wisdome and the excellencie of their wits However it be divine Wisdome is a Sun which is alwaies in his high Noons and at the same instant inlightens the evening and morning that is to say the future and past time as well as the present These wayes though oblique goe alwaies straight and soon or late bring us to the Haven The course of Wisdome It was this wise Conducter which lead Abraham in all his Pilgrimages And it is she at present as the Wiseman himself assures us who taketh her Jacob by the hand and diverts him insensibly from the Abyss into which Esau's despair intended to lead him Haec prosugum irae fratris justum deduxit per vias rectas Sap. c. 10. It was this wisdome saith Solomon which freed an Innocent from the rage and fury of a Brother who contrived his death To this effect it casts some streams of light into Rebeccas soul who presently knew the designs which Esan had on Jacob. Afterwards this prudent woman went to find out Isaack and remonstrated to him that it was not time to marry Jacob but that he must needs permit him to take a wife out of the Land of Chanaan Isaack though blind clearly discerned what his wife pretended Vocavit itaque Isaac jacob benedixit cam praecepique ei dicens Genes 28. v. 1. Vade presiciscere in Meseâ—r tamtam Syriae ad domum Bathâ—â—l patras matris tuae accipe tibi indâ— uxorem de siliabus Laâ—â—an evunculitui Gen. 28. v. 2. And then feeling some touches of this wise hand which managed the whole business he commanded Jacobs presence to give him his blessing and to express unto him his trouble to see him depart out of his house before his death But nevertheless since time pressed him for his Mariage it was most convenient to take the way of Mesopotamia to obtain one of Labans daughters for his wife Goe then my dear Child Deus autem omnipoeens benediâ—a tibi c. Gen. 28. v. 3. Et det lib. benedicâ—â—anes Abrahae semini tuo post te c. Gen. 28.5.4 said this good old man goe and let the God of Abraham be thy guide during thy whole voyage For my part I beseech him to augment on thee the benedictions I have most willingly given thee Above all I beg of him to multiply thy off-spring and to put thee in possession of the Country where thou shalt be as a stranger or Pilgrim Farewell then my most dear Son A sensible Separation farewell all my Joy and all the Love of my house which said he kisseth him he embraces him he waters him with his tears Nevertheless Rebecca to whom all moments were longer than Dayes endevoured speedily to draw him thence that she might put him in the Equipage of a Traveller and give him her farwell lest Esan should disturb the departure and the design of this voyage It was indeed a tryall of constancy for this poor Mother when shee must leave this Son but at last shee had him adieu and brought him on his way after shee had spoken to him some few words which issued lesse from her Mouth than from her Heart I wonder how the Father Mother and Son did not die upon this sad Separation But the Wisedom of God who was as the wheel of all these Motions knew how to moderate the excesse of her grief by the hopes of that good which would arise from thence Neverthelesse to speak truth these combats were very rigorous and there needed an Isaack a Jacob and a Rebecca to accomplish this resolution In fine the wise Providence of God expects Jacob at his resting place and intends by the favour of the Night visibly to discover the manner of his conduct and the model of his government Jacob is gon then from Bershabè and travels all alone under the protection of Heaven Igitur egressus Jacob de Bersabee pergebat Hatam Gen. 28. v. 10. Cumque venisset ad quendam locum vellet in es requiescere post solis occubitum tulit de lapidibus qui jacebant supponens capiti suo dormivit in codem Loco Gen. 28. v. 11. and with this confidence that God would never abandon him But what Behold Night already founding the retreat and shuting up all passages to our Pilgrim He beheld the Sun stealing from his Eyes and the Moon giving no light but to discover to him on the Plains of Bethel a bed of Earth and some stones to serve him for a Bolster Poor Jacob What Bed what Bolster what Night and what Inn Without doubt here is the place where long since God appeared unto Abraham and it is this so famous Bethel where he saw the Land of Promise Besides it is in the Night God discloseth his lights The voice of God in silence it is amidst silence wee hear his voice and in solitude he useth to reveal his secrets Repose then Jacob and spend all the Night in security since God hath ben pleased to Assign you this Lodging O happy retreat O pleasing Night O delicious bed O divine Repose Jacob is faln a sleep Viditque in somnis scalam stantem super terram cacumine illius tangens caelum Anâ—â—lâ—s quoque dei asceadentes per eum Gen. 28. v. 12. Et Donanum innio um scalae Gen. 28. v. 13. Cumque vigilasset Jacob de sumno aiâ— v◠è Domiâ—uâ—â—st in â—oco â—sto non est 〈◊〉 alâ—us nist domus Dâ—i po ta caeli but God who always watcheth shewed him a Prodigious Ladder which touched the Earth with one end and the Heavens with the other Angels by turns descended and ascended this Ladder and on the top God himself appeared as it were supported by it But behold indeed a strange Spectacle upon a Theater of Sanctity I am not astonished if after Jacob had taken his rest he awaked at this vision bearing God in his
or else the Storms of the day which preceded And truly what can a dying man say who hath lived in the intriges of Fortune in the Labyrinth of Law-suites in the incombrances of a Family in an abysse of passions and in a hell of Miseries after this what can you expect from these infortunate Parents and from these miserable friends which cannot say any thing to themselves but that they are hopelesse Ah! what farewell what separation and what kind of death Children of Saints predestinate Souls happy Successors of Jacob fall not into these precipices but follow the way and tracks which are marked out to you by your fore-fathers And thou my dear Reader build at least an Oratory in thy heart and make a Temple of thy house and an Altar of thy Bed where thou maist offer unto God what thou hast what thou art and what thou hast been In fine have then words in thy mouth for thy self for thy Children and Friends to the end having given thy benediction to those that have deserved it thou maist obtain the blessing of God who is thy Father thy King thy Maker and thy last end CHAP. XII The Lamentations of Joseph for the Death of Jacob. NAture useth to exact duties which cannot be deny'd her without Injustice and some kind of cruelty A man must have the soul of a Tyger to be devoyd of grief and resentment for the miseries of a Parent or friend then chiefly when he either hears them related or is a witness of them I know there are shamefull defects and misbeseeming a good courage and sometimes teares and sighes serve but to vent weaknesses and to betray the constancy wee ought to have But very often there are Tributes which must be payed unto love and piety And such tears as these saith St. Ipsae dulces lacrimae sunt ipsi fletus iucundi quibus restinguitur ardor animo quasi relaxatus evaporat affectus Ambr. Ambrose quench the ardors of our Souls and cause our sincerest and most tender affections sweetly to evaporate by our eyes These are generous tears and impositions unto which the noblest persons are most obliged For my part I laugh at certain slight Philosophers who study to shew in their Stoicall countenances and hold as the Principle of their Academy That we must be always equall without distinguishing That there is a certain equality more proper to a marble Statue than to a reasonable man The wisest Philosophy hath far better Maxims and one of her Axiomes is that There are times occasions which require sentiments of Joy and other seasons which demand expressions of grief And truly were it a hansome thing to see a Son with a smiling countenance and dry eyes at the Tomb of his father It would be a strange spectacle to see him in the midst of a banquet and at a Ball when his Father is laid in the earth and I would willingly know amongst what nations and in what sect there are lawes which dispense with what is due unto the sweet memory of the living and dead Above all the custome of funerals and those ceremonies which Quod cernens Joseph ruit super faciem patris flens deosculans eum Gen. 50. v. 1. Praecepitque servis suis medicis ut aromatibus condirent patrem Gen. 50. v. 2. Flevitque eum Aegyptus septuaginta diebus Gen. 50. v. 3. Dixitque ei Pharao ascende sepeli patrem tuum sicut adjuratus es Gen. 50. v. 6. Quo ascendente ierunt cum coomnes senes domus Pharaonis cunctique majores natu terrae Aegypti Gen. 50. v. 7. Domus Joseph cum fratribus suis c. Gen. 50. v. 8. Habuit quoque in comitatu currus equites c. Gen. 50. v 9. Absque parvulis gregibus atque armentis quae dereliquerant in terra Gesson Gen. 50. v 8. Veneruntque ad aream Atad quae sita est trans Ioâ—danem c. Gen. 50. v. 10. ubi celebrantes exequias planctu magno atque vebementi impleverunt septem dies Gen. 50. v. 10. Reversusque est Joseph in Aegyptum cum fratribus suis Gen. 50. v. 14. Quo mortuo timentes sratres ejus mutuo colloquentes ne fortè memor sit injuriae quam passus est reddut nobis omne malum quod fecimus Gen. 50. v. 15. though very different have been alwayes observ'd in like accidents are so just and antient as wee cannot condemn them without accusing the first men in the World and those eminent persons who have been the Masters of virtue and piety Witness Joseph who having received in his bosome and into his mouth the last groans of his father cast himself on his body and whilst he watered his face with tears procur'd Physicians to imbalm him according to the custome of the Egyptians who spent seaventy dayes in mourning for Jacob. After which Joseph ask'd and obtain'd leave of Pharaoh to conduct him unto the Monument he had bought in Canaan to which he was followed by the old men of Egypt and by all the most antient Officers of the kings house I find not in what ranck Josephs brethren went but they were accompanied thither by a great number of Chariots and horse-men which joyn'd together made up a great Convoy although all the Children and troops had been left in the land of Gessen In fine they all ariv'd at a spatious place which was beyond Jordan which the Hebrews called Atad by reason it was covered all over with Thorns and which now bears the name of Betagla which is as much to say the lodging of the circle because the Children of Jacob set themselves there in order to perform the Ceremonies of the funerall and to deplore the losse of their father with the greatest demonstration of sorrow all which was performed in the court of Atad and in this house of tears for the space of seaven intire dayes Afterwards Joseph with his brethren and all the rest of the Convoy return'd into Egypt to settle themselves in their usuall employments Now it was there where fear which is the inseparable companion of a guilty soul had leisure again to agitate these poor wretches who perswaded themselves that having lost their Father there remained nothing for them but a Judge in the person of their Brother who had motives powerrull enough to revenge himself of their disloyalty Mandaverunt ei dicentes pater tuus praecepit nobis antequam moreretur Gen. 40. v. 16. Vt haec tibi verbis illius diceremus obsecro ut obliviscaris sceleris fratrum tuorum c. Gen. 50. v 17. Quibus auditis flevit Joseph Gen. 50. v. 17. Veneruntque ad cum fratres sui proni adorantes in terram dixerunt servi tui sumus Gen. 50. v. 18. Quibus ille respondit Nolite timcre Ego pascam vos parvulos vestros c. Gen. 50. v. 21. Some remedy must then be found to oppose the danger which threatned them
and the sounding of Trumpets an Herauld was so clothed in black and covered with a large cipres veil wrought with Thunderbolts and crowned darts who proclamed that this Queen was unpittifull and that she intended speedily to make a horrid Sepulchre of a great kingdome But this funerall pomp was not fully ended when the most mutinous and most seditious appear'd who ask'd pardon and esteemed themselves more happy to fall into the hands of a king who might chastise them without depriving them of life than of a Queen who cannot punish but with death It was I beleeve for the same reason Togaris the Physician of Leon the Armenian cured all the maladies and pains which extended not unto the dissolution of the body and soul In effect there is nothing so terrible and dreadfull as death and God himself hath never erected more tragick Theaters than when he would cause this cruell Tyrant to march which makes all the Catastrophes of life and after many combats and actions at last destroyes creatures without any possibility of their foreseeing the place or moment of their destruction Hear then it is where after a war of all the Elements Warr of all the Elements and a duel of totall nature against the Egyptians these miserable wretches will find at length a revenging hand which is ready to cut off the first fruits of their Mariage and the most amiable delights of their family Methinks I hear the Herauld already pronouncing the sentence and condemning the first-born of Egypt unto death It is Moses who speaks or rather our Lord by his mouth For he is but the Eccho of his voice and the instrument of his most holy and severest decrees To thee Egypt Media nocte ingrediar in Aegyptum Exod. 11. v. 4. Et morietur omne primogenitum in terra Aegyptiorum à primogenito Pharaonis qui sedet in solio illius usque ad primogenitum ancillae quae est ad molam omnia primogenita jumentorum Exod. 11. v. 5. and to thee Pharaoh God will manifest by this blow that he is thy God that is to say not only most good but most just and most powerfull behold the last of dart of his wrath which is ready to be cast upon thy Palace and upon thy Empire and then a sad necessity and an extreme disafter will oblige thee to doe by constraint what thou oughst to doe through sweetness when all Egypt shall be buried in a profound sleep The Angel of God shall goe into all houses and his revenging Sword will have no more respect for him who should one day ascend a Throne and bear the Crown of a King than for the meanest of thy vassals or beasts of which he shall choose the Prince to Sacrifice unto his indignation But who could have ever painted out to us a face covered over with so many horrours if after the first colours which have been laid Moses the most learned and prudent of men had not been pleased to add some touches of his pencill unto this dreadfull image Cum enim quietum silentium con incret emnia nox in suo cursu medium iter haberet Sap. 18. v. 14. Omnipotens sermo tuus de caelo à regalibus sedibus durus debellator in mediam exterminii terram prosiluit Sap. 18. v. 15. Gladius acutus insimulatum imperium portans stans replevit omnia murte usque ad caelum attingebat stans in ter ram Sap. 18. v. 16. It was even in the midst of the Night saith Solomon that this ineffable Word to whom all is possible descended from the height of the Impyreall Heaven and thundred over this abominable Land which was chosen as the Theatre on which the bloody spoyles of the rage and obstinacy of Egypt were to be seen It carried a two edged-Sword which transpierced on every side without pitty and this Sword was no other than this irrevocable decree which was as soon executed as pronounced in Egypt filling the whole Country with horrours desolations and deaths The exterminating Angel went from dore to dore and when any one dore was found whose Threshold was not sprinckled with the innocent blood of the Lamb he entered and having drawn the curtains and search'd the beds in which the first born of Egypt reposed he made upon their lives a bloody proof of Gods indignation and wrath In fine There was no family in which they deplored not some Infant slain by this merciless Executioner of Gods Decrees This punishment was so universal Neque enim erat do mus in qua non faceret mortuus Exod. 12. v. 30. that both Lord and Vassal mourned for the same accident and therein the usage of the people differed not from that of their King So that such as remained alive could not receive consolation from any person since all had need thereof and they could not rest satisfied even with rendering the last duties unto their dead so disconsolate they were and their own grief joyned with that of their Allies Friends and their neerest Kinred did scarce permit them to be attentive to their own misery A more general and sensible desolation was never seen for all this great and flourishing Empire did swim in tears and almost in a moment all its hopes were seen extinguished in blood Besides all these disasters hapned for no other cause than for not having believed what was denounced to them and confirmed by so many exemplary and prodigious Chastisements wherewith they had been lately afflicted Vrgebantque Aegyâ—tis populum â—exire de terra velociter dicentes Omnes moriemur Exod. 12. v. 33. It must be granted then that all these tribulations and punishments were the inevitable effects of the Finger of God in this last misfortune whereby the Egyptians saw themselves deprived of their Eldest sons they could not deny but that the Israelites were under the Protection of the Almighty and from that time they promised to consent unto their departure Behold the degrees Degrees of Vengeance by which Vengeance goes ascending even unto the height we see some marks of it in the Clouds which never break in pieces before they cast forth some Lightnings which carry the first tidings of the approaching storm Indications of a Tempest are also seen upon the Sea and there is no description in all Nature of Gods Justice and Wrath which hath not its peculiar place to arrive unto excess and which doth not first give some wound before it giveth death But also when Threats have proved fruitless and the Darts thrown by a gentle hand served onely to invenome the disease and inflame the wound Patience and Mercy which are the faithful companions of Justice retire and instantly the Heart from whence a great stream of Milk was seen to issue converts it self into a torrent of Gall and the Hand which held Palms and Crowns Darts nothing but Lightnings and Thunder-bolts Divine Justice resembleth that Dragon in the Indies which first casts the
which they usually invelop themselves even in the same fire It is allmost impossible that the World can ever enjoy a perfect peace so long as there shall be men for peace it self is very often the mother of warr repose which gives truce unto the soul raiseth in it a thousand thoughts and passions which arm themselves at the beating of the first Alarm and advance into the field upon the first occasion God himself marcheth in the head of battalions and I know not whether it be not for this cause he Calls himself the great God of Hostes well doe I know that he always presides there making use of them to reward some and to punish others and to the end we may take notice that war is one of his scourges and that there be always invisible weapons resembling so many torches which he lights and extinguisheth according to his good pleasure In fine it is a most infallible verity that victory in war though wavering and inconstant in its own nature remains in the hand of God and it is a Bird which cannot take its flight but to that part which is assign'd it by his most holy Providence The Israelites had a powerfull motive to know this verity in the first war they were enforced to maintain against the Amalekites after their passage over the Red Sea This people had for their King and general the son of Eliphas called Amaleck of Esau's race Venit autem Amalec pugnavit contra Jsrael in Raphidim Exod 17. v. 8. of whom they had as it were inherited an implacable hatred against Jacob and the Hebrews who descended from him This was the motive of their taking up arms besides their fear seeing this great multitude led by Moses who marched towards the Land of Promise as if the happy moment were come in which the Benediction which Jacob had in a manner forced from Esau was to be accomplished Methinks when I cast my eyes upon these mutinous troops which forraged the Country and pursu'd the Hebrews with so much fury and animosity I see an army of hobgoblins which are commonly called the inciters of Flesh and Blood which have no sooner perceiv'd a soul out of the Lands of Egypt and out of the empire of carnall and mundane pleasures but they presently take the field to assault her and to disturb her entry into the happy Land which was promised her and into some holy retreat But we must fear nothing since we need but lift up our hands to Heaven like Moses and implore the assistance of that great Intelligence who never abandons those who are inroled under his Standard and fight valiantly for the honour of his name Cumque levaret Moises manus vincebat Israel sin autem paululum remisisset superabat Amalec Exod. 17. v. 11. Yes at the same time that this great Captain lifted up his Arm towards God to implore his aid and to give him a sign that he only expected the victory from him the people of Israel became Conquerors but if he chanced never so little to let down his Hand these poor people would be lost and overcome by Amaleck O God The efficacy of prayer what victory Kings Captains Soldiers entire Legions are defeated by the ejaculations sighs and prayers of one single man what efficacy of Prayer It is Theater where death finds life a Throne where weakness takes force and Majesty a Field where Laurels and Palms are reaped a Sea which hath alwaies prosperous gales and an Air where Graces and Angels incessantly fly Prayer is not only as St. Ephraim saith the monument and Sepulcher of dying men the Sanctuary of the Afflicted the Advocate of Criminals the Seal and Character of purity the Nurse of temperance the Bridle of impatience the Conserver of peace but the Standard also of War and the Soul of all our triumphs who will wonder then if the Amalekites be defeated since Moses who was the most devout ardent zealous and holy Man upon Earth made his most humble supplications unto God for this purpose Manus autem Moisi erant graves c. Exod. 17. v. 12. Aaron autem Hur sustentabant manus eius ex utraque parte Exod. 17. v. 13. But I fear lest the forces of his Spirit might weaken those of the Body and that at last his Arms and Hands stretched out towards Heaven might suffer themselves to follow their naturall propension towards the Earth I assure my self that Hur and Aaron had the same apprehension for behold them on the top of a little Hill Hur on the one side and Aaron on the other supporting the victorious Hands and the conquering Arms of Moses Fugavitque Josue Amalec populum eius in ore gladii Exod. 17. v. 13. whilst Josua pursued and put to the Sword both Amaleck and his Amalekites who discerned in their flight and by their defeat that it was more than a humane Hand which had assailed and vanquished them Behold then the victories of Heaven and Crowns wrought by the Hand of God who will have the whole World to know that there are for his Soldiers Laurels and Palms in his Hands and on the contrary Thunderbolts and Lightnings to dart against his enemies Non ego ó Imperator victus sum sed tuipse prodidisti victoâ—iam qui contra Deum aciem instruere non desinis Deum sequitur victoria ad eos accedet quibus se Deus dacem praebet Theo. lib. 4. hist c. 29. Trajan was not ignorant of this when having been sent by Valens to conduct troops which were defeated under his command he had the courage to say unto him at his return That he had not been vanquished but rather the person that sent him and who was so temerarious as to raise troops against him whose steps are alwaies followed by those of victory The Emperour Theodorus had the same thoughts when having received news in a full Theater and in the midst of the sports used in the Circus that a certain Tyrant his enemy had been overcome commanded all that were present to follow him Niceph. lib. 4. c. 7. to render thanks unto God as unto the Author of this prosperous success France also knows the glorious victory which Clotarius gained after a troublesome and domestique War Gregorius Turon lib. 4. c. 16. 17. by the help of prayer In fine not to search further into former ages and to dis-inter so many Princes who have been either Conquerors or Conquered by this kind of Arms we need but cast our eyes upon the victories of our incomparable Lewis and amongst others on that of the Isle of Ree where like an other Moses he lifted up his Hands unto Heaven in the Chapel of Saumeur and then like Josua he pursued his enemies even to the destruction of their Ships and even into the bosom of the proudest and most rebellious City in the World where at last he might justly say unto his France what God said
if you be so unhappy as to infringe the least of these Commandments and contemn these Laws I have so often declared to you or those Ceremoâ—â—es I have so publikely established your Privileges shall be changed into punishments and your Favors into execrations which will at last make you the subject of all the Plagues wherewith Egypt hath been heretofore so cruelly afflicted and you shall even feel some which you never yet heard of or at least whereof you shall not finde any mention in this Book What pity will it be to see you a reproach and scorn to the most barbarous Nations in the World amongst whom you shall nevertheless be dispersed to serve their unknown gods and masters who will give you neither truce nor repose no more than your own consciences which will always carry Vultures and Vipers to torment you without pity or intermission Your hearts will have disturbing terrors and your wandring eyes will cast darts as infallible marks of the misertes and tyranny you shall undergo It is also the doleful portion and the most usual course of the wicked to live amidst frights fears which like so many Goalers both day and night surround an unhappy soul which sees nothing but Specters and Phantasms which solicite her ruine so that you will be always like Criminals whose eyes are already veiled whose necks are laid down and hands tied in expectation of the fatal stroke which will in an instant sever their heads from their bodies Scarce shall the Sun be risen when you will say with sighs Dabit enim tibi Dominus ibi cor pavidum deficientes oculos animam consumptam moerore Deut. 28. v. 65. Manè dices Quis wihi det vesperum vespere Quis mihi det manè Deut. 28. v. 67. Ah! Who will assure me that I may be secure till night and in the Evening some new apprehension will even tear this complaint out of your mouths Ah! I know not whether I shall ever see day Alas who will give me then some assurance of it Sinners where are we Is this to live to die every moment and can we call by the name of life a train of pains torments wounds terrors and deaths O life how sweet art thou when thou dost fear and love nothing but God! O death how dreadful art thou when we have followed and loved some other than God! What Favors and Benedictions in the life and death of a vertuous man But what horrors Anathemaes and Maledictions during the course and end of the life of a sinner Alas My dear Reader reflect a little I beseech thee on these Verities and if the voice of thy Conscience and the examples thou seest daily before thy eyes cannot move thee come then again in spirit with the children of Israel and the predestinated souls hear the voice and exhortation of Moses take a while his Testament into thy hands and then casting thy eyes upon every Article fix thy thoughts upon that where he speaks unto all the Tribes and where after Moses had addressed himself into all sorts of States and Conditions of men and women which were gathered together about him he saith unto them That he spake not onely unto those that were present but also unto the absent and therefore it is unto thee and to all men of the world this discourse must be directed Hear then mortal men your Law-giver hear your Lord your Master and your Prophet who conjures you to look back upon the past ages and when you shall come to those dreadful days in which the Sun and all the Lights of Heaven shall be obscured by fire sulphure and the shameful smokes of those infamous Cities which the spirit of the justest furies of God had consumed and reduced into ashes Interrogate these frightful Reliques and they will tell you That these are the tracts of the Vengeances of Heaven and the remnants of those who have broken with God that Faith which they owed him In fine to conclude this whole discourse with Moses What is more sweet and easie saith this Holy Man Mandatum hoe quod ego praecipio tibi bodie non supra te est neque procul positum Deut. 30. v. 11. than to live under the Laws of so holy a Religion and carefully to observe all those orders which have been dictated by the mouth of a God whose rigors and decrees cannot be but most just What can there be in all that is commanded you which exceeds your forces and is beyond your capacity or too far distanced from your power Nec in caele situm ut possis dicere Quis nostrum valet ad caelum ascendere ut deferat illud ad nos audiamus atque opere compleamus Deut. 30. v. 12. Considera quod hodie proposuerim in conspectu tuo vitam bonum è contraria mortem malum Deut. 30. v. 15. Testes invoco bodic calum terram c. Deut. 30. v. 19. Et diligas Dominum Deum tuum atque obedias voci ejus illi adhaereas ipse est enim vita tua longitudo dierum tuorum ut habites in terra pro qua juravit Dominus patribus tuis Abraham Isaac Jacob ut daret eam illis Deut. 30. v. 20. It is not necessary to mount so high as the Heavens and to pass beyond the Seas to learn and perform what is enjoyned you For what is there you may not do and know and where much trouble is not required to accomplish it The words of God refound in your ears they are near your mouths and hearts Ingrave then deeply in your mindes all that I have this day said unto you and above all remember that on the one side I have proposed happiness and life and on the other misfortune and death I call Heaven and Earth to witness the choice I have given you it is then your part to prefer either good or evil and choose rather life than death to the end you may live with all your children in the peace and obedience you ow unto God and to fix your mindes and hearts so strongly on him that you may live onely for and in him for he is the soul of your spirits on him alone depends the course of your life and it is his hand which will conduct you into this fortunate Land which he promised to your fore-fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Israel it is unto thee Moses speaks and it is unto you Christian People that the eccho of this voice is addressed and loudly resounds in the Law of Grace and of the Messias Do not say then Who shall ascend unto Heaven who shall cause Jesus Christ to descend who shall draw him out of the Sepulchre or who can descend into the Abyss It is not required thou shouldst do these impossible things and which are already done it sufficeth thou perform what lies in thy power and what thou oughtest and the rest shall be granted thee O my
v. 29. his portion shall be filled with all sorts of Benedictions and his Children under their jurisdiction shall behold Lands even from West to South In fine Asher shall be blessed in himself and his generations which have received as for their share the art of gaining hearts with divers others Favors without which the most illustrious Qualities and attractive Charms shall be but a specious subject of Contempt and Misery O Israel chosen people of God predestinated Nation Children of so many Saints are you not then most happy in having a God over your heads who sees the Heavens the Air and the Clouds rouling under his feet from whence he hath so often shot Thunderbolts against your enemies It is then by the Magnificence and Power of this thundring Arm and from these victorious hands you are going to become masters of Canaan and so long as you shall remain faithful to the Lord who hath taken you into his protection you shall be in him as in a Sanctuary of Peace and in a Fort before which all the Arms of the World and Hell are but as so many small peeces of straw and some breath of wind and smoke which vanish in a moment It is enough for me to leave you in the arms of so absolute a Monarch so merciful a Father and so prudent a Governor Farewel then Israel farewel my dear Children farewel my poor people I go hence whither this great God calls me I have lived too long on Earth amongst men and in a world which is but a valley of Miseries and Calamities Ascendit ergo Moises de campestribus Moab super montem Nebo c. Deut. 34. v. 1. Let us approach unto Heaven where the source of all happiness resides let us ascend the Mountain of Abarim and the top of Nebo where we shall behold the Stars at a nearer distance and where at least with our eyes we shall mark out the period of our desires and hopes It is thither God leads Moses Dixitque Dominus ad eum baec est terra pro qua juravi Abraham Isaac Jacob dicens Semini tuo dabo eam Vidisti eam ocubis tuis non transibis ad illam Deut. 34. v. 4. Mortuusque est Moises servus Domini in terra Moab jubente Domino Deut. 34. v. 5. Et sepelivit eum in valle terrae Moab contra Phagor c. Deut. 34. v. 6. and where he shews him in a moment all the Holy Land which he had promised to Abraham Isaac and Jacob for their children O God What grief and pleasure all at once What theatre of death and of life what subject of hope and despair and what spectacle unto a good heart which had so long sighed after these rewards Why were then so many prodigies so many voyages so many troubles and so many combates needful to obtain at last but the sight of those Palms which he shall never gather Moses dies when he should but begin to live and scarce had he seen what he had so much desired but at the same instant God shuts his eyes and the gates of Canaan What sweet severity what amiable rigor and what sad command Moses dies and this incomparable Prophet who deserved after his death to be placed amongst the Stars of the Firmament is interred neer to Mount Phogor in the Valleys of Moab carrying with him no other title saving that he hath been the Servant of God But this is sufficient and all other Epitaphs are at least for the most part but reliques of some vanity There are no Ciphers but these which neither time nor eternity can efface and though a thousand of them should be written and engraven on Marble and Brass with the rayes of the Sun and with Iron and Diamantine Gravers yet they will either soon or late lose their lustre Worms bear no respect the putrification of Sepulchres devours the fairest bodies and Time hath nights and shades which impallidate all the Stars of the day Let Atheists Libertines and Infidels seek out other Epitaphs where they please for my part it is enough for me to be a servant of so great a God After this Let us go Children of Saints let us go with Moses upon Mount Abarim in the Valleys of Moab into the Tomb and even into the Center of the infernal parts we shall finde every where life repose glory and immortality Never shall we be surprised having this Pasport and if the Holy Land of this World by mishap be forbidden us all the Gates of Sion and Jerusalem which is in Heaven will be opened for us O Heaven O Earth of the living O Jerusalem my dear Country when shall we be on those high Mountains where under our feet we shall behold Times and Seasons Winter and Summer Sun and Moon Air Sea and Earth as well as Life and Death with all their train When shall we be in the Arms and Bosom or at least at the Feet of this Prince whom we serve And when shall we go by the opening of his Wounds even into his Heart which is our Land of Promise Courage then Christians All is sweet to him who loves and to serve is sufficient to gain a Crown But it is God alone whom we must love and in so sweet and delicious a Bondage we ought to live and die O Life O Death O Love O Servitude To live for God to die in God to love nothing but God and to serve no other Master These are the qualities of a most blessed Soul and this is to begin on Earth that which shall never end in Heaven Behold my dear Reader the end of the Law and the first courses of our Holy History However our voyage hath been long enough to take some little breath expecting till we can follow Joshua into the Land of Promise and pass even to the Court of David and of the first Kings of Judea Mean while if by mishap I have never so little gone out of the way which was marked out to me by the invisible Lights of Faith I publickly profess that my Pen hath betrayed my Heart and that I submit all my thoughts and words unto the infallible Sense of the Church with promise upon the least advertisement I shall receive from the Wise freely to disavow all which shall have caused my deviations ERRATA Emendanda PAg. 3. Line 33. read liveless p. 5. l 16. r. ardors p. 142. l. 13. r. now l. 14. r. not p. 204. l. 15. r. pondred p. 207. l. 1. t. Laws FINIS A TABLE of the principal Matters contained IN THIS TOME A. AAron his Embassie into Egypt 267 The assurances he gave unto the people of Israel that God had heard their clamors 322 His fear whilst Joshua pursued the Amalekites 332 The Altar he erected unto the Golden Calf 359 The excuse for his Idolatry 362 Abandonment most happy 140 Abel the Picture of Meekness 27 His imployment in guiding his Fathers flocks ibid. The sacrifice which he