Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	appear_v	know_v	love_v	2,821	5	5.9342	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78452	The innocent lord; or, The divine providence. Being the incomparable history of Joseph. / Written originally in French, and illustrated by the unparallel'd pen of the learned De Ceriziers, almoner to my lord the Kings brother. And now rendred into English by Sir William Lowre Knight.; Joseph, ou la Providence divine. English	Cerisiers, René de, 1609-1662.; Lower, William, Sir, 1600?-1662.	1654 (1654)	Wing C1681; Thomason E1480_3; ESTC R208739	71,959	184

an Age if he had the means to make him to dye every day What said he ingrateful Viper is it thus that thou acknowledgest so many benefits which thou hast never merited May be that thou wouldst punish me for having put my favours into his hands that would ravish my glory The effect of this outragious design was it the affair that kept thee at home or the pretence of that painted piety which hath so long deceived our simplicity Oh I will make thee to feel that a slave cannot do grosser faults nor have greater temerities then to have a mind to bee Master Drag hence this Monster They led him away without resistance chusing rather that his innocence suffer then to see Cyrene justly afflicted They striped this chast young man he permitted that they should take away his clothes but not his shame They offended him with sharp words he held his peace but more through discretion then want of courage They tore him with scourges of the whip the blood streamed down his body and some tears from his eyes but he kept all the constancy in a great soul They discovered his bones through the violence of his dolours he desired not to live he feared only that death would not finish the occasion of his merit At last they put this poor innocent in a condition which would have given more compassion then love to his Mistresse That face which possessed so many attractions was all disfigured his eyes which could convey innocent flames into hearts have not lights enough to see That body all made of Lillies and which appeared rather snow then white was no more but a spectacle of horrour for the wicked and a subject of pity for the good Would to God that all those effeminates whom the Cloth of Holland hurteth that those wantons who cannot sleep but upon the Velure that those infamous Ravens whom lust keeps always in breath could see our Joseph in this pitiful estate I would say unto them this young man whom you see is not tyed to this pillar for being convicted of any shameful crime but for not being able to love any thing but vertue Learn of him the resistance that we must bring to an evil action and how farre forth our fidelity must go Say not that it is impossible for you to suffer that which he endured I do not believe that they have persecuted you yet to the blood and though they should your delicacy would not excuse you since Joseph was not of the Village His birth owes nothing unto yours his education had nothing of the Countrey his blood was subtile his age invited him to the pleasures that destroy you The fairest temptations come to seek him he had no need to corrupt the chastity of a Maid both by money and by artifices He could only but desire and have consent and enjoy and yet O miracle of purity he remained firm in an age where all the world is shaken inflexible in a condition wherein the most part of men do bend and victorious in an occasion where no body fights without difficulty and overcomes not without dammage Strange thing my dear Auditours that Love should produce hatred Truly if we may judge of the consanguinity by the resemblance of the humours we should conclude that these two passions are enemies rather then allies it is for all that too true that his fair Mother puts sometimes this ugly daughter into nature I confesse that the birth thereof is monstrous and appeareth but seldome it appeareth notwithstanding and though that it be difficult to see the reason thereof it is easie to see the examples Cyrene loved Joseph tenderly and now she persecutes him I wonder not at that that which surpriseth me is that her hate should spring from her love The Trees thrust not forth always the boughs which are natural to them The Animals bear sometimes bastard-young and which are strange Without doubt this happeneth when the principle of these productions is mingled But how though can hate be born of love Love produceth but love when it concurs with the esteem of its object but if it joins it self to its contempt it conceives hatred When we believe they fly us because they despise us our passion revolts and in stead of being sweet it is embittered What marvel though the wife of Potiphar persecute Joseph In the first place she revengeth her love which she sees rejected Secondly she hides her impurity which is discovered Voluptuousnesse not able to content this passion which seeketh but pleasure choler inspires her with rage which cherisheth nothing but blood It is a dangerous Monster an heart that desireth to be loved and which one cannot love I apprehend but lamentable things for our slave since he refuses to love his Mistresse Whilest I am diverted from my subject I perceived not that they took Joseph away let us endevour to find him again and not lose one alone of his good examples But alas I see him in a prison where the light enters not but when the door is open I see him loaden with Irons I see him amongst Thieves and Robberss I see him in the horrours of a cruel Captivity He hath carried notwithstanding all his patience into this infamous retrait all the vertues would accompany him thither and though the fatal spectacles of death which he had before his eyes might shake a great courage his shewed in the serenity of his countenance that he had not learned to yield unto mean afflictions His cruel dolours could not make him to confesse by one sole sigh that he suffered nor that his patience was assaulted He spake not but through the praises which he gave unto God His discourses made nothing appear of an abated courage if he complained sometimes it was only to say O my God! who thought thou hadst the secrets to change punishments into pleasures and make sweetnesse to be found in the bitterest gall I begin to blame my little experience and to wish ill to the ignorances of my youth When the cruelty of my brothers made me a slave I thought my fortune ruined when that blinded man began to look upon me favourably with Potiphar I praised my good fortune I see now that that first accident was the first source of my joyes and that happy beginning the fatal cause of my ruine It is at this present that I know the advantages of misfortune and the dangers of prosperity My vertue appearing too fair hath been tempted by my brothers and cherish●d of my Mistresse Their hate hath conserved me her love hath almost destroyed me O desirable chains how I love you Sweet Providence how I adore you with all my heart I cherish you precious chains because you are that which settles my salvation because you are that which renders my vertues firm and immoveable If you load my body you adorn my soul The torment which you give me shall not make me renounce the glory which you gain me I

but thou shalt suffer and thou shalt triumph It is in his person that innocence sighs with so good a grace that to see him and not to suffer with him to suffer with him without tasting a secret joy are two of those things which we judge impossible I know not if it be vertue or nature in me but I never remember to have contemplated the conduct of that fortunate wretch that my heart was not mollified and all my senses made conformable unto his His brothers persecuted me in his person I descended with him into the Cestern to combat there the fear and horrour of the Vipers I went into Egypt in his company and without being exposed to the temptation of his Mistresse I put my self willingly to his chain suffering with pleasure the incommodities of a prison where he found pains without trouble and gall without bitternesse I confesse that following the pomp and magnificence of his triumph my admiration was greatest but that my joy was lesse then when I lamented with him under the Irons and in the chains I expect the same feelings from all those who shall read this work since I suppose so much good nature and more vertue in them then I have my self No body can fix his eyes here without drawing advantage thence provided that they read with attention it shall not be without profit I dare even to promise my self that the curious who seek nothing but divertisement shall be here happily deceived and that the truth of the History shall have more force to perswade them then the fiction of a Romance artifice to deceive them Behold the principal fruits that one may gather from hence there is not one person in this action who instructs us not either with his words or with his example The Fathers shall learn from Jacob to divide their heart with so much equality to their children that their love cause no domestick war in their Family I know well that it is hard to keep strictly this justice and that the resemblance and sympathy of humour have powerful charms to surprise the parents The beasts themselves who cannot observe the attractions of nature leave themselves to goe after their conduct They say that the Partridge hath most tendernesse for that of her chickens who toucheth immediately her heart whilst she sits upon them as if the approach of that source of love gave right to this preference and though the features of the face nor the qualities of the temper should not make this inclination in the fathers and in the mothers there are other reasons that solicit them sometimes to give themselves unequally to their children For the most part the youngest have great advantages upon the eldest whether they proceed from the interest of the cause or derive from that of the effect One may love them with preference because the infirmity of their age requireth succour and care which would be unnecessary and unseemly in behalf of the strong we support not but what is delicate and leans This natural sweetnesse which renders them supple to the will of their parents is no weak motive of their affection Those who dispute their services with them make their power to be doubted those who render them without constraint shew it and confirm it Moreover if it be true that fathers live in their children have they not some reason to cherish more the youngest who promise them advantage thereof both because they have a longer file of years before them and because they have more condescendencies to the cares of their old age I speak not of innocence and vertue since it is certain that they should draw the heart and affection of the parents wheresoever they are But notwithstanding any justice that he hath to prefer the youngest before the eldest or these before the others a father should fly the exteriour and apparent testimonies of his esteem forasmuch as he may provoke many willing to favour one alone The marks of the affection which they gave them are the Butts where envy discharges her self and the spurs to hatred which persecute them Perhaps Joseph had been cherished of his brothers if he had not bin better habited then they at least we may understand that the robe with which he was gratified was the chief cause of the jealousie that sold him Love then Parents love but love equally or if you cannot love secretly and in silenee that your affection be as hidden as its principle Jacob had great motives to cherish his Joseph he was the Image of Rahel his dear wife he was that of all the vertues which appeared with so much lustre in his visage that one might know them in his person and yet so many just motives of his love could not justifie him nor all his prudence moderate his passion In the brothers of Joseph we have the example and the figure of those monsters who cannot see a good quality in those whom the birth or society of life should render commendable without an envious eye or being crased with jealousie One must be a fool to merit their good will or at least he must not be more able then they to avoid their hate They will sell their own bloud provided they may remove a vertue that incommodates them But certainly it happens always that they repent themselves of their cruelty and if there be not found a Monarch to raise up Joseph there is a God who punisheth them and protects him For my part I confesse notwithstanding any trouble we sustain in suffering stroaks from an hand which should defend us that I should love better to act in such like encounter the part of a Martyr then the office of a Tyrant or Executioner for in the end rage confoundeth and patience crowneth But what instruction may not one derive from the misfortunes and from the prosperities of Joseph First my Reader learn from him that it is important to hide that Sun and those Lights which shew you I would say that you should not publish the merit which you have Lay not forth your selves the fruit of your sheaves because that your brethren may believe that there is asmuch vanity in this testimony which you render you as there is freenesse and simplicity in discovering your selves Have a care to do well and leave that of praising you unto others you shall lose nothing of your price you have God for caution of that which men owe you If it happeneth that Heaven put you into credit abuse it not Consider your fortune as a proof of your vertue and as a means that is presented to you to exercise it if you have power make it known by your good deeds and not by your revenges I confesse that there is some sweetnesse to resent ones self of an injury but there is glory and merit to pardon it Resemble not those gods of the Ancients unto whom they gave incense for fear they should raise storms It is a fatal power that to hurt men

image of death upon their visage and so tyed their tongue that all what they could say was to confesse themselves criminals Then our Patriarch exercising the first effect of his power upon the resentment of his injuries raised them and by the abundance of his tears witnessed to them that he had nothing but love and tendernesse in his heart My friends said he unto them I conjure you to forget what is pass'd and to expect as much of my affection for the future as if I were your son I am obliged thereunto both by duty and by inclination It is to you that I owe my prosperities it is with you that I will divide them Perhaps if I had not been miserable I should not be now happy If a storm should drive me unto the Port I should blesse it and I should love him that would cure me would he empoison me You have failed the one through too much zeal the other through too much love These two persecutors are too amiable for me to disoblige I pardon that excesse to the weaknesse of our nature I chuse rather to believe that my misfortunes were arriv'd me from the Providence of God then from the malice of men For my part who am the subject of all these inconstancies of fortune so far am I from keeping any resentment against you that I desire henceforward to have no better friends then my first Masters The truth of my words shall be known by the effects upon all occasions wherein you shall employ me Joseph no sooner finished his discourse but he began his liberalities offering to Potiphar a Chain of Gold and to his wife a Rose of Diamonds his daughter was not forgotten for he sent her by one of his Gentlemen two rich Pendants for her ears which equalled not for all that the price of his affection Since this first sight he never ceased to oblige them as if he had design to do them as much good as he had received evil from them A little while after this interview death surprised Cyrene as if she had not stayed but to see her Innocent to take away her life After her decease Potiphar was capable of the chief dignity of Egypt he was possessour thereof since he was furnished therewith at the recommendation of the Vice-Roy Heliopolis rendred the same honors to the God Mnenis as Memphis did to the God Apis and to speak the truth there is no more reason to honour the beasts in one place then in another It was then the dignity of the high Priest which Potiphar exercised in that Town of the Sun and though Joseph would rather have seen the Calves at the shambles then upon the Altars he judged it fitter to put this superstition into the hands of his Master then to charge another therewith because he knew him more capable to deride it The care which he had to ruine the Idols justified the care which he took in appearance to establish them It was a truce which he made with the gods of Egypt and not a peace that he concluded he gave himself leisure to think of their destruction with safety Let us leave this high Priest departed with all his family to go exercise his charge and let us stay to consider the conduct of our Intendant I know that Philon represents us him as the example of a faithful Minister and that a great Cardinal makes him the Idea of his Monarch but I can say that he had something more then the qualities which are necessary to the one and the other since he wanted not any perfection that might compleat a man He needed not to seek the model of a wise Favorite out of himself the perfect Courtier was in his person He possessed the heart of his Master but he managed it not but to bring it to doe good to all the world so that his hands were but the publick Conduits of his Princes favors He could take every one in his humour hee would buy those that would not give themselves The most rude and savage spirits found sweetnesse in his and if the enormity of the crimes required some rigour from him it was but with regret that he was just loving better to correct vice by the repentance then by the despair of the guilty All Egypt was no more but a great family of which he was the father procuring with an incredible care that abundance and delights might be there without luxury This design succeeded to him so well that they must goe more then an hundred miles to finde one miserable or one vicious For as felicity was established in this happy Country the good manners met here also all the moral vertues reigned there excepting those which cannot exercise themselves but in misfortune or which suppose imperfections and defects in their objects Never did policy arrive more perfectly to her end which is to make as many happy as she hath subjects then at that time having the wisdome of Joseph for soul and Intelligence Pharaoh tasted this good fortune for he was loved of his people he was feared of his enemies The strangers could not give more solid foundation to their repose then to gain them the good will of Ioseph But it is time to admire one of the miracles of the world and to consider these prodigious Pyramids which hide whole Provinces with their shadow I am not ignorant that there are some Writers who assure us that these proud Obelisques were the monuments of the Kings of Egypt and that these excellent works were made but to cover magnificently dust and ashes I know well also that there are other some who make our Ioseph the Authour of them and that they should be the publick Granaries which he caused to be built in every Town principally at Memphis and about Babylon Whilest that more then an hundred thousand hands were employed about these buildings there was but the head of Ioseph that laboured to see if the exe●ution answered to the design and if the work were as perfect as the Idea he took leave of the King and visited all Egypt It was during this course that he knew Heaven took care to marry him and that God would not that virginity should be longer one of his vertues It will not be from our purpose to observe the Providence of him who disposed thus the will of our Patriarch I have said that Potiphar had a daughter endowed with a rare and ravishing beauty and whose incomparable perfections invited a great number of Lords to her suit but though she gave love to all the world she took it not from any person I know not whether she esteemed the bravest of the kingdome unworthy of her alliance or if naturally she could not love a man At least might one judge that there was contempt or inclination in the care which she took to fly their encounter Since the time that her father was retired to Heliopolis she devoted her self to the service of Diana and promised

who would have no servants Ioseph having known this inclination and observed that the heart of Asseneth rejected all that which her eyes attracted indevoured to fortifie her in that resolution When he met her aside and that he could not be heard of her Followers he told her so many marvels of chastity that she deliberated from that time forward to remain always a Virgin Observe this passage of Gods Providence who distasted this Maid with the love of all those that sought her to prepare her to an affection which you will presently admire But it seems that fortune was weary to oblige our Intendant and that she feared to acquire the name of constant if she obliged him longer And to speak truth I should love much better to be alwayes miserable then not to be happy but to resent more livelily my misfortune and to creep in the dust then to see my self lifted up to fall into a precipice There is no beast how fierce soever he be who becomes not gentle with us Misfortunes seem to be of this nature since the most bitter render themselves sweet by their familiarity Poor Joseph how happy had you been in your misfortune if they had left you to the chain the custome of suffering would have taken away the sense of your pains or at least it would have diminished the sharpnesse thereof Hitherto we have not spoken of the satisfaction which the wife of Potiphar had from the services of Joseph We have said that all those of the house lov'd him perfectly shall it be she alone that hath no heart Oh would to God that she were all of Ice for him her hate is more to be desired then her affection They assure that Love hath no eyes or if he have he sees not a whit this cannot be said of those that love For if the object of their passion be present it possesseth not only their thought but as if all their looks belonged to it it draws them so powerfully that reason governs them no more And that which is to be admired they are so clear-sighted that they find in that object the perfections that are not there Every part is a miracle of nature and though oftentimes that very thing from whence they derive their love is that which gives hatred unto others it must be that all their comparisons come from Heaven and that the names which they give them be robbed from the Angels or from God But retnrn we to her who must make the filthiest part of this History and which we would have left out if the Holy Ghost himself marking all its particulars seemed not willing to illustrate the glory of Joseph by the shame of this infamous woman It is not then but too true that he was loved of her who owed all her heart to Potiphar which she could not divide without losing it altogether I confesse notwithstanding that her first affection had taken birth from his fair qualities and that she was in the beginning honest but degenerating afterward into a filthy passion she fixed her self lesse to the merit then to him that possessed it Behold as it happeneth oftentimes that Vertues ingender Vices and that the Sun produceth the shadows which he must dissipate Joseph perceived not so soon the malady of his Mistresse forasmuch as he saw nothing amiable in his person and that he had too good opinion of Cyrene to conceive an evil one of her It is thus that charity thinks of her neighbour loving better to feign perfections in him then to consider his defects she doth that here which she would find All the words of complaisance which she used were taken for a simple acceptation of service and for a civility which the Nobility never deny to the meanest persons This woman perceiving the sense that Ioseph gave to her flatteries declared her self all openly not letting any occasion passe to witnesse to him her love She had no praises but for Joseph all that which he did was approved his least words were mysteries and though she needed not to feign much to find him fair her passion rendred him to her more amiable If this evil had not been gone so far there might have been means to cure it and to give some excuse to a woman who had no modesty For to speak the truth one must be extreamly cold not to be warmed by so fair a fire and strong to make defence against so charming an enemy His beauty was a powerful attraction even for the souls that were not weak The deformity of these Moors and Aethopians who were in the same house serving him for umbrage raised his lustre the more What marvel was it then that a woman made like the Mistresse of Joseph should suffer her self to be taken by so many enticements Our holy young man knew at last the evil gain that he had made and as all was contrived without his consent and against his desire he indevoured to bring to it all the remedies that his wisdome judged necessary and profitable The presence of the object is the support and nourishment of that disease which they call Love he was not ignorant of it therefore withdrew he as much as he could from this Lady But if necessity obliged him to do any thing in her presence he restrained all the good grace of his action for fear that it might be a new motive to her tendernesse His artifices staid not there for as he knew that they remained without fruit being angry with himself for the fault of another he punished it in his person He fasted wore the cilice and practised other mortifications to the end to take away the handsomenesse from his body and the beauty from his visage which seemed to prepare him this persecution He that kindles a fire ought to quench it when Love is unlawful his birth is shameful his murther commendable the Parricide is the true father thereof for who kills it obliges it The more our Saint applied industries to dis-engage his Mistresse the more his Mistresse invented new plots to surprise him All her actions carried design her looks were capable to bring impurity into a pure spirit and to make a savage to love Her countenance was so smooth that it could give tendernesse to the most austere vertue Even her carriage when it appeared simple was affected I speak not of the sighs with which she indevoured to shake his constancy nor of certain papers which she made sometimes to fly into his hands I care not to trouble your chaste ears with the evil discourses that she held forth unto him but to the end that you may know the strength of a great soul I will give you part of his answer The wise Physician draws Antidotes from the most cruel poison the good Christian instructions from the most evil actions This unchaste Lady having one day declared unto him the passion that she had for him and indevoured to draw his consent to her shameful design he

my suit without owing any thing unto favour I am descended from a family which will be no shame unto yours My birth merited a better fortune then those Irons which by disaster or rather by the Providence of God I met with in your house And to speak unto you more clearly I am an Hebrew son of that great Jacob whose merit is respected of all Palestine My Ancestours are illustrious enough to communicate me some glory with the blood which I derive from them I speak nothing to you of my person fearing to diminish the esteem of that which comes unto me from those famous persons At these words Potiphar was seised with so sensible a joy that he could not command himself a longer attention taking then the word which he had snatched taken away from Joseph he cryed out aloud And what Sir think you me insensible in this point that there should need reasons to perswade me to my happinesse and my Daughters I look not upon your present fortune nor the glory of your Ancestors I not only consent but I desire with all my heart the honour of your allyance Your vertue is worth more then your fortune Your merit weighs more in my spirit then that of your Fathers laying aside all that which is out of you I desire simply nothing but you I cherish a thousand times more your perfections then your treasures and the ornaments of your soul then those of your body God is my witnesse that if I had been bold enough to desire great things that I should not have had courage enough to look upon the good which you present me Asseneth is too happy in that you have vouchsafed to abase your eyes on her all her race will publish for ever your goodnesse and I my good fortune From this time forward I desire that you be master of my fortune that you dispose of my estate and that my Daughter resigne a half of her heart unto you having no other will but yours Notwithstanuing Sir I would not that you should doubt of my sincerity if any vain superstition should obstinate her to reject her good The spirit of women being not sometimes capable of reason is so neither of change though one may say that their sex makes the greatest part of the Worlds inconstancy Their imagination is sometimes an eternal Law and their resolution a decree which hath the same necessities with destiny I fear that Aseneth may be a little opinionate upon a certain promise which obliges her saith she to live alwayes a Virgin if she believe me this scruple shall not exercise much her spirit for besides that the chief law of Children is to obey their Parents by right of nature I will make her free of that obligation by the power which I hold to conserve or release that of our Gods This good Father knew not that his Daughters will had already consented to the allyance of Joseph for as soon as she saw him she found her affection engaged So many charms appeared not without making this precious Conquest there are clandestine mariages of the heart as well as of the body and often times it happeneth that without considering a person with attention one loves by destiny That visage which was but one and twenty years old presented an object too ravishing to this young Lady not to ravish all her soul so many attractions gave her rather a necessity then an inclination to the love of his person Yet must she make the showes and difficulties which are ordinary in these encounters where the women endeavour only to hide their desire and not to extinguish it When her Father spake unto her of this suit an honest blush covered her cheeks and as he pressed her to give consent thereunto her plaints witnessed that it was but with regret that she obeyed Potiphar Poor girle how confounded would you be if your tears instead of dissembling you should betray you why would you that one should force from your mouth what you give so willingly from the bottom of your heart it is ordinary with this sex to teach even the eyes to lie and to give Hypocrisie to the simplest countenances Our Vice-Roy knew too well these little policies to be put off with that affected coldnesse on the contrary as he found her one day a part after having praysed her modesty he declared unto her without any artisice the purity of his intentions and leaving all the foolish complements of love unto those who have nothing better he assured her that her allyance was in truth the most ardent of his desires but yet that he knew so well to moderate his affection that she should not be constrained to render him any complaysance to the prejudice of the reverence of her Religion and therefore if she were loath to quitt hers that he would indeavour to change his love into respect But I cannot perswade my self added he that the feare to displease a statue of brasse or one of insensible wood should obliege you to the contempt of my affection Your Gods have nothing good but their matter and if the Artificer who created them had made them of dirt their Majesty would be as adorable as their stuffe would be precious It is true that I cannot well deceive my self in the opinion of your belief and that such a wit as yours should suffer it self to be surprized in the worship of those Divinities who have filled Heaven with nothing but thefts and adulteries I speak not of Venus whose impurities are adored nor of your Apis who cannot render his Oracles without bellowing since he is an Oxe That Diana whom you serve is she not an inconstant in the Heaven a courser in the Woods and a fury in hell I would not believe that you should think the onyons and leeks which are eaten by the hoggs nor the Crocodiles which devoure men should be Gods since the impuissance of the first cannot conserve themselves nor the cruelty of the other do good Is it not true Madam that you have long condemned these false Divinities without having yet happiness enough to acknowledge the true Behold the time wherein you may be devout without Idolatry and adore God without offending him it is principally that which I seek assuring you that I desire not so much to be your Husband as to give you our great God for bridegroom Asseneth having thanked Joseph for the zeale which he witnessed to have of her salvation received the offers of service which he made her and to prove unto him that his Religion pleased her as much as his allyance she made a sacrifice to the true God of all the Idols which she adored If I were in a humor to write of visions Vincent de Beauvais would shew you one in his mirrour where you might admire the providence of God in the instruction of his Elect let those who desire it seek it for my part I have too many assured truths to hazard my self in publishing