sufficiently to disguise their looks strive to hide under the Veils and shadows of a Bed or dark Chamber the shame of their insensibility Abraham shed more tears from his Heart Et mortua est in civitate Arbee quae est Hebron in terra Chanaan venitque Abraham ut plangeret fleret eam Gen. 23. v. 2. than by his Eyes and in rendring all duties to Nature and his Wife he most amply satisfied God and his own piety while he was a Pilgrim and stranger in the Land of Canaan Sara being Dead in the City of Hebron he went directly into the place where his Wifes Body reposed There he offered up his Prayers unto God and kiss'd a thousand times these amiable reliques watering them from time to time with his tears All those who assisted this Holy Man might well perceive the tears which distilled from his Eyes and hear the groans which issued forth of his Mouth But God alone knows the Acts of resignation He presently intreated Ephron to sell him a double Cave which was close by the vale of Mambre to interr Sara in that place Ephron is willing to grant what he asketh but being at last as it were inforced to take a sum of Money for the purchace of his Land Abraham became Master of the Field and Grot in which he laid the Body of his dear moity It is in this monument where the most generous Woman of her time reposeth Atque ita sepelivit Abrahum Saram uxorem suam in spelunca 〈◊〉 duplici Gen. 23. v. 19. And under this Rock of Diamond will be found a Diamantine Heart in the Body of Sara who was a perfect pattern of Constancy and Fidelity CHAP. XIII The Mariage of Isaack with Rebecca and the Death of Abraham THe World is a Theater on which very different actions are seen There Voluptuousness smiles and Grief hath tears in its Eyes Hope flies in the imbaulmed Air and Despair plungeth it self into an Abyss of Gall and poyson Love and Sweetness catch Men in Nets wrought by the Hands of the Graces and on the contrary Hatred and Envy assasinate the Hearts of Men with inchanted Darts A Bloody Amphitheater In fine whilst Life is fowing on all sides Death mows down all before her Behold the common objects of the World pleasures sorrows hopes despairs loves envies furies flatteries Mariages solemnities life death birth a Chaos of disorder a Labyrinth of unions and divorces which make the course of this life but a list and Theater where all we can imagine is to be seen Have we not beheld all this in the life of Abraham This poor Man then was in the Hands of God and Providence as a feather in the Air which serves for sport unto the Winds and as a Planet in the Heavens which never rests or as a Wheel in the Water which is alwaies turning and in a continuall motion God led him out of Chaldea Mesopotamia Canaan and Egypt from thence he causeth him to return unto the Cunanites where he stays for some time in the City of Sichem sometime in that of Hebron afterwards in Gerara and then in Bershabe and again in Hebron as if he could not live but in Travelling during whose Voyages Heaven is pleased to afford him a thousand Combats and as many occasions of Victory In fine after the deliverance of his Son â—rat antem Abraliam senex dierumqtie multorum c. Gen. 2â— v. 1. â—orrvaque ad servom seniorem Domus suae qui praeerat omnibus quae Dabebat pone manum tuum sulter sâ—mur meum Gen. 24. v. 2. Vt adjurem teper Dominum Deum Caela terrae ut non accipias uâ—oâ—em filio meo de filithus Chananaeorum inter quos habito Gen. 24. v. 3. Sed ad terram cognationem meam praficisearis inde accipias uâ—â—orem filio meo Isaac Gen. 24. v. 4. and the death of his Wife he feeling himself wholy broken with old age and upon the point of following the happy Lot of Sara resolved to seek a Wife for Isaack and for that end he calls one of the most faithfull Servants of his House called Eliezer and having commanded him to lay his Hand under his Thigh he conjured him by the name of God to seek a match for his Son in the Land of Haram as if this Country had inherited from Cham its first Lord the malediction which Noah had fulminated against him Which being done this wise Embassador chosen amongst the Domesticks of Abraham began his journey to execute the designs and Commission of his Master Posuitergo servus manum subsemore Abraham Domini sus c. Gen. 24. v. 9. Tult quc decem Camelos degrege Domini sui â—biit ex omnibus honis esus portans secum profâ—â—tusque pervexit in Mesopotamiam ad urse em Nachor Gen. 24. v. 10. and departing from Bershabe he went directly to Mesopotaneia carrying with him ten large Camels loaden with the rarest and most magnificent presents which were in Abrahams House Behold him then in the City of Nachor meditating with himself upon all the readiest and most facile means to expedite what had bin given him incharge What will he doe First he departs out of the City and repayring where Women in their turns were wont to draw Water Cumque Camelos fecisset accumbere extra op illum juxta puteuÌ„ aquae c. Gen. 24. v. 11. he there rests his Camels expecting untill Heaven should offer the opportunity he desired During this expectation he offered up his prayers unto God saying Lord God of Abraham Dominus meus Demini met Abraham occurre obsecro milu hodie fac miseâ—â—cordiam cum Domino meo Abraham Gen. 24. v. 12. Ecce ego sto prope fontem aquae filiae habitatorum hujus Civitatis egredientur ad hauriendam aquam Gen. 24. v. 13. Igitur puella cui ego dixero inclina hydriam tuam ut bibaÌ„ illa responderit bibe quin Camelis tuis dabo potum ipsa est quam praeparasli servo tue Isaac c. Gen. 24. v. 14. Nec dum intra se verba compleverat ecce Rebecca egrediebatur habens bydriam in scapula sua Gen. 24. v. 15. Occurritque ei ser vus ait pauxillum aquae mihi ad bibendum praebe de hydria tua Gen. 24. v. 17. Quae respondit bibe Domine mi c. Gen. 24. v. 18. Ipse autem contemplebatur eam tacitus c. Gen. 24. v. 21. cast I beseech thee some propitious and favourable look upon the designs of my Master Great God take pitty of Abraham thy faithfull Servant it is by his appointment I am in these territories I expect here but the hour when the Maid shall come to draw Water out of this Fountain If then My God thou dost give me this advice I resolve to entreat the first which shall approach it to afford me some Water to drink if she grant me
139 Hail plague of Egypt 286 Wretched Harvest of worldly men 152 Hail-storm in Constantinople 268 Hardness of Pharaohs heart 269 Hardness of heart a woful estate 271 Grashoppers of Egypt 289 I. Jacob and Esau 121 Figure of the Christian and Jewish people 116 Jacob Esau 's elder brother and how 137 His agreement with his father-in-law Laban 155 Jacob resolves to send Benjamin into Egypt 207 His descent into Egypt to see his son Joseph 223 The answer he made to Pharaoh concerning his age 229 His death and last words 231 Idols and their subversion 344 Detestable Idolatry of amorous persons 39 Jethro the counsel he gave to Moses to establish Judges for deciding differences between the people of Israel 337 Atheistical ignorance 85 Images of Jesus Christ anciently painted in Temples and Houses in the form of a Lamb 27 Image of a generous courage 69 Image of Gods judgement 86 Image of the lives of men 126 Image of the life and death of Jesus Christ 145 Image of Chastity 184 Image of the World 198 Imagination the effects and properties thereof 156 Unnatural impudence of Cham 48 Inconstancy of created things 113 Dreadful incertainty 135 Incarnation its draught and picture 144 Innocence secured 170 Innocence victorious 179 Inhumanity more than brutish 220 Joseph born of Rachel 154 Joseph sold by his brethren 165 Joseph known by his brethren 214 His lamentations for the death of his Father Jacob 242 Joshua his victories over the Amalekites 332 Isaac his birth 93 The discourse he held with his father asking him where was the victim of his Sacrifice 108 His submission and obedience 109 His mariage with Rebecca 116 Most exact Justice 83 Judges a fair example for them ibid. Judas the brother of Joseph made a speech to him in the name of his brethren 216 Judgements of God incomprehensible 290 Prodigious increase of the people of Israel 247 Jacobs Ladder 141 Jacobs wrestling with the Angel 159 K. Kings of France true successors of Abraham 80 L. Laban is grieved for the barrenness of his flocks 156 His agreement with Jacob and his return unto Mesopotamia 157 Lesson to husbands and wives 17 Leah considerable for her fruitfulness 154 Dangerous liberty 29 Liberality cannot be without freedom 79 Liberality portraict of the Divinity ibid. Liberty of holy Souls 80 Liberty of Esau cause of his misfortune 128 Laws their excellency 357 Their establishment 368 Lot delivered out of the hands of his enemies by the means of Abraham 70 Luxury destruction of souls and canker of body 64 Love its effects and properties 3 Love architect of the world ibid. Gods love never idle 73 Incredulous love 224 Ladder of divine providence 146 Lots wife transformed into a pillar of Salt 89 Irreparable loss 184 Life of man a war without truce 159 Life and death inseparable companions 231 M. Magicians of Pharaoh and their enchantments 270 Admirable magnificence of God 58 Malediction of parents dangerous 132 Malediction of God on the Serpent 23 Malediction of Noah on his son 48 Malice of an eloquent woman 20 Manna of the desart 320 The time when it was to be gathered 323 Mariages subject to many disasters 123 Mariage of Isaac with Rebecca 116 Assured marks of our disposition 126 Martyrdom of love 103 Mixture of fortune 166 Excellent meditation 298 Pleasing Metamorphosis 63 Murther of Abel 27 Michael the Emperor quits his Empire to enter into a religious life 58 Mirror of Essences the motto thereof 29 World error of some Philosophers touching the beginning thereof 8 Monarchy of Adam and Eve over the Univers 19 The world is a Theatre 116 Extreme mortification 145 Motives which induced God to create the world 1 Motives of Conscience 140 Powerful motives to divert the brethren of Joseph from wicked designs 172 Moses 246 His birth and education ibid. His learning 252 His zeal and mariage with the daughter of the Prince of Madian 253 His fear at the sight of the flaming Bush 257 His Commission concerning the deliverance of the people of Israel 260 The certain marks of his power 263 He excuseth himself for accepting the Commission which God gave him 265 The threats God used to him 266 His Embassie into Egypt 267 He is visited in the desart where he creates Judges and Magistrates 334 His last Actions 385 His Testament 386 His last Canticle 402 Mysteries hidden under the Paschal Lamb 300 Man necessary for the world 9 Men eloquent when it concerns their own praise excellent conceptions upon this subject 10 Man the sport of the gods 148 Honest man what he is 163 N. Nature of God beneficent 320 Nature her power limited 269 Nembrod cheif contriver of the Tower of Babel his spirit and disposition 49 Noah his obedience to the command of God 41 His going out of the Ark and his sacrifice on the Hills of Armenia 44 Names Chariots of Essences 74 O. Obligation of fathers and mothers 128 Dreadful obstinacy 271 Oeconomy of the humane body 12 Opinion of Hesiod touching the Creation of the World 8 Original sin 15 Ornaments of the Sanctuary 369 P. Peace and Purity inseparable companions 65 Terrestrial Paradise 16 Paradise first habitation of man 16 Passions their different nature 181 Patience very awful 84 Persecution of modesty 184 Perfidiousness of the world 206 Plague of Egypt 284 Natural causes of the plague 285 Pharaoh King of Egypt makes Joseph his Lieutenant by reason of the truth of his predictions 196 Command of Pharaoh concerning the murther of all the male-children of the Hebrews 248 Pharaoh swallowed up in the Red Sea 304 Plagues of Egypt 275 Antient Policy 356 Portraict of the Justice of God 86 Predictions of Joseph 192 Efficacious prayers 122 Prevision of merits 137 Proclaming of Joseph by his Brethren 172 Promulgation of the Law on Mount Sina 343 Paternal Prudence 169 Punishment of Adam 14 Shameful pusillanimity 69 Putipher his over-great credulity 186 The impudence of his wife and her attempt upon the chastity of Joseph 178 Paschal Lamb 299 Planets the beginning of their courses 5 Pillar of Fire and Clouds 379 Picture of Hell 91 Picture of Fortune 194 Pains of women in child-bearing 23 Prayer the power and effects thereof 122 R. Rachel and her sterility 154 Radegond a despiseth France to become religious 59 Ramerus King of Aragon follows the same destiny ibid. Amiable resemblance between Joseph and Jesus Christ 222 The recompence of Jacob for his services 155 Pitiful reliques of sin 26 Remorse of Conscience 32 Remedies against Envy 35 Reproaches of God to Cain 28 Very just resentments 77 Rosignation of Abraham 101 Angelical resolution of Joseph 181 Rock and its motto 102 Ruben his affection towards his brother Joseph 173 Rivers their bounds and limits 5 River of Charity 80 S. Sacrifices very different of Abel and Cain 28 Sacrifices of Aaron consumed by fire from Heaven 376 Sanctification of the Sabhath 346 Sarah her death 113 How long she lived 115 Scamander i'ts properties effects
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 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
28. Venerontque ad Jacob patrem suum in terram Chanaan c. Gen. 42 v. 29. Locutus est nobis Dominus terrae dure c. Gen. 42. v. 30. His aictus oùm frumenta effunderent singult reperierunt in ore saccorum ligatas pecunias exterritisque simut omnibus dixit pater Jacob Absque lioeru me esse fecistis Joseph non est super Simeon tenetur in vinculis Benjamin auferetis in me haec omnia mala râ—â—ederunt they presently began their journey but scarce were they arrived at their first nights lodging when one of them having opened his Sack found there his Money he called his Brethren and told them what had happened to him whereupon being all astonished they said to one another Alas what design hath God on us and whence arrive to us all these adventures From thence holding on their journey they went directly unto Chanaan to find Jacob to whom they related what had passed and how they had been harshly received by the Governour of Egypt who notwithstanding all the assurances they had given him of their designs and innocence had taken them for Spies but at last he permitted them to return and likewise to carry with them the provision they had bought upon condition nevertheless speedily to bring unto him the youngest amongst them who as they said was left alone at home to Solace the discommodities and old age of their Father Doing this he promised them that Simeon should be released and that they should have liberty to continue their traffick and commerce in Egypt Upon this they opened their Sacks where having found all their Money they remained very much astonished but chiefly Jacob was as much or more surprised then his Children Whereupon he could not contein himself from saying to them Ah poor wretches that you are you have reduced me into such an estate as I am now left without a Child Joseph is no more and if what you say be true Simeon is detain'd in prison not content with this you will also take my Benjamin from me O God what calamities all at once â—las on what side shall I turn me and where may I find some consolation Joseph is no more Simeon is a Captive and you will carry away my Benjamin who is the support of my life and the delight of my heart Poor Father that I am whither shall I goe Famine besiegeth me my Children betray me the Powers of the world combine against me old Age oppresseth me and death pursues me Cui respondit Ruben Duos filtos meos interfice si non reduxero illum tibi Trade illum in manu mea ego cum tibi restituam Gen. 42. v. 37. At ille non descendet inquit filius meus vobiscum frater ejus mortuus est ipse solus remansit Si quid ei adversi acciderit in terra ad quam pergitâ—s deducetis canos meos cum doloread inferos Gen. 42. v. 38. Jacob whither wilt thou goe Father saith Ruben doe not afflict your self For my part I have but two Children I leave them with you in Benjamins place and if I bring him not back put them to death No saith Jacob I will never consent that Benjamin shall goe with you for already his brother is dead and if by accidents some mishap befall this poor Child which is left me I might even dye for grief and my ashes would for ever complain of you Behold the Picture of mans life in this world drawn to the life in the person of Jacob. His birth was in the midst of Combats his youth hath been a Duel with his own Brothers Scarce had he attain'd the age of a Man when God himself was pleased to assault him Afterwards his Children prov'd the strongest enemies of his old Age and he saw executioners in his own Family Alas what will he doe O God will you have Benjamin also will you commind Jacob to immolate this Victim and must he goe into Egypt and leave his Father who lives only by him O world how disloyall art thou Fathers and Mothers what Children have you and where doe you place all your hopes all these Eldest Sons whom you breed up so deliciously will deceive you This Joseph whom you Idolatrise will prove a torment to you and even in despight of you this so beautifull Perfidiousness of the world so sweet so amiable and so accomplish'd Benjamin must leave you first or last to goe amongst the Egyptians But what must Jacob also resolve to leave Benjamin how will you have him live if his heart be taken from him And is not the removing him from a person who placed on him all his hopes and the support of his Life a condemnation unto Death CHAP. VII Jacob resolves to send Benjamin into Egypt IN the world there are inexorable Caves and fatall necessities which can hardly be avoided We must often swim over the arms of the Sea not to perish in the midst of the Ocean Fatall necessities and some there are who resolve rather to dye stifled with smoak than to fall into a flaming fire Nothing is to be preferred before life next unto God and Honour and we usually give what we have to preserve it It is for this reason with our hands we keep off the Darts which are thrown at our hearts and there is no part of the body which serves not for a Buckler when life is to be saved In fine the fear of Death is a blind passion which knowes neither Friends nor Children Jacob then must suffer his Benjamin to depart but it is not without much grief and without fighting many battells with a Love so Cordial and an affection a Father ought to have for a Child so worthy to be beloved He must dye then of Famin or Benjamin must depart But it is not enough that the rest return and this dear Child remain with his Father No Dixit Jacob ad filios suos Revertimins emitte nobis pauxillum escarum Gen. 43. v. 2. Consumptisque cibis quos ex Aegipto detulerant Gen. 43. v. 2. Respondit Judas Denunciavit nobis vir ille attestatione dicens c. Gen. 43. v. 3. Si ergo vis eum mittere nobiscum pergemus pariter ememus tibi necessaria Gen. 43. v. 4. go then my Children saith Jacob return into Egypt to buy us something for our sustenance for nothing is left of all that you brought us Father replyed Judas you know that we told you that the Governour of Egypt hath forbidden us to return into his presence if we doe not bring him our little Brother If you will permit him then to goe thither we will all accompany him and buy all things necessary We are ingaged by promise and oath to bring him or never more to come into Egypt What promise and what ingagement Answers Jacob you have then Conspired to undoe me Dixit eis Israel in meam hoc fecistis miseriam Gen. 43. v. 6.
face But let us hope that either soon or late these Curtains Veils and Clouds will be withdrawn and that the Angels will one day say unto us as to St. Euphraxia Let us goe my dear Daughter we have lived but too long amidst the night and under the shade of a body Let us goe into the Sanctuary the Veil is taken away and we shall now in peace and at leisure enjoy the sight of the Holy of Holies who is in the Sanctuary CHAP. XLII The Altar of Holocausts BEsides the Altar of Perfumes within the Temple Fecit altare hoâ—ocausti de lignis Sittim c. Exod. 38. v. 1. Craticulamque ejus in modum retis fecit aeneam Exod. 38. v. â— there was that of Holocausts without by reason of the fire and smoak which would have soiled the Tabernacle This Altar was built of the wood of Shittim in the midst whereof a kind of Gridiron appear'd which bore the wood and the flaming Victim and under a vacant place a little hole was made to convey thence the Ashes because fire was alwayes to be there preserv'd evening and morning to immolate a Lamb and the rest of the day some other Victims Behold the Altar for the Passion and Crosse of Mount Calvary which shall never be subject unto corruption were it only for having been the Altar on which the incorruptible body of Jesus had been Sacrificed Cujus cornua de â—â—gulis procedebant c. Exod. 38. v. 2. The four horns of the Altar denoted the four corners of the World where this Crosse was to be preached and the side-Window shewed towards the East the Terrestriall Paradise into which sin had cast as it were wood to prepare a Pile for this amiable Phenix on which he was to be burnt by the flames of his love The Gridiron represented the torments he was to endure with an admirable patience like a Lamb who had been designed to be sacrificed from the beginning of the world This Altar hath also an admirable analogy with the heart of man who like a Salamander was to live in the fire to immolate every hour his Passion like so many Victims and to be full of God and devoid of all affection to creatures incorruptible also in his desires elevated by his faith love and hopes And then the very ashes would serve to conserve the memory of his Masters pains and both day and night fires clarities lights and victims would be there seen consecrated and offered unto God with the spirituall Perfumes and Incense which are the prayers of Saints CHAP. XLIII The Vestments of the High Priest IT were to repass a Needle into a stuff on which the hand of the increated Wisdome had wrought and to which the most learned men of the world have endeavoured to adde some colours If I should touch upon the mysterious garment of the High-Priest of the Old Testament I may only then relate the number of them and observe transitorily what is represented to us under these wonders The first Vestment of the High-Priest was the Ephod De byacintho ve ò purpura virmiculo ac bysso fecit vesses â—uibus indueretur Aaron c. Exo. 39. v. 1. where were ingraven in Pretious stones the names of the twelve Patriarks of the people of Israel who had been the chief of their Race Ipsique lapides duodecim sculpti erant nominibus duodecim tribuum Israël singuli per nomina singulorum Exod. 39. v. 14. and those unto whom God had promised a multiplication It was also to remember them and the twelve Tribes during the Sacrifice and to the end the people reading these names might be excited to imitate the lives and examples of those who had so worthily born them In fine it was a mark that the Priest bore not only the people in his heart but also on his shoulders in testimony of that love which was to be Active and Passive This Ephod also was the figure of the yoak of the Gospell and of that which Christians were to bear in imitation of the first High-Priest who is no other than Jesus Christ whose obedience having reached even to death and whose love having closed his eyes in the midst of torments was also represented on this Vestment The second Vestment was the Rational Fecit Rationate â—pere polymito c. Exod 39. v. 8. which serv'd to advertise the Priest and Consequently the people of their duty It was also as the mouth of Oracles and the Organ of Gods commands and the peoples obligations who might learn from thence and contemplate as in a mirrour the purity both of body and soul and the four Cardinal virtues distinguished in the four rowes of Precious stones and whereof the mixture arrives even to perfection amounting to the number of twelve Fecerunt quoque tunicam superhumeralis totam hyacinthinam Exod. 39. v. 20. Dâ—orsum autem ad pedes mala punica c. Exod. 39. v. 22. Et tintinnabula de auro purissimo quae posuerunt inter malogranata c. Exo. 39. v. 23. Fecerunt tunicas byssinas opere textili c. Exod. 39. v. 25. The third Vestment of the High Priest was a large Tunique of a Violet colour on which he need but cast his eyes to behold and learn the wayes of a Celestiall life most proper for him worthily to bear this Vestment which was to reach as low as his foot and to have Pomegranats and little Bells round about it whereof the one as Rupertus observes represented the preaching of the Messias and the other his Miracles The fourth garment was of fine Linnen which is the true Symbole of Purity without which all Priests never ought to approch the Altar and which they must never put off otherwise their Robe though Celestiall would be without splendor and all the other Ornaments only serve for the preparation and pomp of a Sacrifice abominable in the sight of God who is nothing but purity it self But when a man hath once put on all these Vestments Fecerunt laminam sacrae venerationis de auro purissimo scripseruntque in ea opere gemmario Sanctum Domini Exod. 39. v. 29. he may boldly set the Myter on his head which signifies a strict union with God and the Plate which was born on his forehead with the Sacred name of Jehovah signified him whom we ought to have alwayes imprinted in our minds In fine all the other Pontificall Ornaments of the Old Testament were but figures of those which our High-Priest put on and which all that follow his steps are to use not so much to cloath their bodyes as to put their souls in a condition of presenting Sacrifices unto God not only for themselves but also for others CHAP. XLIIII The Sacrifices of Aaron consumed by fire from Heaven I Know not from whence the Romans and the Vestals had the fire which they so charily preserved in their Temple but that which the Israelites
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
The Vestments of the High-Priest CHAP. 44. The Sacrifices of Aaron consumed by fire from Heaven CHAP. 45. The Pillar of fire and the Cloud CHAP. 46. The Brazen Serpent CHAP. 47. The last actions of Moses CHAP. 48. The last Canticle of Moses CHAP. 49. The death of Moses at the sight of the Holy Land THE HOLY HISTORIE FIRST TOME GOD THE CREATOR FIRST BOOK CHAP. I. Gods First Sally out of himself in the Birth of the Universe THough God was what he is and in the perfect fruition of his Grandeurs before his omnipotent hand had drawn the Creatures out of their Nothing The motives which invited God to create the world yet his Nature required Hommages his Majesty Servitudes his Glory Admirations his Goodness Acknowledgments and his Beauty hearts and affections It was needfull though he were independent of all Beings Immense in his extent Eternall in his duration and Infinite in all his perfections that he should cause himself to be seen and felt by Emanations out of himself It was not sufficient me thinks that God should contemplate himself in the Myrror of his Essence and that without issuing out of himself he should beget his Word in the splendors which flow from his Claritie It was not enough to love himself and in loving himself to produce without change loss or alteration the sacred fire of his Love All these immanent and infinite productions could not exhaust the Treasures of so fruitfull a Nature For in giving it self it suffers no detriment since amidst these sallies and Emanations the Father and the Son in such sort communicate their Nature and perfections the Father to the Son and both to the Holy Ghost that all three by a Common power can act ad extra or exteriorly and they needed to employ but one single word to create not only a World but even Worlds without end I represent unto my self that Nature sigh'd even without tongue or voice The sighs of Nature before she had a being Me thinks I hear her silence and that she saith to God before her Creation Speak then O speak Great God stretch forth thy arm and cast thy looks out of thy self issue forth of the Luminous Darkness which formes thee a day without Night and a Night more resplendent then the day Give some little passage to those Ejaculations and flames which from all eternity are inclosed within thy bosome and which frame therein a Circle of Light and Love Thou needst but open thy mouth and immediatly all Creatures will be obedient to thy commands The least of thy Irradiations will dissipate the shadows and open that abyss in which they are buried It is true that nothing ought to disturbe the peace and repose of thy solitude It is true thou hast and possessest in thy self all that can ever be But thou canst bring it to light and art able without noyse and disorder to break that eternall silence which hitherto hath made thee heard but of thy self In fine thou art a God of Love and this love would be Captive if it had not Sallies and Ejaculations It was not satisfied to remain in thee by eminence and as it were in the source of beauty and goodness but having made its folds within its self by numberless revolutions Dyonys c. 11. divin Nom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellat munifestationem Dei per se ipsum it must descend upon externall objects to attain that effect and property which is naturall to Love viz. that amorous extasy that prodigious effusion and that pompous and magnificent shew which to speak properly is the Torch of Love or rather the Chariot of its tryumph Well then Creatures come forth of the Mass in which you lye confused Heaven Earth Sea Stars Trees Fishes Furnaces of fire and flames The first allarum of Nature vast extents of Air Clouds Abysses Precipices listen to the voice and Command of God of the Word and of their Love O God! O Power O Love what word what speech and what voice we must proceed in order and pursue the same which God himself hath followed The word was in God the Father and this word was God from that beginning which could never begin the Common Spirit of God animated the Father and the Son But in fine this glorious and happy moment which saw the birth of times and seasons being arrived The eternall God seeing no Object out of himself which could deserve his love and besides this Love being incited by a holy desire of communicating it self it was requisite to frame a Copy of the Intellectuall Originall which was in his Idea Love the architect of the World and in his heavenly mind From that instant the world then but a lively vacuum but an universall privation of forms and qualities was chosen as the blanck Table whereon he resolved to draw the first stroaks of his goodness That Nothing which hath but the bare name men give it In principio creavit Deus Coelum Terram Gen. 1. v. 1. became immediatly a fruitfull Abyss of Essences and Nature was ingendred out of it by the sole power of the Divinity First Heaven Earth Water and Darkness appeared in an instant as the Field on which all the effects of a most Amorous and sage Prodigality were to be displayed Terra autem erat inanis vacua tënebrae crant super saciem abyssi Gen. 1. v. 2. It was before any other thing that this tenebrous Compound this confused Medley and this heap of Water and Earth was the object of him who alone was able to chase away its shadows and convert its dust into Gold and Cristall This is the Throne on which the title of Soveraign Monarch and Lawgiver shall be seen ingraved But what this Theater is too obscure to behold therein the birth of the World we must expect the Aurora and the rayes of the day CHAP. II. The work of the six dayes NAture awake The first day of the Creation it is time for the World to rise the Night hath preceded and twelve hours are as it were already past since Heaven and Earth have been in obscurity Dixitque Deus fiat tax facta est lux Gen. c. 1. v. 3. Behold the break of day and those delightfull colours which play upon the waters are the Companions of that light which in Palestine hath already opened the doors and windows of the East and is going to spread it self upon another Hemisphear Nevertheless to finish this Carriere to perfect this course and to round the whole Globe twelve hours more are required And then counting from Evening till Morning and from Morning till Evening you shall find all the Moments which form the first day a glorious day a day illustrious for having first received the light which gives glory and splendor to all dayes Et vidit Deus lucem quod esset bona Gen. 1. v. 1. God himself made even a stand to be
of a Chaos and the World out of a confused and undisgested Lump These are the draughts of a powerfull God which were victorious over the Nothing These are the conquering flames of his Love who hath carryed his rayes and Torch even into the Abysses of an eternall Negation The World then had not its Origination in the Water as Thales supposed The Errors of some Philosophers nor was the impression of the Universe framed in the Air as Anaximines affirmed Heraclitus was extravagant when he taught that fire was the Source and Origin of Nature And Democritus was a meer scoffer and fitter to be laughed at himself than to laugh at others when he said that the World was formed by an accidentall concourse and mixture of invisible Atoms No no the beginning of beginnings must be without beginning But the Heavens Air Fire Earth and Water the World and Atoms cannot be from themselves and without a Producer therefore grant that God alone is the Fountain Cause and Origin of the Universe Ah then let the Heavens and all the Elements Câ—nâ—ort of Creatures Let the Sun and Stars let the Plants and Herbs let the Birds and Fishes for evermore praise and bless the powerfull hand of the increated Love who formed them all out of Nothing Let the World never have any propension instinct or inclination but to become plyable to the impulses of its Author Let the Morning and Evening Stars imitate him conveying every where their Influences and Clarities Let Rain be the Pledge of his favours and Dew the Symbol of his Graces Let Thunder and Lightning be the Heraulds of his Justice and the Ministers of his Indignation Let the gentle Western Winds awaken our hearts to listen to his most holy inspirations Let his Threats be heard amongst Storms and Waves Briefly let the World and totall Nature be an Altar whereon vows and Sacrifices may be continually offered to his Law and let the Feast of the six dayes during which God created the Universe be for ever celebrated But what O Lord who is it that hath hitherto spoken From whence came this Voice And where is the Person that can present Sacrifices unto thee The World hath Altars it hath Water Fire Wood and Victims But where is the Priest Man necessary for the world There wants a Man upon the Earth and without a Man all thy works seem not sufficiently perfect Yes my God this man who is to be the Image of thy Essence the Accomplisher of thy Commands and thy Lieutenant upon Earth well deserves the last touches of thy hand to the end that after his Creation thou mayst continue in the repose of thy most holy Entertainments CHAP. III. The Creation of Adam IT is almost incredible how bold and eloquent men are when it concerns their own praises Eloquence of self love To hear them speak would not a man swear all the Members of their bodies are converted into Tongues to publish without blushing the advantages of their Nature above what ever the rest of the World can boast of rarest and most beautifull The Earth say they is but an Aboad or rather a High-way which shal be their Pilgrimage Excellent conceptions of divers authors The Air and Sea are but their Harbingers and Hostes Lightnings and Celestiall flames shape but a picture even gross enough in which the features of their minds appear as it were rough drawn And Heaven it self is but the Haven and shoar which after the course of some months and years is to receive them all Man according to their opinion is the fairest piece of the Universe the All of All Anasta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as it were the Soul of this world Anastasius in his Homily of Mans creation observes some lines of honour and veneration in his Fabrick Clemens Alexandrinus compares him to the Thessalian Centaur by reason of the mixture of the Soul with the Body Clem. Alex. 116 4. Strom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lactant. lib. 7. cap. 5. And Lactantius Firmianus speaking of the composition of man saith That he is a work which may rather beget admiration than words Trismegistus cals him the Interpreter of the Gods Pythagoras Pythagoras looks upon him as the Measure of all things in whom are found the Longitudes Latitudes Altitudes and Profundities of all Beings Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato crys out that he is the Miracle of all visible Miracles Theophrastus considers him as the Copy of the Universe Synesius Synesius cals him the Horizon of creatures And Zoroaster as one transported scarce finding words to express him concludes at last That man is the Portraict of an attempting and daring Spirit Are not these very excellent terms and expressions which sufficiently evidence that albeit those Learned Authors did speak of Man in generall yet all of them were interessed therein as to their own particular But what ever they have said it is certain that of all the Encomions can be given to Man the most Noble the most August the most transcendent and high is that Man is the Image of God the Character of his Substance the most faithfull Copy of his Divinity I know he hath a Being common with Stones and Marble a Life common with Plants a Sense with Beasts and an Understanding which equals him with the Angels but he excels them in this that he was created from Gods Idea as the most lively and sensible representation of his Maker God deliberates upon the enterprise of this work Faciamus hominem ad imaginem similitudinem nostram Gen. 1. v. 16. and the Councell is held in the Conclave of the most holy Trinitie the three Persons are assembled Power Wisdom and Love take their seats neer the Paradise of Eden But let us not deceive our selves is it not peradventure Gods intention to recall into favour those proud and Rebellious Spirits whom a shamefull revolt hath most justly precipitated from Heaven to Earth where they wander as Exiles and reprobates At least would it not satisfy him to banish them from Heaven and to grant them the World for a Paradise after so long and funestous a Captivity Nothing less the Act is past the Angels are lost without Redemption and the punishment their Insolence hath merited will persue them without relaxation term or pitty Et creavit Deus hominem ad imaginem similitudinem Dei creavit illum Gen. 1. v. 27. It is concerning Man his Creation that the decree is past It is on him God reflecteth and it is he who must be substituted in the place of Angels It is this Act which makes the World behold Gods Master-piece the object of his Favours and the most glorious term of his Power O Sun stop here thy course be witness of his birth who hath bin the cause and end of thine It was as I conceive about high Noon when the Earth was resplendent with Light The time of
mans Creation that this Animated Sun was born It was by the Light of Natures greatest Bonfire that God vouchsafed to stoop so low as Earth to take Clay Formavit igitur Dominus Deus hominem de limo terrae Gen. 2. v. 7. out of which he formed the Body of the first Man This wise and all-knowing Workman to whom all things are possible drew out of Durt Morter and Dust the Bones which were to be not only the Pyles Pillars Basis and strength of the Body but even the instruments of all its Motions He added to it Ligaments Joynts Carthelages Nerves and an infinity of fibres or little strings which were to lock the Bones and Members within one an other to be serviceable to all motions to arm every part to keep in or draw superfluous humors or rather to be assisting to its Nourishment The Body being thus rough-drawn or as I may say in its first draught appeared at the same instant divided into three parts of which the highest and most elevated was the Head the Bulk appeared in the midst and the Joynts linked together the Legs and Arms to become more usefull to all the extreme parts The Oeconomy of humane bodies Within these joynts were as inchased all the Instruments of life Within the Trunk reigned the Vitall parts as the Heart Lungs and Liver about which were found a thousand little Veins and as many little skins which are the Chanels of the Bloud and of all the Humours O strange this little Labyrinth was no ways confus'd The Heart though Monarch and Soveraign in this Empire disdains not to unite its self with the Liver and to joyn by a mutuall and reciprocall agreement its vertue and heat to act with more force upon the Aliment From thence issues a world of interlaced Veins which are to suck in the purest of the Chilus and to discharge the grosser part which afterwards conveys it all at leasure into the Bowels At the same time the Liver will separate the Bloud and divide the Humours and whilst the Heart is distributing all the Spirits through the Arteries lest it chance to be over-heated the more light humid and spungeous Lungs will give it air and refresh it by so regular intervals as even amids this palpitation it may receive from the Arteries its purest Bloud and its most delicious Nourishment All the rest passeth into the Brain which is the Summet of this admirable Structure It is covered outwardly with skin and hair and wrapped up within two panicles which cover its out-lets its substance and the source of all the Nerves It is in this Fort or Dungeon where the Animall spirits are to be formed which the Sensitive soul distributes to the Five senses spirits which are but fire and ray which very often get loose and escape by the eyes like lightnings and so many stars which appear to us at high Noon There is the seat of the Common sense where all the Nerves of our exterior Senses meet through which the Spirits slide and is the way by which the Species pass when they are the Messengers of their Objects Well may this part receive these Images but cannot retain them The Imagination then must be placed further within which collecting preserving the Species will borrow part of their name Behold the Body thus perfect and accomplished but not to descry all the bones naked and a flesh too lively and bloody cover it with the whitest smoothest and thinnest skin you can find Afterwards fix your eys upon his Face behold his lovely Hair sweetly floating on his shoulders contemplate his Forehead smoother than Marble his Eye-brows forming an Arch of Ebony over his eyes consider his Mouth surrounded with Corall observe his Cheeks mixed with Roses and Lillyes and smell his Breath a thousand times sweeter than Ambergreece In truth are you not ravished with the aspect of his Eyes which are the Windows of the Soul the Doors of Life and the most faithfull Interpreters of our Minds What say you to the disclosure of this living Theater of Choler Theater of passions of vengeance of pitty of hate of fury and Love Doe you see by their looks how they rise and fall how they flatter how they excite how they weep how they smile and how they shew upon their liquid and transparent Christall all that is discernable in the World But who will wonder at this since in truth these are the two Suns of the Little World and the Myrror of the Great one which is to be comprised and inclosed within the Humane Body Should not the Eyes of totall Nature open themselves here to admire this Miraculous Body The Master-piece of Nature and this Prodigy of the Universe But the thing of greatest Admiration is that God hath caused the Soul of Hearts and the Life of Bodies to flow into his mouth and heart and that Heaven hath powred the seed of Immortality into his Breast Et inspiravit in faciem â—â—us spiraculum vitae factus est humoâ—â— animam viventem Gen. 2. v. 7. God by a Divine breathing communicated this Fountain of Life to wit the Soul which instantly made the Image and Pattern of the Divinity reflect on his face This heavenly Form without noyse or delay disfused it self entire into the body remayning nevertheless whole in every part The Soul sâ—urce of beauty and of operations God alone knows with how many Lights the Understanding of man was illuminated with how many Ardors his Will was infired and with how many Species his Memory was filled in a moment My God what doest thou Gods goodness towards men and who hath incited thee to heap together in one vessell wrought out of Clay and dust all the Treasures of Wisdom greatness and sanctity Why so many sciences so many knowledges and so many splendors in this Soul Why so many virtues and so many Graces in this Heart And why in one single Man the Primitive Justice and the Empire of the Universe What necessity was there to make him partaker of thy Secrets and to raise him to the View of such a light as doubtless might make him blind Great God thou art good and liberall yet just and all fore-seeing If then thou fore-seest some danger and evill lest thou shouldst be obliged to take revenge of a fault dissolve the occasion and obstruct the wayes which lead unto a Precipice extinguish those Torches which may dazle the eyes stifle those Flames which may inkindle such sad fires or at least fasten not so many branches to a Tree which may be unrooted by the Winds and torn up by Storms Unite not so many Members unto a Head which is able to corrupt them all in an Instant and finally leave unto all our hearts Independency on Created things which are Naturall to them and cause our affections to be Eternally fastned unto thee that thou alone mayst be the Source of all the Motions and Effects which
being able to strangle them nor put a Halter about their Necks or a Poniard into their Bosoms casts every where the Darts of its Tongue and sends forth words a thousand times more cruell and pernicious than the murthering Knife which Cain plunged into the throat and Heart of Abell CHAP. VIII Remedies against Envie BUt what will any remedy serve for all these Franticks and all these Cyclops whose Hearts are ever-flaming Furnaces and where Jealousy continually forgeth Chains and Irons O God! O Heaven O Laws Justice Sanctity Soveraign Powers of the World Physicians to our Maladies Arbitrators of our lives It is you whose sweetly rigorous hands can both ordain remedy and give health It is you then I implore and of whom I crave assistance It is you Fathers and Mothers who in your Houses ought to be Judges of all the differences which arise between your Sons and Daughters and first of all you ought to know the naturall disposition of your Children to the end that if some Cain be found amongst them you may timely suppress him Spare then neither Fire nor Steel Hunger nor Thirst Disdains nor Rebukes seek out even Domestique Prisons It is much better for them to feel the Essayes of your Paternall rigours than to fall afterwards into the blind hands of Justice And it is far more gentle that you your selves upon the first Symptoms of Evill should take the pains to apply a Costick to them or give them a stroak with your Lancet than after too much remisness to see them take a sharp Razer cutting in pieces the Heart and all the Members of your other Children Doe not say that he is beautifull he is tender he is the Eldest or Youngest Son for after all though he be your Son the rest are likewise yours and you cannot be a Father if you are not a Judge common to them all As for those visible Angels which God hath placed in Sacred Mansions like the Cherubin of the Terrestriall Paradise there to Watch and Govern It is enough for them to know where the Evill is that they forthwith apply some Remedy I pass then farther and speaking both in generall and in particular to all the Heirs of Cain and to all those whom a Bloudy Jealousy armeth against their Brethren or against their Sisters I conjure them frequently to meditate on this verity that the mischief they doe unto others can afford them no benefit and that when they raise designs and Trophies on the Ruin of others they are but Crowns of Straw and Feathers where instead of finding Mountains and Elevations they meet with Precipices and Abysses in which they will destroy themselves In fine what delights and contentments can an envious Person have whose Eyes are destroy'd by the purest lights and to whom Acclamations and Songs of Victory are distastfull and whose Heart Swims alwaies in bitterness and poyson What Pain What Torment And what punishment to resemble a Man accurs'd of God! to walk as a fugitive and banish'd person upon Thorns and Bryers what peace can one have who makes War against God his Friends and himself and when both Night and Day he is seen amongst his Brothers Ghosts amongst Spectres and Fantasmes amongst the Stings and Remorces of a guilty Conscience what hope of good when one is assured that after the having passed away some Months some Days or rather some Years in the City of Enoch and amidst some slight Clarities of the East he shall goe end his life in a Bed leave his Body in a Sepulcher and lose all the pleasures all the Blessings and all the lights of his Soul in the shades of Night and of the setting Sun where no Day shall be seen but amidst the Lightnings Flames and Thunders of a God provok'd to an holy indignation CHAP. IX The Building of the Ark and the Deluge ITt is a Maxim amongst Philosophers that Beauty is to Love what the Soul is to the Body and it is she saith St. Denys that gives wings to the inconstant subtil and penetrating Bird which passeth by the Eyes Ears and Mouth to advance directly to the Heart to make like an other Phaenix a Pyle upon the flames and fires of our desires and wils It was perhaps for this cause Socrates called the Beauty which spreads its attractives on the Body An amorous Tyranny by reason this imperious Step-dame is accustomed to captivate all those that abide under the Empire of her Looks Plato in his Timeus had almost the very same conceptions as Socrates when he said That the Colours and Lustre which give light unto the shade and revive the Body and Face have a flame which flows insensibly from matter and form to infire the Souls of all Spectators Elianus lib. 22. It was this mixture saith Elianus of Charms and Splendors issuing out of the Eyes and Mouth of a Maid beautifull as the day The power of beauty which so much surprised a certain Knight called Dioxipus that although he had gained famous victories in the Olympick games and was in the midst of Glory and Triumph loaden with the Palms and Lawrels he had so often watered with his sweat and bloud he was yet constraind to make a stand in the presence of all the people acknowledging his own weakness and confessing that the beauty of a Lady had vanquished him whom the strength of Man was never able to overcome I adde to these thoughts Dulcem illecebram carum venenum Greg. Naz. Orat. 13. that of St. Gregory Nazianzen who hath tearms and words no less eloquent than true to express that the beauty of the Body is a deceiptfull allurement and a most pleasing poyson which passeth from one Sex to another and conveys it self so far into the veins that afterwards it cannot be drawn forth but with Death These are verities which have bin proved from the cradle of the World by Examples and accidents which have caused too Tragick and Publick Ruins to be called in question Cumque cepissent homines multiplicare super tecram filias procreassent Gen. 6. v. 1. Amongst others the first and most exemplar was the Deluge which happened unto the World one thousand six hundred and fifty six years or near upon after the Creation by reason the Inhabitants of the City of Enos and the Children of Adam being multiplyed by strange increases and in respect their bodies being fortified and become like so many Collossusses of impiety these Lascivious Gyants went every where like impetuous Torrents Videntes filii Dei filias hominum quod essent pulcrae acceperunt sibi uxores ex omnibvs quas elegerant Gen. 6. v. 2. which nothing could stop but a brutish beauty upon which they entertained their Eyes and loves with an execrable Liberty I have a horror to relate it but it is true that the World was then but an Infamous retreat where all Sexes without Order Law or respect breaking all the Lines and Degrees of Bloud and Alliances were
monstrously confused I should be unwilling to black this Paper in setting forth so many horrors and Ordures and to recall the memory of them but I cannot conceal what God and Moises have published Moreover the Heavens are ready to powre down Water enough to efface all these stains and all the marks of those abhominable sins Nevertheless I feel my Spirit affrighted at the sight of these Horrors and my Eyes would need tears of Bloud to divert all these mournfull Objects O God! who art the Origin of all Beauties and whose least Glance compleats the happiness of Angels and Saints What! must Man must thy Children and Creatures adhere to an other than thy self why do'st thou permit the fairest City of the World to be but a horrid and common Sewer And must the World become a heap of Murthers and Uncleanness What! doe you not see these Ravens to whom some worldly beauty gives Wings to make a sodain stoop at carrion putrifi'd and almost consum'd by it's own rottennesse doe you see all these incarnate Devils these Gyants of the Earth and these Men devoid of Soul and reason who imploy all their study and care to Court an Idoll of Clay Detestable Idolatry a Face of Marble and the Picture of a Nice dame who is attended by excess of Dyet Pomp of Garments painting musk perfumes wantonness attractives artifices amorous looks gestures freedom sport Raillerie Idleness Night Solitude and all sorts of privacies Surely so many vapours and exhalations as are risen from the World or rather from Hell for above sixteen ages together have too much thickned the Clouds God is necessitated at last to pluck up the Flood-gates Videns autem Deus quod multa malitia hominum esset in terra cuncta cogitatio cordis intenta esset ad malum omni tempore Gen. 6. v. 5. and open the Cataracts to swallow up the World and cause Shelves and Shipwracks upon Mountains and Cities as well as upon the Ocean The iniquity of Men is too deeply rooted in the bottom of their Hearts and all their thoughts are too strongly fastned on Evill The Decree is given and I see nothing that is able to with-hold an arm holily irritated God repents himself for having created Man Panituitque eum quod hominem fecisset in terra tactus dolore cordis intrinsecus Gen. 6. v. 6. and bestowed on him all his labour and affection he repents himself and his heart riseth at the sight and thought of this Object In fine being no longer able to restrain his wrath and indignation I swear by my self saith he that I will destroy Man and Efface his name and memory over the face of the Universe Deleho inquit hominem quem creavi à facie â—eirae ab homim usque ad animantia à reptilt usque ad volucres Cae i â—oeâ—â—eâ— enim me secisse illus Gen. 6. v. 7. I will not spare even Beasts and Birds to the end that what hath been a Witness Complice or even a slave of his crime shall also be the Companion of the pain and punishment which is ordained him This said and done Of so many men who then lived upon the Earth and of so many Families Noe va ò invenit gra tiam coram Domino Gen. 6. v. 8. Cumque vidisset Deus terram esse corruptam omnis quippe caro corruperat viam suam super terram Gen. 6. v. 12. that only of Noah deserved favour and was freed from Shipwrack God then calls this holy Man â—â—â—â—t ad Noe sints untversae carnâ—â— veniet coram me Kepleta esâ— terra iniquitate à facie toruÌ„ ego aisperdam illos cum terâ—a Gen. 6. v. 13. and great Patriark to advertise and communicate his whole design unto him Friend saith God the World is in its agony and my Justice shall put an end to this Work which my Love began All my patience and delays have only served to make way for evill And my clemency is converted into rigour After all my goodness is tired and I am resolv'd to open all the Torrents of my wrath that the World being no longer but a great Abyss and a vast Scpulcher may be drowned in it self and that there may never be more mention of it Goe then Noah Fac tibi arcam de ligms laevigatis mansiunculas in arca factes birumine lintes intrinsecus extrmsecuâ— Ger. 6. v. 14. Et sic factes cam â—recentorum cubitoru erit longitodo arcae quinquaginta cubitorit altitudo ejâ— Gen. 6. v. 15. â—enestram in arca sacies in cubito consummabis summitatemeâ—us Ostrum autem arcae pones in latere deorsum senacula trillegafacies in ca. Ger. 6. v. 16. Ponamque faedus meum tecum ingredieris arcam tu silâ—i tui uxor tua uxores fitiorum â—â—cum Gen. 6. v. 18. Ex omnibus animantibus mundis tolle septena septena Masculum Faeminam De animantibus vero immundis duo duo Masculum Faeminam Gen. 7. v. 2. Sed de volatilibus Caeli septena septena Masculum Feminam ut salvetur semen super faciemuniversae terrae Gen. 7. v. 3. and build an Ark of Timber and Planks make small apartments in it and pitch it both within and without Let it be three hundred Cubits in length fifty in breadth and thirty in height make then a Window a Cubit high and in the side contrive a door to goe in and out dispose also Chambers therein and be carefull that the whole be divided into three stories to the end the Body of this large structure may be the more commodious and better proportioned Afterwards I will make my accord and pact with thee and thou shalt presently enter in with thy Wife Children and Cattle Besides thou shalt conduct into this Sanctuary all sorts of Beasts and Birds with this distinction that amongst the clean thou shalt choose seaven of every species and of the unclean two only pairing alwaies the Male and Female that they may repair the Earth and Air by their Copulations This good Man performed exactly all that God had commanded him he is already in the Ark Fecitque Noe omnia quae praeceperat illt Deus Gen. 6. v. 22. Cumque transissent septem dies aquae diluvii inundaverunt super terram Gen. 7. v. 10. Rupti sunt omnes sontes Abyssi magnae cataraclae caeli apertae sunt Gen. 7. v. 11. Et facta est pluvia super terram quadraginta dicbus quadraginta noctibus Gen. 7.12 and he busieth himself in disposing and nourishing all these different Species of Beasts and Birds Seaven dayes were spent about these preparations and in the miraculous inclosure of this new House At the end whereof the Heavens opened on all sides and the Sun Moon and Stars seem'd to be chang'd into Sources and Chanels the Air and Clouds became a Sea and all the Elements joyned together to make of the
malice of men might never be able to efface it and that on the contrary he might be oblig'd never to make war against them when he should see between him and the World those illustrious caracters of Love and those magnificent Articles of Truce pardon and peace Moreover this sign which appeared in the heavens was but a Bow without Arrowes It was a resplendent Arch and a Circle beset with Diamonds Emeraulds and Rubies It was a chain of Gold Silver and Pearls It was a Scarf interwoven with the most lively splendors and the most sensible lights of the Sun and Day It was the Portraict of Peace which appeared under feign'd and imaginary colours or to expresse in a word all that can be thought and said when we cast our Eyes on this wonder of the Aire It was the Diadem which St. John discover'd on the head of Almighty God and which therefore was to be for all eternity the Crown of a God who can never change but will everlastingly conserve this Garland and Diadem of peace O God of peace goodness and Love Great God who art alwayes loving and canst never be loved enough Ah! let not the World be so bold as to take up Armes to disturb thy peace Lord let all hearts love thee and let them be tributaries to thy affections O God of Heaven all Good all Just all Powerfull powre down no more Storms and Abysses on our heads Yea my God drown us in those amorous billowes that if the World must perish at last let it be in the Torrents and flames of thy holy Love CHAP. XII The unhappy effects of Wine IT is true that Men were never more at Peace the Earth never more pure and Heaven never powred down so many favours as it shed upon the Earth and the Children of Noah Coepitque Noë vir agricola exercere terram plantavit vineam Gen. 9. v. 20. Bibensque vinum inebrâ—atus est nudatus in tabernaculo suo Gen. 9. v. 21. Quod cùm vidisset Cham Pater Chanaan verenda scilicet Patris esse nudata nuntiavit duobus Fratribus suis for as Gen. 9. v. 22. Nevertheless in the mid'st of Pleasure Peace Concord Love Joy and all sorts of Benedictions this poor Man whom all the Waters of the World and of the Deluge could not vanquish was drown'd at last in a Glass of Wine O God! what scandall what shame what disquiet and what disorder in the family of Noah This good old Man fell cold and stiff on the ground and it is not known whether he be dead or alive His Children run presently to help him but as if the fume of the Wine which their Father had taken too inconsiderately had dazel'd and blinded the youngest of them Unnaturall Impudence instead of casting ashes and water on the flaming Coals which consum'd his poor Father At verò Sem Japheth Pallium imposuerunt humeris suis incedentes retrorsum operuerunt verenda Patris sui faciesque eorum aversae erant Patris visilia non viderunt Gen. 9. v. 23. he made a bon fire of Mirth and scorn about his Nakedness and with an unparalleld Impudence discover'd to the Eyes of all his Brethren what Nature hath concealed His Brothers nevertheless were more respectfull and prudent than himself for immediatly Piety cast veyls over their Eyes and Love though Blind found out Artifices to cover an Object which was neither decent nor lawfull to behold Ingenious respect It was in recompence of these chast duties Evigilans autem Noë ex vino cùm didicisset quae fecerat â—i filius suus minor ait Maledictus Chanaan servus servorum erit Fratribus suis Gen. 9. v. 24. Dixitque benedictus Dominus Dous Sem sit Chanaan servâ—s ejâ—s Gen. 9. v. 26. that Noah being returned out of that Abyss into which Wine had precipitated him open'd the Eyes of his Body and Soul and afterwards perceiving the unnaturall Impudence of Cham he darted forth the Thunder of his Malediction against his Son Chanaan beseeching likewise God to bless and fill Sem Japhet and all their Progeny with his Graces It was from their Posterity all the Generations of the World are descended Dilatat Deus Japbet c. Gen. 9. v. 27. and they were the Persons who laid the foundation of Sodome Ninivie Salem and Gomorrha as also of so many other famous Cities from whence afterwards Arts Republicks Policies Governments and all the Empires of the Universe took their Rise CHAP. XIII The Tower of Babel AT that time though Hearts were divided Erat autem terra labii unius sermonum eorundem Gen. 11. v. 1. and all opinions different yet there was but one Mouth but one Interpreter of Souls and one common manner of Speech Cumque proficiscerentur de oriente invenerunt campum in terra Sennaar habitaverunt in eo Gen. 11. v. 2. But as it is very difficult for the Tongue long to bely the Heart So it hapned not long after that the Inhabitants of the Earth feeling the Justice of their own Consciences which call'd upon that of God and threatned them with the comming of another Deluge resolv'd to build a Tower Et dixerunt Venite sactamus nobis Turrem cujus cusmen pertiagat ad Caelum celebremus nomen antequam dividamur in universas terrae Gen. 11. v. 4. and raise the top of it even as high as the Clouds The chief Undertaker of this famous Structure was the Gyant Nembrod Granchild to that Reprobate Cham who discovered his Fathers shame This Architect was of a proud Nature and of a Capricious humour believing that his enterprises and designs were to be executed without the least opposition In effect never was any work undertaken Descendit autem Dominus ut videret civitatem Turrim quam edificabant filii Adam Gen. 11. v. 5. and advanced with more Expedition nor with more Ardor Zeal and Submission But the Grand Designer of the World the Architect of the Universe and the generall Producer of all things who takes delight to confound the Wisdome of the Wise and to overthrow the Plots and Enterprises of the most Powerfull beholding these Fortifications rais'd neer mid-way and being able no longer to endure this Audacity and these presumptuous Attempts resolv'd at last to over turn all these Forts Venite igitur descendamus confundamus ibi linguam eoruÌ„ ut non audiat unusquisque linguam proximi sui Gen. 11. v. 7. Et idcirco vocatum est nomen ejus Babel quia ibi confusum est labium universae terrae inde dispersit eos Dominus super faciem cunctarum regionum Gen. 11. v. 9. and to cast a generall confusion of Tongues amongst the Carpenters and Masons This made a Tower of Babel that is to say of Disorder War and Confusion This stately Building this lofty Cittadell this impregnable Fort was but a Labyrinth of deaf and dumb people who spake
water which had been so long detained prisoner returns from thence towards the North and into the Indies If you desire more the washing of poor mens feet is represented to us by the River Nilus or rather by that of Jordan Solinus c. 35. Pausanias Sieionius Apol. or finally by the waters of Alpheus For all these miraculous Rivers hide themselves for a time and what is cast into them remain some dayes absorpt under the Abysses of water but at length we receive all that is thought to be lost This is in a word as Solomon said to cast ones bread upon the torrent of waves to receive it in aeternity In fine this is to resemble those Roman Emperors Vopiscus in Aureliane ait eum fecisse corenas de panibus and amongst others Aurelian who made crowns of bread or to conclude and not to intermix prophane Emperors with Christian Kings and with the father of all Christian Princes which is Abraham let us say that this most charitable Man washing these three Pilgrims feet sowed benedictions upon a River Seminate in benedictionibus 2. Cor. 9. Beati qui senunatis super omneâ— aquas Jsa 32. and that he put himself the first in the list of those blessed persons who as Isay saith sowed upon all the waters and lands of Paradise In effect these three guests whom Abraham received into his tents with so much affection zeal and reverence made a Paradise under one Pavillion these were also Angels of Heaven having only the shape and countenance of men from whence I gather that under ragged garments and a skin torn with ulcers and eaten up with cankers God hidden under the habit of poor men God and his Angels conceal themselves to teach the purity of heart works and intentions which ought never to stay upon the rinde and exterior apparence but to passe even to the Center where God himself is retired Presently after the veiles are seen remov'd and the shadowes unfoulded to disclose celestiall lights the Angels of God nay God himself who makes the heart melt into joy and the eyes distill teares of Love and rapture there are seen miraculous generations and fruitfull sterilities which produce Families Nations and Worlds at the birth of one Infant In sequel of these favors the tendernesses of a human heart and the least touches of compassion which men have towards one another hold so secret intelligence with the heart of God as even at that instant men open their hearts God dilates his own to impart unto them his most intimate secrets The confidence he expressed to Abraham was a very Divine condeâ—â—â—â—dency evident mark of this verity for when the crimes and the execrations of Sodom and Gomorrha pressingly called upon his Justice and when the blackest vapors of these horrid sinks ascended even as high as Heaven this most absolute Judge who makes his definitive decrees without dependencoâ—râ— counsell demeaned himself as if he durst not doe it without the advice of Abraham Ah what Diaitque Dominus num celare petero Abraham quae gesturus sum saith he can I conceal my designs and thoughts from my dear Abraham who is to be the Pillar of the World and the Father of so many Nations No certainly but I must discharge part of my displeasure into his bosom that he may share with me in my designs as well as in my contentments Hearken then Abraham Dixit itaque Dominus clamor Sodomorum Gomorrhae multiplicatus est peccatum corum aggravatum est nimis dost thou well understand saith God what passeth for my part I hear a confused Noise which daily sounds louder and louder it is surely the Voice of my Justice which requires vengeance against the Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomerrha which have rendred their Cities an Abyss of horrors and abominations Dost thou not hear these impure Mouths these poysonous Tongues these bewitched Hearts these fleshy Souls these Soul-less Bodies and these ungodly Men without Faith without Law and without Honour I hear them and their infamous clamours awake my indignation Descendam videbo utrum clamorem qui venit ad me opere compleverint An non est ita ut sciam Gen. 28. v. 21. I perceive also the sparkles and flames of their fire which are converted in my Hands into ardent and murthering Torches which consume them I am resolved then to descend even into their Hearts to see neer at Hand the Ashes and the Wood which nourisheth so enormous a Fire But what my God! hast thou not Eyes which pierce from the highest Heaven even into the Center of Hell and is not the least of thy glances able to dissipate all the shadows of the Night and of the Sun to produce there the Day of thy most rigorous Justice hast thou not a myrror in thy self which without disorder confusion presents all objects to thee If thou art a God why doest thou speak to us like a Man And is it not well known that thou art every where and as well in the Desart where Cain killed his Brother as in the Paradise where Eve gave her Husband the mortall wound Hast thou not been seen in Heaven precipitating the Angels upon the Waters of the Deluge drowning Men and in the highest story of Babel over-turning this great Edifice and confounding those Gyants Why dost thou then say that thou wilt descend into Sodom and see in person what passeth before thine Eyes Alas Lord take not the pains to draw aside those shamefull Courtains which hide so many lubricities from our Eyes Lord doe not debase thy self so much as with thy own Hand to discover those Ashes which take from us the prospect of so many volatile fires and so many poysonous coals Notwithstanding God descends as I may say into this gulph of impurity Fair example to Judges and resolves to be not only the Judge but the Witness also of those crimes which he must afterwards punish with so much severity Is not this a fair lesson for those who hold the ballances of Justice in their Hands and with whom God intrusts the most terrible and dreadfull of his Attributes I would willingly demand of these Masters who judge so often upon bare breviats and instead of confronting witnesses and making a diligent inquiry into the fact and truth consult their passions follow their own interests and too inconsideratly pass sentences of life for Criminals and of death against the Innocent I would gladly ask of them if nevertheless there chance to be such kind of people in Christian Republicks whether they have learnt that stile from God Most exact Justice who is the Soveraign of all Justice and who is not satisfied to hear complaints and accusations yet disdains not to cast down his Eyes even to the Earth upon the Authors of crimes to be as I have already said not only their Judge but also their Witness Notwithstanding we must not imagin that God at the first
Isaac filium suum Gen. 22. v. 3. what sad preparation and sorrowfull departure this poor old Man takes his Ass and chose two or three of his Servants to goe along with him and having made up a Fagot of Thorns and Bushes with his own Hands he layd them on the Shoulders of his dear Isaack But what will Sara say And what can she think when at her waking she shall find neither Abrahare nor Isaack Poor Mother what wilt thou doe Is it possible that Abrahâ—m could conceal a Design which cannot be kept from 〈◊〉 We must freely confess that there are Souls of Gold and Hearts of Diamond in Bodies of Christall It cannot be denyed that there be Women as constant and couragious as Men their Sex though frail tender and delicate often brings forth Amazons who have nothing of Softness Levity and Effeminacy but the bare name It cannot be also doubted but Sara was of this number And I am confident if Abraham had made known to her the will of God at the first news she her self would have performed the Office of a Sacrificer to immolate her Son Nevertheless I will believe with the most part of the interpreters of Scripture and of the Greek and Latine Fathers that Abraham who might have discharged into her Bosom part of his afflictions resolved to endure alone this Martyrdom of Love He is then all alone upon the way with his Son and his two Servants and he advanceth directly to Mount Moria as to the appointed place My dear Reader I leave unto thy imagination what passed for the space of three dayes this journey lasted represent unto thy self I beseech thee that thou art with him whom thou dost love above all men thou seest him thou speakest to him thou drinkest to him and sleepest with him how will it be if at thy departure thou must see him die and if thou thy self must present him the poyson which is to stifle him Husbands and Wifes Fathers and Mothers Brothers Kindred Associats Friends what Torments what despairs what punishments when you stand at the Beds Feet where you shall behold your dearest affections and your most pleasing delights in the Agony of death what corabats Duel of Grief and Love and what Duels of Love and Grief what strength and resolutions to receive the last words and sighs of a dying Mouth to which a thousand and a thousand chast kisses have been given and whose least breath was able to wipe away all sorts of sorrows what Prodigle of constancy to close with your Hands two which served as sunns in the saddest obscurities of Life which is but too much intermingled with mourning and pleasure In fine how can we see with out dying an other self at the point of death Nevertheless this was but the image of a dying life Martyrdom for three dayes which Abraham led for the space of three dayes one would swear that God had undertaken to make him dye ten thousand times upon this sad way every glance of Isaack was a mortall Javelin which pierced his Heart and yet he must have him three times four and twenty hours before his Eyes there was a necessity of eating drinking and speaking with him were not these entertainments and Feasts of Death He was constrained during the night to lay on his Breast and in his Bosom that Head he was to cut off with his own Hands was not this a murthering sleep and a cruell repose In fine he must render all the duties of a Father to so amiable a Son before he was to be his Executioner and he must needs hear almost every moment the voice of Isaack calling him Father who went to murther him My God! what Preludes of death what Preparation to a Martyrdom what Dialogue of Passions what affections what dissimulations what sorrows what pleasures what hopes and what despairs A Father a Son a Priest a Victim Wood Fire a Sword Isaacks Eyes and Heart are fixed on his Father and Abraham lost not the sight of Isaack but to behold his God At every step this poor old Man sends a sigh to Heaven to evaporate grief which being shut up redoubles the more Surely my Heart even bleeds upon the bare thought of this pittifull object Alas how could Abraham look on the criminall Sword which was to give the stroak where did he carry this instrument of Gods Justice me thinks I hear Isaack at every stop saying My Father and Abraham answering Son take courage Die autem tertio ete natis ocutis procul Gen. 21.2.4 let us goe my dear Child we draw neer to Moria O God! what vision and what approaches Mountain of Moria hast thou no compassion will not thy tops thy rocks and thy stones mollifie rigours at the sight of so tragick an act and which seems so unnaturall Mountain of Moria become thou a plain rather than put this poor old Man and this young Child to the trouble of ascending thy top where they are going to erect an Altar and hew a Tomb. But what Nature cannot be sensible when her God deprives her of feeling Aug. in ser de temp 71 existimat eundem faisse montem Moria qui Calvaria and Moria must not have greater tendernessees than the Heart of Abraham These Mountains make an essay of rigour at Jacobs cost to become afterwards insensible at the death of a Jesus of whom Isaack was but an Image and figure Let Abraham then perform resolutely the office of God the Father and let not Isaack be ashamed with his own Bloud to mark out the way unto Jesus Let Abraham take his Sword to strike off Isaacks Head and let Isaack take the Wood on his Shoulders which was provided to consume him since Jesus hath carried the Cross on which he suffered O God! Dixitque ad pueros suos expectate hic cum asino ego puer illuc usque properantes postquam aderaverimus revertemur ad vos Gen. 22. v. 3. Tulit quoque ligna Holocausti imposuit super Isaac filium suum ipse verò portabat in manibus ignem gladium cumque duo pergerent simul Gen. 22. v. 6. O Abraham O Jesus O Isack where is Sara where is Mary my God what Relatives are these Abraham is already at the foot of the Mountain he commands his Servants away he takes his only Isaack he loads him with the instruments of his punishment Let us goe my dear Child let us goe my Son let us go my Isaack my Joy my Hope my Love Father whither doe we goe Dixit Isaac Patri suo Pater mi at ille respondit quid vis fili Ecce inquit ignis ligna ubi est Victima Holocausti Gen. 22. v. 7. Dixitque Abraham Deus providebit sibi victimam Holocausti fili mi pergebant ergo pariter Gen. 22. v. 7. answered Isaack Alas what is your desire I indeed see the Fire and the Sword which you carry as also the Wood on my Shoulders
autem Jacob pulmentum ad quem cum venisset Esaü de apro lassus Gen. 25. v. 29. For this poor Chaser comming one Day weary and Hungry from hunting and meeting with Jacob who had caused some Pulse to be sod he intreated him to give him a share of it to which Jacob willingly agreed Ait da mibi de coctione hac rufa quia oppido lassus sum Gen. 25. v. 31. Cui dixit Jacob vende mibi primogeni ta Gen. 25. v. 31. Ille respondit en morior quid mibi proderunt primogenita Gen. 25. v. 32. Ait Jacob Jura ergo mihi juravit ei Esau vendidit primogenita Gen. 25. v. 33. Et sic accepto pane lentis edulio comedit bibit abiit parvipendens quod primogenita vendidisset Gen. 25. v. 34. upon Condition he would yield up to him his right of Primogeniture Alas I dye for very hunger answered Esau what will this Right avail thee after my death if it be so replyed Jacob take an oath that thou wilt give it me Well in truth then I swear it saith Esau and I acknowledge thee in quality of my Elder Brother whereupon this poor wretch took immediatly Bread and Pulse from his Brothers Hand little valuing the loss he had made of the first advantage wherewith God and Nature had favoured him What Infamy what Ingratitude and what Impiety Can a man represent unto himself so weak an act as to part with the singular Favours of God for a bit of Bread Is there any Ingratitude more Enormous than to misprise the gifts of Nature and is it not a Sacrilege and Simony to sell his Priesthood for a Mess of Pottage In fine is it not to be hunger-starved even unto rage to swallow with the Pulse the right of his Primogeniture which was one of the most Illustrious qualities a man could possess in his Family It was this brutish appetite which desolated the Terrestriall Paradise which consumed Sodom The disasters of Gluttony which daily devours the Wealth of the richest and most Illustrious Houses It is the Well of the Abyss the Cistern of Babylon and the Gulf of Heil The Air the Earth and the Sea cannot satiate these devouring ardors and this Fire which still requires aliment These are those Horse-leaches which never Quench their Thirst these are the Men who have their Eyes in their Bellies and their Reason Buried in Wine I am deceived these are not Men but Spunges and Tuns like those of the Danaides into which the Ocean might enter without silling them Finally It was this Infamous Vice which caused Esau to direct his first step into the Precipice where afterwards he was swallowed up CHAP. III. The Dexterity of Rebecca to procure for Jacob the blessing of Isaack THere is a false Divinity in the World which hath Temples in the Lungs Deus tibi venter est pulmo templum Tertul. advers Psych and Altars in the Bellies of most Men. The appetite of Gluttony is the Origin of all Vices the Furnace in which the most dreadfull flames of Impurity are nourished and inkindled We must not then wonder if Esau who was not ashamed to sell the right of his Primogeniture to satisfie a Gluttonous desire had the Impudence afterwards to Mary against the will of his Parents and to take two forain insolent and furious Wives and which is worse addicted to the Worship of false Gods These were two incarnat Devils and two Spirits bearing neither respect nor any pitty towards Isaack and Rebecca they raised also a War and tumult in the whole House and sufficiently manifested what a Woman can doe when she hath once trodden honour and devotion under her Feet Nevertheless Isaack waxing old amidst these misfortunes Senuit autem Isaac caligaverunt oculi ejus videre non poterat Gen. 27. v. 2. insensibly felt the approach of Death and as if his Eyes abhor'd to serve as witnesses to the disasters of his old age they covered themselves with the Darkness of a lamentable Blindness Amongst these Accidents his Eyes being shut against all the Clarities of Life Vocavitque Esau filium suum majorem dixit ei fili mi Gen. 27. v. 2. Vides inquit quod senuerim ignorem diem mortis meâ—e Gen. 27. v. 2. A most uncertain uncertainty his Soul went penetrating the shade and Night of the Tomb. He calls Esau and sayes to him with a pittifull Tone Alas my Son I am upon the Brink of my Grave and yet I know not when I shall descend into it Surely there is nothing more certain than the end of Life and nothing less certain than the time when wee must Dye The Sun is not more cleer and perspicuous in the Heavens than this Decree on Earth one must be a Beast amongst Men and Dead in the World to doubt of this verity This hinders us not from providing for our necessities and prudence enjoins that meditating upon Death we forget not the Duties of Life as Isaack did This good man feeling his life to extinguish as a Lamp whose Oyl begins to fail called Esau Vocavitque Esau si lium majorem dixit ei fili mi qui respondit adsum Gen. 27. v. 1. Sume arma tua Pharetram arcum egredere for as cumque venatu aliquid apprehenderâ—s Gen. 27. v. 3. Fac mihi inde pulmentum sicut velle me nosti affer ut comedam benedicat tibi anima mea antequam moriar Gen. 27. v. 4. Quod cum audisser Rebecca ille abiesset in agrum ut jussionem Patris impleret Gen. 27. v. 5. Ambr. lib. 2. de Jacob vita beata c. 2. Rebecca non silium filio sed justum praeferebat infusto c. Nunc ergo fili mi acquiesâ—e coâ—si iis meis Gen. 27. v. 8. Pergens ad gregeÌ„ adfer mihi duos â—â—â—dos optimos c. Gen. 27. v. 9 Quos cum intuleris comederit benedicat tibi prius quam moriatur Gen. 27. v. 10. Cui ille respondit nâ—sti quod Esau frater meus homo pilosus sit ego lenis Gen. 27. v. 1â— Si attractaverit me Pater meus senserit timeâ—ne putet me sibi voluisse illudere c. Gen. 27. v. 12. and commanded him to take his Quiver his Bow and Arrows and to goe a hunting that he might bring him something to eat with this promise that at his return he would give him his benediction before his Death Esau immediatly performing what his Father had commanded him Rebecca who heard Isaacks whole discourse made use of her time very seasonably to doe what the Spirit of God directed her Ah! how ingenious is vertue and how dexterous is Love when it follows the will of God! who would believe that a Woman durst undertake what Rebecca did Her design was not saith St. Ambrose to prefer the Younger before the Elder but onely the merits and perfections of
27. v. 39. Erit benedictio tua c. Gen. 27. v. 40. and from henceforth his Brethren shall be his Servants It is in vain for Esau to tear his Heart with a thousand sighs it is to no purpose for him to lament and roar like a Lion His sorrows and roarings may well excite some pitty in his Fathers Soul But this poor old Man hath no other thing to give him but some drops of the Dew and at best but some humid and clammy vapours which fatten the Earth For as concerning Heaven that hath already powred forth its favours upon Jacob where note that the benediction which had been given him was very different from that of Esau for Jacob had first received Riches and the abundance of the Goods of the Earth Secondly an Empire over Nations Thirdly a Principality amongst his Brethren And lastly a particular favour which put him intirely under the protection of Heaven whereas Esau as I said received for his share but some Acres of ground fertile indeed but only in the corruptible goods of Corn Rain and Dew whereas Jacob had all sorts of benedictions aswell in Earth as in Heaven These are presents for Worldly and Earthly Men drops of Water Exhalations Vapors and a little smoak Behold the favours of Esau behold the height of his benedictions and the portion of a Younger Brother who is rejected After this let us ask why the most impious persons in the World are sometimes the richest the most happy and the most powerfull or at least in appearance and to the Eyes of Flesh and Bloud Let us inquire whence comes it that Atheists are Crowned with Roses Lillys and Gilly-flowers when Christians walk upon Bryars and Thorns what a shame will it be to see Vice watered with Nectar whilst Vertue is beaten with a storm of Hail My God! Blessings of this World permit me then to expostulate with thee to this purpose if Esau be rejected why dost thou bestow on him some Goods in this World Alas what can be the happiness of this Life A thick Cloud of Rain Lands smoking with Ordures Straw Hey Feathers and Wind whereas the Elect enjoy Peace Hope Love Pleasure God and Paradise for all Eternity But who will assure us that we are in the fortunate List of those predestinated Persons whose Elder Brother Jacob is what Angell will tell us whether we be not lost Children who have Esau for our Captain Ah God! I have bewayled my sins but I fear my tears have not cleansed my Heart I have cast forth cryes sighs and sobs but my doubt is I have not been heard I know not how far my benediction reacheth and whether some-body hath not supplanted me In fine am I Jacob or Esau shall I be saved or condemned Lawfull apprehensions what will befall me after death And for what hath God ordained me even before my birth O Abyss of Gods Judgements O the Gulf of horror and darkness O God what precipice for hope what shadows for faith and what blindnesses for love Surely there would remain nothing for us but a sad despair if we had not learnt of the Wise man Sap. 1.12 13.11.16 God desires our salvation that God for his part wills not the destruction of any but the salvation of all It is then from thee O Esau and from thee O Israel perdition commeth For God Ozâ—e 13. Timoth. 2. as the Apostle saith desires that every one should be saved and adhere unto the knowledge of truth Behold the end of his love of our Creation and of his Incarnation In the second place Sufficient Graces though God bestowes those favours on some which he denies to others and though he hath shewed more of them to Jacob than to Esau yet he imparts unto all sufficient grace for salvation as Saint James affirmeth And truly how can he refuse Graces unto those for whom he hath given his Blood and why should he not afford assistance unto Man for whom he hath given up his life and all his Interests In fine no person either ought or can despair Foresight of merits For God hath predestinated the good with foresight of their merits he hath reprobated the wicked by the prescience of their sins Let us hope then my Soul let us hope in God Well grounded hopes who is good and would save us It is enough for us to have him for our Father and that he hath given us his Son for our Brâ—â—â—er It is sufficient that our Election depends on his Grace since he gives it us with all sufficiencie O God! what assurance what pledge and what caution A Son towards a Father a God of God and who issueth not out of God but to pacifie our troubles and mediate our salvation Ah! who will not hope having a Jesus for his Saviour whose pretious blood runs not but to fill hearts and to swell the courage with hope of Paradise Fair motives of Conscience What haven may we not attain when we are guided by a God and swim upon his tears upon his sweat and blood Woe then unto those who will not make use of these advantages and woe unto such as shall despair of salvation My God I hope to be one of those who shall behold thee face to face in Heaven it is the hope in which I will live and die I desire that it may live even in my Sepulchre flourish even in my Ashes and afterwards take its flight on the eternall hills and on the mountains of Sion My God! it is of thy goodness I hope for this grace it is by the merits of thy Son and his intercession Eternall Father be thou my Judge Jesus be thou my Advocate and refuge This being so the tragick Judgement of the unhappy lot of Esau doth not affright me This poor unfortunate had a Father who was blind a Mother who was averse and a brother who supplanted him And we have a Father who sees all a Mother who wishes us all sorts of blessings and a Brother who dyes willingly to give us life My God Almost happy abandonment I resign then my lot into thy hands and I expect my fortune from thy disposure I expect my God thy benediction give it me then for thy Sons sake give it me O my amiable Jesus and put me in the rank of those Elect of whom thou art King that I may be under thy Empire for all Eternity CHAP. V. Jacobs Ladder IT was vanity doubtless which ingraved this stately Elegy upon the Sepulchre of Phericides the Syrian A stately Epitaph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laert. Here lyes Wisedome in its highest perfection For to say truly this Inscription cannot be set but upon the Throne of God in whose sight the wisedome of men is but folly Wisedome is not then to be found in a Tomb in the depth of the Earth nor in the Abysses of the Ocean nor in the vacuum of the Ayr but above the Clouds
is my Sons garment it is the garment of my Joseph Ah my Son Mournfull complaint of Jacob. my Joseph it is not so much thy death I deplore as the loss I procured to my self during thy life by sending thee too soon out of my house And besides by what more strange kind of death couldst thou be taken from me At least if I had been a witness of this sad accident and if thy body had remained with me I should have had this chast pledge to charm my sadness If some sickness had carried thee away in my presence I should have rendred thee all the duties which a father cannot deny a sonne I should have kissed thy mouth I should have closed thine eyes I should have received thy last words and sighes I should possess in a Tomb the ashes of a Phaenix and I might have erected on his Sepulcher a Pile and Altar to enlighten my hopes and entertain my vows But I snatch'd away thy life before thy death I lost thee during thy life and my excessive compliance hath been the cause of it My son I have lost thee I have slain thee and I know not where is thy Tombe O Heaven O God! Alas at least had the toyles of his journey left him at the foot of some Tree or had he been buried in some corner of the Earth I should enjoy the contentment to seek him out and I should comfort my self in possessing but a part of my son with the loss of the other But O the most disconsolate and the most unhappy of all fathers I can have nothing of my Joseph but this bloudy garment the rest hath been devoured by some Tyger or Lyon and the same sweetness hath no other Tombe but the belly of a wild beast Yes surely it was a wilde Beast and a cruell Monster which devoured my Joseph It was the Envy of his Brethren which gave them Talons Clawes and Teeth It was this merciless passion which stript him of his garment cast him into the Well and shamefully sold him Behold the Domestick Monster which will never be made tame behold the bloudy beast which lives onely upon the flesh and heart of its like In fine it is envy against which fathers and mothers must be alwaies armed and which they ought to banish for ever out of their families for as much as First it is a Cantharides The nature and qualities of Envy which fastens upon the fairest flowers and seeks out Milk and Hony to spread its venome on them Secondly it is lesse reasonable by how much it hath more of Reason For being found onely amongst men it renders them more inhumane than beasts which cannot be moved by these tragick instigations Thirdly the furies of Envy are so shamefull as they seek alwayes to pass under the colour of some other passion Fourthly its breath though stinking fastens on virtue but the stings of it are as honourable to that person who bears them as infamous to him that causeth them Fifthly it hath the eyes of an Owl which are dazled at the sight of the fairest lights and which cannot endure the splendor of a most luminous day Basilius in Homil. de Invid Sixthly it hath more cruell tallons and teeth than Tygers and Dragons for it spares neither parents friends nor benefactors Seventhly its nourishment repose and delight are in bitterness and acerbity Hence it proceeds that the mouth and heart of it are still infectious Eighthly it is a Viper which draws death upon it self in giving life unto her young and tears its own belly to produce some venemous Serpent Ninthly it is a Camelion which converts it self into a thousand colours and every moment changeth its skin least we discern its nature and inclination In fine it is a monstrous Cerberus which hath the heart and head of all the most dreadfull Animals under heaven It is the Ape which in the time of Augustus entred the Temple of Ceres the Owl which flew even over the Altars of Concord The Dragon with two heads which devasted part of the Universe and which having exhaled his venome upon the Cradle of the world will never cease till he hath vomited forth the remainder of his rage in the tombe CHAP. II. The Combats of Joseph for defence of his Chastity IT is true that Envy is a ravenous beast But yet what ever we may say its furies are not to be compared with those of Love when it hath once broken the chains wherewith God and Nature fastned it It is this Devill which disturbs Families arms Provinces ruines States desolates Paradise and peoples Hell It is a flaming Torch which inkindles fires even in the midst of water a Northern wind which raiseth a Thousand Tempests a Lightning which consumes mens Spirits and in fine it is a Passion ever blind yet covered over with Eyes which serve it as gates by which it useth to steal in under perfidious Baits and inchanting Looks Deadly shafts It was for this reason the prophane painted their Loves with darts of death which they cast at each other and which as a Grecian sayd were as so many glances which they wantonly gave one another though their Eyes ought to be veiled But Love hath insolence enough to lift up the Scarfe which covers its Eyes or at least it sees notwithstanding this veil and commonly it mingles shafts and glances to commit Sacrileges and Murthers This homicide layes ten Thousand Snares he is alwayes watchfull and there is no Dove this Vulture assaults not as soon as she appears and when by mishap he hath seized on her I know not by what Inchantment and by what Spells the heart of this unfortunate prey is taken But it seems in an Instant to become a Furnace and that the flames inkindled therein issuing through the Eyes may change the Earth into a Pyle Franciseas Valeriota lib. 2. obser These are insulphur'd Vapours firy Smoaks dreadfull Exhalations dark Shadows Idols and unchast Images Arist lib. de somno vigilia at the sight whereof the Eyes are dazeled and Reason becomes blind Then Piety is but Idolatry Disorders of Love all duties become scorns Complacences Trecheries Empires Servitudes Liberty Bondage Loves-alurements Snares Thrones Precipices and a Chaos where houses are overthrown Temples prophan'd and all Lawes confounded what horror what disorder what abomination even women who ought to be a Refuge of honour Horrible Chaos and a Sanctuary of purity Mulier amissa pudicicitia null em flagitii respuiâ— Cor. Jac. often serve as a retreat unto the fondest affections and there is no faith no Sacrament no modesty they doe not violate when once their hearts have escaped through their Eyes The wife of Putiphar Enritque eum Putiphar de manu Ismaelitarum Gen. 39. v. 1. to whom Joseph was sold by the Ismaelites made it sufficiently appear when she was so impudent as to attempt the Chastity of her Servant This Female wolf had onely
so much modesty as to blush at the bare sight of an object and others whom the least deniall banisheth for ever but the loves of the World and Egypt often find their nourishment and delights in Conversations looks and even in the midst of disdain and nothing but separations distance them from their desires and pretensions Such was the Devill of this Egyptian Woman The Devil of Egypt who so eagerly pursued Joseph he was an insolent importunate and furious companion His rage notwithstanding had by fits some relaxation he knew the art of dissembling and to be silent for a time his Element was solitude and the night his refuge he sighed alwayes after Joseph and nothing pleased him when he was absent In fine he seems to have the power to possesse this Soul if she be alone and if all witnesses be drawn aside Be ware then Joseph what you doe you are alone you are young you are beautifull and Esteemed Remember that the eyes of Women dart as many lightnings as glances Hususcemodi verbis per singulos dies mulier molesta et al adolescenti ille recusabat fluprum Gen. 39. v. 10. call to mind that their mouths shed honey and poison and that their tongues cast more dangerous darts than Adders Contemn then what ever this impudent creature can say unto you She will peradventure Cruell battery say she is your Mistris and that you ought to obey her And that if she affect you you cannot hate her and if she seek you you have no reason to flye from her she will conjure you to tell her what in her displeaseth you Since she omits nothing that may content you and without injustice you cannot refuse her one single favour she expects from you Especially she being ready on her part to grant all that you can ask of her There is no colour she will not employ to represent unto you her passion And her eyes though silent will swear to you that they have often enough spoken to you when her mouth durst not utter a word that if it were possible she would believe that she hath by her words manifested to you all the thoughts of her soul when they might have been kept secret Besides she will flatter you saying you have refused her that out of prudence which now you ought to grant her through love and goodness Moreover if you fear any thing she will assure you that she hath foreseen all that may expose you unto danger In fine she will intreat that if she hath no fortunes in the world which are not at your disposure you would yet receive her respect and affections to render you more absolute and independent concluding by all these reasons that you must at last satisfie her either by violence or sweetnesse and that she will have either honour or life death or consent Behold a fierce assault against the chastity of Joseph His flesh however was not made of brasse nor his heart of a Diamond But it may be spoken of him what Sparta said of a young Câ—valier who having a long time passed amongst Ladies and Conversations as Planets upon durt without receiving any stain deserved to be called the Sun of his Age. Joseph had attractives in his eyes Erat autem Joseph pulâ—bra facte decorus aspectu Gen. 39. v. 6. and rayes on his face purer than those of the Sun He never fell into those Eclipses which impallidates the most beautifull Planets and often mix night and darknesse with the most glorious dayes He was an illuminated Sun which pursues his Cariere and which God alone was able to stay In vain was it for Syrens to sing on the shore and the winds to whistle on the Sea and in the world he looked upon his period at which he must necessarily arrive Mean while let us see I beseech you Furions temptation what strong endevours are used to stay him They flatter him they praise him they love him they honour him they conjure him they threaten him they make him promises What will you have and what more can be done to gain him and possesse his affections Entreaties have hitherto received but refusalls Alurements disdains and threats constancy and neglect In fine Eâ—illa apprehensa lacâ—nia vestimenti ejus diceret dormi mecum qui relicto in manu eâ—â—s pallio fugit egressus est foras Gen. 39. v. 12. an attempt must be made on the life of him whose honour she could not wound She leaps on his neck as it were to strangle him but presently Joseph flies away and leaving his garment in her hands she had but the Feathers of this bird which she thought to detain in her neasts Behold then all her Designs defeated Joseph is escaped he is in safety and out of the reach of this ravenous she-wolfe which pursued him I said not amiss that flights and separations are commonly the guardians of Chastity Sanctuary of modesty and that the purest affections are never so prudent as when they make a wise retreat In vain is it to say that Virginity hath power to erect Altars in Souls and to Consecrate them unto God I know what that glorious and chast Martyr who bore in his breast the purest and most holy of all names said of it I know also that a Virgin-soul is a living Temple and a Sanctuary where those Fires are alwaies seen which God alone and his Angels have inkindled But if this Temple be once open to all goers and commers and this so famous Sentence which banisheth from thence all sorts of impuritie be not ingraven on the gate immediately we shall see all the Torches extinguished and impure and Lascivious Megeraes will be so bold as to take place of the Vestals Wee shall see abominable Idols in the place of a Crucifix and a Dagon upon the Throne of Jesus At the same time the Angels of peace will forsake this Babylon and after they have watered with their tears this Infamous Dungeon it will be no longer but a receptacle of Devils Happy then are those Souls which imitate Joseph The Image of Chastity and fly all occasions and encounters where their honour might be in danger Joseph ought to be the Picture which all young men should still place before their Eyes This innocent Peece ought to be their Mirrour All his looks will give them most pure ardours and all the marks of his Constancy will put a stay to their most wavering and inconstant humours Surely it is an irreparable dammage â—rreparable losse and a shamefull loss to abandon that which we can never recover when once lost Purity is not like those flowers which are gathered in the Summer and may be replanted in the Winter It is a Christall which cannot be mended if it chance to be broken It is that eye of the Soul whose blindness is incurable and the wheele of an Engin which cannot be set right if it be once out of
missus sum qui secit me quasi patrem Pharaonis Dominum universae domus ejus ac principem in omni terra Egypti Gen. 45. v. 8. It is God alone who hath conducted me unto this place and who after all my misfortunes hath raised me on the Throne of Pharaoh to be the chief Ruler of his Dominions and to provide for the necessities of his people in Conjunctures of time and disasters which desolate the whole Land I refer my self unto your selves who are Eye witnesses thereof and you know at your own cost what hath passed You see that I have the absolute Command in Egypt and that Pharaoh though elder than my self doth me the honour to call me his father The name of Saviour which I bear is not a bare Title but the effects sufficiently demonstrate that Heaven hath chosen me to preserve the lines of an infinite number of people whom Famine would have destroyed It is not out of any Spirit of vain glory I open unto you all these Verities But onely to the end you may know that it is GOD alone who hath broken my Chains and who amidst all the disasters of a cruell servitude hath led me even unto Regality I adore all the effects of his amiable Providence and I can onely accuse you as the Instruments and Executioners of his Divine Decrees Do not then apprehend any thing but rejoyce that you have been the Instruments of God in so important a matter For my part I am confounded seeing the triumph of my weakness and the Haven where after so many Tempests I am arrived I look upon you as the Winds and Oares whereof God as a wise Pilot made use to convey me even in the midst of Rocks and amongst so many waves unto the Throne of Egypt Well then my most dear Brethren it is time to Convert your fears and Sorrows into Congratulations and applauses The winds are now appeased the storm is layd Festinate ascendite ad patrem mâ—um dicetis ei haec mandat filius tuus Joseph Deus fecit me Dominum universae terrae Aegypti Descende ad me ne morieris Gen. 45. v. 9. Adhuc enim quinque anni residue sunt famis Gen. 45.11 and the Sun of Jacob is risen in Egypt Take a journey then I beseech you to visit my Father and inform him that Joseph is found that you are sent from him that you have both seen and spoken with him and that he sent you to bring him least some ill might happen to him and that Death surprise him as well in respect of his old age as by reason of the publick miseries which will still endure for the space of five years After this Commission Osculatusque est Joseph omnes fratres sues ploravit super singules Gen. 45. v. 15 Joseph having no other motive which might oblige him to conceal the tenderness of his affections his Eyes were inforced to render that tribute unto Love which without violence they could not restrain Lightnings are too hot to remain inclosed in the Clouds and Clouds are too cold to endure the rayes of the Sun without being melted and dissipated Now the heart of Joseph being like a Thunder bolt wrapt up in Clowds What wonder then if this Thunder break forth and if all the Forces of his heart which were weaker than the Clouds dissolved into Tears in the presence of this Sun Thus was Joseph constrained to shed tears enough upon his Brethren Cumque ampiexatus recidisset in collum Benjamin flevit Gen. 45. v. 14. to estate the remnants of their terrors but in the first place he took Benjamin into his arms and holding him close to his bosome Delicious tears he kissed him shedding tears on his mouth which came from the bottome of his heart and he left him not but to kiss the rest of his Brethren and to witness to them by his embraces and tears the force and tenderness of his affection which was not onely placed on an Innocent but also upon Offenders Alas Fair Spectacle what spectacle of Love what Theater of Passions what kisses what embraces what tears O God! what excess of goodness in Joseph who having been persecuted by his Brethren even to death will take no other revenge of the injury he received than by his Silence by his Tears by his Sighes by his Kisses and by all sorts of benefits Where are then all those pitiless hearts Deadly Vengeances where are those mortall vengeances where those tyrants who know not what it is to pardon when once they are offended where is Joseph And where is he who after a long Contest imbraceth his adversaries who kisses them to stifle all their mischievous designs and who hath tears of Love to quench the fire which nourished their darkest Passions At least there are but few who do like Joseph that is to say without interest without constraint without dissimulation and when they have still the power of revenge in their hands It is said that a Lion hath so discreet and generous furies as we need but cast our selves at his Feet to appease him in the height of his rage But there are more savage and cruell men A more than brutish inhumanity who cannot temper their wrath and in what posture soever we set our selves before them they still remain inflexible If wounds be layd open unto them to excite them to compassion they cast new darts to poison them If a man humble himself they trample upon him if he flatter them they are exasperated If they be intreated this renders them more obstinate Above all they are inexorable and inflexible if it lye in their power to do mischief without fear of receiving any from those that may be their victimes and the Subjects of their brutality And if some Jmage of Pitty Love or Honour touch their Hearts and draw some drop of water from their Eyes and some kindnesses from their Hands or Mouths it is not without vanity and noise This indulgence must be published in all places and it seemes that the whole World ought to be advertised of it as of an universall Jubile Ridiculous ceremonâ—es This pardon then is Shamefully acquired and there are no Ceremonies in the Church and no Formalities at the bar which are not to be observed for the confirmation of this reconciliation and to render this accomodation more remarkable On the contrary Joseph retires and will have no other Witnesses of his favours than those who have been the Authors of his misfortunes He will discover his goodnesse Auditumque est celibâ—i sermone vulgatum in aula Regis venerunt fratres Joseph Gen. 45. v. 16. Et gavisus est Pharaâ— atque omnis familia ejus Gen. 45. v. 16. Dixitque ad Joseph ut imperaret fratribus suis dicens enorate sumenta ite in terram Chanaan Gen. 45. v. 17 Et tollite inde patrem vestrum cognatiâ—nâ—m venite ad me
we only consider the durance thereof and very long if we would contemplate the misfortunes contracted at his birth never to forsake him But as the setting Sun useth to dissipate the Clouds which had obscured it in the day and as sometimes wind rain and a tempest cease in the evening so Jacob at the end of his life began to enter into a calm and to enjoy fair weather It was in the City of Heros Joseph verò patri fratribus suis dedit possessionem in Agypto in optimo terrae loco Ramesses ut pâ—aeceperat â—harao Gen. 47.11 as the Septuagint have expounded it or els in Ramasses which is upon the Land of Gessen where Jacob made his last abode and where he found at last a haven after all his miseries as we are going to see CHAP. X. The last words of Jacob. ALas there is nothing eternall amongst created things and nothing which begins not to wax old assoon as it begins to live Life and Deathare inseparable companions which follow each other at a neer distance and tread even upon the same steps God himself saith Tertullian Roc stipulata est Dei vox hoc spopandit omnt quod nascitur c. Tertul. lib. de an cap. 30. is as it were ingaged thereunto by his word and all creatures at their birth are obliged unto it by promise at the very instant they enter into the world Life notwithstanding hath no regular periods and though he that made every thing with weight and measure hath shut up Creatures in the circle of Ages yet he hath not prescribed them equall limits but there are some who make their voyages longer or shorter than others However in vain is it to stray and take by-wayes For we must either in the morning at noon or in the evening arrive at our Lodging and after a thousand and a thousand windings at our finall resting place It is there said Calisthenes where Fathers and Children Calesthenes M.S. young and old wise men and fools the strong and weak and even the demi-Gods find themselves confused with Plants and beasts Death said a Favourite of Justinian pitcheth every where his tents and we as often hear mournfull Ditties under Velvet Canopies and in Ballisters of Ivory as under Pavillions of coarse Cloth and Cottages thatch'd with straw We see in Town ditches and under the dust of Battells Captains lying amongst Souldiers We behold under merciless blades and amongst Scymiters people lying with their Magistrates And at best there are but some Stones some Ciphers and Epitaphs which distinguish them Death then is more just and civill than birth The last hath Complacences for some and rigours for others but the first is indifferent towards all and we see at her feet Scepters amongst Scyths with this Inscription The Motto of Death Nemini parco I spare no man Death suffers not its self to be corrupted by favour it is on the River of oblivion and all the bodyes he ferries over in his Boat are naked not to appear different one from the other It was for this reason as the incomparable Picus of Mirandula said Most important advice Wise men during their lives and especially upon the approach of death ought to perform such actions as their memory might be immortall to the end if Death be common to them the manner of dying might be peculiar The Phoenix is no lesse subject unto death than Owles but Owles dye in the night and in a hollow place of some rotten Tree Whereas the Phoenix expires in the rayes of the Sun and upon a pile of Cinnamon and Musk. The Swan is no more exempt from it than the Raven But the Raven dyes craking upon some carrion and the Swan singing upon the bank of some fair River Jacob who as the Father of Nations seemd to have right unto Immortality was yet no more immortall than Esau but their death will be very different For Esau dyes suddenly like a Raven and an Owl but Jacob a far off saw his hours approching like a Phoenix and as a Swan which sings according to the common saying when he is breathing his last He was a hundred forty and seven years old when he perceived the arrivall of that moment which was to finish the course of his life Factique sunt omnes dies vitae illius Centum quadraginta septem annorum Gen. 47. v 28. Cumque appropinquare cerneret diem mortis suae vocavit filium suum Joseph dixit ad eum Si inveni gratiam in conspectu tuo pone manum tuam sub femoâ—e meo facies mihi misericordiam vâ—ritatem ut non sepelias me in Aegypto Gen. 47. v. 29. Sed dormiam cum patribus meis auseras me de terra hac condasq in sepulchno majorum meorum Gen. 47. v. 30. Rupertus hic Then this happy Patriark commanding Iosephs presence said unto him My Son it is time for me to dye there is no appeal I goe whither Abraham and Isaack are gone before and you shall come thither after me Mean-while I prithee if thou lov'st me put thy hand under my thigh and assure me that after my death thou wilt transport my body out of Egypt into Chanaan to bury it in the Sepulcher of my fore Fathers This is all I ask and all the favour I expect from thy love and goodness Iacob had reason to desire to be carried into Chanaan and laid in the monument of his Ancestors for this was the Land promised to his Children and which was to be one day consecrated by the worship of God and by the presence of the Messias As for the the Oath to which he oblig'd Ioseph it did not proceed from any distrust of his affection and fidelity Adoravit Isâ—ael Deum conversus ad lectuli caput Gen. 47. v. 31. Ribera in c. 11. ad Heb. Abulensis Et alii hic His ita transactis nunctatum Joseph quod aegrotaret pater fuus qui assumptis dâ—oobus filiis Manasse Ephraim ire perrexit Gen. 48. v. 1. but it was only done to the end that if Pharaoh should hinder him from rendring this duty unto his Father he might answer he was engaged thereto by Oath After this protestation Jacob adored God first turning his head towards the beds side where Joseph stood and directly towards the East because it was in this place they were accustomed to offer Sacrifices and erect Altars or rather to cast some look towards the Land of promise on which he had already placed all his hopes and desires Afterwards Jacob chancing to fall sick the news of of it was presently brought unto Joseph who immediatly took with him his two Sons Manasses and Ephraim to see him once more that they might receive his last Benediction Dictumque est Seni Ecce filius tuns Joseph venit ad te Qui confortatus sedit in lectulo Gen. 48. v. 2. Et ingresso ad se ait Deus
huc atque illuc nullum adesse vidâ—ssâ—t percussum Aegyptium abscondit sabalo Exod. 2. v. 12. and doubtless such a one was that of Moses as he sufficiently manifested when seeing an Egyptian who tormented his Brethren and was a publick enemy to his Nation he resolved to take a just revenge on this Persecutor It was God who put Arms into his hands and this brave Courage feared no danger in undertaking a quarrell in which God Nature and Reason ingaged him This Zeal was neither rash furious nor interessed but prudent and grounded upon reason and the publick good It was an Act of Justice by which he began to exercise the honourable office of a Judge and Regent over the people of Israel This generous and Magnanimous enterprise must not then authorise the liberty of certain Sword-men Zeal of Ranters who speak only of cutting off arms and legs These commonly are a sort of people as I conceive who have courage and boldness enough to kill a man who hath a Scarf over his eyes and his hands bound behind him But I am afraid that in the scuffle and in the midst of the Combat upon a fair occasion they will be seen with pale looks and making more use of their feet than their hands The courage of Moses was never of this temper and these vaporing and boasting people draw no more advantage from it Indiscreet Zeal than those who desire to pass for Zelots and who think under pretence of Zeal that every thing is lawfull for them These are indeed insupportable Tyrants and very often all these flaming devotions and these ardent Zeals are but veils of indiscretion pride presumption self-self-love and a malignant humour which seeks to subject the whole world to their will and to compleat this they make use of all sorts of weapons This is not to be Zealous but to shew ignorance in the nature of that Divine zeal wherewith Moses was inflam'd to make its Frenzies Furies and most infamous Passions pass under so fair pretences and such specious Bills Zeal alwayes goes on four Wheeles that is to say True Zeal Justice Fortitude Knowledge and Charity and it is the Spirit of God which moves those Wheels and is the Conductor of this Chariot But you will ask me perchance Timuit Moises ait quomodo palam factum est verbum istud Exod. 2. v. 14. Cumque circumspexit but atque illuc nullum adisse vidisset percussum Aegyptium abscondit sabulo Exod 2. v. 52. why then doth Moses fear if God puts the Sword into his hand Why doth he fly after so just and holy an exploit and why doth he bury under the Earth a Trophy which he ought to present unto the eyes of Pharaoh and his whole Court His fear is not servile nor his flight unmanly and indiscreet but he that had given the Courage to expose himself unto danger bestowed on him counsell and means to avoid it and besides as St. Paul hath noted Fide reliquit Aegyptum non verilus animositatem Regis ad Heb. c. 1â— it was Faith and not the fear of Pharaoh's indignation which oblig'd Moses to leave Egypt It was a Stratagem of the holy Providence of God who would leave us this example for an Image of Courtly and worldly favours which have their fluxes and refluxes like the Sea and where such an one is adopted to day to hold the Scepter who shall be to morrow dis-inherited and chased away with dishonour So that Moses who after he had been treated as the Son of a Queen is constrained to depart out of Egypt and to leave the Court of Pharaoh having no other Companions in his voyage but Miseries Poverties Contempts and even Ingratitudes from those whom he had obliged Behold this Favourite of the King behold this person who after his adoption could expect nothing but a Scepter and Crown abandoned and unknown in a forrein Countrie behold him a Fugitive in the Land of Madian Alas what will he doe can it possible happen that after his escape amidst the waves of Nilus he should perish on the Earth and on the brink of a Well Is there not still some young Princess who will take pitty on him and if such an one were found in Egypt who was pleased to be his Mother hath not Madian some one who will be his wife and spouse Moses tyred with travelling Moratus est in terra Madian et sedit juxta puteum Exod. 2. v. 15 Erant autem sacerdoti Madian septem filiae quae venerunt ad hauriendam aqueuam impletis canalibus adaquare cupiebant greges patris sui Exod. 2. v. 16. Supervenere pastores ejecerunt eas surrexitque Moises defensis puellis adaquavit oves earum Exod. 2 v. 17. Quae cum revertissent ad Raguel patrem suum c. Exod. 2. v. 18. Responderunt vir Aegyptius liberavit nos de manu pastorum c. Exod. 2. v. 19. At ille ubiest inquit vocate eum ut comedat panem Exod. 2. v. 20. Juravit ergo Moises quod habitaret cum co accepitque Sephoram filiam ejus Exod. 2. v. 21. Quae peperit ei filium quem vocavit Gersan alterum vero peperit quem vocavit Eliezer c. Exod. 2. v. 22. Post multum verò temporis mortuus est Rex Aegypti c. Exod. 2. v. 23. Et audivit gemitum corum ac recordatus est faederis quod pepigit cum Abraham Isaac Jacob. Exod. 2. v. 24. and weary with his journey knows not whither to goe he is constrained to repose himself neer a well and expects like a flower scorch'd by the Sun some breath of wind and some drop of dew from the bosome and hand of him who nourisheth all creatures and replenisheth all Hearts with benedictions As he was in this expectation he perceived seaven daughters of Raguel Prince of Madian coming to water their flocks But when these illustrious Shepheardesses had drawn Water for this end some Shepheards who followed them were so bold as to attempt the taking some of it to Water their own Then Moses not being able to endure so great an indignity took upon himself the just quarell of these Maids and having chased away these presumptuous persons he himself drew water out of this well and gave it unto their Sheep which was the occasion Raguel who was presently advertised of what had passed sent for him to espouse unto him one of his daughters named Sephora by whom Moses had two Sons whose names served to leave a Monument of their fathers fortune unto posterity For the first was called Gerza which signified the aboad of Moses in forein Countries the other called Eleazar in remembrance of the favours God had shewed him taking him out of the hands and fury of Pharaoh from whom in fine a long time after death who spares no man forced the Crown and scepter of Egypt which gave liberty unto the people of Israel to
unto Moses after the destruction of Amaleck Let what passed at this time be written in Annales Dixit autem Dominus ad Moisen scribe hoc ob monimentum in libro trade auribus Josue delebo erim memoriam Amalec sub caelo Exod. 17. v. 14. and let it be engraven upon all Marbles Amaleck is vanquished and men never shall more speak of him but to remember his loss and misfortune After which Moses erected an Altar for an eternall monument Edificavitque Moises altare vocavit nomen ejus Dominus exaltatio mea dicens Exod. 17. v. 15. Quia manus solii Domini bellum Domini erit contra Amalec à generatione generationem Exod. 17. v. 16. which he consecrated unto God as unto him who had been a Standard in this War and a Trophy after his Combats Amongst which he had cast down the Throne of Amaleck and effaced his name and memory for all eternity After this let any one be so rash and senseless as to attaque God and his servants to suffer themselves to be transported at the first sight and at the first assault of an impudent Love of a Carnall affection of a violent pleasure of a deceiptfull beauty of a charm'd imagination of a contagious desire of a brutish satisfaction of a mortall envy and of so many passions which use to pursue those who forsake the World and Egypt and which like Amaleck and the Amalekites are destroyed by the least shafts of courage and virtue but chiefly of piety and confidence in God The which may be easily acquired and preserved with that Saint who hath made and doth make every Day so many Saints by this cogitation Here on Earth there are momentary pleasures Sanctus Franciscus Modica hic voluptas sed postea poena aeterna modicus hic labor sed postea gloria aeterna multorum vocatio paucorum electio omnium retributio aeternitatem cogita and afterward eternall torments There are afflictions and difficulties in the World which end almost assoon as they begin and in Heaven there is a repose and glory which shall be immortall Many are called but few chosen and yet all shall be rewarded according to their deserts Think then on Eternity CHAP. XXIII Moses is visited in the Desart where he Creates Judges and Magistrates SCarce are there any Creatures in this World which are not fastned by some tyes But amongst others men are there as it were in a Dungeon or Gally where nevertheless some have Irons and Chains about their Necks Feet and Hands Captivity of Creatures others have but Bonds of Silk and very often of bloud which detain them like so many Andromedes upon a Rock or like ravenous Birds upon a heap of Carrion from which they cannot rise to elevate themselves into the Ayr. Amongst this number are those who swear not but by their country and by those little Gods the Antients plac'd neer the Chimny Corners or at the Beds Feet as their domestick Tutelaries and the Genius of a Closet or House I place also in this road all those who have servile amities and blind passions for trifling things unworthy to be regarded by a generous and couragious Spirit who nevertheless you shall very often see amusing themselves in the chase of Flyes handling a Spindle or carrying a Distaff like Sardanapalus amongst a few disdainfull Dames which inslave him by a thousand Childish â—oyes There are other Chains which though lawfull are yet often more dangerous not to be broken but with violences which cannot be practised upon our selves without a most particular grace Now such are all the tyes which nature hath woven in our Hearts and in our Veins and which so powerfully fasten a Father and Mother unto their Children an only Brother to his Sister a Servant to his Master and two faithfull friends to each other that nature were almost obliged unto a miracle to require of her this separation Nevertheless it is a necessity which can almost admit of no delay and from which a man cannot be exempted when he resolves to serve God and obey his most holy will He is not yet so rigorous as not to permit the exercise of those duties which every condition requireth provided it be done with order and according to the rule of prudence and piety For in such a case he being the Author of nature as he is he is so far from destroying her as on the contrary he will preserve her but above all he will be first serv'd And this is what Moses did when he was commanded to obey God and to go from Madian into Egypt to sollicite his affairs and to negotiate for his people with Pharaoh For he left his Wife and Children and what he had most dear in the world to go with his brother Aaron Cumque audisset Jethro sacerdos Madian cognatus Moysi omnia quae secerat ei Dâ—us c. Exod. 18. v. 1. Tulit Sephoram uxorem Moysi quam remiserat Exod. 18. v. 2. Et duos filios esus Exod. 18 v. 3. Cumque intrasset tabernaculum Exod. 18. v. 7. Narravit Moyses cognato suo cuncta quae fecerat Dominus Pharaoni c. Exod. 18. v. 8. Laetatusque est Jethro super omnibus bonis quae fecerat Dominus Israëli Exod. 18. v. 9. Obtulit ergo Jethro cognatus Morsi holocausta hostias Deo veneruntque Aaron omnes seniores Israël ut comederent panem cum eo coram Deo Exod 18. v. 12. Altera autem die sedit Moyses ut judicaret populum qui assistebat Moysi â mane usque ad vesperam Exod 18 v. 13. Quod cum vidisset cognatus ejus omnia scilicet quae agebat in populâ— ait quid est hoc a â—od facis in plebe c. Exod. 18. v. 14. but when his Orders were executed and when Pharaoh and Egypt Amaleck and the Amalekites were exterminated and the Israelites conducted even unto Mount Sina after so many Miracles wrought for their sake behold Jethro the Priest of Madian appearing who brought back Moses Wife and two Sons whom he had left behind when he took his Journey into Egypt He received him with very great affection and having brought him unto his Tent he related to him all the particulars of what had passed and the Prodigies God had wrought by his hand Jethro then manifested an unspeakable joy and immediatly rendred thanks unto God who had freed them all from the tyranny of Egypt and the power of Pharaoh freely confessing that the God of Israel was the God of Gods whose goodness power Justice and Majesty had made themselves to be seen and felt by his enemies In testimony whereof he took from the hand of Moses a Victim and Sacrifice which he offered with a most perfect faith and a most holy piety Then the Banquet followed at which all the Antients of the people were present with an intention to celebrate this Feast in honour of their God The next
Heifers neck from whence her fellow Citizens knew that heaven did not approve of this bloudy Sacrifice Athenaeus ex Phiâ—arce Athenaeus makes mention also of a young Eagle which having been brought up by the hand of a Child loved him afterwards as his brother assisting him even during his Maladies with so strong and violent resentments as that when this Child did not eat this poor Bird abstained also from food continuing his amiable tendernesses even to the flaming Pile in which they were both buried under the same Ashes We have a thousand such examples amongst the Prophane and more also in our holy Histories where on the one side St. Medard is seen in the midst of a field under a great Eagle sheltring him from the Sun And on the other side a generous Martry to whom Eagles serv'd for guards unto his body even after death in the same manneâ— as those by which the Sacred reliques and chast spoiles of St. Stanislans Bishop of Cracovia were kept for the space of three whole dayes lest they might be devoured by Dogs or by some other beast After so much love piety zeal and foresight in this Bird Moyses autem ascendit ad Doum vocavitque eum Dominus da monte ait haec dicit dominus Jacob c. Exod. 19. v. 3. Vos ipsi vidistis quae secerim Aegyptiis quomodo portaverim vos super alas aquilarum assumpserim mihi Exod. 19 v. 4. ought we to wonder if God having conducted his people unto the foot of Mount Sina called Moses from the top of this Mountain commanding him to say from him unto the Children of Israel that they must remember what he had done to the Egyptians for their sake and how he had carried them on his wings like an Eagle which as Rabbi Solomon very happily observes useth to bear his young on his shoulders whereas other Birds carry them in their talons or in their beaks lest those that fly over their heads may seiz on them But the Eagle fears only man who is under her feet and therefore she opposeth her self as a buckler against the Darts and Arrows which may be shot at them preferring much more the life of her young before her own Moses say then boldly unto this people that God is an Eagle which carries them upon his wings and if they believe this truth which hath been so often proved assure them from me that he will have a most particular care of their affairs And although the whole world be dear unto him Et vos eritis mihi in regnum Sacerdotale gens sancta Exod. 19. v. 6. as being his yet he will have no common tendernesses for them and that in fine he will make use of them as of so many Kings and Priests to command over other Nations and to render unto him the service and worship which is due unto his regality V. Chalda vers upon which all the Miters and Crowns of the Universe depend It is the same promise which God made unto all those who serve him and live according to the rules of Christianity For they are a chosen people a holy Religion and a Royall Priesthood They have a power and command which puts a Scepter into their hands Venit Moyses convocatis majoribus natu populi exposuit omnes sermones quos mandaverat Dominus Exod. 19. v. 7. Responditque omnis populus simul Cuncta quae locutus est Dominus faciemus Exod. 19. v. 8. Ait ei Dominus jam nunc veniam ad te in caligine nubis ut audiat me populus loquentem ad te credat tibi in perpetuum Exod. 19. v. 9. and a Diadem of honour and immortality on their heads But to return unto Moses when he had related unto the Hebrews all that God had said unto him and when they all expressed their gratitude for the favours they had received from him and were ready to obey such just commands God advertis'd him that he was going to establish their Law-giver and to render this action more glorious as also to effect that the people which are usually led more by sense than reason might have more powerfull motives to believe him he said that he would appear to them in the form of a Cloud in which he would speak unto them aloud in such a manner as having heard him no man could any longer doubt but that this most Divine and heavenly law was dictated by the mouth of a God And this peradventure moved the Gentiles the Turks Zoroaster Minos Mahomet Foppery of Idolaters and Turks impudently falsly to boast that they had spoken unto a God and received their Lawes from his hand In like manner also Numa Pompilius made the Romans believe that he had been instructed by the Goddesse Egeria concerning his Laws And Pithagoras for the same purpose had made an Eagle so tame that she returning to him after her flight gave him occasion to lye in saying that she brought him his Principles and Maxims from Heaven which afterwards he caused to pass for so many Oracles But these were but illustrious falshoods and glorious Impostures deceitfull artifices and subtill illusions to ruine the ignorant whereas the Lawes of Moses were Lawes of the increated Wisedome Decrees of the prime verity and rules of Salvation for an entire people It was requisite then carefully to prepare themselves for so important a reception Qui dixit ei Vade ad populum san ctifica illo hodie eras lavenâ—que vestimenta sua Exod. 19. v. 10. and Moses received command for this effect to advertise all the people that they ought to purifie themselves for the space of two dayes to the end upon the third they might be ready to receive the Law Now this preparation was no other than a generall Sanctification which first consisted in an exteriour neatness principally in apparell Secondly Et ne appropinquetis uxoribus vestris Exod 19.8 Et sint parati in diem tertium c. Exod. 19. v. 11. Jamque advenerat dies tertius mane inclaruerat ecce caeperunt audiri tonitrua S. Hieronymus ad Fabiolam Ac micare fulgura nubes densissimae operire montem clangorque buccinae vehementius perstrepebat timuit populus qui erat in castris Exod. 19. v. 16. Totus autem mons Sinai fumabat eo quod descendisset super eum Dominus in ignes ascenderet fumus ex eo quasi de fornace eratque omnis mons terribilis Exod. 19. v. 18. in abstaining even from lawfull pleasures Thirdly in an expectation full of Piety and respect in consideration of so holy and great a favour This being then done as Moses had ordained on Gods part presently on the third day which was that of Pentecost the siftieth after Easter and after the departure out of Egypt all the Israelites appeared very early in the morning neer Mount Sina and drawn together in a Ring and within
offered unto God 28 His murthers by Cain 30 Abraham 52 His vocation 53 The difficulties of his voyage 60 The agreement he made with his Father-in-law Lot 65 His Charity towards Pilgrims 78 His martyrdom for three days 107 His discourse to his son Isaac 109 The advertisement which he gave him that he was to be the victim of his sacrifice 110 His farewel to the world 60 Adam and his Creation 10 His fear and shame at the sight of God in the Terrestrial Paradise 21 He lays the fault on his wife 22 His disaster and banishment 23 Advantage by good education 128 Advertisement very remarkable of Philip of Macedon 51 Advice to fathers and mothers 267 Advice to publick persons 386 Affections very regular 150 Africa tormented by Grashoppers 289 Agar chased out of Abrahams house 73 Alexius his affection towards his father 348 Amalekites overcome by the prayers of Moses 330 St. Ambrose his authority over the Empress Justina 269 Anastasius the Emperor leaveth the Empire of Greece to be religious 58 Animals their production 7 Antandria marvellous in her Rivers 156 Apparition of God unto Moses and the advertisement he gave him 266 Apprentiship of Empires 257 Lawful apprehensions 139 Very just apprehensions for worldly men 62 Ark of the Old Testament 370 Ark of the Testament a figure of the divinity 186 Insolent artifice of Putiphers wife 185 Artifice of Rebecca in the preference of Jacob before Esau 133 Admirable artifices of God to try the fidelity of Abraham 97 Art of digging very difficult 236 Aurelian and his Crowns of bread 81 Altar of Holocausts 373 Mysterious answers 136 B. St. Basil the power he had with the Emperor Valens 269 Banishment of Adam and Eve 19 Banishment of Agar and Ismael 94 Baltilda leaves France and became a religious woman 59 Cruel battery of Putiphers wife against the chastity of Joseph 182 Beauty its power and tyranny pleasing and deadly poison 37 Benediction of God upon all Nations and Generations in the person of Abraham 57 Deceiptful Benedictions of this world 136 Benediction of the twelve Patriarks 236 Flaming Bush 257 The reality of fire which burnt it without consâ—ming it 258 First-born of Egypt their death and destruction 294 Blindness of Isaac 230 Building of the Ark 40 Supplanting Brethren 125 Bones springs of the bodies motions 12 Birds their production 6 C. Cain his affection fastned to the Earth 27 His execrable insolence 30 His troubles and exiles 32 First Canticle of Moses 313 Second Canticle of Moses 404 Ignominuous captivity of Creatures in the world 335 Charlemain son of Charls Martel leaves France to live out of way on Mount Soracte 58 Doleful Catastrophies 312 Ridiculous Ceremonies 221 Ceremonies of the Old Testament 368 Certainty most uncertain 130 Charity her Antiparistasis 361 Chastity her victories and triumphs 349 Circumcision the command thereof 75 Circumcision corporal figure of that which is to be in the spirit of Grace ibid. Circumcision sign of peace 76 Circumcision Image of Faith ibid. Mark of distinction ibid. Sequence of original sin ibid. Clotarius his victories which he gained by the means of prayer 333 Combat of Joseph in defence of his chastity 177 Combats natural to man 326 Mournful complaint of Jacob 174 Fruitless complements 98 Consort of creatures 8 Condemnation of false witnesses and lyers 351 Divine condescendency 81 Confidence in God 28 Conscience of sinners an inseparable Officer 200 Inflexible courage 162 Courage the definition of it according to St. Thomas 59 Course of Wisdom 142 Creation of the World 4 Cremona beaten by a Hail-storm 287 Cyreneans necessitated to make war against Grashoppers 289 Complaint of Rebecca in the paines of child-bearing 123 Rigorous clemency 203 D. Deliverance of Joseph 190 Deluge and the time when it hapned 41 Devil of Egypt 181 Disasters of gluttony 129 Disorders of love 178 Design of God in the preference of Jacob before Esau 134 Disobedience first misfortune of Adam 21 Disunion the first misfortune of the World 20 Duty of children towards their parents 347 Diamond how it is broken 278 Dina carried away by Sichem Prince of the Sichemites 163 Dioxipus vanquished by the beauty of a great Lady Diversity of depositions 27 Duel of grief and love 106 Decrees against the usurpation of other mens goods 350 Death of Abraham 117 Darkness of Egypt 290 Departure of the people of Israel out of Egypt 299 Decree concerning the Creation of men 10 Departure of the people of Israel out of Egypt 303 Dreams of Joseph which he revealed to his brethren 167 Dreams their destinction according to Chrysippus 168 E. Eclipse of reason in Wine 48 Edict against blasphemers 345 Equality sometimes dangerous 74 Egypt the Sepulchre of the name of Israel 249 State Elogy 141 Empire of Love 102 Empire of Souls 162 Sovereign Empire of God 251 Envy its desolations 32 Its resemblance with those bloody Birds of prey which are seen near the North Pole 33 Remedies against it 35 Its nature and qualities 175 Esau his nature and humor 126 The love he had to hunting 128 He sells his birth-right to his brother Jacob for a mess of pottage 129 He marrieth against the will of his Parents 130 Marvellous estate of man 16 Eternity all is short to him who meditates on it 153 Eve her Creation 17 Her disaster and banishment 19 Her discourse to Adam to deceive him 20 Her malediction 23 End of the deluge 44 Epitomy of the Law 354 Eagles a handsom mark of their affection 339 Ermine and her Motto ibid. Extraction of great men is commonly a fair subject of miseries 135 F. Fruitfulness of women the causes which hinder it 121 Felicity subject to alteration 123 Feasts of death 214 Memorable feast of the Hebrews 299 Fire symbol of the Divinity 310 Firmament formed in the midst of waters 5 Enigmatical Figures 136 Inviolable Fidelity 187 Fountain of Horeb 326 Fountain of the Red Sea which changeth every thing into Carnation 156 Firing of Sodom 89 Frogs of Egypt 279 Flyes of Egypt 281 Fishes their production 6 Fopperies of Idolaters and Turks 341 G. Government of Joseph in Egypt 194 Graces of God always sufficient 139 Gregory the thirteenth the Picture he caused to be made of Peace and Justice 68 Goodness of God towards men 15 Ineffable goodness 85 Golden Calf the adoration thereof 359 God Creator 1 God repents to have made man 39 God hidden under the habit of the poor 152 God never tempteth 97 God hath no need of a name why 261 God sporteth with Jacob 148 H. Hook and the motto thereof 350 Heliopolis City of the Sun in Egypt 197 Heraclius Patriark of Jerusalem an excellent answer made by him to Henry King of England 364 St. Hilary his power over the Emperor Constantius 269 Homicides their sentence of death 348 Homicides of two kindes 352 Honors rendred to Joseph by the command of Pharaoh 196 Different humors of Jacob and Esau 126 Happiness of Divine Providence 195 Wel-grounded hopes
156 Secret to become master of hearts 162 Lamentable separation 141 Sephora the command which was given her to circumcise her son 266 Diabolical Serpent which deceived Eve in the Terrestrial Paradise 20 Brazen Serpent which God commanded Moses to make and set up in the Wilderness 381 Sigibertus leaves England to become religious 58 Signs of the day of Judgement 89 Simeon and Levi their fury and cruelties upon the Sichemites 163 Pleasing spectacle 120 Two-edged swords 136 Stratagem of the Angel Raphael 137 Stratagem of Abraham 61 Statue of Justice amongst the antient 86 Soul of a just man is the throne of God 186 Interessed souls 66 Soul source of beauty and operations 14 Slavery of love 150 Spirit of peace becomes furious when it is irritated 69 T. Tabernacle of the Old Testament 372 Time of mans creation 12 Dreadful tempest 275 Temptations their natures and diversities 97 Temptation exercise of Faith ibid. Furious temptations 183 Discreet tenderness 211 Testament of Jacob 236 Thales his opinion of God 262 Theodosius leaves the Empire of Greece to become a religious man 58 The thanksgiving he rendred unto God for one of his vanquished enemies 333 Tomb of concupiscence 352 Thunders plagues of Egypt 286 Tower of Babel 49 Trajan a gallant answer made by him to the Emperor Valens 333 Warlike tranquillity 68 Triumph of love on the sacrifice of Abraham 96 Tryal of love 97 Things difficult to comprehend in the World 166 Tears quench the ardors of our souls 242 Delicious tears 120 V. Vengeance and its degrees 297 Vanity of worldly men in buildings 50 Veremond King of Castile becomes a religious man 58 Verity makes a breach every where 199 Vesuvia the firing of it 275 Vicissitudes of life 168 Union of the souls 145 Vocation of holy soul 57 Voice of God in silence 143 Voyage of Abraham and Sarah into the Land of Egypt 59 His victories and the assurances which God gave him of a flourishing posterity 68 Voyage of the children of Jacob into Egypt 199 Vestments of the High Priest 374 W. Waters of Jordan respectful to the Priests who carried the Ark of the Testament 186 Waters of Egypt converted into blood 277 Constant women 106 Weakness worthy of compassion 46 Weakness of courage 152 Eternal war between the Woman and the Serpent 23 Works of uncreated wisdom 148 Works of the six days 4 Wisdom resembling the Sun 141 Wine its unhappy effects 48 Z. Zeal the excellency and source of it 238 Zeal of the Ranters of the world 254 Indiscreet zeal ibid. True zeal 255 FINIS The Printer to the Reader HIs Lordship 's being out of Town hath occasioned some Errors in the Print which the Reader may thus Correct PAg. 3. line 33. read liveless p. 5. l. 16. r. ardors p. 9. l. 16. r. to his love p. 44. l. 8. adde while p. 55. l. 5. r. Heaven p. 60. l. 28. r. Castles for Dungeons p. 74. l. 30. r. Covenant p. 98. l. 37. r. love was content p. 100. l. 3. r. Benedictions p. 102. l. 15. r. Clarities p. 108. l. 12. r. Isaac 's cost p. 129. l. 4. r. avail me p. 142. l. 13. r. now time l. 14. r. not for needs p. 173. l. 9. dele much p. 204. l. 15. r. poudered p. 207. l. 1. r. Laws p. 217. l. 22. r. even ready p. 255. l. 2. r. specious titles p. 269. l. 3. r. amazed himself p. 295. l. 6. r. was seen cleathed p. 300. l. 1. r. were obliged p. 301. l. 30. r. by it p. 307. l. 1. dele to p. 343. l. 29. dele nevertheless p. 379. l. 9. r. he imployes With other faults of lesser importance besides these in the Text and Marginal Notes
hold these lights and could not contein himself from praysing the attractive charms of this glistring and pompous quality which is as the life of the eye and a most lively representation of the spirit The second day was not less glorious The second Day for it was that in which God chose to raise up the Firmament like a Circle of Brass Dixit quoque Deus fial Firmamentum in medio aquarum dividat aquas ab aquis Gen. 1. v. 5. or rather like a Globe of Gold and azure which might serve to divide the seaven Orbes of the Planets from the empyreall Heaven Now it was in the midst of the waters that this admirable work was formed whether they were necessary to temper the rays and orders of the Stars or that the course and revolutions of a mooving body would be more even and free in an Element so pure and so plyable to all sort of Motions Or finally whether it were for some other reason known only to the incomparable Architect who caus'd his power and wisdome equally to shine in the Fabrick of the Universe The next day God descended from Heaven upon Earth and it was on this day he marked out bounds The third Day and limits to Rivers Streams Seas and Torrents so that the waters retyring some on one side and some on the other Congregentur aquae quae sub Coelo sunt in Deuâ— unum apraâ—cat arida Gen. 1. v. 7. just as they were shut up within their banks Clifts and Chanels the Earth appeared and immediatly her sides were found pierced with Caverns and her back loaden with Mountains and Rocks which rais'd her in a stately manner Instantly her entrals were filled with Stones and Metals and whilst those four great portions of the Earth which divide the World and all the Islands of the Ocean and Seas were Levelled to serve for Empires and possessions of men The hand of God as just as liberall did in the bosome of the Earth uphold the Arches of her Prisons and Dungeons to the end that if the Paradice of Eden was a Garden of delights and pleasures Hell on the contrary might be an abode of dread horror and Misery It was likewise very convenient that as God had mixed Light with Darkness he should create wild places and desarts to render the Gardens Fields and Meadows more delightfull and finally having the very same day given Plants Herbs and Flowers for an ornament to the Earth his wise Providence mingled Thorns with Roses and the most wholesome Herbs sprung out of the same soyl with the Mandrake and Aconite The fourth day The fourth Day having bin as it were the Chariot of the Sun Fiant luminaria in Virmamento Coeli dividant diem ac noctem sint in signa ten pora dies annos Gen. 1. v. 14. Moon Stars and Planets which shine in the Heavens may in some manner be called the day of days since it hath bin the Origin of the fires brightness and flames which are the soul of the Day Then were the frozen and condensed waters gathered together with more light and heat to form the Body of the Planets Et luceant in firmamento Coeli illuminent terram Gen. 1. v. 15. Fecitque Deus dun lâ—minaria magna lumanare majus ut praeesset diei luminaâ—e minus ut traeesht nocti stâ—llas v. 16. Next the Sun Moon and Stars began their courses periods and revolutions and took the tracks and ways which were traced out to them from East to West they began likewise to cast their favourable aspects and from that time their influences fell upon the Earth and they received the Orders and Laws which they have since observed so inviolably and with so great respect But whilst these Torches rowl over our heads for fear lest our eyes should be dazeled at such luminous objects Let us turn them upon the Fift day The â—ift Day Producant eqâ—as reâ—tile animae vtventis volatile super terram sub Firmamento Coelâ— Gen. 1. v. 25. wherein God created the Birds which fly in the Air and the Fishes which swim in the Water One must hear represent unto his thoughts some fair Summers day and imagine that he sits in the cool upon the shore of some Island From thence he must lift up his eyes towards Heaven and behold over head thousands of little feathered bodies cleaving the air with their wings piercing the Clouds and mingling with their flight the sweet Harmony of their warblings He must afterwards behold at his Feet a River full of Fishes armed with scales some of which cut their way neer the surface of the water and others through the midst of the waves some swim aloft against the stream and Current others are carryed down at the pleasure of the winds and by the favour of so sweet and rapid an Element This is that which God took pleasure to see and doe five dayes after the Creation of Heaven and Earth This was the day he chose to people the Air and Sea with their guests which were in so great numbers as since it hath not been necessary to create other species of Birds and Fishes But what the Earth which serves for a Basis and foundation unto Sea and Air would have some cause to murmur against both and might with reason complain as it were of God her Creator if she were abandoned and without Inhabitants Soft a little patience It belongs not unto Creatures to prescribe laws to their Creator Scarce had the Morning brought news of the arrivall of the sixth day The sixt Day Producat terra animam viventem in genere suo jumenta reptilia bestias terrae secundum species suas Gen. 1. v. 24. but at the same instant the Earth opened her eyes unto her Sun and her ears unto the voice of her God This dull heavy and insensible Mass not satisfied to have brought forth Flowers Plants and Trees yet farther displaid it self to produce all sorts of Beasts and Animals Behold the World in her Cradle and Nature in her Infancy The unmoveable Earth round about her Center is sown with flowers tapistred with Turf and Verdures beautified with Woods and Forrests she is stately in her Mountains pleasant in her Valleys delightfull in her Meadows She is rich in her Metals fertile in her Fruits and plentifull by her Rivers and Seas which inviron her on all parts and form her a thousand liquid transparences The Air encompasses her on all fides and serves her for a veil to temper the over-humid Influences of the Moon and the too ardent Rays of the Sun The Heavens like pendent Roofs and rowling Arches are strewed with Flowers Emeraulds and Rubies Hesiod in the genealogy of false divinity What doth remain after all these Prodigies of Power and all these works of Love O Power O Love I cannot condemn his fancy who said that Love produced Heaven out