is the Lamentable state of a hardned Soul where we must observe that God was the cause of it as Moses said not by fastning his heart with the Chains of a fatall necessity nor by captivating it under the power of Devils and of the Hell it self of this life But first in permitting this obduration and leaving the bridle free to him who afterwards like a wild and unruly Colt had no other guide but his own giddiness fury and impetuositie Secondly in staying the course of these Victories and Conquering Graces which create an amorous tyranny in us and onely granting him but some fruitless favours without which a man would not have the power either to undertake or desire what is necessary for his salvation Thirdly in giving him Possessions Glory Empire and forces which were like so many Bulwarks in which this miserable wretch lives in security Fourthly God hardned him by the Miracles wherewith he solicited his faith who following the malice of a corrupted and pernitious Will was dazeled at the sight of them and by over-slight wounds which did but tickle the rage and fury of this resolved spirit in stead of exciting him unto penance and imprinting in him some sence of Love Obedience and Respect Now from hence spring the frightfull sequences Frightfull sequence of obduration and the sad appertenances of the obduration of those who become Rebellious to the Lights of Heaven first they shut their Eyes and stop their Ears not to see or hear when it concerns their salvation Secondly they triumph in evill and iniquities are their most pleasing delights Thirdly the ordure of their crime cannot be cleansed Scriptum stylo ferreo in ungue adamantino Jerem. 17. and their sin is like that of Judas ingraven with an Iron Pen upon a Diamantine lamen Fourthly the so are shameless people Frons meretricis facta est tibi noluisti erubescere Jerem. c. 3. Considera opera Dei quod nemo possit corrigere quem ille despexerit Eccles. 7. and whose foreheads have less sense of modesty than that of common strumpets Fifthly they are incorrigible and though God strike them they yet deride all his chastisements and then all the Counsells of men all the complaints of their friends and even the shame which reflects on their Parents and family cannot move them Sixthly they are full of contempts disdains coldnesses and funestous railleries Seventhly they reside in the depth of the Abysse into which they strive to draw all those that reach out their hands to help them Eighthly all their habits are so inveterate that we may sooner change the skin of a Leopard and the colour of a Negro than the least of their humours Whence it comes that the measure of their iniquities is full and after these persons have passed even into the last degree of blindnesse and impiety they abandon themselves unto the desires of their hearts Cor durum est quod nee compunctione scinditur uec pietate mollitur nec movetur precibus nec cedit minis quin etiam flagell is duratur magis Cor durum est ingratum ad beneficia ad consilia infidum ad judicia saevum vnverecundum ad turpia inpavidum ad pericula inhumanum ad bumana temerarium ad divina praeteritorum obliviscens praesentium negligens futurorum improvidum c. Bern. lib. de consider ad Eugenium and their reason becomes a slave to all the motions of their Concupiscence In fine saith St. Bernard if any one will have an Epitomy of all these miseries and a picture to the life of an obstinate inflexible and obdurate spirit let him represent unto himself a heart which cannot be divided by the salutiferous waters of Compunction nor heated by the flames of a holy Love nor touch'd by the darts of Piety nor made flexible by the allurements of an amiable entreaty nor even affrighted by the horrours of the most dreadfull threats He is ungratefull for the greatest favours he derides the Counsells which are given him he contemns the Judgements of the best understandings he forgets what is past he neglects present things and cannot foresee what will befall him This impudent person is never ashamed even in the most infamous Actions all dangers which make others tremble render him more bold and his insolence passeth yet farther for he is timerarious even in what concerns God and hath no more fear of him than reverence towards men whence it proceeds that he would never cease to sin if he did not first cease to live and these terrors would never end if Death did not set some bounds thereunto Alas what Death what Life what Man what Devill or at least what heart of Man and Devill can be imagined in so detestable a condition My God! give me then rather the heart of a Tyger than so hard a heart to the end if I cannot love thee with the heart of a man I may take revenge on my self with the heart of a beast and make my heart the prey of my liberality But if thy goodness cannot endure such a butchery give me O God of my heart a heart the most loving that ever was Then will I immolate it to thee and thou shalt be the Master of it for all eternity At this instant then I Sacrifice my purest affections to thee At this instant I will obey thy commands and break for this cause with all creatures This is to provoke too long the wrath of a Judge to irritate the clemency of a Father and to heap together a train of miseries a treasure of anger and indignation We must not then expect till the measure be full till we be in the bottome of the Abysse and covered with the dreadfull obscurities of night in which the torches of Love are extinguished and the Lights of hope eternally put out In fine my God burn break and consume my heart for I choose rather to offer unto thee the flames and ashes thereof than to see it insensible and incapable of loving thee CHAP. VIII The Plagues of Egypt THe Law of Grace is not a Law of injustice where all things are permitted and where Vice remains unpunished Witness the Cities which have been swallowed up in a night and where the Elements have as it were conspired to consume places which served for retreats unto all sorts of impurities Witness the Inundation of Ashes the flames of Sulphure which issued forth of Mount Vesuvius about the year four hundred seventy and seven in which Europe was almost absorpt for punishment of the Crimes wherewith it had been polluted Vesuvius Campaniae mons exusta evomuit viscera necturnis que in die tenchris omnem Europae faciem minuto contexit pulvere and whose flames could not be washed away but by a deluge of fire a rain of Ashes and a Hail-storm of Flints which was seen as Salvian relates to come out of the bottome of this Mountain as if it had rent it self and vomited forth
ibi praevaluerat enim fames in terra Gen. 12. v. 10. Cumque prope esset ut ingrediretur Aegyptum dixit Sarae Uxori suae novi quod pulcrasis Muliâ—r Gen. 12. v 11. Et cum viderint te Aegyptii dicturi sunt Uxor illius est interficient me te reservabant Gen. 12. v. 12. Dic ergo obsecro te quod soror mea sis ut bene sit mihi propter te vivat anima mea ob gratiam tui Gen. 12. v. 13. Cum itaque ingressus esset Abram Aegyptum viderâ—nt Aegyptii Mulierem quod esset pulcra nimis Gen. 12. v. 14. in so much as our happy Traveller is enforc'd to take a farther journey and to descend into Egypt where flying from the sythe and weapons of that merciless thing which alwaies takes his enemies by the throat he fals into the hands of an other no less cruell Monster who commonly steals in by the eyes to surprize and suffocate Hearts This man wholy inlightn'd by God and who carried in the bosome of his faithfull moity the purest and most holy flames of his Love beheld a far off the smoak of a most dangerous fire and fearing least his dear Sara should be there either by mishap or force surprised he thought it fit to say unto her Wife we are here on the Confines of Egypt but yet I am afraid lest these souls a thousand times more black than their bodies lay not some blemish on thy chastity I fear lest these Ravens of Egypt should powre down on the beauty of thy Face and make it serve as a prey to their most infamous Loves and afterwards my life as a victim to their sensuality Tell them then I pray thee that thou art my Sister and that I am thy Brother to the end I may escape by this amiable Stratagem All these forecasts were not grounded on a vain fear Et nuntiaverunt principes Pharaoni laudaveâ—unt eam apud illam sublata est Mulier in domum Pharaonis Gen. 12. v. 15. and some erroneous Judgment for scarce were these two Doves of Chaldea these two Turtles and these two chast Lovers entred into Egypt but instantly the Princes of Pharaoh who were the Ministers of his impurities carried away the chast Sara and brought her to Court which was a Seraglio of luxurie and lubricity Mean while what can a chast and couragious Husband say or think who sees before his eyes the rape of his Wife Unfortunate Abraham what wilt thou doe are these the Promises which God so often made thee of filling thee with all his favours and benedictions Ah what can the loss of a Wife make a Man a Father of all People and Nations and is this the recompence of that Faith Obedience and Piety which seemed not to raise up thy Body from the Earth but to Elevate it to the Heavens Behold War on the one side thundering against thee and on the other side Famine pursuing thee and Egypt which hath ravished from thee all the honours pleasures and purest entertainments of life From whence then spring all these misfortunes Most just apprehensions for Worldly Men. Is it perchance because thou hast too suddainly left the way which God had marked out to conduct thee between the arms of a most loving Providence which was able to nourish thee in the midst of desarts and famine It is peradventure because thy vows and Sacrifices were not perfect Or else art thou not charged with the spoyls of thy Family by the excess of an ill regulated Love Or finally hast thou not propos'd to thy self for the end of thy travell the hopes of some gain or trafick Or else that which is apparently more honourable hath not the curiosity of seeing and knowing what is done elsewhere snatched thee out of Caldea to hurry thee into unknown Countries I confess that commonly these are the Western Winds which swell the sayls of those who travell either on Land or Sea But certainly as for Abraham nothing less than such designs Why then will you tell me that it is God who afflicts him and wherefore is that which he doth for his sake so rudely and furiously crossed Ah! my friend whoever thou art who askest this question take not ill what I say unto thee that thou art a stranger and Pilgrim in the Land of God and in the wayes of vertue In a word Triall of Constancy thou knowest not the secrets of a Conduct wholly Divine which is accustomed to employ all the instruments of mis-hap and all the disgraces of fortune to erect trophies unto its dearest friends often war plague and famine maladies affronts falls exiles and all that is most dreadfull in Nature take up armes to assault the life of one predestinated person but afterwards Comets transform themselves into Rainbows Famine changeth its syth into the horne of abundance affronts become honours misfortunes become favours Fine Metamorphoses banishments palaces and all the moments of Dayes and Nights will render themselves celebrious by some new benefit in favour of these happy infortunates Courage then Abraham and no wayes doubt but the fidelity which Sara hath vow'd unto thee will be proportionable to that thou rendrest unto God As for Pharaoh his Hands are bound his Eyes blind-folded and his Heart so full of bitterness and grief as at present he cannot attend to the research of remedies and of his own liberty Lay aside now all thy fears and thou also Sara for thy Heart is a Sanctuary of Peace and a Temple of Love of which God alone Flagellavit autem Dominus Pharaonem plagis maximis domum ejus propter Sarai Vaorem Abram Gen. 12. v. 17. and Abraham keep the Keys Besides these clamours thou hearest and which resound every where are but the forerunners of thy liberty and the witnesses of the vengeance God hath already taken of Pharach and likewise of all the Princes of his Court. In effect this great God Vocavitque Pharao Abram dixit ei Quidnam est quod fecisti mihi nunc igitur ecce conjux tua accipe eam vade Gen. 12. v. 19. who is jealous of the glory of his sent such harsh scourges to Pharaoh and all those who had bin his complices as scarcely had this unhappy Prince the means to see the Face of Sara This disastrous Court is no longer but a Dungeon of Darkness a Galley of Slaves and a large Hospitall of despairing Franticks Every where Violated Chastity the Rights of Mariage and Hospitality dart forth Thunder-bolts The Court of Pharaoh And from the poysoned shafts nothing but lamentable voices and bitter plaints are heard which correspond with the stroaks of a most holy and just severity Ah God! if these salutiferous cryes could be carried upon the wings of the Winds from one Pole to the other to advertise so many Egyptians who are either in the Dust of the World or breath the air of the Court. Cry
he had gained Afterwards he gave his benediction to Abraham who also presented him with the tenths of his spoyls and of his whole booty The King of the Sodomites sayled not to render his duties unto the Conqueror for he presently made hast to Abraham who treated him as a King and as one of his Allies CHAP. V. The Assurances God gave unto Abraham of a most flourishing Posteritie A Midst all these successes and congratulations Abraham who had setled Peace in Judea and in the Neighbouring Territories felt his Heart to have some desire of making War against him and as if fear and distrust had been willing to banish Faith from his Soul he began already to complain or at least to present some request unto God saying Ah my Lord where is this so flourishing Progeny where is this so numerous posterity and where are these Children thou hast promised me Can it possibly happen that a Stranger and a Servant should be the support of my House and the Inheritor of all my Fortunes I see my self encompassed with Enemies I feel my self burthened with old age and there is as it were no longer any probability I should ever hope for Children I very much doubt whether Abraham had ever an intention to complain However he was somewhat afraid and God to deliver him out of his fear said unto him in most express terms Abraham fear nothing Noli timere Abram Ego protector tuus sum merces tua magna nimts Gen. 15. v. 1. Dixitque Abram Domine Deus quid dabis mihi Gen. 15. v. 2. for I have promised to keep thee alwaies in my protection and to be for ever the recompence of thy Faith and hopes But yet Lord saith Abraham what is that thou wilt give me for a long time is already spun out since I have been in expectation and I have not the possession of any other Goods than those I could hope for from your bounty Certainly the Privacies of a Holy Soul are in high esteem with God was there ever any thing more free more open and Genuine than the Heart of Abraham What Favourite of the Kings of this World would be so confident as to say unto his Master what this Good Old Man said unto God Nevertheless God was pleased with this Libertie And as if he ment to increase so amiable a freedom by new assurances of his Power and Will He made Abraham come out of his Pavillion Eduxit illum foras dixit illi suspice Caelum numera stellus si potes Et dixit ei sic erit semen tuum Gen. 15. v. 5. Non erit hic haeres tuus sed qui egredietur de utero tuo ipsum habebis haeredem Gen. 15. v. 4. Igitur Sara Uxor Aâ—â—aham c. Gen. 15. v. 6. Dixit marito suo cece conclusit me Dominus ne parerem ingredere ad ancillam meam si sorte saltem ex illa suscipiam filios Gen. 16. v. 2. and then not satisfied with having promised him a Posterity numerous as the Sands of the Sea He shewed him the Heavens with promise that the number of his Children should equall the Planets and Stars of the Firmament Adding to him afterwards that suddainly he should have a Son by his dear Sara who should be the Heir of his possessions and the ornament of his Family Notwithstanding all these Assurances and promises Sara who felt her self Barren permitted her Husband what the Law and Custom of that time allowed And much more for this Chast Wife humbly intreated that Agar though a Servant might share with her in his Bed and affections but as it commonly happens that Honours trample on the Right and Duties of Nature Agar was no sooner become a Mother but she would be at the same time also a Mistress It is a very strange spectacle to behold the insolences of Fortune There is nothing so insupportable as a proud poor Man as a Servant who is become Master and as a beggarly Woman who hath the Keys of a good House These Monsters of Mankind resemble those Exhalations Humane Monsters which after they are raised from the Dunghils of the Earth take the shape of the Sun or of a Comet whose aspect is terrible and dreadfull to all beholders They are also like those little Streams about four or five Feet in breath which run Serpentizing about Cities and sometimes commit so many spoils in one hour as the Sea would not doe in a hundred years But as the Sun with two or three Days of heat drys up these Torrents so God in the twinkling of an Eye humbleth the Pride of all the insolent and there is nothing so detestable in his sight as a Proud Man who was Born in Misery and Poverty unless those blind furies chance to relent either through due consideration or some cross fortune which invites God to resume his Eyes of Compassion to behold their Disaster So Agar having been disgracefully driven out of Abraham's and Sara's House when her wandring heart had leasure to entertain more humble and mild thoughts God who hath fatherly tendernesses for those who place their whole strength and Consolation in Meeknesse and Humility immediatly sent an Angel to her who promised her a favorable return and besides gave her assurances that shortly she should have a Son who should be called Jsmael in effect she conceived and was delivered as the Angel had said Abraham being no lesse than fourscore and six years old or neer upon CHAP. VI. The Continuation of the favours which God conferred on Abraham THE Love which God bears to all Creatures is a rare Artist it is alwayes active Love never idle alwayes ardent and never seen idle It is a fire which is continually seeking new aliment It is a torrent which never stops it is a lightning which cannot long remain inclosed within a Cloud a Planet which knows not what repose or retirement meaneth Painters for this reason gave it winges and in pictures it is for the most part ever seen with one foot in the air Wee must not then wonder if the heart of Abraham being replenished with this Love God commanded him to March and still to advance But what was it not sufficient to have even run for the space of Ninty and Nine years and been in a Continuall journey during the whole course of his life was it not time to make a halt when he saw himself neer the shoar and that his life was arrived almost in the Haven It imports not saith God unto him it is I that speak Apparuit ei Dominus dixitque ad eum Ego dominus omnipotens ambula coram me esto perfictus Gen. 17. v. 1. and thou must obey On then Abraham pass farther I will be a Spectator of thy Voyages and of the Progresses thou shalt make in the way of perfection Alas if all Men had this lesson deeply ingraven in their Souls and if all such as make Profession
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
them What Power what Victory and what Command dost thou Exercise on the Heart of Abraham whence come these dazeling Charities thou minglest with thy Killing shafts and with thy Consuming fires My God what Miracle of Power what Prodigy of Faith what Triumph of Constancy a Heart without Motion Eyes without Tears a silent Tongue a Father without regret without grief and without complaint upon the Tomb of one only and dearly beloved Son This faithfull Minister of the Will of God would be much more grieved that other hands than his should be used and that a Sacrificer should be sought elsewhere The Spirit of Abraham is like a Rock in the midst of the Ocean The Emblem of that Rock immobâ—â—is beaten with Waves watred with Rain subject unto Winds and Tempests whatsoever happens alwaies unmoveable ever immutable It is enough that God speaks All comes from him all is his and all must return to him It sufficeth Abraham that God is the Master of Abraham and the Father of Isaack It is enough that God is the King the Master and the Father of Abraham and Isaack It is in vain to be disquieted since it sufficeth that God commands and that whatever he enjoyns be performed and to live in the practice of this verity is to be in the Paradise of this World and to enjoy Beatitude by anticipation It is to row upon the sea as a vessel under the conduct of a Pylot who cannot be deceived It is to be at court under the command of a most sage and powerfull Prince who seeks onely to replenish us with his favours or like a Star guided by an Intelligence which cannot stray out of the way marked out unto it Perform then Abraham all that God saith unto thee and thou O my God command Abraham all that thou desirest Is it his life thou requirest It is thine Is it that of Jsaack it is thy self who hast bestowed it on him take them both But O God of goodness remember that Abraham is a Man that he is a Father that he hath but One Son and that he Loves nothing in comparison of this Son place not all these objects of Pitty before his Eyes rest sattisfyed in Sacrificing the Son without causing the death of the Father lay some cover over the Fore head of the Priest and over the Eyes of the Victime And doe not solicite the tendernesse of either and speak neither of Abraham nor Jsaack nor of the Father or Son but pronounce the decree in most rigorous termes and call no more upon the name of Sweetnesse and Love for that were to solicite his disobedience God neverthelesse calls Abraham twice Martyrdome of Love and expressly commands him to Sacrifise his Son and not onely his Son but also his Onely Son and to wound him yet more to the quick he adds the name of his beloved Son that is of Jsaack O God! what shafts what Thunderbolts and what Lighting In truth saith Procopius any one but Abrahâ—m had taken this advertisement from God for an illusion or for a subject of contempt But as Abbot Gueâ—y hath excellently well noted this venerable title of Father and this amable name of Son serve but to conjoyn Love with Piety and oblige Abraham to perform more religiously and cordially what was given him in charge Vt postea praepouat amorem Dei suo carnali emori ut cum vintet gloriosier esset victoria Hugâ— Ã Sâ—ncto victore ann in 22. Gen. sint in hoc parenti triplicata supplicia c. Origenes hic Moreover saith Huge of St. Victor God recalled into his Thought that this was his Onely Son as if he had desired the more to excite his naturall affection to the end the Victory and Triumph might be the more famous since the Love of God became Master of his heart In fine as the subtile and learned Origen concludes God will have Abraham first sacrifise his Onely Son secondly his Onely and Welbeloved Son and thirdly his Onely Son and his dear Jsaack as if he had meant by these three shafts of Love to have three Sacrifices and three Conquests of Obedience Faith and Love Behold very powerfull combats and as many Stroaks of death as words Abraham did not yet change colour and his face was as the Sun which sees all the horrors of the Earth without emotion his Constancy appeared in the midst of Passions The Embleme of the fish Immersabilis Nec dolor patri lacrymas persuasit sed exultat gaudet S. Zeno veron serm 1. de Abraham like the Dolphin in a Tempest and storm without danger of drowning This Magnanimous Soul this generous heart and this obedient spirit shed but tears of joy and his thoughts were fixed onely on Hope Love and Resignation CHAP. XI The Master-peece of Obedience and the Triumph of Love in the Sacrifice of Abraham A Heart perfectly Submissive and obedient unto Gods will S. Bernard de praecepto dispensat knows not what languishment refusall grief and delay meaneth It is enough that he is commanded to obey all the rest is indifferent to him And it is peradventure for this Cause that even the civill Laws moderate the rigours of Justice Justâ— home ad legem Aquisiam when we proceed against those who have acted in pure obedience and in such a case he is to be fallen upon who gave the command Provided Neverthelesse he had the power to Command Even so when it is the will of a Soveraign all Subjects ought to Obey And chiefly when God who is the absolute Monarch of the Universe doth Command nothing must appear under his Empire which adores not his Laws and follows not his Lights even amidst the shadows of an affectionate Blindness Such was Abraham The Symbols of the Heliotropium Non possum altò me vertere Typ in Symb. A solis ortu usque ad occasum and his Spirit blind as it were amidst the Splendors of Faith and Obedience resembled that Flower which incessantly courteth the Sun and hath neither Life Motion nor Eyes but from Morning till Evening to follow this Star He sets forth as soon as God Commands him and as if his Eyes had been shut against the Lights of the Day he riseth in the Night by the favour of those Lights and Rayes which God communicates unto him amidst the obscurities of the shades to serve him for a Watch-tower Sun and Day This happy Paricide as St. Austin saith undertook the Murther of his Son with the same devotions where with he had demanded his Birth and Life and least the Morning Devotus Pater eo voto suscepit paricidium quo susceperat filium Aug. Ser. 73. saith Rupertus should prevent his desires he rose before Day and presently provided himself of all necessaries for his Journey and for the Sacrifice of his Son My God! Igitur Abraham de nocte consurgens stravit asinum suum ducens secum dues juvenes
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
took his Sex enim diebusfecit Dominus caelum terram mare omnia quae in eis sunt requievit die septimo c. Exod. 20. v. 11. seven dayes after the Creaation of the World and to the end every week we might have a set time to think on this amiable benefit and to render thanks for it unto our Creator It was done also to the end the Hebrews might have this day to celebrate that of their departure out of Egypt and of their deliverance and that all men and maid-servants might at least have this day to give some ease unto their labours Plutarch was then deceived who affirms that the Hebrews had Instituted this Sabbath in honour of Bacchus as well as the other Gentiles who believed that it was done in honour of Saturn for the ground of this Feast was no other than what I newly related And the Order observ'd in gathering up of the Manna was but for the same end CHAP. XXIX The duty of Children towards their Parents HOnour thy Father and Mother The fourth Commandement that thy dayes may be long upon the earth which the Lord thy God will give thee Honora Patrem tuum matrem tuam ut sis longaevus super terram quam Dominus Deus dabit tibi Exod 20. v. 12. In truth it is a very reasonable thing to bear respect and love to succour and obey those to whom next unto God we owe our lives and we must be more insensible and more unnaturall than beasts to refuse these affectionate duties to our Parents and to those whom we ought to esteem as Fathers Mothers and Superiours such as heaven hath plac'd over our heads to rule and govern us either concerning temporall or spirituall matters We must banish then out of the world and out of Families all those little Dragons and domestick Vipers which have neither teeth claws gall nor poison but to tear the heart and bowels in which they have been formed and conceived and to destroy those of whom they hold their lives All houses ought to be Temples consecrated unto love and pietie as that which was built at Rome in lieu of a Prison where a young Lady had nourished her Mother with her own Milk seeing the Gaolers hindred her from carrying any food to her O holy piety where are now these Temples and Altars where doe we see such Daughters give suck unto their Mothers as this gallant Roman did or Fathers to have Daughters like this other of whom Valerius Maximus makes mention Valer. Max. lib. 5. who found out the means to nourish her Father in the same manner and had the honour to be the Mother of her Father who rendred his last sighs in her bosome sucking a drop of Milk from her breast Moreover if I am not deceived can there be found more Daughters than Sons who work the like Miracles their Sex is more inclinable to sweetness and piety and to those amiable tendernesses which reach even to the highest pitch of generosity There have been heretofore Men who desiring to suffer death for their Fathers have rendred themselves immortall Such a one was that Lock-smith of Toledo who exposed himself unto the extremest tortures to free his Father and to obtain his life with his pardon But the example of Alexius Son to the Emperour Isaack is more illustrious who in the midst of the Acclamations of Greece which saluted him King had no ears but to hear the plaints of his Father no eyes but to behold his miseries and no power but to replace him on his Throne and in the Empire whereof his Brother had deprived him It is not then against this young Prince nor against his like that Sina will shoot poisonous Darts and deadly Arrows as against Paricides but on the contrary after a long sequel of years they shall have lived in this world the course of their glory will not find its period but in Eternity which can never have an end CHAP. XXX A sentence of Death against Murtherers THou shalt not kill The fift Commandement Nonoccides Exod. 20. v. 13. This Precept doth not only forbid those execrable Murtherers whose Swords and Daggers are plunged into mens bosomes and those horrid butcheries where furie is animated against a body to gnaw it as a Vulture would doe his prey or like a Tyger to tear and eat it even to the bones or to consume it with a slow fire like a Devill whose torments give death without taking away life It is then by this Law that God prohibits not only Murthers but all sorts of exteriour violences and injuries which may be offered unto the body and life of our Neighbour It is also a Sentence of death pronounced by the mouth of God against all those who are causers of other mens deaths and make no more account of a mans life than of a flye I would gladly know whether they find in the Decalogue a Challenge an assassination and all those violences which are practised upon a man as upon a beast I would willingly see them making their randezvous and assignations upon Mount Sina where they shall behold a God thundring and lightning over their heads but it would be more gratefull unto me to see them performing an honourable penance in this life and satisfying Justice and Piety before their deaths than afterwards to expect an Eternity of punishments and severities CHAP. XXXI The Triumph of Chastity THou shalt not commit Adultery The sixt Commandemâ—â—t Nonâ—â—aechaberis Exod 20. v. 14. Honour ought not to be less pretious unto men then life and if both were in danger it is certain we should rather abandon the last than the first and say as the Ermine Motto of the Ermine Malo mori quam fâ—â—â—ari I had rather dye than receive a stain For my part I admire that Christian Woman who in the time of Maxentius plunged a Dagger in to her heart to end her life by eternizing her honour For indeed it is a glorious Death to find by a particular inspiration from Heaven a Purple Robe in our bloud and in our tears a veil of white Sattin to cover our purity which is the soul of our life and the glory of the body This is the Nuptiall garment which we must never put off even in the Sepulchre and he that is cloathed with it ought to be so full of respect and circumspection as he must even blush saith Tertullian at his own vertue And if we meet with Souls which have impudence enough not to change Countenance neither in respect of God who looks upon them nor in regard of men who behold them they shall one day feel him whom they have not seen and such as have been Complices or Witnesses of their Crimes shall be their Executioners And then shall all the Lightnings of Hell inkindle Flames to stiffle theirs and lascivious hands wandring and impure eyes unchast breasts Maegera's heads Diabolicall hearts and the
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
kept in the Tabernacle was a present they received from Heaven eight dayes after Moses had Consecrated Aaron and enjoyned him to offer his first Sacrifices This was in testimony that God approved them and to imprint deeper in the minds of the people the honour and reverence they were to bear unto their High-Priests and to these publick acts of their Religion Afterwards the Gentiles endevoured to disturb these Mysteries and often sought to make us believe that their Gods kept amorous Thunderbolts Sacred flames for the advantage of their Religion and for this purpose they had given names unto some as a mark of the favors they had received from them in their Sacrifices which as they gave out had been often inkindled by their hands Nevertheless these are but Fables and Impiety and Sacrileges afforded no coals of the Sanctuary nor any flames of Heaven like those which fired the Holocausts and Victims of Aaron in the presence of the people who did partake of the Sacrifice Apparuitque gloria Domini omni multitudini Levit. 9. v. 23. as complices of that sin for which it was offered At that time the glory of our Lord appeared on the Altar and in the midst of these Ceremonies Now this glory was but a visible Fire which surrounded the whole Holocaust Et ecce egressus ignis à domino devorâ—vit holocausium adipet qui erant super altare c. Levit. 9 v. 24. and consumed it just in the same maner as the common fire would have done although some Hebrews have invented in their usual dreams First That the face of a Lyon appeared in the midst of flames Secondly That they could not be quenched even in water Thirdly That they were to be kept in a Purple Cloath But their imagination had more resembled truth Fair Analogies of fire with God if instead of amusing themselves on these dreams they had said That this was the most ordinary Figure by which God useth to erect a Throne of Light and Ardor unto his Love which is but a most pure fire without mixture which descended from Heaven upon Earth to cause a general inflagration in all hearts which to speak properly ought to be no other than the Altars of the most illustrious Sacrifices of Love Faith and Religion concerning which God hath been pleased to give marks and signs of his particular presence causing himself to be seen and felt under the form of Fire which of Natural bodies resembleth him the most So that Moses durst say unto his people Deut. 4. v. 21. That his God was a consuming Fire In the first place because this Element hath more resemblance with its Creator in regard of the power and command it hath received beyond others Secondly because as there is nothing more amiable and terrible than fire so there is nothing which equals the goodness God expresseth to the vertuous and the chastisement he implores to take revenge on the wicked Thirdly it is the nature of fire as well as the property of God to enlighten the night to melt Ice to warm those that approach it and to burn such as will touch it Moreover it is the property of them both incessantly and vigorously to act and to communicate themselves without loss or alteration to be most pure simple and subtile to harden and mollifie substances and always to ascend In fine the wisdom of God breaks forth in the midst of sparkling fires his goodness in its ardors and his power to which all is possible in those flames which God cannot resist And as heat and light spring from fire so the Son and the Holy Ghost are produced from the Father as from their Beginning and Origin It is not then without reason God takes veils of fire to cover his Majesty and that he often appears under this shape in Sacrifices since these fires are kindled by his own hand and by the torch of his Love unto which we must approach with the same reverence as to the bush of Moses Areptisque Nadab Abihu filu Aaron thâ—â—â—â—bulis posuerunt ignem incensum desuper offerentes coâ—am Domino ignem alienum Quod eis praeceptum non erat Levit. â—0 v. 1. otherwise we finde nothing there but our own misfortune amongst devouring flames and killing ardors followed by smoak tears and obscurities which form the veil of a dismal blindness We must chiefly beware of doing like Nadab and Abihu who were so bold as to put into their Censor an other fire than that of the Sanctuary For that is to mingle Sacrilege with Religion Heaven with Earth and Piety with Profanations Nevertheless this is the practice of these persons who are so presumptuous as to speak unto God by lips polluted with blasphemies and to touch his Altars with impure hands to kiss his Images with lips withered by wanton kisses and to love the Holy Bridegroom with a heart which they have already sold or morgaged unto his rival God also wants not arms to punish these profane persons he hath killing Thunderbolts and amorous Shafts he hath gentle winds to inkindle fires Sanctificabor in iis qui appropinquant mihi in conspectu omnis populi glorificabor Levit 10. v. 3. and torrents to quench them There are Victims which he crowns with flames and spoils which he reduceth into Ashes and oftentimes the Sacrificers who ought onely to attract Blessings and Dews from Heaven draw upon themselves a deluge of pains and punishments God is the Holy of Holies and he cannot breathe but in Sanctity which is as it were his Element Life and Paradise CHAP. XLV The Pillar of Fire and the Cloud AMongst all the miracles which God wrought for his people Adduxit vos quadraginta annis per desertum c. Deut. 29. v. 5. and continued for the space of forty years during their voyage from their departure out of Egypt until their entry into the Land of Promise the first was That amongst three millions of people there was not any one either sick fainting or weary during all these wandrings and amidst the dangers and incounters not to be avoided by those that make long journeys The second wonder appeared in their Garments which were not in any sort worn out Non sunt attrita vestimenta vestra nec calceamenta pedum vestrorum vetustate consumpta sunt Deut. 29. v. 5. Panem non comedislis vinum siceram non bibistis c. Deut. 29. v. 6. as if they had brought them out of their Mothers Bellies increased with their Bodies They also had no need of Sutlers nor any of those provisions which are necessary for livelihood For there fell every day so well-seasoned Manna as they needed onely to take and put it into their mouths to finde therein all sort of gust and the most delicious taste they could desire In fine Igitur die qua erectum est tabernaculum operuit illud nubes A vespere autem super tentorium
sunt dii eorum in quibus habebant fiduciam Deut. 32. v. 37. De quorum victimis Comedebant adipes bibebant vinum libaminum surgant opitulentur vobis in necessitate vos protegant Deut. 32. v. 38. Videte quòd ego sim solus non sit alius Deus praeter me Ego occidam ego vivere faciam percutiam ego sanabo non est qui de manu mea possit eruere Deut. 32. v. 39. Levabo ad caelum manum meam dicam Vivo ego in aeternum Deut. 32. v. 40. Si acuero ut fulgur gladium meum arripuerit judicium manus mea reddam â—ltionem hostibus meis his qui oderunt me retribuam Deut. 32. v. 41. Inebriabo sagiteas meas sanguine gladius meus devorabit carnes de cruore occisorum de captivitate nudati inimicorum capitis Deut. 32. v. 42. and the dreadfull period of an irritated patience Alas what day what Tribunall What Assises and what Judgements This will be the fortunate moment which mercy hath ordained to crown the merits of Virtue and the frightfull Instant which Justice hath decreed for the punishment of sins Then all the force pride and power of the Jews shall appear but weakness and even those who think to be in Cities and in their Towers as in places of security shall be miserably oppressed And then what Answer will these miserable wretches make unto the voice of God who will lay a thousand reproaches on them and in deriding their Miseries will say Alas then where are those Gods whom you idolatrize and in whom you place your Assurances where are those who did eat the fat of the Victims which they have immolated and drank the Wine of their Sacrifices Let them now rise up and succour you in so pressing necessities In fine now acknowledge whether there be another God than my self who is able to dispose of life and death of Evill and the remedy and whose power is so absolute as no man can resist it It is I the living God that I am who will lift up my hand unto Heaven and if I sharpen my Sword and if I inkindle its Edge like Lightning to make you undergoe the rigour of my severest Judgements the thunder of my vengeances shall fall on my enemies and upon all those who shall wage War against me as a furious lightning which shall consume all that it strikes by the breath of its ardours and devouring flames afterwards I will steep my merciless darts and arrows in the bloud of Rebels and I will satiate my justest furies in the most horrid slaughter of those bodyes which have been massacred sparing neither Masters nor slaves Let the Gentiles learn then from hence the praise they ought to give unto this people who have a God whose goodnesses are alwayes favourable to those whom he loves Laudate gentes populum ejus quie sanguinem servorum suorum ulciscetur c. Deut. 32. v. 43. and whose vengeances are dreadfull to his enemies Behold my dear Reader the end of this famous Canticle which was first recited in the presence of all the people of Israel and which contains a description of the miracles God wrought to deliver them out of Captivity It was likewise a powerfull exhortation which ought to oblige them either by force or sweetness to remain faithfull in the service of so good and powerfull a Master But this was to sing in the ears of Tygers whose fury is the more irritated when they hear any Musick Christians let us not doe the like but benefit our selves at the expence of this people And faithfully keep the Lawes and Commandements God hath given us let us listen once more unto the last words of Moses and of our Prophet who speaks both to them and us My dear Children I have nothing else to say Et dixit ad eos Ponite corda vestra in omnia verba quae ego testificor vobis heaie ut mandetis ea siâ—â—iâ— vestris custodire facere implere universa quae scripta sunt legis hujus Deut. 32. v. 46. Quia non in cassâ—â— praecepta sunt vobis sed ut singuli in eis viverent quae facientes longo perseveretis tempore in terra ad quam Jordane transmisso ingredimini possidendam Deut. 32. v. 47. and ask of you before my death but that you would seriously consider what I have delivered to you and that you would deeply imprint it both in your own and your Childrens hearts to the end you may all practise and accomplish it for these Lawes have not been established in vain but to the end they may keep you if you keep them and that they may conserve you with bonds of peace and love in this blessed Land into which you are going after your passage over Jordan CHAP. XLIX The Death of Moses at the sight of the holy Land IN fine after forty years of travell behold us with the people of Israel upon the Confines of the Land of Promise All our enemies are vanquished our Chains are broken the Sea hath suspended its billows to make us a passage the bitternesses of Mara are changed into delights the Heavens have rained down nothing but Manna on our deserts and totall Nature hath wrought miracles to serve us But alas we know not what will be the issue of all these happy accidents and of these admirable prodigies for the Aspects of this amiable Intelligence which have been as it were our starrs amidst so many obscurities and these arms which have been so often lifted up towards Heaven for our safety after they had conducted and delivered us amidst so many dangers are now even ready me-thinks to languish and decay In truth the Judgements of God are frightfull Abysses and it were to lose our selves to enter into them with other lights than those of Faith and Love All our fairest designs are sometimes but the draughts and Images of a dream where our proudest hopes meet only with a Tomb. Have we not seen Conquerours who having measur'd by their Triumphs the richest parts of the Universe banish'd into some corner of the Earth and into the Gates of some Cities where they scarce found any Sepulchre Behold the period of their Combats the end of their Triumphs and the Occident of all these Stars which shined not but amongst Laurels Behold them in lamentations in bloud and under some Cypress tree which formeth the funestous Crown of their ambition and the Tomb of their memory Is this the fatall end of their desires the subject of their tears and the period of their projects At least if their Children were their heirs and if these dolefull issues could open them a passage and give them some entrance into the Empires of honour and immortality after which they had so long sighed they would receive this consolation that their death had been the life of others and that in dying they had rendred
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
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
slide unto them No No Adam and Eve must be the causes of our Good or Evill and on their good or bad Fortune ours must wholy depend CHAP. IIII. The Terrestriall Paradice THe Earth is a large habitation common to all men Terrestriall Paradise the first habitation of Man but it hath many copartments of which some are appointed for those whom God intends to raise unto Grandeurs and delights others are ordained for some wretched Persons whose lives pass away in misfortunes and amidst afflictions Some there are who are born upon Thorns and in Straw others in Purple and upon Silk Some enter into the World as into a Gally others as into a Palace Scarce was Adam created but he found himself in a Paradise and he even from the Morning of his birth was placed under the most happy and delightfull Clymate that Nature did afford Goe then Adam Plantaverat autem Dominâ—s Deus Paradisum voluptatis à Principio in quo posuit hominem quem formaverat Gen. 2. v. 8. it is God who both calls and conducts thee Enter happily this Garden and Paradise into which he leads thee put thy self under the shelter of this Tree For it is the Tree of Knowledge and Immortality which he hath planted for thee divert thy Eyes upon these Tulips upon these Gilli-flowers upon these Roses upon these Purple Velvet flowers and upon these Lillys walk thou over the Daffidill over the Thyme over Camomyle and over this green Tapestry Dominamini piscibus maris volatilibus Coeli universis animantibus quae moventur super Terram Gen. 1. v. 8. Adduxitque ea ad Adam ut videret quid vocaret ea omne enim quod vocavit Adam animae viventis ipsum est nomen ejus Gen. 2. v. 19. which is so odoriferous be not affrighted at the sight of these Tygers these Leopards and of all these more furious Beasts For God hath given thee power to rule them and there is not one in whom thy Innocence begets not respect Take then the rod into thy hand and govern all these flocks and heards impose Laws on them and give them what Names thou pleasest This is no petty Office Some have believed that God only can properly call a thing by the name convenient for it Because Names as Plato saith are as it were so many Chariots which carry Essences and living Pictures as Diaphanus stiles them wherein are seen all the Draughts of Nature which they clearly express From whence I conclude that Adam for this end received from God more than humane Knowledge since he called every thing by the Name which was most proper and Naturall to them Immediatly after God resolved to give him a Companion The production of Eve Non est bonum homâ—nem esse solum faciamus 〈◊〉 adjuterium simile sibâ— Gen. 2. v. 18. Immisit ergo Dominus supâ—â—em in Adam cumque abdâ—â—mâ—vâ—sset tulit unam de costis ejus replevit carnem pro ea Gen. 2. v. 20. for it was not convenient that Man should be all alone For this end he closed Adam's Eye-lids and charmed his senses by a Heavenly Sleep which the Major part of the Greek Fathers according to the Translation of the Septuagint call an extatick and ravishing repose This man then thus rapt in his Extasy felt not Gods hand which gently and without pain plucked out a Rib whereof he formed the first Woman who was immediatly brought unto Adam to be his Companion and his dear Moity Scarce had Adam cast his Eyes on her but he cryed out Ah these are Bones of my Bones Dixitque Adam hoc nunc os de ossibus mus caro de caâ—ne mea haeo vocabitur virago quoniam de virosurâ—pta est Gen. 2. v. 23. Erunt duo in carne una Gen. 2. v. 24. and this Flesh was drawn out of my Flesh Just as if he had said Come O my Love the dearest portion of my self you shall be from henceforth my Wife and I will be your Husband We will be but one Heart in two Bodies And though we have two Souls we will have at least but one Mind and Will Wives and Husbands An excellent lesson for Husbands and Wives learn then from hence a lesson which teacheth you the Laws of Conjugall Love and what powerfull Motives you have to live in Unity and in a most perfect and holy Union Let Man remember that he is the Master but not a Tyrant Let Women also never forget their own extraction and that they were not produced out of the Head as Queens nor out of the Feet as Servants and Slaves but out of the Side and near the Heart to the intent they may spend all the time of their Mariage in a most sweet Intelligence and in a most inviolable society To which Love having given a beginning nothing but Death alone is able or at least ought to Dissolve it For this purpose it is infinitly advantagious to receive with respect and Reverence the Benediction which the Church is accustomed to give upon the Mariage day unto the Maryed pair Benedixitque illis Deus ait â—rescite multiplicamint replete terram Gen. 1. v. 45. and which replaceth in our thoughts the very same that God gave to Adam and Eve when he commanded them to People and fill the World by a most pure and chast generation The Nuptials of Adam and Eve are past Dixitque Deus ecce dedi vovis omnem herbam asserentem semen super terram universa ligna quae habent in seâ—etâ—psis sementem generis sui ut sint vobis in escam Gen. 1. v. 29. Praecepitque ei dicens ex omni ligno Paradisi comede Gen. 2. v. 16. nothing now remains but the Banquet The Tables are already furnished and they need but choose amongst all the Dishes of the World that which shall appear to them the most Delicious They are Masters of all that Flys in the Air of all that Swims in the Water of all that Creeps or Walks on the Earth Briefly of all the Fruits in the Terrestriall Paradise they have the choice and amongst all the Trees which God hath Planted there he only reserved the use of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill De ligno autem scientiae boni mali ne câ—medas in quocunque enim die comederis ex eo morte morieris Gen. 2. v. 17. of which he Expresly and upon pain of Death forbids these two guests to gather any Fruit. And in truth it was convenient that as Master he should leave them some Commandement It was likewise reasonable that Adam and Eve as his Servants and Creatures should be plyable to so just a Decree In this Conjuncture of time the Moon began to assemble her shadows and God finding all his Works perfect entred into his repose with the Seaventh Day Adam and Eve enjoy then at present The first Monarchy of the Universe all
are to fall on thy Self and thy Posterity I was heretofore thy Father now I am thy Judge I treated thee as my Son and at present I cannot look uppon thee but as a Slave and Fugitive And my Spirit that chast Dove and that sacred Phoenix which lives and breathes onely by Love must transform it's self into a cruell Vulture to tear thy heart Adam what answerest thou Alas hast thou no pittie on thy Self and all thy Children But doest thou not happily lay the blame upon thy Wife who hath so cruely deceived thee Womam doest thou see the periods and progresse of thy sin Doest thou discern the offence thou hast committed and the effect of thy Levity Doest thou hear thy Husband who accuses thee And on whom wilt thou dischardge thy self It is a strange thing that Sinners instead of sobbs and tears Blind Sinners to wash away the staines which their Souls have Contracted still seek out new precipices into which they feel themselves as it were carried by their own Blindness Adam layes the fault on his Wife Dixitque Adam mulier quam dedisti mihi sociam dedit mihi de ligno comedi Gen. 3. v. 12. Et dixit Dominus Deus ad mulierem quare hoc fecisti quae respondit serpens decepit me et comedi Gen. 3. v. 13. August lib. 11. ad lit c. 3. Gregor lib. Mor. c. 23. v. 16. the Woman accuseth the Serpent and instead of accusing themselves to sweeten the Indignation of the Judge they make excuses to inkindle his Wrath and to render themselves unworthy of Pardon Ah! how far more prudently had both of them done cryed out St. Austin if with bended Knees on the ground with tears in their Eyes with sighes from their Hearts and confession from their Mouthes they had said unto God Lord take pitty on us and upon all our poor Children It was for this saith St. Gregory God called them and his voice as it were sollicited them to humble them by the amorous accents of his paternall Clemency But alas they are wholy insensible they cannot acknowledge their offence wherefore no Clemency no Pardon Go then Serpent accursed of God Et ait Dominus Deus ad serpentem quia fecisti hoc Meledictus es inâ—er omnia Animaliâ— et bestias terrae super pectus tuum gradteris et terram comedes cunctâ—s dicbus vitae tuae Gen. 3. v. 14. â—â—imicitias penam inter te et mulierem et semen tuum et semen illius ipsa conteret caput tuum et tu insidiaberis calcaneo ejâ—s Gen. 3. v. 15. go creep upon the Earth and with Shame trayl thy bodie and thy Scales byting the Earth with thy Teeth It is thou that hast unhappily seduced the first of Woman-kind and therefore War shal be eternally inkindled between Thee and the Woman There shal be immortall hatreds between the Children of Women and all Serpents The Woman shall crush Thee under her feet and Thou shalt set snares for her wheting thy Tongue and thy poysonous shafts to dart them at her by meanes of thy Little and scarce discerned pathes As for thee O Woman Mulieri â—uoque dixit mutiplicabo erumaas tuas et conceptus tuos in dolore paries filios et sub viri potestate eris et ipse dominahitur tibi Gen. 3. v. 16. who wert the Origin and source of Evill know that thy miseries shall dayly find deplorable increases Moreover thou shalt conceive with pain and shalt not bring forth thy fruit but amidest the throws of a painfull Labour In fine thou shall be under the Command of Man And he shall be not onely thy Master but sometimes thy Tyrant As for thee O Man remove far from this sacred aboad Adae vero dixit quia audisti vocem uxoris tuae et comedisti de ligno ex quo praeceperam tibi ne comederes maledicta terra in opere tuo in laboribus commedes ex ea cunctis diebus vitae tuae Gen. 3. v. 17. Spinos tribulos germinabit tini et comedes herbam terrae Gen 3. v. 18. go seek thy Bread at the price of thy Sweat and blood go follow the Plow and Cart to be the Companion of Beasts and to Cultivate the Earth which thy pride hath swollen up with windes and covered with Thorns Brambles and Bryers Go whether thou pleasest but know that thy life shall be but a large course of misfortunes and a disastrous list where thou must continually wrastle with all Creatures and be the fatall Mark of all sortes of accidents and mis-haps which in fine will give thee no repose till thou shalt return into the Bosome of the Earth In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane donec revertaris in terram de qua sumptus es Gen. 3. v. 19. because thou art but Earth Ashes and Dust and untill thou shalt be there consum'd and reduced unto the self same thing of which thy Body is formed Behold thy Lillyes Ejecitque Adam et collocavit ante Paradisum voluptatis Cherubin et stammeum gladium atque versatilem ad costodiendam vâ—am ligni vitae Gen. 3. v. 24. thy Roses and the harvest of thy Posterity Scarce were these destroying Thunder-bolts darted upon the head of Adam and Eve and consequently on all mankind but an Angel invironed with fire and Flames seized on the gate of Paradise and shut it for ever against these miserable and Exiled persons Alas why would not the Earth have rather swallowed them up and why would not that beautifull garden which had bin the Throne of their Innocence become at least the Sepulcher of their Sin What! was it necessary that the fower great Rivers which flowed out of the Terrestriall Paradise to water the Earth should serve to transport from East to West A dolesfull inheritance and from North to South the memory of this disaster and the shamefull portions of so sad an inheritance But what I hear some Pelagian who laughes and gently whispers in mine Ear that I relate fables and Romances I likewise feel my heart demanding of me how and for what reason it came to passe that the sin of our first Parents should become Hereditarie and that it should be as it were transmitted from branch to branch and from father to son by veines and Chanels of blood Aug. lib. 1. Reb. cap. 9. et al bi which nature hath cut and broken in every Individuall person Pelagians I send you back to your Master and to the school of that incomparable Doctor who hath so often shewn you the truth To thee my heart I will make answer or rather for solution of thy doubts ask of thee whence doth it arise Very clear compansoâ—s that the birds of the day inherit from their Fathers and Mothers certain Horrors which make them fly at the least noat of the birds of Night Whence comes it that the skins of Sheep though dead break in peeces at the
approach of the skins of Wolves and that Lambs scarce come out of the Yeows belly have neverthelesse natural apprehensions of the Wolf My soul hast thou not seen Chickens hiding themselves under the wings of a Hen at the meer shadow of a Kite Partridges flying before Haukes and even Lyons roaring at the sight of a Cock I ask of thee From whence proceeds this fear these affrightments and Antipathies If thou tellest me they are Natural and have bin as it were infused by Nature even from the first to the last of each kind I likewise answer that this Original stain of culpable Nature is derived from father to son and from the first man to all his of-spring and so it comes to be imprinted in the substance of their Souls And if thou hast a desire to passe further and know the reason I am content stand then upon thy guard my Soul for I intend to fight thee with thy own Weapons Is it not true that when by thy desires thou kindlest fires and infamous flames in thine Eys thou art the cause of this Burning and that it is thy self who renders them Criminal Is it not as true that when thou armest thy Hands to commit a Murther and thy Tongue to detract and bite like a Dog or to vomit forth some Blasphemy it is thou that makest both thy Hand and Tongue culpable which are thy Members thy Officers thy Slaves and Executioners which act perform and execute what thou hast commanded them In like manner Adam having bin chosen by God for the Head and Father of all mankind Original sin his Heart was the Fountain which should powre out it's qualities into the substance of their Souls even as doth the Head and Heart into the armes into the tongue and into all the Members of the Body Moreover the Will of Adam was so streightly united to that of his Children as when he acted they seconded all his Actions From whence I conclude that as Actuall sins committed by the Ears Eyes and Hands take their Malignity from the Heart and Will which is their Cause and Origin so likewise those sins which are commonly called Originall The first Contagion and are found in the Soul of all Mankind have as it were crept in and taken their Descent from Adam as their Author and beginner which having been once infected hath afterward made its venom pass from Father to Son as by Hereditary right Poor Children of Adam pittifull Reliques of an unfortunate Father behold your Patrimony the Rights of your Families and what Adam and Eve have left you for Legacies Let no Man hereafter be astonisht to see you wandring about Countryes Pittifull Reliques of Sin and going from door to door in Cities with Tears in your Eys Sighs in your Mouths with dusty Hair and Sun-burnt Faces Let no Man be any more astonished to see you goe bare-Headed and bare-Footed a Wallet on your Shoulders and a Staff in your Hand for these are the portions of Sin Miserable Mortals the Earth from henceforth shall be to you but a Dark Prison Life but a Gally and the World but a great Chain of Misfortunes The Elements shall joyn in Arms against you The Fire shall inkindle frightfull Comets over your Heads The Air shall dart forth merciless Thunder-bolts upon your Houses The Sea shall raise its Billows against your Towers and the Earth shal be the Theater of VVars the Meadow in which the Plague shall Mow and the Field of Battail where all the powers of the VVorld and Hell it self shall deliver you up to Tragick Combats In fine your Bodies shal be Subject to all sorts of Maladies and your Minds to all kinds of Passions I hear already Envie grumbling and murmuring in the Heart of Cain I hear the cry of Abell Let us observe a while what passeth CHAP. VI. The Murther of Abel and the Despair of Cain ANtiently in Temples Houses and Closets Concil 6. in Trullo Can. 32. the Images of Jesus Christ were drawn in form of a Lamb which was the most lively Mark and Symbol that Painters could find out to frame some Copy of Meekness Abel was this Picture from his Birth and shewed from the beginning so sweet and facile so plyant and tractable a disposition as Adam and Eve were even inforced to bestow on him their most tender affections Cain on the contrary who was his Elder Brother Diversity of Natures appeared to be of so fierce and imperious a Nature that at length to sweeten it they resolved to oblige him to cultivate the Earth that his spirit might learn how to soften the hardest of Elements and to temper the harshness of his Courage Abel at the same time employed himself in keeping Sheep Fuitque Abel pastor ovium Cain agricola Gen. 4. v. 2. and guiding his Fathers Flocks amidst the Pastures His mind in repose and amidst the silence of the Fields began to take its flight And as God had chosen his Heart to powre into it his dearest favours he easily felt himself surprised with a Holy thought and a Sacred desire which was elevated to God to offer unto him the purest and choicest Sacrifices Cain also felt some touch of Piety Factum est autem post multos dâ—es ut offerret Cain de fructibuâ— terrae munera Domino Gen. 4 v. 3. Abel quoque obtulit de primogenitis gregis sui de adipibâ—s corum Gen. 4. v. 4. and but passingly beheld a glorious Light which sufficiently shewed him all he was to doe from whence I gather by the way That there is no Clymate so barbarous no Land so desart nor no Cave so tenebrous into which God casts not his Shafts and darts not his Lights to illuminate our Hearts and Souls But it often comes to pass that we shut the Doors and Windows suffering our Day and Life to slip away to expect Death and Blindness in the Night Abel received the Day from its Aurora and neither the Interests of the World nor the Goods of the Earth were ever able to separate his Soul from the Interests of Heaven and Piety His Intentions were still most pure and he had no other Object than the Glory of a God who requires the whole and not a single part who demands Hearts and not bare Words and who cannot permit upon his Altars but the fairest and most liberall Victims of Love Now this is what our innocent Shepheard did when he rendred his Sacrifice most perfect offering unto God what he had most beautifull most fat and rare among his Flocks having first set apart the First Fruits and afterwards Immolated them with the rarest Lights of his Understanding and the purest Flames of his Will Cain on the other side erects Altars Very different Sacrifices Rupert lib. 4. in Gen. c. 2. Cain cum Deâ— of seriet sua scipsum sibi retinet and offers Fruits But in offering his Presents saith Rupertus he retains Himself And his Earthy
Song of Triumph and what acclamations will there not be heard throughout all Judea will not so many Servants and Handmaids who see all their hopes dying with Abraham resume a new life when they shall perceive the Birth of a Master whose life must be their only support In truth these thoughts and a thousand such as use to happen upon a like accident are too deeply ingraven in Nature and in our Hearts to appear barely on the Lips and upon Paper The Spirit may well conceive them but Hands have but too weak and liveless touches to frame some draught of them Most just resentments It appertains only unto silence and raptures to say what we can scarcely believe or think France I call thee as a Witness for thou canst represent unto us if thou wilt an Image of Abraham's and Sara's Joy thou canst publish to us if thou art so pleased the sentiments of the justest and most holy King and Queen in this World for whose felicity we can but wish the Birth of a Child At least we should even hear themselves when Heaven gave them a Dolphin who was expected for the space of two and twenty years and then we might have beheld on their Faces the smiles of Abraham and Sara we might have seen that which cannot be expressed by words and finally those Echo's which corresponded with the publick acclamations might have opened to the understanding what I cannot lively enough explain CHAP. VII The Charitie of Abraham towards Pilgrims and the tenderness of God towards him I Know not whether I ought rather to admire the continuation of Gods favours to Abraham or the constancy of his vertue and piety towards God and his Neighbour Gods Paternall Love God ceaseth not to follow him and since his departure out of his Country as a good Father should doe to his Child he alwaies held him by the Hand And Abraham hardly ever lost sight of him or at lest his Heart hath alwaies most dearly conserved him The life of Abraham then was a Combat of Constancy and a Duell of Love where on the one side when God attaques him this generous Courage corresponds on the other side and makes a strong defence It is a Pilgrimage in which God goes first and Abraham next These are but researches pursutes and solicitations God gives himself entirely to Abraham and Abraham hath nothing which he gives not for his sake He made this evidently appear Apparâ—it autem ti Duminus in convalle Mâ—mbre sedente ostio tabernaculi sui in ipso servore dici Gen. 18. v. 1. when being in the Valley of Mambre at the opening of his Tents about high Noon he saw three Pilgrims tann'd with the Ardors of the Sun and tyred at least in appearance with the pains and toyl of their journey for immediatly this magnificent cordiall and devout man Cumque elevasset oenlos aparuerunt ei tres viri stantes propè cum c. Gen. 18 v. 2. Et dixit Dominest inveni grattam in oculis tuis â—ne transeas servum tuum Gen. 18. v. 3. Sed asseram pauxillum aquae lâ—vâ—te pedes vestros c. Gen. 18. v. 1. who bore God and men in his heart prevented these travellors and his Soul which alwayes discovered truth amidst shadows ador'd the Majesty of one God hidden under the habit of these three pilgrims Afterwards he offered them his Table and house and not satisfied with these profers he treated them in words and deeds and then to render his duties more perfect he mixed them with so much sweetness so much cordiality and so much reverence that afterwards he would needs wash their feet honoring them not onely as guests but also as Masters of his House wherein I first observe the promptitude of a good work and of a Charity which should have wings to fly and prevent him that receives it It is a verity proved by Axiomes too popular to be doubted of And the freedom and cordiallity Liberalitas quod è libero arbitrio prosiciscatur nominata est Senec. de beat vit c. 24. lib. 2 de benef which are so naturall to magnificence must partake of this promptitude It were likewise to take away its Armes and Eyes and even its Name as Seneca saith excellently well if one should make a man Liberall without the freenesse of this Cordiall liberty Thirdly this bountifull Cordiality ought in some manner to be blind though discreet for it is obliged to discern what is seeming and what is reall But when once necessities are discovered the heart saith St. Denyse ought to be like God and the Sun who inlighten all shadows and have no disdainfull brightnesses but communicate themselves unto all bodies And it was for this reason as I believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sines ep 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexand. lib. 2 Strom. that the learned Sinesius called liberallity a Vertue common to God and man and Clement Alexandrinus termed it the Image and picture of the Divinity St. Austen adds that presents must be made with Mouth Heart and Hand Finally Honor and Respect are requisite to it as a mark Seasoning of favours that we acknowledg God in Man and that we are bountifull unto men for his sake This is what our incomparable host did when after all sorts of courtesies and duties he further desired to wash the feet of these three Pilgrims The which Solomon hath since so expressly recommended when he described to us a River Mitte panem tuum super aquas qui a post tempora multa reperies cum Eccl. 11. whose moving Chrystall floated in a bed of gold and in silken curtains Cast bread saith he upon the current of these waves and I promise thee that all such as shall sow upon these liquid Fields shall there find a Harvest even after many Ages Is not this the same which Abraham did washing the feet of these three Travellers Kings of France true successors of Abraham and is it not that which our Kings of France the Successors of Abraham have since so holily observed when once at least every year they wash with their own hands the feet of diverse poor people This is doubtlesse to expose his grandeurs and charitable profusions upon a bason of water which is presently converted into a Source of Graces and immortalities This is to sow in a well-watred Land and where one shall find the Abundance of Ages which the wise man gave for an inscription to his River of Charity Abundantia seculorum In fine this River is no other than that of the Terrestriall Paradise which loseth it self for a while under ground Moses Barcephas è Syria Antistes lib. de Parad. cap. 28. Fluvius Phison and afterwards goes as it were gliding upon the billowes of the Ocean untill it issueth forth as out of a prison which opens it self upon the bounds of the West where after a thousand windings this poor
sight of a fault takes presently armes into his Hands for sometimes his patience gives truce during the whole course of life and expects the repentance of a Sinner even till Death otherwise the World would be quickly a Desart or the Earth would at lest transform it self into a Hell of Punishments and Torments Nevertheless we must not weary his Patience An iâ—ritated patience is terrible and abuse his Goodness for sometimes he Darts his Shafts in an instant and the very smoak of evill is no sooner risen in the Air but presently Thunder breaks all the Clouds without Threats or Lightnings At least he is wont after some delay to send publick chastisements and his zeal at last appears throughly inflamed after some sparks of fire which his Clemency had cast forth as the Messengers of his wrath Thus did he long before the inkindling of the funestous Pile of Sodom and Gomorrha where these incestuous Cities quenched their flames in the midst of their own fires Abraham himself took the Liberty to confer with him upon this design Freedome of Holy Souls and when he beheld the Lighted Torches which were to be the Instruments of this sad Incendium the Sanctity and freeness of his Heart permitted him to say Ah! Et appropinquans ait nunquid perdes justum cumimpio Gen. 18. v. 23. Si suerint quinquaginta justi in civitate peribunt simul non parces loco illi propter quinquaginta justos si fuerint Gen. 18. v. 24. what great God! could it possibly happen that thy indignation should be Blind and that thy Thunder-bolts should equally fall upon the Just and Sinners God of Goodness canst thou behold the innocent in the midst of punishments without some touch of Compassion Alas Lord wilt thou not pardon this Criminall City if in case but fifty Innocent Persons be found in it Is not this a Motive powerfull enough to invite thee unto Commiseration Absit à te ut rem hanc facias c. Gen. 28. v. 25. Ah! let it be never then said that thy just providence which extends it self over all the Empires of the World hath stifled Vice and Vertue under the same Ashes Is not this an Innocent freedom Dixilque Dominus sl invenero Sodimâ—s quiâ—quaginta justes in medio civitatis dimittam omni loco propter eos Gen. 18. v. 26. and capable of moving even the Bowels of Gods mercy Indeed God promised him to deliver all those that were invelaped in that crime in case there were found not fifty but ten only worthy of pardon But it seems the iniquity of Men is so much the more enormous as the goodness of God is immense and admirable Ineffable goodness Who would believe this if truth it self had not reveal'd it Et dixit Non delebo propter decem Gen. 18. v. 23. who would credit it if God himself had not sayd it And who would believe that Vertue and Piety are in such sort banished from the Earth as some good Men may not be found in it It is then for this cause God advanced towards Sodom Abiitque Dominus postquam cessavit loqui ad Abraham to chastise their Vices and to extinguish the Lust of their Women with a Deluge of Fire CHAP. VIII The firing of Sodom and the deliverance of Lot MAximus of Tyre and Dion Chrysostomus had but slightly and as it were in passing by considered the Nature of God when they believed it was a shamefull exercise for a Soveraign Essence to mingle rewards with punishments Atheisticall Ignorance It is an employment say they worthy of Gods greatness to give Crowns but to Dart Thunder-bolts is the Office of a deformed cruell unpittifull and rigorous Spirit Pliny the great was possest with the same Errors when out of an Atheisticall flattery Deus est mortali juvare mortalem haec ad aeternam gloriam via and an Idolatrous Complancy he gave unto his Prince the name and title of a God who had onely power to doe good Is not this a pernicious flattery and altogether unworthy of a Divinity But I will believe that in the time of Vespatian and Pliny Rome had not yet seen that famous Statue of Justice The Statue of Justice which in the one Hand carryed the Tables of Equity and of the Law and in the other a Scepter covered with a Stork the true Symbol of Piety upheld also by a Hippocentaure which denotes cruelty Besides her Head was armed with a great Helmet wrought out of Gold and Iron At her Feet appeared an Ostridge and a World on which certain Enigmaticall terms were read yet clear enough to manifest that it was the Picture of Gods Soveraign Justice which holds in one of her Hands all the Laws and in the other a Scepter of Clemency and Severity the World is under her Feet as under her Empire and close by her the Ostridge which disgests Iron sufficiently evidenceth that her rigors break Diamonds like Straws and consume Steel and Iron like Air and Wind. Behold the Portraict of Gods Justice her Scepter hath not been seen hitherto in the Land of Sodom and Gomorrha but upon the Wings of a Stork that is to say by Clemency and Meekness Now the Hippocentaurs and the Ostriges will serve her for support and a Hand of Justice will shortly appear in the Clouds which will powr down upon these Rebellious Cities a floud of Sulphure Ashes Fires And truly if God had not a Hand of Justice how could he govern the World whose Empire cannot Rowl but upon two commanding Wheels which are Justice and Goodness Moreover if God had no other Marks but of Meekness and Love the Earth saith Aristotle would be without a Sun and the Elect as well as the Reprobate would be seen perishing in the self-same Chaos Finally Criminals would have no terrors which might induce them to penance and the Just would want motives to preserve their purity It stands then with reason that God should have Justice and that his wrath should from time to time powr down upon the Heads of Sinners Too long have the horrors of Sodom irritated and provoked him the Night already approacheth Veneruntque due Angeli Sodomam vespere sedeâ—e Loth in soribus civitatis Gen. 19. v. 1. Qui cum vidisset eos surrexit ivit obviam eis adoravtique pronus in terram dixit obsecro Domini declinate in dâ—mum pucri vestri qui dexerunt minimè sed in platea mancbimus Gen. 19. v. 2. Compalit eos oppido ut divertereat aa eum sâ—cit convivium comederunt Gen. 19. v. 3. and there remains no Day but to behold two Angels in the habit of Pilgrims who seek out Lot even at the Gates of Sodom observe how welcome they are and certainly they have met with an Heart who perfectly understands the Rights of Hospitality observe what hast he makes to them how he casts himself at their Feet
these loathsome Coals The Earth on the other side is an inlivened gulph of burning Coals which vomit forth so many Firebrands and Torches as at length one would believe that the Air the Skyes the Clouds and the Earth were no other than a Hell Nothing is heard there but Clamors Sobs Rages Blasphemies and roarings out What a spectacle is it to see Men and Women with Bodies all on fire running through the Streets their Hair flaming their Eyes sparkling The Image of Gods Judgements their Mouths burning and their Hearts filled with Sulphur What a monstrous Specter is it to behold an Infant in his Mothers bosom and in his Nurses Arms like a lump of Sulphur which is consumed with the flash of a Torch Who hath ever heard that the World was watred with a Rain of Sulphur with a Deluge of Fire and with an Inundation of burning Coals and Flames What Thunder what spoyl what desolation of Wood-piles of Houses and Furnaces Beds Tables Cubbords Gold Iron Marbles and Diamonds turned into Fire-brands Alas where are the Heavens where is the Air where is the Sea and Earth when the whole World is on fire Ah poor Lot what is become of thy Wife and where are thy Kindred and what may thy Daughters think beholding the smoak of that fire which devours the Bodies of their unfortunate Husbands Me thinks I see him with his Daughters in the foulds of a Mountain Et mansit in spelunca ipse duae siliae ejus cum eo Gen. 19. v. 30. Dixitque major ad minorem c. Gen. 19. v. 31. Veni intoriemus eum vino dormiâ—musque cum eo ut servare possimus ex patre nostro â—emen Gen. 19. v. 32. where he endeavours to shelter himself from these frightfull inundations which burn and desolate all his Country But with what grief will Abrahams chast Heart be touch'd when he knows that the Daughters of Lot are consumed with an other fire and they inkindle such black flames as even hinder them from knowing their own Father or at least from treating him with that respect and piety which Nature required Blind Nation brutish Treason Crime whose horrors have not a name in Nature Thy Fire-brands and Murthering Darts must pierce the side of a Mountain to defile and destroy what God had reserved to himself Abraham autem consurgens manè ubi steterat prius cum Domino Gen. 19. v. 27. None but Abraham remains Constant in his Sincerity he is still in the same place where God spake to him with so much tenderness and privacy Faithfull Friend of God Intuitus est Sodomam Gomo rham universam terram regionis illius viditque ascendentem favillam de terra quasi surnacit sumum Gen. 19. v. 28. Father of all Nations Support of men Vice-King of the Earth Abraham canst thou behold this dreadfull fire without Sighs and Tears Weep then Abraham weep to quench these flames but rather inkindle some pile to swallow up these Monsters which infect the World by the Contagious shafts of their Incestuous brutalities Let there never be any mention made of Sodom nor of the Lands which are complices in her disloyalty Let no man ever think on her unless it be to place before his Eyes the Image of Gods Judgments and of the Eternall punishments of Hell There will never be a more sensible and exact draught of those endless torments than Sodom Gomorrha Adama Seboim and all their Neighbourhood Let us have then a horror to enter into these flaming Prisons and into these Sulphurous Dungeons The Picture of Hell let us listen awhile unto these Sighs Sorrows and Lamentations which rise from the bottom of these Abysses My Eyes what doe you see what Phantasms what Specters what Tormenters what Monsters My Heart art thou not affrighted at the sight of these flaming Furnaces of these Mountains of Fire of these dead which are alwaies living and of these lives still dying amidst Immortall Languishments and Endless Torments O my God! how will it be when thou shalt descend upon the Clouds and on a flaming Chariot to enfire not only five Cities but all the parts of the Universe Where will the most shamefull and detestable of all Vices find Caves deep enough when at the Sound of Trumpets and Clarions the Earth shall open her Sepulchers like so many Furnaces which will vomit forth men all invironed with Fire Whither will the confederates of Sodom and Gomorrha goe when all the Saints and Angels of Heaven shall even wax pale with fear Will Vice be in a place of Security when Vertue it self shall hardly find a Sanctuary The Pillars of Heaven will shake Luc. 21. D. Thom. sup q. 73. the Cypres Trees and Oaks of Libanus will roar out all Trees will melt into drops of blood the Sun and Moon will change their countenance all the Planets will make a stand or dread will even tear them from their Orbes to follow Pugnabit cum eo orbis contra insensatos Eccl. 5. like trains of fire the astonishing Splendors of God The Earth though most insensible will arm it self in so just a quarrell Afterwards the Ocean touched with so cruell a Sympathy will raise its billows and waves even five Cubits high above the Mountains Signs of the day of judgment given by the Hebrews collected by St. Jerom. related by St. Thomas sup q. 73. a. 1. immediatly after they will tumble down to make Abysses and presently extend themselves upon their ordinary Bed Then will all Fishes though naturally dumb cast forth fearfull moanings and out-cryes In the Air Birds will tune sad Noats and their sweetest Harmonies will be but Songs of Death Nothing but Hairy blew sparkling burning and bloudy Comets will be seen and nothing but Cryes Howlings and dreadfull Lamentations wil be heard not only amongst Men but also amongst the fiercest Beasts and in the midst of the least sensible and most inflexible Bodies In fine this will be the great Day denounced by the Mouth of God by that of the Prophets and of which Sodom hath been but the first draught If then the representation thereof were able to affright the Eyes of the Impurest Souls and to stop the Course and Torrent of so many flames which an infernall and Diabolicall Love casts into Hearts I would willingly advise the most part of Men to have the Picture of Sodom alwaies before their Eyes to the end so tragick a misfortune might at lest divert a far more dismall disaster But all these Pictures are too weak if Love takes not off the cover and if Faith shall not open the Eyes My God! Dissipate then all the Shadows of Sodom and fix our Eyes upon the Lights of Sion O God illuminate our Minds and inflame our Hearts to the end we may follow the bright Splendors of thy adorable bounties and that our Souls may never be consumed but by the fire of thy Love CHAP. IX The Birth of Isaack
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
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
but where is the Victim which must be offered as an Holocaust My Son trouble not your self for God will provide one O Holy Piety where are the Bowels of a Father Heaven and Earth where are we my God! how long will this storm endure Whence comes this ebbing and flowing which strikes so rudely on the Faith of a Father and the Obedience of a Son My God! if thou desirest a Holocaust give unto Abraham an other Victim then Isaack how comes it to pass that Abraham can observe the Law of the Hollocaust which injoyns the Victim to be cut in pieces and ordains that the Members be disposed at the Altar taking their turns to burn them afterwards and reduce them to ashes Ah! there is no Fathers Heart which can exercise so inhumane cruelties and so horrid and unnaturall a Butchery on the Body of his Son Vultures devour only the Flesh Tigers leave at least the Bones Wheels Ironclaws and wracks doe but tear the skin and after all these punishments there are found reliques of anguish and death but the Holocaust consumes all and reduceth the Body into ashes and dust What will remain then of Isaack for Abraham to carry unto Sara but ashes dust and the eternall regret for a loss that can never be repaired Abraham notwithstanding persists in his fidelity Et venerunt ad locum quem ostenderat ei Deus in quo adificavit altare desuper ligna composuit cumque alligasset Isaac filium suum posuit eum in altare super struem lignorum Gen. 22. v. 9. he makes ready the Altar he sets the Wood in order he kindles the Fire he draws his Sword out of the Scabbard he takes Isaack into his arms he placeth him neer the pile he tyes his Hands and puts the cover over his forehead In fine this Innocent Lamb being on both his Knees his Body half naked and his Head bowed a little forward sighing sweetly without making the least complaint or demanding any more why expected the stroak of death when his Father as it is very probable began to acquaint him with the secret of his happy Lot Isaack my most dear Son Joseph lib. 1. hist S. Ambr. alii thou didst ask me at the foot of the Mountain where was the Victim of our Sacrifice I answered thee that God would provide one his Paternal Goodness hath done it and his will is that thou must be the Victim and I the Priest It is very true that thou art the object of my sweetest hopes and that I should look on thee as the support of my house but it is in God we must place our only hope It is he that serves for a Basis and Piller to all fortunes and it is his sage Providence which holds in its hands good and evill favours and disgraces Life and Death Dye then cheerfully my dear Child and rest assured that I would willingly put my self in thy place if God had so ordained I adore his will and I am too happy to serve as an instrument unto his commands As for thee my poor Son I had very constant proofs of thy sweet disposition and if I had not often tryed how obedient and pliable thou art unto Gods will and mine I should endeavour more efficaciously to perswade thee but it would be fruitless and it is from Gods goodness and thy constancy I hope for the Grace of being inabled to offer and immolate thee with my own Hands What can Isaack say to this it is enough for him to assent and be silent I yet frame in my imagination that he besought his Father to give him his Sword that he might kiss it as the rod of the wise Providence of Heaven I believe also he bowed down his Head a little more forward to testifie that his thoughts accorded with his Heart and that his most real affections were ready to be immolated unto God and his Father In the mean while Abraham takes his Sword again into his Hand and having bathed it with his tears he lifts up his arm to discharge his blow upon the Neck of his Son O Religious Soul O religiosam animam ó fortem mentem O trgens robur animi utrum admirer obstrpescam sustius fortemue spiritum Patriarchae aut constantem pueri obedientram Châ—yf ho. in Gen. 48. cryes out St. Chrysostom O vigorous Spirit O prodigie of constancy and fidelity I know not whether I ought more to admire the undaunted force of Abrahams Spirit or the constant immutability of his Isaacks Submission But what will be the issue will not all the Angels of Heaven who look upon this Sacrifice put some Victim in Isaacks place divine Spirits I call on you for Abraham and Isaack Ah! saith St. Austin Videte Abraham non cum aliqua ferâ luctantem sed cum natura pugaantem decotio dicebat pecute pietas clamabat parce illa revocabat issa provocabat Aug. Ser. 73. de temp behold I beseech you the conflict of Abraham not with a furious Beast but with Nature Religion bids him strike and pitty saith doe not strike the first lifts upon his Hand and the other stayes his arm what will this good Man doe what will he not doe if he obeyes not God he commits Sacrilege and if he obeys he is a Murtherer But is it not better for him to be accounted a good Father than a good Servant And will not Abrahams Disobedience be rather excused than the Murther of his Son Abraham believed otherwise and the choice he made was to lose the quality of a Pittifull Father to receive the title of an Obedient Servant Nevertheless he still hopes and is assured whatever happen that God is too full of Clemency to leave him in extremity In effect as Abraham had already lifted up his arm Et ecce Angelus Domini de Caelo clamtvit dicens Abraham Abraham qui respondit adsum Gen. 22. v. 11. Dixitque ci non extendas manum tuam super puerum neque sacias illi quidquam nunc cognovi quod limes Deum non pepercisti unigenito tuo propter me Gen. 22. v. 12. and was ready to dart the Thunder-bolt God had put into his Hand the Voice of an Angell cryes out Abraham Abraham I command thee from God not to touch the Child and to pass no farther It is certainly the very same that commanded Abraham to strike who stayes his blow It is the Voice it is the Angell and Nuntio of our Lord which keeps back his Arm. And surely it was requisite that the same power which before had armed him should force the Weapon out of his Hand and that Abraham should have as much promptitude and resignation to leave his Sacrifice as to undertake and begin it O God! what mysteries of Wisdom Clemency and Goodness My God! what Tryals of Love what Essayes of Fidelity and what grounds of Hope and Confidence have we ever seen so many temptations heaped together so many Artifices to
know a Heart and so many divine experiments upon poor Mortals so that the whole Sacrifice of Abraham was but a stratagem of Gods Providence and a Master-piece of Abrahams and Isaacks Obedience The Altar of Moria which was to be the Scaffold of Death became the Theater of Life and his Pile served but to make a Bonfire of Joy and a triumph of the fidelity which Abraham and Isaack testified unto God Besides I know not who was most astonished the Father or the Son however it were Abraham unbound his Isaack and then they both together adored the admirable contrivances of Gods goodness who did tear out a Mans Heart to put his own in the place of it A Divine Stratagem and who commands us to give him a mortall and perishable life that he may place us in the fruition of one eternall and immortall It is sufficient for this God of Clemencie and mercie to see Men at his Feet he is content with that Sacrifice which the Heart offers to him and he will have neither Bloud nor Murther presented on his Altars It satisfies him to immolate his only Jesus for the ransom of Mankind His Death gives us Life and the least drop of his sacred Veins is able to wash away all the stains of the Universe Stay then Abraham Levavit Abraham oculos suos viditque post tergum arietem inter vepres haerentem cornibus quem assumens obtulit Holccaustum profilio the blow is reserved for some other not for thy Son and it only belongs to the Eternall Father to offer the Sacrifice in verity the figure whereof hath preceded No it shall not be Isaack thou must immolate but this Ram which thou seest in this Bush surrounded with Brambles and Crowned with thorns take him and burn this Victim till a Man-God come in Isaacks place It is enough for me saith God unto Abraham to know that thou lovest me and I can now no longer doubt after so long and sensible tryals It is the Hand and not the Mouth which hath given me the assurance of it It is also rather by effects than complements that I try thy fidelity O God of Hearts it is then in verity that Hearts must be Sacrificed to thee Fathers and Mothers if God will have your Children make a free gift of them if God be content with you offer your selves unto him My God! I will even now then consecrate my Heart to thee I renounce at present all those things I may not Love with thee I present unto thee the Sacrifice of my humiliated Spirit and I refuse no pain if thou ordainest it for me Burn Sacrifise and spare neither Health Honor Riches Children nor Friends I am even content to Immolate my Isaack to thee that is my Soul my Affections and my Life provided I may Live with thee and Love thee in Glory and Eternity CHAP. XII The Death of Sara A Certain person holily curioius went heretofore examining all that is dispers'd in Nature I asked saith he of the Sun whether he were a God and he answered me no in regard he was subject to Eclipses Circumvolutions Vicissitudes Gen. 22. v. 13. and a thousand periods which keep him in a perpetuall mutation Inconstancy of created things I intreated the Moon to tell me whether she were a Divinity and she protested to me no by reason of Exiles Defections Retrogradations Ascendants Conjunctions Separations Elevations and falls to which she is lyable All the rest of created Nature will confess the same if we interrogate her in particular upon this verity God only can say I am God and I neither can nor doe change because I am God He is in the midst of the World as the immoveable Center in a Circle about which all is in motion he is as a Rock upon the Ocean who beholds the Waves and Billows rowling under his Feet without inconstancy and astonishment He is pleased nevertheless to see those he loves in the Flux and Reflux of a thousand accidents which teach them that their fortunes hopes affections and delights may alter every moment that the most smiling prosperities often swim amidst tears the clearest and most serene dayes are followed sometimes by the obscurest and most dusky Nights Bodies for Companions have their own Shadows Roses are mixed with Thorns and even the Life of Man never Ends but in Death To see Abraham Sara and Isaack after their deliverance and the tryals God had of their fidelity would not one have believed them almost immortall and exempted from all the miseries of life Tunc est tentatio fiaienda quando finitur pugna tunc finienda est pugna quando post hanc vitam succedit pugnae secura victoria S. Prosper lib. 3. de cont vitae And yet scarce were they returned to their own home but Abraham and Isaack met with a new occasion of grief for the Death of Sara And no wonder saith St. Prosperus since the Life of Man is a War without truce and since we ought not to hope or expect Peace but in the Tomb. And indeed as Hildebert hath well noted it is not without reason that these storms succeed one another Attende miscrias hominis intuere cineres vectigalia peccati sunt S. Hild. Ep. 56. and that usually one vapor draws others by reason the Earth since the contagion of the terrestriall Paradise hath been a fatall source of Miseries and Calamities which took their birth from the first sin of our unfortunate Parents who left unto their Children for an inheritance and punishment a chain wrought with all sorts of infelicities This yoak then is common to all Men and there is no person whom God hath not subjected to the Laws of this sad Captivity The strictest unions must break the sincerest friendships must have an end and even Mariages themselves of which God was the sacred knot must at length make a Tragick Divorce upon a Bed which is the most common Theater of the blind furies of Death We ought to confess nevertheless that it is a spectacle able to excite the Constancy of a good Courage when we shall behold this unmercifull Murdress which snatcheth away Daughters out of their Mothers Bosoms and Sons in the sight of their Fathers and Wifes between the Arms of their Husbands In such a case if Nature had not some tenderness she would be unnaturall and we must have Hearts of Marble not to be touched with some sense of grief and pitty Abraham had then just cause to testifie by his tears the regret he had for his dear Sara's Death Vixit autem Sara centum viginti septem annis Gen. 23. v. 1. And surely since he lost so rare a blessing well might he disconsolatly bewayl it This mourning was not yet blameable and he was very carefull not to doe like those who bury all their affections in the preparation of a Funerall pomp and who have but a shadowed meen or else not being able
it be so let us banish these disquiets and perplexities which ravish from us the confidence we ought to have in God My God! my hope is then in thee and I resign my Life my Pleasures my Designs my Desires my Interests and all my Affections into the Bosom of thy Providence And besides I make a vow with Jacob to Live and Dye in the quality of thy Son and of thy most humble Creature who hath no Life nor motion but by thee and for thee Lord accept this offering confirm this promise and in giving Affections unto my Heart to Love thee deny not Lights unto my Soul for the guidance and strengthning of it against all obstacles which might divert it from approaching directly to thee and reaching the top of the Mountain where it hopes both to see and enjoy thee for all Eternity CHAP. VI. The Constancy of Jacob in the Quest of Rachel IT is then the wise Providence of God which can justly attribute this honour unto it self as to say I preside in Councils And it is by the favour of my lights Men in the most importune affairs conceive their gravest and most mature resolutions I am The Works of the increated Wisdom saith Providence the End of Gods wonders by me he Begins his rarest works to Finish them in me And I am the Archetype and the project of his most admirable designs It is this Providence which had the Modell of the Universe when the Elements were in confusion and it was by her disposure the world received its Laws and all its Orders Moreover in the sequence of Age she took all her choicest delights upon the vast Globe of the Earth and her sweetest divertisements amongst men which serve as pastimes to her most holy entertainments I know not whether the Philosophy of Plato were pure enough to understand these verities But he concurred it seems in this opinion when he said That divine Providence sports with men in a way paternally affectionate and full of miracles Homo est ludus Deorum Plato Now if this Pastime appeared in the life of Abraham and Isaack it is no less visible me thinks in that of Jacob. Admirable sports First God sported with him in his Mothers Womb when he stirred his Hand to wrastle with his Brother Esau and to take him by the soal of his Foot that he might cause him to fall from the right to which he pretended Secondly God sported with Jacob when he disguised him by the intervention of his Mother to obtain the Benediction of Isaack Thirdly the Ladder Jacob saw in a dream was as we have said but a Pastime and spectacle of the Divine Providence and at present God continues to sport with him in the rest of his Journey afterwards in the House of Laban and finally in a thousand other rencounters where it will appear that even Gods Combats with Jacob were but Sports and Artifices wherein God took pleasure to recreate himself with him Jacob being then wak'd out of this mysterious sleep and Divine rapture Profectus ergo Jacob venit in terram orientalem Gen. 29. v. 1. Et vidit puteum in agro tres queque greges ovium accubantes juxta eum Gen. 29. v. 2. Quos interrogans numqaid ait nostis Laban Gen. 29 v. 5. Et ecce Rachel ventebat cum ovtbus sui Patris nam gregem ipsa pascobat Gen. 29. v. 9. in which God had kept him for the space of a whole Night on the plains of Bethel he took his way towards the East where a while after neer unto a Well he met with Flocks of Sheep and Sheepheards of whom he enquired whether they were not acquainted with Laban and whether they knew not his House Behold at the same time a Rachel approaching the second Daughter of Laban who kept her Fathers Sheep and led them to drink where Jacob stay'd I know not whether the Day were far advanced but in some part of its course where the Sun may be seen I am well assur'd that the Eyes of Rachel did cast forth a thousand Love-Darts and lights into the Soul of Jacob. Rachel was an Aurora which marcheth before the Sun and instantly these two Planets did that which the Sun and Moon could not effect since their Creation Jacob kissed Rachel Quam cum vidisset Jacob sciret consobrinam suam Gen. 29. v. 10. Osculectus est eam elevata voce flevit Gen. 29. v. 11. Et indicavit ei quod frater esset patris sui filius Rebeccae at illa festinans nuntiavit patri suo Gen. 29. v. 12. Qui cuÌ„ audisset venisse Jacob filium â—ororis suae cucurrit obviaÌ„ei c. Gen. 29. v. 14. and knowing that she was his Cosin he began sweetly to cry out and presently his Eyes shed some tears which expressed the excess of his contentment Rachel would have done the same if her Eyes had been longer fixed on Jacob but she ran from thence to advertise her Father that not far from the House she had happily met with one of her Cosen-germans the Son of Isaack and Rebecca Which Laban hearing went to meet and bring him to his Lodging as also to know the cause of his comming Jacob freely declared to him what had passed to which Laban answered he was very welcome and that he received him as his dear Nephew Diâ—itei nam quia frater meuses gratis servâ—es mihi lic quid mercedis accipias Gen. 29. v. 15. and as a part of himself But for the rest although he had a desire to entertain him as his own Brother yet he must resolve to serve and merit some wayes by his labours Jacob had no mercenary Spirit nor a Body trained up to labour Nevertheless of a Master he must become a Servant and learn by Serving others more prudently to Command hereafter He made a contract then with his Uncle Serviam tibi pro Rachel filta tua mimoâ—â— septem annos Gen. 29. v. 18. Respondit Laban meâ—â—as est ut tibi eam de quam altere vno Gen. 29. v. 19. Sed Lâ—a lipâ—is erat ocults Racitel detora facte venusto aspectu Gen. 29. v. 17. and obliged himself to serve him for the space of seaven years at the end of which Laban promised to Marry him unto Rachel the youngest but the fairest of his Daughters The Eldest which was called Leah had a Face of Wax which melted through her Eyes and rendered her deformed and blear-Eyed but the Youngest had so many beauties and attractives as the least of her glances had power enough to render her Mistress of Jacobs affections It was for her sake and for the Love he boâ—e her that he became a Servant and that of a Pilgrim he took upon him the quality of a Guest Well regulated affection who lodged in his Heart all the duties of a most pure and holy amity His Love was not of the nature of those petty Devils which
possess lascivious Souls it was neither deceitfull nor violent neither indiscreet nor arogant neither irregular nor impious neither variable nor impudent neither capricious nor sporting neither phantastick nor stupid neither remiss nor unworthy of a vertuous Man but sincere moderate prudent humble stayed constant respectfull simple condescending equall provident couragious and such as could be desired in a good Man There are in the World inchained Captives Slavery of Love and Houses often become Gallies where we behold slaves rowing against the Wind and Tide These are unfortunate Argonautes who goe in quest of a Golden Fleece which they shall never bring home The Haven and the shore fly before them and there Bark will ever be in the disastrous Hand where nothing is to be seen but refusals disdains and despairs Mean while Dayes and Years pass away in Captivity where nothing is to be found but sorrows furies envies aversions sighs regrets and tears for having courted a painted and plaistered Idol and for having erected Altars to it offering a thousand Vows without ever being able to render it propitious and for having expended their Goods in Masks and Feasts in presents and a thousand poor and shifting devices which served only to swell a Cloud of storms Ah! what blindness what weakness Shamefull blindness what indignity for a Cavalier to be seen at the Feet of some curious and dainty Dame where he burns his Heart where he immolates his Strength and Courage where he dryes up his Bloud and where he prostitutes his Body his Fortunes and Honour In fine the Life of such kind of men is an unhappy vassallage their whole inquest a Martyrdom and all their pursutes meet with nothing but shadows where they find as in an abyss of miseries the loss of their joy and Liberty Jacob fell not into these misfortunes but his Courtships were most just and holy He lived like an Angell incarnate amidst the flames and ardors of a most pure and holy affection Servivit erge Jacob pro Rachel septem annis videbantur illi pauci dies prae amoris magnitudine he excited himself to patience and labour by the sight and upon the hopes of Rachel and he did like those who running at Rings fix only their Eyes on the prize proposed to them he found also no weariness at the end of his course and saw himself upon the point of enjoying his reward after seaven years service which scarce seemed unto him to have lasted so many Dayes But what Et vespere Liam suam introduriâ— ad cum Gea 29. v. 23. Ad quam cum ex amore Jacob fuisset ingressus facto mane vidâ—t Liam Gen. 29. v. 24. as the Hopes we repose in Men very often deceive us so after the Wedding Night the Day discovered unto Jacob the cheats of Laban who instead of Rachel gave him Leah Never was any man more astonished than Jacob who expected nothing less than such a Metamorphosis He fayles not to complain unto Laban of this deceit Et dixit ad sorcerum suum Quidest quod facere voluisti Gen. 29. v. 25. Respondit Laban non est in loco nostro consuetudinis ut minores ante tradamus ad nuptias Gen. 29. v. 26. Imple bebdomadam dierum hujus copulae hanc quoque dabo tibi pro opere quo serviturus es miln septem annis aliis Gen. 29. v. 27. but for answer they told him that it was not the custome to marry the younger Daughter before the Elder that if he would yet for one week accomplish this Mariage with Leah Rachel should be given him for his second wife provided that he would again oblige himself to serve for the space of seven years Behold a lively image in the person of Laban of the deceipts and falshoods of the world which give straws for gold briars for roses counterfeits for true Diamonds chains for liveryes bondage for rewards and at last fables errors and lyes which cause us to spend our lives in a detestable blindness Notwithstanding A poor harvest of worldly men there are some who have less pure intentions than Jacob who amuse themselves to gather up all these straws and take pleasure to rowl themselves upon thorns There are weak and ignorant eyes which prefer Glass before Rubies and Emeralds some cherish their own follies some adore their bondage and some glory to languish in the Martyrdome of a shamefull captivity But that which is most to be deplored some fix their eyes on exteriour attractives upon Painted faces and Phantasmes of Love like those Temples of Egypt which as Clement Alexandrinus saith Clem. Alex. lib. 3. paedag were only set forth with gilded Stones carved Marbles and painted beauties without life or soul Nevertheless we there fix our eyes and fasten our hearts we are content with Leah who was a figure of this life and think no more of Rachel who was the Image of Paradise and Eternity At least we would willingly gather this immortall purple flower of Love but we cannot take the pains to water it with some drop of sweat and blood We would gladly catch in our nets this beautifull Bird of heaven Weakness of courage but we will not take the pains to spread them We would willingly take this fish of the Fortunate Islands but we dare not put our hands into the water it is too chil it is too cold we neither can nor will do it seven years of service are too long to merit a Rachel It is too great a conflict to gain a Crown and we cannot resolve to dye one Moment to live Eternally This moves me to cry out Eternity All is short to him who meditates on Eternity Eternity of joy and felicity how long art thou Eternity and how short is the Moment of pain which may deserve thee O Moment moment of this life how quickly dost thou slip away and what immense Durations hath Eternity Ah! Jacob Jacob serve then not only seven dayes but even seven years entire to obtain Rachel Jacob it sufficeth to love her For in loving every thing is animated every thing lives every thing prospers and every thing passeth away most sweetly under the lawes of love and since it is not for a Man but for a God nor for a mortall beauty but for an immortall happiness you captivate your self It was no trouble unto Jacob to receive this yoak Acquievit beneplacito bebdomadae transacta Rachel duxit uâ—orem Gen. 29. v. 28. seeing himself the possessour of his dear Rachel he resumed the trade he had so happily begun and he believed that the shackles of his second service would not be less supportable than the former Behold him happy to see himself in a Bondage where he was a servant to Laban and the master of Rachel All his misfortune was only because he contemned Leah which proceeded from the excessive love be bore unto Rachel But God taking pitty of Leah rendred
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
Eyes to gaze on this Lamb Post multos itaque des injecit domina sua occulos suoâ—in Joseph Gen. 39. v. 7. all her gestures and motions were artifices to intrap him and she would have willingly preferred the inthrallment of Joseph before the Command over her Husband All her bonds of Marriage were but Chains which kept her in Captivity and the most just and most holy Lawes imposed on her a Yoak which rendred all the duties of sidelity which Wives owe unto their Husbands insupportable to her She yet wanted not dexterity to dissemble her Passion in her Husbands presence and herein Love is usually most disloyall and deceitfull for though all its fires be violent impetuous sharp and sparckling yet if the object which inkindles them be not present they prove but ashes coldnesses and frozen Nights under which this Traitor useth to hide his Torch Pernitious study Then all Actions are studied all gestures counterfeits all discourses falshoods and all that appears outwardly seems to have no other design than to deceive the heart To this effect we seek out suborned Messengers retirements for assigned meetings blind dumb and deaf witnesses secret Intelligences inchanted gifts invisible pretences painted and Sacrilegious devotions Nights without dayes and hours which are only marked out upon shadows for the light of the Sun the noise of a Bell too apparent impiety too visible presents too violent solicitations indiscreet confederates publick places and Friends or unfaithfull Servants might discover the secret It is a strange thing that we can hardly trust our selves and that the Tongue dares not speak a word or at least if she speaks it is but after she hath pondered all her discourses Wherefore the Eyes are the first solicitours of evill and then their silence hath an Eloquent voice which is yet not heard but by those that are Confederates It is no wonder then Qui nequaquam acquiescent operi nesario dixit c. Gen. 39. v. 9. if Joseph heard not this unchast language when his Mistris spake to him more from her Eyes than her Mouth This Impudent creature cast a thousand glances on him But the heart of Joseph was a piece of Marble which could not be pierced all the Flames of this Egyptian woman fell into a dead Sea and all her lightnings found nothing but water which instantly quenched them Wee must passe then further Et ait dormi mecum Gen. 39. v. 7. and see whether the Mouth peradventure will have more powerfull perswasions than the Eyes This shamelesse woman is so much inraged as to declare her design O God! what Insolence what Fury and what Frenzies when once the mind is possest with Love but there are two sorts of loves and that which is Son of the Earth is very weak when opposed to that which is born in Heaven Courage then Joseph it is a Woman who assaults and sollicites you she is light be you constant she hath stratagems be you prudent she is bold be you generous she runs fly away she Flatters disdain her she asks refuse her Joseph what do you say For my part saith he Victorious Innocence I neither can nor will consent unto a womans Lascivious desires nor submit unto her will preferring it before that of my Master and I should not be what I am if I forfeited the quality of a faithfull Servant and of a person to whom the honour and remembrance of the favours I have received from him is a thousand times more pretious than life If I have been sold it was onely for my Innocency and the chains of my Captivity could never force the constancy an Hebrew ought to have in the way of virtue I am Jacobs son and my actions shall never bely my birth I am a Servant Ecce Dominus meus omnibus mihi traditis c. Gen. 39. v. 8. Nec qâ—icquam est qued non in mea sit potestate vel non tradiderit miht propter te quomodo trgo possum hoc malum faeere peccare in Deum meâ—m Gen. 39. v. 9. I ought to dye for fidelity your Husband trusts me with all his Goods and with all his Wealth which the favour of the King and his own merits have bestowed on him he reserved onely to himself the soly Enjoying you It is not for me then to ravish from him what is his due by so many titles Command me with Justice and I will serve you with sincerity perform all that you ought and I will omit no part of my duty to you Keep your self within the lawes of Marriage and leave me in the duties of my condition I should be ungratefull if I abused the favours of my Master I should be a theef if I stole away his fairest goods and no death could be cruell enough to punish me if I shouâ—d attempt on that which is more dear to him than life All your flames can find in me but a heart of water and ice and all your tyes cannot inthrall the liberty of my mind and your rigors will never mollifie a soul on which God hath inprinted his love and fear Know then that I would rather choose to dye free from blame than to live a complice in your distoyalty I prefer my bondage if it be innocent before all unjust Powers and what misfortune soever befall me I shall be too happy if I remain innocent It was in the power of my brethren to sell my body but they could not ingage my soul I may serve without prostituting my self and my glory will ever be illustrious enough if I shall doe no dishonourable act and unworthy of my Extraction In fine I adore a God who hath most pure eyes and should all creatures be blind it satisfies me that he be the witness of my actions I reverence all his decrees and if all the Judges of the world could authorise vice it would comfort me to have a God alwaies armed to punish them How can you wish me then to bring Adultery into your Family and to change your bed Angelicall Resolution which ought to be the Altar of your glory into an infamous Pile No no Madam either leave honour to me with life or take from me my life and leave me my honour Is not this â—o speak like and Angel and to have the sentiments of those spirits who live in flames without being consumed and amidest lightnings without being dazeled Neverthelesse it is little considerable to assault an impudent love by bare words we must have other weapons in our hands to encounter it and the victory is never certain untill we have either publickly decry'd or banish'd it We must cry out Murther in like occasions we must call for witnesses use threats and at least triumph by a generous flight or by a prudent retreat There are some Passions which flye when they are pursued Very different Nature of Passions and like shadows never fasten themselves unto bodies There are some who have
and the whole body is in a Palpitation In fine after this Commotion Eclips of Reason in Wine and during this Eclips the understanding remains in so obscure a night as it knows not it self This Fountain of the day brings forth nothing but Thunderbolts its Torch is extinguished its Lights are confus'd and its lightnings are but stinking Exhalations which rise from the Lees of Wine Now this comes to pass because Reason though most pure and spirituall Arist. lib. 3 de anim 19. lib. 1. de anim p. 63. depends on gross and terrestriall Images which reside in the Fancie and being disquieted represent unto the mind nothing but Phantasms and a Picture of Illusions Then Man ceaseth to be a man since he is devoid of Reason Aug. Serm. 23. de vitanda â—â—rietate He is in a state inferiour to Beasts who satisfie their appetites without stifling them It is then more probable that Joseph was not Inebriated at his Feast but with the pleasure and joy he had to see himself in the midst of his Brethren Without doubt also his Guests were so violently transported with the honour they received from him as they became as it were drunk with it Torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos psal 59. But the drunkenness of the one and the other was but an extasie and a delicious Rapture neer resembling that of the blessed Souls which are in Heaven Inebriabuntur ab ubertate domus tuae psal 35. and swim in an Ocean of glory and in the torrents of Delights whereof God himself is the Fountain when he goes as it were melting and distilling himself into their Chast breasts in such sort as they become even Inebriated with him Comedâ—stis nos estis satiati bibistis non estis inebriati Agg. 1. But their drunkenness is but a most holy and just satiating which shall endure so long as God is God that is to say during all Eternity O my Soul hast thou not then a desire to goe unto this Sacred Feast Wilt thou not break thy chaines and get loose from thy Captivity to come unto this Joseph when shalt thou see this Brother and when shalt thou sit at Table with him to drink by his side and receive from his most amiable hand the portion of thy Felicity O God what inebriation of Love what excesse of delights I think it long till I come unto this Banquet where that delitious wine is tasted which useth to bring forth Virgins and where our Joseph or Brother our Lord our God is seen without veil or Cloud CHAP. VIII Joseph known by his Brethren AT Banquets saith Aristides it often happens that Water is chang'd into Wine that Wine is mingled with Blood and that over-heated Blood begets inflamations Feasts of death which are never extinguished but with life It is with the point of a knife and upon plates or Napkins sentences of death and decrees of condemnation are written At least it is there where oftentimes as a Polititian hath observed passions are inkindled Envie is fed Treasons are nourished and liberty takes all the advantages to doe Mischief Neverthelesse there are feasts where sweetness Praecepit autem Joseph dispensatori Domâ—s sâ—â—â— c. Gen. 44. v. 1. Scy hum autem mâ—um argâ—nteum pâ—â—tium quod dedit triâ—â—ci ponâ— in ore facti juniorâ—â— Gen. 44. v. 2. Theodoretus Quaest 105 in Genesim peace and the most Innocent pleasures furnish out all the Services Such doubtlesse was the feast Joseph made for his Brethren for though it was there where he resolved to deceive them and to make them believe they were Theeues Yet his design was very just and he had no other intention than by a stratagem of Love and by an Artifice of prudence to try the tendernesse and inclinations they had for Benjamin However this Amorous dissumulation and this wise experiment much disquieted them Iamque urbem exierant processerunt paululum tune Joseph acceâ—sito dispensatore domus Surge inquit persequere viros apprehensis dicite quare reddidistis malum pro bone Gen. 44. v 4. Scyphus quem furat estis ipse est in quo bibit dominus meus in quo augurari solet-Gen 44. v. 5. and theâ— were extremely surprised when they were accused for Theefes by his order who before had treated them as Brethren Scarce were they gone out of the Citty but Josephs Steward stayd them by direction from his Master and said unto them Ah! Theeves that you are are you not ashamed to have rendred ill to those who have done you good Where have you then put the Cup you have Stoln from us and in which my Master useth to Drink and to foretel what will happen Alas Answered they what doe you say Qui responderunt quare sic loquitur dominus noster ut servi tui tantum flagitui commiserint Gen. 44. v. 7. â—â—cuniam quam invenimus in summitate saccorum reportavimus ad te c. Gen. 44. v. 8. Apud quemcumque fuerit inventum servâ—rum tuorum quem quaeris moâ—iatur Gen. 44. v. 9. Qui dexit eis fiat juxta vâ—stram fententiam Gen. 44. v. 10. Quos serutatus inciptens â maiore usque ad minimum invenit Scyphnm in sacco Benjamin Gen. 44. v. 12. For what persons doe you take us And in truth doe you believe that wee intended to doe you wrong doe you not know how hetherto wee have demen'd our selves And that wee brought back all the money which was found in our Sacks when wee returned out of Egypt How could it possibly happen that at this time wee should robb you Surely wee have nothing else to allege but onely intreat you that if any of us be found guilty you would put him to death without other form of process Well then I am content replyed this man let it be done as you desire Then fearching them from the highest to the Lowest he met at last with Josephs Cup in Benjamins sack O God! what astonishment and what surprise Accidents are sometimes so unexpected and misfortunes so convincing that Innocence it self hath cause to wax pale and to have some apprehension Moreover there are certain Vices so foul and infamous as it is enough to be Suspected to render us miserable and wee passe for Criminals when wee are but accused What is it then to be convinced of it and to have the earnest of our Crime in our own hands shall wee not passe for Homicides when wee are found holding a dagger in our hands all alone neer a deadbody which swims in his own blood May wee not also be accused of Theft and be thought the authors of it when wee are taken with a purse newly cut and with goods which have been lost The Children of Jacob had then cause enough to be frighted and their misfortune was inexcusable Thus like dispairing men they found no consolation but in their grief At illi
scissis vestibus reversi sunt in oppidum Gen. 44. v. 13. Primúsque Judas cum fratribus ingressus est ad Joseph necdum enim de loco abierat omnésque ante eum pariter in terram corruerunt Gen. 44. v. 14. Quibus ille ait cur sic agere voluistis an ignoratis quod non sit similis mei in augurandi scientia Gen. 44. v. 15. Cui Judas Quid respondebimus inquit c. Gen. 44. v. 16. and the most present Remedy they had was to tear their Garments and speedily to return unto Joseph Having found him in the same place where they had left him after they had all cast themselves at his Feet scarce daring to speak a word so much were they confounded he himself was forced to begin and declare unto them that it was a great wonder to him how they durst offer him this injury since they could not be ignorant that he was the most skilfull man of Egypt in the Art of Divination Then Judas beginning to speak for them all freely confesseth that they knew not almost what to say or think that their misfortune was inexcusable and for the rest it was God who had a mind to punish them as also that they were all at his mercy resolving to live and dye in Bondage God forbid Respondit Joseph absit à me ut sic agam qui suratus est scyphum ipse sit servus meus Gen. 44. v. 17. Replyes Joseph I should take away liberty from those who are not guilty As for the party who hath committed the offence I will detain him for my Slave and it is just he should be punished according to his desert Behold the Sentence given Accedens autem propius Judas confidenter ait c. Gen. 44. v. 18 But Judas appealed unto the Clemency of his Judge and approaching neerer to him he asked his leave to speak unto him with Confidence My Lord saies he as you are next unto the King the Chief of Egypt I cast my self at your Feet as my Judge and Soveraign I earnestly call upon your goodness not on your Justice If we be guilty you can render us innocent The eyes of a Prince have looks which efface all stains and one tear in their presence can wash away a Thousand sins It sufficeth if we may cast our selves at their knees to find a Sanctuary and we need but speak unto them to be presently heard Call to mind then my Lord what wee long since said unto you Est nobis pater senex puer parvulas qui in senectute illius natus est cujus uterinus frater mortuus est ipsum solum habet mater sua pater verò tenere diligit eum Gen. 44. v. 20. remember that we are all Children of one Father oppressed with old age and incommodities and that all his hopes rely on this Innocent who is found guilty you will deprive him of life by robing him of this Iewell He is the onely child left him by his last wife For by mishap a beast hath devoured the other which he had of the same bed It is in obedience we bring him to you and it was with a promise speedily to restore him I am ingag'd in my person Ego propriè servus tuus sim qui in meam hanc recâ—pt fidem c. Gen. 44. v. 22. and in that of my Children Neverthelesse he lives onely by the assurance he hath to see him again all the rest are indifferent to him and he will rather choose to die a Thousand times of hunger than to live in plenty after he hath lost the moity of his heart and the most pretious of his goods Manebo itaque servus tuus pro puero in ministerio domini mei Gen. 44. v. 33. Non enim possum redire ad patrem absente puero ne calamitatis quae oppressura est patrem meum testis assistam Gen. 44. v. 34. Permit us then to restore life unto him from whom wee have received it For my part I will never return without I bring him back At least take me in his place and send him back with his Brethren lest I be a witnesse of the grief which will doubtlesse kill my Father when he shall know that Benjamin is made a Captive Here it is where Joseph was not Master of his tears Non se poterat ultrà cobibere Joseph multis coram astantibus unde praecepit ut egredientur cuacts foras nullusque interesset alienus agnitioni mutuae Gen. 45. v. 1. Elevavitque vocem cum fletu quam audierunt Aegyptii omnisque domus Pharaonis Gen. 4â— v. 2. and his Heart was ever ready to have sallyed forth by his Eyes but he first dismissed those strangers who were with him and would have none for Witnesses of his goodnesse but those who had made him the Subject of their rage When he saw himself then alone with his Brethren Love which is all fire mean't to dissolve into tears and the sad remembrance of all that had passed drew cryes and sighes out of the bottome of his Heart which were heard through the whole House In fine he was necessitated to discover himself and as wee must know before wee Love so Joseph resolved to be known and to declare what he was Et dixit fratribus suis Ego sum Joseph adhâ—c pater meus vivit non poterant respondere fratres nimio terrere perteriti Gen. 45. v. 3. Brethren saith he I am Joseph Alas is my Father yet living could I be so happy as to see him before his death They were so much Surprised at the bare recitall of the name of Joseph as they had not the power even to open their Mouthes to speak unto him Afterwards looking one upon another as struck'n from Heaven is this Joseph thought they Alas where are we And from whence may he come Yes it is I Ego sum ait frater vester Joseph quem vendidistis in Aegyp tum Gen. 45. v. 4. Nolite pavere neque vobis durum esse videatuâ— quod vendidistâ—s me in his regionibus c. Gen. 45. v. 5. saith he who am Joseph I am the same person whom you have so unworthily sold At last do you acknowledg me for your brother Approach then come that I may imbrace you fear nothing but know that although you have sold me yet I have not lost the quality of your Brother I am Joseph you have no cause to be affrighted time hath effaced the ill you have done mee and at present I onely remember that I am your brother You need no Advocate since blood and Nature plead in your behalf It is enough that wee are all Jacobs Children I owe this favour to piety and Love and I cannot refuse you what is yours even by the Priviledg of Birth The ties which fasten us are stronger than the Chains of that Captivity into which you reduced me Non vâ—stro confilio sed Dei voluntate huc
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
before I dy O God! what consolation for a good Father to see again a good Son he was dead in his thoughts and behold him risen again He was lost and is found again a cruell Bear had devoured him and of all his reliques there was onely left him a bloody garment A strange change and behold him on a Throne and Master of one of the fairest Empires in the Universe What alteration and what Metamorphosis humane Prudence what sayest thou unto this Art not thou then ravished at the sight of these Prodigies hast thou not a desire to submit unto the Lawes of this wise Intelligence which sports with these Counsels and goes even under the Abysses of misfortune there to produce Peace Glory and immortality as a fair day in the midst of darkness Yes truly but to adore the effects of the Divine Providence and the most absolute power it hath over our lives and honours We must follow Jacob and goe visit Joseph Love hath wings at his Feet like Fame Profectusque Israel cum omnibus quae habâ—bat venit ad puteum juramenti Gen. 46. v. 1. he knows not what delay and retardment meaneth Jacob is on his way to see Joseph he is already in Bershabe neer unto that famous Well where Abraham heretofore made a solemn agreement with Abimelech and where both of them swore an inviolable peace There it was where Jacob stayed to offer his Sacrifice unto God upon the Altar of Abraham Et mactatis ibi victimis Deo patris sui Isaack Gen. 46. v. 1. Audivit cum per visionem noctis vocantem se dicentem sibi Jacob Jacob cui respondit Ecce adsum There having immolated Victimes he resign'd into the hands of God all the designs of his voyage he resolves to passe away one night in that place But scarce had he closed the eyes of the body but those of his soul were open'd to see and hear the God of his Father Isaack who called Jacob Jacob to which Jacob had nothing else to say but that he heard his voice and was most ready to execute his Commands Courage then Jacob Ait illi Deus Ego sum fortissimus Deus patris tui noli timere descende in Aegyptum quia in gentem magnam faciâ—mâ—te ibi Gâ—â— 46. v. 4. Joseph queque ponet manus suos super oculos tuos Gen. 46. v. 4. for it is the most powerfull God of thy Father Isaack who calls and appoints thee to passe into the Land of Egypt And there it is where he intends to make thee a Father of many Nations Yes saith he I promise thee Jacob that I will goe with thee and I assure thee that Joseph shall close thine eyes with his own hands O God! what Sacrifice what Vision What Speech and what Oath As for the Sacrifice in the first place what Jacob did ought to be an instruction to all those who leave their Country and intend to alter the course of their lives that before all things they should consult with God and take him for their guide in the Voyages designs they take in hand for it is unto him we ought first to Sacrifise our hearts and immolate all our hopes otherwise we shall look behind us like that wavering Woman who for her inconstancy was turned into a Statue of Salt Secondly the apparition of God which Jacob saw is a certain token that his eye still watcheth over those who dedicate themselves unto him and that he is neither deaf nor dumb to those that speak unto him Thirdly Gods promise is too faithfull and his Love too generous to forsake those who walk in his wayes and have taken him for their guide Fourthly when God promised Iacob to bring him back out of Egypt this must be understood of his Posterity and of the Israelites Jacobs Successors whom God after Two hundred and Fifteen years brought back out of Egypt into Chanaan Touching Jacob he dyed in Egypt between Josephs arms as we are going to see in the sequell of this History It sufficeth for the present to follow him in the remainder of his voyage It was about the morning of the second day that Jacob forsook Bershabe to pursue his Journey Surexit autem Jacob à puteo Juramenti c. Gen. 46. v. 6. It was indeed one of the fairest spectacles which ever appeared on the Confines of Palestine to see him in the head of his Troops as a good Father followed by his Children But I assure my self it had been most delitious and profitable to hear them if the holy Scripture would have given us some brief relation of their Discourse Nevertheless Cunctae animae ingressae sunt cum Jacob in Aegyptum sexaginta Gen. 46. v. 26. it acquaints us with the number of these happy Travellers which were seventy in all comprising therein Joseph with Manasses and Ephraim his two Sons who were born there Hence it evidently follows that when Moyses said there went thither Sixty and six he did neither put in the list Jacob nor Joseph Manasses nor Ephraim On the contrary when Saint Luke reckoneth Seventy and five he comprehends in that number the Sons and Nephews of Joseph whose birth hapned during the life and residence of this holy Patriark in Egypt Mean-while Jacob pursues his Journey Misit autem Judam ante se ad Joseph ut nunciaret ei occurreret in Gessen Gea 46. v. 28. but before his setting foot in Egypt he sent Judas to find out Joseph that he might be advertised of his comming and goe forth to receive him in the Land of Gessen Joseph hath no sooner heard this news Quò cum pervenissent juncto Joseph curru ascendit obviam patri ad eundem locum Gen. 46. v. 29. but he set forth to meet Iacob God knows whether the time might seem long unto him and whether his heart and mind went not faster than his body God knows also the various thoughts Jacob had in Expecting Joseph saying Alas what pains for one pleasure what desires for one fruition what Thorns for one Rose what Nights for one Day and how many Combats and dangers for one Triumph In fine behold Joseph in Jacobs bosome Vidensque eum irruit super collum ejus inter amplexus flevit Gen. 46. v. 29. Dixiâ—que pater ad Joseph Jam laetus morior quia vidi faciem tuam superstitem te relinquo GeÌ„ 46. v. 30. At ille locutus est aâ— fratres suos ad omnem domum patris sui ascendam nunciabo Pharaoni dicamque â—i Fratres mei domits patris mei qui erant in terra Chanaan venerunt ad me Gen. 46. v. 31. Cumque vocaverit dixerit quod est opus vestrum GeÌ„ 46. v. 33 Respondebitis viri pastores sumus servi tui ab infantia nostra usque in praesens nos patres nostri Gen. 46. v. 34. behold the Father in the Arms of his Son Ioseph leaps
with mourning how many bodies pierced through with Swords how many exiles and how many fatall events which have often been the end of a tragicall life and the disgracefull marks of an exemplar death have not Caesars been seen murthered in the midst of the Senate Nero's massacred by their rage and dispair a Cyrus beheaded by the command of a woman and his head plunged in the bloud he had so ardently desired Hath not also an Alexander been seen passing as lightning and who for this cause was drawn after his death by an excellent Painter under the form of a shining Taper which issued out of the womb of a Cloud to vanish away at the same instant Power of men how weak art thou Greatness how litle art thou Ah what Are these the bounds measures and heights to which all mortalls aspire hath impiety no other periods And shall Abysses of water be the Monuments of Pharaoh In truth can it possibly happen that the same Maximian who sought to efface for ever the name and memory of Christians should be strangled in the City of Marseilles that Dioclesian who had been his Colleague in the Empire and a complice in his designs should be consumed with putrifaction and eaten up with Worms Is it Bajazet who served for a block to get up a horse-back Is it not the heart of Julian the Apostate which I see pierced through with a deadly Arrow and the body of Valens which burns in flames and that of Anastasius who was as it were precipitated by a Thunder-bolt into the bottome of Hell Yea Dreadfull revolutions behold the course and dreadfull revolutions of all the Successors of Pharaoh After this let it be ask'd where they are and what is become of all these triumphant Chariots these Armies these People these Tyrants with all their power Down proud greatness down these Sacrilegious enterprises these blind furies and these obstinate cruelties which are more worthy of a Devil than of a man who hath any spark of reason In fine Pharaoh is drowned this great Dragon is dead his rage is satiated he hath heard the voice of Thunder and Thunder hath broken the wheeles of his Chariot He is no more or at least is groaning and dispairing in a Pool of Sulphur in a Sea of flames and in an Eternity of Punishments Moses and the Israelites on the banks of the shore and in a Paradise of delights make Canticles of joy and Songs of triumph to render thanks unto God for their deliverance CHAP. XIX The Canticle of Moses after the death of Pharaoh IF the severity of this History did permit me sometimes to mingle with it one of those Consorts whose Lawes and Rules are observed with Measure Cadence Rimes and Pauses and whose Charms flatter so much the most curious ears that with air they nourish and entertain the most Criticall minds I must often make use of the voyces of so many Swans which have taught our French muses the musicall Aires of Judea and Palestine in lieu of the prophane Songs used in the world and at Court I might often borrow some Harmonies from so many choise spirits which every day cause that antient Musick to resound in the heart of France which was first sung upon the Mountains of Sion and in the holy Land And I might at present make use of the sweet interpretation of those who have procured the Charming Eccho of this famous Canticle to be heard upon the banks of our Rivers which was sung by Moses neer the Red Sea after the deliverance of the people of Israel and the generall defeat of Pharaoh and his Troops But since the nature of the Stile to which I have engaged my self doth not permit me to use this pleasing mixture I will content my self with a pure and exact relation Nevertheless before hand we must observe In the first place there was never any Quire of Musick better ordered or more compleat The Holy Ghost was the Master of it and inspir'd Moses with all the Accents and words of this most sacred Consort Secondly Moses first and alone sung a Verse of this admirable Canticle which before his time had never been sung For the Hymns of Orpheus Linus and Musaeus were not invented till three hundred years after or thereabouts Thirdly Philo saith that all the people answered the voice of Moses Author lib. 1. de Mirab Scrip. Apud Aug. c. 21. where we must take notice with the Authour of the Memorable things of the holy Scripture that it was not without miracle men and Children and the rest of the people hearing every verse but once did yet faithfully repeat the same after Moses whose voice could not be heard of all However it were they spake all with one heart and voice or rather with millions of voices which came but from one and the same Source and from a like Spirit which animated so many lungs and mouths Let us sing Cantemus Domino gloriosè enim magnificatus est equum ascensorem dejecit in mare Evod. 15. v. 1. Let us sing Victory And let it be every where known that it is the great God of Israel who hath freed us from Irons and from the slavery under which we have so long groan'd He hath loosned our fetters he hath broken our Chains and thrown both Horses and Riders Pharaoh and his Troops Egypt and her Chariots into the bottome of the Sea Let his name be alwayes in our mouths his love in our bearts and the remembrance of his favours in the Center of our Souls Dextera tua Domine magnificata est in fortitudine dextera tua Domine percussit inicum Exod. 15. v. 6. Now the day of his glory breaks forth in the midst of night his power hath raised our weakness and his goodness which he hath alwayes shewed us hath triumphed over the malice of those who had design'd our ruine We must never seek then any other subject for our praises and for all our songs of Victory than this glorious Conquerour who bears in himself all our hopes and salvation He alone is our God and the God of our fore-fathers and for this cause he alone ought to be the subject of our acknowledgements and the term of our Loves Yes my God! It is thou on whom all our tongues shall be still employed all our hearts fixed The term of love and acknowledgement and all minds bent to proclame love and adore nothing but thy Glory and the Glory of thy Name which is no other than that of the omnipotent Lord. Thou art the great God of Battells the Conquerour of Conquerours and thou hast not disdained to arm thy self on our behalf Thou hast also drowned this potent Army which plotted our ruine and thou hast given these Tyrants for food unto Fishes and the waves of the Sea who intended to make us the Victims of their fury All of us have been witnesses of it and there is not any one amongst us who
Behold Quamobrem misu Dominus in populum igneos serpentes ad corum plagas mortes plurimorum Num. 21. v. 6. Venerunt ad Moisen atque dixetunt Peccavimus quia locuti sumus contra Dominum te Ora ut tollat à nobis serpentes Oravitque Moises pro populo Num. 21. v. 7. the complaints and murmurings which even scorched the Sands of Arabia as with a breath of fire and flames which was no other than the Spirit of God which immediately produced there an infinite number of Serpents whose bitings were so cruel and ardent that one would have believed they had been so many coals or some kinde of wilde-fire applied to the flesh of these miserable wretches if those Vipers and Scorpions had not been seen which spared no man causing with their Teeth upon these infamous Bodies such stinging pains and fiery wounds that it brought them even unto dispair And I believe it would have reduced these guilty persons into Ashes if they had not at least acknowledged their sin and obtained some remedy more than humane by the mediation of Moses Now this Remedy was no other than a great Brazen Serpent which God commanded Moses to make Et locutus est Dominus ad cum Fac serpentem aeneum posuit eum pro signo auem cum percussi aspicerent sanabantur Num. 21. v. 8 9. and erect in the desart upon which they had no sooner cast their eyes but they were instantly cured though it were but a sign and mark of that hand which had erected this Trophy of his Power and the Image of his Goodness to the end the Remedy might be the more conformable to the disease and that such as had been punished by Serpents after they had vomitted all the venome out of their serpentine mouths might have at least this counter-poison which was as it were inclosed within this miraculous Serpent Now all this was but a most lively figure of Jesus Christ fastned on the Cross who bore all the most bloody marks and the most shameful appearances of a sinner although he were Purity and Innocency it self which can receive no stain of sin The Brass whereof the Serpent was formed and which amongst all other Metals hath I know not what more solid qualities and less subject unto corruption denoted nothing else but the Divinity of Jesus Christ and his Eternity We may also observe with Saint Austin upon this Figure some marks of the resplendency and glory of the Cross which carried its light and splendor even unto the shadows of Gentilism and Idolatry where its Trophies and Power have appeared notwithstanding the rage and fury of the most dreadful Tyrants In fine if this Brazen Serpent bore certain colours of fire who sees not that it was a very evident token of Love and Charity which passed even into the bosom of a Father to seek a Son and into the flames of a Sanctuary to seek a God to convert him into a man of Fire which descended not on Earth but to inflame him with the amorous ardors of his infinite Charity O God! O Love What goodness what flames where hath such a prodigy and miracle of Love been ever seen A God takes upon him the form of a sinner represented by this Serpent and was pleased by his death to cure those who have been the torturers and persecutors of his life Alas my poor heart Art thou not one of those who have murmured against God Have not these languishments and vexations which thou canst not conceal in his service provoked him to render thee a prey unto those Vipers which are commonly nourished in the fire of concupiscence and are often born on the sands of the Desart and in the retirement of the most pleasing solitudes to flie afterwards into the greatest Assemblies and into the heart of the World where thou must perish of wounds amongst the dead unless some Moses in thy favor address himself unto him who hath created thee to save and not to damn thee O my Jesus O my Saviour Grant me then this favor that I may cast mine eyes upon thy Cross and on thy Self to the end If any deceiptful Serpent hath infected me with his bitings and inkindled some ardors and flames in my veins in beholding you I may burn onely with those of thy Holy Love CHAP. XLVII The last Actions of Moses TO make a relation of the last Actions performed by Moses I must imitate Geographers and Painters who contract upon their Canvas strokes and lines to form an Epitomy of the Heavens Elements and the greatest Bodies in nature nevertheless I could not undertake so hard a task if the design thereof had not been marked out even by his hand of whom I pretend to speak But since I must here onely work upon the original and draw some copy of it it is enough for me to do like those Apprentices who study to express at least in a rough draught the rarest Ideas of their Master The Pencil then of Moses must finish this Picture and there is no person I believe who may not know that his hand and pen have followed the tracts of his Spirit and that there was but one Moses who could worthily describe and publish the commands of God whose instincts he so justly followed as to see and hear him it was apparent that God animated his sentiments who spoke by his mouth who wrought by his hands and who became as it were the soul of his soul so intimately was he united to him and all his actions This appeared during the whole course of this great Patriarcks life but chiefly near his end and namely when he saw himself even upon the point of leaving this beloved people of whom he had been the Prince Father The Testament of Moses Prophet and Law-giver He must resolve then to give them his last words and take his last farewel he must declare all his desires and draw his last will to the end it might be afterwards engraven upon Stones and that at least every seven years there might be made a general publication thereof as also that Kings might themselves read it before their Election to learn from thence the Laws and Precepts which are as it were the souls of Princes and the principal wheels of Empires Now this Testament was no other than Deuteronomy Hieronimus in prologo Galleato August Q. 49. Theod. hic Q. 1. Athanas in Synop. Quadragessimo anno undecimo mense prima die mensis locutus est Moises ad filios Israel omnia quae praeceperat illi Dominus ut disceret eis Deut. 1. v. 3. Trans Jordanem in terra Moab Deut. 1. v. 5. which as Saint Jerome saith is as it were the Second Law or rather according to the opinion of Theodoret Saint Austin and Saint Athanasius a repetition of the first which was published on Mount Sina and amply set forth in Exodus Leviticus and the Book of Numbers It was about the fortieth year
not to be touched with a misfortune wherein it is a particular favor not to be inveloped himself and where however it happen the misery of his likeness is represented before his eyes In fine Albeit men in this point are more worthy of compassion than other Creatures yet Beasts very often deserve pity and we ought not to be so cruel according to the observation of Moses as to musle the mouth of an Ox who treads the Corn as it was antiently practised and after his labor to refuse him Straw and Hey Behold as it were an abridgement of the first five and twenty Chapters of Deuteronomy and consequently of Leviticus and the Book of Numbers In the six and twentieth Chapter Tolles de cunctis frugibus tuis primitias pones in cartallo pergesque ad locum quem Dominus Deus tuus elegerit ut ibi invocetur nomen ejus Deut. 26. v. 2. the Hebrews received a command to offer unto God their first-fruits with a publick acknowledgment of their gratitude for the blessings they received from God and that he alone is the Author of them to whom they are indispensably bound to yield a perfect obedience and without restriction In the seven and twentieth Hi stabunt adlenedicendum populo super montem Garizim Jordane transmisso c. Deut. 27. v. 12. Et è regione isti stabunt ad maledicendum in monte Hebal c. Deut. 27. v. 13. Et pronuntiabunt Levitae dicentque ad omnes viros Israel excelsa voce Deut. 27. v. 14. Maledictus homo qui facit sculptile c. Deut. 27. v. 15. he prescribes the Form and Ceremonies of the Benediction which was to be given upon the Mount Garizim whereas the Maledictions were thundred out upon that of Hebal and where all the Hebrews men women and children were to appear upon condition nevertheless that the twelve Tribes should be in such a maner divided as six onely were to be on Garizim and as many upon Hebal Concerning the Priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant they had their station between the two Mountains incompassed by Levites and the Antients of the Nation It was after this preparation Joshua began to bless all the people either by his own mouth or by the mouth of the Priests the which being done the Law was proclamed And as it is probable enough some Levite was chosen for this purpose whose voice might be most intelligible to so great an Assembly and then followed the Twelve Formalities concerning Benedictions and Maledictions which were to bo ebserved when necessity and custom required Behold doubtless the very Soul of the Laws and as it were the Sting of Justice in the World and Commonwealths This mixture of the good we hope for and the evil we fear is and hath been alwayes the Ciment of States and Empires And for this reason a spirit of love and fear is necessary in all Laws and Governments to the end when one gives Crowns Darts and Thunderbolts may be seen in the hand of the other which prevents abuse of favors and the suffering our selves to be carried away by the attractives of Mercy with a general contempt of Justice It was not then without reason the written Law hath her Benedictions and Maledictions since by the one she bridleth all Vices and by the other she excites unto Vertue and it is for the same cause Moses who in an eminent degree possessed all the qualities of a perfect Statesman and had passed through all the Offices which render men the Intelligences of Nations was resolved in a maner to finish his Testament by promises for the Good and threats for the Wicked You need but peruse the ensuing Chapters of Deuteronomy where even to the thirtieth you see nothing but Favors and Benedictions for those that shall keep the Law and on the contrary nothing but Terrors and Maledictions for such as shall infringe it I swear unto thee saith he my poor people That if thou hast heard and deeply engraven all the Commandments of God in thy minde and if thou art resolved to put them in practise Si autem audieris vocem Domini Dei tui ut facias atque cusiodias omnia mandata ejus quae ego praecipio tibi hodie faciet te Dominus Deus tuus excelfiorē cunctis gentibus quae versantur in terra Deut. 28. v. 1. Venientque super te universae benedictiones istae apprehendent te si tamen praecepta ejus audieris Deut. 28. v. 2. thou shalt be filled with all sorts of Benedictions I speak it unto thee with tears in mine eyes and by the order of him who is Verity it self and whose Mercies and Vengeances are infinite I speak it unto thee as being even now ready to die and if during my life I have concealed nothing of all that was never so little expedient for thee I ought not to be now silent in so important a matter Remember then my dear Chrildren all that God hath commanded you and that which I have so often from him announced unto you and if you perform it as you ought you shall be blessed in your own persons and in your children in City and Country Benedictus tu in civitate benedictus in agro Deut. 28. v. 3. Beuedictus fructus Ventris tui fructus terrae tuae fructusque jumentorum tuorum c. Deut. 28. v. 4. Benedictus eris tu ingrediens egrediens Deut. 28. v. 6. Dabit Dominus inimicos tuos qui consurgunt adversum te corruente◠in conspectu tuo c. Deut. 28. v. 7. Videbuntque omnes terrarum populi quod nonem domini invocatum sit super te timebunt te Deut. 28. v. 10. Quod si audire nolueris vocem Domini Dei tui ut custodias facias omnia mandata ejus ce emonias quas ego praecipio tibi hodie venient super te omnes maledictiones islae apprehendent te Deut. 28. v. 15. Percutiat tes Dominus ulcere Aegypti Deut. 28. v. 27. Insuper universos languores plagas quae non sunt scriptae in volumine legis husus Deut. 28. v. 61. Omnique tempore calumniam sustineas opprimaris violentia nec habeas qui liberet te Deut. 28. v. 29. Disperget te Dominus in omnes populos à summitate terrae usque ad terminos ejus servies ibi diis alienis quos tu ignoras patres tui c. Deut. 28. v. 64. and to what place soever you shall repair at your entrance and going forth you shall finde Benedictions in such sort That those who shall see you will be inforced freely to confess That you are that chosen people whom God hath taken into his protection and for whom the Heavens the Elements and Nature are Treasures of Benedictions In fine you shall see your Enemies under your feet and other Nations will not onely bear you affection but also respect and on the contrary
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