whereupon was this slacknesse Iudah feared that some vnhappinesse in the bed of Thamar was the cause of his sons miscarriage whereas it was their fault that Thamar was both a widow and childlesse Those that are but the patients of euill are many times burdened with suspitions and therefore are ill thought of because they fare ill Afflictions would not be so heauy if they did not lay vs open vnto vncharitable conceipts What difference God puts betwixt sinnes of wilfulnesse and infirmity The sonnes pollution is punished with present death the fathers incest is pardoned and in a sort prospereth Now Thamar seeks by subtlety that which she could not haue by award of iustice the neglect of due retributions driues men to indirect courses neither know I whether they sinne more in righting themselues wrongfully or the other in not righting them Shee therefore takes vpon her the habit of an harlot that shee might performe the act If shee had not wished to seeme an whoore she had not worn that attire nor chosen that place immodesty of outward fashion or gesture bewraies euill desires the heart that means well will neuer wish to seeme ill for commonly we affect to shew better then we are Many harlots wil put on the semblances of chastity of modesty neuer the contrary It is no trusting those which do not wish to appeare good Iudah esteems her by her habit and now the sight of an harlot hath stird vp in him a thought of lust Satan finds well that a fit obiect is halfe a victory Who would not bee ashamed to see a son of Iacob thus transported with filthy affections At the first sight is hee inflamed neither yet did hee see the face of her whom hee lusted after it was enough motiue to him that shee was a woman neither could the presence of his neighbour the Adullamite compose those wicked thoughts or hinder his vnchaste acts That sinne must needs bee impudent which can abide a witnesse yea so hath his lust besotted him that he cannot discerne the voice of Thamar that he cannot foresee the danger of his shame in parting with such pledges There is no passion which doth not for the time bereaue a man of himselfe Thamar had learned not to trust him without a pawne He had promised his son to her as a daughter and failed now hee promised a kid to her as an harlot performeth it whether his pledge constrained him or the power of his word I inquire not Many men are faithfull in all things saue those which are the greatest and dearest If his credit had beene as much indangered in the former promise hee had kept it Now hath Thamar requited him Shee expected long the inioying of his promised son and he performed not but heere he performes the promise of the kid and she staies not to expect it Iudah is sory that hee cannot pay the hire of his lust and now feareth lest he shall be beaten with his owne staffe least his signet shall be vsed to confirme and seal his reproch resoluing not to know them and wishing they were vnknowne of others Shame is the easiest wages of sin and the surest which euer begins first in our selues Nature is not more forward to commit sinne then willing to hide it I heare as yet of no remorse in Iudah but feare of shame Three moneths hath his sinne slept and now when hee is securest it awakes and baites him Newes is brought him that Thamar begins to swell with her conception and now he swels with rage and cals her foorth to the flame like a rigorous iudge without so much as staying for the time of her deliuerance that his cruelty in this iustice should bee no lesse ill then the vniustice of occasioning it If Iuda had not forgotten his sinne his pitty had beene more then his hatred to this of his daughters How easie is it to detest those sinnes in others which we flatter in our selues Thamar doth not deny the sinne nor refuse punishment but cals for that partner in her punishment which was her partner in the sinne the staffe the signet the handkerchiefe accuse and conuince Iuda and now hee blushes at his owne sentence much more at his act and cryes out she is more righteous then I God will find a time to bring his children vpon their knees and to wring from them penitent confessions And rather then hee will not haue them soundly ashamed hee will make them the trumpets of their owne reproch Yet doth hee not offer himselfe to the flame with her but rather excuses her by himselfe This relenting in his owne case shamed his former zeale Euen in the best men nature is partial to it selfe It is good so to sentence others frailties that yet wee remember our owne whether those that haue beene or may bee with what shame yea with what horror must Iudah needs look vp-vpon the great belly of Thamar and on her two sons the monuments of his filthinesse How must it needs wound his soule to hear them call him both Father and Grandfather to call her mother and sister If this had not cost him many a sigh he had no more escaped his Fathers curse then Reuben did I see the difference not of sins but of men Remission goes not by the measure of the sinne but the quality of the sinner yea rather the mercy of the forgiuer Blessed is the man not that sins not but to whom the Lord imputes not his sinne Joseph I Maruell not that Ioseph had the double portion of Iacobs land who had more then two parts of his sorrowes None of his sons did so truely inherit his afflictions none of them was either so miserable or so great suffering is the way to glory I see in him not a cleerer type of Christ then of euery Christian because wee are deere to our Father and complain of sins therefore are we hated of our carnall brethren If Ioseph had not medled with his brothers faults yet hee had beene enuied for his Fathers affection but now malice is met with enuie There is nothing more thankelesse or dangerous then to stand in the way of a resolute sinner That which doth correct and oblige the penitent makes the wilfull minde furious and reuengefull All the spight of his brethren cannot make Ioseph cast off the liuery of his fathers loue what neede we care for the censures of men 〈◊〉 if our hearts can tell vs that we are in fauour with God But what ment yoong Ioseph to adde vnto his owne enuie by reporting his dreames The concealement of our hopes or abilities hath not more modesty then safety Hee that was enuied for his deerenesse and hated for his intelligence was both enuied and hated for his dreams Surely God meant to make the relation of these dreames a meanes to effect that which these dreames imported Wee men worke by likely meanes God by contraries The main quarrel was Behold this dreamer commeth Had it not bene for his
For Adam though in Paradise hee could not bee innocent yet was a good man out of Paradise his sinne and fall now made him circumspect and since hee saw that his act had bereaued them of that image of God which he once had for them hee could not but labour by all holy indeuours to repayre it in them That so his care might make a mends for his trespasse How plaine is it that euen good breeding cannot alter destiny That which is crooked can none make straight who would thinke that brethren and but two brethren should not loue each other Dispersed loue growes weake and fewnesse of obiects vseth to vnite affections If but two brothers bee left aliue of many they thinke that the loue of all the rest should suruiue in them and now the beames of their affection are so much the hoter because they reflect mutually in a right line vppon each other yet behold here are but two brothers in a world and one is the butcher of the other Who can wonder at dissentions amongst thousands of brethren when he sees so deadly opposition betwixt two the first roots of brotherhood who can hope to liue plausibly and securely amongst so many Cains when hee sees one Cain the death of one Abel The same diuell that set enmity betwixt man and god sets enmity betwixt man and man and yet God said I will put enmity betweene thy seed and her seed our hatred of the serpent and his seed is from God Their hatred of the holy seed is from the serpent Behold here at once in one person the seed of the woman and of the serpent Cains naturall parts are of the woman his vitious qualities of the serpent The woman gaue him to bee a brother the serpent to be a manslayer all vncharitablenesse all quarrels are of one author we cannot entertaine wrath and not giue place to the Diuell Certainely so deadly an act must needs bee deepely grounded What then was the occasion of this capitall malice Abels sacrifice is accepted what was this to Cain Cains is reiected what could Abel remedy this Oh enuie the corrasiue of all ill minds and the root of all desperate actions the same cause that moued Satan to tempt the first man to destroy himselfe and his posterity the same moues the second man to destroy the third It should haue beene Cains ioy to see his brother accepted It should haue bene his sorrow to see that himselfe had deserued a reiection his brothers example should haue excited and directed him Could Abel haue stayed Gods fire from descending Or shold he if he could reiect Gods acceptation and displease his maker to content a brother Was Cain euer the farther from a blessing because his brother obtained mercy How proud and foolish is malice which growes thus mad for no other cause but because God or Abel is not lesse good It hath beene an olde and happy danger to be holy Indifferent actions must bee carefull to auoide offence But I care not what diuell or what Cain bee angry that I doe good or receiue good There was neuer any nature without enuy Euery man is born a Cain hating that goodnes in another which hee neglected in himselfe There was neuer enuie that was not bloody for if it eat not anothers hart it will eat our owne but vnlesse it be restrained it will surely feed it selfe with the blood of others oft times in act alwaies in affection And that God which in good accepts the will for the deed condemns the will for the deed in euill If there be an euill heart there will bee an euill eye and if both these there will be an euill hand How earely did Martyrdome come into the world The first man that died died for religion who dare measure Gods loue by outward euents when hee sees wicked Cain standing ouer bleeding Abel whose sacrifice was first accepted and now himselfe is sacrificed Death was denounced to man as a curse yet behold it first lights vppon a Saint how soone was it altered by the mercy of that iust hand which inflicted it If death had beene euill and life good Cain had beene slaine and Abel had suruiued now that it begins with him that God loues O death where is thy sting Abel sayes nothing his blood cries Euery drop of innocent blood hath a tongue and is not onely vocall but importunate what a noise then did the blood of my Sauiour make in heauen who was himselfe the shepheard and the sacrifice The man that was offered and the God to whome it was offered The spirit that herd both saies it spake better things then the blood of Abel Abels blood called for reuenge his for mercy Abels pleaded his owne innocency his the satisfaction for all the beleeuing world Abels procured Cains punishment his freed all repentant souls from punishment better things indeed then the blood of Abel Better and therfore that which Abels blood said was good It is good that God should bee auenged of sinners Execution of iustice vpon offenders is no lesse good then rewards of goodnes No sooner doth Abels blood speake vnto God then God speaks to Cain There is no wicked man to whom God speakes not if not to his eare yet to his heart what speech was this Not an accusation but an inquiry yet such an enquiry as would infer an accusation God loues to haue a sinner accuse himselfe and therefore hath he set his deputy in the brest of man neither doth God loue this more then nature abhors it Cain answers stubbornly The very name of Abel wounds him no lesse then his hand had wounded Abel Consciences that are without remorse are not without horror wickednes makes men desperate the murderer is angry with God as of late for accepting his brothers oblation so now for listening to his blood And now he dares answer God with a question Am I my brothers keeper where he shold haue said am not I my brothers murderer Behold he scorneth to keep whom he feared not to kill Good duties are base and troublesome to wicked minds whiles euen violences of euill are pleasant Yet this miscreant which neither had grace to auoid his sinne nor to confesse it now that he is conuinced of sinne and cursed for it how he howleth how he exclaimeth Hee that cares not for the act of his sinne shall care for the smart of his punishment The damned are weary of their torments but in vaine How great a madnesse is it to complaine too late He that would not keepe his brother is cast out from the protection of God he that feared not to kill his brother feares now that whosoeuer meets him will kill him The troubled conscience proiecteth fearefull things and sin makes euen cruell men cowardly God saw it was too much fauour for him to dye he therfore wils that which Cain wils Cain would liue It is yeelded him but for a curse how oft doth God heare sinners in anger Hee shall
for God and more to loue his Sacraments then our owne flesh Isaac sacrificed BVt all these are but easie tasks of faith all ages haue stood amazed at the next Not knowing whether they should more wonder at Gods command or Abrahams obedience many yeeres had that good Patriarch waited for his Isaac now at last hee hath ioyfully receiued him and that with this gratious acclamation In Isaac shall thy seed bee called and all nations blessed Behold the son of his age the son of his loue the son of his expectation hee that might not indure a mocke from his brother must now indure the knife of his Father Take thine onely sonne Isaac whome thou louest and get thee to the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering Neuer any gold was tried in so hot a fire Who but Abraham would not haue expostulated with God What Doth the God of mercies now beginne to delight in blood Is it possible that murder should become pietie Or if thou wilt needes take pleasure in an humane sacrifice is there none but Isaac fit for thine Altar none but Abraham to offer him Shall these hands destroy the fruit of mine owne loines Can I not be faithfull vnlesse I be vnnaturall Or if I must needes be the monster of all parents will not Ismael yet bee accepted O God where is thy mercie where is thy iustice Hast thou giuen me but one only sonne and must I now slay him Why did I wait so long for him Why didst thou giue him me Why didst thou promise mee a blessing in him What will the heathen say when they shall heare of this infamous massacre How can thy name and my profession escape a perpetuall blasphemie With what face shall I looke vpon my wife Sarah whose sonne I haue murdered How shall shee intertaine the executioner of Isaac Or who will beleeue that I did this from thee How shall not all the world spit at his holy cruelty and say there goes the man that cut the throat of his owne son Yet if hee were an vngratious or rebellious child his deserts might giue some colour to this violence but to lay hands on so deare so dutifull so hopefull a sonne is vncapable of all pretences But grant that thou which art the God of nature maist either alter or neglect it what shall I say to the truth of thy promises Can thy iustice admit contradictions can thy decrees be changeable canst thou promise disappoint Can these two stand together Isaac shall liue to bee the father of nations and Isaac shall now dye by the hand of his Father when Isaac is once gone where is my seed where is my blessing O God if thy commands and purposes be capable of alteration alter this bloody sentence and let thy first word stand These would haue beene the thoughts of a weake heart But God knew that he spake to an Abraham and Abraham knew that he had to doe with a God Faith had taught him not to argue but obey In an holy wilfulnesse hee either forgets nature or despises her hee is sure that what God commands is good that what he promises is infallible and therefore is carelesse of the means and trusts to the end In matters of God whosoeuer consults with flesh and blood shall neuer offer vp his Isaac to God there needs no counsellor when we know God is the commander here is neither grudging nor deliberating nor delaying His faith would not suffer him so much as to be sorry for that hee must do Sarah her selfe may not know of Gods charge and her husbands purpose lest her affection should haue ouercome her faith lest her weakenesse now grown importunat should haue said Disobey God any die That which he must do he will do he that hath learned not to regarde the life of his son had lerned not to regard the sorrow of his wise It is too much tendernesse to respect the censures and constructions of others when we haue a direct word from God The good Patriarch rises early and addresses himselfe to his sad iourney And now must he trauell three whole daies to do this execution and stil must Isaac be in his eye whom all this while hee seemes to see bleeding vppon the pile of wood which he carries there is nothing so miserable as to dwell vnder the expectation of a great euill That misery which must be is mitigated with speed and aggrauated with delay All this while if Abraham had repented him hee had leisure to returne There is no small triall euen in the very time of tryall now when they are come within sight of the chosen mountaine the seruants are dismissed what a deuotion is this that will abide no witnesses hee will not suffer two of his owne vassals to see him do that which soon after al the world must know he hath done yet is not Abraham afraid of that piety which the beholders could not see without horror without resistance which no eare could heare of without abhomination What stranger could haue indured to see the father carry the knife and fire instruments of that death which he had rather suffer then inflict The son securely carrying that burden which must carry him But if Abrahams hart could haue knowne how to relent that question of his deere innocent and religious son had melted it into compassion My father behold the fire and the wood but where is the sacrifice I know not whether that word My Father did not strike Abraham as deep as the knife of Abraham could strike his son yet doth he not so much as thinke O miserable man that may not at once bee a sonne to such a God and a father to such a sonne Still he persists and conceales and where he meant not prophesies My sonne God shall prouide a lamb for the burnt offering The heauy tidings was loath to come foorth It was a death to Abraham to say what he must doe Hee knows his owne faith to act this he knows not Isaacs to indure it But now when Isaac hath helped to build the Altar whereon he must be consumed hee heares not without astonishment the strange command of God the finall will of his Father My sonne thou art the lambe which God hath prouided for this burnt offering If my blood would haue excused thee how many thousand times had I rather to giue thee my own life then take thine Alas I am full of daies and now of long liued not but in thee Thou mightest haue preserued the life of thy father and haue comforted his death but the God of vs both hath chosen thee Hee that gaue thee vnto mee miraculously bids me by an vnusuall meanes to returne thee vnto him I neede not tell thee that I sacrifice all my worldly ioyes yea and my selfe in thee but God must bee obeyed neither art thou too deere for him that calls thee come on my son restore the life that God hath giuen thee by mee
dreams he had not bin solde if he had not bene sold hee had not bin exalted So Iosephs state had not deserued enuie if his dreams had not caused him to be enuied Full little did Ioseph thinke when he went to seek his brethren that this was the last time hee should see his Fathers house Full little did his brethren think when they solde him naked to the Ismaelites to haue once seene him in the throne of Aegypt Gods decree runnes on and while wee either think not of it or oppose it is performed In an honest and obedient simplicity Ioseph comes to inquire of his brethrens health and now may not returne to carry newes of his owne misery whiles hee thinks of their welfare they are plotting his destruction Come let vs slay him Who would haue expected this cruelty in them which should bee the Fathers of Gods Church It was thought a fauour that Reubens intreaty obtained for him that hee might be cast into the pit aliue to die there He lookt for brethren and behold murtherers Euery mans tongue euery mans fist was bent against him Each one striues who shall lay the first hand vppon that changeable cote which was died with their Fathers loue and their enuie And now they haue stript him naked and haling him by both armes as it were cast him aliue into his graue So in pretence of forbearance they resolue to torment him with a lingring death the sauagest robbers could not haue beene more mercilesse for now besides what in them lyes they kill their Father in their brother Nature if it once degenerate grows more monstrous and extreme then a disposition borne to cruelty All this while Ioseph wanted neither words nor teares but like a passionate suppliant bowing his bare knees to them whom hee dreamed should bow to him intreates and perswades by the deer name of their brotherhood by their profession of one common God for their fathers sake for their owne souls sake not to sin against his bloud But enuy hath shut out mercy and makes them not only forget themselues to be brethren but men What stranger can thinke of poore innocent Ioseph crying naked in that desolate and drye pit only sauing that he moystened it with teares and not be moued Yet his hard-harted brethren sit them down carelesly with the noyse of his lamentation in their eares to eat bread not once thinking by their owne hunger what it was for Ioseph to be affamisht to death Whatsoeuer they thought God neuer meant that Ioseph should perish in that pit and therfore he sends very Ismaelites to raunsome him from his brethren the seed of him that persecuted his brother Isaac shal now redeem Ioseph from his brethrens persecution When they came to fetch him out of the pit hee now hoped for a speedy dispatch That since they seemed not to haue so much mercy as to prolong his life they would not continue so much cruelty as to prolong his death And now when he hath comforted himselfe with hope of the fauour of dying behold death exchanged for bondage how much is seruitude to an ingenuous nature worse then death For this is common to all that to none but the miserable Iudah meant this well but God better Reuben saued him from the sword Iudah from affamishing God will euer raise vp some secret fauourers to his own amongst those that are most malicious How well was this fauor bestowed If Ioseph had died for hunger in the pit both Iacob and Iudah and al his brethren had died for hunger in Canaan Little did the Ismaelitish merchants know what a tresure they bought carryed and sold more pretious then al their balmes and mirrhes Little did they thinke that they had in their hands the Lord of Egypt the Iewell of the worlde Why should wee contemne any mans meannesse when we know not his destiny One sinne is commonly vsed for the vail of another Iosephs coat is sent home dipped in blood that whiles they should hide their owne cruelty they might afflict their Father no lesse then their brother They haue deuised this really to punish their olde father for his loue with so grieuous a monument of his sorrow Hee that is mourned for in Canaan as dead prospers in Egypt vnder Potiphar and of a slaue is made a ruler Thus God meant to prepare him for a greater charge he must first rule Potiphars house then Pharaohs kingdome his owne seruice is his least good for his very presence procures a common blessing A whole family shall fare the better for one Ioseph Vertue is not lookt vpon alike with al eyes his fellows praise him his maister trusts him his mistresse affects him too much All the spight of his brethren was not so great a crosse to him as the inordinate affection of his mistresse Temptations on the right hand are now more perilous and hard to resist by how much they are more plausible and glorious But the heart that is bent vppon God knows how to walke steddily and indifferently betwixt the pleasures of sinne and feares of euill He saw this pleasure would aduance him Hee knew what it was to be a minion of one of the greatest Ladies in Egypt yet resolues to contemne it A good heart will rather lye in the dust then rise by wickednesse How shall I doe this and sinne against God He knew that all the honours of Egypt could not buy off the guilt of one sinne and therefore abhors not onely her bed but her company Hee that will bee safe from the acts of euill must wisely auoide the occasions as sin ends euer in shame when it is committed so it makes vs past shame that wee may commit it The impudent strumpet dare not onely solicit but importune but in a sort force the modesty of her good seruant She laies hold on his garment her hand seconds her tongue Good Ioseph found it now time to flee when such an enemy pursued him how much had hee rather leaue his cloke then his vertue And to suffer his mistresse to spoile him of his liuery rather then hee should blemish her honor or his maisters in her or God in either of them This second time is Ioseph stript of his garment before in the violence of enuie now of lust before of necessity now of choice Before to deceiue his father now his maister for behold the pledge of his fidelity which hee left in those wicked hands is made an euidence against him of that which he refused to doe therfore did hee leaue his cloake because he would not doe that of which he is accused and condemned because he left it what safety is there against great aduersaries when euen arguments of innocence are vsed to conuince of euill Lust yeelded vnto is a pleasant madnesse but is a desperate madnesse when it is opposed No hatred burnes so furiously as that which arises from the quenched coles of loue Malice is witty to deuise accusations of others out of