on his neck and dearly embraceth him but he had no other than tears to utter What then can Iacob say Ah! my Son saith he now that I have seen thy face I am content and after this I shall willingly dye for it sufficeth me to leave thee alive After this Ioseph turning himself towards his Brethren and towards all those of Jacobs house began to say unto them that he was going unto Pharaoh to advertise him that his Brethren were arrived with their whole Family and that they had brought their Flocks and goods with them and when Command should be given them to see the King if he chanced to ask them of what Trade they were they should answer they had no other than that of meer Sheapheards and that all their â—indred who were as well as themselves his most humble servants and resolved to live and dye in his service never had any other employment since their birth Behold the instructions Joseph gave to all his Brethren whilst he conducted them with his Father to salute Pharaoh Now it was not out of Complement he put these words into their Mouths but upon Design that the King hearing they were Sheapheards and brought up in this Profession might permit them to live peaceably together with their Father in the Land of Gessen Vt habitare positis in terra Gessen quia detestantur Aegyptii omnes pastores ovium Gen. 46. v. 34. which was neerest unto Chanaan where there were also lovely Pastures and where they should be severed from the Egyptians who mortally hated all the Sheapheards which were in their Country by reason they had not the religious impiety of Egypt which adored Animals for Gods and who for that effect durst not kill them detesting for that reason all the Sheapheards of other Regions who had the care of Feeding their Flocks to the end they themselves with others might be nourished by them In fine Extremos quoque fratrum suorum quinque viros constituit coran Rege Gen. 47. v. 2. Hebraei Hemerus Pererius Oleaster In optimo loco fac eos habitare trade eis terram Gessen Gen. 47. v. 6. Quod si nosti in eis esse viros industrios constitue illos magistros pecorum meorum Gen. 47. v. 6. Post haec introduxit Joseph patrem suum ad Regem statuit eum coram co Gen. 47. v. 7. Et benedicto Rege egressus est soras Gen. 47. v. 10. the advice of Ioseph and his desire found happy success For assoon as he was returned unto the Court he presented unto Pharaoh five of his Brethren who in shew promised the least The King having cast his eyes on them and knowing they were Sheapheards gave them Gessen for their quarter and Commanded from that time they should take care of his Flocks Not long after Iacob entred who bore on his brow the Majesty of a King the authority of a Patriarch the wisedome of a Prophet and the glory of a Father of Nations When first he saw the King he besought Heaven to pour on him and his Kingdome all sorts of Benedictions The holy Scripture hath not otherwise declared unto us Iacobs entry into the presence of Pharaoh for my part I have often represented him unto my thoughts at the door or in the Kings anti-Chamber bare-headed and with hair whiter than Snow a beard down to his girdle and a neck bowed with old age eyes watered with tears and all his whole body somewhat trembling Me thinks I see him supported on one side with Ioseph on the other by Benjamin I even hear some sighs which issue forth of his mouth to refresh the ardors of his heart for notwithstanding all the coldnesse of his age he alwayes conserved in a dying body the sense of a truly generous soul and of a spirit of fire which was never out of Motion or Action I know not what Pharaoh thought seeing this good old man Et interrogatus ab eo quot sunt dies annorum vitae tuae Gen. 47. v. 7. Respondit Dies peregrinationis meae centum triginta annorum sunt parvi mali non pervenerunt usque ad dies patrum meo um quibus peregrinati sunt Gen. 47. v 9. Floscule mane puer media vir floscule luce Floscule sub nocte sole cadents senex Sic oreris morcrisque uno tu floscule Phoebo Vno sisque puer virque senexque die but he asked him how old he was to which he made answer Sir for the space of a hundred and thirty years I have been a Pilgrim on the Earth This journey truly is very short if you onely consider its durance but very long if you cast your eyes on the miseries of my life Nevertheless I am not yet arrived to the Term of my Fore-fathers Few old men will be found in the World who may not say the same For life is but a course in which we go from our Cradle to the Tomb. Dayes months years and entire Ages are but moments in the sight of God Man is but but a Flower which begins to blow at the break of day to fade about Noon and to drop away at night He is a shadow which passeth away a Feather which flyes a Reed which breaks an Image which loseth its Luster a Vapour which is dissipated a Beauty which perisheth a breath a smoak and a puff of Air which swells in the midst of a storm and appears on the water to dissolve at the same instant Nevertheless we need no longer space to see and feel much misery For it is enough to be born of a woman to be consumed with sorrows and to serve as a pittifull Subject to all sorts of Accidents Vicissitudes of life Witness Iacob who was no sooner come into the World but he must leave his Fathers house to go from thence with a staff in his hand into Forein Countries and like a fugitive to shun the persecution of his Brother We need but follow him in this sad journey and spend with him Twenty years in quality of a Servant at Labans house From thence we must depart out of Mesopotamia and bondage to expose our selves unto dangers of Death and to meet with Esau who comes to assail him with four hundred men We must see him in the affrightment he took at the Murther his Children committed upon the Sichemites Had he not also some cause to die at the death of Rachel and to expire on her body which inclosed the moitie of his life But who could behold the sorrow which pierc'd his heart when his Children were so impudent as to bring incest even into his house Surely he would have said that his life was but a web of misfortunes if we joyn with it the loss of Joseph the separation of Benjamin the captivity of Simeon and finally his last departure out of Chanaan Life both very short and long who will deny he had reason to say that his life had been very short if
frame I confess nevertheless that there is some difficulty in this point and that there requires much virtue and courage to walk on the fire and to resist the violence of its flames Persecution of Modesly We are in an Age in which it is not usuall to see Children in the Furnace of Babylon for whom flames are Changed into sweet Western gales and delicious dewes Joseph is no more and yet there are Ladyes who seek him and even prosecute his Ghost and Image Joseph is no more and we may justly say of him what the Philosophers and Poets have affirmed of Truth that her Garment and Veil remains on the Earth and that her Soul hath taken her flight even unto Heaven What disaster for Chastity and what shame for this Sex in which Virginitie ought to have her Cradle her Nurses her Sisters her Friends and Companions What scandall to see a Lady of quality borrowing Countenances plaistering Old Age painting Deformity whitening a yellow Skin discovering her Breasts a head loaden with sweet Powder and Jewels and bearing on her body all that she hath of Value In fine if all these allurements be not powerfull enough and if they cannot obtain by sweetness what they desire they become inraged and resolve intirely to destroy an Innocent This inraged Woman seeing then that Joseph was fled and that he had onely left her his Cloak Cumque vidisset mulier vestem in manibus suis se esse contemptam GeÌ„ 39. v. 13 resolved at the instant to revenge this affront and accuse him whom she knew to be too pure to excuse himself O God! what outrages of passions what artifices of infirmitie and how true it is that there is nothing more deceitfull and dangerous than a woman who loveth hopeth hateth or feareth some danger This Dame cryed out first Vocavit ad se homines domus suae ail ad eos â—n introduxit virum Hebraeum ut illuderet nobis Ingressus est ad me ut coiret mecum Cumque ego succlamassem Gen. 39. v. 14. Insolent Artifice and the fear she hath to be accused is the occasion she takes those for Witnesses of her innocency who could have prevented her After all seeing her Husband at her door Help saith she to what am I reduced Ah! who hath given me for a Servant an Importunate Devill who persecutes me beyond measure Ah! my Husband my Friend what have you done And what a perfidious man have you given me Is it peradventure to try my Loyalty and Vertue tell me I pray what is your intention and whether you keep him in the quality of a Servant or Companion For my part I esteem it as a great honour to be your Hand-maid and yet I conceive not my self obliged to obey your meanest Servant He hath been nevertheless so presumptuous in your absence to sport with me Et audisset vocem meam reliquit pallium quod tenebam fugit foras Gen. 39. v. 15. His auditis Dominus nimiùm credulus verbis conjugis iratus est valde Gen. 39. v. 19. Tradiditque Joseph in carcerem Gen. 39. v. 20. and take the place you hold in my heart No I swear by the respect I owe you that I would have strangled him if my strength had been answerable to my will but he is escaped and seeing I called for help he left his garment in my hands Immediatly this man giving too much credit to the discourse of his Wife without inquirie whether what she said was true or false caused Joseph to be stayed and commanded him to be put in Prison CHAP. III. The Predictions of Joseph I Do not wonder if heretofore the waters of Jordan were so respect full towards those Priests who carried the Ark of the Testament because it was a Figure of the Divinity the least rayes whereof are so powerfull in Nature as its very shadow cannot be seen without a holy horrour It is for this cause Virtue hath so venerable attractives and so penetrating Charms that we cannot approach it without feeling our selves instantly touched with Love and Reverence The reason is because God being as it were obliged to be in a particular manner present where Virtue is we must needs be insensible in the presence of him who imprints Sense in all beings if we were not excited towards Virtue and Sanctity which resemble those Spirits who incompass the Sanctuary and those Souls in whom God is delighted Yes â—e Paradise of the al. the Soul of a Just man is the Throne of God the Theater of his Power the List of his Courses the Field of his Battels and the Palace in which he maketh his abode Behold why the Saints have done so many wonders and it is for this reason we have seen Tyrants waxing pale at the sight of Martyrs Tygers changing their nature and all the Elements though insensible seeming reasonable to obey them We must not fear then that any ill will befall those whom God possesseth whom God conducteth and in whom he lives as the life of their Souls Joseph is in Prison but he shall there speedily find his Liberty the obscurities of his Dungeon will furnish him with light enough to discern what will happen and such as have been the authours of his ruine shall be the Causers of his happiness God never abandons those who love and serve him faithfully He is in Shackles in Misery Inviolable fidelity and in all misfortunes which use to assail his Friends he followed his Joseph even into the Pit even into Egypt and he is now with him in Prison O how sweet is the yoak when we are fastned to it with God! How pleasing are the Chains when he becomes Captive for our sake and what Paradise of delights when a man may say he hath God in his heart There was heretofore a Persian who stiled his death though most rigorous by the name of Felicity by reason in dying he perceived one of his Friends who never forsook him and used his best endeavours to put himself in his place Joseph then is most happy Dominus enim eret cum illo omnia opera ejus dirigebat Gen 29. v. 23. since God himself followed him even into his Dungeon there is was where this Slave found his Liberty it is there where he became a Prophet and began to find the period of his misery and the beginning of his happiness Behold I beseech you Qui tradidit in manâ— illius universos vinctoâ— qui in custodiâ— tenebantur Gen. 3â— v. 22. how he hath already the Keys in his hands and how all the Kings Prisoners are under his guard Can we represent unto our selves a more changing fortune And is it not true that God takes pleasure to raise those whom the world indevours to cast down Joseph shall be every where happy since our Lord is every where with him Being then in prison he so exactly performed all that was commanded him and the
fear'd lest the Hall into which they were brought might be changed into their Prison and that the Dinner prepared for them might prove their last repast they then whispered in each others ear that without doubt they were drawn into danger by reason of the Money which had been found in their Sacks and that infallibly there was an intention to make them undergoe the punishment of a crime of which they were no wayes guilty This said they run after their Conductor and having Stayd him at the door they related to him what had passed protesting that they knew not who had designed them this mischief and besides that they had never the least thought of his Money in witness whereof they had brought it with the surplusage summe which was necessary to buy their Commodities No no answered he you need not fear any thing Peace be with you it is your God and the Lord of your Father who hath put into your Sacks the Money you found in them As for that which you gave me it is very good and you ought not to disquiet your self concerning it This said Simeon was conducted to them and then they brought water to wash their feet In the interim they prepare their Presents in expectation of Joseph who intended to dine with them As soon as he came they immediatly cast themselves at his feet saluting and presenting him with what they had brought Then Joseph saluting them again with all manner of courtesie and goodnesse Obtuleruntque ei munera teuentes in manibus suis adoraverunt proni interram Gen. 43. v. 26. At ille clementer resalutatis eis interrogavit eos dicens c. Gen. 43. v. 27. Qui responderunt sospes est servus tuus pater noster adbuc vivit Et inclinati adoraverunt eum Gen. 43. v. 28. Attolens autem Joseph oculos vidit Benjamin fratrem suum uterinum ait iste est frater vester parvulus rursum Deus iâ—quit misereatur tui sili mi. Gen. 43. v. 29. Festinavitque quia commota fuerant viscera ejus super fratre suo crumpebant lacrimae introiens cubiculum flavit Gen. 43. v. 30. inquired of them how their Father did and whether he were yet alive Yes answered they your most humble Servant and our most honoured Father is yet living and as we believe in perfect health Saying this they all bowed down before him and rendred their duties in the most affectionate manner it was possible for them to doe After all these honours Joseph lifting up his eyes and perceiving Benjamin then demanding whether he were not the youngest amongst them whom they had formerly mentioned he said unto him Ah! my Son I beseech God to have pitty on thee and to take thee into his holy protection Now he perceived that his heart was ready to discharge by his eyes part of the affection joy and compassion wherwith he was touched at the sight of Benjamin which obliged him to leave them suddenly and to retire into his Chamber to weep his fill The eyes are not onely the gates of light but also of all passions Amongst others Love and Mercy make their entries and sallies by them Sometimes also Joy becomming so excessive passeth through these Christall gates and it seems that these living Mirrours are constrained to melt at the same instant the Soul hath received some darts from the hand of Love Pitty and Joy The most generous spirits are commonly most subject unto these sweet tendernesses The most unworthy are those which never weep and surely as they have but Souls of Ashes so their eyes are alwaies dry But on the contrary a good Spirit being in the Body as a great River in a bed of Sand Decent tenderness the least wind can hardly rise without breaking down its banks and escaping at least by the two Eyes which are as so many Chanels through which the Spirit disburthens it self Now as there may be many causes of this inundation so we should often fear that it might happen either in the day or in publick For there would be some danger that without Ink and Paper secrets might be written on our Cheeks with that water which flowes from our eyes We might often also accuse of weakness even the most noble and most generous Sentiments of our hearts In fine there be seasons dayes and places in which we ought not to speak but by silence and where the Eyes as well as the Tongue should be dumb Joseph could not restrain his tears at the sight of Benjamin but it was a most prudent Act to withdraw himself to pay this tribute unto the goodness of his mind and to an object worthy of pitty Joy and affection Having then dryed his eyes Rursumque lota facie egressus continuit se ait ponite panes Gen. 43. v. 31. Quibus appositis searsum Joseph scorsum fratribus Aegyptii quoque qui vescebantur simul seorsum illicitum est enim Aegyptiâ—s comedere cum Hebraeis Gen. 43. v. 32. and washed his face he came back to them and without making shew of any emotion he commanded that the Table should be presently covered which being done he set himself on one side and his Brethren by his command were placed on the other and since it was prohibited the Jews to eat with the Egyptians all those that were with Joseph and used to take their repast with him took their places apart All things were well-ordered at this Feast Josephs Brethren were seated every one according to his age Sederum coram eo primogenitus juxta primogenita sua minimus juxta aetatem suam Gen. 43. v. 33. Sumptis partibus quas ab eo acceperant Majorque pars venit Benjamin ita ut quinque partibus excederet Gen. 43. v. 34. Biberuntque inebriati sunt cum eo Gen. 43. v. 34. the Eldest was in the most honourable place and the youngest sate according to his degree Joseph himself took the pains to wait on them But the greatest cause of their astonishment was that after they had all received their portions it appear'd that Benjamin had five times more for his share than any other This nevertheless did not hinder the Joy and mirth of the Feast for there were nothing but acclamations and rejoycings God knows whether Joseph forgot the health of the Father of his Guests and whether he drank that of Benjamin However it were the holy Scripture saith in express termes that they were all drunk I know not yet whether Joseph and his Brethren were inebriated with Wine which being taken in excess useth to raise dazeling fumes and confused vapours in the head Whence it happens that the brain being troubled all the gestures of the body and the operation of the Senses are out of order The face waxeth pale Plin. lib. 14. c. 22. the nose grows sharp the checks swell the eyes are inflamed the tongue falters the mouth drivels the hands tremble the feet interferre
To this effect they chose one amongst them who should goe unto Joseph and whose Commission was to inform him that Jacob their deceased Father of happy memory had commanded them at his death to tell him that he desired him to forget what was past and they all conjur'd him in his name to grant this favour Which Joseph hearing he began to weep and his tears serv'd to assure his Brethren who cast themselves at his feet taking at the same time the boldness of their own accord to demand that Pardon from him which they had already solicited by the means of Benjamin or some other who they believed would be more acceptable to him adding besides that they were all his Servants and resolved to live and dy in that quality To which Joseph answered that they need not fear any thing that he would take care of them and of all their Children and for the rest he would not be less pittifull towards them than God whose example he follow'd and who had changed all their evill purposes into favourable occasions to procure his good having also rarsed him as it were on a Throne of honour and power by the same Arms they had used to precipitate him into an Abyss of miseries and calamities Behold the sense of a noble Soul and of a generous courage whose tears did not resemble those of Crocadiles nor such kindnesses as are used by Apes which strangle in flattering and in shedding feign'd tears Revenge is only proper unto weak minds whereas Clemency resides alwayes in a strong spirit Cruelty is a Tyranny and meekness a true Empire To want the power of retaining any bad resentment is to be invulnerable And those souls also on the contrary are alwayes covered with Wounds and Ulcers which keep in their hearts desire of revenge and cannot grant a Pardon This is more deplorable in respect neither God nor Man have any compassion for those who cannot afford it unto the miseries of others And on the contrary either soon or late there are treasures of graces for those on whom good nature or vertue bestows those amiable inclinations which are mortall enemies to revenge and cruelty And it was I assure my self upon this occasion and to gratifie Joseph for the good entertainment he had given his Brethren and the sweet correspondeney he endevoured to hold with them in despight of all the bad Offices he had received from them that all the powers of Heaven and Earth combin'd to render him perfectly happy almost during the whole course of his life which reached to one hundred and ten years Vixitque centum decem annis Gen. 50. v. 22. Et vidit Ephraim sibios usque ad tertiam generationem Gen. 50. v. 22. Et conditus aromatibus reposiâ—us est loculo in Aegypto Gen. 50. v. 25. at the end of which he saw himself invironed by his Children and by his Childrens Children even to the third generation who at last rendred him all the same duties which they had done unto Jacob for being dead they imbalmed him and his bones a long time after were carried into the Land of promise according to the desire of this great Patriarch from whose end as from that of his forefathers we ought to conclude that it is good to lead a vertuous life that we may dye holily Wee dye every hour and our life is a living death which consumes of it self our looks our vows our words our gestures and all our motions are steps which conduct us to the Tomb. THE HOLY HISTORIE FIRST TOME MOSES FIFTH BOOK CHAP. I. His Birth and Education THe prodigious increase of the people of Israel Filii Israel erevtrunt quasi germinantes multiplicati sunt ac roborati nimis impleverunt terram Exod. 1 v. 7. Creverunt Hebraei divinitus foecundata eorum multitudine Aug. lib. 18. de Civit. c. 7. in the Land of Egypt after the decease of Jacob and of all his Children was not only a work of Nature but a miraculous effect of Divine Providence which inkindled the Ashes of these blessed Patriarcks and intended that their Tombs should be an unexhaustible Spring of life and immortality Egypt neverthelesse was too much blinded to penetrate these secrets Surrexit interea Rex novus super Aegyptum qui ignorabat Joseph Exod. 1. v. 8. Et ait ad populum suum Ecce populus filiorum Israel multus fortior nobis est Exod. 1. v. 9. And Joseph being dead he that took the reigns of the Empire not knowing the services this wise Minister of State had rendred unto his Predecessors for the space of fourscore years seeing that the Israelites went on daily increasing in forces and men resolv'd to humble and suppresse them lest in time they might chance to joyn themselves with the enemies of his Kingdom and form a Party against the State Nevertheless Venite sapicuter opprimamus eum ne fortè multiplicetur si ingruerit contra nos bellum addatur inimicis nostris expugnatisque nobis egrediatur de terra Exod. 1. v. 10. they were like those Grains which shoot out of the Earth and bear a thousand little Ears which the Wind Sun and Rain beat not down but to make new productions But this yong Pharaoh who began to Reign hath not eyes quick enough to discern these mysteries and his hand though most powerful was yet too weak to destroy this fair Nation Jacob is dead Joseph is deceased and this illustrious Colony which left Canaan to come into Egypt hath followed Abraham and Isaac They are no more but the Children of their Children and their Posterity shall never end In vain is it to cast them into servitude Quantó â—ue opprimebant eos tanâ—o magis multiplicabantur crescebant Exod. 1. v. 12. to impose on them a yoke a thousand times more cruel than death and to load them with Irons like Victims These punishments this bondage and all these chains serve but to reinforce their Bodies and me thinks the sweat which drops from their Fore-heads in the midst of their pains is converted into the Juice of Life which renders them marvellously fruitful Have you not seen a River which issueth imperiously after it had passed through the midst of Rocks There are no banks nor limits nor any obstacles which it draws not a long with it It swells the more it is restrained and commonly its highest elevations grow from its greatest falls Thus the people of Israel little in their Birth and as a little Rill in its source increaseth the more it is restrained and like an impetuous torrent which hath broken its Banks Oderuntque filios Israël Aegyptii affligebant illudentes eis Exod. 1. v. 13. Atque ad amaritudinem perducebant vitam eorum operibus duris luti lateris omnique famulatu quo in terrae operibus premebantur Exod. 1. v. 14. it extends it self in a prodigious maner This was the occasion of the mortal hatred the Egyptians conceived
its bowels to serve as an instrument unto the Justice of its God Witness also that dreadfull tempest which shook the whole Kingdome of Naples Vide Patriarcham and which hapned in the year three hundred fourty and three under the government of Jane the first of that name All these chastisements nevertheless were but light and rather threats than punishments if we compare them with those which in the law of Nature and in the written Law laid desolate the whole Universe or at least the beautifull'st parts thereof Water began and as it hath less respect in its disorders than the rest of Creatures it spared but eight persons who guided into the Ark the relicks of the world Afterwards Fire which hath a more furious and violent nature than Water fell suddenly upon four infamous Cities where it left nothing but ashes and stench Behold the first revenge God took upon sinners and to speak according to the opinion of a Learned Divine of the Primitive Church Jobius mouachus in Bibliotheca Photii These were the first Tremblings of the Earth The third was in the strange punishment of Pharaoh commonly called The Plagues of Egypt which hapned about the time of that famous deluge which drowned in a maner all Greece and those excessive heats which almost consumed the whole Universe The number of these Plagues was Ten a perfect number and which denotes That the punishment was to pass even unto extremity since the offence had passed even unto excess As for the place where these Plagues began Fecit mirabilia in terra Aegypti in campo Taneos Psal 77. the City of Taniz the Metropolitan of Egypt was first strucken with it the disease came first from them as out of a fatal spring which afterwards spred it self with dread and terror over the Lands of that Empire I know not of whose hands God made use in this strange Ministry nevertheless it is most probable That he imployed therein those Spirits of Fires and Flames which are the Instruments of his Wrath and the Executioners of his severest Vengeances I cannot also determine how long they lasted but following the Narration of Moses it is credible That their course was six or seven and twenty days Wherein God manifested his goodness and mercy in the greatest height of his Justice for he might have destroyed all Egypt in an instant and made a dreadful Sepulchre of this infamous Kingdom But he thought good to cast his Darts one after another and to shew That he was not onely a Judge but also a Father and that he had not onely the power and force to punish but also the patience and sweetness to expect and mollifie those who notwithstanding became more and more obstinate as we shall presently see CHAP. IX The Waters of Egypt turned into Blood IT is the ordinary course of the vengeances of Heaven to punish sinners with the same weapons they use to assault it And it is for this cause First Plague Quest 19. in Exod. as Theodoret observes the River Nilus of which Egypt made a Divinity and whose Crocodils she also adored was the first field of battail in which God gave them the first alarm with the first combats upon the waves and Billows of blood which bore the Murtherous colours of so great a number of Innocents as had been drowned therein Solinus c. 35. It may be said that then the Angel whom St. Apocalyp 16. John saw in his Apocalyps powred into the waters of Egypt that mortall viall in which was the bloody water of the wrath and indignation of God The River Nilus saith Artabau increased excessively and its waves seemed to have so much sense as to complain and call for vengeance against the cruelties of Pharaoh as also to recall into his memory that he had spilt more blood than needed to make a great River Now it was not onely of a vermillion colour and purpled Et elevns virgam percusit aquam fluminis coram Pharaone servit ejus quae versa est in sanguinem Exod. 7. v. 21. with some drops of blood which had dyed the surface of Rivers and all ponds but also all the waters of Egypt were turned into blood which was the cause that all fishes dyed therein not finding themselves any longer in their naturall Element This was indeed a Triumph worth of God and of his glory Dixitque Dominus ad Moisen dic Aaron tolle virgam tuam extende manum tuam super aquas Aegypti super fluvios eorum ut vertantur in sanguinem to see Moses at his bare word putting the miraculous Rod into Aarons hand and who having commanded him by order from his God to hold it over the water he no sooner did it but instantly this body though insensible began to have sense in the quarrel of its Master and testified by a change of Nature and by a generall corruption that there is nothing in the World which ought and may not arm it self against creatures when it concernes the interest of their Creator No man ought then to wonder if the water of Nilus and of Egypt takes the form of blood if this blood putrifies and if all the Fishes die therein For God begins on the water to hold his justice-seat and his Throne must be exposed under a bloody Canopy and infectious vapours must be seen to rise under his feet which are as the shadowes of those horrors and crimes which have been commited by this people It is said Et fuit sanguis in totâ terâ—â Aegypti Exod 7. v. 21. Avertitque se ingressus est domum suam nec apposuit coretiam hac vice Exod. 7. v. 22. Feceruntque similiter malefici Aegyptiorum in cantationibus suis Exod. 7. v. 22. Foderunt autem omnes Aegyptii per circuitum fluminis aquam ut biberent Exod. 7. v. 24 Impletique sunt dies septem post quam percussit Dominus fluvium Exod. 7. v. 25. that a Diamond which hardneth under Hammers and Anvils is broken with blood The heart of Pharaoh is harder than the diamond since being in the midst of a kingdome covered over with blood it could not be softned besides he turned his Eyes from this verity and that he might not hear the noise of this tempest he retires into his House there he strives to flatter the wound God nevâ—ly gave him resting satisfied to have seen his inchanters who had done some such like thing but instead of changing water into blood they should have done better to have changed blood into water to quench the thirst of the Egyptians who half dispairing digged pits about the River Nilus to seek for water to drink and who would at least have dyed in this sad affliction if God after seven dayes had not stopt the torrents of his wrath and staied the course of the Rivers of blood which poysoned and choaked that miserable people CHAP. X. The Frogs of Egypt SEven days