Brightness of Heaven cannot be seen amidst the Shades and Smoak of thy Country But what must poor Abraham leave himself O my God! why dost thou oblige him to forsake his beloved Chaldea and why wouldst thou have him separate himself from his Kindred and Friends He is in a flourishing City and thou perchance wilt lead him into some solitary place or desart He lives in Glory and Honour and possibly thou intendest to reduce him into a state of Scorn and Contempt He wants nothing at Home and it may come to pass that every thing will fayl him amongst Strangers These motives are too weak to break the Desires and Designs of a Soul which God courteth It is a delicious thing to leave the streams for their source and to forsake our selves to give our selves unto our Maker The World and Chaldea are but a poynt in comparison of the Firmament and all the Elements in respect of the Impyreall Heavens are but a heap of vapours and a Globe of exhalations To this I adde that the most peopled Cities and Provinces are frightfull Dens liveless Bodies and most solitary Desarts if God be not there and on the contrary the most dreadfull Solitudes and least inhabited Grots become Courts and Palaces as soon as God and his Spirit reside therein Finally all Reposes are Disquiet all Peace is but War all Honours are Contempts Parents are Traitors Brothers Envious Friends Deceivers Houses and Beds Sepulchers and Life is but a Death or at best but a long and dolorous sickness unless God be the Loadstone of our Hearts the highest pitch of our Glory and the Center of all our affections for he shall then be our Father our Brother and our Friend and in his bosome we shall find our Countrey Parents pleasures and delights without bitterness and without any mixture of those passions which are still arm'd to besiege our Hearts Abraham understood all these verities from the very morning of his vocation and at the first overture of the favours which God imparted to him he took a Staff in his Hand and became a Pilgrim in the World sufficiently discovering that the life of Man is but a Pilgrimage and that a Man shall first or last reach the Port. It was nevertheless hard for him as I believe to take his Wife for a Companion in his voyages to adopt his Nephew for his Son and to bring away all his Goods and Baggage before his Kindred could have notice of it Then God knowes what Noise what Tumult what Astonishment in the whole Family and amongst his Allyes God knowes whether Friends appear'd troublesome and whether the most indifferent strove in this case to expresse their passion Let every one represent unto himself what may befall him and what is wont to surprise all those that depart out their Country and are oblig'd to forsake their Friends They imagin that even Iron stones trees and beasts look upon them with the Eyes of Compassion and that what ever hath least of animation assumes Voices and Tongues to testify their regret and bid them adieu A poor Soul hath then very sensible convulsions and amidst so violent and sweet assaults it is almost impossible to remain a Conquerour It is in vain to advertise him that it is God who speaks unto him that it is an Inspiration from Heaven which presseth him and that they are the Graces of Paradise which will triumph over Nature and Hell Notwithstanding these thoughts and inspirations the Sun doth not rise but to present unto him a thousand Portraictures of those whom he hath left behind The Moon and Starrs shew him by Night and in sleep nothing but the Images of those whom he hath abandoned and he awakes a Thousand times with sighes from his Heart and teares in his Eyes to imbrace the Shadows and Phantasmes of his dearest Friends This is that at last which makes him often renounce his good purposes and take truthes for Illusious and Darkness for rayes of light Alas what Shame and Cowardise This poor man is not gone a Musket-shot from the City and scarce hath lost the sight of his steeple but he presently reassumes his former wayes and returns with an intent to build his Tower or rather his Tomb on his Chimney's Harth Abraham was far more couragious and the rayes which God darted into his heart made not onely more lively but more constant Impressions therein For immediatly he begins his journey he goes on without prefixing any Limit to himself he obeyes a single voice and followes a guide who having once spoken disappeares Let any one stay him that will his heart ceaseth not continually to fly his spirit sees an object which is invisible and leaving what he hath he is assur'd to find what is promised him Is not this a strange resolution and will not these generosities be thought too blind in a worldly mind No truely these thoughts will never fall into a Soul which knows the force and power of a vocation wholy divine such as was that of this incomparable Man Faciam te in gentem magnam benedicam tibi magnificabo nomen tuum eriâ—que benedictus Gen. 12. v. 2. chosen to be the father of Nations and in whose person God blessed all people and generations Well then are not the first effects of this vocation great Prodigyes It is peradventure for this reason Gregory Nazianzen tearms the vocation of holy Souls a grace S. Greg. Naz. orat 3. ac orat 20 orat 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zozomenus lib. 2. c. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath nothing Common in Nature and this is that which induced Zozemenus to call it a Convicing Revelation and whose lightning is like a Thunder-bolt which carries away all that stands before it Whatever it be the vocation of Abraham was a stroak from Heaven and one of the fairest conquests God hath ever made over hearts March then Abraham Carry with thee that happy Sara who makes up the moity of thy self and till God shall please to give thee Children let Lot be the Son and be thou a Father to him Farwell then for ever dear Land of Chaldea And you Lot Abraham and Sara goe joyfully unto Canaan They are already gon Pertransivit Abraham terram usque ad locum Sichem usque ad vallem illustrem Gen. 12. v. 6. and I see them departing out of the Territories of Sichem to advance directly unto the plaines of Moreth It was in this famous plain and in this delightfull vally which divides the Mountaines of Gelboa from that of Hermon Borcardus 1. Paral. c. 7. Aparuit autem Dominus Abram dixit ei semini tuo dabo terram hanc Gen. 12. v. 7 where the more languishing and lesse rapid waves of Jordan are seen There God a second time appeared to Abraham and there also he gave him both the promise and possession of the land of Canaan for himself and his posterity Admirable magnificence Is
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
as far as the City of Sidon Issachar shall make choice of a more happy and quiet life he shall delight in Tillage and the fertile land which shall fall to his lot he shall cultivate with no lesse peace than perseverance His pains shall not be fruitless and in the Continent he shall have all the advantages of those Countries which lye neer the Sea making an exchange with them of its Corn and fruits for those Merchandises which come from remote Nations Hee will impart the riches which agriculture shall afford him unto those who shall govern the Republick and purchase his repose by the Contributions he shall voluntarily give for the maintenance of such as bear Arms so long as he shall live quietly in the heart of his Possessions Dan judicabit populum suum c. Gen. 49. v. 16. Dan shall be the Judge of his people as well as of the other Tribes of Israel Dan by surprise shall ruine his enemies Fiat Dan coluber in via cerastes in semite mordens ungulas equi ut cadat ascensor ejus retiò Gen. 49. v. 17. even as Snakes which hide themselves on the sides of high-wayes to destroy Passengers who stand not sufficiently on their guard or as that crafty Serpent which bites the hoof of a Horse to make his rider fall and to infect him with his venom when he is thrown on the ground Notwithstanding the artifices men may use to defend themselves I shall never think that all their forces and wiles can equall the effects of the Protection which the Messias will give us Salutare tuum expectabo do nine Gen. 49. v. 18. I shall alwayes expect it and never believe that there is any assurance comparable to that which we shall receive from the affection and power of this great Prince Gad having received his share Gad accinctas praeliabitur ante eum ipse acciugitur retrorssum Gen. 49. v. 19. shall march in the head of his Brethren to establish them in their Possessions and returning unto his Territories loaden with Booty he will make his retreat in so good order as he shall not be disturb'd by his enemies Asser shall possess the portion of Palestine which looks towards the Sea Aser pinguis panis ejus praebebit delicias Regibus Gen. 49. v. 20. this Land doth produce all things desirable for the entertainment and comfort of life both Corn and Fruits are there so excellent as they will serve for delicacies unto Kings Nephtali will testifie his courage Cervus emissus dans eloquia pulcritudinis Gen. 49. v. 21. casting himself into dangers to defend his Brethren and shall give them cause to admire and praise him He will break all the obstaeles which shall oppose his generous design as a wounded Hart which though timorous by nature Vide Caietanum Lipoman breaks yet sometimes through the toyls of Hunters and from the cruell teeth of Dogs to defend that life which they would violently take from him The felicity of Joseph shall still increase Filius accrescens Joseph decorus aspectu filiae discurrerunt super murum Gen. 49. v. 22. Sed exasperaverunt eum jurgati sunt invideruntque Illi habentes jacula Gen. 49. v. 23. his beauty is so extraordinary as Ladyes esteem'd themselves happy to see him and they plac'd themselves at Dores and Windows to look on him as he passed through the streets Nevertheless such as ought most to love him have conspired his ruine and transported by a furious passion of envy sought to hinder the effects of the promises of Heaven But as the designs of men cannot alter the decrees and ordinances of God So Innocence prov'd stronger than malice and the Chains wherewith his unchaste Mistris had loaden him and the slavery to which his own Brethren had reduc'd him were the means whereof Divine Providence made use to make him King of Egypt and to secure and preserve the goods and lives of those who wished his death My most dear Son Deus patris tui erit adjutor tuus Gen. 49. v. 25. the God whom thy Father adoreth will alwaies assist thee he will replenish thee with benedictions and cause the most favourable Dews to fall upon thy Lands he will cause streams of living water to flow into their bosome and bowels for the refreshing and inlivening thy Roots Plants and Trees Thou shalt have a particular blessing in thy Children Vide Lyram Abul Per. Rupert Cajet Lip and their great numbers shall manifest that thou art the object of the dearest and most exquisite Providences which God declares to have for men Thy Father hath been more favoured than his Ancestors thou shalt enjoy both their favours and mine and the blessing I promise thee shall never cease untill God having given himself unto men in the person of the Messias shall no longer testifie his particular affection towards his Friends in giving them perishable goods All these graces and favours are due unto thy vertue which hath conserved its self without stain and hath also rendred thee as considerable amongst thy Brethren as the Nazarites who peculiarly consecrate themselves unto the service of the Divine Majesty Benjamin as a ravenous Woolf shall in the morning devour his prey Bâ—njamin â—upus rapax mane comedet praedam vesyere dividâ— spolia Gen. 49. v. 27. Vide Procop. Euseb Theodoret. Abul c. Er praecepit eis dicens Ego congregor ad populum meum sepelite me cum patribus in spelunca duplici quae est in agro Ephron Hethaei Gen. 49. v. 29. and in the evening share and divide the Spoiles Behold the Benedictions Jacob by heavens direction gave to each of his Children He afterwards recommended unto them the Buriall of his body in the Tomb of his fore-Fathers and having exhorted them to remain constant in the service of God dyed peaceably in his bed Can we represent unto our selves an end more sweet and quiet I well know that the like deaths are seen in sacred Houses I have seen such with mine own eyes and with my ears I have heard of some Jacobs who have closed their mouths with Benedictions and Canticles of Victory I have seen standers by bath'd in tears and yet their hearts fill'd with Joy receiving the last words and benedictions of dying men I know that the like effects are sometimes seen in the world and there have bin some Kings and Queens Fathers and Mothers Men and Women of all states and conditions who have spoken on their death-beds with so much Judgement and force of spirit as if they had been upon a Throne or in a Pulpit Likewise from thence Edicts Lawes and Lessons are heard in which there can be no deceit nor disguisment But it will be granted me that these examples are very rare amongst those whose lives pass away in noise and tumult For Death is an Eccho which answers life and a night which resents the Calm
Sed ego scio quòd non dimittat vos Rex Aegypti ut eatis nisi per manum validam Exod. 3. v. 19. Extendam enim manum meam percutiam Aegyptum in cunctis mirabilibus meis quae facturus sum in medio corum posi haec dimittet vos Exod. 3. v. 20. that the God of the Hebrews had enjoyned them to offer sacrifices to him and therefore it was his pleasure they should withdraw themselves three day journey off for that end Mean while God who knew that Pharaoh would not consent thereunto advertis'd Moses of it and said unto him that in fine he would force him by rigour and the power of his armes to permit them to depart Now these weapons were no other than those of the misfortunes which befell this king and constrained him to give liberty unto the people of Israel CHAP. V. The assured markes of Moses Power THere is nothing more charming and more powerfull to Captivate men than speech Marvelous command of speech chiefly when it proceeds from a mouth full of Authority Neverthelesse there are some untamable spirits and rebellious souls who cannot be vanquished by these weapons and to whom all these discourses at most serve but for some time to lull asleep their fury This is sometimes seen in youth in whom the heat of their Age and the boyling of their blood make so much noise and stir up such dark tempests that reason is there alwayes as it were eclips't Oftentimes also there are persons of experience and Authoritie who adore only some old Error and admit of no reason but the course of a long and depraved custome It was not without cause that Moses so much fear'd to speak unto the Elders of the people Respondens Moises ait Non credent mihi neque audient vocem meam Exod. 4. v. 1. perswading himself they would not believe him and that they would deride both himself and his discourse but God made him see Prodigies which were to be infallible marks of his power over the minds of the most potent of his Nation The first was the Rod he held in his hand which became a Serpent Dixitque Dominus projice eam in terram prosicit versa est in colubrum Exod. 4. v. 3. Daxitque Dominus rursum mitte manum tuam in sinum tuum quam cum misisset in sinum protullt leprosam Exod. 4. v. 6. Retrahe ait manum tuam in sinum tuum retraxit protulit iterum erat similis carni reliquae Exod. 4. v. 7. Quod si nec duobus quidem his signis crediderint neque audierint vocem tuam sume aquam fluminis essunde eam super aridam quidquid hauseris de fluvio vertetur in sanguinem Exod. 4. v. 9. and afterwards reassum'd its former Nature The second appeared in his hand which he had no sooner put into his bosome but it became Leprous and afterwards returning into the same place it became immediatly like the rest of his body This was done by the command of him who is omnipotent and who by these miraculous effects would incourage Moses and assure him that those to whom he was sent would give Credit unto these prodigies He said farther to him that if they were so obstinate as not to believe him he was to take water out of the River Nilus and that it should be infallibly changed into blood Behold strange Metamorphoses that of the Rod into a Serpent and of the Serpent into a Rod signifyed three very different states of the people of Israel in Egypt The first was whilst Joseph lived during whose life they had possession of the Rod that is to say the Scepter and government of Egypt After that followes the death of this great Patriark and from that time all these poor people were detested by the Egyptians and like so many Serpents which crawled on the Earth But at length the time will come when Serpents shall be turned into Rods and be powerfull in the hand of Moses The second Metamorphosis by the hand of Moses signifies only the various afflictions of the Hebrews and the different alterations of their fortuns under the government of this wise conductor The third of the waters of Nilus did foretell the death and swallowing up of the Egyptians under the bloody and murthering waves of the Red Sea Notwithstanding all this Moses persists in excusing himself Alt Moises obsecro Domine non sum eloquens ab heri nudius tertius ex quo locutus es ad ser vum tuum impeditioris tardioris linguae sum Exod. 4. v. 10. and useth his best endeavors to discharge himself of an imployment in which he foresaw so many difficulties and whereof he esteemed himself so uncapable He represented unto God the trouble he had to expresse himself and how that since the very hour he had the honour to speak unto him he could hardly draw one word out of his mouth Lord saith he I am as a Child who can form but a confused sound between his lips And my tongue is so heavy and fat as I cannot speak a word without stammering Ah what God answered him Dixitque Dominus ad eum quis secit os hominis aut quis fabricatus est mutum surdum videntem caecum non ego Exod. 4. v. 11. am I not he who hath formed men with my own hand and put words into their mouths and is it not I who renders them deaf and dumb at my pleasure Yes truly it is God who discovers thoughts even in the most intricate minds It is he who moves and animates the tongues of Children and there needs but a breathing from his mouth to give life motion and voice unto the most insensible bodies These vertues are too well known At ille obsecro inquit Domine mitte quem missurus es Exod. 4. v. 13. Iratus Dominus in Meisem ait Aaron frater tuus Levites scio quod cloquens sit c. Exod. 4. v. 14. Loquere ad eum pone versia mea in ore ejus Exod. 4. v. 15. Virgam quoquc hanc sume in manu tua Exod. 4. v. 17. Abiit Moises reversus est ad Iethro Socerum suum dixitque ei vadam revertar ad fratres meos in Aegyptum Exod. 4. v. 18. and I am astonished at Moses who persists notwithstanding in his demand and who conjures God to send in his place the person whom he is to send Now it was doubtlesse the Messias whom he meant but the happy moment in which he should be born was not yet arriv'd and it had been to break the orders and decrees in Heaven to desire absolutely at that time the grant of this request God also grew angry with Moses and resolving no more to hear his complaints and excuses he was content to say unto him that his brother Aaron should serve him for interpreter to declare his will From that time
a Picture of those who goe round about the Sanctuary and never enter into it For all these miserable men were shut out of the Land of Promise and this favour was reserv'd for their Children who notwithstanding were long in expectation of it There are some languishing Spirits in the world and souls floating about the Ark these are little Fishes which swim alwayes between two waters or else resemble those Birds which can never take their flight upon elevated places and never come out of their holes but when night approacheth and when scarse any light is to be seen These are also certain curious persons who would pry even into the Sun but the excesse of light blinds them In matters of Faith the eyes ought to be shut and all the reasons of human policy serve but to dazle and confound We ought never to be so presumptuous as to measure the grandeurs of the Mysteries of Heaven with the lownesse of our understanding It is sufficient to follow the lights of God to see what passeth in Chanaan and in the Land of Promise without sending other Spies than our most ardent desires and our purest actions otherwise the hand eye and mind which serve us for a guide in this Pilgrimage will forsake us on the way and amidst windings where we shall see but a far off the end of our travels and the shore which we strive to reach by strength of arms and Oars I even doubt whether after we have long expected Cum mihi quoque iratus propter vos Dominus dixit nec tu ingredieris illuc c. Deut. 1. v. 37. Precatusque sum Dominum in tempore illo dicens Deut. 3. v. 23. and demanded the land of Promise with tears in our eyes and sighs in our hearts we shall not be enjoyned silence and surely it would be done with more reason than unto Moses who notwithstanding his virtue and merits was not heard in the request he made upon this occasion for after he had made his prayer in these termes My Lord Domine Deus tu coepisii estendere servo tuo magnitudinem tuam manumque fortis simam Neque enim est alius Deus vel in caelo vel in terra qui passit facere opera tua comparari sortitudini tuae Deut. 3. v. 24. Transibo igitur videbo terram hanc optimam trans Jordanem montem istum egregium Libanum Deut. 3. v. 25. and my God thou hast begun to withdraw the Veiles which hide from us thy greatness and power It is necessary to confess that neither in the Heavens nor upon Earth there is any power comparable to thine nor other God who can work those miracles whereof I have been a witness I hope then that thy victorious hand and thy Omnipotent arm will conduct me beyond Jordan and that being under this happy Climat and in these fortunate Lands for which I have even sighed the space of fourty years I shall at last ascend the Mountain of Moria and Liban where I may kiss the paces and discern the foutsteps of those who have been my well-beloved fore-Fathers Iratusque est Dominus mihi propter vos nec exaudivit me sed dixit mihi sufficit tibi nequaquam ultrae loquaris de hac re ad me Deut. 3. v. 26. and thy dear Children God who can do nothing but with Justice shewed some marks of his Anger and most expresly prohibited Moses to importune him any more concerning this matter Afterwards he sent him to the top of Mount Phasga Ascende cacumen Phasga aculos tuos circumser ad occidentem ad Aquilonem Austrumque Orientem aspice Deut. 3. v. 27. Sed Josue filius Nun minister tuus ipse intrabit pro te hunc exhortare robora ipse sorte terram dividet Israeli Deut. 1. v. 38. Mansimusque in valle contra fanum Phoger Deut. 3. v. 29. Non addetis ad verbū quod vobis loquor nec auseretis ex eo custodite mandata Domini Dei vestri c. Deut. 4. v. 2. from whence having commanded him to look towards the East the South the West and the North he charged him only to incourage Josua who was to succeed him after his death in the quality of a Conductor of his people and to divide Chanaan and the Land of Promise amongst the Tribes of Israel I know not the terms which Moses used in the Establishment of so prudent and worthy a Successor For he was content to say that having received this answer and commission he descended into the Valley where was the Temple of Phogor Having in this manner concluded the first Chapter of Deuteronomy In the eighth Chapter following he makes a long discourse exhorting his people to keep exactly the Lawes and Commandements which were first given upon Mount Sina with a Spirit inviron'd with flames and ardors which sufficiently testified the greatness of this mysterie and the importance of the matter Beware then my dear Children said Moses to them Remarkable words of Moses of violating the Oath of your fore-Fathers and if you be sensible of all the blessings you have received Dye rather a thousand times than efface in your souls the love and gratitude due unto him who hath delivered you out of the furnaces of Egypt Cave ne quando obliviscaris pacti Domini tui Deut. 4. v. 23. and whose spirit hath secret flames and devouring fires which will consume you if you have been so audacious as to forget him and despise his commands But if you obey him you shall goe into those pleasant Countries which will prove a Haven unto all your miseries and the accomplishment of all your desires Et juravit ut non transirem Jordanem nec ingrederer terram optimam quam daturus est vobis Deut. 4. v. 21. Ecce morior in hac humo non transibo Jordanem vos transibitis possidebitis terram egregiam Deut. 4. v. 22. There all your Fetters shall be broken and your selves freed from bondage without fear and apprehension you shall enjoy those blessings which were heretofore promised unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob. For my part my well-beloved I am at the end of my life and shall never pass over Jordan nor the Land of Chanaan Goe then happily thither and before you set your foot on this Country engrave in the bottom of your soules the Lawes and Precepts I have so often taught you Haec est enim vestra sapientia intellectus coram populis ut audientes universa praecepta haec dicant En populus sapiens intelligens gens magna Deut. 4. v. 6. to the end when another People shall see and hear these Oracles and documents from your mouths they may say with astonishment Behold these wise and learned men this great Nation and these illustrious Tribes for whom heaven hath alwayes had an extraordinary care and a particular affection For the rest in case you observe not
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
whole World an Ocean without shoars without bottom without Haven and without limit I represent unto my self the liquid firmament all-inflamed with his wrath and indignation who intends to alter the whole State of Nature I firmly believe that amidst this storm Thunder upon Thunder and a thousand Claps were heard which served to arm the Heavens the Planets and the Clouds It is probable that the Night and the Winds were mixed together and I cannot doubt but that Hell and Earth did also conspire to increase the horror of so dismall and universall a Punishment Mean while where are you the unhappy Inhabitants of the City of Enos Gyants of what use is your Mass of Body and those vast dimensions which have only serv'd to make you fall from a higher pitch and rendred your ruin more remarkable Poor Heirs of Cain Children of Men Effeminate Spirits wanton Souls where are you The Heavens fall on your Heads the Air stifles you the Water swallows you up and the Earth vanisheth away Fathers Mothers Children Husbands and VVives Brothers and Sisters Kindred Friends where are you and where are your Monsters and Prodigies of Allyance I behold I behold your Towers buryed under the VVaves I hear your cryes your sighs and your voices notwithstanding the Tempest In fine your floating Bodies and your dying Souls acknowledge but too late the Excess of your Sins Ah Sin Sin these are thy Spoyls and this is the Tempest thou hast raised Sin do'st thou discern the State into which thou hast reduc'd the World the Air the Earth and the Heavens Sin do'st thou at lâ—st acknowledge that thou art the Origin of this Disaster and of all these Calamities O God! Factúmque est diluvium quadragenta diebus super terram mul iplicatae sunt aquae chvave unt arcam in subleme à terra Gen. 7. v. 17. Vehementer enim inundaverunt amâ—ia repleverunt in superfiâ—e terrae porrò arca fercbatur super aquas Gen. 7. v. 18. Et aquae praevaluerunt nimis super terram opertique sunt omnes montes excelsi sub universo Caelo Gen. 7. v. 19. Is it possible that those Fires and Thunders were to punish Sin Is it possible that so many Streams so many Rivers and so many Seas are needfull to Efface his Image Must all the Elements weep forty Dayes and as many Nights And in fine must all Nature be in Mourning or rather in Triumph Since every where she erects Trophies and Mountains of Water to swallow up the most shamefull and most Insolent of all Vices I mean that which a Chast and Christian Mouth dares scarcely Name During this Triumph and Mourning Noah stears his Vessell his Family and Troops upon the Billows This holy man enjoyes a Calm and sayles securely over these Storms and Billows He beholds the Day in the midst of Might And the Tempest which sinks the whole world even as low as Hell lifteth him up even as high as the Heavens Range then O Noah Range upon the waters of the Deluge and expect the day and moments when God shall land thee in the Haven And thou O Ark that carryest the world and its Spoyls behold how the Sea makes a halt at thy approach and keeps back its Suspended waves as it were out of complacency and an orderly respect Holy house of God Fortunate Sanctuary of all mankind float on without oares or sayles float on for it is the Spirit of God and the hand of the justest of men which directs and guides thee In effect scarce were the Forty dayes expired Recordatus autem Dâ—us Noë cunctorumque animantium omnium jumentorum quae crant cum co in area adduxit spiritum super terram imminutae sunt aquae Gen. 8. v. 1. Et clausi sunt sontes abyssi et caâ—aroctae caeli et probibitae sunt pluviae decaelo Gen. 8. v. 2. Reversaeque sunt aquae de terra euâ—â—es redeuntes caeperunt minui Gen 8. v. 3. Requieviâ—que aâ—ca mense scptimo vigesimo septimo die mensis supermontes Armeniae Geâ— 8. v. 4. At vero aquae ibant decrescebant usque ad decimum mensem Decimo enim mense aparuerunt cacumina montium Gen. 8. v. 5. Cumque transissent quadraginta dies aperiens Neë fenestram arca quam fecerat dimisit corvum Gen. 8. v. 6. Qui egredichatur non revertebatur donec siccarentar â—quae super terram Gen. 8. v. 7. â—â—nisit quâ—que columbam post cumâ—â— videyet si sam cessassent aquae super faciem terrae Gen. 8. v. 8. when in an Instant the Heavens dryed up their sources the air appeared most serene and the great drops of Rain were turned into Pearls and dew as it were to give notice of the return of the Sun and Morning which should begin to spread every where a Calm together with the Day In a word God remembred the hower and Moment which he had promised unto Noah to restrain and stop all his Torrents The Earth at the same time impatient of bearing a burthen which was not naturall to her rose up on all sides and in her emotion forc'd the waters to make a thousand Fluxes and refluxes which sufficiently testified the violence of these two Elements At length after seaven Monthes contest and conflict this wandring Iland which carried Noah and his family landed upon the Mountaines of Armenia expecting till the tenth Moneth when the other Hils shew'd their heads and tops Forty dayes after which this most Holy and wise Pilot who had almost spent a whole year in the pleasing obscurites of his prison still victorious and trumphant resolv'd at last to open its window to give flight and passage to a Crow which indeed went forth but never returned For he entertained himself on Stincking Carkases and Carrion finding there his Nourishment and repose There needed then a purer and more faithfull Messenger Noah chose a Dove a mongst all the Birdes that she might discover whether the waters were quite retired But this innocent Creature and amiable Spye finding no â—resting place clean enough returned presently into the Ark and advertis'd Noah that the waters of the Deluge were not wholely decreased Quae euÌ„ non invenisset ubi requiesceret pes ejus reversa est ad eum in arcam aquae enim erant super universam terram extenditque manum apprehensam intulit in arcam Gen. 8. v. 9. Expectatis autem ultra septem diebus aliis ruâ—sum dimisit columbam ex arca Gen. 8. v. 10. At illa venit ad eum ad vesperam portans ramum olivae virentibus foliis in ore suo Intellexit ergo Noë quod cessassent aquae super terram Gen. 8. v. 11. Expectavitque nihilominus septem alios dies emisit columham quae non est reversa ultra ad eum Gen. 8. v. 12. It was this newes that obliged Noah to expect yet the space of Seaven dayes after which he took the Dove
up thy Eyes Dixitque Dominus ad Abram leâ—a oculos tuos vide à loco in quo nunc es ad aquilâ—nem mâ—ridiem ad orientem occidentem Gen. 13. v. 24. Omnem terram quam â—â—spicis tibi dabo semini tuo usque in semp ternum faciamque sâ—men tuum sicut pulverem terrae Gen. 13. v. 25. and turn thy self on all sides from East to West from North to South These immense spaces which thou beholdest shall be under thy Empire and afterwards at the end of thy life thou shalt leave them for an inheritance unto thy posterity which shal be numerous which shall equall the sands of the Earth Rise then Abraham and begin again thy journies and wayes over the whole extent of the Earth for this is the reward I intend to give thee Well then Surge ergo perambula terram in longitudine sua quia tibi datuâ—us sum eam Gen. 13. v. 17. Is not this a most powerfull motive to Love Peace and to bestow all that one hath to acquire a Good which draws with it all sorts of blessings and felicities For my part I believe that Gregorie the XIII had learnt by example the happy advantages of this verity for having Commanded a Picture of Peace and Justice to be drawn he caus'd a Vessell full of Flowers Fruits to be added Typot lib. 1. Symb. Justitia pacem copiam pax attulit with this Motto Justice hath given us Peace and Peace hath bestowed on us Goods in abundance Abraham might have justly taken the same Armes and the like Inscription I represent also to my self that such as seek Peace and Tranquillity may all say and doe like Abraham Let us conclude that we must often give way unto their Interests to become Masters of Hearts Goods and Possessions that it is a most sweet and profitable art to lose a little for the gaining of Peace which is wont to bring with it all that can be desired CHAP. IV. The Victories of Abraham and the assurances God gave him of a most flourishing Posterity THe desires A Warlike Tranquillity and inclinations which we may have for Tranquillity ought not to destroy force of Courage which as a Philosopher heretofore said are the Arms of the Soul and as it were the Wings of the Body There are nevertheless faint-hearted Men and Effeminate Spirits to whom the name of Peace is not venerable by reason the bare noise of the justest combats useth to put them into a Feaver They are like that Coward of Athens who dy'd hearing a Trumpet which was sounded at the beginning of an assault or rather that heartless Sybarite who seeing a Dart but in Picture made a vow never to use a Sword or Dagger never to come into the Field were it but to mow Grass This is not to have a pacifique Spirit A shamefull Pusillanimity and inclinations unto Meekness and Peace but rather to bear under a humane Body the Soul of a tender Chick or at least such people resemble those Indians who tremble at the sight of their own shadows and from whom if one should take away their Hands when they are obliged to Eat or Drink one would judge them to be Statues and feather'd specters which tremble at the least breath of Air. There is then an other Spirit of Peace which delights in Tranquillity and knows not what it is to seek occasions of War and pretences of dissention But where once Right Piety Alliances or violated Justice put Arms into their Hands at the same instant this vapor which was hidden in the Clouds and framed Veils against the violences of the Sun begins to convert it self into a Mass of flaming Coals which set fire on the Heavens and puts the Earth into a dreadfull fright Behold here the Image of a generous courage of a pacifique Soul and of a most valorons Heart every where it setleth Peace every where it accordeth differences and never refuseth any Treaty of Union But where it is provok'd and that there is need of preserving its own Rights or revenging the injury done unto Allies you instantly see it in the Head of an Army It orders Troups It is in the fight at the charge at the spoyl at the chase and in action briefly it is all Heart and its Body seems to be chang'd into Arms and Hands to defend its Life its Right and Honor. But who would have believed that Abrahams humour and courage had been of this temper when he was only seen to take Lot by the Hand and say unto him that all his goods belonged unto him and that to avoid War he gave the World for a Field of Peace and for an assured testimony that he prefer'd a quiet Life before all pretensions whatsoever Nevertheless when News was brought him Talerunt amnem sulistantiam Sodomorum Gomorrhae c. Gen. 14 v. 11. Nec non Lot substantiam ejus c. Gen. 14. v. 12. Et ecce unus qui evaserat nuntiavit Abram Hebraeo c. Gen. 14. v. 13. Quod cùm audisset Abram captum videlicet Lot Fratrem suum num ravit expeditos vernaculos su 〈◊〉 decem oâ—to Et persecutus est eos usque Dan. Gen. 14. v. 14. Percussitque eos c. Gen. 14. v. 15. Redaxiâ—que omnem substantiam Loth Fratrem suum c. Gen. 14. v. 16. At vern Melchisedech Rex Salem proferens panem vinum E rat enim Sacerdos Alâ—ssimi Gen. 14. v. 18. Eâ—â—edixitque ei cat Bâ—nedictus Deus excelso c. Gen. 14. v. 19 Et dedit ei dâ—cimas exomnibus Gen 14. v. 20. 〈◊〉 essus est Rex Soâ—omerum in occursum ejus Gen. 14. v. 17. that the King of Sennay the King of the Elamites the King of Pontus and he that was commonly called the King of Nations were become Masters of the Field and of the Sodomites Country who were his confederates and that even after the taking of Sodom poor Lot who fell into their Hands was lead by their Command into a sad Captivity At the very same instant this peaceable Traveller instead of a Staff took Arms into his Hands and having selected three hundred and eighteen of his bravest Servants he went forraging the Country and so couragiously pursued his Enemies that afterward being come to the confines of Judea neer the Fountains of Jordan and finding them still wholy puffed up with the success of their victories and loaden with their booty he set upon them with so great courage and dexterity as at last he put them to a shamefull rout and gave them so generall a defeat that he brought back both Lot and all his Goods with the remainder of the spoyls of all the Assyrians who were all either dead or put to flight After this defeat Melchisedeck who was King of Salem and also high Priest of the most high offered Bread and Wine as a thanksgiving for the victories
of following God were resolved never to make a stop upon the Earth untill they were arrived at the proposed end What Progress would be seen in Vertues what advances in the way of Paradise and of Glory Moreover if we had often this thought that Gods Eyes are fixed on all the Motions of the Body and Soul should we find so many Cowardly Idle and Lazy Persons standing with their Arms across and whose Reason is buryed in a shamefull Brutality Is it vain then God Commands us to goe alwaies ascending Equality sometimes very dangereus from one degree to another and not to doe like those stinking Waters which stop in the Mire But sometimes to little purpose doth he shew himself and make himself felt by the effects of his Holy presence no Body sees him and none but an Abraham hath Eyes to know him and Feet to follow him every where It is likewise with him he makes an attonement and it is in his Person he establisheth the King of Men and the Father of all believers Moreover as it is the Custom to impose on things a name Conformable to their Nature and as it appertains only to the Elect and such as are predstinated to have Names which must be registred in the Book of Life and which neither times nor seasons will ever efface so God changed his name which till then was Abram adding to it one Divine Letter and one of those Sacred Ciphers of which Men use to express the ineffable Name of God a very evident Sign that he was one day to take as the Apostle saith his Origin and temporall Birth from Abraham Hieronymus in trad Heb. in Genesim Lipomanus ad Heb. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I adde to these Conceptions of St. Jerom that Names as the most faithfull Disciples of Plato believed being the Chariots of Nature and of Essences It was necessary that Abraham who was the Father of all Nations should have also the Title of it and that his name should be an Illustrious Witness thereof Presently after as if this fortunate and glorious Name had been the Seal of the Contract and of the Allyance which God made with Abraham he would render it more sensible and adde to these Cyphers of Love an Impression of Grief and a Character of Blood Then was Circumcision commanded not only for Abraham but for all his Children and Servants Commandement for Circumcision and in generall for all those that should be numbred amongst his Generations Hoc est pactum meum quod observabitis inter me vos semen tuum post te Circumcidetur ex volis omne Masculum Gen. 17. v. 10. Infans osto dicrum circumcidetur in vobis omne Masculum in generationibus vestris tam vernaculus quam emptitius circumcidetur quicumque non suerit de stirpe vestra Gen. 17. v. 12. provided nevertheless they were Males for Women were exempted from the Law Concerning the time prefixed for the accomplishment of this precept it was not to pass the term of Eight dayes and the proposed End was no other than mens accord and peace with God who foreseeing the War which the Body is wont to wage against the Soul gave a Command to cut off the Prepuce as the Center of the impurest and grossest humors which use to nourish and infire the flames to inkindle the funestous Pyle in which the chastest purities are consumed This is the opinion of Saint Thomas St. Chysostom and Theodoret who adde that the Circumcision of the Jews was but a Corporall Figure of that Circumcision which should be in the Spirit of Grace and in the blessed Law of the Messias who desires not a Sacrifice of Bloud and rigour but of Love whose amiable and holy tyranny is sometimes more violent over the Soul than the Law of the Jews hath ever been over the Body Moreover Circumcision was not only a Figure of Baptism of cumcision sign Peace but a Constant and infallible Mark of the agreement God had made with Abraham Now this ordinary denotation of Love and this sacred Testimony of Peace was to be imprinted on the Body of the Hebrews that the remembrance of the favours God had shewed them might increase their duties of Obedience Piety and Faith towards God Thirdly this effusion of Blood was a lively representation and animated by the Faith of Abraham who obeyed the Voice of one God who presently cast Veils over his Eyes infused Light into his Mind and Fires into his Heart which made him abandon all Creatures to remain under the sole Protection of Heaven In the fourth place this Phlebotomy served to distinguish the Jews from other Nations so that as heretofore the Grecians esteemed all the People of the World barbarous and brutall so the Jews had a Custom to call all those Uncircumcised who would not subject themselves to Circumcision In fine this rigour and this Bloodie precept God imposed on the Hebrews was an effect of the first Disafter which deserved tears and cicatrices of Bloud This was the Remedy which Men had to heal this satall wound which remains still bleeding Now there needed such a healing hand as that of Abraham to receive this Bloudy but efficacious Medicine which was to mollifie not only the Obduration of the Jews but had also a secret vertue to wipe away the stains of that mortall Poyson which the Serpent of Paradise or rather of Hell had vomited into all Hearts This was then a particular favour of God unto Abraham but it was not the last for he gave him afterwards the ultimate assurance that Sara who was 90. years old should be the Mother of a Son Et ex illa dabo tibi silium cui benedicturus sum criâ—que innationes reges populorum orientur ex eo Gen. 17. v. 16. Et ait Deus ad Abraham Sara uxor tua pariet tibi filium vocabisque nomen ejus Isaac c. Gen. 17. 1 Cecidit Abraham in faciem suam risit dicent in corde shoâ— putasue cen enario nascetur filius Sara nonagenaria pariet Gen. 17. v. 17. who was to be not only the Prince but the Head and Father of Nations This Son at the same time received his name from the Mouth of God even before his Birth and the name imposed on him was that of Isaack a happy and pleasing name which sounded so sweetly in the Ears of Abraham as presently his poor Soul being unable to bear the excess of this contentment he felt himself surprised with an Amorous fainting which cast him upon the Earth and left him no words in his Mouth but smilingly to say My God! is it possible that an aged Man a hundred years old should be the Father of a Child Omnipotent God! what News dost thou bring unto these poor Parents what joy what pleasure and what transport in their Souls what will Men say when Sara shall grow great with Child by a Miracle from Heaven what
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
she was afraid to interrupt Isaack who finding himself Surprised by the smell and perfume which exhaled from Jacobs garments presently gave him his paternall benediction saying to him Ah well-beloved SOn the Odour which comes from thee is as sweet as that which riseth from a field full of flowres and upon which God hath powred out his Benedictions Be thou blessed then for all Eternity my most deer Son let God bestow on thee the dew of Heaven the fat of the Earth wheat and wine in abundance Let all Nations be subject to thee and let all the Tribes adore thee Be thou Lord over thy brethren let them bow their knees before thee Let those that give thee their benediction be blessed and if any one curse thee let him be also cursed CHAP. IV. Gods design in preferring Jacob. ALthough wee may say that the Earth is a great Labyrinth and a fearfull Chaos where Truth is not seen but in shadow and where there are no assurances but amidst the uncertainty of casual accidents Yet One of the Antients had reason to say That the world was a large well of Darkness and a deep Sea where we are exposed to the mercy of Winds and tempests without Sayles without Pilot without Stern and almost without Hope of releif Alas in this estate where is the Haven where are the Ilands and where is the means to attain the shore O God! what Horror when wee see a bark split in pieces and him that wee Lold by the hand carried by the billows and tempests into the bottome of the Sea I see him I hear him and I behold him in my sight dying upon the waves Why he and not my self Why this and not that man What have I done What hath he done And what could he deserve from God even before his birth O night without day Precipice without bottome Dreadfull uncertainty Ocean without shore O hight of the Wisedom and knowledge of God! Alas how fearfull and horrible are the mysteries of thy secrets My God! When shall I know whether thou art for or against me And who will assure me that I am not inrould amongst those wretches which must be one day banished out of the land of Paradise Lord I know not where I am and what will become of me I doubt whether after all my races I shall waite at the gate or whether all my labours will ever merit any reward And truly could Esau have imagined that while he was a hunting his brother had taken his Benediction Ah! A fair subject of Miseries it often happens that such as have the greatest advantages of Nature have the least share of the favours and Graces God is accustomed to impart Blood Spirit Extraction and Riches are for the most part but a fair object where Misfortune appears with most deformity The Sun is wont to make his rarest productions in the most unknown places and God never works more miracles than in the souls of those whom the world useth to Despise or knows not Unhappy Esau where are the privileges of thy Birth where is the right of thy Primogeniture and the Blessing thou doest expect Who art thou In vain is it for thee to say thou art Esau and the Eldest son of Isaack Jacob hath supplanted thee and when thou didest hunt he found at home what thou soughtest abroad Jacob saying that he was Esau and the Eldest son knew well enough that in effect and according to the right of Nature Mysterious answer he was Jacob and the Younger Brother But he knew also that God had chosen him for his Eldest Son and he spake according to Gods intentions and in pursuance of the title and right of Primogeniture which he had purchased and God had given him As in the eleventh and seventeenth Chapter of St. Matthew the Messias openly declares that St. John was Elias Not that indeed he was Elias but because he lived according to the Spirit as Elias So our Lord also hath borrowed seeming titles and God himself hath taught the World many things which had but some marks of his Divinity We must note then by the way for the satisfaction of those that read the holy Scripture First Innocent feignings that who ever dissembles the truth doth not tell a lye and though it be a shamefull and detestable thing to tell a lye yet there be innocent feignings and prudentiall ways which are sometimes lawfull and laudable Such was as some have believed the address which Abraham used when he caused his Wife to pass for his Sister in the territories of Pharaoh Secondly it is one thing to lye and another thing to speak figuratively And the words of God himself though he be the infallible Verity ought not alwaies to be taken in a rigorous sense for they have sometimes Enigmaticall meanings and mysterious relations and so the number of Abrahams Children was to be like the Stars and the Sands of the Sea Thirdly when St. A two edged Sword John in the I le of Pathmos saw God carrying in his Mouth a two Edged-Sword it was to teach us that his Words though Divine might have two significations which was evident when he spake unto the Jews concerning the Temple of his Body as if it had been the Temple of Jerusalem albeit he was not ignorant that their thoughts were very different from what he declared unto them Fourthly the greatness of a mystery may without wounding the truth disguise the countenance feign a voice borrow names and in a word conceal under some mysticall terms the importance of a secret A most just Stratagem and the designs of God This was as I may say the amiable stratagem of the Angell Raphael when he said unto Toby that he was Azarias the Son of the great Ananias And this was the Artifice of Jacob when he answered his father that he was Esau and his Eldest Son Nevertheless Isaack stood in admiration even to a rapture and at first he could hardly imagin Expavit Isaac stupore vehementi ultra quam credi potest admirans aiâ— quis igitur ille est Gen. 27. v. 33. that Jacob had deceived him but at last in the extasie of his astonishment God shewed him as St. Austin believed his manner of conduct in Jacobs proceeding He saw the just intentions of this unmalicious deceiver And at length he discerned that the Benediction he had given him was valid As well by reason of Gods will which was such as in regard his design was to bless him to whom the Privilege belonged which Jacob had acquired by the contract of Sale passed between him and his Brother and by the Donation of God Jacob is then the Elder Brother Auditis Esau sermonibâ— Patrâ—s irrugiit clamore magno consternatus ait benedic etiam miâ—i Pâ—â—er mâ— Cumque esulatu magnâ— fleâ—et Gen. 27. v. 34. Motus Isaac dirit ad eum in pinguedine terrae in rore caeli desuâ—â—â— Gen.
whose colours are in the mysterious Ordinances of time and Eternity Such was Josephs vision But Jacob knowing on the one side that this Revelation was but a Copy of the Designs God had on him And on the other side seeing that this was but a ground of scandall hatred and envy to his Brethren he resolved to sever them for a time to the end by this separation in their absence he might smother all these Fires which were inkindled by the Goodness of the one and the Malice of the rest For this purpose Jacob had no other expedient than to retain Joseph in his House Pate and to send all his Brethren into the Country Imagining besides that by separating Bodies he might reunite their Minds and alter their passions But this was only to sever a Dove from Vultures and Sheep from Wolves it only whets their naturall rage and mortall Antipathy when they are with-held from their prey and when they sent it a far off I know that the Fields are innocent But they cease not for all this to be retreits for Criminals The solitariness of Woods and Meadows is the Element of Meekness and Peace but we must bring thither tame Hearts and quiet Souls In fine it is a very sweet and pleasing vocation to guide Sheep and Lambs upon Hils and Dales But if Lions be their conductors they are so far from being changed as on the contrary they will find every moment new baits and allurements to inflame their cruelty We must not hope then that time place Cumque fratres illiuâ— in pascendis gregibus Patris morarentur in Sichem Gen. 37. v. 32. Dixit ad cum Israel fratres tui pascunt Oves in Sichem veni mittam te ad eos Gen. 37. v. 15. and employment can alter these Tygers which Jacob sends into the plains of Sichem to guide his Flocks Nevertheless after some delay conceiving that their humours were sweetned and that the divertisements of a Country Life had made them forget what passed in his House Praesto sum ait ei vade vide si cuncti prospera sint c. Gen. 37. v. 14. he resolved to send his Joseph to them who had no sooner taken notice of his Fathers desire but at the very instant he began his journey This amiable Dove and this Lamb went passionatly cralling upon Vultures and Wolves when a passenger met him who told him that his Brethren were in Dothaim Invenitque eum vir â—rantem in agro interrogavit quid quareret Gen. 37. v. 15. At ille respondit fratres meos quaero Gen. 37. v. 16. Dixitque ei vir exaudivi eos Aicentes eamus in Dothaim Gen. 37. v. 17. Ah poor Child whether goest thou thus abandoned and all alone straying in the Desarts without Father Friends and defence Joseph what seekest thou I seek saith he my Brethren Thy Brothers deceive not thy self why doest thou seek them Doest thou not know the hatred they bear to thee and the tragick design they have upon thy life My God! how secure is Innocence how calm is Vertue and generally how happy are Men when they follow the impulses of God Assured Innocence The Spirit of the World is an unquiet turbulent fearfull dissembling mutable fantastick and outragious Devill But that of Heaven is an Angel of Peace alwaies equall without emotion without terrors without inconstancy without Capriciousness and free from all Jealousy as also from all those shadows which make a tenebrous Chaos of the purest Lights and place Night in the midst of Day It is no wonder then if Joseph were secure in the midst of dangers Perrexit eâ—go Joseph post fratres suos invenit eos in Dothaim Gen. 37. v. 17. for God who possessed his Soul freed him from those panique terrors and those unquiet fears which assassinate the wicked it sufficed him to obey his Father and provided he meet with his Brethren his mind is satisfied Mean while these impious Spirits Qui cum vidissent eum procul c. Gen. 37. v. 18. which extend their vengeance even to rage perceived him a far off but as if the shadows of their own crimes had cast veyls over their Eyes or stifled in their Hearts all sense of Nature they did not acknowledge him for their Brother or at least they would not call him by this so amiable so sweet and so powerfull a name Et mutuò loquebantur ecce somniator venit Gen. 37. v. 19. Venite occidamus eü mittamus in Cysternam veterem dicemusque fera pessima devoravit eum Gen. 37. v. 20. Audiens autem haec Ruben nitebâ—tur liberare eum c. Gen. 37. v. 21. Non interficiatis animam ejus nec effundatis sanguinem c. Gen. 37. v. 22. Hoc autem dicebat volens eripere eum de manibus corum c. Gen. 37. v. 22. Confestim igitur ut pervenit ad fratres suos nudaverunt eum tunica talari polymita Gen. 37. v. 23. Et sedentes ut comederent panem viderunt Ismaclitas viato es venire de Galaad c. Gen. 37. v. 25. Dixit ergo Judas fratribus suas Quid nobis prodest si occiderimus fraâ—rem nostrâ—ü celaverâ—â—â—â—s sanguinem ipsius Gen. 37. v. 26. Behold this dreamer say they who comes unto us and they looking upon one another before he approached any nearer they resolved to take away his Life and to cast him into a Well which was near at Hand to the end they might say unto Jacob that a cruell and ravenous Beast had devoured Joseph Afterwards this bloudy design would have been accomplished if Ruben who was their Elder Brother had not opposed it Remonstrating to them that at least it were much better to take him aside and bury him alive in some Pit than to kill him and that by this means their Hands would not be polluted with his Bloud the stains whereof are never to be effaced This was a pretence and an occasion the more easily to free and restore him unto his Father In effect Joseph having accosted them Ruben cast himself on his Neck But the rest immediatly took off his Garment and then put him into an old Pit where there was no Water Mean while they all sate round about the place in which they had inclosed this Lamb. At the same time behold some Merchants passing by who were going into Egypt Whereupon Judas who feared lest hunger thirst nakedness cold and the horrours of a Well might stifle Joseph took occasion to conjure his Brethren to sell him rather unto the Ismaelites than to render themselves culpable of his death and become the Authors of a crime which useth to raise storms of Bloud These Remonstrances were as so many lightnings which dissipated this Cloud and the Thunder-bolts which these cruell Brethren Darted against their Prisoner did not ruin him but for a time Joseph must be taken out of the Well to be exposed for sale unto
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
Maids to see what it was I know not who was this fortunate Handmaid which had this Commission but she brought unto her Mistress the little Vessel in which was inclosed the Honor and Prosperity of the people of Israel Yet at first there onely appeared a childe weeping in its swadling clothes and whose bare aspect moved compassion in this good Princess who perceived that it was an effect of her Fathers Edicts Câ—i soror pueri Vis inquit ut vadam vocem tibi mulierem Hebraeam c. Exod. 2. v. 8. and some remnant of Egypts misfortune The Sister then of this found Infant who expected nothing less than such an incounter asked whether they would think it fit for her to bring a Nurse for him Respondit Vade Perrexit puella c. Exod 2. v. 8. Ad quam locuta fiâ—ià Pharaonis Accipe ait puerum istum c. Exod. 2. v. 9. To which the Princess having willingly condescended she ran instantly to finde the Mother of the childe who came as unknown to present her self and to whom presently the Daughter of Pharaoh gave the charge of nursing up this Infant O God! How profound are thy thoughts and how impenetrable are they to ignorant and frantick souls When will the day come when thou wilt withdraw the veil which hides from us so many secrets Children of men poor Egyptians blinde people Will you never open your eyes to follow the light of this sage Intelligence which governs the World under his Laws Is it not the part of a Fool to endeavor to stop the course of this Primum mobile which moves the Heavens and makes all the Elements to quake Is it not to oppose Feathers unto the Waves of the Sea and to the Thunders of the Air Is it not to be more brutish and less sensible than Beasts which follow the instinct and conduct of their Creator It is then in my Dominion saith this Lord all Beasts of the Forests abide they are all mine Sovereign Empire and it is in my bosom where I see every year the beauty of the Fields displaying it self It is I who bear Riches and Honors in my hands and who place Diadems upon the heads of Kings All Temples then must be demolished and all Altars rased where we adore casual Destinies and frightful Fortunes which yield nothing but smoke obscurity dread and terror For my part Confidence in God I had rather float in a Cradle of Bulrushes and land at a good Haven having God for my Pilot his Providence for my Helm his Power for my Mast Hopes for my Sails his Love for my Cordages Faith for my Anchors his Favor for my sweet Gales and good Works for my Oars than to bury my self alive in the midst of an Abyss led by Pharaoh and followed by an Army which hath neither Assurance nor Hope but on the Wings of the Winds always light and mutable in an Element ever perfidious amongst unskilful men and a thousand hazards which blow in the Sails and govern the Stern during the course of so dangerous a Navigation O my Saviour I am but an Orphan abandoned by Father and Mother forsake me not be thou my guide upon the Billows and in the Tempests of this life my Watch-Tower in the midst of the Night and my secure Haven during the storm O my most sweet and most amiable Redeemer do not abandon me since I am thine both by Nature and Grace at least place me under the protection of thy Mother of thy Daughter and of the Eldest Sister thou hast given me It is enough for me to live in the favor of Mary it sufficeth me to enjoy the least of her regards to be eternally happy Let us steer then O my Soul Let us steer against the current of the Water Pharaoh loseth his labor in despight of Egypts rage of Hell and of all the Infernal Spirits soon or late thou wilt land in the fortunate Iland where thou shalt be received into the Arms of the Queen of Heaven Yes Desireable Lot my Soul if thou dost dedicate thy self unto thy God I promise thee a Fortune as glorious as that of this little Infant which was exposed on the River Nilus and who under the amiable conduct of his Sister Mary hapned to fall into the lap of a Queen who adopted him for her Son Where observe I beseech you Quem illa adoptavit in bocum filii vocavitque nomen ejus Moises dicens Quia de aquis tuli eum Exod 2. v. 10. That it was this Royal Mouth which for a sign she had prese rved him from the Waters gave him this fair name of Moses and caused him to be educted and taught at Court with cares worthy of a wise Princess and a good Mother It was in this Noble School he learnt all the Arts and Sciences which were then current in Egypt that is to say Geometry Arithmetick Astronomy Musick and the most hidden Mysteries of the Hierogliphick in which were found all the rarest Secrets of naturall Philosophy Theology and Policy Clement Alexandrinus also believed that he then learn't Physick and the Civill Law Philo adds over and above that they called thither Masters out of Greece as the best versed in the Liberall Sciences and Chaldeans came by her appointment to teach him the way how to foretell things to come by the aspect of the Planets as also Assyrians to teach him their Ciphers and Characters In fine it is most certain that God poured his most beautifull Lights into his mind and it was this great Master who taught him the Command over Passions and chiefly Meekness Love Affability Liberality greatness of Courage and all the Vertues requisite for a person who was to be Governour of the people of Israel and the Lieutenant Generall of the Armies of the Omnipotent God CHAP. II. The Zeal of Moses and his Marriage with the Daughter of the Prince of Madian THe fairest Vertues would be but bodyes without a Soul Planets without light Excellency of Zeal and its Source and extinguished Torches if these generous ardors and those bright irradiations which we call by the name of Zeal and will give motion light and splendour unto the most holy Actions were taken from them God himself was pleased to take upon him the name of Zelot and when he appeared unto the Prophet under the shape of a man having one half of his body in a flame of fire this was but an Image of the Zeal which inflames him And it is for this cause as I believe Sophonius said that the world shall be devoured by the fire of this Divine Zeal Now it is out of this Furnace that Angels and Men have drawn vigorous flames which inkindled in their hearts a Zeal which all the waters of the Deluge could not have quench'd Viditque afflictionem corum â—â—rum Aegyptiacum percutientem quendam de Hebraeis fratribus suis Exod. 2. v. 11. Cumque circumspexisset
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
if you be so unhappy as to infringe the least of these Commandments and contemn these Laws I have so often declared to you or those Ceremoâ—â—es I have so publikely established your Privileges shall be changed into punishments and your Favors into execrations which will at last make you the subject of all the Plagues wherewith Egypt hath been heretofore so cruelly afflicted and you shall even feel some which you never yet heard of or at least whereof you shall not finde any mention in this Book What pity will it be to see you a reproach and scorn to the most barbarous Nations in the World amongst whom you shall nevertheless be dispersed to serve their unknown gods and masters who will give you neither truce nor repose no more than your own consciences which will always carry Vultures and Vipers to torment you without pity or intermission Your hearts will have disturbing terrors and your wandring eyes will cast darts as infallible marks of the misertes and tyranny you shall undergo It is also the doleful portion and the most usual course of the wicked to live amidst frights fears which like so many Goalers both day and night surround an unhappy soul which sees nothing but Specters and Phantasms which solicite her ruine so that you will be always like Criminals whose eyes are already veiled whose necks are laid down and hands tied in expectation of the fatal stroke which will in an instant sever their heads from their bodies Scarce shall the Sun be risen when you will say with sighs Dabit enim tibi Dominus ibi cor pavidum deficientes oculos animam consumptam moerore Deut. 28. v. 65. Manè dices Quis wihi det vesperum vespere Quis mihi det manè Deut. 28. v. 67. Ah! Who will assure me that I may be secure till night and in the Evening some new apprehension will even tear this complaint out of your mouths Ah! I know not whether I shall ever see day Alas who will give me then some assurance of it Sinners where are we Is this to live to die every moment and can we call by the name of life a train of pains torments wounds terrors and deaths O life how sweet art thou when thou dost fear and love nothing but God! O death how dreadful art thou when we have followed and loved some other than God! What Favors and Benedictions in the life and death of a vertuous man But what horrors Anathemaes and Maledictions during the course and end of the life of a sinner Alas My dear Reader reflect a little I beseech thee on these Verities and if the voice of thy Conscience and the examples thou seest daily before thy eyes cannot move thee come then again in spirit with the children of Israel and the predestinated souls hear the voice and exhortation of Moses take a while his Testament into thy hands and then casting thy eyes upon every Article fix thy thoughts upon that where he speaks unto all the Tribes and where after Moses had addressed himself into all sorts of States and Conditions of men and women which were gathered together about him he saith unto them That he spake not onely unto those that were present but also unto the absent and therefore it is unto thee and to all men of the world this discourse must be directed Hear then mortal men your Law-giver hear your Lord your Master and your Prophet who conjures you to look back upon the past ages and when you shall come to those dreadful days in which the Sun and all the Lights of Heaven shall be obscured by fire sulphure and the shameful smokes of those infamous Cities which the spirit of the justest furies of God had consumed and reduced into ashes Interrogate these frightful Reliques and they will tell you That these are the tracts of the Vengeances of Heaven and the remnants of those who have broken with God that Faith which they owed him In fine to conclude this whole discourse with Moses What is more sweet and easie saith this Holy Man Mandatum hoe quod ego praecipio tibi bodie non supra te est neque procul positum Deut. 30. v. 11. than to live under the Laws of so holy a Religion and carefully to observe all those orders which have been dictated by the mouth of a God whose rigors and decrees cannot be but most just What can there be in all that is commanded you which exceeds your forces and is beyond your capacity or too far distanced from your power Nec in caele situm ut possis dicere Quis nostrum valet ad caelum ascendere ut deferat illud ad nos audiamus atque opere compleamus Deut. 30. v. 12. Considera quod hodie proposuerim in conspectu tuo vitam bonum è contraria mortem malum Deut. 30. v. 15. Testes invoco bodic calum terram c. Deut. 30. v. 19. Et diligas Dominum Deum tuum atque obedias voci ejus illi adhaereas ipse est enim vita tua longitudo dierum tuorum ut habites in terra pro qua juravit Dominus patribus tuis Abraham Isaac Jacob ut daret eam illis Deut. 30. v. 20. It is not necessary to mount so high as the Heavens and to pass beyond the Seas to learn and perform what is enjoyned you For what is there you may not do and know and where much trouble is not required to accomplish it The words of God refound in your ears they are near your mouths and hearts Ingrave then deeply in your mindes all that I have this day said unto you and above all remember that on the one side I have proposed happiness and life and on the other misfortune and death I call Heaven and Earth to witness the choice I have given you it is then your part to prefer either good or evil and choose rather life than death to the end you may live with all your children in the peace and obedience you ow unto God and to fix your mindes and hearts so strongly on him that you may live onely for and in him for he is the soul of your spirits on him alone depends the course of your life and it is his hand which will conduct you into this fortunate Land which he promised to your fore-fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Israel it is unto thee Moses speaks and it is unto you Christian People that the eccho of this voice is addressed and loudly resounds in the Law of Grace and of the Messias Do not say then Who shall ascend unto Heaven who shall cause Jesus Christ to descend who shall draw him out of the Sepulchre or who can descend into the Abyss It is not required thou shouldst do these impossible things and which are already done it sufficeth thou perform what lies in thy power and what thou oughtest and the rest shall be granted thee O my
honour of him who is our Redeemer Lucifer is fallen from his Throne The Dragon is swallowed up in the billows of the Sea and all these Traytors who intended to drown us are overwhelmed with the waves and where they thought to gather Laurels and Palms they found nothing but an harvest over-spread with Cypres and a vast Sepulcher in the bottom of the Sea where they proposed to themselves toerect a Theater of honour and a field of Triumph This Crosse Fortune some will tell me is a strange turn of Fortune but to speak more Christianly this is an admirable stroak of the Providence and Justice of God which frustrates all the projects of the world and of the wicked to raise Theaters unto vertue and to place Crowns upon the heads of the vertuous when they think themselves in a condition to be trampled on by their enemies Not that but sometimes and very often Wormwood and Gall are mingled with the most pleasing waters of their consolations and with graces which he is ready to impart unto them And not to goe farther to seek examples of this verity Ambulaveruntque tribus dichus per solitudinem non inveniebant aquam Exod. 15. v. 22. Et venerunt in Mara nec poterunt bibere aquas de Mara eo quod essent amarae unde congruum loco nomen imposuit vocans illum Mara id est amaritudinem Exod. 15. v. 23. let us stay a while in this desart where the Israelites now are All their enemies are drowned in the Sea and they themselves have marched for the space of three dayes in this desolate place finding nothing but bitter waters and if nothing else happen they will all dye with hunger and thirst In vain is it for them to murmur if Moses worked not here a Miracle I fear it must appear a truth that the Egyptians are dead in the Sea and that the Israelites will almost perish neer a Sea or in a place which hath nothing but Salt and bitter Waters from which it takes its denomination Alas where then is Moses where is Mary where is this Star of the Sea At ille clamavit ad Dominum qui ostendit ei lignum Quod cum misisset in aquas in dulcedinem versae sunt Exod. 15. v. 25. whose sole name is able to cause a thousand Fountains and Rivers to spring in the midst of Desarts Courage then behold thy happy Conductor to whom God hath shown a certain Wood of life and sweetness which he had scarce put into the water but it presently became delicious Behold a pleasing Metamorphosis But we must not wonder at it since this Wood is no other than the Image of him who can change all the torrents bitternesses of this life into an Ocean of consolation It is the Cross which hath been steep'd in the waters of Mara O Cross O Mara what sweet rigours and pleasing bitternesses doe all those find Venerunt autem in Elim filii Israel ubi erant duodecim sontes aquarum septuaginta palmae castrametatisunt juxta aquas Exo. 15. v. 27. who make use of thee to sweeten their sharpest afflictions Likewise after the Israelites had steeped this wood in the waters of Mara and sweetned the bitter waters of this Desart they went directly to the Land of Elim which was watered with many delightfull Fountains and where under the shades of Palm-trees they might sweetly and joyfully repeat their Canticle of Peace and Victory CHAP. XX. The Manna of the Desart IT was not without reason God from the beginning of the world took the name of Elohim Beneficent Nature of God that is to say a benefactor and obliger For his Nature is so propense to doe good as there is no moment in our lives which is not marked with some of his favours For this end he hath rais'd the Heavens the Air and the Stars over our heads as so many treasuries in which he hath enclosed the light and vitall influences without which the world would be but a confus'd Mass and a dreadfull Tomb. He hath also peopled the elements and given to every one what was convenient and necessary for their infirmities He himself is a great Ocean of Essences and an Abyss of goodness from whence spring a thousand torrents of graces which from Heaven water the Earth in so great abundance and with so generall an effusion that there is no person who may not be satiated thereby It seems also that he was as it were obliged thereunto and that if by some secret of his wise Providence he chance to withdraw his arm and hand which fills us with all sorts of benedictions we may have some cause to complain and murmur against him Et murmuravit omnis congregatio filiorum Israel contra Moysen Aaron in solitudine Exod. 16. v. 2. Dixeruntque filii Israel ad eos utinam mortui essemus per manum Domini in terra Aegypti quando sedebamus super ollas carnium comedebamus panem in saturitate cur eduxisti nos in desertum istud ut occideretis omnem multitadinâ—m fame Exod. 16. v. 3. Behold a while this People I beseech you whom a month since he drew out of Egypt and freed from the Tyranny of Pharaoh Behold these good people for whom he hath sweetned the bitterness of Mara who were scarce gone out of the little Paradise of Elim but they presently murmur'd because their Meal began to fail and as if Moses had been the cause of it they said unto him that they very much wondred at his causing them to depart out of Egypt and that it had been better for them to have there dyed amongst their flesh pots and Caldrons where they had alwayes something to eat than to follow him in a desart where they were even ready to perish with hunger Ah wicked and ungratefull men are you not asham'd to prefer your bellies before God and to forget all the benefits you received in your last necessities Neverthelesse this is what all these Apostates and misbelievers did who having remained some time under the Palm-Trees of Elim and drunk the waters of these sweet fountains being somewhat farther advanc'd in the desart and having met with some wants and difficulties they presently repented themselves for having left the flesh-pots and dung-hils of Egypt to enter a wilderness into which notwithstanding God had conducted and freed them from off the bondage and tyrannie of sin These gluttons are afraid of abstinence the Lent hath affrighted them the just and holy Laws of God and his Church were insupportable to them They choose rather to die with Flesh and Blood upon a dung-hill of ordures and horrours and neer a pile inkindled by the hand of the most infamous passions and where there is some sense of Egypt some flame of Babylon Lib. 1. c. 7 in the spoiles of envy some Spirit of Babel and some remnant of Cain than in a place consecrated to vertue
and grace to repose and joy this onely suits as I have said elswhere with those future Apostates and those wicked souls who soon or late publickly break their vowes without any reasonable cause and onely to content a brutish appetite Dixit autem Dominus ad Moisen Ecce ego vobis pluam panes de caelo egrediatur populus colligat quae sufficiunt per fingulos dies ut tentem eum utrum ambulet in lege mea an non Exod. 16. v. 4. Die autem sexto parent quod inferant sit dupbum quam colligere solebant per singulos dies Exod. 16. v. 5. which makes them sigh after the flesh-pots of Egypt as this poor people of Israel did who thought to turn back after they had passed over the waves of the Red Sea and were come to the eighth station of their voyage Neverthelesse God was so gracious as to stay them and to promise Moses that Heaven should rain down bread for them in abundance but they were to make provision of it for one day onely that he might have thereby occasion to try whether they were constant in his service and in his Law Dixeruntque Moises Aaron ad omnes filios Israel vespere scietis quod Dominus duxerit vos de terra Aegypti Exod. 16. v. 6 Et mane videbitis gloriam Domini audivit enim murmur vestrum contra Dominum Nos verò quid sumus quia mussitastis contra nos Exod. 16. v. 7. Dixit quoque Moises ad Aaron c. Cumque loqueretur Aaron ad omnem coetum filiorum Israel respexerunt ad solitudinem ecce gloria Domini aparuit in nube Exod. 16. v. 10. Factum est ergo vespere ascendens coturnix conperuit castra mane quoque ros jacuit per circuitum castrorum Exod. 16. v. 13. Quod erat quasi semen coriandrialbum Exod. 16. v. 13. Nyssenus Philo Josephus Quod cum vidissent filii Israel dixerunt adinvicem Manha quod significat quid est hoc ignorabant enim quid esset Quibus ait Moises iste est panis quem Dominus dedit vobis ad vescendum Exod. 16. v. 15. Hic est sermo quem praecepit Dominus colligat unusquisque ex eo quantum sufficit ad vescendum Exod. 16. v. 16. Feceruntque ita filii Israel collegerunt alius plus alius minu◠Exod. 16. v. 17. and that besides they might have on the sixt day in a readiness what they were to carry away yet he permitted them to take for that time twice as much food as before Behold then Aaron and Moses assembling all their Troops to declare unto them that before night or early in the morning they should see an evident mark of the power and providence of him who had brought them out of Egypt As if there Clamour and murmuring had been heard though this hard dealing had been used toward them who were a meer nothing in comparison of God unto whom they addressed themselves God having given such orders unto Aaron as he was to observe in speaking to this people Aaron beginning to speak they saw toward the desart certain rayes of Glory and of the Majesty of God upon the body of a cloud After which in the Evening as God said unto Moses the camp of the people of Israel was seen covered with fat quailes which fell in so great abundance that they might have enough of them for many dayes and the next day the whole desart in which they resided was full of dew and Manna every drop whereof was as a pearl and like seedes of Coriander and Christall which these poor people seeing and scarce knowing what to say or think they wholy astonished looked upon one another asking from whence came this pleasing rain this happy dew and in fine what that might be which they saw and did not know Whereupon Moses beginning to speak answered them that it was God who sent them this bread from Heaven to eat and that for the rest every one might gather up as much of it as would be necessary for one day onely which they did some notwithstanding took more others less but coming afterward to measure all that they had taken he that had gathered up the most found no more than he that had taken least Et mensi sunt ad mensuram Gomor nec qui plus collegerat habuit amplius nec qui minus paraverat reperit minus c. Exod. 16. v. 18. Dixitque Moises ad eos nullus relinquet ex eo in manè Exod. 16. v. 19. Qui non audierunt eum sed dimiserunt quidam ex eis usque manè scatere capit vermibus atque computruit iratus est contra eos Moises Colligebant autem manè singuli cumque incaluisset sol liquefiebat Exod. 16. v. 21. Indie autem sexta collegerunt cibos duplices c. Exod. 16. v. 22. Requies sabbati sanctificata est Domino cras quodcunque operandum est facite quae coquenda sunt coquite Exod. 16. v. 23. but every one just as much as was necessary for his present sustenance After this Moses commanded that no person should preserve any of it for the next day which many having opposed it hapned that all their provision was found tainted and converted into wormes whereupon Moses took a just occasion to be offended with them and sharply to reprehend their gourmandise and infidelity Thirdly they were not to make this gathering but by break of day and early in the morning by reason the Sun with his most ardent beames hapning to beat upon this sweet gelly it might be disolved In the fourth place this Manna alwayes fell the sixt day in a double proportion to the end the next day being the Sabbath might be imployed in the service of God where we must observe that this day of repose and rest which began six dayes after the creation of the World and the feast whereof had ceased to be kept during the Captivity of Egypt was then as it were renewed for upon that day they ought not to think of what was necessary to eat but that from the Eve they were to be provided of it and to have it dressed for the Sabbath day Implegomer ex eo costediatur in futuras remò generationes ut noverint panem que alui ves in solitudine quando educti estis de terrâ Agypti Exod. 16. v. 32. Fiftly God commanded Moses to cause a measure to be filled with it equal to that of every day and then to set it in the Tabernacle that it might be conserved as an eternall Monument of piety and gratitude and as an immortal Testimony of his goodness towards them In fine Filii autem Israel comederunt Mannam quadragint annis c. Exod. 16. v. 35. during the space of forty years there was no day nor season of the year in which all these precepts and miracles had not their courses It was also a Figure of the Manna