looked to Gods hand for right Our fâ—ines exclude vs from Gods protection whereas vprightnesse challenges and findes his patronage An Affe taken had made him vncapable of fauour Corrupt Gouernors lose the comfort of their owne brest and the tuition of God The same tongue that prayed against the Conspirators prayes for the people As lewd men thinke to carie it with number Corah had so farre preuailed that hee had drawne the multitude to his side God the auenger of treasons would haue consumed them all at once Moses and Aaron pray for their Rebels Although they were worthy of death and nothing but death could stop their mouths yet their mercifull Leaders will not buy their owne peace with the losse of such enemies Oh rare and imitable mercy The people rise vp against their Gouernors Their Gouernors fall on their faces to God for the people so farre are they from plotting reuenge that they will not endure God should reuenge for them Moses knew well enough that all those Israelites must perish in the Wildernesse God had vowed it for their former insurrection yet how earnestly doth hee sue to God not to consume them at once The very respit of euils is a fauour next to the remouall Corah kindled the fire the two hundred and fifty Captaines brought sticks to it All Israel warmed themselues by it onely the incendiaries perish Now doe the Israelites owe their life to them whose death they intended God and Moses knew to distinguish betwixt the heads of a faction and the traine though neither be faultlesse yet the one is plagued the other forgiuen Gods vengeance when it is at the hotest makes differences of men Get you away from about the Tabernacles of Corah Euer before common iudgements there is a separation In the vniuersall iudgement of all the earth the Iudge himselfe will separate in these particular executions we must separate our selues The societie of wicked men especially in their sinnes is mortally dangerous whiles we will not be parted how can wee complaine if we be enwrapped in their condemnation Our very company sinnes with them why should wee not smart with them also Moses had well hoped that when these Rebels should see all the Israelites run from them as from monsters and looking affrightedly vpon their Tents and should heare that fearfull Proclamation of vengeance against them howsoeuer they did before set a face on their conspiracie yet now their hearts would haue misgiuen But lo these bold Traitors stand impudently staring in the doore of their Tents as if they would outface the reuenge of God As if Moses had neuer wrought miracle before them As if no one Israelite had euer bled for rebelling Those that shall perish are blinded Pride and infidelitie obdures the heart and makes euen cowards fearlesse So soone as the innocent are seuered the guilty perish the earth cleaues and swallowes vp the Rebels This element was not vsed to such morsels It deuoures the carkasses of men but bodies informed with liuing soules neuer before To haue seene them struck dead vpon the earth had been fearfull but to see the earth at once their executioner and graue was more horrible Neither the Sea nor the Earth are fit to giue passage The Sea is moist and flowing and will not be diuided for the continuitie of it The earth is dry and massie and will neither yeeld naturally not meet againe when it hath yeelded yet the waters did cleaue to giue way vnto Israel for their preseruation the earth did cleaue to giue way to the Conspirators in iudgement Both Sea and Earth did shut their iawes againe vpon the aduersaries of God There was more wonder in this latter It was a maruell that the waters opened it was no wonder that they shut againe for the retiring and flowing was naturall It was no lesse maruell that the earth opened but more maruell that it did shut againe because it had no naturall disposition to meet when it was diuided Now might Israel see they had to doe with a God that could reuenge with ease There were two sorts of Traitors the Earth swallowed vp the one the Fire the other All the elements agree to serue the vengeance of their Maker Nadab and Abihu brought fit persons but vnfit fire to God these Leuites bring the right fire but vnwarranted persons before him Fire from God consumes both It is a dangerous thing to vsurpe sacred functions The ministerie will not grace the man The man may disgrace the ministerie The common people were not so fast gathered to Corahs flattering perswasion before as now they ranne from the sight and feare of his iudgement I maruell not if they could not trust that earth whereon they stood whiles they knew their hearts had been false It is a madnesse to run away from punishment and not from sinne Contemplations THE SEVENTH BOOKE Aarons Censer and Rod. The Brazen Serpent Balaam Phinehas The death of Moses BY IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deane of WORCESTER TO MY RIGHT HONOVRABLE RELIGIOVS AND BOVNTIFVLL PATRONE EDWARD LORD DENNY BARON OF WALTHAM THE CHIEFE COMFORT OF MY LABOVRS J. H. WISHETH ALL TRVE HAPPINESSE AND DEDICATES THIS PART OF HIS MEDITATIONS Contemplations THE SEVENTH BOOKE AARONS Censer and Rod. WHen shall wee see an end of these murmurings and these iudgements Because these men rose vp against Moses and Aaron therefore God consumed them and because God consumed them therefore the people rise vp against Moses and Aaron and now because the people thus murmure God hath againe begun to consume them What a circle is here of sinnes and iudgements Wrath is gone out from God Moses is quick-sighted and spies it at the setting out By how much more faithfull and familiar wee are with God so much earlier doe we discerne his iudgements as those which are well acquainted with men know by their lookes and gestures that which strangers vnderstand but by their actions As finer tempers are more sensible of the changes of weather Hence the Seers of God haue euer from their Watch-tower descried the iudgements of God afarre off If another man had seene from Carmel a cloud of a hand-breadth he could not haue told Ahab he should be wet It is enough for Gods Messengers out of their acquaintance with their Masters proceedings to fore-see punishment No maruell if those see it not which are wilfully sinfull we men reueale not our secret purposes either to enemies or strangers all their fauour is to feele the plague ere they can espy it Moses though he were great with God yet hee takes not vpon him this reconciliation he may aduise Aaron what to do himselfe vndertakes not to act it It is the worke of the Priesthood to make an atonement for the people Aaron was first his brothers tongue to Pharaoh now he is the peoples tongue to God he onely must offer vp the incense of the publike prayers to God Who would not thinke it a small thing to hold a Censer in his
carrie it The Church of Rome hath beene ancient not the errors neither doe we in ought differ from it wherein it is not departed from it selfe I did not more feare your wearinesse than my owne forgetting the measure of a Preface I would passe through euery point of difference betwixt vs and let you see in all particulars which is the old way and make you know that your Popish Religion doth but put on a borrowed visour of grauitie vpon this Stage to out-face true antiquitie Yet lest you should complaine of words let mee without your tediousnesse haue leaue but to instance in the first of all Controuersies betwixt vâ— offering the same proofe in all which you shall see performed in one I compare the iudgement of the ancient Church with yours see therefore and bee ashamed of your noueltie Especially Toby Iudeth Wisd of Salomon Ecclesiasticus Maccabees Euseb l. 4. c. 25. Exposit Symboli veteris instrumenti primi omnium Mosis quinque libri c. Haec sunt quae patres intra Cánonem concluserunt ex quibus fidei nostrae assertiones c. Alij libri sunt qui non Canonici c. First our question is Whether all those bookes which in our Bibles are stiled Apocryphall and are put after the rest by themselues are to be receiued as the true Scriptures of God Heare first the voice of the old Church to let passe that cleare and pregnant testimonie of MELITO SARDENSIS in his Epistle to ONESIMVS cited by EVSEBIVS Let CYPRIAN or RVFFINVS rather speake in the name of all Of the old Testament saith he first were written the fiue bookes of MOSES Genesis Exodus Leuiticus Numbers Deuteronomie after these the booke of IOSHVAH the Son of NVN and that of the Iudges together of RVTH after which were the foure bookes of the Kings which the Hebrewes reckon but two of the Chronicles which is called the booke of Dayes and of EzRA are two bookes which of them are accounted but single and the booke of ESTER Of the Prophets there is ESAY HIEREâ—â—E EzEKIEL and DANIEL and besides one booke which containes the twelue smaller Prophets Also IOB the Psalmes of DAVID are single books of SALOMON there are three books deliuered to the Church the Prouerbs Ecclesiastes Song of Songs In these they haue shut vp the number of the bookes of the old Testament Of the new there are foure Gospels of MATTHEVV MARKE LVKE and IOHN the Acts of the Apostles written by LVKE of PAVL the Apostle fourteene Epistles of the Apostle PETER two Epistles of IAMES the LORDS brother and Apostle one of IVDE one of IOHN three Lastly the Reuelation of IOHN These are they which the Fathers haue accounted within the Canon by which they would haue the assertions of our faith made good But we must know there are other bookes which are called of the Ancients not Canonicall but Ecclesiastical as the Wisedome of SALOMON another Book of Wisedome which is called of IESVS the sonne of SIRACH which book of the Latines is termed by a generall name Ecclesiastiâ—us of the same ranke is the book of TOBY and IVDETH and the bookes of the Maccabees Thus farre that Father so HIEROME after that he hath reckoned vp the same number of bookes with vs in their order hath these words This Prologue of mine saith hee may serue as a well defenced enâ—rance to all the bookes which I haue turned out of Hebrew into Latine In prologâ— gâ— to Tem. 3. p. 6. Hic prologus Scripturam quasi GaleatuÌ„ principium omnibus libris quos de Hebraeo c. Vt scire valeamê° quicquid extra bos est inter apocrypha esse ponendum igitur Sapientia quae vulgo Salomonis inscribitur Iesu c. non sunt in Canone c. Euseb l. 6. c. 24. Haud ignoranduÌ„ autem fuerit veteris instrum libros sicut Hebraei tradunt 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haec sunt Apocrythae Iesus Sapientia Pastor MaccabaeoruÌ„ libri Iudeth atque Tobia Hugo Card. Concil Trident. Decr. de Canon Script April 8. promulg in quar Sessione SacroruÌ„ vero librorum indicem huic decreto adscribendum censuit c. Sunt autem infra scripti Testamenti veteris quinque libri Mosis c. Tobias Iudeth Sapientia Salomonis Ecclesiasticus Maccab. 2. Si quis autem libros ipsos integres cum omnibê° suis partibus pro vt in Ecclesia Catholica legi consueuerunt in veteri vulgata Latina Editione habenter pro sacrit canonicis non susceperit Anathema sit Aug. de Ciuit. Dei l. 15. c. 13. Sed quomodo libet istud accipiatur c. Ei linguae potius credatur vnde est in aliam facta translatio Ludouic Viues ibid. Hoc ipsum Hieronymus clamat vbique â—c ips◠〈◊〉 ratio c. Sed frustra honorum ingraciorum consensus hoc dâ—cet Hieron l. 3 â—â—m in Esaiam Quod si aliquis dixerit Hebraeos libros pesâ— Ã Iudâ— falsatos c. Sâ— autem dixerint post aduentum Domini saluatoris c. Hebraeos libros fuisse falsatos cachiâ—num tenere non poteâ— vt salâ—r Apostoli c. cap. 6. Decr. p. 1. dist 9. c. vt veterum Vt veterum librorum fides de Hebraeis voluminibus examinanda est ita nouerum Graeci sermonis normam defiderat Ad Decr. p. 1. d. 19. c. 3. Ad diuina reâ—urre scripta Graeca that we may know that whatsoeuer is besides these is Apocryphall therefore that booke which is intituled Salomons Wisdome and the booke of Iesus the sonne of Syrach and Iudeth and Tobias and Pastor are not Canonicall the first booke of the Macabees I haue found in Hebrew the second in Greeke which booke saith hee indeede the Church readeth but receiueth not as Canonicall The same reckoning is made by Origen in Eusebius word for word The same by Epiphanius by Cyrill by Athanasius Gregorie Nazianzen Damascen yea by Lyranus both Hugoes Caietan Carthusian and Montanus himselfe c. All of them with full consent reiecting these same Apocryphall bookes with vs. Now heare the present Church of Rome in her owne words thus The holy Synode of Trent hath though good to set downe with this Decree a iust Catalogue of bookes of holy Scripture lest any man should make doubt which they bee which are receiued by the Synode And they are these vnder-written Of the Old Testament fiue bookes of MOSES then IOSHVAH the Iudges RVTH foure bookes of the Kings two of the Chronicles two of ESDRAS the first and the second which is called NEHEMIAS TOBIAS IVDETH ESTER IOB the Psalter of DAVID containing one hundred and fiftie Psalmes The Prouerbs of SALOMON Ecclesiastes the Song of Songs the booke of Wisdome Ecclesiasticus ESAY HIEREMIE c. two bookes of the Maccabees the first and the second And if any man shall not receiue these whole bookes with all the parts of them as they are wont to
see that in those yong dayes of the Church the mystery of iniquity began in this point to worke so as Mariage according to the Apostles prediction began to be in an ill name though the cleere Light of that Primitiue Truth would not endure the disgrace So as in all this I haue both by Moses and the examples of that Leuiticall Priesthood by the Testimonie of the Apostles by their practice by their anciently-reputed Canons and by the testimonie of the agedest Fathers so made good the lawfulnesse and antiquity of the Mariages of persons Ecclesiasticall that I shall not need to feare a Diuorce either from my Wife or from the Truth in that my Confident and iust Assertion THE HONOVR OF THE MARIED CLERGIE maintained c. The second Booke SECT I. AND now since in this point wee haue happily won the day lesse labour needs in the other Refut p. 130. It is safe erring with Moses and the Prophets with Christ and his Apostles Soone after according to Saint Pauls Prophesie Spirits of Errors were abroad and whether out of the necessary exigence of those prosecuted times or out of an affectation to win fauour and admiration in the eyes of Gentilisme Virginity began to raise vp it selfe in some priuate conceits vpon the ruines of honest Wedlocke neither is it hard to discerne by what degrees yet neuer with such absolute successe as to proceed to any Law of restraint I doe not therefore faine to my selfe as mine idle Refuter golden ages of mirth and k k Though Amram the Leuite father to Moses maried in the heat of Pharaohs persesecution and Dauid did the like in Sauls Refut p. 131. Refut p. 131 132 133 marying vnder those tyrannous persecutions but in those bloody ages I doe auouch to him and the World an immunity from the tyrannous yoke of forced continency This if hee could haue disproued by any iust instances he had not giuen vs words If he be angry that I said some of the pretended Epistles of his ancient Popes to this purpose are palpably foysted Let him fasten where he lists if he haue not an answer let me haue the shame in the meane time it is enough to snarle where he dares not bite That which I cited from Origen aduising the sons of Clergie men nor to be proud of their parentage he cannot deny he can cauill at The same perswasion saith he might be made to Saint Peters daughter as many are of opinion that he had one yet will it not follow that he knew his wife after he was an Apostle So he But what needs this Parenthesis if the man be true to his owne Authors Did wee deuise the Storie of Petronilla Did we inuent the passage of her Sutor Flaccus Of her Feuer the cure whereof her father denyed Of her Epitaph ingrauen in Marble by her fathers owne hand Aureae Petronillae dilectissimae filiae To my deare and precious Petronilla l l Esp 1. c. 8. Volat. 1.18 Pet. Nat. l. 5. c. 69. Plat. vis Paul 1. Sigeb 757. my most beloued daughter found by Paul the First Are not these things reported by their owne Volateranus Petr. Natalis Beda Vssuradus Sigebertus Platina Still where is the man that cryes out of reiecting authorities in other cases allowed either then let him giue the lye to his Histories or else let him compute the Time when Flaccus the Roman Count was a Sutor to her and see if he be not forced to grant that she was begotten of S. Peter after his Apostleship And so for ought he knowes might those sonnes be whom Origen thus dehoureth This man was not their Midwife The place of Origen which hee m m Orig. Homil. 13. in Numer cites to the contrary he tooke vp somewhat on trust let him goe and inquire better of his Creditor by the same token that in the Homily of Origen whither he sends vs he shall find nothing but Balaeams Asse an obiect fit for his meditation As for that parcell of the testimony Refut p. 133. which hee saith my chiâ— cough câ—used mee to suppresse sin ipsa Christianitate it is as Herbe Iohn in the Pot to the purpose of my allegation Origen speakes of that Text Many that are first shall be last c. Which he applies as a cooling-card to the children of Christian Parents especially Si fuerint ex patribus Sacerdotali sede dignificatis If they be the sons of them which are dignified with Sacerdotall honour The change of the Preprosition is remarkeable ex Patribus argâ—ing that hee speakes not of their education but their descent and therefore implying no lesse then I affirmed that their parentage giues them a supposed cause of exaltation SECT II. HOly n n Athanas Epist ad Dracent Many Bishops c. Refut p. 134. Athanasius was brought by me in stead of a thousand Histories Who tels vs that it was no rare thing to find maried Bishops in his time My wise Refuter after he hath idlely gone about the bush a little comes out with this dry verdict What will Master Hall hence infer That Bishops and Priests may lawfully marrie Saint Athanasius saith it not but onely recounteth the fact that some maried of both sorts but whether they did well or ill or whether himselfe did approue or condemne the same there is no word in this sentence Thus he We take what he giues and seeke for no more We cited Athanasius in stead of many Histories not of many Arguments Histories de facto not discourses de iure The lawfulnesse was discussed before the practice and vse is now inquired of This Athanasius witnesses and C. E. yeelds Wherein yet I may not forget to put my Refuter in minde how brittle his memorie is who in the same leafe contradicts himselfe For when he had before confessed that Athanasius doth neither approue nor condemne the practice Refut p. 136. either as good or euill now he plainly tels vs that the words were not spoken by way of simple narration but of mislike and reprehension He would be a good lyer if he could agree with himselfe Why of dislike For saith he it was neuer lawfull for Monks or Bishops to beget children Ipse dixit wee must beleeue him Not to tell him that o o Chrys ad Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome teaches vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is possible with Mariage to doe the acts of Monkes not to conuince him with counter testimonies let him tell me what fault it is to doe or not to doe miracles These in this sentence of * * Athanas ibid. We haue knowne Bishops working miracles and Monkes working none Many Bishops not to haue maried c. As likewise you may finde Bishops to haue beene fathers of Children and Monkes not to haue sought for mariage Athanasius goe in the same ranke with Mariage But to cleare Athanasius he brings Hierom against Vigilantius impudently called by him The
must goe out of this foraine Land of our Pilgrimage to the home of our glorious inheritance to dwell with none but our own in that better and more lightsome Goshen free from all the incumbrances of this Aegypt and full of all the riches and delights of God The guilty conscience can neuer thinke it selfe safe So many yeares experience of Iosephs loue could not secure his brethren of remission those that know they haue deserued ill are wont to mis-interpret fauours and thinke they cannot be beloued All that while his goodnesse seemed but concealed and sleeping malice which they feared in their Fathers last sleepe would awake and bewray it selfe in reuenge Still therefore they plead the name of their Father though dead not daring to vse their owne Good meanings cannot bee more wronged then with suspition It grieues Ioseph to see their feare and to find they had not forgotten their owne sinne and to heare them so passionately craue that which they had Forgiue the trespasse of the seruants of thy Fathers God What a coniuration of pardon was this What wound could be either so deepe or so festred as this plaster could not cure They say not the sonnes of thy Father for they knew Iacob was dead and they had degenerated but the seruants of thy Fathers God How much stronger are the bonds of Religion then of Nature If Ioseph had been rancorous this deprecation had charmed him but now it resolues him into teares They are not so ready to acknowledge their old offence as he to protest his loue and if he chide them for any thing it is for that they thought they needed to intreat since they might know it could not stand with the fellow-seruant of their Fathers God to harbour maliciousnesse to purpose reuenge Am not I vnder God And fully to secure them hee turnes their eyes from themselues to the Decree of God from the action to the euent as one that would haue them thinke there was no cause to repent of that which proued so successefull Euen late confession findes forgiuenesse Ioseph had long agoe seene their sorrow neuer but now heard their humble acknowledgement Mercy stayes not for outward solemnities How much more shall that infinite goodnesse pardon our sinnes when hee findes the truth of our repentance Contemplations THE FOVRTH BOOKE The affliction of Israel Or The Aegyptian bondage The birth and breeding of Moses Moses called The plagues of Aegypt BY IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deane of WORCESTER LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE JAMES LORD HAY ALL GRACE AND HAPPINESSE Right Honorable ALL that J can say for my selfe is a desire of doing good which if it were as feruent in richer hearts the Church which now we see comely would then be glorious this honest ambition hath caried mee to neglect the feare of seeming prodigall of my little and while J see others Talents rusting in the earth hath drawne mee to traffique with mine in publike I hope no aduenture that euer I made of this kinde shall be equally gainfull to this my present labour wherein I take Gods owne Historie for the ground and worke vpon it by what Meditations my weaknesse can afford The diuinenesse of this subiect shall make more then amends for the manifold defects of my discourse although also the blame of an imperfection is so much the more when it lighteth vpon so high a choice This part which I offer to your Lordship shall shew you Pharaoh impotently enuious and cruell the Israelites of friends become slaues punished onely for prospering Moses in the Weedes in the Court in the Desart in the Hill of visions a Courtier in Aegypt a Shepheard in Midian an Ambassador from God a Leader of Gods people and when you see the prodigious varietie of the plagues of Aegypt you shall not know whether more to wonder at the miracles of Moses or Pharaohs obstinacle Finally you shall see the same Waues made both a wall and a gulfe in one houre the Aegyptians drowned where no Jsraelite was wet-shod and if these passages yeeld not abundance of profitable thoughts impute it not without pardon to the pouertie of my weake conceit which yet may perhaps occasion better vnto others Jn all humble submission J commend them what they are to your Lordships fauourable acceptation and your selfe with them to the gracious blessing of our God Your Lordships in all dutifull obseruance at command IOS HALL Contemplations THE FOVRTH BOOKE The affliction of Jsrael EGYPT was long an harbour to the Israelites now it proues a Iayle the Posteritie of Iacob finds too late what it was for their forefathers to sell Ioseph a slaue into Aegypt Those whom the Aegyptians honoured before as Lord now they contemne as drudges One Pharaoh aduances whom another labours to depresse Not seldome the same man changes copies but if fauours out-liue one age they proue decrepit and heartlesse It is a rare thing to find posterity heires of their fathers loue How should mens fauour be but like themselues variable and inconstant there is no certaintie but in the fauour of God in whom can be no change whose loue is intayled vpon a thousand generation Yet if the Israelites had been treacherous to Pharaoh if disobedient this great change of countenance had been iust now the onely offence of Israel is that he prospereth that which should be the motiue of their gratulation and friendship is the cause of their malice There is no more hatefull sight to a wicked man then the prosperitie of the conscionable None but the spirit of that true Harbinger of Christ can teach vs to say with contentment He must encrease but I must decrease And what if Israel be mighty and rich If there be warre they may ioyne with our enemies and get them out of the Land Behold they are afraid to part with those whom they are grieued to entertaine either staying or going is offence enough to those that seeke quarrels There were no warres and yet they say If there be warres The Israelites had neuer giuen cause of feare to reuolt and yet they say Lest they ioyne to our enemies to those enemies which we may haue So they make their certaine friends slaues for feare of vncertaine enemies Wickednesse is euer cowardly and full of vniust suspitions it makes a man feare where no feare is fly when none pursues him What difference there is betwixt Dauid and Pharaoh The faith of the one sayes I wil not be afraid for then thousand that should beset me The feare of the other saies Left if there be warre they ioyne with our enemies therefore should hee haue made much of the Israelites that they might be his his fauour might haue made them firme Why might they not as well draw their swords for him Weake and base minds euer incline to the worse and seeke safety rather in an impossibility of hurt then in the likelihood of iust
distinguish in the Sea but he cannot now either consider or feare it is his time to perish God makes him faire way and lets him run smoothly on till he be come to the midst of the Sea not one waue may rise vp against him to wet so much as the house of his horse Extraordinary fauours to wicked men are the forerunners of their ruine Now when God sees the Aegyptians too far to returne he finds time to strike them with their last terror they know not why but they would returne too late Those Chariots in which they trusted now faile them as hauing done seruice enough to carie them into perdition God pursues them and they cannot flye from him Wicked men make equall haste both to sin and from iudgement but they shall one day finde that it is not more easie to run into sin then impossible to run away from iudgement the sea will shew them that it regards the Rod of Moses not the Scepter of Pharaoh and now as glad to haue got the enemies of God at such an aduantage shuts her mouth vpon them and swallowes them vp in her waues and after shee hath made sport with them a while casts them vpon her sands for a spectacle of triumph to their aduersaries What a sight was this to the Israelites when they were now safe on the shore to see their enemies come floating after them vpon the billowes and to find among the carkasses vpon the sands their knowne oppressors which now they can tread vpon with insultation They did not cry more loud before then now they sing Not their faith but their sense teaches them now to magnifie that God after their deliuerance whom they hardly trusted for their deliuerance Contemplations VPON THE PRINCIPALL PASSAGES OF THE Holy Storie The second Volume IN FOVRE BOOKES By I.H. D.D. LONDON Printed for THO PAVIER MILES FLESHER and Iohn Haviland 1625. TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE CHARLES PRINCE OF GREAT BRITAINE Most excellent PRINCE ACcording to the true dutie of a seruant J entended all my Contemplations to your now-glorious Brother of sweet and sorrowfull memorie The first part whereof as it was the last Booke that euer was dedicated to that deare and immortall name of his so it was the last that was turned ouer by his gracious hand Now since it pleased the GOD of spirits to call him from these poore Contemplations of ours to the blessed Contemplation of himselfe to see him as Hee is to see as hee is seene to whom is this sequell of my labours due but to your Highnesse the heire of his Honor and Vertues Euery yeare of my short pilgrimage is like to adde something to this Worke which in regard of the subiect is scarce finite The whole doth not onely craue your Highnesses Patronage but promises to requite your Princely acceptation with many sacred examples and rules both for pietie and wisdome towards the decking vp of this flourishing spring of your Age in the hopes whereof not onely we liue but be that is dead liues still in you And if any piece of these endeuours come short of my desires J shall supply the rest with my prayers which shall neuer be wanting to the God of Princes that your happy proceedings may make glad the Church of God and your selfe in either World glorious Your Highnesses in all humble deuotion and faithfull obseruance IOS HALL Contemplations THE FIFTH BOOKE The Waters of Marah The Quailes and Manna The Rocke of Rephidim The Foyle of Amalek Or The hand of Moses lift vp The Law The Golden Calfe BY IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deane of WORCESTER LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE HENRY EARLE OF HVNTINGDON LORD HASTINGS BOTERAVX MOLINES MOILES HIS MAIESTIES LIEVTENANT IN THE COVNTY OF LEICESTER A BOVNTIFVLL FAVOVRER OF ALL GOOD LEARNING A NOBLE PRECEDENT OF VERTVE THE FIRST PATRONE OF MY POORE STVDIES J. H. DEDICATES THIS PIECE OF HIS LABORS AND WISHETH ALL HONOVR AND HAPPINESSE Contemplations THE FIFTH BOOKE The waters of Marah ISRAEL was not more loth to come to the Red Sea then to part from it How soone can God turne the horrour of any euill into pleasure One shore resounded with shriekes of feare the other with Timbrels and Dances and Songs of Deliuerance Euery maine affliction is our Red Sea which while it threats to swallow preserues vs At last our Songs shall be lowder then our cryes The Israelitish Dames whē they saw their danger thought they might haue left their Timbrels behinde them how vnprofitable a burden seemed those instruments of Musick yet now they liue to renue that forgotten Minstralsie and Dancing which their bondage had so long discontinued and well might those feet dance vpon the shore which had walked thorow the Sea The Land of Goshen was not so bountifull to them as these Waters That afforded them a seruile life This gaue them at once freedome victorie riches bestowing vpon them the remainder of that wealth which the Aegyptians had but lent It was a pleasure to see the floating carkases of their Aduersaries and euery day offers them new booties It is no maruell then if their hearts were tyed to these bankes If we finde but a little pleasure in our life wee are ready to dote vpon it Euery small contentment glues our affections to that we like And if here our imperfect delights hold vs so fast that we would not be loosed how forcible shall those infinite ioyes be aboue when our soules are once possessed of them Yet if the place had pleas'd them more it is no maruell they were willing to follow Moses that they durst follow him in the Wildernesse whom they followed through the Sea It is a great confirmation to any people when they haue seene the hand of God with their guide O Sauiour which hast vndertaken to cary me from the spirituall Aegypt to the Land of Promise How faithfull how powerfull haue I found thee How fearelesly should I trust thee how cheerefully should I follow thee through contempt pouerty death it selfe Master if it be thou bid vs come vnto thee Immediately before they had complained of too much water now they go three dayes without Thus God meant to punish their infidelitie with the defect of that whose abundance made them to distrust Before they saw all Water no Land now all dry and dustie Land and no Water Extremities are the best tryals of men As in bodies those that can beare sudden changes of heats and cold without complaint are the strongest So much as an euill touches vpon the meane so much help it yeelds towards patience Euery degree of sorrow is a preparation to the next but when we passe to extreames without the meane we want the benefit of recollection and must trust to our present strength To come from all things to nothing is not a descent but a downfall and it is a rare strength and constancy not to be maymed
lies not in the place yet choyce must be made of those places which may be most helpe to our deuotion Perhaps that he might be in the eye of Israel The presence and sight of the Leader giues heart to the people neither doth any thing more moue the multitude then example A publike person cannot hide himselfe in the Valley but yet it becomes him best to shew himselfe vpon the Hill The hand of Moses must be raised but not emptie neither is it his owne Rod that he holds but Gods In the first meeting of God with Moses the Rod was Moseses it is like for the vse of his trade now the proprietie is altered God hath so wrought by it that now he challenges it and Moses dare not call it his owne Those things which it pleases God to vse for his owne seruice are now changed in their condition The bread of the Sacrament was once the Bakers now it is Gods the water was once euery mans now it is the Lauer of Regeneration It is both vniust and vnsafe to hold those things common wherein God hath a peculiaritie At other times vpon occasion of the plagues and of the Quailes and of the Rocke he was commanded to take the Rod in his hand now he doth it vnbidden He doth it not now for miraculous operation but for incouragement For when the Israelites should cast vp their eyes to the Hill and see Moses and his Rod the man and the meanes that had wrought so powerfully for them they could not but take heart to themselues and thinke There is the man that deliuered vs from the Aegyptian Why not now from the Amalekite There is the Rod which turned waters to blood and brought varieties of plagues on Aegypt Why not now on Amalek Nothing can more hearten our faith then the view of the monuments of Gods fauour if euer we haue found any word or act of God cordiall to vs it is good to fetch it forth oft to the eye The renewing of our sense and remembrance makes euery gift of God perpetually beneficiall If Moses had receiued a command that Rod which fetcht water from the Rocke could as well haue fetcht the blood of the Amalekites out of their bodies God will not worke miracles alwayes neither must we expect them vnbidden Not as a Standard-bearer so much as a suppliant doth Moses lift vp his hand The gesture of the body should both expresse and further the piety of the soule This flesh of ours is not a good seruant vnlesse it helpe vs in the best offices The God of Spirits doth most respect the soule of our deuotion yet it is both vnmannerly and irreligious to be misgestured in our Prayers The carelesse and vncomely cariage of the body helpes both to signifie and make a prophane soule The hand and the Rod of Moses neuer moued in vaine Though the Rod did not strike Amalek as it had done the Rocke yet it smote Heauen and fetcht downe victorie And that the Israelites might see the hand of Moses had a greater stroke in the fight then all theirs The successe must rise and fall with it Amalek rose and Israel fell with his hand falling Amalek fell and Israel rises with his hand raised Oh the wondrous power of the prayers of faith All heauenly fauours are deriued to vs from this channell of grace To these are wee beholden for our peace preseruations and all the rich mercies of God which we enioy We could not want if we could aske Euery mans hand would not haue done this but the hand of a Moses A faithlesse man may as well hold his hand and tongue still hee may babble but prayes not hee prayes ineffectually and receiues not Onely the prayer of the Righteous auayleth much and onely the beleeuer is Righteous There can be no merit no recompence answerable to a good mans prayer for Heauen and the eare of God is open to him but the formall deuotions of an ignorant and faithlesse man are not worth that crust of bread which hee askes Yea it is presumption in himselfe how should it be beneficiall to others it prophanes the name of God in stead of adoring it But how iustly is the feruencie of the prayer added to the righteousnesse of the person When Moses hand slackned Amalek preuailed No Moses can haue his hand euer vp It is a title proper to God that his hands are stretched out still whether to mercy or vengeance Our infirmitie will not suffer any long intention either of bodie or minde Long prayers can hardly maintaine their vigour as in tall bodies the spirits are diffused The strongest hand will languish with long entending And when our deuotion tyres it is seene in the successe then straight our Amalek preuailes Spirituall wickednesses are mastered by vehement prayer and by heartlesnesse in prayer ouercome vs. Moses had two helpes A stone to sit on and an hand to raise his And his sitting and holpen hand is no whit lesse effectuall Euen in our prayers will God allow vs to respect our owne infirmities In cases of our necessity hee regards not the posture of body but the affections of the soule Doubtlesse Aaron and Hur did not onely raise their hands but their minds with his The more cords the easier draught Aaron was brother to Moses There cannot be a more brotherly office then to helpe one another in our prayers and to excite our mutuall deuotions No Christian may thinke it enough to pray alone Hee is no true Israelite that will not be ready to lift vp the weary hands of Gods Saints All Israel saw this or if they were so intent vpon the slaughter and spoyle that they obserued it not they might heare it after from Aaron and Hur yet this contents not God It must be written Many other miracles had God done before not one directly commanded to bee recorded The other were onely for the wonder this for the imitation of Gods people In things that must liue by report euerie tongue addes or detracts something The word once written is both inalterable and permanent As God is carefull to maintaine the glory of his miraculous victory so is Moses desirous to second him God by a booke and Moses by an Altar and a name God commands to enroule it in parchment Moses registers it in the stones of his Altar which he raises not onely for future memory but for present vse That hand which was weary of lifting vp straight offers a sacrifice of praise to God How well it becomes the iust to be thankfull Euen very nature teacheth vs men to abhorre ingratitude in small fauors How much lesse can that Fountaine of goodnesse abide to be laded at with vnthankfull hands O God we cannot but confesse our deliuerances where are our Altars where are our Sacrifices where is our Iehouanissi I doe not more wonder at thy power in preseruing vs then at thy mercy which is not weary of casting away fauours vpon the ingratefull
be brought to nothing and Atomes and dust is neerest to nothing that in stead of going before Israel it might passe thorow them so as the next day they might finde their god in their excrements To the iust shame of Israel when they should see their new god cannot defend himselfe from being either nothing or worse Who can but wonder to see a multitude of so many hundred thousands when Moses came running downe the Hill to turne their eyes from their god to him And on a sudden in stead of worshipping their Idoll to batter it in pieces in the very height of the noueltie In stead of building Altars and kindling fires to it to kindle an hotter fire then that wherewith it was melted to consume it In stead of dancing before it to abhorre and deface it in stead of singing to weepe before it There was neuer a more stiffe-necked people Yet I doe not heare any one man of them say He is but one man We are many how easily may we destroy him rather then hee our god If his brother durst not resist our motion in making it Why will we suffer him to dare resist the keeping of it It is our act and wee will maintaine it Here was none of this but an humble obeysance to the basest and bloodiest reuenge that Moses shall impose God hath set such an impression of Maiestie in the face of lawfull authoritie that wickednesse is confounded in it selfe to behold it If from hence visible powers were not more feared then the inuisible God the world would be ouer-runne with out-rage Sinne hath a guiltinesse in it selfe that when it is seasonably checked it puls in his head and seekes rather an hiding place then a fort The Idoll is not capable of a further reuenge It is not enough vnlesse the Idolaters smart The gold was good if the Israelites had not beene euill So great a sinne cannot be expiated without blood Behold that meeke spirit which in his plea with God would rather perish himselfe then Israel should perish armes the Leuites against their brethren and reioyces to see thousands of the Israelites bleed and blesses their executioners It was the mercy of Moses that made him cruell He had been cruell to all if some had not found him cruell They are mercilesse hands which are not sometimes imbrued in blood There is no lesse charitie then iustice in punishing sinners with death God delights no lesse in a killing mercy then in a pitifull iustice Some tender hearts would be ready to censure the rigour of Moses Might not Israel haue repented and liued Or if they must dye must their brethrens hand be vpon them Or if their throats must be cut by their brethren shall it be done in the very heat of their sinne But they must learne a difference betwixt pity and fondnesse mercy and vniustice Moses had an heart as soft as theirs but more hot as pitifull but wiser He was a good Physician and saw that Israel could not liue vnlesse he bled hee therefore le ts out this corrupt blood to saue the whole body There cannot bee a better sacrifice to God then the blood of Malefactors and this first sacrifice so pleased God in the hands of the Leuites that he would haue none but them sacrifice to him for euer The blood of the Idolatrous Israelites cleared that Tribe from the blood of the innocent Sichemites Contemplations THE SIXTH BOOKE The Vayle of Moses Nadab and Abihu Aaron and Miriam The Searchers of Canaan Corah's Conspiracie BY IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deaue of WORCESTER TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE THOMAS LORD VISCOVNT FENTON CAPTAINE OF THE ROYALL GVARD ONE OF HIS MAIESTIES MOST HONOVRABLE PRIVY COVNSELLORS ONE OF THE HAPPY RESCVERS OF THE DEARE LIFE OF OVR GRACIOVS SOVERAIGNE LORD A WORTHY PATTERNE OF ALL TRVE HONOR I. H. DEDICATES THIS PART OF HIS MEDITATIONS AND WISHETH ALL INCREASE OF GRACE AND HAPPINESSE Contemplations THE SIXTH BOOKE Of the Vaile of MOSES IT is a wonder that neither Moses nor any Israelite gathered vp the shiuers of the former Tables Euery sheard of that stone and euery letter of that writing had beene a Relike worth laying vp but he well saw how headlong the people were to Superstition and how vnsafe it were to feed that disposition in them The same zeale that burnt the Calfe to ashes concealed the ruines of this Monument Holy things besides their vse challenge no further respect The breaking of the Tables did as good as blot out all the Writings defaced left no vertue in the stone no reuerence to it If God had not beene friends with Israel he had not renewed his Law As the Israelites were wilfully blind if they did not see Gods anger in the Tables broken so could they not but hold it a good signe of grace that God gaue them his Testimonies There was nothing wherein Israel out-stripped all the rest of the world more then in this priuiledge the pledge of his Couenant the Law written with Gods owne hand Oh what a fauour then is it where God bestowes his Gospell vpon any Nation That was but a killing letter this is the power of God to saluation Neuer is God throughly displeased with any people where that continues For like as those which purposed loue when they fall off call for their tokens back againe So when God begins once perfectly to mislike the first thing he with-drawes is his Gospell Israel recouers this fauour but with an abatement Hew thee two Tables God made the first Tables The matter the forme was his now Moses must hew the next As God created the first man after his owne Image but that once defaced Adam begat Cain after his owne Or as the first Temple razed a second was built yet so far short that the Israelites wept at the sight of it The first workes of God are still the purest those that he secondarily works by vs decline in their perfection It was reason that though God had forgotten Israel they should still find they had sinned They might see the footsteps of displeasure in the differences of the Agent When God had told Moses before I will not goe before Israel but my Angell shall lead them Moses so noted the difference that he rested not till God himselfe vndertooke their conduct So might the Israelites haue noted some remainders of offence whiles in stead of that which his owne hand did formerly make hee saith now Heâ— thee And yet these second Tables are kept reuerently in the Arke when the other lay mouldred in shiuers vpon Sinai like as the repaired repaired Image of God in our Regeneration is preserued perfited and layd vp at last safe in Heauen whereas the first Image of our created innocence is quite defaced so the second Temple had the glory of Christs exhibition though meaner in frame The mercifull respects of God are not tyed to glorious out-sides or the inward worthinesse of things or persons He hath chosen the weake