tried the same meanes and failed God would haue Laban know that hee put a difference betwixt Iacob and him that as for fourteene yeeres hee had multiplied Iacobs charge of cattell to Laban so now for the last sixe yeeres hee would multiply Labans flocke to Iacob and if Laban had the more yet the better were Iacobs Euen in these outward things Gods children haue many times sensible tastes of his fauours aboue the wicked I know not whether Laban were a worse vncle or father or master he can like well Iacobs seruice not his wealth As the wicked haue no peace with God so the godly haue no peace with men for if they prosper not they are despised if they prosper they are enuyed This vncle whom his seruice had made his Father must now vpon his wealth be fled from as an enemie and like an enemy pursues him If Laban had meant to haue taken a peaceable leaue hee had neuer spent seuen daies iourny in following his innocent sonne Iacob knew his churlishnes and therefore resolued rather to be vnmanerly then iniuried well might hee thinke that hee whose oppression changed his wages so often in his stay would also abridge his wages in the parting now therefore hee wisely prefers his owne estate to Labans loue It is not good to regard too much the vniust discontentment of wordly men and to purchase vnprofitable fauour with too great losse Behold Laban follows Iacob with one troup Esau meets him with another both with hostile intentions both go on till the vtmost point of their execution both are preuented ere the execution God makes fools of the enemies of his Church hee lets them proceed that they may bee frustrate and when they are gone to the vtmost reach of their tether he puls them backe to their stake with shame Lo now Laban leaues Iacob with a kisse Esau meets him with a kisse Of the one he hath an oath tears of the other peace with both Who shall need to feare man that is in league with God But what a wonder is this Iacob receiued not so much hurt from all his enemies as from his best friend Not one of his haires perished by Laban or Esau yet he lost a ioynt by the Angell and was sent halting to his graue He that knows our strength yet will wrestle with vs for our exercise and loues our violence and importunity Oh happy losse of Iacob hee lost a ioynt and won a blessing It is a fauour to halt from God yet this fauour is seconded with a greater He is blessed because hee would rather halt then leaue ere hee was blessed If hee had left sooner hee had not halted but he had not prospered That man shall goe away sound but miserable that loues a limme more then a blessing Surely if Iacob had not wrestled with God he had beene foyled with euills How many are the troubles of the righteous Not long after Rachel the comfort of his life dyeth And when but in her trauell and in his trauell to his Father when hee had now before digested in his thoughts the ioy and gratulation of his aged father for so welcome a burden His children the staffe of his age wound his soule to the death Reuben proues incestuous Iuda adulterous Dinah rauished Simeon and Leui murderous Er and Onan striken dead Ioseph lost Simeon imprisoned Beniamin the death of his mother the Fathers right hand indangered himselfe driuen by famin in his old age to dye amongst the Aegyptians a people that held it abhomination to eat with him If that Angel with whom he stroue and who therefore stroue for him had not deliuered his soule out of all aduersitie he had beene supplanted with euils and had bene so farre from gaining the name of Israel that he had lost the name of Iacob now what son of Israell can hope for good daies when hee heares his Fathers were so euill It is enough for vs if when we are dead we can rest with him in the land of promise If the Angell of the couenant once blesse vs no payne no sorrowes can make vs miserable Dinah I Find but one only daughter of Iacob who must needs therfore be a great dearling to her father and shee so miscarries that shee causes her fathers griefe to bee more then his loue As her mother Leah so shee hath a fault in her eyes which was Curiosity Shee will needs see and be seene and whiles shee doth vainely see shee is seene lustfully It is not enough for vs to looke to our own thoughts except wee beware of the prouocations of others If we once wander out of the lists that God hath set vs in our callings there is nothing but danger Her virginity had bene safe if she had kept home or if Sechem had forced her in her mothers tent this losse of her virginity had bene without her sinne now shee is not innocent that gaue the occasion Her eies were guilty of this temptation Only to see is an insufficient warrant to draw vs into places of spirituall hazard If Sechem had seene her busie at home his loue had bene free from outrage now the lightnes of her presence gaue incouragement to his inordinate desires Immodesty of behauiour makes way to lust and giues life vnto wicked hopes yet Sechem bewraies a good nature euen in filthinesse Hee loues Dinah after his sinne and will needs marry her whom hee hath defiled Commonly lust ends in loathing Ammon abhors Thamar as much after his act as before hee loued her and beats her out of doores whom he was sicke to bring in But Sechem wold not let Dinah fare the worse for his sin And now he goes about to intertain her with honest loue whom the rage of his lust had dishonestly abused Her deflowring shall be no preiudice to her since her shame shall redound to none but him and hee will hide her dishonour with the name of an husband What could he now doe but sue to his Father to hers to her selfe to her brethren intreating that with humble submission which he might haue obtained by violence Those actions which are ill begun can hardly be salued vp with late satisfactions whereas good entrances giue strength vnto the proceedings and successe to the end The young mans father doth not onely consent but solicit and is ready to purchase a daughter either with substance or paine The two olde men would haue ended the matter peaceably but youth commonly vndertakes rashly and performes with passion The sonnes of Iacob thinke of nothing but reuenge and which is worst of all begin their cruelty with craft and hide their craft with religion A smiling malice is most deadly and hatred doth most ranckle the heart when it is kept in and dissembled We cannot giue our sister to an vncircumcised man heere was God in the mouth and Satan in the hart The bloodiest of al proiects haue euer wont to bee coloured with religion because the woorse any thing is
For Adam though in Paradise hee could not bee innocent yet was a good man out of Paradise his sinne and fall now made him circumspect and since hee saw that his act had bereaued them of that image of God which he once had for them hee could not but labour by all holy indeuours to repayre it in them That so his care might make a mends for his trespasse How plaine is it that euen good breeding cannot alter destiny That which is crooked can none make straight who would thinke that brethren and but two brethren should not loue each other Dispersed loue growes weake and fewnesse of obiects vseth to vnite affections If but two brothers bee left aliue of many they thinke that the loue of all the rest should suruiue in them and now the beames of their affection are so much the hoter because they reflect mutually in a right line vppon each other yet behold here are but two brothers in a world and one is the butcher of the other Who can wonder at dissentions amongst thousands of brethren when he sees so deadly opposition betwixt two the first roots of brotherhood who can hope to liue plausibly and securely amongst so many Cains when hee sees one Cain the death of one Abel The same diuell that set enmity betwixt man and god sets enmity betwixt man and man and yet God said I will put enmity betweene thy seed and her seed our hatred of the serpent and his seed is from God Their hatred of the holy seed is from the serpent Behold here at once in one person the seed of the woman and of the serpent Cains naturall parts are of the woman his vitious qualities of the serpent The woman gaue him to bee a brother the serpent to be a manslayer all vncharitablenesse all quarrels are of one author we cannot entertaine wrath and not giue place to the Diuell Certainely so deadly an act must needs bee deepely grounded What then was the occasion of this capitall malice Abels sacrifice is accepted what was this to Cain Cains is reiected what could Abel remedy this Oh enuie the corrasiue of all ill minds and the root of all desperate actions the same cause that moued Satan to tempt the first man to destroy himselfe and his posterity the same moues the second man to destroy the third It should haue beene Cains ioy to see his brother accepted It should haue bene his sorrow to see that himselfe had deserued a reiection his brothers example should haue excited and directed him Could Abel haue stayed Gods fire from descending Or shold he if he could reiect Gods acceptation and displease his maker to content a brother Was Cain euer the farther from a blessing because his brother obtained mercy How proud and foolish is malice which growes thus mad for no other cause but because God or Abel is not lesse good It hath beene an olde and happy danger to be holy Indifferent actions must bee carefull to auoide offence But I care not what diuell or what Cain bee angry that I doe good or receiue good There was neuer any nature without enuy Euery man is born a Cain hating that goodnes in another which hee neglected in himselfe There was neuer enuie that was not bloody for if it eat not anothers hart it will eat our owne but vnlesse it be restrained it will surely feed it selfe with the blood of others oft times in act alwaies in affection And that God which in good accepts the will for the deed condemns the will for the deed in euill If there be an euill heart there will bee an euill eye and if both these there will be an euill hand How earely did Martyrdome come into the world The first man that died died for religion who dare measure Gods loue by outward euents when hee sees wicked Cain standing ouer bleeding Abel whose sacrifice was first accepted and now himselfe is sacrificed Death was denounced to man as a curse yet behold it first lights vppon a Saint how soone was it altered by the mercy of that iust hand which inflicted it If death had beene euill and life good Cain had beene slaine and Abel had suruiued now that it begins with him that God loues O death where is thy sting Abel sayes nothing his blood cries Euery drop of innocent blood hath a tongue and is not onely vocall but importunate what a noise then did the blood of my Sauiour make in heauen who was himselfe the shepheard and the sacrifice The man that was offered and the God to whome it was offered The spirit that herd both saies it spake better things then the blood of Abel Abels blood called for reuenge his for mercy Abels pleaded his owne innocency his the satisfaction for all the beleeuing world Abels procured Cains punishment his freed all repentant souls from punishment better things indeed then the blood of Abel Better and therfore that which Abels blood said was good It is good that God should bee auenged of sinners Execution of iustice vpon offenders is no lesse good then rewards of goodnes No sooner doth Abels blood speake vnto God then God speaks to Cain There is no wicked man to whom God speakes not if not to his eare yet to his heart what speech was this Not an accusation but an inquiry yet such an enquiry as would infer an accusation God loues to haue a sinner accuse himselfe and therefore hath he set his deputy in the brest of man neither doth God loue this more then nature abhors it Cain answers stubbornly The very name of Abel wounds him no lesse then his hand had wounded Abel Consciences that are without remorse are not without horror wickednes makes men desperate the murderer is angry with God as of late for accepting his brothers oblation so now for listening to his blood And now he dares answer God with a question Am I my brothers keeper where he shold haue said am not I my brothers murderer Behold he scorneth to keep whom he feared not to kill Good duties are base and troublesome to wicked minds whiles euen violences of euill are pleasant Yet this miscreant which neither had grace to auoid his sinne nor to confesse it now that he is conuinced of sinne and cursed for it how he howleth how he exclaimeth Hee that cares not for the act of his sinne shall care for the smart of his punishment The damned are weary of their torments but in vaine How great a madnesse is it to complaine too late He that would not keepe his brother is cast out from the protection of God he that feared not to kill his brother feares now that whosoeuer meets him will kill him The troubled conscience proiecteth fearefull things and sin makes euen cruell men cowardly God saw it was too much fauour for him to dye he therfore wils that which Cain wils Cain would liue It is yeelded him but for a curse how oft doth God heare sinners in anger Hee shall
will go downe and see him ere I dye The sight of the eye is better then to walke in desires Good things plesure vs not in their being but in our inioying The height of all earthly contentment appeared in the meeting of these two whom their mutuall losse had more endeared to each other The intermission of comforts hath this aduantage that it sweetens our delight more in the returne then was abated in the forbearance God doth oft-times hide away our Ioseph for a time that wee may bee more ioyous and thankfull in his recouery This was the sincerest pleasure that euer Iacob had which therefore God reserued for his age And if the meeting of earthly friends be so vnspeakeably comfortable how happy shall we bee in the sight of the glorious face of God our heauenly Father of that our blessed redeemer whom we sold to death by our sins and which now after that noble Triumph hath all power giuen him in heauen and in earth Thus did Iacob reioyce when he was to go out of the land of promise to a forreine nation for Iosephs sake being glad that hee should loose his country for his sonne What shall our ioy bee who must out of this forraine 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 incombrances of this Egypt and full of al 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 misinterpret fauours and think they cannot be beloued All that while his goodnes 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 be more wronged then with suspicion 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 festered as this plaster could not cure They say not the sons 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 beene 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 he 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 succesfull Euen late confession findes forgiuenesse Ioseph had long agoe seene their sorrow neuer but now heard their humble acknowledgment Mercy stayes not for outward solemnities How much more shall that infinite goodnes pardon our sinnes when he finds the truth of our repentance FINIS Contemplations THE FOVRTH BOOKE The affliction of Israel Or The Aegiptian bondage The birth and breeding of Moses Moses called The plagues of Aegypt Imprinted at London by Melch. Bradwood for Samuel Macham and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Bull-head-1612 TO THE RIGHT Honourable IAMES Lord Hay All grace and happinesse RIGHT Honourable All that I can say for my selfe is a desire of dooing good which if it were as feruent in richer hearts that Church which now we see comely would then be glorious this honest ambition hath carried me to neglect the feare of seeming prodigall of my little and while I see others talents resting in the earth hath drawne me to traffick with mine in publique I hope no aduenture that euer I made of this kind shall bee equally gainfull to this my present labour wherein I take Gods owne history for the ground and worke vpon it by what meditations my weakenesse can afford The diuinenes 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 weeds in the court in the desert 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 variety of the plagues of Aegypt you shall not know whether more to wonder at the miracles of Moses or Pharaohs obstinacy Finally you shall see the same waues made both a wall a gulfe in one boure the Aegyptians drowned where no Israelite was wetshod and if these passages yeeld not abundance of profitable thoughts impute it not without pardon to the pouerty of my weake conceit which yet may perhaps occasion better vnto others In all humble submission I commend them what they are to your Lordships fauourable acceptation and your selfe with them to the gratious blessing of our God Your Lordships in all dutifull obseruance at command IOS HALL THE FOVRTH BOOKE The affliction of Israell AEgypt was long an harbour to the Israelites now it proues a Iayle the posteritye of Iacob findes too late what it was for their forefathers to sel Ioseph a slaue into Egypt Those whom the Egyptians honoured before as Lords they now contemne as drudges One Pharaoh aduances whom another labors to depresse Not seldome the same man changes copies but if fauors out-liue one age they proue decrepit and hartlesse It is a rare thing to finde posterity heires of their fathers loue How should mens fauours bee but like themselues variable and inconstant there is no certainety but in the fauour of God in whom can bee no change whose loue is entayled vpon a thousand generations Yet if the Israelites had beene trecherous to Pharaoh if disobedient this great change of countenance had beene iust now the onely offence of Israel is that he prospereth That which should bee 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 prosperity of the conscionable None but the spirit of that true harbinger of Christ can teach vs to say with contentment Hee must increase but I must decrease And what if Israel bee mightie and rich