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A28628
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Joseph's entertainment of his bretheren in a sermon preached at the Herefordshire feast at St Mary-le-Bow, June the 25th. 1684 / by William Bolton.
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Bolton, William, 1650 or 51-1691.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing B3536; ESTC R4320
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12,180
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25
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to be offered to Jacob whilst our disconsolate Sovereign laments his Father as murthered by the worst of Villains and that under a Mock-shew of Justice Joseph had but one brother Benjamin to be concerned for our Prince had two the one indeed a Companion of his Exile and miseries but young Glocester exposed to the barbarity of Hypocritical Rakehells whose very Mercy did threaten more than others Cruelty for if they should for their own ends as the old King feared have forced the Crown upon his Head he knew 't would be like the Royal slaves amongst the Persians to sacrifice him afterwards Besides our King had many Loyal Subjects continually harass'd with Plunders Sequestrations and such-like tendernesses of the pretended Saints nay even with Death it self which could not but grieve his Princely heart Farther there was this difference between the brethren of the one and the Rebels against the other The one sold Joseph that they might not be branded as Murtherers of their brother The other proffer'd one thousand pound for his Person that they might without doubt doubly dye their accursed hands with the bloud of the Son as well as the Father And thus much as to their Sufferings Now let us view them in their glory and power and see how the one treated his offending but penitent brethren the other His then I wish to God they may not still prove his Rebellious Subjects And the last Plot doth more than justifie such fears But let us view them in their Glory The Scripture acquaints us that Joseph when he was thirty years old stood before Pharaoh and received that Royal Commission of governing the land of Egypt and none of you are ignorant at what age God bless'd these Kingdoms with the happy return of our present Sovereign Both of them came to their power the one to a deputed the other to his own by inheritance by the very same means It was God and God alone who raised Joseph and the same God who restored Charles the Second without making use of the boasted instruments either of Canaanitish Brethren or English Presbyterians Joseph therefore as soon as he had made himself known to his brethren chap. 45. vers 8. for fear that they should plead that their selling him brought him into Egypt and consequently to his promotion therein tells them plainly to their faces It was not ye that sent me hither but God and he hath made me a Father to Pharaoh and a Ruler throughout all the land of Egypt And in my opinion Redeunte Carolo was not onely an ingenious and witty but a pious and solid argument that one made use of to prove the existence of God for nothing less than an Almighty Arm could have so effected it Suppose them both in their full lustre and dignity though we know who they were those great Pretenders and but Pretenders to the King's Restauration who would have limited our Soveregn's just Power and like Philip the second King of Spain to the Duke of Alva would have our King govern as the other complained that he was sent to conquer Kingdoms with fetters and shackles on him Behold them both I say with their Sceptres in their hands the one governing Egypt under Pharaoh the other of his own right giving Laws to his English and other Subjects The Scripture tells us that Joseph after two years and the imprisonment of one of his Persecutours for I cannot give them any other name till his Clemency restored them to that affectionate title which by their cruelty they had forfeited I say after he had imprisoned one of them for a long space after he had often known their sorrow as to what they had formerly done to him instead of punishing those who had been so unnatural and barbarous to him he kindly invites them to dine with him and as in my Text courteously entertains them and which too was onely an earnest of his future favours for soon after with tears of joy he discovered himself unto them and laying aside the Robes of Majesty embraced them with the tenderness of a brother and gave them the richest part of Egypt even the land of Goshen to inhabit and dwell therein But still they were his brothers nay his elder brothers too whom Joseph thus forgave and obliged And did our King treat his Rebellious Subjects with less pity and compassion Some few excepted of those impious Regicides who had the Impudence to sit in pretended Justice upon and sentence to death the Sacred Person of his Royal Father Those few excepted I say for example sake whom neither his own Piety nor the cries of his Martyred Father's bloud nor the just Resentments of his then Loyal Parliament would suffer to live any longer With what mercy did he receive all the rest So far was he from punishing that he seemed more concerned for them than they for themselves How impatient was he till all his Rebellious Subjects might know themselves safe and secure witness his hastning and urging forwards his Gracious Act of Indemnity Wherein he excluded no cursing Shimei's or other Traitours of a larger size but gave a general pardon to all as if like David after the quelling of Absalon 's Rebellion 2 Sam. 19.22 he likewise were resolved to say to any repining sons of Zeruiah Shall there any man be put to death Know I not that I am this day King over Great Britain and Ireland And if his Justice hath as of late seized upon some incorrigible Traitours Is it not because all kinder methods of his mercy were lost upon them and they became doubly guilty of ingratitude as well as Treason But some may say that Joseph never punished his offending brethren afterwards I shall easily grant it but then it is as true that his brethren were so far from reiterating their iniquities that chap. 50. vers 17. As if they had not given testimonies enough before of their Repentance after 17 years you find them renewing it praying him to forgive them their trespasses against him But more than 20 years are past since our King's Act of Oblivion without any penitent Applications hitherto instead thereof we have heard of repeated Conspiracies and of late intended Insurrections and Massacres of the King 's Loyal Subjects of Blunderbusses to take away his Life with his Royal Brothers by whose sole Grace they hold their own And now Beloved one would think that these Examples of Joseph and our present Sovereign might prevail with any to lay aside Anger and to pardon their Enemies few ever receiving such wrongs and I wish to God I could not say few ever so pardoning But if this be not of force enough let me intreat those haughty spirits to meditate upon the Lord of Glory descending from Heaven and becoming a servant for our sakes and after 33 or 34 years converse upon Earth submitting himself to the shamefull and painfull death of the Cross whereon he received all the affronts and sharp usage wherewith malicious
yet his authority was greater He managed all affairs of State he had the power of Life and Death of making War and Peace in a word he had the whole sway of Government devolved upon him The authority of such Regents as Joseph was constituted in this Chapter was of that figure and estimation in the world both then and afterwards that they were many times mistaken for the Kings themselves by people of other Nations Joseph's brethren I am sure took him for such witness those words of theirs to their Father chap. 42. vers 30. The man who is the Lord of the Land and again the Lord of the Countrey Nay the Egyptian Historiographers inserted several of these Regents amongst the Kings themselves otherwise their Catalogue must be very imperfect and never to be reconciled And such was the Soldans power afterwards in Egypt under the Caliphs such the Masters of the Palace under the old Kings of France and such the Grand Viziers perhaps at this time in the Turkish Dominions Such so great in Authority as well as Piety and Wisedom as the Scripture informs us was the person who took and sent Messes unto his brethren Which brings me to my second Particular II. The Reason why Joseph entertained them at a Feast or Banquet Ten of his brethren had been with him before to buy Corn to whom he then seemed rough and severe either to make them repent of their former usage towards him or fearing that they might have been as cruel to Benjamin his onely Brother by the same Mother as before to him he charged them therefore as Spies secured one of them in bonds till the rest brought Benjamin with them into Egypt Let but him once appear the scene is altered and all the Clouds of Joseph's seeming indignation are gone and vanished and they might even then before he discovered himself unto them have read the kindness of a brother As soon as they come to Court Joseph immediately commands Kill and slay for these men shall dine with me And now Joseph's brethren may lay aside all fear this following banquet to which they are invited gives them more than hopes both of their own safety and the Prince's favour Simeon is released and all of them from suspected spies find themselves graced with dining with the Lord of the Countrey A Banquet is thought by Joseph to be the best way of receiving them both as their Brother and their Lord They had enough paid that adoration and obedience to him of which he had formerly dreamed and which had caused their malice against him he had with joy often understood their Repentance as to what they had formerly done to him he views his brother Benjamin grown to mans estate whom he had left in Canaan a little child and can scarcely forbear embracing him and discovering by his tenderness who he was he is satisfied that his Father is well he can therefore now no longer treat them as theirs and the Egyptians Lord but thinks it high time to consult his brotherly affections too Which to effect he orders that they should dine with him and this was the most ready and natural means that Joseph could make use of or indeed his brethren expect had they then known how nearly he was related to them And therefore in the book of Esther Haman in my opinion urged very well though the Event through his demerits proved otherwise that Ahasuerus his King did design him favour when he admitted him of all his Courtiers to dine with him Eating and drinking together ever was a token of friendship amongst all people Insomuch that I read of the Romans afterwards that they had their Annual Charistia like to our Countrey feasts at this time when kinfolk and relations met together to confirm saith my Authour their friendship one with another and reconcile all different parties who had lived in any variance before Fansie therefore Beloved the twelve brethren sate down at dinner Joseph indeed as a Prince served at a Table by himself as it is before my Text but as a brother too he admits them to dine in the same room near unto him which leads me to my other particular viz. III. The manner how he entertained them And he took and sent Messes unto them from before him and they drank and were merry with him I shall not as some have done upon the words lay down any Critical questions as whether it was alway a custome for Princes to sit alone at Table by themselves by way of State and Grandeur or whether sitting as here in Egypt or lying along as amongst the Romans and the Jews from them in our Saviour's time bore the most ancient date or whether it hath been a practice for Princes to send dishes from their own Table to their Favourites as is reported of Cyrus amongst the Persians Agesilaus amongst the Grecians and several of the Roman Emperours or why the Egyptians as in the Context sate at one Table by themselves and the Hebrews at another by themselves Neither farther shall I enquire what the Messes were which Joseph sent to his brethren taking it for granted that they were rich and sumptuous such as might set forth his magnificence as well as kindness neither lastly shall I ask why Benjamin had five times so much as the rest as you read in my Text points indeed incident enough to my Theme but wholly averse to my design which is not to nauseate you with intricate questions a trouble both to the Commentators themselves and their Readers too But I must not omit the giving you the genuine signification of the last words of the Text viz. They drank and were merry At the first view thereof the Debauchees of our as well as of Saint Austin's age might hug themselves with having Joseph a Pious and Wise man yet a Patron of their excess and drunkenness Let therefore the same Father's answer serve the men of our as well as his time The word in the Hebrew saith he signifies to drink plentifully or cheerfully by way of refreshment onely and it is applied even to inanimate Creatures Thus Psal 65. v. 9. Inebriasti terram thou hast refreshed or watered the Earth which being there acknowledged as a gift of God cannot be taken in a bad sense If this will not satisfie let them reade the 2d Chapter of St. John where they will find the same word with the Septuagint in my Text and upon the Occasion of a Feast too which Feast the blessed Jesus did not onely grace with his own presence but honoured it also with the first miracle he wrought and as after his Resurrection he made himself known to his Disciples by breaking of bread so here at the Marriage of Cana in Galilee he manifested himself by turning water into wine as if thereby he designed not onely to supply their present necessity but remove such scruples as men of more niceness than piety might afterwards raise which brings me to my fourth