Subjects But these Flies were so troublesome and furious and they fed with so much eagerness on Pharaoh Aben. Sir and the Egyptians that the Hebrews made a Proverb of them calling all those who lived in the World on blood and slaughter The Flies of Egypt They entred saith Philo even into their Noses into their Eyes into their Mouths and it seemed as if Hell had vomited them forth as so many Devils Nevertheless Digitus Dei hic est Exod. 8. v. 19. Feceruntque similiter malefici incantationibus suis ut educerent sciniphes non potuerunt Exod. 8. v. 18. it was an effect of the right hand of the Omnipotent and even in the sight of the Magicians of Egypt It was the Finger of God which had created them All the effects also of their magick could not produce the like nor shoot such Arrows and Darts as Heaven did at Pharach O God! How insensible then is this King and must this Army increase to heighten his disaster This was but the third Plague which I would fold up under the same title with the fourth The fourth Plague not knowing how to finde tearms or names peculiar enough and which may clearly distinguish the one from the other It is sufficient to know that God first assaulted Pharaoh by Rivers of Blood Secondly With Frogs thirdly and fourthly with Armies of Flies But the first which appeared were as some have believed of a particular Species and of which none like them had been ever seen till that time Albertus Magnus 〈◊〉 lib. 16. de animalibus It a describit sciniphes Albertus the Great affirms That these kinde of Creatures had Wings and Heads like Flies and Bodies like little Worms with a sting in their mouths which they darted like a Javelin chiefly into the softest and the most humid parts of the Nose to draw and suck thence the most subtile and pure Spirits of the Head Whatever may be said thereof surely these were Flies of a miraculous kinde which as Philo and Origen say were most offensive and cruel yet their stings did not pierce deep enough into the heart of Pharaoh but it was further requisit to assail him with new Battalians to see whether he would yield It is true That God might have raised Bears Leopards and Panthers against him as well as Flies and Frogs But it is for men to require great forces to supply their own weakness whereas he that can do all of himself hath need of nothing and the most vile and meanest Creatures in the World are able to do all things with him Pharaoh having again then refused to permit the people of Israel to depart Induratumque est cor Pharaonis non audivit eos sicut praeceper at Dominus Exod. 8. v. 19. Ecce ego immittam in te omne genus muscarum Exod. 8. v. 21. Faciamque mirabilem in die illa terram Gessen in qua populas meu◠est ut non sint ibi muscae Exod. 8. v. 22. Vocavitque Pharao Moisen Aaren ait eis Ite sacrificate Deo vestro in terra hac Exod. 8. v. 25. Et ait Moises non potest ita fieri Abominationes enim Aegyptiorum immolarimus Domino Ded nostro Quod si mactaverimus ea quae colunt Aegyptii coram eis lapidibus nos obruent Exod. 8. v. 26. God besieged him the fourth time with all sorts of Flies so that Egypt was full of them except the Land of Gessen where those Hebrews lived who were exempted by a particular privilege from God who would distinguish his people from the Egyptians and evidence unto them both that their good and bad estate proceeded from him Whereupon Pharaoh commanded Aaron and Moses to come before him and permitted them to Sacrifice upon his Territories That they might appease the wrath of him who so prodigiously afflicted him and by such admirable chastisements but they answered him That they could not accept of this offer by reason this were to expose the Hebrews to the hazard of their lives and to be stoned by the Egyptians who abhorred the Sacrifices of Beasts which were nevertheless the Victims whereof the people of Israel ordinarily made use Nevertheless the fury of these little Soldiers which wasted Egypt without relaxation Dixitque Pharao ego dimitiam vos ut sacrificetis Domino Deo vestro in deserto Exod 8. v. 28. Et ait Moises Egressus à te orabo Dominum recedet musca à Pharaone à servis suis Verumtamen nols ultra sullere utnon dimittas populum sacrificare Domino Exod. 8. v. 29. Et ingravatum est cor Pharaonis ita ut nec hac quidem vice dimitteret populum Exod. 8. v. 32. and chiefly Pharaoh seeing himself assaulted and assassinated by them on all sides was at last inforced to give way to Moses going into the Wilderness there to pay the duties of his Religion and earnestly to invoke the goodness of God on his behalf To which Moses consented promising him that this Cloud of Enemies which persecuted him should be quickly dispersed upon condition notwithstanding he would no more deceive him and retain his people But the truce which followed and the favor which was shewn by the Prayers of Moses was no other than a new occasion this detestable King took to abuse the Patience of God CHAP. XII The Plague and Ulcers THe Plague is a fatal poyson The fift Plague and pernicious to all Nature which is ingendred in the Body by the disorder of Humors and by the mixture of the Air with certain putrified and infected Atoms which we draw in and swallow in breathing and so go directly to the Heart which is the Fountain of life and as the Hearth on which the natural heat is nourished which this poyson extinguisheth and consumes Whence I conclude Marciline Ficinus in Epidem with one of the most learned Physicians and most subtile Philosophers which hath ever been That the particular causes of this disease are commonly either the Defections of the Planets and especially of the Sun and Moon or their Conjunctions as of Saturn and Mars or the Malignant Impressions of Comets and certain Meteors which pervert the qualities of the Air and which by the sequel of some over hot and moist Winds or else by immoderate Rains or from some other effects of which they are the Origin raise Seeds of Putrifaction and horrid Vapors which impoyson the Elements and all other Bodies into which they insinuate themselves Moreover this Contagion may grow from too violent and too immoderate excesses in sleep or watchings in repose or exercise feasting or abstinence but chiefly from disorder which begets in the Humors of the Body the Passions of the Minde amongst which Love is a Wilde-fire and Brand of Hell which inkindles a thousand Inflammations a thousand Coals and a thousand Plagues In fine Particular causes of the Plague There are many particular causes of the Plague and
ego dabo voâ—is omnia bona Aegypti ut comedatis medullam terrae Gen. 45. v. 18. Praecipe etiam ut tollent plaustra terra Aegypti ad subvectiâ—nem parvulorum suorum accongugum Gen. 45. v. 19. Singulis quoque proferri iussit binas stolas Benjamin vero dedit trecentâ—s argenteos cum quinque stolis optimis Gen. 45. v. 22. and conceal their malice his intention is not to confound but rather to incourage them Neverthelesse what ever he did the whole Court knew immediatly that his Brethren were come The very noise of it flew even to the Eares of Pharao who together with all the Servants of his house expresseth an unspeakable joy But to the end this joy might be universall his pleasure was that Joseph should command his Brethren to return into Canaan and bring unto him their Father with his whole Family that they may live at their ease in the best part of Egypt Now to the end this might be done with the most conveniency he ordained Chariots to be made ready for them and horses provided for their wives Children and for the most commodious transportation of all the Moveables of their Family Joseph forgot nothing which Pharao gave him in Charge When they were even ready to depart he commanded that two sutes of apparell should be brought for every one and over and above five hansome garments for Benjamin Tantumdem pecuniae vestium mittens patri suo Gen. 45. v. 23 Dimisit ergo fratres suos proficiscentibus ait Ne irascamini in via Gen. 45. v. 24 with three hundred peeces of Silver without omiting Jacob to whom he sent the like present After this he sent them back chiefly recommending unto them Peace and Love O God! what pleasing departure what amiable Sepuration when they leave Joseph to return unto Jacob. Ah! how delicious is it to meet with the Heart of a Brother in the armes of a judge And to goe directly from a brother unto a Father to reunite the Father unto his Son and to live in so well-united and holy a community O my Joseph An amiable relation of Joseph to Jesus my Jesus and my Saviour discover unto mee that face so full of Majesty and those delicious Looks which make the Paradise and felicity of Angels Ah! my Jesus since Joseph was your jmage treat me as he treated his Brethren and appear not unto mee as an incensed judge who contrives the sentence of my death but as a well-beloved Brother I confesse that I have betraid you that I have sold you and that I sought to deprive you of life But you are my Brother my Joseph and my Saviour O my Jesus pardon me Alas I am ravished at the sight of your Grandeurs and of the glory which invirons you I should not hope for the happiness to see your Tomb changed into a Throne your Crosse serving as an Instrument to raise unto you a Trophy of honour I did not expect to see you a Soveraign in the Egypt of the World But behold me now a Captive and Criminall at your feet Behold me wholly confounded and trembling O my Jesus take pitty then on me and say onely that it is you that are my Jesus and my Brother afterwards I will goe from you unto your Father and mine and then I will come with him before you to live forever with him and you CHAP. IX Jacob's going down into Egypt and the honourable entertainment he there received from Pharaoh THere are few Palaces and Houses like that of this inchanted Iland which Fables describe where the courses of the Planets are alwaies Regular where the Air is free from Clouds Fire from Smoak the Ocean from Tempests and the Earth from Concussions The Felicity of this World is a great Clock raised upon many Wheels and a body form'd of divers members where there is alwaies some diforder Love hatred aversions envy hope defires Felicity subject to alteration terrors shame choler jealousies despites and rage joyn with the Soul and Body with Parents and Friends with place and seasons with Elements and all naturall beings to keep a poor man alwaies floating and alwaies wavering like a Reed or as a Bark which is in the midst of the Sea at the mercy of winds and storms Above all it is a common saying saith Pythagoras that grief and pleasures make the fairest and most deformed faces in the world These two Passions are on the Earth what the Sun and Moon are in the Heavens They cause day and night Spring and Winter but we have more frequently Snows than Dewes And most Men seem to be born under a frightfull Climate where the night lasts three and twenty hours and where the Sun very seldome appears Besides it is often doubtfull whether it be the Sun or Moon we behold We are so accustomed to darkness as we know not whether we take the twylight of the evening for the Aurora Blindness of most men and day for night Sorrows and afflictions cast so many clouds over our mind as the eyes are dazeled and the first draughts of pleasure which appear to us are in appearance but the Idea of some Dream and a shadowed light in the depth of the night Jacob never believed he should ever see Joseph again Incredulous Love and after a night of three and Twenty years he had surely no ground to hope for the return of the Sun his eyes and spirit were so well acquainted with the rigours of Death that he no longer minded the sweets of life In fine having in a manner made him dye so often he did not expect they would make him revive in restoring to him his Joseph who was the life of his heart and the sight of his eyes Nevertheless Et nunciaverunt ei dicentes filius tuus vivit ipse dominatur in omni terra Aegypti Quo audito Jacob quasi de gravi somno evigilans tamâ—n non credebat eis Gen. 45. v. 26. Illi è contra referebant omnem ordinem rei Cumque vidisset plaustra unite sa qâ—ae misâ—rat revivil spiritus ejus Gen. 45. v. 27. Et ait Sufficit mihi si adhuc Joseph filius meus vivit vadam videbo illum ante quam morior Gen. 45. v. 28. his Children return out of Egypt and assure him that Joseph is alive and that he is very powerfull in the Land of Pharaoh Jacob could not believe it and as a man who suddenly awaked after a long sleep he took all that was said to him for the Image of a Dream In fine when he perceived that they constantly persisted in relating orderly to him all that had passed and on the other side seeing all the Baggage they had brought he began to come unto himself and as if this happy news had restored him his Speech and life he began to cry out It satisfieth me that Joseph is living Ah! I will goe unto him and at least see him once more
affirmed to be necessary for the good of the State Afterwards addressing himself unto Joseph with paternall tenderness he said unto him Joseph I will seek no further for a Man to share with me in the cares of my Empire Heaven hath ordained you for it and I cannot oppose it The assurance I have that this election is very good and prudent is the goodness and wisdom I know in you take then the absolute power over my whole House Govern my Empire and make use of my Authority Then Pharao took a Ring from his own Finger Tulitque annulum de manu sua dedit eum in manuejus vestivitque eum stola byssina collo torquem auream circumposuit Gen. 41. v. 42. and put it on Josephs Commanding immediatly that he should be Cloathed in a Silken Garment and that a Chain of Gold should be brought him which he with his own Hand put about his Neck Behold the first Favours of Pharao and the first Splendors of the Divine Providence which at last dissipate the Cloud and Darkness in which Joseph was inclosed his Chains are those rich Collers given by the King his Manicles are his Rings and a Robe of fine Linnen in an instant wipes away all the disasters of his former Life But this is not yet all he must be known and Egypt must take notice that he is the Governour of it Joseph ascend this Triumphant Chariot which is prepared for you Et praepositum esse scirent universae terrae Egypti Gen. 41. v. 43. Fecitque eum ascendere super currum suum Gen. 41. v. 43. It is Pharao who commands it It is Heaven that ordains it It is God that guides you Kings are Gods Ecchos God speaks by their Mouths and whoever disobeys Kings is refractory to his Divine commands Joseph then acteth what God injoyns and it is God who is ready to be his guide through all the Lands of Pharao He is led already through the Streets with pomp and triumph worthy of a King Clamante praecome ut omnes coram eo genuflecterent The Herauld who marcheth before him trys out with a loud voice let every one bow their Knees Pharao in the presence of the people consecrates these honours by his approbation Vertique nomen ejus vocavit eum linguâ Egyptiaca Salvatorem mundi Gen. 41. v. 45. Afterwards he confirms unto Joseph the generall power he gave him over all Egypt to which he added a more magnificent and glorious name than he had before for instead of Joseph he gave him the name of the Saviour of Egypt as a title which could not be due but unto God or to a King In fine Deditque illi uxorem Aseneth filiam Putipharis Sacerdotu Heliopâ—leos Gen. 41. v. 45. V. Borcard de terrae sancta S. Hieron Heb. to fasten Joseph more strongly to himself and Egypt besides the Egyptian name Pharao imposed on him he resolved to Marry him unto Aseneth the Daughter of Putiphar high Priest and Prince of Heliopolis that is to say the City of the Sun which was in Egypt Joseph then was but thirty years old and it was in this flower of his age Triginta autem annorumerat quando stetit in conspectu Regis Pharaonis circuivit omnem regionem Aegypti Gen. 41. v. 46. in which the Body and Soul use to be most vigorous he began to visit the territories of his Government This new born Morning went immediatly every where casting rayes of Joy Hope Peace Plenty and Charity It was a golden Age which began to appear Tantaque suit abundantia tritici ut arenae maris coaequaretur copia mensuram excederat Gen. 41. v. 49. and followed his steps Never were seen so many blessings on the Earth as then for the grains of Wheat gathered in the space of seaven years were more in number than the Sands which are seen on the shoars of the Sea Six years were already past in these publick felicities when Joseph had two Children Nati sunt antem Joseph filii duâ— Gen. 41. v. 50. Vocavitque nomen primogeniti Manasfes c. the Eldest was called Manasses to testifie the graces God had powred upon Joseph who after so many troubles and afflictions had at length forgotten his Fathers House and all the pains he had endured from the very hour he departed thence The second was called Ephraim Nomen quoque secundi appellavit Ephraim c. Gen. 41. v. 52 in acknowledgement of the Blessings Joseph had received from God after so many abandonments of Creatures and after so many miseries and incommodities out of which he was at last delivered Igitur transactis septem ubertatis annis qui suerunt in Aegypto Gen. 41. v. 53. Coeperunt ventre septem anni inâ—piae c. Gen 41. v. 54 Qua esuriente clamavit ad Pharaonem c. Gen. 41. v. 55. The term of seven years beginning then to approach the Earth which had been employed in generall and continuall productions had no sooner seen this moment in which she was constrained to shut up her bosome but she presently became barren so that in a short time after Egypt which had not foreseen this evill was inforced to cry out Famine and to have recourse unto Pharaoh But Pharaoh for his part sent the people to Joseph who during the time of his prosperity had done like Bees and those Birds indued with fore-sight which during the Summer store up food for the Winter Behold a Draught of the World The Image of the world in which the blind Men and Sages of Egypt have no eyes but for the time present They swim in Rivers of Gold and Silver they sail in Barks of Pearls their Oars are the arms and wings of Fortune Favour is their Mast all their Cordages are of Silk and their sailes of rich Sattin which have alwayes the wind in Poop But notwithstanding this stately Pomp and this favourable Lot they will perish with hunger if their Navigation be long and if good provision be not made by the Pilot that conducts them Suppose men walk upon Roses suppose their drink be Nectar suppose all the Stars be propitious and that the Harvest be never so fair yet had not some fore-seeing Spirit taken the Sickle in hand had he not gathered up these goods and had he not Vessels to receive this dew the Ayr would dry up its sources night would come and the fields would be but like a desart where men must even dye with hunger thirst and misery But some would peradventure ask what expedient can be found to avert all these dangers First it is certain that God for his part will never fail to provide all necessaries and having created Man he is as it were oblig'd to his conservation Secondly the Planets have their regular courses and maugre all their Defections Ascendents Retrogradations Conjunctions Separations and Elevations they are alwaies constant in working our good and
missus sum qui secit me quasi patrem Pharaonis Dominum universae domus ejus ac principem in omni terra Egypti Gen. 45. v. 8. It is God alone who hath conducted me unto this place and who after all my misfortunes hath raised me on the Throne of Pharaoh to be the chief Ruler of his Dominions and to provide for the necessities of his people in Conjunctures of time and disasters which desolate the whole Land I refer my self unto your selves who are Eye witnesses thereof and you know at your own cost what hath passed You see that I have the absolute Command in Egypt and that Pharaoh though elder than my self doth me the honour to call me his father The name of Saviour which I bear is not a bare Title but the effects sufficiently demonstrate that Heaven hath chosen me to preserve the lines of an infinite number of people whom Famine would have destroyed It is not out of any Spirit of vain glory I open unto you all these Verities But onely to the end you may know that it is GOD alone who hath broken my Chains and who amidst all the disasters of a cruell servitude hath led me even unto Regality I adore all the effects of his amiable Providence and I can onely accuse you as the Instruments and Executioners of his Divine Decrees Do not then apprehend any thing but rejoyce that you have been the Instruments of God in so important a matter For my part I am confounded seeing the triumph of my weakness and the Haven where after so many Tempests I am arrived I look upon you as the Winds and Oares whereof God as a wise Pilot made use to convey me even in the midst of Rocks and amongst so many waves unto the Throne of Egypt Well then my most dear Brethren it is time to Convert your fears and Sorrows into Congratulations and applauses The winds are now appeased the storm is layd Festinate ascendite ad patrem mâ—um dicetis ei haec mandat filius tuus Joseph Deus fecit me Dominum universae terrae Aegypti Descende ad me ne morieris Gen. 45. v. 9. Adhuc enim quinque anni residue sunt famis Gen. 45.11 and the Sun of Jacob is risen in Egypt Take a journey then I beseech you to visit my Father and inform him that Joseph is found that you are sent from him that you have both seen and spoken with him and that he sent you to bring him least some ill might happen to him and that Death surprise him as well in respect of his old age as by reason of the publick miseries which will still endure for the space of five years After this Commission Osculatusque est Joseph omnes fratres sues ploravit super singules Gen. 45. v. 15 Joseph having no other motive which might oblige him to conceal the tenderness of his affections his Eyes were inforced to render that tribute unto Love which without violence they could not restrain Lightnings are too hot to remain inclosed in the Clouds and Clouds are too cold to endure the rayes of the Sun without being melted and dissipated Now the heart of Joseph being like a Thunder bolt wrapt up in Clowds What wonder then if this Thunder break forth and if all the Forces of his heart which were weaker than the Clouds dissolved into Tears in the presence of this Sun Thus was Joseph constrained to shed tears enough upon his Brethren Cumque ampiexatus recidisset in collum Benjamin flevit Gen. 45. v. 14. to estate the remnants of their terrors but in the first place he took Benjamin into his arms and holding him close to his bosome Delicious tears he kissed him shedding tears on his mouth which came from the bottome of his heart and he left him not but to kiss the rest of his Brethren and to witness to them by his embraces and tears the force and tenderness of his affection which was not onely placed on an Innocent but also upon Offenders Alas Fair Spectacle what spectacle of Love what Theater of Passions what kisses what embraces what tears O God! what excess of goodness in Joseph who having been persecuted by his Brethren even to death will take no other revenge of the injury he received than by his Silence by his Tears by his Sighes by his Kisses and by all sorts of benefits Where are then all those pitiless hearts Deadly Vengeances where are those mortall vengeances where those tyrants who know not what it is to pardon when once they are offended where is Joseph And where is he who after a long Contest imbraceth his adversaries who kisses them to stifle all their mischievous designs and who hath tears of Love to quench the fire which nourished their darkest Passions At least there are but few who do like Joseph that is to say without interest without constraint without dissimulation and when they have still the power of revenge in their hands It is said that a Lion hath so discreet and generous furies as we need but cast our selves at his Feet to appease him in the height of his rage But there are more savage and cruell men A more than brutish inhumanity who cannot temper their wrath and in what posture soever we set our selves before them they still remain inflexible If wounds be layd open unto them to excite them to compassion they cast new darts to poison them If a man humble himself they trample upon him if he flatter them they are exasperated If they be intreated this renders them more obstinate Above all they are inexorable and inflexible if it lye in their power to do mischief without fear of receiving any from those that may be their victimes and the Subjects of their brutality And if some Jmage of Pitty Love or Honour touch their Hearts and draw some drop of water from their Eyes and some kindnesses from their Hands or Mouths it is not without vanity and noise This indulgence must be published in all places and it seemes that the whole World ought to be advertised of it as of an universall Jubile Ridiculous ceremonâ—es This pardon then is Shamefully acquired and there are no Ceremonies in the Church and no Formalities at the bar which are not to be observed for the confirmation of this reconciliation and to render this accomodation more remarkable On the contrary Joseph retires and will have no other Witnesses of his favours than those who have been the Authors of his misfortunes He will discover his goodnesse Auditumque est celibâ—i sermone vulgatum in aula Regis venerunt fratres Joseph Gen. 45. v. 16. Et gavisus est Pharaâ— atque omnis familia ejus Gen. 45. v. 16. Dixitque ad Joseph ut imperaret fratribus suis dicens enorate sumenta ite in terram Chanaan Gen. 45. v. 17 Et tollite inde patrem vestrum cognatiâ—nâ—m venite ad me
before I dy O God! what consolation for a good Father to see again a good Son he was dead in his thoughts and behold him risen again He was lost and is found again a cruell Bear had devoured him and of all his reliques there was onely left him a bloody garment A strange change and behold him on a Throne and Master of one of the fairest Empires in the Universe What alteration and what Metamorphosis humane Prudence what sayest thou unto this Art not thou then ravished at the sight of these Prodigies hast thou not a desire to submit unto the Lawes of this wise Intelligence which sports with these Counsels and goes even under the Abysses of misfortune there to produce Peace Glory and immortality as a fair day in the midst of darkness Yes truly but to adore the effects of the Divine Providence and the most absolute power it hath over our lives and honours We must follow Jacob and goe visit Joseph Love hath wings at his Feet like Fame Profectusque Israel cum omnibus quae habâ—bat venit ad puteum juramenti Gen. 46. v. 1. he knows not what delay and retardment meaneth Jacob is on his way to see Joseph he is already in Bershabe neer unto that famous Well where Abraham heretofore made a solemn agreement with Abimelech and where both of them swore an inviolable peace There it was where Jacob stayed to offer his Sacrifice unto God upon the Altar of Abraham Et mactatis ibi victimis Deo patris sui Isaack Gen. 46. v. 1. Audivit cum per visionem noctis vocantem se dicentem sibi Jacob Jacob cui respondit Ecce adsum There having immolated Victimes he resign'd into the hands of God all the designs of his voyage he resolves to passe away one night in that place But scarce had he closed the eyes of the body but those of his soul were open'd to see and hear the God of his Father Isaack who called Jacob Jacob to which Jacob had nothing else to say but that he heard his voice and was most ready to execute his Commands Courage then Jacob Ait illi Deus Ego sum fortissimus Deus patris tui noli timere descende in Aegyptum quia in gentem magnam faciâ—mâ—te ibi Gâ—â— 46. v. 4. Joseph queque ponet manus suos super oculos tuos Gen. 46. v. 4. for it is the most powerfull God of thy Father Isaack who calls and appoints thee to passe into the Land of Egypt And there it is where he intends to make thee a Father of many Nations Yes saith he I promise thee Jacob that I will goe with thee and I assure thee that Joseph shall close thine eyes with his own hands O God! what Sacrifice what Vision What Speech and what Oath As for the Sacrifice in the first place what Jacob did ought to be an instruction to all those who leave their Country and intend to alter the course of their lives that before all things they should consult with God and take him for their guide in the Voyages designs they take in hand for it is unto him we ought first to Sacrifise our hearts and immolate all our hopes otherwise we shall look behind us like that wavering Woman who for her inconstancy was turned into a Statue of Salt Secondly the apparition of God which Jacob saw is a certain token that his eye still watcheth over those who dedicate themselves unto him and that he is neither deaf nor dumb to those that speak unto him Thirdly Gods promise is too faithfull and his Love too generous to forsake those who walk in his wayes and have taken him for their guide Fourthly when God promised Iacob to bring him back out of Egypt this must be understood of his Posterity and of the Israelites Jacobs Successors whom God after Two hundred and Fifteen years brought back out of Egypt into Chanaan Touching Jacob he dyed in Egypt between Josephs arms as we are going to see in the sequell of this History It sufficeth for the present to follow him in the remainder of his voyage It was about the morning of the second day that Jacob forsook Bershabe to pursue his Journey Surexit autem Jacob à puteo Juramenti c. Gen. 46. v. 6. It was indeed one of the fairest spectacles which ever appeared on the Confines of Palestine to see him in the head of his Troops as a good Father followed by his Children But I assure my self it had been most delitious and profitable to hear them if the holy Scripture would have given us some brief relation of their Discourse Nevertheless Cunctae animae ingressae sunt cum Jacob in Aegyptum sexaginta Gen. 46. v. 26. it acquaints us with the number of these happy Travellers which were seventy in all comprising therein Joseph with Manasses and Ephraim his two Sons who were born there Hence it evidently follows that when Moyses said there went thither Sixty and six he did neither put in the list Jacob nor Joseph Manasses nor Ephraim On the contrary when Saint Luke reckoneth Seventy and five he comprehends in that number the Sons and Nephews of Joseph whose birth hapned during the life and residence of this holy Patriark in Egypt Mean-while Jacob pursues his Journey Misit autem Judam ante se ad Joseph ut nunciaret ei occurreret in Gessen Gea 46. v. 28. but before his setting foot in Egypt he sent Judas to find out Joseph that he might be advertised of his comming and goe forth to receive him in the Land of Gessen Joseph hath no sooner heard this news Quò cum pervenissent juncto Joseph curru ascendit obviam patri ad eundem locum Gen. 46. v. 29. but he set forth to meet Iacob God knows whether the time might seem long unto him and whether his heart and mind went not faster than his body God knows also the various thoughts Jacob had in Expecting Joseph saying Alas what pains for one pleasure what desires for one fruition what Thorns for one Rose what Nights for one Day and how many Combats and dangers for one Triumph In fine behold Joseph in Jacobs bosome Vidensque eum irruit super collum ejus inter amplexus flevit Gen. 46. v. 29. Dixiâ—que pater ad Joseph Jam laetus morior quia vidi faciem tuam superstitem te relinquo GeÌ„ 46. v. 30. At ille locutus est aâ— fratres suos ad omnem domum patris sui ascendam nunciabo Pharaoni dicamque â—i Fratres mei domits patris mei qui erant in terra Chanaan venerunt ad me Gen. 46. v. 31. Cumque vocaverit dixerit quod est opus vestrum GeÌ„ 46. v. 33 Respondebitis viri pastores sumus servi tui ab infantia nostra usque in praesens nos patres nostri Gen. 46. v. 34. behold the Father in the Arms of his Son Ioseph leaps
we only consider the durance thereof and very long if we would contemplate the misfortunes contracted at his birth never to forsake him But as the setting Sun useth to dissipate the Clouds which had obscured it in the day and as sometimes wind rain and a tempest cease in the evening so Jacob at the end of his life began to enter into a calm and to enjoy fair weather It was in the City of Heros Joseph verò patri fratribus suis dedit possessionem in Agypto in optimo terrae loco Ramesses ut pâ—aeceperat â—harao Gen. 47.11 as the Septuagint have expounded it or els in Ramasses which is upon the Land of Gessen where Jacob made his last abode and where he found at last a haven after all his miseries as we are going to see CHAP. X. The last words of Jacob. ALas there is nothing eternall amongst created things and nothing which begins not to wax old assoon as it begins to live Life and Deathare inseparable companions which follow each other at a neer distance and tread even upon the same steps God himself saith Tertullian Roc stipulata est Dei vox hoc spopandit omnt quod nascitur c. Tertul. lib. de an cap. 30. is as it were ingaged thereunto by his word and all creatures at their birth are obliged unto it by promise at the very instant they enter into the world Life notwithstanding hath no regular periods and though he that made every thing with weight and measure hath shut up Creatures in the circle of Ages yet he hath not prescribed them equall limits but there are some who make their voyages longer or shorter than others However in vain is it to stray and take by-wayes For we must either in the morning at noon or in the evening arrive at our Lodging and after a thousand and a thousand windings at our finall resting place It is there said Calisthenes where Fathers and Children Calesthenes M.S. young and old wise men and fools the strong and weak and even the demi-Gods find themselves confused with Plants and beasts Death said a Favourite of Justinian pitcheth every where his tents and we as often hear mournfull Ditties under Velvet Canopies and in Ballisters of Ivory as under Pavillions of coarse Cloth and Cottages thatch'd with straw We see in Town ditches and under the dust of Battells Captains lying amongst Souldiers We behold under merciless blades and amongst Scymiters people lying with their Magistrates And at best there are but some Stones some Ciphers and Epitaphs which distinguish them Death then is more just and civill than birth The last hath Complacences for some and rigours for others but the first is indifferent towards all and we see at her feet Scepters amongst Scyths with this Inscription The Motto of Death Nemini parco I spare no man Death suffers not its self to be corrupted by favour it is on the River of oblivion and all the bodyes he ferries over in his Boat are naked not to appear different one from the other It was for this reason as the incomparable Picus of Mirandula said Most important advice Wise men during their lives and especially upon the approach of death ought to perform such actions as their memory might be immortall to the end if Death be common to them the manner of dying might be peculiar The Phoenix is no lesse subject unto death than Owles but Owles dye in the night and in a hollow place of some rotten Tree Whereas the Phoenix expires in the rayes of the Sun and upon a pile of Cinnamon and Musk. The Swan is no more exempt from it than the Raven But the Raven dyes craking upon some carrion and the Swan singing upon the bank of some fair River Jacob who as the Father of Nations seemd to have right unto Immortality was yet no more immortall than Esau but their death will be very different For Esau dyes suddenly like a Raven and an Owl but Jacob a far off saw his hours approching like a Phoenix and as a Swan which sings according to the common saying when he is breathing his last He was a hundred forty and seven years old when he perceived the arrivall of that moment which was to finish the course of his life Factique sunt omnes dies vitae illius Centum quadraginta septem annorum Gen. 47. v 28. Cumque appropinquare cerneret diem mortis suae vocavit filium suum Joseph dixit ad eum Si inveni gratiam in conspectu tuo pone manum tuam sub femoâ—e meo facies mihi misericordiam vâ—ritatem ut non sepelias me in Aegypto Gen. 47. v. 29. Sed dormiam cum patribus meis auseras me de terra hac condasq in sepulchno majorum meorum Gen. 47. v. 30. Rupertus hic Then this happy Patriark commanding Iosephs presence said unto him My Son it is time for me to dye there is no appeal I goe whither Abraham and Isaack are gone before and you shall come thither after me Mean-while I prithee if thou lov'st me put thy hand under my thigh and assure me that after my death thou wilt transport my body out of Egypt into Chanaan to bury it in the Sepulcher of my fore Fathers This is all I ask and all the favour I expect from thy love and goodness Iacob had reason to desire to be carried into Chanaan and laid in the monument of his Ancestors for this was the Land promised to his Children and which was to be one day consecrated by the worship of God and by the presence of the Messias As for the the Oath to which he oblig'd Ioseph it did not proceed from any distrust of his affection and fidelity Adoravit Isâ—ael Deum conversus ad lectuli caput Gen. 47. v. 31. Ribera in c. 11. ad Heb. Abulensis Et alii hic His ita transactis nunctatum Joseph quod aegrotaret pater fuus qui assumptis dâ—oobus filiis Manasse Ephraim ire perrexit Gen. 48. v. 1. but it was only done to the end that if Pharaoh should hinder him from rendring this duty unto his Father he might answer he was engaged thereto by Oath After this protestation Jacob adored God first turning his head towards the beds side where Joseph stood and directly towards the East because it was in this place they were accustomed to offer Sacrifices and erect Altars or rather to cast some look towards the Land of promise on which he had already placed all his hopes and desires Afterwards Jacob chancing to fall sick the news of of it was presently brought unto Joseph who immediatly took with him his two Sons Manasses and Ephraim to see him once more that they might receive his last Benediction Dictumque est Seni Ecce filius tuns Joseph venit ad te Qui confortatus sedit in lectulo Gen. 48. v. 2. Et ingresso ad se ait Deus
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
afflictionem populi mei in Egypto c. Exod. 3. v. 7. Et sciens dolorem ejus descendi ut liberem eum de manibus Aegyptiorum Exod. 3. v. 8. Et educam de terra illa in terram bonam spatiosam in terram quae fluit lacte melle ad loca Chananaei Hethaei Amorrhaei pheresaei Hevaei Jebusaei Exod. 3. v. 8. Sed veni mittam te ad Pharaonem ut educas populum meum filios Israel de Aegypto Exod. 3. v. 10 Qui dixit ei ego ero tecum hoc habebis signum quod miserim te cum eduxeris populum meum de Aegypto immolabis Deo super montem istum Exod. 3. v. 12. sayd he looked upon with mine Eyes and heard with my Ears the afflictions sighs and groans of my oppressed people in Aegypt This makes me come in Person to help and deliver them out of the hands of those unmercifull Tyrants who have a long time tormented them I will now bring them into a fruitfull and pleasant Land into vast and spacious Countries where they shall every where see Springs of Milk and streams of Honey which will sweeten the rigour of their past afflictions In fine having delivered them out of the hell of Egypt I will give them Terrestriall Paradises for their abode amongst the Chanaanites Hethites Amorites Phierezites Hevites and Jebusites For this purpose Moses was chosen to goe unto Pharaoh and God promised to be with him during the whole course of his Journey and never to abandon him amidst all the dangers of so perillous a Commission In token whereof Moses ingaged himself that at his return out of Egypt after the deliverance of the People of Israel he would offer unto him a Sacrifice upon Mount Sina CHAP. IV. The Commission of Moses touching the deliverance of the people of Israel IF we cannot easily find men who are capable of performing worthily the command of a King that of God cannot be done but by the mouth of him who is not onely his Word and Speech but his proper Substance At least they ought to have in them for the Character of this Divine employment as Clement Alexandrinus hath observed a lively Image of the Divinity and to be not onely like him in Speech and expression but even in thought and heart They must have also such a spirit as Moses of whom it may be justly said what St. Gregory of Nice said of the Apostle Saint Paul to wit that his spirit was made for extacies Gregor Nys Orat. de Occur and elevated in raptures Neverthelesse this incomparable man excuseth himself and the high thoughts he conceived of so eminent an employment obliged him to reply unto the Commandement of God Lord what am I Dixitque Moises ad Deum quis sum ego ut vadam ad Pharonem educam filios Israel de Aegypto Exod. 3. v. 11. Si dixerint mihi Quod est nomen ejus Quid dicam eis Exodus 3. v. 13. and how wilt thou have me speak unto thee I am nothing and thou art all that can be imagined Holy Great Good and Powerfull My Voice is too weak an Eccho to cause thine to be heard particularly in the midst of a Court where scarce any ear is to be found which can endure the noise and breaking forth of thy Thunder and then what wilt thou have me say unto them if they ask me concerning thy name Assure them God answered Moses Dixit Deus ad Moisem Ego sum qui sum ait sic dices filiis Israel qui est misit me ad vos Exod. 3. v. 14. that I am he who am that is to say Eternall Infinite Immutable Independent and absolute over all Creatures All that men admire in the World is nothing and if a name be required for all that appears with the most Pomp and Splendor they will acknowledge that it is to have no Beeing and in effect before the Creation of every thing they were not and the day will come when Greatness whose Beeing is corruptible shall be no more And those whose Nature is not subject unto Corruption may cease if God resolve to withdraw his conserving arm and his hand which makes them what they are In fine all that is hath so many mutations and vicissitudes that it can hardly rest a moment in the same state God alone is what he is And the Gentiles had doubtless learnt the Divinity of the Hebrews when they speak of it in so clear and true termes Thales being asked upon this subject made answer That God had neither end nor beginning and that he was from all eternity Parmenides held the same opinion saying That all was in an immoveable Being We find almost the very same in the Timeo of Plato and this was without doubt the mysterie hidden under the veil of that antient Statue which bore for Device I am what is what shall be and what hath been and whose cover no man hath taken off All the Idols of Egypt and of the world are but of Marble Wood Iron Brasse Copper and at best but of Gold and Silver which will find at length their last dissolution The true God is what he is It is for this reason the generous Martyr St. Attalus being asked by the Tyrant what was the name of him he adored made answer That such as were many in number had need of it to be distinguished from one another but not he that was single Moses might say then the same unto Pharaoh from his God and that he Who is hath sent him to him The same God also commanded him to say unto the Children of Israel Dixitque iterum Deus ad Moisen haec dices filiis Israel Dominus Deus patrum vestrorum Deus Abraham Deus Isaac Deus Jacob misit me ad vos c. Exo. 3. v. 15. Vade congrega seniores Israel c Exod 3. v. 16. Et audient vocem tuam ingredierisque tu seniores Israel aod Regem Aegypti dices ad eum Dominus Deus Hebraeorum vicavit nos ibimus viam trium dierum in solitudinem ut immolemus Domino Deo nostro Exod. 3. v. 18. that he was the Lord and God of their fore-Fathers and that if they were the true Children of Abraham Isaack and Jacob he would never forget those blessed Patriarchs to whom he had obliged himself for an Eternity and that they themselves were bound to retain him alwayes in their memory After this God again commanded Moses to goe as he had appointed him and to assemble the Antients of the People of Israel and to tell them that God who had appeared unto him was not ignorant of all that had passed in Egypt that he would speedily visit and conduct them unto a delicious Country and abounding in all sorts of goods and commodities The orders of this Commission were as followeth that Moses himself should present them unto Pharaoh and advertise him
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
being slipt away The second Plague the Sky and the Waters of Egypt re-assumed their former Nature But God at the same time manifested that there were other weapons to assault the rage and fury of a man whom Rivers of blood and slaughter were not able to satiate Pharaoh then being obstinate Et ebulliet fluvius ranas quae ascendent ingredientur domum tuam Exod. 8. v 3. and refusing to consent to the deliverance of the people of Israel though he saw his whole Kingdom swimming in blood and although God had advertised him by the mouth of his Prophet That he was even ready to besiege him in his House even in his own Bed and at his Table with an Army of Animals which would bear no respect either to him or any of his subjects In fine Ecce ego percutiam omnes terminos tuos ranit Exod. 8. v. 2. All Egypt was in an instant covered with Frogs which swarmed in so great numbers as every drop of water and every grain of earth seemed to be changed into these troublesome Creatures whose croakings were so piercing and continual as they gave neither truce nor repose Josephus addes Meats infacted That the waters became again corrupted and that they fell even amongst their meats which were so much infected by them as men could scarce finde wherewith to eat or drink Which makes me believe that this kinde of Frogs was not onely of those green ones which are commonly seen in the water nor of those which Pliny calls Calamites engendred in Meddows and Moorish grounds but that there were others which are termed BushFrogs bearling on their heads certain horns Eccerunt autem malesici per incantationes suas similiter eduxeruntque ranas super terram Aegypti Exod. 8. v. 7. and which are full of venome This torment then was very cruel and almost remediless For though God permitted the Inchanters of Pharaoh to imitate this Prodigy yet all they could do served but to increase the noise and multitude of these little Tyrants who spared no man This King who had not spoken one single word to obtain the cure of his first wound Vocavit autem Pharach Moisen Aaron dixit eis Orate Dominum ut auserat ranas à me à populo meo dimittam populum ut sacrificet Domine Exod. 8. v. 8. now made Supplications and this proud man who was so presumptuous and bold as to demand the other day who was this God of whom they spake unto him dares not now speak unto him without an Intercessor is inforced to address himself unto Moses and Aaron upon this occasion My Friends saith he unto them take pity I beseech you on me and my poor people supplicate your God to free us from these troublesome Animals and then I assure you that I will dismiss all his people to offer Sacrifices to him Dixitque Moises ad Pharaonem Constitue mihi quando deprecer pro te c. Exod. 8. v. 9. Qui respondit eras Exod. 8. v. 10. Juxta inquit verbum tuum faciam ut scias quoniam non est sicut Dominus Deus noster Exod. 8. v. 10. Et recedent ranae à te domo tuae à servis tuis à populo tuo Et tantum in flumine remanebunt Exed 8. v. 11. Fecitque Dominus juxta verbum Moisi mortue sunt vanae c. Exod. 8. v. 13. Congregaveruntque eas in immensos aggeres computruit terra Ezod 8. v. 14. Videâ—s autem Pharao quod data esset requies ingravavit corâ—suum non audivit eos sicut praeceperat Domius Exod. 8. v. 15. We shall do said Moses what you demand but to the end you may not believe That the promise I am going to make you is grounded upon any other consideration than God upon whom moments and hours depend appoint the time in which you desire I should give you satisfaction and obtain of him for your self and all your Subjects deliverance from this evil which afflicts you Alas Answers Pharaoh Let it be to morrow and no longer deferred Well then saith Moses it shall be done since you desire it and to shew you that there is no power nor greatness equivalent to that of the Lord whom we adore To morrew these little Devils shall raise their siege from your Territories and there shall not any of them be longer seen but in the Water In effect assoon as Moses had offered up his Prayers for this end all these legions died and great heaps were made of them from which as Josephus and Philo assure us there issued so horrid a stench that it even poysoned the whole Country But the Senses of Pharaoh were still so stupified that as it is credible he understood nothing for he did not doubt to do as he had done before and was not asnamed to falsifie the promise he had made unto God and Moses This is just the custom of those who make Vows and Promises during their sickness and afterwards when they are in health think no more of it but God derides their Sacrifices and all their Prayers serve but to inkindle the fire of his Indignation CHAP. XI The Flies of Egypt Pisidius in his Hexameron is ingenuous The third Plague when he Arms Frogs like resolute Soldiers and Flies also as so many Forlorn Hopes who go to make war against Pharaoh and his whole Court and even in his Bed and on his Throne In truth we would not have easily believed that Heaven had an intention to triumph over the Pride and Cruelty of a Prince with squadrons of Flies and legions of Frogs which notwithstanding formed the first Armies of the Great God of Battels Et extendit Aaron manum virgam tenens percussitque pulverem terrae omnts pulvis terrae versus est in sciniphes per totam terram Aegypti Exod. 8. v. 17. and the force he employed to render himself Master of all Egypt was also to fight him every where and to assault him not onely in the water with a Naval Army but also upon the Land which was no sooner strucken by the miraculous Rod of Aaron but presently there appeared a great Army of Flies which arose like those Whirlings which are framed in the Air by Wind and Dust This Accident might at first seem ridiculous Ridiculous Appearances or at least so unconsiderable that there would need but one puff to make it vanish But these little Hobgoblins multiplied so fast and they caused their stings to be felt with so much violence as it was presently visible that a hand more than Humane had ordered these Battalians and inspired so bloody an ardor into all these Animals Some one will perchance say unto me what the Flie it self said in the Moral Discourse of the Slave enfranchis'd by Augustus to wit That they have neither shame nor respect and that they spare neither Men nor Beasts nor Princes more than their
hand of pennance It is there where we ought to gird our Reins for otherwise a God of Purity would abhor to enter into an unclean Habitation into an unchaste Soul and into a Body which serves for a retreat unto the most merciless enemies of Vertue and Chastity We must have Staves in our Hands and Shooes on our Feet like Pilgrims which pass along and seek an abode elswhere than in a forrein Country where we must quit all we have or else either soon or late be forsaken by them Let us make haste then and remember An excellent thought I beseech you that this very day may be our Paschal and our passage from Earth unto Heaven What stayes us in the World our Parents will pass away or else are already gone before Our Friends are not here beneath for the Earth hath none but infidel perfidious and envious people In fine All that is under Heaven remains in a continual vicissitude The face of the Universe changeth every moment and that which sparkleth the most hath but marks of a vain appearance which serve onely to dazle our eyes and deceive our souls Such then saith St. Paul as have wives ought to live as if they had none that is to say Without being fastned unto any inordinate affection Those also who sigh and groan under the weight of miseries as if they had attained to the height of their desires and pretensions those that are on the top of the wheel as if they were under the feet of Fortune and loaden with all afflictions those that heap together riches as if they possessed nothing those that are ingaged amongst Creatures and are inforced to make use of them as if they were severed from them or as if the use of those Creatures were forbidden them This concludes my Brethren That we must break the Chains which fasten us to any other thing than God we must abandon Egypt and depart out of this unfortunate Land where nothing but Plagues Deaths and all sorts of horrors are seen Happy are they who follow God and Moses in the thickest part of the desart out of these tumults and dangers Proscâ—tique sunt filii Israel de Ramesse in Socoth sexcenta fere millia peditum virorum absque parvulis Exod. 12. v. 27. which are so frequent in Cities and Courts We cannot have more delightful company than his Elect who go from Egypt into Ramasses and from Ramasses into the Land of Socoth almost to the number of six hundred thousand foot-men without reckoning women and little children nor even the common people which can hardly be numbred I leave you my dear Reader to reflect on all that passed in this illustrious Departure and during this voyage which was I believe the most famous that hath ever been Nothing but the echoes of their Songs of Victory and of the Benedictions they gave unto their Redeemer were every where heard whilst their Tyrants howled like wolves from whom their prey is taken or else like Ravens which croak upon some dead body Moreover the convoy of the people of Israel was very rich and sumptuous Dominus autem dedit grariam populo coram Aegyptiis c. for they carried with them the most pretious moveables of Egypt as God had ordained them And to this effect he had imprinted on their foreheads and upon their faces I know not what marks of sweetness and so strong and powerfull attractives or as St. Austin beleev'd Sed vulgus promiscuum innumerabile ascendit cum eis oves armenta animantia diversi generis multa nimis Exod. 12. v. 38. Coxcruntque farinam quam dudum de Aegypto conspersam tulerant fecerunt sub cinâ—ricios panes azimos Exod. 12. v. 39. Habitatio autem filiorum Israel qua manserunt in Aegypto fuit quadringentorum trigenta annorum Exod. 12. v. 40. Hanc observare debent omnes filii Israel ingenerationibus suis Exod. 12. v. 42. Dixitque Dominus 〈◊〉 Moisen Aaron haec est Religio omnis alienigena non comedit ex eo Exod. 12. v. 43. Omnis autem servus emptititus circumcidetur sic comedet Exod. 12. v. 44. Advena mercenarius edent etit ex ea Exod. 12. v. 45. Omnis caetus filiorum Israel faciet illud Exod. 12. v. 47. such secret qualities as thereby they gained the hearts and friendships of those who before were their persecutors So that they desir'd them to burthen themselves with their spoiles and to depart as it were loaded with the booty they had gained from their enemies and pillaged after the victory of a most just warr which was also due unto them as a just recompence of their labours They carried also with them Sheep Oxen and all kind of Beasts Yet had nothing dressed and fit to eat wherefore they were faine speedily to set their hands awork and cause that which they had brought with them to be baked upon Ashes In fine This night when God drew them out of the calamities of Egypt and the bondage of Pharaoh was the end of four hundred and Thirty years which they pass'd therein and all the Children of Israel ought to observe it with a Solemnall worship throughout all generations It was also for this cause God said unto Moses and Aaron that such were the Ceremonies of the Paschal and that no stranger foreign Merchant nor any mercenary Servant or bought with money could be admitted unto the banquet of the Lamb till after the establishment of the Lawes for Circumcision To the end there might be but one Law both for those of the Country and for strangers which were mingled with the naturall Jewes All these conditions were most religiously kept and the Israelites omitted nothing of what God had given in command unto Moses Feceruntque omnes fibi Israel sicut praececeperâ—t dominus Moisi Aaron Exod. 12. v. 50. Et cadem die eduxit Dominus filâ—os Israel de terra Aegypti per turmas suas Exod. 12. v. 51. And so on the same day the Lord drew them out of Egypt according to their Tribes prescribing to them all the lawes they were to observe ordaining them chiefly Sanctification that is to say the offering of the first born as well of men as beasts to the end by this Sacrifice they should have a living and animated occasion to recall into their memory the singular favours had been done them when during the Murther of the Egyptians all theirs were preserved CHAP. XVIII Pharaoh Swallowed up in the Red Sea THE belief of one God Clemens Allexan â—rom 5. and the Evident demonstration of his justice are so inseparable as it would be more easy to meet with a spring without Water a life without a Soul and stars without rayes than a Soveraign nature which had not the power to punish sinners This then is almost as much as to say that there is one God and he is just We cannot even understand the frightfull termes and
which they usually invelop themselves even in the same fire It is allmost impossible that the World can ever enjoy a perfect peace so long as there shall be men for peace it self is very often the mother of warr repose which gives truce unto the soul raiseth in it a thousand thoughts and passions which arm themselves at the beating of the first Alarm and advance into the field upon the first occasion God himself marcheth in the head of battalions and I know not whether it be not for this cause he Calls himself the great God of Hostes well doe I know that he always presides there making use of them to reward some and to punish others and to the end we may take notice that war is one of his scourges and that there be always invisible weapons resembling so many torches which he lights and extinguisheth according to his good pleasure In fine it is a most infallible verity that victory in war though wavering and inconstant in its own nature remains in the hand of God and it is a Bird which cannot take its flight but to that part which is assign'd it by his most holy Providence The Israelites had a powerfull motive to know this verity in the first war they were enforced to maintain against the Amalekites after their passage over the Red Sea This people had for their King and general the son of Eliphas called Amaleck of Esau's race Venit autem Amalec pugnavit contra Jsrael in Raphidim Exod 17. v. 8. of whom they had as it were inherited an implacable hatred against Jacob and the Hebrews who descended from him This was the motive of their taking up arms besides their fear seeing this great multitude led by Moses who marched towards the Land of Promise as if the happy moment were come in which the Benediction which Jacob had in a manner forced from Esau was to be accomplished Methinks when I cast my eyes upon these mutinous troops which forraged the Country and pursu'd the Hebrews with so much fury and animosity I see an army of hobgoblins which are commonly called the inciters of Flesh and Blood which have no sooner perceiv'd a soul out of the Lands of Egypt and out of the empire of carnall and mundane pleasures but they presently take the field to assault her and to disturb her entry into the happy Land which was promised her and into some holy retreat But we must fear nothing since we need but lift up our hands to Heaven like Moses and implore the assistance of that great Intelligence who never abandons those who are inroled under his Standard and fight valiantly for the honour of his name Cumque levaret Moises manus vincebat Israel sin autem paululum remisisset superabat Amalec Exod. 17. v. 11. Yes at the same time that this great Captain lifted up his Arm towards God to implore his aid and to give him a sign that he only expected the victory from him the people of Israel became Conquerors but if he chanced never so little to let down his Hand these poor people would be lost and overcome by Amaleck O God The efficacy of prayer what victory Kings Captains Soldiers entire Legions are defeated by the ejaculations sighs and prayers of one single man what efficacy of Prayer It is Theater where death finds life a Throne where weakness takes force and Majesty a Field where Laurels and Palms are reaped a Sea which hath alwaies prosperous gales and an Air where Graces and Angels incessantly fly Prayer is not only as St. Ephraim saith the monument and Sepulcher of dying men the Sanctuary of the Afflicted the Advocate of Criminals the Seal and Character of purity the Nurse of temperance the Bridle of impatience the Conserver of peace but the Standard also of War and the Soul of all our triumphs who will wonder then if the Amalekites be defeated since Moses who was the most devout ardent zealous and holy Man upon Earth made his most humble supplications unto God for this purpose Manus autem Moisi erant graves c. Exod. 17. v. 12. Aaron autem Hur sustentabant manus eius ex utraque parte Exod. 17. v. 13. But I fear lest the forces of his Spirit might weaken those of the Body and that at last his Arms and Hands stretched out towards Heaven might suffer themselves to follow their naturall propension towards the Earth I assure my self that Hur and Aaron had the same apprehension for behold them on the top of a little Hill Hur on the one side and Aaron on the other supporting the victorious Hands and the conquering Arms of Moses Fugavitque Josue Amalec populum eius in ore gladii Exod. 17. v. 13. whilst Josua pursued and put to the Sword both Amaleck and his Amalekites who discerned in their flight and by their defeat that it was more than a humane Hand which had assailed and vanquished them Behold then the victories of Heaven and Crowns wrought by the Hand of God who will have the whole World to know that there are for his Soldiers Laurels and Palms in his Hands and on the contrary Thunderbolts and Lightnings to dart against his enemies Non ego ó Imperator victus sum sed tuipse prodidisti victoâ—iam qui contra Deum aciem instruere non desinis Deum sequitur victoria ad eos accedet quibus se Deus dacem praebet Theo. lib. 4. hist c. 29. Trajan was not ignorant of this when having been sent by Valens to conduct troops which were defeated under his command he had the courage to say unto him at his return That he had not been vanquished but rather the person that sent him and who was so temerarious as to raise troops against him whose steps are alwaies followed by those of victory The Emperour Theodorus had the same thoughts when having received news in a full Theater and in the midst of the sports used in the Circus that a certain Tyrant his enemy had been overcome commanded all that were present to follow him Niceph. lib. 4. c. 7. to render thanks unto God as unto the Author of this prosperous success France also knows the glorious victory which Clotarius gained after a troublesome and domestique War Gregorius Turon lib. 4. c. 16. 17. by the help of prayer In fine not to search further into former ages and to dis-inter so many Princes who have been either Conquerors or Conquered by this kind of Arms we need but cast our eyes upon the victories of our incomparable Lewis and amongst others on that of the Isle of Ree where like an other Moses he lifted up his Hands unto Heaven in the Chapel of Saumeur and then like Josua he pursued his enemies even to the destruction of their Ships and even into the bosom of the proudest and most rebellious City in the World where at last he might justly say unto his France what God said
kept in the Tabernacle was a present they received from Heaven eight dayes after Moses had Consecrated Aaron and enjoyned him to offer his first Sacrifices This was in testimony that God approved them and to imprint deeper in the minds of the people the honour and reverence they were to bear unto their High-Priests and to these publick acts of their Religion Afterwards the Gentiles endevoured to disturb these Mysteries and often sought to make us believe that their Gods kept amorous Thunderbolts Sacred flames for the advantage of their Religion and for this purpose they had given names unto some as a mark of the favors they had received from them in their Sacrifices which as they gave out had been often inkindled by their hands Nevertheless these are but Fables and Impiety and Sacrileges afforded no coals of the Sanctuary nor any flames of Heaven like those which fired the Holocausts and Victims of Aaron in the presence of the people who did partake of the Sacrifice Apparuitque gloria Domini omni multitudini Levit. 9. v. 23. as complices of that sin for which it was offered At that time the glory of our Lord appeared on the Altar and in the midst of these Ceremonies Now this glory was but a visible Fire which surrounded the whole Holocaust Et ecce egressus ignis à domino devorâ—vit holocausium adipet qui erant super altare c. Levit. 9 v. 24. and consumed it just in the same maner as the common fire would have done although some Hebrews have invented in their usual dreams First That the face of a Lyon appeared in the midst of flames Secondly That they could not be quenched even in water Thirdly That they were to be kept in a Purple Cloath But their imagination had more resembled truth Fair Analogies of fire with God if instead of amusing themselves on these dreams they had said That this was the most ordinary Figure by which God useth to erect a Throne of Light and Ardor unto his Love which is but a most pure fire without mixture which descended from Heaven upon Earth to cause a general inflagration in all hearts which to speak properly ought to be no other than the Altars of the most illustrious Sacrifices of Love Faith and Religion concerning which God hath been pleased to give marks and signs of his particular presence causing himself to be seen and felt under the form of Fire which of Natural bodies resembleth him the most So that Moses durst say unto his people Deut. 4. v. 21. That his God was a consuming Fire In the first place because this Element hath more resemblance with its Creator in regard of the power and command it hath received beyond others Secondly because as there is nothing more amiable and terrible than fire so there is nothing which equals the goodness God expresseth to the vertuous and the chastisement he implores to take revenge on the wicked Thirdly it is the nature of fire as well as the property of God to enlighten the night to melt Ice to warm those that approach it and to burn such as will touch it Moreover it is the property of them both incessantly and vigorously to act and to communicate themselves without loss or alteration to be most pure simple and subtile to harden and mollifie substances and always to ascend In fine the wisdom of God breaks forth in the midst of sparkling fires his goodness in its ardors and his power to which all is possible in those flames which God cannot resist And as heat and light spring from fire so the Son and the Holy Ghost are produced from the Father as from their Beginning and Origin It is not then without reason God takes veils of fire to cover his Majesty and that he often appears under this shape in Sacrifices since these fires are kindled by his own hand and by the torch of his Love unto which we must approach with the same reverence as to the bush of Moses Areptisque Nadab Abihu filu Aaron thâ—â—â—â—bulis posuerunt ignem incensum desuper offerentes coâ—am Domino ignem alienum Quod eis praeceptum non erat Levit. â—0 v. 1. otherwise we finde nothing there but our own misfortune amongst devouring flames and killing ardors followed by smoak tears and obscurities which form the veil of a dismal blindness We must chiefly beware of doing like Nadab and Abihu who were so bold as to put into their Censor an other fire than that of the Sanctuary For that is to mingle Sacrilege with Religion Heaven with Earth and Piety with Profanations Nevertheless this is the practice of these persons who are so presumptuous as to speak unto God by lips polluted with blasphemies and to touch his Altars with impure hands to kiss his Images with lips withered by wanton kisses and to love the Holy Bridegroom with a heart which they have already sold or morgaged unto his rival God also wants not arms to punish these profane persons he hath killing Thunderbolts and amorous Shafts he hath gentle winds to inkindle fires Sanctificabor in iis qui appropinquant mihi in conspectu omnis populi glorificabor Levit 10. v. 3. and torrents to quench them There are Victims which he crowns with flames and spoils which he reduceth into Ashes and oftentimes the Sacrificers who ought onely to attract Blessings and Dews from Heaven draw upon themselves a deluge of pains and punishments God is the Holy of Holies and he cannot breathe but in Sanctity which is as it were his Element Life and Paradise CHAP. XLV The Pillar of Fire and the Cloud AMongst all the miracles which God wrought for his people Adduxit vos quadraginta annis per desertum c. Deut. 29. v. 5. and continued for the space of forty years during their voyage from their departure out of Egypt until their entry into the Land of Promise the first was That amongst three millions of people there was not any one either sick fainting or weary during all these wandrings and amidst the dangers and incounters not to be avoided by those that make long journeys The second wonder appeared in their Garments which were not in any sort worn out Non sunt attrita vestimenta vestra nec calceamenta pedum vestrorum vetustate consumpta sunt Deut. 29. v. 5. Panem non comedislis vinum siceram non bibistis c. Deut. 29. v. 6. as if they had brought them out of their Mothers Bellies increased with their Bodies They also had no need of Sutlers nor any of those provisions which are necessary for livelihood For there fell every day so well-seasoned Manna as they needed onely to take and put it into their mouths to finde therein all sort of gust and the most delicious taste they could desire In fine Igitur die qua erectum est tabernaculum operuit illud nubes A vespere autem super tentorium
erat quasi species ignis usque mane Num. 9. v. 15. Sic siebat jugiter per diem operiebat illud nubes per nectem quasi species ignis Num. 9. v. 16. the last prodigy was the Pillar which served them for a Torch amidst the obscurities of the night and for an umbrello to oppose the over-violent ardors of the day It was a Chariot of Fire and a Cloud conducted by an Intelligence which held the Reigns thereof and guided it according to the will of God It was a Barque in the Air more fortunate than that which heretofore carried in artificial fire the hopes of Greece For this Vessel had real Fires its Pilot marked out as some have believed the seasons of the year and the hours of the day and night It was a Standard which accompanied and preceded all the Triumphs and Victories of the Hebrews and at the same time routed their enemies It was the Holy Standard whose Ciphers were Love-nets and Draughts of Clemency it was a Sun in Eclipse and a Cloud where the Sun was in his Meridian The Morning and Evening Stars saw this Veil hanging over the Camp of the Israelites when they were inforced to make a halt and flying when they were to march God himself made sometimes use of it as his Throne Si fuisset nubes à vespere usque ad mane statim diluculo tabernaculum reliquisset proficiscebantur Et si post diem noctem recessisset dissipabant tentoria Num. 9. v. 21. and these resplendent obscurities this luminous night and this day shadowed with Clouds served him for a Veil through which he darted on the people the splendors of his glory and the shafts of his amiable Providence which gave the first motion to the Pillar and conducting Angel Is not this a lively Image of the Holy Ghost who is the Pillar of Saints and of the Church who gives strength unto the feeble and light unto the blinde He illuminates during the night of sin and placeth us under his Wings during the day of Grace This amiable Pillar goes marking out our Lodgings during this whole Pilgrimage and at last will stop when it must take its resting place and make its last retreat under the Canopy of Heaven O Israel Chosen People lose not then the sight of this Pillar it is for thee it is for all and if thine eyes cannot endure the splendor of its Rayes put thy feir at last under its shadow and never forsake it until this Divine Cloud which covers thee pour down into thy heart and until without veil or mixture thou maist receive the clarities which make the Paradise and glory of the Blessed for the rest thou needst fear nothing For there is no person who may not gain a place in Heaven and break all the obstacles on Earth following this most Blessed Guide and never losing the sight of these pleasing Lights The Humble may raise themselves by respect and fear the Merciful by the love of Piety the Couragious by Valor the Considerate by Counsel the Provident by the Prudence of Saints the most Solid by Wisdom and such as have the Gift of Discretion by Knowledge and by the various Trials they shall have CHAP. XLVI The Brazen Serpent Quod cum audisset Chananaeus rex Arad qui babitabat ad meridiem venisse scilicet Israel per explorator ◠viam pugnavit contra illum victor existens duxit ex eo praedam Num. 21. v. 1. A While after the death of Mary and Aaron when the people pursued their voyage towards the Holy Land Arad King of the Canaanites had no sooner heard the news of it but he instantly took the field to hinder their further advance It was upon the same way that two years after their departure out of Egypt the Hebrews had sent their Spies into the Land of Canaan and this was the occasion which moved Arad to raise forces in great haste imagining that all these Travellers and Strangers had no other intention than to invade his Territories and render themselves masters of his Country The first conflicts were very prosperous to this Prince At Israel voto se Domino obligans ait Si tradideris populū istū in manu mea delebo urbes ejus Num. 21. v. 2. Exaudivitque Dominus preces Israel tradidit Chananaeum quē ille interfecit subversis urbibus ejus vocavit nomen illius Horma id est anathema Num. 21. v. 3. Profecti sunt autem de monte Hor per viam quae ducit ad Mare rubrum ut circumirent terram Edom. Et taedere coepit populum itineris ac laboris Num. 21. v. 4. Locutusque contra Deum Moisen ait Cur eduxisti nos de Aegypto ut moreremur in solitudine Deest panis non sunt aquae anima nostra jam nauseat super cibo isto levissimo Num. 21. v. 5. and I am confident he would have defeated his Enemies if God had not combined against him according to the solemn Vow the Israelites made to demolish for his honor all the strong holds of this King and to lay so many Anathemaes on them that there might remain nothing but the execrable footsteps and bloody marks of the abominations and impieties which reigned in the Land of Canaan And this they did after a general victory from thence pursuing their way toward the Red Sea and about the Lands of Idumea But in fine these ungrateful men seeing already their promised Palms could not forbear to mingle murmurs with their Songs of Victory and the vexation they had to see themselves so long in a Pilgrimage made them lose the remembrance of him who had conducted them through the desart and rendred them conquerors over their Enemies after he had in a maner inforced the Elements and the most insensible Bodies of Nature to contribute unto their necessities Ah! said they we have too long wandred in this solitary place sometimes upon Mountains and then in Valleys nevertheless after a journey of forty years we have not hitherto reached the Haven And even this Manna which fell from Heaven and which indeed hath hitherto supplied our most pressing necessities is yet but a very slight nourishment and which affords more distaste than benefit Why did we then leave Egypt to come into these desarts and arid places where we have neither Water nor Bread Can we truly represent unto our selves a more unworthy and blinde ingratitude than this But where may we finde punishments harsh enough to inflict on this impious people and darts sharp enough to cause a resentment of so great a disloyalty I could wish that all the Oaths of these perjured persons had been numbred after so many favors and miracles done for their sake and yet behold their Sacrifices their Offerings their Vows and all their Gratitude Why have you brought us hither and why have you delivered us out of slavery to cause us to die with hunger and thirst in this desart