Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	famine_n	joseph_n	pharaoh_n	1,487	5	10.4663	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25613	An Answer to the pretended speech, said to be spoken off-hand in the House of Commons by one of the members for B-----l, and afterwards burnt by the common hangman, according to the order of the house ...		1694 (1694)	Wing A3436; ESTC R4147	32,398	36

the Land of Goshen and nourish'd them from the King's Stores This Example should teach us to be wise in time seeing all this was done by the Advice of one Foreigner in Privy Council and what may that Country expect where the Head and many of the Council are Foreigners You may perceive that our Author is now drawing near a Conclusion because he reserv'd the sharpest Sting for the Tail But it 's a Question whether he be more prophane in playing thus with Scripture than false in misapplying it for it 's plain that it was no Charity to Joseph which made Pharaoh and the Egyptians advance him but Charity to themselves because they could not find a Man so fit as himself Gen. 41.38 in whom the Spirit of God was to find out Means to prevent the ill Consequences of the Famine which the Spirit of God had foretold him of And if this do not border on Blasphemy to call the Suggestions of the Holy Spirit to prevent the Ruine not only of the Egyptians but the peculiar People of God Taxes and other fine Projects to bring the Plenty of Egypt into Pharaoh's Granaries I submit it to the Judgment not only of Divines but of all Men who have any true Sense of Religion And if this Odious Character which he gives of Joseph as having trick'd the Egyptians into Slavery be not contrary to that Character given of him by the Holy Ghost when he is reckon'd in the Catalogue of the most famous Old-Testament Saints Heb. 12. let any Man judg Or whether it be reasonable to suppose that Joseph who durst not sin against God in complying with the lustful Desires of his Mistress would have so little Conscience as to cheat a whole Nation into Slavery let common Sense determine But if our Author had been so good as to have had more frequent Converse with this good Book he might have found that Pharaoh was as Absolute before Joseph was of his Council as after for Gen. 41.40 he told him That according to his Word should all his People be ruled And ver 44. That without him No Man should lift up Hand nor Foot in all the Land of Egypt which Pharaoh could never have promised had it not been in his Power Neither was it the whole seven Years Plenty that he brought into Pharaoh's Granaries but only the fifth part of it as appears from ver 34. Nay so far was Joseph from enslaving them that though he had actually bought themselves and all that they had for Pharaoh that he not only sav'd their Lives as they themselves did acknowledg and kept Bread in the Land of Egypt when there was none elsewhere but left them in as good a Condition after the Famine as they were in during the Plenty as may be seen from Chap. 47.26 by giving them four parts of the Land to themselves and taking only a. Fifth for Pharaoh as he had in the Years of Plenty and though Joseph brought this into an Establish'd Law yet it 's more than our Author can prove that it was not a Custom before seeing he directed Pharaoh to lay up the fifth Part Chap. 41.34 And that we hear of no Opposition made thereunto nor unto any thing else that Joseph did in the Government but on the contrary the People did thankfully acknowledg him as the Author of their Preservation and willingly obeyed him even when he transplanted them from one City to another Which it 's probable they would never have consented to had they look'd upon it as a bringing of them into Slavery for our Author may remember that though a great many of his Party surrendred their Charters in the late Reigns and became voluntary Slaves yet the Nation in general could never be brought to it And as for Joseph's planting his own Country-men in the best of the Land it was by Pharaoh's Command and because it best suited their way of living and was a Place where they were likely to be least offensive to the Egyptians as appears from Chap. 46. ver 34. because every Shepherd and such were the Israelites were an Abomination to the Egyptians And in the last place we have reason to conclude that all this was done by the special Direction of that God who sent him into Egypt to preserve his People Chap. 45. v. 7. and not according to our Author to cheat the Egyptians into Slavery And thus having discovered how falsly and impiously our Author hath wrested this History of Joseph I shall now consider his Application than which nothing can be more Treasonable and Malicious for having ascrib'd all the Mischiefs which came upon the Egyptians to their entertaining of one Foreigner as a Privy Counsellor What says he may that Nation expect where the Head and many of the Council are Foreigners which is directly aim'd at His Majesty the Earl of Portland and others whom God has to the Confusion of our Author and his Faction made use of to deliver us from their Egyptian Thraldom But our Author that he may discover all his Design at once does in the former part of his Speech endeavour to stir up the Country against the Parliament and now he attempts the like against His Majesty but is he so foolish as to think that his Parallel holds as to Joseph's Management in Egypt Is all our Corn brought into His Majesty's Granaries Is there not Plenty enough in the Kingdom though some narrow-soul'd Men like our Author keep it at an Excessive rate in and about London Has His Majesty either made a purchase of our Lands our Cattle or our Persons any otherwise than by a Conquest of our Hearts What Colony of Dutch has he planted in the best of our Land or how can he be reckon'd a Foreigner who abstracted from his being King by God and the Peoples Choice is Son to an English Princess Husband to an English Queen governs by English Laws and fights with English Armies for the Preservation of our English Liberties But if our Author will needs be making Comparisons we hope that he will allow us the same Liberty and then we shall agree that he resembles Joseph in being sent hither by God for his Peoples Deliverance and keeping England in Peace while all our Neighbours are or have been involv'd in Blood But if those other Practices of Joseph's be culpable in buying the Lands Cattel and Persons of the Egyptians for Pharaoh's Use we know of a Copy which outdoes the Original and that is the God of his Faction Lewis XIV who hath not bought but plundered from his Subjects and Neighbours all that could render their Lives comfortable But further we have no reason to fear any Incouragement to the Invasion of our Liberties or being made Slaves by the Concurrence of the Naturaliz'd Dutch They who have been accustomed to live in Liberty and Freedom at Home which they purchas'd with the best of their Treasure and Blood are not like to be fond of concurring with such Measures as may render them Slaves Abroad But though there is less hazard in this Point from the Dutch than the French yet all along our Author is severer upon the former than the latter and makes a terrible Outcry against the sending of Corn to Holland but speaks not one word of the great Stores which his Brethren the J it es transport by stealth into France But now for our Author's Conclusion Sir says he I perceive some Gentlemen are uneasy perhaps I have offended them in supposing they are Religious Representatives or concluding that their Religion is to be prov'd from the Bible If that be it which displeaseth I beg their Pardon and promise not to offend again on that score and will conclude all with this Motion that the Serjeant be commanded to open the Doors and let us first kick the Bill out of the House and then the Foreigners out of the Kingdom In truth these Gentlemen might well be uneasy to hear a Fool triumph in his Folly but why they should be offended to be told that their Religion was to be prov'd from the bible whence our Author can never prove his own is not so easy to be imagin'd though they had reason enough indeed to be displeas'd to see an Ass strutting in a Lion's Skin and yet I cannot tell how they could refrain from Laughter to hear the dull Creature discovered by its braying And thus seeing our Author began with one Fable I hope that I may be allow'd to end with another and shall only add that let him Caw and Bray and Kiek and do what he pleases it signifies nothing so long as he kicks against the Pricks whereof I hope that by this time he himself may be perswaded especially if he consider the disgraceful Exit which the Commons have given to his Speech and he may thank his Stars for having escap'd so well FINIS