wickedness because there they sacrificed to the Sun whence it was called Heliopolis The chiefe ruler here under Pharaoh was Priest of the Sun belike Priests were no small men in those days amongst the Egyptians Among the Ethiopians their neighbours the Priests of Iupiter were grown to that height of insolency and had so bewitched the people with their superstitions Nullo detrectante donec ad Erganem regem perventum est qui omues occidit sacerdotium Sustulit Alex. ab Alexandro that they would sometimes take upon them to depose and kill their Kings This had been often done there till at length when they attempted the same upon Erganes King of that country he slew them all and took away their priesthood O that God would once put into the hearts of Christian Kings to deal so by that high-priest of Rome who hath so long usurped authority to depose and abuse them at his pleasure Vers 46. And Joseph was thirty year old This is mentioned to shew what wonderfull graces he had attained at those years what rare endowments both of piety and policy Julius Caesar beholding the picture of Alexander in Hercules his temple at Gades wept that he had done no worthy act at those yeares wherein Alexander had conquered the whole world Behold Ioseph at thirty shewed more wisdome and vertue then either of them as Pererius on this text well observeth and hath for his 13 years service and imprisonment fourscore years liberty prosperity and honour God is a liberal pay-master Vers 47. By handfulls Manipulation Ex uno grano integer manipulvs colligebatur Act. 14.17 Every grain of corn yeelds a handfull of increase Thus God filled their hearts with food and gladness and so left not himself without witnesse amongst those Infidels Vers 48. And laid up the food of the cities He provided store-houses for every city so they needed not to travel far It is our happiness that we have the Word that bread of life brought home to us Yet some are so wretched that unless God will set up a â—ulpit at the Ale-house door they will not come to hear him They will run to hell as fast as they can and if God cannot catch them they care not they will not return V. 50. Asenath the daughter of Potipherah This was not Potiphar Ioseph's Master Ioseph would not marry the daughter of such a huswife Partus firè sequitur ventrem Ingenium ipsum aâ—que indoles veluti conclusio sequitur inferiorem partâ—mâ— plerunque matrissat Vers 51. Manassâ—â— for God said he hath c. He writes Gods mercies to himself upon the names of his two children that might be as so many Monitours to thankfulness and obedience The Stork is said to leave one of her young ones where she hatcheth as it were out of some instinct of gratitude Doves at every grain they pick look upward as giving thanks And all my fathers house Even that toyl and those indignities that were offered me in my fathers house so Iunius the grief whereof his preferment allayed and mitigated Vers 53. And the seven years of plenteousness c. All earthly felicities will determine they are called a sea of glasse mingled with fire that is with affliction Henry the sixth Rev. 15.2 Trussels Conâ—â—nuation s 189. that had been the most potent Monarch for Dominions that ever England had was when deposed not the master of a mole-hill nor owner of his own liberty so various are the changes and chances of this mortal life Vers 54. According as Ioseph had said Joseph foresaw and foretold the famine but caused it not so Gods prescience c. In all the land of Egypt Such a revenue is thrift and parsimony Optimum vectigal parsimonia Cic. Vers 55. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio. Cryed to Pharaoh Though they knew he had deputed Ioseph So 1 King 6.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we should be as Gods if we had not businesses cares and feares about any of our subjects said Augustus to his wife Livia Vers 57. All countries came to Joseph c. Forrainers also should be relieved so much as may be King Edward the 6. sent 5000 pound Hi frondibus gramine vescebantur Scultet Annal. pag. 315. to relieve Protestants beyond seas Geneva received our fugitives for religion in Q. Maries time and Strasborough the poor banished Lorrainers that were well nigh famished being forced to feed on hips and hawes c. CHAP. XLII Vers 1. Now when Jacob saw that there was corn A Sale of Corn. Heb. A breaking so called either because corn breaks famine or because it is broken and ground to make bread of or for that they made their bread in thin cakes and so broke it Or lastly because he that selleth it breakes the heape and gives part to the buyer Why look ye one upon another As hopeless and helplesse or as at your wits ends and not knowing whither to turne you Youth is one while witlesse another while shift-lesse Let dayes speake and multitude of yeares teach wisedome Convivium sit simile Alphabeto Iob. 32.7 As at feasts so at other meetings old men should be vowels young men Mutes or at most but semi-vowels Vers 2. Get you down thither Here the Divine decree of Israels sojourning and suffering in Egypt begins to be fulfilled by a wonderful providence The fulness of Josephs barns invites Jacob first to send and then to go thither himself for relief Shall not the fulness that is in Christ incite and entice us to come to him as bees to a meddow full of flowers as Merchants to the Indies full of spices and other riches as the Queen of Sheba to Solomon full of wisdom as Jacob's sons to Egypt full of corn in that extream famine that we may return full fraught with treasures of truth and grace It pleased God that in him should all fulnesse dwell Joh. 1.16 Colos 1.19 And his fulness is not only repletive but diffusive a fulness of plenty and abundance but of bounty also and redundance He was anointed with the oyl of gladness not only above but for his fellows Heb. 1.9 that we may live and not dye Saints have their share in common calamities Jacob tasted of the famine as well as his neighbours the Canaanites so had Abraham and Isaac done before him Both the good figs and bad figs were carried captive Ier. 24. the corn as well as the weeds is cut down at harvest c. Vers 3. And Josephs ten brethren went Fourty or fifty miles anend Austin saith three hundred Should we think much to go a few steps say it be miles to get food for our souls Beware that famine Am. 8.11 12. The seven Churches of Asia Bohemia the Palatinate and many other parts of Germany are under it already So is the large Region of Nubia in Africk which had from the Apostles time as 't is thought professed the Christian faith but now embraced Mahometisme through
Inhabitants of the world saith the Psalmist Both low and high rich and poor together Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissâ—r hiatu Horat. will some proud spirit say what so great matter is there delivered in this Psalm that so much attention is called for Is it not an ordinary argument such as we have heard of an hundred times viz. the happy and secure estate of the Saints though in trouble and the miserable and slippery condition of the wicked though they prosper in the world True saith the Holy Ghost this is the subject of this Psalme and this how common a theme soever is the great wisdome and the dark saying that I will here open unto you and that calls for your utmost attention Vers 33. Now therefore let Pharaoh c. This was good counsell and it proved best to the councellour The Iewes injuriously charge him with ambitious self-seeking So they did Noah as is above noted with hard-heartedness and in compassionateness to the old world These made the worst of things and so condemned the generation of Gods Children How much better had it been Eâ quemque ansâ prebendamus quâ commodè teneri queat Epictet Fran. de Sales c. 28. to have followed that golden rule of Epictetus Take every man by that handle whereby he may best be held as Virgill dealt by Ennius Cyprian by Tertullian Hierome by Origen August in by Tichonius If an action had an hundred several faces we should alwaies cast our sight upon the fairest and make the best of every thing What Ioseph did here he did doubtless by divine direction Vers 34. Let him appoint officers Bishops or overseers Pakid Episcopuâ— Such amongst the Romans were praefecti annoâ—ae The word signifyeth any such as have publike charge and office whether in Church or common-wealth But how many of our Episcopi are now become Aposcopi by-seers rather then over-seers as Espencaeus long since complained Our land groans for some Moses to take away the evil-Officers Nam non unum tantùm vitulum sed multos habemus as honest Ferus said of his times And as John Hus Multa quae illi or dinem dicunt omnium rerum in christianismo consufionem pariunt Bell. Hussiticum pag. q. of his Church-men Many things saith he which they call order breed confusion of all things throughout whole Christendome And take up the fifth part of the land For so much money as it is worth the Egyptians might well spare it and the King might as well buy it sith he should sell it again for very good profit Neither would Joseph advise nor Pharaoh be advised to take his Subjects goods by violence When Samuel tells the people that their King Bucholc whom they called for would take their fields and vineyards the best of them and give them to his servants c. loquitur non tam de jure quam de more he speaks not of the right of Kings as if all were theirs and no man had any thing of his own but of the manner and illimited power that some Kings take over their subjects goods as in Turkie Persia c. Let it be the voyce of a Nero whensoever he put any one in office Scis quid mihi opus sit Sueton. in Nerone hoc agamus nequis quicquam habeat Of a Seleucus to proclaim that the Kings pleasure is the only law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Appian as if it were not enough to be above men but above mankind as those Princes Would be saith our English Chronicler that would have their will to be law Melancthon tells us of a certain Prince in those parts Dan. hist of Engl. f. 144. Primò unâ—n dâ—â—â—â—em â—â—â—llebat minitans c. Manl. loc com 636. Eram aliquandò in die Natali in cujusdam concione c. Erant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quibus gratificabatur assentiebatur quorundam auribus c. Ibid. 479. that extorted money from his miserable subjects by knocking out their teeth First he knockt out one tooth threatning to do so by the rest unless they brought him in such a sum by such a time as he demanded The same Author elsewhere relates that he was at a Sermon on the birth-day of our Saviour The Preacher took his text out of Luk. 2.1 There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed And whereas the audience expected that the Preacher should have discoursed of Christs Nativity of the hypostatical union c. he spent his whole hour the weather being extream cold in this subject that Obedience must be yeelded to the higher powers that they must have as much money given them as they call for with a great deal of such like stuff little to the purpose but much to the pleasure of some Princes then and there present Such Court-Parasites many times do much mischief in a State as well by seducing good Princes qui essent alii si essent apudalios as by stickling against them when the world doth not favour them When Edward the second sirnamed Carnarvan was pursued by his Queen and son the Bishop of Hereford being to preach before her at Oxford and to deliver the cause of her proceeding took for his text My head aketh Dan. hist of Engl. fol. 216. my head aketh and concluded most undivinely that an aking and sick head of a Kingdom was of necessity to be taken off and no otherwise cured Vers 35. And let them gather all the food This text warranteth providence in laying up for a rainy day Solomon sends us to school to the pismire to learn this lesson Prov. 6.6 And it is well observed that our Saviour had a purse for common store for himself and those about him Neither was this a penny-pouch but a bag so big as needed a bearer God would have us to be good husbands and see that Condus be fortior promo our comings in more then our layings out Parents must lay up for their children 2 Cor. 12.14 yea leave inheritance to childrens children Prov 13.22 playing the good husbands abroad and at home Prov. 27.26 27. Vers 37. And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh The Devil no doubt by the Magicians and Politicians of those times did his utmost to hinder the Kings purpose of preferring Joseph as he did here for Cromwell that great Reformer whom King Henry the eight Act. Mon. 1070. of a Smiths son made Farl of Essex But these is neither counsel nor wisdom against the Lord Prov. 21.30 Vers 38. And Pharaoh said unto his servants He would resolve nothing without the advice of his Counsel Val. Max. lib. 9. cap. 5. He was not like the Persian Monarchs who gave their Peers no freedom nor liberty of advice Nor that wilful King James of Scotland that reigned in our Edward the fourth's time that would seldom ask counsel but never follow any so wedded he was
long as Christ is a live Can our hearts dye within us whiles our head is the Lord of life yea our life as Saint Paul calls him Vers 32. The men are shepherds The truly vertuous or valorous are no whit ashamed of their mean parentage but rather glory in themselves that their merit hath advanced them above so many thousands far better descended Doctor Cox Almoner and Sir John Cheek Sir Jo. Heyw. in his Edw. 6. Tutor to King Edward the sixth were men of mean birth but so well esteemed saith the Historian for vertue and learning that they might well be said to be born of themselves So were Iphicrates that brave Athenian the son of a cobler Eumenes one of Alexanders best Captains the son of a Carter Agathocles King of Sicily of a potter c. And these would many times freely discourse of their beginning and plainly relate their bringing up and what their parents were And they have brought their flocks As chusing rather a poor shepherds life in Gods service then to ruffle it as Courtiers out of the Church So did Moses afterwards and David Isal 84 10. and the poor Prophet that dyed so deep in debt and Micaiah and those that wandered about in sheep-skins Heb. 11.37 and goat-skins who haply might have rustled in silks and velvets if they would have strained their consciences Origen was contented to be a poor Catechist at Alexandria every day in fear of death when he might have been with his fellow-pupill Plotinus in great authorâ—â—y and favour if not a Christian Luther was offered a Cardinalship to have held his tongue Galeacius Caraâ—ciplus a great sum of gold to have returned to his Marquesdom in Italy c. God takes it kindly when men will go after him in the wilderness in a land not sown Ier. 2.2 that is chuse him and his wayes in affliction and with self-deâ—iall Vers 33. When Pharaoh shall call you At Athens every man gave an yearly account to the Magistrate by what trade Lex illa Solonis inprimis commendatur ut quisque quot annis c. Textor Epist Peacham or course of life he maintain'd himself which if he could not do he was banished By the law Mahomet the great Turk himself is bound to exercise some manual trade or occupation for none must be idle as Solyman the Magnificent his trade was making of arrow-heads Achmat the last horn-rings for Archers c. Vers 34. Thy servants trade hath been c. They were not ashamed of their trade though mean and despicable Tertull. de fug Persee Malo miserandum quam erubescendum saith Tertullian No lawful calling but hath an honour put upon it by God unlawful only are shameful Ask a poor scavenger what his occupation is hee 'l answer I am a Scavenger Tankerd-bearer c. Ask an Usurer Gamester c. that question and he will not say I am an Usurer c. That ye may dwell in the land of Goshen Which as it was next to the land of Canaan so it was most fat fertile and fit for their cattle Sumen totius regionis the like to Egypt that Campauia was to Italy of which Florus thus writeth L. Flor. lib. 1. cap. 16. Nihil mollius coelo nihil uberius solo nihil hospitalius mari c. Liberi Cererisque certamen dicitur For every shepherd is an abomination c. An Israelite is still an abomination to an Egyptian the righteous to the wicked Prov. 29.27 and will be to the worlds end And there is no love lost betwixt them The shepherds of Israel especially are by profane great ones thought scarce worthy to wait upon their trenchers the baser sort make songs of them and the abjects vilifie them Papists make more of hedge-Priests then most amongst us do of powerful preachers A sad fore-runner of the departure of the gospel If dishonour kept Christ from Nazareth Joh. 4.44 much more will it drive him thence when he is come CHAP. XLVII Vers 1. Then Ioseph came and told Pharaoh Scipioni obtrectabat Carbo Alcibiadi Hyperbolus Homero Zoilus Ciceroni Clodius Habuerunt suos cuculos omnes docti heroici THis was great wisdom in him to do nothing for his friends though he were so great a favourite without the Kings privity and approbation There wanted not those that waited for his halting envy attends upon honour and alwayes aymeth at the highest as the tallest trees are weakest at the tops Melancthon tells us he once saw a certain ancient piece of coyn having on the one side Manl. loc com p. 414. Corn. Nepos in vita Batamis Hannib Sal. in Catilin Zopyrus on the other Zoilus It was an emblem of Kings courts saith He where calumnies accompany the well-deserving as they did Daniel Datames Hannibal c. Difficilimum inter mortales est gloriâ invidiam vincere saith Salust How potent that quick-sighted and sharp-fanged malignity is we may guess by that question Prov. 27.4 Vers 3. Psal 104.26 What is your occupation That they had an occupation Pharaoh took for granted God made Leviathan to play in the sea but none to do so upon earth Turks and Pagans will rise up in judgment against the idle See Notes on Chap. 46.33 Periander made a law at Corinth that whosoever could not prove that he lived by his honest labour he should suffer as a thief The Apostle bids him that stole Eph. 4.28 steal no more but labour with his hands the thing that is good c. Not to labour then with hand or head or both is to steal Every one must bring some honey into the common hive Igâ—avum sucâ—s pecus c. Matth. 25. unless he will be cast out as a drone Thou idle and evil servant saith our Saviour To be idle then is to be evil and he shall not but do naughtily that does nothing God wills that men should earn their bread afore they eat it 2 Thess 3.12 neither may they make religion a mask for idleness ver 11. Vers 4. For to sojourn in the land are we come And had they returned home again after the death of Ioseph they had taken a right course for themselves But as God had otherwise decreed it so they thought it best being there and therefore not without their own fault they fell into servitude Vers 5. And Pharaoh spake unto Ioseph Kind he was and constant Herodot lib. 4. Cromerus to so good a servant as Darius likewise was to his Zopyrus whom he preferred before the taking of twenty Babylons the King of Poland to his noble servant Zelislaus to whom he sent a golden hand instead of that hand he lost in his wars Vers 6. If thou knowest any man of activity Or ability of body and mind 1 King 11.28 such as Jeroboam a mighty man of valour and fit for the work prudent and diligent ingenious and industrious that hath a dexterity and handiness to the
c. The better any one is the more inclined to weeping 1 Sam. 20. as David then Jonathan Nam faciles motus mens generosa capit Paulus non tam atramento quam lachrymis chartas inficiebat saith Lorinus And took from them Simeon and bound him He is thought to have been the chief doer in the sale of Joseph and is therefore singled out for punishment Judas Iscariot is said to come of his tribe Of a turbulent and restless spirit Joseph knew him to be and therefore detained him saith Musculus lest he should have hindered the motion of bringing down Renjamin Vers 25. Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks This was the revenge he took upon them for their many misusages So Joshua marched all night and fought all day for the Gibeonites that had deceived him So Elisha set bread and water before the Syrians that came to surprize him So S. Paul bids If thine enemy hunger feed him c. Injuries are more bravely overcome with benefits then recompenced with the pertinacy of a mutual hatred Speciâ—sius aliquanto injuriae beneficiis vincuntur quam muâ—ni odii pertinacia pensantur Val. Max. lib. 4. c. 2. said a very Heathen Vers 27. To give his Asse provender in the Inne Their Innes then were not so well furnished as ours are but they were forced to carry their provender which was a trouble Vers 28. My money is restered Joseph had stollen this benefit upon them which they mis-interpret their own misgiving hearts telling them that Gods just hand was in it for their hurt Conscience being now awakened meets them at every turn till they were soundly humbled and had made their peace Better a sore then a seared conscience as better a tormentful strangury then a senseless lethargy Bee-masters tell us that those are the best hives that make the greatest noise Vers 29. And they came to Iacob Who had looked many a long look for them no doubt and was now glad to see their faces and full sacks But this joy lasted but a little while for no sooner had he heard them speak but he was thunderstruck as it were so little stability is there in any worldly felicity The Saints have all here their back-burdens of afflictions yet some have more then some as Iacob who was seldom without God not only gave him a draught of them but made him a dyet-drink Look how your refiners of sugar taking sugar out of the same chest some thereof they melt but once other again and again not that it hath more dross in it but because they would have it more refined So is it here Vers 35. And it came to passe as they emptied Calvin's note on this text is that Ioseph was herein overshot and ill-advised for that intending to succour his father by sending back his money he grieved and frighted him But this might be Iacob's fault more then Iosephs We many times mistake God himself through self-guiltiness as if he meant to kill us with kindness which is a great unthankfulness See my Love-tokens p. 32. Vers 36. Simeon is not That is As good he were not for ye have left him prisoner and unless ye return the sooner with Benjamin which I cannot yeeld to is like to be put to death as a Spie See here the pangs and passions of a parent and how love descends Vers 37. Slay my two sons A simple and sinfull offer Reuben was the eldest but not the wisest Age is no just measure of wisdome Howbeit of him we may learn in our parents fear no be hardy and hearty in our brethrens distress to be eager and earnest Vers 38. Ye shall bring down my gray haires c. To the state of the dead not to hell or Limbus Patrum Many of the Ancients erroneously held that mens souls were not judged till the last day nor rewarded or punished but reserved in some secret Receptacles Bell. de Purg. lib. 1. unto the general Judgment Bellarmine would hence prove Purgatory Luther also seems to approve of that figment of the Fathers For in his notes upon this text he will have Sheol here translated the grave to be an under-ground-receptacle of all souls where they rest and sleep till the coming of Christ But gray haires descend not further then the grave And Luther somewhere intreats his Readers that if they find any thing in his books that smelleth of the old cask they should consider he was not only a man but sometime had been a poor Monk c. CHAP. XLIII Vers 1. And the famine was sore in the Land IN the promised Land Drus in Adag Hold out faith and patience Os quod in sorte tua cecidit rodas Bear thy cross and be content Vers 2. Buy us a little food They had learned to live with a little which is a great skill nature is content with a little grace with less Paratum se esse cum jove de falicitate coutendere fi aquam haberet offam Aâ—lian Epicurus himself was wont to say if he might have but aquam offam a draught of water and a morsell of meate he could live happily Vers 3. Ye shall not see my face c. No acceptation without Benjamin that son of sorrow So neither with God without sound repentance This is the rainbow which if God seeth shining in our hearts he will never drown our souls Vers 6. And Israel said c. Here he begins to outwrestle his fears by resting upon God and is therefore called Israel Vers 7. Could we certainly know c. Inferences many times are made upon what we say or do such as we never thought of Aug. lib. 1. de Trint c. 3. ad sinem Arbitror nonnullos in quibusdam locis librorum meorum opinaturos me sensisse quod non sensi aut non sensisse quod sensi faith Augustine And it fell out accordingly For as Baronius witnesseth after Saint Austins death there arose up divers who out of his writings wrested and inconstructed Quiex ejus scriptis male perceptis complures invexerunt errores Annal. tom 6. ad Ann. 450. brought in many errours which they endeavoured to maintain by the name and authority of Saint Augustine And the like may be said of Luther Vers 8. Send the lad A large lad that was thirty year old and had ten children But he is so called because the yongest son of them and the fathers darling Vers 9. I will be surety for him Herein he was a type of Christ that came of him who is both our surety to God for the discharge of our debt and duty and Gods surety to us for the performance of his promises Heb. 7.22 Vers 10. For except we had lingered c. In the words of God there is not any hyperbole to be found In the words of men related by the Scripture if we meet with such kind of expressions as this and that Joh. 21.25 it nothing derogates from the
business Such S. Paul would have all Christians to be Tit. 3.8 14. Let them that have believed in God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer saith He be careful to maintain good works or profess honest trades for necessary uses and that therein they be their crafts-masters and excell others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was Cicero's posie from his youth as himself witnesseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. And Plutarch tells us that all his strife and drift was all his life long to leave others behind him and to be the best at any thing he ever undertook This should be every mans endeavour in his place and station as that which is good before God and profitable unto men as the Apostle there subjoyneth Solomon also assures us that such shall stand before Kings and not live long in a low place Prov. 22.29 Vers 7. Jacob blessed Pharaoh That is he prayed God to bless him both at meeting and parting To salute is comely but see that ye be hearty not frothy prayerful not complementall We are heirs of blessing and must therefore be free of it 1 Pet. 3.9 Vers 8. And Pharaoh said unto Iacob This King took not pleasure as those Persian Kings did in a wild retiredness or stern austerity but in a mild affableness and heart-attracting courtesie He shews not himself strange or Stoicall but sweet and sociable So Atticus seemed in his carriage communis infimis Cor. Nepos Spartan Dio. par principibus Adrian the Emperour would most courteously confer with the meanest Vespasian was wont not only to salute the chief Senatours but even private persons inviting them many times to his table himself again going to their houses especially if he found them learned and vertuous Pharaoh might find Iacob both these and so make very good use of him as his faithful Counsellour Princes had learned men ever with them called Monitours or Remembrancers as Dio had his Plato Scipio his Polybius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Patriarchae praeâ—ipue professionis medicae studiâ—si fuerunt ut Abraham Isaac Jacob unde regibus grati quos postea in doctrina Christiana simul institucruâ—t Meclancth c. Abimelech made much of Abraham and afterwards of Isaac some think it was for their skill in Physick and Astronomy Why might not Pharaoh find and favour the same worth in Iacob and learn the same wisdom from him that his Senatours by his appointment did of his son Ioseph Vers 9. The dayes of the years of my pilgrimage All Saints here are Sojourners all good people pilgrims and strangers 1 Pet. 2.11 Heb. 11.13 14. Far they are from home meet with hard measure as Israel did in Egypt as those three worthies in Babylon Dan. 3. Their manners are of another manner hence the world owns them not Ioh. 15.19 But God both owns Isa 63.13 Psal 32.8 Isa 40.11 and honours them he knows â—heir whole way Psal 1.6 Leades them in his hand guides them with his eye bears them in his bosome when wayes are rough and rugged provides mansions for them Joh. 14.3 where they shall rest in their beds Isa 57.2 Matth. 8.11 Gen. 25.8 Jer. 50.4 5. Psal 84.7 Ruth 2.10 Gal. 4. Psal 119.63 Neh. 2.3 1 Pet. 2.11 Philip. 3.21 feast with Abraham Isaac and Iacob walk arme in arme with Angels Zach. 3.7 Be gathered to their people Heb. 12.23 to their God to their Christ c. Provided that in the mean while they set their faces towards Sion enquiring the way that they walk therein from strength to strength that they take in good part any kindness as Ruth did that they put up any unkindness as Paul did that they make much of any company send home by any hand abstain from fleshly lusts and have their conversation in Heaven eating drinking and sleeping eternall life so wishing to be at home yet waiting the Fathers call sighing out when moved to be merry as the French King did when prisoner here in England in the days of King Edward the third how can we sing songs in a strange land Vers 11. In the land of Rameses That is in the whole territory where Ramases was afterwards built Exod. 1.11 Vers 12. And Joseph nourished his Father For which end he was sent before by God and for whose sake so many thousands were preserved that else would have perished What fools then are they that hunt out the Saints their only safeguard and hate them to whom they owe all the good they have This is with the foolish deere to eate up the leaves that hid them from the hunter Vers 13. The famine was very sore Of this famine mention is made by Justin lib. 1. and Orosius lib. 1. cap. 8. So that the land of Egypt fainted Furebat See Prov. 26.18 saith Junius The Egyptians in the fifth year of the famine began to rage if they could have told at what and were well-nigh mad So Mark 3.21 Our Saviours friends went out to lay hold of him for they said he is besides himself Or as some render it he will faint for vers 20. The multitude came so together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Gen. 45.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. that they could not so much as eate bread These Egyptians whether they fainted or fretted it was for want of bread Joseph had foretold them of this seven years famine but saturity and security had so besotted them that they feared nothing till they felt it Fulness bred forgetfulness and now they are ready to let fly at others because pinched with that penury Prov. 19.3 that they might have prevented The Wickedness of a man perverts his way and his heart fret a against the Lord. See it in that furious King 2 King 6.33 Vers 14. And Ioseph gathered up all the money There is something then besides grace that is better then money though Misers will as easily part with their blood as with their good Chaldaei nummum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Sanguinem appellant Constantinople was lost through the Citizens covetousness the like is reported of Heydelberg Worthy they were in this name to have been served as the great Chaliph of Babylon was by the great Cham of Tartary He was set in the middest of those infinite treasures which he and his predecessours had most covetously amassed and bidden to eate of that gold silver Turk hist fol. 113. and precious stones what he pleased and make no spare In which order the covetous Caytiffe kept for certain dayes miserably dyed for hunger Money is a baser thing then food and raiment 1 Tim. 6.8 these if we have let us be content Vers 15. Why should we dye in thy presence When it is in thy power to save us alive in this our extreame indigency Qui non cum potest juvat occidit saith the Proverb And is it lawfull on the Sabbath to do good or to do evill to save or to destroy a life
Mark 3.4 Intimating that not to save when we may is to destroy The Egyptians therefore put Joseph to it Money they had none but must have answered if now it had been required of them as those Inhabitants of Andros did Themistoâ—les Ingens telum Necessitas He being sent by the Athenians for tribute money told them that he came on that errand accompanied with two goddesses Eloquence to perswade and Violence to inforce them Whereunto the Andraeans made this answer that they had on their side also two goddesses as strong Piutarch necessity they had it not and impossibility whereby they could not part with that which they possest not Vers 17. And Ioseph gave them bread in exchange An ancient and yet usuall way of trafick with Savages and Barbarians especially as in Virginia c. Where they usually change as Glaucus did with Diomedes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer II. lib. 6 Vers 18. We will not hide it from my Lord Confess we our pittifull indigence also to God and he will furnish us with food and feed Say with learned Pomeran Eltamsi non sum dignus nihi lominus tamen sum indigens Vers 19. Buy us and our land for bread It was their own desire therefore no injury Nay it was charity in Ioseph in remitting their services and taking only their ands yea liberallity in reserving the fifth part only to the King when husbandmen usually till for halfe the encrease And this the Egyptians thankfully acknowledg Vers 25. Vers 20. So the land became Pharaoh's Regi acquisivit imperium despoticum This the Egyptians would never have yielded unto but that stark hunger drove the wolfe out of the wood as the proverb is Philo Iudaeus reports of an heathenish people who in their warrs used only this expression to put spirit into their souldiers Dan. hist of Engl. Estote viri libertas agitur The contention was hot in this land between Prince and people for fourscore years together about liberty and property and ceased not till the great Charter made to keep the beame right bet wixt soveraignty and subjection was in the maturity of a judiciall Prince Edward the first freely ratified Vers 21. And as for the people he removed them So to alter the property of their land and to settle it upon Pharaoh who with his own money had bought it See his prudence and policy for his Lord and Master So Daniel though sick did the Kings business with all his might These were as the Philosopher saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 few such now a dayes Great need we have all to fly to Christ who dwels with prudence Prov. 8.12 as Agur did when he found his own foolishness It was he that made Aholiab wise-hearted Vers 22. Only the land of the Priests bought he not Ministers maintenance we see is of the law of nature Jezabel provided for her Priests 1 Cor. 9.13 Micah for his Levite Doe ye not know saith that great Apostle that they which Minister about holy things live of the things of the Temple â— and they which waite at the altar are partakers with the altar Where by holy things Saint Ambrose understands the law of the Gentiles by the Altar the law of the Iewes Before them both Melchizedec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tithed Abraham by the same right whereby he blessed him Heb. 7.6 As after them the Apostle rightly inferrs Even so hath the Lord ordained 1 Cor. 9.14 that they which preach the Gospell should live of the Gospell But where hath the Lord ordained it Mat. 10.10 The labourer is worthy of his meate saith Mathew of his hire saith Luke of both no doubt as the labourers in harvest who have better fare provided then ordinary and larger wages See Nehemiah's zeal for Church-maintenance Chap. 13.10 14. He knew well that a scant offering makes a cold Altar and that ad tenuitatem beneficiorum necessariò sequitur ignorantia sacerdotum Panormitan Heyl. Geog. pag. 504. as in Ireland where in former time some of the Bishops had no more revenue then the pasture of two milch-kine c. In the whole Province of Connaught the stipend of the incumbent is not above forty shillings in some places but sixteen shillings Melancthon complains of his Germany that the Ministers for most part were ready to say with him in Plautus Ego non servio Manl. loc coâ— 472. libenter herus meus me non habet libenter tamen utitur me ut lippis oculis Such use Micah made of his Levite more fit to have made a Gibeonite to cleave wood then to divide the word and yet he maintained him and doubted not thereupon to promise himself Gods blessing He is a niggard to himself that scants his beneficence to a Prophet whose very cold water shall not go unrewarded Many rich Mat. 10. refuse to give any thing to the Ministers maintenance because they cannot be tithed Perstringit tenaces Parâ—us But be not deceived God is not mocked saith the Apostle in this very case Gal 6.6 7. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all his goods Such tribes as had more cityes in their inheritance were to part with more to the Priests such as had less with fewer Num. 35.8 The equity of which proportion is still in force The Iewes at this day though not in their own country nor have a Leviticall Priesthood yet those who will be reputed religious among them do distribute in lieu of tithes the tenth of their encrease unto the poor being perswaded that God doth bless their encrease the more Godw. Heb. Antiq. 277. according to that proverb of theirs tithe and be rich But how is both the word and the world now altered amongst us All 's thought by the most to be well saved that is kept from the Minister whom to deceive is held neither sin nor pitty Fisco potius apud multos consulitur quam Christo ac tonsioni potius gregis Episc Winton quam attentioni as one complaineth Covetous Patrons Virgill care not to sauce their meate with the blood of souls whiles by them Et succus pecori lac et subducitur agnis Besides they bestow their Benefices non ubi optimè sed ubi quaestuosissime being herein worse then these Egyptians shall I say nay then the traytour Iudas He sold the head they the members he the shepherd they the sheep he but the body they the souls like that Romish strumpet Rev. 18.13 of whom they have learnt it But let them look to it lest they rue their wages of wickedness with Iudas In the mean while let them give us a just commentary upon that Prov. 20.25 and tell us M. Harris who hath authority to take that from a Church shall I say nay from God that hath been once given him We can tell them a sad story of five servants of Cardinal Wolsey's employed by him in
Hos 6.4 and reject mee as thou hast don heretofore but when thou hast so don thou must bee beholden to mee for my praiers or thou art like to lie under the plague for ought that thy wisards can do to reliev and releas thee In the river onely For a Memento Horat. that thou flinch not nor forget thy promise Quo teneam vultus c. Ver. 10. To morrow Cras vox corvina To daie if yee will hear his voice Now is the daie of grace c. procrastination is perilous Annibal when hee could have taken Rome would not when hee would could not Plutarch So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said that fool Let serious matters alone till to morrow but hee was slain that night Nemo tam divos habuit faventes Crastinum ut possit sibi polliceri Ver. 12. And Moses cried unto the Lord Not for Pharaoh's conversion for hee knew hee was past cure but for his dâ—liverance from the present plague that the power of God might bee the more manifested and the tyrants conscience the more convinced Ver. 13. According to the word Iste vir potuit apud Deum quod voluit Moses might do what hee would with God as One said of Luther Ver. 14. And the land stank As once this land also did by those unclean frogs that came out of the Pope's mouth Revel 16.13 But England is now no more a babe said K. Henrie 8th Act and Mon. fol. 990. in his protestation against the Pope there is no man here but now hee know's that they do foolishly that give gold for lead c. Surely except God take awaie our right wits not onely the Pope's autoritie shall bee driven out for ever but his name also shall shortly bee forgotten in England c. Thus hee and much more to like purpose God hath promised to take awaie the unclean spirit out of the land Zach. 13.2 Fiat Fiat Surely the societie of ungodly men whether Papists or Atheists is unsavourie and tedious like the slime and filth that is congealed when frogs and toads and other vermine join together Ver. 15. But when Pharaoh saw c. Heb A breathing or respiration so fulfilling that of the Prophet Esai 26 10. In like sort William Rufus beeing dangerously sick at Glocester in the 6th year of his raign vowed upon his recoverie to see all vacancies in the Church furnished which hee did Daniel's hist fol. 58. Sciaputo il Morbo fâ—audato 〈◊〉 Saâ—o but with so great a do as shewed that having escaped the danger hâ—e would gladly have deceived the Saint like the man in Erasmus his Naufragium who in a storm promised the Virgin a picture of wax as big as S â— Christopher but when hee came to shore would not give a tallow candle Thus in the sweating-sickness ministers were sent for and large promises made of amendment but no sooner were they recovered but they returned to their old courses as Mr. Bradford complaineth Whence Plinie in one of his Epistles to one who desired rules from him how to order his life aright I will saith hee give you one rule that shall bee in stead of a thousand ut tales esse perseveremus sani quales nos futuros esse profitemur infirmi That wee go on to bee such when well as wee promised to bee when sick Men roar when upon the rack but once got off they think they may do as they list Vers 16. Stretch out thy rod Here 's no warning given which shew's great wrath Impenitencie make's God wearie of repenting Jer. 15.6 Absolute in his threatnings if anie resolute in his executions as Deut. 29 19.20 Vers 17. All the dust of the land became lice Or gnats Quid ciniphe vilius saith Philo what so base and vile a creature as a lows a gnat and yet by this poor vermin God so plagued all Egypt that fainting under it they were forced to crie out This is the verie finger of God Vers 18. But they could not Though they endevourd it as did the Juggler of Antwerp who beeing required by the English Merchants there to plaie his feats and shew his cunning after much sweating and toil Acts Mon. fol. 985. when hee saw that nothing could go forward but that all his inchantments were void hee was compelled openly to confess that there was som man there at supper which disturbed and letted all his doings This was Mr. Tindal the Martyr who hearing of this juggler had desired certain of the Merchants that hee might bee present to see him plaie c. Vers 19. This is the finger of God An act of Omnipotencie as Luke 11.20 Psal 8.3 The heavens are the work of God's fingers Deus disponit membra pulicis culicis saith Augustin And hee hearkened not to them Neither to Moses nor to his own Magicians beeing a kin to the Catadupes that dwell at the fall of his river Nilus and are deaf Ver. 20. Rise up early in the morning Sanctificat sanat ditat quoque surgere mané Early rising is good for health wealth and Godliness David prevented the dawning of the morning c. Psal 119.147 Christ rose up a great while before daie Mark 1.35 See the note there Vers 21. Shall bee full of swarms of flies Of all the ten plagues this was the most troublesom for that they never suffered men to rest so worldly cares nocâ—e ac die non dabunt requiem as those Tyrants Jer. 16. Vers 22. And I will sever Heb Marvelously separate by setting upon them my signum salutare Ezek. 9. so that the worst that are shall return and discern betwixt the righteous and the wicked Mal. 3.18 See Exod. 33.16 Docuit Aristoteles Providentiam Dei ad coeâ—um Lunae usque protendi non ultra In the midst of the earth Not in heaven onely whereunto Aristotle and other Atheists would confine his Providence Lysippus made Alexander's picture with this posie Iuppiter asserui terram mihi tu assere coelum Vers 23. And I will put a division Heb. a redemption so Luke 1.68 Aristotle reporteth that when from the hill Aetna there ran down a torrent of fire that consumed all the houses thereabouts in the midst of those fearful flames 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist de Mundo cap. 6. the river of fire parted it self and made a kinde of lane for those who ventured to rescue their aged parents This extorted from him an acknowledgment of God's good providence for the godlie here on earth Vers 24. A grievous swarm of flies i.e. Numerous and pernicious yet not so bad as those manie noisom thoughts that swarm daily in men's hearts There is that Leviathan there are also creeping things innumerable And these manie times marr and flie-blow our praiers so as that they stink in the nostrils of God Vers 25. Sacrifice to your God in the land Persecutors when they cannot conquer would compound Vers 26. Will they not stone us Superstition is