way Or what might they have to divide amongst them when they came home Certainly so little that there would have been no end of going or coming whereas by virtue of what they brought they were able to subsist it seems a good while e're Iacob could be prevailed with to venture Benjamin though Simeon lay at stake till their return And for the way it was never to be passed without a lusty Caravan for fear of the Ishmaelites of whose Progenitor it was said That he should be a wild man and that his hand should be against every man and every mans hand against him and the Arabians who wanted Cornespecially And now the Answer is the easier to the second viz. That in the search they went not so much by Pole as by Companies the Heads of which were the Leaders and the Purse-bearers for all the rest of their Retinue And in Benjamin's own Sack as it was designed the prize was found To the third we answer That if there were any Servants at all there might be Asses enough so that the Masters needed not to foot it back or to return home with so slender provision as is imagined And if there were no Servants Ioseph gave his Brothers not a little trouble when he gave them Waggons also without any one man mentioned to assist them It may seem rather by Iudah's fear about the losing of the Asses that they were not a few than that his Father was poor and for Iacob's Present let it be compared with other Presents of the same time nay with Abigail's a long time after when one would think that she should have stretched to pacifie the wrath of David That the seventy are recounted only to keep the Genealogy of the Headâ— of Israel Wherein the Servants had no share CHAP. XXXV The last Objection answered by shewing That the circumcised Servants were part of Jacob's household that could not be parted withal without loss scandal and prejudice to the Church of God as being 1. Children of the faith of Abraham 2. Graffed into his Seed by intermarriages 3. Distinct in Genealogy 4. Yet possibly some snare unto the Israelites by retaining a smack of their old Idolatry NOW I cannot be unsensible how loth some will be to admit many rude Herdsmen who were still apt to be at debate with their Neighbours into the number of Abraham's Seed the only Church of God lest it should be prophaned by them and prove an interruption to the promise yet I must needs shew them that these were no Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel but were really constitutive members of that growing Body 1. I think it will not be questioned but that these were part of Iacob's house or houshold who dwelt in the Tents of Iacob and then it is expresly said that Israel took his journey with all that he had And Ioseph said unto his Brethren and unto his Fathers house distinct from them I will go up and say unto Pharaoh My Brethren and my Fathers house which were in the Land of Canaan are come unto me And the men are Shepherds for their trade hath been to feed Cattel and they have brought their Flocks and their Herds more than twelve men could manage and all that they have that ye may dwell in the Land of Goshen which was a fertile Tract about the mouth of the Nile or the tongue of the Red Sea nearest unto Canaan and neglected by the Egyptians For every Shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians Out of superstition say some because they worshipped some fort of Beasts and say others out of niceness because they more affected Towns and Trades And Ioseph placed his Father and his Brethren in the best of the Land in the Land of Rameses as Pharaoh had commanded And he nourished them and all his Fathers houshold with bread according to their Families Which shews that some of the Servants also were of some account and had their own Families enough to people the rest of Goshen So that Ioseph wisely kept them at a distance from the sight of Pharaoh for fear of State-jealousie 2. As these could not be left behind without loss so neither wâ—s it lawful for Iacob or his Sons to turn them off or abandon them For their Circumcision was an indelible Character so that it would have been a reproach to Israel to have exposed any of his unto the Heathen or to have cast them into temptation of revolting to Idolatry after once they had been joined to the Church by the sign and seal of the righteousness of faith even of the same faith with Abraham in whose Seed all the Nations of the Earth were to be blessed and these in particular as the first-fruits of the Gentiles Children of the faith of Abraham and Heirs of the better part of the promise and not excluded from their lots in the other part neither as we trust to shew hereafter Neither was there need to put off these for any misdemeanour since every Head of an house had power of life and death and other punishments and that without appeal to the Supreme as is manifest in the Case of Iudah and Tamar when it was told Iudah that she was with Child of whoredom saith he Bring her forth and let her be burnt And though specious things are said about the ancient use of Excommunication in the Church yet it seems to me that hitherto and long after there was no cutting off from the people but by death wherefore an Angel met Moses with a drawn Sword and sought to have slain him for his neglect of circumcising of his Child 3. Nor let any one admire at this that follows They became the Children of Abraham by a kind of adoption or insition into the Stock of Abraham by marrying of the Daughters of Israel and so in course of time they became one Kindred with them For who should they give them to besides We cannot give our Sister to one that is uncircumcised said the Sons of Iacob for that were a reproach unto us But if ye will be as we be then will we give our Daughters unto you and take your Daughters unto us and we will dwell with you and we will become one people Trouble not your self about disparagement for they were bene nati well-born who were born in the same house emancipate also tanquam liberi aut liberti by Circumcision and they lived all upon one Stock so that there could not be any want amongst them But the truth is the dignity of Degree and Pedegree went to the prime Descendents male from the Loins of the twelve Patriarchs of Israel which may seem to be the true reason why we find in the Genealogies such an account as this viz. These are the Sons of Ephraim for instance of one after their families of Shuthelah the family of the Shuthalhites of Bacher the family of the Bachrites of Taban the
So shall we sacrifice to the Lord our God the abomination of the Egyptians and will they not stone us When the same people were in Babylon where Sacrifices ceased with the Temple so that they were the less to be observed they were sometimes overlooked and sometimes not even as they are at this day in Turky and Christendom whereas the Turkish Mussulman hates the Persian Mahometan even more than either Jew or Christian. and the Papists would extirpate Protestants if they were able and inferiour Sects howsoever plausibly they speak when they are low would even do the like by one another Only our Mother Church of England is of no Sect at all CHAP. XXXVIII How Joseph might live in Pharaoh's house And be free from Egyptian superstition What private Religion he might have What godly people near him What Vnion he had with the Church Catholick or his Fathers house That he lived by faith like Daniel in Babylon yet the want of Ordinances such a trouble to him as to David 1. IF any one admire how Ioseph could live so many years first in Potiphar's and then in Pharaoh's house so as to escape the Egyptian idolatry or Superstitions they may observe that he was noted in both places to have a Diviner Spirit in him than the Magicians and so to have been left the more to himself in Egypt as Daniel after was in Babylon till a particular charge was brought against him concerning his Religion Nay Ioseph's being as Pharaoh and a Father unto Pharaoh after he came to Court exempted him from any jurisdiction or inspection whatsoever for who durst say unto Pharaoh What dost thou 2. If it be further questioned What private Religion Ioseph could have unto himself or what exercise or practice of it in the house of Pharaoh Could he have any private Altar Or if he had any one to serve at that Altar or to worship at it besides himself Or could he have any Closets adorned with the Reliques of Noah Sem Eber Abraham c or any other holy things or what did he do I answer First He did as his Father Iacob had done before in the idolatrous house of Laban where I cannot think that he either had or needed any Altar or any other circumstances of devotion In his way to whose house notwithstanding he set up the stone that he used as a pillow for a pillar and poured Oil upon the top of it and called the name of the place Bethel that is the house of God vowing that it should be so to him if God should restore him safe to his Father's house and that he would offer the tenth unto him of all that God should give him as if he would make that Stone an Altar and that place such a place of worship as Gilgal and Shiloh after were But this Pillar you see was erected pro futuro only Secondly Yet I doubt not but Ioseph might have erected an Altar of testimony or thanksgiving or for Peace-offerings at the least as others did upon special occasions before and after the Law even till the building of the Temple if such occasion were But we read not of it peradventure God would not suffer his own name to be prophaned by setting up an abomination to the Egyptians before their faces nor Ioseph's service to be prejudiced thereby For although the Father of a Family was the ordinary Priest of his own house yet any man apart as Iacob might erect an Altar and offer his thanksgivings thereupon using such as he had about him like so many Levites all sanctified by the Sacrifice if the occasions of the Altar and the Sacrifice were right Thirdly If Ioseph had any outward part of Devotion to accomplish it may be he might have found some of his Retainers not unmeet to be assisting to him For in his handling of his Brethren while they took him for an Egyptian he said unto them the third day This do and live for I fear God As if he would have them think no other but that there was some piety in Egypt as well as amongst them whom he knew And when they made Apology unto the Steward of Ioseph's house about their money the Steward said unto them Peace be to you fear not your God the God of your Father hath given you treasure in your Sacks I had your money As if this Steward could speak the language of Israel and was not unacquainted with the God of Iacob Fourthly It may seem that Ioseph worshipped God with the like respect to his Fathers house and the Sacrifices offered there and with the like respect unto the Land of promise as Daniel did in Babylon when he opened his Window towards the Temple and prayed for the restitution that was promised in the mean while they were both abridged of the outward Ordinances and lived by their faith in the promises of God We have spoken enough of Daniel before S t Paul is as clear for Ioseph when he saith By faith Ioseph when he was a dying made mention of the departing of the Children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones reckoning him among the rest who through faith obtained a good report not having yet received the promise Fifthly Nay by the History it is manifest that as Moses by faith when he was come to years refused to be called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt so it had fared with Ioseph before All the pleasures of that Heathen Court and all the submissions of that Heathen People infused no other satisfaction into his spirit but that he must be contented that he might be Protector of Israel to abide without as an Alien from his Fathers house and to be deprived of the holy Ordinances of God For when he was about to dye he said unto his Brethren I dye and God will surely visit you and bring you out of this Land of bondage where I have been detained and afflicted with you in expectation of the promise made unto our Fathers unto the Land which he sware to Abraham to Isaac and to Iacob God will surely visit you and he took an Oath of them about carrying his bones from thence Nor was David in his worst Quarters when he said Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar For although good men may be saved without the Ordinances where God himself debarrs them yet they cannot live comfortably without them Which they may do well to consider who if they have but a reasonable excuse for it had as lief be planted in the utmost Indies as in the midst of Churches So we see what union Ioseph held in his separation both with the Church Catholick of all Believers and also with the house of Iacob in particular CHAP. XXXIX Of the Vnity of the Church in respect to Election in the general perplexities noted more especially in
Whether they were but seventy Males in all to wave the Question whether they were so many for some are of opinion that some of Iacob's Sons Sons are reckoned by anticipation and might for all that be born in Egypt after they were planted in the Land of Goshen Let us hear what may be said on either side And first that they were but seventy precisely or thereabouts as S t Stephen reckoneth For First It is safe to keep to the Letter of the Scripture in Historical Passages especially and not to wire-draw it or extend it more than needs for fear of wresting or of worser consequences that may be drawn from more remote constructions than from the very words Now of Iacob and his Sons it is expresly said First That Iacob sent his ten Sons and no more into Egypt to buy Corn by which it may seem that he had no such number to spare as hath been suggested Or that his Sons were but as the rest by the errand that they went on Secondly When Ioseph returned their monies it was to every man in the mouth of his Sack and being searched upon their second return when they had Benjamin with them the search began from the eldest to the youngest and could proceed no further because it seems they were no more Thirdly Their dealing was for little since so few Asses could carry what they came for and their Sacks not so full but that they could contain Provender besides proving nothing else but that these being laden the poor Ass-Riders must go on foot home Fourthly By Iacob's mean Present and Iudah's fear of losing the Asses when they were taken it seems they were but poor and so when Ioseph returned an answerable Present with Waggons to his Father to bring him into Egypt Fifthly Besides that there maybe no doubt of the number it is carefully recorded how many came with Iacob and were there before viz. seventy souls And so Iosephus Jewish Antiquary doth account and no more Sixthly In fine it would be a strange extravagancy to put so many Supernumeraries of we know not what Aliens unto this account which must needs reckon them to Israel and the Seed of Abraham and so to the only Church of God or else give some other clear account what became of them at the last Secondly Notwithstanding which Objections we must hold That Israel descended into Egypt with more than seventy person by these two Arguments which will be proved by answering the Objections only 1. Because he descended with all his houshold 2. Because he neither could nor ought to part with his circumcised Servants and their Wives and Children CHAP. XXXIV Certain Corollary Rules preliminary to the answering of the first Objection That Jacob sent his Sons to Joseph as a foreign Prince for a favour but not unaccompanied considering 1. Their concern 2. What weight of money they might take with them in so many Bundles if only to lade ten Asses 3. What the length and hazard of the way The four next Objections briefly answered TO the first good Rule these others may be joined as succedaneous Corollaries First That the sense of the Scripture is its own authority more than the Critical position of the words warranted by several Quotations in the New Testament out of the Old Secondly That necessary consequence is all one with the Text it self neither was a good Inference ever sleighted Thirdly That in such Historical Passages of Scriptures as do veil or are invelop'd with a mystery we are in a manner directed to a further indagation by S t Paul where he tells us what else we should have hardly found that one of Abraham's Sons by a Bond-maid and another by a free Woman did by an Allegory exhibit to us the difference of state betwixt Mount Sinai and the New Ierusalem or betwixt the Law and Grace Bondage and Liberty Fourthly That by comparing Passages one Scripture doth best expound another After which Preliminaries I address my self to answer the first Objection thus First It is still to be remembered that it is above two hundred and ten years since Abram armed three hundred and eighteen trained Servants born in his own house to pursue the Kings that had taken Lot Prisoner And if seventy Persons only in two hundred and ten years or thereabouts might become such an incredible number as the possibility hath been demonstrated what may we think of three hundred and eighteen more in the same Family Partakers of the like Blessings so far as their encrease was the encrease of Abraham's wealth and strenght But not to be entangled with too many difficulties to think modesty Iacob could scarce have less than a thousand souls within his Tents Secondly But why then did he send his ten Sons only with their ten Asses to buy Corn for them all Could they bring enough Or did they only bring for Iacob's own Tent and leave the rest to live on Roots or Nuts and Almonds with which it seems by the Present that the Land abounded You must remember Ioseph's Dreams that their sheaves should do obeysance to his sheaf and the Sun and the Moon and the eleven Stars also and then you must consider his present state and the condition of all the Nations thereabouts Ioseph was advanced to be chief Minister of State under Pharaoh and according to his own advice he was appointed to take up the fifth part of the Land of Egypt for seven years together of plenty against seven other to ensue of certain famine according to the interpretation of Pharaoh's Dream And when the famine came in all parts Iacob heard that there was Corn in Egypt for Ioseph had gathered Corn as the sand of the Sea very much until he left numbring for it was without number but not to be had save only from the hands of Pharaoh or his chief Minister and therefore you may know he sent his ten Sons and not his Servants to do their obeysance for Corn But not without Attendance as we may easily collect from divers circumstances as 1. From the Concern that they had 2. From the money that they carried with them 3. From the hazard of the Journey and the length thereof As for their Concern they had every man his own Family and did not always eat in Iacob's presence Nor could they live on Nuts or Almonds any more than the Egyptians on their Fruits who were forced to sell their Lands and their Persons too to Pharaoh that they might have Bread For their money every of the ten carried a Bundle in his Bag Think you that a Bundle of Silver as money went then was but enough to buy one Asses burthen Weigh the Bundle and the burthen and consider For their Journey it could be little less than two hundred miles directly from Hebron unto Caire If they brought but each man an Ass-Load what might they spend by the
respect to the house of Jacob wherein all were chosen whereas in the house of Abraham and Isaac there was but one received as Heir of the promise Reasons to be given for their rejection and so might have been in Jacob's house too whose errours are recorded NOW concerning the Unity of the Church this hath been taken for a general Rule That the Church is as large as the Election and the Election so determined within its Bounds or spaces that extra Ecclesiaâ—â— non est salus without the Church there is no salvation Which occasioning a distinction betwixt the Church visible and invisible it hath made the wide World the Subject of some mens charity as much as any Church visible the rather because some men think there may be an inward Call by the Spirit where there in so outward Call of the Church visible And so for Election Whereas S t Paul gives us ground for two distinctions uncontroulable viz. 1. Of a general Election both of Jew and Gentile unto the state of Grace by believing of the Gospel answering to the Election of the Jews alone from the times of the Law unto special Covenant and priviledge 2. Of a certain Election of persons not so large as the other unto eternal life according to the foreknowledge of God This hath occasioned the Schoolmen and the modern Polemical Divines by scanning of the terms and sisting what might be drawn from them to come in with a distinction between like a kind of superfoâ—tation of particular Election absolute or conditional for of the general Election of some people more than others unto special means they dare not question over boldly or enter farther into this Secret of Providence than Travellers dare into that Stove of S t Germans in Italy the mouth wherof I have been in only some presume to say that there are sufficient means granted unto all which modern distinction of the Popish Schoolmen and our Common-place-men hath raised much stir and heats both in the Roman and Reformed Churches For if theâ—e be an absolute positive Election of a â—ew the Question is not so much Whether it be without respect of persons as without respect of sin If there be a particular Election of persons conditionally only then Whether Election hangeth in suspense or being from eternity proceedeth according to God's foreknowledge vel saltem per scientiam mediam with a respect to his own Decree according to works foreseen of merits condign or congruous as the Schoolmen speak or according to faith or Evangelical obedience at the least foreseen and foreknown which pleaseth some of ours well enough though they have much difficulty and difference in the explaining of their meanings In the mean while perhaps there cannot be much more proved from S t Paul than that Election beareth no respect to the Works of the Law by which neither Jew nor Gentile can be justified but that both must be brought to cry Grace Grace unto the Gospel But the Bounds of my Discourse confine themselves naturally within the general Election of Grace whereby it pleased God to chuse some particular persons to be the Body Constitutive of his Church to the exclusion of â—â—hers that might seem to have stood as fair as they If it be asked Why Abel was accepted and Cain not it is ready to be answered That Abel offered a better Sacrifice and that from a better mind wherein God himself is our Warrant for he said unto him Why art thou wroth and why is thy countonance fallen If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted and if thou doest not well sin lyeth at the door If it be asked again Why was Sem chosen rather than Ham and Iaphet A reason may be given against Ham but there is no manifest reason against Iaphet but the Oeconomy or Providence of God secundum beneplacitum Whoever presseth further may engage himself beyond recovery unless he do content himself in this that there was a time to be when it pleased God that the fulness of the Gentiles should come in So a reason may be given against Ishmael He was not only the Son of the Bondwoman that misbehaved her self towards her Mistress but a malicious Scorner of the true Heir the Son of the Free-woman and a Wild-man but of the Sons of Keturah what have we to say more than of Iaphet save only that of Midian one of them came Iethro and the Kenites friends and partakers of the house of Israel What wonder though Esau was permitted to seek his Fortunes in Mount Seir he having matched with the Daughters of Heth and Ishmael to the grief of his Parents and so without their liking and being otherwise prophane not only as a common Hunt but as an Hunter like to Nimrod so far as God permitted But what have we to say at last that all the Sons of Iacob his Concubines and all should be taken in and never an one rejected Did ever Ishmael or Esau play such pranks as some of these Reuben the eldest went in to Bilhah the Concubine which Rachel and not his Mother Leah had given unto Iacob and lay with her and defiled his Fathers bed Simeon and Levi fell upon the Shechemites not only cruelly but perfidiously after they had made them Proselytes Iudah the next preferred above all went down from his Brethren who had little converse beyond their commerce with the people of the Land and turned in to a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah And Iudah saw there a Daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shuah and he took her and went in unto her And she bare him Er Onan and Shelah Er married Tamar and was wicked following his Mothers kind and the Lord slew him and Onan after him And then Iudah dissembled about giving the third Son Shelah unto Tamar lest he should perish too So Iudah himself fell into Tamars Gin and was disgraced by her at the present but got more honour from her incestuous Issue at the last than from his own marriage with the Canaanite For the Sons of the Concubines Dan Naphtali Gad and Asher Ioseph was wont to bring their ill report unto his Father for which they envied him And for Issachar and Zebulun they were also in the Conspiracy against the life of Ioseph Only Reuben's pity was commended though he was agreed with the rest to conceal it with fraud from Iacob in that he would have saved Ioseph altogether which might be a reason why Ioseph bound Simeon the second when he let Reuben the first go free and Iudah so far as that he would rather fell him for a Slave than slay him Thus the Scripture concealeth not their vices Only Ioseph the Son of Rachel is extolled and his Brother Benjamin blameless CHAP. XL. The Sons of Jacob compared in their vertues and vices The latter aggravated and excused Why Pharez born of incest should be so great in Judah and inherit the promise at
whom the Serpent was to be sped at last In the mean while there are two further Points to be discreetly traversed 1. That Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years and it is likely Eve somewhat near the matter whether more or less and begat other Sons not mentioned and Daughters whereof the name of never an one is at all recorded 2. That some penitent issue is not obscurely shewn to have issued from Cain himself For all the Sons of Adam not named we may take it for granted that they either abode in their Fathers Tents taking their Sisters to Wives who were next to be taken or went off with Cain to help him build and replenish his City being nevertheless of the Seed of the Woman or of the true Church so long as they retained the Worship the Rites the Rules and the Moral Laws that they carried off from their Fathers house And others of them cleaved unto Seth and holp to make up his Family because the Earth must needs be replenished and Children go off to further distance And thus we may conceive that the true Church was far from failing betwixt the death of Abel and the birth of Seth howsoever the necessity of livelyhood or civil accommodation might divide the Members of it But as Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years before he had Seth so Seth live a hundred and five years more before he had Enos In which long tract of time and encrease of Generations when men began to multiply on the face of the Earth and that Daughters were born unto them so that the Sons of God saw the Daughters of men that they were fair and took them Wives of all they liked then the true Worshippers were â—ain to gather unto one House or Tribe And how they might attain to any consistency there I refer you to the Letter of a learned Gentleman in the Postscript All that remains to be said here is this That when the House of Seth came to degenerate too God brought a Deluge on the World as it is commonly accounted 1656 years after the Creation CHAP. XII Why God preserved Cham and Japhet in the Ark as well as Sem. That though they followed the way of the old World yet they were encreased in dominion which was not the blessing promised more than Sem Nay that he himself was greater in temporal accessions by other Sons than by Eber. NOW one might think since God Almighty was so much offended with the sins of the old World as to say It repented him that he had made man on the Earth and it grieved him at his heart that he would have taken such caution about the next succession that no generation like to that of Cain's should have survived the Deluge Yet as he preserved some of all kinds even of noxious Creatures in the Ark so he dealt by the intire Family of Noah He would not prejudge the Cases of Iaphet and Cham who were under the same protection discipline and common blessings with Sem till they came to be severed in their habitations and progenies Among the Sons of Noah saith Sir Walter Raleigh there were found strong effects of the former poyson For as the Children of Sem did inherit the Vertues of Seth Enoch and Noah so the Sons of Cham did possess the vices of Cain and of those wicked Giants of the first Age. As for Iaphet we read no hurt of him but it is rather recorded to his commendation that he joined with his Brother Shem to make some amends for the villany of Ham. who had exposed his Fathers nakedness However it is not obscurely implyed that Iaphet was either fallen or about to fall off to degenerate worship because this is added to his blessing for that act of silial Grace and Duty That God would at last enlarge or perswade Iaphet to dwell in the Tents of Sem who though chosen by God is for the most part concluded to have been the younger Brother Which Prophetick Promise to Iaphet as the like Curse to Ham were not to be accomplished in either of their persons but in their posterities some Ages after Wherefore for all the love and great savour that God shewed unto Noah he would not hinder the accursed race of enmity from spreading out of his Loins also to be two ways branched for the greater afflictions of Sem's choicest Descendents until the time appointed For as the Sons of Noah descended from Mount Ararat where the Ark rested whether it was Caucasus or Taurus Ham and his Sons seized on all that they were able to occupy from the parts of Mesopotamia to the ends of Africk which was the Road that a part of them took Of his Son Cush descended Nimrod the Founder of the ensuing Babylonian Greatness as also Ashur who gave the Name of Assyria that built Niniveh And of his Son Canaan descended the Sidonians Hittites Iebusites Ammonites Girgasites Hivites Arkites and other reprobate Hoards or Nations Of his Son Mizraim descended also Pathrusim the Father of the Philistines and Casluhim the original of some of the Bordering Arabians And such of his Race as aimed further Southwards peopled all Egypt and Ethiopia to the Lands end so far as their number or encrease could seize on Lands without resistance So that out of Ham proceeded the Princes and people which held the great Kingdoms as they grew of Babylon Syria and Egypt for many Descents together towards the future oppression of the Sons of Sem the blessings of Shem and Iaphet as my Authour hath it taking less effect until the time appointed So that the first great Lords of the Earth were of this accursed Race that they might thresh in the Theshingfloors of Israel and bring their Fans in their hands whensoever the House of God was to be purged by the affliction of his people And to shew besides that God accounteth not as men do of Worldly Greatness he letteth it go to chuse unto the Heathen who thereupon do idolize the Fortunes of their Princes and set them up for Gods The first of which this Ham is counted to have been by the Name of Iupiter Hammon and the places where he was adored most do countenance that opinion And who was ever set up for an Idol but the worst of men From Iaphet also and his seven Sons the Medes Seythes Thracians Macedonians Grecians and the most part of Lesser Asia were replenished together with the Isles of the Gentiles by which name the ends of the habitable World were only known unto the Hebrews From whence came Alexander first and his Captains and after them the Romans to subdue and to waste Eber. Which events seem to have been more clearly revealed unto Balaam than unto any of the better Prophets even in the infancy of this people while they travelled in the Desart towards this Land of Promise And Ships shall come saith he from the Coasts of Chittim and shall
afflict Ashur and shall afflict Eber and he also shall perish for ever Nor did no other but the holy Line run through Sem himself For from his Son Elam the Elamites or Persians did derive their name from Arphaxad the chaldeans sprung and some say from his Son Ashur and not Nimrod's the Assyrians as from his Son Aram the Aramites or Syrians and from his Son Lud the Lydians what people soever they were became known according to the names of their Progenitors CHAP. XIII The knowledge of God dispersed in other Families besides Sem's but corruption in his also occasioned the Call of Abram Why Lot came with him and why he was driven into Egypt and brought back so soon Piety in Canaan while Sem lived there Nor was the whole election at first restrained to the House of Abraham NOW as Adam taught his Children as he himself had been taught by God how to sacrifice and keep the Sabbath with certain Rites of Worship and Laws of life so Noah also taught his Children all alike the same true Worship that had been delivered from Adam who dyed not much above an hundred years before the birth of Noah since he lived nine hundred and thirty years and Noah was born in An. Mundi 1056. together with the true meaning of the Covenant after the Flood betokened by a Rainbow And because Noah lived three hundred and fifty years more and the dispersion happened not in his life the knowledge of God must needs be far and wide dispersed in the Tents of Cham and Iaphet as well as in those of Sem before the Rout at Babel and they that went off in that confusion of languages could not chuse however but carry off some rudiments or other of their first breeding But when true Religion came to be corrupted in Sem's Family too as well as in the rest in the eighth Generation about five hundred and two years after the Deluge in the person of Terah who became an Idolater as the Scriptures do expresly testifie however Bishop Montague comes to have a better opinion of him Then it pleased God to call forth his elect Vessel Abram from his Fathers house to go into a Land that he would shew him where his Seed should in time to come be planted alone by themselves in the middle of the Earth and become a peculiar people unto God And Abram brought his Brother Haran's Son Lot with him by God's permission because he was a righteous man and yet neither he nor his were to be comprized in the same Covenant with Abraham and his Seed Iosephus says That Abram brought him along with him with intent to make him his Heir because as yet he had no Issue But the same Providence that brought them forth together within a while did sever them that Moab and Ammon that should hate the Seed of Abraham as much as Lot and Abram loved one another might arise out of Lot's incest and be ready planted in the Land of Canaan to be Thorns in the sides of Israel As for Abram himself God had no sooner shewed him the Land of promise but he forced him and Lot from thence by famine into Egypt to try whether he would not stagger after such a promise seeing such a defeat immediately upon it as also to make him a Type of the Seed promised who was to be driven into Egypt as soon as he was born as also to begin the sufferings of Christ in his Body the Church For it was from this time to be accounted that the four hundred years should be accomplished in him and his Seed of which he had received this threatning after such a promise of Grace for some shew of lesser faith than he had exprest before Know of a surety that thy Seed shall be a Stranger in a Land that is not theirs as Egypt and the parts about for in Egypt it self they remained but two hundred and ten years and shall serve them four hundred years But while Abram sojourned here he found more piety than he expected as he after did in the same Case at Gerar of the Philistines However Pharaoh's mistaken kindness unto Sarah occasioned the dismission of Abram and Lot with all their substance into Canaan as it is thought the very next year where their substance being greatly encreased they were fain to part their Companies also being great Abram was put to shew his power in falling upon four victorious Kings for the rescue of his Nephew Lot who had been taken captive by them for it is said that Abram was very rich in Cattel in Silver and in Gold And for his great Retinue when he treated with the Sons of Heth for a Burying-place for Sarah they said unto him Hear us my Lord thou art a mighty Prince amongst us in the choice of our Sepulchres bury thou thy dead As if there had been yet some civility among these Hitties of the Race of Cham somewhat of kin to piety But when Abram returned with victory over the Kings which he had pursued then Melchizedeck King of Salem came forth to meet him and he brought forth bread and wine because he was the Priest of the most high God And he blessed him and said Blessed be Abram of the most high God Possessor of Heaven and Earth And Abram gave him tythes of all his spoils as the Apostle doth expound it Heb. 7.4 So that here we are pointed to observe another Church without the House of Abram which hath an High Priest whereas Abram himself had no greater Title than that of a Prophet nor any greater Right to handle Divine Mysteries than any other Father of a Family which derived Priesthood down from Adam so that Abram paid Tythes unto him Not to enter into the whole Dispute about Melchisedeck Saint Paul preferring ancient things before the latter sets the Covenant of Grace before the Law four hundred and thirty years and thereby proves the excellency of it above the latter And to shew that our Lord Christ was of a Royal Priesthood far above the Tribe of Levi he proveth that Levi himself paid both tithes and homage to him by Abraham in his Antitype Melchisedeck while Levi was in the loins of his Progenitor Abraham as Priest of the most high God and King of righteousness and King of peace by augmentation of his titles King and Priest from ancient times agreeing in the same person till God appropriated the Tribe of Levi for the better preservation of purity after many of the Heads of Families were found so prone unto degeneracy whatever proper name he might have besides The generality agree that he was a mortal man immortal only as a Type of Christ and some think as à Lapide quotes the Authors that he was one of the Roytelets of Canaan who by God's Providence was preserved to be both a faithful man and a good King amongst them
of Moses And although Cunaeus doth collect in favour it may be of some opinion that the Church of old was still restrained unto one Family as from Adam to Seth and so to Noah and to Sem alone of his and to Abram alone of his and to Isaac alone of his line and that God despised all other Nations as prophane until the coming of Christ yet it seems to me that although many Families and Nations did not escape corruption yet some true Worshippers there were here and there without those houses and without that Nation But the first Church was the Metropolis only of all the rest Thirdly And now we may perceive the reason why Abram's Servants also must be circumcised to the solution of the Question with favour against Pererius That Circumcision was to be imposed since it was not free for Servants bought with Abram's money to obtain liberty upon the pretence that they would not be cirumcised Nor was ever Hyrcann's blamed in later times for compelling the Edomites when he had subdued them to be circumcised but commended rather The reason of their Circumcision besides the share which they had in the desire of all Nations was partly to propagate the knowledge of God if they went off and partly to constitute and fortifie the Body of the Church if they continued in the Tents of Abraham Such was the Church which it pleased God to form to himself from the beginning such the Materials of it And how many of these had true Grace in their hearts besides Abraham himself and his Wife Sarah and it may be his Steward Eliezer before Isaac was born I leave the Brethren that are most concerned to enquire But that part of this Question which relateth to the whole Church of the Old Testament with reference as a seal unto some Covenant that we may not be delayed in our progress here will fall in in a proper place in order CHAP. XVII Abraham's obedience so acceptable unto God that he maketh himself known to him in a more familiar way than ever before That Abraham knew nothing to the contrary why there might not be more righteous people in Sodom than his Brother Lot His various peregrinations are recounted and further Questions propounded to be enquired into SUCH hath been the acceptation of a liberal obedience in the hearts of generous Princes both of ancient and later times that they have not thought much to go out of their way and to come incogniti to visit one or other of their meaner Subjects whom they have known by such a Character In the like manner after Abraham had circumcised all his Males it pleased God not to defer as in former times but to make haste to come and see him incognito but in a more familiar manner than before to make the last promise or to confirm all the former to him to be surely made good to him within the set time mentioned before so that to keep reckoning we may account it to have been within a month or two after the last appearance To this was added the great favour of Almighty God for when did he ever do so by any other mortal man to commune with Abraham about the destruction of Sodom and to hearken to his intercession In which it appeareth that Abraham thought no other but that there might be many righteous persons there whom God would not destroy with the wicked besides his Brother Lot Some are of opinion that Abram remained five years at Charran of the Chaldees or that part of it to which Mesopotamia may be reckoned after he had received the first promise And then upon the death of his Father Terah who as S t Chrysostom observes though an Idolater had a fatherly affection for his Children he came as far as Sichem in the land of Canaan in the seventy fifth year of his Age and there he received the second promise and built an Altar to the Lord for remembrance because the Lord had there appeared to him It is only said that he came unto the place of Sichem unto the Plain of Morch And that the Canaanite was then in the Land So that it seems not likely to me that he entered into the City at all whether it were a walled City as is most probable it being a great and ancient one or only a City of Streets as we find such accounted in the number before the Nations were replenished But he removed journeying southwards and about Luz or Bethel which was after called so by Iacob he built another Altar for constant worship and there he called on the name of the Lord. But the very next year as it may seem he was driven into Egypt by famine and the year after that returned again to the place where he had erected his second Altar and here he remained if conjecture fail not about a year or two when obeying the command of God he went about surveying the Land of promise and came the third year to the Plain of Mamre about Hebron which was after called so and there built another Altar to the Lord viz. as a place where he designed some residence if it should please God to permit him And hereabouts he continued eighteen years even till he had received the last promise and then he journeyed again toward the South Country and dwelt between Cadesh and Shur and sojourned in Gerar where he made a Covenant by mutual Oath with Abimelech a King of the Philistines at Beersheba And Abraham planted a Grove in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord the everlasting God And he sojourned in the Philistines Land many days But by the death of Sarah in Kiriath-arba which is Hebron in the Land of Canaan we may learn that though the Son of Promise was born among the Philistines yet Abraham returned at the last to Hebron where he had his place of worship among the Hittites And there he had his last blessing of encrease by Keturah according to the fulness of the promise of God to the rise of many Nations from him And there he left in his Tents Isaac and Iacob Heirs of the same promise with himself having lived a hundred and seventy five years whereof one hundred hereabout and leaving Isaac about seventy years of Age and his Son Iacob fifteen And his Sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him with Sarah in the Cave of Machpelah So that all the expeditions of Abraham were 1. from the remoter parts of Chaldea unto Charran from thence 2. unto Sichem from thence 3. to Bethel from thence 4. to Egypt from thence 5. back again to Bethel from thence 6. to the Plain of Mamre which is Hebron or Kiriath-arba from thence 7. to the Parts of Gerar and from thence 8. back again to Hebron of the Sons of Heth. That which remaineth to be enquired is first What use Abraham made of his Altars secondly How he governed his
said that every Shepherd was an abomination unto the Egyptians but also that the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews for that is an abomination to the Egyptians as if it were so to those more than to the Hebrews to eat with them I would gladly know then how they could hold any time together for I take it for granted that Iacob would rather starve than want an Altar at Rameses or some other part of Goshen it being the first thing he did to erect one and to purge his house from Idols in other places Or how the Egyptians could bear their Sacrifices better than their Trade or Diet I cannot doubt but that there were Egyptians in Goshen before a fertil Plat and a Frontier and some of these Shepherds and Hersmen too however scorned by the Citizens because Pharaoh had said unto Ioseph In the best of the Land make thy Father and Brethren to dwell in the Land of Goshen let them dwell and if thou knowest any man of activity amongst them then make them Rulers over my Cattel Which whether they consumed in Egypt or sold abroad as the Jews after did their Swine it matters not But this was enough to ground such a Commerce as was fit to hold the Israelites and Egyptians in the fairer terms especially since no man durst to mutter against the Kindred of Ioseph that came in with so high a hand of grace and favour and who himself had preserved alive the people of Egypt Neither is it to be doubted but that these Parts were at this time more populous than Canaan by reason of fertility and the multitude of the Sons of Ham that betook themselves this way as fast as they encreased from the Mountains of Armenia We must also suppose that the Egyptians and all other Nations offered Sacrifices as well as Israel for both Adam and Noah taught all their Sons alike to sacrifice And this perhaps might be a worser eye-sore to the Egyptians than any other the Israelites worshipping another God before their faces in another manner than they did since the Rites were changed wheresoever Idolatry came instead of the right Worship Now to this it may be said that two different Religions were always accounted more tolerable than the same divided For such would be sure to go far enough apart and not to interfere with one another Nay all Religions besidâ—s the true which had Satan for their Moderator agreed well enough with one another As in the Roman practice there are Churches dedicated by divers names in sundry Regions which have Reliques Miracles and Altars with indulgences annexed to them so that there is curiosity in pilgrimage and merit too more particularly the places that bear the superscription of the Blessed Virgin are the most celebrated and visited for their stateliest Churches are lightly hers and in Churhes hers the fairest Altars Where one prayeth before the Crucifix two before her Image where one voweth to Christ ten vow unto her and not so much to her self as to some peculiar Image which for some select Vertue or Grace together with greater power of operation of Miracles they chiefly serve as the glorious Lady of Loretto the devout Lady of Rome the miraculous Lady of Provenzano the Annunciata of Florence whose Churches are so stuffed with vowed Presents and Memories that they are fain to hang their Cloisters also and Church-yards with them Then as their vows are such are their pilgrimages c. In like manner the Heathens had always some sumptuous Temples or wondrous Stories to draw Strangers and devotion and to raise a name to the places where they lived If they would see a stately Structure compared with the Temple of Solomon by some Writers and a wonder by report What man is there that knoweth not how that the City of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great Goddess Diana and of the Image that fell down from Iupiter If they would be cured they must go to Aesculapius or Apollo chuse they whether or to any other God or Goddess that had a same whether in their own or in another Countrey for some particular aids or remedies If they would have counsel and success these were reserved chiefly unto Iupiter in great Cases and in those few places where Satan would vouchsafe to speak by his Oracles But it was observed that Venus had more Votaries than any other whether Men or Women would be married or obtain any other Love or be fruitful or be barren or agree after they had fallen out ad Sacellum Deae viri-place which is described in Valerius Maximus Wherefore though some Nations of the Heathens intituled themselves to particular Gods or Goddesses and so preferred them above others as their Protectors yet they never opposed or vilified the Gods of other Countries when they came into the places where they were adored although both at Rome and Athens they were fain sometimes to take caution against admitting too many Foreign Religions within their own Walls whereof I will alledge but two Instances for fear of an impertinent digression When Xenophon had returned safe with his Army out of the Locks and Bars of Persea and was now within the protection of the Grecians he consulted with a famous Soothsayer about his Affairs having always been a superstitious and industrious man why he should get nothing howsoever His Soothsayer advised him to sacrifice to Iupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Gentle who was adored in those Parts And after this service performed unto that Idol of a fine Title Xenophon struck into a small and short exploit and enriched himself more than by all his former Travels Which he imputed unto that direction And of Pompey the Great Plutarch tells us that he enriched and adorned the Temples of the Gods in the Eastern Parts with his Spoils and Iosephus that he not only abstained from spoiling the Temple at Ierusalem when he had taken it by Storm through the reverence he had of God but also caused such as had the charge of the Temple to purge the same and to offer Sacrifices unto God the next day according to the Law whereof we shall have more to say hereafter in its proper place where we shall observe that according unto Solomon's prayer Alexander and divers other Princes also were admitted to offer their own Sacrifies or Oblations there But the Question of toleration returneth still for a fuller Answer It seems that they enjoyed it no longer than Ioseph's life for the first message that Moses brings to Pharaoh complains of this oppression and demands redress of it Let us go three days journey into the Wilderness that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God lest he fall upon us with pestilence and with the sword for having thus long deferred it out of fear And when Pharaoh after dreadful judgments would have yielded that they should sacrifice in the Land Moses replyed
the last NOW to compare the good and bad qualities of these Patriarchs with one another It seems to some that when Reuben had committed his incest with his Mother-in-Law and that Israel heard of it his Father was afraid to take notice of it quia Reuben ferox erat because Reuben was a fierce man It may seem likewise as if he defiled his Father's Bed in contempt of Bilhah Rachels Handmaid and so that there was some malice mixed with his lust But the pity that he alone had of Ioseph the Son of Rachel shews that he was neither fierce as Simeon and Levi nor yet so envious as the rest But most like it is that the beauty only of Bilhah did inflame him as a fine Creature for Rachel to present to Iacob whereby to estrange him a little more from Leah since Iacob who was to denounce his punishment to him at the last said no more but that though he was the beginning of his might he should not excel only because he was unstable as water when he went up to his Fathers bed and defiled it high water being such as will break any Bounds whatsoever And though some Expositors doubt not of his repentance by the tokens of his good nature towards Ioseph both when he was betrayed and after in his Embassy yet God did not think fit to remit the temporal punishment unto him and his posterity of being deprived of Primogeniture and number But whether it was Iudah or Ioseph that had his Right we shall consider by and bye As for Simeon and Levi after their bloudy fact when their Father said unto them Ye have troubled me to make me stink among the inhabitants of the Land so that I being few in number incomparison of the Canaanites and Perizzites they shall gather themselves together against me and slay me and I shall be destroyed I and my house shewing their blind and rash folly as well as wickedness they had so little Grace as to return this surly Answer Should he deal with our Sister as with an Harlot Nor had they any more remorse about their Brother Ioseph afterwards in whose bloud they would for their parts have had an hand Which might occasion Ioseph to seize on Simeon to chuse as hath been noted Yet no doubt he was famous in his Generation for some Vertue or other because so many bore the name of Simeon or Simon in the succeeding Ages So that he had but one and the same Sentence with his Brother in iniquity even with Levi I will divide them in Iacob and scatter them in Israel Which was accomplished in Simeon's posterity by having their lot shut up in a manner within the Confines of Iudah and its Borders and in Levi's by having no lot at all among the rest in the Land of promise saving a lot extraordinary which God had assigned to them they say as good as the best So God over-ruleth in his gracious Providence even turning his chastisements into blessings And for Levi's own person he lived a hundred and thirty years what Age he might be when he came with Iacob into Egypt is uncertain And a hundred and thirty years after Iacob's descent was Moses born the younger Brother of Aaron the Redeemers of Israel descended both immediately from Levi Now for Iudah his faults and failings have not been spared upon which saith Bishop Hall I find not many of Iacob's Sons more faulty than Iudah But Bishop Montague says according to Iosephus that Iudah being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bold daring putting-forth man was well enough disposed in his own person to be the Law-giver and to have the Scepter although it was not indeed conferred on his person but his Tribe Methinks in truth he was like Peter among the Disciples the forwardest to undertake with his Father to lead his Brethren to expostulate with Ioseph to be Iacob's Harbinger and the likeliest to be presented as one of the five in the presence of the great King Pharaoh And though he consented to Ioseph's slavery yet said he Let not our hand be upon him for he is our Brother and our flesh And as he was of a fervent Spirit and presently passed Sentence upon Tamar to be burnt so when she convinced him he did not deny or hasten execution to conceal it but ingenuously said She hath been more righteous than I And he knew her again no more To him therefore as a man of great sufficiency was the Scepter given and the promise of Christ which was much more and yet the birth-right of Reuben was translated unto Ioseph Of which peradventure more at large when I come unto the lots Only this is too much to my purpose and design to be omitted Not only Iudah with all his faults which poor Iacob's pious soul must bear withal amongst them is admitted to the prime Prerogative but his base-born Pharez after him becomes the immediate Heir of the Promise and not his elder Son Shelah begotten in the state of Wedlock to the disparagement likewise as it might seem of the rest of the Seed of Iacob Let us make the account thus Reuben is deprived of his birth-right for the Cause of Bilhah Simeon was next and Levi next to him but they are both removed farther off for the sake of Shechem Iudah is thereupon the next in order and if there be any fault in him or however if it were possible one would think that Iacob should transfer this blessing unto Ioseph who was the eldest Son of his best beloved Wife and now a Father to his Brethren as he was to his own Father too so far as he was a Father unto Pharaoh under whose protection and beneficence they were to be cherished and flourish or else by Ioseph's leave to his own Brother Benjamin the Son of Iacob's right hand with whom no fault is found nor it may be ever was since his posterity held stedfast to the Covenant and the blessing when Ioseph's had revolted Why there was fault enough to be found with Iudah to stop his mouth and barr his claim to any Excellency amongst his Brethren It was a kind of debauch in him to go rambling among the accursed Canaanites from whom he ought to have kept an holy distance and there to be enamoured or inveigled with their Shuah and to marry according to his lust rather than his reason It was like that sin of the old World which hastened the deluge when the Sons of God saw the Daughters of men that they were fair and they took them Wives of all that they chose If you ask Why where should he have had another Think you not that Esau guessed shrewdly though he hit amiss when hearing that Iacob was to be sent to Padan-aram for a Wife of the Mothers kin he himself was resolved to mend the matter by taking one of the Fathers side in marrying the Daughter of Ishmael the Son of Abraham
produced afterwards such admirable Spirits so far as I can discover But if the Masters were indifferently such as I have described what think you were the Men If it had so seemed good to God he could have set them all alike without blemish But he would rather take in all now than leave out one And so must we leaving them in the good Land of Goshen all the life of Ioseph and some time after for the Text saith that Ioseph dyed and all his Brethren and all that Generation before a new King Iosephus saith of another Race arose up over Egypt which knew not Ioseph And that the people were so encreased that Goshen could no more contain them but that the Land of Egypt was filled with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS A LETTER In ANSWER to a QUESTION Propounded by the Authour viz. CONCERNING The multiplying of the Children of Israel in Egypt SIR SINCE You were pleas'd to request my poor assistance in the solution of the following Question to shew my readiness to serve You I set my self about it I confess at first I expected nothing but dry Arithmetical matter to work upon but upon farther consideration I found the Subject You had given me of a more extensive nature than so fit to be replenish'd with other more useful considerations and capable of a more noble improvement than I am able to bestow upon it yet such as that is here You have it Your Question is this How from seventy Males only in no longer space than two hundred and ten years as your Chronologer reckons wherein the Israelites sojourned in Egypt there could be produc'd at their first numbring in the Wilderness no less than six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty from twenty years old and upwards besides the Tribe of Levi which amounted to two and twenty thousand Males from a Month old and upwards and how the probability of this may be demonstrated so as to stop the mouths of such as Porphyry and Celsus without refuge to a vast multitude of Twins or a miraculous continuance of the power of generation in that people more than any other of which we have no mention in prophane Writers To this I doubt not but to return such an Answer as shall satisfie any reasonable man and your self in particular and having done that I think I shall have done all that You expected from me towards the silencing such as are of Celsus's and Porphyry's Creed in this matter if such as they may properly be said to have any Creed whose Faith revers'd consists in disbelieving Nor is this the only good effect of such undertakings if duly perform'd For although Christians believing the holy Scriptures to be from God who cannot lye do generally take God Almighty's word for the truth of those things that are there revealed without a strict scrutiny and examination of the things themselves yet if after assent given to the holy Scriptures as the word of God those amongst them who are qualified with abilities especially such as Your Self who serve at the Altar and whose lips preserve knowledge do search and dive into the particular Circumstances of any thing there related of an unusual and surprizing nature such as this seems to be at first view and when upon such search the thing appears upon rational grounds not only possible but very likely to be effected This not only puts to silence the ignorance of foolish men but highly confirms Believers themselves in their most holy faith and encourages them on other occasions to acquiesce and rely intirely on the truth of God's word when their limited finite faculties cannot fathom the reasons either of the thing or Command revealed Without any farther Preface therefore Give me leave Sir to affirm That in the matter before us there is no need of flying to an extraordinary multiplication by Twins I say Extraordinary for there is no reason to exclude it in the ordinary course of nature because we see it frequently happen amongst our selves and I believe 〈◊〉 might be more frequent among the Israelites even from natural causes such as the simplicity of their Diet above ours and the more fertile pregnancy of that Climate where Nature is more perfect and better digested by the nearer approach of the Sun who quickneth all things and is reputed by Philosophers to have a peculiar influence in the work of generation insomuch that it passes for an uncontrouled Maxim amongst them and a kind of Postulatum that Sol homo generant hominem And as little need is there of a miraculous power of Generation unless we will multiply miracles unnecessarily by styling every eminent Blessing by that Title which is sent in performance of a promise then indeed the great encrease of this people would pass for a miracle of the first rank For never was any promise oftener reiterated than this as if the Benediction vied in proportion and analogy to the nature of the Blessing it self which consisted in number Had the Israelitish Women been all old Sarahs nay had they been young Rachels or Rebeccahs and their Husbands confin'd to them nothing less than a miracle could have done it But as it is it holds no higher denomination than that of a very great Blessing which I look upon as a medium betwixt the ordinary course of Nature and a Miracle and much nearer of kin to the former than the latter because there is nothing in it either praeter or contra Naturam The several promises of encrease before mentioned being the foundation whereon I shall build my Superstructure it will not be amiss to take a transient view of some of them and the wording of them where we shall find a most remarkable exuberancy good measure press'd down and running over such as these Gen. 13.16 I will make thy seed says God to Abraham as the dust of the earth so that if a man can number of dust of the earth then shall thy seed also be numbred Gen. 15.5 And God brought Abraham forth abroad and said Look now towards Heaven and tell the Stars if thou be able to number them So shall thy seed be Gen. 22.16 17. By my self have I sworn saith the Lord That in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is upon the Sea-shore And although we may think that this promise was partly made good in Ishmael and Abraham's other Sons and also in Esau from all which great Nations were descended yet that is a mistake for although they did seem materially to make good these promises of encrease yet formally they did not quatenus a promise but they were thrown in by God ex abundanti and on the account of other bye promises such as that to Hagar Gen. 17.10 11. and were mere Anomala's in respect of the main Promise Gen. 21.12 For in Isaac shall thy seed be called To whom
But if there had not been choice enough of kin of either side at hand better an Alien of any other Countrey than of Canaan which he knew to be the very Land that God had promised to his Father and Forefathers for an everlasting possession not without the destruction of the inhabitants as the very Seed of the Serpent and Coar of enmity Thou shalt not therefore take a Wife of the Daughters of Canaan had Isaac said unto his Father Iacob For must such a mixture be Or such a Seed proceed from the Bowels of a Canaanitish Woman as shall be proper to destroy the Canaanites Was not this then as just an exception against Iudah now as it had been against Esau before and for the sake of which his own Mother could not love him but procured his disherison For Esau when he was forty years old married two Hittites before Ishmael's Daughter which were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekkah and she said I am weary of my life because of the Daughters of Heth. Now if any one ask here Why what choice had he or the other Brothers Whither should they go Whom did the other Brothers marry Did not Ioseph for his part marry the Priest of On 's Daughter an Egyptian for whose sake it may seem that he left the Egyptian Priests demesns intire when he cunningly bought all the rest of Egypt for his bread into bondage unto Pharaoh Or who ever blamed Abraham for his taking of Hagar or Keturah for his Concubines Or Iacob himself for taking Bilhah into his bosom who proved not honest to him or Zilpah and had been bred amongst the Idols of Laban which Rachel stole whether for love or hatred is a Question Although it hath been taken for an opinion that the Hebrews took their Wives only ex Ingenuis out of free-born women and their Concubines ex Ancillis out of Handmaids yet M r Selden proves that these did not differ in the quality of Wives but only in the inequality of conditions forasmuch as Keturah in Genesis is called Abraham's Wife and in the Chronicles his Concubine which some do therefore improbably think to be the same with Hagar re-assumed We may observe that Hagar had been seasoned with the same Religion before Abraham took her by being bred in his house insomuch that she prayed in her distress and had an Angel to comfort her But she was repudiated for her rebellion against her Mistress and her Son sent away with gifts which followed because it is said that unto the Sons of the Concubines both of them which Abraham had he gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac his Son while he yet lived And by Keturah whose true Religion we have no ground to question he had some Issue which retained their profession in the time of Moses who married a Wife out of Iethro's house descended from Midian a Son of Abraham by this Keturah Among some or other of these therefore the Sons of Iacob might have found Wives as well as Moses who is not blamed for it Or else among the Women that Rebekkah Rachel and Leah had brought with them if they were more than two or the Daughters born of them in the space of a hundred and fifty years or as they might give their Sisters to their choicer Servants so they might take their Daughters and so contain themselves within themselves which might be the reason of their leviration which God did after establish by a Law or Brothers marrying of a Brother's Widow in case he dyed before he had any Issue by her Indeed it is not mentioned whence the other Sons had their Wives only Iudah seemeth to be blamed As for Ioseph's taking the Priest of On 's Daughter 1. Pharaoh gave her 2. God himself who was able to sanctifie her unto him as it is like he did by the towardly Children which she bare him which pleased Iacob when he blessed them 3. If Ioseph spared the Priests Lands it is an Argument that he feared Sacriledge as many of the Heathen after did with the like regard unto the Iewish Priests And this is delivered by Iosephus as a Law among the Iews Let no man speak evil of those Gods which other Countries and Cities suppose to be Gods Let no man spoil any strange Temple nor take that which is dedicated unto any God And as for Iacob's taking of Bilhah and Zilpah the same may be said as of Abraham taking of Hagar and Keturah They came from Padan-aram with him and abode with their Mistresses after he had purged his house from Idols Labans and all if any did remain which it may seem that Rachel stole away to please her Husband Iacob when time should serve to discover it not fearing her Fathers displeasure rather than out of any love to them because she may be understood to have been of the forwardest when Iacob purged his house to bring all the strange Gods and ear-rings unto him As also because she had the blessing of the two more pious Sons CHAP. XLI Pursuing the same Argument and opening the Law of Leviration by which Pharez was restored Other marked persons not blot to the Genealogy of Christ. BUT the failing of Iudah concerning Tamar if it were not greater might yet seem more unlucky of the two and more prejudicial in the consequence unto the house of Israel than the other inasmuch as two misbegotten Children came thereby to be reckoned to the ruling Tribe of Israel and not only to have equal part with others but to have inheritance from Iudah all alike with Shelah Doth God abhor incest and adultery and yet suffer the choicest Blessings of all to descend to their Issue Or how is it that David and Christ should come to descend from this Pharez rather than from Shelah Now about the first failing of Iudah we may say That if Iacob had had the power of the blessing in his own hands as he had not it was not exception enough against him to put him by nor in the streights wherein they were can one be sure that there were no more strange Wives within the Tents of Iacob but only Shuah's Daughter However God was pleased to take the punishment of Iudah's fault home unto himself and he brought it home to Iudah for whatever Shelah was he gave him but three Sons in all two of which he permitted to be such wicked Canaanites as were not to be born withal so that the Lord himself slew them and in the stead thereof made him father other two which he least intended But on second thoughts neither was the latter fault so great as the first nor the consequence so bad as you imagine See what an Acquaintance had Iudah gotten by wandring away from the Tents of Israel and searching out for some good house or other wherein to solace and caress himself He turned in to a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah And he