Moses took the Rod in his hand as God had commanded him and then he took leave of his father-in-law to return into Egypt whither he carried his wife and Children It was upon the way God appeared to him the second time Dixitque ei Dominus revertenti in Aegyptum Vide ut omnia ostenta quae posui in manu tua sacias coram Pharaâ—ne ego indurabo cor ejus non dimittet populum Exod 4. v. 21. Ecce ego interficiam silium tuum primogenitum Exod. 4. v. 23. and where he advertised him of the future obduration of Pharaoh's heart and that after so many signs he should persist in his obstinacy and in the design of detaining the Children of Israel It was also commanded him to carry unto this unfortunate Prince the first news of the death of his Eldest Son which was to be the last dart of the revenging Justice of God and that which was to open the eyes of Pharaoh and to mollifie his heart for some time In some part of Moses Journey into Egypt Cumque esset in itinere in dâ—ersorio occurrit ei dominus qui volebat occidere eum Exod 4. v. 24. he was met by an Angel who offer'd to kill him with the Sword he held in his hand Rabbi Solomon who had a wit more inventive for a Romance than a true one for a History would induce credulous mindes to believe That this Angel had appeared under the shape of a Dragon and that he had devoured Moses even to the place of the Body where Circumcision was wont to be applied The two Eusebius's of Caesaria and Emissene believed That the cause why God threatned and afflicted Moses was for having brought his Wife with him the which might vilifie his Mission and render it suspected unto the Hebrews But that which followed renders the conception of St. Isidore of Damietta of Rupertus and Cajetan more probable who believed That it was done to punish the disobedience and the too long delays of Moses to whom he had given command to circumcise his Children Gen. 17. v. 12. Tulit illico Sephora acutissimam petram circumcidit praeputium silii sui Exod. 4. v. 25. For presently his Wife desiring in some sort to repair this fault and to withhold the hand of the Angel took a Knife made of a Stone to circumcise her Son The which being done she kneeled down to mitigate the wrath of this Angel who vanishing left the Husband and Wife in a sad astonishment In such sort as Moses was not able to speak a word Vide Cajetanum and Sephora beholding his eyes bathed in tears and his hands red with blood could not open her mouth but to say unto Moses That in truth he was her Husband but a bloody Husband Et â—it Sponsus sanguinum tu mihies and whom she had as it were acquired by shedding the blood of his own children Now from this example Advice to Parents all Fathers of Families should learn to obey the Will of God and testifie their Zeal and Piety not onely in their own persons but also in the person of their Children Above all they must take a Knife into their hands to cut off all that is impure And if men be therein less manly that is to say less generous than their Wives it is their part to take up Arms and as I have already said upon two or three occasions not to spare either Fire Sword or Blood provided it be done with Prudence Counsel and Piety CHAP. VI. The Embassie of Moses and of Aaron into Egypt TO the end God may be obeyed when he commands Necessary Obedience we must march when he sets forth and we ought not to be silent when he puts words into our mouths to speak by his order Kings hold their Scepters from him and all their Power is but a flash of light which issueth from this Sun without which all Thrones Empires and Crowns would have neither lustre Post haec ingressi sunt Moises Aaron dixerunt Pharaoni Haec dâ—cit Domirus Deus Israel dimitte populum meum Exod. 5. v. 1. At ille respondit Quis est Dominus ut audiam vocem ejus dimittam Israel Nescio Dominum Israel non dimittam Exod. 5. v. 2. nor resplendency Moses and Aaron then need not fear to appear in the presence of Pharaoh and to say boldly unto him That he who is their Lord and God commands him to restore Liberty unto his people But who is this God saith he unto Moses and Aaron of whom you speak For my part I know him not and in despight of him I will detain this people which you demand of me He doth much more for he heaps punishment upon punishment and orders these poor people to be used with more rigor than before Now as it is the custom of the miserable Occurreruntque Moisi Aaron qui stabant ex adverso egredientibus à Pharaont dixerunt ad eos Videat Dominus judicet quoniam foetere secistis odorem nostrum coram Pharaone c. Exod. 5. v. 21. and of those that suffer to complain of every thing and oftentimes to make even those the Authors of their afflictions who endeavor to procure their good so the people of Israel began even to murmure against Aaron and Moses as if the design of their coming-in had been to increase their sufferings There is nothing more cruel and less supportable to a good soul than Ingratitude It is the justest occasion can interrupt the current and continuation of a Benefit and not wholly to stop it we must seek constancy in God who alone hath power and goodness enough to oblige even the most ungrateful persons It is also to him Moses addresseth himself and it is into his bosom he makes an amiable discharge of all his thoughts Alas Reversusque est Moises ad Dominum ait Domine cur afflixisti populum istum quare misisti me Exod. 5. v. 22. Ex eo enim quo ingressus sum ad Pharaonem ut loqueâ—er in nomine tuo afflixit populum tuum non liberasti â—os Exod. 5. v. 23. Lord saith he why dost thou permit the oppressions of thy people And if I be not able to bring them relief why hast thou sent me rather to exasperate than comfort their Afflictions After this loving complaint God discovered himself fully unto Moses to give him a more assured mark of his love Go from me saith he and know that I am that Adonijah whose name is ineffable and whom the quickest and most peircing eyes do not discover but amidst obscurities Yes surely For it is onely under the veils of Faith and through the clouds which cover the Sanctuary God can be known Blindness of Humane Wisdom We must be guided by his obscure Clarities or God himself must inform us who he is otherwise we shall be the Disciples of Aximenes who will swear That God
always less than that of a whole people Behold Lord the sum of my desires and the most ardent Prayers I can offer it is my Heart which speaks to thee it is Piety which makes me thus importune thee it is my Duty and Honor which are ingaged and I should not have so often received thy benefits if I did not also hope for this Do not then deny me O infinite Goodness and whatsoever thou shalt please to determine Remember that I have ever preferred thy people before my self and that the love I have for them cannot rest satisfied if it obtain not the favor it hopes or if it serve not for an host unto the Sacrifice which is due unto thy most just indignation Was there ever any one heard to speak with a more ardent zeal a more sincere love with a more generous piety a less interressed heart Many there are who would willingly do good but they would have the power to do it like the Sea without trouble and diminution or like the Sun and Stars whose treasuries are not less filled with lights and influences though we receive them on every side or else like a Torch which lights others without being it self either obscured or extinguished But when we must lose what we gave when we must be impoverished to inrich others we do like Hedg-hogs and Tortoises which scarce dare hold up their heads and shew nothing but Bristles and Shells There are others who give but yet with trouble and when themselves have no more need of it or when they have so much that the abundance becomes cumbersom But Charity is a spring which never stops and never ceaseth to run but when she hath nothing left for her self If she be found amongst the Gentiles as in a Leonidas in a Fabius Maximus in the Tegeates in the Horatii in an infinity of others who have sacrificed their lives for their Country and for their confederates These were but slight draughts compared with those of Moses who offered not onely his body and life for a time but even his soul and the pretensions he had to an Empire which shall never have end He deserved also some alleviation of the punishments which were ordained for this people Loquebatur autem Dominus ad Moisen facie ad faciem sicut solet loqui homo ad amicum suum Exod. 33. v. 11. Stabantque ipsi ader abant per fores tabernaculorum suorum Exod. 33. v. 10. Tu autem vade duc populum istum quo locutus sum tibi Angelus meus praecedet te Exod. 32. v. 34. and although God at first seems to refuse it yet either soon or late he will obtain it It was likewise in recompence of this zeal he was so happy as to speak face to face to his God who treated with him in the same maner as one most intimate friend might do with an other The people themselves were witnesses of this Colloquy and every one standing at the entry of his Tent adored God turning himself toward the Pavillion of Moses upon which the Pillar had made his Station and gave light enough to manifest this whole Mystery In fine the favor of favors God shewed unto Moses was in giving him an Angel for his Conductor who marked out to him all the ways by which he should pass CHAP. XXXVIII The re-establishment of the Laws and the Ceremonies of the Old Testament THere are some implacable Spirits in the World which cannot be overcome either by force or mildness which become more obstinate the more men endeavor to bend them and excite them unto pity Ac deinceps Praecide ait tibi duas tabulas lapideas instar priorum scribam super eas verba quae habuerunt tabulae quas fregisti Exod. 34. v. 1. Quo transeunte coram eo ait Dominator Domine Dous misericors clemens patiens c. Exod. 34. v. 6. Defcendebat columna nubis stabat ad ostium loquebaturque cum Moise Exod. 33. v. 9. But God on the contrary hath the Bowels of a Father and a Heart so full of goodness and mercy as he can hardly resolve to punish those injuries which are done unto him And even at present for those who have erected Altars against him and placed instead of him a Golden Calf he re-establisheth Laws as in testimony of the agreement he makes with them in acknowledgement whereof all the most singular of all the names he received was that of Meekness when Moses called him his Lord and his Clement and Merciful his Patient and Sincere God This indeed changed the thoughts of Moses who did not believe that his Master had called him to treat him so sweetly These were the terms he used in speaking unto God upon Mount Sina where this holy Man having withdrawn himself God was as it were covered with a cloud which did onely permit him to see the back of him whom he heard distinctly answering his voice and desires This day was celebrious First Observa cuncta quae bodie mando tibi c. Exod. 34. v. 11. In respect God himself commanded Moses to observe exactly all that he said unto him Secondly In regard of the promises he made him for the advantage of his people Thirdly Fuit ergo ibi cum Demino quadraginta dies quadraginta noctes panem non comedit equam non bibit Exod 34. v. 28. Cumque descenderet Moises dâ—monte Sinai tenebat duas tabulas testimonii ignorabat quod cornuta esset facies sua c. Exod. 34. v. 29. Videntes autem Aaron filii Israël cornutam Moysi faciem timuerunt propè accedere Exod. 34. v. 30. Vocatique ab â—o reversi sunt c. Exod. 34. v. 31. Sex diâ—bus facietis opus septimus dies erit vobis sanctus c. Exod. 35. v. 6. Quisquâ—s vestrum sapiens est veniat faciat quod Dominus imperavit Exod. 35. v. 10. Tabernaculum scilicet tectum ejus c. Exod. 35. v. 11. for the Precepts and Lawes he vouchsafed to give him for this end detaining him fourty dayes dayes without either eating or drinking which being passed he descended from the Mountain with ardent eyes and an inflamed countenance and his hair shining like so many rayes which formed on his head certain horns of light so that Aaron and the Israelites durst not approch him but when he called them they accosted him as an An Angel come from heaven and from his mouth learn'd all that God had said and commanded First touching the Sanctification of the Sabbath Secondly concerning the Offrings and Sacrifices Thirdly as to the building of the Tabernacle the Ark the Candlesticks Basons Altars and Ornaments of the high Priest In fine as to all that concerned Religion and the Ceremonies of the Old Testament CHAP. XXXIX Of the Ornaments and other Utensils ordained for the Sanctuary which were usefull in the Ceremonies of the Law of Moses IT is not enough to look on
of a Chaos and the World out of a confused and undisgested Lump These are the draughts of a powerfull God which were victorious over the Nothing These are the conquering flames of his Love who hath carryed his rayes and Torch even into the Abysses of an eternall Negation The World then had not its Origination in the Water as Thales supposed The Errors of some Philosophers nor was the impression of the Universe framed in the Air as Anaximines affirmed Heraclitus was extravagant when he taught that fire was the Source and Origin of Nature And Democritus was a meer scoffer and fitter to be laughed at himself than to laugh at others when he said that the World was formed by an accidentall concourse and mixture of invisible Atoms No no the beginning of beginnings must be without beginning But the Heavens Air Fire Earth and Water the World and Atoms cannot be from themselves and without a Producer therefore grant that God alone is the Fountain Cause and Origin of the Universe Ah then let the Heavens and all the Elements Câ—nâ—ort of Creatures Let the Sun and Stars let the Plants and Herbs let the Birds and Fishes for evermore praise and bless the powerfull hand of the increated Love who formed them all out of Nothing Let the World never have any propension instinct or inclination but to become plyable to the impulses of its Author Let the Morning and Evening Stars imitate him conveying every where their Influences and Clarities Let Rain be the Pledge of his favours and Dew the Symbol of his Graces Let Thunder and Lightning be the Heraulds of his Justice and the Ministers of his Indignation Let the gentle Western Winds awaken our hearts to listen to his most holy inspirations Let his Threats be heard amongst Storms and Waves Briefly let the World and totall Nature be an Altar whereon vows and Sacrifices may be continually offered to his Law and let the Feast of the six dayes during which God created the Universe be for ever celebrated But what O Lord who is it that hath hitherto spoken From whence came this Voice And where is the Person that can present Sacrifices unto thee The World hath Altars it hath Water Fire Wood and Victims But where is the Priest Man necessary for the world There wants a Man upon the Earth and without a Man all thy works seem not sufficiently perfect Yes my God this man who is to be the Image of thy Essence the Accomplisher of thy Commands and thy Lieutenant upon Earth well deserves the last touches of thy hand to the end that after his Creation thou mayst continue in the repose of thy most holy Entertainments CHAP. III. The Creation of Adam IT is almost incredible how bold and eloquent men are when it concerns their own praises Eloquence of self love To hear them speak would not a man swear all the Members of their bodies are converted into Tongues to publish without blushing the advantages of their Nature above what ever the rest of the World can boast of rarest and most beautifull The Earth say they is but an Aboad or rather a High-way which shal be their Pilgrimage Excellent conceptions of divers authors The Air and Sea are but their Harbingers and Hostes Lightnings and Celestiall flames shape but a picture even gross enough in which the features of their minds appear as it were rough drawn And Heaven it self is but the Haven and shoar which after the course of some months and years is to receive them all Man according to their opinion is the fairest piece of the Universe the All of All Anasta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as it were the Soul of this world Anastasius in his Homily of Mans creation observes some lines of honour and veneration in his Fabrick Clemens Alexandrinus compares him to the Thessalian Centaur by reason of the mixture of the Soul with the Body Clem. Alex. 116 4. Strom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lactant. lib. 7. cap. 5. And Lactantius Firmianus speaking of the composition of man saith That he is a work which may rather beget admiration than words Trismegistus cals him the Interpreter of the Gods Pythagoras Pythagoras looks upon him as the Measure of all things in whom are found the Longitudes Latitudes Altitudes and Profundities of all Beings Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato crys out that he is the Miracle of all visible Miracles Theophrastus considers him as the Copy of the Universe Synesius Synesius cals him the Horizon of creatures And Zoroaster as one transported scarce finding words to express him concludes at last That man is the Portraict of an attempting and daring Spirit Are not these very excellent terms and expressions which sufficiently evidence that albeit those Learned Authors did speak of Man in generall yet all of them were interessed therein as to their own particular But what ever they have said it is certain that of all the Encomions can be given to Man the most Noble the most August the most transcendent and high is that Man is the Image of God the Character of his Substance the most faithfull Copy of his Divinity I know he hath a Being common with Stones and Marble a Life common with Plants a Sense with Beasts and an Understanding which equals him with the Angels but he excels them in this that he was created from Gods Idea as the most lively and sensible representation of his Maker God deliberates upon the enterprise of this work Faciamus hominem ad imaginem similitudinem nostram Gen. 1. v. 16. and the Councell is held in the Conclave of the most holy Trinitie the three Persons are assembled Power Wisdom and Love take their seats neer the Paradise of Eden But let us not deceive our selves is it not peradventure Gods intention to recall into favour those proud and Rebellious Spirits whom a shamefull revolt hath most justly precipitated from Heaven to Earth where they wander as Exiles and reprobates At least would it not satisfy him to banish them from Heaven and to grant them the World for a Paradise after so long and funestous a Captivity Nothing less the Act is past the Angels are lost without Redemption and the punishment their Insolence hath merited will persue them without relaxation term or pitty Et creavit Deus hominem ad imaginem similitudinem Dei creavit illum Gen. 1. v. 27. It is concerning Man his Creation that the decree is past It is on him God reflecteth and it is he who must be substituted in the place of Angels It is this Act which makes the World behold Gods Master-piece the object of his Favours and the most glorious term of his Power O Sun stop here thy course be witness of his birth who hath bin the cause and end of thine It was as I conceive about high Noon when the Earth was resplendent with Light The time of
Ait illi tolle filtum tuum unigenitum queÌ„ diligis Isaac vade in terram visionis atque ibi offeres cum in Holocaustum super unum montium quem monstravero tibi Gen. 22. v. 2. this only Son and this Amiable Child on whom you fix all your hopes and all your most solid contentments Abraham it is time to restore unto me the depositum I gave you he is mine I lent him to you but now demand him back and I command you to immolate him unto me take him then without further delay and from this instant goe whither I shall conduct you Is it not unto God alone the absolute power of command belongeth and is it not the duty of Abraham to be silent and to perform without reply what God commands But what I beseech you would a passionat Father say upon this occasion would he not have some ground to say if he had the same cause as Abraham Alas Lord The Speech of a passionat Father who speaks for Abraham where are the advantagious promises thou hast so often made me Hast thou lost the remembrance of Abraham Sara and Isaack Dost thou not take me for some other or at least if thou lookest upon me as a Father why dost thou enjoyn me to perform so rigorous an office I hambly beseech thee my God Semel beâ—tus es Deus Psal not to forget thy words and thy own self remember that thy Mouth is as unchangeable as thy Heart and that it is an injury unto the immutability of thy Essence to alter the least of thy Decrees How can we then believe that the Sacrifice of humane Bodies are detestable in thy sight if thou dost command them whither will Innocency goe to seek life if thou Judgest an Innocent to death what incouragement shall we have to serve thee if thou thus treatest thy Servants what attractives will creatures have to love thee if Massacres be the pleages of thy Love for my part I am afraid lest the strongest spirits may revolt and that the weak be scandalized at the instability of thy oaths thou hast swern by thy self that my Isaack should be a spring of Grace and behold how thou dryest it up even when it is upon the point of becomming an Ocean of Benedicities My God! what shall I say unto my Son when he shall intreat me to tell him the cause of his death How shall I tye his hunds when he shall imbrace me and if I have the Heart of a Father to love him how can I have armes to kill him Ah! surely no Man shall ever perswade me that a God who is the anther of Nature will command me a streak which appears to me so unnaturall and should I assent Sara would even snatch the weapon out of my hand she would rather offer her self to serve as a Victim than give way to the Sacrifice of her Son Let us then no longer think of it O my God my Eyes would be dimmed with tears at the sight of my Ifaack my Heart would burst into a thousand pieces at the lest dart of his affection and my Hands could never be cleared of this stain if I had once sullied them in the bloud of my Son My God permit me rather to Sacrifise unto thee the Remnant of my old age and receive rather this Soul which I have upon my Lips and which is but too weary of the World But as for Isaack suffer a flower to grow which thou hast planted with thine own hand and according to thy promises water it with thy Benedictions What! An Abraham to Massacre an Isaack A Father the most Cordiall and the most affectionate of the World to kill the most amiable and the most accomplished Son that hath ever been A Father who for the space of a hundred years hath expected a Son to lose him in a moment The preparation for his Mariage was already in my thoughts and they shew me an Altar a Pile and a Sepulcher for his Nuptiall Bed What rigour more inhumane what Laws more barbarous And what command more cruell can we figure to our selves My God pardon me it is visible to me that I have erred but grief even extorts these Blasphemies and my Tongue betrayes my Heart I will speak then from benceforth with more respect Give me I beseech thee the Eyes of a Tyger the Teeth of a Wolf and the Soul of a Lion if thou wilt have me devour this Lamb blind me lest I behold this Fore-head this Face and these Eyes on which my Love hath ingraven his Picture Lord I acknowledge my fault for having so often begged him of thee my vows have been over-violent my desires too importune and I still feel an over-ardent fire in my Bosom cast then into it a Deluge of Wormwood to stiflle such sweet ardors However if thou dost command me to be the Executioner of thy severest Judgements and if thou absolutely desirest I should strike off my Isaacks head and that I should bury him in the fire I beseech thee instead of a Sword put a Thunderbolt into my Hands to the end at the same instant I shall give him the stroak of death I may soe him invironed with the flames of thy severest Justice Without doubt this would be the discourse of a Father whose Soul should be agitated with various passions and the most part of these resentments are more proper for a Man whose Eyes Nature Bloud the World and Infidelity had snut against the purest lights of Heaven than for Abraham who never followed other Torch than that of Divine Providence Never then were such Sacrilegious Complaints and shamefull murmurs heard to issue forth of his Mouth as daily proceed from Fathers and Mothers who have nothing but worldly respects and no other care but to erect upon the Cradle of their Children all the Trophies of their desires and hopes Abraham wils but what God wils The resignation of Abraham and instead of following the Motives of Reason and humane discourses he abandons himself into the arms of a perfect Obedience and of that Faith which shewed him Life even in the Bosom of Death He was ready to immolate Isaack and the Love he had for his God made him wish to himself a Destiny like that of his Son This Man saith Origen was not astonished at the voice of so harsh a Command he refused nothing and took Counsell of no living Soul resting content to obey his God This Just Patriarch saith St. Zenon preferred the Love of the Creator before that of the Creature And albeit a naturall resentment tore his very Bowels and Heart yet at the same time his Soul did Swim in the delights of a passion which hath nothing in it but Supernaturall so that two Loves offered two Sacrifices the one Immolated the Father the other Sacrifised the Son O Love The Empire of Love Love delicious Tyrant adorable Conqueror Independent Monarch how powerfull are thy Darts when God casts
Sed ego scio quòd non dimittat vos Rex Aegypti ut eatis nisi per manum validam Exod. 3. v. 19. Extendam enim manum meam percutiam Aegyptum in cunctis mirabilibus meis quae facturus sum in medio corum posi haec dimittet vos Exod. 3. v. 20. that the God of the Hebrews had enjoyned them to offer sacrifices to him and therefore it was his pleasure they should withdraw themselves three day journey off for that end Mean while God who knew that Pharaoh would not consent thereunto advertis'd Moses of it and said unto him that in fine he would force him by rigour and the power of his armes to permit them to depart Now these weapons were no other than those of the misfortunes which befell this king and constrained him to give liberty unto the people of Israel CHAP. V. The assured markes of Moses Power THere is nothing more charming and more powerfull to Captivate men than speech Marvelous command of speech chiefly when it proceeds from a mouth full of Authority Neverthelesse there are some untamable spirits and rebellious souls who cannot be vanquished by these weapons and to whom all these discourses at most serve but for some time to lull asleep their fury This is sometimes seen in youth in whom the heat of their Age and the boyling of their blood make so much noise and stir up such dark tempests that reason is there alwayes as it were eclips't Oftentimes also there are persons of experience and Authoritie who adore only some old Error and admit of no reason but the course of a long and depraved custome It was not without cause that Moses so much fear'd to speak unto the Elders of the people Respondens Moises ait Non credent mihi neque audient vocem meam Exod. 4. v. 1. perswading himself they would not believe him and that they would deride both himself and his discourse but God made him see Prodigies which were to be infallible marks of his power over the minds of the most potent of his Nation The first was the Rod he held in his hand which became a Serpent Dixitque Dominus projice eam in terram prosicit versa est in colubrum Exod. 4. v. 3. Daxitque Dominus rursum mitte manum tuam in sinum tuum quam cum misisset in sinum protullt leprosam Exod. 4. v. 6. Retrahe ait manum tuam in sinum tuum retraxit protulit iterum erat similis carni reliquae Exod. 4. v. 7. Quod si nec duobus quidem his signis crediderint neque audierint vocem tuam sume aquam fluminis essunde eam super aridam quidquid hauseris de fluvio vertetur in sanguinem Exod. 4. v. 9. and afterwards reassum'd its former Nature The second appeared in his hand which he had no sooner put into his bosome but it became Leprous and afterwards returning into the same place it became immediatly like the rest of his body This was done by the command of him who is omnipotent and who by these miraculous effects would incourage Moses and assure him that those to whom he was sent would give Credit unto these prodigies He said farther to him that if they were so obstinate as not to believe him he was to take water out of the River Nilus and that it should be infallibly changed into blood Behold strange Metamorphoses that of the Rod into a Serpent and of the Serpent into a Rod signifyed three very different states of the people of Israel in Egypt The first was whilst Joseph lived during whose life they had possession of the Rod that is to say the Scepter and government of Egypt After that followes the death of this great Patriark and from that time all these poor people were detested by the Egyptians and like so many Serpents which crawled on the Earth But at length the time will come when Serpents shall be turned into Rods and be powerfull in the hand of Moses The second Metamorphosis by the hand of Moses signifies only the various afflictions of the Hebrews and the different alterations of their fortuns under the government of this wise conductor The third of the waters of Nilus did foretell the death and swallowing up of the Egyptians under the bloody and murthering waves of the Red Sea Notwithstanding all this Moses persists in excusing himself Alt Moises obsecro Domine non sum eloquens ab heri nudius tertius ex quo locutus es ad ser vum tuum impeditioris tardioris linguae sum Exod. 4. v. 10. and useth his best endeavors to discharge himself of an imployment in which he foresaw so many difficulties and whereof he esteemed himself so uncapable He represented unto God the trouble he had to expresse himself and how that since the very hour he had the honour to speak unto him he could hardly draw one word out of his mouth Lord saith he I am as a Child who can form but a confused sound between his lips And my tongue is so heavy and fat as I cannot speak a word without stammering Ah what God answered him Dixitque Dominus ad eum quis secit os hominis aut quis fabricatus est mutum surdum videntem caecum non ego Exod. 4. v. 11. am I not he who hath formed men with my own hand and put words into their mouths and is it not I who renders them deaf and dumb at my pleasure Yes truly it is God who discovers thoughts even in the most intricate minds It is he who moves and animates the tongues of Children and there needs but a breathing from his mouth to give life motion and voice unto the most insensible bodies These vertues are too well known At ille obsecro inquit Domine mitte quem missurus es Exod. 4. v. 13. Iratus Dominus in Meisem ait Aaron frater tuus Levites scio quod cloquens sit c. Exod. 4. v. 14. Loquere ad eum pone versia mea in ore ejus Exod. 4. v. 15. Virgam quoquc hanc sume in manu tua Exod. 4. v. 17. Abiit Moises reversus est ad Iethro Socerum suum dixitque ei vadam revertar ad fratres meos in Aegyptum Exod. 4. v. 18. and I am astonished at Moses who persists notwithstanding in his demand and who conjures God to send in his place the person whom he is to send Now it was doubtlesse the Messias whom he meant but the happy moment in which he should be born was not yet arriv'd and it had been to break the orders and decrees in Heaven to desire absolutely at that time the grant of this request God also grew angry with Moses and resolving no more to hear his complaints and excuses he was content to say unto him that his brother Aaron should serve him for interpreter to declare his will From that time
hand of pennance It is there where we ought to gird our Reins for otherwise a God of Purity would abhor to enter into an unclean Habitation into an unchaste Soul and into a Body which serves for a retreat unto the most merciless enemies of Vertue and Chastity We must have Staves in our Hands and Shooes on our Feet like Pilgrims which pass along and seek an abode elswhere than in a forrein Country where we must quit all we have or else either soon or late be forsaken by them Let us make haste then and remember An excellent thought I beseech you that this very day may be our Paschal and our passage from Earth unto Heaven What stayes us in the World our Parents will pass away or else are already gone before Our Friends are not here beneath for the Earth hath none but infidel perfidious and envious people In fine All that is under Heaven remains in a continual vicissitude The face of the Universe changeth every moment and that which sparkleth the most hath but marks of a vain appearance which serve onely to dazle our eyes and deceive our souls Such then saith St. Paul as have wives ought to live as if they had none that is to say Without being fastned unto any inordinate affection Those also who sigh and groan under the weight of miseries as if they had attained to the height of their desires and pretensions those that are on the top of the wheel as if they were under the feet of Fortune and loaden with all afflictions those that heap together riches as if they possessed nothing those that are ingaged amongst Creatures and are inforced to make use of them as if they were severed from them or as if the use of those Creatures were forbidden them This concludes my Brethren That we must break the Chains which fasten us to any other thing than God we must abandon Egypt and depart out of this unfortunate Land where nothing but Plagues Deaths and all sorts of horrors are seen Happy are they who follow God and Moses in the thickest part of the desart out of these tumults and dangers Proscâ—tique sunt filii Israel de Ramesse in Socoth sexcenta fere millia peditum virorum absque parvulis Exod. 12. v. 27. which are so frequent in Cities and Courts We cannot have more delightful company than his Elect who go from Egypt into Ramasses and from Ramasses into the Land of Socoth almost to the number of six hundred thousand foot-men without reckoning women and little children nor even the common people which can hardly be numbred I leave you my dear Reader to reflect on all that passed in this illustrious Departure and during this voyage which was I believe the most famous that hath ever been Nothing but the echoes of their Songs of Victory and of the Benedictions they gave unto their Redeemer were every where heard whilst their Tyrants howled like wolves from whom their prey is taken or else like Ravens which croak upon some dead body Moreover the convoy of the people of Israel was very rich and sumptuous Dominus autem dedit grariam populo coram Aegyptiis c. for they carried with them the most pretious moveables of Egypt as God had ordained them And to this effect he had imprinted on their foreheads and upon their faces I know not what marks of sweetness and so strong and powerfull attractives or as St. Austin beleev'd Sed vulgus promiscuum innumerabile ascendit cum eis oves armenta animantia diversi generis multa nimis Exod. 12. v. 38. Coxcruntque farinam quam dudum de Aegypto conspersam tulerant fecerunt sub cinâ—ricios panes azimos Exod. 12. v. 39. Habitatio autem filiorum Israel qua manserunt in Aegypto fuit quadringentorum trigenta annorum Exod. 12. v. 40. Hanc observare debent omnes filii Israel ingenerationibus suis Exod. 12. v. 42. Dixitque Dominus 〈◊〉 Moisen Aaron haec est Religio omnis alienigena non comedit ex eo Exod. 12. v. 43. Omnis autem servus emptititus circumcidetur sic comedet Exod. 12. v. 44. Advena mercenarius edent etit ex ea Exod. 12. v. 45. Omnis caetus filiorum Israel faciet illud Exod. 12. v. 47. such secret qualities as thereby they gained the hearts and friendships of those who before were their persecutors So that they desir'd them to burthen themselves with their spoiles and to depart as it were loaded with the booty they had gained from their enemies and pillaged after the victory of a most just warr which was also due unto them as a just recompence of their labours They carried also with them Sheep Oxen and all kind of Beasts Yet had nothing dressed and fit to eat wherefore they were faine speedily to set their hands awork and cause that which they had brought with them to be baked upon Ashes In fine This night when God drew them out of the calamities of Egypt and the bondage of Pharaoh was the end of four hundred and Thirty years which they pass'd therein and all the Children of Israel ought to observe it with a Solemnall worship throughout all generations It was also for this cause God said unto Moses and Aaron that such were the Ceremonies of the Paschal and that no stranger foreign Merchant nor any mercenary Servant or bought with money could be admitted unto the banquet of the Lamb till after the establishment of the Lawes for Circumcision To the end there might be but one Law both for those of the Country and for strangers which were mingled with the naturall Jewes All these conditions were most religiously kept and the Israelites omitted nothing of what God had given in command unto Moses Feceruntque omnes fibi Israel sicut praececeperâ—t dominus Moisi Aaron Exod. 12. v. 50. Et cadem die eduxit Dominus filâ—os Israel de terra Aegypti per turmas suas Exod. 12. v. 51. And so on the same day the Lord drew them out of Egypt according to their Tribes prescribing to them all the lawes they were to observe ordaining them chiefly Sanctification that is to say the offering of the first born as well of men as beasts to the end by this Sacrifice they should have a living and animated occasion to recall into their memory the singular favours had been done them when during the Murther of the Egyptians all theirs were preserved CHAP. XVIII Pharaoh Swallowed up in the Red Sea THE belief of one God Clemens Allexan â—rom 5. and the Evident demonstration of his justice are so inseparable as it would be more easy to meet with a spring without Water a life without a Soul and stars without rayes than a Soveraign nature which had not the power to punish sinners This then is almost as much as to say that there is one God and he is just We cannot even understand the frightfull termes and
kept in the Tabernacle was a present they received from Heaven eight dayes after Moses had Consecrated Aaron and enjoyned him to offer his first Sacrifices This was in testimony that God approved them and to imprint deeper in the minds of the people the honour and reverence they were to bear unto their High-Priests and to these publick acts of their Religion Afterwards the Gentiles endevoured to disturb these Mysteries and often sought to make us believe that their Gods kept amorous Thunderbolts Sacred flames for the advantage of their Religion and for this purpose they had given names unto some as a mark of the favors they had received from them in their Sacrifices which as they gave out had been often inkindled by their hands Nevertheless these are but Fables and Impiety and Sacrileges afforded no coals of the Sanctuary nor any flames of Heaven like those which fired the Holocausts and Victims of Aaron in the presence of the people who did partake of the Sacrifice Apparuitque gloria Domini omni multitudini Levit. 9. v. 23. as complices of that sin for which it was offered At that time the glory of our Lord appeared on the Altar and in the midst of these Ceremonies Now this glory was but a visible Fire which surrounded the whole Holocaust Et ecce egressus ignis à domino devorâ—vit holocausium adipet qui erant super altare c. Levit. 9 v. 24. and consumed it just in the same maner as the common fire would have done although some Hebrews have invented in their usual dreams First That the face of a Lyon appeared in the midst of flames Secondly That they could not be quenched even in water Thirdly That they were to be kept in a Purple Cloath But their imagination had more resembled truth Fair Analogies of fire with God if instead of amusing themselves on these dreams they had said That this was the most ordinary Figure by which God useth to erect a Throne of Light and Ardor unto his Love which is but a most pure fire without mixture which descended from Heaven upon Earth to cause a general inflagration in all hearts which to speak properly ought to be no other than the Altars of the most illustrious Sacrifices of Love Faith and Religion concerning which God hath been pleased to give marks and signs of his particular presence causing himself to be seen and felt under the form of Fire which of Natural bodies resembleth him the most So that Moses durst say unto his people Deut. 4. v. 21. That his God was a consuming Fire In the first place because this Element hath more resemblance with its Creator in regard of the power and command it hath received beyond others Secondly because as there is nothing more amiable and terrible than fire so there is nothing which equals the goodness God expresseth to the vertuous and the chastisement he implores to take revenge on the wicked Thirdly it is the nature of fire as well as the property of God to enlighten the night to melt Ice to warm those that approach it and to burn such as will touch it Moreover it is the property of them both incessantly and vigorously to act and to communicate themselves without loss or alteration to be most pure simple and subtile to harden and mollifie substances and always to ascend In fine the wisdom of God breaks forth in the midst of sparkling fires his goodness in its ardors and his power to which all is possible in those flames which God cannot resist And as heat and light spring from fire so the Son and the Holy Ghost are produced from the Father as from their Beginning and Origin It is not then without reason God takes veils of fire to cover his Majesty and that he often appears under this shape in Sacrifices since these fires are kindled by his own hand and by the torch of his Love unto which we must approach with the same reverence as to the bush of Moses Areptisque Nadab Abihu filu Aaron thâ—â—â—â—bulis posuerunt ignem incensum desuper offerentes coâ—am Domino ignem alienum Quod eis praeceptum non erat Levit. â—0 v. 1. otherwise we finde nothing there but our own misfortune amongst devouring flames and killing ardors followed by smoak tears and obscurities which form the veil of a dismal blindness We must chiefly beware of doing like Nadab and Abihu who were so bold as to put into their Censor an other fire than that of the Sanctuary For that is to mingle Sacrilege with Religion Heaven with Earth and Piety with Profanations Nevertheless this is the practice of these persons who are so presumptuous as to speak unto God by lips polluted with blasphemies and to touch his Altars with impure hands to kiss his Images with lips withered by wanton kisses and to love the Holy Bridegroom with a heart which they have already sold or morgaged unto his rival God also wants not arms to punish these profane persons he hath killing Thunderbolts and amorous Shafts he hath gentle winds to inkindle fires Sanctificabor in iis qui appropinquant mihi in conspectu omnis populi glorificabor Levit 10. v. 3. and torrents to quench them There are Victims which he crowns with flames and spoils which he reduceth into Ashes and oftentimes the Sacrificers who ought onely to attract Blessings and Dews from Heaven draw upon themselves a deluge of pains and punishments God is the Holy of Holies and he cannot breathe but in Sanctity which is as it were his Element Life and Paradise CHAP. XLV The Pillar of Fire and the Cloud AMongst all the miracles which God wrought for his people Adduxit vos quadraginta annis per desertum c. Deut. 29. v. 5. and continued for the space of forty years during their voyage from their departure out of Egypt until their entry into the Land of Promise the first was That amongst three millions of people there was not any one either sick fainting or weary during all these wandrings and amidst the dangers and incounters not to be avoided by those that make long journeys The second wonder appeared in their Garments which were not in any sort worn out Non sunt attrita vestimenta vestra nec calceamenta pedum vestrorum vetustate consumpta sunt Deut. 29. v. 5. Panem non comedislis vinum siceram non bibistis c. Deut. 29. v. 6. as if they had brought them out of their Mothers Bellies increased with their Bodies They also had no need of Sutlers nor any of those provisions which are necessary for livelihood For there fell every day so well-seasoned Manna as they needed onely to take and put it into their mouths to finde therein all sort of gust and the most delicious taste they could desire In fine Igitur die qua erectum est tabernaculum operuit illud nubes A vespere autem super tentorium