mans Creation that this Animated Sun was born It was by the Light of Natures greatest Bonfire that God vouchsafed to stoop so low as Earth to take Clay Formavit igitur Dominus Deus hominem de limo terrae Gen. 2. v. 7. out of which he formed the Body of the first Man This wise and all-knowing Workman to whom all things are possible drew out of Durt Morter and Dust the Bones which were to be not only the Pyles Pillars Basis and strength of the Body but even the instruments of all its Motions He added to it Ligaments Joynts Carthelages Nerves and an infinity of fibres or little strings which were to lock the Bones and Members within one an other to be serviceable to all motions to arm every part to keep in or draw superfluous humors or rather to be assisting to its Nourishment The Body being thus rough-drawn or as I may say in its first draught appeared at the same instant divided into three parts of which the highest and most elevated was the Head the Bulk appeared in the midst and the Joynts linked together the Legs and Arms to become more usefull to all the extreme parts The Oeconomy of humane bodies Within these joynts were as inchased all the Instruments of life Within the Trunk reigned the Vitall parts as the Heart Lungs and Liver about which were found a thousand little Veins and as many little skins which are the Chanels of the Bloud and of all the Humours O strange this little Labyrinth was no ways confus'd The Heart though Monarch and Soveraign in this Empire disdains not to unite its self with the Liver and to joyn by a mutuall and reciprocall agreement its vertue and heat to act with more force upon the Aliment From thence issues a world of interlaced Veins which are to suck in the purest of the Chilus and to discharge the grosser part which afterwards conveys it all at leasure into the Bowels At the same time the Liver will separate the Bloud and divide the Humours and whilst the Heart is distributing all the Spirits through the Arteries lest it chance to be over-heated the more light humid and spungeous Lungs will give it air and refresh it by so regular intervals as even amids this palpitation it may receive from the Arteries its purest Bloud and its most delicious Nourishment All the rest passeth into the Brain which is the Summet of this admirable Structure It is covered outwardly with skin and hair and wrapped up within two panicles which cover its out-lets its substance and the source of all the Nerves It is in this Fort or Dungeon where the Animall spirits are to be formed which the Sensitive soul distributes to the Five senses spirits which are but fire and ray which very often get loose and escape by the eyes like lightnings and so many stars which appear to us at high Noon There is the seat of the Common sense where all the Nerves of our exterior Senses meet through which the Spirits slide and is the way by which the Species pass when they are the Messengers of their Objects Well may this part receive these Images but cannot retain them The Imagination then must be placed further within which collecting preserving the Species will borrow part of their name Behold the Body thus perfect and accomplished but not to descry all the bones naked and a flesh too lively and bloody cover it with the whitest smoothest and thinnest skin you can find Afterwards fix your eys upon his Face behold his lovely Hair sweetly floating on his shoulders contemplate his Forehead smoother than Marble his Eye-brows forming an Arch of Ebony over his eyes consider his Mouth surrounded with Corall observe his Cheeks mixed with Roses and Lillyes and smell his Breath a thousand times sweeter than Ambergreece In truth are you not ravished with the aspect of his Eyes which are the Windows of the Soul the Doors of Life and the most faithfull Interpreters of our Minds What say you to the disclosure of this living Theater of Choler Theater of passions of vengeance of pitty of hate of fury and Love Doe you see by their looks how they rise and fall how they flatter how they excite how they weep how they smile and how they shew upon their liquid and transparent Christall all that is discernable in the World But who will wonder at this since in truth these are the two Suns of the Little World and the Myrror of the Great one which is to be comprised and inclosed within the Humane Body Should not the Eyes of totall Nature open themselves here to admire this Miraculous Body The Master-piece of Nature and this Prodigy of the Universe But the thing of greatest Admiration is that God hath caused the Soul of Hearts and the Life of Bodies to flow into his mouth and heart and that Heaven hath powred the seed of Immortality into his Breast Et inspiravit in faciem â—â—us spiraculum vitae factus est humoâ—â— animam viventem Gen. 2. v. 7. God by a Divine breathing communicated this Fountain of Life to wit the Soul which instantly made the Image and Pattern of the Divinity reflect on his face This heavenly Form without noyse or delay disfused it self entire into the body remayning nevertheless whole in every part The Soul sâ—urce of beauty and of operations God alone knows with how many Lights the Understanding of man was illuminated with how many Ardors his Will was infired and with how many Species his Memory was filled in a moment My God what doest thou Gods goodness towards men and who hath incited thee to heap together in one vessell wrought out of Clay and dust all the Treasures of Wisdom greatness and sanctity Why so many sciences so many knowledges and so many splendors in this Soul Why so many virtues and so many Graces in this Heart And why in one single Man the Primitive Justice and the Empire of the Universe What necessity was there to make him partaker of thy Secrets and to raise him to the View of such a light as doubtless might make him blind Great God thou art good and liberall yet just and all fore-seeing If then thou fore-seest some danger and evill lest thou shouldst be obliged to take revenge of a fault dissolve the occasion and obstruct the wayes which lead unto a Precipice extinguish those Torches which may dazle the eyes stifle those Flames which may inkindle such sad fires or at least fasten not so many branches to a Tree which may be unrooted by the Winds and torn up by Storms Unite not so many Members unto a Head which is able to corrupt them all in an Instant and finally leave unto all our hearts Independency on Created things which are Naturall to them and cause our affections to be Eternally fastned unto thee that thou alone mayst be the Source of all the Motions and Effects which
frame I confess nevertheless that there is some difficulty in this point and that there requires much virtue and courage to walk on the fire and to resist the violence of its flames Persecution of Modesly We are in an Age in which it is not usuall to see Children in the Furnace of Babylon for whom flames are Changed into sweet Western gales and delicious dewes Joseph is no more and yet there are Ladyes who seek him and even prosecute his Ghost and Image Joseph is no more and we may justly say of him what the Philosophers and Poets have affirmed of Truth that her Garment and Veil remains on the Earth and that her Soul hath taken her flight even unto Heaven What disaster for Chastity and what shame for this Sex in which Virginitie ought to have her Cradle her Nurses her Sisters her Friends and Companions What scandall to see a Lady of quality borrowing Countenances plaistering Old Age painting Deformity whitening a yellow Skin discovering her Breasts a head loaden with sweet Powder and Jewels and bearing on her body all that she hath of Value In fine if all these allurements be not powerfull enough and if they cannot obtain by sweetness what they desire they become inraged and resolve intirely to destroy an Innocent This inraged Woman seeing then that Joseph was fled and that he had onely left her his Cloak Cumque vidisset mulier vestem in manibus suis se esse contemptam GeÌ„ 39. v. 13 resolved at the instant to revenge this affront and accuse him whom she knew to be too pure to excuse himself O God! what outrages of passions what artifices of infirmitie and how true it is that there is nothing more deceitfull and dangerous than a woman who loveth hopeth hateth or feareth some danger This Dame cryed out first Vocavit ad se homines domus suae ail ad eos â—n introduxit virum Hebraeum ut illuderet nobis Ingressus est ad me ut coiret mecum Cumque ego succlamassem Gen. 39. v. 14. Insolent Artifice and the fear she hath to be accused is the occasion she takes those for Witnesses of her innocency who could have prevented her After all seeing her Husband at her door Help saith she to what am I reduced Ah! who hath given me for a Servant an Importunate Devill who persecutes me beyond measure Ah! my Husband my Friend what have you done And what a perfidious man have you given me Is it peradventure to try my Loyalty and Vertue tell me I pray what is your intention and whether you keep him in the quality of a Servant or Companion For my part I esteem it as a great honour to be your Hand-maid and yet I conceive not my self obliged to obey your meanest Servant He hath been nevertheless so presumptuous in your absence to sport with me Et audisset vocem meam reliquit pallium quod tenebam fugit foras Gen. 39. v. 15. His auditis Dominus nimiùm credulus verbis conjugis iratus est valde Gen. 39. v. 19. Tradiditque Joseph in carcerem Gen. 39. v. 20. and take the place you hold in my heart No I swear by the respect I owe you that I would have strangled him if my strength had been answerable to my will but he is escaped and seeing I called for help he left his garment in my hands Immediatly this man giving too much credit to the discourse of his Wife without inquirie whether what she said was true or false caused Joseph to be stayed and commanded him to be put in Prison CHAP. III. The Predictions of Joseph I Do not wonder if heretofore the waters of Jordan were so respect full towards those Priests who carried the Ark of the Testament because it was a Figure of the Divinity the least rayes whereof are so powerfull in Nature as its very shadow cannot be seen without a holy horrour It is for this cause Virtue hath so venerable attractives and so penetrating Charms that we cannot approach it without feeling our selves instantly touched with Love and Reverence The reason is because God being as it were obliged to be in a particular manner present where Virtue is we must needs be insensible in the presence of him who imprints Sense in all beings if we were not excited towards Virtue and Sanctity which resemble those Spirits who incompass the Sanctuary and those Souls in whom God is delighted Yes â—e Paradise of the al. the Soul of a Just man is the Throne of God the Theater of his Power the List of his Courses the Field of his Battels and the Palace in which he maketh his abode Behold why the Saints have done so many wonders and it is for this reason we have seen Tyrants waxing pale at the sight of Martyrs Tygers changing their nature and all the Elements though insensible seeming reasonable to obey them We must not fear then that any ill will befall those whom God possesseth whom God conducteth and in whom he lives as the life of their Souls Joseph is in Prison but he shall there speedily find his Liberty the obscurities of his Dungeon will furnish him with light enough to discern what will happen and such as have been the authours of his ruine shall be the Causers of his happiness God never abandons those who love and serve him faithfully He is in Shackles in Misery Inviolable fidelity and in all misfortunes which use to assail his Friends he followed his Joseph even into the Pit even into Egypt and he is now with him in Prison O how sweet is the yoak when we are fastned to it with God! How pleasing are the Chains when he becomes Captive for our sake and what Paradise of delights when a man may say he hath God in his heart There was heretofore a Persian who stiled his death though most rigorous by the name of Felicity by reason in dying he perceived one of his Friends who never forsook him and used his best endeavours to put himself in his place Joseph then is most happy Dominus enim eret cum illo omnia opera ejus dirigebat Gen 29. v. 23. since God himself followed him even into his Dungeon there is was where this Slave found his Liberty it is there where he became a Prophet and began to find the period of his misery and the beginning of his happiness Behold I beseech you Qui tradidit in manâ— illius universos vinctoâ— qui in custodiâ— tenebantur Gen. 3â— v. 22. how he hath already the Keys in his hands and how all the Kings Prisoners are under his guard Can we represent unto our selves a more changing fortune And is it not true that God takes pleasure to raise those whom the world indevours to cast down Joseph shall be every where happy since our Lord is every where with him Being then in prison he so exactly performed all that was commanded him and the
on his neck and dearly embraceth him but he had no other than tears to utter What then can Iacob say Ah! my Son saith he now that I have seen thy face I am content and after this I shall willingly dye for it sufficeth me to leave thee alive After this Ioseph turning himself towards his Brethren and towards all those of Jacobs house began to say unto them that he was going unto Pharaoh to advertise him that his Brethren were arrived with their whole Family and that they had brought their Flocks and goods with them and when Command should be given them to see the King if he chanced to ask them of what Trade they were they should answer they had no other than that of meer Sheapheards and that all their â—indred who were as well as themselves his most humble servants and resolved to live and dye in his service never had any other employment since their birth Behold the instructions Joseph gave to all his Brethren whilst he conducted them with his Father to salute Pharaoh Now it was not out of Complement he put these words into their Mouths but upon Design that the King hearing they were Sheapheards and brought up in this Profession might permit them to live peaceably together with their Father in the Land of Gessen Vt habitare positis in terra Gessen quia detestantur Aegyptii omnes pastores ovium Gen. 46. v. 34. which was neerest unto Chanaan where there were also lovely Pastures and where they should be severed from the Egyptians who mortally hated all the Sheapheards which were in their Country by reason they had not the religious impiety of Egypt which adored Animals for Gods and who for that effect durst not kill them detesting for that reason all the Sheapheards of other Regions who had the care of Feeding their Flocks to the end they themselves with others might be nourished by them In fine Extremos quoque fratrum suorum quinque viros constituit coran Rege Gen. 47. v. 2. Hebraei Hemerus Pererius Oleaster In optimo loco fac eos habitare trade eis terram Gessen Gen. 47. v. 6. Quod si nosti in eis esse viros industrios constitue illos magistros pecorum meorum Gen. 47. v. 6. Post haec introduxit Joseph patrem suum ad Regem statuit eum coram co Gen. 47. v. 7. Et benedicto Rege egressus est soras Gen. 47. v. 10. the advice of Ioseph and his desire found happy success For assoon as he was returned unto the Court he presented unto Pharaoh five of his Brethren who in shew promised the least The King having cast his eyes on them and knowing they were Sheapheards gave them Gessen for their quarter and Commanded from that time they should take care of his Flocks Not long after Iacob entred who bore on his brow the Majesty of a King the authority of a Patriarch the wisedome of a Prophet and the glory of a Father of Nations When first he saw the King he besought Heaven to pour on him and his Kingdome all sorts of Benedictions The holy Scripture hath not otherwise declared unto us Iacobs entry into the presence of Pharaoh for my part I have often represented him unto my thoughts at the door or in the Kings anti-Chamber bare-headed and with hair whiter than Snow a beard down to his girdle and a neck bowed with old age eyes watered with tears and all his whole body somewhat trembling Me thinks I see him supported on one side with Ioseph on the other by Benjamin I even hear some sighs which issue forth of his mouth to refresh the ardors of his heart for notwithstanding all the coldnesse of his age he alwayes conserved in a dying body the sense of a truly generous soul and of a spirit of fire which was never out of Motion or Action I know not what Pharaoh thought seeing this good old man Et interrogatus ab eo quot sunt dies annorum vitae tuae Gen. 47. v. 7. Respondit Dies peregrinationis meae centum triginta annorum sunt parvi mali non pervenerunt usque ad dies patrum meo um quibus peregrinati sunt Gen. 47. v 9. Floscule mane puer media vir floscule luce Floscule sub nocte sole cadents senex Sic oreris morcrisque uno tu floscule Phoebo Vno sisque puer virque senexque die but he asked him how old he was to which he made answer Sir for the space of a hundred and thirty years I have been a Pilgrim on the Earth This journey truly is very short if you onely consider its durance but very long if you cast your eyes on the miseries of my life Nevertheless I am not yet arrived to the Term of my Fore-fathers Few old men will be found in the World who may not say the same For life is but a course in which we go from our Cradle to the Tomb. Dayes months years and entire Ages are but moments in the sight of God Man is but but a Flower which begins to blow at the break of day to fade about Noon and to drop away at night He is a shadow which passeth away a Feather which flyes a Reed which breaks an Image which loseth its Luster a Vapour which is dissipated a Beauty which perisheth a breath a smoak and a puff of Air which swells in the midst of a storm and appears on the water to dissolve at the same instant Nevertheless we need no longer space to see and feel much misery For it is enough to be born of a woman to be consumed with sorrows and to serve as a pittifull Subject to all sorts of Accidents Vicissitudes of life Witness Iacob who was no sooner come into the World but he must leave his Fathers house to go from thence with a staff in his hand into Forein Countries and like a fugitive to shun the persecution of his Brother We need but follow him in this sad journey and spend with him Twenty years in quality of a Servant at Labans house From thence we must depart out of Mesopotamia and bondage to expose our selves unto dangers of Death and to meet with Esau who comes to assail him with four hundred men We must see him in the affrightment he took at the Murther his Children committed upon the Sichemites Had he not also some cause to die at the death of Rachel and to expire on her body which inclosed the moitie of his life But who could behold the sorrow which pierc'd his heart when his Children were so impudent as to bring incest even into his house Surely he would have said that his life was but a web of misfortunes if we joyn with it the loss of Joseph the separation of Benjamin the captivity of Simeon and finally his last departure out of Chanaan Life both very short and long who will deny he had reason to say that his life had been very short if
To this effect they chose one amongst them who should goe unto Joseph and whose Commission was to inform him that Jacob their deceased Father of happy memory had commanded them at his death to tell him that he desired him to forget what was past and they all conjur'd him in his name to grant this favour Which Joseph hearing he began to weep and his tears serv'd to assure his Brethren who cast themselves at his feet taking at the same time the boldness of their own accord to demand that Pardon from him which they had already solicited by the means of Benjamin or some other who they believed would be more acceptable to him adding besides that they were all his Servants and resolved to live and dy in that quality To which Joseph answered that they need not fear any thing that he would take care of them and of all their Children and for the rest he would not be less pittifull towards them than God whose example he follow'd and who had changed all their evill purposes into favourable occasions to procure his good having also rarsed him as it were on a Throne of honour and power by the same Arms they had used to precipitate him into an Abyss of miseries and calamities Behold the sense of a noble Soul and of a generous courage whose tears did not resemble those of Crocadiles nor such kindnesses as are used by Apes which strangle in flattering and in shedding feign'd tears Revenge is only proper unto weak minds whereas Clemency resides alwayes in a strong spirit Cruelty is a Tyranny and meekness a true Empire To want the power of retaining any bad resentment is to be invulnerable And those souls also on the contrary are alwayes covered with Wounds and Ulcers which keep in their hearts desire of revenge and cannot grant a Pardon This is more deplorable in respect neither God nor Man have any compassion for those who cannot afford it unto the miseries of others And on the contrary either soon or late there are treasures of graces for those on whom good nature or vertue bestows those amiable inclinations which are mortall enemies to revenge and cruelty And it was I assure my self upon this occasion and to gratifie Joseph for the good entertainment he had given his Brethren and the sweet correspondeney he endevoured to hold with them in despight of all the bad Offices he had received from them that all the powers of Heaven and Earth combin'd to render him perfectly happy almost during the whole course of his life which reached to one hundred and ten years Vixitque centum decem annis Gen. 50. v. 22. Et vidit Ephraim sibios usque ad tertiam generationem Gen. 50. v. 22. Et conditus aromatibus reposiâ—us est loculo in Aegypto Gen. 50. v. 25. at the end of which he saw himself invironed by his Children and by his Childrens Children even to the third generation who at last rendred him all the same duties which they had done unto Jacob for being dead they imbalmed him and his bones a long time after were carried into the Land of promise according to the desire of this great Patriarch from whose end as from that of his forefathers we ought to conclude that it is good to lead a vertuous life that we may dye holily Wee dye every hour and our life is a living death which consumes of it self our looks our vows our words our gestures and all our motions are steps which conduct us to the Tomb. THE HOLY HISTORIE FIRST TOME MOSES FIFTH BOOK CHAP. I. His Birth and Education THe prodigious increase of the people of Israel Filii Israel erevtrunt quasi germinantes multiplicati sunt ac roborati nimis impleverunt terram Exod. 1 v. 7. Creverunt Hebraei divinitus foecundata eorum multitudine Aug. lib. 18. de Civit. c. 7. in the Land of Egypt after the decease of Jacob and of all his Children was not only a work of Nature but a miraculous effect of Divine Providence which inkindled the Ashes of these blessed Patriarcks and intended that their Tombs should be an unexhaustible Spring of life and immortality Egypt neverthelesse was too much blinded to penetrate these secrets Surrexit interea Rex novus super Aegyptum qui ignorabat Joseph Exod. 1. v. 8. Et ait ad populum suum Ecce populus filiorum Israel multus fortior nobis est Exod. 1. v. 9. And Joseph being dead he that took the reigns of the Empire not knowing the services this wise Minister of State had rendred unto his Predecessors for the space of fourscore years seeing that the Israelites went on daily increasing in forces and men resolv'd to humble and suppresse them lest in time they might chance to joyn themselves with the enemies of his Kingdom and form a Party against the State Nevertheless Venite sapicuter opprimamus eum ne fortè multiplicetur si ingruerit contra nos bellum addatur inimicis nostris expugnatisque nobis egrediatur de terra Exod. 1. v. 10. they were like those Grains which shoot out of the Earth and bear a thousand little Ears which the Wind Sun and Rain beat not down but to make new productions But this yong Pharaoh who began to Reign hath not eyes quick enough to discern these mysteries and his hand though most powerful was yet too weak to destroy this fair Nation Jacob is dead Joseph is deceased and this illustrious Colony which left Canaan to come into Egypt hath followed Abraham and Isaac They are no more but the Children of their Children and their Posterity shall never end In vain is it to cast them into servitude Quantó â—ue opprimebant eos tanâ—o magis multiplicabantur crescebant Exod. 1. v. 12. to impose on them a yoke a thousand times more cruel than death and to load them with Irons like Victims These punishments this bondage and all these chains serve but to reinforce their Bodies and me thinks the sweat which drops from their Fore-heads in the midst of their pains is converted into the Juice of Life which renders them marvellously fruitful Have you not seen a River which issueth imperiously after it had passed through the midst of Rocks There are no banks nor limits nor any obstacles which it draws not a long with it It swells the more it is restrained and commonly its highest elevations grow from its greatest falls Thus the people of Israel little in their Birth and as a little Rill in its source increaseth the more it is restrained and like an impetuous torrent which hath broken its Banks Oderuntque filios Israël Aegyptii affligebant illudentes eis Exod. 1. v. 13. Atque ad amaritudinem perducebant vitam eorum operibus duris luti lateris omnique famulatu quo in terrae operibus premebantur Exod. 1. v. 14. it extends it self in a prodigious maner This was the occasion of the mortal hatred the Egyptians conceived
honour of him who is our Redeemer Lucifer is fallen from his Throne The Dragon is swallowed up in the billows of the Sea and all these Traytors who intended to drown us are overwhelmed with the waves and where they thought to gather Laurels and Palms they found nothing but an harvest over-spread with Cypres and a vast Sepulcher in the bottom of the Sea where they proposed to themselves toerect a Theater of honour and a field of Triumph This Crosse Fortune some will tell me is a strange turn of Fortune but to speak more Christianly this is an admirable stroak of the Providence and Justice of God which frustrates all the projects of the world and of the wicked to raise Theaters unto vertue and to place Crowns upon the heads of the vertuous when they think themselves in a condition to be trampled on by their enemies Not that but sometimes and very often Wormwood and Gall are mingled with the most pleasing waters of their consolations and with graces which he is ready to impart unto them And not to goe farther to seek examples of this verity Ambulaveruntque tribus dichus per solitudinem non inveniebant aquam Exod. 15. v. 22. Et venerunt in Mara nec poterunt bibere aquas de Mara eo quod essent amarae unde congruum loco nomen imposuit vocans illum Mara id est amaritudinem Exod. 15. v. 23. let us stay a while in this desart where the Israelites now are All their enemies are drowned in the Sea and they themselves have marched for the space of three dayes in this desolate place finding nothing but bitter waters and if nothing else happen they will all dye with hunger and thirst In vain is it for them to murmur if Moses worked not here a Miracle I fear it must appear a truth that the Egyptians are dead in the Sea and that the Israelites will almost perish neer a Sea or in a place which hath nothing but Salt and bitter Waters from which it takes its denomination Alas where then is Moses where is Mary where is this Star of the Sea At ille clamavit ad Dominum qui ostendit ei lignum Quod cum misisset in aquas in dulcedinem versae sunt Exod. 15. v. 25. whose sole name is able to cause a thousand Fountains and Rivers to spring in the midst of Desarts Courage then behold thy happy Conductor to whom God hath shown a certain Wood of life and sweetness which he had scarce put into the water but it presently became delicious Behold a pleasing Metamorphosis But we must not wonder at it since this Wood is no other than the Image of him who can change all the torrents bitternesses of this life into an Ocean of consolation It is the Cross which hath been steep'd in the waters of Mara O Cross O Mara what sweet rigours and pleasing bitternesses doe all those find Venerunt autem in Elim filii Israel ubi erant duodecim sontes aquarum septuaginta palmae castrametatisunt juxta aquas Exo. 15. v. 27. who make use of thee to sweeten their sharpest afflictions Likewise after the Israelites had steeped this wood in the waters of Mara and sweetned the bitter waters of this Desart they went directly to the Land of Elim which was watered with many delightfull Fountains and where under the shades of Palm-trees they might sweetly and joyfully repeat their Canticle of Peace and Victory CHAP. XX. The Manna of the Desart IT was not without reason God from the beginning of the world took the name of Elohim Beneficent Nature of God that is to say a benefactor and obliger For his Nature is so propense to doe good as there is no moment in our lives which is not marked with some of his favours For this end he hath rais'd the Heavens the Air and the Stars over our heads as so many treasuries in which he hath enclosed the light and vitall influences without which the world would be but a confus'd Mass and a dreadfull Tomb. He hath also peopled the elements and given to every one what was convenient and necessary for their infirmities He himself is a great Ocean of Essences and an Abyss of goodness from whence spring a thousand torrents of graces which from Heaven water the Earth in so great abundance and with so generall an effusion that there is no person who may not be satiated thereby It seems also that he was as it were obliged thereunto and that if by some secret of his wise Providence he chance to withdraw his arm and hand which fills us with all sorts of benedictions we may have some cause to complain and murmur against him Et murmuravit omnis congregatio filiorum Israel contra Moysen Aaron in solitudine Exod. 16. v. 2. Dixeruntque filii Israel ad eos utinam mortui essemus per manum Domini in terra Aegypti quando sedebamus super ollas carnium comedebamus panem in saturitate cur eduxisti nos in desertum istud ut occideretis omnem multitadinâ—m fame Exod. 16. v. 3. Behold a while this People I beseech you whom a month since he drew out of Egypt and freed from the Tyranny of Pharaoh Behold these good people for whom he hath sweetned the bitterness of Mara who were scarce gone out of the little Paradise of Elim but they presently murmur'd because their Meal began to fail and as if Moses had been the cause of it they said unto him that they very much wondred at his causing them to depart out of Egypt and that it had been better for them to have there dyed amongst their flesh pots and Caldrons where they had alwayes something to eat than to follow him in a desart where they were even ready to perish with hunger Ah wicked and ungratefull men are you not asham'd to prefer your bellies before God and to forget all the benefits you received in your last necessities Neverthelesse this is what all these Apostates and misbelievers did who having remained some time under the Palm-Trees of Elim and drunk the waters of these sweet fountains being somewhat farther advanc'd in the desart and having met with some wants and difficulties they presently repented themselves for having left the flesh-pots and dung-hils of Egypt to enter a wilderness into which notwithstanding God had conducted and freed them from off the bondage and tyrannie of sin These gluttons are afraid of abstinence the Lent hath affrighted them the just and holy Laws of God and his Church were insupportable to them They choose rather to die with Flesh and Blood upon a dung-hill of ordures and horrours and neer a pile inkindled by the hand of the most infamous passions and where there is some sense of Egypt some flame of Babylon Lib. 1. c. 7 in the spoiles of envy some Spirit of Babel and some remnant of Cain than in a place consecrated to vertue