law of retaliation which God will not allow to vs because we are fellow creatures hee iustly practiseth in vs. God would haue vs reade our sinnes in our iudgements that we might both repent of our sinnes and giue glory to his iustice Pharaoh raged before much more now that hee receiued a message of dismission the monitions of God make ill men worse the waues doe not beat nor roare any where so much as at the banke which restraines them Corruption when it is checked growes madde with rage As the vapour in a cloud would not make that fearefull report if it met not with opposition A good heart yeelds at the stillest voice of God but the most gratious motions of God harden the wicked Many would not be so desperately settled in their sinnes if the word had not controlled them How milde a message was this to Pharaoh and yet how galling Wee pray thee let vs goe God commands him that which hee feared Hee tooke pleasure in the present seruitude of Israel God cals for a release If the suit had beene for mitigation of labour for preseruation of their children it might haue caried some hope and haue found some fauour but now God requires that which he knows will as much discontent Pharaoh as Pharaohs cruelty could discontent the Israelites Let vs goe How contrary are Gods precepts to naturall minds And indeed as they loue to crosse him in their practise so hee loues to crosse them in their commands before his punishments afterward It is a dangerous signe of an ill heart to feele Gods yoake heauy Moses talkes of sacrifice Pharaoh talkes of worke Any thing seemes due worke to a carnall minde sauing Gods seruice nothing superfluous but religious duties Christ tels vs there is but one thing necessarie nature tels vs there is nothing but that needlesse Moses speakes of deuotion Pharaoh of idlenesse It hath beene an old vse as to cast faire colours vpon our owne vicious actions so to cast euill aâ—persions vpon the good actions of others The same Diuell that spoke in Pharaoh speakes still in our scoffers and cals religion hypocrisie conscionable care singularitie Euery vice hath a title and euery vertue a disgrace Yet while possible taskes were imposed there was some comfort Their diligence might saue their backes from stripes The conceit of a benefit to the commander and hope of impunitie to the labourer might giue a good pretence to great difficulties but to require taskes not faisible is tyrannicall and doth onely picke a quarrell to punish They could neither make straw nor finde it yet they must haue it Doe what may be is tolerable but doe what cannot bee is cruell Those which are aboue others in place must measure their commands not by their owne wils but by the strength of their inferiors To require more of a beast than he can doe is inhumane The taske is not done the taske-masters are beaten the punishment lies where the charge is they must exact it of the people Pharaoh of them It is the miserie of those which are trusted with authoritie that their inferiours faults are beaten vpon their backes This was not the fault to require it of the taske-masters but to require it by the taske-masters of the people Publike persons doe either good or ill with a thousand hands and with no fewer shall receiue it The birth and breediug of Moses IT is a wonder that Amram the father of Moses would think of the marriage bed in so troublesome a times when he knew hee should beget children either to slauery or slaughter yet euen now in the heat of this bondage he marries Iochebed the drowning of his sonnes was not so great an euill as his owne burning the thraldom of his daughters not so great an euill as the subiection vnto sinfull desires He therefore vses Gods remedy for his sinne and refers the sequell of his danger to God How necessary is his imitation for those which haue not the power of containing Perhaps we would haue thought it better to liue childlesse but Amram and Iochebed durst not incurre the danger of a sinne to auoid the danger of a mischiefe No doubt when Iochebed the mother of Moses saw a man-childe borne of her and him beautifull and comely she sell into extreme passion to thinke that the executioners hand should succeede the Mid-wiues All the time of her conception shee could not but feare a sonne now shee sees him and thinks of his birth and death at once her second throwes are more grieuous than her first The paines of trauell in others are somewhat mitigated with hope and counteruailed with ioy that a man-child is borne in her they are doubled with feare the remedie of others is her complaint still shee lookes when some fierce Egyptian would come in snatch her new-borne infant out of her bosome whose comelinesse had now also added to her affection Many times God writes presages of Maiestie and honour euen in the faces of children Little did shee thinke that shee held in her lappe the deliuerer of Israel It is good to hazard in greatest appearances of danger If Iochebed had said If I beare a son they will kill him where had beene the great rescuer of Israel Happie is that resolution which can follow God hood-winkt and let him dispose of the euent When shee can no longer hide him in her wombe she hides him in her house afraid lest euery of his cryings should guide the executioner to his cradle And now she sees her treasure can be no longer hid shee ships him in a barke of bulrushes and commits him to the mercy of the waues and which was more mercilesse to the danger of an Egyptian passenger yet doth she not leaue him without a gardian No tyrannie can forbid her to loue him whom shee is forbidden to keepe Her daughters eies must supply the place of her arms and if the weake affection of a mother were thus effectually carefull what shall wee thinke of him whose loue whose compassion is as himselfe infinite His eie his hand cannot but be with vs euen when wee forsake our selues Moses had neuer a stronger protection about him no not when all his Israelites were pitched about his tent in the wildernesse than now when he lay sprauling alone vpon the waues No water no Egyptian can hurt him Neither friend nor mother dare owne him and now God challenges his custodie When wee seeme most neglected and forlorne in our selues then is God most present most vigilant His prouidence brings Pharaohs daughter thither to wash her selfe Those times looke for no great state A Princesse comes to bath her selfe in the open stream she meant only to wash her selfe God fetches her thither to deliuer the deliuerer of his people His designes goe beyond ours We know not when wee set our foot ouer our threshold what hee hath to doe with vs. This euent seemed casuall to this Princesse but predetermined and prouided by God before
shee was how wisely and sweetly God brings to passe his owne purposes in our ignorance and regardlesnesse She saw the Arke opens it findes the childe weeping his beautie and his teares had God prouided for the strong perswasions of mercy This yoong and liuely Oratorie preuailed Her heart is stroke with compassion and yet her tongue could say it is an Hebrewes childe See heere the mercifull daughter of a cruell father It is an vncharitable and iniurious ground to iudge of the childs disposition by the parents How well doth pitie beseeme great personages and most in extremities It had beene death to another to rescue the childe of an Hebrew in her it was safe and noble It is an happie thing when great ones improue their places to so much more charitie as their libertie is more Moses his sister finding the princesse compassionate offers to procure a nurse and fetches the mother and who can bee so fit a nurse as a mother She now with glad hands receiues her childe both with authority and reward She would haue giuen al her substance for the life of her sonne and now shee hath a reward to nurse him The exchange of the name of a mother for the name of a nurse hath gained her both her sonne and his education and with both a recompence Religion doth not call vs to a weake simplicity but allows vs as much of the serpent as of the Doue Lawfull policies haue from God both libertie in the vse and blessing in the successe The good Ladie did not breed him as some childe of almes or as some wretched outcast for whom it might be fauor enough to liue but as her owne sonne In all the delicacies in all the learning of Egypt Whatsoeuer the Court or the Schoole could put into him he wanted not yet all this could not make him forget that he was and Hebrew Education workes wondrous changes and is of great force either way a little aduancement hath so puffed vp some aboue themselues that they haue not only forgot their friends but scorned their parents All the honours of Egypt could not winne Moses not to call his nurse mother or weane him from a willing miserie with the Israelites If we had Moses his faith we could not but make his choice It is onely our infidelity that bindes vs so fast to the world and makes vs preferre the momentany pleasures of sinne vnto that euerlasting recompence of reward Hee went foorth and looked on the burdens of Israel What needed Moses to haue afflicted himselfe with the afflictions of others Himselfe was at ease and pleasure in the Court of Pharaoh A good heart cannot abide to be happy alone and must needes vnbidden share with others in their miseries He is no true Moses that is not mooued with the calamities of Gods Church To see an Egyptian smite an Hebrew it smote him and mooued him to smite Hee hath no Israelitish blood in him that can endure to see an Israelite striken either with hand or tongue Heere was his zeale where was his authoritie Doubtlesse Moses had an instinct from God of his magistracie else how should hee thinke they would haue vnderstood what himselfe did not Oppressions may not bee righted by violence but by law The redresse of euill by a person vnwarranted is euill Moses knew that God had called him he knew that Pharaoh knew it not therefore he hides the Egyptian in the sand Those actions which may bee approoued vnto God are not alwaies safe with men as contrarily too many things goe currant with men that are not approoued of God Another Hebrew is strucken but by an Hebrew the act is the same the agents differ neither doth their profession more differ than Moses his proceedings Hee giues blowes to the one to the other words The blowes to the Egyptian were deadly the words to the Hebrew gentle and plausible As God makes a difference betwixt chastisements of his owne and punishments of strange children So must wise gouernours learne to distinguish of sinnes and iudgements according to circumstances How mildly doth Moses admonish Sirs yee are brethren If there had beene but any dramme of good nature in these Hebrewes they had relented now it is strange to see that being so vniuersally vexed with their common aduersarie they should yet vex one another One would haue thought that a common opposition should haue vnited them more yet now priuate grudges doe thus dangerously diuide them Blowes enow were not dealt by the Egyptians their owne must adde to the violence Still Satan is thus busie and Christians are thus malicious that as if they wanted enemies they flie in one anothers faces While we are in this Egypt of the world all vnkinde strifes would easily bee composed if wee did not forget that wee are brethren Behold an Egyptian in the skinne of an Hebrew How dogged an answer doth Moses receiue to so gentle a reproofe Who would not haue expected that this Hebrew had beene enough deiected with the common affliction But vexations may make some more miserable not more humble As wee see sickenesses make some tractable others more froward It is no easie matter to beare a reproofe well if neuer so well tempered no sugar can bereaue a pill of his bitternesse None but the gracious can say Let the righteous smite me Next to the not deseruing a reproofe is the well taking of it But who is so ready to except and exclaime as the wrong-doer The patient replies not One iniurie drawes on another first to his brother then to his reproouer Guiltinesse will make a man stirre vpon euery touch hee that was wronged could incline to reconciliation Malice makes men vncapable of good counsell and there are none so great enemies to iustice as those which are enemies to peace With what impatience doth a galled heart receiue an admonition This vnworthy Israelite is the patterne of a stomackfull offender first he is moued to choller in himself then he cals for the authoritie of the admonisher A smal authoritie will serue for a louing admonition It is the duty of men much more of Christians to aduise against sinne yet this man askes who made thee a Iudge for but finding fault with his iniury Then hee aggrauates and misconstrues Wilt thou kill mee when Moses meant onely to saue both It was the death of his malice onely that was intended and the safety of his person And lastly he vpbraids with former actions Thou killedst the Egyptian What if he did What if vniustly What was this to the Hebrew Another mans sinne is no excuse for ours A wicked heart neuer lookes inward to it selfe but outward to the quality of the reprouer if that affoord exception it is enough As a dog runs first to reuenge on the stone what matter is it to me who he be that admonishes me let me look home into my self let me look to his aduise If that be good it is more shame to me to be reprooued
If there be warre they may ioyne with our enemies and get them out of the land Behold they are afraid to part with those whom they are greeued to entertaine Either staying or going is offence enough to those that seeke quarrels There were no wars and yet they say If there be wars The Israelites had neuer giuen cause of feare to reuolt and yet they say Least they ioyne to our enemies to those enemies which wee may haue So they make their certain friends slaues for feare of vncertaine enemies Wickednes is euer cowardly and full of vniust suspitions it makes a man feare where no feare is flye when none pursues him What difference there is betwixt Dauid and Pharaoh The faith of the one saies I will not be afraid for tenne thousand that should beset me The feare of the other saies Lest if there be warre they ioyne with our enemies Therefore should he haue made much of the Israelites that they might bee his his fauours might haue made them firme Why might they not as wel draw their swords for him Weake and base minds euer incline to the worse and seeke safety rather in an impossibility of hurt then in the likelihood of iust aduantage Fauors had bene more binding then cruelties yet the foolish Egyptian had rather haue impotent seruants then able friends For their welfare alone Pharaoh owes Israel a mischiefe and how will he pay it Come let vs worke wisely Leud men cal wicked policies wisdom and their successe happinesse Herein Satan is wiser then they who both layes the plot and makes them such fooles as to mistake villany and madnesse for the best vertue Iniustice is vpheld by violence whereas iust gouernments are maintained by loue Taske-masters must be set ouer Israel they should not be the true seed of Israel if they were not still set to wrestle with God in afflictions Heauy burdens must be laid vpon them Israel is neuer but loaded the destiny of one of Iacobs sonnes is common to all To lye downe betwixt their burdens If they had seemed to breath them in Goshen sometimes yet euen there it was no small misery to be forrainers and to liue among Idolaters But now the name of a slaue is added to the name of a stranger Israel had gathered some rust in idolatrous Egypt and now he must be scoured they had born the burden of Gods anger if they had not born the burdens of the Egyptians As God afflicted them with another mind then the Egyptians God to exercise them the Egyptians to suppresse them so causes hee the euent to differ Who would not haue thought with these Egyptians that so extreme misery should not haue made the Israelites vnfit both for generation and resistance Moderate exercise strengthens extreame destroyes nature That God which many times workes by contrarie means caused them to grow with depression with persecution to multiply How can Gods Church but fare well since the very malice of their enemies benefits them O the Soueraigne goodnes of our God that turnes all our poysons into cordials Gods vine beares the better with bleeding And now the Egyptians could be angry with their owne maliciousnesse that this was the occasion of multiplying them whom they hated and feared to see that this seruice gained more to the workmen then to their maisters The stronger therefore the Israelites grew the more impotent grew them alice of their persecutours And since their owne labor strengthens them now tyranny will try what can bee done by the violence of others Since the present strength cannot bee subdued the hopes of succession must be preuented women must bee suborned to bee murtherers and those whose office is to help the birth must destroy it There was lesse suspition of cruelty in that sexe and more oportunity of doing mischiefe The male children must be borne and dye at once what can bee more innocent then the child that hath not liued so much as to cry or to see light It is fault enough to bee the son of an Israelite the daughters may liue for bondage for lust a condition so much at the least woorse then death as their sexe was weaker O maruellous cruelty that a man should kill a man for his sexes sake Whosoeuer hath loosed the reynes vnto cruelty is easily carryed into incredible extremities From burdens they proceed to bondage and from bondange to blood from an vniust vexation of their body to an inhumane destruction of the fruit of their body As the sins of the concupiscible part from sleight motions grow on to foule executions so doe those of the irascible there is no sinne whose harbour is more vnsafe then of that of malice But oft times the power of tyrants answers not their will euill commanders cannot alwaies meete with equally mischieuous agents The feare of God teaches the mid wiues to disobey an vniust command they well knew how no excuse it is for euill I was bidden God said to their harts Thou shalt not kill This voice was louder then Pharaohs I commend their obedience in disobeying I dare not commend their excuse there was as much weakenesse in their answere as strength in their practise as they feared God in not killing so they feared Pharaoh in dissembling oft times those that make conscience of greater sins are ouertaken with lesse It is wel and rare if we can come forth of a dangerous action without any soyle and if we haue escaped the storme that some after drops wet vs not Who would not haue expected that the midwiues should bee murthered for not murthering Pharaoh could not be so simple to thinke these women trusty yet his indignation had no power to reach to their punishment God prospered the mid-wiues who can harme them Euen the not dooing of euill is rewarded with good And why did they prosper Because they feared God Not for their dissimulation but their pietie So did God regard their mercie that he ragarded not their infirmitie How fondly do men lay the thank vpon the sin which is due to the vertue true wisedome teaches to distinguish Gods actions and to ascribe them to the right causes Pardon belongs to the lye of the Midwiues remuneration to their goodnes prosperity to their fear of God But that which the Midwiues will not the multitudes shall do It were strange if wicked rulers should not finde some or other instruments of violence all the people must drowne whom the women saued Cruelty hath but smoked before now it flames vp secret practising hath made it shamelesse that now it dare proclaime tyranny It is a miserable state where euery man is made an executioner there can bee no greater argument of an ill cause then a bloody prosecution wheras truth vpholds herselfe by mildnesse and is promoted by patience This is their act what was their issue the people must drown their males themselues are drowned they died by the same means by which they caused the poore Israelitish infants to dye that
his tormenter Those loathsome creatures leaue their owne element to punish them which rebelliously detained Israell from their owne No bed no table can be free from them their dainty Ladies cannot keep them out of their bosomes neither can the Egyptians sooner open their mouthes than they are ready to creepe into their throats as if they would tell them that they came on purpose to reuenge the wrongs of their maker yet euen this wonder also is Satan allowed to imitate Who can maruell to see the best vertues counterfeited by wicked men when hee sees the diuell emulating the miraculous power of God The feates that Satan plaies may harden but cannot benefit Hee that hath leaue to bring frogs hath neither leaue nor power to take them away nor to take away the stench from them To bring them was but to adde to the iudgement to remooue them was an act of mercy God doth commonly vse Satan in executing of iudgement neuer in the workes of mercie to men Yet euen by thus much is Pharaoh hardned and the sorcerers growen insolent When the diuell and his agents are in the height of their pride GOD shames them in a trifle The rod is lift vp the very dust receiues life lice abound euery where and make no difference betwixt beggers and Princes Though Pharaoh and his Courtiers abhorred to see themselues louzie yet they hoped this miracle would be more easily imitable but now the greater possibilitie the greater foile How are the great wonder-mongers of Egypt abashed that they can neither make lice of their owne nor deliuer themselues from the lice that are made Those that could make serpents and frogs could not either make or kill lice to shew them that those frogs and serpents were not their owne workmanship Now Pharaoh must needs see how impotent a diuell hee serued that could not make that vermine which euery day rises voluntarily out of corruption Iannes and Iambres cannot now make those lice so much as by delusion which at another time they cannot chuse but produce vnknowing and which now they cannot auoid That spirit which is powerfull to execute the greatest things when hee is bidden is vnable to doe the least when he is restrained Now these corriuals of Moses can say This is the finger of God Yee foolish Inchanters was Gods finger in the lice not in the frogs not in the blood not in the serpent And why was it rather in the lesse than in the greater Because yee did imitate the other not these As if the same finger of God had not beene before in your imitation which was now in your restraint As if yee could haue failed in these if yee had not beene only permitted the other Whiles wicked mindes haue their full scope they neuer looke vp aboue themselues but when once God crosses them in their proceedings their want of successe teaches them to giue God his owne All these plagues perhaps had more horror than paine in them The frogges creepe vpon their clothes the lice vpon their skins but those stinging hornets which succeed them shall wound and kill The water was annoied with the first plague the earth with the second and third this fourth fils the aire and besides corruption brings smart And that they may see this winged armie comes out from an angrie God not either from nature or chance euen the very flies shall make a difference betwixt Egypt and Goshen He that gaue them their being sets them their stint They can no more sting an Israelite than fauour an Egyptian The very wings of flies are directed by a prouidence and doe acknowledge their limits Now Pharaoh findes how impossible it is for him to stand out with God since all his power cannot rescue him from lice and flies And now his heart begins to thaw a little Goe doe sacrifice to your God in this land or since that will not be accepted Go into the wildernesse but not far but how soone it knits againe Good thoughts make but a thorow-fare of carnall hearts they can neuer settle there yea his very misse-giuing hardens him the more that now neither the murren of his cattle nor the botches of his seruants can stirre him a whit Hee saw his cattle strucke dead with a sudden contagion he saw his sorcerers after their contestation with Gods messengers strucke with a scabbe in their very faces and yet his heart is not strucke Who would think it possible that any soule could bee secure in the midst of such varietie and frequence of iudgements These very plagues haue not more wonder in them than their successe hath To what an height of obduration will sinne leade a man and of all sinnes incredulity Amidst all these storms Pharaoh sleepeth till the voice of Gods mightie thunders and haile mixed with fire rouzed him vp a little Now as betwixt sleeping and waking hee starts vp and saies God is righteous I am wicked Moses pray for vs and presently laies downe his head againe God hath no sooner done thundring than hee hath done fearing All this while you neuer finde him carefull to preuent any one euill but desirous still to shift it off when he feeles it neuer holds constant to any good motion neuer praies for himselfe but carelesly willes Moses and Aaron to pray for him neuer yeelds God his whole demand but higgleth and dodgeth like some hard chapman that would get a release with the cheapest First they shall not go then goe and sacrifice but in Egypt next goe sacrifice in the wildernesse but not farre off after goe ye that are men then goe you and your children only at last goe all saue your sheepe and cattle Wheresoeuer meere nature is she is still improuident of future good sensible of present euill inconstant in good purposes vnable through vnacquaintance and vnwilling to speake for her selfe niggardly in her grants and vncheerfull The plague of the grashoppers startled him a little and the more through the importunitie of his seruants for when he considered the fish destroied with the first blow the cattle with the fifth the corne with the seuenth the fruit and leaues with this eighth and nothing now left him but a bare fruitlesse earth to liue vpon and that couered ouer with locusts necessitie droue him to relent for an aduantage Forgiue mee this once take from me this death only But as constrained repentance is euer short and vnsound the West winde together with the grashoppers blowes away his remorse and now is hee ready for another iudgement As the grashoppers tooke away the sight of the earth from him so now a grosse darknesse takes away the sight of heauen too other darknesses were but priuatiue this was reall and sensible The Egyptians thought this night long how could they chuse when it was six in one and so much the more for that no man could rise to talke with other but was necessarily confined to his owne thoughts One thinkes the fault in his owne eies
which hee rubs often times in vaine Others thinke that the Sunne is lost out of the firmament and is now with-drawen for euer Others that all things are returning to their first confusion All thinke themselues miserable past remedie and wish whatsoeuer had befallen them that they might haue had but light enough to see themselues die Now Pharaoh prooues like to some beasts that grow mad with baiting grace often resisted turns to desperatenesse Get thee from mee looke thou see my face no more whensoeuer thou commest in my sight thou shalt die As if Moses could not plague him as well in absence As if hee that could not take away the lice flies frogges grashoppers could at his pleasure take away the life of Moses that procured them What is this but to run vpon the iudgements and runne away from the remedies Euermore when Gods messengers are abandoned destruction is neere Moses will see him no more till he see him dead vpon the sands but God will now visit him more than euer The fearefullest plagues God still reserues for the vpshot All the former doe but make way for the last Pharaoh may exclude Moses and Aaron but Gods Angell hee cannot exclude Insensible messengers are vsed when the visible are debarred Now God beginnes to call for the blood they owned him In one night euery house hath a carcase in it and which is more grieuous of their first borne and which is yet more fearefull in an instant No man could comfort other euery man was too full of his owne sorrow helping rather to make the noise of the lamentation more dolefull and astonishing How soone hath God changed the note of this tyrannicall people Egypt was neuer so stubborne in deniing passage to Israel as now importunate to intreat it Pharaoh did not more force them to stay before than now to depart whom lately they would not permit now they hire to go Their rich iewels of siluer and gold were not too deare for them whom they hated how much rather had they to send them away wealthy than to haue them stay to bee their executors Their loue to themselues obtained of them the inriching of their enemies and now they are glad to pay them well for their old worke and their present iourney Gods people had staid like slaues they goe away like conquerours with the spoile of those that hated them armed for securitie and wealthie for maintenance Old Iacobs seuenty souls which he brought downe into Egypt in spight of their bondage bloodshed goe foorth six hundred thousand men besides children The world is well mended with Israel since he went with his staffe and scrippe ouer Iordan Tyrannie is too weake where God bids Increase and multiplie I know not where else the good hearbe ouer-growes the weedes the Church out-strips the world I feare if they had liued in ease and delicacie they had not beene so strong so numerous Neuer any true Israelite lost by his affliction Not only for the action but the time Pharaohs choice meets with Gods That very night when the 130. yeeres were expired Israel is gone Pharaoh neither can nor can will to keepe them longer yet in this not fulfilling Gods will but his owne How sweetly doth God dispose of all second causes that whiles they doe their owne will they do his The Israelites are equally glad of this haste who would not be ready to goe yea to flie out of bondage They haue what they wished it was no staying for a second inuitation The losse of an opportunitie is many times vnrecouerable The loue of their libertie made the burden of their dough light who knew whether the variable minde of Pharaoh might returne to a deniall and after all his stubbornenesse repent of his obedience It is foolish to hazard where there is certaintie of good offers and vncertainetie of continuance They goe therfore and the same God that fetcht them out is both their guide and protector How carefully doth hee chuse their way not the neerer but the safer He would not haue his people so suddenly change from bondage to warre It is the wondrous mercy of God that he hath respect as to his owne glory so to our infirmities He intends them wars heereafter but after some longer breathing and more preparation his goodnes so orders all that euils are not ready for vs till wee be ready for them And as hee chuses so hee guides their way That they might not erre in that sandy and vntracked wildernesse himselfe goes before them who could but follow cheerefully when hee sees God leade him He that lead the wise men by a starre leads Israel by a cloud That was an higher obiect therefore hee giues them an higher and more heauenly conduct This was more earthly therefore he contents himselfe with a lower representation of his presence A piller of cloud and fire A piller for firmnesse of cloud and fire for visibilitie and vse The greater light extinguishes the lesse therefore in the day he shewes them not fire but a cloud In the night nothing is seene without light therefore he shewes them not the cloud but fire The cloud shelters them from heat by day the fire digests the rawnesse of the night The same God is both a cloud and a fire to his children euer putting himselfe into those formes of gracious respects that may best fit their necessities As good motions are long ere they can enter into hard hearts so they seldome continue long No sooner were the backes of Israel turned to depart than Pharaohs heart and face is turned after them to fetch them backe againe It vexes him to see so great a command so much wealth cast away in one night which now he resolues to redeeme though with more plagues The same ambition and couetousnesse that made him weare out so many iudgements will not leaue him till it haue wrought out his full destrustruction All Gods vengeances haue their end the finall perdition of his enemies which they cannot rest till they haue attained Pharaoh therefore and his Egyptians will needs go fetch their bane They well knew that Israel was fitter to serue than to fight weary with their seruitude not trained vp to warre not furnished with prouision for a field Themselues captaines and souldiers by profession furnished with horses and chariots of war They gaue themselues therefore the victory beforehand and Israel either for spoile or bondage yea the weake Israelites gaue vp themselues for dead and already are talking of their graues They see the sea before them behinde them the Egyptians they know not whether is more mercilesse and are strucken with the feare of both O God how couldest thou forbeare so distrustfull a people They had seene all thy wonders in Egypt and in their Goshen they saw euen now thy piller before them and yet they did more feare Egypt than beleeue thee Thy patience is no lesse miracle than thy deliuerance But in stead of remoouing from them the cloudy piller remooues behinde them and stands betwixt the Israelites and Egyptians as if God would haue said They shall first ouercome mee O Israel ere they touch thee Wonder did now iustly striue with feare in the Israelites when they saw the cloud remooue behinde them and the sea remooue before them They were not vsed to such bulwarkes God stood behinde them in the cloud the sea reared them vp walles on both sides them That which they feared would be their destruction protected them how easily can God make the cruellest of his creatures both our friends and patrons Yet heere was faith mixed with vnbeleefe Hee was a bold Israelite that set the first foot into the channell of the sea and euery steppe that they set in that moist way was a new exercise of their faith Pharaoh sees all this and wonders yet hath not the wit or grace to thinke though the piller tels him so much that God made a difference betwixt him and Israel Hee is offended with the sea for giuing way to his enemies and yet sees not why hee may not trust it as well as they Hee might well haue thought that hee which gaue light in Goshen when there was darknesse in Egypt could as well distinguish in the sea but hee cannot now either consider or feare It is his time to perish God makes him faire way and lets him run smoothly on till hee be come to the midst of the sea not one waue may rise vp against him to wet so much as the hoofe of his horse Extraordinary fauours to wicked men are the fore-runners of their ruine Now when God sees the Egyptians too farre to returne he findes time to strike them with their last terrour they know not why but they would returne too late Those Chariots in which they trusted now faile them as hauing done seruice enough to carry them into perdition God pursues them and they cannot flie from him Wicked men make equall haste both to sinne and from iudgement but they shall one day finde that it is not more easie to runne into sinne than impossible to runne away from iudgement the sea will shew them that it regards the rod of Moses not the scepter of Pharaoh and now as gladde to haue got the enemies of God at such an aduantage shuts her mouth vpon them and swallowes them vp in her waues and after shee hath made sport with them a while casts them vp on her sands for a spectacle of triumph to their aduersaries What a sight was this to the Israelites when they were now safe on the shore to see their enemies come floating after them vpon the billowes and to finde among the carcases vpon the sands their knowen oppressors which now they can tread vpon with insultation They did not crie more loud before than now they sing Not their faith but their sense teaches them now to magnifie that God after their deliuerance whom they hardly trusted for deliuerance FINIS