Works of Joseph Hall, Dedication 32 – Part 2
TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE, JAMES LORD HAY, ALL GRACE AND HAPPINESSE.
Right Honorable,
ALL that J can ſay for my ſelfe, is a deſire of doing good; which if it were as feruent in richer hearts, the Church which now we ſee comely, would then be glorious: this honeſt ambition hath caried mee to neglect the feare of ſeeming prodigall of my little; and while J ſee others Talents ruſting in the earth, hath drawne mee to traffique with mine in publike. I hope, no aduenture that euer I made of this kinde, ſhall be equally gainfull to this my preſent labour, wherein I take Gods owne Hiſtorie for the ground, and worke vponupon it by what Meditations my weakneſſe can afford: The diuineneſſe of this ſubiect ſhall make more then amends for the manifold defects of my diſcourſe; although alſo the blame of an imperfection is ſo much the more, when it lighteth vponupon ſo high a choice. This part which I offer to your Lordſhip, ſhall ſhew you Pharaoh impotently enuious and cruell, the Iſraelites of friends become ſlaues, puniſhed onelyonly for proſpering; Moſes in the Weedes, in the Court, in the Deſart, in the Hill of viſions; a Courtier in Aegypt, a Shepheard in Midian, an Ambaſſador from God, a Leader of Gods people: and when you ſee the prodigious varietie of the plagues of Aegypt, you ſhall not know whether more to wonder at the miracles of Moſes, or Pharaohs obſtinacle. Finally, you ſhall ſee the ſame Waues made both a wall and a gulfe in one houre; the Aegyptians drowned, where no Jſraelite was wet-ſhod: and if theſe paſſages, yeeld not abundance of profitable thoughts, impute it (not without pardon) to the pouertie of my weake conceit; which yet may perhaps occaſion better vntounto others. Jn all humble ſubmiſsion J commend them (what they are) to your Lordſhips fauourable acceptation, and your ſelfe with them to the gracious bleſsing of our God.
Your Lordſhips in all dutifull obſeruance at command, IOS. HALL.
Contemplations. THE FOVRTH BOOKE.
The affliction of Jſrael.
EGYPT was long an harbour to the Iſraelites; now it proues a Iayle: the Poſteritie of Iacob finds too late, what it was for their forefathers to ſell Ioſeph, a ſlaue into Aegypt. Thoſe whom the Aegyptians honoured before as Lord, now they contemne as drudges: One Pharaoh aduances, whom another labours to depreſſe: Not ſeldome the ſame man changes copies: but if fauours out-liue one age, they proue decrepit and heartleſſe: It is a rare thing to find poſterity heires of their fathers louelove: How ſhould mens fauour be but like themſelues, variable and inconſtant? there is no certaintie but in the fauour of God, in whom can be no change; whoſe louelove is intayled vponupon a thouſand generation.
Yet if the Iſraelites had been treacherous to Pharaoh, if diſobedient, this great change of countenance had been iuſt; now the onelyonly offence of Iſrael, is, that he proſpereth; that which ſhould be the motiue of their gratulation, and friendſhip, is the cauſe of their malice. There is no more hatefull ſight to a wicked man, then the proſperitie of the conſcionable; None but the ſpirit of that true Harbinger of Chriſt, can teach vsus to ſay with contentment, He muſt encreaſe, but I muſt decreaſe.
And what if Iſrael be mighty and rich? (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 grieued to entertaine: either ſtaying, or going, is offence enough, to thoſe that ſeeke quarrels; There were no warres, and yet they ſay, If there be warres. The Iſraelites had neuer giuen cauſe of feare to reuolt, and yet they ſay, Leſt they ioyne to our enemies, to thoſe enemies which we may hauehave; So they make their certaine friends ſlaues, for feare of vncertaine enemies. Wickedneſſe is euer cowardly, and full of vniuſt ſuſpitions; it makes a man feare, where no feare is; fly, when none purſues him. What difference there is betwixt Dauid and Pharaoh! The faith of the one ſayes, I wil not be afraid for then thouſand that ſhould beſet me; The feare of the other ſaies, Left if there be warre, they ioyne with our enemies; therefore ſhould hee hauehave made much of the Iſraelites, that they might be his: his fauour might hauehave made them firme; Why might they not as well 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. Fauours had bin more binding then cruelties: yet the fooliſh Aegyptian had rather hauehave impotent ſeruants, then able friends. For their welfare alone, Pharaoh owes Iſrael a miſchiefe; and how wil he pay it?
(Come let vsus worke wiſely;) Lewd men call wicked policies wiſdome, 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 louelove: 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 bee laid vponupon 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 breathe them in Goſhen ſometimes, yet euen there it was no ſmall miſerie to be forainers, 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 Aegypt, and now he muſt be ſcowred: they had borne the burden of Gods anger, if they had not borne the burdens of the Aegyptians.
As God afflicted them with another minde then the Aegyptians; (God to exerciſe them, the Aegyptians to ſuppreſſe them;) ſo cauſes he the euent to differ. Who would not hauehave thought with theſe Aegyptians, that ſo extreme miſery ſhould not hauehave made the Iſraelites vnfit, both for generation and reſiſtance? Moderate exerciſe ſtrengthens, extreame deſtroyes nature: That God which many times workes by contrary 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? Oh the Soueraigne goodnes of our God, that turnes all our poiſons into cordials! Gods Vine beares the better with bleeding.
And now the Aegyptians 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 Maſters; The ſtronger therefore the Iſraelites grew, the more impotent grew the malice of their perſecutors. And ſince their owne labour ſtrengthens them, now tyrannie will try what can be done by the violence of others: ſince the preſent ſtrength cannot bee ſubdued; the hopes of ſucceſsion muſt be preuented: women muſt be ſuborned to bee murderers; and thoſe whoſe office is to helpe the birth, muſt deſtroy it.
There was leſſe ſuſpition of crueltie in that ſexe, and more opportunitie of doing miſchiefe. The male children muſt be borne, and die at once; what can be more innocent, then the childe that hath not liued ſo much as to cry, or to ſee light? It is fault enough to be the ſonne of an Iſraelite: the daughters may liue for bondage, for luſt; a condition ſo much (at the leaſt) worſe then death, as their ſex was weaker. O maruellous cruelty, that a man ſhould kill a man, for his ſexes ſake! Whoſoeuer hath looſed the reynes vntounto cruelty, is eaſily caried into incredible extremities.
From burdens, they proceed to bondage, and from bondage to blood: from an vniuſt vexation of their body, to an inhumane deſtruction of the fruit of their body. As the ſinnes of the concupiſcible part, from ſlight 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 alwayes meet with equally miſchieuous agents.
The feare of God teaches the Midwiues to diſobey an vniuſt command; they well knew, how no excuſe it is for euill, I was bidden. God ſaid to their hearts, Thou ſhalt not kill: This voice was lowder then Pharaohs. I commend their obedience in diſobeying; I dare not commend their excuſe; there was as much weakneſſe in their anſwer, as ſtrength in their practice: as they feared God in not killing, ſo they feared Pharaoh in deſſembling: oft-times thoſe that make conſcience of greater ſinnes, are ouertaken with leſſe. It is well and rare, if we can come forth of a dangerous action without any foyle; and if we hauehave eſcaped the ſtorme, that ſome after-drops wet vsus not.
Who would not hauehave expected that the Midwiues ſhould be murdered, for not murthering? Pharaoh could not be ſo ſimple to thinke theſe women a ruſty: yet his indignation had no power to reach to their puniſhment. God proſpered the Mid-wiues, who can harme them? Euen the not doing of euill is rewarded with good. And why did they proſper? Becauſe they feared God; Not for their diſſimulation, but their piety. So did God regard their mercy, that he regarded not their infirmity. How fondly doe men lay the thanke vponupon the ſinne, 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 Mid-wiues, and remuneration to their goodneſſe, proſperity to their feare of God.
But that which the Mid-wiues will not, the multitudes ſhall doe; It were ſtrange, if wicked Rulers ſhould not find ſome or other inſtruments of violence: all the people muſt drowne whom the women ſaued. Cruelty hath but ſmoked before, now it …ames vp, ſecret practiſing hath made it ſhameleſſe, that now it dare proclaime tyranny. It is a miſerable ſtate, where eueryevery man is made an executioner: there can be no greater argument of an ill cauſe, then a bloody perſecution, whereas Truth vpholds her ſelfe by mildneſſe, and is promoted by patience. This is their act, what was their iſſue? The people muſt drowne their males, themſelues are drowned: they died by the ſame meanes, by which they cauſed the poore Iſraelitiſh infants to dye; that law of retaliation which God will not allow to vsus, becauſe we are fellow-creatures, he iuſtly pactiſeth in vsus. God would hauehave vsus reade our ſinnes in our iudgements, that we might both repent of our ſins, and giuegive glory to his iuſtice.
Pharaoh raged before, much more now, that he 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 mad with rage; as the vapour in a cloud would not make that fearfull report, if it met not with oppoſition. A good heart yeelds at the ſtilleſt voice of God: but the moſt gracious motions of God harden the wicked. Many would not be ſo deſperately ſetled in their ſinnes, if the world had not controuled them. How mild a meſſage was this to Pharaoh, and yet how galling? We pray thee let vsus goe. God commands him that which he feared. He tooke pleaſure in the preſent ſeruitude of Iſrael: God cals for a releaſe. If the ſute had been for mitigation of labour, for preſeruation of their children, it might hauehave caried ſome hope, and hauehave found ſome fauour: but now God requires that which he knowes will as much diſcontent Pharaoh, as Pharaohs cruelty could diſcontent the Iſraelites; Let vsus goe. How contrary are Gods precepts to naturall minds? and indeed, as they louelove to croſſe him in their practice, ſo hee loues to croſſe them in their commands before, and his puniſhments afterwards; It is a dangerous ſigne of an ill heart to feele Gods yoke 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 vsus, there is but one thing neceſſary: Nature tels vsus, there is nothing but that needleſſe: Moſes ſpeakes of deuotion, Pharaoh of idleneſſe. It hath bin an old vſe, as to caſt faire colours vponupon our owne vicious actions, ſo to caſt euill aſperſions vponupon the good actions of others. The ſame Deuill that ſpoke in Pharaoh, ſpeakes ſtill in our ſcoffers, and cals Religion Hypocriſie, conſcionable care, ſingularity. EueryEvery vice hath a title, and eueryevery 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 impunity to the labourer, might giuegive a good pretence to great difficulties: but to require tasks not faiſible, is tyrannicall, and doth onelyonly picke a quarrell to puniſh. They could neither make ſtraw, nor find it, yet they muſt hauehave it. Doe what may be, is tolerable; but doe what cannot be, is cruell. Thoſe which are aboue others in place, muſt meaſure their commands, not by their owne wils, but by the ſtrength of their inferiours. To require more of a beaſt then he can doe, is inhumane. The taske is not done; the task-maſters are beaten: the puniſhment lyes where the charge is; they muſt exact it of the people, Pharaoh of them. It is the miſery of thoſe which are truſted with authority, that their inferiours faults are beaten vponupon 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.