A Complete History and Mystery of the Old and New Testament

Section the Third.

Having first viewed Joseph 's Sellers, in the second place his Buyers come to the next consideration: Those Buyers of Joseph pass under a double name. 1. They are called Ishmaelites, Gen. 37.25, 27, 28. and Gen. 39.1. And

2. They are called Midianites, Gen. 37.28. and 36. These two were a distinct People, descended from a distinct Original, yet both the Off-spring of Abraham; the Ishmaelites sprang from Ishmael his Son, by Hagar, Gen. 16.15. and the Midianites from Midian Abraham 's Son also by Keturah, Gen. 25.2. yet are these two names promiscuously used and (as it were) confounded together here, as they are also in Jud. 8.22, 24, 26. because the Midianites lived in the Country of the Ishmaelites and exercised the Trade of Merchants among them, so that they became a mixed people, for a great part of them in their Habitations, hereupon the Chaldee calls them Arabians (a third name to the two former) of Gnarab, which signifies to be mixed, because they were a mixed people. Those Ishmaelites and Midianites were so intermingled each with other both in their Habitation and in their Conversation, as to mutual commerce & intercourse of Trade, that they are oft taken for one & the same People, as here, Gen. 37. the two Names signify the same persons, comparing v. 28. with v. 36. and Gen. 39.1. where 'tis said Joseph 's Brethren sold him to the Ishmaelites, and the Midianites sold him unto Potiphar, and Potiphar bought him of the Ishmaelites: However here is a sweet providence of God (for good to Afflicted Joseph) to be perspicuously seen in many circumstances, as famous footsteps thereof.

The first famous Circumstance is, No sooner had those conspirators cast Joseph into the Pit, where they designed to famish him till he died by Famine (which in itself, is a more cruel Death, than if he had died by their Swords, Lam. 4.6, 9. praestat semel mori, quàm semper moribundum esse, 'tis better to be suddenly dispatched, and soon put out of their pain, than to pine away by Inches, Lev. 26.39. and to be Tormented a long time with fear and sense of dying by Famine, a far worse Weapon than the Sword.) Thus they Lodg poor Joseph (stripped of his two Garments, which were to keep him warm, both his Long Coat that reached down to his Ankles called Tunica Talaris and his parti-coloured Coat called Polymita (as Lyra and Menochius say) so Joseph lay naked, to be Starved in the Pit, there to starve him with cold as well as with Hunger, and when they had laid him there, they leave him in this disconsolate condition; then they sat down to Eat, v. 24, 25. wherein was a most Marvelous Providence, this did not fall out by any cast of uncertain chance out of Fortunes Office, but 'twas ordered thus by the over-ruling hand of God, as the casting of Joseph into the Pit, by the prevailing influence of Reuben (who was one of the Conspirators Company) to save him from being immediately Murder'd was a Miracle of Mercy.

NB. Rather than that God's Innocent Joseph 's should not be Delivered, God will (when no other can be had) raise up a Redeemer and a deliverer for them, out of the very company of the Conspirators themselves, as He hath lately done in this late Damnable Popish Plot, drawing forth some of themselves to discover it, so their sitting down to Eat, was no less a Miracle of Mercy, for had they presently gone away, and not sat down, Joseph had, in all probability, perished in the Pit, and never have been sold into Egypt; so Jacob and those very Conspirators must have died by Famine (the Death they doomed Joseph to) had he not been there to relieve them, Gen. 45.5. and 50.20. Act. 7.11, 12, 13. How may step aside (a little) and with Moses, Exod. 3.3. stand to behold God's work of Wonder.

1. In God's governing Reuben 's (the Elder Brothers) advice so, as to get Joseph cast into the Pit: Whether it were his entire Love to his Brother, or it was nothing but his own Self-love, designing hereby to reconcile himself to his effended Father, that moved him most to make this motion, I shall not determine, however God's high and holy Hand was in it, whereby he bound the Hands of those conspiring Villains to the good Behaviour so effectually, as if God had come from Heaven, and had immediately manacl'd them, so that they could not lift up (all or them) one Hand to Murder Joseph.

2. The same God that did manacle their Hands before, shackles their Feet now, they cannot stir a foot without God's leave, no more than lift a Hand: Oh how God coucheth those Blood-hounds, and makes them lie down here, till the Merchants of Midian come from Gilead to them: God's thoughts wore far differing from, yea, contrary to theirs: They designed nothing else (in their sitting down to eat ) but to fill their paunches, or it may be, to stifle their Consciences (which might probably prick them for what they had done) by Feasting, and making merry; or to refresh their tired Spirits, being possibly almost spent in tugging poor Joseph; or to rejoice together, for being freed from their Dreaming Brother. But God designed other and better things, that is, that they should remain there, and not remove thence, till the Midianite-Merchants came thither to rescue Joseph out of their unnatural, inhumane and unbrotherlike Hands: They sat down to rejoice for their riddance of Joseph; had not their Consciences been fast asleep (as Jonah was in the side of the Ship, Jon. 1.5.) they should rather have sat down to weep for their wickedness against him: No doubt, but there was the Devils Hand in this their posture of sitting down, for surely he had drawn an hard Hoof over all their Hearts, so that either they felt no remorse upon reflecting on themselves for their unparalleled (especially among the Patriarchs ) impiety at the present; or if they found any regret and recoilings of their Consciences, they fall on Feasting and mad Merriment-making, thereby to muffle and muzzle up the Mouths of their horrible guilty Hearts, as cursed Cain did when he had slain his Brother Abel, went to Build a City, that the noise of his Axes and Hammers (used in his Building and Battering work) might deaf and drown the hideous shrieks and horrid outcries of his own clamorous Conscience, Gen. 4.15. 16, 17. Thus those hardened Villains sought to ease their inward Gripes by eating and making much of themselves, as if doing mischief to their Brother had been a meritorious Act and matter of joy, they drank Wine in Bowls (saith the Prophet Amos, Amos 6.5, 6.) but not one Man was sorry for the affliction of Joseph, who was then pining in the Pit, while they were Feasting themselves because freed of him: They should rather have been sick at Heart (as Amos 's his words import) velo nechlu, non condolent, ceu cruciantur, gnal sheverim Joseph, they should have condoled it Cordially, and the confraction of Joseph, or their breaking him to Shivers (as the Hebrew word is) should have been a cor-dolium to them, and break all their Hearts into shivers also. Poor Reuben was indeed grieved so far as he durst show it among so many that were outrageous.

And Joseph forgot not his Half-brothers kindness when he came to his own Splendid and Courtly-greatness, as before: So God (who is all Bowels) will not forget them who commiserate his afflicted Joseph 's, and concern themselves to relieve them, as they have opportunity and ability.

Thus we see there was the Hand of Satan in their thus securely sitting down, as if they had not sinned at all; but without controversy, there was an Eminent hand of God in it, that they must sit down there, and not wander thence among their Flocks and Herds, (as was their frequent practice) no, they must stay in that place until the Midian Merchants came up thither; and then God stir'd up another friend to Joseph from among those very Conspirators against him, beside Reuben aforesaid, even Judah, who takes the Divine hint of a fit and fair opportunity for delivering Joseph his Brother from dying by Famine, as his Elder Brother Reuben, who had delivered him before this from dying by the Sword: This brings me to the second Remarkable Circumstance, which the most wise and gracious God ordered in order to Joseph 's Deliverance: 'Twas at that juncture of time, when poor Joseph ( far enough off from his affectionate Fathers Eye, and from all other Friends furnished for his rescue) was most miserably handled by his merciless Brethren, one while they would dispatch him outright by stabbing him, and when wrought and brought off from this Resolution, another while they resolve to destroy him gradually by famishing him, so to die a lingering Death, as before: In pursuance of this sorer pain and punishment, they had (as Josephus saith) bound Joseph with Cords, put him into a deep Pit or Well that he might perish there with hunger, while they were Banquetting with Delicates and Carousing Delicious Cups. Immediately after (saith Josephus ) they had gathered in their Harvest, and Harvest-joy was so great that the Jews solemniz'd it with Feasts of rejoicing, Levite. 23.10, 16, 17, 39, 41. Deut. 16.9, 11, 13, 14. and 'tis ranked (as with the joy of Marriage, Cant. 3.11. when Man rejoiceth at the finding of his lost Rib, so) with the joy of Victory, Isa. 9.3. As in Times of peace the joy of Harvest is the greatest public joy, so in Times of War is the joy of Victory, which ofttimes after the sharpest Battels, is grounded upon reaping the richest Booties, as Numb. 31.9, 27. Judge. 5.30. 1 Sam. 30.16, 19, 20, 22, 23. 2 Chron. 20.25, 28. Psal. 68.12. and 119.162. If Josephus judge right of the time of their sitting down to eat here, that it was soon after Harvest; no wonder if they had their transports in Feasting, however at the same time their poor Brother was afflicted in Fasting, and the time of their Mirth, was the time of his Mourning: It was certainly a sad Spectacle to see poor Joseph stripped of his Colour'd Coat, bound Hand and Foot with sharp Cords, and cast down into a deep Pit, wherein (as Rabbi-Solomon saith) were Serpents and Scorpions, and all this done to a Brother by the Hands of his own Brethren; 'tis true, we have not one word written in Scripture, how Joseph took all these Injuries (being Innocent) from his Brethren's Hands, nor what he said to save himself from being destroyed by them: Yet their own Confession they made (when God had put them upon the Rack of remorse for their Barbarity toward Joseph ) doth plainly intimate, that he used many entreaties to them, but their Hearts were so hardened, that he could not be heard by them; compare Gen. 37.23, 25. with 42.21. But how much more sad a Spectacle was it to see poor Joseph in the Pit, put there on purpose to perish and pine away, where Serpents and Scorpions (if there were any, as the Rabbi, boldly enough affirmeth) would have done him the greatest kindness to sting him, and dispatch him at once: We may easily imagine, what sighs and groans, what prayers and tears poor Joseph poured out there to his Brethren, that they would commiserate his case, and not leave him in that desperate and destructive condition, yet those merciless Men had no room for mercy or compassion towards him; but those Brutes more like than Brethren, most barbarously turn their Backs upon him: This was God's time of showing mercy to Joseph, when in this forlorn misery, 'twas God that sent those Merchants of Midian at that time, and to that place; 'twas a good Providence to Joseph, 'It is not in Man to direct his own steps, and his way is not in himself, Jer. 10.23. Those Merchants minded their own matters, now coming from Gilead, which was a Mart for Merchants, Jer. 8.22. and 22.6. This Gilead was in the way from Arabia to Dothan, and Dothan was the way thence into Egypt. They voluntarily went to the Mart at Gilead, which signifies an heap of witness, Gen. 31.47. a goodly Country, not only Fertile for feeding of Cattle, Jer. 21.6. Cant. 4.1. Numb. 32.1. but also famous for affording the most Sovereign Balsams whereof (they say) Salves were made to cure all sorts of Sores. Thither these Merchants went voluntarily to Buy Balm or Balsam of all sorts (the Xylo-balsamum, or that of the Wood, the Karpo-balsamum, or that of the Fruit, and the Opo-balsamum, or that of the Juice ) and when they had made their Markets in this and other Spiceries, they came back as voluntarily with their Merchandize to Trade and Traffick down into Egypt. They came hither to Dothan (in their way to Egypt ) indeed on their own accord, yet were they moved and drawn to this place by a Divine over-ruling Hand too. While Joseph 's Barbarous Brethren looked upon him with an evil Eye, and were inexorable to all his earnest Entreaties, yet Joseph 's good God looked upon him with a good Eye, he saw the anguish of his Soul (which his brutish Brethren would not see, Gen. 42.22.) and heard his sighs and groans, his passionate Prayers, and the voice of his weeping, Psal. 6.8, 9. which those Barbarians would not hearken unto, and brings (as in his Almighty Hand) those other Barbarians (the Arabians ) better than they (that should have learnt better things in such a Blessed Patriarchs Family) and more compassionate to miserable Joseph, as that Samaritan was to the wounded Man than either the Priest or the Levite, Luke 10.30, 31, 32, 33. as he relieved him, so they [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ] (which is Luke 10.31. read [by chance] but should be read [by Providence] or, as the Lord ordered it, for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , from whence the word cometh, signifies the Lord ) were ordered to Dothan by the Providence of God (over-ruling all matters) at this very nick of time: 'It is Remarkable how Divine Providence appeared plainly predominant in both the postures of Joseph 's Brethren, and of those Midianite-Merchants; the former are bound fast Hand and Foot by the powerful Providence of God, they must sit down, and not stir from that place, they must not go away each to their several Stages and Stations in feeding their sundry Flocks, but there they must stay till those Merchants come up to them: And on the other Hand, those Midianite-Merchants must dispatch their Merchandize-making at Mount Gilead just against such a time, they must not linger a day longer (as many Merchants may do at Mart-Towns, upon visiting Friends, &c. after they have accomplished their Markets) neither must they loiter by the way so much as one hour, but they must keep in their going (and travelling) posture (as Joseph 's Brethren are kept in their sitting posture ) both to one Moment and Minute of Time.

Oh what a wonderful Connection and Concatenation of two Differing Postures (as Motion in the latter, and Rest in the former, are) doth most manifestly appear here! a may-be, or may not be with Man, is a must be, or must not be with God: Those very things that are merely casual and contingent as to us, are necessary, and unavoidable as to God.

Joseph 's Brethren might have (by the Might of their own Natural Free-will ) gone away from this place, and have been out of the way and walk of those Merchants of Midian; and those Merchants were under no Necessity (as to themselves) of either coming that way and at that time: yet both are thus over-ruled to jump happily together in order to Joseph 's Deliverance.

As Joseph said afterward to his Brethren, [ It was not you that sold me, so much as it was God that sent me, ] Gen. 45.8. and 50.20. So he might say to those Merchants [you did not send yourselves hither, or sought me here; but 'twas God that sent you, both to find me, and to free me. ] So that Man is not Master of his own Matters, either in his way, or in his walk, much less in his work. But the Goodness, Wisdom, and Powerful Providence of God ordereth all, both Persons and Things: Pharaoh himself (that mighty Monarch ) cannot come to take his pleasant prospect upon his River Nile, (as he calls it, Ezek. 29.4.) in his Morning-walk, but 'tis God that over-rules and orders it, Exod. 8.20. telling Moses beforehand that he might there meet him: And thus those Merchant-men (though they moved freely and upon their own accord as to second Causes, yet) were drawn hither by a Divine hand for serving the Appointments of the first Cause, is God's Decree, which directed them both this way, to this place and at this time. Thus the lesser wheels in a Watch are carried on by the Motion of the main-wheel: and the lower Orbs in the Heavens (though they have a specific motion of their own) admit of an (indeed) irresistible circumvolution of the Primum Mobile: Thus the great God is the Primus-Motor or First-Mover of all, even known to Philosophy, much more to Theology: by him, and in him, we live, move and have our Being, Act. 17.28. Disposing the Motions of the Mind as well as of the Body; as will be more manifest in the Third remarkable Circumstance of this History into which this last (gloss'd upon) doth lead me: to wit, Judah 's interceding for Joseph (under most sad Circumstances ) immediately upon the first appearance and approachment of the Midian-Merchants: No sooner had God ordered the motion of those Merchants Bodies to this place at this Time, but immediately the same Almighty God casts a motion into Judah 's Mind, and Judah hereupon makes this motion to his Brethren, that they might sell Joseph to those Merchants, (who traded in persons as well as in things by way of traffick) and so save his Life from being destroyed by Famine, as Reuben (before this) had by another motion resolved them, that it should not be destroyed by the Sword: Josephus saith here, that when Reuben (after he had brought them to this resolve, not to slay Joseph, but to cast him into the Pit ) did bind him with Cords himself, and let him down gently and easily into the Pit himself, which being done he departed from his Brethren, to seek out a more convenient and commodious place for pasture (this is the more probable, because it was the practice of the Patriarchs to seek out pastures for their Flocks, till they found those that were fat pastures and good, according to 1 Chron. 4.39, 40. where these Patriarchs are spoke of v. 1. and 24. and ch. 5.1. &c.) but when Reuben was gone (saith he ) Judah, espying those Arabian Merchants making towards them, counsel'd his Brethren to sell Joseph to those Arabians, assuring them that Joseph would die by that means, and it would be better he should die among Strange •• afar off, than among them in the midst of his Brethren, who would hereby be acquitted from having any actual Hand in his Death. This counsel of Judah, which signifies [praise God] all his Brethren praised be God, who ordered and over ruled all these matters) unanimously commended, and consented to it; hereupon Joseph was drawn out of the Pit, and Sold to those Merchants, and hereby Judah delivered his Brother from this latter danger and death, as Reuben had done from the former: But when Reuben returned from seeking pasture, ( being resolved to rescue Joseph without his Brethren's knowledge ) came by Night unto the Pit (as Josephus saith) and called upon Joseph with a loud voice, but having no Answer, he then thought that they had slain him in his absence, whereupon he sadly bewailed himself, and reproved them with a most rigorous reprimand; but understanding what they had done, he was then satisfied: Judah 's Arguments prevailed with him, as they had done (before he returned ) with the rest of his Brethren.

The sense of whose Arguments (in the general) was this, Judah motions a middle way betwixt the two mischiefs that perplexed them, and proposeth, Gen. 37.26, 27. Saying to them, If you will sell him, you not only free yourselves from Blood-guiltiness (whether Actually by Slaughter or Accessorily by Famine ) but you will get to yourselves good gain in the price of him; neither would this be all your advantage, for besides, by this means you will withdraw him from our Father, to whom he did usually accuse us, and with whom he was better beloved and more made of than us all; yet further, hereby we shall make him become a real Slave to those that Buy him, and so disappoint his Dream'd of Dominion: But more particularly, observe here,

1. That at this time of Judah 's interposing for Joseph, his Brethren were already resolved by Reuben 's Reasons (which no doubt God put him upon for Joseph 's good ) not to ruin him with their own Outragious and Murdering Hands, but to permit only his pining away and perishing in the Pit.

2. Judah was here moved by the Spirit of God to deliver Joseph from this second Death (as Reuben was, to disappoint the first ) whereby he became so far enlightened, as to account his casting Joseph into the Pit (to which Reuben advised) would be no better (should they let him lie there) but a slaying of him themselves.

3. This excellent Illumination in Judah (that dislik'd to be an Accessory in evil, as well as principal ) was no thorough saving Humiliation (which was wrought afterwards in Egypt by Joseph 's roughness, Gen. 42.7, 21, 22. and 43.8, 9, 18. and 44.13, 16, to 34. and 45.1, &c. ) for he still retained some hatred against his Brother Joseph, insomuch as he gave Counsel to make a Bond-slave of his Brother, which was as bad as Death: If bare Banishment be (as Lawyers term it) a civil Death, how much more is it, when 'tis a Banishment into Bondage, seeing Liberty is oft prefer'd above Life; so that Judah in proposing his Brother Joseph's perpetual Slavery, acted more like one of the Devils Patriarchs (as Cain is called by Tertullian for Hating and Murdering his Brother Abel) than one of God's: Though Judah had here some Passion of Love, and Compassion towards Joseph, in designing to deliver him, yet in Selling him as a Slave there was (at least) a pang and an Act, if not an habit of hatred: And according to the Apostles Rule, he that hateth his Brother is not of God, but of the Devil, 1 John 3.10. and is not translated from death to life, ver. 14. Nay, in downright terms, is but a Murderer, ver. 15. And how far Judah 's motion to sell him, (which indeed was better than to slay him ) was remotely at least a Murdering motion, seeing this Selling him, was but a passing over their power (to put Joseph to Death) into the Hands of those Arabians, who might with more Colour of right have Murder'd him as their Slave, than they might do as their Brother, because they being Barbarians, no better Behaviour could be expected from them than what was Barbarous toward their Bond slaves, especially considering, what God himself allowed of among his own Israel, during the time of their Rudeness and Pedagogy, to wit, If a Master corrected his Servant (whom he bought ) so cruelly that he died upon it within a day, the Master was not to be punished for his death, and the reason is rendered, because he was his Money, Exod. 21.21. so the loss of his Servant, being the loss of his Silver, seemed a sufficient punishment which he had inflicted upon himself; though (in truth) that Servant did not owe his Life, but only his Labor to his Master; and the loss of his Life is not only the loss of a Servant to his Master, but also the loss of a Member to the Body Politick or Commonwealth. Yet Israel had this Divine allowance of Austerity towards such Bond-slaves out of those Nations, which were decreed to be destroyed, Deut. 7.2. and it need not to be doubted, that those Arabians (being Barbarians ) would be as austere and boisterous upon an Hebrew Bond-slave (seeing he, as Joseph here, was their Money ) as Hebrew Masters might be in the like case to Canaanitish Captives; all which evil Judah 's (even good ) motion exposed Joseph unto, yet this he ought not to have done, nor his Brethren have consented to the doing of it, seeing Joseph was their Brother (to whom they all did owe Brotherly Love ) and their own Flesh ) (from which they should not have hid themselves, Isa. 58.7.) therefore better things were expected from them, than to expose their own Brother and their own Flesh to the barbarous usage of those Blind (and therefore Bloody ) Barbarians, from whom no good, no kindness, nothing but a morose Carriage could be expected: Their poor Brother, who was of the same Nature, yea, and had the same Father in Nativity, who was also capable of the same Grace and Glory with themselves, and who had no way been injurious to any of their Persons, save only to their sins, Gen. 37.2. yet did they shut up their Bowels of Compassion towards this Joseph their Brother in his necessity and extremity, for which they are deemed and doomed as Murderers, l John 3.15, 16, 17. neither drawing out their inward Souls, Isa. 58.10. nor their outward Succours of this Worlds good to him, but Murder'd him in their Hearts while they wished him out of the World, when they sold him into Arabia, wishing him scarce so well as Caracalla did his Brother Geta, of whom he said, [Divus sit, modo non sit vivus] I would he were in Heaven or anywhere, so that I were rid of him, let him be Canoniz'd for a God, so I may not be troubled with his Company as a Man: Thus Joseph was a great Eye-sore, and the grand Trouble-house (as will more appear after, when the third thing [they sold him out of envy] is spoke to) even to Judah himself (who made this motion of selling him away far from them) as well as to the rest of his worse-minded Brethren.

4. Consider The Quality and Nature of this motion, which God put into Judah 's mind, and which Judah made manifest in proposing it to his Brethren: The motion was both good and evil in various respects.

1. It was good in its Nature and Quality, yea so good in the General, that the Jewish Rabbies do affirm this compassion of Judah in drawing Joseph out of this dry Pit, was the cause why Daniel (who was of Judah 's Tribe) was delivered afterwards from the Lions Den; but more particularly, judicious Pareus doth most solidly demonstrate the goodness of Judah 's motion from the three famous Topics ( ab utili, ab aequo and ab honesto ) in Moral Philosophy, to wit, Judah 's first Argument to prove and promote his motion of selling Joseph (to be their present work and duty) was drawn from that common Head (ab utili) arguing [What profit is it, if we kill our Brother?] The Cogency and Force of his Argument lies in this; That all men do in all their actings and undertakings propound some profit to themselves, all Thieves and Robbers do promise to themselves some profit in attempting all their Thefts and Robberies, and where no prize can be expected, there no project will be atempted; hence the Poet says, cantabit vacuus coram latrone Viator. The Purseless Traveler fears not the Purse-Cutter: Pirates at Sea will not assault empty Vessels. Chrysostom 's Thief Steals not Straw (what profit is there in that?) but Gold, Goods, and all profitable things: On this wise Judah argues [Mah Betsang] What profit &c. what satisfaction? or (as the word signifies) what a wounding will it be? That is, our wounding of our Brother will be the wounding of our own Consciences; what ease and satisfaction will it be to our minds, if to appease our grief we Sacrifice Innocent Blood, and when our Anger is allayed, a Storm of Anguish be raised up in our Consciences, which cannot be appeased? Our Thirst for Joseph 's Blood will be a piercing Sword to wound our Spirits; and what profit will this be? There may be some profit in selling him, but none in killing him. Would to God, that we, when ever Tempted to any Sin, could ask our Hearts Judah 's Question [Mah Betsang] cui Bono? What profit to do so and so? Our Redeemer requires us to reason thus [ What profit is it to win the whole World, and lose our own Soul? Mat. 16.26.] the loss of which is both Incomparable and Irreparable: If to lose a Mans Life for Money be rightly esteemed a Madness, how much more to sell a Mans Soul for such sory, simple and insignificant toys and trifles, as Christ teacheth us to say, What profit is it to lose an Immortal Soul, and to purchase an Ever-living Death? the Soul once lost drops down irrecoverably into the Bottomless Pit (far worse than this of Joseph 's) to be tortured forever; so the Apostle calls on us to cry out likewise [ What fruit have ye of those things whereof ye are ashamed? Rom. Rom. 6.21.] Would men consider the cost of Sin in pain, and the Fruit of it in shame more, they would stand in more awe, and not dare to rush into it (as the Horse rusheth into the Battle ) without either fear or wit, so freely and so frequently: Had David counted the cost of that one Sin in the matter of Uriah (a black bed-roll whereof is recorded, 2 Sam. 12.10, 11, 12.) had he but asked [ What Fruit shall I reap from this four Crab-stock?] The Traveler, ver. 4. (whether the Devil that World-trudge-over, Job 1.7. & 1 Pet. 5.8. or Concupiscence, but a stranger to him, no home-dweller in him) had never entered into him, much less, been so courteously entertained by him: shame is always one Fruit of Sin; 'tis a vulgar, yet a significant saying, where Sin is in the Saddle, there Shame will be on the Crupper; Sinners look all upon the Honey in the Mouth of Sin, in its coming to them, but never mind the Sting in its Tail, at its parting from them: They would have the Sweet, but not the Shame of Sin: Let Souls Tempted to Sin, remember Judah 's (and Jesus 's, of the Tribe of Judah 's) words, [What profit is it?] yea what loss every way: The Judge will be sure to cast you in treble cost, and damages, &c. and remember the Apostles words [what Fruit will grow upon such a Bitter Root, Heb. 12.15. nothing but Vanity and Vexation. Judah 's (second) Argument, had its rise ab aequo, for thus he argued, 'It is more just and equal for us to sell him, than to kill him, for (saith he) we shall not be guilty of shedding his Blood, if we only sell him [ our hands shall not he upon him hereby:] Judah here Judgeth, that there was the more equity in selling Joseph, in regard three inconveniences would be avoided by that means: As,

1. They should thereby be clear from shedding his Blood themselves.

2. Yet they should thereby send him far enough off from his Father, who so doted upon him, as to lay out all his Love upon him, and reserved little or none for them.

3. Hereby also they should disappoint the Dreamer, of that Dignity and Dominion he Dreamed of; Joseph 's being sold for a Slave ( Judah thought) would prevent his preferment: Thus he sooth'd them up by sending them but out of one Sin into another: He fetcheth them off from slaying him, because should they shed his Blood, they would find it a matter of great difficulty to conceal his Blood, for Murder will out with men sooner or later, and could they conceal it from Men, yet could they not from God, for it will cry up to him for Vengeance against us, and should it happen to be brought to light, and become known to Men, then can we expect nothing but both Reproach and Revenge, Gen. 4.10. Job 16.18. Act. 28.4. Judah 's (third) argument was taken from that topick [ab Honesto] 'Twas but an honest act and a religious duty to spare Joseph, for (saith he) Joseph is our Brother, and our own Flesh: To spare a Brother is honest; this argument prevails upon them, as the Angels call to Abraham, saying, [ Lay not thy hand upon the Lad, Gen. 22.12.] The strong influence hereof both fetcheth them off from slaying Joseph, and fixeth them upon selling him, because they were resolved that they would be rid of him, they much matter'd not how, so they see him no more. But

2. As this motion of Judah was good in these three respects, so we shall find, that it was a bad and an evil Motion, in the General, because this motion of Judah for selling Joseph had very evil effects to the Sellers, and to their posterity for some hundreds of years after, for this selling of Joseph was (without controversy) the occasion of Israel's going down into Egypt, where they suffered a severe Bondage for a long time: But this motion of Judah was not only evil in its effects, in the General, 'twas also evil in nature in particular: As,

First, If it be considered how Judah 's motion was bad in the positive part of it, though it was good in the Negative: He did well in dissuading his Brethren from killing Joseph, but he did very ill in persuading them to the selling of him: For his counsel ought to have been thus stated, as a right case of Conscience; Brethren, seeing we are like to reap no profit by our unkindness to our Brother, but rather reproach and much mischief, not only from Men (who will repay Justice ) but also from God, (who will make Inquisition for Blood, Psal. 9.12. and to whom Vengeance belongeth, Rom. 12.19. yea who is the Avenger of all evils and injuries, Psal. 10.14. Gen. 50.15.) this mischief (of selling, as well as of killing Joseph ) will return upon our own Heads, and our violent dealing (with him) will come down upon our own pates, Psal. 7.16. Therefore I counsel you, neither to kill him, nor to sell him, but to save him from both those evils, draw him out of the Pit, nourish him with meat, clothe him with his party coloured Coat again, and restore him safe to his Father.

Secondly, Consider, As his Counsel had been good indeed had Judah advised according to the aforesaid, so had he aggravated the evil of Selling him, as well as of killing him, his advice had been good also: 'It is true, it was the lesser evil to sell him than to kill him, yet the selling him was a kind of killing him, for therein they spoiled him of his Liberty (which is dearer than Life ) in selling him for a Slave (as Cattle are Sold in the Market to Butchers ) transmitting by that Sale a power to the Merchants either to kill him, or to keep him: Besides, there was a manifest Breach of the Plagiary Law, [He that stealeth a Man, and selleth him, shall surely be put to death,] Exod. 21.16. and again, [ If any Man be found stealing any of his Brethren of the Children of Israel, and maketh Merchandize of them (as they do here of Joseph ) then that Thief shall die, and thou shalt put evil away from among you, ] Deut. 24.7. This Law was then writ in their Hearts, Rom. 2.15. long before it was writ in Moses Tables, otherwise Cain 's killing his Brother Abel had not been Murder, &c. Therefore this Sale of Joseph was no less than a double Inquity.

1. In Stealing him from their Father, whose proper goods he was, and not theirs.

2. In selling him to Arabians, who were strangers to Religion. Upon both those Heads Judah (had he been a good Counselor ) might have amplified, and illustrated the evil of both those Acts: As,

1. He might have said, Brethren, our Brother is (as we all are) our Father's best Goods (as Job 's Children were to him) having God's Image, which no other Goods have: The more excellent that a stolen thing is, the greater Punishment that Theft deserves, Man is the Master -piece of God's Creation, being created (so no other sublunary Creature is) in the Image of his Creator. Hereupon the very Law of Nature hath branded Man-stealing, as [Crudelissimum Institutum.] The most Cruel of Thievish Enterprizes, and no less than [Crimen laesae Majestatis] High Treason against the King of Kings, being a stealing of God's Image: Hence the Ancient Roman-Laws condemned Men-stealers to the Metal-Mines, and a latter Law of the Great Constantine casts them to the wild Beasts: Judah might have said here, Joseph is a Man, so hath on him God's Image, this will be the worst sort of Theft, and Joseph is a Jewel, so Jacob accounts him, the greater Injury this will be to our Father to Rob him of his Darling and Diamond: Therefore, Oh do not this abominable thing, Jerem. 44.4. we may not so much as steal Joseph; much less may we,

2. Sell him, Seeing to be Sold into Slavery is a certain loss of Liberty, (which is as precious as life itself) besides, [quid aliud est, quàm sexcentis eum mortibus objicere?] what is it else, than to expose him to an Hundred Deaths? but the worst of all is, we do not sell him to Israelites, ( where he may still enjoy the Ordinances of God's pure Worship) but to Ishmaelites (who are degenerated from the Church) yea, to Arabians (who have no knowledge of the true God) to an Heathenish Idolatrous People; so we become Sellers of Souls, as well as of Bodies; for hereby he will be in danger to be corrupted in Religion, and carried off also to Idolatry, by which means, he will be seduced out of the Service of God into the Slavery of the Devil, and so his Soul will be brought into the basest Bondage, as well as his Body. Though such Soul-Merchants and Spiritual Merchandize be found in mystical Babylon (which the literal never pretended to practice) among her Pardon-mongers for Purgatory, whose Trade is wholly about the Souls of Men (either fixing them there, or freeing them thence ) Rev. 18.13. There must none such be found in the true Church of Israel, and the right God-worshiping Zion: And if those Court-Sycophants were cursed for, driving David from the Inheritance of the Lord (that is, from being present at God's Public Worship in the Tabernacle ) and for bidding him ( Really, though not Verbally ) Go serve other God's, in Idolatrous Countries, 1 Sam. 26.19. what could Judah and his Brethren (who were the Patriarchs of Israel, expect both for stealing Joseph from his Fathers hand, and for Selling him from his House (wherein the true worship of God was upheld then only in all the World) into Arabia, and into Egypt (two Heathenish and Idolatrous Countries ) what was this but a plain bidding him Go and serve other God's, than thy Father 's God? and was not this as cursed a Crime in the Patriarch's dealing thus with Joseph, as it was in Doeg (that Dog, the Cursed Edomite ) who dealt thus with David, and brought him to bewail his Banishment, crying, Woe is me, that I must sojourn in Mesek, and among the Tents of Kedar? Psal. 120.5. that is, among the Arabians (the very People to whom Joseph was here Sold) of Ishmael • Posterity, Gen. 25.13. and who used to live in Tents, Cant. 1.5.

Thus it plainly appeareth that Judah 's Motion for Selling Joseph was bad as well as good. 'Twas indeed very good, as it was a saving his Brother from being slaughtered; yet the selling of him was very bad, and a notorious wicked Act, though God over-ruled it for good every way to him, to them and to their Father. So that Judah deluded both himself and his Brethren into a vain and false Perswasion, that they were not Guilty of Joseph 's Blood, because they spared his Life; whereas in selling him for a Slave, and that into an Idolatrous Country, was, as much as in them lay, to drive him ( Body and Soul ) out of this World, and the next too, &c.

Hence have we here three notable Inferences.

The First is, Bad Men think themselves good and guiltless, if they can but contain their Hands from acting the grossest Enormities, or can conceal their grievous Crimes from the knowledge of Men: As if God had forbid greater, but not lesser Sins (though that Divine Precept [Thou shalt not Kill] Prohibits not only the Effect of the Hand, but also the Desire of the Heart for the Death of our Brother, whom we ought not to hurt in Thought, Word or Deed: And as if God (who is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , All-Eye) could not discern concealed Crimes (as to Men) so, as both to discover them to the World, and to take severe Revenge for them in the World also.

The Second Inference, Behold here the sublime Folly, and strange Stupefaction which intoxicateth wicked Men, that think to destroy God 's Joseph 's by either Force or Fraud, therefore do they take most cruel and crafty Counsel, how to accomplish their devilish Designs; whereas all the measures they renew, and all the means they make use of never so often (in Tendency to gratify their wicked Wits, Wills and Wiles) yet all ends in Folly and Disappointment.

The Third is, So powerful are the Decrees and Providence of God, that Wicked Men's Works (whereby they would prevent the Prosperity and Preferment of pious People) are so over-ruled thereby, that they do plainly promote them: Here Joseph 's Brethren resolve to kill him (to disappoint his Dreams and God's Decree ) no, saith Reuben (who failed in the manner, but not in the matter and end of delivering him) let him be cast into the Pit; this was done to destroy him (on their part, though not in Reuben 's) no, saith Judah, (who failed both in the manner (in his Man-stealing and Man-selling ) and in the matter and end, as not designing to deliver him safe to his Father ) yet all this evil in them, God orders for good to him, whatever they did to be revenged of Joseph, and to defeat God's Decree and his Dreams, made way for their Accomplishment. Oh how ought we to acquiesce even in seeming contrary Dispensations: Especially considering how the most Wise and Gracious God hath given us a double Dispensation in our own days, as a renewed Exemplification of Joseph 's Deliverance, most worthy to be transmitted to Posterity by a perpetual Record.

NB. The late and present Popish Plot (carried on by the Patriarchs of Rome (the Jesuits ) to Murder the Innocent Child of Reformation (as the Dragon did the Manchild, Rev. 12.4.) and to reduce Great Britain and Ireland, &c. under Rome 's Tyranny and Government ) hath been managed after the same Method as those wicked Patriarchs did here to remove Innocent Joseph out of their way, that they might possess their Father's whole wealth among them, as well as his Respects: Joseph stood in the way of their march to hinder them (as Amasa 's Body did in the way of the Armies March, 2 Sam. 20.12, 13.) and therefore must be removed.

The Conclave and Consult of this cursed Crew, hereupon (as in a Diabolical consort ) unanimously cry, (as those wicked Husbandmen, the Proud Pharisees ) This is the Heir, come let us kill him, and the Inheritance shall be ours, Matth. 21.38. and as those cruel Conspirators (Joseph 's Brethren ) cried against him, saying, Come, let us kill him, and cast him into some pit, &c. Gen. 37.20. In pursuance of this Plot and Project the Pope just like Ahab (who sold himself to Sin ) Falls to work; as wicked Ahab licked his Lips and longed for some Lettuce out of Naboth 's Garden, or had taken a Surfeit of the Grapes which grew in his Vineyard, and so mar ••• 〈◊〉 Appetite, that he threatened Naboth his Life, and must have his Vineyard, as well as 〈◊〉 Life. 1 King 21.2.10.16. whom Jezebel (that Fire-brand of Mischief, a very Hell-Hag) st • rred up, v. 25. So the Pope (prompted on by the Mother of Harlots, Rev. 17.5.) long • d and licked his Lips at some Lettuce, fain would he pick a Sallet growing in Great Britain 's Garden, thereupon sets all his cursed Engines ( Knights of the Post, Incarnate Devils, &c.) to w •• k, that this Vineyard (so Tempting and Desireable ) might Escheat to him: Hereupon the B •• hop of Casal is sent to claim Ireland, and Card. Howard England, both by the Pope 's Authority, that so a plausible pretence might precede the Pope's forcible Entry. In order to which latter, his Provincial (Whitebread) was Impowered to grant Commissions for General-Office • s to Head a secretly-listed Army, that with the Help of the French (Landed at Dover ) might make a general Massacre upon the poor Protestants (the Joseph of this Time ) so to extirpate that Northern Heresy (as Celeman called the Reformed Religion ) and so to root it out as not to leave one Heretic alive, to Declare that there ever was the Protestant Religion in England. This Mr. Bedloe Swore to in Ireland 's and Groves 's Trials, pag. 37. To compass this cursed Design with more Facility, the Popish Consult concludes, that Two Remora 's must be removed before they could come to their purpose.

First, The King must be killed, because (say they) he had cheated them so oft, they were now resolved he should serve them so no more. See Dr. Oate 's 16th Deposition: And,

Secondly, Justice Godfrey must be murdered also, because he had taken Recognisance of Dr. T • ng and Dr. Oats (the first Discoverers of that Hellish Plot ) and put it upon Record, and therefore not so easily to be stifled: Hereupon 'twas resolved in their Consult, that he must be put out if the way, otherwise, they said, their Plot would be so far spoiled, as that it must be left for another Generation to finish: 'It is very remarkable that the like Confusion (as Babel signifies) came upon those Babel-Builders, that attended those Conspirators against Joseph, who were at one time for slaying him at once by a stroke of the Sword, at another time, they were for destroving him by a lingering Death, famishing him in the Pit into which they would cast him; But at a third time no, They would sell him to the rude Arabians, that they might either dispatch him or so dispose of him, as themselves might never be troubled with him anymore.

Thus likewise the like Confusion of Tongues came down as a Judgment from Heaven upon our Popish or (as they call themselves) Catholic (which should rather be Cacolick ) Conspirators to hinder their Babel Building in two several Respects, and at two sundry Times.

First, Relating to His Majesty, when the Consult of Jesuits at Wild-House had condemned the King, and decreed it lawful for any to destroy him, yet could they not accord among themselves about the manner of it; some were for stabbing him, others were for shooting him, and a third for poisoning him: (Answerable to the Conspirators against Joseph, who could not come to a Resolve whether they should slay him, or famish him, or sell him: ) However, such desperate malice had so Debauched their Reason, and even Sataniz'd those Conspirators of our tim • , that, as if they had been transformed into so many Breathing Devils, they were transported ( • or making surer work) to try all or any of these three methods of destruction: h • r • upon,

1. Conyers and Anderton (two Monks) with four Irish Ruffians, were all (or any) of them • ppointed to stab him as occasion offered; and for doing this Villany a great Reward was promise' • them, &c.

2. Groves and Pickering ( two other of theirs and the Devils Tools; ) the former of the Laity, the latter of the Clergy (so called) were assigned to shoot him, for which execrable Exploit they had fifteen hundred Pound promised them; the one in Money, the other in Moneyworth, if thirty thousand Masses (at twelve pence a Mass ) said for his Soul be but worth so much Money; si vult decipi, decipiatur, &c.

3. Sir George Wakeman (the Queens Physician ) hath by the appointment of this Conclave five thousand Pound paid him as part of his fifteen thousand (granted him as his Opsonium or Salary) to poison the King in some of his delicate Doses: Thus in this first parallel betwixt the Patriarchs of Rome designing to destroy his Majesty, and those profligate Patriarchs to dispatch Joseph, there is a congruity, yet herein there is a disparity, that the third project of the old Patriarchs prevailed against Joseph to Sell him, though they could neither Murder nor Famish him: But the great and gracious Preserver of Men, Job 7.20. (who preserveth Man and Beast, Psal. 36.6. so that none need doubt of a Deity and Divine Providence) hath hitherto preserved His Majesty from those brutish Men skillful (all those three ways ) to destroy, Ezek. 21.31. God's Eye is still good to King and Kingdom, Deut. 11.11, 12.

2. Relating to Justice Godfrey (who Represented His Majesty in Courts of Judicature, and against whom they prevailed to Murder) yet behold, what a confusion came upon them, both before the Murder and after.

1. Before it, when Sir Edmond-Bury was condemned by this cursed Consult, for putting their Discover'd Plot upon Record, Vernatti, Le-Fair, Prichard, Kains, (a right Cain for Murdering Abel ) Girald, Kelly, Green, Bury, Hill, &c. are all Authoriz'd to dispatch him by what means they could best devise. In pursuance of their Bloody purpose, they Dog him above a Week (having four thousand Pound promised them for so doing, to be paid by the Lord Bellasis and Mr. Coleman ) but could not effect it: This good Magistrate might say with David, My Life is among Lions, Leopards, and among Boars and Bears every day, Psal. 57.4. as Joseph might say the same, when so unhappily ordered among his Bloody-minded Brethren: Hereof also Justice Godfrey was not a little sensible, when he foretold his own Death, saying sundry times, I believe upon my Conscience, I shall be the first Martyr: And it may be easily imagined, what a Torment it was to those Assassinates and Blood-hounds (hired to destroy him with expedition any way) this Company of Cut-throats, when day by day they could not catch him in any of their Nets that they had spread, or in any of their Pits that they had digged (as David saith, Psal. 57.6.) for him: Oh how did their restless Rage and Malice make them howl like Dogs (as David saith in the like case, Psal. 59.6, 14.) when they missed of their mischievous matters, and returned [re infectá] the bloody deed undone one Evening after another for above a whole Week together! How did those Devilish Doeg 's, or devouring Dogs run Barking like Mad-dogs round about the City (as David saith there ) when they could not satisfy either their Malice, or their Hunger to eat up his Flesh? Psal. 27.2. How did they Hunt him, and Ferret him from place to place, howling against Heaven like Hunger-bit Wolves? Isa. 8.21. when at their Wits-end in their malicious Murmurings: And though the same Divine Providence that prevented the Slaughter-men of David, permitted Justice Godfrey 's to prevail against him, Octob. 12.78. by trepanning him into Somerset-House, where Hill (who then dog'd him ) about Nine a Clock at Night) fawningly beseech'd him to step down the Back-yard, and part Berry and Kelly (who were then feignedly Fighting there) pressing upon him ( Judas -like) that his presence as a Justice of Peace would prevent further danger: As God would have it, the Justice, though at first he slighted Hill 's Hellish Insinuation, by his earnest importunity went down, having Hill before him, (little expecting that place to be his Slaughter-house ) Green and Gyrald come behind him, and throw a long twisted Handkerchief over his Head about his Neck, wherewith they pulled him down, then the pretended Quarrellers soon cease, join their strength with those three Miscreants, and with violent punches upon his Breast (to prevent all noise) quickly beat his Breath out of his Body; yet then their Counsels were divided (as theirs were about destroying Joseph ) for, Gyrald thinking they had not killed him enough, would have run him thorough with his Sword, but his Brethren in Iniquity bade him forbear lest his Blood should make discovery of their Murder, and Green, fearing lest he should revive, tramples upon him with both his Feet, punching him therewith, and then twisted his Head round with both his Hands: But their great confusion was,

2. After the Murder, how to conceal it, and convey the Carcase out of that Slaughter-House for the best advantage to their Catholic Cause.

First, They remove the Corps from Chamber to Chamber several times, not contenting themselves with his dead Carcase (as safe) anywhere there, whether they had most treacherously decoy'd him while he was a living Man and Magistrate; though some of them could please themselves with spitting in his Face when dead, whom they durst not look in his Face while alive.

Secondly, Not knowing what to do with him, after they had kept him there four days (the very time of dead Lazarus his beginning to stink, John 11.17, 39.) 'twas high time to convey him some whither; God hid it from them to Bury him there in some By-hole, that the place of his Slaughter might have been the place of his Sepulcher, which, if so, might have been like Moses Sepulcher, Deut. 34.6. unknown to any unto this day: Some were for binding Weights about his Neck, and casting the Carcase into the Thames: But this was by an over-ruling Hand effectually opposed. The Bodies and the Bones (which are very many) of the Righteous are in a good Keepers Hands, Psal. 34.20. and must not be hurled where wicked Men would, but where the Holy God willeth: But,

Thirdly, Gyrald and Kelly (though prompted to it by the Devil, either in themselves, or in his other Instruments, Comrades of the Conspiracy, &c. yet the Great God had his Holy Hand in it, to bring the Murder to light) thought it better to expose him in the open Fields, that, when found, it might be judged by Spectators (as a just judgment of God upon him for his opposing the Papists ) he had Murder'd himself: Hereupon Hill gets a Sedan, the