[ontempiAtionr. L I a.llll. 0 (the plagues of £ppt. T is too much honour for fldh and bloud to receive a meffage from hea~ ven,yet her~ God fends ameffa9e to man!andis repulfed:wdl mayGod aske, Who IS man that I lhould regard h•m~ but for man to aske,Who A is rhe Lord? is aproud andbol_d blafphemy.Thus wild is Nature arrhe firft; bur ere God harh done Wlth PharADh,he Wlll be known ofhim he will make himfelfknown ~y hilir,t<) all rh~ W<)rld.God might have fwept him a~ay fuddenly .Howunwonhy1s heofhfe,who w1th the fame breath that he receives,de. nies the Giver ofit ! But he would have him·convinced,ere he were punii11ed; Firft B therefore he workes miracles befor~ him, thenupon him. Pharaoh was now,from a tbffe ofprotetlionand fuftentation to Gods people, turned to a Serpent that ftung them to death;God thews himlelfin this reall Embleme;doingth~t fi1dcfenly before him,which Satan had wrought to him by leifure ; And nowwhen he ctawles,and winds,& hiffes,threarning perill to Ifrael,he th(\VS him how in an inftant hecanturn him intoa fenfieffe ftick,& make himifnot uleful,yet fearlelfe:Tlre fameGod which wrought this, gives Satanleave to imitate it;the firft plague that he meant to inflict upon Pharaoh,is delufion : God can be content the devil! lhould win himfdfcredit, where h'e meanes to judge;and holds the honourofa miracfe wellloft,to hardenan enemy : Yctto thew that his miracle was ofpower, the others ofpermiffion; Mofot his Serpent devours theirs: how eafily might the Algyptians have thought, tharhe C which caufed their Serpent not to be,could have kept it from being: and that they which couldnot keep their Serpent from devouring,couldnor fecure them from be. ing confumed ! bat wife thoughts enter nor into ihofe that muft perifi1. All Gods Judgments ftand ready,and wait but till they be called for. They need butawatchword to be given them: No fooner is the rod lift up,butthey are gone forth into the world,prefently the waters run into bloud,rheFrogs and Lice crawle abour,andall the other troops ofGod come ruthing inupon his adverfaries: Allcreaturesconfpire to revenge the injuries ofGod. Ifthe Algyprbns looke upward, there they have Thunder,Lightning,Hayle,Tempefts ; onewhile no light ar all, another while fuch foarfull flathes as had more terrorrhendarkneffe.Ifrhey look under them,there they fee their waters changed into bloud, theirearth fwarming with Frogs and Grathop- D pers: ifabout them,one while the Flies fill their eyes and cares; another while they fee their fruits deftroyed,their cattdl dying,thdr children dead. If,laftly,they look upon themfelves, they fee themfelves lothfome with Lie., painfull and deformed with Scabs,Biles,and Botches. Firft,God begins his Judgments with waters. As the river ofNilus was to .,£. gypt, in ftead ofheaven, to moiften and fatten the earth; fo their confidence was more in it then in heaven.Men are lure to be punitht moft and fooneft,in that which they make a corrivall with God. They had beforedefiled the rivers with the bloud oflnnocenrs ; and now ir·appeares to them, in his owne colour. The waterswill no longerkeep their counfell:Neveranymandelightedinbloud,which had not enough ofit ere his end: they lhed but fome few ftreames,and nowbehold, whole rh·ers of E bloud: Neither was thismore amonument oftheir fiaughter pafr, then an image of their future deftrutlion. They were afterward over-whelmed in the Red Sea, and now before hand they fee the Rivers red with bloud.How dependant and fervile is the lifeofman, that cannot either want oneElemenr, or endure.it corrupted ! It is hard to fay whether there.were more horror,or annoyance in this plague.They complaine ofthirfr, and yet doubt whether they fi10uld dye, or quench it with bloud. Theirfith (the chiefe part oftheir fuftenance) dies with infetlion,and infedeth more bybeingdead.The french ofbothis ready to poyfonthe inhabitants;yetPharaohs curiofity carries him away quite from the fenfe ofthe_Judgement: he had rather fend for his Magicians to work feats, then.to h~mble h1mfelf u~der God for the removall ofthis plague; and God plagues h1s cunofity With decm,rhofe whom he rrufts fliall
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