out of the way to see his dead Aduersary and could not but recal to himselfe his danger and deliuerance Heere the beast met me thus he fought thus I slew him The very dead Lion taught Sampson thankfulnesse there was more hony in this thought then in the carcasse The mercies of GOD are ill bestowed vpon vs if we cannot steppe aside to view the monuments of his deliuerances Dangers may bee at once past forgotten As Sampson had not found his hony-comb if he had not turned aside to see his Lion so we shall lose the comfort of Gods benefits if we doe not renue our perills by meditation Least any thing should befall Sampson wherein is not some wonder his Lion doth more amaze him dead then aliue For loe that carcasse is made an Hiue the bitternesse of death is turned into the sweetness of hony The Bee a nice dainty creature builds her cells in an vnsauory carcasse the carcass that promised nothing but strength and annoyance now offers comfort refreshing and in a sort payes Sampson for the wrong offered Oh the wonderfull goodnes of our GOD that can change our terrors into pleasure and can make the greatest euils beneficiall Is any man by his humiliation vnder the hand of GOD growne more faithfull and conscionable there is hony out of the Lion Is any man by his temptation or fall become more circumspect there also is hony out of the Lion there is no Sampson to whom euery Lion dooth not yeeld hony Euerie Christian is the better for his euils yea Satan himselfe in his exercise of Gods children aduantageth them Sampson doth not disdaine these sweets because he finds them vncleanly layd His diet was strict and forbad him any thing that sauour'd of legall impurity yet hee eates the hony-combe out of the belly of a dead beast Good may not be refused because the means are accidentally euil Hony is hony still tho in a dead Lion Those are lesse wise and more scrupulous then Sampson which abhorre the graces of God because they finde them in ill vessels One cares not for the Preachers true doctrine because his life is euill Another will not take a good receit from the hand of a Physitian because he is giuen to vnlawfull studies A 3 d wil not receiue a deserued contribution from the hands of a Vsurer It is a weak neglect not to take the hony because we hate the Lion Gods children haue right to their fathers blessings wheresoeuer they finde them The match is now made Sampson tho a Nazarite hath both a wedding and afeast God neuer misliked moderate solemnities in the seuerest life and yet this Bridall-feast was long the space of seuen daies If Sampson had matched with the best Israelite this celebration had been no greater neither had this perhaps been so long if the custome of the place had not required it Now I doe not heare him pleade his Nazaritisme for a colour of singularitie It is both lawfull and fit in things not prohibited to conforme our selues to the manners and rites of those with whom we liue That Sampson might think it an honour to match with the Philistims hee whom before the Lion found alone is now accompanied with thirty attendants They called them companions but they meant them for spies The curtesies of the world are hollow and and thanklesse neither doth it euer purpose so ill as when it showes fairest None are so neere to danger as those whom it entertains with smiles whiles it frownes wee knowe what to trust to but the fauours of it are worthy of nothing but feares suspicion Open defiance is better then false loue Austeritie had not made Sampson vnciuill hee knowes how to entertaine Philistims with a formall familiaritie And that his intellectuall parts might be approued answerable to his armes hee will first try maisteries of wit and set their braines on worke vvith harmless thoughts His riddle shal appose them and a deepe wager shall hinde the solution Thirtie shirts and thirty sutes of raymem neither their losse nor their gaine could be much besides the victory beeing diuided vnto thirtie partners but Sampsons must needs bee both waies very large vvho must giue or receiue thirty alone The seauen dayes of the feast are expiring and yet they which had been all this while deuouring of Sampsons meat cannot tell who that cater should be from whence meat shold come In course of nature the strong feeder takes-in meat and sends out filthiness but that meat and sweetnesse should come from a deuouring stomack was beyond their apprehension And as fooles and dogges vse to beginne in iest and end in earnest so did these Philistims and therefore they force the Bride to intice her husband to betray himselfe Couetousnes Pride haue made them impatient of loss and now they threat to fire her and her fathers house for recompence of their entertainment rather then they will lose a small wager to an Israelite Some-what of kinne to these sauage Philistims are those cholerick Gamesters which if the dice bee not their friend fall out with GOD curse that which is not Fortune strike their fellowes and are ready to take vengeance vpon themselues Those men are vnfit for sport that lose their patience together with their wager I do not wonder that a Philistim woman loued herselfe and her fathers family more then an Israelitish Bride-groome and if shee bestowed teares vpon her husband for the ransome of them Sampson himselfe taught her this difference I haue not told it my father or my mother and should I tell it thee If she had not been as shee was fhee had neither done this to Sampson nor heard this from him Matrimoniall respects are dearer then naturall It was the law of him that ordained marriage before euer Parents were that Parents should bee forsaken for the husband or wife But now Israelitish Parents are woorthy of more intirenesse then a wife of the Philistims And yet whom the Lion could not conquer the teares of a woman haue conquered Sampson neuer bewrayed infirmitie but in vxoriousnes What assurance can there be of him that hath a Philistim in his bosome Adam the perfectest man Sampson the strongest man Salomon the wisest man were betrayed with the flattery of their helpers As there is no comfort comparable to a faithfull yoke-fellow so wo be to him that is matched with a Philistim It could not but much discōtent Sampson to see that his aduersaries had plowed with his heifer that vpon his own back now therfore hee payes his wager to their cost Ascalon the Citie of the Philistims is his wardrobe he fetches thence thirty sutes lined with the liues of the owners Hee might vvith as much ease haue slaine these thirtie companions which were the Authors of this euill but his promise forbad him whiles he was to clothe their bodies to vnclothe their soules and that spirit of GOD which stird him vp to reuenge directed him in
suppressed it will rise but where it is incouraged it insults tyrannizes It was more iust that Israel shold rise against Beniamin then that Beniamin should rise for Gibeah by how much it is better to punish offenders then to shelter the offenders from punishing And yet the wickedness of Beniamin sped better for the time then the honestie of Israel Twise was the better part foyled by the lesse and worse The good cause vvas sent backe with shame the euill returned with victory and triumph O GOD their hand was for thee in the fight and thy hand was with them in their fall They had not fought for thee but by thee neither could they haue miscarried in the fight if thou hadst not fought against them Thou art iust holy in both The cause was thine the sinne in managing of it vvas their owne They fought in an holy quarrell but with confidence in themselues for as presuming of victorie they aske of GOD not what should be their success but who should be their Captaine Number innocence made them too secure It was iust therefore with GOD to let them feele that euen good zeale cannot beare out presumption And that victory lyes not in the cause but in the God that ownes it VVho cannot imagine hovv much the Beniaminites insulted in their double field and day And now beganne to think God was on their side Those swords which had bin taught the way into fortie thousand bodies of their brethren cannot feare a new incounter Wicked men cannot see their prosperity a peece of their curse neither can examine their actions but the euents Soone after they shall finde what it was to adde bloud vnto filthinesse and that the victory of an euill cause is the way to ruine and confusion I should haue feared least this double discomfiture should haue made Israel either distrustfull or weary of a good cause but still I finde them no lesse courageous with more humilitie Now they fast weepe and sacrifice these weapons had been victorious in their first assault Beniamin had neuer been in danger of pride for ouer comming if this humiliation of Israel had preuented the fight It is sildom seen but that which we do with feare prospereth wheras confidence in vndertaking layes euen good indeauours in the dust Wickednesse could neuer brag of any long prosperitie nor complaine of the lacke of payment Still GOD is euen with it at the last Now hee payes the Beniaminites both that death which they had lent to the Israelites and that wherein they stood indebted to their brotherhood of Gibeah And novv that both are metre in death there is as much difference betwixt those Israelites and these Beniaminites as betwixt Martyrs and malefactors To die in a sinne is a fearefull reuenge of giuing patronage to sinne The sword consumes their bodies another fire their Cities vvhat-soeuer became of their soules Now might Rachel haue iustlie wept for her childrē because they were not For behold the men women and children of her wicked Tribe are cut off onely some few scattred remainders ran away from this vengeance and lurked in caues and rocks both for fear and shame There was no difference but life betwixt their brethren and them the earth couered them both yet vnto them doth the reuenge of Israel stretch it self and vowes to destroy if not their persons yet their succession as holding them vnwoorthy to receiue any comfort by that sexe to which they had bin so cruell both in act and maintenance If the Israelites had not held marriage issue a very great blessing they had not thus reuenged themselues of Beniamin Now they accounted the vvith-holding of their wiues a punishment second to death The hope of life in our posteritie is the next contentment to an inioying of life in our selues They haue sworn and now vpon cold bloud repent them If the oath were not iust why wold they take it and if it were iust why did they recant it If the act were lustifiable what needed these tears Euen a iust oath may be rashly taken not onely iniustice but temerity of swearing ends in lamentation In our very ciuill actions it is a weaknes to do that which we would after reuerse but in our affaires with GOD to check our selues too late and to steepe our oathes in teares is a dangerous folly He doth not commaund vs to take voluntary oathes he commaunds vs to keepe them If wee bind our selues to inconuenience we may iustly cōplain of our owne fetters Oaths doe not onely require iustice but iudgment wise deliberation no lesse then equity Not conscience of their fact but commiseration of their brethren led them to this publique repentance O God why is this come to pass that this day one Tribe of Israel shall want Euen the iustest reuenge of men is capable of pittie Insultation in the rigor of iustice argues crueltie Charitable mindes are grieued to see that done which they would not wish vndone the smart of the offender doth not please thē which yet are throughly displeased with the sin and haue giuen their hands to punish it GOD himselfe takes no pleasure in the death of a sinner yet loues the punishment of sin As a good Parent whips his child yet weepes himselfe There is a measure in victorie and reuenge if neuer so iust which to exceed leeses mercie in the sute of Iustice If there were no fault in their seueritie it needed no excuse and if there were a fault it will admitte of no excuse yet as if they meant to shift off the sinne they expostulate with God O Lord God of Israel why is this come to passe this day GOD gaue them no commaund of this rigour yea he twise crost them in the execution and now in that which they intreated of God with teares they challenge him It is a dangerous iniustice to lay the burden of our sinnes vpon him which tempteth no man nor can be tempted with euill whiles we would so remooue our sinne we double it A man that knew not the power of an oath wold wonder at this contrarietie in the affections of Israel They are sory for the slaughter of Beniamin and yet they slay those that did not helpe them in the slaughter Their oath calls them to more bloud The excess of their reuenge vpon Beniamin may not excuse the men of Gilead If euer oath might looke for a dispensation this might plead it Now they dare not but kill the men of Iabesh Gilead least they should haue left vpon themselues a greater sin of sparing then punishing Iabesh Gilead came not vp to ayde Israel therefore all the inhabitants must die To exempt our selues whether out of singularitie or stubbornness from the common actions of the Church when wee are lawfully called to them is an offence woorthy of iudgement In the maine quarrels of the Church neutralls are punished This execution shal make amends for the former of the spoile of Iabesh
as I wonder the necke or the heart of old Ely could hold out the report of That God sweares he will iudge Elyes house and that with beggerie with death with desolation and that the wickednes of his house shall not be purged with sacrifice or offrings for euer And yet this which euery Israelites eare should tingle to heare of when it should be done old Ely heares with an vnmoued patience and humble submission It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good Oh admirable faith and more then humane constancie and resolution worthy of the aged presisident of Shiloh worthy of an heart sacrificed to that God whose iustice had refused to expiate his sinne by sacrifice If Ely haue been an ill father to his sonnes yet he is a good sonne to God and is ready to kisse the very rod hee shall smart withall It is the Lord whom I haue euer found holy and iust and gracious and hee cannot but be himselfe Let him doe what seemeth him good for whatsoeuer seemeth good to him cannot but bee good howsoeuer it seemes to me Euery man can open his hand to God while hee blesses but to expose our selues willingly to the afflicting hand of our maker and to kneele to him whiles he scourges vs is peculiar only to the faithfull If euer a good heart could haue freed a man from temporall punishments Ely must needs haue escaped Gods anger was appeased by his humble repentance but his iustice must be satisfied Elyes sinne and his sons was in the eye and mouth of all Israel his glorie therefore should haue been much wronged by their impunitie Who would not haue made these spirituall guides an example of lawlesnes and haue said What care I how I liue if Elyes sonnes goe away vnpunished As not the teares of Ely so not the words of Samuel may fall to the ground Wee may not measure the displeasure of God by his stripes many times after the remission of the sinne the very chastisements of the Almightie are deadly No repentance can assure vs that wee shall not smart with outward afflictions That can preuent the eternall displeasure of God but still it may be necessarie and good wee should be corrected Our care and suite must be that the euills which shall not be auerted may be sanctified If the prediction of these euils were fearefull what shall the execution be The presumption of the ill-taught Israelites shall giue occasion to this iudgement for being smitten before the Philistims they send for the Arke into the field Who gaue them authority to commaund the Arke of God at their pleasure Here was no consulting with the Arke which they would fetch no inquiry of Samuel whether they should fetch it but an heddie resolution of presumptuous Elders to force God into the field and to challenge successe If God were not with the Arke why did they send for it and reioyce in the comming of it If God were with it why was not his allowance asked that it should come How can the people bee good where the Preists are wicked When the Arke of the couenant of the Lord of hosts that dwells betweene the Cherubims was brought into the host tho with meane and wicked attendance Israel doth as it were fill the heauen and shake the earth with shoutes as if the Arke and victory were no lesse vnseparable then they and their sinnes Euen the leudest men will be looking for fauour from that God whom they cared not to displease contrary to the conscience of their deseruings Presumption doth the same in wicked men which faith doth in the holiest Those that regarded not the God of the Arke thinke themselues safe and happie in the Arke of God vaine men are transported with a confidence in the out-sides of religion not regarding the substance and soule of it which only can giue them true peace But rather then God will humor superstition in Israelites he will suffer his owne Arke to fall into the handes of Philistims Rather will he seeme to slacken his hand of protection then hee will bee thought to haue his hands bound by a formall mis-confidence The slaughter of the Israelites was no plague to this It was a greater plague rather to them that should suruiue and behold it The two sonnes of Ely which had helped to corrupt their brethren die by the handes of the vncircumcised and are now too late separated from the Arke of God by Philistims which should haue been before separated by their father They had liued formerlie to bring Gods altar into contempt and now liue to carrie his Arke into captiuitie and at last as those that had made vp the measure of their wickednesse are slayne in their sinne Ill newes doth euer either run or flie The man of Beniamin which ran from the host hath soone filled the City with outcries and Elyes eares with the crie of the City The good old man after ninety and eight yeares sits in the gate as one that neuer thought himselfe too aged to do God seruice and heares the newes of Israels discomfiture and his sonnes death though with sorrow yet with patience but when the messenger tells him of the Arke of God taken he can liue no longer that word strikes him downe backward from his throne and kills him in the fall no sword of a Philistim could haue slaine him more painefully neither know I whether his necke or his heart were first broken Oh fearefull iudgement that euer any Israelites eare could tingle withall The Arke lost what good man would wish to liue without God Who can choose but think he hath liued too long that hath ouerliued the Testimonies of Gods presence with his Church Yea the very daughter in law of Ely a woman the wife of a lewd husband when she was at once trauelling vpon that tidings and in that trauell dying to make vp the full summe of Gods iudgement vpon that wicked house as one insensible of the death of her father of her husband of her selfe in comparison of this losse calls her then vnseasonable sonne Ichabod and with her last breath saies The glorie is departed from Israel The Arke is taken what cares she for a posterity which should want the Arke What cares she for a sonne come into the world of Israel when God was gone from it and how willingly doth she depart from them from whom God was departed Not outward magnificence not state not wealth not fauour of the mightie but the presence of God in his Ordinances are the glory of Israel the subducing whereof is a greater iudgement then destruction Oh Israel worse now then no people a thousand times more miserable then Philistims Those Pagans went away triumphing with the Arke of God and victorie and leaue the remnants of the chosen people to lament that they once had a God Oh cruell and wicked indulgence that is now found guiltie of the death not onlie of the Priests and people but of Religion Vniust mercie can neuer end in lesse then bloud and it were well if onlie the bodie should haue cause to complaine of that kinde crueltie FINIS ERRATA Pag. 97. lin 19. for wooll god read wooll God p. 169 l. 19. for intreats read treats p 175. 15. for inioyed read ioyed p. 222. l. 18. for may be read may not be p. 223. l. 15. for strength read stench p 268. for had not wit read had wit p. 346. vlt. for strainted read straitned p. 434. l. 3. for representation his r. representation his Peni-el
the choice of the subiects If we wonder to see thirtie throates cut for their sutes wee may easily know that this was but the occasion of that slaughter whereof the cause was their oppression and tyranny Dauid slew two hundred Philistims for their fore-skinnes but the ground of his act was their hostilitie It is iust with God to destine what enemies he pleases to execution It is not to be expostulated why this man is striken rather then another vvhen both are Philistims Sampsons victorie I Can no more iustifie Sampson in the leauing of his wife then in the chusing her He chose her because she pleased him and because shee despised him hee left her Though her feare made her false to him in his Riddle yet shee was true to his bed That vveake trechery was worthy of a check not a desertion All the passions of Sampson were strong like himself but as vehement motions are not lasting this vehemēt wind is soone allayd and hee is now returning with a Kid to winne her that had offended him and to renue that feast which ended in her vnkindnesse Slight occasions may not breake the knot of matrimoniall loue and if any iust offence haue slackned it on either part it must be fastned again by speedy reconciliation Now Sampsons father in law showes himselfe a Philistim the true Parent of her that betrayed her husband for no sooner is the Bride-groome departed then he changes his sonne what pretence of friendshippe soeuer he made a true Philistim will soone be wearie of an Israelite Sampson hath not so many dayes libertie to enioy his wedding as hee spent in celebrating it Marriage hath been euer a sacred institution and who but a Philistim would so easily violate it One of his thirtie companions enioyes his wife together with his sute now laughes to be a partner of that bed whereon hee was an attendant The good nature of Sampson hauing forgottē the first wrong carried him to a proffer of familiarity and is repulsed but vvith a gentle violence I had thought thou hadst hated her Lawfull wedlock may not be dissolued by imaginations but by proofes Who shall stay Sampson from his owne wife Hee that slew the Lion in the way of his wooing and before whom thousands of the Philistims could not stand yet suffers himselfe to be resisted by him that was once his father in law without any returne of priuate violence Great is the force of dutie once conceiued euen to the most vnworthy This thought I was his sonne bindes the hands of Sampson Else how easily might hee that slew those thirty Philistims for their sutes haue destroyed this familie for his wife How vnnatural are those mouthes that can curse the loynes from which they are proceeded and those hands that dare lift vp themselues against the meanes of their life and being I neuer read that Sampson slew any but by the motion and assistance of the spirit of GOD and the Diuine wisedome hath reserued these offenders to another reuenge Iudgement must descend from others to thē sith the wrong proceeded from others by them In the very marriage God foresaw and intended this parting and in the parting this punishment vpon the Philistims If the Philistims had not bin as much enemies to God as to Sampson enemies to Israel in their oppression no lesse then to Sampson in this particular iniurie that purpose and execution of reuenge had been no better then wicked Now he to whom vengeance belongs sets him on worke and makes the act iustice when he commaunds euen very crueltie is obedience It was a busie and troublesome proiect of Sampson to vse the foxes for his reuenge for not without great labour many hands could so many wilde creatures be gotte together neither could the wit of Sampson want other deuises of hostilitie But he meant to finde out such a punishmēt as might in som sort answere the offence might imply as much contempt as trespasse By wiles seconded with violence had they wronged Sampson in extorting his secret and taking away his wife what other Embleme could these foxes tied together present vnto them then wiliness combined by force to worke mischiefe These foxes destroy their corn before he which sent them destroy the persons Those iudgements which beginne in outward things end in the owners A stranger that had been of neither side vvould haue said What pitty it is to see good corn thus spoiled If the creature be considered apart frō the owners it is good and therefore if it be mis-spent the abuse reflects vpon the maker of it but if it be looked vpon with respect to an ill master the best vse of it is to perish He therefore that slew the Egyptian cattell with murrain smote their fruit with haile-stones hee that consumed the vines of Israel with the Palmer-worme and Caterpiller and Canker-worme sent also foxes by the hand of Sampson into the fields of the Philistims Their corne was too good for them to enioy not too good for the foxes to burn vp God had rather his creature should perish any way then serue for the lust of the wicked There could not be such secrecy in the catching of three hundred foxes but it might well be knowne who had procured them Rumor will swiftly fly of things not done but of a thing so notoriously executed it is no maruell if Fame be a blab The mention of the offence drawes in the prouocation now the wrong to Sampson is scanned reuenged Because the fieldes of the Philistims are burned for the wrong done to Sampson by the Timnite in his daughter therefore the Philistims burne the Timnite his daughter The tying of the firebrand between two foxes was not so witty a policy as the setting of a fire of dissension betwixt the Philistims What need Sampson be his owne executioner when his enemies will vndertake that charge There can be no more pleasing prospect to an Israelite then to see the Philistims together by the eares If the vvife of Sampson had not feared the fire for herselfe and her fathers house she had not betrayed her husband her husband had not thus plagued the Philistims the Philistims had not consumed her and her father with fire now shee leapes into that flame which shee meant to auoid That euill which the wicked feared meets them in their flight How many in a feare of pouerty seeke to gaine vnconscionably and die beggers How many to shunne paine and danger haue yeelded to euill and in the long runne haue been met in the teeth with that mischiefe which they had hoped to haue left behind them How many in a desire to eschue the shame of men haue fallen into the confusion of God Both good and euill are sure pay-masters at the last Hee that was so soone pacified towards his wife could not but haue thought this reuenge more then enough if he had not rather wielded Gods quarrell then his owne He knew