to him but they faint in the way We may call long enough if we cry not to him The same hand that raised vp Eglon against Israel raised vp also Ehud for Israel against Eglon When that Tyrant hath reuenged God of his people God will reuenge his people of him It is no priuiledge to be an instrument of Gods vengeance by euil meanes Though Eglon were an Vsurper yet had Ehud beene a Traytor if God had not sent him it is onelie in the power of him that makes Kings when they are once settled to depose them It is no more possible for our moderne butchers of Princes to show they are imployed by God then to escape the reuenge of GOD in offering to doe this violence not being imployed VVhat a strange choice dooth God make of an Executioner A man shut of his right hand either he had but one hand or vsed but one and that the worse and more vnready Who would not haue thought both hands too little for such a worke or if either might haue been spared how much rather the left GOD seeth not as man seeth It is the ordinary wont of the Almightie to make choice of the vnlik eliest meanes The instruments of God must not bee measured by their own power or aptitude but by the will of the Agent Tho Ehud had no hands he that imployed him had enabled him to this slaughter In humane things it is good to looke to the meanes in diuine to the worker No meanes are to be contemned that God will vse no meanes to be trusted that man will vse without him It is good to be suspicious where is least show of danger and most appearance of fauour This left-handed man comes with a present in his hand but a dagger vnder his skirt The Tyrant besides seruice lookt for gifts and now receiues death in his bribe Neither God nor men doe alwaies giue where they loue How oft dooth God giue extraordinary illumination power of miracles besides wealth and honor where he hates So doe men too oft accompanie their curses with presents either least an enemy should hurt vs or that wee may hurt them The intention is the fauour in gifts and not the substance Ehuds faith supplies the want of his hand Where GOD intends success he lifts vp the hart with resolutions of courage contempt of danger What indifferent beholder of this proiect would not haue condemned it as vnlikely to speed To see a maimed man goe alone to a great King in the midst of all his troupes to single him out from all witnesses to set vpon him with one hand in his owne Parlor where his Courtiers might haue heard the least exclamation and haue comne in if not to the rescue yet to the reuenge Euery circumstance is full of improbabilities Faith euermore ouerlookes the difficulties of the way bends her eyes onely to the certainty of the end In this intestine slaughter of our tyrannicall corruptions when we cast our eyes vpon our selues we might well despaire Alas what can our left-hands doe against these spirituall wickednesses But when wee see who hath both commaunded and vndertaken to prosper these holy designes how can wee misdoubt the success I can doe all things throgh him that strengthens me When Ehud hath obtained the conuenient secrecie both of the weapon place now with a confident forhead he approaches the Tyrant and salutes him vvith a true and awfull preface to so important an act I haue a message to thee from God Euen Ehuds poynard was Gods message not onely the vocall admonitions but also the reall iudgements of God are his errands to the world Hee speakes to vs in raine waters in sicknesses famine in vnseasonable times inundations These are the secondary messages of God if we will not hear the first we must heare these to our cost I cannot but wonder at the deuout reuerence of this Heathen Prince Hee sate in his Chaire of State The vnweildinesse of his fat body was such that he could not rise with readiness and ease yet no sooner doth he heare newes of a message from God but hee rises vp from his Throne reuerently attends the tenor therof Though hee had no Superior to controle him yet hee cannot abide to bee vnmannerly in the businesse of GOD. This man was an Idolater a Tyrant yet what outward respects doth he giue to the true God Externall ceremonies of pietie and complements of deuotion may well be found with falshood in religion They are a good shadow of truth where it is but where it is not they are the very body of hypocrisie Hee that had risen vp in Armes against Gods people and the true worship of God now rises vp in reuerence to his Name GOD would haue liked well to haue had less of his curtesie more of his obedience He lookt to haue heard the message with his eares and he feeles it in his guttes So sharp a message that it pierced the body let out the soule through that vncleane passage neither did it admit of any aunswer but silence and death In that part had hee offended by pampering it and making it his God and now his bane findes the same way with his sinne This one hard and cold morsell which hee cannot digest payes for all those gluttonous delicates whereof he had formerly surfeted It is the manner of God to take fearefull reuenges of the professed enemies of his Church It is a maruell that neither any noise in his dying nor the fall of so gross a body called-in some of his attendants But that GOD which hath intended to bring about any designe disposes of all circumstances to his owne purpose If Ehud had not come forth with a calme and settled countenaunce and shut the doores after him all his proiect had been in the dust What had it been better that the King of Moab was slaine if Israel had neither had a messenger to informe nor a Captain to guide them Now hee departs peaceably blowes a trumpet in Mount Ephraim gathers Israel and falls vpon the body of Moab as well as hee had done vpon the head and procures freedome to his people Hee that would vndertake great enterprises had need of wisdome and courage wisedome to contriue and courage to execute wisedome to guide his courage courage to second his wisedome both which if they meet with a good cause cannot but succeed Iael and Sisera IT is no wonder if they vvho ere foure-score dayes after the Law deliuered fell to Idolatry alone now after foure-score yeeres since the Law restored fell to Idolatry among the Canaanites Peace could in a shorter time work â—ooseness in any people and if forâ—ie yeeres after Othniels deliueâ—ance they relapsed what marvell is it that in twise fortie after Eâ—ud they thus miscaried VVhat â—re they the better to haue killed Eglon the King of Moab if the Idolatry of Moab haue killed them The sinne of Moab shal be
to him out of his obscure Beer to see the fire out of this bramble to consume those trees The view of Gods reuenge is so much more pleasing to a good heart then his owne by how much it is more iust and full There was neuer such a patterne of vnthankfulness as these Israelites They which lately thought a Kingdome too small recompence for Gideon and his sonnes novv thinke it too much for his seede to liue and take life away from the sonnes of him that gaue thē both life and liberty Yet if this had bin some hundred of yeers after when time had worne out the memory of Ierub-baal it might haue borne a better excuse No man can hope to hold pase with Time The best names may not think scorne to be vnknowne to following generations but ere their Deliuerer vvas cold in his coffin to pay his benefits which deserued to be euerlasting with the extirpation of his Posteritie it was more then sauage VVhat can bee looked for from Idolaters If a man haue cast off his God hee will easily cast off his friends When religion is once gone humanitie will not stay long after That which the people were punished afterwards for but desiring he inioyes Now is Abimelec seated in the throne which his Father refused and no riuall is seene to enuy his peace But how long will this glory last Stay but three yeeres and ye shall see this bramble withered and burnt The prosperitie of the wicked is short and fickle a stolne Crowne tho it may looke faire cannot be made of any but brittle stuffe All life is vncertaine but wickednes ouer-runnes nature The euill spirit thrust himselfe into the plot of Abimelechs vsurpation and murder wrought with the Sechemites for both and now God sends the euill spirit betwixt Abimelec and the Sichemites to work the ruine of each other The first could not haue been without God but in the second GOD challenges a part Reuenge is his where the sinne is ours It had bin pitty that the Sichemites should haue been plagued by any other hand then Abimelecs They raised him vniustly to the Throne they are the first that feele the weight of his scepter The foolish Bird limes herself with that which grew from her owne excretion vvho wonders to see the kinde Peasant stung with his owne snake The breach begins at Shechem His own Countrimen flie off from their promised allegeance Tho all Israel should haue faln of from Abimelec yet they of Shechem shold haue stuck close It was their act they ought to haue made it good How should good Princes be honoured when euen Abimelecs once settled cannot be opposed vvith safety Now they begin the reuolt to the rest of Israel Yet if this had been done out of repentance it had bin praise-worthy but to be done out of a trecherous inconstancie was vnworthy of Israelites How could Abimelec hope for fidelity of them whom he had made and found Traytors to his fathers bloud No man knowes how to be sure of him that is vnconscionable He that hath bin vnfaithful to one knowes the way to be perfidious and is onely fit for his trust that is worthy to be deceiued vvhereas faithfulnesse besides the present good laies a ground of further assurance The friendship that is begun in euil cannot stand wickednes both of it owne nature and through the curse of God is euer vnsteddy and thogh there be not a disagreement in hell being but the place of retribution not of action yet on earth there is no peace among the wicked whereas that affection which is knit in God is indissoluble If the men of Shechem had abandoned their false God with their false King and out of a serious remorse desire of satisfaction for their idolatry bloud had opposed this Tyrant preferd Iotham to his throne there might haue bin both warrant for their quarrel and hope of success but now if Abimelec be a wicked Vsurper yet the Shechemites are Idolatrous Traytors How could they thinke that God wold rather reuenge Abimelecs bloody intrusion by them then their trechery Idolatry by Abimelec Whē the quarrel is betwixt God Satan there is no doubt of the issue but when one diuel fights with another what certenty is there of the victory Though the cause of God had bin good yet it had bin safe for them to looke to thēselues the vnworthiness of the agent many times curses a good enterprise No sooner is a secret dislike kindled in any people against their Gouernours then there is a Gaal ready to blow the coales It were a wonder if euer any faction should want an Head As contrarily neuer any man was so ill as not to haue some fauorers Abimelec hath a Zebul in the midst of Shechem Lightly all treasons are betrayd euen with some of their owne His intelligence brings the sword of Abimelec vpon Shechem who now hath demolished the City sown it with salt Oh the iust successions of the reuenges of God! Gideons Ephod is punished with the bloud of his sonnes the bloud of his sons is shed by the procurement of the Shechemites the bloud of the Shechemites is shed by Abimelec the bloud of Abimelec is spilt by a woman The retaliations of God are sure and iust make a more due pedigree then descent of nature The pursued Shechemites flie to the house of their god Berith now they are safe that place is at once a fort and a sanctuary VVhether should we fly in our distresse but to our GOD And now this refuge shall teach them what a God they haue serued The iealous God whom they had forsaken hath them now where he would reioyces at once to be reuenged of their god them Had they not made the house of Baal their shelter they had not died so fearfully Now according to the prophecie of Iotham a fire goes out of the bramble and consumes these Cedars and their eternall flames begin in the house of their Berith the confusion of wicked men rises out of the false Deities vvhich they haue doted on Of all the Conspirators against Gideons sonnes only Abimelec yet suruiues and his day is now comming His success against Shechem hath filled his hart with thoughts of victorie He hath caged vp the inhabitants of Tebez within their tower also and what remaines for them but the same end with their neighbours And behold while his hand is busie in putting fire to the dore of their tower which yet was not hie for then he could not haue discerned a woman to be his Executioner a stone from a vvomans hand strikes his head His paine in dying was not so much as his indignation to know by whom he died rather wil he die twise then a woman shal kill him If God had not known his stomack so big he had not vexed him with the impotency of his Victor God findes a time to reckon with wicked men for all the arrerages
this fire After all the ayring in the Desert Michaes mother will smell of Egypt It had been better the siluer had been stoln then thus bestowed for now they haue so imployed it that it hath stoln away their harts from GOD and yet while it is molten into an Image they thinke it dedicated to the Lord If Religion might be iudged according to the intention there should scarce be any idolatry in the world This woman loued her siluer enough and if shee had not thought this costly piety worth thanks shee knew which way to haue imploied her stocke to aduantage Euen euill actions haue oft-times good meanings and those good meanings are answered with euill recompences Many a one bestows their cost their labour their blood and receiues torment in steed of thanks Behold a superstitious son of a superstitious mother She makes a God and hee harbours it Yea as the streame is commonly broader then the head he exceedes his mother in euill He hath an house of Gods an Ephod Teraphin that he might be complete in his deuotion he makes his sonne his Priest and feoffes that sinne vpon his sonne which he receiued from his mother Those sinnes vvhich nature conuayes not to vs wee haue by imitation Euery action and gesture of the Parents is an example to the child and the mother as she is more tender ouer her sonne so by the power of a reciprocall loue she can worke most vpon his inclination Whence it is that in the history of the Israelitish Kings the mothers name is commonly noted and as ciuilly so also morally The birth followes the belly Those sonnes may blesse their second birth that are deliuered from the sinnes of their education Who cannot but thinke how far Micha ouer-lookt all his fellow Israelites and thought them profane and godlesse in comparison of himselfe How did hee secretly clap himselfe on the breast as the man whose happinesse it was to ingross religion from all the tribes of Israel and little can imagine that the further hee runs the more out of the way Can an Israelite be thus Paganish O Micha how hath superstition bewitched thee that thou canst not see rebellion in euery of these actions yea in euery circumstance rebellion What more Gods then one An house of Gods beside Gods house An Image of siluer to the inuisible GOD An Ephod and no Priest A Priest besides the family of Leui A Priest of thine owne begetting of thine own consecration What monsters dooth mans imagination produce when it is forsaken of God It is wel seen there is no King in Israell If God had been their King his lawes had ruled them If Moses or Ioshua had been their King their sword had awed them If any other the courses of Israel could not haue been so headlesse We are beholden to Gouernment for order for peace for religion Where there is no King euery one will bee a King yea a God to himselfe VVee are worthy of nothing but confusion if we blesse not GOD for authoritie It is no maruell if Leuites wandred for maintenance whiles there was no King in Israel The tithes and offerings were their due if these had been paid none of the holy Tribe needed to shift his station Euen vvhere royall power seconds the claime of the Leuite the iniustice of men shortens his right What should becom of the Leuites if there were no King And what of the Church if no Leuites No King therefore no Church How could the impotent childe liue without a Nurse Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and Queens thy nurses saith God Nothing more argues the disorder of any Church or the decay of religion then the forced stragling of the Leuites There is hope of growth when Micha rides to seek a Leuite but vvhen the Leuite comes to seek a seruice of Micha it is a signe of gasping deuotion Micha was no obscure man all Mount Ephraim could not but take notice of his domesticall Gods This Leuite could not but heare of his disposition of his mis-deuotion yet vvant of maintenance no lesse then conscience drawes him on to the danger of an idolatrous patronage Holiness is not tyed to any profession Happie were it for the Church if the Clergy could be a priuiledge from leudnesse When need meets with vnconscionableness all conditions are easily swallowed of vnlawfull entrances of wicked executions Ten shekels and a sute of apparell and his diet are good wages for a needy Leuite Hee that could bestow eleuen hundred shekels vpon his puppets can afford butten to his Priest so hath hee at once a rich Idoll and a beggerlie Priest Whosoeuer affects to serue God good cheape showes that hee makes GOD but a stale to Mammon Yet was Micha a kinde Patron tho not liberall Hee calls the young Leuite his father and vses him as his sonne what he wants in means supplies in affection It were happy if Christians could imitate the loue of Idolaters towards them which serue at the Altar Micha made a shift vvith the Priesthood of his owne sonne yet that his heart checks him in it appeares both by the change his contentment in the change Now I knowe that the Lord will be good to mee seeing I haue a Leuite to my Priest Therefore whiles his Priest was no Leuite hee sees there was cause why GOD should not bee good to him If the Leuite had not comne to offer his seruice Michaes sonne had been a lawfull Priest Many times the conscience runnes away smoothly with an vnwarrantable action and rests it selfe vpon those grounds which afterward it sees cause to condemne It is a sure way therfore to informe our selues throughly ere we settle our choice that wee be not driuen to reuerse our acts with late shame and vnprofitable repentance Now did Micha beginne to see some little glimpse of his own error He saw his Priesthood faultie he saw not the faults of his Ephod of his Images of his Gods yet as if he thought all had been well when hee had amended one hee sayes Now I know the Lord will be good to mee The carnall hart pleases it selfe with an outward formalitie and so delights to flatter it selfe as that it thinks if one circumstance be right nothing can be amisse Israel was at this time extremely corrupted yet the spyes of the Danites had taken notice euen of this young Leuite and are glad to make vse of his Priesthood If they had but gone vp to Shilo they might haue consulted with the Arke of God but worldly minds are not curious in their holy seruices If they haue a God an Ephod a Priest it suffices them They had rather inioy a false worship with ease then to take paines for the true Those that are curious in their diet in their purchases in their attire in their contracts yet in Gods businesses are very indifferent The author of lyes sometimes speakes truth for an aduantage from his mouth this flattering Leuite speakes
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
haue the more children but barren Annah hath the most loue How much rather could Elkanah haue wished Peninnah barren and Annah fruitfull but if she should haue had both issue and loue she had been proud and her riuall despised God knowes how to disperse his fauours so that euery one may haue cause both of thankfulnesse and humiliation whiles there is no one that hath all no one but hath some If enuie and contempt were not thus equally tempered some would be ouer hauty and others too miserable But now euery man sees that in himselfe which is worthy of contempt and matter of emulation in others and contrarily sees what to pittie and dislike in the most eminent and what to applaud in himselfe and out of this contrarietie arises a sweete meane of contentation The loue of Elkanah is so vnable to free Anna from the wrongs of her riuall that it procures them rather The vnfruitfulnesse of Anna had neuer with so much despight beene laid in her dish if her husbands heart had been as barren of loue to her Enuie though it take aduantage of our weakenesses yet is euer raised vpon some grounds of happines in them whom it emulates It is euer an ill effect of a good cause If Abels sacrifice had not beene accepted and if the acceptation of his sacrifice had not beene a blessing no enuie had followed vpon it There is no euill of another wherein it is fit to reioyce but his Enuie and this is worthy of our ioy and thankfulnesse because it showes vs the price of that good which wee had and valued not The malignitie of enuie is thus well answered when it is made the euill cause of a good effect to vs when God and our soules may gaine by anothers sinne I do now finde that Anna insulted vpon Peninnah for the greater measure of her husbands loue as Peninna did vpon her for her fruitfulnesse Those that are truely gracious know how to receiue the blessings of God without contempt of them that want and haue learned to bee thankefull without ouerlinesse Enuie when it is once conceiued in a malicious heart is like fire in billers of Iuniper which they say continues more yeares then one Euery yeare was Anna thus vexed with her emulous partner and troubled both in her praiers and meales Amidst all their feastings shee fed on nothing but her teares Some dispositions are lesse sensible and more carelesse of the dispight and â—â—â—ties of others and can turne ouer vnkinde vsages with contempt By how much more tender the heart is so much more deeply is it euer affected with discurtesies As waxe receiues and retaines that impression which in the hard clay cannot be seen or as the eie feeles that mote which the skin of the eie-lid could not complain of Yet the husband of Anna as one that knew his dutie labours by his loue to comfort her against these discontentments Why weepest thou Am not I better to thee then ten sonnes It is the weaknesse of good natures to giue so much aduantage to an enemie what would malice rather haue then the vexation of them whom it persecutes Wee cannot better please an aduersarie then by hurting our selues This is no other then to humor enuie to serue the turne of those that maligne vs and to draw on that malice whereof we are weary whereas carelesnesse puts ill will out of countenance and makes it withdraw it selfe in a rage as that which doth but shame the author without the hurt of the patient In causelesse wrongs the best remedie is contempt She that could not finde comfort in the louing perswasions of her husband seeks it in her prayers She rises vp hungry from the feast and hyes her to the Temple there shee powres out her teares and supplications Whatsoeuer the complaint be here is the remedie There is one vniuersall receit for all euills prayer When all helps faile vs this remaines and whiles wee haue an heart comforts it Here was not more bitternesse in the soule of Anna then feruencie shee did not onely weep and pray but vow vnto God If God will giue her a sonne she will giue her sonne to God backe againe Euen nature it selfe had consecrated her son to God for he could not but be borne a Leuite But if his birth make him a Leuite her vow shal make him a Nazarite dedicate his minoritie to the Tabernacle The way to obtaine any benefit is to deuote it in our hearts to the glory of that God of whom wee aske it by this meanes shall God both pleasure his seruant and honour himselfe Whereas if the scope of our desires be carnall wee may be sure either to faile of our suite or of a blessing Ely and Anna. OLd Ely sits on a stoole by one of the posts of the Tabernacle where should the Priests of God be but in the Temple whether for action or for ouer-sight Their very presence keeps Gods house in order and the presence of God keeps their hearts in order It is oft found that those which are themselues conscionable are too forward to the censuring of others Good Ely because hee markes the lips of Annah to moue without noyse chides her as drunken and vncharitably misconstrues her deuotion It was a weake ground whereon to build so heauie a sentence If she had spoken too loude and incomposedly hee might haue had some iust colour for this conceit but now to accuse her silence notwithstanding all the teares which he saw of drunkennesse it was a zealous breach of charitie Some spirit would haue been enraged with so rash a censure when anger meets with griefe both turne into furieâ— but this good woman had been inured to reproches and besides did well see the reproofe arose from mesprison and the mesprison from zeale and therefore answers meekly as one that had rather satisfie then expostulate Nay my Lord but I am a woman troubled in spirit Hely may now learne charitie of Annah If she had been in that distemper whereof he accused her his iust reproofe had not been so easily digested Guiltinesse is commonly clamorous and impatient wheras innocence is silent and carelesse of misreports It is naturall vnto all men to wipe off from their name all aspersions of euill but none doe it with such violence as they which are faultie It is a signe the horse is galled that stirs too much when he is touched Shee that was censured for drunken censures drunkennesse more deeply then her reprouer Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial The drunkards stile begins in lawlesuesse proceeds in vnprofitablenesse ends in miserie and all shut vp in the denomination of this pedegree A sonne of Belial If Hannah had been tainted with this sinne she would haue denied it with more fauour and haue disclaimed it with an extenuation What if I should haue been merrie with wine yet I might bee deuout If I should haue ouer-ioyed in my sacrifice to God one cup of