and kept a great part of their possessions in their hands by force So that we see that the negligence of the other tribes in suffering the forbidden nations to remaine and waxe strong caused these their brethren to be wronged and to go without their due which God had allotted them For if they had kept their enemies out they might haue been able now to helpe this tribe of Dan who if the house of Ioseph had not done more then the rest they had been left almost without habitation And by this we may see that mens sinnes doe not only redound to their owne hurt but also to the hurt of others Whereas none are hurt neither themselues by those that feare to offend God and be carefull to do their duties but they may receiue great benefit thereby But the other hurt many as well as themselues As wee see bad parents what woe they hoard vp for their vnhappy children as Ahab and the like What they do to themselues this place giues no occasion to shew directly but by consequent but how other feare the worse by them And the same may bee seene in many particulars among vs also both touching body and soule As first how many soules doth an ignorant idle or scandalous Minister destroy and cause to perish How many good people doth an vngodly Magistrate grieue discourage and make faint in good duties and flesh the vngodly as Salomon saith When the righteous are in authority the people reioyce but when the wicked beareth rule the people sigh The riotous ill company keepers and such as giue ill counsell how many doe they spoile as in the Epistle to the Corinthians we reade where it is said Euill words corrupt good manners And what discredit to the godly and to the Gospell it selfe hypocrites who professe it doe bring Saint Paul declareth speaking thus to the Iewes Thou that teachest another and teachest not thy selfe causest the name of God to bee euill spoken of so that both when the Gospell is truly preached and also practised of some yet both are ill spoken of by the wicked because of the offence that hypocrites giue And generally the wicked are the causes of mischiefe and punishment from God vpon the places where they liue causing the earth to mourne and be wearie of the inhabitants yea Gods children are of the worse for their neighbourhood not onely while they gather infection by them to their soules but they smart bodily also with them and by them oftentimes in a publike calamity which their wicked liues haue caused Further to giue briefly some instances of this also in the hurts that wicked men do to others in things of this life for it would be too long to shew it at large what doth the gamester spendthrift and the slothfull person but bring all to naught and vndoe his familie as well as bring himselfe to beggerie What doth the oppressor and the vsurer in exacting that which is agreed vpon how hardly soeuer it can be yeelded but fleece the borrower till he makes his skinne to grow to his bones for want of flesh How many cormorant-like rich men doe the like in other kindes imposing rents vpon their poore tenants which constraine them to labour for them onely in prouiding their due against their day and cannot maintaine themselues so well as seruants may and ought to be whereas God alloweth them to liue and bee well maintained by their labour And other defraud the labourer of his wages or pay what they list and yet Saint Iames saith Their cry is entred into the eares of the Lord of hosts Oh! it cannot be expressed what are the discommodities and annoiances which the sinnes of men and their wicked liues doe cause and bring vpon others as well as themselues as the the tribes heere wrought woe to their neighbors these Danites seeing all the plagues and mischiefes which are euery where to be found are to bee imputed vnto them to verifie that which is written Woe be to the world because of her iniquities And this be said of the tribe of Dan and of all the rest Now there remaineth a question to be answered and so I end the whole chapter And the question is this seeing the tribes dwelt with the Canaanites and tooke tribute of them whether it bee lawfull for a godly man to dwell and bee conuersant with the vngodly as Papists c I answere that seeing Christ kept company with the publicans and great sinners and seeing Saint Paul would not giue leaue to a beleeuing wife to depart from an vnbeleeuing husband if hee will dwell with her therefore it is not simply vnlawfull to dwell with such but if the godly be well setled in sound knowledge and strong in faith so as they be not tied to communicate with them in their false worship of God they may but yet with certaine cautions As first this that in companying with them they intendand endeauour to perswade them to sound religion and that to this end they shew themselues kinde and gentle the better to draw them on But if they be in feare and danger to be drawne themselues they ought to cut off such fellowship The second thing that they must take heede of is that they liue vnreproueably and without iust blame among them for otherwise they shall do them hurt and harden them rather then doe them the least good Thirdly they may not in the least matter vnder any colour of friendship mixe themselues with them either in their false opinions or in worshiping God no not although they should hope thereby to draw them on the easier to embrace Christ as many hypocriticall professors doe and thereby couer their voluptuousnesse couetousnesse and prophanenesse who should rather remember this that they may not do euill that good may come of it Lastly they must take heede that they seeke not their owne profit at their hands by companying with thē nor to take their pleasure in gaming play with them whereby they bewraying their weakenesse as impatience greediesse of gaine wrangling or being immoderate in spending the time therein they should set them further backe from imbracing the Gospell Therefore if these cautions be not regarded and also if wee haue no hope to win them wee must craue pardon and leaue them to God hauing no more to doe with them in that familiar manner further then of necessity which may possibly bee either on our part or on theirs as if their neede should bee great and they had no other way to bee relieued by then by vs or if our liues should be preserued by them In which case we ought to be very warie lest we be intangled by them Also we may company with them if we bee linked to them by the bond of nature as they being our parents brethren kinsfolke or in ciuill respect as being our magistrates masters c. But as for putting children to schoole with
third verse which I haue ioyned with the fifth to shew that Israel dwelt among the nations this doubt is to bee answered namely how it can bee affirmed that the cities of the Philistims are said not to haue been possessed of the Israelites I meane Ekron Askelon and Gaza but to be at the time heere mentioned in the Philistims hands seeing in the first chapter of this booke vers 18. it is said that they were taken and enioyed with their borders of Iuda and Simeon in warre made with them To the which it is answered that they were indeed at that time taken by them but now after that they were not in the possession of them but for the sinnes of Israel their strength was abated and the Philistims power was confirmed Whereby without any difficulty it came to passe that they recouered them againe By the which it may bee obserued what changes and alterations sin worketh God in his prouidence so appointing for by their sinne this came to passe By eating the forbidden fruit what an alteration was wrought in the estate of our first parents that they lost their honour their holines and their happinesse in one moment of time and were brought to the contrary euen to vtter misery And Dauid for that one sinne with Bathsheba the wife of Vriah what a breach made he of the most sweet peace of conscience which hee before enioyed beside the changes that it wrought in this life by many punishments and in his posterity also The like is wel knowne of Sampson Salomon and many other of the Lords people That we may see that he spareth not his owne if they prouoke him as he saith in the Psalme If mine owne children breake my lawes I will punish euen their sin with the rod c. And are they exempt in this age who sin in the like manner How are many of them plagued for breaking couenant with God in committing some reprochfull sinne as adultery deceit spite and reuenge oppression or wrong grosse worldlinesse forsaking their constant course in a godly life and their zealous worshipping of him These I say and such like iniquities for so cunningly can the diuell handle the matter that they may all possibly fasten vpon them what changes thinke wee doe they bring to passe as sorrow for ioy feare in stead of godly courage and confidence shame for credit and good report with many such like This is foretold in Deuteronomie 28. a chapter to this purpose worthie to bee often read ouer because it containeth a prophesie of all the euils which were inflicted vpon this people in their times for their apostacy and backsliding from God If a man be absent but seuen yeeres from his acquaintance Oh how will they say hee is changed But this is nothing to the change that sinne worketh Yea and not only the forementioned sinnes which are grosse among men doe worke these great changes in their liues but also those which are grosse in the eyes of the Lord euen they do the like as the minding delighting in and attempting the forementioned sinnes or the like though it bee but vnder-hand as they say and not effected nor committed what alterations doe these worke in a man also And beside their other punishments which change and disfigure them the often buffeting of the conscience which is some taste of hell doth also as hornets torment them What doth idlenesse of minde worke and the wandring after other loathsome lusts and desires also a slight following of mens callings and much more the grosse neglecting of them wherein yet faithfully and diligently to be occupied is a piece of Paradise what do these I say and such like bring to passe but vnwelcome changes decay and wasting of their estate with bondage and disguisednesse which they bring themselues into in such wise that they haue not the benefit of the Christian life themselues and they are afraid through an euill conscience to reproue sinne in other and if they should yet are they not regarded in that which they say for they haue dishonoured the Lord and hee hath taken their honour from them that their words shall not bee set by So that I may truly say their sin hath brought many changes into their liues and they neuer almost recouer the comfort of their former daies for I speake of such as haue knowne better since they vnhappily lost it I haue but shewed in some sort what changes sinne worketh in Gods people And seeing it is lesse doubted of that it doth much more in the liues of them who were neuer well gouerned I will not make the like discourse of the effects that it worketh in them but shut vp briefly that which I meane to say thereof And to speake the truth as sinne swarmeth rageth and getteth the vpper hand in them so it maketh strip and wast where it goeth and hauoke of all that good is where any apparance was of it in them as the vnseasonable frost or East wind doth of the tender blossomes in the spring and the like it doth worke in their estates and liues that commit it by bringing in punishment and iudgements of God thicke and three-fold As by whoredome and riot the wasting of body and goods by drunkennesse diseases by quarrelling and vncharitablenesse sutes and losse of their sweet peace in neighbourhood by pride stoutnesse and statelinesse a fall yea ruine and vtter misery Examples are infinite as in the destruction of Babel for their insolency against God the swallowing vp of Chorah for his rebellion may be seene also in the drowning of Pharaoh for mocking of God so oft to the young man the threatening of iudgement for his iollity the rich mans going to hell for taking his pleasure heere in all these I say with a great number more this is to bee seene what woe sinne hath wrought to the committers of it and it would much more in Scripture and experience at this day appeare if men were not wittingly blind in beholding it as also but that God hath had a regard to maintaine and preserue society among men for which cause many wicked ones are spared for a time And this be said of the changes that sinne worketh which I haue said by occasion of the Israelites losing and yeelding againe the cities of the Philistims with the priuiledges thereto belonging into their hands because of their sinne Whereas it was said before vers 1. and 4. that those nations were left to try Israel whether they would obey the commandements of the Lord here it is set downe how they carried themselues in the triall namely that they made marriages with them and serued their gods they had no power to resist and doe otherwise And by this we may see with what danger wee liue among Idolaters and wicked men for in that it is said heere that they ioyned in marriage together which was specially forbidden them in Deuteronomie
instrument the sonne of a good man rose vp to attempt and worke the mischiefe which his father abhorred wee may see what wicked posteritie come oft times of a godly seed and how vnlike the parents in goodnesse whereas one would thinke that they should rather labour to resemble and to be like those their godly parents at the least The generation after Ioshuahs time degenerated from that which was before it Ely Samucl and Dauid most of the good Priests Prophets Kings had wicked children euen as is to be seene in all ages The reason is first the want of good education when they are vntaught and ill gouerned Secondly as the best corne breedes chaffe so the godly beget their children not as they are godly but as they are men naturall and sinfull neither is Gods grace tied absolutely to them for their parents sake Thirdly pride stubbornnesse wilfulnesse and seeking of libertie in youth and among the rest this is not the least the multitude of bad example I meane which are fit enough to poyson the best natures though they haue both instruction and outward gouernment So that many leaud youths are trained vp at the great cost of their parents who yet lose all and their hope also their children not walking in their steps Oh what multitudes are there of such in our age In which yet there is more done for making them good especially in some places then hath been in former times though they are rare who offend not herein euen in the sight of others A thing much to be lamented to see so many youths vnlike their good parents but where none or weake meanes are vsed to make them better it is not to be marueiled at The woe to both is not knowne cōmonly til it be so felt that it is past remedying The beholding of the contrary as it is rare so it is goodly and beautifull But it is a great cause why the death of childrē before they come to proofe should be borne patiently seeing it is not to be doubted but that most of them are taken away at the best and who knoweth to what woe they might be brought if they should liue It is to be lamented that the examples of good parēts being so few yet euen of these few few to speake of preuaile with their children from whence the common complaint of all sorts is as theirs to Samuel A good father but the child walkes not in his steps For the infinite bad parternes of gouernours are generally embraced none fearing to follow where they haue led the dance no though it bee to destruction as if all the beasts of the forrest should each follow the tract of his fellow to the den of the Lion because till they be within the den and past recouery there appeares in the footsteps no danger It is said of Iacobs ewes that beholding the pilled roddes laid in their water-troughes they conceiued particoloured lambes forthwith and so a man would thinke that so neere and domesticall examples as good parents are to their children who are nourished by them grow vp with them and are warmed by their heate as Nathan speakes of the poore mans sheepe yea haue the benefit of the familiar instruction and conuersation of such as are of their owne disposition and nature a man would thinke I say that such should take after them in grace as they doe resemble them in their visage or naturall properties A man would thinke that they should as it were through a mutuall feeling of the ioy which a good parent hath of a wise child and of the sorrow by the contrary that they should also reioyce in following their goodnesse Thus wee might thinke and thus it should be if God in his secret iudgement had not prepared some euen of them also to the euill day It is said of Elie his children they hearkned not to their father because God had determined to destroy them to wit for the in expiable offence they had caused to the people by their polluting the holy things of God And so also it is pitifull to thinke that the other sort the posteritie of bad parents dare venture so confidently to goe where their ancestours haue gone as it were taking sinne by tradition from them yea filling vp the measure which they attained not to as our Sauiour speaketh This in a manner is generally seene and where it is in a few otherwise there another father euen the Father of Christ hath reuealed it from heauen flesh and blood hath not taught it And this dregge of Poperie is naturall without teaching to make it a strong piller of a mans religion to do◠as the forefathers haue done In the story of the Church it is reported that a certaine Heathen Prince hauing receiued so much light of true religion that hee was content to bee baptized yet when hee came to the water stopped and asked the Minister this question Whether haue more of my ancestors being vnbaptized gone to heauen or hell To hell saith the Minister So will I then said he and refused Christianitie vrterly Yea doubtlesse nature teacheth no better then this euen rather to go to hell with the parents then to heauen without them Both these I say are lamentable as for the vse that both sorts are to make thereof I shall not need to insist vpon it here hauing oft vrged it in other places Now of his shifts which I will put together for breuitie sake matter arising so plentifully And marke by what fraud he goeth about it insinuating with them that it he be not King ouer them then his seuenty brethren must reigne together But that he thought they would neuer allow or consent to Secondly where hee telles them it were better be so that he reigned it was vntrue also for that is best alwaies that God appoints who did detest this Thirdly in that he setteth out himselfe as though hee should say who is firter for your benefit then I they ought to haue knowne that in creating of Magistrates the publike and not the priuate commoditie is to be respected That which we haue tolearne hereby is this that all shifts and subrile practises are ready at hand with them that intend mischiefe and that which they goe about is by lying cogging and falshood But as for the Lord in their dealings he must stand by and a same off The reason of both is the heart of men is euill aboue measure and is deepe and hath many abominations in it They deuise and goe to worke without him and we see likewise that thereafter they prosper To these way bee added other and some that professe the Gospell who should be ashamed to be found so grossely to degenerate as to vse like practises to the other though they be couered with some fairer shewes who cast off God and say in their hearts depart from vs we desire not to haue acquaintance with thee These shal one day
staied not till he had serued seuentie Princes shamefully after his cruell humour but was fleshed more and more by his successe O horrible and vnnaturall blood-shedding crueltie Here wee may see what monsters are in the world worthily to be driuen frō amongst men and to be made spectacles and gazing stocks by open and most sharpe punishment inflicted vpon them Such were Athaliah Haman and Absolous Such were they who wrought that bloodie massacre in France and they who were the chiefe doers in the persecution here in England which may be remembred by some that yet liue and they of the Gunpowder-treason come nothing behinde that I say no more But how much more cruell are they who murther many soules for want of due foode But touching the sinne of crueltie I haue spoken in chap. 1. 7. and chap. 8. 20. and forward There let the reader supply this place from thence Many not ill minded desire to know why God doth suffer such abominations I answere that God knoweth the cause who ruleth iustly and who as a godly father speakes ordereth the euill appetites of the wicked to fulfill his prouidence though he infuse not euill into them as he wrought the saluation of his elect by the fall of Adam and the treacherie of Iudas and yet wee are not neither ought to bee altogether ignorant why God doth this Wee are not to appoint the Lord how to gouerne the world nor by whom nor how he will be glorified And he who may marueile that God is patient toward the bad how can he thinke himselfe too good to suffer for his own deserts be the instruments neuer so euil when our Sauiour suffered for vs without cause But if any of vs bee without danger and hurt by such wicked persons who are one of Gods scourges to correct vs let vs reckon it among the great blessings of God and vse it accordingly But in this verse let vs proceede further with Abimelech He considered that his seuentie brethren might be like to hinder and resist him and therefore what did he hee resolued to dispatch them all and so hee did except one The hainousnes of the fact deterred him not from going through stitch with it he would not leaue it by halues nay he could not be quiet till euery obstacle and hindrance was remoued and each eye-sore taken away It bewraieth a most fearfull propertie in the workers of euill that cannot desist nor leaue of till they haue brought their vngodly attempts to a full and perfect end wherein the godly seldome match them in contraire actions A man would haue thought these seuentie men had been a great blocke in an vsurpers way to keepe him from proceeding currantly in his bad course and Abimelech saw that to but yet it was not a barre strong enough to keepe him from villanie but he broke it as it were to peeces rather then it should stand vp in his way to hinder him from his purpose For that he was resolued to goe forward with and therefore whatsoeuer opposition should come against it hee would beare it downe as floods and windes pull downe hils bankes bridges gates trees and whatsoeuer comes in their way and yeelds not to them Woe be to him that meetes a Beare robbed of her whelpes and yet better so then crosse an vsurper of his ambitious desire although these his brethren had not crost him but by silence and sitting still Ambition is a raging monster we see and although it thirst after honour yet seldome is it asswaged without blood if occasion and opportunitie serue Nothing is so holy so pretious so neere which it prophaneth not defloureth and destroyeth not Euen his owne sonne it hee had stood in his way had tasted of the same sawce which his brethren did as it is reported Herod the great did in the massacre of the infants But it became him well enough to keepe that to himselfe by villanie which hee had inuaded by wickednes before Euen as his successors at this day these Italionated diuels and disciples of Machiauel both practise and defend according to his rules that a kingdome gotten by force must be preserued also by violence Againe he that will rule must not stand nicely vpon vertues but when occasion serues play both the lyon and foxe and worke out his enemies by fraud or crueltie any way so he can doe it Againe let them strike once but as Abishai said strike home and kill all at once that stand in his way and sit in his light For to kill often is odious but to make a riddance all at once roote and branch is with such policie and a necessitie pardonable When I thinke of this fact of Abimelech I could not but thus resemble it to these monsters who lately offered to giue vs an experiment of the like enterprise in their powder-treason which as no age euer matched so no age shall euer forget it to their eternall shame and the Lords endlesse praise For as they were Abimelechs in ambition and crueltie so the Lord made them Abimelechs in confusion Abimelechs ioy lasted not theirs was but hope and yet made them ashamed The Lord sent a spirit of diuision betweene him and Shechem so hee did betweene these one betrayed the other So let thine enemies perish O God c. Therefore let all wise men for all are not great ones circumspectly take heede and beware what sinnes they resolue to commit for surely whatsoeuer they giue ouer themselues vnto they will make no bones of the necessarie attendants thereof be they neuer so hideous and horrible As it is hard to say whether this parricide or his ambition were greater saue onely that the former serued the latter Men little dreame how deeply they plunge themselues when they vndertake any sinne themselues often are astonished at themselues but that when they haue begun they must play the men in going forward and not shrink for it Herod himselfe was not willing to behead Iohn but when he had said the word he must not goe backe he thought for his credit sake therefore hee went through Hee might thanke his luxuriousnes and iollitie which caused the oath and the oath the murther So saith the Apostle Because men set it downe they will be rich they meete with their match and fall into many temptations and snares c. Tush tell not them of trifles of lyons in the way they are busie in pursuing their game and they will get it whatsoeuer it cost them for they haue so decreed and set it downe Well learne to resolue onely vpon that which is lawfull and so be free from any great inconuenience and goe through it with commendation for all other resolution is diuelish I would bee larger in this but that there followeth in the sixth verse a doctrine not much differing from this argument But in this bloodie act of Abimelechs one of his brethren escaped his hands and in that one of