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
shamelesse vnthankfulnesse to deny it When Abraham had vanquished the fiue Kings deliuered Lot and his familie the King of Salem met him with bread and wine and now these sonnes of Abram after an equall victorie aske dry bread and are denied by their brethren Craftily yet vnder pretence of a false title had they acknowledged the victory of Gideon with what forhead could they haue denied him bread Now I knowe not vvhether their faithlesnesse or enuy lie in their way Are the hands of Zeba and Zalmunna in thy hands There vvere none of these Princes of Succoth and Penuel but thought thēselues better men then Gideon That hee therefore alone should doe that which all the Princes of Israel durst not attempt they hated and scorned to heare It is neuer safe to measure euents by the power of the instrument nor in the causes of God whose calling makes the difference to measure others by our selues There is nothing more dangerous then in holy businesses to stand vpon comparisons and our own reputation sith it is reason GOD should both chuse and blesse where he lists To haue questioned so sudden a victory had bin pardonable but to deny it scornfully was vnworthy of Israelites Carnall men think that impossible to others vvhich themselues cannot doe From hence are their censures hence their exclamations Gideon hath vowed a fearfull reuenge and now performes it the taunts of his brethren may not stay him from the pursute of the Midianites Common enmities must first be opposed domesticall at more leysure The Princes of Succoth feared the tyranny of the Midianitish Kings but they more feared Gideons victory What a condition hath their enuy drawn them into that they are sory to see Gods enemies captiue that Israels freedome must bee their death that the Midianites they must tremble at one and the same Reuenger To see themselues prisoners to Zeba and Zalmunna had not been so fearefull as to see Zeba Zalmunna prisoners to Gideon Nothing is more terrible to euill mindes then to read their owne condemnation in the happy successe of others Hell it selfe would want one peece of his torment if the wicked did not knowe those whom they contemned glorious I knowe not whether more to commend Gideons wisedome and moderation in the proceedings then his resolution and iustice in the execution of this business I doe not see him runne furiouslie into the Citie and kill the next His sword had not been so drunken with bloud that it shold know no difference But he writes down the names of the Princes and singles them forth for reuenge When the Leaders of GOD come to a Iericho or Ai their slaughter was vnpartiall not a woman or child might liue to tell newes but now that Gideon comes to a Succoth a Citie of Israelites the Rulers are called foorth to death the people are frighted with the example not hurt vvith the iudgement To enwrappe the innocent in any vengeance is a murderous iniustice Indeede where all ioyne in the sin all are woorthy to meet in the punishment It is like the Citizens of Succoth could haue been glad to succour Gideon if their Rulers had not forbidden they must therefore escape vvhiles their Princes perish I cannot thinke of Gideons reuenge without horror That the Rulers of Succoth shold haue their flesh torne from their backs with thornes briers that they should be at once beaten and scratcht to death What a spectacle it was to see their bare bones looking some-where through the bloudie ragges of their flesh and skinne and euery stroke worse then the last death multiplied by torment Iustice is sometimes so seuere that a tender beholder can scarce discerne it from crueltie I see the Midianites fare lesse ill the edge of the sword makes a speedie and easie passage for their liues whiles these rebellious Israelites die lingringly vnder thornes and bryers enuying those in their death whom their life abhorred Howsoeuer men liue or die without the pale of the Church a wicked Israelite shal be sure of plagues How many shal vnwish themselues Christians when Gods reuenges haue found them out The place where Iacob wrestled with GOD and preuailed now hath wrestled against God and takes a fall they see God auenging which would not belieue him deliuering It was now time for Zeba Zalmunna to follow those their troups to the graue whom they had led in the field Those which the day before were attended with an hundred thirty fiue thousand followers haue not so much as a Page now left to weepe for their death and haue liued onely to see all their friends and some enemies die for their sakes Who can regard earthly greatness that sees one night change two of the greatest Kings of the world into captiues It had been both pitie and sinne that the heads of that Midianitish tyranny into which they had drawne so many thousands should haue escaped that death And yet if priuate reuenge had not made Gideon iust I doubt whether they had died The bloud of his brothers calls for theirs and awakes his sword to their execution Hee both knew and complained of the Madianitish oppression vnder which Israel groned yet the cruelty offered to all the thousands of his Fathers sonnes had not drawne the bloud of Zeba and Zalmunna if his own mothers sons had not bled by their hands Hee that slew the Rulers of Succoth and Penuel spared the people now hath slaine the people of Midian and would haue spared their Rulers but that God which wil finde occasions to wind wicked men into iudgement wil haue them slain in a priuate quarrell which had more deserued it for the publike If we may not rather say that Gideon reuenged these as a Magistrate not as a brother For Gouernors to respect their own ends in publique actions and to weare the sword of iustice in their owne sheath it is a wrongfull abuse of authoritie The slaughter of Gideons brethren was not the greatest sinne of the Midianitish Kings this alone shall kill them vvhen the rest expected an vniust remission How many lewd men hath God paid with some one sinne for all the rest Some that haue gone away with vnnaturall filthinesse capitall thefts haue clipped off their own dayes with their coine Others whose bloudy murders haue been punished in a mutinous word Others whose suspected felony hath payd the price of their vnknowne rape O GOD thy iudgements are iust euen vvhen mens are vniust Gideons young son is bidden to reuenge the death of his Vncles His sword had not yet learn'd the way to bloud especially of Kings though in irons Deadly executions require strength both of heart and face How are those aged in euill that can draw their swords vpon the lawfully Anointed of God These Tyrants pleade not now for continuance of life but for the haste of their death Fall thou vpon vs. Death is euer accompanied with paine which it is no maruell if we
found a worse Tyrant then their Eglon. Israel is for euery market they sold themselues to Idolatry God sells them to the Canaanites it is no maruell they are slaues if they wil be Idolaters After their longest intermission they haue now the sorest bondage None of their Tyrants were so potent as Iabin with his 900. chariots of Iron The longer the reckoning is deferred the greater is the summe God prouides on purpose mighty Aduersaries for his Church that their humiliation may bee the greater in sustaining and his glory may be greater in deliuerance I doe not finde any Prophet in Israel during their sin but so soone as I heare newes of their repentance mention is made of a Prophetesse Iudge of Israel There is no better signe of Gods reconciliation then the sending of his holy messengers to any people He is not vtterly fallen out vvith those whom hee blesses with prophecie Whom yet doe I see raysed to this honour Not any of the Princes of Israel not Barac the Captaine not Lapidoth the husband but a woman for the honor of her sex a wife for the honor of wedlock Deborah the wife of Lapidoth Hee that had choice of all the millions of Israel culls out two weake women to deliuer his people Deborah shall iudge Iael shall execute All the Palaces of Israel must yeeld to the Palme-tree of Deborah The weakenesse of the instruments redounds to the greater honour of the workman Who shall aske God any reason of his elections but his owne pleasure Deborah was to sentence not to strike to commaund not to execute This act is masculine fit for some Captaine of Israel She was the Head of Israel it was meet som other should be the hand it is an imperfect and titular gouernment vvhere there is a commaunding power without correction without execution The message of Deborah findes out Barac the son of Abinoam in his obscure secrecie and calls him from a corner of Nepthali to the honour of this exploit Hee is sent for not to gette the victory but to take it not to ouercome but to kill to pursue not to beat Sisera Who could not haue done this work whereto not much courage no skill belonged Yet euen for this wil God haue an instrument of his ovvne choice It is most fit that GOD shold serue himselfe where he list of his owne neither is it to be inquired whom we thinke meet for any imployment but whom God hath called Deborah had beene no Prophetesse if shee durst haue sent in her owne name Her message is from him that sent herselfe Hath not the Lord God of Israel commaunded Baracs answer is faithfull tho conditionate and doth not so much intend a refusall to goe without her as a necessary bond of her presence vvith him VVho can blame him that hee would haue a Prophetesse in his cōpany If the man had not been as holy as valiant he wold not haue wished such societie How many thinke it a perpetual bondage to haue a prophet of God at their elbow God had neuer sent for him so farre if he could haue bin content to goe vp without Deborah Hee knew that there was both a blessing and incouragement in that presence It is no putting any trust in the success of those men that neglect the messengers of God To prescribe that to others which we draw back from dooing our selues is an argument of hollowness and falsity Barac shall see that Deborah doth not offer him that cup whereof she dare not beginne without regard of her sexe shee marches with him to Mount Tabor and reioyces to be seen of the tenne thousand of Israel With what scorne did Sisera looke at these gleanings of Israel How vnequall did this match seeme of ten thousand Israelites against his three hundred thousand foot ten thousand horse nine hundred chariots of Iron And now in a brauery he calls for his troupes and meanes to kill this handfull of Israel with the very sight of his piked chariots and onely feared it would be no victory to cutte the throates of so few The faith of Deborah and Barac was not appalled with this world of Aduersaries which from Mount Tabor they saw hiding all the Vally belowe them they knew whom they had belieued and how little an arme of flesh could do against the God of Hosts Barac went down against Sisera but it was GOD that destroyed him The Israelites did not this day wield their owne swords least they should arrogate any thing God told them before hand it should be his own act I heare not of one stroke that any Canaanite gaue in this fight as if they were called hither onely to suffer And now proud Sisera after many curses of the heauinesse of that Iron carriage is gladde to quit his Chariot and betake himselfe to his heeles Who euer yet knew any earthly thing trusted in without disappointment It is wonder if God make vs not at last as weary of whatsoeuer hath stolne our harts from him as euer wee were fond Yet Sisera hopes to haue sped better then his followers in so seasonable an harbour of Iael If Heber and Iael had not been great persons there had beene no note taken of their Tents There had been no league betwixt King Iabin and them now their greatnes makes them known their league makes them trusted The distresse of Sisera might haue made him importunate but Iael begins the curtesie and exceeds the desire of her guest Hee askes vvater to drinke shee giues him milke hee wishes but shelter shee makes him a bed hee desires the protection of her Tent she couers him with a mantle And now Sisera pleases himselfe with this happy change and thinks how much better it is to be here then in that whirling of chariots in that horror of flight amongst those shriekes those woundes those carcasses Whiles hee is in these thoughts his weariness easie reposall hath brought him asleepe VVho would haue looked that in this tumult and danger euen betwixt the very iawes of death Sisera should finde time to sleepe How many vvorldlie harts doe so in the midst of their spirituall perils Now whiles hee was dreaming doubtlesse of the clashing of armors ratling of chariots neighing of horses the clamor of the conquered the furious pursute of Israel Iael seeing his temples lie so faire as if they inuited the naile hammer entred into the thought of this noble execution certainly not without som checks of doubt and pleas of feare What if I strike him And yet who am I that I should dare to thinke of such an act Is not this Sisera the famousest captaine of the world whose name hath wont to be fearefull to whole Nations What if my hand should swarue in the stroke What if hee should awake whiles I am lifting vp this instrument of death What if I should be surprised by some of his followers while the fact is greene and yet bleeding Can the murder of so great a
becomes well the heart of any man but most of a Leuite He that had helped to offer so manie sacrifices to God for the multitude of euery Israelites sinnes saw how proportionable it was that man should not hold one sinne vnpardonable Hee had serued at the Altar to no purpose if hee whose trade was to sue for mercie had not at all learned to practice it And if the reflexion of mercie wrought this in a seruant vvhat shall wee expect from him whose essence is mercy O God wee doe euery day breake the holy couenant of our loue Wee prostitute our selues to euery filthy tentation and then runne and hide our selues in our fathers house the world If thou didst not seeke vs vp wee should neuer returne If thy gracious proffer did not preuent vs wee should be vncapable of forgiueness It were abundant goodnes in thee to receiue vs when we shold intreat thee but lo thou intreatest vs that we wold receiue thee How should wee now adore and imitate thy mercy sith there is more reason wee should sue to each other then that thou shouldst sue to vs because we may as well offend as be offended I doe not see the womans father make any meanes for reconciliation but when remission came home to his doores no man could entertaine it more thankfully The nature of many men is forward to accept and negligent to sue for they can spend secret wishes vpon that which shall cost them no indeauour Great is the power of loue which can in a sort vndoe euills past if not for the act yet for the remembrance Where true affection was once conceiued it is easily peeced againe after the strongest interruption Heere needs no tedious recapitulation of wrongs no importunitie of sute The vnkindnesses are forgotten their loue is renued and now the Leuite is not a stranger but a sonne By how much more willingly he came by so much more vnwillingly hee is dismissed The foure moneths absence of his daughter is answered with foure dayes feasting Neither was there so much ioy in the former wedding feast as in this because then he deliuered his daughter intire now desperate then he found a sonne but now that sonne hath found his lost daughter and he found both The recouerie of any good is farre more pleasant then the continuance Little doe we knowe what euill is towards vs Now did this old man and this restored couple promise themselues all ioy contentment after this vnkind storm and said in themselues Now we begin to liue And now this feast which was meant for their new nuptialls prooues her funerall Euen when wee let our selues loosest to our pleasures the hand of God thogh inuisibly is writing bitter things against vs sith we are not worthie to know it is wisedome to suspect the worst whilst it is least seene Sometimes it falls out that nothing is more iniurious then curresie If this old man had thrust his sonne and daughter early out of doores they had auoyded this mischiefe now his louing importunity detaines them to their hurt and his owne repentance Such contentment doth sincere affection find in the presence of those we loue that death it selfe hath no other name but departing The greatest comfort of our life is the fruition of friendship the dissolution whereof is the greatest paine of death As all earthly pleasures so this of loue is distasted with a necessitie of leauing How worthy is that onely loue to take vp our harts which is not open to any danger of interruption which shall out-liue the date euen of faith and hope and is as eternall as that GOD and those blessed spirits whom we loue If we hang neuer so importunately vpon one anothers sleeues and shed floods of teares to stop their way yet wee must be gone hence no occasion no force shall then remooue vs from our fathers house The Leuite is stayed beyond his time by importunitie the motions whereof are boundlesse and infinite one day drawes on another neither is there any reason of this dayes stay which may not serue still for to morrow His resolution at last breaks throgh all those kind hinderances rather will hee venture a benighting then an vnnecessary delay It is a good hearing that the Leuite makes haste home An honest mans heart is where his calling is Such a one when he is abroade is like a fish in the ayre whereinto if it leape for recreation or necessitie yet it soone returns to his own element This charge by how much more sacred it is so much more attendance it expecteth Euen a day breakes square vvith the conscionable The Sunne is ready to lodge before them His seruant aduises him to shorten his iourney holding it more fit to trust an early In of the Iebusites then to the mercy of the night And if that counsell had been followed perhaps they which found Iebusites in Israel might haue found Israelites in Iebus No wise man can hold good counsell disparaged by the meanenesse of the author If wee be gladde to receiue any treasure from our seruant why not precious admonitions It was the zeale of this Leuite that shut him out of Iebus We will not lodge in the City of strangers The Iebusites were strangers in religion not strangers enough in their habitation The Leuite wil not receiue common curtesie from those which were aliens frō God though home-borne in the hart of Israel It is lawfull enough in tearmes of ciuilitie to deale with Infidels the earth is the Lords and wee may enioy it in the right of the Owner while we protest against the wrong of the Vsurper yet the lesse communion with Gods enemies the more safety If there were another aire to breathe in from theirs another earth to tread vpon they should haue their owne Those that affect a familiar intirenesse with Iebusites in conuersation in leagues of amitie in matrimoniall contracts bewray either too much boldness or too little conscience Hee hath no bloud of an Israelite that delights to lodge in Iebus It was the fault of Israel that an heathenish towne stood yet in the nauell of the Tribes and that Iebus was no sooner turn'd to Ierusalem Their lenitie and neglect were guilty of this neighborhood that now no man can passe from Bethleē Iuda to mount Ephraim but by the Citie of Iebusites Seasonable iustice might preuent a thousand euills which afterwards know no remedy but patience The way was not long betwixt Iebus and Gibeah for the Sun was stooping when the Leuite was ouer against the first is but now declined whē he comes to the other How his hart was lightned when he was entred into an Israelitish Citie and can thinke of nothing but hospitalitie rest securitie There is no perfume so sweet to a Traueller as his own smoake Both expectation and feate doe commonly disappoint vs for seldome euer do wee inioy the good we looke for or smart with a feared euill The poore Leuite could haue found