wish short Wee doe not more affect protraction of an easefull life then speed in our dissolution for heere euery pang that tends toward death renewes it To lie an houre vnder death is tedious but to be dying a whole day we thinke aboue the strength of humane patience Oh what shal wee then conceiue of that death which knowes no end As this life is no lesse fraile then the bodie which it animates so that death is no lesse eternall then the soule which must endure it For vs to be dying so long as wee now haue leaue to hue is intolerable and yet one onely minute of that other tormenting death is worse then an age of this Oh the desperate infidelitie of carelesse men that shrinke at the thought of a momentany death and feare not eternal This is but a killing of the body that is a destruction of body and soule Who is so worthy to weare the Crowne of Israel as hee that won the Crowne from Midian Their Vsurpers were gone now they are headless It is a doubt whether they were better to haue had no Kings or Tyrants They sue to Gideon to accept of the Kingdom are repulsed There is no greater example of modestie then Gideon When the Angel spake to him he abased himselfe belowe all Israel when the Ephraimites contended with him hee prefers their gleanings to his vintage and casts his honour at their feet and now when Israel profers him that kingdome which he had merited hee refuses it Hee that in ouercomming would allow them to cry The sword of the Lord and of Gideon in gouerning will haue none but The sword of the Lord. That which others plotte and sue and sweare and bribe for Dignity and superiority hee seriously reiects vvhether it were for that he knew God had not yet called them to a Monarchy or rather for that hee saw the Crowne among thornes What doe wee ambitiously affect the commaund of these mole-hils of earth when wise men haue refused the profers of Kingdomes Why doe we not rather labor for that Kingdome which is free from all cares from all vncertaintie Yet he that refuses their Crown calls for their earings although not to enrich himselfe but religion So long had God bin a stranger to Israel that now superstition goes currant for deuout worship It were pitty that good intentions shold make any man wicked here they did so Neuer man meant better then Gideon in his rich Ephod yet this very act set all Israel on whoring God had chosen a place and a seruice of his owne When the wit of man will be ouer-pleasing God with better deuises then his owne it turnes to madness and ends in mischiefe Abimelechs Vsurpation GIdeon refused the kingdome of Israel when it was offred his seuenty sonnes offred not to obtaine that Scepter which their fathers victorie had deserued to make hereditary onely Abimelec the concubines sonne sues and ambitiously plots for it VVhat could Abimelec see in himselfe that hee should ouer-looke all his brethren If hee lookt to his father they were his equals if to his mother they were his betters Those that are most vnworthy of honor are horest in the chase of it whiles the conscience of better deserts bids men sitte still and stay to be either importuned or neglected There can be no greater signe of vnfitness then vehement sute It is hard to say whether there be more pride or ignorance in Ambition I haue noted this difference betwixt spirituall and earthly honor and the Clients of both wee cannot be worthy of the one without earnest prosecution nor with earnest prosecution worthy of the other The violent obtain heauen onely the meek are worthy to inherit the earth That which an aspiring heart hath proiected it will finde both argument and means to effect If either bribes or fauour will carry it the proud man will not sit out The Shechemites are fit brokers for Abimelec That Citie which once betrayed it selfe to vtter depopulation in yeelding to the sute of Hamor now betraies it selfe and all Israel in yielding to the request of Abimelec By them hath this Vsurper made himselfe a faire way to the throne It was an easie question Whether will ye admitte of the sonnes of Gideon for your Rulers or of Strangers If of the sons of Gideon whether of all or one If of one whether of your owne flesh and bloud or of others vnknown To cast off the sonnes of Gideon for Strangers were vnthankfull To admit of seauentie Kings in one small Country were vnreasonable To admit of any other rather then their owne kinsman were vnnaturall Gideons sons therefore must rule amongst all Israel One of his sonnes amongst those seuentie and who should be that one but Abimelec Natural respects are the most dangerous corrupters of all elections What hope can there bee of worthy Superiors in any free people where neereness of bloud carries it from fitnes of disposition Whiles they say He is our brother they are enemies to themselues and Israel Faire words haue won his brethren they the Sechemites the Sechemites furnish him with mony mony with men His men begin with murder and now Abimelec raignes alone Flattery bribes and bloud are the vsuall stayres of the Ambitious The mony of Baal is a fit hire for murderers that which Idolatry hath gathered is fitlie spent vpon Treason One diuel is ready to help another in mischief Seldome euer is ill-gotten riches better imployed It is no wonder if he that hath Baal his Idol now make an Idol of Honour There was neuer any man that worshipped but one Idol Wo be to them that lie in the way of the Aspiring Tho they be brothers they shall bleed yea the nearer they are the more sure is their ruine VVho would not now thinke that Abimelec should finde an hell in his breast after so barbarous and vnnaturall a massacre and yet behold he is as senselesse as the stone vpon which the bloud of his seauenty brethren was spilt VVhere Ambition hath possest it selfe throughly of the soule it turnes the heart into steele and makes it vncapable of a conscience All sinnes will easily downe vvith the man that is resolued to rise Onely Iotham fell not at that fatall stone with his brethren It is an hard battell where none escapes Hee escapes not to raigne not to reuenge but to be a Prophet and a witnesse of the vengeance of GOD vpon the Vsurper vpon the Abettors Hee liues to tell Abimelec hee was but a bramble a weed rather then a tree A right bramble indeed that grew but out of the base hedg-row of a Concubine that could not lift vp his head from the earth vnlesse he were supported by some bush or pale of Shechem that had laid hold of the fleece of Israel and had drawne bloud of all his brethren and lastly that had no substance in him but the sap of vaine-glory and the pricks of crueltie It vvas better then a kingdom
God It is the qualitie of Superstition to mis-interpret all euents and to feed it selfe with the conceit of those fauours which are so farre from beeing done that their Authors neuer were Why doe not we learn zeale of Idolaters And if they be so forward in acknowledgemeÌ„t of their deliuerances to a false deitie how cheerefully should we ascribe ours to the true O God whatsoeuer be the meanes thou art the Author of all our successe Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodnes and tell the wonders that he doth for the sonnes of men No Musician would serue for this feast but Sampson hee must now bee their sport which was once their terror that hee might want no sorrow scorne is added to his miserie Euery wit and hand playes vpon him Who is not readie to cast his bone and his iest at such a captiue So as doubtlesse hee wisht himselfe no lesse deafe then blinde and that his soule might haue gone out with his eyes Oppression is able to make a wise man mad and the greater the courage is the more painfull the insultation Now Sampson is punished shall the Philistims escape If the iudgement of God beginne at his own what shall becom of his enemies This aduantage shal Sampson make of their tyranny that now death is no punishment to him his soule shall flie foorth in this bitternesse without pain that his dying reuenge shal be no less sweet to him then the liberty of his former life He could not but feel God mockt through him and therfore whiles they are scoffing hee prayes his seriousness hopes to pay them for all those iests If he could haue bin thus earnest with God in his prosperity the Philistims had vvanted this laughing stock No deuotion is so feruent as that which arises froÌ„ extremity O Lord God I pray thee think vpon me O God I beseech thee strengthen mee at this time onely Tho Sampsons haire were shorter yet he knew Gods hand was not as one therefore that had yet eyes â—ow to see him that was inuisible and whose faith was recouered before his strength hee sues to that God which was a party in this indignitie for power to reuenge his wrongs more then his owne It is zeale that moues him and not malice his renued faith tells him that he was destin'd to plague the Philistims reason tells him that his blindnes puts him out of the hope of such another oportunity Knowing therefore that this play of the Philistims must end in his death he recollects all the forces of his soule and body that his death may be a punishment in steed of a disport and that his soule may bee more victorious in the parting then in the animation and so addresses himselfe both to die and kill as one whose soule shall not feele his own dissolution whiles it shal carry so many thousand Philistims with it to the pit All the acts of Sampson are for wonder not for imitation So didst thou O blessed Sauiour our better Sampson conquer in dying and triumphing vpon the charriot of the Crosse didst lead captiuity captiue The law sin death hell had neuer bin vanquisht but by thy death All our life liberty and glory springs out of thy most precious bloud Michaes Idolatrie THE mother of Micha hath lost her siluer and now she falls to cursing She did afterwards but change the forme of her God her siluer was her God ere it did put on the fashion of an Image Else she had not so much cursed to lose it if it had not too much possessed her in the keeping A carnall hart cannot forgoe that wherein it delights without impatience cannot be impatient vvithout curses whereas the man that hath learned to inioy GOD and vse the world smiles at a shipwrack and pitties a theefe and cannot curse but pray Micha had so little grace as to steale from his mother and that out of wantonnesse not out of necessity for if shee had not been rich so much could not haue been stoln from her and now hee hath so much grace as to restore it her curses haue fetcht again her treasures Hee cannot so much loue the mony as hee feares her imprecations Wealth seemes too deare bought with a curse Tho his fingers were false yet his heart was tender Many that make not conscience of committing sinne yet make conscience of facing it It is well for them that they are but nouices in euill those whom custome hath fleshed in sinne can either deny and forfweare or excuse and defend it their seared hearts cannot feele the gnawing of any remorse and their forhead hath learned to be as impudent as their hart is senseless I see no argument of any holinesse in the mother of Micha Her curses were sinne to her selfe yet Micha dares not but feare them I knowe not whether the causelesse curse be more worthy of pitty or derifion it hurts the author not his aduersary but the deserued curses that fall euen from vnholy mouthes are worthy to be feared How much more should a man hold himselfe blasted with the iust imprecations of the godlie What metall are those made of that can applaude themselues in the bitter curses which their oppressions haue wrung from the poore and reioyce in these signes of their prosperity Neither yet was Micha more striken with his mothers curses then with the conscience of sacriledge so soone as he findes there was a purpose of deuotion in this treasure he dares not conceale it to the preiudice as he thought of GOD more then of his mother What shall we say to the palate of those men which as they finde no good relish but in stoln waters so best in those which are stoln from the fountaine of God How soone hath the old woman changed her note Euen now she passed an indefinite curse vpon her sonne for stealing and now shee blesses him absolutely for restoring Blessed be my sonne of the Lord. Shee hath forgotten the theft when shee sees the restitution How much more shall the God of mercies be more pleased with our confession then prouoked with our sinne I doubt not but this siluer and this superstition came out of Egypt together with the mother of Micha This history is not so late in time as in place for the Tribe of Dan was not yet setled in that first diuision of the promised land so as this old woman had seen both the Idolatry of Egypt the golden calfe in the wildernesse and no doubt contributed some of her earings to that Deity and after all the plagues which shee saw inflicted vpon her brethren for that Idol of Horeb and Baal-Peor she stil reserues a secret loue to superstition and now showes it Where mis-religion hath once possessed it selfe of the hart it is very hardly clensed out but like the plague it will hang in the very clothes after long lurking breake forth in an vnexpected infection and old wood is the aptest to take
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
Leader be hid or vnreuenged Or if I might hope so yet can my heart allow mee to be secretly trecherous Is there not peace betwixt my house and him Did not I inuite him to my Tent Doth he not trust to my friendship hospitalitie But what doe these vveake feares these idle fancies of ciuilitie If Sisera be in league with vs yet is he not at defiance with God Is hee not a Tyrant to Israel Is it for nothing that GOD hath brought him into my Tent May I not now finde meanes to repay vnto Israel all their kindnesse to my Grand-father Iethro Dooth not GOD offer mee this day the honour to bee the Rescuer of his people Hath God bidden mee strike and shall I hold my hand No Sisera sleepe now thy last and take here this fatall reward of all thy cruelty and oppression He that put this instinct into her hart did put also strength into her hand He that guided Sisera to her Tent guided the naile throgh his temples which hath made a speedie way for his soule throgh those parts and now hath fastened his eare so close to the earth as if the body had been listening what was becomne of the soule There lyes now the great terror of Israel at the foote of a woman Hee that brought so many hundred thousands into the Field hath not now one Page left either to auert his death or to accompany it or bewaile it Hee that had vaunted of his Iron chariots is slaine by one naile of Iron wanting onely this one point of his infelicity that hee knowes not by whose hand he perished Gideons Calling THe iudgements of God still the further they go the sorer they are the bondage of Israel vnder Iabin was great but it was freedome in comparison of the yoke of the Midianites During the former tyrannie Deborah was permitted to Iudge Israel vnder a Palme-tree Vnder this not so much as priuate habitations will be allowed to Israel Then the seat of iudgement was in the sight of the Sun now their very dwellings must be secret vnder the earth They that reiected the protection of God are glad to seeke to the Mountaines for shelter as they had sauagely abused themselues so they are faine to creepe into dennes caues of the rocks like wilde creatures for safegard God had sowen spirituall seed amongst them and they suffered their heathenish neighbors to pull it vp by the rootes and now no sooner can they sowe their materiall seed but Midianites and Amalekites are ready by force to destroy it As they inwardly dealt with God so GOD deales outwardly by them Their eyes may tell them what their soules haue done yet that God whose mercie is aboue the worst of our sinnes sends first his Prophet with a message of reproofe and then his Angell with a message of deliuerance The Israelites had smarted enough with their seruitude yet God sends them a sharp rebuke It is a good signe when God chides vs his round reprehensions are euer gracious forerunners of mercie wheras his silent conniuence at the wicked argues deepe and secret displeasure The Prophet made way for the Angell reproofe for deliuerance humiliation for comfort Gideon was threshing Wheat by the Wine-presse Yet Israel hath both Wheat and Wine for all the incursions of their enemies The worst estate out of hell hath either some comfort or at least some mitigation in spight of all the malice of the world God makes secret prouision for his owne How should it be but he that ownes the earth and all creatures should reserue euer a sufficiencie from forrainers such the wicked are for his houshold In the worst of the Midianitish tyranny Gideons field and barne are priuiledged as his fleece was afterwards from the shower Why did Gideon thresh out his corne To hide it Not from his neighbours but his enemies his Granary might easily bee more close then his barne As then Israelites threshed out their corne to hide it from the Midianites but now Midianites thresh out corne to hide it from the Israelites These rurall Tyrants of our time do not more lay vp corne then curses he that withdraweth corne the people will curse him yea God will curse him with them for them What shifts nature will make to liue Oh that we could be so carefull to lay vp spirituall foode for our soules out of the reach of those spirituall Midianites vvee could not but liue in despight of all Aduersaries The Angels that haue euer God in their face in their thoughts haue him also in their mouthes The Lord is with thee But this which appeared vnto Gideon was the Angel of the Couenaunt the Lord of Angels Whiles hee was with Gideon he might well say The Lord is with thee He that sent the Comforter vvas also the true Comforter of his Church he wel knew how to lay a sure ground of Consolation and that the onelie remedy of sorrow and beginning of true ioy is The presence of GOD. The griefe of the Apostles for the expected losse of their Master could neuer be cured by any receit but this of the same Angel Behold I am with you to the end of the world What is our glory but the fruition of Gods presence The punishment of the damned is a separation from the beatifical face of God needs must therfore his absence in this life be a great torment to a good heart and no crosse can bee equiualent to this beginning of heauen in the Elect The Lord is with thee Who can complaine either of solitariness or opposition that hath GOD with him With him not only as a witness but as a partie Euen wicked men and diuells cannot exclude God not the bars of hell can shutte him out Hee is with them perforce but to iudge to punish them Yea God will be euer with them to their cost but to protect comfort saue hee is with none but his Whiles he calls Gideon valiant he makes him so How could hee be but valiant that had God with him The godless man may bee carelesse but cannot be other then cowardly It pleases God to acknowledge his owne graces in men that he may interchange his owne glory with their comfort how much more should wee confesse the graces of one another An enuious nature is preiudiciall to God Hee is a strange man in whom there is not some visible good yea in the Diuels themselues wee may easily note some commendable parts of knowledge strength agilitie Let God haue his owne in the worst creature yea let the worst creature haue that praise which God wold put vpon it Gideon cannot passe ouer this salutation as som fashionable complement but layes hold on that part which was most important the tenure of all his comfort and as not regarding the praise of his valour inquires after that vvhich should be the ground of his valour the presence of God God had spoken particularly to him He expostulates for all It
of their sinnes Our sins are not more our debts to God then his iudgements are his debts to our sinnes which at last hee will be sure to pay home There now lies the greatness of Abimelec vpon one stone had hee slaine his seuenty brethren now a stone slaies him His head had stolne the Crown of Israel now his head is smitten And what is Abimelec better that he was a King What difference is there betwixt him and any of his seauenty brethren whom he murdred saue only in guiltinesse They beare but their owne bloud hee the weight of all theirs How happy a thing is it to liue well that our death as it is certaine so may be comfortable What a vanitie it is to insult in the death of them whom wee must follow the same way The Tyran hath his payment that time which he shold haue bestowed in calling for mereie to GOD and washing his bloudie soule with the last teares of contrition he vainly spends in deprecating an idle reproach Kill me that it may not be said He died by a woman A fitte conclusion for such a life The expectation of true and endless torment doth not so much vex him as the friuolous report of a dishonor neither is he so much troubled with Abimelec is frying in hell as Abimelec is slaine by a woman So vaine fooles are niggardly of their reputation prodigall of their soules Doe we not see them runne wilfully into the field into the graue inâ—o hell and all least it shold be said They haue but as much feare as wit Contemplations THE TENTH BOOKE Contayning Ieptha Sampson conceiued Sampsons mariage Sampsons victory Sampsons end Michaes Idolatry TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE MY SINGVLAR GOOD LORD SIR Henrie Danuers Knight Baron of Dantesey A vvorthy patterne of all true Nobilitie accomplished both for warre and peace A munificent fauourer of all learning and vertue I. H. With humble apprecation of all true happinesse Dedicates this part of his poore Labors CONTEMPLATIONS Jeptha ISrael that had now long gone a whoring from GOD hath bin punished by the regiment of the Concubines sonne and at last seekes protection from the sonne of an harlot It is no small miserie to be obliged vnto the vnworthy The concubines son made sute to them They make sute to the son of the harlot It was no fault of Ieptha that hee had an ill mother yet is he branded with the indignitie of his bastardie neither would God conceale this blemish of nature which Ieptha could neither auoyd nor remedy God to show his detestation of whoredom reuenges it not onely vpon the actors but vpon their issue Hence he hath shut out the base-son from the congregation of Israel to the tenth generation that a transient euil might haue a durable reproch attending it And that after the death of the Adulterer yet his shame might liue But that God who iustly ties men to his lawes will not abide that wee should tie him to our lawes or his owne He can both rectifie and ennoble the bloud of Ieptha That no man should be too much discouraged with the errors of his propagation euen the base son of man may be the lawfully begotten of God though hee be cast out from the inheritance of his brethren vpon earth may bee admitted to the kingdome of Israel I heare no praise of the lawfull issue of Gilead onely this mis-begotten sonne is commended for his valour and set at the sterne of Israel The common gifts of God respect not the parentage or blood but are indifferently scattered where he pleases to let them fall The choice of the Almighty is not guided by our rules As in spirituall so in earthly things it is not in him that willeth If GOD would haue men glory in these outward priuiledges he would bestow vpon them none but the worthy Now who can bee proude of strength or greatnes when he sees him that is not so honest yet is more valiant and more aduaunced Had not Ieptha been base he had not been thrust out and if he had not been thrust out from his brethren hee had neuer been the Captaine of Israel By contrarie pases to ours it pleaseth GOD to come to his owne ends and how vsually doth he looke the contrary way to that he moues No man can measure the conclusion of Gods act by his beginning Hee that fetches good out of euill raises the glory of men out of their ruine Men loue to goe the neerest way and often faile GOD commonly goes about and in his owne time comes surely home The Gileadites were not so forward to expell Ieptha as gladde to recall him No Ammonite threatned them when they parted vvith such an helper Now whom they cast out in their peace they fetch home in their danger and misery That God who neuer gaue ought in vaine will finde a time to make vse of any gift that hee hath bestowed vpon men The valour of Ieptha shall not rust in his secrecie but bee imploied to the common preseruation of Israel Necessitie will driue vs to seeke vp all our helps euen those whom our wantonnesse hath despised How iustly are the sutes of our need vp braided with the errors of our prosperitie The Elders of Gilead now heare of their ancient wrong and dare not finde fault with their exprobration Did yee not hate mee and expell me out of my Fathers house How then come yee now to mee in time of Tribulation The same expostulation that Ieptha makes with Gilead GOD also at the same time makes with Israel Ye haue for saken me serued other Gods wherefore should I deliuer you any more Goe cry vnto the gods whom ye haue serued As we so God also findes it seasonable to tell his children of their faults whiles hee is whipping them It is a safe and wise course to make much of those in our peace whom we must make vse of in our extremity else it is but iust that we should be reiected of those whom we haue reiected Can we look for any other answere from God then this Did ye not driue me out of your houses out of your harts in the time of your health and iollitie Did yee not plead the strictnesse of my charge the weight of my yoke Did not your wilfull sinnes expell mee from your soules What doe you now crowching creeping to me in the euill day Surelie O God it is but iustice if thou bee not found of those which vvere glad to lose thee it is thy mercie if after many checks and delaies thou wilt be found at last Where an act cannot be reuersed there is no amends but confession and if God himselfe take vp with this satisfaction He that confesses shall finde mercy how much more shold men hold theÌ„selues well paid with words of humilitie and deprecation Iepthaes wisedome had not bin answerable to his valour if he had not made his match before hand He could not but
and when vpon the triall of a false answer hee saw so apparent trechery yet wilfully betrayes his life by her to his enemies All sinnes all passions haue power to infatuate a man but lust most of all Neuer man that had drunke flagons of wine had lesse reason then this Nazarite Many a one loses his life but this casts it away not in hatred of himselfe but in loue to a strumpet We wonder that a man could possibly be so sottish yet we our selues by tentation becom no lesse insensate Sinful pleasures like a common Dalilah lodge in our bosoms we knowe they aime at nothing but the death of our soule we wil yeeld to them die Euery willing sinner is a Sampson let vs not inuey against his senselesnes but our owne Nothing is so grosse vnreasonable to a well disposed minde which tentation will not represent fit and plausible No soule can out of his owne strength secure himselfe from that sin which he most detesteth As an hood-winkt man sees som little glimmering of light but not enough to guide him so did Sampson who had reason enough left him to make triall of Dalilah by a crafty mis-information but not enough vpon that tryall to distrust and hate her hee had not wit enough to deceiue her thrise not enough to keepe himselfe from being deceiued by her It is not so great wisedom to proue thē whom wee distrust as it is folly to trust them whom wee haue found trecherous Thrise had he seene the Philistims in her chamber ready to susprise him vpon her bonds and yet will needs be a slaue to his Traytor Warning not taken is a certaine presage of destruction and if once neglected it receiue pardon yet thrise is desperate VVhat man would euer play thus with his owne ruine His harlot bindes him and calls-in her executioners to cut his throat hee rises to saue his owne life and suffers them to carry away theirs in peace Where is the courage of Sampson Where his zeale Hee that killed the Philistims for their clothes Hee that slew a thousand of them in the field at once in this quarrell now suffers them in his chamber vnreuenged Whence is this His hands were strong but his hart was effeminate his harlot had diuerted his affection Whosoeuer slackens the raines to his sensuall appetite shall soone grow vnfitte for the calling of GOD. Sampson hath broke the greene withies the new ropes the woofe of his haire yet still suffers himselfe fettered with those inuisible bonds of an harlots loue and can indure her to say How canst thou say I loue thee when thy hart is not with mee thou hast mocked me these three times Wheras he should rather haue said to her How canst thou challenge any loue from me that hast this thrise sought my life Or canst thou thinke my mocks a sufficient reuenge of this trecherie But contrarily he melts at this fire and by her importunate insinuations is wrought against himselfe Wearinesse of solicitation hath won some to those actions which at the first motion they despised like as wee see some sutors are dispatcht not for the equity of the cause but the trouble of the prosccution because it is more easie to yeelde not more reasonable It is more safe to keepe our selues out of the noyse of suggestions then to stand vpon our power of deniall Who can pitty the losse of that strength which was so abused who can pitty him the loss of his locks which after so many warnings can sleepe in the lappe of Dalilah It is but iust that he should rise vp from thence shauen and feeble not a Nazarite scarce a man If his strength had lyen in his hair it had been out of himselfe it was not therefore in his locks it was in his consecration whereof that haire was a signe If the razor had come sooner vpon his head he had ceased to be a Nazarite and the gift of God had at once ceased vvith the calling of GOD not for the want of that excretion but for the want of obedience If God withdrawe his graces when hee is too much prouoked who can complain of his mercie He that sleeps in sin must looke to wake in losse and weakeness Could Sampson thinke Though I tell her my strength lies in my haire yet shee will not cut it or though shee doe cut my haire yet shal I not lose my strength that now hee rises and shakes himselfe in hope of his former vigor Custome of successe makes men confident in their sins and causes them to mistake an arbitrary tenure for a perpetuity His eyes were the first offenders which betrayed him to lust and now they are first pull'd out and he is ledde a blind captiue to Azzah where hee was first captiued to his lust The Azzahites which lately saw him not without terror running lightly away with their gates at mid-night see him now in his owne perpetuall night struggling with his chaines and that he may not want paine together with his bondage hee must grind in his prison As hee passed the street euery boy of the Philistims could throw stones at him euery woman could laugh and shout at him and what one Philistim doth not say whiles he lashes him vnto bloud There is for my brother or my kinsman whom thou slewest Who can look to runne away with a sinne when Sampson a Nazarite is thus plagued This great hart could not but haue broken with indignation if it had not pacified it selfe with the conscience of the iust desert of all this vengeance It is better for Sampson to bee blinde in prison then to abuse his eyes in Sorek yea I may safelie say hee was more blinde when he saw licentiously then now that hee sees not Hee was a greater slaue when hee serued his affections then now in grinding for the Philistims The losse of his eyes showes him his sin neither could hee see how ill hee had done till hee saw not Euen yet still the God of mercy lookt vpon the blindness of Sampson and in these fetters enlargeth his heart from the worse prison of his sinne His haire grew together with his repentance his strength with his haire Gods merciful humiliations of his owne are sometimes so seuere that they seeme to differ little from desertions yet at the worst he loues vs bleeding when we haue smarted enough wee shall feele it VVhat thankfull Idolaters were these Philistims They could not but knowe that their bribes and their Dalilah had deliuer'd Sampson to them and yet they sacrifice to their Dagon and as those that would be liberall in casting fauors vpon a senselesse Idol of vvhom they could receiue none they cry out Our God hath deliuered our enemy into our hands Where vvas their Dagon when a thousand of his clients were slaine with an asses iaw There was more strength in that bone then in all the makers of this God and yet these vaine Pagans say Our
but such entertainement with the Iebusites Whither are the posteritie of Beniamin degenerated that their Gibeah shold be no lesse wicked then populous The first signe of a settled godlesnesse is that a Leuite is suffered to lie without doores If God had been in any of their houses his seruant had not been excluded Where no respect is giuē to Gods messengers there can be no Religion Gibeah was a second Sodome euē there also is another Lot which is therefore so much more hospitall to strangers because himselfe was a stranger The Host as well as the Leuite is of mount Ephraim Each man knows best to commiserate that euil in others which him selfe hath passed thorough All that professe the Name of Christ are Countrimen and yet strangers heere belowe hovv cheerefully should we entertaine each other when we meet in the Gibeah of this inhospitall world This good old man of Gibeah came home late from his work in the fields the Sunne was sette ere he gaue ouer And now seeing this man a stranger an Israelite a Leuite an Ephraimite and that in his way to the house of GOD to take vp his lodging in the street hee proffers him the kindness of his house-roome Industrious spirits are the fittest receptacles of all good motions whereas those which giue themselues to idle and loose courses do not care so much as for themselues I heare of but one man at his worke in all Gibeah the rest were quaffing and reuelling That one man ends his worke in a charitable entertainement the other end their play in a brutish beastlinesse violence These villaines had learn'd both the actions and the language of the Sodomites One vncleane diuell was the prompter to both this honest Ephraimite had learnt of righteous Lot both to intreat and to proffer As a perplexed Mariner that in a storme must cast away something although precious so this good Host rather will prostitute his daughter a virgin together with the concubine then this prodigious villany should be offered to a man much more to a man of God The detestation of a foule sinne drew him to ouer-reach in the motion of a lesser which if it had been accepted how could he have escaped the partnership of their vncleanenesse and the guilt of his daughters rauishment No man can wash his hands of that sinne to which his will hath yeelded Bodily violence may be inoffensiue in the patient voluntary inclination to euill tho out of feare can neuer be excusable yet behold this wickednesse is too little to satisfie these monsters Who would haue looked for so extreame abhomination from the loynes of Iacob the wombe of Rachel the sons of Beniamin Could the very Iebusites their neighbors be euer accused of such vnnaturall outrage I am ashamed to say it Euen the worst Pagans vvere Saints to Israel VVhat auailes it that they haue the Arke of GOD in Shiloh while they haue Sodom in their streets that the law of God is in their sringes whiles the diuell is in their harts Nothing but hell it selfe can yeeld a worse creature then a depraued Israelite the very meanes of his reformation are the fuell of his wickednes Yet Lot sped so much better in Sodom then this Ephraimite did in Gibeah by how much more holy guests hee entertained There the guests were Angels here a sinfull man There the guests saued the host heere the host could not saue the guest from brutish violence Those Sodomites vvere striken with outward blindnes and defeated These Beniamites are onely blinded with lust and preuaile The Leuite comes forth perhaps his coat saued his person from this villany who now thinks himselfe well that hee may haue leaue to redeeme his owne dishonour with his concubines If hee had not loued her deerely he had neuer sought her so farre after so foule a sinne Yet now his hate of that vnnaturall wickednesse ouercame his loue to her She is exposed to the furious lust of barbarous ruffians and which hee misdoubted not abused to death Oh the iust and euen course which the Almightie Iudge of the world holds in all his retributions This woman had shamed the bed of a Leuite by her former wantonnesse shee had thus farre gone smoothly away with her sinne her father harbourd her her husband forgaue her her owne hart found no cause to complaine because shee smarted not now vvhen the world had forgotten her offence GOD calls her to reckoning and punishes her with her owne sinne She had voluntarily exposed herselfe to lust now is exposed forceably Adultery was her sinne adultery was her death VVhat smiles soeuer wickedness casts vpon the heart vvhiles it solicites it vvill owe vs a displeasure and prooue it selfe a faithfull Debter The Leuite looked to find her humbled with this violence not murdered and now indignation moues him to adde horror to the fact Had not his heart been raised vp with an excess of desire to make the crime as odious as it was sinfull his action could not be excused Those hands that might not touch a carcass now carue the corps of his owne dead wife into morsels and send these tokens to all the Tribes of Israel that when they should see these gobbets of the body murdered the more they might detest the murderers Himselfe puts on cruelty to the dead that hee might draw them to a iust reuenge of her death Actions notoriously vilanous may iustlie countenance an extraordinarie meanes of prosecution Euery Israelite hath part in a Leuits wrong No Tribe hath not his share in the carcasse and the reuenge The Desolation of Beniamin THese morsels could not chuse but cut the harts of Israel with horror and compassion horror of the act and compassion of the sufferer and now their zeale drawes them together either for satisfaction or reuenge VVho would not haue looked that the hands of Beniamin should haue been first vpon Gibeah and that they should haue readily sent the heads of the offenders for a second seruice after the gobbets of the concubine But now insteed of punishing the sinne they patronize the actors and will rather die in resisting iustice then liue and prosper in furthering it Surely Israel had one Tribe too many all Beniamin is turned into Gibeah the sonnes not of Beniamin but of Belial The abetting of euill is worse then the commission This may bee vpon infirmitie but that must be vpon resolution Easie punishment is too much fauour to sinne conniuence is much worse but the defence of it and that vnto bloud is intollerable Had not these men been both wicked and quarrellous they had not drawne their swords in so foule a cause Peaceable dispositions are hardly drawne to fight for innocence yet these Beniaminites as if they were in loue with villany and out of charitie with GOD will be the wilfull Champions of lewdness How can Gibeah repent them of that wickednesse which all Beniamin will make good in spight of their consciences Euen where sinne is
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