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
Gibeon and rescued vs from the powers of hell and death Ioshua fought but God discomfited the Amorites The praise is to the workman not the instrument Neither did God slay them onely with Ioshua's sword but with his owne haile-stones that now the Amorites may see both these reuenges come frō one hand These bullets of GOD doe not wound but kill It is no wonder that these fiue Kings flie They may soone run away from their hope neuer from their horror If they looke behind there is the sword of Israel which they dare not turn vpon because God had taken their hart from them before their life If they looke vpwards there is the haile-shot of God fighting against them out of heauen which they can neither resist nor auoyd If they had no enemy but Israel they might hope to runne away from death sith feare is a better footeman then desire of reuenge but novv vvhither-soeuer they runne heauen will be aboue their heads And now all the reason that is left them in this confusion of their thoughts is to wish themselues well dead there is no euasion where GOD intends a reuenge Wee men haue deuised to imitate these instruments of death and send foorth deadly bullets out of a clowd of smoke wherein yet as there is much danger so much vncertaintie but this God that discharges his Ordinance from heauen directs euery shotte to an head and can as easily kil as shoot It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God hee hath mo waies of vengeance then hee hath creatures The same heauen that sent foorth water to the old world fire to the Sodomites lightning and thunderbolts to the Egyptians sends out haile-stones to the Amorites It is a good care how wee may not anger God it is a vain study how we may fly from his iudgements when wee haue angred him if wee could run out of the vvorld euen there shall we finde his reuenges far greater Was it not miracle enough that God did braine their Aduersaries from heauen but that the Sunne and Moone must stand stil in heauen Is it not enough that the Amorites fly but that the greatest Planets of heauen must stay their owne course to witnesse and wonder at the discomfiture For him which gaue them both beeing and motion to bid them stand still it seemes no difficulty although the rarenes would deserue admiration but for a man to commaund the chiefe starres of heauen by whose influence he liueth as the Centurion would do his seruant Sunne stay in Gibeon and Moone stand still in Aialon it is more then a wonder It was not Ioshua but his faith that did this not by way of precept but of prayer If I may not say that the request of a faithfull man as wee say of the great commaunds Gods glorie vvas that which Ioshua aimed at hee knew that all the world must needs be witnesses of that which the eye of the world stood still to see Had he respected but the slaughter of the Amorites hee knew the haile-stones could doe that alone the Sunne needed not stand still to direct that clowd to persecute them but the glory of the slaughter was sought by Ioshua that hee might send that vp whence those haile-stones and that victory came All the earth might see the Sunne and Moon all could not see the cloud of haile which because of that heauie burden flew but low That all Nations might knowe the same hand commands both in earth in the clouds in heauen Ioshua now prayes that hee which dishartned his enemies vpon earth smote them from the cloud would stay the Sunne and Moone in heauen God neuer got himselfe so much honour by one dayes worke amongst the heathen and vvhen was it more fitte then now vvhen fiue heathen Kings are banded against him The Sun and the Moone were the ordinary Gods of the world and who would not but think that their standing still but one houre should be the ruine of Nature now all Nations shall well see that there is an higher then their highest that their Gods are but seruants to the GOD whom themselues should serue at whose pleasure both they and Nature shall stand at once If that God which meant to work this miracle had not raised vp his thoughts to desire it it had bin a blameable presumption which now is a faith vvorthy of admiration To desire a miracle without cause is a tempting of God O powerfull GOD that can effect this O power of faith that can obtaine it What is there that God cannot doe and what is there which God can doe that faith cannot doe THE ALTAR of the Reubenites REuben and Gad were the first that had an inheritance assigned thē yet they must inioy it last So it falls out oft in the heauenly Canaan the first in title are the last in possession They had their lot assigned them beyond Iorden which tho it were allotted them in peace must be purchased with their war that must be done for their brethren which needed not be done for themselues they must yet still fight and fight for-most that as they had the first patrimonie they might indure the first incounter I do not hear them say This is our share let vs sitte downe and enioy it quietly fight who will for the rest but when they knew their own portion they leaue wiues and children to take possession and march armed before their brethren till they had conquered all Canaan Whether should wee more commend their courage or their charitie Others were mooued to fight with hope they onely with loue they could not winne more they might lose themselues yet they wil fight both for that they had something and that their brethren might haue Thankfulnesse and loue can doe more with Gods children then desire to merit or necessitie No true Israelite can if hee might chuse abide to sitte still beyond Iordan when all his brethren are in the field Now when all this war of God was ended and all Canaan is both won and diuided they returne to their owne yet not till they were dismissed by Ioshua all the sweet attractiues of their priuate loue cannot hasten their pase If heauen be neuer so sweet to vs yet may we not runne from this earthen warfare till our great Captaine shall please to discharge vs. If these Reubenites had departed sooner they had been recalled if not as cowards surelie as fugitiues now they are sent back with victorie and blessing How safe and happie it is to attend both the call and the dispatch of GOD Beeing returned in peace to their home their first care is not for Trophees nor for houses but for an Altar to God an Altar not for sacrifice which had been abominable but for a memoriall what God they serued The first care of true Israelites must be the safetie of Religion the world as it is inferiour in worth so must it be in respect Hee neuer knew God
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
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
saue Israel from the Philistims and is he now captiued in his affections by a daughter of the Philistims Shall our deliuerance from the Philistims beginne in an alliance Haue we bin so scrupulously carefull that hee should eate no vncleane thing shall wee now consent to an heathenish match Now therefore they grauely indeauour to coole this intemperate heat of his passion with good counsell as those which well knew the inconueniences of an vnequall yoke corruption in religion alienation of affections distraction of thoughts conniuence at Idolatry death of zeale dangerous vnderminings and lastly an vnholy seed Who can blame them if they were vnwilling to call a Philistim daughter I wish Manoah could speake so loud that all our Israelites might heare him Is there neuer a woman among the daughters of thy brethren or among all Gods people that thou goest to take a wife of the vncircumcised Philistims If religion be any other then a cypher how dare we not regard it in our most important choice Is shee a faire Philistim Why is not this deformitie of the soule more powerfull to disswade vs then the beautie of the face or of metall to allure vs To dote vpon a faire skinne when we see a Philistim vnder it is sensuall and brutish Affection is not more blind thē deafe In vaine doe the Parents seeke to alter a young man not more strong in body then in will Tho he cannot defend his desires yet he pursues them Get mee her for she pleases mee And although it must needs be a weake motion that can plead no reason but appetite yet the good Parents sith they cannot bow the affection of their sonne with perswasion dare not breake it with violence As it becomes not children to bee forward in their choice so Parents may not be too peremptorie in their denial It is not safe for children to ouer-runne Parents in setling their affections nor for Parents where the impediments are not very materiall to come short of their children when the affections are once settled The one is disobedience the other may be tyranny I know not whether I may excuse either Sampson in making this sute or his Parents in yeelding to it by a diuine dispensation in both For on the one side whiles the spirit of God notes that as yet his parents knew not this was of the Lord it may seeme that hee knew it and is it likely hee would know and not impart it This alone was enough to win yea to command his Parents It is not mine eye onely but the counsell of God that leades me to this choice The way to quarrell with the Philistims is to match with them If I follow mine affection mine affection followes God in this proiect Surely hee that commaunded his Prophet afterwards to marry an harlot may haue appointed his Nazarite to marry with a Philistim On the other side whether it were of God permitting or allowing I find not It might so be of God as all the euill in the Citie and then the interposition of Gods decree shall be no excuse of Sampsons infirmitie I would rather think that God meant onely to make a Treacle of a Viper and rather appointed to fetch good out of Sampsons euill then to approue that for good in Sampson which in it selfe was euil When Sampson went on wooing he might haue made the sluggards excuse There is a Lion in the way but he that could not be staied by perswasion will not by fear A Lion young wilde fierce hungry comes roring vpon him when hee had no weapon but his hand no fence but his strength the same Prouidence that carried him to Timnah brought the Lion to him It hath been euer the fashion of God to exercise his Champions with some initiatory incounters Both Sampson Dauid must first fight with Lions then with Philistims he whose type they bore meets with that roring Lion of the wildernesse in the very threshold of his publique charge The same hand that prepared a Lion for Sampson hath proportionable matches for euery Christian God neuer giues strength but hee imployes it Pouerty meets one like an armed man Infamy like some furious mastiue comes flying in the face of another the wild Bore out of the forrest or the bloudie Tyger of persecution sets vpon one the brawling curres of hereticall prauitie or cōtentious neighbourhood are ready to bait another and by all these meaner and brutish aduersaries wil God fit vs for greater conflicts It is a pledge of our future victory ouer the spirituall Philistims if we can say My soule hath been among Lions Come forth now thou weak Christian and behold this preparatorie battel of Sampson Dost thou think GOD deales hardly with thee in matching thee so hard and calling thee forth to so many fraies What doost thou but repine at thine own glory How shouldst thou be victorious without resistance If the Parents of Sampson had now stood behind the hedge and seene this incounter they vvould haue taken no further care of matching their sonne with a Philistim For who that should see a strong Lion ramping vpon an vnarmed man would hope for his life and victory The beast came bristling vp his fearefull mane wafting his raised sterne his eyes sparkling with furie his mouth roaring out knells of his last passage and breathing death from his nostrills and now reioyced at so faire a prey Surely if the Lion had had no other aduersary then him whom he saw hee had not lost his hope but now he could not see that his Maker was his enemy The spirit of the Lord came vpon Sampson What is a beast in the hand of the Creator He that strooke the Lions with the awe of Adam Noah and Daniel subdued this rebellious beast to Sampson VVhat maruell is it if Sampson now tore him as if it had bin a young Kid If his bones had been brasse and his skin plates of iron all had been one The right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass If that roring Lion that goes about continually seeking whom he may deuour find vs alone among the vineyards of the Philistims where is our hope Not in our heeles hee is swifter then we not in our weapons we are naturally vnarmed not in our hands which are weak and languishing but in the spirit of that GOD by whom we can do all things if God fight in vs who can resist him There is a stronger Lion in vs then that against vs. Sampson was not more valiant then modest hee made no words of this great exploit the greatest performers euer make the least noyse He that works wonders alone could say See thou tell no man where as those whose hands are most impotent are busiest of their tongues Great talkers show that they desire only to be thought eminent whereas the deepest waters are least heard But whiles he concealed this euent from others hee pondred it in himselfe and when hee returned to Timnath went