Lion to be made a dead dogge is basenesse enough Therefore we may clearely see by this that the seeking of glory as Salomon saith is no glory but the glory of such is their shame For although for a time it may hold and last yet in a short time it shall vanish and end with reproch whatsoeuer else goe with it And so it is generally in all pride and vaineglory as I noted out of Gaals example before it shall end with shame and contrarily the humble and lowly in mind shall be exalted For there can not one tittle of Gods word fall to the ground but it must be verified to the comfort of the one and the iust rewarding of the other In this verse let vs further see for the Lord would not giue him the honor to be slaine in warre what he did when he had his deaths wound doth he crie for mercy was that as it ought to haue been thought vpon And yet the most past grace will lightly desire that he may haue three words before he die for then though it be to small purpose he thinks to aske mercy but the glory that this monster had hunted after in his life-time that was all that hee regarded euen now at his wofull end as his words testifie to wit That it might not be said that a woman slew him declaring thereby that he more feared infamy then damnation The multitude of desperate wretches that die in all ages with as little hope of saluation as hee did maketh it lesse to be considered and bewailed but what is more fearefull then to thinke a man should go to hell so apparantly and as it were visibly Where wee are to obserue that such as mens thoughts and affections are in their life time such they bee commonly at their death They loued not blessing saith the Prophet and therefore it is farre from them in their need so it is said elsewhere they sought not after God neither desired acquaintance with his waies while they liued and therfore God ordinarily suffereth them not to begin to doe it at their end They remembred not their maker in the daies of their youth neither shall they haue grace to doe it at their death but as they are mercilesse so God iustly recompenceth them with iudgement without mercy in their latter yeeres And the like we reade of Saul But yet for all this is one of a thousand thinke we of such as he was perswaded to repentance in the time of his iolitie nay doth not one follow anothers course to condemnation daily and from age to age And such as haue their libertie to aske three words before they die how vse they it what come they to but euen to worse then nothing Euen as Abimelechs few words did Let it not be said that a woman slew me And so their three words are vsed as Saul vsed his at his death Draw out thy sword and thrust me through And as that wicked man mentioned in the booke of Monuments who when he was haled violently on a bridge by his Horse into the riuer being put in minde of his three words he said thus Horse and man to the diuell A notorious adulterer there was a few yeeres agone who also had poysoned many youthes by his vncleane conuersation and lewd example and tongue he liued till he was threescore yeere old to resemble him to the sinner whom Salomon speakes of Eccles 7. neuer could hee bee brought to sauour or taste either preaching or praying which yet hee saw many zealously did round about him he might haue spend fiftie pound land by the yeere by his marriage but being visited by God in a strange manner and losing his maintenance by the death of his wife his bodie â—ore plagued with paine and diseases when he lay like a lazer in a barne for thither he was thrust through pouertie and there he died now to come to the point for the which I alleaged this example hee being moued by such as came to him when they saw in what miserie hee lay to call vpon God hee answered with fearefull oathes Is this a time to pray The which seeing he was neuer acquainted with in all his life wee see hee was farre off from it shunned and lothed it at his death by Gods righteous iudgement And as wee haue heard that it is commonly so with the vilest persons at their death as it hath been in their life so it were good wisedome for vs to seeke the Lord while he may be found in the daies of our youth lest if we should not goe about it till death it should not bee a sound turning to God but in mood and passion by violence and in feare onely gone about and who knoweth not that late repentance is dangerous And so let them reioyce and blesse God who haue made the Lord chiefe with them in their young yeeres and haue counted his seruice perfit freedome such shall not neede to feare that God will frowne vpon them and forsake them in their age or at their death but as many haue done shall reioyce most for this that they made the Gospell their solace in their life time and Gods fauour their portion and ioy and would not for all the riches of the vngodly haue done otherwise for so they should haue been then vtterly to seeke how to be saued Oh one sweete fruite of a godly life beside many other enioyed before is a most Christian and comfortable death so saith the Psalmist Marke the end of the righteous and ye shall see that the end of such a man is peace As for Abimelechs Page he was as he had been trained by him one fit to serue him onely in euill Like master like man such an one as hath many followers of which sort of hangbies few vnder such masters as themselues be few of them are I say found to come to good But both of them desperate rash murtherous and fraught with such sinnes as commonly accompanie these Yea and yet such hold vp their heads in the world for whom who seeth not but that the prison is fitter where they may be kept from doing mischiefe rather then to commit many lewd parts at libertie abroad But seeing such are past admonition taking let theÌ„ that are teachable learne to take such seruants to be neere at hand to them who may in danger giue aduice to them if need be as Naamans seruants did to the preseruing of his health rather then to be as too many are that is to say furtherers of their vtter vndoing or death And such as deserue well as Ioshuas and the seruants of Cornelius were let them I say be well incouraged and rewarded which are to be reioyced in of their masters when the other being intertained but to their owne and their masters vndoing or great detriment shall load both themselues and them with their bellies full of shame and sorrow Of this argument I spare
worse then the thiefe who yet is odious and driuen frō habitation with men in their free dwelling houses into a loathsome prison among brutish companions For he vnlesse he be cruell also is content to take a share in his goods whom he robbeth but the cruell man is not content with a share but if his might be sutable to his mind he will haue all at one time or other that is his whom he pursueth yea he wil thrust him out of house and home yea and out of the world also before he can be satisfied Caine a little after the corrupt estate of things entred into the world was a patterne of cruel ones who when he had no cause giuen him by Abel his innocent brother of hard handling him yet because he was accepted of God and himself not did not hate him only without a cause but which was most vnnatural and monstrous in him rosevp against him and slue him Pharaoh when he had almost tyred the poore people of God who were strangers in his land with burdens and toile asmuch as they could beare yet was not satisfied therewith but made their burthen farre greater til their life was more vnwelcome then death itselfe that his crueltie might be manifest to all Haman so exceeded herein that it was too little to take the goods of Gods people from them and to hold them bondmen vnlesse hee might haue their liues also And what should I speake of Iezabel who being a woman exceeded men who were cruell also And of Rehoboams cruell handling his subiects as his storie declareth and of Iosephs brethren who consented to sell him into a far countrey whence he might neuer returne to trouble them as they hoped but further the most of them agreed to take away his life also and yet if they had killed him euen they themselues had lost their liues also in the famine that God sent afterwards they being preserued by Ioseph among all other men These might make crueltie odious to vs. But many that heare this of it desire to know what manner of thing it is that rageth after this sort and like the flaming fire deuoureth and destroyeth where it commeth Their demand is godly and I will briefly satisfie it That they may therefore cease maruelling that this fury crueltie I meane bringeth such strange effects forth they may know that it is a vile and vitious habit or custome whereby men are carried to do things both harsh and hard and that beyond all course and compasse of reason Now where men are thus set vpon their will to deale with other and are led to it without reason much more without religion there how can they chuse but to bee rigorously handled and cruellie delt with who fall into their hands Which maketh the cruell man to bee hated of all For such are barbarous and vnciuell as if they had sucked the Dragons in the desert and their hearts so bound with the sinewes of iron that they spoile them whom they pursue as raging raine and tempest rendeth the trees and destroyeth the fruites and they are no more mooued with the life of a man then if a dogge had fallen before them And therefore no maruell that Dauid hauing his choice of plagues presented to him made a present exception to his owne nature and kind fearing and knowing the crueltie of men saying let me not fall into the hands of man This the Heathen Seneca saw when he said Thou art deceiued if thou giuest credit to the lookes of those that meet thee They haue the faces of men the minds of wild beasts If he spake this of man in generall what would he haue said particularly of the cruell man with whom this speech is as common burne kill cut Poison young old men women brethren kindred as to eate their meate Whosoeuer doe but crosse them with a mistaken word or wrie countenance it is but a word and a blow with them and though they murther vpon light occasions and haue no gaine by their death they haue inough in that they take pleasure in it But whither might a man goe in this argument I will giue an instance in lower matters of this kind Hereof it is that if one neighbour bee trespassed by another in his corne or other commodities by cattell or any other way though it bee without any fault of him that hath done the trespasse the other is readie in rage and furie to seeke reuenge by laming and hurting the cattell which hee would doe to the owner like Lamech if he durst or will with spite and railing and exacting at his hands sixe times the valew of the damage and detriment that he sustained though if he annoy the other in a worse manner he yet maketh nothing of it but will shift it of This is a cruell part in things of so little valew vnto a neighbour What would hee doe thinke wee or he that is like minded to him in matters of waight and to a stranger and so much the more I may call such dealing crueltie seeing it is offered by such an one as trespasseth another time in a farre worse manner himselfe The like may be said of cruell Landlords Masters Guardians Stepmothers c. which measure not them whom they offend against by themselues For though there be diuers degrees in the many kinds of this foule vice of crueltie yet we must know that the least and lowest is vnseemely in a man and odious Indeed it is more noisome and furious if it bee accompanied with enuy therefore Salomon saith Who can stand before enuy for the enuious are obstinate and cannot bee reconciled Therefore whatsoeuer measure be offered by such it is certaine that it shall be hard inough seeing their very mercies are crueltie What remaineth then for such persons to doe to the end they may if it be possible cast of this crueltie as a most filthie and loathsome garment but this that they giue themselues no rest til it become as odious and loathsome to them as it is to other which is not hard for him to obtaine that will be perswaded to looke into the odiousnesse of it that when he hath found it he may fall downe at the Lords feete for mercie to couer the foulenesse of it and forgiue it and that being beleeued imbrace gentlenesse and mercie and kindnesse toward others in stead of rigor Like the Iaylor in the Actes who though he had vsedg reat crueltie against Paul and Silas yet when hee repented did wash their wounds most louingly which before scourging of them he had made in their bodies and set meate before them in his house most chearefully whom he had before thrust hungry into the inward prison most cruelly Also let it teach vs both to pray that wee bee not giuen ouer into the hands of vnreasonable and vnconscionable men who are as absurd as cruell in their malice As the Apostle willeth the people to pray 2. Thes 3.
so it hath bin in former times that when mens waies haue pleased the Lord he hath caused not only their very enemies to be at one with them but also their very hearts to be intirely knit to them Yea many sillie persons so furnished with grace by God haue forced great ones to wish from their hearts for all their wealth and power that they were like to them And yet this is more that a Minister of the Gospell who is to challenge them openly that keepe not the commandements of Iesus and in his name to rebuke and threaten the workers of iniquitie though all this is of the louing and kinde Preacher done to saue their soules by turning them from their euill waies that such a Minister I say who is not only hated for his good will and counted their enemie for telling them the truth but also accused by them pursued also and not suffered to be quiet among them yet should constantly hold out his labours with a life vnoffensiue what a work of God thinke we is that in him who were like to continue so gracious a course in the middest of so many discouragements whereof I haue mentioned but a few if the Lord should not giue them faith to beleeue that of their loue to him they should feed his lambes and his sheep and that in so doing they assure themselues they shall be plentifully rewarded and to this end that he will giue them shoulders I meane courage to beare their so great a burthen These are no small things which yet God worketh among vs that we may see he regardeth vs as he did some in former times The other and last thing to be noted in this second part is of Sisera that the Lord pulled him downe and cast him from his so great honour and valiantnes For as it was a great abasement for such a Nimrod to be driuen to so great a streight as to lurke in another mans house not daring to peere foorth as the sillie bird beaten into the bush by the hawke so it was yet farre baser to fall by the hand and at the feete of a woman Let vs learne that the Lord bringeth to naught the high and haughtie and that to their vtter shame who were so great and proud It is no strange thing in the Scriptures to finde it thus though fooles wonder at it who will learne no instruction by it The Lord casteth the mightie from their seate Witnesse Abimilech who in his desperate mood being striken on the head with a milstone by a woman called his page and bid him to runne him through lest it should be said A woman slew him And yet that which was said of him was reprochfull enough to wit that a base page slew him and agreeth well with the point in hand Thus Absolon who had stomacke to rise against his father so kinde to him was brought to a base and reprochful death very fit for such an one being thrust through by Ioabs common souldiers And Iezabel scorning God and his Prophets was according to the foretelling of the Lord made dogges meate and dung vpon the earth being throwne out of the window from her royall palace The proud and stout Iewes who railed on Peter calling him despitefully a drunken man were so terrified with their sin that they were glad to seeke to be comforted euen by him whom they had scorned And well is it with them whose pride the Lord resisteth in mercie for their good as hee did Pauls by appalling him first and then sending him to poore Ananias who being his comforter now had been a prey for him if God had not preuented it For the rest whom I haue mentioned they excepted also in the second of the Acts the other I say were resisted to their cost and vtter vndoing And so by the foolishnes of preaching as it pleaseth the world to call it and an humble submitting of themselues to his holy doctrine they that are saued must attaine but as that generation of vipers the Pharisies were glad to come to Iohns ministerie if so be they tooke any good by it Be we therefore humble and meeke they who are graced are they that finde fauour with him but as for the proud he resisteth them and setteth himselfe against them till they be confounded if they so abide and be brought to naught And therefore let the scorners and enemies taunt and mocke the simple professors of the truth like Edomites they shall one day wish they had been like them and iudge them more happie then themselues as Diues for all his superfluitie did wish that he might haue had not the estate of Lazarus which he saw no hope to attaine but the thousand part of it euen that he might dip his finger in cold water and quench his thirst which yet might not be granted him And therefore let vs but stay a while and containe our selues and wee shall see these boasters and contemners if they will needs hold on their course wee shall see them I say swept away and they shall be no more so little cause shall we see of hauing our teeth water after their dainties They are wise who can in the iolitie and prosperitie of the enemies of the Church see their ouerthrow by faith and count their florishing and bragges to be but vaine crakes And thus much be said of the second part of the Chapter THE THIRTIE FIVE SERMON ON THE FIFTH CHAPTER OF THE BOOKE OF IVDGES The third part of the Chapter Vers 28. The mother of Sisera looked out at a window and cried through the lattesse Why is his charet so long a comming why tarrie the wheeles of his charets c. Vers 29. Her wise Ladies answered her yea she answered her selfe with her owne words Vers 30. Haue they not gotten and they diuide the spoile euery man hath a maide or two Sisera hath a prey of diuers coloured garments a prey of sundrie colours made of needle worke on both sides for the chiefe of the spoile Vers 31. So let all thine enemies perish O Lord but they that loue him shall be as the Sunne when he ariseth in his might And the land had rest fortie yeeres IN these words is contained the third and last part of the song of Debora and so of the Chapter and hath two members in the first she bringeth in the boastings of the women that were enemies to Gods people and Siseras deare friends and derides them in the first three verses In the last member she opposeth a propheticall prayer against their boastings wishing therein to the remainder of Gods enemies destruction and to the Israelites all increase of good things and that increase she laieth out by a comparison of the Sunne from the rising to the noone tide euen such she wisheth it to be More particularly to come to the first point she saith that Siseras mother was looking
downe as vsually I doe together with the parts of it which are three The first this namely how Abimelech seeking the kingdome and hauing got the men of Shechem on his side killed all his seuentie brethren except one and this to the seuenth verse The second the heauie prediction of his ouerthrow by that one brother Iotham who escaped his bloodie hands which denounced destruction to him and to the men of Shechem And this to the 22. verse The 3. is how that which was threatned foretold by Iotham the son of Gedeon remaining aliue came to passe and was fulfilled concerning the ruine and ouerthrow of Abimelech and the men of Sechem and that by the mutuall hatred and vexations that arose betwixt them And this to the end of the Chapter Thus the Chapter being deuided I will first speake of the former part of it as it lieth in order and handle the other two in due place The first part WE are to consider in this first part how Abimelech after the death of his father wounde in with the men of Shechem to make him king and for this purpose slew all his brethren saue one and this to the 7. verse And for the effecting of this it is said here that this Abimelech went to his mothers kindred for he saw it was lost labour to attempt so horrible a fact by his fathers friends helpe or any other and by his subtiltie and flatterie he wonne their hearts to be willing to hearken vnto him they nothing respecting the common benefit of the land but their owne priuate commoditie and so helped him forward by money which much aduanced his purposes and thus being fleshed for the more secure enioying of his will he was inboldened to kil 70. persons saue one of his brethren and then as they thought the coast being cleare these Shechemites went about to make him King and performed it accordingly And thus the house of Gedeon was ouerthrowne and most detestable vsurpation and tyranny by Abimelech came in Here first we may note by Abimelechs going to his mothers kindred to further him when he went about this mischieuous intent in seeking to be king we note I say the cast of wicked men in the compassing their desires that is when they intend any euill they wil repaire to such places and companies as they thinke are for their purpose and if they haue conuersed with better before yet they then take no more pleasure in their company any longer Not that they neuer goe to bad company but when they goe about some especiall euill For it is their meat and drink and pastime to conuerse with such as they themselues are as neere as may be contâ—â—nally but if they be forted by education cohabitation or other occasions with better then themselues as it comes to passe oft times yet euen there if they grow to affect and set their hearts on some particular more mischieuous practises then they were wont in times past they will if it be possible giue them ouer as no companions meet for them and breake out to other companie and conuerse with those that bee of their owne disposition and like themselues The reason is they be not onely more wearie of the good company that they were in then they were before but they see that they cannot follow their bad purposes so currantly while they bee among them neither looke they for any aide thereto at their hands as they doe by the other but know that they shall bee suspected disswaded hindred and broken off by them from their ill purposes And what maruell for this changing of company as the good for the bad ariseth vpon smaller occasions then vpon the minding and intending of such mischiefe as this Abimelech here went about For they in the sixth of Iohn when they had taken a pritch against our Sauiour it is said of them that they walked no more with him and much more and sooner men doe this when they purpose wickednesse Absolon therefore when he intended to rebell against his father got him away and gathered companie fit for such a purpose his fathers house was a prison and wearisome vnto him And Iudas when he went about to betray his Master forsooke and left the company of him and the Apostles and went to the Pharisies the most deadly enemies of Christ and lincked himselfe in with them But most clearely we see this in the like fact of Adoniah 1. Kin. 1. reported by Nathan to Dauid in this manner Me saith hee thy seruant and Zadocke the Priest and Salomon thy sonne he hath not called why they were not for his tooth but Ioab the captaine and Abiathar the Priest and some of his younger brethren men fitter for his ambitious humour them hath hee called crie before him and they say God saue King Adoniah And euen so it is still at this day as I haue said For there are many bad mixed with the good and company with them in sinister respects for some benefit they looke for or credit thereby or for their safety who yet when they see their time wind out from them and ioyne to other companie much like to Simon Magus when he saw the Apostles were not for him And it is an ill signe when they doe so I meane to forsake the societie and fellowship of good people and company with the bad For though there was no great hope of some of them when they were at the best and when they were by meanes of their calling and imployments sorted into the company of the godly because they had no pleasure nor delight in them but rather their hearts were farre from them euen then when in place they were most neere them yet they were in the way all that while to good and to be wrought vpon or drawne on one time or other while they abode in such places and companies if God had been pleased to worke in them but when they leaue and forsake them and so bewray themselues in their colours though they should meane no worse then their woe commeth vpon them and they wrap themselues deepely into mischiefe and misery with little hope of recouery or getting out againe yea or being stopped in that their bad course And yet this I say that such as keepe company with those that are religious and take no good by them they are deepely bewitched couering their hypocrisie with the cloake of good companie as Christ told them who answered him that they had eaten and drunke in his company although for the most part this prooueth true of them that if a man once spie out their leaudnesse and will not allow them in their euill course but tell them of it they will away from them if they can forthwith and count them their enemies But as they are wearie of such without any iust cause so they must know that they from whom they depart are wearie of them for good cause and desire if they may doe
will giue good successe both in mercies and deliuerances But I haue handled this point at large in this historie before In this Scripture is set downe that this wofull instrument had his deadlie wound and by what meanes euen in a base manner by a woman breaking his skull by throwing downe vpon him a peece of a mil-stone where wee may further note by Gods cutting off this cursed instrument Abimelech in the middest of his iolitie and before hee had done any more mischiefe that the prosperitie of the wicked is both short and vncertaine when and how it shall come to an euil end Which although I noted in general before out of the short time of his reigne yet a little I wil adde thereto by this present occasion here offered Now this their speedy taking downe is wrought by the Lord not only by the many waies that he hath to meet with and to punish them but also because they are euer putting the Lord as it were in fresh remembrance by their renewed and continued prouokings of him what hee oweth them And in the meane while he is not idle when he is still and patient toward them for hee knoweth and appointeth the time and the meanes to subuert them So the Psalmist saith Though the wicked flourish like a greene Bay tree yet a little while and his place shall haue no resemblance of such a one to haue been there and hee shall bee no more found Behold this verified in Zimry with his Cosby in Chorah the Rich man mentioned in the Scriptures and in many other in our owne experience who while they prosper are decaying but they that abide and remaine in the power of faith hope and patience as of Gods seruants is required and are thorowly set a worke in them they shall see good daies and be well liking and yet euen they also if they withdraw themselues from their confidence and will giue themselues to liue by eye-sight as other doe they shall see the Lord can soone change his course and their sorrowes will bee exceedinglie multiplied like other mens Dauids feet had well nigh slipt when hee beheld the present flourishes of the vngodly til God drew him out of his own fancie into the Lords Sanctuarie and taught him this wisdome to compare them with himselfe as well in one part of their estate as another and the bitternesse of their end and reward with the plausiblenesse of their iollity when they are in their flower and their slipperinesse when they are at the best Therefore as in a picture such as will throughly view it take not some note of the knee or foote or any one part of it but the whole for otherwise they should see nothing to any purpose so view wee the whole course of Gods dealing with the wicked as well the ending as the beginning and his proceeding with them and thereby our hastinesse in desiring their dainties will be abated full soone and our opinion changed as Dauids also was in iudging the bad to be happie after that he had better considered their end Lay we also sure hold on this that as the time and terme of the wicked is stinted and appointed so say we of the Lords dealing with our selues Yet a little while and he that commeth will come and not tarrie to bring our full redemption Furthermore we see here in that Abimelech had his deaths wound and after was slaine that he had not his will on the people of Thebez as he had on the other but as he suffered him to destroy the men of Shechem which fled to the Hold of their God Baal-Berith so yet he saued the men of Thebez and their wiues who betooke themselues to the Tower that was therein for shelter Wherein we may note that God doth oft times plague them whose iniquity is manifest as the sinne of these men of Shechem was when other who haue not sinned in the like manner though they be not yet religious are spared and borne with as these men of Thebez were The reason is the sinne of the one sort is manifest and grieuous and cannot be hid and crieth for vengeance the other either through ignorance or for that they haue not so wittingly or grossely offended are borne with that they may come to repentance And yet this is no excuse to them who liue in the light of the Gospell and haue knowlege if they liue and abide vnrepentant though they be not grosse offenders Neither on the other side haue they any cause to flatter themselues whose sinnes are notorious though they be not by and by cut off The vse of this doctrine is in this respect to incourage them who doe but walke in the way of the vngodly but stand not stiffely to maintaine their euill doings that seeing God giueth them time to repent and beareth with them they should not harden their hearts but take all occasions to turne vnto him And for such as are not fit to heare this doctrine but goe forward in euill they may euer feare that Gods vengeance is comming Now he being brought to bee past all hope of life by the blow the woman gaue him we see that hee who sought such glory as to be made King yea and obtained it also though most vniustly euen he did yet come to such shame and reproch as hee counted it as to be slaine by a woman and not so much as by the meanest man of warre Neither did it serue Abimelechs turne any whit at all that the last stroke was giuen him by a Page hauing had his deadly wound by the woman before onely it bewraied his pride which encreased the shamefulnesse of his foile And yet for him to be slaine by a Page was it such an honour to a great King so valiant and victorious as Abimelech now thought himselfe being in the top of his hopes and hauing brought vnder his enemies Therefore where God will set his brand of shame vpon a man it is but folly for him to striue against him or to elude him It was as confidently giuen out that Abimelech was slaine by the hand of a woman as that Sisera was dispatcht by Iael as for the Page hee slew as we may say a dead man in a mockery If this verifie not the saying God resisteth the proud what doth When men that haue carried thēselues aloft and borne their heads on high as the tall Cedars being terrors to their inferiors especially of the more religious sort are thus brought to shame as he was is it not notable to see them as much abased in their death below the meanest as they aduanced themselues aboue the greatest before It is reported of a Pope that he entred in like a Fox ruled like a Lion and died like a Dogge if he had also been buried as that proud Iehoijkon or Iezabel like an Asse what could haue been added to his shame and yet a liuing
to speake more heere being as much and a great deale more as is like to be regarded of such as I speake of Thus we haue seene the wofull end of this cursed Abimelech and of the wicked men of Shechem who had been the furtherers of him to the mischiefe that he wrought And after these troublers of the land were taken away there was peace and euery man left off from the worke that Abimelech had drawne him to and went home to his owne place where first it may be seene what stirre disquiet and trouble one vile person may make in the Church or Common-wealth the Lord so punishing the peoples sinne as partly I noted before in this chapter Absolon was but one man but how did he disquiet his father and the whole land Likewise Sheba the sonne of Bicry that raised a new commotion against Dauid and so the Prophet Elias told Ahab that he troubled all Israel And so I may say of Achan and of Kora and of many other euery of these was but one in his attempts but each of these what plagues and mischiefe wrought they by their seuerall sinnes though most of thē priuate persons to the whole state of the Church and Common-wealth of Israel If wee compare the sinnes of the whole body with the sinnes of a few wee shall finde that the sorrow which few brought vpon the whole companie came little short of the plagues which God inflicted vpon the whole when all prouoked him Although alas what speake I of particular actions Adam his sinne first brought a feareful confusion into the whole creation What wonder then if this contagion and pestilence hath euer since and still doth cause the like disorder in the places where it rangeth whose deformitie yet and the mischiefe that it workes though we see as it were with our eyes who almost is not bewitched with the painted beautie thereof But to returne when Achan Sheba Absolon were taken away behold all was whist againe and a great calme there was after so horrible tempests The whole Church is as a ship in which if there be one Ionah what tumult makes he but cast him out and the danger is ouer And as this is true of great sinners and publike offenders so it is true of more inferiour and priuate persons as of Magistrates in their precincts Headborowes in townes Masters and parents in families seeing but for the badnes of such the rest should be in peace And further by the rooting out of Abimelech let vs confesse it to bee a great benefit when such authors of mischiefe and workers of iniquitie bee taken away and therefore giue all our endeuour for the maintenance of peace and to make holy and right vse of it while we enioy it For as wee may see by these that sought peace after the death of Abimelech euen so the most that are vsed to trouble other in time waxe wearie of it In these two verses is the shutting vp the whole chapter Iothams prophecie is verified and Gods iudgement thereby declared how hee rewardeth iniquitie Of which this I say briefly seeing in some sort it hath been touched already that they who take ill matters and bad in hand shall haue smal cause to reioyce thereof in the end For their sinne will finde them out when they thinke least of it And it is most like also that looke what way they haue sinned euen the same way their sinne may be punished as here it was Stone for stone Abimelech killed his brethren vpon a stone and he is killed by a weake woman most vnlikely with a stone The like wee haue heard of Adonibezek and of Oreb and Zeeb who tooke their death where they wrought mischiefe Oh how doth God recompence into their bosome in full measure heaped vp and running ouer vnto such The which they will not foresee and so preuent vntill they smart and be past recouerie If this cannot moue any of the like sort to take warning by such watch-words in time to hate their bad course and that with detestation at least let those that haue shunned and declined from such euill waies reioyce with thanksgiuing and that vnfained for that they haue been preserued from them and that they haue chosen the good way to walke in it howsoeuer they haue had many prouocations vnto the contrary And last of al we may see here that as God reuenged the innocent blood of Gedeons sonnes so God will take part with such innocents Hurt them not therefore for the time will come when thou shalt pay deare for thy so doing of which point looke more in the former part of the historie The end of the ninth Chapter THE SIXTIE ONE SERMON ON THE TENTH CHAPTER OF THE BOOKE OF IVDGES Vers 1. After Abimelech there arose to deliuer Israel Tola the sonne of Puah the sonne of Dodo a man of Issachar and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim 2. And he iudged Israel three and twentie yeeres and died and was buried in Shamir 3. And after him arose Iair a Gileadite and iudged Israel twentie and two yeeres 4. And he had thirtie sonnes that rode on thirtie asse colts and they had thirtie cities which are called Hauoth-Iair vnto this day which are in the land of Gilead 5. And Iair died and was buried in Kamon THE summe of this Chapter is briefly this that the children of Israel hauing enioyed peace and libertie for a time vnder Tola and Iair fell againe afterward to Idolatrie Whereupon the Lord also did againe deliuer them into the hands of their enemies wherfore they calling vpon God were at the first sharply reproued but afterward truly repenting they obtained fauour with God and were released of their sinnes as before time By occasion whereof entrance is made into the storie of their deliuerance in the chapter following The parts of it are three The first containeth the time of their peace to verse the sixth The second a new defection and reuolt of the people from God to verse the 17. The third mentioneth the preparation that the Ammorites made against the children of Israel and the peoples and Princes meeting and comming together to consult and agree how to goe against them and this is to the end of the Chapter The first part of the Chapter GOd raised vp these two Iudges to wit Tola and Iair after the former to keepe the people in the true worship of God and in outward peace Here to speake somewhat in this first part of both these two Iudges of Israel ioyntly together and afterward somewhat seuerally this is to be noted of the former that after the ouerthrow of that cursed Abimelech the people of Israel had a long time of peace in both their daies that is 45. yeers Where note that though God iustly punisheth the sins of mē as he did theirs here yet he doth still remember his people and regard them sending them peace againe afterwards euen as