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.
for me to speake of Gedeon Barak Iphtah and Samson these the holy Ghost commendeth And though some of them as men did sometime fall yet we are to thinke they returned and rose vp againe seeing the Scripture as I remember doth neuer condemne them So that in respect of them and by their helpe if the people could haue seene it and made benefit of it we may say they liued in a golden age Now whereas it is not so apparantly to be seene that this booke doth set foorth Christ vnto vs in all the commendations of these Iudges who yet is the end of all bookes of Scripture to such as demaund about it I answere that Christ is not cleerely set foorth in any of those bookes of the old Testament first written but darkly and by types and figures as God saw it meete for those ages and so wee are to thinke of this booke where the deliuerances from so great enemies as are mentioned herein are types of that great deliuerance and redemption of men wrought by Christ out of the iawes of the diuell And let the commending of sundrie of those Iudges by the holy Ghost satisfie vs that they could not haue been good men nor haue liued by faith as they were said to haue done if they had not beleeued in Christ and been sanctified thereby Besides what authoritie shall we giue to the old Testament if they who are commended in it to haue been men of God as diuers Kings and Prophets with many other did not liue and walke by faith seeing it is not expressely set downe without which they could not please God Now the summe of this booke is thus much first a declaration generally of the estate of the religion and manner of worshipping God which these Israelites vsed in their Common wealth from the death of Ioshua to Eli the Priest for the storie of Ruth containes things done in the daies of the Iudges Ruth 1. 1. and more particularly this booke layeth out their sinnes and Gods calling them out of them by sundrie warnings and iudgements vnto repentance with many fearefull examples of their reuolting and turning backe againe whereby may bee seene how corrupt they were both in religion and manners and this booke is a liuely glasse if we well consider it of this our age The parts of the booke are three The first setteth downe the slouthfulnesse of the Tribes in executing the commandements of God against their enemies and the punishment threatned for it Chap. 1. and 2. and their slouthfulnesse is illustrated by the contrarie course of Iudah and Simeon who were forward to goe against them as in Chapter 1. to verse 21. is to be seene The second part is from the 2. chapter to the 17. which treateth of the Iudges and their great actes according to occasions offered who in their due time were raised vp The third part is from chapter 17. to the end and setteth foorth some odious and monstrous acts committed in those confused times when there was no ordinarie Gouernour and therewithall the punishments which followed The author of this booke is vnknowne but yet the booke is canonicall and authorized also by the new Testament The time of the actes of it from the death of Ioshua to Eli the high Priest is gathered to be about 300 yeeres The end of this booke as shall better appeare in the particular handling of it is to instruct and perswade vs in this latter age of the world to carry our selues vprightly and in a streight and well ordred course both in prosperitie and aduersitie I meane to hold the feare of God in both and to keep hope and patience in and through out this our pilgrimage with prayer and repentance which if we do God will be no lesse with vs then he was with the good people mentioned herein The order which I purpose to obserue in the Lectures vpon this booke is first to giue the short summe of the Chapters then to deuide euery Chapter into parts for the better distinguishing the points thereof that they may be better vnderstood and more clearely seene into thirdly I giue the sense of the verses more fully and lay forth the doctrine with the reasons and vse thereof though for the most part they be not alwaies expressely set downe which manner of handling the diuerse histories of this booke as also I thinke the same of our preaching out of all other Scriptures namely that after the meaning and sense apt and fit instruction should bee drawne out with the application to the present state need and vse of the hearers plainely and pitbily as may be for their best edifying I hold meetest to be vsed And I weuld to God that there were consent giuen therto of al Preachers and that this course were aimed at I wish that euery one did not follow his owne priuate course who hath neuer learned any good way or order of preaching Whereby it commeth to passe that some fill their Sermons with the froth of their owne braines or the bare authorities of men and least proofe is brought out of the Scriptures Also some preach darkely to the little benefiting of the hearers not to mention all which were endlesse And although for many other things I leaue the consideration therof to my reuerend and learned brethren yet in this I hope without ostentation and arrogating ought to myselfe I may be allowed to speake in regard of the long time which I haue spent in studying learning and practising as I haue been able the holie exercise of preaching And now to end these my Lectures this I say that beside the varietie of much good therein contained there are some points to good purpose occasioned touching faith and repentance and sundrie directions giuen how to seeke the Lord when we haue slipped and how to beare trouble aright Thus much I thought good to say before I enter into the seuerall Sermons euen to this end that some good light may be giuen as to him that marketh duly it may appeare Now I will proceed to the text itselfe THE FIRST SERMON VPON THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE BOOKE OF IVDGES VERS 1. And it came to passe after that Ioshua was dead that the children of Israel asked the Lord saying who shall goe vp for vs against the Canaanites to fight first against them VERS 2. And the Lord said Iudah shall goe vp behold I haue giuen the land into his hands IN this Chapter two things are chiefly contained to set downe the summe of the Chapter and parts of it together The first is the commendation of the tribe of Iudah to the 21. verse the cause we shall heare afterward The second is the setting downe of the sinne of the tribes that are mentioned after in that they slothfully suffered the Canaanites to liue by them and did not expell them and that is to the end of the Chapter Iudah is commended in a double manner first for the actes they did now at
are wise to doe euill but to doe well they haue no knowledge The Lord himselfe bewaileth this brutishnes in men that like vnreasonable creatures they minde onely that which is present and before their eyes but oh saith hee that my people were wise and did consider their end For that is wisdome indeed which seeing the most doe want therefore they neuer enioy the thousand part of sweet liuing heere as they might doe Now the holy story hauing spoken of the workes which Ioshua and the people did in his life maketh mention of his death as that which followeth when all the actions of life are ended And therefore Dauid when hee was departing hence said I goe the way of all the world As wee haue therefore heard much of the actions of our life so let vs heare some what of death as the text giueth vs leaue and occasion And in that we heare that he died the seruant of the Lord as hee had long liued and had done so many worthie things in his life death and departure hence being so solemne a thing as it is we should bee much moued not onely to thinke vpon the end of all flesh but especially of our owne death and to prepare for it aboue all things and to learne to die that so wee might with him die the seruants of God Which though to a naturall man it be imposible yet the Lord maketh it tolerable yea easie and a welcome thing to all such as haue first learned to liue well heere or at least are fit to die For perseuerance in good life meeteth with a good death and ioyfully embraceth it in which respect Salomon saith that the day of death is better then the day of birth as being the entrance into life And therefore the text saith Ioshua the seruant of the Lord died noting that his death was not as the death of euery common man but a blessed death and a rest from the worke of the Lord in which hee had been faithfull in his life and therfore now looking for his reward from the Lord a bountifull paymaister death was welcome to him As it is reported of an ancient Father of the Church that being 80. yeeres old and being then to bid farewell to his friends said Thus long haue I serued the Lord and now it grieueth mee not to die for I haue a good master thereby meaning that death was far more welcome to him then life euen as that day is to a faithfull seruant wherein he is to receiue liberall wages for his long seruice then all the daies are that went before And thus S. Paul speaketh of Dauid that when he had serued his time he slept meaning that hee rested from his labours in body while his soule returned to God who gaue it And when we haue learned and fitted our selues to die then the hearing of death and the beholding it in other is a fit meane to quicken vs to the looking after it our selues and to further and confirme vs in readinesse to die well considering deepely of it and of our owne mortality with it And it much helpeth to thinke vpon the infinite thousands mentioned in the Scriptures who haue been taken hence by death and namely the rolles of Kings such as haue been more noble and memorable persons who seemed to haue an eternity heere by their dignity pompe and prerogatiues aboue other men as also among our selues more neerely to hearken after and thinke vpon the death of such as wee haue knowne or liued with oh it doth not a little helpe to cracke the pride of life in vs and to prepare for death All which in fit seasons and vpon good consideration being set before our eyes are singuler meanes to fasten this meditation vpon vs that wee also may willingly and readily giue place to death and this shall much easilier and the better bee while by our reioycing that we haue in Christ Iesus our Lord wee die daily before death doe come By meanes whereof as it is vncertaine when we see any to die among vs who shall bee next so euery one should put forward himselfe as the Apostle did in a case not vnlike being told by their master that one of them should betray him euery one asked for himselfe saying is it I master Euen so I say we ought to resolue euery one for himselfe that he may be the next that so death may the better be prouided for And let this serue by this occasion for a meditation of death His old age being an hundred and ten yeeres are reckoned as an honour to him that being so commended for his godlinesse hee liued so long To whom Moses and Caleb may bee added full of yeeres and grace Doubtlesse it is no lesse to a man seruing God so religiously so long a time For it is not an honour bestowed vpon all to become fathers and worthies in the Church for their long continuance in grace when we see the loue of so many to waxe cold and a farre greater number to bee reprochfull in their age But gray haires are a comely ornament when they are found in the way of righteousnesse For although it bee happinesse for the people of God to die betimes seeing to bee with Christ is best of all yet to liue long heere if God may be honoured by vs in our life is an high honour also another way euen by doing much good And so Dauid confessed saying If I may liue to keepe thy word for thereby God is glorified I shall count it a great bountie vnto me Which reason Dauid and Hezekiah vsed desiring life to this end saying The liuing the liuing shall praise thee Esa 38. 19. And in the Psal None can worship thee in the graue This a man would thinke should stir vp all that haue made good beginnings in Christian life to long after perseuerance therein yea though they liue vnto old age and that they may bee experienced and well seene in the waies of God that so they may declare them to others Which as it is rare and few mens cases to doe so it is their honour that doe it and their benefit who enioy it I speake this to the shame of such as doe by small occasions depart from good beginnings and in the pride of their hearts and contempt of other take conceits against their brethren who hold constantly the profession of their hope and breake off their fellowship with them directly contrary to the word of God or some other way depart from a good course so that few such doe hold out to the end in their good beginnings but lose that honour that Ioshua had who in his old age died as he had long liued to wit the seruant of the Almighty then the which title the Angels had no greater honour It is further added of Ioshua that he was buried in his owne inheritance which was
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
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
of the children of Ammon 8. Who from that yeere vexed and oppressed the children of Israel eighteene yeeres euen all the children of Israel that were beyond Iorden in the land of the Ammorites which is in Gilead 9. Moreouer the children of Ammon went ouer Iorden to fight against Iudah and against Beniamin and against the house of Ephraim so that Israel was sore tormented 10. Then the children of Israel cried vnto the Lord saying Wee haue sinned against thee euen because wee haue forsaken our owne God and haue serued Baalim NOw followeth a new reuolt of the people of Israel and this is handled to the 17. verse wherein the things to bee considered are these to wit a double repairing and returning by them to God when hee afflicted them by their enemies for their sin in forsaking him In their first seeking to him they had the repulse for their repentance was not sound In the second God deliuered them they seeking to him in repentance In the former note these foure things First their sinne which was a ioyning to the nations among whom they dwelt and this in the sixth verse The second is Gods punishing them euen by those whom they ioyned with in Idolatrie which is snewed in the next three verses The third point is their crying to God and lastly the fruite thereof in the tenth verse and so forward The fruite was diuers for first God denied to deliuer them to the fifteenth verse But at the second crying of the people to God hee deliuered them which is set downe in the next two verses vnto the seuenteenth Now let these things be looked into more particularly To returne therefore to the sixth verse and to begin with the peoples sinne it is said after the death of these two Iudges in whose daies they had enioyed peace fiue and fortie yeeres that the people fell againe to prouoke God as wee haue heard their fathers did And how by committing Idolatrie after the manner of the seuen nations that are here mentioned For both that was liking to the flesh and besides they thought those nations that did so liued in more abundance and in more pleasure then themselues did for many delights to tickle the flesh forward they adioyned to their false worship to draw away their hearts from seruing the true God aright whom it is said here that they forsooke Thus much for the summe of this verse and therein of their sinne And here are diuers things to be considered First it teacheth that we should not greatly marueile that so many in this our age giue themselues to Popish religion seeing Idolatrie hath in most ages been so common by reason that it hath so many player-like toyes and bables of sights to bleare the eye and sonets to deceiue the eare that it maketh them thinke they be in a peece of paradise while they embrace and are made drunke with such fond conceits when indeed they be thereby caried as it were fast asleepe to hell There is nothing that moueth or delighteth them in all the word of God rightly vnderstood but only blind deuotion in their false religion wherein they haue been nuzled vp and then a fond and fantasticall conceit that they shall goe to heauen thereby As for the authoritie and warrant of their Masse and other trumperie in the beginning of the world nay in our Sauiour Christs time and many hundred yeeres after there was no shred nor ragge of it vsed or knowne especially to any such end whereas the true seruing of God was alwaies as now it is euen from the beginning And how prone people are to worship God with ease for so farre they like whether it be sound and true or counterfeit it may be seene not onely in Poperie which is coyned for the purpose to deceiue the simple with strong delusions but also in our religion which for the outward manner of it is holy pure and good and consisteth in hearing prayer and the vse of the Sacraments for the substance thereof And yet many of them who allow it as the true manner of worshipping God what doe they for the most part but draw neere to God with their bodies but their hearts are farre from him As if they would say they would gladly goe to heauen but they would haue an easie way thither but to serue God in spirit and truth which is the direct way thither they cannot bend themselues thereto whereas there is as great delight in the worshipping of God aright and that by the Lords allowance and promise which in the two former kindes of popish and the other of only outward worship are wanting as great delight I say and as sound in true performing it so farre as fraile flesh may attaine to as there is reward promised thereto which is vnutterable In this verse also may bee seene what fruite this people yeelded to the Lord of their long enioyed peace euen as wee haue seene their fathers did and that was how they fell to lasciuiousnes and forgetting of God a sufficient watch-word whereof they had giuen them before by Moses Now for the laying out of this sinne both in them and our selues how fearefull and great it is let vs onely consider of it thus Seeing this point hath been largely handled already if the diseased person pained with the stone or strangury or the famished and hee that is in penury or the man that is in exile and banishment if these I say might be set free from that which oppresseth them what would they not readily offer and couenant to doe in the seruice of God yea and that much more feruently then other men Therefore how grieuous is their sin let all men iudge who may in health in wealth at ease and in outward peace doe this I meane serue the Lord which is the thing that he requireth of them and yet they can by no means be brought to it But this I leaue to be further considered as euery one shal see cause But more particularly in that it is said they forsooke the Lord it may be marueiled at that they should forsake him whom they had loued and serued before But by this we may see what force there is in sinne to besot and make drunken them who giue ouer themselues thereto be it whoredome the loue of the world or any other For it is able to bereaue them of sound reason to turne away their delight from prayer and all good practise and to forget the ioy that they had in both sometimes and yet to blindfold them so that they shall not suspect any danger to be toward them for al this while they may merrily serue their humour therein Sampson and other went farre this way And let the best of vs feare lest we be carried away of our lusts to loue and like where wee ought not and tempt we not God but let vs resist the beginnings of euill wee know little what
doe harme and partly our selues procuring it who nourish not in our selues such motions nor make wise vse of them by setting them a work and applying them to some fit obiect as Iphtah here did but delight only in the sweetnesse and pleasure which we feele and so suffer the heauenly flame to vanish for want of laying on fewell to preserue it And although the Lord causeth his children euen here sometimes in health sometime at death to enioy such vnspeakable feelings and operations of the spirit which hee doth to giue them such a taste of heauen as may cause in them a restlesse longing til they come thither yet he knoweth they would say with Peter Master it is good for vs to be here and would thinke of no departure if this should be an ordinarie diet Therefore he rather considers what they can digest then what he can afford and saith My grace shall neither be giuen in superfluitie nor yet in penury but it shall be sufficient And let vs learne to account so of it as the best for vs. Onely let vs beware lest by our giuing way to our flesh the counterpoise of the spirit that is to the earth to our sensualitie and lusts we bury and quench the spirit and smother it from appearing in the beauty thereof and also lest wee cause it to be heauy and sad in vs and so our selues to bee blockish and sottish rather then heauenly and ioyfull which is to choose to feede with swine when we might eate Angels foode In these two verses is not only set downe the victory which God gaue to Iphtah ouer the Ammonites but it is also particularly amplified and in larger manner described As that many fell in the battell and that hee ouerthrew twentie of their cities and that hee brought the Ammonites in subiection to him Where wee may clearely see what it is that encourageth vs and setteth vs forward in our duties doing Euen the Lords appointing and calling vs thereto as of the publike calling of the Minister I spake before it is true of the priuate duties also Husband and wife from thence haue their hartning on to liue mutuall helpers one of another to their Christian and peaceable conuersing together and passing their daies sweetly and bearing their crosses contentedly euen from hence I say that they beleeue God hath ioyned them together to that end So the Magistrate and all other in the seuerall duties of this life And want of this faith is enough to make mens liues ouercast as the weather is with clouds and tempests and to fill men with sinne and sorrow Other things which might bee noted from hence haue been mentioned before but besides them of these two a little In that the King of Ammon went by the worst in the battell had with Iphtah it shewes what wilfulnesse brings a man or the contempt or reiecting of good and sound perswasions such as Iphtah vsed to disswade him from warre For though he were an Heathen yet he knew by the law of Nature that he ought not to offer iniury to the innocent And we know that when the Gentiles knew God onely by the light of nature and did not honour him accordingly he gaue them vp to their hearts desires to fulfill them against nature Much more they who haue light in the word of God hauing no regard of good instruction and admonition shall come to naught especially the despisers thereof vnlesse they take shame and abashment to themselues for it and so come to better state according to that which is written He that knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall bee beaten with many stripes But more of this punishment vpon wilfulnesse see before set downe by the like occasions and by name in Chap. 8. 14. And in that hee lost twentie cities which hee had of his owne and lost those also which he fought for which were none of his it liuely setteth before our eies that many not contented with that which is their owne while they claime to and seeke that which belongs to other men either by colour of law or otherwise they lose that which they sued for and spend and consume that which they had before The Lord doth oft times requite their vnconscionablenesse that way and yet in great mercy he dealeth with them in so doing to keepe a heauier iudgement from them who would most certainely be worse if they should by their corrupt and bad dealing speed better and be suffered to haue successe I will cleare this point by example and instance Pharaoh not contented to haue oppressed the Israelites for many generatiōs with bondage would needs pursue them when they were gotten out of his clawes though hee had smarted many waies for not letting them goe But what came of it seeing he sought vniustly to encroach vpon Gods possession he not onely failed of that hee desired but lost also that which he ventured euen his owne life and all that hee had and his people also in the middest of the sea The same is verified in other parts of vnrighteousnesse Sampson not content to liue with credit and honour in his owne land and within his compasse would needs breake out among the Philistims there hit into Delilas company which his soule entirely loued though vnlawfully and was made a vassall to a base mistresse But behold a short time this pleasure of sinne lasted for loe his louer rewards him with treason and then Sampson poore man is faine to forgoe his mistresse by force who could not be plucked from her by conscience and that which he abhorred that he was made to vndergoe and that by them whom he most hated to wit a painefull bondage while hee liued beside shame and sorrow and after all an vntimely death I will instance first in the sinnes of the second Table The murtherer and thiefe can by no perswasion bee brought to labour with his hands and to doe the thing which is good tush it goeth vtterly against him to bee put to labour and to worke hard all the yeere long for a poore liuing hee can bring in all at once and get great booties to liue at ease and plentifully for a long time as he imagineth and is not that a merry world yes while it lasteth in his kind but how long is that He gets two or three purses and in the fourth enterprise he is taken in the manner Doth hee not then thinke you wish from his heart that hee had obeyed Gods ordinance and been hard at work as much as he loathed it before rather then to haue put forth his hand to violence For he seeth that neither he hath obtained that which he sought for and that ouerthrow which he little looked for that hee hath brought vpon himselfe He lay in waite for the life and goods of another therein he was defeated but this will not satisfie for his sinne he must giue life and goods to
both a solitarie place fit for the purpose and also farre from her fathers house to weane her selfe from thence or for to auoid recourse of her friends vnto her To teach vs that there fall out times and occasions to bee solitarie euen as it is it selfe commanded vs of God and that both extraordinary as here and in priuat fasting and ordinary also for meditation and these both the one and the other we should vse to our good when we haue cause either longer or shorter time to goe apart by our selues knowing that this is a speciall action of religious worship and therefore requireth seperation from hindrances So did our Sauiour Christ for a time after much preaching and being in companie goe into some solitarie place with his Disciples as it were returning to himselfe that hee might haue more freedome for heauenly contemplation and prayer So in the time of great lamentation as the people did mourne for the death of Iosias and in the time of Zachary the Prophet whē the familie did it apart one member of it from another the husband apart and the wife apart But fondly doth Popery abuse such examples to maintaine Monasticall life and such like fancies when they were vsed in the best manner if euer well vsed but now much more when they haue brought them to such abomination as they are come vnto that it is but a couer for much and great wickednesse And this point deserueth our obseruation that she being now in heauines wisely chose the fittest exercise to set it in on worke and did not yeeld to her passion which then would haue made her loggish and vnprofitable but vsed it to a singular good end euen to fit her selfe for her death and departure In mirth and ioy how hard a thing is it to recall home our wandring senses and straying affections and retire our thoughts and mindes from rouing in euery corner of the world our wofull experience can tell vs. Sorrow hath likewise many and those grieuous annoiances attending it but that of the two the comparison being equall is the fittest trumpet to sound this retreit And as naturally it contracteth the body and the spirits so if it be taken heed vnto it bringeth the superfluous and noisome cares delights and desires of the soule into a narrower compasse And when a man is wholly at home is he not fitter for any good dutie then when hee is absent in great part from himselfe Therefore as the day of griefe is a season and opportunitie for some good dutie which at other times is to vs vnseasonable so let vs vse it accordingly that is redeeme it Solitarinesse I confesse is not fit for euery sorrower and yet it is necessarie for the better doing of this dutie I therfore distinguish of persons Such therfore as are ignorant and yet oppressed with heauinesse for that they doubt and are vncertaine of Gods fauour for their sinne and especially if they bee pressed with melancholy To these I giue this counsell that they auoide solitarinesse in their pangs of griefe and melancholike passions and giue not vantage to their enemie the diuell to finde them alone as neere as they can lest they finde his delusions and temptations the more forcible as Iudas in his perplexitie did when hee went aside from all companie But let their sorrow driue them to aske counsell and make their cases knowne to such as can aduise or comfort them The diuell was bold to assault our Sauiour himselfe in his solitarinesse But to returne and to speake of the point If a suruey were taken I doubt wee should finde few houres I speake not of weekes or moneths dedicated by the most part of Christians to this heauenly worke of vsing solitarines for meditation especially for preparation to dye to make vp their accounts against they should be called for Oh they look to liue long they are not in the case of this maide who was within two moneths of her dying day and applied them wholly to fit her for death but they are made drunke with an vnsatiable desire of liuing still and therefore tell not them of such sad vnwelcome matters But oh fooles are they not suddenly taken and as vnprouided within few daies and houres of their death as they were many yeeres before Therefore to leaue them when the Lord at any time iustly occasioneth vs to be sorrowfull and pensiue let vs beware of blockishnesse which commonly accompanieth them who in in their mirth thinke of nothing but iollitie and say wee euery one thus to our selues Now the Lord calles me home to the practise of a dutie which indeed ought to be oft in vse to meditate of my estate to vnburden my mind and soule of those manifold needlesse and noysome thoughts and affections which I haue ouerloaden my selfe a long time withall now the Lord will haue me bent to search out my errors corruptions and disorders of hart and life and going aside to ease my stomack of them confesse loath renounce and aske pardon of them Now the Lord will haue me to pray that his spirit may be restored to me in greater measure that I may returne with more libertie to his seruice and beware that I be not againe surfeited with that which now I haue vomited vp as the world pleasures vaine desires vile and loathsome lusts This is a good vse indeed of heauinesse the house of such mourning is better thē the house of feasting And to this end oh it were to be wished that damsels as well as other liuing in these daies would setforth themselues to the world not in pride boldnesse nicenesse and curiositie of fashions but in modestie grace and wisdome as this maiden here did which were another manner of spectacle then to see many golden rings in a swines snout Now whereas it is said here to fill vp the measure of her due commendation that she returned at the time set vnto her father to doe to her as hee had vowed the faithfulnesse constancie and obedience of the maid is not onely to bee commended but admired For why did shee so but to serue God therein as she was perswaded Such keeping of couenant and promise made by her when it was to the forgoing of her life doth vrge all in smaller matters much more to keepe promise and to make conscience of their word and that not only towards God but euen to men also The like we see in Paul who hauing his liberty giuen him both in his iourney towards Rome and at Rome also where hee was Nero his prisoner whereby hee might haue made many an escape and shifted for himself yet neuer attempted any such course but faithfully returned to his Captaine and to his Keeper though to the perill of his life rather then he would procure safety by breaking away by distrusting God or by vnfaithfulnesse A good cause will seeke no such shifts and our great Iesuits if there were in them that
of them seeke to get out of that plunge they doe most certainely perish vtterly without any recouery being throwne into that gulfe that is bottomlesse where is weeping and gnashing of teeth And although such ill disposed persons dye not alwaies by companies and multitudes as they did heere and at the flood in Noahs time and as it commeth often to passe according to the occasions that are offered and therefore it is the lesse marked yet he that obserueth it shall finde that they who bewray that they are not vpright harted but dissemblers and hollow and that they haue no fauour in the Gospell and good things and by their behauiour speech and companie doe testifie their bad liues I say such as obserue it shall find that now one and then another and some by one iudgment and some by another shall verifie that which I say namely how such pine and wanse away secretly in ignorance or impenitencie or bee arested apparently with such visitations of God as in which they testifie the same See my notes vpon the ninth chapter in the death of Abimelech and the men of Shechem The second part of the Chapter Vers 7. And Iphtah iudged Israel sixe yeeres then died Iphtah the Gileadite and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead 8. And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem iudged Israel 9. Who had thirtie sonnes and thirtie daughters which he sent out and tooke in thirtie daughters from abroad for his sonnes And he iudged Israel seuen yeere 10. Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem 11. And after him iudged Israel Elon a Zebulonite and he iudged Israel tenne yeeres 12. Then Elon the Zebulonite died and was buried in Aijalon in the countrey of Zebulon 13. And after him Abdon the sonne of Hillel the Pirathonite iudged Israel 14. And hee had fortie sonnes and thirtie nephewes that rode on seuentie asse colts and he iudged Israel eight yeeres 15. Then area Abdon the sonne of Hillel the Pirathonite and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim in the mount of the Amalekites IN these verses following is contained the time of the reigne of Iphtah and diuers other that were Iudges in Israel together with their death and buriall in their owne cities where they dwelt and aboad in their life time Wherein that which is said in common of them both I wil speake of ioyntly as of the time how long they gouerned and of their death and buriall for they are all set downe alike Other things herein contained I will seuerally note as occasion shall be offered in the text And first of the time of their being Iudges ouer the people It is said Iphtah had that place sixe yeere Ibzan seuen yeeres Elon tenne and Abdon eight All which being but one and thirtie were a small number for foure to enioy the place one after another Whose office as it was to deliuer the people out of the hands of their enemies so doubtlesse they did if there were cause by their being in bondage or else they kept them in peace that they were not oppressed nor brought vnder of their enemies at al. And that was a great fauour of God to Israel that they changing their Gouernours so oft yet they are not said betwixt the time of the one and the other to haue been in their enemies hands which when it was so is expresly set downe in the former examples and stories Thus the Lord hath blessings of all sorts for his Church is not willing to change them into punishments till our abuse of them turne them to our owne bane And as these 31. yeeres of peace vnder foure gouernours were granted to Israel so it was their owne sinne and reuolt from God which brought vpon them so long or a longer time of warre and disquiet the Lord could haue allowed them their peace without interruption if they could haue serued him in it without vnsetling and wearinesse And as he dealt with them so would he with vs also who as he hath vndeseruedly continued our peaceable daies euen in the times of our late change a worke of his most worthy to be had in remembrance so he would haue freed vs from plagues and dearth also but in that he hath allaied our peace with such domestical punishments as these late yeeres haue witnessed wee may thanke our selues and marueile that they haue been no sorer for doubtlesse hee hath therein remembred mercie in iudgement Our peace is from him our troubles wherewith it is accompanied are caused by our selues and farre more bitter should the cup be if we were made to drink it as we haue tempered it but the Lord in mercie holds back from vs confusion and bondage to our enemies which hee inflicted often vpon these Israelites But more particularly this teacheth that it is a great mercy of God when in the change of Princes and Gouernours there falleth not out some great detriment and hurt to the people especially when the changes are often For that is counted a punishment as Salomon saith For the transgression of the land there are many Princes and the state of the Common wealth if it bee in peace and prosperous is then like to change to the contrary It caused Dauid when he heard of the death of Saul who was not very commendable in his time yea although hee knew that hee himselfe should succeed him it caused him I say to mourne with a great lamentation saying Ye daughters of Israel mourne for Saul how much more would he haue done so if he had been religious and godly The same I say of inferiour Magistrates who helpe to vphold and countenance the Gospell and doe maintaine peace in their precincts and corners where they dwell The losing of them is with great danger besides feare of worse to follow and of faithfull Preachers the like may be said also though there be many instructers yet there are not many fathers the taking away of them therefore will not be without much cause of griefe also for who knoweth what shall follow The vse is to stirre vs vp to thankfulnes for Gods goodnesse to vs and our land in respect of the late peaceable succession and present prosperitie and health of our Soueraigne which indeed all are willing to take part in but few take the paines to consider how much they owe to God for such a benefit as this which as a knot containes in it all the particular blessings which we enioy as infolded in it Much lesse doe they weigh that ouer-ruling power of God which swept downe as a cobweb the long contriued plots of the Popish practisers for a forreine gouernment and defeated in a moment and derided their hopes by setting the crowne vpon the head of the true apparent Heire our gratious Soueraigne without the least contradiction of so many enemies The sensuall abuse of this blessing hath now caused the Lord to abate somewhat of this his fauour by abridging vs of
that when God hath deliuered men oft times out of danger they looke still that he should doe so neuer thinking how iustly he might haue plunged them deeply into the same long before neither weighing their owne securitie who little regarded to profit by their deliuerances past This is the exceeding blockishnes and senselesnes of men who as the Prophet saith are wise onely to doe euill but not any good They looke they should doe as they haue done in all things that like them and they will do as they haue done in all that please them But in all this what allowance haue they from God or libertie to do so Nay rather why do they not consider that God is against them in that their bad course and therefore hast out of it and they seeing the plague to hang ouer their heads why do they not hast out of it and with the good Captaine humble themselues to God as he did to Elias and craue pardon Oh! let the best of vs know that wee may not nestle our selues in any ill course though wee haue been bold with the Lord in times past that way when wee were as yet lesse experienced to tempt him farre and deceiue our selues as we haue done imagining that we shall doe as well as in former daies For in this changeable world such changes come oftest to them that change not from their euill courses and besides God will not be mocked As for the bad who crie peace their case is much worse Thus Corah perished and his companie when yet he thought that all should haue been with him still as it had been in times past And by this was Iezabel deceiued that threatned Elias should lose his head on the morrow little weighing what one day doth bring foorth but she a little after lost her life and that in a fearfull manner For why There is no peace to the vngodly saith God And thus Samson though no reprobate yet now a miserable reuolter fared who knew not that God was gone from him and looked to escape as he before had done but was disappointed and deceiued And this palpable deceiuablenes is bred in vs to dreame of God as hee did in the Psalme who said that seeing God did as it were winke at him and held his peace when he did euill therefore he was as hee himselfe and approued his bad course and would doe neither good nor euill so that there was no change of his prosperitie as he thought to bee feared And I confesse God suffereth long and in this his administration here below doth oft times let such as he meaneth to destroy goe on without stop and prosper as the oxe fatted to the slaughter whereas hee meeteth with his owne children in mercie though with smart and bitternes rather then that they should perish Howbeit neither is this course generall as appeares in the many examples of them in Scripture and experience whose sinnes haue gone before hand and where it doth hold for this life yet it faileth at death Then to be sure their course is altred The wicked man as the Prophet saith though an hundred yeere old is accursed and a day commeth whereof it shall be said It is not as yesterday Let this terrifie all vngodly ones lest God come vpon them at vnawares and alter their condition to their most intollerable vexation Let thē rather as men amazed by the terrors of God shake hands with and renounce their stale course wherein they are setled and as it were frozen And let them trie whether by vnfained humbling their soules and obtaining mercie with God they finde not that it was happie for them that euer they changed their estate For I doe them to vnderstand that there are persons who make a farre other vse of Gods sparing them then Samson did here and doe not occasion themselues to sinne more boldly still and yet to promise themselues peace as in former times And further I say that there are men to bee found I say not who may but who ought to looke for and build vpon it for certaine That it shall be well with them as at other times and so faith teacheth them to speake and they are such as haue obtained fauour with God that they might beleeue in him and in token thereof walke in his waies euen they to wom God hath giuen such an heart as to feare him and endeuour to obey him in all his Commandements they I say may assure themselues and shall finde it to goe well with them alway Marke that I say alway to day as yesterday and now as in times past And so had Samson found if hee had walked according to this rule For be it knowne to all such as haue fully purposed to cleaue vnto God without warping or falling off which he did not that it is their sinne if they doe not fully account of it and beleeue it that their soules shall be alway liking and they to be in fauour with him and blessed of him So that if men desire to haue to morrow to be like to day without change I meane any substantiall change though otherwise their faith and comfort is intended or remitted through their weaknesse let them be reuited by faith and care of obedience vnto him who is the vnchangeable al sufficient God of his elect But let them not thinke this promise entailed to them by the bare bond of their election or adoption but by their constant care to keepe both by holding fast a good conscience but if they waxe dissolute let them look that their good daies shall be changed into sorrowfull God giueth no man any certaintie of his outward estate peace health wealth friends or prosperitie much lesse granteth any man securitie in an impenitent course And lastly whereas it is said that the Lord was gone from him the meaning is this that hee had taken his strength from him and the graces which he had enioyed were so feebled darkned and drowned in him as if hee had lost them altogether and so doubtlesse he had if it could haue been A fearfull spectacle to behold such an one as he had been to wit before the most in gifts and grace to be brought to this point by his sinne as to cause the Lord who had loued and done so much for him so to leaue him in the hands of his enemies to vse him at their pleasure But what he was brought vnto I meane to what depth of miserie sorrow and shame it shall better appeare in that which followeth But yet God forsook him not finally but after he returned to him again and brought him to repentance as shall be further shewed in the end of the Chapter Now to finish this second part of it let vs consider of Samsons estate by Sauls dolefull complaint when he vsed the same words which the holy Ghost doth here of Samson namely that the Lord was departed from him
much afraid to goe on in their cruell course against them as wee see the Priests by the counsell of Gamaliel thought good and saw cause to be ruled by him in letting the Apostles goe who had before intended most cruelly against them what was it that hindred them from their purpose but this that they feared that the Lord would haue resisted them who indeed so terrified them that hee constrained them to let them alone Thus as well as by the death of some that are maliciously minded against the faithfull other of their companie are so astonished and appalled that they desist from their wicked attempts and are in such feare that for the time they cannot tell what they may doe Thus to conclude God easeth the shoulders of his seruants many waies as wee see of the burthens that oppressed them and many other waies that cannot be expressed and not in the least manner by taking their oppressors away in the middest of their florishing and crueltie that wee may see he knoweth how to deliuer his and sheweth accordingly in due season that he doth not forget them and all to this end that they may not faint from their good beginnings nor be discouraged in any good course but hold it alwaies best to depend vpō him as Israel by Pharaos drowning and Shushan and the Prouinces by Hamans abasement with the like found it And though in some hot and fierie trials this be hard for the faithfull to go vnder yet after they haue borne the brunt they would not for any good haue done otherwise But of the sundrie waies whereby God vseth to succour his and ioynt their enemies I haue in another place discoursed at large Therefore thus much be said of this point and of the whole history of Samson THE SEVENTEENTH CHAPTER Vers 1. And there was a man of mount Ephraim whose name was Micah 2. And he said vnto his mother The eleuen hundred shekels of siluer that were taken from thee about which thou cursedst and spakest of also in mine eares Behold the siluer is with me I tooke it And his mother said Blessed bee thou of the Lord my sonne 3. And when he had restored the eleuen hundred shekels of siluer to his mother his mother said I haue wholly dedicated the siluer vnto the Lord from my hand for my sonne to make a grauen Image and a molten Image now therefore I will restore it vnto thee 4. Yet herestored the money vnto his mother and his mother tooke two hundred shekels of siluer and gaue it to the founder who made thereof a grauen Image and a molten Image and they were in the house of Micah 5. And the man Micah had an house of gods and made an Ephod and Teraphim and consecrated one of his sonnes who became his Priest 6. In those daies there was no King in Israel but euery man did that which was right in his owne eyes IN this Chapter before I enter into the handling of it as I vse to do in the other I must stay a while and say somthing for the satisfying of the reader and that not onely about this Chapter but also all the other that follow to the end of the booke That which I meane is this Whereas it may be by the ignorant thought that the things mentioned in these fiue Chapters following were done in order of time after those things which goe before I finde by conference of Scriptures that they were not neither can it be that they should But it appeareth that the acts set downe in them were done long before And because it may seeme strange which I say I neither will nor dare affirme it barely because any other man saith so but I will shew my reasons out of the Scripture I affirme therfore that the things that are said to haue been done in these Chapters following were done before the times of any of the Iudges or at the least at the end and after the death of Othniel mentioned in the first Chapter or in that vacation of those eighteene yeeres vnder Eglon while there was no Iudge in Israel And they may not inconueniently bee reckoned to the second Chapter and the eleuenth verse and those that follow it which doe mention the horrible wickednesse of the people of Israel after Ioshua was dead and the chiefe rulers who ouerliued him My reasons that these things were done before the times of the Iudges or thereabout are these The first is that it is said in the next Chapter that the Tribe of Dan being a populous tribe did inlarge their borders at that time which if it should be vnderstood to follow the storie of Samson in the former Chapter a reckoning being duly made must be full three hundred yeeres from the diuision of the land Against the which therefore as nothing like to be so that in the 19. of Ioshua is opposed where it is said as here it is that the border of the children of Dan was at that time lesse then sufficed therefore the children of Dan went vp and fought against Laish euen then and taking it smote it with the edge of the sword and enioyed it for their inheritance and dwelt in it So that if they of Dan then tooke it it followeth that the story in the next Chapter where they are said then to haue taken it is to bee referred to that time mentioned in Ioshua 19. which was three hundred yeeres before and not to the time following immediatly after Samson according to the order of the Chapter as it is set And this is my first reason why these fiue Chapters follow not the order of time as they be placed Another reason why these Chapters cannot bee vnderstood to bee set downe according to the order wherein they stand and the time in which they are thought to haue been done to wit immediately after Samson but are to bee referred to the former times that were three hundred yeeres before another reason for it I say is this that Ionathan the Leuite mentioned in these two Chapters is said to haue been the nephew of Manasseh the son of Moses and the sonne of Gershom nephew to Moses who were dead well nigh three hundred yeeres before the death of Samson and therefore vnlike or rather impossible that he should liue after Samson Thirdly whereas the acts of these fiue Chapters followed one another at the same time it is manifest that at the war of the Beniamites chapter 20. Phineas the sonne of Eliazar the sonne of Aaron ministred before the Lord at that time and asked counsell of him if they should go against Beniamin to warre And the same Phineas aboue three hundred yeeres before the death of Samson appeased the wrath of God by thrusting through Zimri and Cosby in their tent while the people of Israel were on the other side Iordan and were not as yet come into the land of Canaan Therefore the acts mentioned
to haue been done in these fiue Chapters could not bee done after the death of Samson as they by their placing may be thought to haue been but long before vnlesse we grant that Phineas and the rest as Ionathan and the Danites that went to Laish liued three hundred and more yeeres which none then did for three or foure generations before that in Moses time the daies of a man were reckoned but threescore yeeres and ten or fourescore at the most to speake of and those also with paine and wearinesse To these may this be added that the Citie Ierusalem then called Iebus part whereof fell to the Beniamites at the peoples first comming into the land of promise and part of it was in the hands of Iudah this Iebus was now said to be possessed of the Iebusites in the 19. Chapter Now that which was giuen to Beniamin three hundred yeeres before and enioyed of them Iosh 18. being taken from the Iebusites could it be in the possession of the Iebusites so long after being driuen out so long before And though they were not wholly expelled as Iosh 15. yet part of them was Iudg. 1. And the men of Iudah who tooke it slew the inhabitants with the edge of the sword and burnt the City with fire The other part of it was as I said pertaining to Beniamin and though some remained to the time of Dauid yet they enioyed not the City though they could not bee wholly cast out but were onely in holds as may be seene 2. Sam. 5. Therefore that which is said of Iebus in the next Chapter that it was called the City of the Iebusites is not to bee vnderstood to haue been so called now after the death of Samson but three hundred yeeres before when it was not yet giuen to Beniamin nor taken by Iudah I say therfore that in this and the other 4. Chapters following is shewed that the Common-wealth of the Israelites was most corrupt both in religion and manners after the death of Ioshua and the other good rulers that ouerliued him for in a short time after by little and little another generation arose which knew not the Lord and the whole tribes fell to Idolatry and horrible wickednesse of both which an example is set downe here one of their Idolatry in the 17. and 18. Chapters and another of the monstrous life that was then in vse among them which is set downe in the other three Chapters following This being said of the time when the acts of this and the Chapters following were done I proceed now after the manner that I vse in the former Chapters to set downe the summe and parts of this The summe of it is this That a woman mother to one Micah in this Chapter mentioned lost a good summe of money as it might be about an hundred poudd after our reckoning which her sonne Micah had stollen from her This money when he hearing how shee cursed for the losse of it had restored to her againe she bestowed it vpon idolatrous vses For she procured a molten and grauen Image to be made with part of it and her sonne made other Images and ornaments for them both of the rest of it and hired a Leuite for the better furnishing and setting out of the matter to be in his house as his Priest with him The parts of the Chapter are two the one concerning the Idolatry of the woman and her sonne vnto the 17. verse the second how Micah hired himselfe a Priest for the purpose to the end of the Chapter And by this example we see how Idolatrie in those bad times was first brought into a priuate familie which after spread into a whole tribe The first part of the Chapter IN the first part we are to consider of the woman in the sixe former verses And here first of the things which are spoken of her before her Idolatry as they are laid out in the text Where after that she is said to bee the mother of this Micah a man of mount Ephraim it is added that certaine money which she had vowed to the Lord was stollen from her by her son whereat shee cursed the theefe not knowing who hee was that had taken it away And when he confessed his fault and that he had it shee blessed him who restoring it to her againe shee answered him that shee had vowed it to the Lord for his vse and therefore bad him take it againe So shee tooke two hundred shekels therof to make a molten Image of it and put it in the house of Micah and as it may be gathered by her owne words added the rest to other like apurtenances thereunto Many things offer themselues to vs heere worthie the noting And first this that this Micahs mother had of her superfluitie and great wealth wel nigh an hundred pound to vow to superstition and idolatrie for so it appeareth and that they were both very wealthie in as much as hee was able to make maintaine and furnish an house or chappell of Images not of the meanest mettall and to adorne them and she to increase them This sheweth that howseuer many want and are in great need whose penurie should be relieued with the superfluitie of others yet in the meane while there are who haue more then they can tell well how to bestow or imploy But alas they haue no heart to doe good with it especially to others neither wil be taught to lay aside as God blesseth them to good vses and ends nor to themselues to doe the best good namely that they may bring foorth much fruite that so their soules may fare well Yet this was not the fault of these two that they had no heart to lay it out for that they were ready enough to doe but they did it amisse and to idolatrous vses For though they thought they did well imploy it yet they were superstitiously and blindly led to that which they did And as it was the sinne of these that their zeale was carried amisse through want of knowledge which yet excuseth them not seeing they were the posteritie of the visible Church and in likelihood themselues lately of it so others whose knowledge is greater offend in their kind as grossely For either they cannot depart from it at all and forgoe it I meane any portion of their superfluitie which is one extremitie or they lash it out vnlawfully vpon their lusts either in voluptuousnes as adulterie drunkennesse and such like which is another and more dangerous extremitie and to one of these though not all in a like measure tend the most mens vsing of their goods Few aime at the best manner of disposing them If they did God hath giuen enough that as it was in gathering the Manna he that gathered lesse then a homer wanted not and that hee who gathered more had nothing ouer So for the condition of euery man God hath giuen