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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	day_n	hour_n	minute_n	1,570	5	11.3251	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02527	Contemplations vpon the principal passages of the holie historie. The third volume: in three bookes. By I. Hall, Doctor of Diuinitie; Contemplations upon the principall passages of the Holy Storie. Vol. 3	Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656.	1615 (1615)	STC 12654; ESTC S103660	101,087	468

wish short Wee doe not more affect protraction of an easefull life then speed in our dissolution for heere euery pang that tends toward death renewes it To lie an houre vnder death is tedious but to be dying a whole day we thinke aboue the strength of humane patience Oh what shal wee then conceiue of that death which knowes no end As this life is no lesse fraile then the bodie which it animates so that death is no lesse eternall then the soule which must endure it For vs to be dying so long as wee now haue leaue to hue is intolerable and yet one onely minute of that other tormenting death is worse then an age of this Oh the desperate infidelitie of carelesse men that shrinke at the thought of a momentany death and feare not eternal This is but a killing of the body that is a destruction of body and soule Who is so worthy to weare the Crowne of Israel as hee that won the Crowne from Midian Their Vsurpers were gone now they are headless It is a doubt whether they were better to haue had no Kings or Tyrants They sue to Gideon to accept of the Kingdom are repulsed There is no greater example of modestie then Gideon When the Angel spake to him he abased himselfe belowe all Israel when the Ephraimites contended with him hee prefers their gleanings to his vintage and casts his honour at their feet and now when Israel profers him that kingdome which he had merited hee refuses it Hee that in ouercomming would allow them to cry The sword of the Lord and of Gideon in gouerning will haue none but The sword of the Lord. That which others plotte and sue and sweare and bribe for Dignity and superiority hee seriously reiects vvhether it were for that he knew God had not yet called them to a Monarchy or rather for that hee saw the Crowne among thornes What doe wee ambitiously affect the commaund of these mole-hils of earth when wise men haue refused the profers of Kingdomes Why doe we not rather labor for that Kingdome which is free from all cares from all vncertaintie Yet he that refuses their Crown calls for their earings although not to enrich himselfe but religion So long had God bin a stranger to Israel that now superstition goes currant for deuout worship It were pitty that good intentions shold make any man wicked here they did so Neuer man meant better then Gideon in his rich Ephod yet this very act set all Israel on whoring God had chosen a place and a seruice of his owne When the wit of man will be ouer-pleasing God with better deuises then his owne it turnes to madness and ends in mischiefe Abimelechs Vsurpation GIdeon refused the kingdome of Israel when it was offred his seuenty sonnes offred not to obtaine that Scepter which their fathers victorie had deserued to make hereditary onely Abimelec the concubines sonne sues and ambitiously plots for it VVhat could Abimelec see in himselfe that hee should ouer-looke all his brethren If hee lookt to his father they were his equals if to his mother they were his betters Those that are most vnworthy of honor are horest in the chase of it whiles the conscience of better deserts bids men sitte still and stay to be either importuned or neglected There can be no greater signe of vnfitness then vehement sute It is hard to say whether there be more pride or ignorance in Ambition I haue noted this difference betwixt spirituall and earthly honor and the Clients of both wee cannot be worthy of the one without earnest prosecution nor with earnest prosecution worthy of the other The violent obtain heauen onely the meek are worthy to inherit the earth That which an aspiring heart hath proiected it will finde both argument and means to effect If either bribes or fauour will carry it the proud man will not sit out The Shechemites are fit brokers for Abimelec That Citie which once betrayed it selfe to vtter depopulation in yeelding to the sute of Hamor now betraies it selfe and all Israel in yielding to the request of Abimelec By them hath this Vsurper made himselfe a faire way to the throne It was an easie question Whether will ye admitte of the sonnes of Gideon for your Rulers or of Strangers If of the sons of Gideon whether of all or one If of one whether of your owne flesh and bloud or of others vnknown To cast off the sonnes of Gideon for Strangers were vnthankfull To admit of seauentie Kings in one small Country were vnreasonable To admit of any other rather then their owne kinsman were vnnaturall Gideons sons therefore must rule amongst all Israel One of his sonnes amongst those seuentie and who should be that one but Abimelec Natural respects are the most dangerous corrupters of all elections What hope can there bee of worthy Superiors in any free people where neereness of bloud carries it from fitnes of disposition Whiles they say He is our brother they are enemies to themselues and Israel Faire words haue won his brethren they the Sechemites the Sechemites furnish him with mony mony with men His men begin with murder and now Abimelec raignes alone Flattery bribes and bloud are the vsuall stayres of the Ambitious The mony of Baal is a fit hire for murderers that which Idolatry hath gathered is fitlie spent vpon Treason One diuel is ready to help another in mischief Seldome euer is ill-gotten riches better imployed It is no wonder if he that hath Baal his Idol now make an Idol of Honour There was neuer any man that worshipped but one Idol Wo be to them that lie in the way of the Aspiring Tho they be brothers they shall bleed yea the nearer they are the more sure is their ruine VVho would not now thinke that Abimelec should finde an hell in his breast after so barbarous and vnnaturall a massacre and yet behold he is as senselesse as the stone vpon which the bloud of his seauenty brethren was spilt VVhere Ambition hath possest it selfe throughly of the soule it turnes the heart into steele and makes it vncapable of a conscience All sinnes will easily downe vvith the man that is resolued to rise Onely Iotham fell not at that fatall stone with his brethren It is an hard battell where none escapes Hee escapes not to raigne not to reuenge but to be a Prophet and a witnesse of the vengeance of GOD vpon the Vsurper vpon the Abettors Hee liues to tell Abimelec hee was but a bramble a weed rather then a tree A right bramble indeed that grew but out of the base hedg-row of a Concubine that could not lift vp his head from the earth vnlesse he were supported by some bush or pale of Shechem that had laid hold of the fleece of Israel and had drawne bloud of all his brethren and lastly that had no substance in him but the sap of vaine-glory and the pricks of crueltie It vvas better then a kingdom

to him out of his obscure Beer to see the fire out of this bramble to consume those trees The view of Gods reuenge is so much more pleasing to a good heart then his owne by how much it is more iust and full There was neuer such a patterne of vnthankfulness as these Israelites They which lately thought a Kingdome too small recompence for Gideon and his sonnes novv thinke it too much for his seede to liue and take life away from the sonnes of him that gaue thē both life and liberty Yet if this had bin some hundred of yeers after when time had worne out the memory of Ierub-baal it might haue borne a better excuse No man can hope to hold pase with Time The best names may not think scorne to be vnknowne to following generations but ere their Deliuerer vvas cold in his coffin to pay his benefits which deserued to be euerlasting with the extirpation of his Posteritie it was more then sauage VVhat can bee looked for from Idolaters If a man haue cast off his God hee will easily cast off his friends When religion is once gone humanitie will not stay long after That which the people were punished afterwards for but desiring he inioyes Now is Abimelec seated in the throne which his Father refused and no riuall is seene to enuy his peace But how long will this glory last Stay but three yeeres and ye shall see this bramble withered and burnt The prosperitie of the wicked is short and fickle a stolne Crowne tho it may looke faire cannot be made of any but brittle stuffe All life is vncertaine but wickednes ouer-runnes nature The euill spirit thrust himselfe into the plot of Abimelechs vsurpation and murder wrought with the Sechemites for both and now God sends the euill spirit betwixt Abimelec and the Sichemites to work the ruine of each other The first could not haue been without God but in the second GOD challenges a part Reuenge is his where the sinne is ours It had bin pitty that the Sichemites should haue been plagued by any other hand then Abimelecs They raised him vniustly to the Throne they are the first that feele the weight of his scepter The foolish Bird limes herself with that which grew from her owne excretion vvho wonders to see the kinde Peasant stung with his owne snake The breach begins at Shechem His own Countrimen flie off from their promised allegeance Tho all Israel should haue faln of from Abimelec yet they of Shechem shold haue stuck close It was their act they ought to haue made it good How should good Princes be honoured when euen Abimelecs once settled cannot be opposed vvith safety Now they begin the reuolt to the rest of Israel Yet if this had been done out of repentance it had bin praise-worthy but to be done out of a trecherous inconstancie was vnworthy of Israelites How could Abimelec hope for fidelity of them whom he had made and found Traytors to his fathers bloud No man knowes how to be sure of him that is vnconscionable He that hath bin vnfaithful to one knowes the way to be perfidious and is onely fit for his trust that is worthy to be deceiued vvhereas faithfulnesse besides the present good laies a ground of further assurance The friendship that is begun in euil cannot stand wickednes both of it owne nature and through the curse of God is euer vnsteddy and thogh there be not a disagreement in hell being but the place of retribution not of action yet on earth there is no peace among the wicked whereas that affection which is knit in God is indissoluble If the men of Shechem had abandoned their false God with their false King and out of a serious remorse desire of satisfaction for their idolatry bloud had opposed this Tyrant preferd Iotham to his throne there might haue bin both warrant for their quarrel and hope of success but now if Abimelec be a wicked Vsurper yet the Shechemites are Idolatrous Traytors How could they thinke that God wold rather reuenge Abimelecs bloody intrusion by them then their trechery Idolatry by Abimelec Whē the quarrel is betwixt God Satan there is no doubt of the issue but when one diuel fights with another what certenty is there of the victory Though the cause of God had bin good yet it had bin safe for them to looke to thēselues the vnworthiness of the agent many times curses a good enterprise No sooner is a secret dislike kindled in any people against their Gouernours then there is a Gaal ready to blow the coales It were a wonder if euer any faction should want an Head As contrarily neuer any man was so ill as not to haue some fauorers Abimelec hath a Zebul in the midst of Shechem Lightly all treasons are betrayd euen with some of their owne His intelligence brings the sword of Abimelec vpon Shechem who now hath demolished the City sown it with salt Oh the iust successions of the reuenges of God! Gideons Ephod is punished with the bloud of his sonnes the bloud of his sons is shed by the procurement of the Shechemites the bloud of the Shechemites is shed by Abimelec the bloud of Abimelec is spilt by a woman The retaliations of God are sure and iust make a more due pedigree then descent of nature The pursued Shechemites flie to the house of their god Berith now they are safe that place is at once a fort and a sanctuary VVhether should we fly in our distresse but to our GOD And now this refuge shall teach them what a God they haue serued The iealous God whom they had forsaken hath them now where he would reioyces at once to be reuenged of their god them Had they not made the house of Baal their shelter they had not died so fearfully Now according to the prophecie of Iotham a fire goes out of the bramble and consumes these Cedars and their eternall flames begin in the house of their Berith the confusion of wicked men rises out of the false Deities vvhich they haue doted on Of all the Conspirators against Gideons sonnes only Abimelec yet suruiues and his day is now comming His success against Shechem hath filled his hart with thoughts of victorie He hath caged vp the inhabitants of Tebez within their tower also and what remaines for them but the same end with their neighbours And behold while his hand is busie in putting fire to the dore of their tower which yet was not hie for then he could not haue discerned a woman to be his Executioner a stone from a vvomans hand strikes his head His paine in dying was not so much as his indignation to know by whom he died rather wil he die twise then a woman shal kill him If God had not known his stomack so big he had not vexed him with the impotency of his Victor God findes a time to reckon with wicked men for all the arrerages