altar so when we haue no word to beare vs out we runne into the lapse and offend against the expresse prohibition of the Scriptures which is Thou shalt not do thine owne will whereas that it is written we should auoide all appearance of euill It is not vnlawfull simply for a good man to bee in the company of one that is euill but this excuseth not him who obserueth no circumstances herein but shall associate himselfe with such as are of bad note in gaming drinking or haunting of suspected places as I haue said although he abuse the extraordinary fact of Hester and the example of our Sauiour or pretend as some will the good of the party But as Ehud was appointed to present the gift to the King of Moab so it is said heere hee did which wee know was a great honour and credit vnto him And he was worthie of it who did afterward aduenture so great danger with it So God alloweth to them that serue him in high places and performe great duties in Church and Common-wealth hee alloweth them much credit honour and dignitie And for the one as Princes and noble persons such as Dauid was Salomon Hezechia and Iosia with Moses Ioshua and others haue enioyed the same in respect of some that were as great as they but not as godly Euen so it is with vs For they that truly honour and fauour learning and good ministers and make much of them that feare the Lord resisting and opposing the common aduersary they are highly honoured of the Church of God and so it is also in the ministery for as the Apostle saith they that rule well are worthie of double honour If they labour painfully and faithfully in the word and goe before their flocke as good sheepheards and so rule and guide them by both and by other censures as occasion shall be offered they worthily enioy loue and reuerence with the fruit of both as credit and maintenance And good reason there is why it should be so with both for the one laboureth and watcheth directly for the peoples soules the other in their kinde and place for the maintenance of their peace liues and goods And that which I say of these I may say proportionably of meaner persons and lower places that as they doe seruice to God in their liues places and employments so are they of greater account and more set by and well worthy then other who doe not so For their care faithfulnesse and trauell for the honour of God is much and the Lord hath promised to honour them who honour him and to leaue the other without honour And so it was heere that Ehud had great honour in that he was appointed to deliuer the Present to Eglon the King of Moab And who worthier then he For beside his other many worthy acts that he did for the peoples peace and deliuerance who among them all would haue aduentured their liues for the rest Of whom it may bee said as Pharaoh said of Ioseph when he directed him how to prouide in the seuen yeeres of plenty for the seuen yeeres of famine a wise man that should bee fit for that businesse Pharaoh said to his seruants where shall wee finde a man of vnderstanding like this let him bee set ouer the land of Egypt about this worke Heere the holy Story setting this downe that Ehud presented the gift to Eglon addeth this that he was a very fat man which may seeme to be vttered to no end seeing it is neither set downe to his commendation nor to his discommendation but this is mentioned that we may see a reason of that which is in the 22. verse And as it is not commended or discommended in him so by occasion heereof this I will say that fatnesse of body is to bee thought of as a thing neither with a man nor against him in it selfe For some are more disposed thereto naturally then other though they haue both one diet and alike kinde of easie life euen as we see how one tree waxeth great and tall in the same soyle where another is both small and low as one Oke in comparison of another But where men are naturally apt thereto good keeping doth set one forward And therefore no maruell that it is so with such as liue deliciously eating and drinking and vsing other liberty at their pleasure But this may not bee spoken without vse and profit this let vs learne that such either Ministers or other as giue ouer themselues and let the bridle loose to excesse in eating drinking sleeping playing idlenesse ease and such like and get fat that way may little reioyce in it and shall wish that they had by labour in their callings and other good meanes taken themselues downe as Paul chastized his body or at least haue good testimony that they haue not growne to that point through their owne sinne therefore that prouerbe is vsed by Paul against the Cretians out of Epimenides The Cretians are alway â—â—ers euill beasts slow bellies or Epicures And their commendation shall be no greater who in the profession of the Gospell fat themselues through idlenesse sloth ease seeking and shunning labour in their callings And this of Ehuds first going to Eglon to deliuer the Present The second followeth in which he slue him Wherein we may obserue first his conueighing home of the men that came with him and brought the Present which he deliuered that they might be out of perill when he should doe that worke of God so full of difficulty and danger Secondly how he came backe againe to Eglon telling him he had a secret errand and message to him and this was to remoue the company which attended on the King from the place of his presence Thirdly when hee had obtained that hee repeated his words adding this that his message was from God that so the King might attend to it with more reuerence as hee did and in token thereof stood vp and that he might the lesse suspect any danger and Ehud might haue aduantage thereby the more easily to dispatch him Thus much is in these three verses Concerning the first of sending away the people vnto the quarries a place where stones were digged vp neare to Gilgal a city of the Israelites neare Iordan In that he followed them after the present was deliuered till they were past danger he respected many things and namely that he might bee freer from care of them as also lest their tarying still whiles he went about that worke might haue been a meanes of bewraying it and further he was loth to bring any more into danger then hee must needs All these reasons moued him to send the people away and tended to the quiet and peace of his conscience And his example herein ought to bee our instruction that wee may learne to goe about waighty matters with all possible deepe and due consideration wisedome and warinesse as Ehud heere did
labour is not in vaine in the Lord. But as for men they oft times disgrace that which is well done of vs and reuile yea and hate vs for it as Eliab did Dauid for shewing himselfe forward against Gods enemies the Philistims and by name their great champion Goliah for the which hee ought to haue been encouraged rather and highly commended of him So Ioseph who had preserued the land of Egypt both for the time of the famine and long afterwards yet of that King Pharaoh who rose vp in the land some yeeres after of him I say Ioseph was not knowne nor regarded for so the text saith There came another Pharaoh who knew not Ioseph though his welfare arose by and from him vnder God as wel as his predecessors that liued before him did But especially this was verified in our Sauiour Christ who being the light of the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel was for the vnthankfulnesse of the people and their spitefull dealing against him was faine I say to answere them thus Many good workes haue I done among you for which of them doe you stone me In Heathen stories we reade of the strange ingratitude of people to their victorious gouernours especially Grecian and Romane one of whom being dead had this vpbraiding epitaph engrauen O vnthankfull countrey thou shalt not so much as haue the honour of my bones But that men liuing in the Church should shew such brutish ingratitude who should beleeue it that sees it not Moses the conducter of the people out of Egypt was neuer quiet from the conspiracy and murmurings of them against him The Prophets and Apostles for their painfull prophesyings and trauels in preaching what reward found they So these Ephramites how recompenced they Gedeon for his labour and paines And the other Israelites also looke in the end of his story And so if the worthy seruants of Christ in the magistracy and ministery find the like greetings courtesie thankfulnesse at their hands who should be their best fauourers and encouragers against their aduersaries yea if they find the people whom they gouerne and teach and vpon whom they bestow their liues and strength as the candle that giueth light till it die and goe out to requite them with small reuerence lesse countenance or maintenance and least of all with any fruit in true piety of their godly care and labour in season and out of season bestowed among them what vse shall they make hereof Shall they desist from their good beginnings and giue them ouer to such as may bee like to teach them by fearing them who would not learne it by loue to make more account of them No but first let them looke vp to God and acknowledge his iustice in so trying them and punishing some sinne in them and then answere themselues as the Prophet Esay I haue laboured in vaine to manward but my reward is with God and therfore I must not forsake my standing nor leaue my calling but hold out with courage and constancie vnto the end but more fully of this in the story of Iephta Now then the vse of this is and so let vs take it that we bee not discouraged from conscience and constancy in the seruice of God for the discourtesies and ill dealing of men for of God we are to looke for our reward And yet I must say that without especiall grace it is hard to doe thus and to rest contented with this that God is a plentifull rewarder of all that seeke and come to him and withall to beare the indignities that are offered vs of men Secondly seeing the world dealeth thus vnkindly with Gods seruants let their brethren that feare God bee encouragers and comforters of them that they may hold on in their good course for they are but men and therfore they haue need of encouragement and their weakenesse requireth that they should bee so dealt with And let all such as liue in their places of Ministers or professors with any freedome this way much more with a good liking and mutuall consent or encouragement bee highly thankfull to God for such vnwonted fauours and friendly dealings of men with them as knowing that it is not the portion which the most in the world find or enioy but a peculiar indulgence and fauour from God which ought to stirre vp in them astonishment at Gods kindnesse to them therein and not pride and insolencie And for the sin I now speake of let vs count this vnthankfulnesse and the taking in ill part the good actions of Gods people let vs I say count it for a bitter fruit of a naughty proud and cancred heart wheresoeuer wee meete with it or behold it and thereafter let them thinke of themselues who shew and offer it Now further note another of the faults of these Ephramites against Gedeon and that is that they enuied him for the honour he got by the victory Whereby though they sustained no hurt neither were the worse but the better yet they could not beare it that Gedeon should haue the glory of it where we may see a foule property of enuie and what it is It is a greefe and sadnesse for the prosperity of other and namely of such as bee our equals For the poore man enuieth not the King hee may bee grieued that he himselfe wanteth such good things as the King hath but that is not enuie And by this we may note the difference betweene hatred and malice on the one side and this enuie on the other to this end as wee haue heard of the one so we may in a word of the other Hatred therefore is a greefe conceiued against one for some cause at least as we thinke as Ahab hated Micaiah because hee did not prophesie good to him but euill as he tooke it and the same appeareth also by the contrary out of these words in holy Scripture They hated me without a cause And when I say enuie is a greefe at our equals for any eminency or prosperity that they haue aboue vs I meane such as are in kindred estate yeeres dignity or in gifts like vs. And the cause of this enuie is not for that wee are troubled as though any hurt or danger were comming towards vs from them whom we enuie for that is another affection to wit feare but for that through a cankred stomacke we cannot beare it that such an one as is no better then our selues should bee lifted vp so high and commended so farre aboue vs. And is not this a cursed mind in vs that wee cannot bee willing that another should fare well we being neuer the worse and that wee should haue an euill eye at that for the which we should reioyce for so Mary and Elizabeth did mutually reioyce one for the welfare and blessing of God to the other And so much the more detestable is this affection that whereas some other being
the shame of Popery this that I haue said is to be marked for the professors thereof doe challenge them for their difficultie and hardnesse so as they are not to be suffered in the hands of the common people whom if they withheld not from the true vnfolding of them they might reape great profit by reading them Also to the iust reproofe of many both Atheists and other not much differing from them this is to be noted for they that is the Atheists scoffe at the Scriptures and bouldly iustle against Moses and Christ these who are the prophane as bouldly and yet blindly reason dispute and quarrell against some particular Scriptures which they vnderstand not as if they were competent iudges as that in the Psalme Moab is my washpot ouer Edome will I cast my shooe which yet is as they would see and acknowledge if they were not more bold and rash then wise and skilfull to very good purposes as setting downe Gods threatning of iudgements against his enemies as also that of Samsons tying foxes tailes together with firebrands to spoile the Philistimes corne with such like also they raile against the doctrine of predestination and the sinne against the holy Ghost But not counting them worth the answering I conclude seeing the Lord hath left the Scriptures so pure and free from all error the matters in them being so profitable and heauenly I conclude I say that if we desire to liue comfortably by the benefit of them let them bee our treasure while the world trample them vnderfoot yea and let our meditation and delight bee so much the more in them and that continually And this bee noted out of all these verses generally to the 17. in that they are a repetition out of Ioshua Now more particularly in that so worthy things were done by this Tribe before and that therefore they were chosen now rather then any of the other Tribes to guide the rest seeing that they were wisest and faithfullest in Gods matters as appeareth by the mentioning of these great actes done by them let it teach vs this that such as are wisest and faithfullest ought to bee vsed and placed in the chiefe roomes of the seruice of God aboue the rest So Paul was endued with excellent gifts and counted faithfull before God put him in his seruice and then he imployed him in the most waightie businesse So Ioshua sent faithfull spies to view the land of Canaan This thing had such force in the heathen Kings as in Pharaoh that hee preferred Ioseph aboue all the chiefe Nobles of the land though he was but a stranger saying where shall we find a man like this man fitted for this worke and in the Kings of Babylon that they committed the great and waighty matters of the Kingdome to Daniel and the three Children because they saw that the spirit of God was in them to doe well aboue others So Abraham trusted Eliezer his seruant in that waighty matter of the marriage of his sonne Isaac hauing none like him yea Ahab himselfe made Obadiah a worthy man Steward of his houshold though hee had inough of other beside The holy Ghost makes mention at large of those Worthies which Dauid for their good seruice in the warres against the enemies of the Lord exalted to the highest roomes next him So did Iehoiada Hence it is that the Wise man saith Wo to that land whose Princes are chilaren and being not fit for any gouernment rise vp earely to drink strong drink Yea Salomon being put to his choice desired an vnderstanding heart wisely to goe in and out before the people And such ought Masters of families Magistrates and Gouernours in Townes to be as well as Ministers And this order God hath set and taught vs in commending and commanding faithfulnes and diligence which are excellent vertues in seruāts who yet are the meanest persons therby teaching vs much more to prefer these gifts in them who are vsed and imploied in higher callings and places and so much the more if wisdome be ioyned with them And these qualities Iethro required in such magistrates as should be chosen and the like Paul required in such as are called to the ministry besides other like furniture which giueth vs great cause of mourning when wee see the contrary and of reioycing where these vertues are to bee seene and found in them who are put in trust And such should executors of willes and schoolemasters be into whose hands men are constrained to put their children and goods and comprimitters of cases betwixt neighbours should be like vnto them who are trusted with much oftentimes And this honour honest and faithfull men haue with many that in iudging of matters they will if their case be good desire to haue such to giue their sentence and iudgement for them in their doubtfull causes rather then others though they set not greatly by religion themselues And this ought to incourage vs all to labour for Gods graces seeing they make a man stand before the honorable though money fauour or other respects are the chiefe gifts which most obtaine great places by Now whereas a doubt may arise here where it is said that Iudah had taken Ierusalem how it appeares to haue been so seeing it is not expresly set downe in Ioshua chap. 10. To that I answere though it bee not plainely so said yet it may well be vnderstood by the things that are written there namely that the King of Ierusalem was taken and put to death and that Iudah dwelt in the citie and could not cast out the Iebusits that dwelt therein By which I say it appeareth that the citie was then taken although it was not as yet wholly possessed and so did they slay the inhabitants and set the city on fire Here by the occasion of the destroying of these cities Ierusalem Hebron Debir and others many let vs consider the desolation that God sendeth vpon goodly places and the inhabitants thereof when his hand is against them and when hee is purposed to blow vpon them and to set them as it were on the stage to the view of the world Yea doubtlesse when he pleaseth to take the iudgement into his hand all the beautie and glorie of the world must vanish at his presence and the gloriousest solemnities and monuments come to vtter decay And to put vs in mind hereof is this written and set downe to shew vs the changeable estate of the flourishingest prosperitie of flesh The which a man would thinke that should behold them in their beauty and time of their glory that the enioyers thereof did liue in a paradice and petty heauen euen here vpon earth whereas when God hath blowne vpon them they are more desolate then the winter and like to an house waste and ruinous When Nabuchadnezzar and the fooler in the Gospell prided themselues the one in his great Babell the other in his abundance
thereof fit for the people and that out of the bad as well as the good euen as well as out of other Scripture which all haue not learned to doe neither haue attained vnto and therefore doe oft times offer violence to the Scriptures by making allegories of them and so wresting them to another sense then the holy Ghost hath made of them without which manner of handling them they can draw none or little matter out of the most examples in the stories of them and so beside that their doctrine is not soundly gathered so they giue too fearefull suspition to the ignorant that such parts of the Scripture are barraine and drie while they doe by such shifts and yet indirect so hardly draw matter and doctrine out of them when yet it is certaine and cleere that they are full of sound instruction But to come to my purpose I will now set downe some generall things before I enter into the text which may giue some light to the better vnderstanding of the whole book such as I gather partly by obseruing laying together that which I read in it comparing one thing with another and partly out of that learned and reuerend Father Master Peter Martyr whose workes neither the most priuate men can vnderstand nor many Ministers though they may vnderstand them can come by neither if they can shall they finde there that which shall be much for their simpler hearers benefit And first let the reader marke how this booke agreeth with all the former from Genesis to the end of Ioshua and what is the summe of them and this Concerning the booke of Genesis after mention is made in the beginning of it of the creation of the world and the generations to the flood it doth afterward shew how God chose his people out of Abraham and his posteritie and how they were sent into Egypt to auoid the famine In Exodus these things are the principall how the people of God multiplied and increased in the land of Egypt till there rose a King who cruelly oppressed and vexed them sore and how they were deliuered out of the bondage which they were in there by Moses and how they had lawes giuen them to gouerne them And this last point is the summe of Leuiticus also The booke of Numbers declareth their diuers resting places in the desert and their goings forward toward the land of Canaan In Deuteronomy Moses being to depart out of this world and to leaue the people doth most faithfully repeate the law to the generation which came after the former and which then liued I meane to the posteritie of Abraham Then came Ioshua and led the people into the promised land and diuided the land of the Amorites and Canaanites which partly was subdued and gotten out of their hands and partly remained to be conquered he I say diuided it amongst the twelue tribes according to the commandement of God after he had brought them ouer Iordan slaine many of the Kings of Canaan and possessed their cities and grounds in that countrey This is the summe and contents of the booke of Ioshua After his death to come to our purpose the Lord gouerned his people the Hebrewes being placed in that land by Iudges whom to that end he indued with excellent gifts and by them deliuered and kept the people out of the hands of their enemies who as yet did all the daies of the Iudges remaine in great numbers to vex them But to vnderstand better the meaning of the word Iudges a materiall point in this booke to be vnderstood though to iudge signifie to know the cases of such as contend and be at variance and to giue sentence of iudgement betwixt men yet these Iudges mentioned in this booke had not that office neither were called Iudges in that respect But as the word signifieth also to reuenge and to redeeme out of bondage thus did those Iudges deliuer and redeeme the people as in this booke is at large declared I speakâ— not of Samuel who is said after to iudge them also by deciding controuersies and ciuill causes But these Iudges had that office assigned them of God to deliuer the people as I haue said out of their enemies hands and so to iudge them and therefore were called by that name of Iudges and this booke that intreateth of them and their acts throughout is called The booke of Iudges And briefly to lay out the state and condition that these people the Hebrewes then liued in whereby the office of the Iudges may the better be vnderstood they hauing not yet conquered the land were occupied as at their first entrance into it and after Ioshuas death a while in subduing it and their enemies but afterward they suffered them to remaine and become tributaries to them and were thereby as God saw it meete and as need required in great perill and miserie by them and then because they were his people lest they should haue been vtterly destroyed these Iudges were raised vp by him without the election of men to rescue and deliuer them But afterward when they were at rest and peace God gouerned them not by those Iudges therefore Iphtah when he was desired would not raigne ouer them neither had they authoritie ouer them but he vsed the help of someother excellent persons fit by their vertues and gifts for that purpose and they ruled the people but the Iudges as I said were stirred vp by the Lord in great dangers brought vpon them by their enemies to be helpers and deliuerers vnto them and to keepe them in peace afterward while they lined So that these Iudges were not chosen by succession as Kings neither by the voyces of the people but were raised vp by God as wee haue heard indifferently as well out of one tribe as another and how meane and vnfit soeuer they were before for that purpose God did furnish them by and by after he had stirred them vp with most excellent gifts for that end to the which he appointed them And it went farre better with the people while they were vnder them then it did afterward when they would needs haue a King to raigne ouer them For they did alwaies deliuer the people of Israel out of the calamitie with which they were oppressed whereas their Kings did sometimes waste them and bring them into captiuitie and were the most part of them Idolaters And although vnder the Iudges the people were somtimes oppressed grieuously by strangers and especially vnder Samson by the Philistims for why we must know their horrible sinnes deserued it and prouoked God to deale with them in that manner yet they were neuer led into captiuitie while they liued with them Againe there were few of the Kings good men in Israel not one the Iudges for the most part were all such A good testimonie whereof we haue in the Epistle to the Hebrewes where we thus reade of the commendation of them The time would be too short
and desire of obeying God did pursue the enemies of his people intending that businesse wholly and not minding earthly profit at all behold euen that also befell him and was brought to his hands And it is as easie to see and behold at this day as it shall be alwaies found true that while Gods seruants in all conditions and degrees seeke the Lord with all their heart he prouideth other necessarie helpes for this present life which they doe not so much seeke after As Iacob when he had renued his couenant with the Lord in his iourney to Aram confesseth at his returning home how liberally God had prouided for him Oh how many may witnesse the same For why as the Lord is true of his promise so he is a plentifull rewarder of them that seeke him And as he regardeth such not meanely so hee dealeth iustly with those that are vnfaithfull and worldly minded that whereas they might seeme by their greedines and their vnwearied following their commodities with the casting of care of things heauenly to get all wealth into their hands they oft times attaine not that which they pursue and those that doe attaine it haue got but the winde in their fist euen nothing who see they cannot hold it when they most desire it And this is to teach vs contentment in a godly estate yea thankfulnes and not to haue our teeth watering after the dainties of the other A dish of greene hearbes is better in such a case then a stalled oxe Vers 22. Then the men of Israel said vnto Gedeon Raigne thou ouer vs both thou and thy sonne and thy sonnes sonne for thou hast aeliuered vs out of the hand of Midian 23. And Gedeon said vnto them I will not raigne ouer you neither shal my child raigne ouer you but the Lord shall raigne ouer you The third part of the Chapter IN this last part of the Chapter follow certaine particulars concerning Gedeon and the first that is set downe is the offering of the kingdome to Gedeon and his posteritie by the men of Israel and the reason which they render of their so doing with his refusing it in these two verses The generall act of the people was good in that they shewed themselues thankfull to him for the great deliuerance which they had obtained by him as Gods instrument out of all the oppression of the Midianites their enemies And it bindeth all to the like dutie when they haue receiued kindnesse So both kindred towne and countrey ought to shew kindnesse to him and his by whom they haue receiued some great good and benefit Thus did Pharaoh aduance Ioseph and his brethren and father for that hee had preserued his land in the famine and it was complained of that there arose another Pharaoh afterward who did not know him And Dauid remembred Ionathans kindnesse to him after he was dead in doing good to his This caused Salomon to vtter this prouerb Thine owne friend and thy fathers friend for sake thou not And so to descend to smaller kindnesse betwixt one neighbour and another this thankfulnesse ought to bee shewed that while both it and the fruit of it bee continued betwixt them there may bee peace and good will which otherwise for the most part is banished from men vnlesse it be couered with dissimulation For while the one scorneth to owe any thing to the other professing that he can liue without him and the other is backward in loue whereby he might winne his neighbor what is nourished betweene both but strangenesse suspition vncharitablenesse discord and such cursed effects and fruits thereof And now last of all in this matter if thankfulnesse bee due for outward fauours and good turnes how much more should it bee shewed for the greatest of all as when one man hath by his industrie labour and loue bin the instrument and meane of the saluation of many In which respect Paul wrote to Philemon thus I will not say though he might that thou owest to me euen thine owne selfe And so other such may say who haue receiued the like kindnesse by any of vs as to be deliuered from the wrath to come by our teaching though it little appeare by the requital of loue and kindnesse againe I meane to procure their ioy who reclaimed them by being shining lights afterward But this hath been shewed at large vers 1. before Now as I haue spoken of the generall act of the Israelites toward Gedeon which all may see to haue been commendable in that they were thankfull though not without some weakenes so yet their particular act in offering the kingdome to him as farre of from allowance in them that it was vtterly vnlawfull for it was not in their power and therefore they offered that which was not theirs as shall better appeare by Gedeons answer in the next verse We ought by this to beware that we be not liberall of another mans right and good in giuing that which belongs not to vs. As many loue for name and credit to be liberall but it shall be of stolne or which is all one of other mens goods Euen so to shew it in another kind neither may any man giue his soule to the diuell as witches and coniurers and many other though not so apparantly doe for they are bought with a price nor our bodies to be defiled for they are redeemed and made the Temples of the holy Ghost This needs no long standing vpon but by this we are taught that as their sinne is great as oppressors gripers and gamesters who inioy to their owne benefitill gotten goods and restore them not so neither ought we to receiue of any man that which is not his owne but ill come by if wee certainly know it Otherwise the receiuer is excused who in his simplicitie doth presume charitably that to be of the giuers proper goods which hee knoweth not certainly to haue been badly gotten Neither shall the simple affection of the receiuer acquite the ill conscience of the giuer whose sinne herein is double both that he hath attained his wealth vnconscionably and then plaid the part of Achan in couering his stealth what though it be vnder the faire pretence of religious and deuout liberalitie Doubtlesse if Ananias were guiltie of sacriledge for detaining to himselfe a part of that which hee had alienated from himselfe and consecrated to the Lords vse how much more they who first rob others and then feed the Lord with the spoile as Lions doe their Whelps of that which they haue ill gotten It is the cast of many caterpillars when they haue sucked and drawne the blood of others all their life like horsleaches ready to burst they will satisfie for their villany by paying the tithe or some shred of their vnrighteous Mammon to the vse of the Lord or the Church whereas this sanctifieth not the rest that is behind but maketh all their goods execrable to