suddenly cut off He saw the hope of posteritie extinguished in the virginity of his daughter It is naturall to vs to affect that perpetuitie in our succession which is denied vs in our persons Our very bodies would emulate the eternity of the soule And if GOD haue built any of vs an house on earth as well as prepared vs an house in heauen it must be confessed a fauour worth our thankfulness but as the perpetuitie of our earthlie houses is vncertaine so let vs not rest our harts vpon that but make sure of the house which is eternall in the heauens Doubtlesse the goodnes of the daughter added to the fathers sorow Shee was not more louing then religious neither is she lesse willing to be the Lords then her fathers and as prouoking her father to that which he thought pietie though to her own wrong she saies If thou hast opened thy mouth vnto the Lord doe with mee as thou hast promised Many a daughter would haue disswaded her father with teares and haue wisht rather her fathers impietie then her own preiudice Shee sues for the smart of her fathers vowe How obsequious should children be to the will of their carefull Parents euen in their finall disposition in the world when they see this holie maid willing to abandon the world vpon the rash vow of a father They are the liuing goods of their Parents and must therefore waite vpon the bestowing of their owners They mistake themselues which thinke they are their owne If this maid had vowed herselfe to God vvithout her Father it had been in his power to abrogate it but now that hee vowed her to GOD vvithout her selfe it stands in force But what shall wee say to those children whom their Parents vow and care cannot make so much as honest that will be no other then godlesse in spight of their Baptisme and education What but that they are giuen their Parents for a curse and shall one day finde what it is to bee rebellious All her desire is that shee may haue leaue to bewaile that which she must be forced to keepe Virginitie If shee had not held it an affliction there had been no cause to bewaile it it had bin no thanke to vnder-goe it if shee had not known it to be a cross Teares are no argument of impatience wee may mourne for that wee repine not to beare How comes that to be a meritorious vertue vnder the Gospell which was but a punishment vnder the Law The daughters of Israel had been too lauish of their teares if virginitie had bin absolutely good VVhat iniurie should it haue been to lament that spirituall preferment which they should rather haue emulated While Iepthaes daughter vvas two monethes in the mountaines she might haue had good opportunitie to escape her fathers vow but as one whom her obedience tyed as close to her father as his vow tyed him to God she returns to take vp that burden which she had bewailed to foresee If we be truly dutifull to our father in heauen wee would not slip our necks out of the yoke tho we might nor flie from his commaunds though the doore were open Sampson conceiued OF extraordinary persons the very birth conception is extraordinary God beginnes his wonders betimes in those whō hee will make wonderfull There was neuer any of those which were miraculously conceiued vvhose liues were not notable and singular The presages of the wombe and the cradle are commonly answered in the life It is not the vse of GOD to cast away strange beginnings If Manoahs wife had not been barren the Angell had not been barren the Angell had not been sent to her Afflictions haue this aduantage that they occasion GOD to show that mercy to vs whereof the prosperous are vncapable It would not beseem a mother to bee so indulgent to an healthfull child as to a sick It was to the woman that the Angell appeared not to the husband whether for that the reproach of barrennesse lay vpon her more heauily then on the father or for that the birth of the child should cost her more deare then her husband or lastly for that the difficultie of this newes was more in her conception then in his generation As Satan layes his batteries euer to the weakest so contrarily God addresseth his comforts to those harts that haue most need As at the first because Eue had most reason to be deiected for that her sin had drawne man into the Transgression therefore the Cordiall of GOD most respecteth her The seed of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head As a Physitian first tells the state of the disease with his Symptoms and then prescribes so dooth the Angell of God first tell the wife of Manoah her complaint then her remedy Thou art barren All our afflictions are more noted of that GOD which sends them then of the Patient that suffers them how can it be but lesse possible to indure any thing that he knows not than that hee inflicteth not Hee saith to one Thou art sicke to an other Thou art poore to a third Thou art defamed Thou art oppressed to another That all-seeing Eye takes notice from heauen of euery mans condition no lesse then if he should send an Angel to tell vs he knew it His knowledge compared with his mercy is the iust comfort of all our sufferings O GOD vvee are many times miserable and feele it not Thou knowest euē those sorrowes which wee might haue Thou knowest what thou hast done do what thou wilt Thou art barren Not that the Angel would vpbrayd the poore woman with her affliction but therefore he names her paine that the mention of her cure might be so much more welcom Comfort shal com vnseasonably to that hart which is not apprehensiue of his owne sorrow We must first know our euils ere we can quit them It is the iust method of euery true Angel of GOD first to let vs see that whereof either wee doe or should complaine and then to apply comforts Like as a good Physitian first pulls downe the body and then raises it with cordialls If wee cannot abide to heare of our faults wee are not capable of amendement If the Angel had first said Thou shalt conceiue and not premised Thou art barren I doubt whether shee had conceiued faith in her soule of that infant which her body should conceiue Now his knowledge of her present estate makes way for the assurance of the future Thus euer it pleases our good God to leaue a pawne of his fidelitie with vs that vvee should not distrust him in what he will do when we find him faithfull in that which we see done It is good reason that he which giues the sonne to the barren mother should dispose of him and diet him both in the wombe first and after in the world The mother must first be a Nazarite that her sonne may be so Whiles shee was barren she might drink what she
as I wonder the necke or the heart of old Ely could hold out the report of That God sweares he will iudge Elyes house and that with beggerie with death with desolation and that the wickednes of his house shall not be purged with sacrifice or offrings for euer And yet this which euery Israelites eare should tingle to heare of when it should be done old Ely heares with an vnmoued patience and humble submission It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good Oh admirable faith and more then humane constancie and resolution worthy of the aged presisident of Shiloh worthy of an heart sacrificed to that God whose iustice had refused to expiate his sinne by sacrifice If Ely haue been an ill father to his sonnes yet he is a good sonne to God and is ready to kisse the very rod hee shall smart withall It is the Lord whom I haue euer found holy and iust and gracious and hee cannot but be himselfe Let him doe what seemeth him good for whatsoeuer seemeth good to him cannot but bee good howsoeuer it seemes to me Euery man can open his hand to God while hee blesses but to expose our selues willingly to the afflicting hand of our maker and to kneele to him whiles he scourges vs is peculiar only to the faithfull If euer a good heart could haue freed a man from temporall punishments Ely must needs haue escaped Gods anger was appeased by his humble repentance but his iustice must be satisfied Elyes sinne and his sons was in the eye and mouth of all Israel his glorie therefore should haue been much wronged by their impunitie Who would not haue made these spirituall guides an example of lawlesnes and haue said What care I how I liue if Elyes sonnes goe away vnpunished As not the teares of Ely so not the words of Samuel may fall to the ground Wee may not measure the displeasure of God by his stripes many times after the remission of the sinne the very chastisements of the Almightie are deadly No repentance can assure vs that wee shall not smart with outward afflictions That can preuent the eternall displeasure of God but still it may be necessarie and good wee should be corrected Our care and suite must be that the euills which shall not be auerted may be sanctified If the prediction of these euils were fearefull what shall the execution be The presumption of the ill-taught Israelites shall giue occasion to this iudgement for being smitten before the Philistims they send for the Arke into the field Who gaue them authority to commaund the Arke of God at their pleasure Here was no consulting with the Arke which they would fetch no inquiry of Samuel whether they should fetch it but an heddie resolution of presumptuous Elders to force God into the field and to challenge successe If God were not with the Arke why did they send for it and reioyce in the comming of it If God were with it why was not his allowance asked that it should come How can the people bee good where the Preists are wicked When the Arke of the couenant of the Lord of hosts that dwells betweene the Cherubims was brought into the host tho with meane and wicked attendance Israel doth as it were fill the heauen and shake the earth with shoutes as if the Arke and victory were no lesse vnseparable then they and their sinnes Euen the leudest men will be looking for fauour from that God whom they cared not to displease contrary to the conscience of their deseruings Presumption doth the same in wicked men which faith doth in the holiest Those that regarded not the God of the Arke thinke themselues safe and happie in the Arke of God vaine men are transported with a confidence in the out-sides of religion not regarding the substance and soule of it which only can giue them true peace But rather then God will humor superstition in Israelites he will suffer his owne Arke to fall into the handes of Philistims Rather will he seeme to slacken his hand of protection then hee will bee thought to haue his hands bound by a formall mis-confidence The slaughter of the Israelites was no plague to this It was a greater plague rather to them that should suruiue and behold it The two sonnes of Ely which had helped to corrupt their brethren die by the handes of the vncircumcised and are now too late separated from the Arke of God by Philistims which should haue been before separated by their father They had liued formerlie to bring Gods altar into contempt and now liue to carrie his Arke into captiuitie and at last as those that had made vp the measure of their wickednesse are slayne in their sinne Ill newes doth euer either run or flie The man of Beniamin which ran from the host hath soone filled the City with outcries and Elyes eares with the crie of the City The good old man after ninety and eight yeares sits in the gate as one that neuer thought himselfe too aged to do God seruice and heares the newes of Israels discomfiture and his sonnes death though with sorrow yet with patience but when the messenger tells him of the Arke of God taken he can liue no longer that word strikes him downe backward from his throne and kills him in the fall no sword of a Philistim could haue slaine him more painefully neither know I whether his necke or his heart were first broken Oh fearefull iudgement that euer any Israelites eare could tingle withall The Arke lost what good man would wish to liue without God Who can choose but think he hath liued too long that hath ouerliued the Testimonies of Gods presence with his Church Yea the very daughter in law of Ely a woman the wife of a lewd husband when she was at once trauelling vpon that tidings and in that trauell dying to make vp the full summe of Gods iudgement vpon that wicked house as one insensible of the death of her father of her husband of her selfe in comparison of this losse calls her then vnseasonable sonne Ichabod and with her last breath saies The glorie is departed from Israel The Arke is taken what cares she for a posterity which should want the Arke What cares she for a sonne come into the world of Israel when God was gone from it and how willingly doth she depart from them from whom God was departed Not outward magnificence not state not wealth not fauour of the mightie but the presence of God in his Ordinances are the glory of Israel the subducing whereof is a greater iudgement then destruction Oh Israel worse now then no people a thousand times more miserable then Philistims Those Pagans went away triumphing with the Arke of God and victorie and leaue the remnants of the chosen people to lament that they once had a God Oh cruell and wicked indulgence that is now found guiltie of the death not onlie of the Priests and people but of Religion Vniust mercie can neuer end in lesse then bloud and it were well if onlie the bodie should haue cause to complaine of that kinde crueltie FINIS ERRATA Pag. 97. lin 19. for wooll god read wooll God p. 169 l. 19. for intreats read treats p 175. 15. for inioyed read ioyed p. 222. l. 18. for may be read may not be p. 223. l. 15. for strength read stench p 268. for had not wit read had wit p. 346. vlt. for strainted read straitned p. 434. l. 3. for representation his r. representation his Peni-el
runne-awaies then of these three hundred souldiers Oh infinite mercie and forbearance of God that takes not vantage of so strong an infirmitie but in stead of casting incourages him That wise Prouidēce hath prepared a dream in the head of one Midianite an interpretation in the mouth of another and hath brought Gideon to bee an auditor of both and hath made his enemies Prophets of his victory incouragers of the attempt proclaimers of their owne confusion A Midianite dreames a Midianite interprets Our verie dreames many times are not without God there is a prouidence in our sleeping fancies euen the emies of God may haue visions power to construe them aright How vsually are wicked men forwarned of their owne destruction To foreknow not auoyd is but an aggrauation of iudgement When Gideon heard good newes tho from an enemy he fel down and worshipped To heare himselfe but a Barly-cake troubled him not when hee heard withall that his roling down the hill shold breake the Tents of Midian It matters not how base wee bee thought so we may be victorious The soule that hath receiued full confirmation from God in the assurance of his saluation cannot but bow the knee and by all gestures of bodie tell how it is rauished I vvould haue thought Gideon should rather haue found full confirmation in the promise and act of GOD then in the dreame of the Midianite Dreames may be full of vncertainty Gods vndertakings are infallible well therefore might the miracle of GOD giue strength to the dreame of a Midianite but what strength could a Pagans dreame giue to the miraculous act of God yet by this is Gideon throughly settled When wee are going a little thing driues vs on when we are come neere to the shore the very tide vvithout sailes is enough to put vs into the harbour We shall now heare no more of Gideons doubts but of his atchieuements And though God had promised by these three hundred to chase the Midianites yet he neglects not wise stratagems to effect it To wait for Gods performance in doing nothing is to abuse that diuine Prouidence which will so worke that it vvill not allow vs idle Now when wee would looke that Gideon should giue charge of whetting their swords sharpening their speares and fitting their Armour he onely giues order for empty pitchers and lights and trumpets The cracking of these pitchers shall breake in peeces this Midianitish clay the kindling of these lights shall extinguish the light of Midian these trumpets sound no other then a soule-peale to all the host of Midian there shal need nothing but noise light to confound this innumerable Armie And if the pitchers and brands and trumpets of Gideon did so daunt dismay the proud troopes of Midian Amalecke Who can we think shall be able to stand before the last terror vvherein the trumpet of the Archangell shall sound and the heauens shall passe away with a noise the elements shal be on a flame about our eares Any of the vveakest Israelites would haue serued to haue broken an empty pitcher to haue carried a light to haue sounded a trumpet and to strike a flying aduersarie Not to the basest vse will God employ an vnworthy Agent Hee will not allow so much as a cowardly torch-bearer Those two and twenty thousand Israelites that slipt away for feare when the feareful Midianites fled can pursue and kill them can follovv them at the heeles whom they durst not looke in the face Our flight giues aduantage to the feeblest aduersary whereas our resistance foileth the greatest How much more if we haue once turned our backs vpon a tentation shall our spirituall enemies which are euer strong trample vs in the dust Resist and they shal flee stand still and we shall see the saluation of the Lord. The Reuenge of Succoth and Penuell GIdeon was of Manasseh Ephraim and hee vvere brothers sonnes of Ioseph None of all the Tribes of Jsrael fall out with their victorious Leader but he The agreement of brothers is rare by how much nature hath more endeared them by so much are their quarrels more frequent and dangerous I did not heare the Ephraimites offring themselues into the front of the Army before the fight and now they are readie to fight with Gideon because they were not called to fight with Midian I heare them expostulating after it After the exploit done cowards are valiant Their quarrell was that they were not called It had bin a greater praise of their valour to haue gone vnbidden What need was there to call them when God complained of multitude and sent away those which were called None speake so bigge in the end of the fray as the fearefullest Ephraim flies vpon Gideon vvhiles the Midianites flie from him when Gideon should be pursuing his enemies he is pursued by brethren now is glad to spend that wind in pacifying of his own which should haue been bestowed in the slaughter of a common Aduersary It is a wonder if Satan suffer vs to be quiet at home whiles wee are exercised with warres abroad Had not Gideon Iearned to speake faire as well as to smite he had found work enough from the swords of Iosephs sonnes his good wordes are as victorious as his sword his pacification of friends better then his execution of enemies For ought I see the enuy of Israelites was more troublesome to Gideon then the opposition of Midian He hath left the enuy of Ephraim behind him before him he findes the enuy of Succoth and Penuell The one enuies that hee should ouer-come without them the other that hee should but say hee had ouer-come His pursute leades him to Succoth there hee craues releefe is repelled Had he said Come forth draw your sword with mee against Zeba and Zalmunna the motion had beene but equall A common interest challenges an vniuersall ayde Now he saies but Giue morsells of bread to my followers He is turn'd off with a scorne Hee asks bread and they giue him a stone Could hee aske a more slender recompence of their deliuerance or a lesse reward of his victory Giue morsels of bread Before this act all their substance had been too small an hire of their freedome from Midian now when it is done a morsell of bread is too much Well might hee challenge bread where he gaue liberty and life It is hard if those which fight the warres of God may not haue necessary reliefe that whiles the enemy dies by them they should die by famine If they had laboured for GOD at home in peace they had been worthy of maintenance how much more now that danger is added to their toyle Euen very Executioners looke for fees but heere were not malefactors but aduersaries to be slaine the sword of power and reuenge was now to bee wielded not of quiet iustice Those that fight for our soules against spirituall powers may challenge bread from vs and it is a
God It is the qualitie of Superstition to mis-interpret all euents and to feed it selfe with the conceit of those fauours which are so farre from beeing done that their Authors neuer were Why doe not we learn zeale of Idolaters And if they be so forward in acknowledgemeÌ„t of their deliuerances to a false deitie how cheerefully should we ascribe ours to the true O God whatsoeuer be the meanes thou art the Author of all our successe Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodnes and tell the wonders that he doth for the sonnes of men No Musician would serue for this feast but Sampson hee must now bee their sport which was once their terror that hee might want no sorrow scorne is added to his miserie Euery wit and hand playes vpon him Who is not readie to cast his bone and his iest at such a captiue So as doubtlesse hee wisht himselfe no lesse deafe then blinde and that his soule might haue gone out with his eyes Oppression is able to make a wise man mad and the greater the courage is the more painfull the insultation Now Sampson is punished shall the Philistims escape If the iudgement of God beginne at his own what shall becom of his enemies This aduantage shal Sampson make of their tyranny that now death is no punishment to him his soule shall flie foorth in this bitternesse without pain that his dying reuenge shal be no less sweet to him then the liberty of his former life He could not but feel God mockt through him and therfore whiles they are scoffing hee prayes his seriousness hopes to pay them for all those iests If he could haue bin thus earnest with God in his prosperity the Philistims had vvanted this laughing stock No deuotion is so feruent as that which arises froÌ„ extremity O Lord God I pray thee think vpon me O God I beseech thee strengthen mee at this time onely Tho Sampsons haire were shorter yet he knew Gods hand was not as one therefore that had yet eyes â—ow to see him that was inuisible and whose faith was recouered before his strength hee sues to that God which was a party in this indignitie for power to reuenge his wrongs more then his owne It is zeale that moues him and not malice his renued faith tells him that he was destin'd to plague the Philistims reason tells him that his blindnes puts him out of the hope of such another oportunity Knowing therefore that this play of the Philistims must end in his death he recollects all the forces of his soule and body that his death may be a punishment in steed of a disport and that his soule may bee more victorious in the parting then in the animation and so addresses himselfe both to die and kill as one whose soule shall not feele his own dissolution whiles it shal carry so many thousand Philistims with it to the pit All the acts of Sampson are for wonder not for imitation So didst thou O blessed Sauiour our better Sampson conquer in dying and triumphing vpon the charriot of the Crosse didst lead captiuity captiue The law sin death hell had neuer bin vanquisht but by thy death All our life liberty and glory springs out of thy most precious bloud Michaes Idolatrie THE mother of Micha hath lost her siluer and now she falls to cursing She did afterwards but change the forme of her God her siluer was her God ere it did put on the fashion of an Image Else she had not so much cursed to lose it if it had not too much possessed her in the keeping A carnall hart cannot forgoe that wherein it delights without impatience cannot be impatient vvithout curses whereas the man that hath learned to inioy GOD and vse the world smiles at a shipwrack and pitties a theefe and cannot curse but pray Micha had so little grace as to steale from his mother and that out of wantonnesse not out of necessity for if shee had not been rich so much could not haue been stoln from her and now hee hath so much grace as to restore it her curses haue fetcht again her treasures Hee cannot so much loue the mony as hee feares her imprecations Wealth seemes too deare bought with a curse Tho his fingers were false yet his heart was tender Many that make not conscience of committing sinne yet make conscience of facing it It is well for them that they are but nouices in euill those whom custome hath fleshed in sinne can either deny and forfweare or excuse and defend it their seared hearts cannot feele the gnawing of any remorse and their forhead hath learned to be as impudent as their hart is senseless I see no argument of any holinesse in the mother of Micha Her curses were sinne to her selfe yet Micha dares not but feare them I knowe not whether the causelesse curse be more worthy of pitty or derifion it hurts the author not his aduersary but the deserued curses that fall euen from vnholy mouthes are worthy to be feared How much more should a man hold himselfe blasted with the iust imprecations of the godlie What metall are those made of that can applaude themselues in the bitter curses which their oppressions haue wrung from the poore and reioyce in these signes of their prosperity Neither yet was Micha more striken with his mothers curses then with the conscience of sacriledge so soone as he findes there was a purpose of deuotion in this treasure he dares not conceale it to the preiudice as he thought of GOD more then of his mother What shall we say to the palate of those men which as they finde no good relish but in stoln waters so best in those which are stoln from the fountaine of God How soone hath the old woman changed her note Euen now she passed an indefinite curse vpon her sonne for stealing and now shee blesses him absolutely for restoring Blessed be my sonne of the Lord. Shee hath forgotten the theft when shee sees the restitution How much more shall the God of mercies be more pleased with our confession then prouoked with our sinne I doubt not but this siluer and this superstition came out of Egypt together with the mother of Micha This history is not so late in time as in place for the Tribe of Dan was not yet setled in that first diuision of the promised land so as this old woman had seen both the Idolatry of Egypt the golden calfe in the wildernesse and no doubt contributed some of her earings to that Deity and after all the plagues which shee saw inflicted vpon her brethren for that Idol of Horeb and Baal-Peor she stil reserues a secret loue to superstition and now showes it Where mis-religion hath once possessed it selfe of the hart it is very hardly clensed out but like the plague it will hang in the very clothes after long lurking breake forth in an vnexpected infection and old wood is the aptest to take
this fire After all the ayring in the Desert Michaes mother will smell of Egypt It had been better the siluer had been stoln then thus bestowed for now they haue so imployed it that it hath stoln away their harts from GOD and yet while it is molten into an Image they thinke it dedicated to the Lord If Religion might be iudged according to the intention there should scarce be any idolatry in the world This woman loued her siluer enough and if shee had not thought this costly piety worth thanks shee knew which way to haue imploied her stocke to aduantage Euen euill actions haue oft-times good meanings and those good meanings are answered with euill recompences Many a one bestows their cost their labour their blood and receiues torment in steed of thanks Behold a superstitious son of a superstitious mother She makes a God and hee harbours it Yea as the streame is commonly broader then the head he exceedes his mother in euill He hath an house of Gods an Ephod Teraphin that he might be complete in his deuotion he makes his sonne his Priest and feoffes that sinne vpon his sonne which he receiued from his mother Those sinnes vvhich nature conuayes not to vs wee haue by imitation Euery action and gesture of the Parents is an example to the child and the mother as she is more tender ouer her sonne so by the power of a reciprocall loue she can worke most vpon his inclination Whence it is that in the history of the Israelitish Kings the mothers name is commonly noted and as ciuilly so also morally The birth followes the belly Those sonnes may blesse their second birth that are deliuered from the sinnes of their education Who cannot but thinke how far Micha ouer-lookt all his fellow Israelites and thought them profane and godlesse in comparison of himselfe How did hee secretly clap himselfe on the breast as the man whose happinesse it was to ingross religion from all the tribes of Israel and little can imagine that the further hee runs the more out of the way Can an Israelite be thus Paganish O Micha how hath superstition bewitched thee that thou canst not see rebellion in euery of these actions yea in euery circumstance rebellion What more Gods then one An house of Gods beside Gods house An Image of siluer to the inuisible GOD An Ephod and no Priest A Priest besides the family of Leui A Priest of thine owne begetting of thine own consecration What monsters dooth mans imagination produce when it is forsaken of God It is wel seen there is no King in Israell If God had been their King his lawes had ruled them If Moses or Ioshua had been their King their sword had awed them If any other the courses of Israel could not haue been so headlesse We are beholden to Gouernment for order for peace for religion Where there is no King euery one will bee a King yea a God to himselfe VVee are worthy of nothing but confusion if we blesse not GOD for authoritie It is no maruell if Leuites wandred for maintenance whiles there was no King in Israel The tithes and offerings were their due if these had been paid none of the holy Tribe needed to shift his station Euen vvhere royall power seconds the claime of the Leuite the iniustice of men shortens his right What should becom of the Leuites if there were no King And what of the Church if no Leuites No King therefore no Church How could the impotent childe liue without a Nurse Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and Queens thy nurses saith God Nothing more argues the disorder of any Church or the decay of religion then the forced stragling of the Leuites There is hope of growth when Micha rides to seek a Leuite but vvhen the Leuite comes to seek a seruice of Micha it is a signe of gasping deuotion Micha was no obscure man all Mount Ephraim could not but take notice of his domesticall Gods This Leuite could not but heare of his disposition of his mis-deuotion yet vvant of maintenance no lesse then conscience drawes him on to the danger of an idolatrous patronage Holiness is not tyed to any profession Happie were it for the Church if the Clergy could be a priuiledge from leudnesse When need meets with vnconscionableness all conditions are easily swallowed of vnlawfull entrances of wicked executions Ten shekels and a sute of apparell and his diet are good wages for a needy Leuite Hee that could bestow eleuen hundred shekels vpon his puppets can afford butten to his Priest so hath hee at once a rich Idoll and a beggerlie Priest Whosoeuer affects to serue God good cheape showes that hee makes GOD but a stale to Mammon Yet was Micha a kinde Patron tho not liberall Hee calls the young Leuite his father and vses him as his sonne what he wants in means supplies in affection It were happy if Christians could imitate the loue of Idolaters towards them which serue at the Altar Micha made a shift vvith the Priesthood of his owne sonne yet that his heart checks him in it appeares both by the change his contentment in the change Now I knowe that the Lord will be good to mee seeing I haue a Leuite to my Priest Therefore whiles his Priest was no Leuite hee sees there was cause why GOD should not bee good to him If the Leuite had not comne to offer his seruice Michaes sonne had been a lawfull Priest Many times the conscience runnes away smoothly with an vnwarrantable action and rests it selfe vpon those grounds which afterward it sees cause to condemne It is a sure way therfore to informe our selues throughly ere we settle our choice that wee be not driuen to reuerse our acts with late shame and vnprofitable repentance Now did Micha beginne to see some little glimpse of his own error He saw his Priesthood faultie he saw not the faults of his Ephod of his Images of his Gods yet as if he thought all had been well when hee had amended one hee sayes Now I know the Lord will be good to mee The carnall hart pleases it selfe with an outward formalitie and so delights to flatter it selfe as that it thinks if one circumstance be right nothing can be amisse Israel was at this time extremely corrupted yet the spyes of the Danites had taken notice euen of this young Leuite and are glad to make vse of his Priesthood If they had but gone vp to Shilo they might haue consulted with the Arke of God but worldly minds are not curious in their holy seruices If they haue a God an Ephod a Priest it suffices them They had rather inioy a false worship with ease then to take paines for the true Those that are curious in their diet in their purchases in their attire in their contracts yet in Gods businesses are very indifferent The author of lyes sometimes speakes truth for an aduantage from his mouth this flattering Leuite speakes
excesse had not been so haynous now her freedome is seene in her seueritie Those which haue cleare hearts from any sinne prosecute it with rigour whereas the guiltie are euer partiall their conscience holds their hands and tells them that they beat themselues whiles they punish others Now Hely sees his error and recants it and to make amends for his rash censure prayes for her Euen the best may erre but not persist in it When good natures haue offended they are vnquiet till they haue hastned satisfaction This was within his office to pray for the distressed Wherefore serues the Priest but to sacrifice for the people and the best sacrifices are the prayers of faith Shee that began her prayers with fasting and heauinesse rises vp from them with cheerefulnesse and repast It cannot bee spoken how much ease and ioy the heart of man findes in hauing vnloaded his cares and powred out his supplications into the eares of God since it is well assured that the suite which is faithfully asked is already granted in heauen The conscience may well rest when it tells vs that wee haue neglected no meanes of redressing our affliction for then it may resolue to looke either for amendment or patience The sacrifice is ended and now Elkanah and his familie rise vp early to returne vnto Ramah but they dare not set forward till they haue worshipped before the Lord That iourney cannot hope to prosper that takes not God with it The way to receiue blessings at home is to be deuout at the Temple She that before conceiued faith in her heart now conceiues a sonne in her wombe God will rather worke miracles then faithfull prayers shall returne empty I doe not finde that Peninna asked any sonne of God yet she had store Anna begged hard for this one and could not till now obtaine him They which are dearest to God doe oft-times with great difficultie worke out those blessings which fall into the mouthes of the carelesse That wise disposer of all things knowes it fit to hold vs short of those fauours which we sue for whether for the tryall of our patience or the exercise of our faith or the increase of our importunitie or the doubling of our obligation Those children are most like to proue blessings which the Parents haue begged of God and which are no lesse the fruit of our supplications then of our bodie As this childe was the sonne of his mothers prayers and was consecrated to God ere his possibilitie of being so now himselfe shall know both how hee came and whereto hee was ordeined and lest hee should forget it his very name shall teach him both She called his name Samuel Hee cannot so much as heare himselfe named but hee must needs remember both the extraordinarie mercie of God in giuing him to a barren mother and the vow of his mother in restoring him backe to God by her zealous dedication and by both of them learne holinesse and obedience There is no necessitie of significant names but wee cannot haue too many monitors to put vs in minde of our dutie It is wont to be the fathers priuiledge to name his childe but because this was his mothers son begotten more by her prayers then the seed of Elkanah it was but reason she should haue the chiefe hand both in his name and disposing It had been indeed in the power of Elkanah to haue changed both his name and profession and to abrogate the vow of his wife that wiues might know they were not their owne and that the rib might learne to know the head but husbands shall abuse their authoritie if they shall wilfully crosse the holy purposes and religious indeuours of their yoke-fellowes How much more fit is it for them to cherish all good desires in the weaker vessells and as we vse when wee carrie a small light in a winde to hide it with our lap or hand that it may not goe out If the wife bee a Vine the husband should be an Elme to vphold heâ— in all worthy enterprises Elsâ— shee falls to the ground anâ— proues fruitlesse The yeere is now come about and Elkanah calls his familie to their holy iourney to goe vp to Ierusalem for the aniuersarie solemnity of their sacrifice Annaes heart is with them but she hath a good excuse to stay at home the charge of her Samuel her successe in the Temple keeps her happily from the Temple that her deuotion may bee doubled because it was respited God knowes how to dispense with necessities but if we suffer idle and needlesse occasions to hold vs from the Tabernacle of God our hearts are but hollow to religion Now at last when the childe was weaned from her hand she goes vp and payes her vow and with it payes the interest of her intermission Neuer did Anna go vp with so glad an heart to Shilo as now that she carries God this reasonable present which himselfe gaue to her and she vowed to him accompanied with the bountie of other sacrifices more in number and measure then the Law of God required of her and all this is too little for her God that so mercifully remembred her affliction and miraculously remedied it Those hearts which are truly thankfull doe no lesse reioyce in their repayment then in their receit and doe as much studie how to show their humble and feruent affections for what they haue as how to compasse fauours when they want them Their debt is their burden which when they haue discharged they are at ease If Anna had repented of her vow and not presented her son to the Tebernacle Ely could not haue challenged him He had only seen her lips stir not hearing the promise of her heart It was enought that her owne soule knew her vow and God which was greater then it The obligation of a secret vow is no lesse then if it had ten thousand witnesses Old Hely could not choose but much reioyce to see this fruit of those lips which he thought moued with wine and this good proofe both of the mercifull audience of God and the thankfull fidelity of his handmaide this sight calls him down to his knees He worshipped the Lord We are vnprofitable witnesses of the mercies of God and the graces of men if we do not glorifie him for others sakes no lesse then for our owne Hely and Anna grew now better acquainted neither had he so much cause to praise God for her as she aftewards for him For if her owne praiers obtained her first childe his blessing inriched her with fiue more If she had not giuen her first sonne to God ere she had him I doubt whether she had not been euer barren or if shee had kept her Samuel at home whether euer she had conceiued againe now that piety which stripped her of her onely childe for the seruice of her God hath multiplied the fruit of her wombe and gaue her fiue for that one which was still no lesse hers
vehement rebuke to a capitall euill is but like a strong shower to a ripe fielde which laies that corne which were worthy of a sickle It is a breach of iustice not to proportionate the punishment to the offence To whip a man for a murder or to punish the purse for incest or to burne treason in the hand or to award the stocks to burglairy is to patronize euill in steed of auenging it Of the two extremes rigor is more safe for the publique weale because the ouer-punishing of one offender frights many from sinning It is better to liue in a common-welth where nothing is lawfull then where euery thing Indulgent Parents are cruell to themselues and their posteritie Ely could not haue deuised which way to haue plagued himselfe and his house so much as by his kindnesse to his childrens sinnes what variety of iudgements doth he now heare of from the messenger of God First because his old age which vses to be subiect to choler inclined now to misfauor his sonnes therefore there shall not be an old man left of his house for euer and because it vexed him not enough to see his sonnes enemies to God in their profession therefore he shall see his enemie in the habitation of the Lord and because himselfe forbore to take vengeance of his sons and esteemed their life aboue the glory of his Master therefore God will reuenge himselfe by killing them both in one day and because he abused his soueraigntie by conniuence at sinne therefore shall his house be stripped of this honor and see it translated to another and lastly because he suffered his sonnes to please their owne wanton appetite in taking meat off from Gods trencher therfore those which remaine of his house shall come to his successors to beg a piece of siluer and a morsell of bread in a word because hee was partiall to his sonnes God shall execute all this seuerely vpon him and them I doe not read of any fault Ely had but indulgence and which of the notorious offenders were plagued more Parents need no other meanes to make them miserable then sparing the rod. Who should be the bearer of these fearefull tidings to Ely but yong Samuel whom himselfe had trained vp He was now growne past his mothers cotes fit for the message of God Old Ely rebuked not his yong sonnes therefore yong Samuel is sent to rebuke him I maruell not whiles the Priesthood was so corrupted if the word of God were precious if there were no publike vision It is not the manner of God to grace the vnworthy The ordinarie ministration in the Temple was too much honor for those that robbed the Altar though they had no extraordinarie reuelations Hereupon it was that God lets old Hely sleep who slept in his sinne and awakes Samuel to tell him what hee would do with his master Hee which was wont to be the mouth of God to the people must now receiue the message of God from the mouth of another As great persons will not speake to those with whom they are highly offended but send them their checks by others The lights of the Temple were now dim and almost ready to giue place to the morning when God called Samuel to signifie perhaps that those which should haue been the lights of Israel burned no lesse dimly and were neere their going out and should be succeeded with one so much more lightsome then they as the Sunne was more bright then the lampes God had good leasure to haue deliuered this message by day but hee meant to make vse of Samuels mistaking and therfore so speaks that Ely may bee asked for an answer and perceiue himselfe both omitted and censured He that meant to vse Samuels voice to Ely imitates the voice of Ely to Samuel Samuel had so accustomed himselfe to obedience and to answer the call of Ely that lying in the further cells of the Leuites hee is easily raised from his sleep and euen in the night runs for his message to him who was rather to receiue it from him Thrice is the old man disquieted with the diligence of his seruant and tho visions were rare in his daies yet is hee not so vnacquainted with God as not to attribute that voyce to him which himselfe heard not Wherefore like a better Tutor then a Parent he teaches Samuel what hee shall answer Speake Lord for thy seruant heareth It might haue pleased God at the first call to haue deliuered his message to Samuel not expecting the answer of a nouice vnseene in the visions of a God yet doth he rather defer it till the fourth summons and will not speake till Samuel confessed his audience God loues euer to prepare his seruants for his imployments and will not commit his errands but to those whom he hath addressed both by wonder and attention and humilitie Ely knew well the gracious fashion of God that where hee intended a fauour prorogation could be no hinderance and therefore after the call of God thrice answered with silence he instructs Samuel to be ready for the fourth If Samuels silence had been wilfull I doubt whether he had been againe solicited now God doth both pittie his error and requite his diligence by redoubling his name at the last Samuel had now many yeeres ministred before the Lord but neuer till now heard his voice and now heares it with much terror for the first word that he heares God speake is threatning and that of vengeance to his master What were these menaces but so many premonitions to himselfe that should succeed Ely God begins early to season their harts with feare whom he means to make eminent instruments of his glory It is his mercie to make vs witnesses of the iudgments of others that wee may be forewarned ere we haue the occasions of sinning I do not heare God bid Samuel deliuer this message to Ely Hee that was but now made a Prophet knowes that the errands of God intend not silence and that God would not haue spoken to him of another if he had meant the newes should be reserued to himselfe Neither yet did he run with open mouth vnto Ely to tell him this vision vnasked No wise man will be hastie to bring ill tidings to the great rather doth hee stay till the importunitie of his Master should wring it from his vnwillingnesse and then as his concealement showd his loue so his full relation shall approue his fidelitie If the heart of Ely had not told him this newes before God told it Samuel hee had neuer been so instant with Samuel not to conceale it His conscience did well presage that it concerned himselfe Guiltinesse needs no Prophet to assure it of punishment The minde that is troubled proiecteth terrible things and though it cannot single out the iudgment allotted to it yet it is in a confused expectation of some grieuous euill Surely Ely could not thinke it worse then it was The sentence was fearefull and such