our hearts and cast vp as filthie vomit the noisome fruite thereof out of our liues And it is the cause at this day of so little profiting and so slender fruites of our preaching as we complaine of iustly and inueigh against it bitterly for that people are at a point they will doe as they haue done and retaine the sinnes which in times past they haue walked and delighted in when yet we haue daily in the earnestest manner that wee could disgraced and made them odious with the most fearful sharp threats of God adioyned thereto Yea and contrariwise if any make right and kinde vse of our Ministerie who seeth not that they be those that waxe ashamed of themselues after they haue seene their faces in the glasse of Gods law and with Ephraim bemoned themselues bin confounded because they did beare the reproch of their youth when the old rootes haue thus bin decaied then new sprigs of grace haue sprung out in their roome and then they haue begun to lament after God Magistrate Minister Master of family and priuate persons if they be well aduised they speake thus yea they all finde this to be true And in this 25. verse it is further said as we see that God appeared here to Gedeon in the night when it might haue seemed that he had been neglected and forgotten euen then gaue he a weightie charge vnto him whereby we are taught that God watcheth ouer his to doe them good when they are sleepie and minde nothing as we reade he did to Samuel Salomon and other of his faithfull seruants For he that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleepe meaning that he waketh and watcheth continually to keepe his from danger for the which cause it is said by the Apostle Peter that his eyes are vpon them as the mothers vpon the young childe standing by to see that it take no hurt For as it is in the Psalme if the Lord keepe not the citie the watchmen watch but in vaine but if God take part with his the strongest enemie shall not be able to hurt them It is said of Peter Act. 12. 6. that while he slept betweene two souldiers in the night bound with two chaines the Angell of the Lord came vpon them and smote Peter on the side so that his chaines fell off and he was deliuered from Herod See also Psal 4. I will lay 〈…〉 owne and take my rest for thou O Lord vpholdest me But seeing â—e keepeth the bad also and there some perhaps will say therefore it might â—â—me no great matter that he keepeth and watcheth ouer the faithfull but for answere I say with the Apostle God is the sauiour of all men that is from outward troubles but especially of the beleeuers for he preserueth their soules from euill vnto saluation As if he said he keepeth and saueth his own with a fatherly care and affection but the wicked though he keepe them yet he doth so as a Iudge keepeth aliue euill doers but vnto their destruction But of his people that is verified which is written by Salomon He watcheth ouer them when they sleepe and communeth with them when they awake and when they walke he doth gouerne and guide them And hereupon in that Gods care is thus ouer his in the night season as well as in other parts of their liues hereupon I say it is that as they reioyce in the Lord alwaies in all that they set their hand vnto through the day so they haue this fruite of it in the night also that they meditate and make their songs of his louing kindnesse as Dauid saith of himselfe that he would praise God in the night season when the other haue their terrors for their bad doings or imagine euill in their beds to draw vpon them greater and speedier iudgements Now further out of both these verses together note that as it was not enough for Gedeon to ouerthrow the Altar of Baal vnlesse he builded another to the Lord nor to build one to the Lord vnlesse he cast downe the Idolatrous Altar Euen so it is not enough to shunne euill except we doe good And therefore it is not sufficient to be no couetous person except a man bee mercifull it is not enough to bee innocent except a man be also fruitfull in doing good for one God is the commander of both It is a true speech Negatiues conclude nothing and here it is especially true Therefore let all such as whose goodnesse and outward actions witnesse not for them suspect that they deceiue themselues in the reforming of the hart For surely an heart purged will bee fruitfull Againe it is not inough to forsake Poperie c. vnlesse the pure Gospell bee imbraced Let the one abandon the other as Dagon and the Arke could not stand together They that make an hotch-potch of both are an abomination to the Lord. And here we may further learne that two religions in a land though the one tolerated onelie two contray or diuers waies I meane of worshipping God can no more stand together then Christ and Belial For then the Lord would haue spared Gedeon a labour and only enioyned him to goe about the warre and settle sound religion letting idolatrie alone The false religion is the canker of the true and as the execrable thing tooke hold vpon the whole substance of Achan so doth this bring a curse vpon the other Now to returne whereas the Lord bad the bullocke dedicated to Baal to be offered as a burnt sacrifice to himselfe I answer he is Lord of all he might turne it to what vse he pleased But it followeth not that we without his commandement may take vpon vs to iumble together Gods worship and superstition For the which cause as sometime he commanded that the gold and other things vsed in idolatrie should passe through the fire and so it might be vsed so somtime he commanded that they should vtterly be destroyed To returne therfore in a word to the point As we see what a blemish it had been in Gedeon if he had done the one part of the charge and not another like Saul in the businesse of the Amalakites so by the way it teacheth that God alowes not for seruice duties done by halues but that they should be soundly and in one part and point as another indeuored after neither doth hee allow vs to bee our owne caruers to take what pleaseth vs and turne the other backe again which we may see more clearely by the example of one that was guiltie of this fault Of Iehu it is reported that when he had slaine all the cursed posteritie of Ahab and destroyed the Priests of Baal which was the purging out of false worship in great part yet whereas the other part of setting vp true worship should haue followed it the text makes a stop and sets downe a manifest separation betwixt them thus But from the sinnes of
of the children of Ammon 8. Who from that yeere vexed and oppressed the children of Israel eighteene yeeres euen all the children of Israel that were beyond Iorden in the land of the Ammorites which is in Gilead 9. Moreouer the children of Ammon went ouer Iorden to fight against Iudah and against Beniamin and against the house of Ephraim so that Israel was sore tormented 10. Then the children of Israel cried vnto the Lord saying Wee haue sinned against thee euen because wee haue forsaken our owne God and haue serued Baalim NOw followeth a new reuolt of the people of Israel and this is handled to the 17. verse wherein the things to bee considered are these to wit a double repairing and returning by them to God when hee afflicted them by their enemies for their sin in forsaking him In their first seeking to him they had the repulse for their repentance was not sound In the second God deliuered them they seeking to him in repentance In the former note these foure things First their sinne which was a ioyning to the nations among whom they dwelt and this in the sixth verse The second is Gods punishing them euen by those whom they ioyned with in Idolatrie which is snewed in the next three verses The third point is their crying to God and lastly the fruite thereof in the tenth verse and so forward The fruite was diuers for first God denied to deliuer them to the fifteenth verse But at the second crying of the people to God hee deliuered them which is set downe in the next two verses vnto the seuenteenth Now let these things be looked into more particularly To returne therefore to the sixth verse and to begin with the peoples sinne it is said after the death of these two Iudges in whose daies they had enioyed peace fiue and fortie yeeres that the people fell againe to prouoke God as wee haue heard their fathers did And how by committing Idolatrie after the manner of the seuen nations that are here mentioned For both that was liking to the flesh and besides they thought those nations that did so liued in more abundance and in more pleasure then themselues did for many delights to tickle the flesh forward they adioyned to their false worship to draw away their hearts from seruing the true God aright whom it is said here that they forsooke Thus much for the summe of this verse and therein of their sinne And here are diuers things to be considered First it teacheth that we should not greatly marueile that so many in this our age giue themselues to Popish religion seeing Idolatrie hath in most ages been so common by reason that it hath so many player-like toyes and bables of sights to bleare the eye and sonets to deceiue the eare that it maketh them thinke they be in a peece of paradise while they embrace and are made drunke with such fond conceits when indeed they be thereby caried as it were fast asleepe to hell There is nothing that moueth or delighteth them in all the word of God rightly vnderstood but only blind deuotion in their false religion wherein they haue been nuzled vp and then a fond and fantasticall conceit that they shall goe to heauen thereby As for the authoritie and warrant of their Masse and other trumperie in the beginning of the world nay in our Sauiour Christs time and many hundred yeeres after there was no shred nor ragge of it vsed or knowne especially to any such end whereas the true seruing of God was alwaies as now it is euen from the beginning And how prone people are to worship God with ease for so farre they like whether it be sound and true or counterfeit it may be seene not onely in Poperie which is coyned for the purpose to deceiue the simple with strong delusions but also in our religion which for the outward manner of it is holy pure and good and consisteth in hearing prayer and the vse of the Sacraments for the substance thereof And yet many of them who allow it as the true manner of worshipping God what doe they for the most part but draw neere to God with their bodies but their hearts are farre from him As if they would say they would gladly goe to heauen but they would haue an easie way thither but to serue God in spirit and truth which is the direct way thither they cannot bend themselues thereto whereas there is as great delight in the worshipping of God aright and that by the Lords allowance and promise which in the two former kindes of popish and the other of only outward worship are wanting as great delight I say and as sound in true performing it so farre as fraile flesh may attaine to as there is reward promised thereto which is vnutterable In this verse also may bee seene what fruite this people yeelded to the Lord of their long enioyed peace euen as wee haue seene their fathers did and that was how they fell to lasciuiousnes and forgetting of God a sufficient watch-word whereof they had giuen them before by Moses Now for the laying out of this sinne both in them and our selues how fearefull and great it is let vs onely consider of it thus Seeing this point hath been largely handled already if the diseased person pained with the stone or strangury or the famished and hee that is in penury or the man that is in exile and banishment if these I say might be set free from that which oppresseth them what would they not readily offer and couenant to doe in the seruice of God yea and that much more feruently then other men Therefore how grieuous is their sin let all men iudge who may in health in wealth at ease and in outward peace doe this I meane serue the Lord which is the thing that he requireth of them and yet they can by no means be brought to it But this I leaue to be further considered as euery one shal see cause But more particularly in that it is said they forsooke the Lord it may be marueiled at that they should forsake him whom they had loued and serued before But by this we may see what force there is in sinne to besot and make drunken them who giue ouer themselues thereto be it whoredome the loue of the world or any other For it is able to bereaue them of sound reason to turne away their delight from prayer and all good practise and to forget the ioy that they had in both sometimes and yet to blindfold them so that they shall not suspect any danger to be toward them for al this while they may merrily serue their humour therein Sampson and other went farre this way And let the best of vs feare lest we be carried away of our lusts to loue and like where wee ought not and tempt we not God but let vs resist the beginnings of euill wee know little what
God will in our most casuall actions direct regard blesse vs so that in time we shall see it to be so though we knew not before what should come to passe Heber remoued his dwelling from his kindred not in hatred to them but as he saw it most conuenient for him though it is true he intended not thereby the destruction of Sisera neither came there any such thing into his mind but the Lord purposed it and appointed that by this meanes of his comming to dwell there it should be brought to passe Heber onely considering and aduisedly bethinking himselfe what was best for him to do about the setling of his dwelling and seeking to liue among Gods people and looking no further So by the selling of Ioseph into a strange countrey a thing in likelihood tending to his vndoing yet it is manifest as hee told his brethren that God sent him before to preserue them and their posterity aliue and not they So when Iacob was sent away by Rebecca his mother to Padan Aram to auoide the wrath of his brother Esau the cause was good but hee went vncertaine what should befall him in a strange land and therefore hee thought and vowed if he might haue bread to eate and clothes to put on and that God would be with him and keepe him in his iourney that then he should be his God meaning that he should bee more strongly confirmed in so counting him Therefore God who guided his iourney blessed him greatly so that when he returned hee remembred Gods benefits which hee had since that bestowed on him saying I came ouer this Iordan with my staffe that is poore and without all prouision but now haue I gotten two bands So when Moses married Iethros daughter liuing obscurely in the wildernesse and suffering affliction with the people of God who would haue thought that any good should haue come thereby And yet beside his admirable deliuering of the Israelites out of Pharaohs bandage he was also a meane to draw Iethros posterity to religion and the true worship of God thereby Euen so offer we our selues vnder Gods gouernment and all things shall bee in time directed by him to a good end though we see it not by and by yet wee shall so as wee may be bold to say it for he will bring it so to passe For it is to bee knowne that while we wander heere on earth yet we are not in darkenesse as others are neither are we cast off as Orphans and left desolate but God careth for vs his faithfull ones otherwise then he doth for the rest of the world And it being so with vs though wee see not the mind and purpose of God toward vs in particulars at the first and what will fall out through the course of our liues yet wee are sure that his speciall prouidence watcheth ouer vs for our good so that we need not doubt but that God directeth all things to that end This is a wonderfull stay to all beleeuing people and without faith sound knowledge and vse thereof all Gods doings are strange to vs both before we see the issue of them and sometime afterward also and namely his crosses and afflictions but as they are distasted of vs and vtterly vnwelcome so are his benefits neuer receiued of vs in good sort and to the right end namely to make vs trust in him more firmely and cleaue to him more constantly whereas we should be much more moued hereby to commit the successe of all vnto him till our experience haue brought the hope that shall not make vs ashamed For there need bee no doubt but that he watcheth for vs thus clinging to him when we sleepe and vpholdeth vs while wee walke and proposeth good towards vs euen then when wee see no likelihood thereof And while it is thus with vs it is not vnprofitable to consider how ill it goeth with those who rest vpon blind fortune as they call it and goe on in the strength of their carnall wisedome looking for great matters but all in vaine they being little or nothing acquainted with Gods prouidence Lamentable it is to see how such are tossed vexed and vnsetled with cares and sorrowes and that not only in their most vncertaine and doubtfull affaires but also in those which are more sure and certaine as they thinke and imagine Besides it is not vnprofitable for vs to marke another thing in this short story and that is this that seeing this Heber remoued and had his dwelling apart from the rest of his brethren the Kenites vpon good consideration for otherwise the holy story would haue found fault with it the rest of them departing from Iericho and dwelling with the tribe of Iuda in their borders as we heard in chap. 1. in that I say Heber did thus who yet as is cleare by the story did not offend God therein wee see it is not vnlawfull for the people of God to settle their dwellings apart from their neighbours and kindred brethren in profession but it may fal out to be meet for them to do so for God hath not appointed that all the faithfull should dwel together neither can it be sometime for sundry considerations and respects as we reade that Abraham and Lot by reason of the great abundance of cattell that they both had and for want of pasture departed one from another euen as before when their posterity grew and multiplied in one familie they married and were dispersed into diuerse And many other things doe cause that Indeed if wee may dwell together with Gods people in the places of best choice it is not to be neglected but desired hartily for many shall be hindred from it by necessity and if that liberty may bee enioyed of vs let vs make a pretious reckoning of it and set our selues to liue together kindly profitably and peaceably which too many regard not to doe but if it cannot bee without great inconuenience let vs not striue against God for we gaine nothing thereby and what know we what God hath appointed to be done by vs in another place It may bee wee may bring some to God by our remouing and bee seated among such as shall bee like our selues or may by our good conuersation which they shall see be turned vnto vs. Which two things we should principally aime at and endeauour vnto when we must change and remoue our dwelling Now it followeth that after this short degression as we haue heard how Barak prepared and furnished himselfe to warre so it was told Sisera what he had done and that hee prepared his army likewise when hee heard that Barak had done so His power what it was I meane how great and feareful I haue shewed already That which we haue heere principally to note in addressing himselfe to the battel is the difference betwixt him on the one side and Debora and Barak with their few thousands on the other
This teacheth vs in dealing with any aduersary of the truth to smite him with his owne weapon not with Gods weapons drawne from the Armorie of the Scriptures which are truths by reuelation only not by nature and therefore to such as they are vnreuealed vnto they are as Pauls doctrine of Resurrection was to the profane Stoicks The Church smiteth not the Infidell by spirituall Censures because he is not capable of spirituall direction and doctrine There are none so erronious but they hold some truths and the truths which they hold may serue to infringe the errors they maintaine And so when they are brought to suspect or renounce falsehood they may the sooner be perswaded to admit the truth which before their strong preiudice will not suffer them to doe The Heathen by confessing a Deitie may by graduall consequences be forced to acknowledge an vnitie and so by the workes of this deity vrged to confesse a worship due thereto and that inward aswell as outward as also to see the folly of his manner of worshipping And thus being prepared hee may the better be instructed in the truth The reason of the former point is because all truth is vniforme and repugneth to all falsehood though it be not discerned so to be but by demonstration So the Popish Transubstantiation the Lutheran Vbiquitie are best confuted by their owne positions and confessions as also other their errors and heresies and not by our own Neither will it be hard to doe so since that it is impossible but that he who writes many truths should contradict himselfe in his errors ere he be aware And let this course be vsed against the ignorant and vngrounded neither let vs presently raile vpon such or abandon them because they are not perswaded by the things which are forcible with vs but let them be kindly drawne on by little and little and not driuen further of Thus much bee said of that which hitherto hath passed betwixt Iphtah and the King of Ammon THE SIXTIE SEVEN SERMON ON THE ELEVNTH CHAPTER OF THE BOOKE OF IVDGES NOw to proceede In communication betwixt the King of Ammon and Iphtah it followeth that he vsed another reason to the King of Ammon by his messengers and that is prescription long continuance of time euen 300. yeeres well nigh all which time this ground was neuer claimed No nor Balac the King of Moab when Israel was newly come into the cities belonging to it and dwelt in them neuer challenged it nor contended for it when yet hee stroue with them that they should not enter into his owne borders Now this reason of Iphtah must be vnderstood to follow vpon the former more pertinent reasons after this manner He had prooued directly that this land was no part of the Ammonites land now he proues further that Ammon could lay no iust claime to it in any second respect as because it was a part of the Amorites land bordering vpon them For saith he then might Moab aswell nay better challenge it then the Ammonites which yet neither they did nor had done in 300. yeeres space before If the reason be not thus considered it concludeth nothing for it doth not directly follow that Ammon had no title to it because Moab had none Thus Iphtah answered him and then committed the successe to God But the King of the Ammonites did not hearken to him Although Iphtah sheweth that for 300. yeeres Israel enioyed the country of the Amorites quietly yet hee brought other reasons also drawne from right and reason aswell as fact and possession which made that more strong as we haue heard All which laid together did sufficiently prooue that the land was theirs and that the King of Ammon did trouble them vniustly and without cause This I say for that we may know that prescription of time as it may fall out though seldome it doe so is no sufficient reason to hold our commodities by but that there may be right on the other side and good proofe for the same and yet our law supposing a great likelihood of right to be on our sides when we haue long enioyed our lands hath well determined the controuersie by giuing it to vs when it hath been long enioyed of vs and our predecessors seeing otherwise many endlesse contentions might arise because it is not like that any aliue can alleage any good reason against so long a cōtinuance of time neither can bring any thing certaine from former times to ouerthrow it And the equitie of the law aimeth at that which most vsually though not generally or infallibly holdeth for the most part ordinarily And where Iphtah saith that Balak King of Moab stood against Israel stiffely to hold him from going through his land yet hee stroue not with them for the recouering this land of the Amorites which he might as iustly haue done as he the King of Ammon did hee prooueth thereby that he had nothing to doe with it nor any right vnto it Teaching this thereby that when men are deadly set against their aduersaries for any matter seeking thereby to vexe them in the sorest manner they can they would shew their rancor in bringing foorth greater crimes and accusations against them then they doe whereby they might much more easily bring them downe if they were prouided with any And whereas they seeke to blemish their names or to impouerish their estate or to afflict their persons by restraint of libertie imprisonment or banishment they doe as the old Serpent bite at their heele because they cannot breake their head but they would be gladdest of all to shed their blood God indeed plucks them back and so they vomit not their poison out to so great mischiefe as they conceiue it but fall short but their poison is nothing lesse deadly for all that they want but matter to worke vpon And this is manifest by these two signes the one that they are content to take the slightest occasions and rather choose to be ridiculous in their malice then not malicious the other that both they aggrauate their slender accusations with slanderous additions of their owne inuenting and combe both the warpe and the woof both the crime and the amplification thereof in the diuels forge their lying hearts and braines because the innocency of their aduersarie yeelds them no iust exception Thus those enemies of our Sauiour for want of matter suborned false witnesses which periurie argued they would not haue spared to produce true and greater crimes if they could haue found them It is noted of Daniels aduersaries chap. 6. that wanting matter of treason they were faine to bring out his religion against him which as they contriued the matter by the law they made for the purpose toucht his life also but if they had found ought to lay to his charge in the other they would rather haue vsed it This doctrine serueth to answere them who pretend for the couering of their malice that whereas they
sufficient yea and for the sin of men causeth the sea to drowne much wealth and much to be lost on the land as if he would haue vs thereby take knowledge that he had rather it should be lost where only it doth no good then to be in the hands of wicked men where it should doe much euill and hurt Therefore let vs bee ready to imploy our goods to the comforting of other euer way and so as we also may haue all possible good by the well vsing of them But a fitter place for the pursuit of this point will be that which is said after in the third verse Now it is said that all this money while she had it in her possession was stollen from her Nothing is said of the manner of this fact but barely and simply it is set downe that it was so To teach vs among other things how fickle and vncertaine the hauing and enioying of worldly goods is and how soone they be lost and how many waies for who suspecteth his owne children they being one mans today and another mans tomorrow As Benhadad said to Ahab by his seruant Thy siluer and gold is mine and a very little while after all that Benhadad had and he himself was at Ahabs pleasure and he was driuen to begge his life of him Thus it hath bin with good and bad in all ages Which yet I say not as though wee should set all at sixe and seuen and not labour for commodities for God hath commanded vs so to doe and make small account of Gods goodnesse in giuing these earthly benefits vnto vs for they are his great blessings for singular vses and wee are commanded to be occupied in our callings for the obtaining necessaries for our life thereby But to such changes hath God made the condition of earthly substance subiect that we may learne not to trust in vncertaine riches as we are most prone and ready to doe but in the liuing God that we may liue with him and that we indanger not our selues by wronging or offering violence to any for comming by them which are so soone lost but doe good with them rather and be rich in good workes and not follow the example of the wicked world who commit all mischiefe to get them and in vsing them Therfore our Sauiour chargeth vs saying Lay not vp treasure for your selues vpon earth where the rust and moth doth corrupt and where theeues breake through and steale but lay vp your treasure in heauen We haue said enough of the ficklenes of outward things by one occasion or other in the most of the former chapters Her money was stollen by her owne sonne For many children make a light matter of stealing and plucking from their parents as though it were their own euen while their parents liue But such make no conscience who dare so doe to defraud their parents This aggrauated Micha his sin in that he robbed his owne mother who yet of himselfe was rich and needed not to fall to such practises and she was in house with him and as it is most like they vsed all things in common together and at least the money was like to fall to him for his share and yet all this notwithstanding behold his sin that he could not forbeare but that he must needs put his hand to it before the time This sheweth sin to be out of measure sinfull in that they who commit it setting aside a lewd wanton humour and an heart so full of naughtinesse that it must haue vent some way oft times haue no more need to do it then to put their hand in the beares mouth Of this sort are the waily idle and needlesse oathes and speeches of some the medlings of busie bodies in other mens matters and that which is more dangerous in things that are too high for them also the stealings of rich men as this Micha was with the whoredomes of married persons and those lyes which we call iesting lyes for pleasure sake and the drunkennesse of such with their lewd companions abroad who yet may be well and with sufficiencie satisfied at home with an hundred more of like sort Though al sin be vile odious for no sin is necessary because some are needlesse yet to be sure he that sinneth when he hath no need and therefore wanteth excuse euen to God and man as he that committeth adultery or the like to be sure I say he troubleth and destroyeth his owne soule Remember how Nathan inlargeth the sin of Dauid by this circumstance that he hauing many wiues robbed his poore neighbour of his onely wife and killed her husband also for the better concealement of his adulterie And this was so inexcusable euen in the censure of the offender himselfe that he abhorred it and condemned it most deeply and therefore thinke not that God will take such by the hand Besides this teacheth parents to traine vp their children religiously and to disgrace and make odious all sin to them as well as to follow them with other instruction and good example that lying swearing stealing and the like may through Gods blessing bee farre from them which with such other like sinnes will easily and soone fasten vpon them vnlesse by good education they be weaned from them as shall appeare in the next point saue one more cleerely Now in that he being an Idolater was also a great theefe we may note that they who dare fall to Idolatrie and false worshipping of God are not to be trusted in duties doing to men So Abraham said to the King of Gerar of all as well as Idolaters that where the feare of God is not there is smal likelihod that the feare of man will preuaile and so hee will say that doth rightly consider it For howsoeuer a deceiuer may for a time and while he is not greatly prouoked neither hath any occasion offered him or is held in by strong outward bridles or inducements from outrage may I say shew good example among men and walke without offence toward them yet when he shall see his time he will shew what he is as wee see in seruants in children in friends betrusted with great matters bewraying at length an vnfaithfull heart and the reason is great they are false to God and what man then shall looke for any better at their hands euen as the holy Ghost saith of the Iudge that hee neither feared God nor reuerenced man And much the rather is this true in Idolaters seeing that euen he who is of sound religion as I haue said yet if his heart be not vpright may possibly bee a deceiuer Among other vses of this point this is one and not the least that we pray for such as are in authoritie that they may religiously prouide that their people may feare God at least want no ordinary meanes that may draw them thereunto and therefrom be conscionably carried to obedience outwardly
and kept a great part of their possessions in their hands by force So that we see that the negligence of the other tribes in suffering the forbidden nations to remaine and waxe strong caused these their brethren to be wronged and to go without their due which God had allotted them For if they had kept their enemies out they might haue been able now to helpe this tribe of Dan who if the house of Ioseph had not done more then the rest they had been left almost without habitation And by this we may see that mens sinnes doe not only redound to their owne hurt but also to the hurt of others Whereas none are hurt neither themselues by those that feare to offend God and be carefull to do their duties but they may receiue great benefit thereby But the other hurt many as well as themselues As wee see bad parents what woe they hoard vp for their vnhappy children as Ahab and the like What they do to themselues this place giues no occasion to shew directly but by consequent but how other feare the worse by them And the same may bee seene in many particulars among vs also both touching body and soule As first how many soules doth an ignorant idle or scandalous Minister destroy and cause to perish How many good people doth an vngodly Magistrate grieue discourage and make faint in good duties and flesh the vngodly as Salomon saith When the righteous are in authority the people reioyce but when the wicked beareth rule the people sigh The riotous ill company keepers and such as giue ill counsell how many doe they spoile as in the Epistle to the Corinthians we reade where it is said Euill words corrupt good manners And what discredit to the godly and to the Gospell it selfe hypocrites who professe it doe bring Saint Paul declareth speaking thus to the Iewes Thou that teachest another and teachest not thy selfe causest the name of God to bee euill spoken of so that both when the Gospell is truly preached and also practised of some yet both are ill spoken of by the wicked because of the offence that hypocrites giue And generally the wicked are the causes of mischiefe and punishment from God vpon the places where they liue causing the earth to mourne and be wearie of the inhabitants yea Gods children are of the worse for their neighbourhood not onely while they gather infection by them to their soules but they smart bodily also with them and by them oftentimes in a publike calamity which their wicked liues haue caused Further to giue briefly some instances of this also in the hurts that wicked men do to others in things of this life for it would be too long to shew it at large what doth the gamester spendthrift and the slothfull person but bring all to naught and vndoe his familie as well as bring himselfe to beggerie What doth the oppressor and the vsurer in exacting that which is agreed vpon how hardly soeuer it can be yeelded but fleece the borrower till he makes his skinne to grow to his bones for want of flesh How many cormorant-like rich men doe the like in other kindes imposing rents vpon their poore tenants which constraine them to labour for them onely in prouiding their due against their day and cannot maintaine themselues so well as seruants may and ought to be whereas God alloweth them to liue and bee well maintained by their labour And other defraud the labourer of his wages or pay what they list and yet Saint Iames saith Their cry is entred into the eares of the Lord of hosts Oh! it cannot be expressed what are the discommodities and annoiances which the sinnes of men and their wicked liues doe cause and bring vpon others as well as themselues as the the tribes heere wrought woe to their neighbors these Danites seeing all the plagues and mischiefes which are euery where to be found are to bee imputed vnto them to verifie that which is written Woe be to the world because of her iniquities And this be said of the tribe of Dan and of all the rest Now there remaineth a question to be answered and so I end the whole chapter And the question is this seeing the tribes dwelt with the Canaanites and tooke tribute of them whether it bee lawfull for a godly man to dwell and bee conuersant with the vngodly as Papists c I answere that seeing Christ kept company with the publicans and great sinners and seeing Saint Paul would not giue leaue to a beleeuing wife to depart from an vnbeleeuing husband if hee will dwell with her therefore it is not simply vnlawfull to dwell with such but if the godly be well setled in sound knowledge and strong in faith so as they be not tied to communicate with them in their false worship of God they may but yet with certaine cautions As first this that in companying with them they intendand endeauour to perswade them to sound religion and that to this end they shew themselues kinde and gentle the better to draw them on But if they be in feare and danger to be drawne themselues they ought to cut off such fellowship The second thing that they must take heede of is that they liue vnreproueably and without iust blame among them for otherwise they shall do them hurt and harden them rather then doe them the least good Thirdly they may not in the least matter vnder any colour of friendship mixe themselues with them either in their false opinions or in worshiping God no not although they should hope thereby to draw them on the easier to embrace Christ as many hypocriticall professors doe and thereby couer their voluptuousnesse couetousnesse and prophanenesse who should rather remember this that they may not do euill that good may come of it Lastly they must take heede that they seeke not their owne profit at their hands by companying with thē nor to take their pleasure in gaming play with them whereby they bewraying their weakenesse as impatience greediesse of gaine wrangling or being immoderate in spending the time therein they should set them further backe from imbracing the Gospell Therefore if these cautions be not regarded and also if wee haue no hope to win them wee must craue pardon and leaue them to God hauing no more to doe with them in that familiar manner further then of necessity which may possibly bee either on our part or on theirs as if their neede should bee great and they had no other way to bee relieued by then by vs or if our liues should be preserued by them In which case we ought to be very warie lest we be intangled by them Also we may company with them if we bee linked to them by the bond of nature as they being our parents brethren kinsfolke or in ciuill respect as being our magistrates masters c. But as for putting children to schoole with
in mount Ephraim in the place mentioned in the text and that without superstition Now concerning buriall wee are to know that God hath appointed that it should bee for the honest and decent couering of the body vntill the resurrection day and that the bodies of the faithfull should bee as it were laid vp in the earth in hope of their honour at the last day though many righteous persons haue by the cruelty of their enemies especially been denied this liberty of buriall which is the comliest manner of bestowing them but it hindred not their happinesse Beside the bodies of God children for that they bee the temples of the holy Ghost ought if it may be decently to be buried and not to be cast forth into the fields And it was a kind of a curse to Iehoiakim to be buried like an asse But to say no more of this yet about buriall I adde one thing that whereas it goeth against the edge with men and women that their bodies should so bee abased at that time as to be wrapped and wound vp and laid in graue some of them hauing liued sumptuously and daintily heere before and therefore costly cloathed and in fine apparell they must know that this mortality and corruption must by Gods ordinance bee put off before immortality and glory can be put on and that this abasement together with the laying of them by the walles in the vtmost and meanest roomes which were wont to haue their abode in the costliest and seemeliest places as also the homely laying forth of them by meane people they themselues in their life time hauing had company with the wealthier and better sort this I say with all other abasements and disgrace serueth to this end euen to abate and pull downe the pride of men that is in them and to cause them to esteeme meanely of their bodies in their flourishingest estate which they haue too much pampered and gloried in by setting out of them so vainely It is a fit cooling and check for such as haue so abused them to see in the vsage of other mens what shall be done to their owne As for other who haue glorified God in their bodies and vsed them as meet instruments of their soules to make them fitter to serue God they knowing that their graue is made by the graue of Christ a sweet bed for their bodies to sleepe in till by the power of his resurection they shall rise to partake eternall life with their soules and that it is not as a prison or dungeon to locke them vp in till the resurrection of condemnation as whereto the wicked are reserued they I say knowing this are not dismaied but comforted in thinking of this And further they hauing learned that it is appointed that all shall once die and that such abasement of their bodies must bee before they enioy immortality and glory they I say doe both submit themselues willingly thereunto while they liue heere rather then take a pride in their bodies as too many doe yea euen in their haire and they bewaile the sinne rather which hath brought such reproch and farre greater misery then that vpon men and with our Sauiour despise the shame that is set before them and beare contentedly such reproch in certaine hope of the glory which they are going to To this which I haue said of burial one thing more let vs consider that seeing Ioshuas buriall is onely spoken of simply and barely without any addition which also yee shall reade of the Kings and great persons burials in their histories it is worth the considering what superstition the Prelates of Rome haue brought into this ceremonie of buriall as they haue done about all other pieces of their religion partly to blind fold poore soules in making them to thinke that their dead shall fare the better for their trumperv when yet they doe but deceiue and feed them with false comforts and partly while they seeke their owne and their shauelings gaine thereby but both for the aduancing of their superstitious religion In perticular some of these abuses are that there must bee prayers made for their soules ringing to helpe them the sooner out of Purgatorie burying them neere the high alter with candles burning vpon their toombes and diuers other such superstitious orders whereby they perswade the ignorant that God is as busie in making prouision for them in heauen as they are in heaping and vsing much trumperie about their buriall heere on earth And this of buriall and so of the rest for this time THE FOVRTEENTH SERMON ON THE SECOND CHAPTER OF THE BOOKE OF IVDGES AFter the holy story hath spoken of the life and death of Ioshua it proceedeth to shew what the people did after his death and makes two sorts of them The one were they who about that time died the other they who being another and new generation liued after them when the good elders were dead and thereby tooke occasion to fall to wickednesse Of the first it is said that they were gathered to their fathers meaning they died and those were they that were left aliue a young seminarie in the wildernesse and came into the land of Canaan with Caleb and Ioshua these I say who then came lustie and young into the land were now full of yeers and died The phrase of speech heere vsed that they were gathered to their fathers is oft vsed in the Scriptures to signifie thereby that they died and the reason why they that died were said to be gathered to their fathers was this seeing both their bodies were buried in the earth with theirs and their soules were ioyned to theirs according as they were good or bad And in that these were gathered to their fathers now that they had liued out the age of men which euen then was threescore and tenne or at the most fourescore and that with much wearinesse wee see that they who liue to the vtmost of their yeeres cannot passe threescore or a few more with any fitnesse to be imployed profitably in any calling without which life is but burthemsome and so Moses saith in his time therefore how necessary is it that the precious time which is allotted vs to liue heere should bee employed to the best vses by vs who professe that wee liue to that very end especially considering how few attaine euen to these yeeres and how much time is of necessity to bee bestowed in eating and rest taking that I say nothing of many other anokements and beside both how fast suddenly our end commeth The which I say not onely for that I see how men lengthen out their liues endlesly in their owne foolish reckoning stretching them on the tenters and saying they may liue yet 30. 40. 50. yeeres longer and therupon how vainely badly the cōmon sort do spend their time whom I haue little hope to perswade to do better but for that many of good report doe
of Palme trees 14. So the children of Israel serued Eglon King of Moab eighteene yeeres Now followeth the second The summe whereof is this that the people of Israel prouoked God to anger againe by their sinnes when Othniel was dead And God strengthened the King of Moab against them with other most wicked confederates who oppressing them sore a long time they cried to the Lord as they had done before and hee stirred vp another sauiour one Ehud who deliuered them out of their grieuous bondage According to this briefe laying out of the story the parts may be discerned to be foure as in the former Which being easie to bee perceiued I will not stand to set them downe but speake of them as they lie in order The first thing heere to be noted is that the people againe wrought euill in the sight of the Lord as they had done before And this shewes that they broke out further then they did while Othniel liued or else nothing should haue been said more then before in his daies during whose time though they be not commended yet neither are they discommended Therefore to say nothing of either seeing I haue no ground for it let that be obserued whereof the text giueth iust occasion how prone and ready we are to break out assoone as we haue any opportunity Oh the flesh is soone wearie of pending in While we are well fenced against falles by good teaching and company I must needs say all is much the better with vs and we be the easilier kept from great offences Heere in this land especially where wee haue the purity of the Gospel and of the true worship of God established among vs for it is grosse indeed to fall from a good course while that is present and also while godly Magistrates are with vs to encourage vs as it was with them while Othniel liued But for all this as grosse as it is when men will let loose themselues with the times to the sinnes thereof and such helpes faile them as I haue spoken of what care soeuer hath been among them of honouring God in former times they are soone carried away euery man as he is disposed by his owne corruption one to some sinne and another to another And yet where all the forementioned outward helpes be we being easily brought to make common things of them the false heart will be ready to breake out and fasten delight in some sinfull pleasure or other if it be not strongly held in by grace as by a bridle Whereas we should rather grow vp stedfast in our hope curbing vp our vnmortified affections that so we might be vnoffensiue in our Christian course and the better be able to helpe to shelter other weake brethren from being ouercome and led away by strong tentations rather then our selues who haue tasted how good and bountifull the Lord is to be plunged into the depth of them by what occasions soeuer to their great offence I haue oft lamented and still doe the lamentable case and wofull estate of such who are easily and readily deceiued with the baits of sinne when I see to what shamefull shiftings and bondage they bring themselues by their yeelding thereto who might haue walked at great liberty toward God and with much comfort in their life But we must confesse that this should be much better done on euery side if diligent teaching were ioyned with good example in the chiefe to giue light and encouragement to the meaner sort and godly Magistrates according to their duties encouraging the good and ready to keepe vnder the bad and disobedient But oh that many of both sorts were not discouragers And yet without respect thereof euery particular person should looke to his owne waies not promising himselfe such helpes in this euill world to be euer at hand This be said of the peoples prouoking of God againe and of their breaking out after the death of Othniel Of other things which might be noted heere hauing already been spoken of I will forbeare to say any more both in this place and throughout the booke The punishment which God inflicted vpon the people for their renued sinnes which is the second thing in this example followeth in this and the next two verses and it was this that the King of Moab and other who assisted him held them in bondage eighteene yeeres and tooke Iericho which was called the city of Palme trees and set aide there the more to oppresse Israel seeing it was by the passage ouer Iordan toward Moab Where we see againe that if we shall waxe bold to sinne against the Lord hee will smite as we haue heard come it sooner or come it later But in that hee is said here to strengthen Moab and as it were to furnish him against his owne people the wicked Idolaters against his true worshippers onely for breaking forth now at this time heere mentioned to offend the Lord more then commonly it may seeme somewhat strange For these Ammonites and Amalekites were most vile enemies of God and grosse Idolaters But he will haue vs to know this that he doth often punish his owne people by them that are worse then they And as we see he sendeth these cursed nations vpon them so we need not doubt but that hee can and will send the very Papists as little as many loose Protestants feare it to vexe vs if we prouoke him euen as he hath done heretofore when the sinne of men and their knowledge was lesser then now it is And so the Lord speaketh in Deuteronomie Because ye haue prouoked me by that which is no God I will prouoke you by them whom ye haue despised as no people It is as harsh a thing to suffer by the meanes of such as be worse then our selues as it is for the child to be beaten by the seruant But God will suffer them partly because hee knowes that to be the way to abase men partly because their enemies will set it on to the purpose when they are let loose to hurt them through the malice that is in them euen as their father the diuell doth when he can But God would haue his owne learne by the smart which they sustaine by their trouble that their sinne is farre more odious then they account it yea then theirs who whip them because they haue been taught to know the Lord and couenanted to serue him but the other are strangers who are vnacquainted with his waies And all this is well to be marked because this errour sticketh fast and deepe in the minds of some that wee need not feare the Papists Spaniards Iesuites or any such Heretikes because we professe the true religion that they hate and worship Christ Iesus whom they dishonour And therefore hauing a good cause they say why should we feare God will fight for vs. I answere they must haue with their good cause a good conscience also for else they may as truly say
for them though the Popish Clergie and some other also count them vnmeete to liue at all but rather worthie to be rooted out of the earth But of this thus much Now it is further said here that the children of Israel went vp for iudgement to her I meane Debora who by the spirit of prophecie answered their doubts and determined of their controuersies and declared to them the will of God by all which they might the better doe the duties that concerned them Where we are to consider the louing kindnes of the Lord as to them that they might euen then in their oppression by the King of Canaan haue one to answere their doubts that troubled them so in other ages and much more in this of ours that he hath prouided that such as make question of any thing that troubleth them may be answered and satisfied If that which she did being but one person and a woman was to be accounted a singular fauour of God as who can deny it what a mercie of God is this to vs that we haue solemne and publike assemblies not in one place of the land but in many and but for the sinne of some persons should haue them throughout in all places to teach the will of God that all who are not wilfull or negligent may learne to know the Lord from the greatest to the least and also the things that belong to their peace Thus when I say we may priuatly vnburthen our selues of any doubtfull and dangerous opinions or trouble of conscience as wee may God be thanked and that many waies oh what a priuiledge is it These things ought so much the more to moue vs to be in admiration at the loue of God the giuer because in false religion and worshipping of God as in the Papacie there is no such thing to be looked for or enioyed for their seruing of God is compact of fancies dreames and lies the inuentions of men as a dunghill is full of filthines and drosse And as for the relieuing the conscience of any such as are distressed and disquieted there is as much comfort ministred to them either out of Parsons Directorie or out of the Meditations of Frier Granatensis which yet sauour most of all the rest of any pietie as the poore traytor Iudas found at the hand of the Priests when he complaining and crying out that he had sinned in betraying the innocent blood answered after the vnmercifull manner of such as they were looke thou to that as if they should haue said though they set him a worke shift for thy selfe that is the comfort thou shalt haue of vs. But to returne Though God hath euery way prouided well for vs to be instructed soundly and graciously relieued and comforted as I haue said yet it is to be lamented that many of vs are glutted with the good meanes that wee haue and suffer them to lie by vs as it were a rusting And euen thereafter is the good fruite that we bring foorth in our liues thereby Vers 6. Then she sent and called Barak the sonne of Abinoam out of Kedesh of Naphtali and said vnto him Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded saying Goe and draw toward Mount Tabor and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulon Vers 7. And I will draw vnto thee to the riuer Kishon Sisera the Captaine of Iabins armie with his charets and his multitude and will deliuer them into thine hand Vers 8. And Barak said vnto her If thou wilt goe with me I will goe but if thou wilt not goe with me I will not goe Vers 9. Then she answered I will surely goe with thee but this iourney that thou takest shall not be for thine honour for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hands of a woman And Debora arose and went with Barak to Kedesh NOw we haue heard the description of Debora and what she was it followeth how she went to worke in this great businesse of the Lord against Iabin She therefore as God commanded sent to Barak as he is here described in the text the sonne of Abinoam that hee should goe and furnish himselfe with tenne thousand men and assured him that God would giue him victorie ouer Sisera the Captaine of Iabins armie and ouer all his multitude Barak at first feared but after beleeued and went forward to the worke and seeing he was afraid through vnbeliefe therefore he refused to goe without her for the which she found fault with him and told him God would punish it so that he should not haue that honour which otherwise he should haue had And after that Barak and Debora went to Kedesh together Thus much for the meaning of these foure verses Now of both these Debora and Barak in order First of the message in the sixth and seuenth verses then of that which followed vpon it in the other two following Of Debora first the holy Storie setteth downe this that she sent the message of God to Barak adding thereto the promise of victorie both which I ioyne together seeing wee may more cleerely see that which wee haue to learne thereby And out of both points of her speech namely the commandement of God to Barak and his promise of good successe this ioyntly I giue the reader to marke that these two things are the principall motiues and reasons to perswade and that are to leade vs in the most of our actions to the end we may rightly effect and bring them to passe namely the commandement of God and his promise of blessing I say in the most of our actions not all for as much as some of them are free and indifferent to be done or left vndone of vs and in them we are thus to be guided namely that we vse that part of our libertie in things indifferent which we shall by due consideration find to tend most to the glorie of God our owne inward peace and the edifying or least offence of Gods people Otherwise as I haue said in things forbidden or commanded by God let vs take our direction accordingly as we haue heard and harten on our selues to shunne that which is forbidden or to obey the contrary being incouraged by the promise of blessing annexed to both And this is a most blessed and comfortable direction to all Gods seruants at this day and shall be likewise to the end of the world And it is that which hath carried our fathers forth in their most difficult workes and parts of their liues Moses in going to Pharaoh to fetch the people of Israel out of their grieuous bondage which Pharaoh would not agree to what encouragement had hee hereto verily euen this that God said to him goe for haue not I commanded thee And againe I will be with thee to bring it to passe And the same was Ioshuas authority and the hartening of him to the guiding of the same people
that his afflicted people should be comforted for thus he saith there as also in many other places comfort ye comfort ye my people As if he should say comfort them euen at the heart And this aduice had so much the more neede to bee receiued of them because when they begin once to be heauy they forget that they were euer comforted and passe their bounds in heauinesse But when such distempered perturbations arise in vs and disquiet vs through an euill conscience and by meanes of some offending God willingly or negligently which by care we might haue auoided in which case wee haue no warrant to take comfort to our selues neither doth God at any time vse to comfort vs therein here the course that is to be taken is that we solemnely prostrate our selues before him accusing our selues and bewailing our sinne with broken hearts for mercy as well as looke for other deliuerance and he will returne to vs most graciously powre oile and wine into our wounds most sauourily and ease our griefe readily and all our feare shall be driuen away For if we doe well who as Saint Peter saith shall feare vs Ezekiah is a notable example of this who being in his sicknesse troubled with the feare of vntimely death whereby he feared iustly that the Church of God might the sooner be infected with idolatrie being not yet well setled in the true worship of God nor throughly purged made an heauie complaint as appeares Esay 38. not for that hee desired life simplie for it selfe as for the good of the Church But going to the Lord by prayer in this perplexitie for recouery the Lord staid his mind and sent his Prophet to encourage him both by promise and miracle and beare him word hee should recouer and then he goeth vp to the house of the Lord and makes a solemne thanksgiuing for his recouery But seeing many euen of Gods deare ones doe either not know how to repaire to God in this manner or if they doe yet they cannot humble their hearts therefore they trouble themselues with suffering the sting of an ill conscience to pricke them which in continuance of time is forgotten and being not kindly healed they soone breake out againe and so they make there life vnprofitable when it is at the best and till they cast vp that vnsauorie gorge by some great outward affliction which searcheth deepe or by some agonie of mind whereby they are brought by the helpe of some wise and experienced Minister to true repentance they come to no better estate Now followeth Gedeons thanksgiuing which clearely prooueth that hee receiued comfort and was well staied by the Angels words vnto him For whether we take it thus translated as it is by Tremelius he builded an altar to the Lord when he had pronounced peace to him or whether thus as in the Geneua translation it is read he builded an altar to the Lord and called it Iehouahshalom that is the Lord of peace I say in whether soeuer of these we take it it is a thanks to God yea and that in solemne manner for if he called him the Lord of peace who had giuen him double peace to wit both in freeing him from his dreadfull doubt first and afterward also from his feare And so Gedeon leauing that remembrance of his thankful hart there vnto posterity all may see that it was a solemne thanking of God And to the same end that tendeth which is said that he built the altar it was in token of his thanks after God had quieted his mind both about the deliuerance of the Israelites from the rage of the Midianites and also from his feare by seeing the Angell of God And therefore out of this action of Gedeons we learne to take all good occasions of thanks to God not onely ordinarily for daily benefits and priuately by our selues as well as openly but also as God shall giue vs occasion by such mercies bestowed vpon vs which are more then ordinarie as here he did to Gedeon and before this to Moses Ioshua Debora and others and doth oft times to vs in the yeere and in the seuen yeere by deliuerances protection and vnlooked for mercies and benefits And further as hee here did it in a solemne manner so ought we as much as in vs lieth for he left testimony of his thanks to those who came long after him But of thanksgiuing I haue spoken before THE FORTIE ONE SERMON ON THE SIXTH CHAPTER OF THE BOOKE OF IVDGES VERS 25. And the same night the Lord said to him take thy fathers young bullocke and an other bullocke seuen yeeres old and destroy the altar of Baal that thy father hath and cut downe the groue that is by it 26. And build an altar vnto the Lord thy God vpon the top of this rocke in a plaine place and take the second bullock and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the groue which thou shalt cut downe 27. Then Gedeon tooke ten men of his seruants and did as the Lord bad him but because he feared to doe it by day for his fathers houshold and the men of the city he did it by night 28. And when the men of the citie arose earely in the morning behold the altar of Baal was broken and the groue cut downe that was by it and the second bullocke offered vpon the altar that was made 29. Therfore they said one vnto another who hath done this thing and when they inquired and asked they said Gedeon the sonne of Ioash hath done this thing 30. Then the men of the citie said to Ioash bring out thy sonne that hee may die for hee hath destroyed the altar of Baal and hath also cut downe the groue that was by it 31. And Ioash said to all that stood by him will ye pleade Baals cause or will yee saue him He that will contend for him let him die yer the morning if he be God let him pleade for himselfe against him that with cast downe his altar 32. And in that day was Gedeon called Ierubaal that is let Baalpleade for himselfe because he hath broken downe his altar OF the second branch of the fourth part of the Chapter we haue heard that is of Gedeons asking of a signe Now followeth the third containing the charge that God gaue him to the 33 verse For after all this that we haue heard before he begin the warre hee is commanded to destroy and cast downe idolatrie and to set vp true religion and worship of God And this is in these words Cast downe the altar of Baal and cut downe the groue that is by it and erect another and offer to God thereon which Gedeon did accordingly and this to the 28. verse And yet he did this with perill euen of his life as appeareth verse 30. but God stirred vp Ioash Gedeons father against the men of the citie and deliuered him out of their hands as we see
commended in his casting downe their idolatrie that seeing God set not neither appointed the time when hee should doe it therefore hee did it in the night wherein hee might bee freest from resistance and danger Doue-like innocency and obedience to God must be ioyned with the wisdome of Serpents In many duties doing wee must watch the best opportunitie time and place vnlesse the Lord prescribe them to vs. So did Sampson in the great destruction of the Philistims watch time and place and tooke opportunitie when thousands of them were assembled to make themselues passe-time by mocking and laughing at him then he set his shoulders to the maine postes whereon the house stood and cast it downe vpon the Princes and the rest and slew thousands of them So it was said of Dauid hee did wisely whither soeuer hee went out and God was with him accordingly And it is a singular gift of God in his children to be wise in the things they take in hand that they giue no aduantage to the wicked nor the diuell but take the best and fittest occasions to bee well occupied as time and place giue leaue both in holding their profession generally and also in the doing of other particular duties that where they see inconuenience like to come they may by wise forecasting preuent the same and lay their most care where greatest danger is to bee seene and feared Wherein though all attaine not the same and like measure yet it is well when al labour as they are able to attaine it But some marre their good actions with the ill and vnwise manner in which they doe them As Iobs friends did in seeking to comfort him The particular instances are infinite But thinke we of them by this example For if Gedeon had gone about the work inioyned him rashly or vndiscreetly in the day time who seeth not that euen his obeying of God in such a mnner had marred all But Iael was blessed for her wisdome she shewed to pull downe Sisera And thus Abigail by her wisdome deliuered her house as Salomon saith and the wise woman mentioned in 2. Sam. who saued a whole citie The children of this generation teach vs herein And therefore pray we all for the spirit of wisedome that we not only doe that which we are commanded but that we studie to do it in the best sort we can and yet alwaies shunning as a rock carnall shifts and policies But of this the lesse shall serue being also often enlarged THE FORTIE TWO SERMON ON THE SIXTH CHAPTER OF THE BOOKE OF IVDGES WE haue heard of Gedeons faith and wisedome about the casting downe of the altar of Baal and wee may see a good reason why he was faine to vse the best and surest meanes for the effecting of it and for the ouerthrow of their idolatrie First seeing it was stablished among them and had taken roote therefore all that he could do was little enough to throw it downe And also for that the people were so superstitiously addicted thereto and so delighted in it But let vs now see in what outragious manner the people inquire after the man that had done it and when they with consent agreed that it was Gedeon how furiously they sought to haue him put to death Here many good points may be noted about idolaters which I will brieflie set downe First this how deepely idolatrie superstition and false worship is rooted in peoples hearts and ground fast as is to bee seene in these and through these stories and those in the booke of the Kings as the Philistims blind deuotion to their Dagon and the peoples fond and mad zeale in maintaining the false worship of Baal in Ahabs time their offerings to them their bowing downe and praying to them So that a man might haue as easily plucked their hearts out of their bellies as to haue disswaded and alienated their loue from them The reasons are first because as sinne so error is strong plausible and deceitfull Secondly God accurseth all that will not hearken to the truth so that they shall belieue lies and be bewitched therewith See and consider to this end Esay 44. 19. Thirdly the worst weeds haue deepest roots and corrupt customes or opinions because they agree with mans bad nature are not easily rooted out whereas those which are good and commendable are like precious plants or flowers which hardly take any roote at all and may be pluckt vp with two fingers As at this day the cursed reliques of heathenish and popish fashions how hardly are they laid downe looke but to some vaine and foolish customes and the â—ond deuotion of the superstitions all the yeere long in kneeling before stockes and stones and ye may easily guesse how hard a thing it is to remooue and expel them the like Gamaliel said of the doctrine of the Apostles If it be not of God ye shal not need to oppose it it wil fal of it self But we must know that God not working by miracle as he did then Satan and his complices will in these daies trie the vttermost and vse all meanes ere that come to passe yea as we may see they grow in experience and pollicie strength and resolution also to vphold their rotten building vntill as at death to be sure it shall it fall vpon their shoulders Whereas the true and pure worship of God what authoritie credit or heartie loue doth it find or obtaine at the hands of the most of them who professe it Nay they haue soone inough of it many reuolt and fall from it and they that retaine it doe it for the most part in a most dead and cold manner Insomuch as the diligentest preaching and earnestest perswasions doe scarcely preuaile so farre with men as that they get so much as a name of a good religion in the places where they dwell when yet if it were so their zeale is neither grounded vpon knowledge and if it be in some yet are they not stablished and setled therein and yet further euen of them there are very few that hold constantly in a good conscience the profession of their hope with ioy vnto their end And although this good conscience bee farre from the idolaters of our time for it can onely come from saith in Christ and assurance of his fauour whatsoeuer blind zeale and deuotion be in them yet therein they doe as I said before giue and ascribe much to their corrupt religion and false worship in cost in time spending about the same and feruencie therein aboue a number of vs to ours So that if they went vpon good grounds and had any promise from God for their so doing they might haue to reioyce aboue many of vs. But they and such of our selues as I compare with them in comming short of their zeale shal speed both alike while they I meane the Papists haue this cast in their teeth Who required this at your
hands And againe let him that set you on worke pay you your wages And to them of our profession this shall be said This people draweth neere to mee with their bodies but their hearts are farre from me and therefore in vaine doe such worship me And yet this I will adde seeing I haue ioyned these popish worshippers with the idolaters of ancient time affirming them to be like to them in zeale this I say I will adde concerning them that this deuotion is but in few of them in these our daies like to that which was in thē of former ages though as they blindfold mens eies it goe for currant that they bee all zealous that are of that profession when yet it is manifest that numbers of them are most subtill and hollow hearted dissemblers and deceiuers For to grant that some of the ignoranter sort are feruent in their false religion and blind deuotion yet the most of the rest deceiue the world and are not so zealous as they are wilfull spitefull and malicious who doe that which they doe partly for their belly and partly though against their conscience to vphold their religion by tradition when they cannot by Scripture and all to this end that it may as much as in them lieth be receiued for the truth rather then that of the Protestants whom they deadly hate and abhorre As for that they hope to merit by their zeale which doth the more set them forward it is to bee granted that they are much whetted on thereby though they be deceiued but should not the promises of God freely made to vs of all good things much more animate and harten on vs Another thing note we here how soone and earnestly they inquired who should deface their Baal and strippe him of his ornaments whereas Gods word may lie vnpreached by many occasions long inough before it be asked where the fault lieth and complained of and bewailed or before the neglect thereof be sought to be remedied In Poperie if a man shall speake against the masse or their breaden God or dispraise any yea the least part of their trash and trumperie he shall be more cruelly handled then for blaspheming in the highest degree Which appeares by such as in the time of persecution in our owne land attempted zealously to deface that idoll who of all other were put to most exquisite torments Euen as Gedeon here was pursued and as a most hereticall and seditious disturbur was called for to be put to death for offering that reproch vnto that base idoll Baal Oh it were an happie time if men were as zealously bent against atheisme superstition idolatrie adulterie and such like as many are zealous for them and that holy and heauenly things were in that account and request with many that open and apparent sinnes are with them And thus at this day doe the most men storme and rage at the Minister of God who is Gods ordinarie instrument as Gedeon was the extraordinary when they see that he is not content to dally with them but in good earnest striueth to pull them from their ignorance formall and could worship of God vncleanenesse or whatsoeuer other sinne they cleaue vnto as these did to their idoll Baal and serue The poore man Gedeon here had not more adoe to saue himselfe from this furious and eager multitude then the Minister hath in many places where the Gospell hath not preuailed to defend himselfe from a swarme of hornets which flie about his eares ready to sting him I might rather haue said wild beasts to deuoure him by their cursed reprochfull slanders and virulent tongues for his casting their Baal to the ground Also it appeareth that there were not many there that were as Gedeon vpright hearted men and such as did openly shew their dislike of idolatrie because they could so easily find him out and light vpon him as the guiltie partie as they counted him with so slight inquiry So that he was as eminent for his pietie as Saul for his stature who was taler then all the people and could not lie hidden And the odious man of many hee was with them to whom yet if they could haue seene they were all beholding and but for whom also they had all grone to wracke and had perished And wee see what eie-sores and how odious some one or few good professors of the Gospell are to a companie of prophane hickescorners and what a troublesome life they leade amongst them being baited and vexed by them at their pleasure and made their laughing stocke as Sampson to the Philistims for whose sake yet they are suffered by the Lord to liue that they may come to repentance being neere inough by all likelihood to be vtterly destroyed and to be brought to naught but for them as we may reade in the story of Genesis if there had been but ten righteous men in Sodome the city had not been consumed Yet and though they haue such benefit by them they sticke not to sweare that but for them they might liue merrily and without disturbance Therefore where God hath prouided better for a people and muzled the mouthes of such tigers and beares as these so that they may professe the Gospell without danger or feare pursuit and scorne of their betters who commonly are the wings to protect the inferiour sort of base and spitefull persons let such see and acknowledge a great libertie and release and vse it wisely while they inioy it as the Churches of Samaria and Iudea and Galilee did in the booke of the Acts. lest God take from them their props ornaments and protectors of them and make them to say as many doe full heauily we would gladly be zealous and fruitfull in our profession but alas we cannot so soone peepe out of the doores but we are pelted in againe and beaten back with the frownings disgraces and opppositions of such as are mightier then our selues But of this point more anon Thus farre of the outrage of the people now of the answere of Ioah to them in the next two verses For he as a wise Magistrate did at the first suppresse and bridle the rage of the people Now because it was said before that the ground with the groue altar and bullock did pertaine to Ioash and were his it is cleare that he had also vpheld the idolatrie how was it then that he should thus lightly suffer the act of his sonne Gedeon to passe vnpunished some man perhaps will aske and that he should find fault with the people for seeking to punish the trespasser against Baal I answere that Ioash was certified of the will of God very likely by Gedeon his sonne as Sampsons father was by him that marriage he sought with the Philistion woman was of the Lord. But howsoeuer it was hee doth shew that God stirred him vp to be a fauourer of his sonnes doing for hee doth with three reasons driue the people from their
may befall vs in time if wee dare deale loosely and vnfaithfully with the Lord and suffer our selues to beled away from our stedfastnes This boldnes and carelesnesse if it thus be suffered to beare sway in vs may cause this scripture in time to be said of and verified in vs that we haue forsaken the Lord our strength And yet because men are cunning to deceiue themselues hoping that as long as they embrace not another religion they shall not become such nor iudged so hardly of though they take vp their delight in sins that please thē I thought it not therefore amisse to giue this caueat that in vaine doe such men worship God though they draw neere to him with their bodies while they suffer their hearts to goe another way and it is a kinde of forsaking of God though not in so high a degree as the other and as in time they themselues are like to come vnto and their labour is lost that they bestow in seruing God while it is accompanied with such anoiance and vnsauourines he vtterly abhorreth it This phrase of forsaking God is taken from wedlocke when either partie renounceth interest and fellowship in the other and departeth away euen as the phrase of selling them away vsed in the next verse on Gods part importeth the like action in the Lord as iustly giuing ouer his part in them As they had resigned their right in him their husband who had married himselfe vnto them vnto strange Idols so the Lord put ouer his interest in them vnto strange Idolaters alienating himselfe from them as the commoditie which is sold changeth the owner and becomes the right of another man Now then let not men thinke they may at their pleasure breake their couenant as the knot of marriage with God thinking they may returne to him as they list and when they list as Sampson to his companion and the Leuite to his concubine for neither will it be so easie for them to doe it neither shall they finde God so ready in their hastie seekings after him vpon each occasion to admit them And this is said of the peoples sinne and by occasion thereof Now we haue heard of that being the first point of the foure in these three next verses is set down Gods displeasure conceiued against them for it For when they had thus prouoked him by their sore transgressions he prouoked them also by that which did little like them for hee stirred vp the Philistims and Ammonites against them who vexed them sore for many yeeres And this they did not onely in the land of the Ammorites beyond Iorden to the children of Israel that dwelt there but they waxed more bold and passed ouer Iorden made warre with the tribe of Iuda Beniamin and Ephraim so as they were not able to resist them And what should wee say to all this It must needs be granted that this was an heauy bondage that they were vnder But what remedie If it had been any lesse it would not haue moued nor wrought vpon them They would not complaine nor crie to God for a little For if they had they should haue been heard and kept from so great extremities that they should not haue vexed them So that to say no more of this we may all see here that when wee come vnder sore afflictions which in a manner take heart from vs and make our liues wearisome we may thanke our selues for it God vseth not to cast his punishments vpon men all at once but by peece meale and by degrees and giueth warning of them for the most part at least by his word alwaies that so as wise men seeing the plague comming they may preuent them or else he laieth his hand more lightly vpon them that they may at the first repaire to him and intreate him to stay it If it be otherwise that he suddenly and at once take away the righteous with the wicked they shall haue no cause to complaine of that for they shall rest in peace If God remoue not his punishments yet if they be reconciled to him and liue obediently hee will giue them greater grace of faith hope and patience to beare the burthen more easily and with farre greater contentment All the danger is if they harden their hearts and bow not meekely to God vnder their burthens that is more against them then all their outward calamitie and bondage Wee haue heard how God punished the people for their committing idolatrie and suffered their enemies to oppresse them sore and a long-time But this was not al which is here expressed though that was very grieuous as all may well see But with this it is to be noted how they also by their sin turned the Sun-shine of Gods fauour into most darke and vncomfortable displeasure This men purchase to themselues by their wilfulnesse and rebellion when they might otherwise go out and in before him to their good liking and dwell most safely vnder the wing of his protection all the day long What madnesse is it to cast themselues into deadly feares and vnquietnesse and anguish of soule for the Lords displeasure as sharpe arrowes sticking fast in them with reproch discountenance of Gods seruants and many other crossings and discontentments But of Gods anger and wrath reade more in Chap. 2. 14. Here I end THE SIXTIETH TWO SERMON ON THE TENTH CHAPTER OF THE BOOKE OF IVDGES WE heard in the former verses how God afflicted this people for their sinne in this verse the holy story setteth down how this oppression by the enemies reached to the people beyond Iorden as well as them that were on this side onely Wherein that thereat was verified whereof before hath been spoken that they and their idols should be as snares vnto them euen to their destruction But besides this we see that this miserie did spred further in time then to those that were on this side Iorden for it reached euen to the Israelites also which dwelt beyond Iorden So that although the enemies began with them first who dwelt in the land of the Amorites yet seeing the people on both sides of Iorden had communicated with the nations in their sinne they were therfore both plagued alike by the enemies And so it fareth with vs for if many ioyne together in prouoking God they shall smart together by bearing his corrections And though the Lord begin as I said before of Shechem and Abimelech with some at the first apart yet he will as the fire burneth one house after another he wil I say deuour the rest with the former at length as by the plague we haue heard he hath done Now in that it is said in this verse that they cried to the Lord saying we haue sinned I haue spoken of this before as also of this that they were long in miserie ere they complained therfore I wil not repeate those two points onely this here is to be noted that they did
vncharitablenesse an vnruly tongue c. the religion of this man were altogether vaine There are reasons of this 1. The Lord saith Sonne giue mâ—e thy heart he meaneth not a rotten heart and corrupt he needs it not but an heart well searched and well drained from sinfull affections and lusts such an heart he calleth for and chuseth For he knowes that where a mortified heart is there also is an heart quickned to the life of God and the more fit for dutie both within and without 2. The chiefe seruice of God is inward and this inward stands especially in repentance which first consisteth in the change of the euill habites and qualities of the soule ere new be put in For no man grafteth vpon a rotten stocke nor puts new wine into old vessels 3. A christian man fetch surer euidence from hence of his reformation then from any particular dutie to the affirmatiue commandements of the morall law and more soundly distinguisheth himselfe from an hypocrite I seperate not the parts of repentance but diuide the false from the sound by this rule many a good Christian is behinde hand in this worke and euer shall be for no man is pure and hardly forgoes some one or few old relikes of Adam and therefore looke how much a man profiteth in this peece of religion so much hee groweth more truely religious The vse is that they who haue chosen the easier course of seruice I meane to doe good duties doe better tend that other part of christianitie which hath been lesse regarded by them and that they trauaile in denying themselues ouercomming their passions abstaining from and crucifying their corrupt nature where it is strongest in them and so shall their religion prosper and better beseeme them For though it be the harder part of the two yet time bestowed therein will counteruaile the labour most plentifullie And for a good man to be a debter to any lust is most vnseemely but to be a seruer fulfiller and obeyer thereof and to haue the weapons of sinne still vnmortified and fighting in him against righteousnesse as Paul speakes is monstrous Thus much of the Nazarite In this verse the Angell telleth the office of the childe that should bee borne to wit that when he should come to age fit for it he should begin to deliuer his people from the bondage of the Philistims Wherein the Lord declareth his tender loue and care of his people who when they are oppressed and in tribulation doth pitie them and thinketh euen before of easing and redressing their sorrowes whereby he would draw them to relenting for their sinne and to be ashamed of their prouoking of him to punish them and of the hardning of their hearts by lying still in their offences without humbling themselues and crying to the Lord for mercy and deliuerance And if yee aske why hee doth not as well take them out of their troubles as well as he pitieth them therein and why he suffered this people to lye in bondage so long to their enemies till Samson grew vp and was able to deliuer them I answere he were willing and ready to doe it and much more if it might be good for them but that cannot be while they still harbour and nourish their sinnes but they would procure vpon themselues greater vexation by continuing their wicked course if the Lord should deliuer them before they repent for the same as hath bin often proued by the example of these Israelites crying for ease but neuer heard till by repentance the Lord was grieued for their miserie So that Gods suffering their oppressions to hold them vnder a long time as this his people was by theirs namely from the birth of Samson till hee came to mans estate and after it was not for that he taketh pleasure in afflicting his hee professeth the contrary but it is for that they relent not neither cast themselues down before him to draw compassion from him by their lamenting after him And therfore their long abiding vnder their tribulations doe argue exceeding hardnes of heart in them whereby they procure the same And whereas men cauill with God and say they cannot bow their own hearts nor force them to relent God must soften them and breake them or else he is the author of their miserie I answere they can binde heauie burthens vpon his shoulders which themselues will not take vp with the least of their fingers And that appeareth by the slight account they make hereof and their dealing so carelesly in so weightie a matter For although the Lord can pull out the stone of the heart as the Prophet speakes and make it an heart of flesh yet if this were the thing they desired they would first apply themselues to that grace of his which is able to worke this effect in them and then put ouer and commend the blessing of their labor to God which while they neglect to doe they haue that within them which shall witnesse against them to be the wilfull causes of their own desolation The Lord is not bound to them in the least respect to minister the meanes of the word in afflictions benefits examples help by others much lesse grace to be humbled and repent Therefore in that they vse none of these ordinances of his to the wholesome ends to which they are appointed the sin is theirs he is guiltlesse in that he hath offered them more faire then themselues were willing to accept of Neuer did the Lord leaue any to himselfe hardned and impenitent who desired to profit vnder his doctrine and discipline Therefore let men beware they ouerreach not themselues in their subtiltie for as bold as they are in speech here yet when they come to answer the Lord face to face they shall be dumbe and of their own mouthes shall the Lord condemne them To the which end more might be added if the point came not so often to hand throughout this booke as oft as the relapses of the people are mentioned See also the first branch of the doctrine vpon the 7. 8. 9. verses of the former chapter Thus much of the first part The second part of the Chapter Vers 6. Then the wife came and told her husband saying A man of God came vnto me and the fashion of him was like the fashion of the Angell of God exceeding fearefull but I asked him not whence he was neither told he me his name 7. But he said vnto me Behold thou shalt conceiue and beare a sonne and now thou shalt drinke no wine nor strong drinke neither eate any vncleane thing for the childe shall be a Nazarite to God from his birth to the day of his death 8. Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said I pray thee my Lord let the man of God whom thou seâ—test come againe now vnto vs and teach vs what wee shall doe vnto the childe when he is borne 9. And
vpon his death-bed oh how lamentable is it Till better prouision be made by the Church I grant t is no easie thing to be brought to passe most men being so wedded to the penny but in the meane time let vs know the law of God bindeth all his people that as they are freed from Ceremoniall cost in sacrifices Temple and the like so the Lord Iesus himselfe hath substituted in their roome his poore members vndertaking the payment of all which they take vpon his score to the infinite aduantage of their creditors And this should be enough to perswade them that be not desperatly couetous to inlarge themselues in mercie and loue to Christ by comforting the bowels of the religious poore except they will proclaime that if Christ himselfe were present they would suffer him to pine and starue for any helpe he were like to haue from them when yet they are well able to helpe They that are rich in good workes I wish them the true fruite of their practise as I nothing doubt but they shall enioy it euen mercie with God in time of need And for other seeing euery penny to good vse commeth so hardly off with the most of them I aduise them to take a better course with themselues against their owne vncheerefulnes by a solemne setting a part of somewhat as the Apostle willeth according to their abilitie or yeerely receits when it commeth to hand for the seuerall vses which by their owne obseruation or the information of others they shall see to be most needfull to bestow vpon To conclude let many of vs Protestants beware that the bountie of many carnall or Idolatrous persons rise not vp in iudgement against our niggardlines They hauing nothing to set them on work saue ciuilitie or blind deuotion are bountifull to others and yet themselues not a whit the betret for it But we though we pretend that wee haue obtained mercie at Gods hand which should set vs forward to shew mercie to others are so shut vp in our selues that if we may fare wel little care we what becomes of others Let vs amend by being wise for our owne good in shewing mercie and that with cheerefulnes But I proceed in this first part of the Chapter When Micahs mother had caused the Image to be grauen and then couered it with siluer she put it in her sonne his chappell or house of gods for he had such a place as we haue heard where hee did his deuotion and furnished it with such manner of stuffe as with Priests garments the Ephod and other ornaments and there he put Teraphim that is Images which he made with the rest of the money of his mothers And that hee might want nothing for the purpose within his owne doores he made his owne sonne who was neither of the order of Aaron not yet of the tribe of Leui who onely might minister before the Lord yet he made him his Priest rather then he would want one And in deed the Priest was good enough for the seruice he was put to both being abominable In this mirror we may behold what confusion was growne after the good gouernours Ioshua and the rest were dead It may well bee said in the second chapter of this booke verse 10. that then another generation arose after them who knew not the Lord but serued Idols in which times these cursed doings of Micah and his mother had place in all likelihood as in the entrance of the chapter I haue declared So that we see how it was there and then when the people declined and turned away from the religion of their forefathers and when the times grew to be corrupted we see what shamefull examples there arose of such things as a little before could not haue been abidden among whom this Micah is to be reckoned who was alreadie come to be one that had brought strange and false worshippe into his house and was fallen farre from Ioshuas practise who said in his time whatsoeuer other did he and his house would serue the Lord. And let it teach vs if we be wise that if some good meanes faile among vs disorder will soone winde in to our great discomfort Wherby let vs be warned we I say who desire to please God in the vprightnes of our hearts that while we haue the light we walke in it and that not onely we do so while the light is among vs and good examples remaine to incourage vs but let vs then euen before the times of danger come strengthen and vnder lay our selues in such wise with resolutions and purposes daily renued so to continue that if declinings from good courses arise among vs in our daies either in religion or manners yet we may abide stedfast in both and turne not aside with the vnstable and inconstant multitude and those that degenerate that so our old age by a constant walking with God may be crowned with honour as no question it shall by so doing Wee little know what may fall out to be done yea euen of vs who intend against all euill if the times grow corrupter and wax worse and worse except we make faire worke before hand by clinging close vnder Gods fauour and gouernment And although by Gods mercie wee are freed from the greatest yoke of bondage I meane Idolatrie yet as they that touch pitch cannot chuse but be defiled so they who haue to doe and conuerse with the prophane and filthie ones of the world where they may doe what they list how can they keepe their garments vndefiled I meane their liues vnstained and their consciences pure and good Wee haue too much proofe of that which I speake in our owne parts of the countrey how many of good hope and forwardnes haue by bad examples yea and by their owne declinings in the middest of so many prouocations been brought to be disguised in their liues most shamefully and yet I am certified and I easily beleeue it that there are farre worse people in countries further off But to goe forward in that it is said that he being but a priuate man had yet an house of gods and all furniture for the same of which point I spake in part before in the second verse we may see in what base things men take their delight to wit in such as doe not profit them as the Prophet Esay complaineth yea and in such as bring great hurt and annoiance vnto them He complaineth in his time thus of the people Wherefore do you lay out your siluer and not for bread and your labour without being satisfied And what better may bee said of the most in these times but if they bee such as professe any religion the rest are I confesse further off from God then they how is their care and cost bestowed with their labour and trauaile but vpon the false worship of God whether we regard the substance it is with a great many Poperie superstition or such