CHAP. XV.

OF SAMSON, ELI, AND SAMUEL.

SECT. I.

Of Samson.

HE birth and acts of Samson are written at

THE

large in the 13, 14, 15, and 16th of Judges; and therefore I shall not need to make a repetition thereof. But these things I gather out of that story: First, That the angel of God forbad the wife of Manoah, the mother of Samson, to drink wine or strong drink, or to eat any unclean meat, after she was conceived with child, because those strong liquors hinder the strength, and as it were wither and shrink the child in the mother's womb. Though this were even the counsel of God himself, and delivered by his angel, yet it seemeth that many women of this age have not read, or at least will not believe this precept; the most part forbearing nor drinks, nor meats, how strong or unclean soever, filling themselves with all sorts of wines, and with artificial drinks, far more forcible; by reason whereof, so many wretched feeble bodies are born into the world, and the races of the able and strong men in effect decayed.

Secondly, It is to be noted, that the angel of God refused the sacrifice which Manoah would have offered him, commanding him to present it unto the Lord; and therefore those that profess divination by

the help of angels, to whom also they sacrifice, may assuredly know that they are devils who accept thereof, and not good angels, who receive no worship that is proper to God.

Thirdly, This Samson was twice betrayed by his wives, to wit, by their importunity and deceitful tears by the first he lost but a part of his goods; by the second his life. 6 Quem nulla vis superare pot'uit, voluptas evertit:' whom no force could overmaster, voluptuousness overturned.

Fourthly, We may note, that he did not in all deliver Israel from the oppression of the Philistines; though, in some sort, he revenged, and defended them for notwithstanding that he had slain thirty of them in his first attempt, burnt their corn in harvest time, and given them a great overthrow instantly upon it; yet so much did Israel fear the Philistines, as they assembled three thousand men out of Judah to besiege Samson in the rock or mountain of Etam, using these words: Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us?' After which they bound him, and delivered him unto the Philistines, for fear of their revenge; though he was no sooner loosened, but he gave them another overthrow, and slew a thousand with the jaw-bone of an

ass.

Lastly, Being made blind, and a prisoner, by the treason of his wife, he was content to end his own life, to be avenged of his enemies, when he pulled down the pillars of the house at the feast whereto they sent for Samson, to deride him, till which time he bare his affliction with patience; but it was truly said of Seneca: patientia sæpe læsa vertitur in furorem ;' patience often wounded is converted into fury neither is it at any time so much wounded by pain and loss, as by derision and contumely.

SECT. II.

Of Eli, and of the ark taken; and of Dagon's fall, and the sending back of the ark.

THE story of Eli the priest, who succeeded Samson, is written in the beginning of Samuel, who foretold him of the destruction of his house, for the wickedness of his sons, which he suppressed not, neither did he punish them according to their deserts'; whose sins were horrible, both in abusing the sacrifice, and profaning and polluting the holy places; though Levi Ben Gerson, to extenuate this filthy offence of forcing the women by the sons of Eli, hath a contrary opinion. In this time therefore it pleased God to cast the Israelites under the swords of the Philistines; of whom there perished in the first encounter four thousand, and in the second battle thirty thousand footmen; among whom the sons of Eli being slain, their father, (hearing the lamentable success,) by falling from his chair, brake his neck. He was the first that obtained the highpriesthood of the stock of Ithamar the son of Aaron, before whose time it continued successively in the race of Eleazar, the eldest brother of Ithamar; for Aaron was the first, Eleazar the second, Phineas the son of Eleazar the third, Abishu the son of Phineas the fourth, his son Bocci the fifth, Ozi the son of Bocci the sixth, and then Eli; as Josephus and Lyranus, out of divers Hebrew authors, have conceived. In the race of Ithamar the priesthood continued after Eli, to the time of Solomon, who cast out Abiathar', and established Zadok and Ahimaaz, and their successors. The ark of God, which Israel brought into the field, was in this battle taken by the Philistines. For as David witnesseth, Psal. Ixxviii. God greatly abhorred Israel, so that he forsook the habitation of Shiloh; even the tabernacle where he 2 1 Kings ii. 27, and 1 Chron. vi.

1 1 Sam. ii. 22.

'dwelt among men, and delivered his power into 'captivity,' &c.

Now as it pleased God, at this time, that the ark whereby himself was represented, should fall into the hands of the heathen, for the offences of the priests and people; so did he permit the Chaldeans to destroy the temple built by Solomon; the Romans to overthrow the second temple; and the Turks to overthrow the Christian churches in Asia and Europe. And had not the Israelites put more confidence in the sacrament, or representation, which was the ark, than in God himself, they would have observed his laws, and served him only; which whensoever they did, they were then victorious. For after the captivity they had no ark3 at all, nor in the times of the Maccabees; and yet for their piety it pleased God to make that family as victorious as any that guarded themselves by the sign instead of the substance. And that the ark was not made to the end to be carried into the field as an ensign, David witnessed when he fled from Absalom. For when the priests would have carried the ark with him, he forbad it, and caused it to be returned into the city, using these words: If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again; if not, let him 'do to me as seemeth good in his eyes*.

The Trojans believed, that while their Palladium, or the image of Minerva, was kept in Troy, the city should never be overturned; so did the Christians in the last fatal battle against Saladine, carry into the field, as they were made believe, the very cross whereon Christ died, and yet they lost the battle, their bodies, and the wood. But Chrysostom, upon St. Matthew, (if that be his work,) giveth a good judgment, speaking of those that wore a part of St. John's gospel about their necks, for an amulet or preservative: Si tibi ea non prosunt in auribus, quomodo proderunt in collo ? If those words

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do not profit men in their ears, (to wit, the hearing of the Gospel preached,) how should it profit them by hanging it about their necks? For, it was neither the wood of the ark, nor the wood of the cross, but the reverence of the father, that gave the one for a memory of his covenant, and the faith in his son, which shed his blood on the other, for redemption, that could or can profit them and us, either in this life, or after it.

The Philistines returning with the greatest victory and glory which ever they obtained, carried the ark of God with them to Azotus, and set it up in the house of Dagon their idol: but that night the idol fell out of his place, from above to the ground, and lay under the ark. The morning following they took it up, and set it again in his place, and it fell the second time; and the head brake from the body, and the hands from the arms, shewing that it had nor power nor understanding in the presence of God; for the head fell off, which is the seat of reason and knowledge, and the hands, (by which we execute strength,) were sundered from the arms. For God and the devil inhabit not in one house, nor in one heart. And if this idol could not endure the representation of the true God, it is not to be marvelled, that at such time as it pleased him to cover his only begotten with flesh, and sent him into the world, that all the oracles wherein the devil derided and betrayed mortal men, lost power, speech, and opera tion at the instant. For, when that true light, which never had beginning of brightness, brake through the clouds of a virgin's body, shining upon the earth, which had been long obscured by idolatry, all those foul and stinking vapours vanished. Plutarch rehearseth a memorable accident in that age concerning the death of the great god Pan, as he stileth him; where, (as ignorant of the true cause,) he searcheth his brains for many reasons of so great an alteration; yet finds he none out but frivolous. For