E'9' people wpon theirperill :Gather together on heapes Oyepeople,and ye'ballbe broken inpieces :gird your f al óe,brouyho nl oueht:pre- in pieces: take counfelltogether,ye fh g g nounce a decree :yet it(hall notJand. As ifhe fhould haue faid: make your felues as thong as ye can,withmultitude,leagues,ar- mour,confultations,authority,and by what meanes ye can,and as oft as ye will; yet all antshaime.lVhen theCanaattes and o- thing (hall doemy fern ther inhabitants ofthat landwere to bee punifhed, howmany Kingswith their people banded thernfelues togither againft Io- fhuu and the Ifraelites?andyet it was tono purpofe:they didbut offer themfelues to the fword:that hecou a 1 aueoundithen for it wouldhauebeen long b out,and Maine them fin glemanbyman. Firfl,this affociation and confederacy doth not breake off of°as'i' Gods refolution,either bypacifying his anger, or dauntinghis courage:it rather incenfethhim togreater difpleafure, becaufe theywill Randat defiance withhim, and offer to make heada- gainf{ him.And that more incourageth him (as we may fpeake to the capacity ofmé)to take the oportunity oftheir infolency, andpuiffant affiftance,becaufe their ouerthrowwill be fomuch the more for his glory. Secondly,it is impoffible for them,be they neuer fomany, to diminifhhis powerand make him the weaker.When al Sodome and the other cities by itwere vngodly and wicked,he could as cafily dearoy them with fire and brimftone,as though thcy had beenbut a few.When the whole worldwas giuen oucr to finfúl nes and rebellion,he could as eafilydefiroy it with raine &wa- ter as if it had beenbut one man. 3 Thirdly they cannotthcrcby increafe their ownc power, to make themfelues able to encounter with him, and fo to auoide his flrokes by refif}ance:for ftrength and might confifts not in themultitude ofmen,but is limited byGods hand, who onely hath the beftowing ofit, becaufe it is his owne; and towhom- foeuer he giueth it,froin the famehe can at his pleafure take it, when it is abufedby them. Were it not fo, the diuell and all his hoft about himwould trie what they could doe, before t ly
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