[ontemplationr. LIB. X. , he had not loft his hope; but now he could not fee that his Maker was his enimy. A T!JeSpiritoftluLordcamtupon Sam(on; What is abeaft in the hand ofthe Creator; He that ftroke the Lions with rheawe of A dam, 1-{pa!J, and 'lJaniel, fubduedrhis rcbolliou. bcafl ro StNnfon; vVhat marvell is it, if Samjim now tore him as if it had brenea young Kid? If his bones had been braffc,and his skinne plate;of Iron all had been one: The right hand ofthe Lord bringerh mighty things to paffe. ' Ifrhar roaring Lion rhar goes about conrmually feckmgwhom he may devourc find us alone among the vineyards ofrhe Philiftims,where is our hope? Not in ou; heeles; he is fivifter thanwe: nor in our weapons; we arc naturally unarmed : not iQ our hands, which areweake and laliguifhing; but in the Spirit o_f that God, by whom we can doe all thmgs: If God fight m us,whocan refill: us? 1 here is a lhongcr Lion in us, than that againll: us. B Samfon w.ts not more valiantthan modell:; he made nowords of this great cxployt: The greatell: performers ever m•~i! the leall: noyfe; He that works wonders alone,could fay,See tiJOu tell no man;whereas thofe, whofe hands are moll: impotent arebufiell: oftheir tongues. Great talkers fhew,that they de fire only robe though; emment, whereas the dccpeft 1vatets arc lcall: heard. But whiles he concealed his event from others, he pondered it in himfelfe. an~ when he returned to Timnah, went our of the way to fee his dead Adverfary, and could nor but recall to himfclfc his danger, and deliverance; Here the heall: met mc,thus he foughr,rhus I llew him. The very deadLyon taught Samfon thankfulnes: rberewas more houcy in this thought, tharr in the carka!Tc. The mercies of God arc ill beltowcd upon us,ifwe cannot ll:ep afide to view the monuments of his deli- C verances; Dan!!ers may be at once pafl, and forgotten.As Samfon had not found his honey-combc, ff he had not rurnecf)fide to fee his Lyon; fo 1ve fhalllofe the comfort of Gods benefits, if he doe not renew our perils by meditation. Le it any thing fhould befall Samfon wherein is nor fome wonder, his Lyon cloth more amaze him dead than alive;For loe,rhat carkaffe is made an Hive;and the bitterneff<:'ofdeath is turned into the f>veetnelfe of honey. The Bee a nice and dainty creature, builds her eels in an .unfavory carkaffe; the carkalfe that {'tomifed nothing but ltrength, and annoyance, nmv offers comfort aodrefrefhmg; and in a fo~t, payes Samfon for the wrong offered. Oh the wonderfull goodnel!e of our God, that can change our terrors into pleafure, and can make the greareft evil. beneficiall? Is any man by his humiliatiOn under the hand of God, growne D more fairhfull and confcion•ble? there is honey out of the Lyon. I, any man by his remptarion or fall, become more circumfpeCl:? there is alfo honey out of the Lyon: there is no Samfon, to whom every Lyon cloth not yeeld honey : Every Chriltian is the better for his evils; yea, Satan himfelfe, in his exercife of Gods childrcn,advanragcth rhem. s.,mfon cloth not difdaine thefe fweets,hecaufe he finds them uncleanly laid; His diet was ll:ricr, and forbad him any thingrhat favoured of legall impurity; yet he cares the honcy-combc ont oft!o:e bellyofa dead bealt;good may nor be refufed,becaufc the meaRes are acciJentally evill; Hony is hony frill? though in a dead Lyon. Thofe are leffe wife, and more fcrupulous than Samfon,wbtch abhorre the graces of God, bccaufc they finde them in ill veffels: One cares not for the Preachers true E DoClrine, becaufe his life is evill; Another will not take a good receit from the hand of a Phyfician, becaufe he is given to unlawfull l!udies; A third will not receile a defervedcontriburion from the hands of a Vfurer•. It is a weake negleCl not to rake the hony,becaufe we hate the Lyon: Gods children have right to rlteir fathers blellings whcrcfoever they find them. The match Is now made; Samfon (though a Nazarite) bath both a weddiog, and a feall:;God never mi(]iked moderate folemnities in the feverefllife; and rer this Bridalllcaltwas long, thcfp>ceoffevendayes. lfSamji>nhad marched wtth the bel[ Ifraelire, this celebratiOn had beenc no greater? netther had thiS, perhaps, been fo long if the cnltome of the place had nor reqmred tt. Now I doe not beare ' hlm
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