him ; and that people ſhonld have ſo high a Venera- —_ ry in which they knew ſo notorious a falſhoed cage theſe things, I fay, are far more abſurd to believe, than the _ O this Relation. Bur to this I ſhall add two Anſwers. Firſt, = iS _- ſufficient Argument te prove, that this was nottrue, becauſe we do not at this day underſtand how it was done. There were many mw Works, and excellent pieces of Art, ſome footſteps whereofare le - in ancient Writers ; but the exa& way and particular —_ % them, is wholly, or in a great meaſure unknown and loſt : - ara Pancirollus hath written a whole Book of ſuch things. guts = bely, the old way of Architefture is much in the dark, as is confe 8 <a the Learned. It may be pretended, That though there mig - - curious Arts of Building in the Learned and Ingenious part - : e World, it is not probable they were among ſuch a rude and bar- barous people as the Philiſtines. But this 1s certainly a very ns miſtake ; for theſe people were either a part of, or very near Neig bours to the Phenicians, from whom it is confeſſed the Arts came ©o the Grecians, And foraſmuch as many things which you _ cluded by the Ancients to be impoſſible, are by the wit and indu ry of later Ages found to be poſſible, and certainly true ; it _ . ftrange if ſome things now ſeem impoſſible to ſome Men, w _ were then known to be praCticable. And he that will venture his Faith and Salvation upon this Propoſition, That ſuch a —_— as this was ſimply impoſſible, becaule he doth not ſee the _ 1 y of it; or, which is all one, That no Man underſtands more than - doth ; will find few admirers of his Wiſdom: And to queſtion t . Truth and Divinity of the Holy Scriptures, which 1s fo fully ani clearly proved by ſundry Arguments, vpon ſuch a nicety as this, 1s but a more learned kind of Doting- Anſw. 2. Inſtances are __ wanting of far more large and capacious Buildings than this. t ws have been ſupported only by one pillar. Particularly, Pliny in the 15th. Chapter of the 36th. Book of his Natural Hiſtory, mentions = Theaters built by one C. Curio, who lived in Julius Ceſars time ; aw of which was ſupported by one Pillar, or Pin, or Hinge, ous very many thouſands of people did tit 1n 1t together. And muc more mighttwo pillars ſuffice ro uphold a Building large enough to contain three Thouſand p*rions, which 1s the numb-r mentioned, w. 17. Or, the pillars might be made Twoin the lower partmeerly for Ornament-ſ:ke, which might eaſily be ſo ordered as to ſupport a Third and Main pillar in the middle, which upheld the whole Fabrick. r ( z-e-) I am contented to die, ſo I can but therewith contribute any thing to the Vindication of Gods glory, here trampled upon, and to the Deliverance of Gods people. This is no Example nor Encourayement to thoſe that wickedly Mu:der themſelves: for Samſon d1d not deſire, nor procure his own Death voluntarily, bur only hy meer force and neceflity ; becauſe he did deſire, and by bis Office was obliged to ſeek the deſtruEion ef rhete Enemies and Blaſpnemers of God, and Oppreflors of his people ; which intheſe Circumſtances he could nor effe& without h1s ow nDeath; & his Caſe was nos much unlike theirs. that in the hear of Batte] run upon the very n.outh of the C:nnon, or other evident and certain dan- ger of Death, to execure a Deſign upon the Enemy ; or theirs, who £0 into a Fire-ſbip to deſtroy the Enemies beſt Ships, though they 2re ſure to periſh in the Enterprize. Moreover, Samſon did this by Divine Inftin& and Approbation, as Gods anſ' wer to his prayer mani- feſts, and that he might be a Typeof Chriſt, who by voluntarily un* dergoing death, deſtroyed the enemies of God, and of Þ 3 people, Then his brethren 5, and all the houſe of his fa.
down, and took him, and brought him up, wer backed him t between Zorah and Eſktaol, in the
burying-place of Manoah his father : and he judged
-ael twenc 7CATS 7, : s - Either, Fire, Largely ſo called, his Kinſmen. Or, Secondly,
T fIed ; Samſms Parents having had other Children after 27 Spas uſual w_ God when he gave an extraordinary and unexp:&ed power of procreating a Child, to continue that ſtrength for the Generation or Conception of more Children, as in the eaſe of Abraham, Gen. 25- 1. 2: and Anna, 1 Sam: 2, 21. t Which they adveritured ro do; partly, becauſe rhe moſt barbarous Nations al- Jowed Burialeven torheir Enemies, and would permit thisofr-times to be done by rheir Friends: partly, becauſe Samſon had taken the
blame of this Aftion wholly to him{-I1f, for which his innocent Re.
j uld nor upon any pretence be puniſhed: and principally, ED hey oing; orien ſuch grief, and perplexity, and conſter-
nation for the common Calamity, that they had neither heart, nor |
i veng: themſelves of the 7ſraelites, but for their own ſakes + on: bird 4.0 ro diſquiet or offendthem ; at leaſt, till they were 5n 2 bertet poſture to refiſt them. u This was ſaid before, Judg 15, 20. toexplain it ; and w ſhew _ theſe Twenty years ended,
13 death, as 1s here noted. _ CHAP. XVI. |
l-th money of his mother : then confeſſeth and re oreth its She 23 "amen it to m___ « maketh images ; he ſets them up in the houſe of
his gods : ana conſecrates one of his ſons for his prieſt : there being then
no magiſtrates in Iſrael, 1, — 6, 8 Levite travelling that way he hireth and conſecrateth him to be his prieff, 7, w—=—_—— I cmfident that God would therefore favour and bleſs him, 13. ;
Nd there was a man & of mount Ephraim, whoſe
name was | Micah. j ; |
n The things mentioned here, and in the following Chapters, did
not happen in the order in whuch they are put ; but much ſooner,
even preſently after the death of the Elders that over-lived Foſhus,
Judg 2+ 7, as appears by divers Paſſages ; as firſt, becauſe the place
called Mahaneh-Dan, or the camp of Dan, Judg. 13. 25. was ſo called
from that which was done, Judg. 18: 12+ Secondly, Becauſe the
Danites had not yet got all their Inheritance, Judg. 18. 1. which is nox
above me __ after m— cope Wipro
101 e Son of Eleazer was prieſt at this time, Judges
pornte <a? + whe been about 350 years old, if this had been Seas afrer Samſon; dearh, which is more than improbable.
> And he ſaid unto his mother, The eleven hundred
lverthat were taken from thee, about which 0K 6, and ſpakeſt of alſo in mine ears, be. hold. the filver s with me, I took zt c. And his mo- ther ſaid, Bleſſed be-rhou of the LORD #, my ſon,
$UDGE s8: Chap. wy