A10933:121
A commentary upon the whole book of Judges Preached first and delivered in sundry…A commentary vpon the vvhole booke of Iudges Preached first and deliuered in sundrie…
A commentary upon the whole book of Judges Preached first and delivered in sundry lectures; since collected, and diligently perused, and now published. For the benefit generally of all such as desire to grow in faith and repentance, and especially of them, who would more clearly understand and make use of the worthy examples of the saints, recorded in divine history. Penned by Richard Rogers preacher of Gods word at Wethersfield in Essex.A commentary vpon the vvhole booke of Iudges Preached first and deliuered in sundrie lectures; since collected, and diligently perused, and now published. For the benefit generally of all such as desire to grow in faith and repentance, and especially of them, who would more cleerely vnderstand and make vse of the worthie examples of the saints, recorded in diuine history. Penned by Richard Rogers preacher of Gods word at Wethersfield in Essex.
London: printed by Felix Kyngston for Thomas Man, 1615
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Now whereas a doubt may arise here, where it is said, that Judah had taken Jerusalem, how it appears to have been so, seeing it is not expressly set down in Joshua, chap. 10. To that I answer, though it be not plainly so 1said, yet it may well be understood, by the things that are written there: namely, that the King of Jerusalem was taken and put to death, and that Judah dwelt in the city, and could not cast out the Jebusites that dwelt therein. By which, I say, it appeareth, that the city was then taken, although it was not as yet wholly possessed, and so did they slay the inhabitants, and set the city on fire. Here by the occasion of the destroying of these cities, Jerusalem, 2Hebron, Debir, and others many, let us consider the desolation that God sendeth upon goodly places, and the inhabitants thereof, when his hand is against them, and when he is purposed to blow upon them, and to set them, as it were, on the stage to the view of the world. Yea doubtless, when he pleaseth to take the judgement into his hand, all the beauty and glory of the world must vanish at his presence, and the gloriousest solemnities and monuments come to utter decay. And to put us in mind hereof, ⟨p. 31⟩is this written and set down, to show us the changeable estate of the flourishingest prosperity of flesh. The which a man would think, that should behold them in their beauty and time of their glory, that the enjoyers thereof, did live in a paradise and petty heaven, even here upon earth: whereas, when God hath blown upon them, they are more desolate then the winter, and like to an house waste and ruinous. When Nebuchadnezzar and the fooler in the Gospel prided themselves, the one in his great Babel, the other in his abundance, suddenly comes a voice to both of them: to the one, Thy Kingdom is departed from thee: and to the other, O fool, this night 3shall they take thy soul from thee. For we must know, that as there is a time to flourish, so is there a time to fade, a time to be borne, and so to grow up, and a time also to die. Therefore when the disciples, much like the foolish people of the world, looking upon the goodly buildings of the Temple, began to have them in admiration, saying: Behold, Master, what goodly buildings are