An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second,…

The Lord of Hosts hath such instruments of war in his Armoury, as no Prince can produce nor make use of, either to offend his enemies, or to defend himself. An ancient Poet said of Theodosius the Emperor,¹ O thou greatly beloved of God, for whom the heavens sight, and at the sound of whose trumpets the winds, the confederate winds, present their service and assistance. The Thundering Legion in the Army of Aurelius the Emperor, is famous in the Church History, and hath been mentioned before, upon other passages of this Book, together with the occasion ⟨p. 191⟩of that honourable Title bestowed upon them in that age. The Scriptures give frequent instances of the Lords avenging himself upon his and his peoples enemies, by storms of hail. This was one of the ten grievous plagues which God sent upon Pharaoh and the Land of Egypt (Exod. 9.17, 18.) As yet exaltest thou thy self against my people, that thou wilt not let them go; behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof, and until now. It was with hail-stones that God fought against and discomfited the Army of five confederate Kings in the days of Joshua (Josh. 10.11.) The Lord cast great stones from heaven upon them, and they died, they were more which died with the hail stones, than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. There are two things singular and extraordinary, if not miraculous in this passage of providence: First, The magnitude and weight of these hail-stones, together with the violence of their motion was such, that like bullets discharged from Canon or great Ordnance, they slew them out-right or dead on the place, upon whom they fell. Secondly, That the Israelites, being in pursuit of these Canaanites, and doubtless mixed with them (as in a barrel, where they come to handy strokes, it must needs be) that yet none of them were hurt by the hail stones, but the Canaanites only. God, who, •o show his goodness, causeth his Sun to shine and his rain to fall indifferently upon the good and upon the bad, knows how, that he may show his Justice, to cause his hail to fall distinctly upon the bad, and not upon the good. Deborah saith in her song (