1711. Folio And Jehu the sonn of Hanani the seere went out to meeet him, & said to King Jehoshapat, shoulds thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord, (tharefore) is wrath upon the from before the Lord,' & in the 20 Chap. he made no alliances, when the Amonites, Moabites, & Mount Seire cam in Confederacy against him, (Note) Jehoshaphat feared and set himselfe to seeke the 123/121. Lord, & proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah, ver. 4 Judah gathered themselves togeather to aske helpe of the Lord, even out of all the Cities of Judah, they came to seeke the Lord,' and ver. 12 they confessed they had no might against that great Army, that came against them, neither knew what to doe, but theire hope for help was onely one the Lord, (they had lately found the vanity of humane Alliances in Ahabs time). King Jehoshaphat and King Ahaziah. King Amaziah. Note neither Conduct nor Courage was made use of ver. 22. 23 but God broake the Alliance of theire enimies, & made them destroy one the other, & saved his people who trusted onely one him yet after this Jehoshaphat did make an Alliance againe in trade, with Ahaziah who did very wickedly; but marke the event, ver. 37, God by his prophet told him, 'Because thou hath joyned thyselfe with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy workes' (lest he should have thought it was but a Chance) & the ships were Cast away. Chroni. the 2 & 25 this Chap. hath taken up many of my thoughts, King Amaziah notwithstanding he had an Army of three hundred thousand, Choice Vittera troopes thought fit to augment his Army, not by alliances, but by hireing forreigne Souldiers, & those not of his heathen Neighbours, but of theire bretheren the Israellites; & hired one hundred thousand mighty men of valour, which shewed that his chiefe dependance was in a numerous Army of well disciplined troopes (forgitting what God had said in Psalme 33 & 16 'thare is no King saved by the multitude of an host, & a mighty man is not delivered by much strength' (how then) ver. 18 Behold the eye of ་ the Lord is upon them that feare him, upon them that hope in his Mercy.' 1711. At this God sent a prophet to admonish the King, that the army he had hired (tho mighty men of valour) Gods Blessing not goeing with them, would bring a Curse into his army, for God hath power to helpe & to Cast downe, ver. 10 Amaziah followed the prophets advice tho he Amaziah lost his mony, yet God gave him victory, with out his triumphs mercinary souldiers. But did he not beleeve or at lest without doubted, wheather his enimies gods had not a helping hand thare in, else he would not have worshiped them, which so provoked the Almighty God for the vindication of his owne Glory, afterwards to disstroy this Conquerer, as we see in the same Chapter. mercenaries. 124/122. If these precepts was onely a Law or Rule, binding to Folio the Jewish nation then all other nations are at liberty in case of War or dainger, to seeke for & confide in human assistance, & not be called a forsakeing of the Lord, as to them it was imputed to be; & if so how doth this agree with Rom. 15 & 4 ver. 'whatsoever things were written affore time were written for our learning. & 1 Corin. 10 & 11 ver. now all these things hapned unto them for ensamples, & they are written for our admonition upon whome the ends of the World are come.' But to give praise & Glory to tooles or Second Causes which how great soever, which are but as the Ax or saw in his hands, is like those in Habakkuk who 'sacrafice to their nett & burne Incence to theire Drag because by them theire portion is fatt & theire meate plentious.' Wars. I observe that often times when the neighboring The Israelites nations made war with the Israelites, they offered them choose Conditions of peace, which the Israelites dislikeing redefensive jected Choosing rather a defencive war, & leave the desition to the Justice of God, who did maintaine theire Just cause. In the 11 Chap. of Judges the Amonites. made war against Israelle, & it seemed to be one a Just cause, by theire Demands, which was to restore those lands peaceably Israelle had taken from them 300 yeares before 1711. Jephthah. Nahash the when they came out of Egypt: at this Jephthath whome they had then Chosen to be head & Captaine, began to Cearch theire title, which was not by Conquest, but they derived it from the guieft of the Lord of all the earth, as appeares by Jephthaths answer, ver. 23 & 24, 'so now the Lord god of Israell hath disposessed the Amorites from before his people Israell, & shouldest thou posesesse it so whomesoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we posesse,' for God hardned the hearts of Sihon & Og to begin the war with Israell (which made theires a defencive war) that he might deliver them into theire hands ver. 27 & appealed to God the 'Lord the Judge be Judge this day betweene Israell & Ammon' & God gave his people Israell victory-20 Cites more. The next was I Sam. 11 Chap. whare Nahash the Amonite began War with Israell, whome they offered to serve one reasonable termes, but his demands was exorbitant, to put out all the right eyes of the Israelites, as a reproach one them; here also Israells was a defencive war, of which God made 2 uses, first to advance Saul, the new King, & the other to deliver the Amonites into the 125/123. hand of Israell, boath which he brought to passe efectually, & tho Saul had an Army of three hundred thousand men, yet in the 13 ver. he attributes nothing either to Conduct (tho he used a Stratagem) nor courage, But sayeth the Lord hath wrought Salvation in Israell. Folio Since Ahab offered Benhadad Then in 1 Kings 20 Chap. Benhadad King of Syria with an Alliance of 32 Kings, began War with Israell & besieged Samaria, & sent a preliminary Article to Ahab vizt. to demand his silver & his gold, & his wives & his Children, which Ahab granted. I sopose he Considered the greatnesse of the enimies strength, with his Alliance of 32 Kings, & the small force he had to resist him, as we see afterwards; next followed the maine Article to which he must submitt, or no peace, to which the former was but preliminary, ver. 6 'I will send my servants to thee tomorrow aboute this time & they shall search thine house, & the houses of thy servants, & whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes they shall carry a way with them.' At this Ahab Consulted with his Councill & layd before them the Concessions he had made, to deliver his wives & Children his silver & his gold, but the latter Article by theire advice he rejected, Certainely they all had some hopes one the Justice of God, one theire Just defensive war because theire humane strength was so small, by Ahabs second Answer vizt. 'let not him that puttest one his harnesse boast himselfe as he that puttest it off,' whare as on the Contrary Benhadads dependance was in his great Army, not doubting of victory, by his Charge in the 18 ver. to his Commanders vizt. wheather they come out for peace, take them alive, or wheather they come out for war, take them alive,' Ahabs whole Army then being but 7232 men, of which according to human reason they had no cause to be afraid. 1711. Here I observe that 2 wicked Kings are goeing to war, Benhadad Benhadad a man whome God had ordained to utter and Ahab. Destruction ver. 42-& Ahab 1 Kings 21 Chap. 20 & 25 ver. which did sell himselfe to worke wikednesse in the sight of the Lord, yet God sent a prophett to Ahab, with a promise of victory saying, 'hath thou seene this great Multitude, Behold I will deliver it into thine hand this day, & thou shalt know that I am the Lord,' which God performed, yet we read this signall deliverance did not reclaime Ahab from his Idollitry, by the following Chap. whilest Benhadad ver. 23 saw it was the hand of God, onely believed he was God of the hills & not of the Folio plaines, therefore he would try another battell thare, whare God manifested his Glory & power, & prooved himselfe Lord of the whole earth, & gave Ahab a greater victory (with a small Army like 2 little flocks of Kids) then before, for Israell slew of the Syrians one hundred thousand men. Yet these 2 Miraculous victories which God gave Ahab & shewed the greatnesse of his power & Glory Ahab not (which Convinced Benhadad) did not Convert him to converted. leave of his Idolitry, by what we read in the 2 following 126/124. 1711. Sinnacherib. The Author's indifference. Chapters, where by advice of his Councill, he entred into an ofencive War one pretence of a Just cause: 'know ye that Ramouth in Gilead is ours, & we be still, & take it not out of the hand of the King of Syria'; (his heart was puft up with his former victories) & tooke King Jehoshapat as an Allye which God used as the meanes of his destruction, by puting a lying spirit into the mouths of four hundred of his falce prophets; yet God was so merciful to this Idolitrous King, as to forewarne him of his destruction, by his prophet Micaiah, which neither he, nor King Jehoshapat beleeved, else surely they would not have proceeded in that war, which had like to have destroyed Jehoshapat for Joyning with him, as well as Ahab. Note how the prophet of the Lord was used by Ahab when he adjured him in the name of the Lord to tel him nothing but the truth, ver. 27, 'put this fellow in prison & feed him with bread of affliction, & water of affliction, tell I come in peace.' To these I must Joyne the blasphemous boaster Sinnacherib King 1, 2 & 19 Chap. the Scriptures sheweth us fower great haughty Boasters, who trusted in theire great humane strength, all overthrown by those they despised, according to proverbs 16 Chap. 18 ver. pride goeth before Destruction, & a haughty Spiritt before a fall,' & 18 Chap. 12 ver. before destruction the heart of man is haughty.' These Notions & Contemplations I have scribled one my owne paper, for my owne use, & to please myselfe, & wheather hereafter they are ever or never read by any one it is equially the same to me, as to a dead beast what use his skine is put to, wheather to make a Muffe or a Ruffe for Ladyes necks or made into shooes, or a pare of Bellows, or a cover for a Bible; for when the Soule is departed hence into the everlasting state, what matters it what the inhabitance of the earth, who are but small Crumbs of breathing dust, say or thinke of him, as in some Countries those are Cannonised for saints & Martyers, who were hanged, quartered, or burnt for |