Judges 9

The lust of the flesh, pleasure; the lust of the eye, money; pride of life, honor. O take heed of this! whatever you deify besides God, will prove a bramble, and fire will come out of this bramble, and devour you (Judges 9:15). Use 3. of Reproof.

Say not as those Jews, We have no King but Caesar, no King but our lusts. This is to choose the bramble to rule over you, and out of the bramble will come forth a fire (Judges 9). Submit to Christ willingly; all the devils in Hell submit to Christ, but it is against their will,…

[What can be worse than to be in the house of bondage, to have the Devil hurry men on in their lusts to perdition?] Sinners are willingly enslaved to Satan, they love their jailer; are content to sit quietly under Satan's jurisdiction; they choose this bramble to rule them, thou…

Is it not folly to refuse the best, and choose the worst? The trees of the field in Jotham's parable despised the vine tree which cheers both God and man, and the olive which is full of fatness, and the fig tree which is full of sweetness, and chose the bramble to reign over the…

But if a man lend a listening ear to God's law, it makes his prayer acceptable; listen to the Lord, and the Lord will listen to you, else not. It is to this purpose what you read (Judges 9, latter end of verse 7): Listen to me, that God may listen to you. If God gave them hearts…

Lose my fatness to rule over the trees? As the olive tree in Jotham's parable (Judges 9:9). 2. The sufficiency and stability of God's promises.

First, we must put difference between a lie and a Parable or figure. In a parable indeed there is something supposed or feigned; as for example, when the trees are brought in conferring, and consulting about their king (Judges 9:8). Nevertheless a parable is far from falsehood,…

Again, the shadow of a thing in Scripture, notes the power of a thing, and to be under the shadow of a thing, is to be under the power of a thing. The bramble (Judges 9:15) said to the trees, if in truth you anoint me King over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: tha…

If there be any lust in the heart predominant, it will get head, and destroy all former zeal for religion. Abimelech, a bastard, destroyed seventy of his brethren upon one stone (Judges 9:15). If there be any lust the heart runs after, this bastard-sin will destroy seventy dutie…

To like purpose say the sons of Gilead's wife to Jephthah, You shall not inherit in our father's house, for you are the son of a strange woman (Judges 11:2). Just was that blame which Jotham laid upon the men of Shechem for making Abimelech the base son of Jerubbaal king (Judges…

There are not those motives to stir up love in servants to their masters, as in children to their parents: except therefore through awe and dread they be kept in compass, they will exceedingly transgress: and because this is so needful, servants must labor to nourish it, as a me…

As civil authority and subjection to it, is the institution of God; so the peaceable correspondence of those two, just government and due obedience is the special gift of God's own hand, and a prime blessing to states and kingdoms, and the troubling and interruption of their cou…

Consider what God has proffered, to draw you off from your carnal delights, and sinful pleasures: no less than a Kingdom to bear you out, to call you off from your sins. O do not answer, as the olive tree and the vine in Jotham's parable (Judges 9:9), Shall I leave my fatness, a…

Now to this sporting lie, a fable, or parable is not to be reduced, for that's only an artificial way of representing the truth with the more advantage, and putting of it into sensible terms which most are apt to apprehend. As Jotham brings in the trees that went forth to anoint…

Whereas a false heart never yet truly turned from his sin, and sincerely humbled; if the venom of God's vengeance give him a vomit, and make him cast out all his [illegible] by confession in his own face, there follows such faint wrestlings of spirit, such restless and [illegibl…

Would you gain many proselytes to religion? be doers of the Word. Say as Abimelech to his fellows (Judges 9:48): what you have seen me do, make haste and do as I have done. Would you be as loadstones to draw your children and servants to heaven? set upon the practice of holiness.

Trust and confidence is an incommunicable flower of Gods Crown as Soveraign Lord, even among men it goes along with royalty. Set up a King, and as such he expects you should give him this, as the undoubted Prerogative of his place, and therefore to seek protection from any other…

(3.) There is in it a receiving of Christ (John 1:11) a fiducial resting of the heart upon God in Christ. And the word [illegible] is to confide, to betake himself to a lurking place, where one may be safe from a storm (Psalm 2:12; Psalm 11:1; Psalm 31:2; Deuteronomy 32:37; Psal…

These two dishes were very fresh and good, and they all ate heartily thereof. The next they brought up was a bottle of wine, as red as blood (Deuteronomy 32:14; Judges 9:13; John 15:5). So Gaius said to them, Drink freely; this is the true juice of the vine, that makes glad the…