SO many annual seasons, have, thro' the divine goodness, revolv'd over us, wherein we have been invited into the house of the Lord, to wait upon him, that the military exercises of this day might be sanctified with the word and prayer, that 'tis difficult fixing on a subject, su [...]ed to the occasion, that has not been quite exhausted. I could think of no words more proper to employ our meditations, than those I have now read: And perhaps they were never more pertinent than at present; when rumours of war do sound in our ears, and our condition is such a poor defenceless one, that our enemies may with ease come to us, and smite us with the edge of the sword, and burn our city with fire: Nor upon a surprise, could we have a deliverer, being at so great a distance from our ZIDON.

[Page 2]THE words are a plain historical narration: and in them we may take notice of these four things.

• I. THE City here spoken of.
• II. THE Character given the Inhabitants of it.
• III. THEIR being conquered and totally overthrown.
• IV. THEIR having no deliverer, being far from ZIDON.

I. WE may take some brief notice of the City here spoken of. And this was LAISH. It was formerly called LESHEM ^‡; and after its conquest by the Danites, DAN ^{{inverted †}}, in honour to the me­mory of the Patriarch of this name, from whom this tribe de­scended. In later times, when the Romans had extended their dominions to these eastern parts of the world, it was called PA­NEAS, and made the Metropolis of two considerable Provinces. And from Philip the Tetrack, Son of Herod the great, who very much enlarg'd and adorn'd it, it was called CAESARIA-PHILIPPI, after his own, and the Emperor Tiberius Caesar's name. ^†

IT lay in the uttermost northern border of the land of Canaan, opposite to Beersheba in the uttermost southern border. From whence that saying we so frequently meet with in Scripture, when they would express the whole length of Canaan, from Dan to Beersheba. ^*

IT's situation was pleasant; at the foot of the hill Libarus, in the plain of Te [...]ob, near the place, where the two fountains Jor and Dan running into one, make the celebrated River Jordan. ^**

WE have no particular account of the bigness of this City It was probably of but small extent: Yet was it seated in the midst of a large, fine and fertile country, from whence they supply'd themselves with all manner of provisions. The spies sent forth [Page 3] from the tribe of Dan to search the land, do therefore unite in that Report about it, v. 9. — We have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. V. 10. When ye go, ye shall come — to a large land: — a place where there is no want of any thing in the earth. — But I will not detain you too long upon what is less pertinent to the design I have in view. Wherefore,

II. WE may now consider the character here given of the inha­bitants of LAISH. And they came to LAISH, unto a people that were AT QUIET AND SECURE. We have much the same account in v. 7. They dwelt CARELESS, — QUIET AND SECURE. That is to say, they did not perplex their minds with concern about their enemies; had no sense of danger; were tho't less of a surprise, and without expectation of any sudden assault. Being at peace with their neighbours, and having been so, perhaps a long time, they had settled into habitual security, dwelt without fear, and knew no uneasiness from an apprehension of being liable to be destroy'd.

AND as the effect of this careless temper, they were shamefully negligent of their own safety; had taken no care to keep up a martial spirit, or encourage a knowledge in the art of war. Pro­bably they had no disciplin'd souldiers; none us'd to military exercises; none acquainted with the management of the spear, the sword or bow; or that had either skill or courage to speak with the enemy in the gate. Or if they were ever so expert and valiant, it was to little purpose, having neither forts nor batteries, nor any other strong holds to defend themselves. Perhaps they had never been at the ex­pence of erecting fortifications; or otherwise, they had carelesly suffer'd them to fall into ruin, and were now in no posture of defence. The passes into their city were all naked and unguarded; they were altogether unprepared for an attack, and every day lia­ble to be surprised and taken: And yet they were as calm and easy, and as safe from danger in their own apprehensions, as tho' they had been ever so well guarded; and in circumstances to defend themselves against the most powerful enemy.

[Page 4]THIS is the character of the inhabitants of LAISH: thus careless and secure were they. And two things are mention'd in my con­text, which might contribute hereto.

I. THEY had their dependance on ZIDON for protection and se­curity. Several hints are given from whence we may collect this. In the latter part of my text, 'tis said, There was no deliverer because it was far from ZIDON. And in the 7. v. 'tis recorded of the spies, that they found it was far from the ZIDONIANS. It looks as tho' the ZIDONIANS were the great protectors of the LAISHITES; their chief strength and security. Perhaps they were a COLONY planted from ZIDON, still under their care and jurisdiction. They are said v. 7. to have dwelt after the manner of the ZIDONIANS. i. e. They imitated their customs, and conformed to their way of liv­ing; one very natural account whereof is, their having originally sprang from them. To be sure, the ZIDONIANS were at amity with them, firmly attacht to their Interest, and in readiness to en­gage on their behalf against all opposers.

Now the ZIDONIANS were a large and powerful people; well able to defend themselves, and upon timely notice to protect the city of LAISH. And upon this account, they might be off their guard, and in their own opinion free from danger. However weak and defenceless in themselves, they were yet easy; depend­ing upon the strength of ZIDON; not considering their distance from that place; and that they might be surprised and destroyed, before they could call in their assistance. Perhaps they flattered themselves, their enemies would not dare attempt an expedition against them, while they knew they were the friends, and it may be the Government of a people so powerful as were the ZIDONIANS.

2. THEY had no Magistrate in the land to put them to shame in any thing, as we read in v. 7. There is no need of understanding these words in the most rigid sense, as if there were none a­mong the LAISHITES cloath'd with civil Authority; But only that there was wanting a due care in Magistrates to execute the trust [Page 5] repos'd in them: One flagrant instance whereof, was, their being themselves easie, and suffering the People to be so too, while their Country lay in a wretched defenceless state; expos'd to every invader, and liable to be taken from them. It belong'd to those who were the heads of the People, to provide for their safety and security. They should have been sensibly touch'd with concern to behold their weak and shiftless condition, and taken effectual care, by warlike preparations, to place them in a posture of defence. They should have put the People to shame in consideration of their faulty ease and security, while naked and unfortify'd; and encouraged their coming into measures to strengthen their borders against the attempts of their enemies And their not being so tho'tful of this as was proper and becom­ing, was no doubt one great reason of their living in such un­guarded circumstances.

I shall only add, this carelessness of the People of LAISH, was a Character very disgraceful. 'Tis recorded in my Text to their dishonour; as an argument of their want of policy, and a due regard to their own safety. And 'tis really a reproach to any People, considering the lusts of Men, and the wars and fightings every where arising in the world here from, to neglect securing themselves against invaders. It was owing to this that LAISH was destroy'd. If they had been strengthen'd with walls and bulwarks; if they had encouraged among them a number of men of valour, ex­pert in war, that knew how to keep rank and withstand an enemy, the DANITES would have been discouraged from any attempts against them. 'Twas the careless, secure posture they were in, that invited them to enter their land; and it must be ascribed chiefly to this, that they so easily smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt their city with fire: Which leads me,

III. To consider the conquest and overthrow of LAISH. And they came to LAISH, — and smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. Two things are here worthy of notice. (1.) The persons making this conquest. (2.) The conquest it self.

[Page 6]1. THE persons making this conquest. And these were the DANITES: Not the whole tribe, who, so long ago as when they enter'd Canaan, were above sixty thousand men ^*; but only a small regiment chosen out of the rest upon this occasion. They had be­fore (as became the subtilty of DAN, who was as a serpent by the way) sent out spies to search the land, and inquire into the posture of its inhabitants: And from the account they brought of their strange security and unguarded condition, they concluded six hundred men, expert and valiant, and well fitted with weapons of war, would be sufficient to make an easy prey of them. A small force it shou'd seem to enter into an enemies country! and this upon a design of making themselves masters of it: But knowing their circumstances before hand, that they should find them careless and at ease, and in no posture of defence; they wisely thought a handful of men would be able to surprize and take them.

2. The conquest it self. And this was great and surprizing. 'Tis said, they smote them with the edge of the sword, i. e. the inhabitants of LAISH. And this they did, it should seem, without limitation or distinction. Their eye did not pity, nor their hand spare; but they greedily fell upon them, and made a most awful and universal slaughter. As Israel was commanded to do to Amalek, they slew both man and woman, the infant and the suckling. Having drawn the sword, they did not return it back, till they had destroy'd both male and female, the high as well as the low; the young man and the virgin; the [...] also, and the man of gray hairs. A most asto­nishing destruction! — O the distress of the poor frighten'd and amaz'd people! — How bitter were their shreiks and cries! — how doleful their dying groans and agonies! — But what still heightens the horror, the city was set into flames, and consumed to ashes. For so it follows, and burnt the city with fire.

IT may look as tho' the DANITES were herein wanting to them­selves and their own interest. But possibly they did this in the heat of battle, when men's tho'ts an't about them, and they are [Page 7] wont to neglect their own future advantage: or which is more pro­bable, they might set the city on fire, the more to surprize the people, to strike them with the greater terror, that they might obtain a more easy conquest over them.

AND in this action of theirs against LAISH, we have a remarka­ble accomplishment of an ancient prophecy concerning Dan. We read, Deut. xxxiii. 22. And of Dan, he said, Dan is a lions whelp. And in this expedition he prov'd himself to be so. i.e. He resembled a fierce and couragious young lion. It follows, He shall leap from Bashan. Dan had no inheritance near Bashan. The comparison therefore lies in his being like a lion leaping on Bashan. "'Tis one property of the lion to leap upon his prey, and fasten his nails and teeth into it: And so did the DANITES suddenly leap, as it were from one end of Canaan to the other, and seize upon the city of LAISH". And no doubt, this is the thing, the spirit of GOD had in view in this prophetic description. And it's a good illustration of the jewish story, that this event, so many hundred years, before its accomplishment, should be made one of the main strokes in Dan's character.

BUT here arises a question of some importance, and that is

HOW could the DANITES, without great wickedness, barbarity and injustice, thus come upon the LAISHITES, and totally destroy them?

IF we consult our context, we shall find, the great reason of their undertaking this expedition was, that they might have a more com­modious Settlement. That which they possest already was too scanty; they were by the Amorites pent up into a narrow compass: and 'twas this that obliged them to seek out for better quarters elsewhere, at least for part of their tribe; and that led them to go up against LAISH, having received a favourable report of their land. But where is the justice of warring against this people, and taking away their lives, that they might seize upon their proper­ties, and inherit their land? What right does the want of a good settlement in one people, give them to invade the possessions and [Page 8] destroy the lives of another, who are favour'd in this respect? Sure­ly it can convey none at all: and if it was all that could be said in defence of this action of the DANITES, that they wanted an inheritance, it would deserve no better a name than wicked vio­lence; the most barefac'd robbery and murder.

LET it therefore be observed,

THE whole land of Canaan (within the bounds of which lay the city of LAISH, with all its territories,) was firmly convey'd by deed of gift from the GREAT SOVEREIGN of the World, to ABRA­HAM, and his POSTERITY, to be their possession forever. To this purpose we read, Gen. xii. 6, 7. And ABRAM passed thro' the land —. And the CANAANITE was then in the land. And the LORD appeared unto ABRAM, and said, UNTO THY SEED WILL I GIVE THIS LAND. The same promise is very particularly repeat­ed, Chap. xiii v. 14, 15. And the LORD said to ABRAM, — lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward. For all the land which thou seest, TO THEE WILL I GIVE IT, AND TO THY SEED FOR EVER. And in the xv. chap. 18. v. we have recorded a most ex­plicit and formal grant of this land. In that same day the LORD made a covenant with ABRAM, saying, UNTO THY SEED HAVE I GIVEN THIS LAND, from the river of Egypt, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. And when THE SEED OF ABRAHAM were multi­plied into a great people, we find the blessed GOD thus bespeaking them, Exod. vi. 8. And I will bring you into the land, concerning the which I did swear to GIVE IT, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I WILL GIVE IT YOU FOR AN HERITAGE. From these texts it appears plain, that the land of Canaan was given of GOD to the people of Israel; and that the grant was several times repeated in the most ample and solemn manner.

Now the infinite GOD having the first and most absolute and in­disputable title to this whole earth, a grant of any part of it from him must convey the best and surest claim; a title paramount to all others, and that will remain good against every other claim, [Page 9] how long so ever any persons of any nation or character may have been in possession of the land thus convey'd. For all nations as well as particular persons, originally hold what they pos­sess, under GOD as maker and Lord-proprietor of the world: and therefore they are at best but tenants at evill; and he may at his pleasure make over a right to other persons: nor may any dare say to him, what doest thou?

FROM these premises, it may be affirm'd, tho' the city of LAISH and the land bordering thereon, were possest by those who had long been inhabitants of Canaan; yet that they were not the true owners of what they had in possession. The city they liv'd in, and the lands they had under improvement, were the property of the feed of Abraham, freely granted and confirmed to them from the great Lord of the whole earth: and they had a right to enter upon possession of what had been thus given them, whenever they saw fit. And as the DANITES, who were the posterity of Abraham, and one of the tribes of Israel, were now in want of a good settlement, there was no obstacle in the way of their coming to LAISH, if they were able to conquer and turn them out of their land. And tho' in the doing of this, they might be instrumental of taking a­way their lives, yet might they warrantably do it: for the people of Israel, of whom the DANITES were a part, not only had a title to the land of Canaan made over to them, but were commanded and encouraged by the great GOD, to go and take possession of the land, as we may see at large, in the first chap. of Joshua. And over and above this, they were impower'd to destroy the old inhabitants of the land, as is plain from a great number of texts, which we are all acquainted with, in the series of the mosaick history. And it looks as if the supreme majesty had manifested it to be his mind, that his people Israel should be the executioners of his wrath upon the simul inhabitants of Canaan, the measure of whose iniquity was now full.

THE case before us is therefore an extraordinary one. What the DANITES did, would in any other people, have been utterly unlawful; a great piece of injustice and iniquity: but a warrantable [Page 10] action in them, because the sovereign GOD had vacated the right the inhabitants of Canaan had to their possessions, and convey'd it away from them to the Israelites: and over and above this had constitu­ted this people his Deputies, to punish their iniquities, which had ri­pen'd them for destruction.

NATIONS and cities should learn herefrom the dreadful evil and danger of sin; and be afraid to go on commiting it, hardening themselves against GOD, least he should be provoked in his holy and righteous providence, to bring them to ruin.

THEY should also take heed of encouraging themselves, from this action of the DANITES, which was out of the common course of things to take up arms against others. If necessitated hereto in order to redress Injuries, or defend themselves when unrighteously invaded, or for any other wise and good cause, they may do well to make use of force: 'tis consonant to the reason of things, and perfectly con­sistent with the laws of our holy religion▪ Tho' 'tis contrary to both, for nations to act in conformity to the pattern of these DANITES, i. e. to make war with a people and take away their properties and lives, without provocation, or having been abus'd by them: unless with the men of Israel they could produce a warrant from heaven, to justify their warlike proceedings. But I must not enlarge here, 'tis time we proceed now,

IV. To consider, their having no deliverer, because they were far from ZIDON. Several times in this chapter particular notice is taken of the distance of ZIDON from LAISH. The spies from the tribe of Dan, presently got acquainted with this, and set a special mark up­on it, v. 7. And no doubt upon their return, this was one encou­raging article in their report to their brethren. And now that they had gone to LAISH, and taken and destroy [...]d it, an emphasis is laid upon this; there was no deliverer, because they were far from ZIDON.

THE least that can be gathered from hence is, whatever was the condition of LAISH, yet that the DANITES were aware of the [Page 11] strength of ZIDON: and at the same time well appris'd of their being in league with LAISH, and in readiness (at least if apply'd to herefor) to send a sufficient force to guard and protect them. Their greatest concern therefore seems to have been, to carry on their design against LAISH so secretly, as that it might not be known, nor if possible so much as suspected. And this they were under ad­vantage to do, by reason of the distance between LAISH and ZIDON. These two cities were not very remote from each other; yet wer [...] they so far asunder, that with due care and caution, the men of Dan might come against LAISH, without the knowledge of ZIDON. And it was owing to their policy in thus coming against them, that they were not disappointed in their attempt. If they had pro­claimed their design; advanced towards the city by slow and lei­surely steps, giving warning of their approach; the men of LAISH would doubtless have had help from ZIDON. But falling upon them suddenly, without the suspicion of the ZIDONIANS, and while the LAISHITES themselves were tho'tless of danger, they at once destroy'd them: and this, without any deliverer. Says my text, there was no deliverer, because they were far from ZIDON.

AND herein appears, in the strongest light, the folly of the peo­ple of LAISH, in suffering their city to lie so shamefully expos'd to enemies. Notwithstanding the strength of ZIDON, and their dependance on them for protection and defence, we see they were totally destroy'd. And there is no place weak and defenceless in it self, but is equally liable to be surpris'd and taken, let the power that is their chief guard and safety be ever so formidable, if it be at a distance.