because hee feares to lose the Kingdome Hee repents not because hee cares not for losing Heaven But Oh the deceivable judgements of men because hee repents not hee loseth the kingdome of Heaven when happily had hee repented hee had lost neither the kingdome nor heaven Hee that will learne the best art for preserving of states let him read the decalogue he shall find there in ten lines dictated by the holy Ghost those directions that are the most assured for the achieving of heaven and the least deceitfull for soveraigntie upon earth Policie is a Sea so inconstant so turbulent that there is no place to bee found in it where wee have not seene one Prince or other cast away it is a peece of Architecture so decayed that it alwayes threatneth to fall downe that to keepe the frame of the world upon its basis God that heaven and earth may not be confounded permits it still to bee tottering yet sometimes under those that observe his owne precepts Samuel offers to depart Saul takes him by the skirt of his garment and teares it Even so shall the kingdome of Israel bee rent from thee addeth the Prophet DOe not Oh yee Princes spoile your subjects Let the vestments of the Priests be sacred in your eyes Hee that spoileth the subject is not a Prince hee is a Tyrant hee loseth the name if hee lose not the estate God hath many times made garments expresse his intentions peradventure because they are in some sort a part of our selves while they are united to us The spirits which continually exhale out of our bodies are those that cause this union The Coats of beasts are very certaine signes of their nature as the Garments of men are of their conceit for as that apparells the one kind so the other doth the other Every Countrie hath its difference of Garment because each hath its difference of conceit which hath not a cloathing of her owne hath not a Prince of her owne Against such a one peradventure one of the Prophets exclaimed in threatning tearmes when hee said Woe be to you which goe clad in strange garments It may goe for a kind of a sure token that if they have not a stranger to theri Soveraigne they would have one A horses coat shewes his constitution and a mans his inclination Saul answereth that he hath sinned yet prayes the Prophet againe to returne with him to the sacrifice and to honour him before the Elders of the people TO leape from Religion to Hypocrisie to offend and therewith to defend himselfe is not to serve God but to make God serve his turne and when one cannot deceive him to deceive others by him The cause of so great an impietie is that execrable proposition never enough deplored That t is all one to bee good and to seeme good This may bee true in regard of men whose knowledge is but opinion No sooner was Saul made acquainted with the will of God but hee seeks how to hinder it no sooner leaves hee to bee religious but hee becomes a Politician as if the cunning of state which is not sufficient to defend us against men were able to defend us against God The certaine knowledge that a Prince is to lose his estate raises up many to looke after it There is no fearing of him whose fortunes the heavens oppose and men are very gladly instruments of Gods anger If men were among us as zealous to remunerate the good as they are to chastise the bad and rewards were equall to punishments peradventure the world would bee better than it is but because punishment many times is accompanied with profit and Reward with some losse men are more inclined to punish than to reward And it is very convenient that in this world the Chastisements should be greater than the Rewards to make us know that in the other the Rewards shall be greater than the Chastisements Samuel had said that hee would not returne yet hee returneth afterward though not to sacrifice with Saul yet to sacrifice Agag not as Minister of Hypocrisie or of Policie but of Religion Hee causes Agag to bee brought before him that he might slay him Hee considers in him the Image of a Tyrant waxen fat with the blood and substance of his subjects and trembling at the anger of God The Prophet saith unto him As thy sword hath made many women childlesse so shall thy mother be made childlesse among women and so hee killeth him KNow you why the Lord said Hee that striketh with the sword shall perish with the sword To adde force to the law of nature that saith Doe not that to another which thou wouldst not have done to thee but little would this if God had not added for that which thou dost to another shall be done to thee the one doth instruct and the other terrifie us If God should not sometimes punish sins in this world they would not beleeve that there is a God if he should alwaies punish sins in this world men would think there were no other world for them but this Samuel departeth to Ramah and there mourneth for Saul because God repenteth that hee had made him King PRinces may well thinke it is no shame to remove those from their charge that carry themselves shamefully therein yet need they not regard that false rule of policy that to change their Ministers before their time is to submit themselves to their subjects to accustome them to dislike of their Governours and a prejudiciall thing to their dominion in permitting them not to have the election yet at least the approbation of his Ministers who may thereby bee more apt to prefer the appetite of the people before the service of the Prince The malignitie of men hath mistaken the termes this is not to give way to the people 't is but to give them eare It is no losse of authoritie but a purchase and it shall never accustome the subjects to complain of such officers which deserve well to take away those who deserve ill Man who is moulded of base matter attributeth to himselfe more oftentimes than to God who though hee can never repent yet having chosen a Minister who turneth to evill doth speake and worke as if hee repented And man who on many occasions to repent either repenteth not at all or else proceeds as if he had not repented The lamentations of Samuel appease not God and why should his weepings appease him for Saul when Saul himselfe weepes not HOw oft doth the righteous offer sacrifice for the sinner whiles the sinner himselfe is sacrificing to the Devill whiles the one labours to appease God the other provoketh him farther It might seeme unto God that the righteous intercessor were a liar in craving pardon for him that refuseth it if God did not know that the sinner is like to a mad man who oft hath need of one of understanding to speake to the Physician for him God in some sort complaines against
to be acquired so it is sometimes hurtfull because it cannot be laid aside David receives the sword of the Giant Goliah from the Priest and eats of the Shew-bread because hee found no other sword for his defence nor any other bread for his sustenance NEcessity enforceth him she sometimes makes that lawfull which at all times is not so It is a shield which being ill used workes the ruine of the world All misdeeds how hainous soever doe withdraw themselves out of the danger of the Law and in stead of being condemned to be borne withal are invested with the cloake of necessity there is no absolute necessity in man because he is a free agent if he suffer no outward violence hee hath none within him those which wee call necessities and which wee pretend that they free from the Law are made to be such by the Law They are necessary consequences by supposition having a conditionall antecedent for their foundation But the suppositions that are not authorized by the Law have no consistence for otherwise all the actions of men should bee lawfull seeing all might be necessary by supposing a conditionall antecedent before them out of which a necessary consequence should arise by supposition Therefore it is not true that necessity hath no Law but it is very true that the necessity which hath no Law is onely that which is an enemy to the Law David flies to King Achish but seeing himselfe and his vertues knowne being much afraid of his envie he faineth himselfe to bee mad and changeth his countenance before him HE that is borne into this great Theatre of the world ought to know how to suit himselfe into sundry habits that hee may bee enabled in this Comedy to represent many persons When a man sees himselfe persecuted by envy hee must like the shelfish fructified by the dew of Heaven cast away his pearle rather than bee a prey to those that have him in chase David puts on a forme of madnesse and by it brings Achish to put off his envie The countenance of the former is transformed before the eyes of the latter not that the effigies of the one is altered but the intellect of the other If it had pleased the Lord by his mercy and benignity to root up envy out of the world how many Davids would change their countenances in the presence of Achish But they that hate valor and vertue let them I beseech them tell me what thing it is they thinke they hate they hate even themselves Vertue cannot bee odious if it bee good it is faire also if it be faire it is the object of love and not of hatred The envious is an ignorant Painter or a malicious one who in drawing the vertue of others deformes it either he takes the perfections from it or addes imperfections to it and blames in another that which himselfe hath added of his owne to it or what he hath taken from it Yet this were not much if he did not also expose that picture to publike view that they who cannot see the originall might hate it Take away David out of my presence saith Achish Have I any need of mad-men THis King is one of those that when the time comes shall call themselves fooles for having beleeved wisemen to be fooles I know not which error to bee the greater either to thinke wise men to be fooles or to account fooles to bee wise men of this ignorance as out of a root arise all precipitated courses The most dangerous person that is represented and the greatest foole that can bee found is he that takes upon him to be wise David departs thence and saves himselfe in the cave of Adullam where his brethren and all his fathers house come unto him AS a foraigne warre is the onely remedy to unite the disordinate minds in Common wealths so are enmities and persecutions to make an attonement in families This is a true rule when the discords are not bloody and when proceeding no farther than to some high tearmes they are not growne to hatred Those brethren that in a sort would have hindered the fortune of David are they which now are willing to helpe him in his misery Base mindes applaud our felicities and abandon us in our disasters but they that are onely corrupted by envy retaining yet a kinde of generosity when their envy rather springs from desire of honour than malignity they run readily to assist their allies in their dangers and if they goe not to applaud them in their glory it is not for that they desire not to see them great but because they themselves would gladly be great The malecontented also gathered together to David and made him their Captaine IT is impossible but there should bee some such kinde of people in a State If the Prince be good then the evill are malecontent if he be evill the good are and some that are not displeased with the Princes government are so with their owne by which being ruinated and wasted when they have no hope in quiet courses they affect nothing but turbulencies The state ought to beware of 2. most potent enemies Hope and Despaire for these two extremes are they that molest it the greatest and the least of quality the one supposing that their good fortune calleth them to a better estate the other by their evill one are stirred to avoid the worst for this cause I suppose was that City preferred by a profest politike Writer which is inhabited by the middle sort of men The Prophet Gad adviseth David to depart to goe into the land of Iudah and Saul hearing that David was seene there complaineth greatly amongst his servants that David being not able to give them vineyards nor houses nor make them Commanders nor otherwise reward them should finde followers and he be abandoned PRinces do erre when they thinke their Rebels should not be followed in hope of reward I speake not of David who was a King and no Rebell one that was raised up and not risen against his Prince one that was flying from him and not contending against him The rewards expected of treachery are farre greater than those that are yeelded to fidelitie And what doe not they promise which promise that which is none of their owne what doe they not give before they bee well advised that it is their owne Disordinate minds are not content with ordinate rewards their troublesome heads account quietnesse their enemy and even those of a quiet disposition doe sometimes surfet of rest because the naturall desire of change makes felicity it selfe to be tedious The Subjects serving their Prince if they wil be rewarded oftentimes are driven to shew some excessive merit because there are few that thinke themselves bound to those whose service is bound to them but hee that followes a rebell hath already merited of him in that he followeth him That false proposition that to worke where one is obliged diminisheth his merit is both
W. Marshall sculpsit 〈◊〉 not my Anointed And do my Prophets no harme Psal 105. 15. London Printed for Humphrey Mosley 1648. Il Davide Perseguitato DAVID Persecuted VVritten in Italian BY The Marquesse Virgilio Malvezzi And done into English By ROBERT ASHLEY GENT. LONDON Printed for Humphrey Moseley at the signe of the Princes Armes in St Pauls Church yard 1650. DAVID Persecuted THEY that make a question whether it be true or no that God speakes any more to men or indeed that men have any more intelligence from God let them beleeve it for a certaine that hee speakes but they are too deafe to heare the language let them beleeve it for certaine that hee writes but they are too blinde to perceive the Character Hee that will understand his voyce hee that will read his letter let him betake himselfe to the Holy writ that is a Vocabulary which the Spirit of God hath left us to explaine his profound discourses by that is a key to disclose all those obscure letters that are directed to us from heaven Will you O Princes will you O people conceive what it is that God speakes when hee sends a pestilence when hee sends a famine when hee sends warre when hee brings estates to destruction or in hazard to be destroyed Goe runne over these names in the Vocabulary of the Almighty But the weake and weary eyes of our mind eschew the light of the truth they precipitate themselves into an abysse of miseries and among the obscurities of the night grope for the splendour of the sunne Thus wee renounce the prerogatives of the new law It is not the way to get forth of the Clouds in which the Israelites walked for men but to change them Those divine mysteries which they beheld only clouded up in darknesse are now most transparently observed in a cleare skie yet the causes of the Revolutions of States of the increase of one of the diminution of another of the fall of Princes of Famine of Pestilence of Warre were openly displayed to them and wee on the contrary envelop them in the obscuritie of a thousand ambiguities as if that were not true which the greatest Divines have told us that the Chastisements which came upon the Israelites befell them for our example God speaketh but once saith Iob and speaketh not againe the holy writ is that booke in which hee hath spoken there then ought to be searched the causes of good or bad events where clearly and for our sakes they are written To frame Politicke aphorismes to set downe rules for it taken from prophane authors is in a manner to pretend that mans will is necessarie and conducing Nay I could find in my heart to say that it is an undeifying of God and a deifying of the second causes He makes them serve his turne but them hee serves not Hee that in discussing upon naturall events brings in God only for a reason is but a poore Philosopher and hee that brings him not in in Inquiries of Politick occurrences is but a poore Christian when it is his pleasure that the fire which at one time scorched should at another coole hee must have recourse to his almighty power in working miracles but hee may very well without miracles give way that the same action which at one time hath reared up a Prince should at another sink him Our too leaden wings cannot eagle us up from this base earth wee walke in a gloomy aire without lifting up our eyes to that most glorious Sunne of the Empireum The Politick treatises of the Gentiles which are but earthly bring us back to earth in that they have in them but earthly causes but the holy instructions which are sent us from heaven producing heavenly causes bring us home to heaven O most benigne Lord may it please thee to give to drink of thy most cleare and living water this thirsty wretch who forsakes the stinking and muddy Cisternes of the Gentiles rather loathing them than satisfied with them If I knew not my selfe unworthy to bee taken out of the darknesse of my grosse ignorance I would most humbly and upon my knees intreat thee for one ray which like the dawning leading mee on to the most cleare Noone might at this present in some part draw mee out of the obscuritie of this dimme night that I might discover those deepe and profound mysteries which are concealed from the feeblenesse of our understandings The Prophet Samuel reproves Saul because that contrarie to Gods commandement hee had left Agag King of the Amalekites alive and had not slaine all his cattell THe disobedience of Saul gives the last turne to the wheele of his greatnesse It is a fire which consumeth crowns for they are soldred with obedience He knoweth not what belongs to matter of state that loseth this towards God hee teacheth others to forgoe it toward their superiours and as much as in him lyes destroyes the compacture of the universe Disobedience is the ofspring either of the arrogance of the braine or of the weaknesse of the senses either that men thinke to doe better than they are commanded or that they are inclined to doe worse In one of these the frailtie sometimes meets with compassion in the other the contempt alwaies provokes to vengeance This can never bee in regard of God because it is not possible to bee wiser than God and when it is practised among men although it may often seeme to produce good fruit yet is it alwayes naught as that which proceeds from an evill plant Well ordered Common-wealths have not forborne to punish it though prosperous victories ill disciplined bringing with them more dammage than defeatments doe Saul excuses himselfe in that the people had preserved the best of the spoile to sacrifice them to God Obedience is better than Sacrifice answers Samuel GOd had already ordained the Sacrifice when he had commanded that all the men and all the Cattell of the Amalekites should be slaine so many Priests they were that were appointed to kill them so many sacrifices as to bee killed There want not this day such Sauls that sacrifice to God the sacrifices of disobedience These golden mountaines heaped up with impiety that seemes sometimes to adorne them defile the altars of God they onely garnish the ambition of man Hee that thinks with these to pacifie his divine Majestie incenseth it as much as in him lyes with execrable blasphemie proclaimes that Majestie to bee most wicked and makes him partaker of his misdeeds as if hee were bound to bee appeased with him so hee may but have a share in the purchases of his villanies The Prophet replies Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord the Lord bath rejected thee from being King Saul sayes to him I have sinned return with mee that I may worship the Lord SEe the power of ambition which hath oftentimes more force upon the hearts of men than the Commandements of God have He makes as if he repented
sonne that keepeth the sheepe whom Ishai doth send unto him with some presents MEn ought not to come before Princes without presents nor to depart from them without thanksgivings Saul maketh him his Armour-bearer and writes vnto his father that hee doth not send him his sonne againe because hee hath found favour in his sight ANd who is hee that is so gracious in the eyes of Saul It is even hee that is to take his Kingdome from him It is an extraordinarie thing amongst men that their loves become their overthrowes the affections of a corrupt mind like those of adiseased body are alwayes pernicious nor are they motions of Nature but the motions of that which hath destroyed Nature shee inclines not to that which corrupts her if shee be not already corrupted and if shee bee corrupted shee is dead shee is gone David sung and played when Saul was vexed with the Devill and then the Devill left him not because of Davids musick but his Goodnesse HAd the devill a bodie Musick might haply bee able to chace him out being unable to endure the power of Melodie hee who is a friend to it is an enemie to sinne One that writ hereof tooke the delighting in Harmonie to be a morall signe of Praedestination Sinne discomposeth all the consonancies in man making a discord between the inferiour and superiour parts which is the cause of all evill and finally of the last of all dissonancies which is Death If Health bee but a Harmony of the Temperament and sicknesse a dissonancie why are humours molested why farther distempered with divers medicaments and not rather reduced to a true temper with consonancies Musick would be the truest medicine for all Maladies if wee knew the right and true proportion and how to apply to each that kind of Consonancie that would correct it If any acromatick musick hath beene able to stir up the melancholik humour and to inrage it why should not the contrary bee effectuall to qualifie and restraine it If Nature in our maladies did happily feele that due consonancie that were requisite shee would peradventure rouze up her selfe as well as the string of an Instrument which though it be without life yet stirs and moveth it selfe as soone as it feeleth a perfect union Shee discovers the truth hereof in those that are stung or bitten by the Tarantula when wee see that Nature strives not to deliver her selfe from that poyson untill shee bee first stirred with that Consonancie whose proportion doth correct her This is not proper to that malady alone but all other I beleeve would in the like manner bee cured if the Consonancies of all were as well knowne But the ignorance of men and the discomposed nature of Sinne makes us runne to the Physician when wee should have recourse to the Musician The Philistims come to assault the Israelites Saul with his Armie goeth to encounter them each of them planteth his Armie on the edge of a hill and leave the valley betweene them There was in the Philistims Army a man called Goliah HEe was a Giant and hee was a bastard The Giant hath for his Correlative the rash and foole-hardy hee being greater than men thinks himselfe equall with God as if where Humanitie doth end there must needs Divinitie begin and that there were not rather an infinite distance betweene This is that Generation that opened the Cataracts of Heaven which made the sea overflow the Land Antiquitie could no way describe them so well as to describe their fighting against God The greatest individuals of one Species are for the most part Lucifers Hee was a Bastard and Bastards are commonly valorous because they come of Parents that were a norous The Birth and Parentage which ordinarily makes men hide their Talents with the glories of their forepassed Ancestors which bringeth them that are present and living asleep hath no place in these who being oftentimes poore and despised yet finding in themselves the spirit of those that begot them in a desperate manner get up to the steepest of the mount of Glory alwayes egged on by the bitter touches of their spotted beginning the continuall reproach and perpetuall spurre of generous spirits But if on the contrarie their minds bee dejected with their miseries into a dead sleep and will not be excited and awakened with the sharp stings of Honour they are not worthy to be reckoned amongst men whence it ariseth that Bastards most commonly light upon the extremes either of valour or of basenesse This Goliah desieth the Israelites to a single combat hee requires that the fortune of the whole warre may hee restrained to the fortune of one petty duell TO hazard their whole fortune without hazarding at the same time all their forces hath beene taken to be no well advised course which yet peradventure might doe well enough if men could be content to lose all their fortune before they had lost all their forces The present victories then might facilitate the future But such Conditions if ever they be promised are very seldome observed Such single Combats are but Preludiums to set battailes and the happie successe therein is rather a signe that men may conquer than that they have done it The Constellation of that party whose Champion hath beene Victor is then taken to be stronger when it shall appeare that hee is governed by that which appertaines to the King and not by his owne peculiar There was none amongst the Israelites but was afraid of this man The King promiseth to give him his daughter in Marriage that shall overcome him REwards make valour appeare which lay hid before they produce it they doe not create it It is great prudence in men to moderate their promises when they are in great dangers To make too large ones is a token of fearefulnesse and oftentimes doth not prevent the danger but changeth it To deliver from great dangers yeelds great reputation Rewards increase strength and reputation and strength endangers the State From hence it comes that Promises are not kept not because they are made with purpose not to keep them but because men are changed with their change of fortune and hee that should performe is no longer the same that promised David who was returned home comes now into the Armie to bring certaine presents to the Officers under whom his Brethren did serve Hee enquires concerning the businesse in hand Hee askes what shall be the reward His elder brother rebukes him of pride and overweening THis man discernes not Pride from Fortitude because hee looked on his brother with an envious eye not with an eye of love There are many vertues which have their operations common with vice being distinguished only by the Intent which because it cannot be seene is judged of by others and mens judgements are not alwayes without passion it seldome happens that they judge without errour He would not have any adventure on that which hee dares not adventure on Those defects that are common
Lord more than he and not that his Lord loves another more than himselfe This would bee a desire to tyrannize over the affections of Princes which men ought to reverence He that could make his love more fervent than that of the favorite might peradventure make himselfe the greater favorite but commonly men strive to unhorse him by malice and not by vertue because it is more easie to envy than to love Give me leave also further to affirme if without offence I may that it cannot be any blame to have a favorite unlesse men will say that Christ our Lord was to be blamed whose favorite was Saint Iohn One passing by chance neere unto Saul who longed to die and asked him whence he was and the other answering that hee was an Amalekite Saul prayeth him to kill him which hee excuseth O The unspeakable providence of God! he peradventure permitted not Saul to kill himselfe he consented that his sin should kill him One of the Amalekites whom against the will of God hee had saved alive God will have to put him to death That sinner spoke for al sinners spake divinely that said My sin is alwayes against me We have no enemies but we make some nor is Saul alone slaine by his sinne for there be but few men that are not also killed by theirs And it is very particular that one particular should kill them seeing it was the same that brought death into all the world O how pleasant and how profitable are the precepts of God! He is a Physitian under favour be it spoken not onely for the soule but for the body also He hath left us better rules in a few leaves to preserve our health than are contained in the great volumes of the bookes of the Gentiles King Saul dieth after he had reigned many yeeres and with the King dieth a great part of the people which had demanded a King FAvours are not therefore demanded of God that he may doe them but because he will doe them hee doth them by meanes of our prayers they are obtained with the Optative not with the Imperative mood Hee that will command them deserves then only to bee heard when it is to his harme to have beene heard to teach him that is God neither to bee taught nor to be commanded Wherefore then it was that Saul did lose his life and wherefore the Kingdome of Israel went out of his Progeny is easily resolved by them who omitting the manifold other causes have recourse to that alone which is the first and chiefe and prime cause from whose well all the rest proceed But why God willeth the destruction of Kings and Kingdomes would bee easie also to shew were it not the will of God is not alwayes effective but sometimes also permissive Hee wills that such as forsake him lose their kingdomes and that they that follow him obtaine them Moreover how and when it comes to passe that hee permitteth sometimes those that follow him to be abased and those that abandon him to bee exalted I doe not know and others peradventure know as little Those Princes then that are not in Gods favour let them alwayes feare how prosperous soever they are Being not able to alledge any cause of their happinesse they must needs be afraid if they be great they know not why they are so and it is to be doubted that such greatnesse cannot long endure whereof no cause can bee given for which it began He who hapning to come into the house of a fortunate man did suddenly depart thence certainly hee meant it not of them that God maketh happy and successefull but of those whom God permitteth so to be The ruine of Saul came peradventure of his owne great prosperity his being from a base estate exalted to a kingdome confirmed and setled therein with happy successe in stead of making him the more devout made him more confident yea more rash and unadvised Let us not make it lawfull to serve him the lesse who hath prospered us to the end wee should serve him the more as if the gifts or graces which God vouchsafeth us were but for our pleasure and not for his glory A great sort of men offend their God in their prosperity and pray unto him in their adversity yet is hee still the same God when he delivereth us out of misery and distresse and when he overturneth our fortunate courses and proceedings It may seeme peradventure that to deliver out of disasters doth more manifest the Divinity than to abase prosperous fortunes whence it is that men are more confident in his mercies than fearfull of his vengeance There is no man how wicked soever but doth some good thing whereunto he afterward ascribes the cause of his good successe and equivocating betweene the reward and the grace given him hath no feare of losing what he pretends to have deserved On the contrary there is no man so good but he committeth some evill whereunto for the most part he attributeth the cause of his misfortune and equivocating betweene Gods chastising and his exercising of him sends up sometimes his supplications to God when he should rather have sent thanksgivings as if the world which is the place of meriting and demeriting were the place also of rewarding and punishing To conclude let us pray his divine Majestie that he will be alwayes pleased to end the persecutions of the Davids with the death of the Sauls And all to the glory and honour of his great Name in which I end this Booke as I desire also to end my life FINIS Vid. Daâ—