text i. when he had receiued newes touching Absaloms death the King i. Dauid Absoloms father Israels King was mooned the word importeth some great alteration in a man by reason either of some feare or griefe or anger or all Now howsoeuer all these did meet in Dauid yet in this place his motion is chiefely from griefe feare had the precedencie before whilest he was held in suspence and the issue of the battle was doubtfull anger tooke its place after when heâ— had more leasure to thinke on Ioab now griefe was predominant which at the first did amaze him and after vttered it selfe in teares and complaints When a man hath some deepe gash or sudden chop you shall haue for the present a great silence as it were and the flesh on each side will bee wanne and pale and then soone after the blood which had carried the newes to the heart issueth foorth most furiously such was Dauids wound in this place the newes struck into his heart and astonished him for the time but hauing a little recouered himselfe he powreth it forth as you heare and see Now in that good Dauid who is here termed the King is found thus deepely wounded vpon the receit of so heauy tidings and weepes so bitterly vpon so neare an occasion I meane the death of his dearest Absalom let vs hence note this in the generall from the party sorrowing and the occasion and measure of his sorrow laid togethers That Gods dearest children are exercised with neare and piercing crosses in this life It may seeme to bee no good congruitie to say that Dauid wept that king Dauid mourned for Christians to mourne being poore or Princes being wicked it is no strange matters but when a man hath God for his friend in heauen a kingdome on earth too what should trouble him yet for such a one the Lord hath crosses and those sharpe those neare those cutting Witnesso Dauid the man in question a man after Gods heart what a life had he in his father in law his time when went hee to bed with drie eies when liued hee a merry day what comfort in Michol his wife what troubles after Sauls death what breaches in his familie what heart breakings in his Thamar in his Amnon in his Absalom whilst he hued and now when a man would haue thought him spent and drawen drie how many teares doth hee spend afresh vpon his death these crosses come close cut deepe here are griefes in his familiars shall I say nay in his kinsfolkes his father his wiues at Ziklag his children his Absalom And was not Iacob in the same case was it nothing to be rended from his owne fathers house to liue in feare of his owne brother to be so vsed by his owne vncle to be so cosened of his owne wife to haue his onelie daughter deflowred to haue his dearest wife to die so vpon his hands to haue oue sonne banished another an adulterer another incestuous many murtherers neere crosses when vncle when cosins when wiues when children shall be our crosses And what would you say of Iob were his case your owne It may bee you would thinke it a losse to part with so much goods and cattell so soone to be worth a thousand pound in the morning and to haue all your grounds vnstockt by night it may be it would trouble our patience to heare the scornes of base fellowes and to see that contempt in our owne seruants but alas if our kindest friends should quippe vs and they that were religious censure vs if our owne wiues should begin to be wearie of vs and wee should haue the burying of ten children and first vnburie them and there see how louingly they sate together and what prouision was there made for the chearing of their hearts and heere plucke out one there another perhaps lim-meale and lay them all on an heape would not this haue wrought vpon vs But then if to all this there should be added such plagues on the body such terrors on the soule would wee not say our crosses were sharpe yes brethren we may say that Iobs were sharpe and sore and neere when friends when seruants when children when wife when God and all seeme to minister matter of griefe It shall be needlesse to draw you further in examples these are beyond exception whether you looke to the goodnes of the men or the greatnes of their crosses in all whom we see that verified which once Salomon the sonne and Dauid the father deliuered in more generall tearmes the one touching the number of the faithfuls afflictions that they come by seuens i troups in one and the same day the other touching both number and measures that they are many and great in number many in nature weightie as the word signifies both But leauing testimonies what might bee the cause that Gods best children are so sped Is it their religion Is it their profession No no it is because they are set with corruption if you will haue it all at once and therefore must be purged For first a little to enlarge our selues in the vnfolding of some few amongst many reasons Gods best children will sometimes venture on noisome meates and hurtfull poisons they will feede on the grosser sinnes they will drinke in very puddle I meane iniquities and when the child hath so done what should the father doe If Dauid will lie and commit adultery and fall to murther innocents what can God doe lesse for Dauid vnlesse he would haue him damned then scourge him thorowly what should hee doe but lay it on his skinne yea and lash his conscience and when he will bee walking so neere hels mouth take him by the heeles and make him beleeue he will throw him in what though he do cry what though he be crossed of his will Is it not better hee should cry here then in hell and receiue his payment here rather then his iudgement there Is it not better he should lose his sin then God his child So then one cause why the Lord doth thus lay load on his children here is because they defile themselues sometimes with grosse sinnes and therefore must haue much washing they take the deadliest poison and therfore must haue working physicke Dauid was gone so farre this way that to this place hee hath not recouered himselfe hee deales not like old Dauid as yet and therefore euery moneth almost hee must haue a purge and whosoeuer he be that will venture after him in these dangerous paths shall be sure to passe vnder the rod as Dauid did if he be Gods as Dauids was Secondly Gods children if they fall not to deadly poison yet will they surfet of lawfull meates and pleasures vnlawfully so childish we are when we are turned loose to delights that for our liues wee cannot keepe a meane wee cannot haue prosperity but wee will abuse it wee swell wee bragge wee snuffe we looke ouer our brethren and forget
our selues euen the best of vs all Poore Dauid that scarce euer came where prosperity grew had but a little rest and he beganne to dreame of golden mountaines hee thought crosses had now taken their leaue of him and would be afraid to looke into the court and therfore Absalom is sent out of his bowels to confute him And good Hezechiah who was first humbled at the comming of Saneherib and the second time brought to deaths dore by gricuous sicknes had no sooner a little respit but he begins to looke big and to lay about him whem embassadors came to visite him he carries them from place to place and sets the best side outward he swaggers not onely with them but with Esay too who tooke as small pleasure in this his courting as many of his cloath doe now in preaching ô Esay saith he you cannot tell who haue beene here great states the king of Babell sent Embassadors to vs such Princes so farre from vs take notice of vs and they I would haue thee know were royally entertained wee shewed them withall what store of gold siluer our treasuries could afford we would haue them know that all the wit and wealth is not lodged in Babell but that Gods people haue it in them and about them too as occasion shall serue Thus Hezechiah thought he spake but reason but the Lord seeing him so ranke thinkes it time to let him blood and therefore Esay giues him a cooler you haue made saith he for so in effect hee speakes a faire hand of your wealth you haue you haue brought the wolfe to the fold and now keepe him out if you can Gold-thirsty Babell now knowes where to haue a draught and as for your selfe sith you thinke the better of your selfe for your wealth the Lord hath made your will and the king of Babell is your executor Thus because Hezechiah surfeited he is physickt and this is onother reason of the Lords thus dealing with his people because the difference is not great whether you eate bad meate or surfet on good Thirdly God had but neede to diet the best of vs sometimes because we be so lazie when we are full much like to a man that comes newly from a feast fit for nothing we follow our calling as if we would drop on sleepe we performe exercises of religion as children say their lessons minding euery thing rather than that in hand wee come to the ordinances of God as fed wantons to a feast nothing pleaseth vnlesse it be some odde sawce or new inuention the worst dish on the table so it is with vs when wee come to the word the sense must be pleased as well as the heart edified else it is but a dry feast one tricke of wit doth more affect than twenty gratious sentences now when the Lord sees our mouth so farre out of taste that it cannot relish our meate and discouers in vs such a lazinesse about our busines he thinkes it reason to prouide some remedie in time lest these fore-runners of sicknes breake forth into worse inconueniences and surely Dauids practise and case may affright vs all for alas how did he gather mud when he had stood still a while and how would his corruptions againe haue growne to some head had not Absalom beene raised vp to breath him and to disperse them Now if Dauid were so foggie after so many breathings Dauid a man of so good a diet how resty should wee bee if neuer walkt how grounded on our lees with Moab if neuer turned forth from vessell to vessell It stands the Lord therefore vpon if hee will prouide for his haruest and our good to take some paines with vs lest otherwise he faile of his vintage whilst we want dressing Fourthly and in a word crosses had need to come and come thicke and come in strength to the strongest of vs because in the best there be many and strong corruptions ô the pride the pride the vnbeleefe the ignorance the selfe-loue that lodges in the purest soule would yee not haue thought that Dauid by this time had almost emptied himselfe of all pride that all passions all loue of the world all carnall affections had beene well nere buried but see see when crosses come how he laies about him hee sobs he roares he would die in a passion as if he knew not what he did or cared not what he said now should not such a stomach as this be taken downe yes the child had beene spilt there if the rod had beene spared and therefore God laies it on Now if good Dauid after so much breaking and so long standing in religion be so waspish so impatient so passionate do not you thinke that there is some store in vs let vs be crossed a little cannot we chafe let vs be abused cannot we find our tongues adde to this our worldlines cannot wee bee content to liuelonger in this world bad though it be do we not dote too much on one Absalom or other be not our hearts yet vnbroken why then you see God must smite and smite againe and smite home draw blood for no sound heart must go to heauen as none but sound hearts must come thither sound I say from hypocrisie but broken with sinne and sorrow thus wee see great cause of great affliction on Gods part sith our sinnes are great which must be purged and preuented our surfers great which must be cured our deadnesse great which must be quickned our inside bad which must be cleansed Time will not giue to speake of all One more reason shall bee drawne from our owne practise and so an end As God laies many crosses on vs so we may thanke our selues for many too not onelie in that we doe deserue them but in that 〈◊〉 worke them out of our owne bowels for many we diaw vpon our selues by riot Idlenesse vnthrifâ—nes rage c. and the most we make more heauy that are heauie enough already through our owne folly and that is whilst we rake into our wounds looking no higher and what with vnbeleefe and impatience doe double the crosse on our selues Dauids burden was heauy enough already hee did not neede to increase it yet such is Dauids weaknesse he cannot choose it is his Absalom prety Absalom and therefore he must pay for his passions and thus when God afflicts vs in measure as euer he doth his children wee make our crosses beyond measure because we keep no meane in mourning and not onely so but we prouoke our father to giue vs somewhat for brawling and for strugling thus we see some reasons of ours so great neare afflictions taken partly from our selues partly from our God The wicked will happily thinke themselues wronged that we giue not them and their master the credit of the Saints troubles but to speake properly they are no causes but onely executioners they are hangmen and bedles when an execution is to be wrought and the
and then they raise those tempests which they cannot lay they do but bait they do not worrie our corruptions so they make vs chafe Thus in Elihues iudgement at least the cause why Iob did so beslir him and lay about him was because God had not dealt in extremity with him Thus Ionab who was tamed when he should be drowned was a little too lusty for a goard And surely brethren if our crosses were sometimes more I do not thinke but our firs would be fewer our outward carriage at least better Three ierkes sometimes make the child yeeld when one would make him dance and stamp Lastly crosses sometimes steale vpon vs before wee haue armed our selues and then it is a world to see how wee go downe the winde Dauid can say somewhat to this also he was fitted for crosses when the child borne in adultery died his heart was sofrned he had reason to expect its death sith he was told no lesse but here hee lookes for no such matter he giues in charge that the yong man Absalom an old traitor though his boy should be lookt vnto hee will not suffer himselfe to thinke that Absalom must die he will not be humbled for his fondnes past because hee did not meane to amend it and therefore this lies vpon him more heauy than sand he cannot beare it as he bore the other and thus we must leaue the point as we found it at first and tell our iudgements that one crosse foiles vs yea laics vs on our backe when another perhaps a stronger cannot stirre vs because the Lord sets on one more then another because we are lesse sound in one place then another because we are lesse mastered by one crosse then another because we are lesse prepared for one then another Now the point is prooued let vs not suffer it to passe without some vse though we be the briefer Learne hence at least a double point of wisdome the first respects our brethren them we must not too lightly censure for their weaknesse and tendernesse in some crosses though light sith that cannot be light which God will make heaute sith that may be light to one which is as a mountaine to another sith those our brethren may manfully beare farre sorer crosses then our selues though humbled in some particular sith briefly that which is heauy now may anon be light to them and that which now is as a thing of naught to vs may anon be somewhat if God shall set it on soft then my brethren let vs not be too eager vpon Dauid it may be we haue buried no Absalom as yet at least dying in such a sort it may be we would haue busled more then Dauid did Had Shimei so greeted vs or Saul so pursued vs like enough Dauid would haue beene at patience before vs in twenty other crosses and so may our brethren too euen those we most censure and therefore haue some patience and mercy toward the afflicted account not cuerie one proud and carnall and froward that is foiled when we stand The second lesson our selues must take forth and make it our owne and it lookes two waies as if it were on both sides the lease First if wee haue in some measure quitted our selues well in some one or few afflictions we must not presently triumph and grow secure as if the day were ours wee may now giue them the fall and by and by bee tript downe our selues if we looke not to our feet Dauid is before vs herein he fought more battles then twenty of vs and that with great courage and good successe yet is not Dauid able to stand against this crosse his Absalom his Absalom could not be forgotten And what though wee haue buried a friend It may be we know not what it is to burie a father a childe a wife a husband If Amnon bee dead we cannot tell what an Absalom may worke when his death shall be vntimely Say pouertie be no great burden to vs it may be paine and sicknesse will make vs roare if these blow ouer a cloud vpon our names may happilie trouble our patience if wee can bee patient when other mens faults are serued into vs and laid in our dish yet it may bee wee shall not claw it off so well if our kinsfolkes seruants parents children yoke-fellowes shall breake forth and vnmuzle the wicked against vs. O then let not him bragge that puts on harnesse as hee that puts it off let no man be secure but euer stand vpon his gard still readie to receiue and to award these blowes that fall vpon him like haile and shot and so if he doe then on the other side let him not cast away his buckler because hee was wrought a rap but looke better to his hand another time What though Dauid bee now downe hee may rise againe for all this and prooue himselfe old Dauid still though he be a little eclipsed yet may he shine forth afresh and make many an holy praier and Psalme after this and though he now flie yet may he fight and triumph againe ere hee die and so maiest thou too though for the present deiected That Peter that was once afraid of a wenches face will not after feare the threats of any aduersarie and hee who is sometimes base in a trifle may after play the man in greatest trials Say not then if I cannot beare the losse of a childe of a friend of a little wealth a little ease a little sleepe alas what shall become of me if it should come to fire and faggot How shall I part part I must with my dearest pledges and neerest friends and with all my goods Yes man heare me in one thing that I shall say Ionah may with more patience part with his life at one time then with a root at another and that God that can make light crosses heauy and shadowes of crosses looke like mountaines can if he call thee to them hee will make heauy crosses light and mountaines shadowes And thus briefly for that point Beare me companiethorow one point more and I will trouble you no further and will be briefe in that For whom doth Dauid thus mourne What is he whose death is thus lamented Heare him O my sonne my sonne Which sonne O Absalom Absalom Absalom is then the man And heerea strange matter is offered to those that know not the heart of a father The sonne practiseth against his fathers house robs him of his children abuseth him in his wiues seeketh to spoile him both of life and liuing and the father what doth he he weepes for him hee mournes ouer him hee would die for him thus doth Dauid In whom see what a kinde and godly fathers affection is to his childe No vndutifulnesse no practise on the childes part no not death itselfe can diuide betweene him and his child What though Absalom can forget Dauid yet Dauid cannot forget him what though hee be a very