we may look unto our feet that we walk no more in the waies of disobedience whereby we should offend and grieve the good Spirit of so Good a God and so loving a father for our own Consciences tell us That what couldest thou have done more for thy vineyard and the plants of thy vineyard and such vile sinfull wretches that thou hast not done unto us and yet what could any stubborn and stiffe-necked generation have done more to provoke thee to anger wrath and sore displeasure than we have done But Lord call not thou our sins to thy remembrance lay not thou our sins to our charge for if thou shouldest be but strict to mark wherein we have done amisse who should be able to stand in thy sight Wherefore for thy mercie sake spare us for the multitude of thy tender mercies sake have compassion on us for the Lord Jesus Christs sake forgive us all that is past how many how great how grievous how crying soever our sins have been and strengthen us with strength from above that we may spend the residue of our lives in thy service whollie resigning up our selves unto thee fearing of thee keeping of thy Commandement labouring indevouring to live as much hereafter to thy honour as ever we have heretofore done to thy dishonor And for as much as thou hast commanded us to be mindfull of the afflictions of Joseph we beg of thee to be good to all thy poor afflicted ones work in them a true insight into all their sins and a true Repentance for their sins and a strong faith to believe that their sins are pardonable in the blood of that immaculate Lamb Lord if it be thy will let them live to praise thee and for the comfort of those that belong unto them but if thou in thy secret counsel hast decreed them for death grant that although their bodies return to the earth yet their spirits may return to their Maker And preserve thou our lives and healths unto us not that they may be a means to follow our former wantonnesse with the greater greedinesse but that we may be the better abilicated to set forth the glorie of our most Glorious God Blesse those of our nearest relation blesse them and us and all of us with inward and outward with spiritual and corporal health and wealth that we may glorifie thee our God with both all the daies of our lives Blesse thy poor Zion deliver thy Israel out of all his troubles Make not us who were once thy Beulahs thy Hephzibahs thy joy thy delight now to become Loammies Loruhamaes a despised and forsaken people Make not us who were once Naomies a pleasant seed now to become Marahs a seed drunken with bitter waters of a full cup wrung out unto us Make not us who were once as Abigails the fathers joy now to become Benonies the sons of our mothers sorrows O let not this be published in Gath nor proclaimed in Askalon lest the uncircumcised take up this Proverb against us Go ye unto Shiloh go ye unto England and see how their Sun is set their pride abased and their pomp vanished because they would not hear and obey nor regard the voice of the Lord Jehovah O for thy Christs sake be pacified with thy servants that call upon thy name as Herod was with the men of Tyre and Zidon for Blastus his sake and mediation and as thou art wonderfull in thy name so be thou wonderfull in thy works and command at length deliverances for thy Jacob. Blesse our Supreme head Let every mountain and hill that is exalted against it be made low let the crooked be made straight let the rough be made plain oh let the zeal of the Lord God of Hosts in his good time perform all this Call home all those that have erred like lost sheep and are deceived open their eyes to see the truth direct their hearts to walk in that truth that walking in the old way which is the good way they may at last come to him who is the way the truth and the life Sanctifie this nights rest unto us Grant that our sleep it may be sweet for the refreshing of our wearied senses that the day following we may be the better strengthened to set forth the honour of our God Give thy angels charge over us this night for they alone are well kept whom thou keepest wherefore into thy hands both now and ever with blessed Steven do we commend all our spirits These O father and all other things thou in thy infinite and all-seeing goodnesse shalt better see to be requisite either for our selves or for any other we humbly beseech thee to grant them unto us not for our own sakes for we acknowledge our selves unworthy to gather up the crumb that fall from thy table wherefore we beg them for thy Christs sake in whose name we conclude our prayer in that perfect form which he hath taught us saying Our father c. FINIS
as I have done saith Adonibezek Judg. 1. 7. so God hath rewarded me Even so us our Abnor our great man in the Text falls by the hâ—nd of Joab so Joab must look to have his fall too although it be many years after by Benaiah 1 Kings 2. 31 32 33 34. and the curse of Jehoiakim King of Judah shall follow him to his grave Jer. 22. 18. There shall be none to lament him saying Ah my Brother or ah Lord or ah his glory And let all true hearted Israelites speak as Cushi did to David of Absolom 2 Sam. 18. 32. So let all the Enemies of the Lord their King perish and be as Joab is The Text is a vindication of Davids innocencie in and a lively description of Abners death wherein let us consider these five particulars 1. His qualities and so he was no mean man sprung from the dunghil or Ale-tap no broken Citizen or bankerout Gentleman no Mechanick or Artificer none of the base condition of Davids followers when he fled from Saul 1 Sam. 22. 2. but he was Ishbosheths staff the supporter of Sauls house and the glory of that Diadem and so the Pen-man sets him out two waies 1. As a Prince 2. As a great man 1. As a Prince unto which the Latine word hath a near relation Princeps the which signifies a chief head or ruler secretly inssinuating that as of a head he ought to be defended and made much of because life consists so well in the head as in the heart then as a Ruler he ought to be obeyed and feared according to Saint Paul's rule Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers but Joab had learned instead of Obsta principiis Obsta Principibus withstand the beginnings of sin stifling the first conception of murther in his heart to promote it and give life unto it by the fall of a Prince and so hath received to himself condemnation ver 2. 2ly The Hebrews use many words signifying a Prince but I shall make use but of one and that is Naghidh carrying this sence Dux Princeps a Captain and chief Commander ordering disposing and giving rules to Souldiers to go out and come in to draw and to sheath their swords and such a Prince was Abner and a valiant Prince but whom Ajax cannot conquer Vlysses will undermine by treason For know ye not that a Prince and a great man is fallen And so I passe to the second Branch 2. As a great man As when Ephraim spake there was trembling Hos 13. 1. As when the Lion roars who will not be afraid Amos 3. 8. even so when this great man speaks not onely the inferiour beasts of the Forest but even the Lion himself coucheth as is clear in the 11 verse before the Text and if a bare hand upon the wall did so starcle Belshazzar in his cups when men are most Pot-valiant and in the Guard of his Princes and making metry with his wives and concubines that his countenance changed the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another Dan. 5. 6. How will Joab look How will Joab stand How will he shift when the great God shall make inquisition for this great mans blood Psal 9. 12. Davids heart smote him for cutting off but the Lap of Saul's garment 1 Sam. 24. 5 6. How then deeply may they be touched that had a hand in cutting off the head of the Lords anointed for the greater the person the greater is the sin in them that conspire his death Kings and Princes and great man in authority are termed gods by Gods own mouth Psal 82. 6 and to act Treason against such is to be treacherous to God himself for which cause God spared not the Angels that had finned but cast them down into hell and delivered them into chains of darknesse to be kept unto damnation 2 Pet. 2. 4. What Christ spake in another kind holds true in this Matth. 25. 40. In as much as ye have done it unto them ye have done it unto me Another particular is the manner of this great Princes death so he is not threatned a fall as God told Adam that if he should eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in that day he should die the death Gen. 2. 17. for then he would have looked about him either to prevent his fall or to make a good preparation for his soul against his fall as the wise Steward did for his body Duke 26. 4. but in the present tense occidit is fallen noting the suddennesse of his death and his unprovidenesse for his grave Joab not onely labouring to kill his body but so far as he could his soul too like as the Italian I read of endevoured to serve his enemy overcome in duel wherein we may observe 1. Prov. 12. 10. The mercies of the wicked are truel 2ly The uncertainty of our death we have one way into the world but many out Ferro peste fame vinclis algore calore Mille modis miseros mors rapit una viros as sometimes by fire famine plague water sword like Abner and Joab And this consideration should move us to look for that in every place which every where looks for us Pharaoh tasted of deaths Cup in the deep Sea Herod upon his throne Eglon sunning himself in his Summer Parlour Amnon when his heart was merry with wine Ahab in the battel Zenecharib in the house of his God And who amongst us can coast of to morrow for we know not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27. 1. Let it be our wisedom then 1. So to live as if we were alwaies dying and giving up our accounts to the great judge of Heaven and Earth of our several stewardships 2ly With Joseph in the time of famine with Solomons Pismire in the harvest time and with the wise Virgins in the acceptable time to provide oyl for our Lamps that we may be found a people ready prepared for our God when he shall knock at our door and call us 3ly To pray alwaies as the Church hath taught us From sudden death Good Lord deliver us 3ly The next particular is the time of Abners fall and that is said to be hoc die this day Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great man this day fallen in Israel This was a day of darknesse and of blacknesse a day of clouds and obscuritie Joel 2. 2. a day of heavinesse and mourning a stormy and watery day and in a word such a sad day to David and all Israel as if as one man they had combined to revive their Abner with their tears as Christ did Lazarus John 11. or if they could not do that for him yet they would witnesse to the world their love to him and how wonderfully they lamented his losse To love a rich man and a great man living is no news the living dog being better than the dead Lion Eccles 9.
so near to a man or go so near to his heart as bene facere male audire to do well and to be rewarded ill by a Servant or any other ingratefull wretches The Oxe knoweth his owner Isay 1. 3. and for a man not to know his master and maker is worse than brutish and deserves nigro carbone notari to be branded for a vile man indeed A houshold enemie is noted by Christ for a sharp plague Mat. 10. 36. and yet such is our Abners condition to fall by such Joab had Zimri peace that slew his Master 2 Kin. 9. 31. then look for no peace living or dying Obs Occidit is fallen from whence may be observed that death is no deâ—th to them that die in the Lord. It is but as a sleep from which they shall be awakened at the sound of the last Trumpet And in this sence saith Christ to his disciples John 11. 11. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go to wake him up It is but as a falling to the earth from whence we through Gods might recover our selves and rise again It is but as Requietorium a Bed of rest as Isay shews 57. 2 They shall rest in their Beds every one that walketh before him and men go not to bed to lie there for ever but some short time It was said by a Jester unto a great man If I fall I can rise again but if thou fallest thou wilt never rise more but this holds true of the faithfull in general Dan. 12. 2. they shall rise to everlasting life thus David tells not his servants A Prince or a great man is dead but is fallen being assured that he should rise again like Antheus with greater strength and courage and honour and glory than ever he enjoyed before like Damascens wise yet deposed King as we read of in M. Bunnyes resolutions Vse Here is comfort for Abners friends that although his body is sown in corrupion yet it shall be raised in incorruption If it be sown in dishonour yet it shall be raised in glory 1 Cor. 15. 42 43. that although he was conquered by Treason yet he is Conquerour over all his enemies and greatest Traytors death sin and Satan that although he be fallen yet he is mounted up aloft upon the wings of Cherubims and glorious angels like Lazarus into the bosome of his father that although he be losse to them yet their losse is his gain for instead of war he finds peace instead of sorrow joy unspeakable instead of vexation of spirit The things which eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither have entred into the heart of man 1 Cor. 2. 9. instead of a corruptible Crown an incorruptible Chap. 9. 25. Instead of a Crown of thorns a Crown of ease instead of an earthly Kingdome a Kingdome which endureth for ever even the Kingdom of God and of Christ instead of earthly treasures heavenly instead of buffetings reproaches spittings in the face kisses with sweet embracings Instead of Apage Euge be gone We will not have this man reign longer over us welcome and well done good and faithfull servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord Matth. 25. 23. instead of the society of beasts such as Paul fought withall at Ephesus the fellowship of glorified Saints and Angels Iacob in his dream saw a Ladder the foot thereof stood upon earth but the top reached up to heaven Gen. 28 12. and by this Ladder our Abner our Prince like an Angel of God is ascended up thither Question not this O man whosoever thou art for he was living a living pattern of vertue and godlinesse to all 1 For sobriety for who could detect him of drunkennesse 2ly of chastity for who could blemish him of uncleanesse Posse nolle nobile What Castle by promotion or bribes or command cannot a great man scale and not to subdue it to his power and lust is Prince-like indeed 3ly Of Piety Religion being diligent in Prayer sincere in his devotions and admirably attentive in hearing of Sermons and that sometimes in my eye 4ly Of knowledge and learning witness his Book entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which few Bishops with all their learning and reading could outrun and witness his Disputation with the Scotch Minister who shall be nameless and whom he so foiled by arguments that whereas before he was his bitter enemy in Pulpit and out of it he set forth unto the world his own recantation and his Princes vindication to undeceive his people 5ly Of bounty and liberality to his followers I and to some ingratefull and undeserving followers 6ly Of patience for after the example of Christ 1 Pet. 2. 23. Being reviled he reviled not a-again when he suffered he threatned not but committed it to him that judgeth righteously 7ly Of magnanimity being as daring as a lion as some of his own Captains can speak and would have proved it in red letters if he might have been suffered wrote with a pen of iron 8ly Of compassion lamenting the losse of his enemies as if their blood had been drawn from his own heart Iulian honoured those Souldiers that died in his war and service but he those that died in the war against him 9ly Of affection to his wife so that as Solomon speaks of the good woman I may truly aver of him Prov. 31. 29. Many husbands have done vertuously but thou surmountest them all 1. For fidelity to her bed a rare thing to be found in great men 2. For affability and kindness to her â—â—ving her as his own soul 3 For indulgencie over his and her children Now laying all these together as so many steps or stairs or stakes of the Ladder doubtlesse his works follow him Rev. 14. 13 and he is passed and gone to your father and his father to his God and your God Wherefore comfort ye one another with these words 1 Thes 4 18. And as Christ said to the daughters of Ierusalem Luke 23. 28 Weep not for him but for your selves left as a prey to the wolf hurrying and worrying Christs flock Vse 2. Abner is fallen As the Widow of Zarephath spake to Elijah 1 Kings 17. 18. O thou man of God art thou come to call my sins to remembrance and to slay my son Even so Abners fall should put Israel in mind of their sins which have pulled him down from his Throne and of a sudden Repentance lest they follow him to the grave If old Eli was punished for the iniquity of his sons 1 Sam. 3. 12 13 14. then by the same rule a Father of his Countrey may suffer for the wickedness of his children and people Obs 3. Hoc die This day from whence I observe that all men have their falling day The Sun that now shines will set the Moon that now is at Full will wain the see that now flows will ebbe After a Spring will follow an Autumn after a Summer comes a hard Winter and after the green blade comes a
The bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their dayes And so as Cushi said ver 32. Let all the enemies of the Lord my King and all that rise up against him be as that young man Absalom is Obs 2. The sin of Patricide even in the very heart is a monstrous abominable and detestable sin to God and man for the will stands for the deed with God Fecit quod potuit as Christ of Mary Magdelen goes for current execution A Roman being asked why amongst all their good Laws there was none against killling of Parents answered that there was no true Roman so unnatural but in Israel there was an unnatural child sprung from a good stock that seeks his fathers life He that said Ecles 10. 20. Curse not the King no not in thy thought surely commands Absalom and every one not to imagine the least evil against his King father We say of some ungracious sons they are sick of their father and Absalom was troubled with the same disease but fell short of his expectation the gallows giving him his full reward and for this David wept c. In David let us consider these two general parts 1. His Passion And the King was moved and went up to the Chamber over the gate and wept and as he went thus be said O my son Absalom my son my son Absolom 2ly His compassion Would God I had died for thee O Absalom my son my son In his Passion consider with me these particulars 1. The force and violence of his passion the which struck him like a dart to the very heart that he remained for the present senseless and speechless like him that came to the Wedding-Feast without a Wedding garment Matth. 2◠12. And the King was moved Yea the Original speaks it much moved Leves loquuntur curae ingentes stupent saith Seneca where the waters are shallow there they are rough and murmure when the deeps are smooth and silent the tidings and like Ahijahs heavy tidings to the wife of Ieroboam 1 Kings 14. 6. of his white boys Absaloms death overwhelmed his spirit and amased his soul as he speaks Ps 143. 4. that as if he had been smitten dumb like Zacharias he held his peace like Aaron when Nadab and Abiha his sonnes were devoured with fire from the Lord. And the King was much moved 2ly His breathing and reviving after his grievous passion as if like Lazarus he had been awakened out of his grave And he went up to the chamber over the gate and wept wherein let us observe 1. His motion And went c. 2ly His action and wept In the first consider 1. Terminum à quo v. 24. 2ly Terminum ad quem as here 1. Whither he went he went up to the chamber not to frolick it not to revel it not to commit adultery as he had done before for how should he then make mirth as it is Ezek. 21. 10. but to fast and to weep and to mourn which was Gods call to him in that day as it is Isa 22. 12. 2ly The place where the chamber was over the gate The Kings first seat was below between the two gates v. 24. a place very suitable to the condition he was in and the news he received from Cushi but then when he heard what God had done to him he mounts upward 1. Either to make his peace with God that had thus tried his heart and reins and searched him to the quick in cutting off his darling Absalom as he had cut off Vriah the beloved husband of Bathsheba or 2ly That as he was a King so he might not discover so much weakness in himself that he who could govern a great people could not guide and govern his own passions Thus as one said Difficilius est bene regnare quam vincere It is a harder matter for a man to reign well than to win all Even so seipsum vincere for a man to overcome himself and his unbrideled affections is no easie task although commendable but how ever if David cannot subdue them yet he is unwilling the world should take notice of his imbecillity and therefore went up to the Chamber over the gate or 3ly He was a man of war and was well acquainted with the bloody event of war and so as Nehemiah spake chap. 6. 11. Should such a man as I flee even so for such an one as he to be seen to melt for an outside scar or wound would have much blemished and stained his honour and therefore he weeps in secret for his Absolom as Jeremiah did for the pride and captivitie of the people 13. 17. or 4ly That the world should not take notice of his too too carnal affection towards his dear Son It is true he was his joy the apple of his eye and he thought him of all the birds of the nest the fairest and the pretiest Yet in regard of his profession of godlinesse he was unwilling that any should observe his Carnality as in the best grain there lurks some chaff and therefore he takes his Chamber to roar out to himself alone his sad grievance O Absolom my Son my Son Absolom 2. As we have looked upon his motion and went c. so let us cast an eye upon his action and wept If he had wept for the afflictions of Zion or for his sins or that God did hide his face from him Psal 30. 7. this had not been blamable but for to weep for the losse of such a Son such a Rebel and Traytor and such an unparalleld Caitiff this is unexcusable From whence we learn Obs 1. The best have their failings for saith Solomon 1 Kin. 8. 46. There is no man that sineth not and the just man falleth seven times in a day And so we ought to pity support and comfort one another Knowing whereof we are made remembring that we are but dust as God hath compassion on us Psal 103. 13 14. Obs That the best meat may be our poyson if not well Cooked weeping is good in its own nature but adulterous weeping springing from carnalitie is stark naught There are four-fold sorts of tears according to the ground on which the seed was sowen 1. Lacrymae doloris grief tears 2ly Lacrymae compassionis fellow-feeling tears 3ly Lacrymae paenitentiae repenting tears 4ly Lacrymae murmurationis grumbling or murmuring tears And so of these in order 1. Grief tears are those which we shed every one in his private and particular cross and affliction when any evil befalls us as we are never unfurnished of occasions from the Cradle to the Grave Low grounds are commonly moist and waterie Man that is born of a woman is full of trouble and miserie saith Job 14. 1. He comes into the world weeping He goes forth weeping He sows in tears Psal 126. 5 6. and his Exitus end is crying like the Shunamites child Moses in Cunabilis in his swadling Clouts wept Exo. 2. 6. Ishmael in Infantia in his
go to heaven that had all his time served the Devil on earth and therefore of the two he thought his own case best and that he was most fit to die and so if God had so pleased chose to die I would God I had died for thee From whence we learn Obs That death which to the ungodly is the King of terrors Job 18. 14. to the righteous is a welcom guest at all times Absalom may be afraid to die because the wages of his wickedness are alwayes ready to be paid him which is eternal death of body and soul for ever Rom. 6. 23. When good David shall willingly resign up his soul into the hands of his Creator for he knows his end will be peace Psal 37. 37. Oecolampadius being ready to depart as old Simeons Phrase is comforted his friends that stood howling about him with these words Non mori timeo quia bonum habeo Dominum I am not afraid to die because I have served a good God He that fears God shall never need to fear death for Christ hath pulled out the sting thereof that he may tryumphantly singwith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin but thanks be unto God which hath given me victory through our Lord Jesus Christ The Reasons why death is welcome to the godly at all times are Reas 1. Because it is an end of their sorrows and the beginning and entrance into the joy of their Lord Matth. 25. 23. It is the Exodus of their miseries and Genesis of their comforts It is as a Bridge over which they must passe into life as the Israelites must go thorow the red Sea before they can get into Canaan a Land flowing with milk and hony and all good things wherefore they rejoice to see that day as old Simeon did when he embraced Christ in his arms Luke 2. â—8 Reas 2. Because they are a people ready prepared for the Lord Luk. 1. 17. they are not fool-hardy like others who put far away from them the evil dayes that they may boldly approach unto the seat of iniquity Amos 6. 3. but they are still thinking of death and looking for death and providing for death that whensoever it comes early or late at the Cock crowing at midnight or the dawning of the day they may enter into the rest remaines for the people of God Heb. 4. 9. Reas 3 Because they have Jachin and Boaz faith and a good conscience to support them from sinking under the pains of death And this made the thief on the Crosse to die joyfully believing Christs words that he should that day be with him in Paradise Luk. 23. 43. this made St. Steven to laugh in death beholding the heavens opened and Christ standing at the right hand of the Father ready to receive his spirit Acts 7. 55 56. and this made David so willing to die for Absalom because he believed that his sinnes were covered Psal 32. 1. Obj. Did David well to wish for death or to die for his sonne Answ 1. Mortem optare malum formidare pejus It is not good to wish for death but worse to fear it It is an argument of great weakness to dispute with God much more to quarrel with God and most of all to seem to be wiser than God We pray and David prayed Thy will O Father be done and yet here he seems to prefer his own will before Gods Would God I had died for thee Absalom So that as the Apostle speaks James 3. 10. This thing ought not to be 2ly David did savour much more in this wish of flesh and blood than of spirit for that altogether submits with patience to suffer and bear what the good pleasure of the Lord is to bring to passe when the other grumbles and murmurs and repines at every thing contraries their humours This was Davids case and was his failing as the best want not theirs Vse Speaks the true happy state of a godly man He will not be afraid of evil tidings for his heart is fixed and he believeth in the Lord Psal 112. 7. when the wicked trepidant ad arundinis umbram tremble at the shaking of a leaf and flee when none pursueth then the righteous are as bold as a Lion Prov. 28. 1. The very thought of death strikes the ungodly as dead when they that fear the Lord like the Swan sing the sweetest song in death and the song of the Saints Rev. 22. 20. Come Lord Jesus come quickly The wicked when they are visited with sickness which is deaths Paratour to summon them into the Court for to give up their great accompt like the unjust Steward Luk. 16. 2. they roar and howl and crie like the hog which thinks he is never taken but to have his throat cut when the upright and just look up and lift up their heads with joy and comfort for their redemption draweth near Luke 21. 28. When the wicked call to the mountaines to fall upon them and to the hills to cover them and hide them from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6. 16. The righteous shout for joy like those that divide the spoyl and rejoyce according to joy in harvest Isa 9. 3. for they shall be gathered like wheat into the Lords Garner when the chaff shall be burned with unquenchable fire Mat. 3. 12. And as Balaam said Numb 23. 10. O that my latter end might be like his And so thus much of the first person spoken of in the text David with his passion and compassion 2ly The next person is Absalom And in him let us consider 1. His Name 2ly His Person 3ly His Life 4ly His Death Of these in order 1. His Name and that was Abishalom which signifies his fathers peace He was so sweet a Babe that his father promised himself great matters and hope in him but he proved the greatest crosse that ever he did bear So that we cannot say Vt nomen sic natura as Abigail did of Nabal As his name was so was he For he was a moth a canker a thorn in his fathers eye and the greatest disturber of his quiet and rest and ease and peace that ever he was acquainted with that he is constrained to flee and shift for his life lest he be devoured by his Sonnes sword 2 Sam. 13. 14. 2ly His person And so he was the fairest of ten thousand for from the sole of the foot to the top of his head there was no blemish in him 2 Sam. 14. 25. He had a fair body but a foul soul and heart like the Swan which hath a white feather but a black skin Or like Mausolus his tombe or the painted Sepulchres in the Gospel glorious and beautiful without but full of rottenness and stinking bones within Or like a white glove over a scabby hand Or like the Pharisees