pray thee be against me and against my fathers house The better any man is the more sensible hee is of his owne wretchednesse Many of those Sheepe were Wolues to Dauid What had they done They had done that which was the occasion of Dauids sinne and the cause of their owne punishment But that gracious penitent knew his owne sinne he knew not theirs and therefore can say I haue sinned What haue they done It is safe accusing where we may be boldest and are best acquainted our selues Oh the admirable charitie of Dauid that would haue ingrossed the plague to himselfe and his house from the rest of Israel and sues to interpose himselfe betwixt his people and the vengeance Hee that had put himselfe vpon the pawes of the Beare and Lion for the rescue of his Sheepe will now cast himselfe vpon the sword of the Angell for the preseruation of Israel There was hope in those conflicts in this yeeldance there could be nothing but death Thus didst thou O sonne of Dauid the true and great Shepheard of thy Church offer thy selfe to death for them who had their hands in thy bloud who both procured thy death and deserued their owne Here hee offred himselfe that had sinned for those whom hee professeth to haue not done euill thou that didst no sinne vouchsauedst to offer thy selfe for vs that were all sinne He offered and escaped thou offeredst and diedst and by thy death wee liue and are freed from euerlasting destruction But O Father of all mercies how little pleasure doest thou take in the bloud of sinners it was thine owne pitty that inhibited the destroyer Ere Dauid could see the Angell thou hadst restrayned him It is sufficient hold now thine hand If thy compassion did not both withhold and abridge thy iudgements what place were there for vs out of hell How easie and iust had it been for God to haue made the shutting vp of that third euening red with bloud His goodnesse repents of the slaughter and cals for that Sacrifice wherwith he will be appeased An Altar must bee built in the threshing-floore of Araunah the Iebusite Lo in that very Hill where the Angel held the sword of Abraham from killing his Sonne doth God now hold the Sword of the Angell from killing his people Vpon this very ground shall the Temple after stand heere shall be the holy Altar which shall send vp the acceptable oblations of Gods people in succeeding generations O God what was the threshing-floore of a Iebusite to thee aboue all other soyles What vertue what merit was in this earth As in places so in persons it is not to be heeded what they are but what thou wilt That is worthiest which thou pleasest to accept Rich and bountifull Araunah is ready to meete Dauid in so holy a motion and munificently offers his Sion for the place his Oxen for the Sacrifice his Carts and Ploughes and other Vtensils of his Husbandry for the wood Two franke hearts are well met Dauid would buy Araunah would giue The Iebusite would not sell Dauid will not take Since it was for God and to Dauid Araunah is loth to bargaine Since it was for God Dauid wisheth to pay deare I will not offer burnt Offering to the Lord my God of that which doth cost mee nothing Heroicall spirits doe well become eminent persons Hee that knew it was better to giue then receiue would not receiue but giue There can be no deuotion in a niggardly heart As vnto dainty palates so to the godly soule that tastes sweetest that costs most Nothing is deare enough for the Creator of all things It is an heartlesse piety of those base-minded Christians that care onely to serue God good cheape Contemplations THE SEVENTEENTH BOOKE Adonijah defeated Dauids end and Salomons beginning The execution of Ioab and Shimei Salomons choice with his iudgement vpon the two Harlots The Temple Salomon with the Queene of Sheba Salomons Defection TO MY WORTHILY MVCH HONOVRED FRIEND Sr HENRY MILDMAY Knight Master of the Iewell-house all grace and peace SIR Besides all priuate obligations your very name challengeth from me all due seruices of loue and honour If I haue receiued mercy to beare any fruit next vnder heauen I may thanke the stocke wherein I was ymped which was set by no other then the happie hand of your right Honorable Grandfather How haue I so long forborne the publique Testimonie of my iust gratulations and thankfull respects to so true an heire of his noble vertues Pardon me that I pay this debt so late and accept of this parcell of my well-meant labours Wherein you shall see SALOMON both in his rising and setting his rising hopefull and glorious his declination fearefull You shall see the proofes of his early graces of mercie in sparing ADONIIAH and ABIATHAR of iustice in punishing that riuall of his with IOAB and SHIMEI of wisdome in his award betwixt the two harlots and the administration of his Court and state of pietie in building and hallowing the Temple all dashed in his fall repaired in his repentance I haue no cause to misdoubt either the acceptation or vse of these mine hie pitched thoughts which together with your selfe and your worthy and vertuous Lady I humbly commend to the care and blessing of the hiest who am bound by your worth and merits to be euer Your syncerely and thankfully deuoted in all obseruance IOS HALL Contemplations ADONIJAH Defeated DAVID had not so carefully husbanded his yeeres as to maintaine a vigorous age he was therefore what through warres what with sorrowes what with sicknesse decrepit betimes By that time he was seuentie yeeres old his naturall heate was so wasted that his clothes could not warme him how many haue we knowne of more strength at more age The holiest soule dwells not in an inpregnable fort If the reuenging Angell spared Dauid yet age and Death will not spare him Neither his new altar nor his costly sacrifice can be of force against decay of nature Nothing but death can preuent the weaknesses of age None can blame a people if when they haue a good King they are desirous to hold him Dauids seruants and subiects haue commended vnto his bed a faire young virgin not for the heat of lust but of life that by this meanes they might make an outward supplie of fuell for that vitall fire which was well-neere extinguished with age As it is in the market or the stage so it is in our life One goes in another comes out when Dauid was withering Adonijah was in his blossome That sonne as he was next to Absalom both in the beautie of his body and the time of his birth so was he too like him in practise He also taking aduantage of his fathers infirmitie will be caruing himselfe of the kingdome of Israel That he might no whit vary from his patterne he gets him also Charets and horse-men and fiftie men to run before him These two Absalom and Adonijah were
vpon thy feet nor the Cananite crying to thee in the way not the blushing adulteresse nor the odious Publican nor the forswearing Disciple nor the persecutor of Disciples nor thine owne executioners how can we be vnwelcome to thee if we come with teares in our eies faith in our hearts restitution in our hands Oh Sauiour our brests are too oft shut vpon thee thy bosome is euer open to vs we are as great sinners as the consorts of these Publicans why should we despaire of a roome at thy Table The squint-eid Pharisees look a-crosse at all the actions of Christ where they should haue admired his mercie they cauill at his holinesse They said to his Disciples why eateth your master with Publicans and sinners They durst not say thus to the Master whose answer they knew would soone haue conuinced them This winde they hoped might shake the weake faith of the Disciples They speake where they may be most likely to hurt All the crue of Satanicall instruments haue learnt this craft of their old Tutor in Paradise Wee cannot reuerence that man whom we thinke vnholy Christ had lost the hearts of his followers if they had entertained the least suspicion of his impuritie which the murmur of these enuious Pharisees would faine insinuate He cannot be worthy to be followed that is vncleane He cannot but be vncleane that eateth with Publicans and sinners Proud and foolish Pharisees ye fast whiles Christ eateth ye fast in your houses whiles Christ eateth in other mens ye fast with your owne whiles Christ feasts with sinners but if ye fast in pride whiles Christ eats in humilitie if ye fast at home for merit or popularitie whiles Christ feasts with sinners for compassion for edification for conuersion your fast is vncleane his feast is holy ye shall haue your portion with hypocrites when those Publicans and sinners shall be glorious When these censurers thought the Disciples had offended they speake not to them but to their Master Why doe thy Disciples that which is not lawfull now when they thought Christ offended they speake not to him but to the Disciples Thus like true make-bates they goe about to make a breach in the familie of Christ by setting off the one from the other The quicke cie of our Sauiour hath soone espied the packe of their fraud and therefore he takes the words out of the mouthes of his Disciples into his owne They had spoke of Christ to the Disciples Christ answers for the Disciples concerning himselfe The whole need not the Physitian but the sicke According to the two qualities of pride scorne and ouer-weening these insolent Pharisees ouer-rated their owne holinesse contemned the noted vnholinesse of others As if themselues were not tainted with secret sinnes as if others could not be cleansed by repentance The searcher of hearts meets with their arrogance and findes those iusticiaries sinfull those sinners iust The spirituall Physitian findes the sicknesse of those sinners wholsome the health of those Pharisees desperate that wholsome because it calls for the helpe of the Physitian this desperate because it needs not Euery soule is sicke those most that feele it not Those that feele it complaine those that complaine haue cure those that feele it not shall finde themselues dying ere they can wish to recouer Oh blessed Physitian by whose stripes we are healed by whose death we liue happie are they that are vnder thy hands sicke as of sin so of sorrow for sin it is as vnpossible they should die as it is vnpossible for thee to want either skill or power or mercy Sin hath made vs sicke vnto death make thou vs but as sicke of our sinnes we are as safe as thou art gracious Christ among the Gergesens or Legion and the Gadarene heard I Doe not any where finde so furious a Demoniacke as amongst the Gergesens Satan is most tyrannous where he is obeyed most Christ no sooner sailed ouer the lake then he was met with two possessed Gadarenes The extreme rage of the one hath drowned the mention of the other Yet in the midst of all that crueltie of the euill spirit there was sometimes a remission if not an intermission of vexation If Oft-times Satan caught him then sometimes in the same violence he caught him not It was no thanke to that malignant one who as he was indefatigable in his executions so vnmeasurable in his malice but to the mercifull ouer-ruling of God who in a gratious respect to the weaknesse of his poore creatures limits the spightfull attempts of that immortall enemie and takes off this Mastiue whiles we may take breath Hee who in his iustice giues way to some onsets of Satan in his mercie restraines them so regarding our deseruings that withall he regards our strength If way should be giuen to that malicious spirit we could not subsist no violent thing can indure and if Satan might haue his will we should no moment be free He can be no more weary of doing euill to vs then God is of doing good Are we therefore preserued from the malignitie of these powers of darknesse Blessed be our strong helper that hath not giuen vs ouer to be a prey vnto their teeth Or if some scope haue beene giuen to that enuious one to afflict vs hath it beene with fauourable limitations it is thine only mercy ô God that hath chained and muzzled vp this band-dog so as that he may scratch vs with his pawes but cannot pierce vs with his fangs Farre far is this from our deserts who had too well merited a iust abdication from thy fauour and protection and an interminable seisure by Satan both in soule and bodie Neither doe I here see more matter of thankes to our God for our immunitie from the externall iniuries of Satan then occasion of serious inquirie into his power ouer vs for the spirituall I see some that thinke themselues safe from this ghostly tyrannie because they sometimes finde themselues in good moods free from the suggestions of grosse sins much more from the commission Vaine men that feed themselues with so false and friuolous comforts will they not see Satan through the iust permission of God the same to the soule in mentall possessions that he is to the body in corporall The worst demoniack hath his lightsome respites not euer tortured not euer furious betwixt whiles he might looke soberly talke sensibly moue regularly It is a wofull comfort that we sinne not alwaies There is no master so barbarous as to require of his slaue a perpetuall vnintermitted toyle yet though he sometimes eate sleepe rest he is a vassall still If that wicked one haue drawne vs to a customarie perpetration of euill and haue wrought vs to a frequent iteration of the same sinne this is gage enough for our seruitude matter enough for his tyrannie and insultation He that would be our tormentor alwaies cares only to be sometimes our Tempter The possessed is bound as with the inuisible fetters
was still courteous to thy followers affable to sutors plausible to all Israel only to thee he is cruell Wherefore are those armes if the cause of the quarrell must be a motiue of mercy Yet thou saist Deale gently with the young man Absalom for my sake Euen in the holiest Parents nature may be guilty of an iniurious tendernesse of a bloudy indulgence Or whether shall we not rather thinke this was done in type of that vnmeasurable mercy of the true king and redeemer of Israel who prayed for his persecutors for his murderers and euen whiles they were at once scorning and killing him could say Father forgiue them for they know not what they do If we be sonnes we are vngratious we are rebellious yet still is our heauenly Father thus compassionately regardfull of vs Dauid was not sure of the successe there was great inequalitie in the number Absaloms forces were more then double to his It might haue come to the contrary issue that Dauid should haue beene forced to say Deale gently with the father of Absalom but in a supposition of that victorie which only the goodnesse of his cause bade him hope for he saith Deale gently with the young man Absalom as for vs we are neuer but vnder mercy our God needs no aduantages to sweepe vs from the earth any moment yet he continues that life and those powers to vs whereby we prouoke him and bids his Angels deale kindly with vs and beare vs in their armes whiles we lift vp our hands and bend our tongues against heauen O mercie past the comprehension of all finite spirits and only to be conceiued by him whose it is Neuer more resembled by any earthly affection then by this of his Deputie and Type Deale gently with the young man Absalom for my sake The battell is ioyned Dauids followers are but an handfull to Absaloms How easily may the fickle multitude be transported to the wrong side What they wanted in abettors is supplied in the cause Vnnaturall ambition drawes the sword of Absalom Dauids a necessarie and iust defence They that in simplicitie of heart followed Absalom cannot in malice of heart persecute the father of Absalom with what courage could any Israelite draw his sword against a Dauid or on the other side who can want courage to fight for a righteous Soueraigne and father against the conspiracie of a wicked sonne The God of hosts with whom it is all one to saue with many or with few takes part with iustice and lets Israel feele what it is to beare armes for a traiterous vsurper The sword deuoures twentie thousand of them and the wood deuoures more then the sword It must needs be a very vniuersall rebellion wherein so many perished What vertue or merits can assure the hearts of the vulgar when so gracious a Prince findes so many reuolters Let no man looke to prosper by rebellion the very thickets and stakes and pits and wild beasts of the wood shall conspire to the punishment of traitors Amongst the rest see how a fatall oke hath singled out the ring-leader of this hatefull insurrection and will at once serue for his hangman and gallowes by one of those spreading armes snatching him away to speedy execution Absalom was comely and he knew it well enough His haire was no small peece of his beautie nor matter of his pride It was his wont to cut it once a yeere not for that it was too long but too heauie his heart could haue borne it longer if his necke had not complained And now the iustice of God hath platted an halter of those lockes Those tresses had formerly hangd loosely disheueld on his shoulders now he hangs by them He had wont to weigh his haire and was proud to finde it so heauie now his haire poyseth the weight of his bodie and makes his burden his torment It is no maruell if his owne haire turnd traitor to him who durst rise vp against his father That part which is misused by man to sinne is commonly imployed by God to reuenge The reuenge that it worketh for God makes amends for the offence whereto it is drawne against God The very beast wheron Absalom sat as wearie to beare so vnnaturall a burden resignes ouer his lode to the tree of Iustice There hangs Absalom betweene heauen and earth as one that was hated and abandoned both of earth and heauen As if God meant to prescribe this punishment for traitors Absalom Achitophel and Iudas die all one death So let them perish that dare lift vp their hand against Gods anointed The honest souldier sees Absalom hanging in the Oke and dares not touch him his hands were held with the charge of Dauid Beware that none touch the young man Absalom Ioab vpon that intelligence sees him and smites him with no lesse then three darts What the souldier forbore in obedience the Captaine doth in zeale not fearing to preferre his Soueraignes safetie to his command and more tendering the life of a King and peace of his Countrie then the weake affection of a father I dare not sit Iudge betwixt this zeale and that obedience betwixt the captaine and the Souldier the one was a good subiect the other a good Patriot the one loued the King the other loued Dauid and out of loue disobeyed the one meant as well as the other sped As if God meant to fulfill the charge of his Anointed without any blame of his subiects it pleased him to execute that immediate reuenge vpon the rebell which would haue dispatcht him without hand or dart only the Mule and the Oke conspired to this execution but that death would haue required more leasure then it was safe for Israel to giue and still life would giue hope of rescue to cut off all feares Ioab lends the Oke three darts to helpe forward so needfull a worke of iustice All Israel did not afford so firme a friend to Absalom as Ioab had beene who but Ioab had suborned the wittie widow of Tekoah to sue for the recalling of Absalom from his three yeeres exile Who but he went to fetch him from Geshur to Ierusalem Who but he fetcht him from his house at Ierusalem whereto he had beene two yeeres confined to the face to the lips of Dauid Yet now he that was his solicitour for the Kings fauour is his executioner against the Kings charge With honest hearts all respects either of bloud or friendship cease in the case of treason well hath Ioab forgotten himselfe to be friend to him who had forgotten himselfe to be a sonne Euen ciuilly the King is our common father our countrie our common mother nature hath no priuate relations which should not gladly giue place to these He is neither father nor sonne nor brother nor friend that conspires against the common parent Well doth he who spake parables for his masters sonne now speake darts to his Kings enemie and pierces that heart which was false to so good a father