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
joy in Absalom he cannot be master of them nor command them when he is dead hee will bee fond whilst he hath Absolom no body must touch him the winde must not blow vpon him therefore hee will extremely lament when hee loseth him and no body must comfort him because his Absalom is not Adde vnto this in the third place the deceitfulnes of our owne heart which doth but cosen vs and the subtiltie of the diuell who to the end he may carrie vs headlong with the whirlewind of passion into a sea of troubles will beare vs in hand that wee haue reason to grieue and to bee passionate Thus Ionah stands vnto his cause and beeing drunken with passion he cannot see but he hath the better of God Thus Dauid had a man closed hith him and asked him what he meant to be so loud would quickly haue beene his talsemaster what would hee haue said would you haue me vnsensible of such a stroke as this is there no thing to be done by the parēt when the Lord thus singles out his child ought not the father to take notice of it especially I must sith I did not the part of a father to him he should ere this haue beene executed for his sinnes I let him run on but now the Lord hath met with him and mee too to my woe It is iust vpon me and I am perswaded I ought not to let it passe without some vse I must greeue and yet were I sure his soule were now in heauen I would care the lesse but alas the example is searefull so to liue so to die Faire words good Dauid he speakes as he thinkes good man but he knowes not his owne heart is this the cause that you would haue died for him was it because he had sineed because you had failed in duetie alas what could your death do for his soule or your owne discharges no no hee was your darling you cannot spare him you must alwaies beare him in your eie hence those teares and thus we run on many times in a tale and would faine perswade our selues that what we do is done with iudgement when God knowes our sorrow is as full of flesh as Dauids here was and thus what through the errrour of our minds and disorder of our affections and deceitfulnesse of our owne hearts and Sathans cunning it comes to passe that we are in the depth of sorrow and passion as the Aramites in the mids of Samaria before we know where we be Now this being so that the best of vs all are subject to immoderate sorrow for outward things we must not onely learne to beare with one another in this our common frailty but further euery one for himselfe must fence and mound his heart against these absurd passions and excessiue griefes Many outward things be so base in respect of man that they should not once moue him they be not worthy his cares or thoughts vnfit to belodged in the meanest roome of mans soule to name them the same day with man were to set them aboue their place to bestow teares on these were to wash stables with sweet water not worth the while nor the cost All of them are but finite none absolutely good and therefore our griefe for them must be limited with respects and vsed with great moderation els it will degenerate and turne carnall Neither will it serue the turne to plead that our sadnesse hurts no body but our selues and that therein we are enemies to none but to our selues for were this a true plea yet were it vnsufficient for who gaue vs a commission to hurt our owne persons and to practise murther vpon our owne bodies but this is not all for besides a priuate wrong wee rob God of his glorie and men of that seruice we owe vnto them indeed worldly sorrow makes vs both vnthankful to God and vnprofitable to man and vnnaturall to our selues as hence might be shewed but we cannot stand on all and therefore let vs striue against it Let vs will some man say let vs if we can but how should we be armed against the excesse of worldly sorrow can you giue me any preseruatiues against it Answere some we will many we might but so farre as we practise these following we shall be freed of this vnprofitable guest 1. Let vs denie our selues in all worldly matters and not engage our affections vnto them either to be eagerly set vpon them when we haue them in chase or to bee foolishly puft vp with them whē we haue them in possession for if we do not leaue them till they leaue vs it is sure they will leaue vs in the lurch in the end witnesse Dauid Absalom was gone ere Dauid had denied himselfe in Absalom and therefore now here is nothing but roaring whereas if he before had sacrificed his name and crucified his affection he would neuer haue stood vpon those termes ô my sonne my son what will the world say that my sonne should come to this but he would haue comforted himselfe in his GOD as elsewhere he did and said It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth best to him and so if wee could denie our selues in our husbands wiues children names c. we would neuer take on so when wee part my son my son my husband my child c but as we were not doted with them whilst we had them so neither would we be discouraged when we lost them But heere is the misery let vs see it and amend it we lay the whole strength of our affectiōs vpon the things we fancy as the creeple laies his ful waight vpon his crutches and therefore when they are taken from vs as Pharaohs chariot wheeles we are downe vpon all foure and sticke in the mud yea we set on our affections as the Bee his sting with all our might and strength wee conuey vnto others our very bowels and hearts and therefore when they are gone we are heartles We see the errour what is the remedy Reioice as if we rereioiced not and then we shall mourne as if wee mourned not be not too glad when the sun shines and then thou wilt not be too sad when a cloud comes To this we must adde a second thing which in part hath beene alreadie toucht and that is often to thinke on crosses before they come and to promise our hearts no great matters from the world for what is the reason that wee grow so passionate sometimes but this ô I neuer lookt for this I neuer dreamed of such a day yea but whose fault and folly is that not to looke for crosses on the sea why should wee not thinke to be crossed as well as Dauid and as soone as Dauid Absalom was lusty in the morning dead ere night may not the like crosses steale suddenly on vs but this was Dauids owne errour he thought when God had giuē him a fine child that hee must needs bring comfort
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
is smitten 〈◊〉 when our father is railed vpon nay shall Dauid 〈…〉 out my son my son for a wretch that would haue kâ—â—â— hâ—â—â— and shall not we mourne ouer Gods son whom wâ—â—â—â—â— mine yes brethren we must mourne if we will be comforted 〈◊〉 make Gods case ours if he shall make ours his which 〈…〉 then behold what comfort is here offered for 〈◊〉 is there such affection in an earthly father what then may we expect at Gods hand who is an heauenly father whose loue as farre exceedeth ours as the heauens are aboue the earth can Dauid I lead you no further loue Absaloms such a child because a child can his heart came after him can he be pacified toward him at Ioabs request when he hath slaine his sonne and is it not possible that GOD should be frieÌ„ds with v8 at Christs request though we haue slaine our selues and the Lord of life Can Dauid loue Absalom when he hath defiled his concubines when he seeks his kingdome his life can he then die for him when Absalom would be his death can hee doe all this though his sonne doth not submit doth not repent doth not craue pardon but is vp in armes against him and will not God whose loue is infinite for Christs sake forgiue his children when they come vnto him coÌ„fesse their fault be sorry for it and desire amendment O my brethren do not we wrong God exceedingly when wee will not yeeld him as kind as Dauid say thou hast beene as bad as euer Absalom was vnholy vncleane vnnaturall would not Dauid be friends with Absalom if he had confessed his fault and shall we doubt of God O but Dauid was fond God is iust yea but the question is whether Dauid hath more fond loue than God hath true loue say it were his fault here is the point is there so much badnes in Dauid as there is goodnes in God nay I put it vpon thy selfe whatcan thy child doe but thou canss pardon the trespasse against thee so now he will behon 〈◊〉 wherefore then for conconclusion this I say what soeuer thy sinnes be never 〈◊〉 downe discouraged despairein thy selfe but ever hope the best of God so long 〈◊〉 itself his meanes thou hearest that he is a mâ—â—â—s ust 〈◊〉 do now as Benbadad did to Ahab humbl◠〈…〉 confessethy sinnes bewaile them 〈◊〉 off 〈…〉 of them and endeauour new obedie 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 hadst as many sins vpon thee 〈…〉 the sea shore and those 〈◊〉 great 〈…〉 shoul◠〈◊〉 find mercy and be pardoned 〈◊〉 sin 〈…〉 ere find God onely insinite Thus in a more generall maner we haue run thorow the chiefe maâ—ters of this text Now it shall sulfice to name onely the particulars or rather some few of them such as are these following In that 〈◊〉 this stirre it for Absalom 〈◊〉 delight we see that the more Gods children serther hearts on an outward thing the more they shall bee crossed in it Let David please him solse too much in Absalom and Dauid shall smart for is this his greatest ioy shall prooue his greast cnosse Againe if Gods people can bee content that their children should crosse God God will bee content â—â—t their children shall he crosses to them If David will be so tidde that his child must not bee chid nor shent God will bee so good as to give him his payment for it Againe if Rulere wil giue life when God calles for death they shall help ether themselues him to sorrow and their friends so spared to shall if Dauid will be so nice alas prety ducke who can find in his heart to execute yea or to correct such a sweet baby and so let him goe God will finde a time to pay Dauid and to reach Absalom for it Againe in Dauid we see that in the best when crosses come the flesh will play its part and lay about its while Dauid must run himselfe out of hiâ—â—h before anâ— can stand on 〈◊〉 ground c. FINIS 1. Sam. 10. 10. 11. Vide Vatabl. ad locum Polyd. Virgil. Adag 374. Doct. 1. Read his life in the bookes of Samuel Read his story from the 28 of Gen. to the 46. Chap. Pro. 24.16 Psal 34.19 Reason 1. Psal 30. 2. Kings 20. Vse 1. Mat. 7.14 Act. 12. Doct. 2. Iob 3. Ionah 4.1 Chapter 4. Reasons 7. Vse 1. Rules 1. 1. Sam. 30.6 Chap. 4.6 Act. 27. Act. 27. 1. Sam. 30.4 Doct. 3. Read 1. Sam. 25. 2. Sam. 16. 2. Sam. 12. c. 2. Sam. 15.26 c. Iob 1. vlr verse See chap. 13 3.16.21 23.3.4.5 c. Reason 1. Iob 35. penult 2. Sam. 12. Vse 1. 1. Pet. 2.13 Doct. 4. Cant. 8. Vsc 1. 5 verse Zach 12 Psalm 119 156 2 Sam 10 As Leuir 24 11 1. King 20