from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile My Couenant will I not breake nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth Behold the fauour of God doth not depend vpon Salomons obedience If Salomon shall suffer his faithfulnesse to faile towards his God God will not requite him with the failing of his faithfulnesse to Salomon If Salomon breake his Couenant with God God will not breake his Couenant with the father of Salomon with the sonne of Dauid He shall smart hee shall not perish Oh gracious word of the God of all mercies able to giue strength to the languishing comfort to the despairing to the dying life Whatsoeuer wee are thou wilt be still thy selfe O holy One of Israel true to thy Couenant constant to thy Decree The sinnes of thy chosen can neither frustrate thy counsell nor out-strip thy mercies Now I see Salomon of a wanton louer a graue Preacher of mortification I see him quenching those inordinate flames with the teares of his repentance Me thinks I heare him sighing deepely betwixt euery word of that his solemne penance which he would need enioyne himselfe before all the world I haue applyed my heart to know the wickednesse of folly euen the foolishnesse of madnesse and I finde more bitter then death the woman whose heart is as nets and snares and her hands as bands Who so pleaseth God shall be deliuered from her but the sinner shall be taken by her Salomon was taken as a sinner deliuered as a penitent His soule escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare was broken and he deliuered It is good for vs that he was both taken and deliuered Taken that wee might not presume and that we might not despaire deliuered He sinned that we might not sinne hee recouered that we may not sinke vnder our sinne But oh the iustice of God inseparable from his mercy Salomons sinne shall not escape the rod of men Rather then so wise an offender shall want enemies God shall raise vp three aduersaries vnto Salomon Hadad the Edomite Rezon the King of Aram Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat whereof two were foraine one domesticall Nothing but loue and peace sounded in the name of Salomon nothing else was found in his raigne whiles he held in good termes with his God But when once hee fell foule with his Maker all things began to be troubled There are whips laid vp against the time of Salomons fore-seene offence which are now brought forth for his correction On purpose was Hadad the sonne of the King of Edom hid in a corner of Egypt from the sword of Dauid and Ioab that he might be reserued for a scourge to the exorbitant sonne of Dauid God would haue vs make account that our peace ends with our innocence The same sinne that sets debate betwixt God and vs armes the creatures against vs It were pitie wee should be at any quiet whiles wee are falne out with the God of peace Contemplations VPON THE PRINCIPALL HISTORIES OF THE NEVV TESTAMENT THE THIRD BOOKE Containing The Widowes sonne raised The Rulers sonne healed The dumbe Deuill eiected MATTHEW called Christ among the Gergesens or Legion and the Gaderene Herd By IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deane of WORCESTER TO MY RIGHT VVORTHY AND WORSHIPFVLL FRIEND MASTER IOHN GIFFORD of Lancrasse in Deuon Esquire All Grace and Peace SIR J hold it as I ought one of the rich mercies of GOD that he hath giuen me fauour in some eies which haue not seene me but none that J know hath so much demerited me vnknowne as your worthy Familie Ere therefore you see my face see my hand willingly professing my thankefull Obligations Wherewith may it please you to accept of this parcell of thoughts not vnlike those fellowes of theirs whom you haue entertained aboue their desert These shall present vnto you our bountifull SAVIOVR magnifying his mercies to men in a sweet varietie healing the diseased raising the dead casting out the Deuill calling in the Publican and shall raise your heart to adore that infinite goodnesse Euery helpe to our deuotion deserues to bee precious So much more as the decrepit age of the World declines to an heartlesse coldnesse of Pietie That GOD to whose honour these poore labours are meant blesse them in your hands and from them to all Readers To his protection J heartily commend you and the right vertuous Gentlewoman your worthy wife with all the pledges of your happy affection as whom you haue deserued to be Your truly thankfull and officious friend IOS HALL The Widowes Sonne raised THE fauours of our beneficent Sauiour were at the least contiguous No sooner hath he raised the Centurions seruant from his bed then he raises the Widowes Sea from his Beere The fruitfull clouds are not ordained to fall all in one field Nain must partake of the bounty of Christ as well as Cana or Capernaum And if this Sunne were fixed in one Orbe yet it diffuseth heat and light to all the world It is not for any place to ingrosse the messengers of the Gospell whose errand is vniuersall This immortall seed may not fall all in one furrow The little City of Nain stood vnder the hill of Hermon neere vnto Tabor but now it is watered with better dewes from aboue the doctrine miracles of a Sauiour Not for state but for the more euidence of the worke is our Sauior attended with a large traine so entring into the gate of that walled City as if he meant to besiege their faith by his power and to take it His prouidence hath so contriued his iourney that he meets with the sad pompe of a funerall A wofull widow attended with her weeping neighbours is following her onely sonne to the graue There was nothing in this spectacle that did not command compassion A yong man in the flowre in the strength of his age swallowed vp by death Our decrepit age both expects death and sollicites it but vigorous youth lookes strangely vpon that grim sergeant of God Those mellow apples that fall alone from the tree we gather vp with contentment wee chide to haue the vnripe vnseasonably beaten downe with cudgells But more a yong man the onely sonne the onely childe of his mother No condition can make it other then grieuous for a well natur'd mother to part with her own bowels yet surely store is some mitigation of losse Amongst many children one may be more easily missed for still wee hope the suruiuing may supply the comforts of the dead but when all our hopes and ioyes must either liue or die in one the losse of that one admits of no consolation When God would describe the most passionate expression of sorrow that can fall into the miserable hee can but say Oh daughter of my people gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thy selfe in the ashes make lamentation and bitter mourning as for thine onely sonne Such was the losse such was the sorrow of this disconsolate
findes not any present cause of comfort one is hanted with his sinne another distracted with his passion amongst all which he is a miracle of all men that liues not some-way discontented So we liue not while we doe liue onely for that we want either wisdome or will to husband our liues to our owne best aduantage O the inequality of our cares Let riches or honour be in question we sue to them we seeke for them with importunity with seruile ambition our paines neede no sollicitor yea there is no way wrong that leads to this end wee abhorre the patience to stay till they inquire for vs. And if euer as it rarely happens our desert and worthinesse winnes vs the fauour of this proffer we meet it with both hands not daring with our modest denyals to whet the instancie and double the intreaties of so welcome suiters Yet loe here the onely true and precious riches the highest aduancement of the soule peace and happinesse seekes for vs sues to vs for acceptation our answers are coy and ouerly such as we giue to those clyents that looke to gaine by our fauours If our want were through the scarcitie of good we might yet hope for pity to ease vs but now that it is through negligence and that wee perish with our hands in our bosome we are rather worthy of stripes for the wrong wee doe our selues than of pity for what we suffer That wee may and will not in opportunitie of hurting others is noble and Christian but in our owne benefit sluggish and sauouring of the worst kinde of vnthriftinesse Saiest thou then this peace is good to haue but hard to get It were a shamefull neglect that hath no pretence Is difficulty sufficient excuse to hinder thee from the pursuit of riches of preferment of learning of bodily pleasures Art thou content to sit shrugging in a base cottage ragged famished because house clothes and food will neither be had without money nor money without labour nor labour without trouble and painfulnesse Who is so mercifull as not to say that a whip is the best almes for so lazie and wilfull need Peace should not be good if it were not hard Goe and by this excuse shut thy selfe out of heauen at thy death and liue miserably till thy death because the good of both worlds is hard to compasse There is nothing but misery on earth and hell below that thou canst come too without labour And if wee can bee content to cast away such immoderate and vnseasonable paines vpon these earthly trifles as to weare our bodies with violence and to encroach vpon the night for time to get them what madnesse shall it seeme in vs not to afford a lesse labour to that which is infinitely better and which onely giues worth and goodnesse to the other Wherefore if we haue not vowed enmity with our selues if we be not in loue with misery and vexation if wee bee not obstinately carelesse of our owne good let vs shake off this vnthriftie dangerous and desperate negligence and quicken these dull hearts to a liuely and effectuall search of what onely can yeeld them sweet and abiding contentment which once attained how shall we insult ouer euils and bid them doe their worst How shall we vnder this calme and quiet day laugh at the rough weather and vnsteady motions of the world How shall heauen and earth smile vpon vs and wee on them commanding the one aspiring to the other How pleasant shall our life bee while neither ioyes nor sorrowes can distemper it with excesse yea while the matter of ioy that is within vs turnes all the most sad occurrences into pleasure How deare and welcome shall our death bee that shall but lead vs from one heauen to another from peace to glory Goe now yee vaine and idle worldlings and please your selues in the large extent of your rich Mannors or in the homage of those whom basenesse of minde hath made slaues to your greatnesse or in the price and fashions of your full ward-robe or in the wanton varieties of your delicate Gardens or in your coffers full of red and white earth or if there be any other earthly thing more alluring more precious enioy it possesse it and let it possesse you Let mee haue onely my Peace and let me neuer want it till I enuie you FINIS THE ART OF DIVINE MEDITATION EXEMPLIFIED WITH TWO LARGE Patternes of Meditation The one of eternall Life as the end The other of Death as the way Reuised and augmented By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL SIR RICHARD LEA Knight all increase of true honour with God and men SIR euer since J began to bestow my selfe vpon the common good studying wherein my labours might be most seruiceable J still found they could be no way so well improued as in that part which concerneth deuotion and the practice of true pietie For on the one side I perceiued the number of Polemicall bookes rather to breed than end strifes and those which are doctrinall by reason of their multitude rather to oppresse than satisfie the Reader wherein if we write the same things wee are iudged tedious if different singular On the other part respecting the Reader J saw the braines of men neuer more stuffed their tongues neuer more stirring their hearts neuer more emptie nor their hands more idle Wherefore after those sudden Meditations which passed me without rule J was easily induced by their successe as a small thing moues the willing to send forth this Rule of Meditation and after my Heauen vpon Earth to discourse although by way of example of Heauen aboue Jn this Art of mine J confesse to haue receiued more light from one obscure namelesse Monke which wrote some 112. yeeres agoe than from the directions of all other Writers J would his humilitie had not made him niggardly of his name that we might haue knowne whom to haue thanked It had beene easie to haue framed it with more curiosity but God and my soule know that J made profit the scope of my labour and not applause and therefore to chuse J wished rather to bee rude than vnprofitable Jf now the simplicitie of any Reader shall beâ—eaue him of the benefit of my precepts I know hee may make his vse of my examples Why I haue honoured it with your name J need not giue account to the world which alreadie knoweth your worth and deserts and shall see by this that J acknowledge them Goe you on happily according to the heauenly aduice of your Iunius in your worthy and glorious profession still bearing your selfe as one that knoweth vertue the truest Nobilitie and Religion the best vertue The God whom you serue shall honour you with men and crowne you in heauen To his grace J humbly commend you requesting you only to accept the worke and continue
tune of that knowne song beginning Preserue vs Lord. THee and thy wondrous deeds O God Wiâ—h all my soule I sound abroad verse 2 My ioy my triumph is in thee Of thy dread name my song shall be verse 3 O highest God since put to flight And fal'ne and vanisht at thy sight verse 4 Are all my foes for thou hast past Iust sentence on my cause at last And sitting on thy throne aboue A rightfull Iudge thy selfe doest proue verse 5 The troupes profane thy checks haue stroid And made their name for euer void verse 6 Where 's now my foes your threatned wrack So well you did our Cities sacke And bring to dust while that ye say Their name shall die as well as they verse 7 Loe in eternall state God sits And his high Throne to iustice fits verse 8 Whose righteous hand the world shall weeld And to all folke iust doome shall yeeld verse 9 The poore from high finde his releefe The poore in needfull times of griefe verse 10 Who knowes the Lord to thee shall cleaue That neuer doest thy clients leaue verse 11 Oh! sing the God that doth abide On Sion mount and blazon wide verse 12 His worthy deeds For he pursues The guiltlesse bloud with vengeance due He mindes their cause nor can passe o're Sad clamors of the wronged poore verse 13 Oh! mercy Lord thou that dost saue My soule from gates of death and graue Oh! see the wrong my foes haue done verse 14 That I thy praise to all that gone Through daughter Sions beauteous gate With thankfull songs may loud relate And may reioyce in thy safe aide Behold the Gentiles whiles they made A deadly pit my soule to drowne Into their pit are sunken downe In that close snare they hid for mee Loe their owne feet intangled be verse 16 By this iust doome the Lord is knowne That th' ill are punisht with their owne verse 17 Downe shall the wicked backward fall To deepest hell and nations all verse 18 That God forget nor shall the poore Forgotten be for euermore The constant hope of soules opprest verse 19 Shall not aye die Rise from thy rest Oh Lord let not men base and rude Preuaile iudge thou the multitude verse 20 Of lawlesse Pagans strike pale feare Into those brests that stubborne were And let the Gentiles feele and finde They beene but men of mortall kinde PSALME 10. As the 51. Psalme O God Consider WHy stand'st thou Lord aloofe so long And hidst thee in due times of need verse 2 Whiles lewd men proudly offer wrong Vnto the poore In their owne deed And their deuice let them be caught verse 3 For loe the wicked braues and boasts In his vile and outragious thought And blesseth him that rauines most verse 4 On God he dares insult his pride Scornes to enquire of powers aboue But his stout thoughts haue still deni'd verse 5 There is a God His waies yet proue 〈◊〉 prosperous thy iudgements hye Doe farre surmount his dimmer fight verse 6 Therefore doth he all foes defie His heart saith I shall stand in spight Nor euer moue nor danger ' bide verse 7 His mouth is fill'd with curses foule And with close fraud His tongue doth hide verse 8 Mischiefe and ill he seekes the soule Of harmelesse men in secret waite And in the corners of the street Doth shead their bloud with scorne and hate His eies vpon the poore are set verse 9 As some fell Lyon in his den He closely lurkes the poore to spoyle He spoyles the poore and helplesse men When once he snares them in his toyle verse 10 He croucheth low in cunning wile And bowes his brest whereon whole throngs Of poore whom his faire showes beguile Fall to be subiect to his wrongs verse 11 God hath forgot in soule he saies He hides his face to neuer see verse 12 Lord God arise thine hand vp-raise Let not thy poore forgotten be verse 13 Shall these insulting wretches scorne Their God and say thou wilt not care verse 14 Thou see'st for all thou hast forborne Thou see'st what all their mischiefes are That to thine hand of vengeance iust Thou maist them take the poore distressed Rely on thee with constant trust The helpe of Orphans and oppressed verse 15 Oh! breake the wickeds arme of might And search out all their cursed traines And let them vanish out of sight verse 16 The Lord as King for euer raignes From forth his coasts the heathen sect verse 17 Are rooted quite thou Lord attendst To poore mens sutes thou deo'st direct Their hearts to them thine eare thou bendst verse 18 That thou maist rescue from despight The wofull fatherlesse and poore That so the vaine and earthen wight On vs may tyrannize no more FJNJS CHARACTERS OF VERTVES AND VICES JN TWO BOOKES By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE MY singular good Lords EDWARD LORD DENNY BARON of WALTHAM AND JAMES LORD HAY HIS RIGHT NOBLE AND WORTHY SONNE IN LAW I. H. HVMBLY DEDICATES HIS LABOVR DEVOTETH HIMSELFE Wisheth all Happinesse A PREMONITION OF THE TITLE AND VSE of Characters READER THe Diuines of the old Heathens were their Morall Philosophers These receiued the Acts of an inbred law in the Sinai of Nature and deliuered them with many expositions to the multitude These were the Ouerseers of manners Correctors of vices Directors of liues Doctors of vertue which yet taught their people the body of their naturall Diuinitie not after one manner while some spent themselues in deepe discourses of humane felicitie and the way to it in common others thought it best to apply the generall precepts of goodnesse or decency to particular conditions and persons A third sort in a meane course betwixt the two other and compounded of them both bestowed their time in drawing out the true lineaments of euerie vertue and vice so liuely that who saw the medals might know the face which Art they significantly tearmed Charactery Their papers were so many tables their writings so many speaking pictures or liuing images whereby the ruder multitude might euen by their sense learne to know vertue and discerne what to detest J am deceiued if any course could be more likely to preuaile for herein the grosse conceit is led on with pleasure and informed while it feeles nothing but delight And if pictures haue beene accounted the bookes of Jdiots behold here the benefit of an image without the offence It is no shame for vs to learne wit of Heathens neither is it materiall in whose Schoole we take out a good lesson yea it is more shame not to follow their good than not to lead them better As one therefore that in worthy examples hold imitation better than inuention J haue trod in their paths but with an higher and wider steppe and out of their Tablets haue drawne these larger portraitures of both sorts More
confidence in appealing to the Fathers applauding his worthy offers and indeauors of discouering the falsifications and deprauations of antiquity SIR I know no man so like as you to make posterity his debter I doe heartily congratulate vnto you so worthy labours so noble a proiect Our aduersaries knowing of themselues that which Tertullian saith of all heresies that if appeale bee made to the sacred bench of Prophets and Apostles they cannot stand remoue the suit of religion craftily into the Court of the Fathers A reuerend triall as any vnder heauen where it cannot be spoken how confidently they triumph ere the conflict Giue vs the Fathers for our Iudges say Campian and Posseuine the day is ours And whence is this courage Is antiquity our enemy their aduocate Certainly it cannot bee truth that is new We would renounce our Religion if it could be ouer-lookt for time Let goe equity the older take both There bee two things then that giue them heart in this prouocation One the bastardy of false Fathers the other the corruption of the true What a flourish doe they make with vsurped names Whom would it not amaze to see the frequent citations of the Apostles owne Canons Constitutions Liturgies Masses of Clemens Dennys the Areopagite Linus Hippolitus Martiall of Burdeaux Egesippus Donations of Constantine the great and Lewis the godly Of 50 Canons of Nice of Dorotheus Damasus his Pontificall Epistles decretall of Clemens Euaristus Telesphorus and an hundred other Bishops holy and ancient of Euodius Anastasius Simeon Metaphrastes and moe yet then a number moe most whereof haue crept out of the Vatican or Cloisters and all cary in them manifest brands of falshood and supposition that I may say nothing of those infinite writings which either ignorance or wilfulnesse hath fathered vpon euery of the Fathers not without shamelesse importunity and grosse impossibilities all which as shee said of Peter their speech bewrayeth or as Austen said of Cyprians stile their face This fraud is more easily auoided For as in notorious burglaries oft-times there is either an hat or a gloue or a weapon left behind which descrieth the authors so the God of truth hath besotted these impostors to let fall some palpable error though but of false calculation whereby if not their names yet their ages might appeare to their conuiction Most danger is in the secret corruption of the true and acknowledged issue of those gracious parents whom through close and crafty handling they haue induced to belye those that begot them and to betray their Fathers either with silence or false euidence Plainly how are the honoured Volumes of faithfull antiquity blurred interlined altered depraued by subtle trechery and made to speake what they meant not Fie on this not so much iniustice as impiety to race the awefull monuments of the dead and partially to blot and change the originall Will of the deceased insert our owne Legacies This is done by our guilty aduersaries to the iniury not more of these Authors then of the present and succeeding times Hence those Fathers are some-where not ours What wonder while they are not themselues Your industry hath offered and that motion is liuely and heroicall to challenge all their learned and elegant pages from iniury of corruption to restore them to themselues and to vs that which all the learned of our times haue but desired to see done you proffer to effect your assay in Cyprian and Augustine is happy and iustly applauded All our Libraries whom your diligent hand hath ransackt offer their ayd in such abundance of manuscripts as all Europe would enuy to see met in one Iland After all this for that the most spightfull imputation to our Truth is nouelty you offer to deduce her pedegree from those primitiue times through the successions of all ages and to bring into the light of the world many as yet obscure but no lesse certaine and authenticall Patrons in a continued line of defence You haue giuen proofe enough that these are no glorious vaunts but the zealous challenges of an able Champion What wanteth then Let mee say for you Not an heart not an head not an hand but which I almost scorne to name in such a cause a purse If this continue your hinderance it will not be more our losse then shame Heare me a little yee great and wealthy Hath God loaded you with so much substance and will you not lend him a little of his owne Shall your riot bee fed with excesse while Gods cause shall starue for want Shall our aduersaries so insultingly out-bid vs and in the zeale of our profusion laugh at our heartlesse and cold niggardlinesse Shall heauenly truth lie in the dust for want of a little stamped earth to raise her How can you so much any way honor God yea your selues deserue of posterity pleasure the Church and make you so good friends of your Mammon Let not the next Age say that she had so vnkind predecessors Fetch forth of your superfluous store and cast in your rich gifts into this treasurie of the Temple The Lord and his Church haue need For you it angers me to see how that flattering Posseuinus smoothly intices you from vs with golden offers vpon the aduantage of our neglect as if he measuring your mind by his owne thought an Omnia dabo would bring you with himselfe on your knees to worship the deuill the beast the image of both as if we were not as able to incourage to reward desert Hath Vertue no Patrons on this side the Alpes Are those hils onely the thresholds of honour I plead not because I cannot feare you But who sees not how munificently our Church scattereth her bountifull fauours vpon lesse merit If your day be not yet come expect it God and the Church owe you a benefit if their payment be long it is sure Onely goe you on with courage in those your high endeauors and in the meane time thinke it great recompence to haue deserued To Mr E.A. EP. IX A Discourse of fleeing or stay in the time of pestilence whether lawfull for Minister or people HOw many hath a seduced conscience led vntimely to the graue I speake of this sad occasion of Pestilence The Angell of God followes you and you doubt whether you should flye If a Lyon out of the forest should pursue you you would make no question yet could he not doe it vnsent What is the difference Both instruments of diuine reuenge both threaten death one by spilling the blood the other by infecting it Who knowes whether he hath not appointed your Zoar out of the lists of this destruction You say it is Gods visitation What euill is not If warre haue wasted the confines of your Country you saue your throats by flight Why are you more fauourable to Gods immediate sword of pestilence Very leprosie by Gods law requires a separation yet no mortall sicknesse When you see a noted Leper proclaime his vncleannesse in the street
from these intricate euils yet that the eye of diuine Prouidence had discryed it long before and that though no humane power could make way for his safetie yet that the ouer-ruling hand of his God could doe it with ease His experience had assured him of the fidelity of his Guardian in Heauen and therefore he comforted himselfe in the Lord his God In vaine is comfort expected from God if we consult not with him Abiethâ—r the Priest is called for Dauid was not in the Court of Achish without the Priest by his side nor the Priest without the Ephod Had these beene left behind in Ziklag they had beene miscaried with the rest and Dauid had now beene hopelesse How well it succeeds to the Great when they take God with them in his Ministers in his Ordinances As contrarily when these are laid by as superfluous there can bee nothing but vncertainety of successe or certainety of mischeife The presence of the Priest and Ephod would haue little auailed him without their vse by them hee askes counsell of the Lord in these straits The mouth and eares of God which were shut vnto Saul are open vnto Dauid no sooner can hee aske than hee receiues answere and the answere that hee receiues is full of courage and comfort Follow for thou shalt surely ouertake them and recouer all That God of truth neuer disappointed any mans trust Dauid now finds that the eye which waited vpon God was not sent away weeping Dauid therefore and his men are now vpon their march after the Amalekites It is no lingring when God bids vs goe They which had promised rest to their weary limbes after their returne from Achish in their harbour of Ziâ—lag are glad to forget their hopes and to put their stiffe ioynts vnto a new taske of motion It is no maruell if two hundred of them were so ouer-tired with their former toile that they were not able to passe ouer the Riuer Besor Dauid was a true Type of Christ We follow him in these holy Warres against the spirituall Amalekites All of vs are not of an equall strength Some are carryed by the vigour of their faith through all difficulties Others after long pressure are ready to languish in the way Our Leader is not more strong than pittifull neither doth hee scornfully casheere those whose desires are heartie whiles their abilities are vnanswerable How much more should our charitie pardon the Infirmities of our brethren and allow them to fit by the stuffe who cannot endure the march The same Prouidence which appointed Dauid to follow the Amalekites had also ordered an Egyptian to bee cast behind them This cast Seruant whome his cruell Master had left to faintnesse and famine shall bee vsed as the meanes of the recouery of the Israelites losse and of the reuenge of the Amalekites Had not his Master neglected him all these Rouers of Amalek had gone away with their life and booty It is not safe to dispise the meanest vassall vpon earth There is a mercy and care due to the most despicable peece of all humanity wherein wee cannot bee wanting without the offence without the punishment of God Charitie distinguisheth an Israelite from an Amalekite Dauids followers are strangers to this Egyptian an Amalekite was his Master His Master leaues him to dye in the field of sicknesse and hunger these strangers releeued him and ere they know whether they might by him receiue any light in their pursuit they refresh his dying spirits with Bread and Water with Figges and Raisins Neither can the hast of their way bee any hinderance to their compassion Hee hath no Israelitish bloud in him that is vtterly mercilesse Perhaps yet Dauids followers might also in the hope of some intelligence shew kindnesse to this forlorne Egyptian Worldly wisdome teacheth vs to sowe small courtesies where wee may reape large Haruests of recompence No sooner are his spirits recalled than hee requites his food with information I cannot blame the Egyptian that hee was so easily induced to discry these vnkinde Amalekites to mercifull Israelites those that gaue him ouer vnto death to the restorers of his life much lesse that ere hee would descry them he requires an oath of security from so bad a Master Well doth he match death with such a seruitude Wonderfull is the prouidence of God euen ouer those which are not in the neerest bonds his owne Three dayes and three nights had this poore Egyptian Slaue lyen sicke and hunger-starued in the fields and lookes for nothing but death when God sends him succour from the hands of those Israelites whom hee had helped to spoyle though not so much for his sake as for Israels is this heathenish Straglet 〈◊〉 It pleases God to extend his common fauours to all his creatures but in miraculous preseruations hee hath still wont to haue respect to his owne By this meanes therefore are the Israelites brought to the sight of their late spoylers whom they find scattered abroad vpon all the earth eating and drinking and dancing in triumph for the great prey they had taken It was three dayes at least since this gainfull forraging of Amalek and now seeing no feare of any pursuer and promising themselues safetie in so great and vpâ—â—aded a distance they make themselues merry with so rich and easie a victory and now suddenly when they began to thinke of enioying the beautie and wealth they had gotten the sword of Dauid was vpon their throates Destruction is neuer neerer than when securitie hath chased away feare With how sad faces and hearts had the Wiues of Dauid and the other Captiues of Israel looked vpon the triumphall Reuels of Amalek and what a change doe wee thinke appeared in them when they saw their happie and valiant Rescuers flying in vpon their insolent Victors and making the death of the Amalekites the ransome of their captiuitie They mourned euen now at the dances of Amalek now in the shriekes and death of Amalek they shout and reioyce The mercy of our God forgets not to enterchange our sorrowes with ioy and the ioy of the wicked with sorrow The Amalekites haue paid a deare lone for the goods of Israel which they now restore with their owne liues and now their spoyle hath made Dauid richer than hee expected that booty which they had swept from al other parts accrewed to him Those Israelites that could not goe on to fight for their share are comne to meet their brethren with gratulation How partiall are wee wont to bee vnto our owne causes Euen very Israelites will bee ready to fall out for matter of profit where selfe-loue hath bred a quarrell euery man is subiect to flatter his owne case It seemed plausible and but iust to the actors in this rescue that those which had taken no part in the paine and hazard of the iourney should receiue no part of the commoditie It was fauour enough for them to recouer their wiues and children though they shared not in
cannot haue the heart or the face to stand out against the message of God but now as a man confounded and condemned in himselfe he cryes out in the bitternesse of a wounded Soule I haue sinned against the Lord. It was a short word but passionate and such as came from the bottome of a contrite heart The greatest griefes are not most verball Saul confessed his sinne more largely lesse effectually God cares not for phrases but for affections The first piece of our amends to God for sinning is the acknowledgement of sinne He can doe little that in a iust offence cannot accuse himselfe If wee cannot bee so good as we would it is reason wee should doe God so much right as to say how euill we are And why was not this done sooner It is strange to see how easily sin gets into the heart how hardly it gets out of the mouth Is it because sinne like vnto Satan where it hath got possession is desirous to hold it and knowes that it is fully eiected by a free confession or because in a guiltinesse of deformitie it hides it selfe in the brest where it is once entertayned and hates the light or because the tongue is so fee'd with selfe-loue that it is loath to be drawne vnto any verdict against the heart or hands or is it out of an idle misprision of shame which whiles it should be placed in offending is misplaced in disclosing of our offence Howeuer sure I am that God hath need euen of rackes to draw out confessions and scarce in death it selfe are we wrought to a discouery of our errors There is no one thing wherein our folly shewes it selfe more than in these hurtfull concealements Contrary to the proceedings of humane Iustice it is with God Confesse and liue no sooner can Dauid say I haue sinned than Nathan inferres The Lord also hath put away thy sinne He that hides his sins shall not prosper but hee that confesseth and forsaketh them shall finde mercie Who would not accuse himselfe to bee aquittted of God O God who would not tell his wickednesse to thee that knowest it better than his owne heart that his heart may be eased of that wicednesse which being not told killeth Since we haue sinned why should wee bee niggardly of that action wherein we may at once giue glory to thee and reliefe to our soules Dauid had sworne in a zeale of Iustice that the rich Oppressor for but taking his poore Neighbours Lambe should dye the death God by Nathan is more fauourable to Dauid than to take him at his word Thou shalt not dye O the maruellous power of repentance Besides adultery Dauid had shed the bloud of innocent Vriah The strict Law was Eye for Eye Tooth for Tooth Hee that smiteth with the Sword shall perish with the Sword Yet as if a penitent confession had dispensed with the rigour of Iustice now God sayes Thou shalt not dye Dauid was the voyce of the Law awarding death vnto sinne Nathan was the voyce of the Gospell awarding life vnto the repentance for sinne Whatsoeuer the sore be neuer any soule applyed this remedie and dyed neuer any soule escaped death that applyed it not Dauid himselfe shall not dye for this fact but his mis-begotten childe shall dye for him Hee that said The Lord hath put away thy sinne yet said also The Sword shall not depart from thine house The same mouth with one breath pronounces the sentence both of absolution and death Absolution to the Person Death to the Issue Pardon may well stand with temporall afflictions Where God hath forgiuen though hee doth not punish yet he may chastize and that vnto bloud neither doth hee alwayes forbeare correction where hee remits reuenge So long as hee smites vs not as an angry Iudge wee may indure to smart from him as a louing Father Yet euen this Rod did Dauid deprecate with teares How faine would hee shake off so easie a lode The Childe is striken the Father fasts and prayes and weepes and lyes all night vpon the Earth and abhorres the noyse of comfort That Childe which was the fruit and monument of his odious adultery whom hee could neuer haue looked vpon without recognition of his sinne in whose face hee could not but haue still read the records of his owne shame is thus mourned for thus sued for It is easie to obserue that good man ouer-passionately affected to his Children Who would not haue thought that Dauid might haue held himselfe well appayd that his soule escaped an eternall death his bodie a violent though God should punish his sinne in that Childe in whome hee sinned Yet euen against this crosse he bends his Prayers as if nothing had beene forgiuen him There is no Childe that would be scourged if hee might escape for crying No affliction is for for the time other than grieuous neither is therefore yeelded vnto without some kinde of reluctation Farre yet was it from the heart of Dauid to make any opposition to the will of God hee sued he struggled not There is no impatience in entreaties Hee well knew that the threats of temporall euils ranne commonly with a secret condition and therefore might perhaps bee auoyded by humble importunitie if any meanes vnder Heauen can auert iudgments it is our Prayers God could not chuse but like well the boldnesse of Dauids saith who after the apprehension of so heauie a displeasure is so far from doubting of the forgiuenesse of his sinne that hee dares become a Sutor vnto God for his sicke child Sinne doth not make vs more strange than Faith confident But it is not in the power of the strongest Faith to preserue vs from all afflictions After all Dauids prayers and teares the Childe must dye The carefull seruants dare but whisper this sad newes They who had found their Master so auerse from the motion of comfort in the sicknesse of the Childe feared him vncapable of comfort in his death Suspition is quick-witted Euery occasion makes vs misdoubt that euent which wee feare This secrecie proclaymes that which they were so loath to vtter Dauid perceiues his Childe dead and now hee rises vp from the Earth whereon hee lay and washes himselfe and changeth his apparell and goes first into Gods House to worship and into his owne to eate now hee refuses no comfort who before would take none The issue of things doth more fully shew the will of God than the prediction God neuer did any thing but what hee would hee hath sometimes foretold that for tryall which his secret will intended not hee would foretell it hee would not effect it because hee would therefore fore-tell it that hee might not effect it His predictions of outward euils are not alwayes absolute his actions are Dauid well sees by the euent what the Decree of God was concerning his Childe which now hee could not striue against without a vaine impatience Till wee know the determinations of the Almightie it is free
for vs to striue in our prayers to striue with him not against him when once wee know them it is our dutie to sit downe in a silent contentation Whiles the Childe was yet aliue I fasted and wept for I said who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me that the Childe may liue but now he is dead Wherfore should I fast Can-I bring him backe againe The griefe that goes before an euill for remedie can hardly bee too much but that which followes an euill past remedie cannot bee too little Euen in the saddest accident Death wee may yeeld something to nature nothing to impatience immoderation of sorrow for losses past hope of recouery is more fullen than vse-full our stomacke may be bewrayed by it not our wisdome AMNON and TAMAR IT is not possible that any word of God should fall to the ground Dauid is not more sure of forgiuenesse than smart Three maine sins passed him in this businesse of Vriah Adultery Murder Dissimulation for all which he receiues present payment for Adultery in the deflowring of his Daughter Thamar for Murder in the killing of his Sonne Amnon for Dissimulation in the contriuing of both Yet all this was but the beginning of euils Where the Father of the Family brings sinne home to the house it is not easily swept our Vnlawfull Lust propagates it selfe by example How iustly is Dauid scourged by the sinne of his Sonnes whome his Act taught to offend Maacha was the Daughter of an Heathenish King By her had Dauid that beautifull but vnhappy Issue Absalom and his no lesse faire Sister Thamar Perhaps thus late doth Dauid feele the punishment of that vnfit choice I should haue maruelled if so holy a man had not found crosses in so vnequall a match either in his person or at least in his feed Beauty if it be not well disciplin'd proues not a Friend but a Traytour three of Dauids Children are vndone by it at once What else was guilty of Amnons incestuous loue Tamars rauishment Absoloms pride It is a blessing to be faire yet such a blessing as if the soule answer not to the face may leade to a curse How commonly haue we seene the foâ—â—lest soule dwell fairest It was no fault of Tamars that shee was beautifull the Candle offends not in burning the foolish flie offends in scorching it selfe in the flame yet it is no small misery to become a tentation vnto another and to be made but the occasion of others ruine Amnon is loue-sicke of his sister Tamar and languishes of that vnnaturall heat Whither will not wanton lust carry the inordinate mindes of pampered and vngouerned youth None but his halfe sister will please the eyes of the young Prince of Israel Ordinary pleasures will not content those whom the conceit of greatnesse youth and ease haue let loose to their appetite Perhaps yet this vnkindly flame might in time haue gone out alone had not there beene a Ionadab to blow these coales with ill counsell It were strange if great Princes should want some Parasiticall Followers that are ready to feed their ill humors Why art thou the Kings Sonne so leane from day to day As if it were vnworthy the Heire of a King to suffer either Law or Conscience to stand in the way of his desires Whereas wise Princes know well that their places giue them no priuiledge of sinning but call them in rather to so much more strictnesse as their example may be more preiudiciall Ionadab was the Cousin German of Amnon Ill aduice is so much more dangegerous as the interest of the giuer is more Had he beene a true friend hee had bent all the forces of his disswasion against the wicked motions of that sinfull lust and had shewed the Prince of Israel how much those lewd desires prouoked God and blemished himselfe and had lent his hand to strangle them in their first Conception There cannot be a more worthy improuement of friendship than in a feruent opposition to the sinnes of them whom we professe to loue No enemy can be so mortall to great Princes as those officious Clients whose flattery soothes them vp in wickednesse These are Traytors to the Soule and by a pleasing violence kill the best part eternally How ready at hand is an euill suggestion Good counsell is like vnto Wel-water that must be drawne vp with a Pumpe or Bucket Ill counsell is like to Conduit-water which if the cocke be but turned runnes out alone Ionadab hath soone proiected how Amnon shall accomplish his lawlesse purpose The way must be to faine himselfe sicke in body whose minde was sicke of lust and vnder this pretence to procure the presence of her who had wounded and only might cure him The daily increasing languor and leanenesse and palenesse of loue-sicke Amnon might well giue colour to a Kerchiefe and a pallet Now is it soone told Dauid that his eldest Sonne is cast vpon his sicke bed there needs no suite for his visitation The carefull Father hastenâ— to his Bed-side not without doubts and feates He that was lately so afflicted with the sicknesse of a Childe that scarce liued to see the light how sensible must we needs thinke hee would bee of the indisposition of his first borne Soone in the prime of his age and hopes It is not giuen to any Prophet to fore-see all things Happie had it beene for Dauid if Amnon had beene truly sicke and sicke vnto death yet who could haue perswaded this passionate Father to haue beene content with this succession of losses this early losse of his Successour How glad is he to heare that his Daughter Tamars skill might bee likely to fit the dyet of so deareâ— patient Conceit is word to rule much both in sicknesse and the cure Tamar is sent by her Father to the house of Amnon Her hand only must dresse that Dish which may please the nice Palace of her sicke Brother Euen the Children of Kings in those homelyâ—r Tymes did not scorne to put their fingers to some workes of huswifrie Shee tooke floure and did knead it and did make Cakes in his sight and did bake the Cakes and tooke a Pan and powred them out before him Had shee not beene sometimes vsed to such domestique imployments shee had beene now to seeke neither had this beene required of her but vpon the knowledge of her skill Shee doth not plead the impayring of her beauty by the scorching of the fire nor thinkes her hand too dainty for such meane Services but settles to the worke as one that had rather regard the necessities of her Brother than her owne state Only pride and idlenesse haue banisht honest and thrifty diligence out of the houses of the great This was not yet the Dish that Amnon longed for It was the Cooke and not the Cates which that wanton eye affected Vnlawfull Acts seeke for secrecie The companie is dismissed Tamar onely staies Good meaning suspects nothing Whiles she presents the meat
call for the blood of the Gibeonites though drudges of Israel and a remnant of Amorites Why this There was a periury attending vpon this slaughter It was an ancient Oath wherein the Princes of the congregation had bound themselues vpon Ioshua's league to the Gibeonites that they would suffer them to liue an oath extorted by fraud but solemne by no lesse â—â—me then the Lord God of Israel Saul will now thus late either not acknowledge it or not keepe it out of his zeale therefore to the children of Israel and Iudah he roots â—ut some of the Gibeonites whether in a zeale of reuenge of their first imposture or in a zeale of inlarging the possessions of Israel or in a zeale of executing Gods charge vpon the brood of Canaanites he that spared Agag whom he should haue smitten smites the Gibeonites whom he should haue spared Zeale and good intention is no excuse much lesse a warrant for euill God holds it an high indignitie that his name should be sworne by and violated Length of time cannot dispense with our oathes with our vowes The vowes and oathes of others may binde vs how much more our owne There was a famine in Israel a naturall man would haue ascribed it vnto the drought and that drought perhaps to some constellations Dauid knowes to looke higher and sees a diuine hand scourging Israel for some great offence and ouer-ruling those second causes to his most iust executions Euen the most quick-sighted worldling is pore-blind to 〈◊〉 all obiects and the weakest eyes of the regenerate pierce the heauens and espy God in all earthly occurrences So well was Dauid acquainted with Gods proceedings that he knew the remouall of the iudgement must begin at the satisfaction of the wronged At once therefore doth he pray vnto God and treat with the Gibeonites What shall I doe for you and wherewith shall I make the atonement that I may blesse the inheritance of the Lord In vaine should Dauid though a Prophet blesse Israel at the Gibeonites did not 〈…〉 lesse them Iniuries done vs on earth giue vs power in heauen The oppressor is in no mans mercy but his whom he hath trampled vpon Little did the Gibeonites thinke that God had so taken to heart their wrongs that for their sakes all Israel should suffer Euen when we thinke not of it is the righteous Iudge auenging our vnrighteous vexations Our hard measures cannot bee hid from him his returnes are hid from vs It is sufficient for vs that God can bee no more neglectiue then ignorant of our sufferings It is now in the power of these despised Hiuites to make their owne termes with Israel Neither Siluer nor Gold will sauour with them towards their satisfaction Nothing can expiate the blood of their fathers but the blood of seuen sonnes of their deceased persecutor Here was no other then a iust retaliation Saul had punished in them the offence of their predecessors they will now reuenge Sauls sinne in his children The measure we mete vnto others is with much equity re-measured vnto our selues Euery death would not content them of Sauls sonnes but a cursed and ignominious hanging on the Tree Neither would that death content them vnlesse their owne hands might bee the executioners Neither would any place serue for the execution but Gibeah the Court of Saul neither would they doe any of this for the wreaking of their own fury but for the appeasing of Gods wrath We will hang them vp vnto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul Dauid might not refuse the condition Hee must deliuer they must execute Hee chooses out seuen of the sonnes and grand-children of Saul That house had raised long an vniust persecution against Dauid now God payes it vpon anothers score Dauids loue and oath to Ionathan preserues lame Mephibosheth How much more shall the Father of all mercies doe good vnto the children of the faithfull for the couenant made with their Parents The fiue sonnes of Adriel the Meholathite Dauids ancient riuall in his first loue which were borne to him by Merab Sauls Daughter and brought vp by her barren sister Michol the wife of Dauid are yeelded vp to death Merab was after a promise of mariage to Dauid vniustly giuen away by Saul to Adriel Michol seemes to abet the match in breeding the children now in one act nor of Dauids seeking the wrong is thus late auenged vpon Saul Adriel Merab Michol the children It is a dangerous matter to offer iniury to any of Gods faithfull ones If their meeknesse haue easily remitted it their God will not passe it ouer without a seuere retribution These fiue together with two sonnes of Rizpah Sauls Concubine are hanged vp at once before the Lord yea and before the eyes of the World No place but an Hill wil serue for this execution The acts of iustice as they are intended for example so they should be done in that eminent fashion that may make them both most instructiue and most terrifying Vnwarrantable courses of priuate reuenge seeke to hide their heads in secresie The beautifull face of iustice both affects the light and becomes it It was the generall charge of Gods Law that no corps should remaine all night vpon the gibbet The Almighty hath power to dispense with his owne command so doubtlesse he did in this extraordinary case these carkasses did not defile but expiate Sorrowfull Rizpah spreads her a Tent of Sackcloth vpon the Rocke for a sad attendance vpon those sonnes of her wombe Death might bereaue her of them not them of her loue This spectacle was not more grieuous to her then pleasing to God and happy to Israel Now the clouds drop â—â—messe and the earth runs forth into plenty The Gibeonites are satisfied God reconciled Israel relieued How blessed a thing it is for any Nation that iustice is vnpartially executed euen vpon the mighty A few drops of blood haue procured large showres from Heauen A few carkasses are a rich compost to the earth The drought and dearth remoue away with the breath of those pledges of the offender Iudgements cannot tyrannize where iustice raignes as contrarily there can be no peace where blood cryes vnheard vnregarded The numbring of the people ISrael was growne wanton and mutinous God puls them downe first by the sword then by famine now by pestilence Oh the wondrous yet iust wayes of the Almightie Because Israel hath sinned therefore Dauid shall sinne that Israel may be punished Because God is angry with Israel therefore Dauid shall anger him more and strike himselfe in Israel and Israel through himselfe The spirit of God elsewhere ascribes this motion to Satan which here it attributes to God Both had their hand in the worke God by permission Satan by suggestion God as a Iudge Satan as an enemy God as in a iust punishment for sinne Satan as in an act of sinne God in a wise ordination of it to good Satan in a malicious intent of confusion Thus at once
though grieuous yet might be remote therefore for a present hansell of vengeance she is dismissed with the sad tidings of the death of her sonne When thy feet enter into the Citie the child shall dye It is heauy newes for a mother that shee must leese her sonne but worse yet that shee may not see him In these cases of our finall departures our presence giues some mitigation to our griefe might shee but haue closed the eyes and haue receiued the last breath of her dying sonne the losse had bin more tolerable I know not how our personall farewell eases our heart euen whiles it increases our passion but now she shall no more see nor bee seene of her Abijah She shall no sooner be in the City then hee shall bee out of the world Yet more to perfect her sorrow shee heares that in him alone there is found some good the rest of her issue are gracelesse she must leese the good and hold the gracelesse he shall die to afflict her they shall liue to afflict her Yet what a mixture is here of seueritie and fauour in one act fauour to the sonne seueritie to the father Seueritie to the father that hee must leese such a sonne fauour to the sonne that he shall be taken from such a father Ieroboam is wicked and therefore he shall not enioy an Abijah Abijah hath some good things therefore hee shall be remoued from the danger of the deprauation of Ieroboam Sometimes God strikes in fauour but more often forbeares out of seueritie The best are fittest for heauen the earth is fittest for the worst this is the region of sinne and misery that of immortalitie It is no argument of dis-fauour to be taken early from a well-led life as not of approbation to age in sinne As the soule of Abijah is fauoured in the remouall so is his body with a buriall he shall haue alone both teares and tombe all the rest of his brethren shall haue no graue but dogs and fowles no sorrow but for their life Though the carkasse be insensible of any position yet honest Sepulture is a blessing It is fit the body should bee duely respected on earth whose soule is glorious in heauen ASA THe two houses of Iuda and Israel grow vp now together in an ambitious riuality this splitted plant branches out so seuerally as if it had forgotten that euer it was ioyned in the root The throne of Dauid oft changeth the possessors and more complaineth of their iniquity then their remoue Abijam inherits the sins of his father Rehoboam no lesse then his Crowne and so spends his three yeares as if had been no whit of kinne to his grandfathers vertues It is no newes that grace is not traduced whiles vice is Therefore is his reigne short because it was wicked It was a sad case when both the Kings of Iudah and Israel though enemies yet conspired in sinne Rehoboam like his father Salomon began graciously but fell to Idolatry as he followed his father so his sonne so his people followed him Oh what a face of a Church was here when Israel worshipped Ieroboams calues when Iudah built them high places and Images and groues on euery high Hill and vnder euery greene tree On both hands GOD is forsaken his Temple neglected his worship adulterate and this not for some short brunt but during the succession of two Kings For after the first three yeares Rehoboam changed his fathers Religion as his shields from gold to brasse the rest of his seuenteene yeares were ledde in impietie His sonne Abijam trod in the same mierie steps and Iudah with them both If there were any doubtlesse there were some faithfull hearts yet remaining in both Kingdomes during these heauy times what a corrosiue it must needs haue been to them to see so deplored and miserable a deprauation There was no visible Church vpon earth but here and this what a one Oh God how low doest thou sometimes suffer thine owne flocke to bee driuen What wofull wanes and eclipses hast thou ordained for this heauenly body Yet at last an Asa shall arise from the loynes from the graue of Abijam hee shall reâ—iue Dauid and reforme Iudah The gloomie times of corruption shall not last alwayes The light of truth and peace shall at length breake out and blesse the sad hearts of the righteous It is a wonder how Asa should bee good of the seed of Abijam of the soyle of Maachah both wicked both Idolatrous God would haue vs see that grace is from heauen neither needes the helps of these earthly conueyances Should not the children of good parents sometimes be euill and the children of euill parents good vertue would seeme naturall and the giuer would leese his thankes Thus we haue seene a faire flower spring out of dung and a well-fruited tree rise out of a fowre stocke Education hath no lesse power to corrupt then nature It is therefore the iust praise of Asa that being trained vp vnder an Idolatrous Maachah he maintained his piety As contrarily it is a shame for those that haue beene bred vp in the precepts and examples of vertue and godlinesse to fall off to lewnesse or superstition There are foure principall monuments of Asaes vertue as so many rich stones in his Diadem He tooke away Sodomie and Idols out of Iudah Who cannot wonder more that he found them there then that he remoued them What a strange incongruity is this Sodom in Ierusalem Idols in Iudah Surely debauched profession proues desperate Admit the Idols ye cannot doubt of the Sodomy If they haue changed the glory of the vncorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and foure-footed beasts and creeping things it is no maruell if God giue them vp to vncleannesse through the lusts of their owne hearts to dishonour their own bodies betweene themselues If they changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and serued the creature more then the Creator who is blessed for euer no maruell if God giue them to vile affections to change the naturall vse into that which is against nature burning in lust one towards another men with men working that which is vnseemely Contrarily admit the Sodomy yee cannot doubt of the Idols Vnnaturall beastlinesse in manners is punished iustly with a sottish dotage in religion bodily pollution with spirituall How should the soule care to bee chaste that keepes a stewes in the body Asa begins with the banishment of both scouring Iudah of this double vncleannesse In vaine should he haue hoped to restore God to his Kingdome whiles these abominations inhabited it It is iustly the maine care of worthy and religious Princes to cleare their Coasts of the foulest sinnes Oh the vnpartiall zeale of Asa There were Idols that challenged a prerogatiue of fauour the Idols that his father had made all these he defaces the name of a father cannot protect an Idoll The duty to his Parent cannot winne him