for the losse of a Rebel son Est hic labor hoc opus praise-worthy indeed as it is Rom. 13. 3. and Christian-like I must confess with Christs disciples durus est hic serm◠that this is a hard saying but verus est hic sermo this is a true saying 1 Tim. 1. 15. for unlesse we deny our selves and as Abraham was commanded exire de patria sua to go out of his Countrey Gen 12. 1. so we go out of our selves and cast off flesh and blood we cannot go into Christ or ever come where he is Obs 2. That many are the troubles of the righteous Psal 34. 19. As the stones that were for Solomons Temple were sawen and squared and endured many an hard knock before they were fitted for that place and their place even so the godly must be sawn with the Saw of Correction and squared with the ax of tribulation and suffer miserie upon miserie before they can become lively stones of the spiritual building whereof Christ Jesus is the head corner stone As the ground is rent under the Plough again and again and harrowed and sown and endures many an hard frost and cold blast and showers before the harvest cometh even so this is the condition of Gods Holy Land to be tilled and harrowed and tumbled about and water-furrowed but then comes the Harvest and the Wheat is gathered into his Garner when the chaff is burned with unquenchable fire Mat. 5. 12. Afflictions as it is said of Gad come by Troop◠and as there were many Lepers and many widows in Israel in the dayes of Elizeus and as it was a mighty host of the Aramites compassed about Samaria 2 Kings 6. 14. even so the righteous like the man of God are compassed about with a mighty Host and Troops and a multitude of calamities yet nevertheless in all these things they are conquerours through him that loveth them saith Paul Rom. 8. 37. as if he had said these things come not to make us mourners but conquerors and the conqueror leaves alwayes the field with honour and triumph and joy Many are the troubles of the Righteous Here is asharp breakfast but we must through many afflictions enter into the Kingdom of God as Paul and Barnahas taught Acts 14. 22. there is a delicious Supper and amends for all I read of Jovinian the Emperor that he had two sorts of Wine in his Palace the one sweet and the other sowr but he decreed that whosoever would tast of the sweet should first tast of the sowr Even so Qui vult cum Christo conregnare in Regno Coelorum debet cum Christo compati in valle lachrymarum he that will reign with Christ in the Kingdom of glory must first suffer with Christ in this vale of tears he must first take up his Crosse before he shall put on a Crown First drink Vineger then Wine he must first wear a Crown of thorns and then a Crown of glory and good reason for it For the Disciple is not above his Master nor the servant greater than his Lord Mat. 10. 24. But it is enough for the disciple to be as his Master and the servant as his Lord verse 25. Obs 3. That although many are the troubles of the righteous yet the Lord is their deliverer out of them all He is their City of refuge to secure them from the hands of the avenger he is their shield and buckler to defend them he is that brazen serpent unto which if they look and run will preserve them Many are the troubles of the righteous they have many as deliverers out of them all for they that are with them for thē are more than they that are against them as the servant of the man of God can witnesse 2 Kings 6. 16. and in the multitude of the sorrows which they have in their hearts this is their comfort Psal 119. 50. that God is able to deliver them as the three children said Dan. 3. 17. and pitcheth his Life-guard about them Psal 34. 7. 91. 11 So that they may now sing with the Church Psal 124. If the Lord had not been on our side may Israel now say if the Lord had not been on our side when men rose up against us they had then swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us Then the waters had drowned us and the stream had gone over our soul then had the swelling waters gone over our soul Praised be the Lord which hath not given us as a prey to their teeth Our soul is escaped even as a bird out of the snare of the foulers the snare is broken and we are delivered Our help is in the name of the Lord which hath made heaven and earth So that as Christ asked the adulteress Ioh. 8. 10. Where are thine accusers and she said they are gone even so if any shall demand where are the troubles of the righteous answer may be made they are vanished like mists at the rising of the Sun for the Lord scattered them as he did the Army of the Syrians 2 Kings 7. 6. Many were Iobs afflictions and as sharp as any but the Lord delivered him out of them all and made his comforts at last to exceed his sorrows at first chap. 42. 12. David was a figure of Christ and so was hedged about with the Crosse For 1. As Christ was contemned of his Country men so was he of his brethren 2ly As Christ fled into Aegypt to save his life so David to Gath to preserve his 3ly As Christ was glad to receive food of women so David of Abigail 4ly As Herod persecuted Christ so Saul David 5ly As there was a wicked combination of Priests Elders Scribes Pharisees Jews c. against Christ so the Philistims Ammonites Edomites and Moabites were all against David 6ly As Iudas one of the twelve Disciples and Purse-bearer to Christ was one of his greatest enemies so Absalom his own bowels was against David but God delivered him out of his hands and rendred the evil he conceived and plotted against his father into his own breast and bosom and for grief thereof David sobbed forth this heavy lamentation O my son Absalom my son my son Absalom would God I had died for thee Absalom my son my son In the Text consider these 2 parties treated of 1. Of a most indulgent affectionate kind and cockering father that is King David And the King was moved c. 2ly Of an unnatural unkind undutiful and ungracious son more cruel than the savage Tygre against his Sire and that is Absalom a King new erected but is pulled out of his seat before he was fledge from whence we learn Obs 1. Soon ripe soon rotten as we use to say Ionah's Gourd sprang up suddenly in a night and withered the next even so Israel had no sooner proclaimed Absalom King but the men of Iudah mar his pride and depose him and herein is Gods promise fulfilled Psal 55. 23.
had stood in his place Would God I had died for thee Absolom my son my son 3ly He had repenting tears being assured that his own sinne so well as his sons hastened him to the grave 4ly He had whining murmuring tears as may be gathered by his excessive impatience and immoderate weeping And the king was moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept and as he went thus he said O my son Absolom c. And so I passe to the next particular in the first general point 3ly The effect of his passion and as he went thus he said wherein let us consider these two particulars 1. Quod dixit that he said 2ly Quid dixit what he said 1. The vessel of his body was so overcharged with grief that if he had not given it vent his heart would have burst But his own words best speak it Ps 39. 3. Mine heart was hot within me and while I was missing the fire kindled and I spake with my tongue David was an expert and skilful Musician and here he sheweth it For first he begins with still Musick And the king was moved Then he strikes a note higher And he went up to the chamber over the gate and wept 3ly Then he played upon loud Musick and loud Cymbals and as he went thus he said O Absalom my son my son Absalom and so I am fallen upon the next particular 2ly What he said A man would have thought that David had more cause to blesse God for his great deliverance from the hands of his enemy than to whine and murmur and weep and hang down his head like a bull-rush I but thinks David if he were mine enemy yet he was filius meus my childe my son But if he were thy son yet he was cast into a wretched mould like one of those that the Apostle speaks of 2 Tim. 3. 2 3 4 5. A Lover of himself proud unthankful disobedient to parent without natural affection intemperate fierce no lover at all of them which are good a traitor heady high-minded having a shew of godliness but denying the power thereof I But saith David love covereth a multitude of faults for he was filius meus dilectus in quo mihi complacui my beloved son in whom I was well pleased But if he were thy son and thy beloved son yet why should'st thou cast such a pearl to such a swine and be more prodigal of thy love to him than to Solomon Adonijah and the rest of thy children better deserving I but saith David he was filius iste meus the prettiest man that ever eye beheld there was none in all Israel like him and therefore I cannot but sigh and sobb and eccho forth this sad lamentation for him O Absalom my son my son Absalom From whence we learn Obs 1. That love is blinde according to that of the Poet Quisquis amot ranam ranam putat esse Dianam Quisquis amat servam servam putat esse Minervam Quisquis amat luscam luscam putat esse venustam David beheld his son with the eye of flesh and blood but was blind to look into the deformities of his soul his body was not so lovely as his soul was filthy and therefore it was a wonder how good David should so much forget himself who was a man after Gods own heart and knew what God affected most Prov. 23. 26. to be transported with love to the outward man not regarding how leprous and diseased the inward man was Surely David for the present was not David and as the Philosopher told his old Concubine so he might have said of himself Ego non sum ego the which I may interpret by that which is said of the Prodigal in his ranting and ruffling fit and humour he was not himself Luk. 15. he was as blind as Bartimeus the Begger neither was this his case alone but Adams for he and his wife Hevab rejoiced exceedingly in their first-born child but as for their second they called him Habel which signifies vanity as if he were lightly esteemed of by them in competition to Cain but whom they accepted God rejected and whom they rejected God accepted For God seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh on the heart 1 Sam. 16. 7. And after the pattern of God himself Parents should love their children for their vertue and godlinesse more than for their painted outside Samuel was a good man and a Prophet and he was enamoured with Eliabs feature and stature and goodly proportion of body and said surely the Lords anointed is before him v. 6. but how blind he was in judgement and affection the Sequel sheweth For a father not to love his child is unnatural for a father to love his body more than his soul is unchristian-like for a father to over-love him is not to love him nor himself for God commonly crosseth him in his inordinate love David render a reason why thou delightedst in Absalom more than in the rest wert thou taken with his goodly head of hair Alas that is a sorrie excrement Wert thou captivated with his fair face Alas that the Pox or age quickly defaceth Wert thou ravished with his straight body Alas every wrinch decrepits it Wert thou overcome with the lustre and splendor of his eyes as Christ was wounded with one of the eyes of his Spouse Cant. 4. 9 Alas they are haughty and will soon wax dim and cease to look out at their Windows Eccles 12. 3. Wert thou delighted in his legs Alas as God Psal 117. 10. So shouldest not thou take pleasure in the legs of a man Speak David speak what was the object of thy love and if thou canst give no better reasons than these surely thy love to Absalom was blind Beware lest any of you with the Aramites be smitten with this blindness Obs 2. Carnal Passion breaks all bounds of reason and true Religion If God question Jonah chap. 4. 4. Dost thou well to be angry he will justifie himself and stand it out I do well to be angry to the death v. 9. Jonah had pity on a Gourd and yet he quarrels with God for having pity on Niniveh and shewing mercy to that City Wherein were six score thousand persons that could not discern between the right hand and the left Jonah What was thy Gourd to a great stately and eminent City What was thy Gourd to the treasures in that City What was thy Gourd to much cattel in that City What was thy Gourd to the men women and children in that City truly but as a straw to the Gold in Ophir Here then passion makes thee to break the bounds of reason ut to take one step and measure more What was thy Gourd to all the souls in that City and in having more compassion on that than on them thou breakest the bounds of true Religion Job was a good man an upright and just man and as a lillie
Parents and yet as bad as he was David the King wept for him saying O Absalom my son my son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my sonne my son Athaliah's detestable Treason SERMON III. 2 Kings 11. 14. Then Athaliah rent her cloathes and cried Treason treason VErbum diei in die suo was the Apostles charge to Timothy 2 Tim. 4. 2. and therefore it shall be my practice for saith Solomon Prov. 25. 11. A word spoken in season is like apples of gold with pictures of silver How well then doth this Text match the occasion of this our meeting together at this time which is to give thanks unto God for the discovery of Sundercombs desperate Treason against Oliver Lord Protector Then Athaliah rent her cloaths and cried Treason treason Herein let us consider these two general branches 1. Athaliahs action Then Athaliah rent her cloaths 2ly Athaliahs passiion And cried Treason treason In the first let us consider these two particulars 1. The subject of her action her cloaths she rent her cloaths Ah Athaliah this was a more suitable occasion for thee to follow the Prophets instruction Joel 2. 13. in rending thy heart and not thy garments But she that had no heart to spare infants like Herod had no heart to repent and so runs on still in revenge And if she can make man the subject of her wrath no longer her cloaths shall feel it and speak her minde She rent her cloaths 2ly The time of her rageing and mad wilde action implyed in the first word then Then she rent her cloaths Then when she saw another sun risen up in Judah to eclipse her pride her glory and her hautiness Then when she found she could no longer stand or keep the saddle or wear the Crown She rent her clothes In the second consider with me these two particulars likewise 1. The manner how she vents her passion She cried Her dead and seared conscience now revives and whispers in her ears that she had committed crying sins and so considering how near her door the punishment of them was come as a woman amazed frighted and startled at it she cried out for help when she was past cure she cried 2ly The cause of her passion and of her heavy exclamation in these words Treason Treason She had committed Treason against heaven and the King of heaven and that never troubled her which is the greatest Treason of all She had committed Treason in murthering the Kings Seed and that lieth not nigh her heart but when she seeth her full sea ebbing her sun setting her bright day drawn to an end and shutting in her hour-glasse run out and her doom of death passed upon her Then she rent her clothes and cryed Treason Treason Herein let us for the better discovery and opening the Text consider these four particulars 1. What Athaliah signifies 2ly Who Athaliah was 3ly What her Treason was and that which she complained of 4ly What her end was and of these in order 1. Athaliah signifies time for the Lord. When the ungodly destroy Gods Law and bring it into utter contempt then saith David in this sense Psal 119. 126. It is time for thee Lord to work that is to send help either by converting or confounding the enemies thereof as God converted Saul but confounded Herod When the wickednesse of the Amorites is full Gen. 15. 16. and the corn ripe for the harvest then it is time for the Lord to thrust in his sickle When Ahaliahs feathers of pride are full grown then it is time for the Lord to deplume her and send her as naked out of the world as ever she came into it When she was joined to Idols it was time for the Lord to make her know that an Idol was as vain a thing as a horse to save her from tumbling and ruine and destruction Psal 33 17. And this time is come and is made good to a tittle upon her all crying out with one voice as they did against Paul Acts 22. 22. Away with such a woman from the earl for it is not meet that she should live 2ly Who Athaliah was from the beginning And so she was descended from high Parentage for she was daughter unto Omri King of Israel 2 Kings 8. 22. and mother to Ahaziah King of Judah and wife to Jâ—horam his father As she came from a high Stock so she soared high and nothing could satisfie her ambition but the Scepter and sway of the Kingdom and the Crown and have it she will per fas per nefas be it right be it wrong rather than she will misse of so goodly a bait From whence we may learn Obs That ambitious Spirits will climb over the head of all wickednesse and make it their foot-stool to raise them to honour When Eteocles and Polynices his brother were contending for their Fathers kingdom with naked swords in their hands ready to sheath in each others bowels then Jocasta their Mother stepped in between them mediating for peace and accommodation upon her bended knees using these or the like words What my sons the sons of my womb the sons of my desires as Bath-sheba the Mother of Solomon said to him Prov. 31. 1. rather than let my eyes be spectators of your selves weltring in your bloud in me convertite ferrum put up your weapons into the womb that did conceive and bear you But saith Eteocles to her Pro regno velim patriam penates conjugem flammis dare Imperia precio quolibet constant bene To gain a kingdom I would set Country Houshold-gods wife and all on fire like Troy for Kingdoms and Crowns cannot be purchased at too dear a rate Absalom to step into his Fathers throne quid non audet what will he not what dares he not to do And it was the speech of one in later times who having by perjury dissimulation and treachery mounted himself aloft That if he fell all the Commonwealth should fall with him farr preferring his private interest before the publique And Athaliah was cast into the same mould for neither the frown of God the curse of the people the tears of Innocents could give a supersedeas to her wicked design she had in hand but a kingdom she will have although she buyes it with the losse of her soul Obs 2. As it was said of Corax and Lysias mali â—orvi malum ovum a curst Crow hath hatched a shrewd egge a crafty Master hath bâ—ed as crafty a scholar Even so as Isay speaks 24. 2. Like father like daughter a wicked father 1 King 16. 25 26. and as vile a child Of all the Kings of Israel there was not one good and of all their children there was not one thoroughly righteous It s true there was found some goodnesse in Abijah towards the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam 1 Kings 14. 13. but it was but some and that God takes notice of and that goeth not unrewarded but of all
as I have done saith Adonibezek Judg. 1. 7. so God hath rewarded me Even so us our Abnor our great man in the Text falls by the hâ—nd of Joab so Joab must look to have his fall too although it be many years after by Benaiah 1 Kings 2. 31 32 33 34. and the curse of Jehoiakim King of Judah shall follow him to his grave Jer. 22. 18. There shall be none to lament him saying Ah my Brother or ah Lord or ah his glory And let all true hearted Israelites speak as Cushi did to David of Absolom 2 Sam. 18. 32. So let all the Enemies of the Lord their King perish and be as Joab is The Text is a vindication of Davids innocencie in and a lively description of Abners death wherein let us consider these five particulars 1. His qualities and so he was no mean man sprung from the dunghil or Ale-tap no broken Citizen or bankerout Gentleman no Mechanick or Artificer none of the base condition of Davids followers when he fled from Saul 1 Sam. 22. 2. but he was Ishbosheths staff the supporter of Sauls house and the glory of that Diadem and so the Pen-man sets him out two waies 1. As a Prince 2. As a great man 1. As a Prince unto which the Latine word hath a near relation Princeps the which signifies a chief head or ruler secretly inssinuating that as of a head he ought to be defended and made much of because life consists so well in the head as in the heart then as a Ruler he ought to be obeyed and feared according to Saint Paul's rule Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers but Joab had learned instead of Obsta principiis Obsta Principibus withstand the beginnings of sin stifling the first conception of murther in his heart to promote it and give life unto it by the fall of a Prince and so hath received to himself condemnation ver 2. 2ly The Hebrews use many words signifying a Prince but I shall make use but of one and that is Naghidh carrying this sence Dux Princeps a Captain and chief Commander ordering disposing and giving rules to Souldiers to go out and come in to draw and to sheath their swords and such a Prince was Abner and a valiant Prince but whom Ajax cannot conquer Vlysses will undermine by treason For know ye not that a Prince and a great man is fallen And so I passe to the second Branch 2. As a great man As when Ephraim spake there was trembling Hos 13. 1. As when the Lion roars who will not be afraid Amos 3. 8. even so when this great man speaks not onely the inferiour beasts of the Forest but even the Lion himself coucheth as is clear in the 11 verse before the Text and if a bare hand upon the wall did so starcle Belshazzar in his cups when men are most Pot-valiant and in the Guard of his Princes and making metry with his wives and concubines that his countenance changed the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another Dan. 5. 6. How will Joab look How will Joab stand How will he shift when the great God shall make inquisition for this great mans blood Psal 9. 12. Davids heart smote him for cutting off but the Lap of Saul's garment 1 Sam. 24. 5 6. How then deeply may they be touched that had a hand in cutting off the head of the Lords anointed for the greater the person the greater is the sin in them that conspire his death Kings and Princes and great man in authority are termed gods by Gods own mouth Psal 82. 6 and to act Treason against such is to be treacherous to God himself for which cause God spared not the Angels that had finned but cast them down into hell and delivered them into chains of darknesse to be kept unto damnation 2 Pet. 2. 4. What Christ spake in another kind holds true in this Matth. 25. 40. In as much as ye have done it unto them ye have done it unto me Another particular is the manner of this great Princes death so he is not threatned a fall as God told Adam that if he should eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in that day he should die the death Gen. 2. 17. for then he would have looked about him either to prevent his fall or to make a good preparation for his soul against his fall as the wise Steward did for his body Duke 26. 4. but in the present tense occidit is fallen noting the suddennesse of his death and his unprovidenesse for his grave Joab not onely labouring to kill his body but so far as he could his soul too like as the Italian I read of endevoured to serve his enemy overcome in duel wherein we may observe 1. Prov. 12. 10. The mercies of the wicked are truel 2ly The uncertainty of our death we have one way into the world but many out Ferro peste fame vinclis algore calore Mille modis miseros mors rapit una viros as sometimes by fire famine plague water sword like Abner and Joab And this consideration should move us to look for that in every place which every where looks for us Pharaoh tasted of deaths Cup in the deep Sea Herod upon his throne Eglon sunning himself in his Summer Parlour Amnon when his heart was merry with wine Ahab in the battel Zenecharib in the house of his God And who amongst us can coast of to morrow for we know not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27. 1. Let it be our wisedom then 1. So to live as if we were alwaies dying and giving up our accounts to the great judge of Heaven and Earth of our several stewardships 2ly With Joseph in the time of famine with Solomons Pismire in the harvest time and with the wise Virgins in the acceptable time to provide oyl for our Lamps that we may be found a people ready prepared for our God when he shall knock at our door and call us 3ly To pray alwaies as the Church hath taught us From sudden death Good Lord deliver us 3ly The next particular is the time of Abners fall and that is said to be hoc die this day Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great man this day fallen in Israel This was a day of darknesse and of blacknesse a day of clouds and obscuritie Joel 2. 2. a day of heavinesse and mourning a stormy and watery day and in a word such a sad day to David and all Israel as if as one man they had combined to revive their Abner with their tears as Christ did Lazarus John 11. or if they could not do that for him yet they would witnesse to the world their love to him and how wonderfully they lamented his losse To love a rich man and a great man living is no news the living dog being better than the dead Lion Eccles 9.
among thorns and an apple-tree among the trees of the Forest Cant. 2. 2 3. yet being stricken upon the heart-vein he quarrels with every thing stood in his way and was in his eye he falls out with his mother that conceived him the midwife that helped to bring him into the world the night the light the day chap. 3. yea with God himself His distemper is so hot and virulent and violent upon him that no cords or banks or bounds can hold him David that did face a Lion killed a Bear conquer the huge Giant and overcame all his enemies was overcome and drunken with passion for the losse of his Absalom Vse Hence we learn what Babes and Weaklings and Striplings we are if we loose our hold from grace for as by faith so by grace we stand 2 Corinthians 1 24. 2ly That it is not mans merit but Gods free mercy saves him For what is man that he should be mindfull of him or the Son of man that he should regard him Psal 8. 4. there is nothing in him if well canvassed but repining and Rebellion against his Maker 3ly That if Jachin and Boaz the Chariots and Horsemen of Israel and the godly and faithful have such shrewd faults and foils and falls then how horribly and often do the wicked shoot their sharp arrows even bitter words Psal 64. 3. against God for their crosses 4ly In all our afflictions to follow God with our prayers to strengthen us with strength in our souls Psal 138. 3. that we may possesse our souls in patience Luke 21. 19. speaking with Job 12. 0. What shall we receive good from the hand of the Lord and not evil Blessed be the name of the Lord. Obs 3. From Davids wonderfull love to his son we gather that Gods love to his children is unmatchable As 't was said of Christ Acts 8. 33. Who can declare his generation so I may speak in this kind Who can declare his love to man Let us take a survey of it afar of as Moses did of Canaan and we shall but admire it and with John Rev. 17. 6. wonder with admiration 1. If we look into his first frame he was created after the image of God according to his likenesse Gen. 1. 27. and this was a most glorious condition like that which Saint Paul speaks of 1 Cor. 2. 9. which the tongue of man is not able to expresse nor the heart to conceive of 2ly He delivered into his hand the Soveraignty over all fish and beasts and all flying fowls and all things Gen. 1. 28. He was sole Monarch and commander in chief of the whole world there was none could hurt him till he hurt himself by sin so that like Israel Hos 13. 9. Perditio sua de se his destruction was from himself 3ly After his fall he raiseth him again with the promised Messiah Gen. 3. 15. which was a sure token of his love to send the son of his love to pay his debt for him by cancelling his Obligation Col. 2. 14. 4ly In Christ to bind up his soul in the bundle of life So that now thou mayest speak Why art thou so heavy O my soul why art thou disquieted within me Psal 42. 5. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world John 1 29. 5ly That he takes notice of his name as he did know Moses by his name and moreover write his name in the Book of Life Phil. 4. 3. 6ly If We look lower his love is manifested to mans body for it shall be clothed with glory For when Christ which is our life shall appear then shall we all appear with him in glory Col. â— 4. 7ly If we look yet lower his love is seen in the bones of man that he should keep them Psal 34. 20. 8ly If we look yet lower upon partes excrementitias his excrementitial parts his love to man is highly discovered as 1. In numbring of the hairs of his head Matth. 10. 30. 2ly In not suffering any of them toperish Luke 21. 18. 3ly In treasuring up our tears in a bottle Psal 56. 8. and in registring of them 4ly In wiping away all tears from all faces Isa 25. 8. 9ly In preserving him in his going out and coming in Psal 121. 8. and compassing all his paths and lying down Psal 139. 3. and directing his paths Proverbs 3. 6. 1. When man goeth out he may never come in more when he comes in he may never lie down or go to bed more when he goeth to bed he may never rise more as we have plentiful examples of each Now what a good God have we that undertaketh to be our Nurse and Keeper and preserver from all evil Psal 121. 7. 2. Paul may plant and Apollo water and man may eat the bread of carefulnesse rising early and going to bed late Psal 127. 2. but unless God directs him blesseth him he laboureth but in vain and spendeth his strength in vain like Isa 49. 4. and therefore let it be his wisdome when he goeth about any businesse or enterpriseth any thing to call upon God by Prayer to assist him direct him and prosper him as Abrahams servant did Gen. 24. 12. and then without all doubt he will make thee as successefull as him 10ly In giving entertainment to the sighs and sobs of a troubled spirit Israel could not grone but God heard it Exod. 2. 24. As the sin of the old world so the sighs of the afflicted ascend up to heaven and come before God and are so graciously accepted that he sets a mark on such as mourn for the abominations of the times Ezek. 19. 4. and their own miseries so that we may cry out with Paul Rom. 11. 33. oh the deepness of the riches of his goodnesse to man As for the Application I will refer it to the next point Obs 4. From the consideration of Davids love to his rebellious and wicked son Absalom I observe That much greater is Gods love to poor sinners Hear God himself pleading the case or cause between himself and Israel The people were bent to rebellion against him Hos 11. 7. that is set on mischief not caring what they did nor how they provoked him to anger Now God at last is awakened like a Giant out of wine with the crie of their sins and seems to deliberate the matter in these words vers 8. How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned with in me my repentings are rouled together I will not execute the fierceness of my wrath I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am God and not man and again Jer. 31. 20. Is Ephraim my dear son or pleasant childe yet since I spake unto him I still remembred him therefore my bowels are troubled for him If will surely have compassion on him If the words be well scanned what love of any
father can come near the love of our heavenly Father for how doth his heart mourn how do his mercies over-look our iniquities how are his bowels troubled how are his repentingsrouled together how doth he in the midst of wrath remember mercy how doth he aâ—ter all his menacings and threatnings recall our frailties and his own blessed glorious and ever renowned attribute the mercifull God And so spare us heu quam bonus est deus quam vilis homo O How good is God to Israel and how unworthy and unthankfull and disobedient is Israel to this good God and that we may the better blush and be ashamed of our selves and sinfull courses let us look upon some branches of his Love As 1. When we were deadly sick and nothing could recover us but the blood of his beloved and onely begotten Son then he spared not his own Son but gave him for us all to death that we might live Rom. 8. 32. 2ly The eminency of his Love shines the more clear if we consider the persons upon whom he cast and bestowed his Love and that was upon grievous sinners as the Apostle shews Rom. 5. 6. for Christ when we were yet of no strength died for the ungodly 3ly The unworthiness of the persons is aggravated by their loathsome condition being à capite ad calcem from the crown of the head to the soal of the foot full of nothing but wounds and sores and swellings full of putrified corruption Isa 1. 6. Job in that condition was loathed by his own wife and friends and for the King of Kings to be enamoured on such wretched Lazarusses Quantus amor how great was his Love The blind and the halt and the lame the soul of David hated and who but God would but have done the like and therefore the stronger tie and bond to bind us to love him Who hath so loved us as it is 1 Joh. 4. 11. 4ly If our condition had been loathsome by divine Providence it had not been much to be wondered at that he should love deformed creatures of his own making but when it came by our making and marring by sin what he had made beautifull this speaks his goodnesse indeed 5ly Or for a good man one may die Rom. 5. 7. but for an open and professed enemy who but David would die Yet when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. 10. We conspired and crucified and killed the Lord of Life Acts 3. 15. and the Lord of Life layes down his life to give us life and is not this unheard-of love 6ly His love is most apparent by the rich purchase and price he paid for us For we were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb undefiled and without spot 1 Pet. 1. 18. All the blood of Bulls and Goats in the world could not help us but it must be the blood of the Lamb of God must purifie our consciences from dead works Heb. 9. 14. and when this Lamb must be slain to save us sinners who can deny his love to be very great The uses hereof are these Vse 1. The bountifulness and loving-kindeness of our heavenly Father towards us should lead us all unto repentance Rom. 2. 4. What could he have done for his vineyard that he hath not done unto it Isa 5. 4. he hath planted it with the best plants he hath watered it and dungde it and pruned it and hath bestowed much labour and cost about it and love upon it as the Dresser did upon the barren fig-tree Luk. 13. 7 8. He feeds us he clothes us and in a word blesseth us with the blessings of his right hand and of his left Prov. 3. 16. And now O man what doth the Lord thy God require of thee Surely nothing but to do justly and to love mercy and to humble thy self and to turn from thy evil wayes and to walk with thy God Mic. 6. 8. So that as the servants of Naaman spake unto him 2 Kingâ— 5. 13. If the Prophet had commanded thee some great matter would'st thou not have done it how much rather then when he saith to thee wash and be clean I speak unto you if God had required of you your lands treasures wives husbands yea your Absaloms ye must have parted with them but he soares not so high but contents himself with little and that little is to be grieved with our selves for grieving him to return unto the Lord that he may return unto us Zach. 1. 3. and to repent us of all our wickedness He that will grudge God this deserves not to be owned for his childe It was the saying of the man of God to the good Shunamite 2 King 4. 13. Behold thou hast had all this care for us what shall we do now for thee and of David Psal 116. 12. Quid retribuam domino What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits even so let it be our meditation what we shall do for God that hath done such great things for us For where much is given much is looked for saith Christ Luk. 12. 48. Let us then with the Samaritan leper chap. 17. 15. return and praise God and that not only in tongue or word but in our deeds and lives and conversations Mark the Apostles argument 1 Cor. 6. 20. yeare bought with a price there is our Heavenly Fathers love Now the sequel tells us what lieth on our part to perform Glorifie God therefore in your bodies and in your spirits A son honoreth his father and a servant his master If he be then our Father let us honour him If our master let us fear him Mal. 1. 6. Vse 2. Here is comfort and Balm of Gilead to heal all that are wounded with their sinnes for if David could forget and forgive as we use to say all the unkindeness and wrongs done to him by his unnatural son Absalom and wish to die for him who had as willingly die as see him live then out of all question God hath more yerning melting and tender bowels towards them that lie grovling on the earth for their failings Can David soal a pardon to his son that stands up in defiance of him abuseth his wives and concubines rebels and takes armes to pull him out of his Throne by head and ears and wil not our heavenly Father receive us to mercy when we shall submit lament and bewail our errours and transgressions weep and howl and beg and crave forgiveness shall David look a squint and a to side upon the faults of his childe and only eye him as the fruit of his loins and will not God cast all our sinnes into the bottom of the Sea Mic. 7. 19. and not look upon us in our selves but in his Christ in whom he is well pleased Mat. 3. 17. and with us in him Wherefore let us comfort one another in these words 1 Thes