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A53951
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David and the Amalekite upon the death of Saul a sermon preached on Jan. 30, 1682, being the anniversary of the martyrdom of King Charles I of blessed memory / by Edward Pelling ...
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Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing P1077; ESTC R683
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18,608
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35
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come to the Crown 3. That when the Men were come David used them rather as a Friendly Retinue then as a Formidable Army to secure his own Life from the hands of Pick-thanks who otherwise might be ready to shed his Bloud to curry favour with Saul and without Saul's Order and Commission 4. That when David imployed his Retinue to Military purposes and after a Military manner it was against those People who were Enemies to Israel and who by the Command of God were to be destroyed and even then too David acted under King Achish as his chief Commissioner and General 5. That from the beginning to the end of the whole matter though David had so many Swords at his command yet he never once Resisted his own Dread Soveraign but only Fled from him and Fled with more security then he could have done otherwise Nay though David had two the fairest opportunities of making Saul his Prisoner and of taking away his Life one in the Cave at Engedi 1 Sam. 24. and another on the Hill of Hachilah 1 Sam. 26. yet still he forbore all manner of violence at both times using this Heroick and Loyal Expression The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lord 's Anointed to stretch forth mine hand against him seeing he is the Anointed of the Lord. 2. Whence I proceed to the next conclusion that the Destruction of the Lord 's Anointed the stretching forth the hand to Invade his Life is of all other acts of violence the most Fearful and Horrid Crime The Lord forbid that I should do this thing saith David for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord 's Anointed and be guiltless As he said to Abishai 1 Sam. 26. 9. For Subjects to draw Bloud out of the Sacred Heart of their Prince to cut his Head off as though he had not been Anointed with Oyl to Invade the Life of Gods Vice-gerent and especially to do it as did the Regicides of this day not in a Cave but before the Face of the Sun and at his own Palace door and all this with the utmost Pomp of Villany under colour of Justice by formal Proceedings after a Judicial manner with an unheard of Pageantry of Conscience and Religion After they had taken off his Crown and as it were cut off his Hands after they had Hunted him from his House to the Camp and from Field to Field at last to Arraign the best of Kings as a Malefactor to Condemn him as a Tyrant to Dragg him to the Scaffold as a Traitor and there to cut off his Neck as a Dog Blessed Jesu Since the foundations of the World were laid the like instance with all its circumstances was never known no Humane History can afford us a Parallel nothing that can come near it unless it be that instance lately observed of Conradine the King of Naples who after such a manner but upon different pretensions was Dr. Turners's Sermon before the King 1680 1. Arraigned and Murdered in his own City upon a Scaffold And as that was done by pretending Catholicks so this was done by pretending Protestants They set the Copy and these took it out and in as Bloudy a Character so true is that observation that there was hardly so much as a pair of Sheers between theâ— no more difference indeed than between Judas and Iscariot When David had privily cut off the skirt of Saul's robe though it was only with a design to let him see that he had been in his Power his Heart soon Smote him as if he had made a Breach upon Gods Law and had been guilty of a very Vnworthy and Disloyal Act for the Oyl upon a Kings Head like the Ointment upon the Head of Aaron that descended upon his skirts makes even his Vestments Sacred But with what Agonies and Convulsions would his Soul have been Tortured had the King of Israel been mocked by such a Juncto of Jews as on this day Butcher'd the King of England and in the name of the Lord vied for Wickedness with all the Devils in Hell The story of Saul's Death is a very sad relation all the Parts and Appurtenances thereof together with Saul's own Guilt and the Sin of his Armour-bearer and this Amalekite being rightly considered But yet there are some passages in the story which it may not be amiss for us to observe 1. Concerning the Armour-bearer Saul Commanded him to draw his Sword and to thrust him through therewith being desirous rather to Dye by the hands of his own Servant than to be Abused by the Uncircumcised Philistines But notwithstanding the Kings own Command the Armour-bearer refused to hearken in that particular he durst not obey the King to the Destruction of Majesty he was sore afraid saith the Text 1 Sam. 31. 4. Read on now to the next v. and you will find that this Armour-bearer feared not to Kill himself though he was sore afraid to Kill his Soveraign By which instance it is clear not only that he valued his Prince his Life far above his own but also that he thought it much a more pardonable Sin to be a self Murderer than to be a Regicide though tempted to be so by his Soveraigns Command Doubtless for a Man to Kill himself is a very Horrid Sin because it is his last Act whereby in Humane probability he hurryeth himself off the Earth into Hell Yet this Armour-bearer chose rather to Dye with the Guilt of his own Bloud upon his hands than to Live Guilty of the Bloud of the Lord 's Anointed and before he would be such a Traitor ran a sad venture of being Damned for ever by being Felo de se 2. And then as for the Amalekite that did effectually help on the Destruction of Saul though he did it not of Malice but upon Saul's intreaty though he did it when Saul was now half breathless and when he was sure otherwise to be Killed by the Philistines though he did it to rid him of his present Fear and Pains and struck him more like a Friend than an Enemy doing no other than what Saul himself had already done in part yet this Regicides Conscience seems to have been troubled presently at an excessive rate His breast was filled with Remorse and Anguish and Bitterness of Spirit so that he could not but put on a Mournful and Penitential Habit for he ran to David with his Clothes Rent and with Earth upon his Head Confessing by his Actions that he had committed an Abominable Crime when his Lying Tongue pretended that he had done a meritorious Act. And yet which is observable this Regicide was no Subject of Saul's but a Stranger an Alien from the Common-wealth of Israel an Amalekite Lord What Soul is able I do not say to Aggravate but to Measure the Guilt of the Regicides of this day Regicides that acted not only without any pretended Commands or Allowance of Just Authority though all the Powers on
Earth could not have made a Law competent or tolerable in this case but shed the Bloud of the Lord 's Anointed contrary to all Law of God of Nature and of the Land too Regicides that were Amalekites indeed as to Faith Religion Conscience and Inhumanity but otherwise the Kings own Natural and Born-Subjects that owed him Fealty and Loyalty from the Womb that had often renewed their Natural Obligations by several voluntary and the most Solemn Professions Promises and Vows that had many times repeated the Sacred and Strict Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and besides all this that in a Solemn League and Covenant of their own had Sworn Article 3. to Preserve and Defend the Kings Majesties Person and Authority that the World said they may bear witness with our Consciences of our Loyalty and that we have no Thoughts or Intentions to diminish his Majesties just Power and Greatness Regicides that Vowed and Swore all this and that with respect to the Glory of God to the advancement of Christs Kingdom to the Honour and Happiness of the Kings Majesty and his Posterity and with Hands lifted up to the most High God as saith the Preamble to that Covenant But never do Hypocrites hands fall more heavy than when they have been lifted up in Gods Worship A Traitor is then most Formidable when he has been at a Test or at a Sacrament or at a Prayer Judas was fullest of Mischief when he had been at the Dish and the Sop. To answer all these Declarations Vows and Oaths as at first they lifted up their Hands to the most High God so at last they stretched forth their hands to Murder Gods Anointed and they Murder'd him in cold Bloud and after Deliberation and Council and Fasting and as their Phrase was when they had been seeking the Lord too This very Amalekite will one day rise up in Judgment against those Regicides and will condemn them for he seem'd to Repent when he had done the Fact he Rent his Clothes and put Ashes upon his own Head for the violence that he had offered to the Anointed one But these Regicides instead of Relenting or being Smitten in their Hearts were of Reprobate Minds and of Seared Consciences being past Feeling any thing but the Fire of Hell They persisted in hardness above that of Judas or of Cain They own'd the Villany and endeavoured to Justifie that as a Noble Heroick and Godly Exploit which made all Churches abroad but Rome to be asham'd and all Foreign Nations not only the Christian World but even Infidels and Barbarians to Abhorr all English men as so many Savage Dogs Nor was this the Wickedness of Dathan's and Abiram's only but Korah's and Sons of Levi were found also some that to Poize the Vessel had a great hand in casting the Pilot over board some that intentionally Preached off the Crown from his Majesties Head some that drove him to the Block some that were upon or not far off from the Scaffold and some too that made the Sound of the Blow to Eccho in the Temple and did not stick with hands lifted up too to Sanctifie the Fact in the very Pulpit And I cannot but take notice of one singular Instance out of due respects to a certain Doctor still Living and in great Vogue that on Jan. 31. 1648. the very day next Jo. Owens Sermon Jan. 31. 1648. dedicated to the Commons pag. 7. after the Murdering of the King as he was holding forth to the Regicides whom he complemented as the visible Instruments of the Work of the Lord and speaking with reference to the things that had been found in England he insisted much upon the Sins of Manasseh Son of Hezekiah King of Judah spake of his false Worship Superstition and Cruelty and of the Apostacy of those who flattered him in his Tyranny for ibid. p. 5. their own advantage and positively asserted that when Kings turn Seducers both the Blind Leaders and Blind Followers Justly fall into the Ditch and that when Kings Command unrighteous things and People suit them with a willing Complyance none doubts but the Destruction of them both is Just and Righteous Come thy ways now my Honest Amalekite Honest in comparison who though thou wast not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the King of Israel yet for ought we know didst never suffer thine Heart to swell against thine own Soveraign didst never trample Faith and True Allegiance to thy Natural Prince under thy Feet didst never break Covenants nor violate Oaths nor any ways further or abett the Bloudshedding of the King of Amalek nor didst ever harden thy Heart to that Desperate State of Impenitence Deadness or Reprobation as to Justifie and Vindicate the most Horrid Act of Treason with hands stretched out and lifted up before the most High God as did those Sons of Belial the Regicides of this day And yet behold a Greater Prince than either the King of Amalek or Saul was here Greater for his Lineage and Extraction Greater for his Wisdom Faith and Constancy to the Truth Greater for all Vertues Divine Moral Political Greater every ways but in the esteem of Men and in the Hearts of his own Subjects and only too Great by being too Good for a most Vnthankful and Improvident Nation To draw now towards a conclusion The design of this discourse is not so much to expose the Traytors as to Represent the Excessive Sinfulness of the Treason of this day to the End that we and our Posterity may see what reason all of us have to be truly Humbled under the Sense of it For murder is a Crying Sin that filleth Heaven with its Noise and Clamour And one reason of it is because it is not only an Injury against the Man but moreover a Contumely offered to the Majesty of God whose Image the Man bears and therefore Philo the Jew calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo de Spec. Leg. Sacriledge and the Greatest of all sorts of Sacriledge Nay it is of such a Staining nature that it polluteth a whole Land as God himself said Bloud it defileth the Land Num. 35 33. And an Instance hereof we have upon Saul's killing the Giheonites He slew them indeed in his Zeal to the Children of Israel and Judah but though 't was His Fact and Cruelty yet a Three years Famine came upon the Land for it 2 Sam. 21. 1. And if all Innocent Bloud staineth a Nation so how much more the shedding of Bloud Royal the Bloud of Kings who in respect of their High Office and Supreme Authority Represent God above all others and bear his Image and Impress after a Peculiar and Eminent manner I must confess that I cannot but still own my Fears that our Land is not yet throughly cleansed from the Bloud of that Innocent Vertuous Religious Matchless Prince who was so Barbarously murder'd among us on this day For though we may believe that the merciful God will not