the wrongs done to his seruants then themselues can be and knowes how to punish that justly which we could not vndertake with wronging God more then men haue wronged vs. He that saith Vengeance is mine I will repay repayes oft-times when we haue forgiuen when we haue forgotten and cals to reckoning after our discharges It is dangerous offending any fauorite of him whose displeasure and reuenge is euerlasting How farre God lookes beyond our purposes Abigail came only to plead for an ill husband and now God makes this iourney a preparation for a better So that in one act shee preserud an ill husband and wonne a good one for the future Dauid well remembers her comely person her wife speeches her gracefull carriage and now when modesty found it seasonable he sendes to sue to her which had beene his suppliant she intreated for her husband Dauid treates with her for his wife her request was to escape his sword hee wisheth her to his bed It was a faire suite to change a Dauid for a Nabal to become Dauids Queene in steed of Nabals drudge shee that learned humilitie vnder so hard a Tuter abaseth her selfe no lesse when Dauid offers to aduance her Let thine hand-maid be a seruant to wash the feet of the seruants of my Lord None are so fit to be great as those that can stoope loewst How could Dauid be more happy in a wife he finds at once piety wisdom humility faithfulnes wealth beauty How could Abigail bee more happy in an husband then in the Prophet the Champion the Anoynted of God Those mariages are well made wherein vertues are matched and happinesse is mutuall Dauid and Achish GOOD motions that fall into wicked harts are like some sparks that fall from the flint and steele into wet tinder lightsome for the time but soone out After Sauls teares and protestations yet is he now againe in the wildernes with three thousand men to hunt after inocent Dauid How inuincible is the charity and loyalty of an honest hart The same hand that spared Saul in the caue spares him sleeping in the field The same hand that cut away the lappe of his maisters garment caryed away his speare that speare which might as well haue caryed away the life of the owner is only born away for a proofe of the fidelity of the bearer Still Saul is strong but Dauid victorious and triumphs ouer the malice of his persecutor Yet still the victor flyeth from him whom he hath ouercome A man that sees how farre Saul was transported with his rancorous enuy cannot but say that hee was neuer more mad then when he was sober For euen after he had said Blessed art thou my sonne Dauid thou shalt do great things and also preuaile yet still hee pursues him whom hee grants assured to preuaile what is this but to resolue to loose his labour in sinning and in spight of himselfe to offend How shamefull is our inequality of disposition to good We know we cannot misse of the reward of well-doing and yet doe it not whiles wicked men cast away their endeauours vpon those euill proiects whereof they are sure to faile sinne blindes the eyes and hardens the heart and thrusts men into wilfull mischiefes how euer dangerous how euer impossible and neuer leaues them till it haue brought them to vtter confusion THE ouer-long continuance of a tentation may easily weary the best patience and may attaine that by protraction which it could neuer doe by violence Dauid himselfe at last begins to bend vncler this triall and resolues so to flee from Saul as that hee runnes from the Church of God and whiles he will auoyde the malice of his master ioynes himselfe with Gods enemies The greatest Saints vpon earth are not alwayes vpon the same pitch of spirituall strength He that sometimes said I will not be affraid for ten thousand now saies I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul He had wont to consult with God now hee saies thus in his owne hart How many euident experiments had Dauid of Gods deliuerances how certaine and cleare predictions of his future Kingdome how infallible earnest was the holy oyle wherewith hee was anoynted of the crowne of Israel And yet Dauid said in his heart I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul The best faith is but like the twy-light mixed with some degrees of darkness infidelity We doe vtterly misreakon the greatest earthly holinesse if we exempt it from infirmities It is not long since Dauid told Saul that those wicked enemies of his which cast him out from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord did as good as bid him Goe serue other Gods yet now is he gone from the inheritance of God into the land of the Philistims That Saul might seeke him no more hee hides himselfe out of the lists of the Church where a good man would not looke for him Once before had Dauid fled to this Achish when hee was glad to scrabble on the doozes and let his spittle fal vpon his beard in a semblance of madnesse that he might escape yet now in a semblance of friendship is hee returned to saue that life which he was in danger to haue lost in Israel Goliah the Champion of the Philistims whom Dauid slew was of Gath yet Dauid dwells with Achish King of the Philistims in Gath Euen amongst them whose fore-skins he had presented to Saul by two hundreds at once doth Dauid choose to reside for safety Howsoeuer it was a weakenesse in Dauid thus by his league of amity to strengthen the enemies of God yet doth not God take aduantage of it for his ouerthrow but giues him protection euen where his presence offended and giues him fauour where himselfe bore iust hatred Oh the infinite patience and mercy of our God who doth good to vs for our euill and in the very act of our prouocation vpholdeth yea blesseth vs with preseruation Could Saul haue rightly considered it hee had found it no small losse and impairing to his kingdome that so valiant a Captaine attended with sixe hundred able soldiers and their families should forsake his land and ioyne with his enemies yet he is not quiet till he haue abandoned his owne strength The world hath none so great enemy to a wicked man as himselfe his hands cannot be held from his owne mischiefe hee will needs make his friends enemies his enemies victors himselfe miserable DAVID was too wise to cast himselfe into the hands of a Philistim King without assurance What assurance could hee haue but promises Those Dauid had from Saul abundantly and trusted them not Hee dares trust the fidelity of a Pagan hee dares not trust the vowes of a King of Israel There may bee fidelity without the Church and falshood within It need not bee any newes to finde some Turks true and some Christians faithlesse EVEN vnwise men are taught by experience how much more they who haue wit to learne without
haue commanded legges he had not beene left behinde Dauid now that he cannot goe with him hee will not be well without him and therfore puts himselfe to a wilfull and sullen penance for the absence and danger of his King hee will not so much as put on cleane clothes for the time as he that could not haue any ioy in himselfe for the want of his Lord Dauid Vnconscionable miscreants care not how they collogue whom they slander for a priuate aduantage Lewd Ziba comes with a gifte in his hand and a smooth tale in his mouth Oh sir you thought you had a Ionathan at home but you will finde a Saul It were pitty but hee should bee set at your table that would sit in your throne you thought Sauls land would haue contented Mephibosheth but he would haue all yours though hee bee lame yet hee would bee climbing would you haue thought that this creple could be plotting for your kingdome now that you are but gone aside Ishbosheth will neuer die whiles Mephibosheth liues How did hee now forget his impotence and raysed vp his spirits in hope of a day and durst say that now the time was comne wherein the Crowne should reuert to Sauls true heyre Oh viper If a Serpent bite in secret when hee is not charmed no better is a slanderer Honest Mephibosheth in good manners made a dead dog of himselfe when Dauid offred him the fauour of his board but Ziba would make him a very dog indeed an ill-natur'd curre that when Dauid did thus kindely feed him at his owne table would not only bite his fingers but flye at his throat But what shall we say to this Neither earthly soueraignty nor holynesse can exempt men from humane infirmities Wise and good Dauid hath now but one eare and that misled with credulity His charity in beleeuing Ziba makes him vncharitable in distrusting in censuring Mephibosheth The detractor hath not only sudden credit giuen him but Sauls land Ionathans Son hath lost vnheard that inheritance which was giuen him vnsought Heare-say is no safe ground of any iudgement Ziba slaunders Dauid beleeues Mephibosheth suffers Lyes shall not alwayes prosper God will not abide the truth to be euer oppressed At last Ionathans lame Son shall bee found as sound in heart as lame in his body Hee whose Soule was like his father Ionathans Soule whose body was like to his grand-father Sauls Soule meets Dauid as it was high time vpon his returne bestirs his tongue to discharge himselfe of so foule a slaunder The more horrible the crime had beene the more villanous was the vniust suggestion of it and the more necessary was a iust Apologie Sweetly therefore and yet passionately doth hee labour to greaten Dauids fauours to him his owne obligations and vilenesse showing himselfe more affected with his wrong then with his losse welcomming Dauid home with a thankfull neglect of himselfe as not caring that Ziba had his substance now that he had his king Dauid is satisfied Mephibosheth restored to fauour and lands here are two kinde harts well met Dauid is full of satisfaction from Mephibosheth Mephibosheth runs ouer with joy in Dauid Dauid like a gracious King giues Mephibosheth as before Sauls lands to halues with Ziba Mephibosheth like a King giues all to Ziba for joy that God had giuen him Dauid All had beene well if Ziba had fared worse Pardon mee ô holy and glorious soule of a Prophet of a King after Gods owne heart I must needs blame thee for mercy A fault that the best and most generous natures are most subiect to It is pitty that so good a thing should doe hurt yet wee finde that the best misvsed is most dangerous Who should be the patterne of Kings but the King of God Mercy is the gentliest flower in his Crowne much more in theirs but with a difference Gods mercy is infinite theirs limited he sayes I will haue mercy on whom I will they must say I will haue mercy on whom I should And yet he for all his infinite mercy hath vessels of wrath so must they of whom his Iustice hath sayd Thine eye shall not spare them A good man is pitifull to his beast shall hee therefore make much of toads snakes Oh that Ziba should goe away with any possession saue of shame and sorrow that hee should bee coupled with a Mephibosheth in a partnership of estates Oh that Dauid had changed the word a litle A diuision was due here indeed but of Ziba's eares from his head or his head from his shoulders for going about so maliciously to diuide Dauid from the son of Ionathan An eye for an eye was Gods rule If that had beene true which Ziba suggested against Mephibosheth he had been worthy to lose his head with his lands being false it had beene but reason Ziba should haue changed heads with Mephibosheth Had not holy Dauid himselfe beene so stung with venomous tongues that he cryes out in the bitternesse of his soule What reward shall be giuen to thee ô thou false tongue euen sharp arrowes with hot burning coles Hee that was so sensible of himselfe in Doegs wrong doth he feele so little of Mephibosheth in Ziba's Are these the arrowes of Dauids quiuer are these his hot burning coles Thou Ziba diuide He that had sayd Their tongue isa sharp sword now that hee had the sword of just reuenge in his hand is this the blow hee giues Diuide the possessions I know not whether excesse or want of mercy may proue most dangerous in the great the one may discourage good intentions with feare the other may encourage wicked practices through presumption Those that are in eminent place must learne the mid-way betwixt both so pardoning faults that they may not prouoke them so punishing them that they may not dishearten vertuous and wel-meant actions they must learne to sing that absolute ditty whereof Dauid had here forgotten one part of Mercy Iudgement Hanun and Dauids Ambassadours IT is not the meaning of religion to make men vnciuill If the King of Ammon were heathenish yet his kindnes may be acknowledged may bee returned by the King of Israel I say not but that perhaps Dauid might maintaine too strayt a league with that forbidden nation A little frendship is enough to an Idolater but euen the sauage Cannibals may receiue an answer of outward courtesie If a very dog fawne vpon vs wee stroke him on the head and clap him on the side much lesse is the common band of humanity vntyed by Grace Disparity in spirituall professions is no warrant for ingratitude Hee therfore whose good nature proclaimed to shew mercy to any branch of Sauls house for Ionathans sake will now also shew kindnesse to Hanun for the sake of Nahash his father It was the same Nahash that offered the cruell condition to the men of Iabesh Gilead of thrusting out their right eyes for the admission into his couenant He that was thus bloudy in
Contemplations THE FIFTH VOLVME By IOS HALL D. of D. LONDON Printed by E. G. for Nathaniel Butter 1620. Contemplations VPON THE OLD TESTAMENT The 14th Booke Saul in Dauids Caue Nabal and Abigail Dauid and Achish Saul and the Witch of Endor Ziklag spoyled and reuenged The Death of Saul Abner and Ioab TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND MY SINGVLAR good Lord PHILIP Earle of MONGOMERY one of the Gentlemen of his Maiesties Bed-chamber and Knight of the most honourable Order of the Garter Right Honourable AFter some vnpleasing intermissions I returne to that taske of Contemplation wherein onely my soule findeth rest If in other imployments I haue indeauoured to serue God and his Church yet in none I must confesse with equall contentment Me thinkes Controuersie is not right in my way to Heauen how euer the importunity of an aduersarie may force me to fetch it in Jf Truth oppressed by an erroneous teacher cry like a rauisht virgin for my ayd I betray it if J releeue it not when I haue done I returne gladly to these paths of peace The fauour which my late Polemicall labour hath found beyond merit from the learned cannot diuert my loue to those wrangling studies How earnestly doth my hart rather wish an vniuersall cessation of these armes that all the Professors of the deare name of Christ might bee taken vp with nothing but holy and peaceable thoughts of deuotion the sweetnesse wherof hath so farre affected mee that if J might doe it without danger of mis-construction I could beg euen of an enemy this leaue to be happy I haue already giuen account to the world of some expences of my houres this way here J bring more which if some reader may censure as poore none can censure as vnprofitable J am bold to write them vnder your Honourable Name whereto I deeply obliged that J may leaue behind me this meane but faithfull Testimony of mine humble thankefulnesse to your Lo and your most honored and vertuous Lady The noble respects I haue had from you both deserue my prayers best seruices which shall neuer bee wanting to you and yours From your Honors sincerely deuoted in all true duty IOS HALL Contemplations SAVL in DAVIDS Caue IT was the strange lot of Dauid that those whom hee pursued preserued him from those whom hee had preserued The Philistims whom Dauid had newly smitten in Keilah call off Saul from smiting Dauid in the wildernesse when there was but an hillock betwixt him and death Wicked purposes are easily checked not easily broken off Sauls sword is scarce dry from the bloud of the Philistims when it thirsts anew for the bloud of Dauid and now in a renued chase hunts him dry-foot thorow euery wildernesse The very desert is too faire a refuge for innocence The hils and rocks are searched in an angry iealousie the very wilde goats of the mountaines were not allowed to bee companions for him which had no fault but his vertue Oh the seemingly-vnequall distribution of these earthly things Cruelty and oppression raignes in a palace whiles goodnesse lurkes among the rockes and caues and thinkes it happinesse enough to steale a life Like a dead man Dauid is faine to be hid vnder the earth and seekes the comfort of protection in darknesse and now the wise prouidence of God leads Saul to his enemy without bloud He which before broght them within an hils distance without interview brings them now both within one roofe so as that whiles Saul seekes Dauid and findes him not hee is found of Dauid vnsought If Saul had knowne his owne opportunities how Dauid and his men had interred themselues he had saued a treble labour of chase of execution and buriall for had he but stopt the mouth of that caue his enemies had layd themselues downe in their owne graues The wisdome of God thinkes fit to hide from euill men spirits those means and seasons which might be if they had been taken most preiudiciall to his owne Wee had been oft foyled if Satan could but haue knowne our hearts somtimes wee lye open to euils and happy it is for vs that hee onely knowes it which pitties in steed of tempting vs. It is not long since Saul sayd of Dauid lodged them in Keilah God hath deliuered him into mine hands for he is shut in seeing hee is come into a City that hath gates and bars but now contrarily God deliuers Saul ere he was aware into the hands of Dauid and without the helpe of gates and bars hath inclosed him within the valley of the shadow of death How iust it is with God that those who seeke mischeefe to others finde it to them selues and euen whiles they are spredding nets are insnared Their deliberate plotting of euill is surprized with a sudden judgement How amazedly must Dauid needes looke when he saw Saul enter into the caue where himselfe was what is this thinkes hee which God hath done Is this presence purposed or casuall is Saul here to pursue or to tempt me Where suddenly the action bewrayes the intent and tels Dauid that Saul sought secrecy and not him The superfluity of his maliciousnesse brought him into the wildernesse the necessity of nature led him into the caue Euen those actions wherin we place shame are not exempted from a prouidence The fingers of Dauids followers itched to cease on their Masters enemy and that they might not seeme led so much by faction as by faith they vrge Dauid with a promise from God The day is come whereof the Lord said vnto thee Behold I will deliuer thine enemie into thine hand and thou shalt do to him as it shall seeme good to thee This argument seemed to carry such command with it as that Dauid not onely may but must embrue his hands in blood vnlesse he will bee found wanting to God and himselfe those temptations are most powerfull which fetch their force from the pretence of a religious obedience Whereas those which are raysed from arbitrary and priuate respects admit of an easie dispensation If there were such a prediction one clause of it was ambiguous and they take it at the worst Thou shalt doe to him as shall seeme good to thee that might not seeme good to him which seemed euill vnto God There is nothing more dangerous then to make construction of Gods purposes out of euentuall appearances If carnall probabilities might be the rule of our iudgement what could God seeme to intend other then Sauls death in offering him naked into the hands of those whom he vniustly persecuted how could Dauids soldiers thinke that God had sent Saul thither on any other errand then to fetch his bane and if Saul could haue seene his owne danger hee had giuen himselfe for dead for his hart guilty to his owne bloody desires could not but haue expected the same measure which is meant But wise and holy Dauid not transported either with misconcert of the euent or fury of passion or sollicitation
of his followers dares make no other vse of this accident then the triall of his loyalty and the inducement of his peace It had beene as easie for him to cut the throate of Saul as his garment but now his coate only shall be the worse not his person neither doth he in the moyming of a cloake seeke his own reuenge but a monument of his innocence Before Saul rent Samuels garment now Dauid cutteth Sauls both were significant The rending of the one signified the Kingdome torne out of those vnworthy hands the cutting of the other that the life of Saul might haue beene as easily cut off Saul needs no other monitor of his owne danger then what he weares The vpper garment of Saul was laid aside whiles he went to couer his feete so as the cut of the garment did not threaten any touch of the body yet euen this violence offered to a remote garment strikes the hart of Dauid which findes a present remorse for harmefully touching that which did once touch the person of his maister Tender consciences are moued to regret at those actions which strong harts passe ouer with a carelesse ease It troubled not Saul to seeke after the blood of a righteons seruant there is no lesse difference of consciences then stomackes Some stomacks will digest the hardest meates and turne ouer substances not in their nature edible whiles others surret of the lightest food and complaine euen of dainties Euery gratious hart is in some measure scrupulous and findes more safetie in feare then in presumption And if it be so strait as to curbe it selfe in from the libertie which it might take in things which are not vnlawfull how much lesse will it dare to take scope vnto euill By how much that state is better where nothing is allowed then where all things by so much is the strict and timorous conscience better then the lawlesse There is good likelyhood of that man which is any way scrupulous of his wayes but he which makes no bones of his actions is apparently hopelesse SINCE Dauids followers pleaded Gods testimony to him as a motiue to blood Dauid appeales the same God for his preseruation from blood The Lord keepe me from doing that thing to my maister the Lords anoynted and now the good man hath worke enough to defend both himselfe and his persecuter himselfe from the importunate necessitie of doing violence and his maister from suffering it It was not more easie to rule his owne hands then difficult to rule a multitude Dauids troupe consisted of male-contents all that were in distresse in debt in bitternesse of soule were gathered to him Many if neuer so well ordered are hard to command a few if disorderly more hard many and disorderly must needes be so much the hardest of all that Dauid neuer atchiued any victorie like vnto this wherein the first ouercame himselfe then his soldiers AND what was the charme wherewith Dauid allayed those raging spirits of his followers No other but this He is the Anoynted of the Lord. That holy oyle was the Antidote for his blood Saul did not lend Dauid so impearceable an Armour when he should incounter Goliah as Dauid now lent him in this plea of his vnction Which of all the disconted outlawes that lurked in that caue durst put forth his hand against Saul when they once heard He is the Lords anoynted Such an impression of awe hath the diuine prouidence caused his Image to make in the harts of men as that it makes traytors cowards So as insteed of striking they tremble How much more lawlesse then the outlawes of Israel are those professed Ring-leaders of Christianity which teach and practise and incourage and reward and canonize the violation of maiestie It is not enough for those who are commanders of others to refraine their owne hands from euill but they must carefully preuent the iniquitie of their heeles else they shall bee iustly reputed to doe that by others which in their owne person they auoyded the lawes both of God and man presuppose vs in some sort answerable for our charge as taking it for granted that wee should not vndertake those raynes which we cannot mannage There was no reason Dauid should loose the thankes of so noble a demonstration of his loyalty Whereto he trusts so much that hee dares call backe the man by whom he was pursued and make him iudge whether that fact had not deserued a life As his act so his word and gesture imported nothing but humble obedience neither was there more meekenesse then force in that seasonable perswasion Wherein hee lets Saul see the error of his credulity the vniust slaunders of maliciousnesse the oportunity of his reuenge the proofe of his forbearance the vndeniable euidence of his innocence and after a lowly disparagement of himselfe appeales to God for iudgement for protection So liuely and feeling oratory did Saul finde in the lap of his garment and the lips of Dauid that it is not in the power of his enuy or ill nature to hold out any longer Is this thy voyce my sonne Dauid and Saul lift vp his voyce and wept and said Thou art more righteous then I Hee whose harpe had wont to quiet the frenzy of Saul hath now by his words calmed his fury so as now hee sheds teares in steed of blood and confesses his owne wrong and Dauids integrity And as if he were new againe entered into the bounds of Naioth in Ramath he prayes and prophesies good to him whom he maliced for good The Lord render thee good for that thou hast done to mee this day for now behold I know that thou shalt be king There is no hart made of flesh that some time or other relents not euen flint and marble will in some wether stand on dropes I cannot think these teares and protestations fayned Doubtlesse Saul meant as he said and passed through sensible fits of good and euill Let no man like himselfe the better for good motions the prayse and benefit of those guests is not in the receit but the retention Who that had seene this meeting could but haue thought all had beene sure on Dauids side What can secure vs if not teares and prayers and oathes Doubtlesse Dauids men which knew themselues obnoxious to lawes and creditors began to thinke of some new refuge as making account this new peeced league would be euerlasting they looked when Saul would take Dauid home to the court and dissolue his army and recompence that vniust persecution with iust honor when behold in the loose Saul goes home but Dauid and his men goe vp vnto the hold Wise Dauid knowes Saul not to be more kinde then vntrusty and therefore had rather seeke safely in his hold then in the hold of an hollow and vnsteedy friendship Heere are good words but no security which therefore an experienced man giues the hearing but stands the while vpon his own guard No charity bindes vs to a trust of
them vnder whose shelter they liue but how vnnaturall is the villany of those miscreants that can be content to bee actors in the capitall wrongs offred to soueraigne authority It were a wonder if after the death of a Prince there should want some Pick-thanke to insinuate himselfe into his Successour An Amalekite young manrides post to Ziklag to find out Dauid whom euen common rumor had notified for the anoynted heyre to the Kingdome of Israel to bee the first messenger of that newes which hee thought could bee no other then acceptable the death of Saul and that the tydings might be so much more meritorious he addes to the report what he thinkes might carry the greatest retribution In hope of reward or honour the man is content to bely himselfe to Dauid It was not the speare but the sword of Saul that was the instrument of his death neither could this stranger finde Saul but dying since the Armour-bearer of Saul saw him dead ere he offred that violence to himselfe The hand of this Amalekite therfore was not guilty his tongue was Had not this messenger measur'd Dauids foot by his owne last hee had forborne this peece of the newes and not hoped to aduantage himselfe by this falshood Now he thinks The tydings of a Kingdome cannot but please None but Saul and Ionathan stood in Dauids way Hee cannot chuse but like to heare of their remouall Especially since Saul did so tyrannously persecute his innocence If I shall onely report the fact done by another I shall goe away but with the recompence of a lucky Post wheras if I take vpon mee the action I am the man to whom Dauid is beholden for the Kingdome he cannot but honour and requite me as the author of his deliuerance and happinesse Worldly mindes thinke no man can be of any other then their owne diet and because they finde the respects of selfe-loue and priuate profit so strongly preuailing with themselues they cannot conceiue how these should bee capable of a repulse from others How much was this Amalekite mocked of his hopes whiles he imagined that Dauid would now triumph and feast in the assured expectation of the Kingdome and possession of the Crowne of Israel hee findes him renting his clothes and wringing his hands and weeping and mourning as if all his comfort had been dead with Saul and Ionathan and yet perhaps he thought This sorrow of Dauid is but fashionable such as great heyres make shew of in the fatall day they haue longed for These teares will soone be dry the sight of a Crowne will soon breed a succession of other passions But this error is soon corrected For when Dauid had entertained this Bearer with a sad fast all the day he cals him forth in the euening to executiō How wast thou not afrayd saith he to put forth thy hand to destroy the Anoynted of the Lord Doubtlesse the Amalekite made many faire pleas for himselfe out of the grounds of his owne report Alas Saul was before falne vpon his owne speare It was but mercy to kill him that was halfe dead that he might die the shorter Besides his entreaty and importunate prayers moued mee to hasten him through those painfull gates of death had I striken him as an enemy I had deserued the blow I had giuen now I sent him the hand of a frend why am I punished for obeying the voyce of a King and for perfiting what himselfe begun and could not finish And if neither his own wound nor mine had dispatched him the Philistims were at his heeles ready to doe this same act with insultation which I did in fauour and if my hand had not preuented them wherehad been the Crowne of Israel which I now haue here presented to thee I could haue deliuered that to King Achish and haue beene rewarded with honour let mee not dye for an act well meant to thee how euer construed by thee But no pretence can make his owne tale not deadly Thy bloud bee vpon thine owne head for thine owne mouth hath testified against thee saying I haue slaine the Lords Anoynted It is a iust supposition that euery man is so great a Fauourer of himselfe that he will not mis-report his owne actions nor say the worst of himselfe In matter of confession men may without iniury be taken at their words If he did it his fact was capitall If he did it not his lye It is pittyany other recompence should befall those false flatterers that can be content to father a sinne to get thankes Euery drop of royall bloud is sacred For a man to say that he hath shed it is mortall Of how farre different spirits from this of Dauid are those men which suborne the death of Princes and celebrate and canonize the murtherers Into their secret let not my soule come my glory be thou not joyned to their assembly Abner and Joab HOw mercifull and seasonable are the prouisions of God Ziglag was now nothing but ruines and ashes Dauid might returne to the soyle where it stood to the roofes and walls he could not No sooner is he disapointed of that harbour then God prouides him Cities of Hebron Saul shall dye to giue him elbow-roome Now doth Dauid finde the comfort that his extremity sought in the Lord his God Now are his clowdes for a time passed ouer and the Sun breaks gloriously forth Dauid shall raigne after his sufferings So shall we if we indure to the end finde a Crowne of righteousnes which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall giue vs at that day But though Dauid well knew that his head was long before anoynted and had heard Saul himselfe confidently auouching his succession yet he will not stirre from the heapes of Ziglag till hee haue consulted with the Lord It did not content him that he had Gods warrant for the kingdome but hee must haue his instructions for the taking possession of it How safe and happie is the man that is resolued to do nothing without God Neither will generalities of direction be sufficient euen particular circumstances must looke for a word still is God a piller of fire and cloude to the eye of euery Israelite neither may there be any motion or stay but from him That action cannot but succeed which proceeds vpon so sure a warrant God sends him to Hebron a city of Iudah Neither will Dauid goe vp thither alone but he takes with him all his men with their whole housholds they shall take such part as himselfe As they had shared with him in his misery so they shall now in his prosperity Neither doth he take aduantage of their late mutinye which was yet fresh and greene to cashier those vnthankefull and vngracious followers but pardoning their secret rebellions he makes them partakers of his good successe Thus doth our heauenly leader whom Dauid prefigured take vs to raigne with him who haue suffered with him passing by our manyfold infirmities as if they had not
those whom we haue found faithlesse Credulity vpon weake grounds after palpable disapointments is the daughter of folly A man that is weatherwise though he finde an abatement of the storme yet will not stirre from vnder his shelter whiles hee sees it thicke in the winde distrust is the iust gaine of vnfaithfulnesse Nabal and Abigail IF innocency could haue securd from Sauls malice Dauid had not beene persecuted and yet vnder that wicked King aged Samuel dies in his bed That there might be no place for enuy the good Prophet had retyred himselfe to the Schooles Yet hee that hated Dauid for what hee should bee did no lesse hate Samuel for what hee had beene Euen in the midst of Sauls malignity there remained in his heart impressions of awfulnesse vnto Samuel hee feared where he loued not The restraint of God curbeth the rage of his most violent enemies so as they cannot doe their worst As good husbands doe not put all their corne to the ouen but saue some for seed so doth God euer in the worst persecutions SAMVEL is dead Dauid banished Saul tyranizeth Israel hath good cause to mourne it is no maruell if this lamentation be vniuersall There is no Israelite that feeleth not the losse of a Samuel A good Prophet is the common treasure wherin euery gracious soule hath a share That man hath a dry heart which can part with Gods Prophet without teares NABAL was according to his name foolish yet rich and mighty Earthly possessions are not alwayes accompanied with wit and grace Euen the line of faithfull Caleb will afford an ill-condition'd Nabal Vertue is not like vnto lands inheritable All that is traduced with the seede is either euill or not good Let no mam brag with the Iewes that he hath Abram to his father God hath raised vp of this stone a sonne to Caleb ABIGAIL which signified her fathers ioy had sorrow enough to bee matched with so vnworthy an husband If her father had meant shee should haue had ioy in herselfe or in her life he had not disposed her to an husband though rich yet fond and wicked It is like hee married her to the wealth not to the man Many a childe is cast away vpon riches Wealth in our matches should bee as some graines or scruples in the balance superadded to the gold of vertuous qualities to weigh downe the scales when it is made the substancc of the weight and good qualities the appendance there is but one earth poysed with another which wheresoeuer it is done it is a wonder if either the children proue not the parents sorrow or the parents theirs NABALS sheep-shearing was famous Three thousand fleeces must needes require many hands neither is any thing more plentiful commonly then a Churles feast What a world was this that the noble Champion Rescuer of Israel Gods Anoynted is driuen to send to a base Carle for victuals It is no measuring of men by the depth of the purse by outward prosperity Seruants are oft-times set on horse-backe whiles Princes walke on foot Our estimation must bee led by their inward worth which is not alterable by time nor diminishable with externall conditions ONE rag of a Dauid is more worth then the ward-robes of a thousand Nabals Euen the best deseruings may want No man may be contemned for his necessity perhaps he may be so much richer in grace as hee is poorer in estate neither hath violence or casualty more impouerished a Dauid then his pouerty hath enriched him Hee whose folly hath made himselfe miserable is iustly rewarded with neglect but he that suffers for good deserues so much more honour from others as his distresse is more Our compassion or respect must be ruled according to the cause of anothers misery ONE good turne requires another in some cases not hurting is meritorious Hee that should examine the qualities of Dauids followers must needes grant it worthy of a fee that Nabals flocks lay vntouched in Carmel but more that Dauids Souldiers were Nabals Sheepheards yea the keepers of his shepheards gaue them a just interest in that sheep-shearing feast justly should they haue beene set at the vpper end of the table That Nabals sheepe were safe he might thanke his Shepheards that his Shepheards were safe hee might thanke Dauids Souldiers It is no small benefit that wee receiue in a safe protection well may we think our substance due where wee owe our selues Yet this churlish Nabal doth not onely giue nothing to Dauids messengers but which is worse then nothing ill words Who is Dauid or who is the sonne of Ishai There be many seruants now a dayes that breake away from their Masters Dauid asked him bread he giues him stones All Israel knew and honored their Deliuerer yet this Clown to saue his victuals will needs make him a man either of no merits of ill either an obscure man or a Fugitiue Nothing is more cheap then good words these Nabal might haue giuen and been neuer the poorer If he had beene resolued to shut his hands in a feare of Sauls reuenge he might haue so tempered his deniall that the repulse might haue beene free from offence But now his foule mouth doth not onely deny but reuile It should haue beene Nabals glory that his Tribe yeelded such a Successor to the Throne of Israel now in all likely hood his enuy stirs him vp to disgrace that man who surpassed him in honour and vertue more then hee was surpassed by him in vertue and ease Many an one speaks faire that meanes ill but when the mouth speakes foule it argues a corrupt heart If with S. Iames his verball benefactors wee say onely Depart in peace warme your selues fill your bellies wee shall answer for hypocriticall vncharitablenesse but if wee rate curse those needy soules whom we ought to releeue wee shall giue a more fearefull account of a sauage cruelty in trampling on those whom God hath humbled If healing with good words bee justly punishable what torment is there for those that wound with euill DAVID which had all this while beene in the schole of patience hath now his lesson to seeke Hee who had happily digested all the rayling and persecutions of a wicked Master cannot put off this affront of a Nabal Nothing can asswage his choler but bloud How subiect are the best of Gods Saints to weake passions and if wee haue the grace to ward an expected blow of temptations how easily are wee surprized with a sudden foe Wherefore serue these recorded weaknesses of holy men but to strengthen vs against the conscience of our infirmities not that we should take courage to imitate them in the euill whereunto they haue been miscarried But we should take heart to our selues against the discouragement of our own euils THE wisdome of God hath so contriued it that commonly in societies good is mixed with euill wicked Nabal hath in his house a wise and good seruant a prudent and worthy wife That
wise seruant is carefull to aduertise his Mistresse of the danger his prudent Mistresse is carefull to preuent it THE liues of all his family were now in hazard she dares not commit this businesse to the fidelity of a messenger but forgetting her sex puts herselfe into the errand Her foot is not slow her hand is not empty According to the offence shee frames her satisfaction Her husband refused to giue shee brings a bountiful gift her husband gaue ill words shee sweetens them with a meeke and humble deprecation Her husband could say Who is Dauid she fals at his feet her husband dismisses Dauids men empty she brings her seruants laden with prouision as if it had been only meant to ease the repelled messengers of the carriage not to scant them of the required beneuolence No wit no art could deuise a more pithy and powerfull Oratory As all satisfaction so hers begins with a confession wherein shee deeply blameth the folly of her husband She could not haue been a good wife if shee had not honoured her vnworthy head If a stranger should haue termed him foole in her hearing hee could not haue gone away in peace Now to saue his life she is bold to acknowledge his folly It is a good disparagement that preserueth There is the same way to our peace in heauen the only meanes to escape judgement is to complaine of our owne vilenesse shee pleadeth her ignorance of the fact and therein her freedome from the offence she humbly craueth acceptation of her present with pardon of the fault she professeth Dauids honorable acts and merits shee foretels his future successe and glory she layes before him the happy peace of his soule in refraining from innocent bloud Dauids brest which could not through the seeds of grace grow to a stubbornesse in ill resolutions cannot but relent with these powerfull and feasonable perswasions and now in steed of reuenge hee blesseth God for sending Abigail to meet him he blesseth Abigail for her councell hee blesseth the councell for so wholsome efficacy and now reioyceth more in being ouercome with a wise and gracious aduice then he would haue reioyced in a reuengefull victory A good heart is easily stayed from sinning and is glad when it findes occasion to bee crossed in ill purposes Those secret checks which are raised within it selfe do readily conspire with all outward retentiues It neuer yeelded to a wicked motion without much reluctation and when it is ouercome it is but with halfe a consent whereas peruerse and obdurate sinners by reason they take full delight in euill and haue already in their conceit swallowed the pleasure of sin abide not to bee resisted running on headily in those wicked courses they haue propounded in spight of opposition and if they bee forcibly stopped in their way they grow sullen and mutinous Dauid had not only vowed but deeply sworne the death of Nabal and all his family to the very dog that lay at his doore yet now he praiseth God that hath giuen the occasion and grace to violate it Wicked vowes are ill made but worse kept Our tongue cannot tye vs to commit sinne Good men thinke themselues happy that since they had not the grace to deny sin yet they had not the opportunity to accomplish it If Abigail had fit still at home Dauid had sinned and she had dyed Now her discreet admonition hath preserued her from the sword and diuerted him from bloudshed And now what thankes what benedictons hath shee for this seasonable Councell How should it encourage vs to admonish our brethren to see that if wee preuaile wee haue blessings from them if we preuaile not we haue yet blessings from God and thankes of our owne hearts How neere was Nabal to a mischeefe and perceiues it not Dauid was comming at the foot of the hill to cut his throat while hee was feasting in his house without feare Little doe sinners know how neere their iollity is to perdition Many time judgement is at the threshold whiles drunkennesse and surfet are at the boord Had he beene any other then â— Nabal he had not sate downe to feast till he had beene sure of his peace with Dauid either not to expect danger or not to cleare it was sottish So foolish are carnall men that giue themselues ouer to their pleasures whiles there are deadly quarrels depending against them in Heauen There is nothing wherein wisdome is more seene then in the temperate vse of prosperity A Nabal cannot abound but he must be drunke and surfet Excesse is a true argument of folly We vse to say that When drinke is in wit is out but if wit were not out drinke would not be in It was no time to aduise Nabal while his reason was drowned in a deluge of wine A beast or a stone is as capable of good councell as a Drunkard Oh that the noblest Creature should so farre abase himselfe as for a little liquor to lose the vse of those faculties whereby he is a Man Those that haue to doe with drinke or phrenzy must be glad to watch times So did Abigail who the next morning presents to her husband the view of his faults of his danger He then sees how neere hee was to death and felt it not That worldly minde is so apprehensiue of the death that should haue beene as that hee dies to thinke he had like to haue dyed Who would think a man could bee so affected with a danger past and yet so sencelesse of a future yea imminent He that was yester-night as a beast is now as a stone hee was then ouer-merry now dead and lumpish Carnall hearts are euer in extremity If they bee once downe their desection is desperate because they haue no inward comfort to mitigate their sorrow What difference there was betwixt the disposition of Dauid and Nabal How oft had Dauid beene in the valley of the shadow of death and feared no euill Nabal is but once put in minde of a death that might haue been and is stricken dead It is just with God that they who liue without grace should dye without comfort neither can we expect better while wee goe on in our sins The speech of Abigail smote Nabal into a qualme that tongue had doubtlesse oft aduised him well and preuailed not now occasions his death whose reformation it could not effect shee meant nothing but his amendment God meant to make that louing Instrument the meanes of his reuenge she speakes and God strikes within ten dayes that swound ends in death And now Nabal payes deare for his vncharitable reproch for his riotous excesse That God which would not suffer Dauid to right himselfe by his owne sword takes the quarrell of his Seruant into his owne hand Dauid hath now his ends without sin reioycing in the just executions of God who would neither suffer him to sinne in reuenging nor suffer his aduersary to sin vnreuenged Our louing God is more angry with
our God that can raise vp an aduersary to deliuer out of those euils which our frends cannot That by the sword of an enemy can let out that apostume which no Physician could tell how to cure It would be wide with vs somtimes if it were not for others malice There could not bee a more just question then this of the Philistim Princes What doe these Hebrewes here An Israelite is out of his element when he is in an army of Philistims The true seruants of God are in their due places when they are in opposition to his enemies Profession of hostility becomes them better then leagues of amity YET Achish likes Dauids conuersation and presence so well that he professeth himselfe pleased with him as with an Angell of God How strange it is to heare that a Philistim should delight in that holy man whom an Israelite abhors and should be loth to be quit of Dauid whom Saul hath expelled Termes of ciuility be equally open to all religions to all professions The common graces of Gods children are able to attract loue from the most obstinate enemies of goodnesse If we affect them for by-respects of valour wisdome discourse wit it is their praise not ours But if for diuine grace and religion it is our praise with theirs SVCH now was Dauids condition that hee must plead for that he feared and argue against that which hee desired What haue I done and what hast thou found in thy seruant that I may not goe and fight against the enemies of my Lord the King Neuer any newes could bee more cordiall to him then this of his dismission yet must he seeme to striue against it with an importunate profession of his forwardnesse to that act which hee most detested One degree of dissimulation drawes on another those which haue once giuen way to a faulty course cannot easily either stop or turne backe but are in a sort forced to second their ill beginnings with worse proceedings It is a dangerous and miserable thing to cast our selues into those actions which draw with them a necessity either of offending or miscarriage Saul and the Witch of Endor EVEN the worst men may somtimes make head against some sinnes Saul hath expelled the Sorcerers out of the land of Israel and hath forbidden magicke vpon paine of death He that had no care to expell Satan out of his owne heart yet will seeme to driue him out of his kingdome That wee see wicked men oppose themselues to some sinnes there is neither maruell nor comfort in it No doubt Satan made sport at this edict of Saul what cares he to be banished in sorcery whiles he is entertained in malice He knew and found Saul his whiles he resisted and smiled to yeeld thus farre vnto his vassall if wee quit not all sinnes he will be content wee should either abandon or persecute some Where is no place for holy feare there will be place for the seruile The gracelesse heart of Saul was astonied at the Philistims yet was neuer moued at the frowns of that God whose anger sent them nor of those sinnes of his which procured them Those that cannot feare for loue shall tremble for feare and how much better is awe then terror preuention then confusion There is nothing more lamentable to see a man laugh when hee should feare God shall laugh when such a ones feare commeth Extremiry of distresse will send euen the prophanest man to God like as the drowning man reacheth out his hand to that bow which he contemned whiles hee stood safe on the banke Saul now asketh counsell of the Lord whose Prophet he hated whose priests he slue whose anoynted he persecutes Had Saul consulted with God when he should this euill had not beene but now if this euill had not beene he had consulted with God The thanke of this act is due not him but to his affection A forced piety is thankelesse and vnprofitable God will not answere him neither by dreames nor by vrim nor by Prophets Why should God answer that man by dreames who had resisted him waking Why should he answer him by vrim that had slaine his Priests Why should he answer him by Prophets who hated the Father of the Prophets rebelled against the word of the Prophets It is an vnreasonable vnequality to hope to finde God at our command when wee would not be at his To looke that God should regard our voyce in trouble when wee would not regard his in peace Vnto what mad shiftes are men driuen by despaire If God will not answer Satan shall Saul said to his seruants seeke me a woman that hath a familiar spirit If Saul had not known this course Diuelish why did he decree to banish it to mulct it with death yet now against the streame of his conscience he will seeke to those whom he had condemned There needs no other iudge of Sauls act then himselfe had hee not before opposed this sinne he had not so haynously sinned in committing it There cannot bee a more fearefull signe of an heart giuen vp to a reprobate sence then to cast it selfe wilfully into those sinnes which it hath proclaimed to detest The declinations to euill are many times insensible but when it breakes forth into such apparant effects euen others eies may discerne it What was Saul the better to fore-know the issue of his approaching battaile If this consultation could haue strengthned him against his enemies or promoted his victory there might haue bene some colour for so foule an act Now what could hee gaine but the satisfying of his bootlesse curiosity in fore-seeing that which hee should not be able to auoyd Foolish men giue a way their soules for nothing The itch of impertinent and vnprofitable knowledge hath beene the heriditary distroyer of the sonnes of Adam and Eue How many haue perished to know that which hath procured their perishing How ambitious should wee bee to know those things the knowledge wherof is eternall life Many a leud office are they put to which serue wicked masters one while Sauls seruants are set to kill innocent Dauid another while to shed the blood of Gods Priests and now they must goe seeke for a Witch It is no small happinesse to attend them from whom we may receiue precepts and examples of vertue Had Saul bene good he had needed no disguise Honest actions neuer shame the doers Now that hee goeth about a sinfull businesse hee changeth himselfe he seekes the shelter of the night he takes but two followers with him It is true that if Saul had comne in the port of a King the Witch had as much dissembled her condition as now he dissembleth his yet it was not only desire to speed but guiltinesse that thus altred his habit such is the power of conscience that euen those who are most affected to euill yet are ashamed to bee thought such as they desire to be Saul needed another face to fit that tongue which should say
neuer disappoynted any mans trust Dauid now findes that the eye which waited vpon God was not sent away weeping Dauid therfore and his men are now vpon their march after the Amalekite It is no lingring when God bids vs goe They which had promised rest to their weary limbs after their returne from Achish in their harbour of Ziglag are glad to forget their hopes and to put their stiffe joynts vnto a new taske of motion It is no maruell if two hundred of them were so ouertyred with their former toyle that they were not able to passe ouer the riuer Besor Dauid was a true type of Christ We follow him in these holy wars against the spirituall Amalekites All of vs are not of an equall strength Some are carried 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 then pittifull neither doth hee scornfully cashier those whose desires are hearty whiles their abilities are vnanswerable How much more should our charity pardon the infirmities of our brethen and allow them to sit by the stuffe who cannot endure the march The same Prouidence which appoynted Dauid to follow the Amalekites had also ordered an Aegyptian to be cast behinde them This cast seruant whom 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 despise the meanest vassal vpon earth There is a mercy and care due to the most despicable peice of all humanity wherein wee cannot bee wanting without the offence without the punishment of God Charity distinguisheth an Israelite from an Amalekite Dauids followers are strangers to this Aegyptian 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 figs and raisins Neither can the haste of their way bee any hindrance to their compassion Hee hath no Israelitish blood in him that is vtterly mercilesse Perhaps yet Dauids Followers might also in the hope of some intelligence shew kindnesse to this forlorne Aegyptian Worldly wisdome teacheth vs to sow small courtesies where we may reape large haruests of recompence No sooner are his spirits recalled then hee requites his food with information I cannot blame the Aegyptian that hee was so easily induced to descry these vnkind Amalekites to merciful Israelites those that gaue him ouer vnto death to the restorers of his life much lesse that ere he would descry them hee requires an oath of security from so bad a Master Well doth hee 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 Aegyptian 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 spoile though not so much for his sake as for Israels is this heathenish Stragler preserued It pleases God to extend his common fauors to all his creatures but in miraculous preferuations he hath still wont to haue respect to his owne By this means therfore are the Israelites brought to the sight of their late spoylers whom they finde 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 gainefull forraging of Amalek and now seeing no feare of any Pursuer and promising themselues safety in so great and vntraced a distance they make themselues merry with so rich and easie a victory and now suddenly when they began to think of enioying the beauty and wealth they had gotten the sword of Dauid was vpon their throats Destruction is neuer neerer then when security 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 do we thinke appeared in them when they saw their happy and ualiant Rescuers flying in vpon their insolent Victors and making the death of the Amalekites the ransome of their captiuity 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 os 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 then he expected that booty which they had swept from all other parts accrewed to him Those Isralites that could not goe on to fight for their share are comne to meete their brethren with gratulation How partiall are wee wont to be 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 journey should receiue no part of the commodity It was fauour enough for them to recouer their wiues children though they shared not in the goods Wise and holy Dauid whose praise was no lesse to ouercome his owne in time of peace then his enimies in warre calls his contending followers from law to equity and so orders the matter that since the plaintifes were detained not by will but by necessity and since their forced stay was vse-full in garding the stuffe they should partake equally of the prey with their fellowes A sentence well-beseeming the justice of Gods anoynted Those that represent God vpon earth should resemble him in their proceeding It is the just mercy of our God to measure vs by our wills not by our abilities to recompence vs gratiously according to the truth of our desires and endeauors and to account that performed by vs which hee only letteth vs from performing It were wide with vs if somtimes purpose did not supply actions Whiles our heart faulteth not we that through spirituall sicknesse are faine to abide by the stuffe shall share both in grace and glory with the victors The death of Saul THe Witch of Endor had halfe slaine Saul before the battell It is iust that they who consult with deuils should goe away with discomfort He hath eaten his last bread at the hand of a Sorceresse and now necessitie drawes him into that field where he sees nothing but despaire Had not Saul beleeued the ill newes of the
counterfait Samuel he had not beene strook downe on the ground with words Now his beleefe made him desperate Those actions which are not sustained by hope must needs languish and are only promoted by outward compulsion Whiles the minde is vncertaine of successe it relieues it selfe with the possibilities of good in doubts there is a comfortable mixture but when it is assured of the worst euent it is vtterly discouraged and deiected It hath therefore pleased the wisdome of God to hide from wicked men his determination of their finall estate that their remainders of hope may harten them to good In all likelyhood on selfe-same day saw Dauid a victor ouer the Amalakites and Saul discomfited by the Philistims How should it bee otherwise Dauid consulted with God and preuailed Saul with the Witch of Endor and perisheth The end is commonly answerable to the way It is an idle iniustice when we do ill to look to speed well The slaughter of Saul and his sonnes was not in the first scene of this Tragicall field that was rather reserued by God for the last act that Saules measure might be full God is long ere he strikes but when he doth it is to purpose First Israel flees and falls downe wounded in mount Gilboa They had their part in Sauls sinne they were actors in Dauids persecution Iustly therfore doe they suffer with him whom they had seconded in offence As it is hard to be good vnder an euill Prince so it is as rare not to be enwrapped in his iudgements It was no small addition to the anguish of Sauls death to see his sonnes dead to see his people fleeing and slaine before him They had sinned in their King and in them is their King punished The rest were not so worthy of pittie but whose heart would it not touch to see Ionathan the good Sonne of a wicked Father inuolued in the common destruction Death is not partiall All dispositions all merits are alike to it If valour if holines if syncerity of heart could haue beene any defence against mortality Ionathan had suruiued Now by their wounds and death no man can discerne which is Ionathan The soule only findes the difference which the body admitteth not Death is the cōmon gate both to heauen and hell we all passe that ere our turning to either hand The sword of the Philistims fetcheth Ionathan through it with his fellowes no sooner is his foot ouer that threshold then God conducteth him to glory The best cannot bee happy but through their dissolution Now therefore hath Ionathan no cause of complaint he is by the rude and cruel hand of a Philistim but remoued to a better Kingdome then hee leaues to his brother and at once is his death both a temporall affliction to the Sonne of Saul and an entrance of glory to the frend of Dauid The Philistim-archers shot at random God directs their arrowes into the body of Saul Least the discomfiture of his people and the slaughter of his sonnes should not bee griefe enough to him hee feeles himselfe wounded and sees nothing before him but horror and death and now as a man forsaken of all hopes hee begs of his armor-bearer that deaths-blow which els he must to the doubling of his indignation receiue from a Philistim Hee begs this bloody fauour of his seruant and is denyed Such an awefulnes hath God placed in soueraigntie that no intreaty no extremity can moue the hand against it What mettall are those men made of that can suggest or resolue and attempt the violation of maiesty Wicked men care more for the shame of the world then the danger of their soule Desperate Saul will now supply his armor-bearer and as a man that bore armes against himselfe hee falls vpon his owne sword What if he had dyed by the weapon of a Philistim So did his Son Ionathan and lost no glory These conceites of disreputation preuaile with carnall hearts aboue all spirituall respects There is no greater murderer then vain-glory Nothing more argues an heart voyd of grace then to be transported by ydle popularity into actions preiudiciall to the Soule Euill examples especially of the great neuer escaped imitation the armour-bearer of Saul followes his master and dares do that to himselfe which to his King he durst not as if their owne swords had beene more familiar executioners they yelded vnto them what they grudged to their pursuers From the beginning was Saul euer his owne enemy neither did any hands hurt him but his owne and now his death is sutable to his life his owne hand payes him the reward of all his wickednesse The end of hypocrites and enuious men is commonly fearefull Now is the blood of Gods Priests which Saul shed and of Dauid which he would haue shed required requited The euil spirit had said the euening before To morrow thou shalt be with mee and now Saul hasteth to make the diuell no lyer rather then fayle he giues himselfe his own mittimus Oh the wofull extremities of a dispayring Soule plundging him euer into a greater mischiefe to auoyd the lesse Hee might haue beene a patient in anothers violence and faultlesse now whiles hee will needs act the Philistims part vpon himselfe hee liued and dyed a murderer The case is deadly when the prisoner breakes the Iayle and will not stay for his deliuery though wee may not passe sentence vpon such a Soule yet vpon the fact we may the Soule may possibly repent in the parting the act is haynous and such as without repentance kills the Soule It was the next day ere the Philistims knew how much they were victors then finding the dead corpes of Saul and his Sonnes they begin their triumphs The head of King Saul is cut off in lieu of Goliahs and now all their Idoll temples ring of their successe Foolish Philistims If they had not beene more beholden to Sauls sinnes then their Gods they had neuer carryed away the honor of those trophees In steed of magnifying the iustice of the true God who punished Saul with deserued death they magnifie the power of the false Superstition is extemely iniurious to God It is no better then theft to ascribe vnto the second causes that honor which is due vnto the first but to giue Gods glory to those things which neither act nor are it is the highest degree of spirituall robbery Saul was none of the best Kings yet so impatient are his subiects of the indignity offered to his dead corps that they will rather leaue their owne bones amongst the Philistims then the carcasse of Saul Such a close relation there is betwixt a Prince and subiect that the dishonor of either is inseparable from both How willing should wee bee to hazard our bodyes or substance fo the vindication either of the person or name of a good King whiles he liues to the benefit of our protection It is an vniust ingratitude in those men which can endure the disgrace of
Princes to giue both their eares and their heart to misgrounded rumors of their innocent followers This wrong hath stript Ishbosheth of the Kingdome Abner in the meane time cannot be excused from a trecherous inconstancy If Sauls son had no true title to the Crowne why did he maintaine it If hee had why did hee forsake the cause and person Had Abner out of remorse for furthering a false claime taken off his hand I know not wherein hee could be blamed except for not doing it sooner But now to withdraw his professed allegegeance vpon a priuate reuenge was to take a lewd leaue of an ill action If Ishbosheth were his lawfull Prince no iniury could warrant a reuolt Euen betwixt priuate persons a returne of wrongs is both vncharitable and vniust how euer this goe currant for the common justice of the world how much more should we learn from a supreme hand to take hard measures with thankes It had been Abuers duty to haue giuen his King a peaceable and humble satisfaction and not to fly out in a snuffe If the spirit of the ruler rise vp against thee leaue not thy place for yeelding pacifieth great offences now his impatient falling although to the right side makes him no better then trayterously honest So soone as Abner hath entertained a resolution of his rebellion hee perswades the Elders of Israel to accompany him in the change whence doth he fetch his main motiue but from the Oracle of God The Lord hath spoken of Dauid saying By the hand of my seruant Dauid will I saue my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistims and out of the hand of all their enemies Abner knew this full well before yet then was well content to smother a knowne truth for his owne turne and now the publication of it may serue for his aduantage he wins the heart of Israel by shewing Gods Charter for him whom he had so long opposed Hypocrites make vse of God for their owne purposes and care onely to make diuine authority a colour for their owne designes No man euer heard Abner godly till now neither had hee beene so at this time if hee had not intended a reuengefull departure from Ishbosheth Nothing is more odious then to make religion a stalking horse to policy Who can but glorifie God in his Iustice when he sees the bitter end of this trecherous dissimulation Dauid may vpon considerations of state entertaine his new guest with a feast and well might he seeme to deserue a welcom that vndertakes to bring all Israel to the league and homage of Dauid but God neuer meant to vse so vnworthy meanes for so good a work Ioab returnes from pursuing a troop and finding Abner dismissed in peace and expectation of a beneficiall returne followes him and whether out of enuy at a new riuall of honour or out of the reuenge of Asahel he repayes him both dissimulation and death God doth most iustly by Ioab that which Ioab did for himselfe most vniustly I know not setting the quarrell aside whether we can worthily blame Abner for the death of Asahel who would needes after faire warnings run himselfe vpon Abners speare yet this fact shall procure his payment for worse Now is Ishbosheths wrong reuenged by an enemy wee may not alwayes measure the Iustice of Gods procedings by present occasions He needs not make vs acquainted or aske vs leaue when hee will call for the arrerages of forgotten sins Contemplations VPON THE HISTORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT THE FIFTEENTH BOOKE Vzzah and the Arke Dauid with Mephibosheth Ziba Hanun and Dauids Ambassadors Dauid with Bashsheba and Vriah Nathan and Dauid Amon and Thamar Absaloms returne and Conspiracy TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE MY VERY GOOD LORD WILLIAM Lord Burleigh All grace and happines Right Honorable THere are but two Bookes wherein we can read God The one is his word his workes the other This is the bigger volume that the more exquisite The Characters of this are more large but dimme of that smaller but clearer Philosophers haue turned ouer this and erred That Diuines and studious Christians not without full and certaine information In the workes of God wee see the shadow or foot-steps of the Creator in his word we see the face of God in a glasse Happines consists in the vision of that infinite Maiestie and if wee bee perfectly happy aboue in seeing him face to face our happines is well forward below in seeing the liuely representation of his face in the glasse of the Scriptures Wee cannot spend our eyes too much vpon this obiect For mee the more I see the more I am amazed the more I am rauished with this glorious beauty With the honest lepers I cannot bee content to inioy this happy sight alone there is but one way to euery mans felicity May it please your Lordship to take part with many your Peeres in these my weake but not vnprofitable Contemplations which shall hold themselues not a little graced with your Honorable name Whereto together with your right noble and most worthy Lady I haue gladly deuoted my selfe to be Your Lordships in all dutifull obseruance IOS HALL Vzzah and the Arke remoued THe house of Saul is quiet the Philistims beaten victory cannot end better then in deuotion Dauid is no sooner setled in his house at Ierusalem then hee fetcheth God to be his guest there the thousands of Israel goe now in an holy march to bring vp the Ark of God to the place of his rest The tumults of warre afforded no oportunity of this seruice only peace is a frend to religion neither is peace euer our frend but when it is a seruant of piety The vse of warre is not more pernicious to the body then the abuse of peace is to the Soule Alas the ryot bred of our long ease rather driues the Ark of God from vs so the still sedentary life is subiect to diseases and standing waters putrifie It may bee iust with God to take away the blessing which wee doe so much abuse and to scoure off our rust with bloody warre c. The Ark of God had now many yeares rested in the obscure lodge of Abinadab without the honor of a Tabernacle Dauid will not indure himselfe glorious and the Ark of God contemptible his first care is to prouide a fit roome for God in the head of the Tribes in his owne city The chiefe care of good Princes must be the aduancement of religion What should the deputies of God rather do then honor him whom they represent It was no good that Israel could learne of Philistims Those Pagans had sent the Ark backe in a new cart the Israelites saw God blessed that conduct and now they practise it at home But that which God will take from Philistims he will not brook from Israel Aliens from God are no fit patternes for children Diuine institution had made this a cariage for the Leuites not for Oxen Neither should those
Sons of Abinadab haue driuen the cart but caryed that sacred burden Gods businesses must be done after his owne formes which if we doe with the best intentions alter wee presume It is long since Israel saw so faire a day as this wherein they went in this holy triumph to fetch the Ark of God Now their warlike trumpets are turned into Harpes and Timbrils and their hands in steed of weilding the Sword and Speare strike vpon those musicall strings whereby they might expresse the ioy of their hearts heere was no noyse but of mirth no motion but pleasant oh happy Israel that had a God to reioyce in that had this occasion of reioycing in their God and an hart that embraced this occasion There is nothing but this wherein wee may not ioy immoderately vnseasonably this spirituall ioy can neuer be either out of time or out of measure let him that reioyceth reioyce in the Lord. But now when the Israelites were in the midst of this Angel-like iolity their hearts lifted vp their hands playing their feete mouing their tongues singing and shouting God sees good to strike them into a sudden dumpe by the death of Vzzah They are scarce set into the tune when God mars their Musicke by a fearefull iudgement and changes their mirth into astonishment and confusion There could not bee more excellent worke then this they were about there could not be more cheerefull hearts in the performing of it yet will the most holy God rather dash all this solemne seruice then indure an act of presumption or infidelity Abinadab had bene the faithfull host of Gods Ark for the space of twenty yeares euen in the midst of the terrors of Israel who were iustly affrighted with the vengance inflicted vpon Beth-shemesh did he giue harbour vnto it Yet euen the Son of Abinadab is striken dead in the first departing of that blessed guest The Sanctity of the Parent cannot beare out the sinne of his Sonne The holy one of Israel will bee sanctified in all that come neare him He will be serued like himselfe What then was the sinne of Vzzah What was the capitall crime for which he so fearefully perished That the Arke of God was cōmitted to the Cart it was not his deuice only but the common act of many That it was not caryed on the shoulders of Leuites was no lesse the fault of Ahio and the rest of their brethren only Vzzah is striken The rest sinned in negligence he in presumption the Ark God shakes with the agitation of that cariage he puts forth his hand to hold it steddy Humane iudgement would haue found heerein nothing haynous God sees not with the eyes of men None but the Priests should haue dared to touch the Ark It was enough for the Leuites to touch the bars that carryed it An vnwarranted hand cannot so lightly touch the Ark but hee strikes the God that dwels in it No maruell if God strike that man with death that strikes him with presumption There was wel-neare the same quarell against the thousands of Bethshemesh and against Vzzah They dyed for looking into the Ark he for touching it least Israel should grow into a contemptuous familiarity with this Testimony of Gods presence he will hold them in awe with iudgements The reuenging hand of the Almighty that vpon the returne of the Ark stayed at the house of Ahinadab vpon the remoue of the Ark begins there againe Where are those that thinke God will take vp with a carelesse and slubbred seruice He whose infinite mercy vses to passe by our sinnes of infirmity punisheth yet seuerely our bold faults If wee cannot doe any thing in the degrees that he requireth yet wee must learne to doe all things in the forme that he requireth Doubtlesse Vzzah meant no otherwise then well in putting forth his hand to stay the Ark He knew the sacred vtensills that were in it the pot of Manna the Tables of the Law the rod of Aaron which might bee wronged by that ouer-rough motion to these hee offers his ayd and is striken dead The best intentions cannot excuse much lesse warrant vs in vnlawfull actions where wee doe ought in faith it pleaseth our good God to wink at and pitty our weaknesses but if we dare to present God with the well-meant seruices of our owne making wee runne into the indignation of God There is nothing more dangerous then to be our owne caruers in matter of deuotion I maruell not if the countenance of Dauid were suddenly changed to see the pale face of death in one of the cheefe actors in this holy procession Hee that had found God so fauourable to him in actions of lesse worth is troubled to see this successe of a businesse so heartily directed vnto his God and now he begins to look thorow Vzzah at himselfe and to say How shall the Arke of the Lord come to mee Then onely shall we make a right vse of the judgments of God vpon others when we shall feare them in our selues and finding our sins at least equall shall tremble at the expectation of the same deserued punishments God intends not onely reuenge in his executions but reformation As good Princes regard not so much the smart of the euill past as the preuention of the future which is neuer attained but when wee make applications of Gods hand and draw common cases out of Gods particular proceedings I doe not heare Dauid say Surely this man is guilty of some secret sin that the world knowes not God hath met with him there is no danger to vs why should I bee discouraged to see God iust Wee may goe on safely and prosper but here his foot staies and his hand fals from his instrument and his tongue is ready to tax his owne vnworthinesse How shall the Arke of the Lord come vnto mee That heart is carnall and proud that thinkes any man worse then himselfe Dauids feare stayes his progresse Perhaps he might haue proceeded with good successe but hee dares not venture where hee sees such a deadly checke It is better to bee too fearefull then too forward in those affaires which do immediately concerne God As it is not good to refrain from holy businesses so it is worse to doe them ill Awfulnesse is a safe interpreter of Gods secret actions and a wise guide of ours This euent hath holpen Obed-Edom to a guest he lookt not for God shall now soiourne in the house of him in whose heart he dwelt before by a strong faith else the man durst not haue vndertaken to receiue that dreadfull Arke which Dauid himselfe feared to harbour Oh the courage of an honest and faithfull heart Obed-Edom knew well enough what slaughter the Arke had made among the Philistims and after that amongst the Beth shemites and now hee saw Vzzah lye dead before him yet doth hee not make any scruple of entertaining it neither doth he say My neigbour Abinadab was a carefull and religious host to the Ark
an emulous line in feare of reuenge intended he addes On whom I may shew the mercy of God for Ionathans sake O frendship worthy of the monuments of eternity fit onely to requite him whose loue was more then the loue of women Hee doth not say Is there any of the house of Ionathan but of Saul that for his frends sake hee may shew fauour to the posterity of his Persecutor Ionathans loue could not bee greater then Sauls malice which also suruiued long in his issue from whom Dauid found a busie and stubborne riuality for the Crowne of Israel yet as one that gladly buried all the hostility of Sauls house in Ionathans graue he askes Is there am man left of Sauls house that I may shew him mercy for Ionathans sake It is true loue that ouer-liues in the person of a frend will be inherited of his seed but to loue the posterity of an enemy in a frend it is the miracle of frendship The formall amity of the world is confined to a face or to the possibility of recompence languishing in the disability and dying in the decease of the party affected That loue was euer false that is not euer constant and then most operatiue when it cannot bee either knowne or requited To cut of all vnquiet competition for the Kingdome of Israel the prouidence of God had so ordered that there is none left to the house of Saul besides the sons of his Concubines saue onely young and lame Mephibosheth so young that he was but fiue yeeres of age when Dauid entred vpon the gouernment of Israel so lame that if his age had fitted his impotence had made him vnfit for the throne Mephibosheth was not borne a Cripple it was an heedlesse nurse that made him so Shee hearing of the death of Saul and Ionathan made such haste to flee that her young Master was lamed with the fall Ywis there needed no such speed to run away from Dauid whose loue pursues the hidden son of his brother Ionathan How often doth our ignorant mistaking cause vs to run from our best frends and to catch knocks and maymes of them that professe our protection Mephibosheth could not come otherwise then fearefully into the presence of Dauid whom he knew so long so spitefully opposed by the house of Saul he could not be ignorant that the fashion of the world is to build their owne security vpon the bloud of the opposite faction neither to thinke themselues safe whiles any branch remains springing out of that root of their emulation Seasonably doth Dauid therfore first expell all those vniust doubts ere hee administer his further cordials Feare not for I will surely shew thee kindnesse for Ionathan thy fathers sake and will restore thee all the fields of Saul thy father and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually Dauid can see neither Sauls bloud nor lame legs in Mepibosheth whiles hee sees in him the features of his frend Ionathan how much lesse shall the God of mercies regard our infirmities or the corrupt bloud of our sinfull progenitors whiles hee beholds vs in the face of his son in whom he is well pleased Fauors are wont so much more to affect vs as they are lesse expected by vs Mephibosheth as ouer-ioyed with so comfortable a word and confounded in himselfe at the remembrance of the contrary deseruings of his family bowes himselfe to the earth and sayes What is thy seruant that thou shouldst looke vpon such a dead dog as I am I finde no defect of wit though of limmes in Mephibosheth he knew himselfe the grand-childe of the King of Israel the Son of Ionathan the lawfull heyre of both yet in regard of his owne impotency and the trespasse and reiection of his house hee thus abaseth himselfe vnto Dauid Humiliation is a right vse of Gods afflictions What if wee were borne great If the sinne of his grandfather hath lost his estate and the hand of his Nurse hath deformed and disabled his person hee now forgets what hee was and calls himselfe worse then hee is a A dogge Yet a liuing dogge is better then a dead Lyon there is dignity and comfort in life Mephibosheth is therefore a Dead Dog vnto Dauid It is not for vs to nourish the same Spirits in our aduerse estate that wee found in our highest prosperity What vse haue we made of Gods hand if wee bee not the lower with our fall God intends wee should carry our crosse not make a fire of it to warme vs It is no bearing vp our sailes in a tempest Good Dauid cannot dis-esteeme Mephibosheth euer the more for disparaging himselfe he loues and honors this humility in the Son of Ionathan There is no more certaine way to glory and aduancement then a lowly deiection of our selues Hee that made himselfe a dog and therefore fit only to lye vnder the table Yea a dead dog and therefore fit only for the ditch is raysed vp to the Table of a King his seate shall bee honorable yea royall his fare delicious his attendance noble How much more will our gracious God lift vp our heads vnto true honor before men and Angels if wee can bee syncerely humbled in his sight If wee miscall our selues in the meanenesse of our conceits to him he giues vs a new name and sets vs at the table of his glory It is contrary with God and men if they reckon of vs as wee set out our selues hee values vs according to our abasements Like a Prince truly munificent and faithfull Dauid promises and performes at once Ziba Sauls seruant hath the charge giuen him of the execution of that royall word He shall be the Bayliffe of this great husbandry of his master Mephibosheth The land of Saul how euer forfaited shall know no other master then Sauls grand-childe As yet Sauls seruant had sped better then his Son I read of twenty seruants of Ziba none of Mephibosheth Earthly possessions doe not alwayes admit of equall diuisions The wheele is now turned vp Mephibosheth is a Prince Ziba is his officer I cannot but pitty the condition of this good Son of Ionathan Into how ill hands did honest Mephibosheth fall first of a carelesse Nurse then of a trecherous seruant She maymed his body hee would haue ouerthrowne his estate After some yeares of eye seruice to Mephibosheth wicked Ziba intends to giue him a worse fall then his nurse Neuer any Court was free from detractors from delators who if they see a man to be a creeple that hee cannot goe to speake for himselfe will be telling tales of him in the eares of the great such a one was this perfidious Ziba who taking the oportunity of Dauids flight from his Son Absalom followes him with a faire present and a false tale accusing his impotent master of a foule and trayterous ingratitude labouring to tread vpon his lame Lord to rayse himselfe to honor True-harted Mephibosheth had as good a will as the best if he could
may not bee allowed it That roofe vnder which shee came with honor and in obedience and loue may not be lent her for the time as a shelter of her ignominy Neuer any sauage could be more barbarous Shechem had rauished Dinah his offence did not make her odious his affection so continued that he is willing rather to draw blood of himselfe and his people then forgoe her whom he had abused Amnon in one houre is in the excesse of loue and hate and is sicke of her for whom he was sicke She that lately kept the keyes of his hart is now lockt out of his doores Vnruly passions runne euer into extremities and are then best apayd when they are furthest off from reason and moderation What could Amnon thinke would be the euent of so foule a fact which as he had not the grace to preuent so he hath not the care to conceale If he lookt not so hie as heauen what could he imagine would follow herevpon but the displeasure of a father the danger of law the indignation of a brother the shame and out-cryes of the world All which hee might haue hoped to auoyd by secresie and plausible courses of satisfaction It is the iust iudgement of God vpon presumptuous offenders that they lose their wit together with their honesty and are either so blinded that they cannot fore-see the issue of their actions or so besotted that they doe not regard it Poore Thamar can but bewaile that which she could not keepe her virginty not lost but torne from her by a cruell violence She rends her princely robe and layes ashes on her head and laments the shame of anothers sinne and liues more desolate then a widdow in the house of her brother Absalom In the meane time what a corosiue must this newes needs be to the heart of good Dauid whose fatherly command had out of loue cast his daughter into the iawes of this Lyon What an insolent affront must hee needs construe this to bee offred by a Sonne to a father that the father should be made the Pandar of his owne daughter to his sonne He that lay vpon the ground weeping for but the sicknes of an infant how vexed doe wee thinke he was with the villany of his heyre with the rauishment of his daughter both of them worse then many deaths What reuenge can he thinke of for so haynous a crime lesse then death and what lesse then death is it to him to thinke of a reuenge Rape was by the law of God capitall how much more when it is seconded with incest Anger was not punishment enough for so hye an offence Yet this is all that I heare of from so indulgent a father sauing that he makes vp the rest with sorrow punishing his sons outrage in himselfe The better-naturd and more gracious a man is the more subiect he is to the danger of an ouer remissenesse and the excesse of fauour and mercy The milde iniustice is no lesse perilous to the common-wealth then the cruell If Dauid perhaps out of the conscience of his owne late offence will not punish this fact his sonne Absalom shall not out of any care of iustice but in a desire of reuenge Two whole yeares hath this slie Courtier smothered his indignation and fayned kindenesse els his inuitation of Amnon in speciall had beene suspected Euen gallant Absalom was a great sheep-master The brauery and magnificence of a Courtier must bee built vpon the grounds of frugality Dauid himselfe is bidden to this bloody sheep-shearing It was no otherwise meant but that the fathers eyes should be the witnesses of the tragicall execution of one son by another Only Dauids loue kept him from that horrible spectacle He is carefull not to be chargeable to that son who cares not to ouer-charge his fathers stomach with a feast of blood Amnon hath so quite forgot his sinne that hee dares goe to feast in that house where Tamar was mourning and suspects not the kindenes of him whom he had deserued of a brother to make an enemy Nothing is more vnsafe to be trusted then the faire looks of a festered hart Where true charity or iust satisfaction haue not wrought a sound reconciliation malice doth but lurk for the opportunity of an aduantage It was not for nothing that Absalom deferred his reuenge which is now so much the more exquisite as it is longer protracted What could be more feareful then when Amnons hart was merry with wine to be suddenly striken with death As if this execution had bene no lesse intended to the Soule then to the body How wickedly soeuer this was â—one by Absalom yet how iust was it with God that he whom in two yeares impunity would finde no leasure oâ— repentance â—â—ould now receiue a punishment without possibility of repentance O God thou art righteous to reckon for those sinnes which humane partiality or negligence hath omitted and whiles thâ—u punishest sinne with sin to punish sinne with death If either Dauid had called Amnon to account for this villany or Amnon had called himselfe the reuenge had not beene so desperate Happy is the man that by an vnfayned repentance acquits his soule from his known euils and improues the dayes of his peace to the preuention of future vengeance â—hiâ—h if it be not dâ—ne the hand of God shall as surely oueâ—â—ake vs in iudgement as the hand of Satan hath ouertaken vs in miscariage vnto sin Absaloms returne and conspiracy ONE act of iniustice drawes on another The iniustice of Dauid in not punishing the rape of Amnon procures the iniustice of Absalom in punishing Amnon with murder That which the father should haue iustly reuenged and did not the son reuenges vniustly The rape of a sister was no lesse worthy of death then the murder of a brother Yea this latter sin was therefore the lesse because that brother was worthy of death though by another hand whereas that sister was guilty of nothing but modest beauty yet he that knew this rape passed ouer whole two yeeres with impunity dares not trust the mercy of a father in the pardon of his murder but for threeyeers hides his head in the Court of his Grand-father the King of Geshur Doubtlesse that heathenish Prince gaue him a kinde welcome for so meritorious a reuenge of the dishonour done to his owne loynes No man can tell how Absalom should haue sped from the hands of his otherwise ouer-indulgent Father if he had beene apprehended in the heat of the fact Euen the largest loue may bee ouer-strayned and may giue a fall in the breaking These fearefull effects of lenity might perhaps haue whetted the seuerity of Dauid to shut vp these outrages in bloud Now this displeasure was weakned with age Time and thoughts haue digested this hard morsell Dauids heart told him that his hands had a share in this offence that Absalom did but giue that stroke which himselfe had wrongfully forborne that the vnrecouerable losse of
one son would bee but wofully releiued with the losse of another Hee therefore that in the newes of the deceased infant could change his clothes and wash himselfe and cheere vp his spirits with the resolution of I shall goe to him he shall not returne to mee comforts himselfe concerning Amnon and begins to long for Absolom Those three yeeres banishment seemed not so much a punishment to the son as to the father Now Dauid begins to forgiue himselfe yet out of his wisdome so inclines to fauour that he conceales it and yet so conceales it that it may bee descryed by a cunning eye If hee had cast out no glances of affection there had beene no hopes for his Absalom if hee had made profession of loue after so foule an act there had beene no safety for others now hee lets fall so much secret grace as may both hold vp Abfalom in the life of his hopes and not hearten the presumption of others Good eyes see light thorow the smallest chinke The wit of Ioab hath soone discerned Dauids reserued affection and knowes how to serue him in that which hee would and would not accomplish and now deuises how to bring into the light that birth of desire wherof he knew Dauid was both big and ashamed A woman of Tekoah that sex hath beene euer held more apt for wiles is suborned to personate a mourner and to say that by way of parable which in plaine termes would haue sounded too harshly and now whiles she lamentably laies forth the losse danger of her sons she shewes Dauid his owne and whiles she moues compassion to her pretended issue shee wins Dauid to a pitty of himselfe and a fauourable sentence for Absalom We loue our selues better then others but wee see others better then our selues who so would perfectly know his owne case let him view it in anothers person Parables sped well with Dauid One drew him to repent of his owne sin another to remit Absaloms punishment And now as glad to heare this plea and willing to bee perswaded vnto that which if he durst he would haue sought for he gratifies Ioab with the grant of that suit which Ioab more gratified him in suing for Goe bring againe the young man Absalom How glad is Ioab that hee hath light vpon one act for which the Sunne both setting and rising should shine vpon him and now he speeds to Geshur to fetch back Absalom to Ierusalem he may bring the long-banished Prince to the City but to the Court hee may not bring him Let him turne to his owne house and let him not see my face The good King hath so smarted with mercy that now hee is resolued vpon austerity and will relent but by degrees It is enough for Absalom that hee liues and may now breathe his natiue ayre Dauids face is no obiect for the eyes of a murtherer What a Dearling this son was to his father appeares in that after an vnnaturall and barbarous rebellion passionate Dauid wishes to haue changed liues with him yet now whiles his bowels yearned his brow frowned The face may not be seen where the heart is set The best of Gods Saints may be blinded with affection but when they shall once see their errors they are carefull to correct them Wherfore serues the power of Grace but to subdue the insolencies of nature It is the wisdome of parents as to hide their hearts from their best children so to hide their countenances from the vngracious Fleshly respects may not abate their rigor to the ill deseruing For the childe to see all his fathers loue it is enough to make him wanton and of wanton wicked For a wicked childe to see any of his fathers loue it emboldens him in euill and drawes on others Absaloms house is made his prison Iustly is he confined to the place which hee had stained with blood Two yeeres doth hee liue in Ierusalem without the happinesse of his fathers sight It was enough for Dauid and him to see the smoke of ech others chimnies In the meane time how impatient is Absalom of this absence Hee sends for Ioab the Solicitor of his returne So hard an hand doth wise and holy Dauid carry ouer his reduced sonne that his frendly Intercessor Ioab dares not visit him Hee that afterwards kindled that seditious fire ouer all Israel sets fire now on the field of Ioab whom loue cannot draw to him feare and anger shall Continued displeasure hath made Absalom desperate Fiue yeeres are passed since hee saw the face of his father and now he is no lesse weary of his life then of this delay Wherefore am I comne downe from Geshur It had beene better for mee to haue beene there still Now therefore let mee see the Kings face and if there bee any iniquity in me let him kill me Either banishment or death seemed as tolerable to him as the debarring of his fathers sight What a torment shall it bee to the wicked to be shut out for euer from the presence of a God without all possible hopes of recouery This was but a father of the flesh by whom if Absalom liued at first yet in him he liued not yea not without him onely but against him that son found hee could liue God is the Father of Spirits in whom wee so liue that without him can be no life no being to bee euer excluded from him in whom wee liue and are what can it be but an eternall dying an eternall perishing If in thy presence ô God be the fulnes of ioy in thine absence must needs be the fulnes of horror and torment Hide not thy face from vs ô Lord but shew vs the light of thy countenance that we may liue and praise thee Euen the fire of Ioabs field warmed the heart of Dauid whiles it gaue him proofe of the heat of Absaloms filiall affection As a man therefore inwardly weary of so long displeasure at last hee receiues Absalom to his sight to his fauour and seales his pardon with a kisse Naturall parents know not how to retaine an euerlasting anger towards the fruit of their loynes how much lesse shall the God of mercies be vnreconcileably displeased with his owne and suffer his wrath to burne like fire that cannot be quenched Hee will not alwayes chide neither will he keepe his anger for euer His wrath endureth but a moment in his fauour is life weeping may endure for a night but ioy commeth in the morning Absalom is now as great as faire beauty and greatnesse make him proud pride works his ruine Great spirits will not rest content with a moderate prosperity Ere two yeeres bee run out Absalom runs out into a desperate plot of rebellion None but his owne father was aboue him in Israel None was so likely in humane expectation to succeed his father If his ambition could but haue contained it selfe for a few yeeres as Dauid was now neere his period dutifull carrige might haue procured that