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
Neither will he be any other then he is or measured by any rule but himselfe But what is this I see Satan himselfe with a Bible vnder his arme with a Text in his mouth It is written He shall giue his Angels charge ouer thee How still in that wicked One doth subtilty striue with presumption Who could not but ouer-wonder at this if hee did not consider that since the Deuill dared to touch the sacred bódy of Christ with his hand hee may well touch the Scriptures of God with his tongue Let no man henceforth maruell to heare heretikes or hypocrites quote Scriptures when Satan himselfe hath not spared to cite thē what are they the worse for this more then that holy body which he transported Some haue been poysoned by their meats drinks yet either these nourish vs or nothing It is not the letter of the Scripture that can carry it but the sence if we diuide these two wee prophane and abuse that word wee alledge And wherfore doth this foule Spirit vrgea Text but for imitation for preuention and for successe Christ had alledged a Scripture vnto him hee re-alledges Scripture vnto Christ At least wise he will counterfet an imitation of the Son of God Neither is it in this alone what one act euer passed the hand of God which Satan did not apishly attempt to second If we follow Christ in the outward action with contrary intentions wee follow Satan in following Christ Or perhaps Satan meant to make Christ hereby weery of this weapon As wee see fashions when they are taken vp of the vnworthy are cast of by the great It was doubtles one cause why Christ afterwards forbad the Diuell euen to confesse the truth because his mouth was a slander But chiefely doth he this for a better colour of his tentation He guilds ouer this falfe mettall with Scripture that it may passe currant Euen now is Satan transformed into an Angel of light and will seeme godly for a mischeife If hypocrites make a faire show to deceiue with a glorious lustre of holinesse we see whence they borrowd it How many thousand soules are betrayd by the abuse of that word whose vse is soueraigne and sauing No diuell is so dangerous as the religious diuell If good meate turne to the nourishment not of nature but of the disease we may not forbeare to feed but indeauour to purge the body of those euill humors which cause the stomach to worke against it selfe O God thou that hast giuen vs light giue vs cleare and sound eyes that we may take comfort of that light thou hast giuen vs Thy word is holy make our hearts so and then shall they finde that word not more true then cordiall Let not this diuine table of thine bee made a snare to our soules What can be a better act then to speake Scripture It were a wonder if Satan should doe a good thing well He cites scripture then but with mutilation and distortion it comes not out of his mouth but maymed and peruerted One peece is left out all misapplyed Those that wrest or mangle Scripture for their owne turne it is easie to see from what schoole they come Let vs take the word from the author not from the vsurper Dauid would not doubt to eate that sheep which hee pulled out of the mouth of the Beare or Lyon Hee shall giue his Angels charge ouer thee Oh comfortable assurance of our protection Gods children neuer goe vnattended Like vnto great Princes we walke euer in the midst of our guard though inuisible yet true carefull powerfull What creatures are so glorious as the Angels of heauen yet their maker hath set them to serue vs Our adoption makes vs at once great and safe Wee may be contemptible and ignominious in the eyes of the world but the Angels of God obserue vs the while and scorne not to wait vpon vs in our homeliest occasions The Sun or the light may wee keepe out of our houses the ayre we cannot much lesse these fpirits that are more simple and immateriall No walls no bolts can seuer them from our sides they accompany vs in dungeons they goe with vs into our exile How can wee either feare danger or complaine of solitarinesse whiles we haue so vnseperable so glorious companions Is our Sauiour distasted with Scripture because Satan mislaies it in his dish Doth he not rather snatch this sword out of that impure hand and beat Satan with the weapon which hee abuseth It is written Thou shalt not tempt thy Lord thy God The Scripture is one as that God whose it is Where it carryes an appearance of difficulty or inconuenience it needs no light to cleare it but that which it hath in it selfe All doubts that may arise from it are fully answered by collection It is true that God hath taken this care and giuen this charge of his owne he will haue them kept not in their sinnes they may trust him they may not tempt him hee meant to incourage their faith not their presumption To cast our selues vpon an immediate prouidence when meanes faile not is to disobey in steed of beleeuing God we may challenge God on his word we may not straine him beyond it wee may make account of what he promised we may not subiect his promises to vniust examinations and where no need is make triall of his power iustice mercie by deuises of our owne All the Diuels in hel could not elude the force of this diuine answer and now Satan sees how vainely he tempteth Christ to tempt God Yet againe for all this doe I see him setting vpon the Son of God Satan is not foyled when he is resisted neither diffidence nor presumption can fasten vpon Christ he shall be tryed with honor As some expert Fencer that challenges at all weapons so doth this great enemy In vaine shall we plead our skill in some if we faile in any It must be our wisdome to be prepared for all kinde of assaults As those that hold townes and forts doe not only defend themselues from incursions but from the cannon and the Pioner still doth that subtil Serpent trauerse his ground for an aduantage The Temple is not hye enough for his next tentation He therefore carryes vp Christ to the top of an exceeding high mountaine All enemies in pitcht fields striue for the benefit of the hill or riuer or winde or sunne That which his seruant Balac did by his instigation himselfe doth now immediately change places in hope of preuailing If the obscure country will not moue vs hee tries what the Court can do if not our home the Tauerne if not the field our closet As no place is left free by his malice so no place must be made preiudiciall by our carelesnesse and as wee should alwayes watch ouer our selues so then most when the oportunity carries cause of suspicion Wherfore is Christ caryed vp so high but for prospect If the kingdomes of the earth
vnkinde vsage neuer any for the disparagement of it selfe and intreaties of humility Simon could not deuise how to hold Christ faster then by thus suing to him to be gone then by thus pleading his vnworthinesse O my soule be not weary of complaining of thine owne wretchednesse disgrace thy selfe to him that knowes thy vilenes be astonished at those mercies which haue shamed thine ill deseruings Thy Sauiour hath no power to goe away from a prostrate hart Hee that resists the proud hartens the lowly Feare not for I will make thee hence-forth a fisher of men Lo this humility is rewarded with an Apostleship What had the earth euer more glorious then a legacy from heauen He that bad Christ goe from him shall haue the honor to goe first on this happy errand This was a trade that Simon had no skill of it could not but be enough to him that Christ said I will make thee the miracle shewd him able to make good his word hee that hath power to command the fishes to be taken can easily enable the hands to take them What is this diuine trade of ours then but a spirituall piscation The world is a sea soules like fishes swim at liberty in this deep the nets of wholsome doctrine draw vp some to the shore of grace and glory How much skill and toyle and patience is requisite in this art Who is sufficient for these things This sea these nets the fishers the fish the vessels are all thine ô God doe what thou wilt in vs and by vs Giue vs ability and grace to take giue men will and grace to bee taken and take thou glory by that which thou hast giuen The marriage in Cana. WAS this then thy first miracle ô Sauiour that thou wroughts in Cana of Galile And could there be a greater miracle then this that hauing bene thirty yeares vpon earth thou didst no miracle till now That thy diuinity did hide it selfe thus long in flesh that so long thou wouldst lye obscure in a corner of Galile vnknowne to that world thou camest to redeeme That so long thou wouldst strayne the patient expectation of those who euer since thy Star waited vpon the reuelation of a Messias Wee silly wretches if wee haue but a dram of vertue are ready to set it out to the best show thou who receiuedst not the Spirit by measure wouldst content thy selfe with a willing obscurity and concealedst that power that made the world in the roofe of an humane brest in a cottage of Nazareth O Sauiour none of thy miracles is more worthy of astonishment then thy not doing of miracles What thou didst in priuate thy wisdome thought fit for secrecy but if thy blessed mother had not beene acquainted with some domesticall wonders she had not now expected a miracle abroad The starres are not seene by day the Sun it selfe is not seene by night As it is no small art to hide Art so is it no small glory to conceale glory Thy first publique miracle graceth a marriage It is an ancient and laudable institution that the rites of matrimony should not want a solemne celebration When are feasts in season if not at the recouery of our lost ribbe If not at this maine change of our estate wherein the ioy of obtaining meets with the hope of further comforts The Son of the Virgin and the Mother of that Son are both at a wedding It was in all likelyhood some of their kindred to whose nuptiall feast they were inuited so farre yet was it more the honor of the act then of the person that Christ intended He that made the first marriage in Paradise bestowes his first miracle vpon a Galilean marriage Hee that was the author of matrimony and sanctified it doth by his holy presence honest the resemblance of his eternall vnion with his Church How boldly may we spit in the faces of all the impure aduersaries of wedlocke when the Sonne of God pleases to honor it The glorious bride-groome of the Church knew well how ready men would bee to place shame euen in the most lawfull coniunctions and therfore his first worke shall be to countenance his own ordinance Happy is that wedding where Christ is a guest O Sauiour those that marry in thee cannot marry without thee There is no holy marriage whereat thou art not how euer inuisible yet truely present by thy Spirit by thy gracious benediction Thou makest marriages in heauen thou blessest them from heauen Oh thou that hast betrothed vs to thy selfe in truth and righteousnesse doe thou consummate that happy marriage of ours in the highest heauens It was no rich or sumptuous Bridall to which Christ with his Mother Disciples vouchsafed to come from the further parts of Galile I finde him not at the magnificent feasts or triumphs of the great the proud pompe of the world did not agree with the state of a seruant This poore needy bride-groom wants drinke for his guests The blessed virgin though a stranger to the house out of a charitable compassion and a frendly desire to maintaine the decency of an hospital intertainment inquires into the wants of her host pittyes them bemones them where there was power of redresse When the wine failed the the mother of Iesus said vnto him They haue no wine How well doth it beseeme the eyes of piety and christian loue to looke into the necessities of others She that conceiued the God of mercies both in her heart and in her wombe doth not fixe her eyes vpon her owne trencher but searcheth into the penury of a poore Israelite and feeles those wants whereof he complaines not They are made for themselues whose thoughts are only taken vp with their owne store or indigence There was wine enough for a meale though not for a feast and if there were not wine enough there was enough water yet the holy virgin complaines of the want of wine and is troubled with the very lacke of superfluity The bounty of our God reaches not to our life only but to our contentment neither hath hee thought good to allow vs only the bread of sufficiency but somtimes of pleasure One while that is but necessary which some other time were superfluous It is a scrupulous iniustice to scant our selues where God hath bene liberall To whom should wee complaine of any want but to the maker and giuer of all things The blessed virgin knew to whom she sued She had good reason to know the diuine nature and power of her Sonne Perhaps the Bride-groome was not so needy but if not by his purse yet by his credit he might haue supplyed that want or it were hard if some of the neighbour-guests had they bene duly solicited might not haue furnished him with so much wine as might suffice for the last seruice of a dinner but blessed Mary knew a nearer way she did not thinke best to lade at the shallow channell but runs rather to the well-head where she may dip and