should marry and how he should be esteemed in his place According to the which though I say it for my selfe I was taken froÌ„ the middest of my people as one worthelie esteemed and honoured in my place for the tokens of my graces then I was straitly viewed and throughlie examined wherein I was found cleane and free from euery one of those blemishes with the which whosoeuer was touched was forbidden to prease forth to do the priests office Leuit. 21.17.18.19.20 I was wel tried to be neither blind nor lame nor brused or flat of nose nor mishapeÌ„ in my meÌ„bers nor brokeÌ„ in my féet nor brokeÌ„ in my haÌ„ds nor crooked in my back nor bleared in mine eyes nor eyes webbed or blemished nor skiruy nor scabbed nor broken in the stoanes The blemishes for the which a man was vnfit for the priesthood yea I was found frée of those imperfections or blemishes which our Elders haue gathered and noted out of that place of the law which disabled the priest for they noted in the head eight in the necke two in the ears twelue in the eye-browes and eye-lides fiftéene in the eyes ninetéene in the nose sixe in the lips and mouth nine in the belly thrée in the backe thrée in the priuities sixtéene in the handes and féete twelue in the leges fiftéene and in all the body foure the which being taken away the naturall body appeared sound faire and perfect in all partes that by the same not onely the puritie of the mind might be signified but also the person of the Messiah truely prefigured Then was I consecrated to the Lord according to the law The consecration and ornamentes of the priest then was I cloathed in the holy garments as namely the Breastplate the Ephod the Tunicle the broadered Coate the Mytre the Girdle which were according to the commaundement garnished and beautified with gould blew-silke purple scarlet white twyned silke and brodered worke also with Owches Chaynes pretious stoans other such things with Vrim and Thumim in the which are expressed not onely spiritually the seuerall graces of a godly minde but also mistically the heaueÌ„lie vertues of the holy Messiah the finall obiect of our loue To this I was annointed with the holy oyle and had mine handes filled for the sacrifices The duties of priesthood performed Thus haue I béene furnished and approued for the Priestes office Now to this haue I beene willing and ready to doe my duety in the execution of my function I haue offered the sacrifices to the Lord for my selfe and the people and haue prayed for them in the which I haue beene mercifully heard and regarded of the Lord as Aaron was I haue taught the people and instructed them in the feare and lawes of the Lord I haue iudged and discerned according to equitie and as placed ouer the priests and ministers in the Lords house I haue regarded therein not only the conuersation and behauiour but also the order of the ministeries and seruices of the persons in the same for the better seruice of God the preseruation and maintainance of the ornaments of the Lords house and the benefit of the Lords people And this the better to performe I haue ruled my selfe and liued according to the law in my place and for my comfort I haue taken to me a cleane Vâ—rgin to wife Moreouer I haue serued and honoured next vnto my God my Lord the King in all dutiful thankfulnesse without giuing him any iust offence to my knowledge And therfore as the King is most wise and will not take an offence being not offered him I am sure he is not afflicted or grieued for any cause of mine as I perswade neither for any thing he hath noted or conceited in any of you But I know well there be other causes things whereof he hath taken this sorrow the which also may bee knowne to some of you and yet are yee most vnwilling to reveile or make knowne but would rather if it might be conceale and couer them for it is the part of a friend to couer the fault of his friend much rather then ought a true Subiect for the loue and honour of his Prince rather modestly to forbeare then to aduenture the display of any his faultes or imperfections They that obserue not this rule resemble shamelesse Cham one of the sonnes of Noah Gen. 9.22 who most vnreuerently both discouered and derided the nakednesse of his father This being said Zadok sighed déepely and made as a proffer to further speeches Neuerthelesse hee refrained for this time for he well knew the causes of the Kings griefe although it pleased him not as yet to vtter it partly for the reuerence he yeelded the kings honour partly for his owne modesty as also for that he was verie vnwilling to be the vnfolder of that which hee was sure the Princes and all the Kinges friendes would be very sory and loath to heare albeit they were so redy to inuestigate that whereof being once certified they did much maruaile at greatly lament and could scarsely ease or mitigate much lesse salue and recure howbeit they endeuoured their best and thought it bootelesse for them to stand wondering and reasoning longer then they might set on and spéedily assay which way to bring ease or comfort to their Soueraigne Lord the which they wel knew could not be effected till time they had found out and considered of the true causes of the kings affliction Therefore though much against their wils yet vrged by the present necessitie they presume on the king in this examination CAP. IX The Lordes are resolved to examine and consider of the King and his actions but note by what occasion in what sort and to what end Of Solomons birth WHen euery one of the Lordes had perused himselfe cleared his owne conscience and approued his words and actions towards the king Azariah Azariah the chiefe Lord replied againe and said Now that wee haue in this sort submitted our selues to the iust triall in all modestie and no lesse faithfulnes to our Lord K. Solomon and so cleared our selues of any iust offeÌ„ce offered him which bringeth no small comfort to our heartes in the time of this our trouble and trial Let vs aduenture to behold the king himselfe in whome it may be that the cause of his owne sorrow may be found Therfore let vs consider of his person actions and his manner both of entrance and life Indéede I confesse as Zadok hath before intimated that it may be thought a thing too malepert in Subiectes to censure the Prince or to pry too narrowlie into his actions and dealings or to discouer any his faults or imperfections especially to this end to diffame or deride him for this was Chams offence against his father for the which he was reproued and his posteritie cursed Neuerthelesse I thinke it not vnlawful nor amisse that the kings Princes and Priuie Counsellors seeing the kings
hope to come and at his comming loue and embrace as the onely person in and through whome the diuine Iustice is satisfied the heauenly will fulfilled the Serpent and all his fiery darts quenched and mankind pardoned healed recouered and blessed for euer Now this being said as an introduction to that which followeth we will come to speak of our Soueraign Lord K. Solomon whom I trust to proue and declare a Saint of the Lord and a right worthy member in his Church and so consequently no reprobate nor prophane nor damned person for if the former be proued wee shall by the same easily cleare him of the latter as before I haue said The Princes at this word seemed much comforted and shewed their willingnes yet further to heare what Zadoke would say For this saide they shall not onely please and satisfy vs but all others aswell they which now liue as they which shall come after vs. Therefore proceede most reuerend Father to proue that which ye haue assumed for the king And we will gladly giue both an attentiue eare vnto your words and vnto you condigne thankes CHAP XXVI Zadoke preveth that K. Solomon is a Saint of the Lord. THen Zadok proceeded reasoned for the King saying Whosoeuer is made and ordained by the will wisedome and providence of God a most lively and excellent figure of that holy Messiah the sonne of God the same is not a damned or reprobate or prophane person but he is a Sainct of the Lord But our Lord King Solomon is made and ordained by the will wisedom and providence of God a most lively and excellent figure of that holy Messiah the sunne of God Therefore our Lord K. Solomon is not a damned reprobate or prophane person but he is a Saint of the Lord. Now although no man may iustly deny either the first or the second proposition in any thing whatsoeuer yet as I perceiue ye are willing to listen ye shall heare mee to declare and proue either and so concludet or the King Surely my Lords it were not onely a great absurdity to hold it but an horrible thing to imagine that the most holy Messiah the sonne of the everlasting God that bright morning Starre that right holy Seede that high diuine Priest that excellent prophet and king of Glory so well resembling the almighty in holines beauty and in all perfection should be prefigured and declared by a prophane and vnholy person and that the excellency of his high dignity and royall gouernment should be typed by any thing common or vncleane Neither haue we found such inequalities in the proportions of the law of the Prophets and holy writings especially touching the promised and expected Messiah But this we finde that as the best things be best figured and declared in and by that which is most like or neere in nature kinde and qualitie so is the dignity person and function of the most holy Messiah prefigured and foreshewed according to the wisdome and prouidence of the Almighty where the types agree well with the things typed Therefore it was commanded in the lawe that the Lambes which were taken for the sacrifices should be cleane without all blemishes Exod. 12.5 Gen. 4.4 Aaron a figure of Messiah Exod. 28.30 Levit. 8. 21.6.18 as such as Habel offered vp to the Lord of the best of his flocks Therefore Aaron the Lords Priest who in his body prefigured the body of Messiah and in his garments expressed the excellency and perfection of his graces and vertues was a person without defectes or blemishes of body and glorious in his beautifull ornamentes according to the commandement the which also my selfe being the present high Priest am holden to retaine and vse and the which for that Abiather my predecessor vsed not but abused he was iustly depriued Moses also who brought our fathers out of the house of bondage and the same whome that prophet should resemble was a man welbeloued of God wel learned sanctifyed and made like vnto him in the glory of his Angels Likewise the Captaine Iosuah whome the Lorde appointed enabled to lead our fathers into this promised land was a man full of the spirit of wisedome the Lord his God both strēgthned and encouraged him whereby hee might be made a meete figure of the true Iehosuah our leader and guide into the land of the liuing To bee briefe David the Kings father who in his time bare an excellent figure of that Messiah both in his annointing nature raigne exaltation and humiliation was a man after Gods owne heart and euery way furnished with divine graces and right princely vertues meete for the same The like may be said of our forefathers Adam Enoch Noah Abraham Isaack Iacob Ioseph Sampson the Nazarite others in and by whome the Lord our God wold tipe and foreshew his deare sonne the Messiah notwithstanding all their humane imperfections and fleshly infirmities All these things saide the Princes haue we hearde with great delight and that to our full satisfaction in that part The princes For indeede such is the nature of the diuine proportions in the lawe in the Prophetes and in the psalmes And therefore he which by the wisedome will and prouidence of God is made a liuely excellent figure of that holy Messiah must of necessitie be a Sainct not a damned wretch reprobate or prophane But now what will ye produce for the proofe of this that our Lord King Solomon among those blessed Fathers is by the same wisedome Solomon is a figure of the holy Messiah will and providence or dained and made a right figure of that most holy Messiah This proposition saide Zadok can neither bee denied nor abandoned but confessed and receiued aswell of them now liuing as of al them that shall come after vs in all posterities who in the due consideration thereof with the circumstances shall grant and conclude with vs in the same And this may easily be gathered and proued to put all men out of doubt First in that according to the diuine prouidence and direction he hath built and garnished that right glorious Temple in Ierusalem Solomon in the building of the Temple figured the Messiah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an house dedicated to the name of the Lorde the which doubtlesse standeth for a perfect figure of the holy Koheleh or Church of the Lorde our God whether misticall in the Congregation of them that serue God after his will declared in his worde or spirituall in the heart and minde of all the faithfull where it pleaseth the holy spirite of discipline to dwell or glorious in heaven of all them that be deliuered from hence and translated into the societie of the celestiall angels An house indeede The Church figured Gen. 3. which none either in heauen or in earth can or must builde or garnish but onely that most holy Messiah and promised Seede And this was prefigured by the womans body betweene whome
conscience which aggrauated by his owne sting or pricke doeth euer accuse condemne and wring mans heart If publique fame neither condemne nor accuse nor suspect yet the guiltie conscience within a mans selfe forceth the same to the vttermost neither can it be that he which liueth faultie shall escape the torment and terror thereof nor therfore can hee be happy in his life be he neuer so rich The comfort of a good conscience so honourable so strong so mightye so glorious in the worlde but blessed is the man that feareth God and walketh in his waies as David the Kinges Father hath modulated For this is that which in the lawe is required of him as the King hath saide This man concludeth to himselfe Ioy and gladnes Iob. 23.3.4.5.6.7 when that which hee hath done shal be well approued by the lawe This cheared Iob in the middest of his afflictions notwithstanding that his wife and his thrée friendes hardly charged him with folly So was Ioseph holde in Aegypt when his integritie cleared him So Moses and Aaron were not discouraged Gen. 40.41 Exod. 10. notwithstanding the threates and hard dealinges of Pharao and thus the Kinges father with a cleare conscieÌ„ce protested before King Saul Behold this daye thine eyes have seene 1 Sam. 24.10 how that the Lord hath delivered thee this daye into mâ—ne hand in the caue and some bad mee to kill thee but I had compassion on thee and saide I will not lay mine handes on my Maister for he is the Lords annoynted c. And this to expresse the innocencie of his heart hee feared not to protest before the Lord in his prayer O Lord my God If I haue done any such thing Psal 7.3.4 or if there bee any wickednes in mine handes If I haue rewarded euill vnto him that dealte srowardly with mee yea I haue deliuered him that without any cause is mine enemy then let mine enemy persecute my soule and take mee Yea let him treade my life downe vpon the earth and lay mine honour in the dust Lastly I cannot but remember that worthie example of Samuel the Lords Prophet who was occasioned through the disobedience of the people before King Saul and them to pleade for himselfe to defende his integritie 1. Sam. 12.3 And thus hee saide with a good conscience and boldnes of Spirit Beholde here I am Beare record of mee before the Lorde and before his Annointed Whose Oxe haue I taken Or whose Asse haue I taken Whome haue I done wrong to Whome haue I hurt or of whose hand haue I receiued any bribe to blinde mine eyes therewith and I will restore it you They said their own conscience prouoking them thou hast done vs no wrong nor hurte neither hast thou takeÌ„ ought of any maÌ„s hand Lo my lords here is ioy gladnes the greatest coÌ„fort in this life for the good Conscience hath with it a thousand witnesses and as many pleaders to testifie for his owners integritie and to defend the same before the throne of Iustice This therefore is the swéetest and most wholsome rest of mans soule the title of Religion the spirituall Temple the blessed field the pleasant gardin the golden peace the Angelicall ioy the holy Arke the Kings treasure the house of the spirit and the glasse wherein a man both séeth ordereth and confirmeth himselfe to the liuely image of his maker Though the flesh oppresse vs the world allure vs the Diuel terrifie vs yet is this treasure safe and sure within vs from all daunger of euill Therefore I hold that in this life there is nothing more pleasant more swéet more profitable and more to be desired and reteyned then a good conscience both towards God and man Wherefore my Lords as ye haue very well done in that ye haue submitted your selues to this present examination and tryal so are ye happy in this that ye are iustified in conscience for hereof ye haue and shall find the highest comfort and gladnesse And now I beséech you to permit me to do as ye haue done The high priest is willing to ease himselfe in shewing forth his integritie with the rest that thereby I may not onely expresse mine owne integritie so cleare my selfe of all offence and suspicion of the same but also reioyce together with you though in the middest of mine affliction for the kinges trouble And that the sooner because whiles I stand an hearer and a iudge of other men in their examination and triall I might not séeme to disdaine mine owne 1. Kings 2.35 Abiather was before this time high priest howbeit his cause and dealing concerning both God and the king came into question before the king and his princes and being found guilty against either in his triall he was worthelie deposed and the priestshood translated Then why should I imagin my selfe frée from censures the rather in respect of my place and why should I not abide the hammering of that which should be obiected against me and my maÌ„ner of procéeding towards God the king and his people And if I shall be found guiltie as Abiather was why should not I be remoued as he was another man put in my place more worthy And now my Lords although I may not say whether in my person or in my ministerie and behauiour wherin I am to prefigure the holy Messiah in his priesthood or whether in that Abiather the priest attended sometimes for me in the kings presence any contempt or abuse hath béene taken or suspected to his highnesse offence yet I know well that for mine owne part I here safelie protest from my conscience before the Lord of heauen and earth and before you all that according to that trust which the kinges father reposed in me when I was to annoint and proclame my Lord King ouer Israel and after that good opinion which the king himselfe conceiued of me in the day when he tooke me to him to be the Lords high priest in the place of Abiather whom he put away I haue performed the first and expressed the second whithout any deceit in the one or iust offence in the other and that after my state and dignitie so farre forth as a mortall man could possibly extend himselfe therein And of this as of my calling I hope ye doubt not Neuerthelesse let me be heard I beséech you a few words concerning both this and that seing that the Priesthood was ordayned to foreshew and signifie the office and dignitie of that highest Priest which is to come as vnto whoÌ„ all the types and shadowes of the law do point it hath beene both prouided and commaunded by the Lord himselfe that the Priest might haue his lawfull calling and therewith not onely in bodie but in habites and ornamentes should be pure holy and glorious in all pointes To the which it was aduised how he should be consecrated what he should doe how he he should liue what wife he
kingdome of Israel and that also not Absolon nor Adoniah nor Amnon nor any other of Davids sonnes begotten and borne before this time but only Solomon his sonne borne of Bethseba after the pardon granted him should build an house for his name vnto whō he would be as a father to his sonne * Al these things the princes gladly heard to the same subscribed most willingly knowing well both the truth of the kinges petigree and the honour of his noble birth zabud And thereupon spake Zabud and said It séemeth good to me The seuerall names of the King that with this which hath beene saide wée regard those titles and names by the which it pleased the Lord that the king should be called knowne and honoured the which truly haue not bin imposed rashly as many which giue names without respect of the Natures dignity or qualityes of the persons but with great wisedome iudgement and prouidence as were those names of Adam Havah Noah Abraham Lot Abel Sarah Isaack Israel Samuel David and such other which haue had their approbation from the Lord and expressed or taught or remembred some worthy thing In this sort the King hath had and enioyed fiue particular names and names of honor two of the which were imposed by the Lord himselfe the third by Nathan the fourth by his Mother and the last hée resumed by th'approbation of his Lordes In or concerning any of the which names he hath no cause ministred him to be displeased except onely in this that he hath tried himselfe bring a mortall man not answerable in all points to the same knowing it a thing most ridiculous for any person whatsoeuer to bee noted or called by such a title or name of the which hee shal bee found most vnworthy For the first we haue it recorded what the Lord God said to David concerning him he shal be my sonne Secondly he said againe touching him his name is Solomon 2 Sam 7.14 1. Chro. 22.9 Thirdly the prophet Nathan called him Iedid-iah The sonne of God Fourthly his Mother called him Laemuel and fifthly he is called Koheleh In that he is called the Sonne of God and that by God himselfe it giueth vs to consider in him somewhat beyond that which is found to be in other men For they are not of the common sort to whome the Lord vouchsafeth this high title Such are they which resembling the holy Angels haue not only the brightnes of the diuine glory apparāt in them but also are euer willing and ready to execute his pleasure In that he is called Solomō 2. Solomon it noteth the peace of his gouernmēt ouer Gods people according to the reason which the Lord added saying he shal be a man of rest and I will send peace and rest vpon Israel in his dayes In the third name the prophet would expresse not only the loue of God vnto him 3. Iedid-iah but also the loue of God his diuine graces in him to the which alluded the Arabian Quéene at her being here when shee said blessed be the Lord thy God which loued thee hath set thee on the throne of Israel In the fourth his Mother beeing a wise and rare Princesse 4. Laemuel 5. Coheleth woulde by that name signifie the glory of God in him and by him in the people In the last is testified the diligence and desier that the king hath not onely to search out and gather together for his owne further instruction the auntient monuments and holy bookes but also a people vnto the Lord to bee instructed and taught in the holy Religion for the glory of God and their owne health Teaching withall what should be the desier of all Princes in their places namely in this sort to tend to the end of their gouernment and rule Therefore finding rather an honour then an ignomy to grow from hence vnto the king Wee say as the kings daughter said in that excellent song Thy name is a sweet smelling oyntment when it is powred foorth Therefore do the virgins love thee CAP. X. Of Solomons person and estate forme beauty education wisedome c. wherof the cause of his griefe could not rise THen stoode foorth Ahishar and saide Truely my Lordes whatsoeuer hath beene here produced and spoken in the premisses maketh very much euery way for the kings honour and estimation Ahishar and therfore I perceiue not what shoulde thereof be gathered to offende him Neither can I finde any thing worthie dislike in any other points which concerne either his person or his estate for his forme and beautie his education his wisdome his iudgements his words his riches his works his peace his orders of house his pleasures his power his marriage his blessinges his fame his glory c. the king is most excellēt Solomon his beautie Homer singularly renowned as al men wil confes I remēber that looking on a certaine Booke of the Poet Melesigenes who liued and wrote in the time of our iudges among the Greekes I found where he had giuen an exceeding high praise to the forme and beautie of Priamus the Troyan Priamus the which in him as he saide was wel worthy a kingdome so faire was he The same Poet hath also spoken largely of one Nireus Nireus being the fairest of all them which came to Priamus his Pallace though hee had scarcely any worthy quality either of body or mind And in our own Records we haue the praise of the form and beauty of Saul the sonne of Cis whom Samuel annointed King ouer Israel Saul 1. Sam 9.2 that he was a goodly youngman and faire So that among the chidren of Israel there was none goodlier then he from the shoulders vpward he was higher then all the other people And we here present for the most part can say much of Absolon the kinges brother namely that in his time there was none in all Israel so much to bee praised for beautie Absolon 2. Sam. 14.25 from the seale of his foote to the top of his head there was no blemish in him And had his qualities beene to the same correspondent oh God how glorious might he haue beene And further we finde that Ioseph and Moses and Aaron and David haue beene praised in this respect But yet beyond them all looking with iudgement on our Lord the King and seeing howbewty is displayed in his royal person we cannot but acknowledge that for truth which the kings father said to him when he beheld him in his beautye Farre fairer then the sonnes of men art thou Cant. 5.9 Although all these things did properly belōg so were to be referred to the holy Messiah yet were they first spoken as of Solomon who in his person prefigured him as it is more fully declared hereafter And this the noble Princesse considered and sung of him He is both white ruddy the chiefest of thousands ten His head is as fine gold his
polluted with any strange Gods when as they came to Bethel to sacrifice vnto Iehovah and should then king Solomon not only permit those horrible Idolatries and loathsome superstitions of Idols but also exhibit them maintenance in the same that follow such thinges so neare the Temple and the holy Cittie of God This thing is not hidden from the Lord who seeth and wil be auenged on the same Howbeit the King most vnhappily doting on those profane women his wiues and concubines which are now reuolted from the Lord and his religion and turned backe vnto their fathers and their Gods hath beene contented to conniue and beare with them in such their abhominations euen before his face and in the open sight of the Lorde people yea and rather then he would diuorce them or deny them or reproue them or correct them or displease them therein as he might haue don and indeede should haue done in this case he hath both appointed and commaunded many great summes of mony and treasure to be paied and giuen forth from his owne treasurie both to the building of certaine houses and places for such their Gods and also for the daily maintenance of their seruices in the same Therof it is before al other things that Iehovah his God is prouoked and waxen angry with him with vs and his people and hath thereon not omitted to threaten him and vs with many mighty plagues and punishments to ensew yea such as neither he we nor our posteritie shal be able to beare thereof as I vnderstand the Lord hath lately spoken by his prophet and messenger vnto the King himselfe saying Forasmuch as this thing is done of thee and thou hast not kept mine appointment and my statutes which I commanded thee 1. King 11.11 I will rent the kingdome from thee and wil giue it to thy Seruant Notwithstanding in thy dayes I will not do it because of David thy Father but I will take it from the hand of thy sonne Howbeit I will not take away all the kingdome but will giue one Tribe to thy Sonne because of David my Seruant and because of Ierusalem which I haue chosen Now here I call to remembrance what the Lorde our God hath resolued in such a case by the consideration of his words once spoken to Eli the Priest in the daies of our iudges 1. Sam. 2.25 I will worship them saith he that worship me but they which despise me shall come to shame Moreouer I remember what the King himselfe hath said in his wise Prouerbs The turning away of the vnwise shall hasten his owne destruction And well I wot therefore that of all the creatures in the world pro. 1.32 the impious and wicked person is most vnhappy that not only in respect of his sinnes and condition of life but in regard of his end and conclusion for as the end of much eating is sicknes the end of pleasure is paine the end of this life is death and corruption so the end of the Sinner is extreame anguish and miserie both in this worlde and after his death For being iustly sequestred from the societie of the Saintes and so shut out from the diuine protection he is euen whiles he liueth molested with an vnquiet conscience an aking heart feareful cogitations and dreames and many afflictions both of body and mind the hand of God being streatched foorth against him from aboue and the instrumentes of wrath tormenting him from beneath Finally this life finished hee broyles and toyles in bitter tormentes for euer more In the which he may be compared to those flying fishes which being in the waters are persecuted by other fishes for their pray springing vp with their finnes into the aire they are followed and deuoured of the cormorants and Sea-meawes or to that bird which being on the ground is hunted by dogs and flying aboue the earth is taken by the vultures for true it is that the man of impietie and sinne hath neither peace nor safety either in this world or in the world to come This thing the kings father well knew and considered of in the depth of his heart therfore when he was remembred of his transgressions and faults by Nathan and by Gad the Lordes prophets and messengers to him in that respect feeling the true sense of Gods angry coūtenance iustly bent against him and his people for the same the perilous estate both of himselfe and his dominions by and by although a chosen magnanimious puissant and valorous minded King comming to answere before the highest God hee sodainly cast himselfe downe to the earth as a base caitiffe hee repented him of his sinnes and in the fearefull agony of his afflicted soule he cried out I have sinned I haue sinned Mercy Lord mercye nor would be leaue off crying and repenting nor any otherwise estéeme of himselfe then a sinfull guilty and condemned wretch vntill he perceiued that the Lord was willing to be appeazed and of his mercie to turne his gratious face towards him as in times past resembling the bird of Paradise which beeing taken in a snare is neuer quiet nor leaueth crying and flittering till time he either dye or be deliuered And thus behoveth it our Lord the King to esteeme of himselfe vnder those his transgressions this to respect and the same to performe which in this desperate and dangerous case is the best counsail we may giue him for remedy and ease For surely surely God being thus prouoked and that iustly he will not be appeazed nor will he surcease to streatch forth his hand of iustice against him so offending vntill that he meekly acknowledge his offences before him repent and seeke him with sorrow and singlenes of heart as we may see in th'examples of our forefathers both in the wildernes vnder the conduct of Moses and Aaron and in this land vnder the gouernment of our wise and valiant Iudges Now my Lords hereof is it that Iehovah our God being most iustly displeased with our Lord the King hee hath in iustice stirred vp and prouoked against him besides the two former enemies which much troubled him that Ieroboam who thirsting for the soueraignity of Israel now especially opposeth himselfe in might and policie against the King Neither may wee thinke but howsoeuer those persons especially Ieroboam are maliciously bent and prouoked against the king and his gouernment The kings enemies are the very instruments of Gods wrath appointed to vex the king and his people and do of themselues little respect or consider the prouidence and working of the most high in this his displeasure that yet they be the very instruments and ministers of Gods iudgements as those other aduersaries of Israel haue beene in the times past against our fathers when as they forgetting God did rebell against him and his holy servants And therefore the onely way to resist them is not the wisedome power policie or arme of man but the grace of our mercifull
his words if they be weighed in an equall ballance many more shall not onely suppresse their rashe iudgements concerning the king and his words but acknowledge and confesse with vs That all things are not so damned nor so daungerous nor so doubtfull as they haue imagined them to be Nay the Accusers themselues shall grant rather that SolomoÌ„ our king is neither a damned nor reprobated nor a prophane person but that hee is an excellent Saint of the Lord a true penitent person that hath obtained mercie and forgivenesse after his sinne and henceforth expecteth the ioyes of his Lord in everlasting happinesse through faith in the most holy Messiah whom hee did most worthily prefigure and set foorth in the world according to the foreknowledge and good pleasure of the everlasting God CHAP. XXV Zadok proueth by many arguments and reasons that Solomon was not a prophane or damned person But a Saint of the Lord and a right excellent member of the Church THen Zadok as one most willing to defend the honour of his most Soueraigne Lorde King Solomon answered againe and sayde I most heartily thanke you my Lords all that yee haue vouchsaued mee this honour For I esteeme it an honour to my selfe to bee thought worthy by your wisedomes to speake and to haue your audience in the defence of my Lorde the King and his cause Neither doe I thinke but that in conscience and dutie I am holden so to doe for it in not meete that I shoulde heare my good Lorde and his wordes to bee sclandered or euill reported and to passe it ouer in silence yea I shall be thought therein to giue consent to those sinister reports And first as touching the king The king is not to be iustified in his sins nor excused it cannot bee denyed but that hee hath indeede wonderfully doated on his strange wiues and hath hearkened too much to them which euer retaining that euill opinion and custome would neuer receiue nor admit that counsell which the wisest of all men liuing gaue them and hath beene by them allured seduced and led away from Iehovah his God against whole Maiestie by their instigation hee hath wrought wickednesse And therefore howsoeuer some might allegorize of the transgressions and sinnes of our Lord the king yet will not I nor may I in equitie iustifie him or excuse him therein no more then I may either iustifie or excuse the sinne of Adam in his fall howsoeuer there bee which call it an happy fall or the sinne of Iacob in his two wiues howsoeuer the priuiledge thereof came in with the promise of the multiplication of the holy seede or of Noah in his drunkennesse or of Lot in his incest or of Iudah in his whoredome or of the kings father in his murther pride and adultrey wherein it is certaine that they both displeased God and deciphered their humane imperefctions and infirmities Nor was it the wil of God that such their sins albeit they were his own children should be concealed or couered but rather hee woulde that for some good causes they should bee reuealed and reproued He â—hat iustifieth the sinner is abhominable before God For as sinne is that which onely prouoketh and displeaseth the Lord and therefore is no lesse odious vnto him then a most ougly and venemous Serpent vnto a man so he that either iustifieth or excuseth the sinner in his sinne shall not bee holden guiltlesse before Gods iudgement seate Neuerthelesse as godly wisedome and holy loue haue both taught and perswaded a reuerend opinion and like construction of those men A reuerent opinion of the repentent sinners their actions and words in whom godlinesse and the right worthy vertues in habit could not be vtterly ouerthrown with one or a fewe contrary actions whiles the mercie of God remayning with them they held fast the foundatioÌ„s of their holy hope so is it not meete nor conuenient that wee should rashly cast into dangerous suspence either the holines of our Lorde The holinesse repentance remission and salvatioÌ„ of Solomon proved king Solomon or his repentance after his sinne or his remission after his repentance or the hope of his eternall salvation the which depending on the euerlasting loue and sweete grace of God in the merit of the holy Messiah may not onely bee presumed but also rightly gathered and sufficiently proued as by your patience you shall heare Satans subtilty Indeed Satan the great enimy of mankind hath assayed to deale with the king as the Eagle dealeth with the Goate for when the Eagle comes to hurt the Goate to whome shee hath a mortall enemitie shee first assayeth to take away his sight by pulling out his eyes and then afterwarde shee killeth him against whom the Goate defendeth himselfe with his hornes So this Enemie hauing a deadly enuie to the King and his glory though to dispoyle him of his knowledge and wisedome but hee neuerthelesse by his faith and hope in the Lorde as with two strong hornes hath resisted him so farre that though hee were much wounded in his body hee hath yet preserued and kept safe his yes Solomons eies For as I haue heard him say and doe finde it by experience his wisedome remained with him Neither was hee drawen from the foundation of his hope For as the trees which are strong deepe rooted and haue sufficient sappe in themselues cannot easily be ouercome by either the violent heate or noysome colde when such as haue neither rootes nor strength nor sappe doe wither and decay so they which are rooted and grounded on the sure foundation of their hope and haue in them the habite of diuine vertues cannot vtterly bee quayled or ouerthrowne by either the heate or colde of afflictions or the vehemency of Sathans assaults or the alluring lustes of the flesh or the concupiscence of Nature for they bee holden by the right hande of Gods spirite and stand like the tree planted by the waters side psal 1. whereof David the Kings father coulde so diuinely modulate and sing Therefore I will first proue that our Lord king Solomon is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a prophane or damned person Chadesch Chadosch but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a person holy dedicated to God and a member of the holy Congregation For in this Antithesis or contrarietie that which is the one cannot bee the other and that the Lorde hath not taken his Spirite vtterly from him howsoeuer his Graces were shadowed in him when hee sinned as hee is not willing to cast them away whome hee knewe before or elected howsoeuer hee seeme to hide his face from them in his displeasure and they onely are fore-knowen and elected which are his Saintes and holy ones howsoeuer they appeare or are esteemed before the face of worldly men Howbeit although there bee many notable things externally to be seene in the Kings person which yet are not to bee neglected nor forgotten but well considered remembred and applyed
before him in whose sight the very Angels be vncleane nor that he might thinke himselfe righteous in his owne power before the throne of that King in whose presence no flesh liuing can be iustified but that rather in the consideration of his imperfections and the bitter sense of the diuine displeasure he should acknowledge and confesse his infirmities and by a godly repentance striue to resurge vnto that from whence he was fallen as his father did * But here I call to minde Why Solomon vsed not the holy name Tetragrammaton in his Booke of Eccles that Abiather obiected further against the king and his wordes namely in this that hee had not of late vsed nor remembred in his common talke the glorious Name Iehovah whereof he would conclude as it appeareth a note of prophanitie in the King as one that either should denie or forget the liuing God who is to be remembred praised for euer Wherefore lest any aduantage might be either giuen or taken in passing such a thing ouer in silence which might indéed argue a consent to that which is obiected ye shal vnderstand that in any wise we may not gather of this omission of that sacred Name either a deniall or a forgetfulnes of the Lord God by the king nor may we thereby the sooner derogate authoritie from him and his words no more then wee may iustly condemne the poore sinner and his prayer which in the consideration of his owne vilenesse dareth not to lift vp his eyes to the heauens For as this Name is wonderfull and most dreadfull to the sinfull so who knoweth not but that we esteeme it Ineffable not to bee pronounced or vsed except in waightie matters and in the causes of the highest importance But the omission of this Name by the king may be imputed partly to the great honor he yéelded the same partly to the singular humilitie of his contrite spirit who now déeply weighing the heauy burthen of his sinne and all those vanities wherein hee had béene long wearied with the terror of the diuine iudgements threatned on him and his posteritie by the Lords Prophet he thinketh himselfe most vnworthy to take in his mouth or to vse that dreadfull name being not forgetfull of that which he heard his Maister Asaph after the Prophesie that David had giuen him often times to sing and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But God vnto the sinner said And why psal 50.16 presumest thou to preach mine holy heasts and in thy mouth to take my Testament For the King is now so far humbled An argument of the kings repentance that notwithstanding his wisedome place and glory he estéemeth himselfe of no reputation and therein too vile not onely to name Iehovah but also to be as a doore-kéeper within that holy house which himselfe hath built and dedicated in the time of grace to that most glorious Name And this is so farre off from all iust suspicion of prophanitie or forgetfulnesse or deniall of God in the King that the omission of this Name doth rather mightily argue his faithfull feare and humbled heart in true Repentance and with the like spirite in the remebrance of his sinnes committed and the punishments thereon threatned and felt in part and in this regard hee also refused to be called the King of Israel as before it hath béene sayd Would to God the like consideration dread and reuerence of this most holy Name did in the same spirit hold and possesse the hearts of all others that not onely mean and priuate persons but also princes and great personages would rather either tremble with David to heare thereof or feare with Solomon to take the same rashly and commonly in their mouthes then should not that commandement bee so presumptuously and dayly broken Exod. 20. Thou shalt not take the Name of Iehovah thy God in vaine Neither should this vengeance bee so often iustly inflicted Iehovah will not holde him guiltlesse that taketh his Name in vaine Therefore hath the King worthily omitted the common vse of this Name in those his wordes and late writings Howbeit he hath neuerthelesse in all humilitie reuerence and grauitie vsed and yet doth daily vse those other Titles or Attributes of God whereby he is sufficiently knowne in the Law and in the Prophtes as namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is God Creatour King Supreme or highest And hee thus resolueth with holy Iob Iob. 27.3 that now so long as his breath is in him and the spirit of God in his nostrels his lips shall speake no wickednes and his tongue shall vtter no deceit But howsoeuer it bee that men haue their imperfections and slidings as wée may not tie the authoritie of holy Scriptures diuine Sermons and the truth of the Almightie to the credite or estimation of any mortall man The way to try all writings words and works of men so neither shall those Wordes and Sermons of our Lorde King Solomon bee esteemed onely after the person and authoritie of Solomon though he so far excelled all other men liuing in wisedom knowledge many other right excellent and rare induments and vertues but also according to the consent it hath with the propheticall and legall veritie and doctrine indited by the finger of Gods Spirit by whose motion Noah Abraham Isaack Iacob Samuel Moses David and other holy men haue spoken And it is most certaine howsoeuer some would gather thereof as Spiders which gather poison of the sweetest flowers and as the purest streames may bee polluted by the trampling of soule feete and the best Scriptures may be abused as Satan himselfe and the deceiuers of all times haue therein presumed to credite and authorize their owne that yet these present words of King Solomon as also his Proverbs Solomons words are approoued collected and reserued by his princes and servants Parables and divine songs the which he hath in the fullnesse of the Spirite of wisedome vttred spoken and modulated are sound veritie good Scripture and words agreable to the words and writings of Moses and the Prophets in all things Therefore let vs proceed with diligent carefulnesse to call to minde those the kings wordes which in this time and vpon this occasion hee vseth to vtter and speake before vs with great grauitie and to collect them into a Booke in the Name of God not forgetting to expresse our gratefull minde towardes his Grace in this our care to preserue his Wordes to commend them to the holy Church for the better instruction of the same acknowledging and testifying withall the diligence wisedome godly desire and excellencie of him who studied to be yet more wise and to teach the people knowledge that thereby abandoning the deceiuable vanities of this wicked world they might with him walke the right and perfite way towardes the best Good and highest felicitie These words beeing said Zadok pauzed again wherat
Israel if all things had answered ad amussim to his request and dayly endevor but also by many heauenly doctrines learned Orations wise sentences parables and arguments to display and set foorth the manifolde vanities of wordly-men and there-withall as the wise Preacher to studie and endevor on the one side to disswade and hallow them from the same beeing replenished with so many miseries and on the other side to allure and draw them on towardes the chiefe good and highest felicitie where onely is found the true sacietie and best solace after all the confused troubles of this life Truely this is the very Argument Summe or chiefe matter of his Booke entituled the Ecclesiastes or the Preacher from whence as from the head-spring of many both pleasant and profitable streames this present Solace is chiefly derived In the which besides the viewe of Solomons Common-wealth and many other matters of right worthy request is contained his true Repentance and Pardon after his sinnes displayed in a certaine Dialogue or conference of his Princes and chiefe Lordes A worke both godly pleasant and profitable aswell for Princes and noble personages as for all others which have any desire to walke in this life towardes the highest obiect of our hope But heere I thought it good to admonish thee gentle Reader that as the worke chiefely regardeth those matters of Antiquitie and namely such as were either heard of scene vnderstood or in action within the compasse of that time wherein that most famous King both raigned and lived and of the which his Princes Lordes and servantes coulde as auriti or oculati testes both take and giue true testimonies or the which they could readily cite gather obserue remember consider and reason of in and among themselues so haue I therein for the most part taken applyed and vsed those testimonies examples and Arguments the which either that time or the times then fore-past could happily affoord mee for those persons from whose wordes reportes and disputations this Dialogue is deduced could not possibly deliver vnto vs the things which as yet were neither in action or motion among men seeing themselues knew not as they were men what shoulde followe or come to passe after them vnder the Sunne Eccle. 3.22 but as they might conclude effects from the causes in naturall things Therefore I haue beene carefull that there-with I might intermixe any of those which succeeded in the ages times and persons following the which neuerthelesse being extant may be neither reiected nor abandoned but rather as they stand to bee taken and collected in and from the wordes writings and workes of others which though farre latter have yet beene both godly faithfull well learned and of no lesse credite and authoritie in the Church Howbeit because I would not that any thing which is either worthie thy knowledge or heere in request with any of them that stand in doubt of the holynesse of King Solomon the authoritie of his wordes and Bookes shoulde bee cowched in silence or buried in obscuritie I purpose and God will though very briefly to supply even here that which might seeme to bee wanting there that so the latter compared with the former and one thing considered rightly with another they may from either gather a meete harmony and consent to conclude both for the holynesse of th' one for the sufficiency of th' other But here I finde them that demaund how the knowledge of this disputation and conference should be brought vnto mine vnderstanding from whence this princely dialogue could be either gathered or presumed To whome I might answere that howsoever it be that either this or the semblable matter may bee hidden from the knowledge and vnderstanding of the simple and ignoraunt or how hardly it may bee conceived of some wise and learned persons yea and howsoever this present dialogue shal be censured and esteemed in a great part as prosopopoicall or imagined yet it is true and sure enough as it is hereafter declared and proved that those godly wise well learned and noble personages which were and lived in the time of Solomon heard of his wisedome and saw his glorie never doubted of his holinesse and true repentance and so neither of his remission and salvation with the Lorde And as in those thinges they were not doubtfull so were they neither so negligent nor carelesse of the Kinges health and prosperity and of the Common-good of the Lordes people but that they as most noble Princes and wise and grave Counsailors entered into a deepe consideration of the royal estate and of the common wealth of Israel reasoned and argued the case in and betweene themselves concerning the causes of the kinges great heavines and sorrow and therein did not onely thinke honourably and constre charitably and reverently of the kinges dealinges and wordes as it well became them but also endevoured by their wisedom counsel authority to remove away all the causes that the vnhappy effectes thereof might cease and to withstand the remedilesse inconveniences of such desperate mischiefs in time convenient that in such sort in effect as it is reported in this Solace And to the end that no man might either make question of the holinesse of their soveraigne Lord or doubt of his remission and salvation they argue for him and above all the rest of that most honourable society the most reverend father in God namely Zadok the Lordes high priest to whose grave and learned iudgement they all most gladly condiscended spake and proved first that king Solomon was by the providence of the highest provided and made a lively figure of the most holy Messiah whom they faithfully expected to come into the world and that it was necessary that the figure should answere to the thing figured Therefore the Messiah beeing most holy it must follow that King Solomon should bee also holy alluding to those equall proportions in the law between the Seed of the Woman and the types shadows and figures of the same * Next to that they argue his Pardon partly from Gods owne promise of mercy to him and the continuance of his divine Graces 2. Sam. 7.15 partly from his Repentance the which besides other places is worthily gathered of his Ecclesiastes or Preacher beeing as the Hebrewes say the booke of his repentance * Thirdly they argue his Salvation with the Lorde from the consideration of his pardon as that which necessarily followeth the same after this and like Testimonies and examples Blessed is that man whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sinnes are covered blessed is he to whom the Lord imputeth not sinne And as they never doubted of the holinesse pardon and salvation of the person so neither called they into questiō any his books proverbs words songs sētences but honoured reverenced and esteemed them as wise and grave sayings divine prophesies and matters right holy and profitable for the Lordes congregation and for the instruction of his people Therfore they
thought it good and no lesse their duties not onely to collect and preserve them but to commit and commende them with the like authoritie to the holy Church Now it remaineth that we also heare and consider what hath beene else resolved concluded and testified by the godly learned and wise men aswell hebrewes as others succeeding them of that age and that not onely before but also sithence the birth death and ascention of the most holy Messiah concerning King Solomon and those his wordes First the auncient hebrewes and Rabins of the Iewes have delivered that Solomon did so much dislike his lustfull delightes and chiefly that sinne of Idolatrie impuâ—ed to him Jn vita pat lib. 7. in prologo in Cap. 1. in that hee tolerated and maintained his strange wives in their abhominations that hee willingly exposed himselfe in person a publike example of repentance throughout the streetes of Ierusalem and woulde also have beene whipped with seaven roddes in that Temple which himselfe had builded had not the learned doctors of the lawe withstood it holding it vnlawfull for them or any others to laye their handes on the Lordes Annointed as David had taught esteeming him not onely their true King but a divine Prophet and holy man of GOD and at this time a person truly repentant for his sinnes whereof they presumed of his pardon and eternall health Next wee finde it testified by the Author of the latter booke of the Chronicles of the kinges of Israel and Iudah Chap. 11. verse 17. that after king Solomon was laide to his fathers Iudah for the time of three yeeres following pleased GOD walking in the waies of David and Solomon not onely of David but also of Solomon noting that although king Solomon walked not perfectly with the Lorde in the time of his trespasses as David walked when hee pleased GOD yet neverthelesse in his latter time hee was reclaimed and walked againe with David as himselfe did in his youth when they both together pleased the Lorde GOD and so in th' end resigned both himselfe repentant and holy vnto God Nota. and the kingdom in the same estate wholy to his sonne Rehoboam for neither was the kingdome as yet divided nor the state of religion altered during the daies of SolomoÌ„s governmeÌ„t according as the L. had de creed promised 1. King 11.12 saying I wil not do it in thy daies Therefore not onely Solomon is combined with good David touching the state of religion the manner of his walking but also it is testified that Rehoboam his son followed the L. also together with theÌ„ of Iudah that scared the L. in the same way full 3. yeeres after Solomons death within the which time it pleased God to fortify the kingdom of Iudah therin to make Rehoboam strong After this the wise Syracides chap. 47.12 among others in his time conceiving wel of this excelleÌ„t person whoÌ„ he esteemed an excelleÌ„t sainct of the L. from whose wise sayings his graÌ„dfather Iesus had collected many his sentences hath carefully and reverently named numbred him among those holy Patriarches fathers of the old testameÌ„t so worthy of praise wherewithall although as a true historiographer in that parte hee hath laide open his sins which els were so apparant as they coulde not be covered yet he extolleth him with many admirable coÌ„meÌ„dations in right consideratioÌ„ giveth not so much as the least aime to any doubtfulnes of either his holines or salvation yea rather he omitted not to say and protest that God forsooke not his mercy meaning that which was promised to David concerning SolomoÌ„ confirmed to SolomoÌ„ accordingly as 1. King 11.39 Neither that he was vtterly destroyed because of his works that he should leaue him no posteritie Fourthly Saint Matthew the Evangelist bringeth in King Solomon in the genealogie of Christ our Saviour together with his mother among those holy fathers of the olde Testament Matt. 1.6 But chiefly the Lorde Iesus himselfe in his profound doctrines and sermons hath not disdained this person but vouchsafed to name him and there-withall to remember not onely the wisdom of King Solomon but also that holy House which he built to the Name of the Lord. And to declare how well he liked the same house he daily taught the people therin shewed them the right vse therof yea hee much disliked that the same should be prophaned by vngodly sinful men therfore assayed to reduce it to his pristin purity when with a whip he drave out both the buyers and sellers saying My house is the house of Prayer for all Nations it was indeede all vnmeet that the thing which was ordayned for a figure of his Church and prepared to so holy an vse should be stayned with mens prophanitie so long as the vse of the figure endured which was vntill the time of the comming of the holy Ghost vnto the Apostles after Christs ascension into the heavens After this that holy Protomartyr Steuen in his answere to the high Priest Actes 7. speaketh right reverently both of Solomon and of his worke and to testifie that the same had yet a further aime then to the ordinary personage or to the worke of other men he addeth But hee that is the highest of all dwelleth not in the Temples made with mens hands alluding to Solomons wordes in the dedication of that house 2. Chro. 6.18 For right well is it said that the very person whome that holy king prefigured dwelt not in that house made with handes howbeit as concerning his power and th'excellent graces of his spirite he is ever present in and with that holy church which Solomons Temple hath prefigured and expressed After all this to passe over the Apostles and their worthie estimation of this person and his workes from the which they have taken and cited argumentes to confirme their doctrins all the ancient fathers of the Nicen Concil Aug. in lib. 17 de civit dei cap. 20. Idem in 2. lib. de doct Christian Ioh. Driedo de Catalo sacr script lib. 2. vide Hieron in extrema visione Ezechiel Ambros super Ecclesiast et in Apolog. David and others both holy and learned in the church have not only gathered received aswel froÌ„ hence as from others monumeÌ„ts of their elders Solomons holines and true repentance but also have esteemed him for a Prophet and in their writings have called him the most wise holy Solomon But were it so that those things did not so plainly appeare in the holy scriptures nor could it be founde in any word or writing of antiquity that Solomon after his transgressioÌ„ did repent coÌ„vert himselfe to the L. what reasoÌ„ what charitie or what wisdom would yet cast into suspeÌ„se the holines salvation of so rare excelleÌ„t a persoÌ„ when there is not extaÌ„t any sufficieÌ„t scripture or warraÌ„t to prove his final prophanity eternall perdition or that hee continued irrepentant vntill his death
Husai Iehosophat the sonne of Paruah Semei the sonne of Ela Gaber the sonne of Vri. These Officers being elected with discretion and so approued were not the children of Belial as proud couetous luxurious extortioners bribers oppressors fighters brawlers or such as were either noted or suspected of anie wicked vice but of a goodlie constitution prudent ingenious of good capacitie gentle courteous of good conscience obedient to the lawes honest and faithfull in their places therein aunswering to the interpretations of their seuerall names either proper or appellatiue Whereby king Solomō was not onely most royally serued with all kind of princly prouision of houshoulde but had his store-houses replete with that which was timely reposed therein for the same and like vses Howbeit Solomon beeing most prudent did euer estéeme his people and subiectts for his best store-house Kings store-house so wel semblant I say not to the open fieldes but to that good Orchard or Gardine well set with diuers kindes of trées which haue in them not onely many branches boughs leaues stems erected but aboundance of fruit wholesome and profitable for mans vse especially then when the same is welhusbandred necessities respected iniuries salued particular causes wel waighed And truly to and for this end had king Solomon those prudent and meete prepositours knowing that by such persons the affaires are commonly well managed and performed but on the contrarie the subiects occasioned iustly to murmure wil be easily perswaded to rebell against the king and his gouernmēt and mens cogitations erst pure may be sorely corrupted especially if they perceiue that they which stand in place of authority shal not obserue that which themselues bid and command which both defaceth their authority and destroieth the good nature of many a man Solomons servants in house * Also the king for his priuate seruants in house had them which were of especiall choice as who for their wisedome strength agilitie actiuitie industrie good disposition manners humanity patience docilitie constancie trust fidelitie and the feare of the Lord were not only best fit to stand before him to gard him to serue him to attend his royall presence and person but also to heare his wisedome to apprehend his iudgements to note his behauiour to imitate his graces and to be interpreters of his wil and word vnto others And indeed these and such are worthie so noble a maister and well it becommeth a king of that puissance and magnanimity to be serued and attended on by such chosen seruants K. Solomons principal Lords But aboue all the rest the king had certaine principall and princelie Lordes by whose graue counsayle iudgement prudence good aduise and prouidence both the king himselfe was assisted consolated and preserued in gouernment and the affaires of the whole kingdome of Israell the better disposed ordered and performed 1. King 4.2 1. Chro. 28. Exod. 18.20 that according to the defier and charge of his father King Dauid who was not vnmindfull of that prudent counsaile which sometimes wise Iethro gane Moses in the right vse wherof himselfe was eased and ayded and the people timely iudged and well gouerned And these are the names of those principall Lordes viz. 1. Azariah 2. Helioreph 3. Ahiah 4. Iehosophat 5. Benaiah 6. Zadock 7. Abiathar 8. Azariah 9. Zabud 10. Ahishar 11. Adoniram Azariah the first of that name was an especiall Lorde attending and assisting the kings person Helioreph and Ahiah were the kings wise Secretaries Scribes ornotaries Iehosophat was the kings Recorder of the gestes or Chronicles Benaiah was the general Captaine ouer the kings hostes in the which office his succeeded Captaine Ioab Zadocke was the chiefe Priest preferred to that function and place after that Abiathar was degraded and put away for his confederacie with Adoniah against King Solomon Abiathar the same before named among the Lordes was a priest who sometimes ministred and attended in the stéede and place of Zadock Azariah the second of that name was a prudent Lorde whome the King had placed ouer those twelue Purueyors or officers before named Zabud was the sonne of Nathan a Priest and the Kinges friend and familiar companion Ahishar was set ouer the Kinges Pallace Adoniram had the authority for the Tributes as high Treasurer of the kingdome A description of King Solomons Counselors As all and euery of those Lords were of no meane choice but some of them such as were commended and left vnto him by his Father Dauid for wise graue Counsaylors and the Sonnes of Nobles so were they most exquisitely qualified and adorned with such princely vertues as appertaine to personages of that ranke As first they were adorned with that perfection of their mēbers as best fitted those affaires to and for the which they were elected and put in place Next they wanted not the goodnes of apprehension to vnderstand whatsoeuer was spoken worthy audiēce Thirdly they were graced with an excellēt memory to retain things heard and apprehended yéelding nothing necessarie the remēbrance to thriftles obliuion 4. they possessed a profound consideration and déepe conceit concerning such difficulties as occurred 5. A courteous affabilitie pleasing speech and ready eloquence but so as therein their tongues concorded with their heartes 6. A learned skill in the liberall sciences 7. They were in word faithfull louers of the truth contemners of lyes composite in manners pleasant gentle tractable well complexioned 8. Also free and without any iust suspition of ebrietie luxurie carnall lusts and notorious offences 9. Men right magnanimious in their purposes and affecting the true honor 10. Not couetous minded but contemning Gold Siluer and other accidentall things of the world in regard of their dutie to God to their king and the common-wealth wherein they had and retayned a most faithfull loue as well of strangers as of their neighbours 11. As they had a loue both to the iust and to iustice so also hated they alkind of iniuries odious offences yeelding euery one his right aiding the oppressed and those which sustained wrong not making at any time the strength of their authoritie their rod of reuenge to beate them whom they affected not in good will but remouing away all iniustice and shew of oppression they set no difference betwéene persons and degrées of men but only betwéene causes as equitie required 12. They had likewise a strong and perseuering purpose in th' execution of things méet the performance audacious deuoid of pusillanimity or feare 13. They knew well the issues of all expences nor were they ignorant of any vtilitie appertinent to good gouernment as whereby the poore subiects might not be iustly occasioned to exclame or complaine of hard or cruel dealings 14. They were neither worders or giuen to high laughters nor gamesters nor common players or such like but graue modest silent temperate and courteous 15. readie to heare such as came to séeke iustice as whereby the king might be eased of that
rebell against the Lord as Samuel told him in the height of his wealth Yea thus Dauid the father of K. Solomon being a whiles permitted to try himselfe and his might transgressed and confessed his folly Lo such is mans nature prave inclinatiō semblant to the ponderous lead or Iron which declineth to the bottom of the water whereon it is cast when as it is not by some arte or meanes staid from sinking or as the vine which groweth proud and out of course without timely pruning yea they be not vnlike touching their misfortunes those little Chickens which runne forth to the Vultures and the sily Lambes which offer themselues a pray to the Foxes without regard of their proper dās to kéepe or draw them away Men therefore yea the best and most strong men should feare and not desire to bee left vnto their owne wils wisedome power and habilitie but pray and desier to be continually protected governed and directed by the diuine counsayles and providence knowing that God beeing their Father doth euermore care and prouide for them which being humbled in his feare depend on his will direction Next that we sée that the Lord neither blesseth nor graceth thē which leaue him and his service how mighty wise rich or glorious soeuer they be but in this he estéemeth the king as a Caytiffe the Emperour as a wretch the rich as a beggar the wise as a foole nor will he vouchsafe them honour who dishonour him Nor indeede hath he freed his own from the touch of miserie in measure when they transgressed Adam and Hevah were exiled Paradise Noah was wade ashamed David mas floysed with many afflictions So neyther will the Lord that any person of whatsoeuer estate or condition should assure himselfe of peace and prosperity longer then whiles hee liueth in peace with his maker King Solomon began now to know his transgression and to returne dependeth on him by faith in Messiah and serueth him in singlenesse of heart All this the King at length wisely considering by the blessed motion of the diuine Spirite which now began to reclaime and call him home againe sodainely altred the constitution of minde and changed his behauiour as Dauid did after that the Lord created a new heart and renewed the right spirite within him And thereupon he became euen as another man For now knowing both his heynous transgression and the danger of his own poore soule foreséeing the imminent alteration of his high estate and the great perill of his people and féeling the heauy singer of that iust God and his dreadfull wrath already burning as a consuming fier in his conscience he was as a man stricken with a deadly arrow he waxed both pale and wan in the fearefull agonies of his most sorry soule that face which shined sometimes as a bright Angel was deformed with the aboundance of his watry teares and whereas he vsed to sit royally on his stately Throne he did now choose to lye all alone on the cold earth he wayled all the day and watched euery night rent his kingly cloathes cast ashes on his head mingled his drinke with his teares and watred hid cowch with the same sighed sorily and lamented wofully abandoned as donge all his former pleasures and contemned as vanitie the delights of men Moreouer all his words which were before so pleasant and hony sweete to the hearing now sauoured of mortification and sorrow expressing the vnmeasurable torment of his wofull soule Alas The fraile cōdition of mans nature who would haue thought that such a noble person could haue beene so sodainely turned about and altred Who could beleeue that such passing great pleasures should be determined in paines such comfortatiues conuerted into corasiues such gladnesse into griefes such prosperitie into aduersitie such felicitie into misery in so short a time in so noble a personage But yet we may marvaile the lesse if we duely consider not onely that the King though so Wise Rich and Glorious is yet but a Man to whom are incident both sinnes slydings falles but also that such are the miseries infirmities afflictions and conditions of this life And that whensoeuer the Lord God in his iust iudgements either openly or secretly beateth and punisheth a man for his faults that man is all vnable either to withstand those scourges or to abide in his honour or prosperous estate to retaine his health or welfare either of body or minde being worthyly constrained to cowch and giue place to him which is much stronger then he and to yeelde to him with whom no man can pleade nor answere one for a thousand as Iob said in the like consideration With this I call to minde that which the Kings Father was wont to modulate singing vnto the Lord his God When thou for sinne a mortall man doest beate He waues away and waxeth woe and wan Psal 39.12 Much like the garment which the moath doth freate So vaine a thing indeede is mortall man Lo here may we see the fickle condition of man the nature of his prosperitie in this life Well may he be compared therein to the flower of the fielde as both Iob A similitude which setteth forth mans condition Iob. 14.1 and Dauid faith for like as the flower is not onely sed and refreshed with the pleasant showers of raine the comfortable beames of the Sunne and groweth and shineth in the beauty of diuers colours but also within a very short time is annoyed altred and deformed now with the pearching heate of the Canicular Starre then with the pinching frosts of Boreas windes Euen so is man for he commeth vp he florisheth he shineth he is glorious in his place so long as it pleaseth God to giue him the sweete beames of prosperitie and honor in this world but this is not permanent for as man will not abide in honor so neither is it meete he should be still fostred and lulled here in the cradle of felicitie for by this he forgets himselfe and his estate yea he forgetteth God that made him and forsaketh the same which redeemed him Therefore the Lord is best pleased that he should be exercised with those afflictions which commonly follow after worldly pleasure and prosperitie being indeede as a common pronostication of sorrow and aduersitie Neither is there any thing to be looked for in this life as both the sayings of the wise the ancient histories the proper similitudes of things and the present examples of such euents doe plainely teach and instruct vs. In the sense and experience therefore of these things what is there found of any constancie or of any stability or of any continuance in mans life As man himselfe is fraile so are all those accidents appertenant to his humane nature transitory Therefore not onely the poore man but also the rich man yea not onely the beggers but the most Royall Princes are subiect to this alterations and vanities In the due consideration
wherof Good counsell for them that liue in this world men should not so much marvaile at the sodaine chaunges of others and at the inconstancy of these worldly things as they should endeuour to learne to beware that they depend not on the deceaveable vanities of this life and to take héede that they waxe not proud nor forgetfull of their maker and of their owne estate and condition in the fond abuse of the things which are not their owne but as lent vnto them to be vsed to the honor of God their owne necessities Lastly séeing that these things be so vncertaine they should in time prouide to lay vp for themselues those treasures which are permanent and many stéede them to their highest content in the feare and loue of him that blesseth and prospereth all them that neuer turne their faith from him The second Chapter King Solomons Lordes perceiuing the strange alteration of their Soueraigne waxe very sorowfull they enquire for the cause and endeuour to preuent the future inconveniences WHilest all those thinges were in action apparent euen before Strangers talked of openly and laid in the common ballance to be peazed and censured of euery man King Solomons noble Princes and chiefe Lords were assembled in the Councell Chamber there partly to conferre of the affaires of the kingdome for the high glory of Iehouah their God the benefite of the common-wealth and the right honour of their Soueraigne Lord partly to inuestigate and search for the causes of this the kings sorrow and sodaine alteration the which they wold assay to remoue or mitigate according to their wisdom knowledge and best habilitie Wherein they manifested themselues dutifull to their God profitable to the weale-publique and regardfull of their kings health and prosperity The duty of noble Counsailors to their King which are the principall things that noble Counsaylors and the worthy seruants of such Soueraignes should in their supreame places respect with all fidelitie Now vpon a sodaine Zabud the priest the sonne of Nathan and the kings familiar friend who had béene with his highnes for his better comfort in affliction all that night before issued forth of his priuy Chamber entred the assemblie of those Lords and although with an heauie heart mestiue mind and sadde countenance by reason of the Kinges great perplexitie and troubles he saluted them in these words Iehovah our God saue you my Lords all both Honourable and Reuerend the right happy princes of king Solomon To whome they all as with one mouth resaluting him answered the same Power blesse prosper and preserue you Reuerend Zabud the right trustie Secretarie and familiar good friend of our Soueraigne Lord King Solomon And whence come ye now my Lord an what is the cause if it please you that ye be so pensive and heavy to day Is all thing well To his Zabud replied My Lords all I am presently come forth of the Kings privie Chamber where I haue béene all this last night watching and attending on his most royall person the Lord God saue keep his grace howbeit there haue I found little or no comfort as God knoweth for much griefe and sorrowe hath betided the king which encreaseth yet more and more without mitigation and the like acreweth towardes vs and the whole kingdome as farre as I can gather by that which I haue both heard with mine ears and seene with mine eyes of and in him Vpon this saying in this manner deliuered before them such a strange terror and dread assayled the hearts of those Lords that being throughly astonished they neither were able to answer him The trouble of the King is a griefe to his Subiects nor wist they what to say For there can be no greater grief and discomfort to true hearted subiects especially to the faithfull Counsaylors of happy kings then when they shall either see or heare of the hurt sorrow or discontent of their Soueraigne Lord at the alteration of whose prosperous estate both Nobles and the Commons are sodainly moued much disquieted as that body which féeleth the distemperature of his proper head fearing the ensewing of such plagues troubles and vexations as are wont to follow and succeed the sodaine losse and departure of such heroicall persons by whose good gouernment and valour their Realmes and Common-weales haue bin right happily maintained in peace and tranquillitie Neither at the least should either the Nobles or the common people be merry or pleased in the sadnesse trouble or vexation of their Soueraigne Lord knowing well that natures of that grade and apprehension will not shew themselues heavie hearted and mestive for any light or meane causes At the length after long expectation silence pawzes and eagre looking one on another of them with deppe sighes pitifull groanes and cheekes watred with weeping eyes a principall Lord Azariah sheweth the good opinion loue and affection of a good Subiect whose name was Azariah though scarcely able for sorrow of mind to vtter with his trembling tongue his hearts conceit spake thus in effect Alas alas and how fareth then his most royall person how doth our good Lord king Solomon the most famoust most wise and most glorious King in all the world The God of heauen graunt his most princely grace both along life and a wished prosperity to liue raigne ouer vs and this people For I assure you my Lords as ye will know and must in equitie confesse that next and immediately vnto Iehouah our God hee is the approved stay of our house the lightsome eie of our body the resplendent glory of our kingdome the happy peace of our people the comfortable ioy of our heartes the glad solace of our soules the right guide of our gouernment the diuine wisedome of our nation the manifest maiestie of our God and the blessed preservation of Israel But how fareth the Kinges most sacred person In all this and other his speeches and gestures did this noble Azariah expresse the good opinion conceiued the right loue the godly zeale the faithfull mind the true affection and right worthy nature of a wise faythfull and obedient Subiect to his most gratious Soueraigne I will now tell you my good Lords saide Zabud how the king fareth I am well assured zabud sheweth the Kings alteration and present estate as ayming to his Repentance there is not any one of you all but hath plainely perceiued that his Grace is most strangely and sodainely altered of late from both his wonted constitution of mind and his common order of life and that his wordes also sauour now much other wise then they haue sometimes heretofore savored to our audience and vnderstanding For behold whereas he vsed to be gladsome and merily conceited now is he rauished with heavie dumpes and oppressed with ladâ—es wheras heretofore he accustomed to talke with a right lovely and lively voice now we heare nothing besides a voice of lamentation from him tending to mortification and
his deepe conceite and that every one aswell his howshold seruantes as his Princes and Lords were ready to note obserue and record both the one and the other so also were they most willing to inuestigate and seeke for the cause of these thinges yea euery of them was almost ready according to that sentence of Zabud with the assent of Zadock to enter into him selfe with a due examination to search and enquire whether any iust cause or any occasion whatsoeuer might arise from any thing in them or of any their words or actions to trouble his Highnes mind and so to cleare himselfe in presence by declaring his integrity without all hypocrisie or vaine glory And so it is to bee esteemed that although a mans owne mouth should not prayse himselfe Note but rather another yet these Lordes vttered nothing of themselues as to blase in the pride of their heartes In what minde and sort the Lordes cleared themselues the honour of their owne demerites but as within the boundes of modesty they might excuse and cleare themselues of whatsoeuer might bée obiected to them In this sorte the holy man Iob and the holy Patriarke Abraham and Moses and Samuel and Sampson and David the King were not onely constrained but well contented to doe as in their seuerall histories plainely appeareth And herein they shew forth not onely their great griefe conceiued for the kinges trouble but also the desire they haue to ease and remedy the same to their power But now as hee is faithfull which performeth that in déede which in worde he hath protested and promised Zabud his Apologie so reuerend Zabud who first spake thereof beganne in this sort to performe it accordingly And thus he said As the Heauen is high and the earth deepe Pro. 25.2 so is the kinges heart vnsearchable I haue heard him thus to say therefore omitting as yet the search of his reines as Subiectes should I haue entered into mine owne heart and haue examined and tried mine owne thoughtes wordes and wayes especially The godly man rather iudgeth himselfe then others such as concerne his Highnesse I haue not cast mine eyes on others and censured them and their doinges and sayings but I haue I say obserued tried and iudged mine own fearing greatly whether at any time the King as hee is passing wise hath noted any point of folly or lightnes in mee whome his grace hath vouchsafed to embrace and to vse as his deere and familiar friend In the which point it were an ingratefull part in me and nothing beséeming the worthines and honour of my place if I should in such sort behaue my selfe especially towardes him or them by whose rich bountie I haue beene preferred aduanced and am dailie benefited and fauoured yea I confesse I might well bee numbred vppe among those fooles that haue crooked soules in vpright bodies for whome worshippe is so vnséemly as the snow for the Summer and raine for the haruest whome whosoeuer shall place in high dignity shall binde a stone in a sling to hurt himselfe And in my iudgement as those young Pellicans are worthily loathed reiected and abandoned of their Dams which neither feede them nor comfort them nor regard them Ingratefull persons after the time they haue weakened their bodies by shedding foorth of their precious bloud to cure and recouer them of the biting of the venemous serpents so also those persons do not only deserue to be expelled and cast out of this honourable societie but to be estéemed not worthy to liue much lesse to liue in honor that recompence their most gratious Princes and bountifull benefactors with such monstrous ingratitude as will not onely not assay to requite or that doe forget good turnes but also yeeld hatred and displeasures for that their louing demerites Surelie these be the persons in whom is plainely séene the enemy of the soule the quencher out of merites the dispearcer of vertues the destroyer of benefites the consumer of pieties fountaine the dryer vp of mercies deaw the stopper of graces streame the shutter out of Sonnes from their Fathers blessinges and the same to the which the Almighty that formed all things and both commendeth and commandeth gratitude to his Saints shal adde the transgressors reward in the end I am set in an high place and enioy therein like fauour of my Lord the King This I confesse I doe prayse God for the same and ambolden to be right thankfull to my Soueraigne God forbid I should in the same waxe proud arrogant disdainefull How zabud behaved himselfe in the K. Court enuious or seeke to reuenge priuate iniuries on thē which in times past haue abused me although I be in place either to hurt or profite them at my pleasure I haue not as being familiar with his Grace suggested and vngodly thing nor flattered nor dissembled with the King nor plaied the sycophant in accusing others in his presence I haue not though preferred and familiarly esteemed of the Kinges Maiestie eyther contemned or neglected the dutie of my Priesthoode to the which I was called nor the holy seruice and Religion but deuoutely attended the same and withall waited on the King and followed him neither haue I abandoned the cry of the poore with their petitions to the king when they haue been oppressed but I haue beene right glad to heare them and to further their suites yea and to defend and helpe the oppressed and them which had none helper against the proud faces of their oppressors I haue been as holy Iob hath taught me an eye to the blinde a staffe to the lame an eare to the deafe a mouth to the dumbe and a father to the fatherlesse I haue taken on me to further the honest suites of all the kings people that come to the Court for iustice howbeit not in that minde which Absolon had vnder David as the Lord is my witnes for he thought by this deuise to aspire to the kingdome but in the same spirite which my Lord the King had vnder his father by the good counsaile of his mother Pro. 31.8.9 who thus taught him Bee thou an Aduocate for the dumb to speake in the cause of all such as bee succourlesse in this transitory worlde Open thy mouth defend the thing that is lawfull and right and the cause of the poore and helpelesse Neyther haue I in this respect taken any mans oxe or asse or any thing else for a bribe or reward or a Fee as such often accustome to doe which stand in high places yea rather I haue beene of Samuels spirite and gladde withall mine heart that such an occasion was offered mee to expresse my loue to the Lordes poore people and therefore I haue payde foorth of mine owne and bestowed largelie both to the neede of the oppressed and the punishment of those prowde persons which knowing not their duties haue both abused the King and his liege people To be short I haue as
much as lay in mée endeuoured in my place to discharge my duetie to benefite my Countrie to serue my King and to glorifie the Lord of heauen Therefore I perswade that the Kinges Grace is not grieued or offended through me Loe my Lords all this haue I saide for my selfe of any of you can iustly accuse mee of any thing offensiue in this matter say on and let mee not bee holden guiltlesse * Zabud had scarcely vttered those wordes in such his honest and lawfull excuse Azariah examineth and excuseth him selfe but Azariah who thought it very long yer hee could likewise enter into his owne Apologie to declare his innocency spake and protested saying And I for mine owne part séeing the King in this kind of displeasure I haue also many times suspected whether his Excellency who hath exalted me of his owne grations heart without any my demerites to this honourable place hath obserued or noted or suspected in me any touch of couetousnesse ambition pride vaine glory or any kind of teacherie or disloialtie towardes his Highnesse or any kind of iniustice done or offered to his people wherof I here openly protest before thee Iehovah our God and you al that I am as guiltlesse in mine own conscience as the innocent childe that lyeth in the cradle for thus indeed I should declare my selfe to bee esteemed worthie this place and office For I perswade that as those props and stayes in an house which are eyther noysome rotten or vnprofitable should of necessitie be remoued that some stronger and more commodious might be placed in the same so al such persons which stand in place VVhat persons are most meete for authority as to support stay vp and maintaine the estate and honour of their Prince and common wealth be remoued and excluded both from his fauour and al authority which wāt the feare of the Lord those heroical vertues which are so needefull and commendable in such persons which extend not their forces to the due seruice and honour of th' one and benefite of th' other and such other to be preferred set in their places best fauoured which are both wel qualified and ready to perform their right offices in either as such whereof the king at all times and vpon all occasions may happily take and receiue counsel comfort the common wealth safety vtilitie * Therfore among many other things as the king hath not onely placed me in office ouer all his purveyours Cators for his house and sworn me to do obserue my duty trustily therin The office of the Purueyor with this especiall charge that neither they nor any other his seruantes should oppresse wring or wrong his subiects vnder colour of taking or making prouision for his house Knowing how soone a Prince by such meanes may become hatefull to his Subiects I haue prouided charged and regarded that both the saide Purueyors and their seruants be men of good report and faithfull and true dealing persons and that they be duly sworne to respect the kings cōmandement and to execute their offices accordingly Next I haue regarded that none of thē should presume to go forth with out his lawful warrant or commission sealed with the Kings seale to the end that both thēselues might know and remember their charge therin the people might neither suspect their authority nor feare of the māner of their dealings Thirdly I haue straitely charged thē in the kings name that they exact not nor wrest any thing from the Commons but vpon agréement at a reasonable price betwéene thē the owner of the things to be takē vp And that if any thing be takē on credit for the king to be paid for at a day appointed that the perueiors hauing receiued those monies out of the kinges Exchequer doe neither conuert the mony to their owne vse nor deteyne it from the Creditors nor delay to satisfie them at the saide daies And because all places of the Country are not stored with victuals and such other things alike I haue prouided and charged that prouision for the kings house be made in such places where the most plentie of those thinges are and that at méets and conuenient times and at such reasonable rates prices as the seller may wel afoord the same without threates or violent speeches Also that the purueiors shal not for fauor fine or bribe forbear to take of one man more then of another whose goods are lyable to their authoritie at méete prices nor shall charge or exacte of one man more then of another for any malice euil-will or suggestion of friendes or acquaintances To bee short as they are sworne to obserue and perfourme the kings commandement and their duty therein so haue I duly examined them their dealings from time to time And if any haue béene founde faultye or offensiue in this case I haue not onely abhorred and banished them the Court but seuerely punished them as capitall enemies to the king and his people Moreouer as touching the prouision of mine owne house I haue had no lesse regard that none of my Cators or Officers shoulde at any time exact of the kings subiects and kind of victuals Corn Cloath Cariages or whatsoeuer els without the good wills and consent of them whose the things be and without making a lawfull bargaine betweene them for the same nor yet without present paye according to their agréements and that whensoeuer I found any of my seruants or officers whether for their filthie lucre or mine owne commodity to offend in their dealings I haue neither defended them nor fauoured them nor wincked at their faults but I haue reproued them cast them out of fauaur depriued them of their offices and seuerely punished them yea I haue compelled them to restore and yeelde againe to the true owners the treble valew of such goods so taken vp with like costs of suite besides their amerciamēts to the kings Maiestie at his pleasure Truely this should be the desire of the Nobles and so much the sooner that the commons might not be moued to murmure but to commend their dealings that their owne consciences might neither accuse nor condemne but excuse and cleare them the poore people might not curse but blesse them the kings grace might not be offended but well pleased with them and the Lord of heauen might not in iustice plague but in mercy prosper them in their honour Thus haue I done and duly regarded and for my part I would not wish to liue much lesse to liue in this honour longer then I am able or at the least haue a faithfull desire both to aduance the true honour of the eternall God preserue and maintaine the most worthie Maiestie of my Soueraign Lord benefit the common-wealth and discharge my duty in my place * CAP. VI. Ahishar the Master of the Kings Pallace Iehosophat the Recorder and Helioreph and Ahiah the Secretaries examine and cleare themselves Ahishar
in life and behauiour and not to be perfect within as to make shew without and not to be in either conformable to the office and place I haue especially regarded the maner of my walking that it might bee honest worthie and wise that so I might teach both in doctrine and life and not destroye in th' one Psal 109.7 whiles I would seeme to build in the other accounting them that offend herein worthy of that censure which David gaue on such saying His office let another take Moreouer whereas it was the good pleasure of my Lorde the King and the will of my Lorde Zadoke that I should at times minister for my Lorde Zadoke in the seruice of God the King It is well knowne that I haue not presumptuously vsurped nor intruded nor thrust my selfe into presence but being called and commanded beeing well mindfull of the kinges words writtē amōg his wise prouerbs pro. 25.5.6 Put not forth thy selfe in the presence of the King and prease not into the place of great men for better it is that it be said to thee come vp higher then that thou shouldest be placed lower in the presence of the Prince whome thou seest with thine eyes Therefore I haue not béene of that ambitious and arrogant minde But howsoeuer I might bee suspected as faultie or imperfect in place and time I appeale to the Lord and mine owne conscience as yee my Lords haue done If I be guiltie against the king to my knowledge then would I wish that the one might accuse me and the other condemne me in the presence of you all Howbeit letting passe this examinatiō I presume there is some other cause whereof the kings affliction springeth the which I doubt not will in time appeare in the clearing of vs al. For time is that which discloseth secrets reuealeth the truth therefore is worthily called the mother of truth Nor do I thinke that the king suspecteth any of vs in this case for if he did his iealousie would not haue forborne to disclose and vtter the same to any of vs all for he respecteth neither persons nor power nor wealth nor policie such is his wisedome wealth power and the glory of the fearefull God in him zadock the high priest putteth forth his Apology and sheweth what is the function duty of his place Abiather hauing thus spoken for himselfe he at the last giueth place to Zadoke perceiuing how ready willing also he was to say sōwhat in the presēce of the lords * Zadock was a uery graue and reuerend Father and a faithfull Priest of the Lord doing according to his heart and mind in whome the bright Vrim Thumim so shined that no man either suspected him of any fault towardes the king or doubted of his diuine wisedome and singular perfection and therefore neither the Princes required either any examination or further triall of his integritie howbeit the most reuerend father in all humilitie neither refused nor disdained to doe as they had before done in this respect Therfore stāding vp in the midst of thē he spake with great grauity deliberation to this effect My Lords all although it be so that neither any of you hath giuen this offence vnto the king nor may it be that he holdeth any of you faultie in this matter yet am I glad to see and heare how willing and readie ye haue béene with all submission to examine and cleare your selues in this presence And truely howsoeuer ye bee sory for the kings affliction as indéed ye cannot be glad thereof yet may ye reioice in this that ye haue had this fit opportunity by this confession and trial both to cleare your selues of guilt to manifest your integritie and dutifull heartes towardes his Maiestie But howsoeuer it be that any suspicion or surmises may spring of any of your wordes or dealinges ye are happy in this that ye retain a good consiēce to testify in for your selues to the ease and ioy of your heartes then the which there cannot be a greater treasure in this life The guiltie man proposing to his vnderstanding the law which he hath broken The guilty cōscience and transgressed and withall the iudgement and paine ensewing the same being rightly concluded and applied to himselfe hath alwayes dreade carefulnes and sorrowe of heart as who might thus argue Thus saith the lawe but thus haue I done and so transgressed the lawe Ergo I stand to bee iudged and condemned by the same as who shoulde saye shall not that iust God deale with me as I haue deserued and shall not I be plagued in the end for my desert offending against the law of God as others haue beene plagued for the like and shoulde I promise vnto my selfe safetie any way in this my guiltinesse Thus argued Adam when he had broken the law of the Lord thus also Cain when he had murthered his brother Thus the brethrē of Ioseph who had abused and solde him away Thus argued Pharao after that he had threatned Moses and Aaron and would not let the people go thus Saul when hee perceiued Davids innocencie and his owne malice against him and thus Achitophel and such like who in the knowledge of their owne sinnes and the sense of the diuine Iustice concluded a iust condemnation on themselues Adam fearing what wold ensewe hid himselfe in the bushes and yet hee coulde not bee safe opposed as it were to the diuine wrath and all miseries and therefore confessed Gen. 4. that hee was naked and was afraide at the sounde of the Lordes voyce Cain confessed that his sinne was greater then that hee coulde bee pardoned and that the punishment thereof shoulde bee farre beyond his habilitie to beare yea hee saide vnto the Lord Beholde thou hast cast mee out this day from the vpper face of the earth and from thy face shall I be hid fugitiue also and a vagabond shall I bee in the earth and it shall come to passe that every one that findeth mee shall slay me * The sonnes of Iacob seeing they could not bee hidden Gen 42.21 confessed at length their sinne against their brother saying we haue verily sinned against him and therefore are we now troubled And againe fearing what Ioseph woulde doe vnto them after his fathers funeralls they in the terror of minde come and beséech him to forget their iniury against him The king of Aegypt at length confessed and saide vnto Moses and Aaron Exod. 6.27 Indeede the Lord is righteous and I and my people are vngodly On the which he would conclude his conscience condemning him Therefore shall both I and my people be plagued Saul in the agonie of his heart slew himselfe with his owne sworde and Achitophel who had béene a Counsaylor and prouoker of Absolon against his Father his owne conscience condemning him went and hanged himselfe Surely of all the torments vnder the Sunne there is none comparable to an euill
the sooner Solomon came to the royall Seat the which he Adoniah had so ambitiously and eagrelie affected and vnlawfully vsurped in his fathers life-time Whereat notwithstanding that she was as betwene hope and dispayre when she saw him sodenlie to enter her chamber she asked him if he came to her in peace and he answered yea whatsoeuer he meant and he said that he had a certaine petition vnto her which was that she would be a meane for him to the king that he would giue him to wife Abisag the Sunamite who had beene sometimes king Davids bedfellow to warme and nourish him in his weake old age In the which practice he had a purpose to aspire to the kingdom not onely for that though he were the fourth yet the eldest of king Davids sonnes then liuing but also combined with her who was estéemed as king Davids wife he might the sooner in his owne conceite and by the suggestion of the kinges enemies haue obtained the soueraigntie The which deceit and pretence of his the Quéene as yet perceiued not and therefore partlie for dread and partlie for good-will she bare him for king Davids sake she condiscended to his desire and made request for him vnto the king But the king being right wise soone espied this to be a suttle deuise of Adoniah for his owne aduancement The nature manner of the ambitious hee knew well that the ambitious are euery way ready to insinuate themselues into fauour before they be preferred they will faine humilitie lowlines honestie affabilitie and all benignitie they will follow and obey at a becke they will flatter and giue applause to all mens doings fearing to offend any yea and as is the common prouerb they will brush off the dust from the coate which hath no dust at all But being once aduanced exalted they begin to change their opinions and soone alter their manners for now they are become proud and glorious boasters they neuer care to profit but are glad of prefermēt they thinke themselues far better then others because they be placed higher then others their former friends they disdaine know not their old acquaintances they contemne their benefactors and bee vnthankefull to them which haue done them the highest good To let passe other things they be burthensom to their subiects hateful to al men headstrong troublesom arrogant gréeuous and importune This I say the king knew wel and that Adoniah was swolne with this humour Moreouer he perceiued that this matter did doth proceed and was furthered by two others his deadly foes namely Ioab and Abiather who thereby intended to supplant the king and to set vppe Adoniah And therefore when Queene Bethsabe requested the king for Adoniah according to her promise he answered her And why doest thou aske Abisag for Adoniah aske for him the kingdome also for he is mine elder brother and hath for him both Abiather the the priest and Ioab the sonne of Zerviah for he knew that if Adoniah had once gotten Abisag who was so deare and neere vnto his father he would also with her haue sought for the Crowne Therefore he sware and pronounced a sentence against Adoniah to recompence his wicked ambition and iniquitie saying God do so to me and more also if Adoniah hath not spoken this against his owne life Therefore the king being well aduised for he did euery thing with iudgement sent and commanded me to smite him that he might die thereby the sooner to establish the gouerment according to the will word of the Lord the which Adoniah his counsailors had practised to hinder ouerthrow Therfore this actiō of the king neither may be reproued nor may occasion him now after so many yeares of peace to be offēded with himselfe therefore Abiather * Thus haue yee saide quod Abiather and your wordes in mine opiniō may not be iustlie reproued The dealings of Solomon against Abiather the priest for yee haue spoken nothing but truth But what shall we say to this that the king at his entrance did both depriue Abiather then the Lordes priest of his office and expelled and bannished him the Lordes house Although I haue the like name my Lordes I neither propose this question nor speake as if I would defēd the cause of the Abiather against the king and his proceedinges therein but because I haue heard some opposition to the same by others and I would willingly they should be resolued zadok To this answered Zadok As I may not condemn that Abiather my predecessour because I woulde my selfe as Primas should be aduāced and approued in the place so neither may I dislike in equity the kings proceedings against him For firste it is certayne that Abiather behaued not himselfe worthely in his place and therefore was iustly depriued For albeyt my-selfe am now high Priest yet if I should not answere to my calling and name I allow the verification of that sentence of the kinges father on my selfe Let his daies be few and his office let another take And as cōcerning Abiather it became him not to counsaile Adoniah and to confederate with him in that he vnlawfullie couetted to be king both without the consent of his father and against the rightfull honor of king Solomō * Next it is most apparant how the Lord would that now by this occasion that word of his should be performed which was sometime spoken to Eli the priest 1 Sam. 2.32 that for the high dishonor and contempt of Godes seruice in his children and by him permitted the priesthood should be taken away from him and his house and another should be preferred in the same This was brought to passe when Abiather was reiected and zadocke taken to be the high priest 2 Sam. 2 32 The which the King béeing wise and indowed with a principall spirit did in time wisely consider and iustlie performed in the depriuing of Abiather and placing me in his office for there is not any word of the Lord which shall fall to the ground but shall be performed in the appointed time Howbeit the king according to the exellencie of his wisedome would neither slay nor cruellie torment or vexe that vnfaithfull Abiather because he had béene the Lordes higd priest and had beene a companiō a fauourer of his father David in all his afflictiōs Wherein he expressed a right sober mercifull and gratefull minde for he reuerenced the Lords ordinance and lawfull function of the person albeit the person was vnworthie he shewed lenitie where rigour was deserued and he would not that his hatefull enemie should be occasioned either iustlie to comdemne him or at the least to accuse him of any sauour of oppression tyrannie cruelty or vnkindnesse towardes him which had béene kind to his father in his afflictions though now after his fathers departure And surelie these are the virtues which are not common or vsuall among the men of this life especiallie among Princes and
Potentates where we often behold and consider how the Lordes priestes prophets and faithfull seruantes are not onely neglected but vnreuerentlie contemned and abused and that for the lightest causes that may be imagined we see that seueritie recompenseth priuate iniuries against all men without mercie and we see that little kindnesse is found to consider of great benefites of them which be liuing much lesse of them that be dead of whom the prouerbe is beaten Out of sight out of mind 1. Sam. 22.17 Such hath beene the vngodly behauiour of Saul towards Abimelech and the Priestes of the Lord whome notwithstanding they had made their honest excuse withall humilitie hee commaunded Doeg the Edomite to murther euen fourescore and fiue persons that did weare a linnen Ephod yea and bee smote with the edge of the sworde Nob the Cittie of the Priestes both men and women children and sucklinges Gen. 37.20 oxen and asses and sheepe with horrible crueltie Thus the brethren of Ioseph hardly handled their poore brother in that they did not onely cast him into a pit but sold him away as a bondslaue to strangers following therein the Nature of Cain who murthered Abel his brother vpon an offence not giuen Gen. 4. but taken Iudg. 7. And thus the vnthankfull Sichemites in the time of the Iudges notwithstanding that Gedeon had beene beneficiall to Israel shewed no mercy vnto his house but gaue consent to the setting vp of Abimelech the tyrant to the destruction of the same But thus hath not our King done Neuerthelesse as reason required he remoued Abiather both from his office and also from out of the Court for hee had distained his honour and disgraced his function by his lewde behauiour therein and was an enemie to the kinges estate Therefore that he might not longer abuse the place so fit for a better person yea for a person perfect and well approued Treacherous persons are euer suspected againe that he might not thenceforth as he was an enemie vnhappily moue or entise any of the Kinges Courte to conspire with him against the king and his gouernement hee was iustly depriued of the one and banished from the other for as it is indeed wisedome in time to cast out of the congregation such by whome the same is daily offended and the place abused to auoid the contempt which by such persons is often occasioned so it is good policie timely to obserue sequestre and put apart such dangerous persons from the presence of Princes and from the societie of their Lordes and seruantes left they both infect and inflame and so confound the body with the head by the contagion of their trecherous plots wicked designes and pestilent practizes in and about the which will euer bee their dailie and greatest studies and indeuours for they are set on the pricked forth by the Syre of treasons and broacher of rebellions Hence was it that Moses commanded a separation between the Israelites and Corah Dathan and Abiram whome the earth opening swallowed vppe in their rebellion Thus the Lord reproued Cain for his enuy and anger against Abel his brother and admonished him to his dutie but after that hee had listed vppe his hand against him murthered him he expelled him though too late and sent him an exile from his fathers house So also after that Ismael was noted to be a persecuter and derider of his brother whome hee sought to supplant hee was shut out of Abrahams house with Hagar his mother who had counselled and defended him in his wickednesse Therfore wee may perswade that this proceeding and iudgement of the king against Abiather for the abuse of his function and his treacherie against both David and our Lord the king being both lawfull and discreetely handled according to the diuine prouidence and the equitie of the law is not the cause of the kinges present sorrow To this all the Princes subscribed gladly iustifying the wise and worthy iudgement of the king with all his proceedinges therein in whom they did manifestly behold the wisedome of the most high God to doe equity and righteousnes CAP. XIII Of Solomons proceedinges against Ioab and Shimei KIng Solomon being iustified and commended in his iudgement procéedinges against Adoniah and Abiather in th' execution of th' one Azariah and the depriuatiō of th' other Azariah the chiefe of the Collectors came foorth said But there be which do not only blame but condemne the King concerning his dealing against his Cosen Ioab chiefly after he had taken holde of the hornes of the Altar where for the holinesse and reuerence of the place be presumed of securitie for he verily thought that the king which was wise and singularly affected the holy Religion would haue rather reuerenced the place and not aduentured to plucke any man out of the Lords house especially from the high Altar which did flie thither for defence and safetie as to the Sanctuary of the Lord. To this Benaiah the chiefe Captaine answered Benaiah against Ioab In that my Lord as I am well assured of mine owne guiltlesse hand being especially charged by the king to slay Ioab for indéede I slew him at the kings commaundement so am I well perswaded of the perfect wisedome and vpright iudgemēt of the king in that matter for diuers causes first for that Ioab had beene of the confederacie with Abiather yea and a chiefe Counsellor of Adoniah both against K. David and against our Lord the king for although he were the sonne of Zaruiah Davids sister placed by him in a very high grade and authority as the chiefe Captaine of all his heastes and had béene bolde in the presumption thereof to doe and commit many thinges both vnlawfull and vndecent against the kings will and good liking as in the murther of Abner and Amasa and such like yet here he presumed too too farre for as it was not lawfull nor conuenient so was it neither safe for himselfe to aduenture to set vp and to proclaime Adoniah king ouer Israel in the life time of K. David without the goodwill and manifest commaundement and warrant of the king and of his noble Counsellors vnto whom it better became Ioab to haue submitted himselfe his Counsailes to whom he should haue hearkened and yéelded the due honour according to the law chiefly in this high matter and not in such malepert lewde sort haue vsurped on the Kings gratious fauour arrogantly presumed so farre on the authority of his high place Truely this is a fault which is often committed and no lesse noted in them whom the fauour of gratious Princes hath aduanced and graced and the honour of the place hath puffed vppe so far Men being in honour do often forget themselues that forgetting themselues and their dutie they neither foresée their owne dangers imminent for it is sufficiently proued that many men being sodainely exalted are also sodainely depressed and humbled in their pride by the same
which lifted them vp yea and some are therefore aduanced that forgetting God and their duties Gon. 11. ◠Iudg. 9.53 they may be thrown downe and confounded as Nimrod was and Abimelech aswell for example vnto others which thereby are taught to take heede as for a iust reward of their owne pride ambition insolency great wickednesse Secondly Ioab being faultie against God and the King and now not onely accused before the king and his Princes but iustly condemned and fearing the kinges displeasure and the reward he had deserued hath most egregiously abused that holy place for Sanctuaries are ordained for a refuge and defence Sanctuaries Exod. 21.14 Num. 24. 35.11.14 Deut. 4.42 19.4 Ios 20.3 not for wilful murtherers stubborne malefactors traytors rebels seditionaries and conspiratours against lawful Princes but for innocents such as do or shall ignorantly and by an héedlesse occasion offend that there they may be protected and preserued till time the truth of the matters laide against them be in iudgement discerned and tryed as we finde it written in the law of Moses Nor was it méete indéed that Ioabs eāxple therin though a noble man so neere of bloud to the king and no lesse fauoured of David should embolden others to commit such hainous actions and villanies and then to shrowde themselues vnder those places of refuge so farre off from the true meaning of the law and from the right end of the institution of those places Therefore they that offend in like matters and thinke to be defended with their causes eyther by such places or by the wreasting of the holy lawes to their purpose do alwaies deceiue themselues and draw vengeance on their owne heades deseruedly * Thirdly Ioab expressed a most stubborne nature Ioabs stubbornes peruerse will and disobedient heart against the Lords Annointed for when in the kinges name and by his Highnesse commaundement I commaunded him to come forth from the Altar hee neuer so much as asked mercy of the king nor sought nor entreated for his owne pardon but presuming that the King would not haue aduentured to plucke him from the Altar wherof he had taken hold although he had been a wilful transgressor he then answered most stoutely in the presumption of his hart I wil not came forth and being further certified that then the king would not feare nor omit to stay him euen there for his ambitious praetizes and trespasse he replied as daring the king and his lawfull authority most arrogantly then let him slay me euen here for I will not come forth Neither think I but he will haue some regard to the high reuerence of this place into the which I haue betaken my selfe for the safety of my life as in the Lords Sanctuary vpon this aunswere the king perceiuing his pride and the stubbornes of his hart commanded me to doe vnto him euen as he had said namely to stay him euen there and so hee receiued the execution of his iust iudgement Fourthly the Lord our God The rewarde of murther hath rightly brought vpon the heade of Ioab the reuenge of that innocent bloud which he had before that time shed causeles and now cried to the Lord for vengeance according to that word of David 1. Kin. 2.5 when a little before his death hee gaue the king a very straite charge concerning this matter willing that Ioab should not be holden guiltlesse nor be brought in peace to his graue but that he shold receiue the reward of a merciles murtherer Num. 24. after the wordes of the law in that case prouided as whereby the sooner he might remoue away from the king and his fathers house that bloud which Ioab had shed without iust cause for beyond others his manifold slaughters and oppressions hee smote and most traiterously murthered two men which were more righteous and better then himselfe in the time of peace namely Abner the sonne of Ner captaine of the hoast of Israel 2. Sam. 3.23 who was as king David in his lamentation for him acknowledged a Prince and a Great man and also Amasa the Sonne of Iether Captaine of the hoast of Iudah A man likewise of right excellent gouernement and valour for Ioab being a person very proude enuious and ambitious greatly feared lest the fauour and estimation of those two Worthies in the kings eyes would much diminish or at the least hinder or withstand his further and higher honour Therefore David perceiuing his wicked inclination and considering wel the equitie of the cause charged and required his Sonne our Soueraigne Lord that the bloud of those two worthy persōs should be returned on the head of Ioab and vpon his seede that so vpon David and vpon his séede and vpon his house and vpon his seat there might be and remaine a perpetuall peace Thus truely when one creature kils another the heauenlie Powers crie out to the highest Maiesty saying Lord Lord this thy seruant presumes to be like thee Therefore if the déed be vniust the Creator of all aunswereth Suffer him yet which kils for he also shall be killed Vengeance is mine and I will repay And indéed those celestiall Powers shal and wil so often represent with their praises to the Lord the death of the person slaine till iust vengeance be taken of the slayer who therefore shall be numbred with them that are appointed to perpetual torments Hermogenes * as also one among the Philosophers of the Gentiles hath truely said And so we obserue that albeit the impious and wicked be for their times and turnes aduanced aboue many others better then themselues by the great fauour and liberalitie of bountiful Princes and so stand a while in an high grade of flourishing prosperity and that when the vngodly commit wickednesse against God and his Annointed they are spared or passed ouer with silence wherby forgetting God and their proper conditions they imagine him to bee wel pleased and so promise themselues lasting securitie in their impieties yet neuerthelesse in the end yea euen in their due time are they well ouertaken and destroyed without mercie being nothing worthie of mercie though they crie and call Therefore the Greeke Homer whom in this matter without iust offence to our Religion but to the shame of such ambitious persons we may remember hath well modulated in all iust censure saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus translated Although in pitie powerfull love A long some time refraines To smite the Sinner yet at length He plagues him to his paines But most diuinelie hath the kings father spoken in his Psalms and hymnes touching this argument which when learned Asaph the kings Scholemaister had aduisedly considered with the manifold instances dayly occurring hee thus spake as in the Lordes behalfe Oh now consider this ye that forget Gods grace Lest that I rent you for a pray and none be found in place To rescue or to saue
your soules Wherefore as his most excellent Maiestie hath rightly cōdemned Ioab and thereon commaunded him to bee executed according to the law in this case prouided and the charge that David gaue him a little before hee fell a sleepe so can wee not but worthily approue his iudgementes iustifie his proceedings and perswade that as thereby hee hath remoued away euill form his kingdom and house so neither hath he taken thereof any occasion of this great heauines wherewith he now languisheth for Ioab as ye know was not onely a wicked murtherer proud enuious and ambitious of honor but also stubborne and rebellious against the king a conspiratour with Adoniah the kings enemie perfidious treacherous seditious and couetous and in a word replenished with many vices where with hee was distained to the dishonor of our religion the daunger of our king the euill example of the nobles and the shame of himselfe Yee haue well spoken saide all the other Princes and Lordes And indéede this is not strange for wee our selues haue oftentimes seene and wel obserued that the vngodly and irreligious persons though long forborne and suffered to sinne yea and to wallow in impieties saying vnto themselues peace and all is well yet sodainly as holy Iob said they descend downe to the hell neither shal their pompe follow thē for glutted with prosperitie inveterated in malice hardened in heart and farre off from true repentance they euen prouoke the diuine power to powre on them that which they haue iustly merited in their abhominations And truely this is one of those thinges which follow man ordinary course and semblable succession in the world But to speake of Ioab we know that the kinges father having the spirite of Iehovah his God taught him how intollerable the sufferance of such a member as Ioab was should bee esteemed in his wisedome which much better were to bee expelled and abandoned of the people then that hee should bee the occasion of conspiracies and seditious in the common State remembring this beyond many other his mischiefes that hee had embrued his sword which hung on his loines in the bloud of a friend as if he had beene his enemie in the open fielde And now againe he euen bewraied himselfe openly as priuie to the new conspiracie of Adoniah who aspiring the second time to the kingdom of Israel sought to obtain to wife Abisag K. Davids last bedfellow for his conscience condemning him he fled frō the kings face and tooke hold as ye haue said of the horns of the Altar howbeit being a man wise acquainted with the law he might haue known that a volūtary murtherer or traitor was not to be protected in that place moreouer if he had alleadged that seeing the kings pleasure was to slay him indéed yet he would die in that holy place as before the Lord yet he might know for certaintie that the place shold be nothing profitable vnto him there to die seeing that for his impietie he was not worthy there to be interred amōg his fathers whereof all such are worthily depriued which are executed by an ordinary sentēce iudgemēt of law as execrable malefactors And in very déed wherfore shold such persōs as in their profanitie neither feare God nor loue his house nor care for his Altar nor regarde his diuine Seruice nor seeke to honour him in their liues presume so much on his house on his Altar on his tabernacle and Sanctuarye as either there to be protected or there to rest their wandring bones For as the Castle of Syon spewed out the halte and the blinde that David and such as retained both Vrim and Thumim might lodge and dwell there so the Lordes hill the Lordes tabernacle and his holy house is built prouided and prepared for them onely which feare and serue him in singlenes of heart all the daies of his life Then Banaiah proceeded saying The proceedings of the K. against Shimei 1. Kings 2.8 The like may be resolued concerning that iudgement which was giuen and executed on Shimei the sonne of Gera the sonne of Gemini of Bahurim whom the king commanded me to strike I speak not this my Lords to excuse my selfe of crime as guiltie in that action although I may not want my iustification therein but in regard of the equity of the cause For it is not vnknown vnto you and to many others that yet remaine aliue how that Shimei for getting himselfe and his oath with the reuerence hee should haue yeelded king David cast stones at him and at his seruants and withall railed at him and cursed him being the Lords annointed with an horrible curse in the day when he went to Mahavim and thus he said in great envy malice pride and contempt of the king euen to the king himselfe The railing wordes of Shimei 2. Sam. 16.5.6 Come forth come forth thou bloodshedder thou mā of Belial The Lord hath brought vpon thee all the bloud of the house of Saul in whose steede thou hast raigned and the Lord hath delivered the kingdome into the hand of Absolon thy sonne And behold thou art come to thy mischiefe because thou art a man of bloud Such words spake Shimei and so misdemeaned he himselfe euen against king David and his seruants Howbeit David was then contented to forbeare to reuenge this iniury on him although there wer standing about him that offered to go and to take away his head yea and afterward when he came and submitted himselfe to David he promised him rest from his hand neither woulde he strike him in all his daies Neuerthelesse he left the consideration therof to Solomon his Sonne whom he wel knew the Lord had inspired with a princely Spirit and noble mind and therefore could not be ignorant how to deale and behaue himselfe in these and such like causes And so likewise our Lord the King beeing as mercifull as he was wise did not in all the hast set on wicked Shimei to recompence that abuse he gaue to his father but first he called him and remembered him of his vnreuerent behaviour towards the Lords annointed thē he willed him to build him an house in Ierusalē to dwelm not to aduenture abrode said Be thou sure that the day that thou goest out and passest over the river Cedron thou shalt dye and thy blood shal be on thine owne head To the which Shemei gaue answer This saying is good As my Lord the King hath said so will thy servant doe By which wordes as he cleared and iustified both the king and his proceedings so did hee both iudge and condemne himselfe if he kept not that commandement of the king And yet we may not imagine but that he granted further then that he had any desire to performe as those which being endangered vow and promise many thinges more then euer they purpose to pay the danger beeing once past and that hee thus promised more for dread punishment then for any loue
or willingnes he had to obey the kinges commandement as those men of Belial which forbeare to sinne openly more for feare of the rod of Iustice then for any loue or reuerence of godly vertues Moreouer Shemei might haue considered as hee was subtle and craftie enough that men suspected are euer obserued and therefore such should be very heedfull not onely of committing the fact but of all pretence and shew of that which is euill Howbeit as he that is euill by nature doth euer presume in his euill without the reuerent feare of either God or man How Shemei was brought into the snare in his time as one garded secured in the foolish conceit of his own humor so Shemei either forgetting or little regarding any of those thinges premised passed foorth of Ierusalem the place wherein he was commanded to stay and went to Geth to Achis pretending to seeke for and to fetch home two of his Seruantes which were some little time before that runne away from him In the which presumption he could not escape a vehement suspicion of practising some lewd matters with the Philistines against the peace and gouernment of the king whome hee euer envied and closely assaied to reduce the kingdome from the house of David which the Lord God had chosen vnto the posterity of Saul whom the Lord had reiected But behold whiles Shemei went forth in his greedy ambition to finde and fetch home his seruants he lost and ouerthrew himselfe For thus by the diuine preuidence which holdeth them not guiltlesse that either touch his annointed or curse and maligne their father mother howsoeuer the seruants of Shemei faulted in their going from him and he had a iust pretence to reclaime them an occasion was rightly ministred in this time of his iudgement to cast him as guiltie into the kinges danger as whereby the king might euen in this though vpon a fresh occasion perform the word of his father David administer true iudgement and yeeld that deserued recompence to that rebellious beast Now my Lords it is apparant as ye see that Shemei though a person of great place could neither be iustified nor defended in such his impieties for why to recapitulate his crimes he was most proud and malitious a rayler seditious perfidious an infringer of oath a lyar and a couetous wretch for hauing wealth beyond his worthines he was thereof puffed vp both against God and his Soueraign enuying the regimēt of David and his prosperitie he cursed the Lords annointed with a most horrible curse against the law and the equitie of the kings cause he moved the people to rebellion against David and his house from whome hee assaide to translate the Scepter he was vntrustie and treacherous to his Lorde whome with all faithfulnesse hee shoulde haue serued in discharge of his duetie Hee had broken his oathe which hee had made to God and the King departing most presumptuouslye from the Cittie of Ierusalem wherein hee had vowed to contain himselfe Hee had scandalized the Lordes annointed most egregiouslye and more hee regarded his owne priuate lucre and gaine in fetching home his Seruantes which were departed and drawing thinges vnlawfully to himselfe then the kings manifest and expresse commandement and therfore in respect of th' one he too boldly transgressed the other Wherefore the king sitting in the seate of the Lord gaue vpon him most iustly the sentence of death and withall commanded me the captaine of his gard to execute the same accordingly whereof the king in my iudgement or any other his true subiects neede not to be sory or displeased To this the Princes answered with one mouth And truly in our iudgements as the king being most wise hath done iust iudgemēt therein so shold he not only be iustified but also commended for the same of as many as either heare or consider thereof Thus indeed hath K. Solomon rightly recompenced his dangerous enemies by the prouidence help of the power diuine For doubtles this is the Lords doing who loueth righteousnes and hateth iniquity as the kings father did sing therfore as he defendeth the iust that feare him in their iustice Psal 45. so he ouertaketh the vngodly that dishonour his high maiestie in their mischieuous deuises and casteth them downe Thus the cankred old serpent whiles he purposed and had subtly plotted not only to deceiue but to destroy that noble mankind in Paradise was by Gods vpright iudgement worthily condemned to the deepest hell and so the blessed Seede of the Woman whom hee had beguiled and thought to kill did in the end confounde both him and his kingdome To this might we adde the tragecall examples of enuious Cain whō the Lord God execrated exiled from the earth for his savage villany against his brother being a righteous man Also of that proud and tyrannous Codorlaomor and those other profane princes which had captiued iust Lot which princes therefore our Father Abraham worthily smote and discomfited of hard hearted Pharao and those cruel Aegyptians who were ouerwhelmed in the red-sea when they verily presumed to haue subdued and vtterly rooted out our fathers Of those cursed Chananites whom the Lord prostrated to the powerfull hand of his seruant Iosuah of the peruerse and hateful Philistines whom Sampson the Nazarite plagued in the spirit of Iehovah of the mōstrous Goliah the Gyant of Geth whom the kinegs father being yet but a yong man and tender slew cut off his head with his own sword of vnnaturall Absolō the kings elder brother who had practised to supplant his father being lawful king who by the iust vengeance from the highest was hanged on a trée by the hair of his head as he rode throgh the woods and beyond some others th' example of that trecherous and rebellious Achitophel a chiefe Counsailor of Absolon is yet fresh in memory who seeing that his crafty and impious counsell was not affected to his desier strangled himselfe with his owne handes Many more fearefull spectacles of the semblable iudgements wee find extant not onely with vs within those his highnes dominions but els where among the Gentiles and euery where to the terror and astonishment of the Sonnes of men but yet to the consolation and vnspeakable ioy of the righteous Wherein is verified that which the kings father hath modulated in his holy songes The wicked haue I seene most strong and plac'd in high degree In wealth and stoare faire florishing much like the lawrell tree But sodainly he past him hence and prisoned was in hell Nor could I find within a whiles the place where he did dwell But as for iust and perfect men the Lord them doth encrease Who have from him them to content great ioy with rest and peace Againe the Lord protects the iust his wealth his life his lot When wicked men are dawnted with the shaftes themselves had shot Oh blessed therefore Godly men preseru'd by God your King But woe yee wicked in your
and considered what the swéet Psalmist of Israel euen the kinges father both prophesied and diuinely modulated thereof in these wordes O daughter now take heed incline and giue good eare Thou must forsake thy kindred all and fathers house most deere So shall the king affect thy beautie faire and trim For why he is the Lord thy God thou must worship him The Daughters then of Tyre with gifts full rich to see And all the wealthy of the land shal make their suits to thee Secondly after this as it is left in Record King Solomon loued Iehova his God walking in the ordināces of David his father offered vnto the Lord a 1000. whole burnt offerings the Lord being louing most mercifull vnto him did not only accept the same at his hands but had him aske of him whatsoeuer he would that it might be giuē him He asked wisedome the Lord his God heard him granted him his request declared his loue good pleasure towards him his actiōs procéedings by many notable arguments the which as we may persuade with the wife of Manoah he would neuer haue done had he not loued him or had he bin willing to haue reprobated him Thirdly albeit the Egyptians which had forgotten Ioseph and the manifolde benefites they enioyed by him in his time had grieuously afflicted our fathers as Moses hath recorded it yet as before that time our Fathers Abraham Isaack and Iacob and their children haue found refreshing and comfort from thence and therefore haue been contented to soiourne there and to ioyne in amitie with them so without any abuse of our Religion or danger of our consciences or iust offence to any being stedfastly purposed to reteine the right honour of Iehova our God we could not see How farre we may win amitie with strangers why we should denie this amitie or to conuerse with them that are well pleased not only to help vs at al needs with the things that appertaine to the vse and comfort of bodyes and life but also to bee reclaymed and willingly consent to serue the Lorde of Israel together with vs circumcising the foreskins of their hearts as Moses exhorteth And to such a purpose aymed our fathers the sonnes of Iacob Gen. 34.14 when speaking of the cause in question betweene Sechem and Dina their sister whom he desired they answered Sechem and Hamor his father saying We cannot doe this thing to giue our sister to an vncircumcised man for that were a reproofe vnto vs but in this will we consent vnto you if ye will be as we are that euery man childe among you be circumcised then will we giue our daughters to you we will take your daughters to vs will dwel with you and be one people Neuertheles to auoyd al occasiō of iust offence which might be taken of the kings wiues being brought into the house of David because the place was sanctified and the Arke of God was reposed therein therefore the king built a house for this Quéene remote from Bethlem placed her therin where she continued Neither haue we heard any exception made as yet to the king for such his matching or conuersing with her Therefore I perswade that this is not the thing which so much offends him now except perchaunce he perceiueth that she hath a desire to returne againe into Egypt and to looke backe behinde him as the vnhappy wife of Lot did the which the Lord forbid or that there is mooued twirt them some secret emulatiō ielousie or dislike wherof I may not presume to talke nor might I were I able to expresse it the wringing of the shoo being knowne to him only which weareth it Helioreph Ye haue very well said my Lord quod noble Helioreph and the like may bee well resolued of the kings amitie with Hyram the Prince of Tyrus and Sidon although there bee of our nation that thereat bee much offended disliking that the Israelites should meddle with or haue to doe with any of them which are without no lesse then in times past it was an abomination to the Egyptians to eat and drinke with the Hebrewes And surely this affinitie and amitie was not made vpon meane occasions nor indeede without an especiall instinct of Gods spirite which had mooued and perswaded Hyram though an heathen Prince without the motion of king Solomon as of his owne accord to desire and seeke for this league and societie the which truely was first begun betweene king David and him from whom David gratefully acknowledged the receiuing of many good things yea and such as were appointed and laid vp to and for the building of the Lords house in Ierusalem In regard of that amitie with his father being now renewed and yet continued with him hee vouchsafed to honor him with the name of his father calling him his father Hyram Wherein as he verily manifested his right thankefull minde to so bountifull a benefactor and godly wel-willer so learneth he all children as by a true Copie in what honor reuerence estimatiō they should hold those persons who had beene not onely familiar but most louing and beneficiall vnto their Parents in their liues Likewise in king Hyrams combination with Solomon as there is a perfect intimation of the coniunction of both the Iewes and Gentiles within one Temple as whereof the mystycall Church should be compleate in the time appoynted so are they which yet be without to yeeld obedient heartes to this perswasion of the diuine spirit as whereby with all alacritie and ready willes they might run after him which both mooueth and draweth them according to that louely word and desire of the holy Spowsesse whom the King in his most excellent song bringeth in with this saying Cant. 3 O draw me foorth after thee and then shall we run Next it was respected that king Hyrā was a man very wise he feared serued Iehovah the God of Israel and was wonderfully qualified in all kinde of princely graces Else truly would not king David haue obliged himselfe in such a mutuall loue with him who as himselfe protested could neuer abide either prophane persons or froward hearts or any of them which had an euill wil at Zion Neither would the king himselfe as we well know being as the Angell of God perfit in knowledge of exquisite wisedome repleate with the spirit of God and chiefly then when both the Lord loued him fauoured him and blessed him with an admirable peace and namely in the time wherein he was busied in the building of the Lords house wherein he euer depended on the helpe and hand of God to asist him haue had any commerce or dealing at all with Hyram had he not well knowen that as it was Gods will and working therein so Hyram was a person that was to be regarded Thirdly Hyram was right beautifull and set as it were in the pleasant Paradise Ezec. 28. deckt with all manner of pretious stones
with Rubies Tophas Diamond Thurkoie Onyx Iasper Saphyr Emeralde Carbuncle and gold with Tymbrels and Musicall pipes he was as an annointed Cherub and holy placed in the sacred mount of God and made perfect in his wayes A king of Maiestie and of excellent regard for his admirable vertues Hyram his name interpreted worthily alluding to his noble name being as one would say loving exceedingly the promotion of life the beautie of them that appertaine to him freedome or libertie an high mountaine a faithfull watch a bearing or powring forth that is to say of treasures and good thinges for the helpe and comfort of others the citie or refuge of them that maintaine peace and a discovering or vnderstanding of thinges divine and profitable Fourthly as this right noble Prince had an especiall loue to the Lord the God of Israel and his most holy Religion and therefore affected wondrous well both king David 1. King 5.1.7.8 and our Lord K. Solomon so was hee euer most glad willing and ready to send vnto either of them whatsoeuer they requested of him for and towardes the building of both the Lords house and also the kinges house in the greatest aboundance for as his land was plentifull and abounding with all those thinges before mentioned that by the especial blessing of God so thought he they could not be better employed then on the king and chiefly to and for so excellent a monument as he had purposed to erect to the name of Iehovah his God the same God I say which Hyram also so deuoutely honored to the prayse of his Maiesty the true solace of his soule and the good example of others Furthermore Hyram reioycing greatly to heare tel of our Soueraigne Lord now lately aduāced on the glorious seate of his father hee glorified God with this saying Blessed be the Lord this day who hath given vnto David a wise sonne to raigne ouer this mightie people Moreouer hee sent a message to the king saying I have considered all the things of the which thou hast sent vnto me and I wil surely accomplish all thy desire therein c. So that both the faith and pietie of king Hyram was plainely manifested in this kinde of congratulation of Solomons graces especially for that religious institution concerning the setting forth of the holy Religion as whereby not onely we Iewes might glorie of this that wee haue beene earnest professors of Gods law and builders of his house But that also the Gentiles whom wee sometimes abhorred are by the diuine fauour instigated and perswaded to conioine with vs in the performance of the same the which also as wee haue seene happilie to commence hath been continued and yet is enioyed to the comfort of vs all Therefore as for this benefit wee are bound to be thankfull to God and gratefull to that good King so haue wee not found or may perceiue any iust cause of offence to spring therence or that the King should thereof be greeued and perplexed in mind as at this time we obserue him to bee There is some other matter doubtles that causeth the sadnesse the which would to God wee could both find and remedy with speede for long delayes bring dangers especially in the cure of a wounded languishing head Then Lord Ahiah opening his mouth spake to this effect Ye haue well saide of the two former namely touching king Pharaohs daughter and the Tyrian king with whome the kinges Maiestie hath vnited himselfe with the former in mariage with the second in mutual amitie Ahiah speaketh of the Queene of Saba And this also may bee spoken of the most vertuous Queene of Arabia that vpon the report of the kinges seruantes which were sent at Ophir for gold prepared herselfe in great roialtie and came hether to this end to heare the kinges wisedome and to learne the religion of Iehovah our God and thereon she was happilie taught instructed being no doubt moued and perswaded thereunto by the diuine power who as we perceiue is willing that the Gentiles should partake with vs of those thinges which appertaine to the highest honour of our God and eternall happinesse as ye haue before intimated Now therefore the king knowing the purpose of God in this point and vnderstanding by his wisedome that her repaire vnto him was for this very end hee gladly welcomed her with her traine 1. King 10. and most willingly satisfied her mind euery way for he declared vnto her al her hard questions touching those diuine things for she had propounded many vnto him so that there was not one thing hiddē frō the king which he expounded not vnto her But when she saw his royall Maiestie with her eyes heard his words with her eares and well considered the admirable building of his house the excellēt orders of his noble Princes seruants and many semblable things farre passing all others and beyond the report she had heard which yet was merueilous she was throughlie rauished and astonied and thereon brake forth blessing the Lord blessing the kings royall maiestie and those his seruants with many emphaticall wordes and wonderfull gestures of bodie declaring her selfe at this time rather a true Iewish deuoted with the zeale of the glorie of our God then a Gentile as one educated and nurtured not in Arabia but in the Cittie of Ierusalem yea in Sion the Lords holie hill and sanctified Tabernacle all the daies of her life What kind of persons king Solomon accepted into league And here note I beseech you that as our most sacred Soueraigne hath entred league or affinitie with none of this kind I meane the out-landish before that they had acknowledged the Lord conuerted vnto him and made faithfull voues and promisses to be the Lordes and to feare him as somtimes Ruth and Rahab had done as the law in that case did require so refused he not any whosoeuer in this mind and sinceritie of heart came or offered themselues vnto him with a desire either to learne of him wisdome or to gratifie his wisdome glorie and prosperitie according to the true sense of the same law In or by the which we haue not found that the State of our holie Religion hath beene at any time altered or the same any way empaired or neglected but we haue seene that by this our shining candle many other candles haue beene kindled and our owne nothing blemished or consumed thereby All this doubtlesse was in our king very prayse-worthy as that which fitteth the high honor of a Soueraigne Prince Ahishar speaketh of the kings age and of his declining and death * In very truth as ye haue well spoken quod Ahishar But heare mee my Lordes might not this griefe be occasioned of this that the king now striken in yeares and well knowing himselfe a mortall man though a maiesticall King in his place doth either by his rare wisdome or some late inspiration perceiue that he must of necessitie shortlie giue ouer
sometimes sharpe chidings hath their place to doe good in them that feare God as some precious stones shine the better bring steeped in sharpe vinegar some others when they bee boyled in soft oyle There be some which though they be in place The necessitie of good admonitions either dare not or list not to tell admonish or reprooue the mighty and rich vntill they sée them through folly fall downe to the ground and Fortune sternely frowne at them then perchance but neuer before they wil tel them of that which now it is too late for thē to auoyd resembling therin that maladie whē then neuer before appeareth when it hath throughly conquered nature in a man And then they will say as the Physician did to the man which after his long cure dyed surely if thou haddest forborne to eate of this and that kind of meat thou mightest have lived longer But hereof it commeth that as those which are wounded when they want friends are constrained to seeke helpe of their enemies so euen those noble personages themselues being offenders in their places as they bee men and doe offend often hauing none of such their faithfull friends about them as will either admonish or gently reprooue them of their offences doe often heare of their faults afterward by their very enemies and that to their shame and sorrowe Truely the king knowing both the wisedome and faithfulnesse of his Mother and considering what a comfort and stay shee was vnto him not onely in those priuate things but also in the better administration of the kingdome with him hee did worthily honour her hee was glad to heare her hee disdained not to follow her wise directions placed her on a seat next vnto his royall maiestie when at any time hee sate to giue sentence of iudgement in matters of the highest importance But now this princely counsailor is taken away and the king seeth that the departure of such a pretious ornament of his pallace is a prognostication of trouble to them that remaine behinde her seeing that with the losse of such a member the common-wealth of Israel is depriued of much wisedome and many good things And in this respect The departure of Nathan The losse of good counsailors a pronostication of future troubles the death and departure of that excellent Prophet Nathan his Scholemaster and faithfull counsailor doth not a little grieue him at this time not only in that Nathan is dead but also in that the king by his departure is depriued of a most wise godly happy counsailor For truly this is one chief cause that a Prince should mourne namely when his graue Senatours and prudent Counsailors be taken from him for this is as if the eyes shoulde bee pulled from out of the head knowledge should faile in him that hath an office of waight to bee performed the stayes taken from an house and a staffe from him that leaneth thereto In this consideration our Fathers in the wildernesse lamented with aboundance of teares when Moses their Leader was taken from them and in this respect all Israel mourned mightily ouer Samuel the Lords Prophet when he dyed For these did see that in the departing away of those worthy Personages a great part of their glorie their weale their prosperitie their safetie and defence departed also with them for the taking away of most noble Kings worthy Princes graue Senatours godly Magistrates and vertuous persons Deut 3.1.16 God sheweth mercy to them among whom the godly do liue Gen. 7.10 is a common Pronostication of euill euents to ensue on them that remaine behind in the world from the which it often pleaseth the Lorde first to remooue and take to himselfe * such his seruants for whose sake or through whose ministery and meanes he hath beene willing to deferre or withhold from the people such wofull afflictions So long as Noah was yet remaining in the world without the Arke the Lorde stayed the waters that they should not fall to couer the earth but when Noah was embarked then by and by the destruction threatned was executed on them that remayned without the Arke The like we haue obserued in the ouerthrowe of Sodome and the Citties there-about Gen. 19.22.24 which was soone effected after that Lot was taken from thence Thus also during the dayes of Moses and the whiles Iosuah liued the wealth of Israel encreased and great prosperitie enioyed our fathers the which then began to bee molested and to decline after their vnhappy departure from Israel as the Story of the Iudges doth certifie vs. So as long as the Prophet Samuel iudged Israel the land enioyed peace yea and whiles bee liued king Saul retained his honour before his princes and the people and the people their saftie for hee was a rare Prophet well beloued of the Lorde hee was a noble Counsailour to Saul and a most wise director of him in all his affayres to whom whils he listned and followed his godly counsaile hee and his people prospered on euery side But after that hee reiected Samuel but especially after the death of Samuel Saul was so agonized for want of good counsaile that despayring of good successe hee slewe himselfe disgraced his house and the people were sorely afflicted Euen so while those two right noble and godly persons namely Bethsabe the Queene and Nathan the Prophet liued and prospered in Israel all things went well and the King and his people prospered in great honour and peace but surely sithence the departure of those two worthy members there is a kind of defect espied in many things yea aswel in the king as in his people as yee shall more plainely vnderstand when I shall rippe vp vnto you the seauenth cause of the kings sorowe Worthily therefore may the king bee greiued for the losse of his most princely mother no lesse for the death of the diuine Prophet and wise Counsailor Nathan as for the falling downe of two such principall pillars as by whose strength and counsaile both the king and the Common-wealth of Israel hath beene sithence the kings most hapy gouerment the better stayd vp and maintained in peace and prosperitie And in very deede said the Princes this may be no small grief to the King in our iudgement as now wee call to minde and consider how tenderly his mother loued him The princes assent to zadokes reede and how honorably the Prophet esteemed him againe how deere was th' one and how fauoured was th' other of his royal grace wee cannot but testifie And most happy were the King indeede of hee had well obserued that which the one taught The consent of the prince with the prophet a stay to the common wealth and a comfort to the Church and th' other confirmed in him in his and their happy daies For these two euer well agreede in the right ordering of the holy religion in the right institution of the King and in the well
and to holde his Court of Iustice Well therefore may the king mourne and bee holden with continuall sadnesse if the consideration of the diuine wrath hath seized on his heart zadoke tels that the king himselfe is the cause of this wrath * But so much the more sayde Zadok is the King perplexed and standes in feare because as hee hath lately found and considered the greatest cause of this anger both rise of himselfe For if a stranger had hurt him he might haue dissembled it if an enemie hee might haue reuenged it if a friend hee might haue complained of it but the cause beeing in himselfe to whom should hee make his moane of whom should he séeke comfort Although I will not iustifie the whole Congregation of Israel The people which dyed in the plague were not free of transgression no more then I might say that all the people which dyed in the pestilence in the time of Davids transgression were guiltles for no doubt they were faultie also before the Lord yet beyonde them all our Lorde king Solomon hath highly offended whereof it may come to passe that the Lorde who was mercifull vnto Israel and in his mercy gaue them such a King as by the which hee might expresse vnto them his loue is now minded to take and remooue farre from them this happy occasion of their peace and so to leaue them and commit thē to the hurtfull hand of the angel of wrath to be punished according to their deserts from the sense whereof they haue been thus long kept and preserued by the blessed meanes of king Solomon Now I remember what the Lord said to Moses when our Fathers had offended and Moses neuerthelesse earnestly prayed and requested him for their pardon Suffer me sayth he or giue me leaue Exod. 22.10 that my wrath may waxe hot against thē and consume them Sée the goodnes of God who not only stayd was restrained frō smiting of them vpon his request but acknowledged Moses the meane of their pardon In what sense the people are said to bee plagued for Dauids sinne But we haue that example of our owne time euen of David the kings father and his people yet in memorie For as long as he pleased Iehova his God God esteemed him accepted him for the occasion of their peace though they had deserued wrath confusion But after that David had transgressed with them and angred the Lorde then became he who was before an occasion of the peoples saftie an occasion of their punishment that not only for his own sin but also for their sins who now had not him in this time of disgrace for their further means to health nor any other such Sauiour as might stand vp in the gape between God them that because they repented not wherfore the Lord sent forth the messenger of death who smote 70. thousand persons with the plague of pestilence that they dyed within 3 dayes And surely we may feare euery one of vs what shal shortly ensue fall both on our king and the people seeing that God being now angry with our king for his sinnes neither looketh gratiously on him now accepteth him and his doings as an occasion of our peace Solomons youth age Indeede the king in his yong yeeres behaued himselfe most grauely shined in all princely vertues which did adorne and beautifie both his person and place which gaue vnto vs and to all his people both hope and expectation of a farre greater excellencie to follow in his Age as those trees which blowing faire in the spring time of the yeere put men in hope of fruits thereof in the time of haruest But alas the king hath in this point farre deceiued all mens expectation behauing himselfe most vnwisely both before God and in the eyes of all good men in this time of his age by the which he hath distained his honor and depriued vs all of that glory the which through him wee had atchiued and hoped by the same to haue had established on our Nation for euer according to the word of the Lord spoken to David in his good loue And of this as I cannot thinke without griefe of heart so can I not speake without weeping teares and deepe sighes * Then answered Zabud zabud as not a little greeued and sorrowfull in his heart to heare such hard tydings of the king with whom he had béene so familiarly acquainted and sayd But what is it I beseech you most reuerend Father wherein the kings Maiestie hath so heynously and daungerously faulted and so highly prouoked God to displeasure I doubt not but that without dishonor to the king hurt to your selfe or offence to any of vs present it may bee spoken heere in Councell that thereby the sooner wee may consult and consider thereof with iudgement and endeuor to our power to salue the displeasure Alas sayd Zadoke when one man offendeth against another there may bee a dayes-man to reconcile them zadok telleth wherein the king hath offended 1. Sam. 2.25 but if a man sinne against the Lorde of heauen who can decide it Thus said Eli the Priest in the like case But now sauing the kings honour and your reuerence my Lordes the king hath committed ah how sorowfull am I to say it the king hath committed but alack shall I vtter it my tongue would rather cleaue to the roofe of my mouth The King hath committed ah yet how loath and hashfull am I to tell it Howbeit it is already seene and not couered it is spoken off and not couched in silence euen of them that dwell not in the Court but in the Countrey yea aswell of them that bee without as of them that remaine within howsoeuer wee would dissimble it the King I say hath committed three great euils of the which the most part of all this displeasure and sorrow commeth both to himselfe and to vs. For beholde First The King hath multiplyed wiues to himselfe Secondly Hee hath combyned himselfe with straunge women Thirdly Hee hath turned away his heart from the Lorde This being sayd the Princes were all abashed and wonderfully amazed not knowing what to say or what to expect or what to thinke but pauzed and looked one on another of them nor could their fearefull tongues vtter the thoughtes of their grieued hearts CAP. XX. The first of Solomons sinnes Viz. the pluralitie of Wiues AFter a very long pauze Abiather the Priest stood forth and obiected for the king concerning the pluralitie of his Wiues Abiather obiecteth for the kings wiues and saide How should this be a fault so heynouse in the king Abraham our Father was permitted to take Hagar his mayd notwithstanding that Sarah was his wedded wife And Iacob the Lords seruant had two wiues namely Leah and Rachel and yet besides them hee had the company of his two maydes Bilha and Zilpha on whom he begat children So Lamech before the flood had two
the aduersary hath beset them and battered their faith with sinne and thereby occasioned them to be beaten with the rod of men which is yet so necessary in them that fall that therefore they should not be ashamed to repent but ashamed to sinne Neither doth the king despaire of mercie * Lorde God sayd Benaiah and could it be that so wise a person should so fall May it bee lawfull for vs to inuestigate the causes of this thing Benaiah * It hath beene already sayd answered Zadok that the king was yet but a man zadok telleth the causes of the kings fall If hee had been God as hee is not he would not haue fallen in this sort Other causes of this declination in the king are knowne onely to the Lorde who wil◠hereafter I doubt not also reueale the same in the due time And yet it may be howsoeuer wee haue cleared ourselues of all heynous crimes and offences Sometimes the sinnes of the people are the cause of the trouble and plague of their princes both against God the king in those our owne conceits that the cause of the kings fall hath risen partly from some of vs partly by some thing committed in and among the people in whom are oftentimes found that which prouoketh the Lorde in displeasure to take away those blessings which in his louing mercies he had bestowed on them and so such kings and Princes by and vnder whose gouernment they haue and might haue inioyed long peace and prosperitie But for this time let vs in all sobrietie cease to search after those hidden things too curiously remembring that the king himselfe lately aduised Search not out the things which are aboue thy reach and capacitie And let vs commit this with the successe therof vnto God wha hath appointed these and all things else to succeed and come to passe by his Providence after his owne will for his glorie and the good of his chosen howsouer it appeareth vnto vs that the King hath therein offended and in whatsoeuer sorte they appeare vnto men And let vs haue a chiefe care that our Willes bee made and conformed here in earth to his will in heauen in all things Praye for the king and speake well of him * Furthermore as we be bound both by the law of God and a good conscience let vs neither forget nor omit to pray and make intercession vnto God for the King both daily and hourely and therewith both commaund excite the Congregation people to doe the like It may be the Lorde our God will heare vs and be mercifull Let vs also speake well and the best of the King euen in our priuy chambers and with him good in our hearts and so much the sooner because hee is the Lordes annointed and at this present setteth not himselfe in wickednesse nor maketh a mocke of Religion and good admonition as did Pharaoh when hee saide Who is the Lord or as those vngodly which iest and contemne correction and haue a delight in their sinnes But rather he is contented to heare to bee ruled to be reclaymed and to be directed by the wisedome of that divine Spirite as himselfe hath sayd the wise-man is wont to doe pro. 10.23 Solomon hath declared many arguments of his repētance And therein as vnto vs it appeareth hee hath expressed many arguments of a true repentant heart both in his gesture and manner of life Neither are his Sermons words and speaches to be neglected or forgotten being right worthy the noting obseruation and memorie of all men For as they sauour of the holy spirit so are they vttered with such wisedom discretion grauitie and deepe affects of the soule vpon this occasion that they doe not onely argue and declare the Kings true repentance but shall also teach instruct admonish and mooue the heartes of all Gods people to feare God and serue him with reuerence and therfore shall be right profitable for the holy Congregation and worthy preseruation for all posterities Solomons wordes and sermons are meete to bee collected and preserued Let vs therefore call those his Wordes and sermons into remembrance let vs collect and write them in a Booke and let vs after our power conserue them or some part of them in the sacred Register among other the kings wise parables Prouerbs graue sentences Prophesies and holy songs Let vs neither defraude the King of that he hath deserued nor withhold from the holy Congregation that which to the same belongeth nor appeare negligent in our dutie to bee performed to either of them And as in this wee shall serue the Lorde honour our King and benefite the Church so by those his words and sermons being thus exemplified he shall be more commended and praysed of the Saints then by the worldly glory of his Throne no lesse wise then those wise Princes Patriarks Sages Seers which are much more esteemed for their graue sayings words writings Elioreph the Notary then exalted for their great conquests and worldly riches * Then said Elioreph the kings Notarie right worthily spoken reuerend father for indeed the words of the king are such as are in all things consonant to the veritie and shall witnesse for euer the kings cōtrition and true conuersion vnto Iehovah his God after his sinne committed Moreouer they shall be preached as fruitefull and godly sermons in the Church to teach admonish exhort reforme conforme comfort instruct them that come after vs in the feare of God and the obseruation of his Lawes Eccles. 12. the which is as the King hath often and yet dayly teacheth that which chiefly appertaineth to euery man and is required of all men that liue in this world Therefore my selfe with the conuenient help of Ahia my fellow Notary and with the aduise of my Lord the kings Recorder will gladly endeuour this thing to effect In the Name of God whom we beséech to looke vpon the King and vpon his people in the aboundance of his louing mercies CAP. XXIIII Obiections and exceptions against Solomon and his words and deedes the which the Princes endeuour to defend AFter that the whole assembly of king Solomons Lords were thus disposed and agreed in counsaile that the kings Words which hee in this time of his troubled spirits and thencefoorth did vtter and speake before them should be called into remembrance considered of and kept in the holy Register among other the diuine monuments of the Church ad it in before declared Abiather Abiather the priest which sometimes had ministred before the king in the steede of Zadok stood foorth and obiected to the decree Obiections against Solomon and his words after this manner But my Lords all said hee I am much afraid of this that many in the posteritie will the lesse esteeme or at the least doubt of some other things which are noted in the holy Register when vnto the same wee shall adde and combine as of
equall authoritie those matters of the king the reuerence of whose person and the authoritie of whose Words I haue euen with these mine eares heard some wise-men to call into question and whereof they are wont to say to them that commend the king and his wordes yet praise not the vnworthy because of his riches nor his wordes by reason of his wealth Is not a green apple tree bearing fruit better then the dry Cedar of Lybanus lying on the ground is not a living dogge preferred before a dead lyon and what is that person to be esteemed or his words regarded which hath distained his wisedome with foolishnesse and polluted his honor with vngodlinesse For truely as when women deck themselues they endeuor to choose the best glasses and cast away others which are polluted or deceitfull and as schollers to write doe set before them not ragged but plaine and perfite copies to learne by so in the Church or in the Common-wealth should onely those examples bee proposed for imitation and instruction which are the holy deedes of worthy men And as that worke is most praise-worthy in the which both the Arte commendeth the matter and the matter the Arte The perfection of the person should ioyne with his words so those Sermons and wordes are alwayes best meete the conseruation and obseruation wherein the worthinesse of the person commendeth the Wordes and the wisedome of the words commendeth the worthinesse of the person Neither should wee praise that too much which is polluted in part lest vnhappily the vnwise that knoweth not to put difference betweene the good and the euill will take and vse as well the one as the other for although the wise and prudent are wont to make choise of the waters whereof they drinke knowing that all Fountaines are not of one goodnesse operation and vse yea and be as the Bees which make hony and not poison of euery herbe yet the foolish which can not discerne or make difference of things will bee ready to take those waters which breede fury and madnesse and procure death and with the Spider will make poison of the sweetest flowers It may bee that some of you my Lordes thinke as I haue sayde would yee bee as plaine and simple to deliuer it foorth as I am What say yee to that which I haue obiected Then stoode foorth the most reuerende Father zadok answereth for the king against Abiathers obiection Contemners of other men and as the mouth of them all for they all willed him to giue an answere bee spake and sayde By your leaue Abiather As hee that commendeth another but sparingly seemeth to want his owne prayse so they that contemne other men rashly seeme to enuie their happinesse And truely as the slouthfull dogges doe barke at euery one whom they know not whether hee bee friende or foe to their master so there bee certaine ignorant persons which carpe at all that themselues vnderstand not bee it neuer so excellent and good Againe Vncharmed tongues there bee many vncharmed tongues which vse to speake euill of that which they know well to bee good These wil contemne the hony together with the pricks they will condemne true men Haters of that which is good because there be some theeues they dislike al things in respect of the fault of some things There be others which beare euill will at Zion and therfore blaspheme the holy religion of the children of Zion Envious persons and sclanderers neither are any of these disposed vpon occasiō to yeeld the due either to God or to the king but striue in their vnquiet spirits to derogate frō both so to draw frō this most princely person I meane K. Solomon and his most excellent labours Sermons and Doctrines all the honor credit and estimation which to either of them iustly belongeth vnprofitable persons whereby they are become both vnprofitable to themselues and hurtfull to others for thereof it is that both themselues neuer féele the swéetnesse and comfort of those most soueraigne and healthfull solaces therein prouided and proposed vnto them and many others especially the ignorant and ouer credulous are and shall be iniuriously defrauded also aswell of this the kings Solace as of many other things godly wholesome profitable and necessarie the which the true-hearted and faithfull of the Lord doe and shall thereof gladly reape and enioy to their exceeding great good and highest consolation These aspire not to the true happinesse themselues nor would that others should attaine the same wherein they resemble those idle and wayward dogges that lying in the maunger will neither eat the hay nor suffer the labouring Asse to feed thereof But right iudgement and reason resolue that albeit it is not good to praise them much which of their owne accords are apt to vaine glory as we may not tickle them which by nature are giuen to excessiue laughter Whō to praise whom not yet meete it is that wee praise the praise-worthy and vpon an occassion prouoke them to laughter which are ouer pensiue and sadde that wee yeeld to euery man his dutie as honor to whom honour loue to whom loue feare to whome feare belongeth lest as in the former we should prouoke to vice which resteth in extremities so in the latter wee should discourage from vertue which holdeth the meane and so declare ourselues so vniust in th' one as wicked in th' other * Therfore although that both soueraigne Lord K. Solomon and those his last words haue already both deserued in themselues and obtained among the godly-wise both credit and authoritie sufficient yet The credite and estimation of Solomon and his words vpon this necessary occasion I shall be alwayes ready as my dutie is to pleade for the defence both of th' one and the other not withstanding his vnhappy staine with those transgressions and sins and so much the sooner because beeing both an eare and an eye witnesse I can best testifie and being the High-priest I can or should well discerne both of the one and the other without partialitie or corruption in iudgement Nor doe I doubt my good Lords but that yee all will consent with mee in the same as farre as truth will warrant mee to pleade for my Lorde the king Surely I would not exceed the boundes of truth nor endeuor to defend or excuse sinne in any person be hee high or low * And well worthy most reuerent Father said the Princes nor is it meete The princes consent to zadok in the kings apologie that any of vs all should presume to auouch that for truth which is a false lye for as he which heareth false witnesse against a man as the king hath said bringeth foorth lyes and is a very clubbe asworde and a sharpe arrowe so should wee bee if wee should produce any thing besides the veritie in any thing much more in those matters which concerne the kings Maiestie the which the
behaued himselfe after that hee was anointed and proclamed King in the place of his Father David and thus hee shoulde haue worthily continued and retained the honour of his place especially in his elder yeares wherein is required sobrietie grauitie holinesse wisedome zeale and perfection This the king knewe well-enough for hee wanted no wisedome no knowledge no vnderstanding no iudgement But that notwithstanding hee abused both his calling place and age whereof it is that as they which come out of hote bathes doe sodainely coole more vehemently and as that water which hath beene once heate seemeth to bee more colde then any other and as they most deadly hate one another which haue beene sometimes friendes when they fall at variance so turning himselfe from the Lorde his God and from the vse of those princely and heroicall vertues wherein hee was first exercised hee is esteemed execrable wicked in the eyes of wisemen Therefore There bee among them which doe not onely call into question his election and remission but also doe iudge him a person prophane reprobate and damnable and so not meete to bee a King much lesse to bee the King of Israel For as the iudgement of the tree is taken from the consideration of the fruite and of the fountaines by the taste or vse of the waters so gather they this censure from the consideration of the kings life and demeanour for whiles a man continueth wallowing in sinne without true repentance he declareth no pardon and he whose sinnes are not pardoned hath none hope of health Againe he that repenteth not of his sinnes when he hath sinned is a prophane person he that obtaineth not mercy is a reprobate and he that is shut out from saluation is damned Howbeit the Lord forbidde that this thing should bee found or iustly proued in our Lorde the King of Israel Herence also they obiect against the sermons wordes Exceptions to Solomons doctrine and words and doctrines of King Solomon as of fruites vnwholesome growing of such an euill tree For neither could his vnderstanding as they say henceforth be perfit to this purpose for as they which sodainly turne themselues to the shadow which haue seene the Sunne haue their eyes dazeled and cannot as yet see cleerely so it cannot be that be which hath turned away his minde from spirituall contemplations to the obscure lusts of the flesh should so soone afterwarde bee of perfite vnderstanding in those heauenly mysteries and diuine doctrines And heere it is remembred what the King himselfe hath sometimes saide That wisedome entreth not into a wicked soule nor dwelleth in a bodie that is subiect to sinne Therefore they from hence argue Solomon hath not presumed to vse the name Iehovah of late The booke of the Ecclesiastes not well vnderstood of many wherof it was that so many evill opinions haue bin fathered thereon that the King in this time is not replenished with the perfite wisedome and so can neither vtter nor teach wisedome vnto others by any deedes or wordes of his * But yet they are more bolde on these their assertions because the King hath not of late vsed the most holy Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iehovah which is proper to the Almightie either in his priuate talke or in those his Wordes which hee hath lately vttered before his Princes or in that Booke of his called the Song of Songs which they holde and will esteeme a cause sufficient that both those his Wordes and Bookes shoulde bee not onely suspected but also reiected as prophane and vnprofitable for the Church of God Yea they say morouer that from hence as from a bitter roote will issue foorth sundry monstrous opinions and dangerous doctrines by the which the most prophane persons shall strengthen their prophanites the vngodly their impieties the superstitious their superstitions the sinners their sinnes Therefore as we are of Israel and ought not to be polluted with the manners of the heaten so shoulde wee before all others abandon those and such like works and words which corrupt good manners and that kinde of learning which confounds the good constitution of a mans health and hasteneth his destruction as for the conseruation of bodily health the Phisicians doe aduise men to eschew those daintie meates which prouoke them to eate when they are not hungry and those delicate drinkes which tempt them to drinke being not thirstie And of this kinde they obiect that the king hath much spoken in this his olde age But howsoeuer it bee we may bee sure of this that as the best wine looseth his verdit and grace when it is infused into fowle and filthy vessels So the words of the king be they neuer so good and profitable in right estimation shall by this his vngodly life and polluted behauiour loose both their right grace and commendation in the iudgement of all men I am right sory I was occasioned to say thus much of my Lorde the King and of his Sermons and last Words Azariah for the king and his words Then answered Azariah in the behalfe of all the other Princes Indeed as yee haue saide there may bee many things obiected by such as being not onely ignorant and neither able to discerne betweene things holy and prophane so perceiue not that the fault lyeth rather in their own synister interpretations of the Kings workes and wordes then in the workes and wordes themselues but also by such as regarde not to yeelde honour to them to whome honour belongeth and little care whome they wound with their tongues or whose wordes or workes they depraue and sclander as my Lorde Zadok hath before well noted Giue not sentence before the matter bee heard But let vs aduise all them that come after vs that they giue not sentence in a matter before they heare it with discretion lest it turne to their folly and shame pro. 18. A Caveat especially in these matters of God and the king and that they beware that they bee not seduced and led away by the sophistrie and guilfull practizes of such deriders from the true vse of this the kings Solace and so consequently from the way that leadeth to the highest felicitie and best good Gen. ◠The spirite of God is euer wont to reproue them that bee vniust in iudgement and thereof that cursed and reprobated Serpent is already condemned But heere wee heartily request you most reuerend Zadok which are adorned and beautified with that right * Vrim and Thumim That is knowledge perfection to speake in the defence of king Solomon our Soueraigne Lord and of his words and say whatsoeuer the Lorde shall put in your mouth to be spoken without feare or partialitie and wee will not onely giue eare vnto you but also be right thankefull We doubt not but that after your answeres to all those and such like obiections heard and waighed with deliberation Note well what wil be in the end resolued of Solomon and
to purpose as in the nature of those Symboles Figures Types and shadowes which teach and put vs in minde of things aswell spirituall and eternall as future of the which wee haue and retayne many at this time yet will I not beginne with those externall things lest peraduenture any man shoulde saye that the King is not therefore the better in the spirit nor the more acceptable to God because he is outwardly glorious no more then he is a good king that raigneth in a wealthy country or he a wise gouernour which is placed in a goodly ship or he a worthy man who weareth a faire Coate or that a perfect Steed which is arraied with a golden Saddle Solomon is a figure of Messiah But I wil aspire higher in the consideration of our king to expresse and confirme vnto you his excellency aswell before the Lord as before mortall men And namely and chiefely in that whereby it pleaseth the Lord his God that he should prefigurate and foreshew that holy Messiah whom wee do verily belieue to come into the worlde and doe daily expect But first of this most glorious Person I mean the Messiah it may please you to heare me a few words for they shal be both sweete and comfortable to the true hearted Isralites that from thence I may the better argue for the Kinges holinesse to your content To this the Princes gladly accorded The comfort of the tidings of the Messiah being most willing to heare tell of that most holy and sweete Messiah of Gods mercy promised so long ago typed shadowed prefigured and now so earnestly expected For as their is nothing more pleasing to the prisoner then to heare of his libertie more wished for to the hungry then meate more comfortable to the sicke then the comming of a cunning Phisician and more ioyfull to the condemned to death then the glad tidinges of pardon life so what should be more pleasing more desired more comfortable and more ioyfull to vs which are captiued to the Serpent starued for want of graces sicke and sore in sinne and by a iust sentence condemned to death yea to eternall death then to heare the glad tidings of the coÌ„ming of the most noble Prince the carefull pastour that faithfull Phisician and that mighty Saviour which wil as he is best able release vs refresh vs heale vs pardon and saue vs Say on therefore most reuerend Father for we long to heare of those chearefull things zadoke telleth of mans fall and misery Gen. 3. * Then hearken said he I know it is not hidden from you for Moses hath plainely written thereof in the booke Berescith and it is often read vnto you that our first Parents by the Serpentes subtiltie tooke the forbidden fruit in Paradise therein breake the commandement the paine and inconuenience thereon threatned for the same was that they should dye the death that same day Therfore it followed that they were exiled kept out from the presence of God they were wounded with the act of their transgression they were captiued in the Serpents bands they became odious to their maker they were dispoiled of all their diuine vertues they were opposed to all miseries and lastly subdued vnto ghastfull death and hell torments Lo such was the wofull condition of those our first parents Howbeit this had not beene so intollerable and grieuous vnto vs had not the effect of this transgression beene extended and propagated by nature on all Adams children and posterity but it is too true that all men are thereby holden guilty as the naughty children of like parents and as vnwholesome fruites of the same tree This David the kinges father hath considered and acknowledged Psal 51. in Mismor Ledavid Behold I was shapen in wickednes and in sinne hath my mother coÌ„ceived me yea and when the Lord looked downe from heauen he saw that all were gone out of the waye and were become abhominable and that none of them did good no not one The recovery of man by Messiah But yet seeing Iehovah our God was most willing to recouer and recure man I meane those whome he had in his loue fore knowne for his owne elected to life and appointed for his glory he did in wisedome deuise and prouide a wonderfull meane therevnto wherein his mercy striuing with his Iustice might yet in the ende conclude for Equitie by the which this man who was indged and iustly condemned should be pardoned and yet the diuine iustice not infringed How this could bee compassed by Gods wisedome and prouidence ye shall hereafter vnderstand Here let vs consider in the nature of the diuine goodnes that God is more ready to pardon and to saue then to iudge and destroy the children of his election and grace and the rather for that he loueth them hath created them in his owne image hath appointed them for his glory and would not they should be lost for euer Againe hee considered mans frailtie and pittied it he was mercifull and expressed it he was liberall and extended it he was the best father and declared his affection he was willing to saue and performed his will Therefore hee would neither suffer sin either to ouerthrow him or to raigne or to rest on him but hating and abhorring sin from his heart he did destroy the same by his grace he had compassioÌ„ on mans miserable condition therefore he little waighed yea hee forgat the iniury that man did him hee shewed himselfe ready both to satisfy for his guilt to heale his paine he was more ready to pardon man then man was to aske mercy and finally when in iustice he should and might if he would haue thrown him down into the depth of the nethermost hell he neuerthelesse after his mercy recouered him restored him to grace and raised him vp into the highest heauen And this to effect when neither angels nor powers either in heauen or earth or vnder the earth could do the deede he proposed his owne Sonne euen that most holy and eternall worde of God by whome all thinges were made Gen. 1.1 whom he appointed to deale for mans guilte to satisfy the diuine Iustice and to compasse and effect the most excellent worke of mans redemption by and in the which hee might gather and ioyne againe vnto himselfe a chaste spowsesse as vnto whome he might expresse the greatnes of his loue and continue as an husband or head to defend preserue maintaine and beautify the same for euer The obedieÌ„ce of Messiah Therevpon the Almighty was not so ready that man by this meane should be recouered but that sonne also himselfe as an earnest wower that seeketh for her whome his soule loueth was also willing obedient to doe and performe all things conuenient therein According to the which the Kinges Father did sing in his person Burnt offeringes and sacrifices for sinne thou hast not required psal 40. â—â— Then saide I Lo I come in the
volume of the booke it is written of mee that I should fulfill thy will O my God I am content to doe it Thus was the most holy sonne and worde of God brought in talking with his father touching mans redemption and shewing both his willingnes and obedience to relieue the state of mankind Hereof it was that the Lord God decreed and said that the womans seed should tread on the serpents head Gen. 3. which signified that one should be borne of the womans body the which the Serpent had corrupt that should not onely purifie her and all mankind but also confound the Serpent and all his power From the which time our fathers haue expected we as yet expect and waite for the comming of that holy Seede Now here by the way wee may consider that albeit the Lord God be wonderfull mercifull vnto mankind he doth not ouerthrow therin his Iustice How the Lord was both iust and mercifull but obseruing either he expresseth great Equitie in a wonderfull for t For beholde hee laid that on his sonne which was due vnto man and againe hee gaue that vnto man which was onely proper to his sonne hee laid mans sinne and faults on his sonne hee imputed the righteousnes of his sonne vnto man In th' one appeared his iustice in th' other his mercy And in them both conioyned equitye That which was due vnto man the holy seed taketh on himselfe namely mans punishment which mans nature could not beare that which the holy seede merited namely eternall life the Lorde gaue vnto man for the sinne of man which deserued death was imputed vnto this seede and the Iustice of the holy seed which deserued Heauen was imputed vnto man I meane vnto them onely that by faith depend on that promise and those be the same whom the Lord God had before loued elected and predestinated to eternall glory and whome hee would not by any meanes permit to perrish and dye for euer This is the onely recouery of mankind and hope of his health This is that eternall verity and obiect of our faith This is the same whereunto all the law and the Prophets and all the tipes and figures both of them before vs and of them now in daily vse do aime point Promises of the Messiah Gen. 6. Gen. 22. Gen. 22.18 and direct vs for all succour helpe comfort and reliefe The decree and promise of this seede was after this confirmed to Noah to whome the Lorde said With thee wil I make my covenant thou shalt come into the Arkè But more plainly to our father Abraham to whome the Lorde declared this Sauiour and said of him In thy seede shall all the nations of the earth bee blessed The same which was called the seede of the Woman is now called the seede of Abraham for the Lorde woulde that hee shoulde come of Abrahams Seede after the flesh Prophesies of Messiah Gen. 49. Exod. 4.13 This is that whome Iacob our Father called Shilo and prophesyed that he should come in the tribe of Iudah And to him should be the gathering of the people This is that same to whome Moses pointed in the booke Velleschemoth when he saide to the Lord. Send I pray thee by the hand of him whome thou wilt send Deut. 18.15.18 and in his booke Haddebarim the Lorde himselfe calleth him a Prophet saying thus vnto Moses I will raise them vp a Prophet from among their brethren like vnto thee This is the same the holy man Iob calleth his Redeemer whome hee knewe to liue Iob. 19. Num. 14.17 This is that bright Starre and Scepter of the which Baalam did prophesie in Moses Booke Vaiedabber saying there shall come a Starre of Iacob and rise a Scepter in Israel 2. Sam. 7.12.13 14. This is that true King of peace promised to David the Kinges Father in 2. Schemuel 7. that Seede of David and Davids Lorde whose throne shall bee established for euer To bee short this is that lively Image of God and King of glory without all spot or blemish most mightye wise and excellent which shall in his time new builde Heirusalem and prepare himselfe an holy Temple and house for his worshippe therein I meane a Church spiritually framed and gloriously garnished after that proportion and forme which David the Kinges Father gaue and prescribed him according to the writing thereof which hee had receiued from Iehovah his God and the which the King hath in his time of peace builded and perfected accordingly Therefore of this holy Seede sang the Princely Prophet in many Psalmes calling him sometimes Gods Sonne sometimes a King psal 2.45.110 sometimes the King of glory sometimes a Priest eternall after the order of Melchisedek sometimes his Lorde sometimes his God sometimes his Redeemer sometimes his Saviour sometimes the Messiah or Annointed of Iehovah And as this holy Seede hath beene thus promised and foretolde of and belieued to come into the worlde Shadowes tipes and figures of Messiah The tree of life in paradise Abel Abraham Noah so hath hee beene shadowed typed and prefigured As first by the tree of life in Paradise of the which if our first parentes had taken and eaten they had neuer dyed but should haue liued foreuer Next by the Sacrifices of Abel Abraham others in the which it pleased God to declare himselfe gratious This Noah also prefigured when the Lord made him the finisher of the old world and the beginner of the new To the same pointed Melchisedek and Melchisalem Melchisedek to shew that he was a King and a Priest A King of peace and righteousnes and a priest of the highest God for euer as without beginning and without ending for the number of his daies may not bee reckoned or knowne The same was signified in the ladder our father Iacob saw Iacobs ladder Moses Iosuah by the which the angels did ascend and descend to and from heauen He was fore-shewed a deliuerer from thraldome in Moses and a Sauiour in Iosuah for Moses brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt and Iosuah conducted them inherited them and preserued them in the promised land Also Aaron the priest of the Lorde prefigured him with his Vrim and Thumim Aaron The pascall Lambe c To the same also serued the vse of the Pascall Lambe and those other symboles and sacraments in the Wildernes as the Manna from heauen the Water from the rocke Iudges and such like In the booke of * Shophtim is mention made of many bodily Saviours by the which was mistically shewed the person and office of Messiah There was Sampson Gedeon Othoniel Ieptha Samuel And within our age Sampson Gedeon Othoniel Ieptha Samuel David the calling annointing and manner of the raigne and condition of David foreshewed the same For all these things my Lordes haue and do rightly aime to that most holy Messiah whome the Lord God would that men should belieue and expect and
the Serpent the Lord set enmity and signified in that Adam called her Havah the mother of all liuing Herein are founde those kindreds of the earth who in the promised Seed are blessed for euer And this is that princely spowsesse indeede of the which the King in a propheticall Spirite spake in his Schir-hasschirim moreouer this is that same which was shadowed in the family of faithfull Abraham Cant. 1. in the Arke of Noah the righteous which was builte and prouided according to the patterne the Lorde gaue him and mankind preserued in and by the house of King David wherein God was honoured and serued in the true vse of the law 2. Sam. 5. praier and the holy sacrifices and by the mount or castle of Zion from the which both the halte and the blind were takē away that the bright Vrim and right Thumim with all knowledge and perfection might dwell there And the same is doubtlesse expressed in this great and holy house which the king hath built for the name of his God wherein wee may not imagine that the King hath beene more curious then godly more precise then profitable or more sumptuous then wise considering that there is not the least iote or point therein which hath not either his proper vse or mistical entendemēt as in place hereafter ye may better heare and consider therof with iudgemēt And thereof wee may gather conclude that as the holy Messiah was killed in Abel deliuered his church figurately in Noah was foreshewed the Father of all nations in Abraham was offered vp on the Altarin Isaack was blessed in Iacob was a deliuerer of mankind out of the serpents tiranny in Moses was a Sauiour of the Lordes people in Iehosuah and borne and annointed and humbled and exalted and fauoured in David so hath he built his Church figurately in our Lorde King Solomon Furthermore this is strongly ratified aswell by the report and testimony of those recordes which the prophet Nathan hath written and left vnto vs as by the consent of our owne knowledge and conscience which haue both seene and heard and in wisedome considered one thing with another By the which we are sure that all those diuine promises which the Lord God made aswell to King Solomon as to David his Father do aime and point further then either to David or to Solomon yea they concerne that most excellent K. the Messiah which was so promised and typed and beleeued and expected to come and that in many thinges the which the K. hath begunne or expressed mistically shall bee accomplished made and performed indeede in the true Messiah that some things are common both in th' one and in th' other as by comparing them and their actions shal be easily perceiued in due time But first concerning this figure I meane King Solomon When King David had determined to build an house for the name o◠the Lord 2. Sam. 7.13 and that the house shoulde bee made and proportioned according to the writing and charge which the Lorde had giuen him Yet said the Lord I will not that thou shalt build that house but out of thy loines shall spring one that shall builde the same For thou art a man of warre and art much troubled as yet The building of two houses by two sundry persons but he shal be a man of rest and I will give him rest on every side that hee may the better compasse and effect the same By the which Oracle David did not onely vnderstand that his will and pleasure was that such an house should be builded which shold prefigurate his holy congregation but also he learned by whome those two houses should be builded Howbeit not by King David although he were a man after Gods owne heart and in many thinges a true figure of the Messiah but by his Seed yet not both by one and the same person but the one should be made by his sonne Solomon whome hee begat on Bethsabe the other by the holy Messiah who albeit hee bee the sonne of the highest is after the flesh Davids sonne For hee is to rise not onely in Iudahs-tribe but also in the house and linage of David according as the same David said thereof in the person of God I have made a faithfull promise to David and I will not alter it of the seed of thy body will I raise vp to set vpon thy throne whose daies shal be as the daies of heaven And therein hee woulde that as figures go before things figured and voices before words so the building of this materiall house shoulde go before the building of the Church as touching the times and seasons wherein the Lord wold work manifest his heauēly wil pleasure therein as Baalam said I shall see him but not now Num. 24. and beholde him but not yet for euery thing vnder the heauens hath his appointed time And so that this former house shoulde bee a figure of the latter in all due proportions and the Builder of the one sholde prefigurate the Builder of the other Therefore as the former is a true figure of the Church of Messiah which hee shall in the due time gather and build to himselfe so is King Solomō the sonne of David who hath built this Temple a true figure of that Messiah And truely albeit King David was not permitted to build either house in his dayes yet towardes the building and performance of all thinges in and concerning them both hee gathered and prouided many thinges of the highest request For towardes the materiall house hee gathered and made ready heiued stones plentie of Iron 1. Chro. 21. Doores Brasse without waighte Cedar trees without number and hee made ordinances and lawes and prepared thinges in great abundance the which also are not without their signification of greater matters therein shadowed Againe towardes both the Mysticall and spirituall house to bee builded in the due time as he was the man whome the Lorde chose to raigne ouer his inheritance and for his excellent Songes was called the sweete singer of Israel so hee exercised himselfe in the diuine seruices hee ruled the Lordes people and prepared them to the Lordes house yea hee composed and modulated many spirituall and sweete Psalmes Hymnes and Songes to the prayse of God and the edification of his Church hee prouided also and left behinde him for the heauenly Solomon many prophesies testimonies and holy examples from and by the which hee might vouchsafe at his comming into the worlde to take gather and confirme yea and to conforme to purpose his doctrine and workes for the better edification of his Church For hee hath plainely spoken before in the Spirite of the nature the dignitie the function the obedience the diligence the trauailes the manner of life the manner of death the rising and the wonderfull glory of that King of Israel and declared himselfe a liuely figure of the same Moreouer howsoeuer those
and the law in their seuerall places and functions th' other generall parte is that holiest place into the which none but only the high Priest and that once in the yeere enireth to sacrifice aswell for himselfe as for the people By the former is expressed the condition of that part of the Church which is in this life militant gathered and made vp of all sortes aswell of the common people as of the priestes and of the Gentiles together with the Iewes By the latter is signified that part which containeth onely the Lordes holy elect and glorious company of heauenly Sainctes in the kingdome of holy Messiah Betweene those two partes of the Temple there is made a certaine lofte or Chamber boorded or séeled By the which is not vnaptly signified mans mortall body in this world the which neuerthelesse being once rent or dissolved the gate or entrance is made open of the passage from the one part to the other For by this we passe out of the troubles and confusion of this place into the place of glorie This Temple hath a foundation strong and permanent by the which is signified the power and might of Messiah who beeing best able to support and beare the burden and building of his Church hath laid the same on himselfe as that sure rocke of rest vpon the which whatsoeuer is fast grounded shall stand and neuer fall This is the same by whome our fathers in the wildernesse were relieued and strengthned This Temple hath also walles standing on that foundation raised vp of framed stones and set well in order by the which we vnderstand the goodly companies of holy men rightly disposed and well ordered in the same There bee also windowes to giue in the light By the which are ment the order of the wise teachers ministers in the same There be pretious stones which note the most excellent Princes Prophets Priestes and Magistrates There bee two Altars wherof the one is of gold standing in the holiest place th' other is of brasse standing in the other part By the former we consider the merite of Messiah by the other the pure heart of the holy ones On the one is offered the same vnspotted Lambe vnto which all the sacrificed Lambes of our law do point on the other is lifted vp that sacrifice of praier faith thanksgiuing and righteousnes where of King David hath spoken There bee also Cherubins in the holiest place which note those Angels and ministring Spirits which standing in the heauenly presence are most obedient to his wil and euen ready to helpe succour and comfort the Saincts which are on the earth There bee lights and Candles in number ten By the lights are ment the doctrine of the right knowledge of God by the which the people are taught and instructed and by the Candlestickes wee may consider that diuine law vnto the which hee woulde that all those doctrines and instructions shoulde drawe men and to note the perfection thereof as alluding to the tenne commaundementes in the Law which indeede conteineth the very summe of all other commandements they are in number ten for this is a number of perfection Moreouer on the walles bee certaine pictures most gloriously beautified which expresse the noble graces and vertues of those liuely stones I meane the saints and withall diuers other things right beautifull and most admirable which also are to bee applyed to so many sundry functions administrations duties offices vertues in the Church of Messiah of the which I may not presently delate nor may as yet presume to vnfold that which I know shall be shut vp and fast sealed from the perfect knowledge of man Many things were sealed vp from mans knowledge before the comming of Messiah vntill the comming of that most holy one Moses himselfe could see but the very backe partes of him whom he desired to behold and things which shall be indeede are as obscurely shadowed vnto vs as yet But when hee commeth hee will both confirme that which is declared and shewe all things else most plainly which yet are hidden from our eyes Now all these things my Lords are not vnknowne vnto you or at the least vnto some of you and therefore I am sure yee will not yéeld to this that the King should bee either called or accounted a damned or reprobated or prophane person but rather as yee should indeed conclude and subscribe to this that King Solomon whom the Lord his God hath appointed the Builder of his Temple which so lively expresseth the holy Church of Messiah and there in hath made him an excellent figure of that Messiah is a Saint of the Lord elected and ordained to salvation To this answered all the Princes Indeede wee know it but much the better by this your explanation And therefore we see no reason to denie your conclusion but rather as we should doe acknowledge and confesse the Kings Holines and subscribe to that whatsoeuer ye haue said concerning the same And now my Lord Zadok if ye haue any thing els further to ratifie or establish that which yee haue assumed although we doubt not of any thing We pray you to bring it foorth also that his Highnesse be not defrauded of that which in right hee ought to haue nor others left without a resolution of that whereof they might peraduenture rest doubtfull Neither are wee any thing weary to heare you to speake so iustly for the king so delectably for vs and so profitably for the people Yee haue thus farre walked in a very pleasant way Walke on as yet good father proceed and bee not faint the ende of this course is both profitable and right praise worthy in the iudgement of all good men CAP. XXVII Zadok produceth many other arguments to proove that Solomon was a Saint appointed to salvation ZAdok listening to the godly desire of the Princes touching the further probation of the kings holines and acceptation with the Lord notwithstāding his sins opened his mouth againe and saide God forbid my Lords that I should either conceile or keepe backe any thing of that which may either satisfie you to be reuealed or confirme my former proposition in the which I assumed that the king was a Saint of the Lorde Therefore hearken and I will speake As the Lord our God had chosen and appointed the king to be a true figure of Messiah in the building of his Temple and therein a Saint of the Lord So also hath the same Lord ordained and declared many other notable things in and by the king to fore-shew and expresse the same for surely vnto this belongeth also the honor of his birth and acceptation his diuers titles and names his wisedom his iudgements his wealth his kingdom his fame with many his actions his words his qualities his graces his vertues and rare enduments most admirable in the eyes of all men Of some few of the which I will speake very briefely for to tell of them al I
am not able they are both so many and wonderfull much lesse to apply them in euery point to him whome with his vertues these things doe fore-shew and teach vnto men Solomon a figure of Messiah in his birth And first touching the honor of the kings birth and acceptation with the Lord It is true that Solomon is the sonne of David as before it hath beene said concerning whom the Lord made a faithfull promise saying Of the seede of thy bodie will I set vpon thy seate Howbeit 2. Sam. 7.13 the Lord also saide to David concerning him I will bee his father and hee shall bee my sonne Surely this properly fits the Messiah who is to come of the séede of David and yet hee is that naturall Sonne of God Thereof spake the kings father Iehovah sayd to my Lord sit thou on my right hand Againe Thou art my sonne this day have I begotten thee This is he indeed to whom the stabilitie of the kingdome of Israel is promised Where the Lord said I will establish the throne of his kingdome for euer Solomon as yet sitteth on the throne gouerneth his kingdom but the time will come that as the tipes must cease when the things typed come in place our Lord K. Solomon shal yéeld and giue his place to the holy Messiah that true Sonne of God when he shall begin to raigne in mount Zion Therefore let vs conclude that the king prefiguring also in this point the holy Messiah is a Saint of the Lord. Secondly the Lord hath imposed Solomon in his Names a figure of Messiah ordained such titles and names to and for the king as might no lesse expresse and set forth the same thing We heard before that the king had such Names as tended to th'exemplification of his honor but yet it was not then considered of euery one of vs to what certaine person or thing those names properly pointed for it is very certain that euery of those names are more proper to the Messiah then to the king albeit they were on him iustly imposed and of him at the first literally vnderstood The Lord God himself speaking vnto David of this person yer euer he was borne or begotten said His Name is Schelomon which is Peaceable 1. Schelomon 1. cho 22.9 or a maker of peace And the Lord shewed the reason thereof saying For I will giue him rest from his enemies round about him I will send peace quietnes vpon Israel By this he foresheweth the true Melchisalem that king of peace the right reconciler of his elect vnto himselfe who without this noble Prince are at wars with Lord opposed to the intollerable strokes of his Iustice But heereof it is that they haue quiet consciences peace with God and finally eternall rest and safetie in the most glorious kingdome of the King of peace To this also aymeth the blessed peace and tranquilitie that the Lord hath giuen the king and through him vnto vs from our bodily enemies on euery side in those the happy dayes of his gouernment Next when the Lorde would expresse his loue and affection towards him and againe the loue and affection that hee had and should haue to the Lorde his God thereby the sooner to foreshew the mutuall loue and delight betweene God and that holy Messiah he sent the Prophet Nathan as some of you yet remember who according to the diuine pleasure 2 Iedid-iah 2 Sam 12.25 called him Iedid-iah Beloued of God For so it is written that the Lord loued him therefore he called his Name Iedid-iah of the Lordes-behalfe Indeede it pleased the Lorde in this sort to declare his Ioue to the king Howbeit the Name properly fitteth that person Psal 2. to whom the Lord said as before Thou art my beloved sonne this day haue I begotten thee And the same which the Arabian Queene did mystically point vnto when in the spirit of Prophesie she said to the king Blessed be the Lord thy God which loved thee * After this the kings mother namely Queen Bethsabe that not without the instinct of the heauenly spirit perceiuing the maiestie feare of God in him 3 Laemuel pro. 31.1 withall knowing him to be made a liuely figure of the holy Messiah called him Laemuel that is God with him or God with them meaning that God was with him that he was as God vnto the people as Moses was sometimes said to be The which tittle therefore fitteth none so properly as it doth that bright Starre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Balaam descried and spake of in his prophesie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Num. 24 the which as we haue obserued containeth both the nuÌ„ber of the name ineffable and the number of the Divine law for the two former letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make in number 26. the which also the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yeeldeth and the two latter letters make 22. in which number of letters is written the whole lawe the which onely in the time of the right Laemuel shall bee performed and throughly affected in him by whom there shall be but one Lord and one Law one faith and one religion one sheepheard Gen. 49 â—0 4 Koheleth Eccles. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and one sheepefold Lastly he hath another Name which no lesse indeed appertaineth to that right Shilon vnto whom the gathering of the people shall bee That is Koheleth which signifieth a Congregator or a Preacher or a builder of a Church The King had this Name worthily imposed partly in regard of his wisedwne which was in him wonderfull beyond al others as if in one and the same person should be heaped and layd vp together all the wisedom and knowledge both diuine and humane which not onely any other one man but which all men together at the same time liuing had or could containe or comprehend partly in regarde of his Office and ministerie by the which he did not onely builde the materiall house which should prefigurate both the mysticall spirituall and eternall but also did preach and indeuor to call into the same and to instruct and conforme all others aswell Gentiles as Iewes in the true Religion of the most holy and euerlasting God But the effecting of all this properly belongeth to that holy Messiah who hath and shall haue in his time all wisedome and all knowledge without measure and thereof shall giue and dispose aboundantly to others and by his proper ministerie gather together the out-casts of Israel bring home them that bee and shall be scattered abroad by his wisedome iustifie the multitude in bearing their misdeedes and not onely builde of diuers stones and sundry things a Church and holy Congregation to himselfe but also defend foster susteine and preserue the same foreuer Nowe my Lordes in all these things hath our Lorde the King right worthily prefigured the holy Messiah to the which I hope yée will willy subcribe and thereof
righteousnes his annointing his apparell his marriage his royaltie his Godhead his praise his eternitie and everlasting glory For all these things are found and shall for euer be well approued and highly praised in that holy Messiah Solomons prayers and sacrifices which the Lord accepted 1. king 8.22 to whom onely the king by the letter pointeth as the figure to the thing figured Nowe with this wee may not forgette that the king hauing finished the Lords house stood before the Altar of the Lord in the sight of all the Congregation of Israel and stretched out his hands towards heauen and blessed the Lord and praised him and his truth yea he knéeled also on his knées and prayed vnto him that the word might be verified which hee spake vnto David his father and that it would please him to haue respect vnto his prayer and supplication as well for himselfe as for the people praying in that house Also he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel verse 56. with a loude voyce saying Blessed bee the Lorde that hath given rest vnto his people Israel according to all that hee promised c. The Lord our God bee with vs as he was with our Fathers and forsake vs not nor leave vs but that hee may bowe our hearts vnto him that wee may walke in all his wayes and keepe his Commandements his statutes and his Lawes which hee commanded our Fathers And those my words that I haue prayed before the Lorde bee nigh vnto Iehovah our GOD day and night that hee defend the cause of his servant the cause of his people Israel at all times as the matter shall require that all nations of the earth may knowe that Iehovah is God and none but hee Moreuer the King offered Offrings before the Lord yea peace-offrings in great aboundance and therewithall dedicated the house which he builded to the Lord with great ioy and gladnesse In all the which things Iehovah his God was well pleased with him yea and with the people through him heard his prayers receiued his requests graunted his petitions and apeared vnto him in Gibeon with this comfortable saying I have heard thy Prayer and thine intercession that thou hast made before mee For I haue hallowed this house which thou hast built to put my name there for ever and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually Now consider I pray you what K. Solomon is with the Lorde will the Lord heare and accept the reprobate and prophane persons or will he honour and esteeme their works although they séeme glorious to the conceits of worldly men No surely What saith the Kings father touching their prayers The prayer of vngodly men is turned into sinne Psal 100.6 And thus I haue heard him to modulate concerning himselfe and his estimation with the highest The Lord I know wil not vouchsafe my praier or words to heare If vnto sinne mine heart I should encline and him not feare But if I come into his Courts with offerings worthie praies And pay the vowes I promised in mine afflicted daies If on him with my mouth I call and with my tongue him blesse And offer him the sacrifice of thankes and righteousnes Then will he heare my praiers and consider of my case And my request will graunt in time of his aboundant grace In al these things therfore the king is declared to be not only holy and approued of God but also a perfect figure of that most holy Seede who in his time shall pray shall offer shall please God shal be heard shal be accepted and all his desires performed to the satisfying of his soule to the health of his people Finally The pluralitie of Solomons wiues the very pluralitie of the kings Wiues his Concubines on whom he was enamored and dishonoured howsoeuer vnlawfull offensiue to God and a disgrace to himselfe shall not be reckoned as a thing vnnecessarie in this comparison seeing that the most holy Messiah in his ardent zeale for mans recouery will be contented that the serpent shall trippe on his heele Gen. 3. whereby he will be dishonored and abased whiles he taketh on himselfe mans ougly deformities and sinnes being so willing through his owne humiliation and ignominie to ease man so burthened and to bring him home againe vnto him from whom hee had farre wandered and to reconcile him with him against whom hee had monstrously transgressed And therefore as his Proverbes the which for the most part hee vttered in his florishing and perfect estate are applicable as chiefly appertaining to the gouernment of a godly family as these his * Wordes That is his Ecclesiastes 1. now daily and ordinarily vttered and ruminated are applicable as especially belonging to the ordering of a godly Common-wealth So also those his Loue-songs and Ballads entituled * Schir-hasschirim The Canticles of Solomon The Song of songs composed in his yonger dayes yea before the twentieth year of his age shall not be reiected or abandoned but esteemed and properly applied both to that mysticall and spirituall woowing espowsing combination and familiar societie communication of the holy Messiah with his elect and faithfull Saints of the which hee gathereth and garnisheth a Church as a chaste Wife to himselfe Loe my Lordes in these and many other such notable things is our Lord K. Solomon by the will wisdom and providence of God made an excellent figure of that holy Annointed and therefore he may not bee esteemed a naughty or prophane person but to bee taken as hee is indeede a Saint of the Lorde Neither doe I any thing doubt but that the best learned and godly that either now liue or shall come after vs will so iudge and esteeme of him when they shall heare and well weigh not onely of that which hath beene said heretofore concerning him his words actions and estate but also shall plainely beholde the verification thereof in the very person and perfect beautie of that promised Schilo the King of righteousnesse and highest peace at his happy comming in the world into the appointed time This being sayd all the Princes were much comforted although in this their kings affliction and gaue thankes to Zadok who yet seemed further to resolue and satisfie them in any thing whereof either any question might bee mooued or any doubt iustly arise concerning the kings holines CAP. XXVIII Zadok argueth for the King concerning his repentance and remission after his Transgressions ZAdok hauing thus farre pleaded for K. Solomon and with many substantiall Arguments proued him a Saint of the Lorde and therefore that hee could not bee either a damned soule or a reprobated wretch or a prophane person as some haue or might ouer harldy rashly censure him the Princes shewed themselues both ioyfull and thankefull But after a whiles Prince Azariah in the behalfe of the rest stood foorth opened his mouth and sayde Most reuerende Father wee all confesse with thankefulnes that yee
haue framed a worthie Apologie for the king and with Arguments sufficient yee haue prooued him to bee not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prophane but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Saint Neither doe wee doubt of any of those things but partly know them and partly beleeue them to be so indeede as yee haue sayde And God forbidde that any of vs by reason of our suspensiue opinions and doubtfull conceites should tender occasion to any of them that come after vs to bee doubtfull of the King whom wee well knowe the Lorde hath elected and will preserue and whome wee esteeme notwithstanding his sinnes a Saint of the Lorde And in truth as those persons which haue bruised frankinsence and beene ensenced therewith doe smell of the same neither will they by and by lose the sauour and sent thereof though they bee purged so the King hauing beene endued with the diuine Spirite and long exercised in the vse of the right Princely and sacred vertues doeth yet and shall enioy the sweete sauor and acceptable memorie of the same neither may so short a time as this life is blotte it out Whereby being enboldened hee may therein contemne them that shall either disdayne him or vniustly iudge of either him his wordes or actions But nowe because the Kings Remission and Pardone Solomons sinnes are pardoned and he remaineth a Saint of the Lord for euer after his trespasse was called into question it may not displease your Reuerence that wee enquire whether his sinnes bee remitted that is whether the Lorde hath forgiuen and pardoned his trespasses forgotten his iniquitie absolued him of his guiltinesse and loosed him from the bandes of eternall death yea or no. For they will reply and thus obiect It may bee that hee was a Saint and seruant of Iehovah his GOD so long as hee kept his minde chaste his body cleane his actions without reproofe and the trueth of his doctrine pure and vnspotted Or so long as hee well pleased GOD who iustifieth the beleeuing sinner or so long as hee was ordained to stand the figure of the holy Messiah wherein hee sheened in perfite beautie but afterwarde in his transgressions and sinnes he turned his beautie into ougly deformitie Nor indeede according to your former words coulde hee possibly bee and remayne the figure of the holy Messiah longer then whiles his beautie remayned perfite in him Therefore except hee were forgiuen and by this his remission clensed and restored to his former excellencie or at the leasted admitted into the fauour of GOD and iustified the former doubt will be still retained and vrged against both him and his words Therefore let it please you to resolue this doubt and satisfie vs therein as we know yee are well able most reuerend Father To this answered Zadok I am most willing both to resolue this doubt and to satisfie you my Lords all in this case therefore to proue that the King hath obtained mercie and pardon of the Lord God for all those his transgressions and so consequently standeth and remayneth a Saint and person dedicated to the Lorde notwithstanding all those his transgressions I thus reason for my Lord the king * Whosoeuer hath truely repented him of his sinnes Solomon obteined mercie for he repented him of his sinnes hee hath obtained mercie and forgivenesse But our Lord King Solomon hath truely repented him of his sins therfore he hath obtained mercy and forgevenesse The first proposition is prooued by many sounde Arguments and positions of holy Scriptures And first by the due consideration of the Nature of GOD who as hee hath created man to his owne image and likenesse and hath a will to preserue him so desireth hee nothing more then his conuersion and amendement after his falling as whereby hee may not bee hindered but furthered and bolpen in his walking towardes the highest Glorie yea in this hee resembleth a true father that both pitieth and pardoneth his owne sonne which hath offended him vpon his true repentance as both Moses Iob and David of famous memorie haue tolde vs with other our holy Prophets who teache and assure vs from the Lordes owne mouth that if an vngodly man will turne away from all his sinnes that hee hath done and keepe all his Statutes and doe the thing that is iudgement and right hee shall doubtlesse liue and not die neither shall his sinnes bee either retained or mentioned vnto him for God hath no pleasure in the death of a sinner but gladly will bee mercifull vnto him and pardon him vpon his repentance For God is most readie to forgiue Therefore hee comforteth vs with this saying Circumcise the fore-skinnes of your heartes Deut. cast away your transgressions and turne againe vnto Iehovah your God and yee shall not dye but liue And this is that which wee beleeue and persuade of our Lorde the king Surely Cain himselfe though too presumpsuous and proude in his sinnes could inregard hereof say and is my sinne greater Gen. 4. then that it can bee pardoned Knowing that the promise which GOD had made to Adam in Paradize both imported and included remission saying that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Seede of the Woman shoulde breake the Serpents heade whereof man though an execrable sinner shoulde finde both remission and life with Iehovah his GOD. Next to this wee haue a great many comfortable examples in the Bookes of Moses Iob Iosuah the Iudges and Samuel as of the pardon offered vnto Iudah Lot the Israelites and to bee briefe to David the Kings father to whome the Lorde sayde by Nathan the Prophet God hath put away thy sinnes thou shalt not die the which hee often remembred in the Booke of the Psalmes psal 103.3 whereof hee also prouoketh his soule to the praise of GOD who had forgiuen him all his iniquitie and couered all his sinne Nowe as none can forgiue sinnes but God onely so those our ancestors when they sinned perswading that all their sinnes were done against God either immediately or by meanes they would in the hope of remission and health repaire vnto him seeking first to bee reconciled with his grace before they would goe vnto men remembering what olde Eli the Priest 1. Sam. 2. saide some-times to his children If a man sinne against man sayde hee the Iudge may decide it but if a man sinne against GOD who shall bee his Vmpire or Dayes-man Moreouer knowing that pardon required precedent Repentance without the which who will forgiue him that offendeth him among men they neither presumed to approach the diuine throne with proud insolent and presumptuous Spirites but with contrite and humble heartes desiring mercie for sinnes committed and confessed with great submission For albeit that Repentance be very sharpe and bitter to the sinner and many men had leaner sinne openly then repent secretly yet is this the Medicine of trespasses the consumption of iniquities a weapon against Satan and a sharpe sworde prepared and able to daunt
the deadly aduersarie This is the hope of health the purchase of mercie and way to felicitie I cannot yet cease but speake againe of this soueraigne treasure and medicine of the sinners sore beeing therein as full as the Moone and most willing to bee powred foorth in the excellencie thereof so full of consolation and rich blessings This is that which through the mercie of the liuing God in the promised seede remitteth sinnes openeth the gates of Paradize salueth the man that is broken in heart and gladeth them that bee sorowfull This is that which calleth a mans life from destruction restoreth his estate reneweth his decayed honour giueth him boldnesse reformeth his spirites and powreth in grace vpon grace This is that which looseth things bounde clarifieth things obscure and animateth things desperate The beautie of this vertue is as cleare as the Sunne as bright as the Moone as glistring as the Starres The sweetnes thereof is as honye the price as golde and the estimation beyonde all precious stones For this is that which neither sinne ouer-commeth nor defection destroyeth nor dispaire blotteth out Finally this abandoneth all vices imbraceth all vertues tormenteth sinne extolleth righteousnesse obtaineth mercies produceth vertues freeth sinners recouereth the lost recreateth the desperate He that can truely repent needeth not to doubt of saluation refresheth the harde labourer and bringeth to her possessors eternall happinesse For by this a man shall bee saued although hee hath lead all his life in sinne as there is no man which sinneth not full often and euery day Such an excellent thing is true Repentance But yee will saye Howe is this wrought in a man howe is this repentance wrought in man Howe shall a man truely repent Indeede this thing is not wrought in man of mans owne power nor wisedome For GOD stayeth not to expect it from mans wisedome or abilitie for so may both his expectation bee frustrated and man bee deceiued but it is the goodnesse of GOD to renewe them by repentance which are waxen olde in sinne Therefore the Sinner shoulde neuer despaire Despaire not of mercie nor fall from hope neither shoulde hee bee ashamed to repent but ashamed to sin and consider that as the one is a wound so the other is a medicine for the wound Sinne is the wound Repentance is the medicine the wounde hath shame the medicine hath boldnesse the wound is made by the malice of the deuill the medicine is wrought by the loue and goodnesse of GOD in the merite of the holy Messiah which beareth and washeth away all the sinnes of them that truely repent The princes * To this the Princes hauing yeelded attentiuenesse with great gladnesse consented esteeming the Oration as profitable as it was plausible and as fruitfull as gladsome vnto them And then among them stood foorth the Priest Abiather Abiather obiecteth and sayde Yee haue well spoken concerning the former proposition most reuerend Father It is likewise in request that yee prooue the Minor For it may bee called into question heereafter whether the King hath truely repented him yea or no For except this bee prooued what is any thing of that which yee haue spoken touching Repentance appertinent vnto him and if it concerneth not him what profite takes he thereof for hee is not remitted or how is our common question answered and the doubt resolued zadok proveth that king Solomon repented To the which answered Zadok neither is this question so hard to bee answered vnto nor the doubt intricate to bee dissolued for if there were none other Argument whereby to proue the kings true Repentance yet is this enough that he is a Saint a person dedicated to the Lorde therefore he is not fallen from hope therefore hee is truely repentant For as the strong foundation standeth still hauing this Seale The Lorde knoweth them that bee his The saints do not fall away for euer so wee may not thinke that the Saints of God for whom mercie is euer kept in store can fall vtterly away from hope or bee shut out from mercie in the time of their neede For as the wood whose nature is to swimme on the water may yet beeing ouer-laden with yron sinke but the yron beeing taken off the wood neuertheles ascendeth againe to the head of the water and swimmeth Neither may we say that it is no wood because it did sinke once to the bottome Though the faithfull fall yet they rise vp againe So though the righteous men whose nature is by Faith to stand and walke in Gods way being oppressed with the burthen of sinne through the deuils malice do vnhappily couch downe as with Isachar between two burdens yet may we not rightly saye that they are not of the Lords chosen for it is so that whensoeuer that burden is remoued as it is from them that repent they rise againe and bee renued as in their former estate and beeing of that generation and nature it is not possible that they shoulde fall vtterly away for the sonnes of God do not so apostate that they fall into eternall perdition howsoeuer they sinne and sinke vnder their sins For the iust man falleth but he riseth againe And therein they be likened to the herbe Adyanton which beeing steeped deep in the waters though a long time will neuertheles beeing taken vp appeare very dry For the righteous man which had fallen after his rising againe by Repentance is as beautifull as euer he was maugre the malice of the Serpent And touching this doctrine I haue heard the King himselfe to say according to the truth of the holy writings and words of our Prophets that the soules of the righteous are in the handes of God These be Solomons wordes which afterward were gathered by philo the Iew. Sap. 31. and there shall no torment touch them c. Again God proveth them and findeth them meete for himselfe as gold in the furnace doth he try them and receiveth them as a burnt offering and when the time commeth they shal be looked vpon Againe They that put their trust in the Lord shall vnderstand the truth and such as be faithfull shall persevere with him in love For his saincts have grace and mercy Sap. 4 15. and he hath care for them Againe The loving favour and mercy of God is vpon his saincts and he hath respect vnto his chosen Moreouer I haue heard the kinges Father to say The Lord will not permit the righteous to fall for ever though for their triall and bettering hee suffer them to slide for a time psal 55.22 And th'excellent prophets Nathan and Gad haue preached and others the Lords Prophets and holy men haue and do yet preach that God loueth his chosen with an eternall loue therefore he draweth them vnto himselfe by his mercy although they sinne seuen times in a day whereby they rise againe and are renewed Therefore it cannot bee that this person I meane King
Solomon so holy elected and beloued of God shold find no place of true Repentance after his sinnes committed Neither may we in equitie and charitie being indeede witnesses of such his Repentance but testify and auouch the same before the whole world But be it that his Repentance were neither apparant nor here protested by vs should the king therfore If this were not so plainely testified yet might not Solomon be iustly condemned as a reprobate which is so holy a man and the Lords chosen be condemned God forbid And it were too sharpe a censure either to say so or to think that euery person whose sins haue beene laid open in the holy Scriptures hath not been truly repentant except that also such his repentance hath beene expresly and plainely depainted and set foorth in the same Adam his repentance What plaine or expresse mention I beseech you is there made in the holy Scriptures of Adams repentance after his fall in whome wee bee all cast away by nature howsoeuer the same is presumed or gathered by circumstances or of the repentance of Noah after his drunkennes Noah Lot Sampson Simeon Levi. Iudah or of Lot after his incest or of Sampson after his daliances with Dalila or of Iacobs sonnes Simeon and Levi which against the mind of their Father dealt deceitfully and cruelly with Hemor the sonne of Sichem and his citizens or of Iudah th' eldest sonne of Iacob after his sinne with Thamar his daughter in lawe hee confessed indeede that shee was more iust then hee so did Pharao also confesse that the Lord was righteous and that hee and his people were Sinners Surely albeit that these and many other the Lordes chosen haue beene both noted in the holy Scriptures which are extant before vs and also punished in some measure for their sinnes and offences yet did it not alwayes follow that the repentance of euery of them hath beene so largely declared to the world or so plainely set foorth in wordes as was the repentance of David the Kinges Father Davids repentance and of some of others And yet who should either in wisedome reason equity or good conscience call their repentance conuersion or turning againe to the Lord into question to whome the Lorde hath expressed the full assurance of his loue and mercy in their liues What said the King in this case Though the righteous be overtaken by death yet shal he bee at rest Againe The soules of the righteous are in the hand of God their shall none evill touch them Worthily haue these golden sayings beene taken from his mouth Sap. 4.7 and copied out and conserued for the posteritie to giue comfort vnto the Lordes chosen and to satisfy them that might otherwise condemne themselues and their cause in the consideratiō of their punishments and miseries in this life Therefore it is true that as the man which hath beene long nooseled vp in vices will not onely with much adoe leaue them and leauing them will yet retaine some sauour thereof in his person as such which hauing beene long clogged with iron fetters will yet halte after they bee loosed so on the contrary parte hee that hath beene brought vp and exercised in holy vertues will not soone loose the habite much lesse the sauor of them as those vessels will long retaine and yeeld the smack of that liquor which was in them first steeped although they bee washed and assayed to bee purged from the same Neither may wee thinke but that if after the opinion of the very heathen Philosophers one vice ouerthroweth not a vertue in habite much rather shoulde wee of Israel not so much as imagine that one or a few faultes of the children of God occasioned either of ignoraunce or of feare or of infirmitye or of naturall concupiscence or of the malice of the olde Serpent shoulde rent asunder an habite of holinesse and so infringe or weaken the power of Gods free election and loue the which by his spirite euer worketh a godly repentance vnto them which are elected and by the same in mercy appointed to glory For those whome in his loue hee hath elected before all worldes hee wil in his mercy pardon and glorifie and for that purpose hee giueth them a godly repentance as that which is ordained for the calling home againe and recouery of those the Lords chosen whom the Serpent had beguiled and seduced For the Lorde our God will not loose any one of them which appertaine vnto him nor will hee suffer his truth to faile CAP. XXIX Of the nature of Solomons sinnes and argumentes of his true Repentance ZAdoke had no soonr deliuered the former speeches but by and by Abiather rose vp againe and obiected saying Whether are Solomons sins greater then the sinnes of some other that did repent and were pardoned 1. King 11. 5. It is said most reuerend father that the sins of our L.K. Solomō are of the nature as they haue far exceeded the sinnes of those holy ones of whose repentāce we be either certified or perswaded in the holy scriptures as more hainous and dangerous for behold his strange wiues and fleshly Concubines haue turned away his heart from the Lord his God in so much that hee hath followed after Astaroth the God of the Sydonians and Milcom the abhomination of the Ammonites he hath builded an high place for Chamos the abhomination of Moab and for Moloch the abhominatiō of the childrē of Ammon and hath wrought wickednesse in the sight of the Lord and hath not followed the Lord perfectly as did David his father Al these are your own words concerning the King and his trespasse most reuerend father neither haue I added any thing in the hearing whereof who is there almost but that will condemne the king of a more heinous and dangerouse sinne zadok then that the Fathers of whome ye haue spoken did euer commit in their daies But yet I beseech you said Zadok that those my wordes may neither bee wrested nor amisse vnderstood in this case God forbid that therein I shoulde so farre depresse the Kinges hope and estimation with the Lorde as to iudge his sinnes either irremissible or such haue exceeded the sinnes of those others whom the Lorde hath pardoned vpon their true repentance Indeede it cannot be denyed nor defended but that the king hath sinned grieuously against the Lord his God as I said before and therin hath offered an offence vnto the Lords people Howbeit that either the nature of those his sinnes is such as can neither haue pardon as was the sinne of Cain or that it was more hainous and horrible either in quantitie or qualitie then the sinnes of some others whom it pleased the Lorde in mercy to remit and renew vpon repentance wee neither finde nor dare to auouch Our first parents in Paradise committed an horrible transgression They hearkened to Satan they brake the commandement they forsooke the Lord their God were made thralls
to the tyranny of the Serpent which had deceiued them Adams sinne Gen. 3. Iudah Gen. 38.26 Lot Aaron Exo. 32.2 Gen. 34.25 Simeon and Levi. Ruben Gen 49 4. The Israelites Sampson Iudg 2.11.13 3.6 16.18 Laban Gen. 31.30 for the which they were iustly driuen out of Paradise and made subiect to misery and death notwithstanding it pleased the L. God as ye haue heard to forgiue them and to gather to himselfe an holy church euē from among them which had sinned We read that Iudah tooke his daughter in law Thamar lay with her contrary to the law and acknowledged that he had sinned therein Lot was made drunke and lay with both his daughters Aarō the Lords priest yeelded to the making of a molten calfe which the people worshipped VVe read that Simeon and Levi the sonnes of Iacob dealt deceitfully with Hemor Sichē his son and murthered them and their people against the will of their father who in his last words cursed their wrath which was shameles their rage which was cruel As for Rubē Iacobs eldest sonne he defiled his fathers bed distained his dignity Our fathers in the time of the Iudges were carried away to serue Baal Astaroth and they were cōioined with the Cananites against the law of the L. Sampsō the Nazarite combined himselfe with a strange woman yea and in the end yeelded his power to the harlot Dalila Laban the father in law of Iacob was a worshipper of strāge Gods Terah the father of Abrahā was not free frō the like offence And are the sinnes of those our fathers especially the greatest of these sins inferior to the K. sins Notwithstāding it is testified that the L. pardoned thē restored thē to his fauor But ye say that the K. hath turned away his heart form the Lord. Indeede of all others his sins this is the greatest Howbeit I say not therefore that hee hath vtterly turned away his heart as that hee hath quite forsaken God and by wicked apostasy fallen away from him for euer for had it beene so we should not haue seene him in this his estate And as I well remember I heard the king himselfe to say and wee cannot denye it when we well consider thereof and of him in this his estate that in the depth of those his sinnes and vanities he perceiued that yet his wisedome remained with him psal 51.11 1. Sam. 16.14 2. Sam. 7.15 How Solomon is said to turne away his heart from God by the which he ment the graces of that diuine spirit which King David praied that the Lorde would not vtterly take from him being indeed an effect of that mercy which the Lord his God said he would not take from him as he toke it from Saul whom hee had cast off before him But I say the King hath turned away his heart in this sense first in that he hath sinned against the Lorde his God secondly in that he hath yeelded to his lusts and thirdly in that he fainted in his holy zeale For there is no sinne whatsoeuer which a man committeth wherein there is not a turning away of the sinner from the Lord for sinne is contrary to the law of God and argueth a contempt of his iustice neglect of his graces therefore the Lorde requireth in them whom he recoureth and pardoneth a faithful returne in humble contrition Next it is true that euery man is led away from God of his owne concupiscence or naturall lusts and thus the King doting ouermuch on his strange Woemen hath been enflamed ouercome in affection seduced and led away from the Lordes righteousnes Thirdly the king by those former occasions had forsaken his first loue was waxen more colde or luke-warme in that holy religion and godly zeale with the which his heart hath been wonderfully enflamed in his youth But yet I remember what the Lord said I will shew mercy to whome I will shew mercy The same said to Hagar Returne againe to thy mistris Exo. Gen. 16 9. though thine heart was turned from her Againe he saith to the sinner ' Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do those good workes which thou hast vsed to doe when I was well pleased with thee Againe Remember thy maker So I confesse though with sorrow of heart that the king in that his estate hath not so zeolously set foorth and maintained the glory and seruices of God as he was wont to doe for whosoeuer is addicted to the former is defectiue in the latter but he neglected a great part of his office and duty But yet the Lord bee thanked we know that the state of religion was neuer altered or changed The holy religion neuer altered but continued the same in Solomons time 2. Chro. 11.16.17 but that hath and yet doth remaine the same as in the time of David notwithstanding the idolatries superstitions and prouocations of his strange women which is a notable argument that yet thee helde the sure foundation of his saith vnshaken And therefore let vs not presume either to say or to thinke that King Solomon is fallen vtterly away from the Lord his God who hath so wonderfully loued beautified and blessed him It is one thing to offend God by euill thoughts euill wordes or wicked deedes another thing to deny God and to forsake him vtterly He that sinneth and offendeth God and yet beleeueth in God he is by his repentance reserved for saluation but who so doth deny God and vtterly apostate from him there remaineth vnto him not so much as one little shell wherewith he may drawe a very small measure of the water of life It is not one and the same thing to turne frō the Lorde and to turne vtterly awry from him without retyre or returne The former of these faults is often seene in Gods owne children when like prodigall and disobedient sonnes they bee tempted to depart from their most louing father and yet do returne home againe are renued by repentāce as were Aaron Moses David the latter is seene in the reprobates only which fall away and neuer returne and therefore are not renued by repentance for they cannot truely repent The reprobates cannot truely repent because the Lord giueth not repentance vnto them as it was apparant in Cain in Lots wise in Saul whom the Lord cast away frō before him But this falling away from God wee haue not found nor shall perceiue in K. Solomon the Lorde bee blessed therefore Neither may wee thinke that howsoeuer he is saide to followe after Astaroth Milcom Molock Camos such others the Gods of the heathen that therefore he was so grosse an Idolator as he did adore and worshippe those strange Gods no more then we may thinke Solomon did not worship Idols Exo. 32.2 that Aaron the Priest did adore and worship the golden Calfe which himselfe had made at the importunacie of our Fathers in the wildernes And I knowe
conclude with mée that hee is neither a damned nor a reprobate The consent of the princes or a prophane person but a singuler Saint of the most high To this answered the Princes yee haue well spoken most reuerend father and semblably applyed whatsoeuer yee haue produced for the king Many things whereof wee knowe and all other things wee beleeue to be true as yee haue declared them therefore wee will gladly both subscribe to the same and conclude with you for the Kings holines Morouer as we haue been willing to heare you and are glad of those your resolutions so are wee not weary but more willing as yet to heare you further and further in these things neither shall ye bee more ready to speake then wee shall be pleased to listen and learne to vnderstand the mysteries of the kings excellency and glorie Therefore if ye haue any thing else to produce say on wee beseech you To this said Zadok Yea my Lords there be as yet many more Arguments to this purpose and more then I minde at this time to produce It shall be sufficient that among many I take some few For the thing being already so well proved that of the trueth fewe or none néede to doubt it may be bootlesse for mee to heape together ouer-much lest I may not onely séeme to affirme and confirme that which no man denieth but also to confound your memories with ambages and tedious circumstances But hearken againe As it hath well pleased the Almightie to elect king Solomon to appoint him the builder of his house Solomon in his dignitie prefigureth Christ to honor his birth and to entitle him with those most soueraigne Names so hath hee made him king ouer his people Israel to doe vnto them equitie and righteousnesse And this the Lorde did in his loue to his people 1. king 10. as the noble Queene of Saba said at her being here and so said Hyram the king of Tyrus writing to the king Because the Lord loved Israel therefore hath he placed the king over them Wherein wee see how he typeth the holy Messiah for insomuch as the Lord loued his Church I meane all those faithfull ones whom he had before elected and purposed to glorifie in the end he made his Messiah their Prince and Captaine He gaue vnto them in his good pleasure such a king as might sit vpon mount Sion from whence he had expelled all the halt and the blinde that this king of the right Vrim and Thumim might be placed and raigne therein doing righteousnesse and equitie vnto his Saints If therefore the Lorde loued Israel and in his pleasure placed ouer them a king whom he also loued and by the same would prefigurate both his Messiah his Church what should let vs in this to conclude for the kings holinesse Moreouer the end of this gouernment shooteth to the same scope which is to doe equitie and righteousnes This our king endeuoured to his power and so much performed as a mortall man could but the full perfection thereof indeede is reserued to the most holy seede which is appointed to combine the Lords Iustice with his Mercie therof conclude Equitie when laying mans guilt on himselfe hee shall beare the strokes of the diuine iustice and imputing his perfection vnto man hee shall procure him pardon Thus shall iustice be administred yet mercy shall not be abandoned but one thing so considered with another that both righteousnesse and equitie shall bee extended This worke I say is proper to the Messiah wherein therefore our Lord king Solomon standeth a true figure Furthermore to be briefe Solomons magnanimitie the K. great magnanimitie expresseth the same he spared forbare to punish thē which had offended his Maiestie as Adoniah Ioab and others whom hee would neuer haue struken had they not after their second offence against him worthily deserued the reward of their wickednes and how mercifully he dealt with Abiather it is apparent to signifie how ready the Messiah shall bee to forgiue them that offend him vpon their submission after the diuine nature who as David the king did sing is more ready to pardon then to punish them that sin against him when they repent as we sée in the example of the same David To this His wisedome may be added the excellencie of Solomons wisdō I mean that pure influence flowing from the glorie of the most high the brightnesse of that euerlasting light that vndefiled mirrour of the divine Maiestie and the image of his goodnesse that without measure The which shall perfectly and fully farre beyond all that the King hath or can haue be found really and actually resident in the person of holy Messiah the fountaine of all wisedome and heauenly graces the depth whereof the wit of man is not nor shall euer bee able to sound His iudgements and other things The 2. harlots The priesthood translated as long as the worldendureth Moreouer his discretion in Iudgement concerning the cause of the 2. women and their children signifieth the maner of dealing of the Messiah in iudgemēt between his Church and the malignant in time to come his translating of the Priest-hoode from the house of Eli foretelleth that the Priest-hood in time shall bee translated when the true Melchizedek shall come to offer vp his sacrifice for the people of God His iudgement on Adoniah and Ioab Adoniahs iudgement fore-sheweth that the King of glorie in his dayes shall powerfully throwe downe and confound all such as bee enemies to the Lords Annointed and which seeke to disturbe the common-wealth of his Church Hyram his contribution The sending to Hyram the Sidonian for timber and other things for the building of his Temple signifieth that the Messiah as hee is a light for the Gentiles so he shall from thence also take and gather into the Church according to the request of Noah Gen. 9. who prayed that Iaphet might be persuaded to dwell in the tents of Shem. To this also belongeth the comming of the famous Queene of Arabia The Queene of Sheba to heare the kings wisedome with her royall presents and her entertainement for the time shall come that in the like manner the kings of the Gentiles and the people which dwell in the remote and vttermost parts of the earth shall be congregated to heare the wisdom of the holy one Solomons glorie and riches and shal be most gratefull to him for his loving mercies Also the great glory and riches of the king setteth foorth the high glory and noble vertues of that heauenly king from whose kingly stocke many princely branches of divine issue haue and shall spring out and of whom the kings father diuinely inspired prophesied when he spake in the Psalme of his beautie psal 4.5 grace blessing courage might worship renowne prosperitie honor truth meekenes righteousnes noble actions strength in warre of his throne his scepter his iudgements his
my Lordes that ye haue not seene any such thing in the king nor do ye imagine as I suppose that the king at any time was so foolish as to adore or worship such kind of Gods of the which his father David deciding the grosse Idolatrie of the heathen thus sang Their Idols both of silver golde and mens hand worke they be They mouthes have but do not speake and eies but cannot see They have eke eares but do not heare senseles noses so They have handes but they handle not feete but cannot go Doubtles answered the Princes we perswade as yee haue said yea said Azariah and wee haue often heard the K. himselfe to blame and reproue such kind of Idolatry and thus hath he said whose wordes for wisedome and grauity are copied out and divulged euen among the Gentiles Sap. 13.10 14.8 15.3 Miserable are they and among the dead that call them Gods which are but the workes of mens hands Againe deriding the folly of those Idoll-worshippers he saith he is not ashamed to speake to that which hath no soule for health hee makes his petition to that which is sicke for life he humbly praieth to him that is dead Againe cursed be the Idoll that is made with handes yea both it and he that made it he because he made it and it because it was called a God whereas it is but a fraile thing for the vngodly and his vngodlines are both like abhominable vnto God euen so the worke and he that made it shal be punished together Againe To know the Lord God is perfect righteousnesse yea to know his power is the root of immortality As for the thing that men haue found out through their euill science it hath not deceiued vs nor the painters vnprofitable labor namly an image spotted with diuers colors whose sight inticeth the ignorāt to lust after it and he desireth the picture of a dead image that hath no breath Both they that make them they that desire them and they that worship them loue euill thinges and merite to haue such thinges to trust vpon Againe the enemies of Israel that worship those Idols are most vnwise more miserable thē very fooles For they iudge of them to bee Gods which neither haue eyes to see nor noses to smell nor ears to heare nor hands nor fingers to grope and as for their feete they are too slow to goe Lo those and such like wordes hath the king his wisedome vttered touching those heathen Gods and the worshippers of thē euen publikely and in presence of all them to come to him to heare his wisdome that thereby the sooner he might withdraw them from that grosse error and impious abhomination and bring them to the right worship of Iehovah the God of Israel Ye haue truly spoken in this matter said Zadok for in truth I haue not knowen any one man of life that hath more disliked and derided this kind of Idolatry that hath more sharply reprehended them that haue followed after strange Gods then the K. himselfe Neither did he thinke that any man which either knew Iehovah our God or had any wisedome or reason or iudgement or humaine wit wold acknowledge such a senseles image for a God and worship it much lesse himselfe woulde either aduenture or attempt a thing so heinous shamefull and dangerous against the law of God reason and good conscience being a man so wise holy and zealous for the L. his God Therfore let vs not imagine that the K. was so perswaded to prostrate himselfe before those vaine images of the heathen to adore or worship them as Gods or that he did inuocate or pray to them or trust in thē for any aid or comfort seeing that both he knew the abhomination of such vain things In what sense it is said that Solomon followed after strange Gods felt the goodnes of the living God at al times so gratious towards him but indeede this is true that the K. hath in his fond loue and carnall affection to his wiues being Idolators and Apostats from the true religiō so doted besotted himselfe that he hath winked at such their abhominations yea hee hath permitted them to vse their strāge religiōs more yet he hath caused to be built for thē houses high places in the face of all Israel in the sight of Ierusalē hath allowed thē great sums of money maintenance out of his treasurs to for the same wherof it is well said indéede that he followed after their abhominatiōs for being both the K. of Israel the husband of those his wiues he should rather as he might wel do haue restrained punished such horrible abuses of the name honor of God But howsoeuer it was seing we haue not séen such palpable idolatry in the K. as that he did worship their idols nor cā we see into the K. heart as God séeth him Gods secret waies are such as no vultures eie did euer see as Iob said the bottōles profunditie therof we may not attempt to sownd let vs here content our selues with so much thereof as it hath well pleased him to reueale vnto vs iudge iustly and soberly of God and his waies constre the best of his Saintes thinke honourably of this chosen person and his actions and words not rashly censuring the one nor indiscreetely condēning the other And out of all question if in this resolution and minde wee duly search and wisely examine and consider of all thinges we shall find and confesse that howsoeuer it bee K. Solomon did not onely turne away from God and endangered himselfe as all other sinners do but that also he is returned againe and assured of safetie King Solomon did turne again to the Lord. as those which truly repent them of their sinnes that he had not onely his heart seduced and corrupted as his Father David had when he cōmitted murther adultery but hath also a new heart created and a right spirit renewed in him as the same David had after that hee repented psal 51. praied and founde grace with the Lord that he did not only deny the Lord wherby God was exasperated against him as our forefathers both in the wildernes and in the time of the Iudges haue don but also hath acknowledged his power Num. 21.8 and confessed him and therein eschewed his owne destruction as many of our fathers did which beheld that brasen serpēt in the wildernes and wept before the Lord and were preserued and comforted he did not only sin to prouoke the Lord but also he did repent and well pleased the Lord. Exo. 10.17 2. Sam. 12.13 Gen. 4.14 1. Sam. 13.4 Gen. 3.20 38 26. Exo. 32.22 And this he hath done not with his mouth onely as Pharao did but with his heart as K. David did he dispaired not as did Cain and Saul but he sorrowed and repented in hope as did Adam and Iudah