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
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
burthen and poore men satisfied in their iust requests 16. They had the ingenie and vertue to inuestigate vnderstand and make knowne to the king the whole estate and principall affaires of his kingdome 17. They were both able willing to cheare the subiects to correct their acttions to salue their sores to consolate the afflicted to tolerate the simplicitie of the ignorant by a fatherly connivance and to gouerne not only the whole but euery particular member of the common wealth 18. Lastly they had a chiefe regarde of their oath to God and the king as Solomon himselfe aduised them fearing God and keeping his commandements wherein the whole duty not onely of euery man but especially of such princely personages consisteth And this Solomon well obseruing as hee had an heroicall spirite so procéeded he to consider of and to reward their good deserts according to their seruices done and after the terme of the imposition of his will that they might further be encouraged in their places of gouernment but those placed he in the highest grade of remuneration whose good seruice he had approued most profitable and so orderly euery one of the rest after his place had both his qualification rewarde of the same for the king being conuersant with those his princes he honoured the honour worthy and held euery one in his sorte he inuited to his owne Table this day one the next day another adorning this man now and that man then according to his degrée Neither was any one of them neglected or left without some taste of his bounty yea his clemency liberality grace was apparent to all for he was neuer of the mind or semblance to be couetous towards his subiects whiles he was bountifull to himselfe but as I said bountifull to all but especially to those his princes and them which had best deserued in their faithfull seruices Now by this the sooner the true religion florished the common-wealth of Israel prospered and the highest of all was wonderfull well pleased with the king with his Nobles and with the people in those his happy daies wherein as he was not inferiour to any Prince in the whole world so neither was the kingdome of Israel thereby lesse prosperous then any kingdome on the earth yea this nation and their policie was to all others by many degrées preferred through this grace and blessing of the Lord both on them and their king Truly these be the things which the noble Counsaylors of kings and Princes most respect according to the right of their degrées the dignities of their functions the duties of their places and the diuine prescription knowing this to be the verie end of their preferments and the same which finally crowneth them that are worthie with the highest honour as we haue séene it verified in the examples of Abraham Moses Iehosuah Ioseph Samuel and Dauid the Kinges Father Whereas the neglect or abuse of this princely duty which is often found in them which ambitiously aspire for their proper pleasures vain glory or filthy lucre hath occasioned euen mighty men in the world shamefully to couch and fall downe vnder ignomy and finally to dye without any honour as we may behold in the fearefull examples of Cain Nimrod Achitophel Ioab Shimei Adonia Doeg and many such like But yet behold After many prosperous and florishing daies of peace and pleasing tranquillity this wise king euen Solomō began more and more to decipher his infirmities and to manifest himselfe as indeede he was a mortall yea a sinfull man For as Sathan who had long time envied his happy state and royall dignity suggested euill in his heart and tempted him to sinne against Iehouah his God thereby entending to ouerwhelme him his kingdome as sometimes he assayed to effect against righteous Iob whereon the Lord who had thus long staide him vp with his diuine power permitted him at the length to fal that for some good causes to himselfe wel known howbeit within the compasse of such a limit and measure as he should not defect and fall away from him for euer But King Solomon was as it were for a time committed I say not to Sathan but to himselfe who beeing so left notwithstanding his excéeding great wisedome soveraigne dexteritie in iudgement soone forgat himselfe his condition his duty and the law of his God following after the sensuall humour of a humain mind and prave affection he bowed his loynes vnto Women yea to many outlandish strange Women contrary to th'xpresse commandement of Iehouah his God whereby in his elder dayes being quite ouercome in his bodie turning away his hart from the Lord and affecting those vaine Gods which his wiues worshipped he wrought wickednes before Iehouah his God and walked not vprightly in his law by doing whereof he stained his honour defiled his posterity brought wrath on his children and felt sorrow for his folly For the Lord who had before graced and magnified him being iustly prouoked was very angry with him and in his fierce yet iust wrath not only minaced the diuision of his kingdome in the dayes of his Successor namely Rehoboam but stirred vp against him to that end euen in his latter time sundry Satans or aduersaries who euer crossing thwarting his peace purposes drenched him with manie bitter potions to the noysome disturbance of that blessed tranquillity which his name imported th'exéeding sorrow of his people dayly vexed with incursions of enemies and the continuall agony of his oppressed soule which both day and night felt the gnawing of a restles worme within his consciēce And here we obserue two memorable things for admonition and instruction to all posterities first what is the nature of man with his condition when hee is left or committed to himselfe not stayed or assisted by the diuine grace Next how little the Lord God regardeth them that turne their harts frō him how wise or magnificent soeuer they bee in their places before men We know how true and too often that is verified which King Dauid said in his godly meditations that man being in honour hath none vnderstanding and therefore is compared to that Beast which perisheth For thus Adam the Lord of the whole earth beeing left vnto himselfe with Lady Hevah his wife though in the most blessed Pallace of pleasant Paradise within short time transgressed the commaundement and expressed folly Thus Prince Noah after his laborious trauails on the huge deluge at length being at ease and as it were cōmitted to himselfe was made druncken with wine and lay vncouered before his children Thus good Lot after that Sodom was burned and himselfe but a little refreshed fell into both the sinne of drunkennes and inceste Thus Israel both in the wildernes and in the land of Canaan franked and pampered with prosperitie wherein they too much admired their owne valour forgat the Lord went a whoaring after strange Gods and fell to ruin Saul the late king plaied a plain
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
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
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
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
gouerning of the common-wealth of Israel And surely when these both departed from vs we found as ye haue in sort signified that a great part of the light of Israel was shadowed and the kings honour blemished but such is their lots and such is our discomfort and the occasion of the kings sorrow Now here wee may remember well what the Lord God said to Moses a little before his departure from Israel Deut. 3 116. Behold said he thou shalt sleepe with thy fathers and this people will rise vp and go a whoaring after strange Gods of the land whether they go and will forsake mee and breake the appointment which I have made with them and then my wrath shall waxe hot against them in that day and I will forsake them and hide my face from them and they shal be consumed and much aduersitie and tribulation shall come vpon them so that they will say are not those troubles come vpon me because God is not with me Wherein we may see the order of the destruction of them whom the Lord determineth to consume First hee taketh away their godly and vertuous Prince then they as people without good gouernment depart from him and liue in all abhomination then his wrath is kindled against them then he hideth away his face and fauour from them then hee grieuously afflicteth them and in conclusion consumeth them This partly beginneth to worke on vs in the taking away of those wise Counsailors but oh God! what may wee feare to ensewe on vs of our Soueraigne King shoulde bee also called away Surely then it cannot otherwise bee but that those troubles which awayte for vs in such a time will sodenly seise on vs to our extreame paine and miserye In the meane time it is meete that we bee diligent in our duties and places aswell towardes the king as towards the people and assay to supply them which are so departed aboue all let vs haue an eye to the law of our God and not to contemne the same nor in any sort neglect it that so the Lord may thereby the sooner in his mercy regard the king and his people that neither we may be without an honourable King nor his Maiesty destitute both of faithfull counsaylors and obedient Subiects But now most reuerend father we also request that the fifth cause of the kings sorrow be likewise examined the which as ye said riseth of the yong Prince Rhehoboham the kings sonne and heire apparent to the kingdome CHAP. XVIII The 5. 6. causes of the kings sorrow viz of Rhehoboam Hadad Rhelon and Ieroboam THe fifth cause of the kinges trouble saide Zadoke is indeede of Rhehoboam who notwithstanding his right vertuous and rare educatioÌ„ which might wel perswade in him obsequie obedience the feare of God and a godly life through the wisdom and especiall regard of the king doth yet rather imitate and follow the corrupt humour and vnthrifty nature of his mother Naama the Ammonitisse then the good nature Rhehoboam his nature and inclination and wisedome of his father and he leaneth more vnto those yong and gréene heads that are growen vp with him and haue waited attended and beene conuersant with him in his childhood then to any of the K. noble Princes wise Counsailors the which the King perceiueth and knoweth to pronosticate the decay of his house and the dissipation of his honour For Rhehoboam being a yong man will haue his owne will and his owne libertie he is growen disobedient and scarcely can be restraigned by his father or kept within the boundes of his duty The King séeth whereto this will grow after his departure when this yong Prince shal be placed in the throne haue the raines at wil And truly this wil be to vs a very straÌ„ge Metamorphosis and sory change Thus as the King in his divine wisedome foreseeth the misery which the euerlasting God will bring vppon vs and his people so doth he more then feare the same to be iustly occasioned and performed in the daies of that Prince Rehoboam that is to succeed him that during his owne time this matter shal be deferred for the sake of David the Lords annointed to whome God had made a faithfull promise which concerned not him alone but also his Seede 2. Sam. 7. And that notwithstanding he well perceiueth that the people begin to affect Rehoboam more then they either loue or like him their preseÌ„t king for who is els that second man which shall stand vp after him of whome he lately spake Eccles. 4.15 Now hence is it that the king is occasioned to loath the labours of his owne handes to lament that vnhappy condition of his sonne and the people and thereof it is that hee saith in the wofulnes of his heart I am weary of my labors which I haue taken vnder the Sun Eccles. 2.18 because I shall be faine to leaue them to another man that commeth after me and who knoweth whether hee shall be a wise man or a foole and yet shall he be Lord of all my labors which I with such wisdome haue taken vnder the Sun Then turning towards his people he said Wo bee to thee thou land whose King is but a child meaning a child in affection manners and wit such as Rehoboam is feared to proue after him and wo be to thee O land whose Princes are earely at their banquets meaning such as those counsailors of Rehoboam and companions of his youth shall declare themselues to be And thereunto he added this affixe Through slothfulnes the balkes fall downe and through idle handes it raineth in at the house Surely surely the vntowardnes of this youthful Prince hath already very much disquieted the kings heart neither besides all the former causes can it be otherwise then an vnspeak able griefe to a most louing and deere father especially to such a rare wise renowmed magnificent mighty magnanimious and glorious king to leaue behind him a thriftles an vnhappy child possessor of all those his ingenious trauailes It was not without good cause that father Noah in the griefe of his heart Gen. 9.25 denounced a bitter curse on Canaan the sonne of Cham and his generation whereof there ensewed no meane incoÌ„uenieÌ„ce to the Chananâ—ts in posterity who at this day as ye see stand odious in the sight both of God and of our nation Neither may we imagine that any light cause shall moue a father to cast on his owne children a curse in steed of a blessing So the sorrow of our first parent Adam conceiued vpoÌ„ the vngodly and brutish behauiour of his first borne Cain especially in that tragicall action perpetrated against God and his brother Habel was so great that Adam was verily resolued as it is deliuered vnto vs not to know his wife any more that thenceforth he might not be occasioned to lameÌ„t be grieued in such sort for the losse of another sonne neither did he know her
indeede as it is reported for the space of an hundred yeeres after that time Howsoeuer it was no doubt his griefe that way conceiued was vnspeakeable neither is the kings sorrow foreseeing such a thing to ensew him in the dayes of Rehoboam any meane or measurable sorrow Oh therfore that yet it wold please the Lord our God if possibly it may be in his mercy to allure and perswade Prince Rehoboam to feare his highest maiesty and to keep his lawes which is that which is required of him in his duty to honour his father our Soueraigne King in his life that his dayes may bee prolonged in this land to hearken to godly and graue counsell to remember his creator euen in those his tender yeeres and to learne and follow that which belongeth both to his fathers peace the safety of Israel and his own honour In summe that hee so order and demeane himselfe and his family in the true vse of his fathers faith and religion with the dayly exercise of his princely vertues that al Israel may bee moued by God to bee willing to incline vnto him and to obey him as a man most meete to succeede him and to sit on his seat whensoeuer it shall please God to take from over vs our Lord the king To this answered the Princes present Verily verily these be causes and argumentes waightie and sufficient to prouoke sorrow and griefe and such as may trouble any King Prince or Potentate in the world But wee yet hoped that seeing these troubles are such as commonly follow the nature of man Wise men bee not soone over come with ordinary afflictions and to the which all men in this life be of force subiected the king being most prudent and prouident will not be ouercome nor quailed with these or any such passions but will assay as he knoweth he should to beare and digest them or so to passe them ouer as hee may rather take profit then hurt thereby to himselfe Thus he seeth what Noah and Abraham Moses and Samuel Iehosuah and David with such other noble personages haue done in the like cases in their times The whiles it is our parts and duties to counsaile and perswade the king to that which shal be most meet and profitable aswell for his owne health as for the common good and therein not to contemne nor neglect Prince Rehoboam nor to defraud his honour hoping and wishing for the best to ensewe touching him howsoeuer God shall worke to dispose of matters in his secret counsaile that so the fault of his disobedience and defect if so it fall out may neither bee ours nor any way occasioned by any of vs. And so Iehovah our God be mercifull vnto our soueraigne Lord vnto Rehoboam his sonne vnto vs and vnto all Israel the land of his delight Now it may please you most reuerend father to call to minde that sixth cause of the kinges grieued heart which came as ye said of Hadad of Rezon and of Ieroboam The 6. cause of Solomons sorrowe the kinges aduersaries and of euery of them It is certaine answered Zadoke that troubles be common in all places of the world and incident to al men liuing on the earth seeing that al men be sinners and no man doth good as both David in his songs and our king in his wise parables record neither therfore is anyone man without his particular crosse Troubles are common nor any person without his aduersary or enemy to vex molest him eueÌ„ then when he seeketh to be quiet And surely it is rare an especial blessing of God when men may enioy peaceable times to finish their works taken in hand for the glory of God and the weale of his people as had our king during the time he was occupied in the building of the Lords house The kings father knew this wel all the histories of the former times are stored with such spectacles and examples that troubles awaite all men in this life Howbeit these things seeme strange and so wer vnto them which haue in loÌ„g peace liued and prospered vnder the raigne of peaceable Princes as we haue done in the happy time of our Soueraigne Lord. 1. King 11.14.23 Hadad the Edomiâ—e Now so it is that very lately as ye know there be risen vp against the king and his people those three namely Hadad Rezon and Ieroboam dangerous and shrewde enemies for that Hadad as ye remember is an Edomite of the kings Seede which was in Edom. And that when David the kings father was sometimes in Edom in the time of his warres and that Ioab then the captain of the hoast was gone vp to bury them that were slaine in the battayle he smote all the men-childreÌ„ of Edom. At what time this Hadad fled certaine other Edomites of his Fathers seruants with him to come into Aegypt Hadad being yet but a little Child Howbeit he had gotten fauour in the sight of Pharao the king who hath giuen him to wife the sister of his own wife euen the sister of Thaphynes the Queene Now as soone as Hadad had heard tell that David was laid to his Fathers and that Ioab also then captaine of the hoast was dead hee came againe into Israel by the power and assistance of Pharao where after processe of times being strengthned by his affinitie and combination with the Aegyptian King he tooke an occasion to rebell to stand vp against our Lord the King It appeared that hee had a mischieuous mind both against the king against all his house wherby not only the king and his court was much troubled but his subiects especially those territories which embordered on Hadad were annoyed with sodaine incursions inuasions and spoiles The king God knoweth hath long liued raigned in great peace with all nations as with his friendes now must he study euery day how to defeÌ„d himselfe against theÌ„ as his enemies And Hadad as I may say is not only an enemy so professed but a most daÌ„gerous enemy that not far off but eueÌ„ at home within his graces dominioÌ„s and the more for that Pharao whom the king had so many wayes benefited Take heede of old enemies in regard of loue and good will was contented to take a wife from thence to confirme the league of mutuall friendshippe betweene them By the which wee may obserue as it is not safe for a man to trust his enemy then when hee hath gotten habilitie with waies and meanes to reuenge an olde grief so neither is it wisedome either to trust or depend much on them which are of another religion howsoeuer they offer themselues obsequious vnto vs then when wee may pleasure them in the thinges of this life For surely though Nature be supprest yet will she sprout againe What oathes vowes or promises soever are giuen or taken to the contrary notwithstanding Therfore how could this be otherwise then a griefe to the king The second aduersary
indeede a degree higher then the former albeit the former was abhominable and dangerous to his body life fame soule and glorie And that is the king hath combined himselfe with strange women for hee hath taken the daughter of Pharaoh Strange women and the women of the Moabites Ammonites Edomites Sydonites and Hethites whereas yet concerning those Nations the Lorde sayde vnto our Fathers zabud obiected Goe yee not into them nor let them come into you els will they turne your hearts after their gods To this obiected Zabud for the king But yet it hath beene permitted in the Lawe that such women might neuerthelesse bee taken accepted and vsed of our Nation with certaine prouisoes and conditions For the Lorde saith by the hand of Moses Deut. 21.11 If thou seest among the captives taken in warre a beautifull woman and hast a desire vnto her that thou wouldest have her to thy wife thou shalt bring her home to thine owne house she shall shaue her head and pare her nailes and put her rayment that she was taken in from her and let her remaine in thine house and bewayle her father and her mother a moneth long and after that thou shalt goe in vnto her and mary her and she shall be thy wife In this sort David the kings Father tooke one of his wiues namely the mother of Thamar whom he had captiued in his warres And thus did our king take and accept Pharaohs daughter of whom his father spake in the Psalme Hearken O daughter and consider encline thine eare forget also thine owne people thy fathers house so shall the king have pleasure in thy beautie for he is thy Lord God and thou must worship him And truely howsoeuer the Quéene did dissemble her owne former Religion and made shewe of loue vnto that which we loue and imbrace the king so accepted her and thought nothing lesse then of any hypocrisie in her And therefore in his integritie he imbraced her and tooke her as his owne All this I grant sayd Zadok And I will not denie zadoke answereth the obiection that the king did obserue the like according to the Lawe in all other his wiues and Concubines But why should not such as are receiued on conditions be retained on the same conditions and not otherwise for the meaning of the Lawe is that if such a woman albeit she be Pharaohs daughter or the daughter of any other Prince or person shall not hold and obserue the conditions touching the Religion and peace of Israel but apostate and turne away from the Lord and daily endeuor and study to pollute the honour of our king and contemne the religion of our God that thereupon she be abandoned reiected sent away from the Common-wealth of Israel much sooner from the kings societie yea rather then that societie should he continued to the danger of those inconueniencies Exod. 34.16 Deut 7.3 the parties should bee reduced and committed to the censure of the generall Lawe as when the league is infringed by the breach of the conditions the parties stand as in their former estate any thing to the contrary thereof notwithstanding And this is the Lawe to the children of Israel touching the abandoning of this kinde of societie with any of those seuen execrable Nations as the Hethites the Hevites the Gergesites the Amorites the Chananites the Pherezites and the Iebusites Thou shalt make no marriages with them neither shalt thou give thy daughter vnto his sonne nor take his daughter vnto thy son The reason is added whereunto this prouiso or condition hath respect For they will deceive thy sonne that hee should not follow the Lord and they shall serve strange gods and then will the wrath of the Lord waxe hote against thee and destroy thee This thing Abraham our father both considered and respected long before the Law giuen by Moses for hee had seene the inconuenience of such coniunctions in the old time when by the same the sonnes of God were polluted and the whole earth destroyed in the dayes of Noah Gen. 24.3 therefore hee gaue his seruant a speciall charge for the match of his sonne Isaak with a mate of a faithfull Family The like also Isaak respected when hee disliked the mariage of his sonne Esau with the Hethites and charged his sonne Iacob not to take him a wife of the daughters of Chanaan Gen. 26. 27. but that hee should repayre to his Vncle Laban and take from thence of his daughters But howsoeuer such coniunctions might be tolerated or winked at vpon occasions in some others what needed Solomon the sonne of David to haue lusted after the women of a strange Natition Are not the daughters of Zion faire and beautifull and wise and vertuous yea are they not preferred in honour to all the women in the worlde And did Solomon feare of any heathen Potentate that hee would in this sort be lincked vnto him in amitie for the retayning of peace Yea is hee not stronger and more wise and politicke then any of them all And doe they not more dread and admire him then hee hath neede to doubt what they are able to doe against his Maiestie But alas lust is blinde and many wise men as I said before bee led blindfolded into the pitte of preuarication and woe by such women as being of an euill opinion and like Religion will receiue no kinde of Counsaile which withstandeth or hindereth their fonde lustes and vanities And thereof it is that the King so prudent wise and famous hath beene bewitched enchaunted and besotted so farre that in the lightnesse of voluptuousnesse he hath altered his single minde and distained his honour * These be great faults my Lords but yet hee is much more blameable and guiltie of iudgement no lesse of punishment The third sin of Solomon though hee bee a king because that in his lustes hee hath turned away his heart from the Lorde his God which hath appeared to him at two sundry times For beholde the king hearkening vnto those his strange Wiues which had nowe at length apostated and turned backe againe to the Religion of their Fathers and Countrey hee hath followed after Asteroth the God of the Sydonians and after Melcome the abhomination of the Ammonites and he hath built an high place for Chamos the abomination of Moab euen in the hill that is before Hierusalem and vnto Moloch the abhomination of the children of Ammon and the like hath hee done for other his outlandish Women which burnt incense and offered diuers sacrifices to their sundry Gods Neither seemed the king then touched with any remorse of conscience but cleane contrary to the Lawe of God the charge which his father gaue him the lessons his mother taught him and that which his owne wisedome should perswade in him he hath fowly prostituted himselfe to their lewdnesse and disgraced his Nobilitie Yea all this hath the king done even in his elder years
in that time of his age Solomon offended God in his elder daies when he should rather haue abandoned fleshly lustes the delights of the sonnes of men and all the vanities of the worlde and haue offered vp himselfe both body and soule a sweete and holy Sacrifice acceptable to the Lorde his God in that holy Temple which hee both built and dedicated to his Name Alas what a blemish is this to his Grace and that his gray haires shoulde bee polluted with youthfull lustes This is one of the things which I haue heard him saye that his very soule abhorred But when vnto those lustes shall ioyne that transgression of the Lawes and abhominable sinnes against the true seruice and honor of God and that in olde men oh God howe great and daungerous is this kinde of abhomination A great deale more loathsome and daungerous is the fire in an olde house then in a newe and no lesse dangerous and loathsome is sinne in an old person beyond those which bée in the yonger sort Olde men should bee to the yonger examples of a chaste life holinesse godly behauiour Religion and vertues they should be profitable to the common-wealth by their wisedome reuerend before all men for their age and well prepared for the place of eternitie vnto whose gate they are or should be ready to enter with holy hearts and cleane bodies they in whom the contrary is found especially among the Princes Nobles Magistrates and persons of name and account are rightly likened vnto those olde Cockes that bring forth certaine blacke and blewish Egges Similitude which being couered by some venemous beast as a Toade or serpent in the canicular dayes there is hatched a Basiliscus or Cockatrice of that venom which infecteth and killeth men with his piercing sight By the Egge is vnderstood the euill worke or action of the faultie olde man by the venemous beast is meant the suggestor or flatterer of him in his faults by the Cockatrice is noted the wicked example and by the persons killed the seers and imitators thereof For those elder persons and namely Princes and Magistrates which haue beene estéemed and honoured in their places now sinning against God and the honor of their functions and their sinnes fostered and nourished by the pestiferous and wicked suggestion giueth a most pestilent example the which being seene of the Subiects yonger and inferiour persons infecteth and corrupteth them and as much as lyeth in him he killeth him And thus hath the king done Howbeit now at length he perceiueth that the iust iudgements of God threatned in this case and wont to ensue on them that breake and contemne his holy ordinance and Lawe is now prepared against him and this whole Nation yea more fiercer than it was in Davids time when seuenty thousand dyed in the pestilence Neither hath he found as yet by his wisedome how to excuse himselfe in this matter nor how to defend his innocencie for behold it is neither the king though so wise and royal nor things in heauen nor them on the earth nor any other power or might whatsoeuer that is able either to dispence with this diuine Lawe or to beare the effects of that celestiall wrath Woulde God that King Solomons example could be remembred of all thē that shall come after him An admonition for princes to remember Solomons example and learn to feare the diuine iudgements to be placed vpon his throne that in the middest of all their prosperity they wold thinke of aduersity as Iob did with that reuerence and feare that they presume not so farre to tempt the Lorde in the lust of their eyes the lust of their flesh and in the trust of their proper wisedome worldly policies and high places for howsoeuer they be preferred and aduanced and do stand yet shoulde they know themselues to be but men yea miserable and fraile men in this life subiect to whatsoeuer misery betideth other men Wherein the King is no freer then the beggar though preferred in his estate royall and the lustie yong man is no more respected then the olde man to whom crooked age is a continuall sickenesse such is mans condition for this cause men be well likened to the grasse in the field and all their glory honour wealth wisedome beauty and whatsoeuer els wherby a man is adorned in this world and in the which hee delighteth as that which is mans or incident to his pleasures in this life is rightly likened to the flowers of the grasse in the fielde the which are by diuers occasions either withered or altered in a very short time neither is any one herbe or flower in the fielde more free from those blastings burnings annoies and perrils then any other in the same notwithstanding that one beyonde the other is in higher estimation and price among men But as for the Lord our God he is most mighty euer the same without alteration or changes alwaies sufficiēt a reuenger of them that dishonour him and a very consuming fier to deuoure the ongodly as the stuble from the face of the earth hee is in his iudgements most iust in his workes most perfect in his wisedome infinite and in all thinges good for his saints and glorious in himselfe This is he that ouerthroweth man in offences and compasseth him about with a net wherein if sinfull man should complaine of violence done vnto him Iob. 19.7 he shall not be heard and if he cry for helpe there is no sentence to bee giuen for him he must abide his lot and beare the iustice of the Iudge without hope of change or alteration of the decree vntill it bee his pleasure vpon mans true repepentance to turne Iustice into mercy and paine into peace * All this answered the Lords being true can neither be denied nor dissembled but we wil witnes the same though to our sorrow because it toucheth our Lord the King Howbeit we haue not found that the holy religion hath beene altered but that the seruices of Iehovah our God and al his holy sacrifices are continued in that house which the king had dedicated to that vse howsoeuer those strāge women haue in their apostacie turned to their Idols againe affected the superstitions of their seuerall nations and obtained by the kings fauour permissiō to vse their own religions within these his territories and dominions I grant said Zadoke that our holy religion is yet preserued in vre howbeit not without a manifest contempt zadoke tels that religion is much blemished by those sins of Solomon 1. Sam. 5.2.3.4 Iudg. 6.31 when such as deride and disdaine the same shal be both permitted and maintained in the open face of the king and his people Could Dagon stand before the arke of God Would Gedeon permit in his daies that any man shold pleade Baals cause did our father Iacob suffer that his wife Rachel should retaine with her Labans Images or that any of his sonnes or family should be
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
God the which we must seeke by godly repentance obtaine by faithfull praier vnto God in the trust of Messiah vntill which time the Lord will neuer be perswaded to draw in his hand which is stretched forth Solomon repenteth This the King himselfe well knoweth and therefore he is humbled on the ground he bewaileth himselfe hee weepeth hee lamenteth hee abandoneth the vaine things of this world and he turneth himselfe both body and minde as in the best sort of pennance vnto his God who I doubt not but wil be mercifull vnto him as he was merciful vnto his father David when he so repented * But yet in this interim to the aggrauating of the kinges griefe it is fallen out of late whereof the King is also certified for what can be hidden from his eyes that when this fellow Ieroboham departed from Ierusalem the Prophet Ahiah the Sylonite found him in the way hauing a new garment on him and they two being alone in the field the Prophet caught that new garment and rent it in twelue peeces The Lord threatneth Solomon to punish him for sin 1. King 11. and said to Ieroboham Take vnto thee ten peeces for thus saith the Lord God of Israel behold I will rent the kingdome out of the handes of Solomon and will give ten tribes to thee and thou shall raigne according to all that my soule desireth and shalt be King over Israel Againe I will for this offence which Solomon hath committed punish the seede of David but not for ever Now the consideration of this being added to the former hath caused the kings eies to faile through weeping his bowels to swell his liuer to be powred out on the earth and himselfe to swoone in the middest of his house Neither shoulde we also in the regard of this his great sorrow and the miseries imminent on him on vs and on the people but wéepe and howle with him and repent and cry to the Lord for mercy CAP. XXII Zadoks Reede is approved and secunded touching the cause of K. Solomons trouble And it is so recorded THe former speeches being well heard considered accordingly by the Lords assembled Prince Zabud the kings familiar friend answered My Lord Zadoke I suppose ye haue fully pierced the centre and haue plainely reuealed though in secret vnto vs the highest cause of this so strange metamorphosis and alteration of the king Your words so graue and right reuerendly disposed on this occasion wee allow as wel worthie and commend your plaine manner of dealing in this matter though of such waight for howsoeuer it bee honourable to conceale the Kinges secrets as my Lorde the Kings secretarie will confesse yet in this case I hold it necessarie that those things bee manifested to vs of this assembly no lesse then it shal be needfull that the sicknesse and griefe of the languishing patient with the causes thereof bee made knowen to the faithfull Phisician who at the least howsoeuer he may be able or not able to cure the malady wil neuerthelesse extend his good wil endeuour his best and wish the patient health And out of doubt as ye haue said so may I say what I likewise haue obserued being ordinarily so neere his grace as any one els in his Court that he hath had very lately a message sent him from God containing both a sharpe reprehension and a fearefull commination The message was therefore irksome to him for who may but bash when God reprooueth him and who should not tremble at the sentence of punishment The reproofe toucheth to the quicke but the threate dawnteth the guiltie conscience for as the one argueth a displeasure for a fault committed so the other awardeth iudgement for the same But yet what the very cause thereof was I could not vnderstand vntill now for ye haue said it to be besides all other causes the high displeasure of God iustly conceiued against the King and his people for that the King hath contrary to the diuine law multiplyed wiues to himselfe in a great number that he hath also combined himselfe with strange Women yea such as are strangers in Religion to vs and that by their societie and temptations he hath beene allured and turned his hart from Iehovah his God then the which alas what can be more reprehensible horrible and fearefull * The King himselfe said Zadok will not at the least he should not dissemble this matter zadoke proceedeth to tell what the prophet said to K. Solomon for the Prophet who brought him this Embassady from God deliuered it not in a corner nor staggered he to tell it to the Kings face and that with wonderfull audacitie For so God commaunded him to doe and neither to feare nor dissemble nor conceale any thing of that he had in charge and he had his authoritie and power then from God which emboldned him Therefore the holy Prophets whom God authoriseth and sendeth forth into the world The boldnes of the prophets setting God before their eyes and their duty nothing dread the faces of mortall men in their holy ministry and seruice vnto whose aspect the greatest potentates of the earth which feare not the Lord of heauen appeare but as sauage beasts or base things that perrish howsoeuer glorious they seeme to the conceits of prophane men So the Prophet beholding the King charged him and said without feare that he had transgressed and not obserued that which first David the Kings father receiued from the Lord and had giuen him in charge to performe nor that which Iehovah his God appearing to him at two sundry times willed him to obserue keepe as he was willing to enioy and retaine his blessings bee shadowed vnder the safe wings of his protection possesse the peace both of mind and body and thenceforth prosper in his place M. Recorder ye know well where the words be recorded I pray you to turne over the Annales till yee finde the place and then let vs heare the wordes read openly before vs all that we may the better consider and compare the same with the Kings dealings Iehosophat the Recorder findeth the record of the matter in the Annales Psal 102.18 for thus must one thing bee considered with another if we thinke to vnderstand that which we desier and to effect the thing which to our duty belongeth * I am here ready said Iehosophat the Recorder and I know very wel where this matter lyeth written Oh how necessary and profitable is the true record of things in writing And this is written for them that come after that they thereof may learne to bee wise as we are taught by the writings of Moses Iosuah Samuel and others both learned godly that liued before our daies And now my Lords all hearken what I haue founde written by Nathan the Prophet in the Kinges Annales Most willingly said the Lordes therefore read on in the name of God I finde said Iehosophat that after the time Solomō
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
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
tree The definitions of repentance And truely those are notable Arguments of the Kings true Conversion and Repentance For whether Repentance bee defined * that affection and passion of the minde by the which any person being touched with the sense of Gods anger conceiued for his sinne committed is most heartily sory with an humble and earnest desire of mercie and amendement of life * Or the loathing of sinne and thirsting after mercie and righteousnesse * Or the bewayling of trespasses with a full purpose thence-foorth to amend leade a godly life * Or the turning againe of man vnto his Maker with hope of mercie by faith in the holy Messiah * Or a changing or a renewing of the minde or opinion with a due consideration and better aduise * Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the turning about or changing of both the mind and body and so of the whole-man * Or after the common receiued opinion touching the parts therof the Contrition of the heart the Confession of the mouth the tempering of the flesh the amendement of the worke and the continuance in vertues * Or howsoeuer els it be defined described or declared according to the analogie or proportion of our religion we may gather out of those premised testimonies and examples both a true Repentance and the ripe fruites and notes of the same A conclusion for Solomons Repentance and so conclude that Solomon our King is truely repentant For were hee not a true repentant person wee should neuer haue found such wholsome fruites on this tree Signes and tokens of true Repentance nor such soueraigne treasures to be drawne foorth from his humble heart Neither may we thinke those fruites and treasures are of that nature as they can bee found in that person especially towards the ende of his life of whose true conuersion and faithfull repentance it may iustly be doubted no more then sweete waters are expected from a bitter fountaine or Figs to grow of Thistles Iob. 27.10 For why the Hypocrite hath never such a delight in the Almightie Nor can it possibly come to passe that the persons in whome these and such vertues are found resident dwelling or springing so proper to the Lordes chosen shoulde be vtterly shut out from a godly repentance and so debarred of the mercie of that most mercifull God who vouchsafeth both to call sinners vnto him and promiseth them mercie that truly repēt Note this For as the Lord being ielous of such his graces hath not bin willing that the damned Reprobates should be seised of the same or so much as handle them with their prophane and sinfull hands so hath he been and is most glad and right well pleased that those graces be powred out as proper to them whom it pleaseth him to renewe by repentance and to bring with great honour to his eternall glorie * Therefore as wee know that the King is Repentant so wee also beleeue he hath eschewed the danger of Gods wrath obtained mercie and pardon of his sins Solomons pardon and saluation This cure is wrought of Gods mercie and reteineth hope of his eternall health But this wee acknowledge to bee wrought not by the trust wee haue in that his repentance but in that sweete mercie of God which draweth men to Repentance in comparison whereof all his sinnes and all the sinnes of men in this life are not so much as one droppe to the Sea The Sea is great so is his sinne but the sea receiueth yet a measure so doth his sinne but the mercie of GOD is beyond all measure Therefore although men should bee ashamed to sinne yet should they not be ashamed to repent them of their sinnes as I sayde before and to hope for mercie Neither let any man say Obiect I haue sinned much how should I finde mercie for my sinnes for though a man cannot vnderstande the reason thereof yet the Lord God well knoweth it he worketh it and he pardoneth sinners in such sort as neither their sin no nor any scarre and shew of their sins remaineth This is strange to vs The nature of this cure and not séen in the curing of the wounds of a mans bodie wherin though wee haue a thousand cunning Physicians or Chirurgians the scarres of the soares remaine to be seene an argument of the wound for why the infirmitie of a mans nature and the imbercillitie of Art and medicine are repugnant to it self but when God pardoneth he blotteth sins out in such sort as not so much as any scarre or signe of the wound remaineth to be séen but together with the healing there is giuē perfit beautie after the pardoning of the paine he powreth out righteousnesse and he maketh the sinner equall with him that neuer sinned This the Kings father testified in himselfe when he said to his soule The Lord hath forgiven all thine iniquitie and healed all thine infirmitie he saveth thy life from destruction psal 103.3 Arguments for Solomons Pardon crowneth thee with mercy and loving kindnesse * But howsoeuer it bee there is no reason why we should doubt of the assurance of the loue of God to him whom he vouchsaueth to entitle his Son Neither should we suspect the happy continuance of Gods loving mercie on him which of his owne worde was both promised and warranted him when we finde neither testimonie nor sufficient presumption of his finall apostasie and reprobation Nay we shall both decipher our want of loue in iudging so rashly and vnreuerently of the king and of the generation of the righteous whom the Lord wil not suffer to fall for euer as K. David saide and our want of wisedome against our God whom therein to our power wee should make a lyar and vnfaithfull in not performing that his word promise made concerning him in the figure as it concerneth the Messiah indeed Who said He shal be my son I will bee his father If he sin 2. Sam. 7 I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the plagues of the children of men but my mercie shal not depart from him as I tooke it from Saul Which words are to be vnderstood not only nor wholy of the Messiah but also partly of Solomō the childe of God by adoption grace to whom the L. would continue mercifull and not vtterly cast him off els why should Saul with his apostasie reprobatiō as by way of a cōparison be here brought in And this not only the K. himself hath often both said declared that yet His wisedome did remaine with him that is that Spirit of God and the mercy of God Eccles. 2. which was taken away from Saul in the Lords anger for his rebellion but also all we are able to testifie for him in whom wee haue discerned and doe yet approue the excellency of the Spirit and mercie of the Almightie * Moreouer Another Argument for Solomons Pardon although the Lorde by his
both mans curiositie and imperfection Mans curiositie and imperfection Man is willing to heare sée finde out all things to behold all strange matters newes and wonders hée would haue all knowledge hee would be like the most high as Adam and Hevah thought to bée he thinketh he can or may do all things Gen. 3.5.6 but hee is restreined his abilitie affoordeth him not that perfection nor hath the Lorde appointed him in this his estate capable of those things so farre aboue him In the mean time hee continueth insaciate without perfect contentation in this life * Here let man learn to know his own ignorance weaknes and imperfections in this world Let him containe himselfe within the bounds of his vocation place and abilitie and let him neither lust after or desire to comprehend those things which are neither reuealed nor incident to mans nature But in all modestie and reuerence let him seeke the Lorde who onely is the God sufficient perfiect wisedom omnipotent sacietie Abiather Another obiection and life eternall vnto them that serve him in humilitie and holinesse of heart Againe said Abiather it is obiected against the kings words that he hath denied that any thing is new When in trueth and experience it appeareth that things are dayly renewed and many new things are done and brought to passe in the worlde euery day how therefore shoulde this be vnderstood to sound acceptable to our knowledge It is true sayd Zadok that the King hath said zadok answereth Eccles. 1.9 What is that which hath beene that that shall bee and what is it that hath beene done that which shall be done And there is no new thing vnder the Sunne Or is there any thing whereof one may say Behold this is new It hath been already in the olde time that was before vs. Nothing is new But in these wordes the king speaketh not of the workes of the Creation as if they should be made againe so it is enough that those things be onely conserued in their kinde nor of the works of God for God doth worke daily newe and strange things nor of those generations of man which are past but of the occupations deuises counsailes drifts purposes Man and his vanities are eber the same and workes of worldly men which are euer wrapped in miserie and vanitie and are euer like and the same which haue beene of olde in the children of men Gen. 6.12 8.21 As man was in the olde time euill from his youth and all the imaginations of the heart wicked and vile so is hee now and so shall be as his deuises haue beene of yore so are they in this time as the vngodly thought and endeuored then so doe they thinke and endeuor now Gen. 4.6 gen 6.2 gen 10.9 gen 19.26 Exod. 7 13. Iudg. 9. 5. I neede not gather vp particulars of this time to match Cain in his enuie the daughters of men in their lustes Nimrod in his pride Lots wife in her apostasie Pharao in his hardnesse of heart Abimelech in his bloodie crueltie and such like they are easily noted and pointed at with the finger in euery place And that the king meaneth those things it is apparant by the place wherein he findeth nothing newe namely vnder the Sunne that is in vanities kingdome in and among worldly men which herein remaine the same still howsoeuer they bee scholed and instructed and therefore as vaine they are forgotten and passe away with the priuiledge of vanities dominion Howbeit The remembrance of the righteous the righteous are had in an euerlasting remembrance with their vertues in and for whom the Lorde worketh new and strange things to their necessitie and consolation euery day Abiather obiecteth againe * I haue both heard you most reuerende Father and well vnderstood the meaning of those the Kings words I haue heard another obiection that the King should dislike the searching and finding out of wisdome which is so much commended in the holy writings and among all good men and he saith that it is a sore trauell giuen to the sonnes of men to humble them zadok answereth The King saide Zadok seemeth to correct himselfe and his owne studyes when hee would aduenture or assay to doe and performe that of himselfe which hee should haue obtained and waited for from the Lorde to whom be first praied for wisedome and knew that she came from him yet doth he not condemne the ordinary labours and studies of them which in the feare of God assay to attaine to knowledge For as he commendeth wisedome before all things so hee condemneth the idle fooles which because the study and search after wisedome is laborious to the body sit still and continue ignorant But let vs consider the Kinges wordes obserue these thinges in order He said not Thus the Lord taught me or cōmanded me Eccles 1. vers 13. The meaning of the king is to condemne mans wisdome of worldly thinges or enabled mee to do to performe to bring to passe but thus I have given mine heart to search and find out wisedome how by the thinges that are done vnder the Sunne The King speaketh not of his present endeuour but of that forepast when he was carried away from the Lorde in the lusts of his eye and lusts of his flesh At what time respecting not what God had said nor what the diuine spirit had taught him but after his owne wit and humaine reason he entangled himselfe in the studies of the worlde and thereby made search curiously to be passing wise in the thinges of vanities kingdome where when hee thought to finde wisedome indeede he found nought besides afflictions and griefes of minde For what should a man expect of thornes but to be pricked and what is their to be learned vnder the Sunne of vngodly and foolish men their deuises but vngodlines foolishnes and sorrow And surely therof only the K. acknowledgeth that he made himselfe most worthy and therin to be punished as they do which neglecting the meditation of the law of God are distracted in the fables of vntruthes and receiving not the feare of the L. are wholy busied and vexed in the affairs of this world wherin they trauaile as in a most painful Labyrinth without any perfection or end therby to be tryed and humbled vnder the mighty hand of the Almighty whose wisedome words and direction they haue both forgotten and neglected The kings confession of his imperfections Moreouer in this the king maketh a kind of confession of his imperfections beeing a parte of his true conuersion and repentance Thus the King hath not condemned the search after the true wisedome but that vaine wisedome or at least the indirect manner of seeking after that which is commended in the word of God CAP. XXXVI The correction of thinges the experience of wisedome knowledge and high learning ABiather the Priest beeing willed by the Princes of
that they glorifie him in the vse of them doe good therewith one to another and discharge their proper duties in their places A cooling carde for worldly men who seke felicity of these things Lastly the King hauing learned the lesson of true consideration did in the end confesse that in al those things he could find no contentation so neither felicitie but that indeed he found great vanitie and vexation of his spirite Alas then what shoulde other men hope to finde Might not this stoppe the mouths of them who say that then they shoulde bee happy had they the wealth the riches the power the honors and the pleasures of glorious king Solomon as if forsooth that in those terrene and transitorie thinges the true happines of man consisted But truly as they bewray their corrupt iudgement and error in and about this chiefe principle so if by the will and pleasure of God they had therein their desire it is not only possible but most certain that they woulde transgresse and offend farre beyond the transgressions and offences of King Solomon and wanting that wisedome which he had to guide and direct them they would quickly declare themselues the greatest fooles in the worlde For man beeing in honor without vnderstanding is compared to the Beasts which perish as King David said when he beheld both the vprising and downe falling of many such persons as hauing the things of this worlde at will could neither vse the same to their own good nor with the same defend and preserue themselues from euill albeit estéeming the same aboue God and all goodnesse they placed therein their highest and chiefe felicitie In regarde whereof the pleasures honors glory and prosperity of this world are compared to a shining candle which for the time it burneth giueth a glorious light but the substance whereof it is maintained beeing consumed the same commeth all to smoke and stinche for the time will come when thou shalt grant and confesse with the King that all these thinges are vanitie and vexation of the soule that not so much in regarde of the thinges themselues as of thine owne abuse and erronious thoughts in and concerning the same CAP. XXXVIII Abiather produceth 17. obiections against other the words and doctrines of the preacher to 4. of the which Zadoke answereth in this chapter THen Zabud the Kings friend zabud a man that very much tendered both his honor and prosperity hauing thus farre listned to the former disputation and conference stoode foorth and spake to this effect Howsoeuer I am right sorrowfull for the Kinges fall and affliction yet am I glad the rather for the Kinges sake which hath euer beene and yet continueth so good a Lord vnto me that my Lord zadok hath not only answered in this presēce for his maiestie but also hath cleared him and those his wordes of all the thinges so hardly conceited and strongly obiected against either of them And we may thereby the sooner perswade What the malitious gaineth in the end that whosoeuer hencefoorth shall cast forth his venemous darts against either the King or his words shall rather hurt and annoy himselfe by the rebound of the same as those do which shoote against the hard rocks then any way discredit the one or disgrace the other This is that they often purchase to themselues which take pleasure to maligne and slander others chiefly their superiors betters according to that which the Kinges father said the vngodly be entrapped in their owne devises and taken in those snares which they had laide for others And this we see verified on the old serpent not only in the case of Adam but in that of Iob wherein his owne deuises to confound them was cast on himselfe But hath Abiather heard any thing els obiected that he is willing to vnfold and lay foorth here be-before vs Abiather princes offences are not rashly to bee spoken of Yea said Abiather I haue heard many other things of the which to heare I haue bin very sorrowfull in minde neither knew I vntil this time how I might find a fit occasion to reueale it or to whome for as the causes of Princes are not to bee hearde or debated as are the causes of other men so neither may the subiects be so bolde as to talke or reason thereof without feare especially in the court so neare the kings presence And here yee shall vnderstand my good Lordes that they which obiect do not so much respect and of those his gestures words and sayings which he either declared or expressed in his prosperous dayes and time of his dignity then when he well pleased and blessed the Lorde for those doe all men yea euen the kings enemies approue and commend nor those dare they to maligne or disgrace nor call they into present question any of those his wordes or gestures which hee either vttered or deliuered to and among his strange wiues in the time of his trespasse when nothing els besides vanitie after his owne confession might be expected to come from a person so vaine for neither those we esteeme nor regard to collect but they are the same which are and haue beene in action and question after euer since the time of his contrition and sorrowful affliction ordinarily vttered and declared in his common and dayly gesture talke and conference esteemed among his wise sermons and which as holy oracles diuine sayings yee haue entēded with ful purpose to collect to cōmit leaue vnto the church in posterity I thinke not otherwise but that they are meere vniustly conceited most hardly construed against his excellent maiesty his true meaning For whiles as a King he speaketh in right courtly phrases the rude country people scarcely vnderstād him in any thing Solomon in his words was Courte-like briefe in that to eschew tediousnes which is loathsome to the learned he is very briefe he séemeth in many thinges the more obscure especially to the simple and ignorant which commonly do not onely much mistake the thinges they vnderstand not but also soone ouerthrow the right sense and true meaning therof vnaduisedly But it were to bee wished that not onely those but all others when they come to consider of the Wordes and affayres of Princes but chiefly when they beginne to scanne the thinges which are holy and appertaine to GOD and his Church woulde followe that counsell and aduise of the King Eccles. 5.1 where he saith When thou commest into the house of GOD keepe thy foote and drawe nigh that GOD which is at hande may heare that thou give not the offering of fooles for they knowe not when they doe evill Bee not hastie with thy mouth and let not thine heart speake any thing rashly before God for God is in heaven and thou on earth therfore let thy words be few For surely in those things which are either doubtfull or vnknowne vnto vs wee should rather modestly
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