put out and the Spark of his Fire shall not shine The Light shall be dark in his Tabernacle and his Candle shall be put out with him Job 18.5 6. i. e. his Honour and Glory shall be put out his Prosperity shall fade away and die 2. A good King is a good sign that God will not destroy the Kingdom 2 Kings 8.19 Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for David his Servant's sake as he promised him to give him always a Light and to his Children therefore God would not destroy Judah because he had promised David to give him a Light that is a Successor in his Throne to give Light to his People therefore the giving of that Light was a Preservation to Judah from Destruction When God was provoked by Solomon who threatned him for his Idolatry and Breach of Covenant to rend the Kingdom from him and give it unto his Servant he was pleased to add Howbeit I will not do it in thy Days for David thy Father's sake but I will rend it out of the Hand of thy Son He would not for David's sake to whom God promised a Lampalways 1 Kings 15.4 Nevertheless for David 's sake did the Lord his God give him a Lamp in Jerusalem to set up his Son and to establish Jerusalem 3. A good King is Light to a Kingdom as he is a cause of Joy and Gladness to a Kingdom A bad King may cause carnal and profane Joy to the Wicked but then he is the Cause and Grief and Trouble to them that fear God We are not to call that Light which makes the Wicked to rejoice in their Wickedness and to glory in their Shame but then we have a Light when the Righteous rejoice Whon the Righteous are in Authority the People rejoice but when the Wicked beareth Rule the People mourn Prov. 29.2 Light is borrowed to express Joy and Gladness Light is sown for the Righteous and Gladness for the upright in Heart Psal 97.11 Then had the Jews Light and Gladness and Joy and Honour Esther 8.16 What a Constellation of Blessings what Clusters of Mercies and all in the Flower arise and spring up in a Land when such a Light is set up in the Firmament of a Kingdom in the Orb of Soveraignty 4. A good King is the Light and Glory of a Kingdom the Light of a People when he doth restore set up resorm and maintain Religion in his Kingdom such a King was David such a Blessing was he to Israel When the Ark of God was taken the miserable sorrowful Wife of Phineas called her Child's Name Ichabod because the Glory was departed from Israel and she said The Glory is departed from Israel for the Ark of God is taken 1 Sam. 4.21 22. Surely Salvation is nigh them that fear him that Glory may dwell in our Land Psal 85.9 Christ is called A Light to the Gentiles and the Glory of his People Israel Luke 2.32 Therefore then it is that Glory dwells in the Land when the Glory of Christ shines in his Worship Ordinances and People The Glory and Liberty of the Gospel in its Ministry Ordinances and Profession of its Truth and Beauty of Holiness doth exalt a Nation advanceth it in great Honour and then Glory doth not come as a Traveller to see a Country or a wayfaring Man that tarrieth for a Night but dwelleth in a Land when Religion pure and undesiled is entertained with Reverence and Honour in the King's Court in the Houses of Nobles and hath a free Passage throughout a Nation and is delivered from unreasonable Men A religious King is then the Light of Israel when the Lights of the World are set up kept burning brought from under Bushels and set upon the Table when good Men may be as good as they will and the wicked may not be as vile and bad as they would be 5. A good King is a Light to a Kingdom when he reigns in Righteousness David's Prayer for Solomon was Psal 72.2 Give the King thy Judgments and thy Righteousness to the King's Son This was his Prayer for him who was a Lamp which God promised to raise up in his place and when a King doth reign in Righteousness then he imitates and represents the Sun of Righteousnes Christ Jesus the King the Scepter of whose Kingdom is a Scepter of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 2 Sam. 23.3 4. who ariseth with healing in his Wings The God of Israel said the Rock of Israel spake to me He that ruleth over Men must be just ruling in the fear of God Now mark what a just King a religious King that ruleth in the Fear of the Lord shall be And he shall be as the Light of the Morning when the Sun riseth even a Morning without Clouds as the tender Grass springeth out of the Earth by clear shining after Rain i. e. he shall be a great Blessing a great Comfort and Cause of rejoicing to the People of God A King that reigns in Righteousness may yet further be compared to the Light as he doth by himself by his righteous Laws declare and enact what is just and right that by the Light of his Laws People may see the Light of the Rule and the Path of Righteousness that by his wise learned and upright Judges not to serve the Designs Will and sinful Pleasure of the King with a Commission during Pleasure to take away the Lives of innocent Men to countenance false Witnesses perplex or threaten the True disannul Charters and the like Righteousness may run down like a mighty stream When these do distribute Justice between the King and his People and Subject and Subject when the Righteous will not be sold for a pair of Shoes when Righteousness is administred without Partiality then the King will find the Benefit and Comfort of his own Light for Righteousness and Judgment will be the Stability or Establishment of his Throne For by Righteousness the Throne is established Prov. 16.12 6. The King is a Light to Israel as David was for the Security and Protection received from him The Sun and Shield are well joined for the Comfort and Protection of God's People Psal 84.11 The Shields of the Earth belong unto the Lord Psal 47.7 Kings and Magistrates are those Shields and they are Nursing-Fathers and Nursing-Mothers they are like a Pillar of Fire for the Direction and Protection of Israel Hezekiah in the Type of Jesus Christ was foretold that he should be a King to reign in Righteousness and the Princes under him should rule in Judgment when it was so it followeth that he should be a hiding-place from the Wind and a Covert from the Tempest a hiding-place and Covert from the Wind and Tempest raised by the Devil and his Angels to trouble and unsettle the Nation 's Peace and Order and to keep off the Wind and Tempest Persecution and Tribulation which blow and beat upon the Church of God such a Light was David to Israel A Man
have always opposed the great and only Redeemer Christ and his Interest in the Nation that care no more for the real Prosperity of the Kingdom than for the turning up of a Dye high or low when they throw for nothing so that they may have but enough to maintain their ungodly fleshly and worldly Lusts These are not for the Pope but yet they are for Antichrist and the Devil for the Kingdom of Darkness and Irreligion These are they whose God is their Belly whose Glory is in their Shame Enemies to the Cross of Christ And to these we must add another Party though in other things far different from them and better Men who plead an Obligation of Conscience for Disloyalty and these do animate and propagate the other though perhaps not directly who are disaffected to Godliness and the Government Nay the worst of Men do not only harden themselves in their Disloyalty and proceed on to trouble Israel or hinder our Settlement by having the Consciences of some upon their side but they have set up a new Title against our Government and that is the Church of England The Church of England against England the Church of England against the Kingdom of England Is Christ divided Is the Church divided The Church of England we know but who are ye And yet let me shew you one other cause of the Slowness of our Motions towards Settlement and Peace and raising up of the Tabernacle of God and the shining forth of the Beauty of Holiness There are loyal Persons to the Government who are not refined from the Impurities of the former Reigns Thousands in the Land that run into Profaneness and Licentiousness out of Cowardice and to avoid some Nick-names given out to disgrace real Godliness and being accustomed to Licentiousness out of Fear And in compliance with most ungodly Rulers have brought such a Custom upon themselves that either they are Temporizers with the worst of Men or sin out of choice and love Some of these would if they could overthrow the Chariot others lay Impediments in its way and these last are like Scotches in our Wheels But our Hope is in God he ruleth in Jacob and hath given out such Manifestations of his Goodness that be it known to us he doth not do what he doth for our sakes but what is more effectual for his own Name sake O then not unto us not unto us but to thy Name give Glory for thy Mercy and thy Truth 's sake Psal 115.1 When God sets his Wheel a going it shall go against all Oppositions sometimes it goes visibly at a great rate sometimes more insensibly and when we see not the Motions of it it goes whither the Spirit was to go Ezek. 2.12 Man may lose Time and Opportunities but the Spirit of God never lost and never will lose time 6. The Work of this Generation is God's in an eminent manner and he will carry it on till all be finished but he tieth not himself to Means and Instruments therefore so should not we The Work of God hath been and is a Work for Generations and no one Man is ordained to do all but many Instruments have their several parts None is immortal none invulnerable or impenetrable Let us therefore believe with confidence that this War is God's and it is the Hand of God and our King is one of the greatest Instruments that God hath used he came up like Queen Elizabeth when the Kingdom was weak like a Gustavus Adolphus Let us see God in him follow God and wait upon him and be careful of him and by strong Faith humble Confidence fervent Prayers trust him under the Shadow of the Almighty Object But how can we rejoice and take comfort in Him as the Light of Israel seeing he adventures his Royal Person in very dangerous Voyages and Battels As it would be the greatest Grief of our Souls to be deprived of him so our Hearts are in daily fear of Evil befalling to him What would become of us in our divided and discontented State if our Light should be quenched Answ 1. You should consider that this bright illustrious Lamp is not given to us alone I cannot but adore the safe and hasty dispatch which God Alwise and Almighty made of the mighty Affair of these Kingdoms How soon did the King of Heaven and Earth pull down one and set up another How soon did God make an end of one King's Reign and begin another's The King that then was in Arms a powerful well-prepared and trained Army almost if not above double the number to those our King brought in and yet not as much as the stop of one Day 's march or diversion given by fighting one Battel He had time enough for leisurely and orderly Marches without any cause of Precipitation or losing time by committing Errors What a good Providence was this Things shall be easy when God doth save it shall be as easy as to bid an Army in array to stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord and as soon as to say 2 Chron. 20.17 Neh. 9.27 To morrow ye shall go out against them for the Lord will be with you So when the Lord doth raise a Saviour to his People he will be with him and when he is with him he makes way for him Had our King conquered by winning many Battels and after he had beaten a great Army been constrained to spend much time in long Debates how miserable had this Kingdom been by Fears and Factions And to what Necessities had foreign Nations been pressed Ireland certainly lost Scotland confounded if not ruined But he who ruleth over all was pleased to save us and settle us with great expedition that his Servant David might go forth against the Philistines What Treacheries with Obstructions were used to hinder him from saving Ireland in time may be with trouble remembred that some People who appeared forward to embrace Deliverance withdrew their Help as if they had repented of doing any thing to make themselves happy and save others from utter Ruin How many wished the King might not go to Ireland in Person that the Loss of Ireland might be imputed to him And others were for his going that he might never return again or in his Absence our Enemies might make work in England Some honest Hearts wished he would not go being afraid of Commotions in his Absence and Danger to his Person Others prayed for his going and when gone for his Prosperity and safe Return and we have rejoiced for both out with some trembling for God rebuked us 2. Beside the Interests of many Nations united in him he is led into the best way and method of securing and saving us at home by going to meet the great Enemy abroad and if God be with him there we shall reap the Benefit of it here Balthazaris Ayala De jure Off. bell l. 4. c. 2. It hath been variously adjudged by great Commanders whether it is
better to keep at home and receive Enemies from abroad and repel them or carry the War abroad into the Enemies Countries But certainly the Reasons and Circumstances of this War well known to our wise King perswade it is best where it is God hath provided for us a wise watchful couragious Queen in full Authority to govern and watch over us at home who is worthy to be trusted under God There are more Princes engaged in this War beside the King and other Dominions concerned and if God do but break that Devourer at home and deal with him as God rewarded Adonibezek it will keep him from ravaging abroad as he hath done Hunt him down he will be glad to hide in his own Den. Nothing is more to be fear'd than a Composition with him for being faithless he will no longer keep Conditions of Peace than he can gather Strength to break them 3. You say you would not have him venture his Person I say let us express all the loyal and truly-Christian Care we can and all the true Zeal we can for his Preservation but let us consider that it hath been the manner and use of the greatest Kings and the best of Commanders to go to the Wars and command in Battels Not to speak of the famous Conquerors of the World was there such a Man in the World as Abraham was Gen. 14.13 14 15 16. And this holy Abraham goes in the Head of his armed Men in Person and leaves not the charge of them to his Confederates How like a Souldier did he command and marshal his Men and he was not a Spectator but an Actor in the Fight What a Man was Joshua who had the Name and Spirit of a Saviour he went and did not take care to send to the Battels of the Mighty The same might be enlarged in David even to a declining Age and of other Kings 4. A King may be as safe in a Camp as in his Court read Psal 3.5 I laid me down and slept I awaked for the Lord sustained me Ver. 6. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of People that have set themselves against me round about Arise O Lord save me O my God c. Psal 27.3 4 5. But then remember these Men were strong in Faith and much in Prayer Not to exceed in length Let us who are sensible of the great Favour of God towards us in our King and Queen be upon our Duties which are two 1. Trust 2. Prayer 1. Trust God with all our Heart Look upon our Lamps as subject to Mortality to fainting to be quenched but let us look to the God of Israel above the sading Light of Israel Isa 45.22 Look unto me and be ye saved all the Ends of the Earth for I am God and none else Kings cannot save themselves but it is God who giveth Salvation to Kings Psal 144.10 Salvation belongeth to the Lord Psal 3.8 Psal 44.6 Psal 33.16 2 Chron. 14 11. And a King that trusteth in the Lord will not trust to his Bow c. to the greatest Numbers of Men nor Preparations for War He was a King and a Prophet that dehorteth us from trusting in Princes Psal 146.3 4 5. 2. Trust the Lord of Hosts with our King and Queen As we are to cast all our private Burdens upon the Lord and to commit our private Ways Affairs and Concernments to the Lord so let us cast the great Concernment of the Kingdom and all the People of God in the Kingdom The King trusteth in the Lord Psal 21.7 O let us trust also in the Lord and trust our Light to his gracious watchful and mighty Providence O that we could trust the mighty God of Jacob with his Church and People when as low and weak as Jacob when he is called Jacob Jacob is low and weak Now is the time for right trusting in God And the more Trust and Confidence we place in the King and Queen and the more we exceed in love to them the more cause have we to have a right Trust in God 1. Trust the King as far as a King is to be trusted with our Armies with our Purses with our national Interests abroad and at home and the more our disaffected Back-friends have contemned him let us honour and trust him the more But when we have trusted much to his Wisdom Integrity Valour Conduct and Experience let us not make an Idol of him let us not forget God nor forget that he it is that teacheth his Hands to war and his Fingers to fight 2. Trust God in this Cause and War as if we had no King to trust to for we must trust God alone Only the Lord be with thee as he was with Moses Jos 1.17 He only is my Rock and my Salvation he is my Defence I shall not be greatly moved My Soul wait thou only upon God for my Expectation is from him He only is my Rock and my Salvation I shall not be moved In God is my Salvation and my Glory the Rock of my Strength and my Refuge is in God Trust in him at all times ye People Surely Men of low degree are Vanity and Men of high degree are a Lye Psal 62.2 5 c. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Princes Psal 118.9 All Nations compassed me about but in the Name of the Lord I will destroy them vers 10. 3. Trust not in Means with the least neglect of God yet use God's Means in trusting God Trust God in the use of Means above Means trust not God without Means when Means may be had of God's appointment Set your selves in array but then stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord 2 Chron. 20.17 David would not trust in his Bow but he would make use of his Bow Though the Means be but as Rams-horns and the tumbling of Barley-loaves yet do as God would have us Presumption is no Trust 4. Trust God with giving supplying renewing disposing and prospering Means but do not limit God to any one Way or Time or Person Mordecai was a Wonder he was confident that God would deliver the Jews he made use of Hester as a proper as a very proper Instrument to work upon the King but his Trust was not limited to her but if she fail'd Deliverance shall come from another place Hester 4.14 No King in England without dishonour to any was so like to carry on the Work of God and to do the Service of his Church as our present King is he hath done much already Was ever King so trusted by so many Princes Who was so engaged being so provoked by the Enemy so prepared with depth of Thoughts and Privacy with Industry beyond Strength or encouraged by Deliverances as He Yet still let us not limit the most High God and the more we trust God the more we love our King O long may this Lamp burn and shine but he can no longer give Light
with him and fought against the Philistines and David waxed faint And Ishbi-benob which was of the Sons of the Giant the weight of whose Spear weighed three hundred Shekels of Brass in weight he being girded with a new Sword thought to have slain David But Abishai the Son of Zeruiah succoured him and smote the Philistine and killed him Then the Men of David sware unto him saying Thou shalt go no more out with us to battel that thou quench not the Light of Israel THese words are a very remarkable plece of Story which is compleat in it self and therefore I need not look upon what goes before it in this Chapter I crave your earnest attention to the Matter I intend to handle for your Instruction this part of the Day and have but patience till I come to the Application then I hope you will see that what I shall deliver to you will be very suitable to the Work and Duty of this Day and not only so but will direct you what to do every Day till God shall turn our Fasts into Thanksgivings The true Reason of my chusing this Text and that upon this Solemn Day which requires an extraordinary seriousness with the Application of the whole strength of our Hearts and exercise of every Grace is not at all to flatter much less to idolize our King and Queen which would be the worst of Services to them and to our selves by provoking God to quench the Light of Israel but really to shew you as plainly and as convincingly as I can how deeply our Hearts should be affected with our own Condition how earnest we should be with God to preserve our Supreme Governours and especially our King in the Labours and Dangers of this War and how we should behave our selves under all those Circumstances under which the Sovereign and over-ruling Providence of the infinitely Wife and Almighty God hath subjected us And I was moved to these Considerations which I shall commend to you by the great Thoughts of Heart which possess many honest religious and tender Persons Why say they will our King hazard his Person in this War who is in danger not only from the Craft and Malice of the open Enemy in the Field but Treachery even in his Camp Why will the Parliament and the Kingdom let him What will become of us if we should be so unhappy as to lose Him in this unsettled and distracted State when there are so many secret Discontents and such open Talk Beloved we cannot be too much concerned for the Safety of their Sacred Persons the Peace of these Kingdoms and the Preservation of our Religion both at Home and Abroad The Glory of God the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus and the Salvation of our Souls by the Means of Grace are as much concerned in the Success of this War as ever at any time to any People This War is not a War for outward Peace and Liberty nor for Glory and Renown for Riches and Trade or any other temporal End or Interest only but for the true Interest of the Kingdom of God among us and of the Protestant People of God in all Nations where they are or soon will be in danger if God doth not shew himself to be on our Side There are many Interests of many Princes and People in this one Bottom and all united in one King and submitted to his Conduct under God If these should be divided we should be weakned and fail but if he should miscarry we must needs sink for a time and many Countries suffer Shipwrack and then not only the Estates Liberties Properties Bodies and Lives but precious Souls and the Ark of God would fall into the Power of the Cruel The Philistines would soon over-run our Land and they who seem to wish for their coming would feel the Miseries of their coming as soon as they who fast and pray with all sincerity to keep them out and be less able to endure them If the Light of our Israel should be quenched O how tempestuous would it be round about What a Day would it be of Gloominess and thick Darkness O far be it from those who desire that Evil Day ever to see it come may they all go to their Graves in peace before that Inundation of Woes and Miseries break down our Banks 'T is true we have more to lose now at once than ever our Forefathers had and therefore when we consider our Sins we have more cause to fear than ever But let this comfort and encourage us to offer up strong Prayers and Cries to the God of Heaven to God our Saviour that the Glory of God's Truth Mercy and Grace being so specially and imminently concerned in this War that his Wisdom and Power will the more sincerely appear for the preservation of Israel and the Light of Israel Call up Faith and Hope to put forth all their strength into those Prayers which go not out of feigned Lips O for a strong Faith at the head of our Godly Sorrows and Humiliation for Sin this Day O for the Assistance of the mighty Spirit of Prayer and Supplication to send up yea to carry our fervent Prayers to Heaven Is the Spirit of God departed from his praying wrestling Jacobs in England and gone to our Enemies Hearts Is God is the Ark of God in their Camp Hath not God prepared his Arrows against the Persecutors What inhumane Persecutions are the greatest of them guilty of But as my Thoughts run on this String of Hope I am checked by the sight of the great and many Sins of these Kingdoms for which God might bring us under the Sword of our Enemies and even deliver up the Ark the Church into their hands O that every Congregation were weeping and mourning before the Lord this Day and casting away our Iniquities O that this Day were a Day of confessing and forsaking those Sins for which God might justly hide his Face from us O that we were exercising of Revenge upon our selves for all our Abominations O that we were sighing and crying for all the Abominations done in the midst of our Jerusalem and that all in their Places would become zealous for the Glory of God resolving every one to mortify his own Sins disarming the Traitors against God Church and State in his own Heart and setting themselves against Sin in others that God may be reconciled to us and intreated for the Kingdom But yet as bad as we are are we not God's People Are there not some Fifties among us for whose sake God will spare us But not to insist upon such Arguments for Hope let us build upon one it is a strong and a standing Argument by inverting the Word of God and humbly turning it upon him Thus saith the Lord God I do not this for your sakes O House of Israel but for my holy Name 's sake Not for your sakes do I this saith the Lord God be it known unto you be ashamed and confounded
for your own ways O House of Israel Ezek. 36.22 32. When we have least to say and have no Reasons to plead taken from our selves we have most to say and the most prevailing Argument to urge by Faith taken from the free Mercy of God and the Glory of his great Name O let us take Courage and come boldly to the Throne of Grace and say Psal 6.4 Jer. 14.7 Save us for thy Mercies sake O Lord though our Iniquities testify against us do thou it for thy Name 's sake for our back-slidings are many we have sinned against thee O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do defer not Dan. 9.19 for thine own sake O my God for the City and People that are called by thy Name Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give Glory for thy Mercy Psal 115.1 2. and for thy Truth 's sake Wherefore should the Heathen say the French and Irish the Philistines the Enemies of the Lord that have so reproached him that have destroyed all his Tabernacles in the Land say Where is now their God Such an Encouragement as this may quicken us to a lively Attention to the Word of God and put Life into our Prayers when most dejected under the sense of our Sins And so now I come to the Words 1. In this part of sacred Story we read of another War between a proud Zech. 9.6 unquiet idolatrous superstitious People and David ver 5. The Philistines had been often destroyed and conquered by the Sword of David and yet they begin another War with David as the Phrase doth intimate And the Philistines had yet War again with Israel as if they began it and provoked Israel unto it We read not what the particular Cause of the War was it might be from inveterate Hatred from Contrariety of Religion for the Philistines like our Papists had their Images in the Battel of Baal Perazim and as their Images could not help them so neither could they save their Images 2 Sam. 5.21 or it might be Impatience of Revenge that might stir them up and they thought themselves strong enough to overcome and over-run Israel or they might promise to themselves the Life of David having a self-confident vain-glorious Giant Ishbi-benob who might brag as well as think of killing David It is a righteous Judgment of God upon the inveterate Enemies of his People which they see not that they will not be quiet in their Possessions but after many Overthrows they will be making Wars against them 2. And David went down and his Servants with him and fought against the Philistines it seems to be a defensive as well as a lawful War to go down against the Philistines and not to stay for their coming into the Land of Israel they were the beginners of the War and David doth wisely choose the Seat of the War which might be most convenient the further off from home and the nearer the Enemies Country the better An experienced valiant King will neither refuse nor delay to fight against the Enemies of God's People and his Kingdom when there is just Cause and Provocation given 3. And David waxed faint he grow in Years and was much decayed in Strength or tired and weakned with the Wars This Circumstance affords us many Observations 1. The Wars and Troubles in a King's Reign are no Sign or Indication of and should create no Suspitions in any Men of the Weakness or Badness of his Title to the Kingdom Never had King a better or a clearer Title to a Kingdom than David had appointed and designed of God elected and made by the People and anointed Nay the Malice of the Philistines boil'd and swell'd and broke out into an open Attempt and War against David when they heard he was anointed 2 Sam. 5.17 But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David King over Israel all the Philistines came to seek David And spread themselves in the Valley of Rephaim v. 18. Is David anointed has he taken the Kingdom upon him then before he is settled in his Throne we will seek him This Policy was equal to the Malice while the Government was young and tender as some here said of ours and the Factions of the Kingdom not inwardly healed but the Providence of God turned this to David's Glory by giving him the Victory they and their Images fell into his Hands ver 20 21. When God designs a King and gives him a Throne they who rise against him rise and war against God himself and let that King acknowledg God and seek him as David did and all his Enemies shall not prevail against him but fall and perish David had a good Title but a troublesome Reign 2. A good King when he takes a Kingdom takes it not for the Glory and Ease of it but for the Glory of God and Good of his Kingdom with all the Labours and Dangers of a War 3. The true Interest Peace and Happiness of a Kingdom is the Concernment of a good King The Philistines had a great spight against David's Person in the former Design and War but now they hated Israel which were the People of God and professed the true Religion and now David is as much engaged to go out in Person against the Philistines 4. A faithful and a valiant King will endure the great Toil and Weariness of a War even to Faintness 5. That even a David a Servant of God will find it a hard and hazardous Work to fight his Enemies 6. A good and valiant King will expose his own Person and tire himself in Battel and yet not fly nor leave the Field David waxed faint but yet stands his ground 7. The best and stoutest King must feel his own Infirmities that he may know that he conquereth not by his own Strength 8. That though a good King shall prevail yet first he may be brought very low and faint The greatest Champion will faint in time and often-times a Cause and People may be brought very low before a Conquest The Power of God will be seen in humane Weakness and give him hot and fainting work that his glorious Power may bring forth Victory and Peace 4. Ver. 16. And Ishbi-benob c. How exact an account have we here given us of this great Enemy of David By his Name a very notorious and noted Man his Descent and Family which was of the Sons of the Giant his great Strength his dangerous Weapon The Weight of whose Spear weighed three hundred Shekels of Brass in Weight About nine Pound six Ounces Haver depoise Clark's Annot About half as big as Goliah's 1 Sam. 17.7 but according to others a great deal more and by his particular Preparation for Mischief to David's Person being girded with a new â—word Sword is not in the Original Text but supplied for Explication as contained in the word girded Girded with a new somewhat extraordinary and fitted for his