first encounter the Philistim receiues the first foile and shall first let in death into his eare ere it enter into his forehead Thou com'st to me with a sword and a speare and a sheild but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts the God of the host of Israel whom thou hast railed vpon This day shall the Lord close thee in my hand and I shall smite thee and take thine head from thee Here is another stile not of a boaster but of a Prophet Now shall Goliah know whence to expect his bane euen from the hands of a reuenging God that shall smite him by Dauid and now shall learne too late what it is to meddle with an enemy that goes vnder the inuisible protection of the Almighty No sooner hath Dauid spoken then his foot and hand second his tongue Hee runnes to fight with the Philistim It is a cold courage that stands onely vpon defence As a man that saw no cause of feare and was full of the ambition of victory hee flyes vpon that monster and with a stone out of his bag smites him in the forehead There was no part of Goliah that was capable of that danger but the face and that piece of the face the rest was defenced with a brazen wall which a weake sling would haue tryed to batter in vaine What could Goliah feare to see an aduersary come to him without edge or point And behold that one part hath God found out for the entrance of death He that could haue caused the stone to passe through the shield and brest-plate of Goliah rather directs the stone to that part whose nakednesse gaue aduantage Where there is power or possibility of nature God vses not to worke miracles but chuses the way that lies most open to his purposes The vaste fore-head was a faire marke but how easily might the sling haue missed it if there had not beene another hand in this cast besides Dauids Hee that guided Dauid into this field and raised his courage to this combat guides the stone to his end and lodges it in that seat of impudence There now lyes the great Defier of Israel groueling and grinning in death and is not suffered to deale one blow for his life and bites the vnwelcome earth for indignation that he dies by the hand of a Shepheard Earth and Hell share him betwixt them such is the end of insolence and presumption O God what is flesh and blood to thee which canst make a little peeble-stone stronger then a Gyant and when thou wilt by the weakest meanes canst strew thine enemies in the dust Where now are the two shields of Goliah that they did not beare off this stroke of death or wherefore serues that Weauers beame but to strike the earth in falling or that sword but to behead his Master What needed Dauid load himselfe with an vnnecessary weapon one sword can serue both Goliah and him If Goliah had a man to beare his shield Dauid had Goliah to beare his sword wherewith that proud blasphemous head is seuered from his shoulders Nothing more honours God then the turning of wicked mens forces against themselues There is none of his enemies but caries with them their owne destruction Thus didst thou O Sonne of Dauid foyle Satan with his owne weapon that whereby he meant destruction to thee and vs vanquished him through thy mighty power and raised thee to that glorious triumph and super-exaltation wherein thou art wherein we shall bee with thee IONATHANS Loue and SAVLS Enuy. BEsides the discomsiture of the Philistims Dauids victory had a double issue Ionathans Loue and Sauls Enuy which God so mixed that the one was a remedy of the other A good sonne makes amends for a way-ward father How precious was that stone that killed such an enemy as Goliah and purchased such a friend as Ionathan All Sauls Courtiers lookt vpon Dauid none so affected him none did match him but Ionathan That true correspondence that was both in their faith and valour hath knit their hearts If Dauid did set vpon a Beare a Lyon a Gyant Ionathan had set vpon a whole Host and preuailed The same Spirit animated both the same Faith incited both the same Hand prospered both All Israel was not worth this paire of friends so zealously confident so happily victorious Similitude of dispositions and estates tyes the fastest knots of affection A wise soule hath piercing eyes and hath quickly discerned the likenesse of it selfe in another as we doe no sooner looke into the Glasse or Water but face answers to face and where it sees a perfect resemblance of it selfe cannot choose but loue it with the same affection that it reflects vpon it selfe No man saw Dauid that day which had so much cause to dis-affect him none in all Israel should be a loser by Dauids successe but Ionathan Saul was sure enough setled for his time onely his Successor should forgoe all that which Dauid should gaine so as none but Dauid stands in Ionathans light and yet all this cannot abate one ior or dram of his loue Where God vniteth hearts carnall respects are too weake to disseuer them since that which breakes off affection must needs be stronger then that which conioyneth it Ionathan doth not desire to smother his loue by concealment but professes it in his cariage actions He puts off the Robe that was vpon him and all his garments euen to his Sword and Bow and Girdle giues them vnto his new friend It was perhaps not without a mystery that Sauls cloths fitted not Dauid but Ionathans fitted him and these he is as glad to weare as he was to be disburthened of the other that there might be a perfect resemblance their bodies are suted as well as their hearts Now the beholders can say there goes Ionathans other selfe If there bee another body vnder those clothes there is the same soule Now Dauid hath cast off his russet coate and his scrip and is a Shepheard no more he is suddenly become both a Courtier and a Captaine and a Companion to the Prince yet himselfe is not changed with his habit with his condition yea rather as if his wisedome had reserued it selfe for his exaltation he so manageth a sudden Greatnesse as that he winneth all hearts Honour shewes the man and if there be any blemishes of imperfection they will bee seene in the man that is inexpectedly lifted aboue his fellowes He is out of the danger of folly whom a speedy aduancement leaueth wise Ionathan loued Dauid the Souldiers honoured him the Court fauoured him the people applauded him onely Saul stomackt him and therefore hated him because he was so happy in all besides himselfe It had beene a shame for all Israel if they had not magnified their Champion Sauls owne heart could not but tell him that they did owe the glory of that day and the safety of himselfe and Israel vnto the sling of Dauid who in
one man slue all those thousands at a blow It was enough for the puissant King of Israel to follow the chase and to kill them whom Dauid had put to flight yet he that could lend his clothes and his armour to this exploit cannot abide to part with the honour of it to him that hath earned it so dearly The holy Songs of Dauid had not more quieted his spirits before then now the thankfull Song of the Israelitish women vexed him One little Dittie of Saul hath slaine his thousand and Dauid his ten thousand sung vnto the Timbrels of Israel fetcht againe that euill spirit which Dauids Musicke had expelled Saul needed not the torment of a worse spirit then Enuie Oh the vnreasonablenesse of this wicked passion The women gaue Saul more and Dauid lesse then he deserued For Saul alone could not kill a thousand and Dauid in that one act of killing Goliah slue in effect all the Philistims that were slaine that day and yet because they giue more to Dauid then to himselfe he that should haue endited begun that Song of thankfulnesse repines and growes now as mad with enuy as he was before with griefe Truth and Iustice are no protection against Malice Enuie is blind to all obiects saue other mens happinesse If the eyes of men could bee contained within their owne bounds and not roue forth into comparisons there could be no place for this vicious affection but when they haue once taken this lawlesse scope to themselues they lose the knowledge of home and care onely to be employed abroad in their owne torment Neuer was Sauls brest so fit a lodging for the euill spirit as now that it is drest vp with enuy It is as impossible that Hell should bee free from Deuils as a malicious heart Now doth the franticke King of Israel renew his old fits and walkes and talkes distractedly He was mad with Dauid and who but Dauid must be called to allay his madnesse Such as Dauids wisedome was he could not but know the termes wherein he stood with Saul yet in lieu of the harsh and discordous notes of his masters enuy he returnes pleasing Musicke vnto him He can neuer bee good Courtier nor good man that hath not learned to repay if not iniuries with thankes yet euill with good Whiles there was a Harpe in Dauids hand there was a Speare in Sauls wherewith he threatens death as the recompence of that sweet melodie He said I will smite Dauid through to the wall It is well for the innocent that wicked men cannot keep their owne counsell God fetcheth their thoughts out of their mouthes or their countenance for a seasonable preuention which else might proceed to secret execution It was time for Dauid to withdraw himselfe his obedience did not tye him to bee the marke of a furious master hee might ease Saul with his musicke with his blood hee might not Twice therefore doth he auoid the Presence not the Court not the Seruice of Saul One would haue thought rather that Dauid should haue beene affraid of Saul because the Deuill was so strong with him then that Saul should be affraid of Dauid because the Lord was with him yet we find all the feare in Saul of Dauid none in Dauid of Saul Hatred and feare are ordinary companions Dauid had wisedome and faith to dispell his feares Saul had nothing but infidelity and deiected selfe-condemned distempred thoughts which must needs nourish them yet Saul could not feare any hurt from Dauid whom he found so loyall and seruiceable Hee feares onely too much good vnto Dauid and the enuious feare is much more then the distrustfull now Dauids presence begins to be more displeasing then his Musicke was sweet Despight it selfe had rather preferre him to a remote dignity then endure him a neerer attendant This promotion encreaseth Dauids honour and loue and this loue and honour aggrauates Sauls hatred and feare Sauls madnesse hath not bereaued him of his craft For perceiuing how great Dauid was growne in the reputation of Israel he dares not offer any personall or direct violence to him but hires him into the iawes of a supposed death by no lesse price then his eldest Daughter Behold mine eldest daughter Merab her will I giue thee to wife onely be a valiant Sonne to me and fight the Lords Battels Could euer man speak more graciously more holily What could bee more graciously offered by a King then his eldest Daughter What care could be more holy then of the Lords battels yet neuer did Saul intend so much mischiefe to Dauid or so much vnfaithfulnesse to God as when he spake thus There is neuer so much danger of the false-hearted as when they make the fairest weather Sauls Speare bad Dauid be gone but his plausible words inuite him to danger This honour was due to Dauid before vpon the compact of his victory yet he that twice inquired into the reward of that enterprize before he vndertooke it neuer demanded it after that atchieuement neither had Saul the iustice to offer it as a recompence of so noble an exploit but as a snare to an enuied victory Charitie suspects not Dauid construes that as an effect and argument of his Masters loue which was no other but a child of Enuy but a plot of mischiefe and though he knew his owne desert and the Iustice of his claime to Merab yet hee in a sincere humilitie disparageth himselfe and his Parentage with a who am I As it was not the purpose of this modestie in Dauid to reiect but to sollicit the proffered fauour of Saul so was it not in the power of this bashfull humiliation to turne backe the edge of so keene an enuy It helpes not that Dauid makes himselfe meane whiles others magnifie his worth Whatsoeuer the colour was Saul meant nothing to Dauid but danger and death and since all those Battels will not effect that which he desired himselfe will not effect that which hee promised If hee cannot kill Dauid he will disgrace him Dauids honour was Sauls disease It was not likely therefore that Saul would adde vnto that honour whereof he was so sicke already Merab is giuen vnto another neither doe I heare Dauid complaine of so manifest an iniustice He knew that the God whose battels he fought had prouided a due reward of his patience If Merab faile God hath a Michal in store for him she is in loue with Dauid his comelinesse and valour haue so wonne her heart that she now emulates the affection of her Brother Ionathan If she be the yonger Sister yet she is more affectionate Saul is glad of the newes his Daughter could neuer liue to doe him better seruice then to be a new snare to his Aduersarie Shee shall bee therefore sacrificed to his enuie and her honest and sincere loue shall bee made a bait for her worthy and innocent Husband I will giue him her that shee may be a snare vnto him that the hand of the
Father from whom she could not fly to saue an Husband which durst not â—ot fly from her The bonds of matrimoniall loue are and should bee stronger then those of nature Those respects are mutuall which God appointed in the first institution of Wedlocke That Husband and Wife should leaue Father and Mother for each others sake Treason is euer odious but so much more in the Mariage-bed by how much the obligations are deeper As she loued her husband better then her Father so shee loued her selfe better then her husband she saued her husband by a wyle and now shee saues her selfe by a lye and loses halfe the thanke of her deliuerance by an officious slander Her act was good but she wants courage to maintaine it and therefore seekes to the weake shelter of vntruth Those that doe good offices not out of conscience but good nature or ciuility if they meet an effront of danger seldome come off cleanly but are ready to catch at all excuses though base though iniurious because their grounds are not strong enough to beare them out in suffering for that which they haue well done Whither doth Dauid fly but to the Sanctuary of Samuel He doth not though he knew himselfe gracious with the Souldiers raise forces or take some strong Fort and there stand vpon his owne defence and at defiance with his King but he gets him to the Colledge of the Prophets as a man that would seeke the peaceable protection of the King of Heauen against the vniust fury of a King on earth Onely the wing of God shall hide him from that violence God intended to make Dauid not a Warriour and a King onely but a Prophet too As the field fitted him for the first and the Court for the second so Naioth shall fit him for the third Doubtlesse such was Dauids delight in holy meditations he neuer spent his time so contentedly as when he was retired to that diuine Academie and so full freedome to enioy God and to satiate himselfe with heauenly exercises The only doubt is how Samuel can giue harbour to a man fled from the anger of his Prince wherein the very persons of both giue abundant satisfaction for both Samuel knew the councell of God and durst doe nothing without it and Dauid was by Samuel anointed from God This Vnction was a mutuall Bond Good reason had Dauid to sue to him which had powred the Oile on his head for the hiding of that head which he had anointed and good reason had Samuel to hide him whom God by his meanes had chosen from him whom God had by his sentence reiected besides that the cause deserued commiseration Here was not a Malefactor running away from Iustice but an innocent auoiding Murder not a Traitor countenanced against his Soueraigne but the Deliuerer of Israel harboured in a Sanctuary of Prophets till his peace might bee made Euen thither doth Saul send to apprehend Dauid All his rage did not incense him against Samuel as the Abettor of his Aduersarie Such an impression of reuerence had the person and calling of the Prophet left in the minde of Saul that hee cannot thinke of lifting vp his hand against him The same God which did at the first put an awe of man in the fiercest creatures hath stamped in the cruellest hearts a reuerent respect to his owne image in his Ministers so as euen they that hate them doe yet honour them Sauls messengers came to lay hold on Dauid God layes hold on them No sooner doe they see a company of Prophets busie in these diuine Exercises vnder the moderation of Samuel then they are turned from Executioners to Prophets It is good going vp to Naioth into the holy Assemblies who knows how we may be changed beside our intention Many a one hath come into Gods House to carpe or scoffe or sleepe or gaze that hath returned a Conuert The same heart that was thus disquieted with Dauids happy successe is now vexed with the holinesse of his other Seruants Irangdrs him that Gods Spirit could finde no other time to seize vpon his Agents then when he had sent them to kill And now out of an indignation at this disappointment himselfe will goe and be his owne Seruant His guilty soule finds it selfe out of the danger of being thus surprised And behold Saul is no sooner come within the smell of the smoke of Naioth then hee also prophesies The same Spirit that when hee went first from Samuel inabled him to prophesie returnes in the same effect now that he was going his last vnto Samuel This was such a grace as might well stand with reiection an extraordinarie gift of the spirit but nor sanctifying Many men haue had their mouthes opened to prophesie vnto others whose hearts haue beene deafe to God But this such as it was was farre from Sauls purpose who in stead of expostulating with Samuel fals downe before him and laying aside his weapons and his Robes of a Tyrant proues for the time a Disciple All hearts are in the hand of their maker how easie is it for him that gaue them their being to frame them to his owne bent Who can be afraid of malice that knowes what hookes God hath in the nosthrils of men and Deuils What charmes he hath for the most Serpentine hearts DAVID and AHIMELECH WHO can euer iudge of the Children by the Parents that knowes Ionathan was the son of Saul There was neuer a falser heart then Sauls there was neuer a truer friend then Ionathan Neither the hope of a Kingdome nor the frownes of a Father not the feare of death can remoue him from his vowed amity No Sonne could be more officious and dutifull to a good father yet he layes down nature at the foot of grace and for the preseruation of his innocent Riuall for the Kingdome crosses the bloody designes of his owne Parent Dauid needs no other Counsellor no other Aduocate no other Intelligencer then hee It is not in the power of Sauls vnnaturall reproches or of his Speare to make Ionathan any other then a friend and patron of innocence Euen after all these difficulties doth Ionathan shoot beyond Dauid that Saul may shoot short of him In vaine are those professions of loue which are not answered with action He is no true friend that besides talke is not ready both to doe and suffer Saul is no whit the better for his propecying he no sooner rises vp from before Samuel then he pursues Dauid Wicked men are rather the worse for those transitorie good motions they haue receiued If the Swine be neuer so cleane washed shee will wallow againe That we haue good thoughts it is no thanke to vs that wee answer them not it is both our sinne and iudgement Dauid hath learned not to trust these fits of deuotion but flyes from Samuel to Ionathan from Ionathan to Ahimelech when he was hunted from the Prophet he flyes to the Priest as one that knew iustice and compassion
good to thee This argument seemed to carry such command with it as that Dauid not onely may but must embrew his hands in bloud vnlesse hee will bee found wanting to God and himselfe Those temptations are most powerfull which fetch their force from the pretence of a religious obedience Whereas those which are raised from arbitrary and priuate respects admit of an easie dispensation If there were such a prediction one clause of it was ambiguous and they take it at the worst Thou shalt doe to him as shall seeme good to thee that might not seeme good to him which seemed euill vnto God There is nothing more dangerous than to make construction of Gods purposes out of euentuall appearances If carnall probabilities might be the rule of our iudgement what could God seeme to intend other than Sauls death in offering him naked into the hands of those whom he vniustly persecuted how could Dauids souldiers thinke that God had sent Saul thither on any other errand than to fetch his bane and if Saul could haue seene his owne danger he had giuen himselfe for dead for his heart guilty to his owne bloudy desires could not but haue expected the same measure which it meant But wise and holy Dauid not transported either with mis-conceit of the euent or fury of passion or sollicitation of his followers dares make no other vse of this accident than the triall of his loyalty and the inducement of his peace It had beene as easie for him to cut the throat of Saul as his garment but now his coat onely shall be the worse not his person neither doth he in the maiming of a cloake seeke his owne reuenge but a monument of his innocence Before Saul rent Samuels garment now Dauid cutteth Sauls both were significant The rending of the one signified the Kingdome torne out of those vnworthy hands the cutting of the other that the life of Saul might haue beene as easily cut off Saul needes no other Monitor of his owne danger than what he weares The vpper garment of Saul was laid aside whiles he went to couer his feet so as the cut of the garment did not threaten any touch of the body yet euen the violence offered to a remote garment strikes the heart of Dauid which findes a present remorse for harmefully touching that which did once touch the person of his Master Tender consciences are moued to regret at those actions which strong hearts passe ouer with a careles ease It troubled not Saul to seeke after the bloud of a righteous seruant there is no lesse difference of consciences than stomacks some stomachs will digest the hardest meates and turne ouer substances not in their nature edible whiles others surfet of the lightest food and complaine euen of dainties Euery gracious heart is in some measure scrupulous and findes more safety in feare than in presumption And if it be so strait as to curbe it selfe in from the liberty which it might take in things which are not vnlawfull how much lesse will it dare to take scope vnto euill By how much that state is better where nothing is allowed than where all things by so much is the strict and â—nnorous conscience better than the lawlesse There is good likelihood of that man which is any way scrupulous of his wayes but he which makes no bones of his actions is apparently hopelesse Since Dauids followers pleaded Gods testimony to him as a motiue to bloud Dauid appeales the same God for his preseruation from bloud The Lord keepe me from doing that thing to my Master the Lords Annointed and now the good man hath worke enough to defend both himselfe and his persecuter himselfe from the importunate necessitie of doing violence and his Master from suffering it It was not more easie to rule his owne hands than difficult to rule a multitude Dauids troupe consisted of Male-contents all that were in distresse in debt in bitternesse of soule were gathered to him Many if neuer so well ordered are hard to command a few if disorderly more hard many and disorderly must needs bee so much the hardest of all that Dauid neuer atchieued any victory like vnto this wherein hee first ouercame himselfe then his Souldiers And what was the charme wherewith Dauid allayed those raging spirits of his followers No other but this Hee is the Annointed of the Lord. That holy Oyle was the Antidote for his bloud Saul did not lend Dauid so impearceable an Armour when hee should encounter Goliah as Dauid now lent him in this plea of his vnction Which of all the discontented Out-lawes that lurked in that Caue durst put forth his hand against Saul when they once heard Hee is the Lords Annointed Such an impression of awe hath the diuine Prouidence caused his Image to make in the hearts of men as that it makes Traytors cowards So as in steede of striking they tremble How much more lawlesse than the Out-lawes of Israel are those professed Ring-leaders of Christianitie which teach and practise and incourage and reward and canonize the violation of Maiestie It is not enough for those who are commanders of others to refraine their owne hands from doing euil but they must carefully preuent the iniquitie of their heeles else they shall bee iustly reputed to doe that by others which in their owne persons they auoyded the Lawes both of God and man presuppose vs in some sort answerable for our charge as taking it for granted that wee should not vndertake those raynes which wee cannot mannage There was no reason Dauid should lose the thankes of so noble a demonstration of his loyalty Whereto hee trusts so much that hee dares call backe the man by whom hee was pursued and make him iudge whether that fact had not deserued a life As his act so his word and gesture imported nothing but humble obedience neither was there more meeknesse than force in that seasonable perswasion Wherein hee lets Saul see the error of his credulity the vniust slanders of maliciousnesse the oportunity of his reuenge the proofe of his forbearance the vndeniable euidence of his innocence and after a lowly disparagement of himselfe appeales to God for iudgement for protection So liuely and feeling Oratory did Saul find in the lap of his garment and the lips of Dauid that it is not in the power of his enuie or ill nature to hold out any longer Is this thy voice my sonne Dauid and Saul lift vp his voice and wept and said Thou art more righteous than I. Hee whose harpe had wont to quiet the frenzy of Saul hath now by his words calmed his fury so that now he sheds teares in steed of bloud and confesses his owne wrong and Dauids integrity And as if hee were new againe entred into the bounds of Naioth in Ramath hee prayes and prophesies good to him whom hee maliced for good The Lord render thee good for that thou hast done to mee this day for now behold I know that
call for the blood of the Gibeonites though drudges of Israel and a remnant of Amorites Why this There was a periury attending vpon this slaughter It was an ancient Oath wherein the Princes of the congregation had bound themselues vpon Ioshua's league to the Gibeonites that they would suffer them to liue an oath extorted by fraud but solemne by no lesse â—â—me then the Lord God of Israel Saul will now thus late either not acknowledge it or not keepe it out of his zeale therefore to the children of Israel and Iudah he roots â—ut some of the Gibeonites whether in a zeale of reuenge of their first imposture or in a zeale of inlarging the possessions of Israel or in a zeale of executing Gods charge vpon the brood of Canaanites he that spared Agag whom he should haue smitten smites the Gibeonites whom he should haue spared Zeale and good intention is no excuse much lesse a warrant for euill God holds it an high indignitie that his name should be sworne by and violated Length of time cannot dispense with our oathes with our vowes The vowes and oathes of others may binde vs how much more our owne There was a famine in Israel a naturall man would haue ascribed it vnto the drought and that drought perhaps to some constellations Dauid knowes to looke higher and sees a diuine hand scourging Israel for some great offence and ouer-ruling those second causes to his most iust executions Euen the most quick-sighted worldling is pore-blind to 〈◊〉 all obiects and the weakest eyes of the regenerate pierce the heauens and espy God in all earthly occurrences So well was Dauid acquainted with Gods proceedings that he knew the remouall of the iudgement must begin at the satisfaction of the wronged At once therefore doth he pray vnto God and treat with the Gibeonites What shall I doe for you and wherewith shall I make the atonement that I may blesse the inheritance of the Lord In vaine should Dauid though a Prophet blesse Israel at the Gibeonites did not 〈…〉 lesse them Iniuries done vs on earth giue vs power in heauen The oppressor is in no mans mercy but his whom he hath trampled vpon Little did the Gibeonites thinke that God had so taken to heart their wrongs that for their sakes all Israel should suffer Euen when we thinke not of it is the righteous Iudge auenging our vnrighteous vexations Our hard measures cannot bee hid from him his returnes are hid from vs It is sufficient for vs that God can bee no more neglectiue then ignorant of our sufferings It is now in the power of these despised Hiuites to make their owne termes with Israel Neither Siluer nor Gold will sauour with them towards their satisfaction Nothing can expiate the blood of their fathers but the blood of seuen sonnes of their deceased persecutor Here was no other then a iust retaliation Saul had punished in them the offence of their predecessors they will now reuenge Sauls sinne in his children The measure we mete vnto others is with much equity re-measured vnto our selues Euery death would not content them of Sauls sonnes but a cursed and ignominious hanging on the Tree Neither would that death content them vnlesse their owne hands might bee the executioners Neither would any place serue for the execution but Gibeah the Court of Saul neither would they doe any of this for the wreaking of their own fury but for the appeasing of Gods wrath We will hang them vp vnto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul Dauid might not refuse the condition Hee must deliuer they must execute Hee chooses out seuen of the sonnes and grand-children of Saul That house had raised long an vniust persecution against Dauid now God payes it vpon anothers score Dauids loue and oath to Ionathan preserues lame Mephibosheth How much more shall the Father of all mercies doe good vnto the children of the faithfull for the couenant made with their Parents The fiue sonnes of Adriel the Meholathite Dauids ancient riuall in his first loue which were borne to him by Merab Sauls Daughter and brought vp by her barren sister Michol the wife of Dauid are yeelded vp to death Merab was after a promise of mariage to Dauid vniustly giuen away by Saul to Adriel Michol seemes to abet the match in breeding the children now in one act nor of Dauids seeking the wrong is thus late auenged vpon Saul Adriel Merab Michol the children It is a dangerous matter to offer iniury to any of Gods faithfull ones If their meeknesse haue easily remitted it their God will not passe it ouer without a seuere retribution These fiue together with two sonnes of Rizpah Sauls Concubine are hanged vp at once before the Lord yea and before the eyes of the World No place but an Hill wil serue for this execution The acts of iustice as they are intended for example so they should be done in that eminent fashion that may make them both most instructiue and most terrifying Vnwarrantable courses of priuate reuenge seeke to hide their heads in secresie The beautifull face of iustice both affects the light and becomes it It was the generall charge of Gods Law that no corps should remaine all night vpon the gibbet The Almighty hath power to dispense with his owne command so doubtlesse he did in this extraordinary case these carkasses did not defile but expiate Sorrowfull Rizpah spreads her a Tent of Sackcloth vpon the Rocke for a sad attendance vpon those sonnes of her wombe Death might bereaue her of them not them of her loue This spectacle was not more grieuous to her then pleasing to God and happy to Israel Now the clouds drop â—â—messe and the earth runs forth into plenty The Gibeonites are satisfied God reconciled Israel relieued How blessed a thing it is for any Nation that iustice is vnpartially executed euen vpon the mighty A few drops of blood haue procured large showres from Heauen A few carkasses are a rich compost to the earth The drought and dearth remoue away with the breath of those pledges of the offender Iudgements cannot tyrannize where iustice raignes as contrarily there can be no peace where blood cryes vnheard vnregarded The numbring of the people ISrael was growne wanton and mutinous God puls them downe first by the sword then by famine now by pestilence Oh the wondrous yet iust wayes of the Almightie Because Israel hath sinned therefore Dauid shall sinne that Israel may be punished Because God is angry with Israel therefore Dauid shall anger him more and strike himselfe in Israel and Israel through himselfe The spirit of God elsewhere ascribes this motion to Satan which here it attributes to God Both had their hand in the worke God by permission Satan by suggestion God as a Iudge Satan as an enemy God as in a iust punishment for sinne Satan as in an act of sinne God in a wise ordination of it to good Satan in a malicious intent of confusion Thus at once
that holy vse an hundred thousand talents of gold a thousand thousand talents of siluer besides brasse and yron passing weight Hee weighes out those precious metalls for their seuerall designements Euery future vessell is laid out already in his poise if not in his forme Hee excites the Princes of Israel to their assistance in so high a worke He takes notice of their bountifull offerings He numbers vp the Leuites for the publique seruice and sets them their taskes Hee appoints the Singers and other Musitians to their stations the Porters to the Gates that should be And now when he hath set all things in a desired order and forwardnesse he shuts vp with a zealous blessings of his Salomon and his people and sleepes with his fathers Oh blessed soule how quiet a possession hast thou now taken after so many tumults of a better Crowne Thou that hast prepared all things for the house of thy God how happily art thou now welcomed to that house of his not made with hands eternall in the heauens Who now shall enuie vnto good Princes the honour of ouerseeing the businesses of God and his Church when Dauid was thus punctuall in these diuine prouisions What feare can bee of vsurpation where they haue so glorious a precedent Now is Salomon the second time crowned King of Israel and now in his owne right as formerly in his fathers sits peaceably vpon the Throne of the Lord His awe and power comâ— on faster then his yeeres Enuie and ambition where it is once kindled may sooner be hid in the ashes then quite put out Adonijah yet hangs after his old hopes He remembers how sweet he found the name of a King and now hath laid a new plot for the setting vp of his crackt title He would make the bed a step to the throne His old complices are sure enough His part would gather much strength if he might inioy Abishag the relict of his father to wife If it were not the Iewish fashion as is pretended that a Kings widow should mary none but a King yet certainly the power both of the alliance and friendship of a Queene must needes not a little aduance his purpose The crafty riuall dare not either moue the suit to Salomon or effect the mariage without him but would cunningly vndermine the sonne by the suit of that mother whose suit had vndermined him The weaker vessells are commonly vsed in the most dangerous suggestions of euill Bathsheba was so wise a woman that some of her counsels are canonized for diuine yet she saw not the depth of this drift of Adonijah therefore she both entertaines the suit and moues it But what euer were the intent of the suitor could she choose but see the vnlawfulnesse of so incestuous a match It is not long since shee saw her late husband Dauid abominating the bed of those his Concubines that had been touched by his sonne Absalom and can she hold it lawfull that his sonne Adonijah should climb vp to the bed of his fathers wife Sometimes euen the best eyes are dimme and discerne not those things which are obuious to weaker sights Or whether did not Bathsheba well see the foulenesse of the suit and yet in compassion of Adonijahs late repulse wherein she was the chiefe agent and in a desire to make him amends for the losse of the Kingdome she yeelds euen thus to gratifie him It is an iniurious weakenesse to bee drawne vpon any by-respects to the furtherance of faulty suits of vnlawfull actions No sooner doth Bathsheba come in place then Salomon her sonne rises from his chaire of State and meets her and bowes to her and sets her on his right hand as not so remembring himselfe to be a King that he should forget he was a sonne No outward dignity can take away the rights and obligations of nature Had Bathsheba beene as meane as Salomon was mighty she had caried away this honor from a gracious sonne Yet for all these due complements Bathsheba goes away with a deniall Reuerence she shall haue she shall not haue a condescent In the acts of Magistracie all regards of naturall relations must giue way That which she propounded as a small request is now after a generall and confused ingagement reiected as vnreasonable It were pity wee should bee heard in all our suits Bathsheba makes a petition against herselfe and knowes it not her safetie and life depends vpon Salomons raign yet she vnwittingly moues for the aduancement of Adonijah Salomon was to dutifull too checke his mother and too wise to yeeld to her In vnfit supplications wee are most heard when we are repelled Thus doth our God many times answer our prayers with mercifull denialls and most blesseth vs in crossing our desires Wise Salomon doth not find himselfe perplexed with the scruple of his promise he that had said Aske on for I will not say thee nay can now sweare God doe so to mee and more also if Adonijah haue not spoken this word against his owne life His promise was according to his supposition his supposition was of no other then of a suit honest reasonable expedient now he holds himselfe free from that grant wherein there was at once both sin and danger No man can be intangled with generall words against his owne iust and honest intentions The policies of wicked men befoole them at last this intercession hath vndone Adonijah and in stead of the Throne hastens his graue The sword of Benaiah puts an end to that dangerous riuality Ioab and Abiathar still held Champerty with Adonijah Their hand was both in his claime of the Kingdome and in the suit of Abishag There are crimes wherein there are no accessories such is thâ—â— of treason Abiathar may thanke his burden that he liues Had he not borne the Arke of the Lord before Dauid he had not now caried his head vpon his shoulders Had he not been afflicted with Dauid he had perished with Adonijah now though he were in his owne merit a man of death yet he shall suruiue his partners Get thee to Anathoth vnto thine owne fields The Priesthood of Abiathar as it aggrauated his crime so it shall preserue his life Such honor haue good Princes giuen to the Ministers of the Sanctuarie that their very coate hath beene defence enough against the sword of iustice how much more should it be of proofe against the contempt of base persons Besides his function respect is had to his sufferings The father and brethren of Abiathar were slaine for Dauids sake therefore for Dauids sake Abiathar though worthy of death shall liue He had been now a dead man if he had not beene formerly afflicted Thus doth our good God deale with vs by the rod he preuents the sword and therefore will not condemne vs for our sins because we haue suffered If Abiathar doe not forfait his life yet his office he shall he must change Ierusalem for Anathoth and the Priesthood for a retired priuacie
his Church must be framed your ciuill State c. Iust as that Donatist of old in Augustine Quid vobis c. What haue you to doe with worldly Emperours and as that other in Optatus Quid Imperatoricum Ecclesia What hath the Emperor to doe with the Church Yea your Martyr feares not to teach vs that Gods seruants being as yet priuate men may and must together build his Church though all the Princes of the World should prohibit the same vpon paine of death Belike then you should sinne hainously if you should not be Rebels The question is not whether we should aske leaue of Princes to be Christians but whether of Christian Princes we should aske leaue to establish circumstances of Gouernment God must be serued though we suffer our bloud is well bestowed vpon our Maker but in patience not in violence Priuate profession is one thing Publike Reformation and Iniunction is another Euery man must doe that in the maine none may doe this but they of whom God saies I haue said Ye are Gods and of them There is difference betwixt Christian and Heathen Princes If at least all Princes were not to you Heathen If these should haue beene altogether stayed for Religion had come late If the other should not be stayed for Religion would soone bee ouerlayd with confusion Lastly the body of Religion is one thing the skirts of outward Gouernment another that may not depend on men to be embraced or with loyaltie prosecuted these vpon those generall rules Christ both may and doe and must If you cut off but one lap of these with Dauid you shall bee touched To deny this power to Gods Deputies on Earth what is it but Ye take too much vpon you Moses and Aaron 1 Sam. 24.6 Numb 16.3 all the Congregation is holy wherefore lift ye your selues aboue the Congregation of the Lord See if herein you come not too neere the wals of that Rome which yee so abhorre and accurse in ascribing such power to the Church none to Princes Counterpoys pag. 2.30 Let your Doctor tell you 2 Chron. 13. 2 Chr. 14. 15. 2 Chron. 29. 2 Chron. 30. 2 Chron. 34. whether the best Israelites in the times of Abisah Asa Iehosaphat Ezekiah Iosiah tooke vpon them to reforme without or before or against their Princes Yea did Nehemiah himselfe without Arâ—â—hshat though an Heathen King set vpon the wals of Gods City Or what did â—erubbabel and Ieshua without Cyrus In whose time Haggâ—â— and Zechariah prophesied indeed but built not And when contrary Letters came from aboue they â—â—id by both Trowels and Swords They would be Iewes still they would not be Rebels for God Ezr. 4.23 24. Had those letters inioyned Swines flesh or Idolatry or forbidden the vse of the Law those which now yeelded had suffered and at once testified their obedience to authority and piety to him that sits in the Assembly of these earthen gods I vrge no more Perhaps you are more wise or lesse mutinous you might easily therefore purge your conscience from this sinne of wanting what you might not perforce enioy Say that your Church should imploy you backe to this our Babylon for the calling out of more proselytes you are intercepted imprisoned Shall it bee sinne in you not to heare the Prophesies at Amsterdam The Clinke is a lawfull excuse If your feet bee bound your conscience is not bound In these Negatiues outward force takes away both sinne and blame and alters them from the patient to the actor so that now you see your straight bonds if they were such loosed by obedience and ouer-ruling power SECTION XIX The bonds of Gods Word vniustly pleaded by the Separ BVT what bonds were these straight ones Gods Word and your owne necessitie Both strong and indissoluble Where God hath bidden God forbid that we should care for the forbiddance of men I reuerence from my soule so doth our Church their deare sister those worthy forraine Churches which haue chosen and followed those formes of outward Gouernment that are euery way fittest for their own condition It is enough for your Sect to censure them I touch nothing common to them with you * * Aug. Epist 58. Pastores autem Doctores quâ—â— maxime vt discernerâ—m voluisti eosdem puto esse sicut â—ibi visum est vt non alios Pastores alios Doctores intelligeremus sed ideo cùm praedixisset Pastores subiâ—â—xisse Doctores vt intelligerent Pastores ad officium suum pertinere doctrinam Barr. against Gyff inueighs for this cause against the Consistorie of Geneua Fr. Iohns complaints of the Dutch and Fr. Churches Description of a visible Church cannot make a Distinct in the Definition of their Offices State of Christians 119. Description of visible Church H. Clap. Epist before his Treatise of Sinne against the Holy Ghost Brownists 4. Position Trouble and Excom at Amster Fr. Iohns in a Letter to M. Smith While the world standeth where will it euer be shewed out of the Sacred Booke of God that hee hath charged Let there be perpetuall Lay-Elders in euery Congregation Let euery Assembly haue a Pastor and Doctor distinct in their charge and offices Let all Decisions Excommunications Ordinations bee performed by the whole multitude Let priuate Christians aboue the first turne in extremitie agree to set ouer themselues a Pastor chosen from amongst them and receiue him with Prayer and vnlesse that Ceremony be turned to pompe and Superstition by imposition of hands Let there bee Widowers which you call Releeuers appointed euery where to the Church-Seruice Let certaine discreet and able men which are not Ministers bee appointed to preach the Gospell and whole truth of God to the people All the learned Diuines of other Churches are in these left yea in the most of them censured by you Hath God spoken these things to you alone Plead not Reuelations and we feare you not Pardon so homely an example As soone and by the same illumination shall G. Iohns proue to your Consistory the lace of the Pastors wiues sleeue or rings or Whalebones or others amongst you as your Pastor confesseth knit-stockings or corke-shooes forbidden flatly by Scriptures as these commanded Wee see the letter of the Scriptures with you you shall fetch bloud of them with straining ere you shall wring out this sense No no M.R. neuer make God your stale Many of your ordinances came from no higher than your owne braine Others of them though God acknowledges yet he imposed not Pretend what you will These are but the cords of your owne conceit not bonds of Christian obedience SECTION XX. THe first of these then is easily vntwisted your second is necessity The necessity of their pretended ordinance Than which what can be stronger what law or what remedy is against necessity What wee must haue wee cannot want Oppose but the publike necessity to yours your necessity of hauing to the publike necessity of withholding and
future royalty of Saul Who would not haue looked that aged Samuel should haue emulated rather the glory of his young riuall and haue looked churlishly vpon the man that should rob him of his authority yet now as if he came on purpose to gratifie him he bids him to the feast hee honours him with the chiefe seat he reserues a select morsell for him he tels him ingenuously the newes of his insuing Soueraignty On whom is set the desire of all Israel is it not vpon thee and thy fathers house Wise and holy men as they are not ambitious of their owne burden so they are not vnwilling to bee eased when God pleaseth to discharge them neither can they enuy those whom God lifteth aboue their heads They make an idoll of honour that are troubled with their owne freedome or grudge at the promotion of others Doubtlesse Saul was much amazed with the strange salutation and newes of the Prophet and how modestly doth he put it off as that which was neither fit nor likely disparaging his Tribe in respect of the rest of Israel his fathers Family in respect of the Tribe and himselfe in respect of his Fathers Family neither did his humility stoope below the truth For as Beniamin was the youngest sonne of Israel so he was now by much the least Tribe of Israel They had not yet recouered that vniuersall slaughter which they had receiued from the hands of their brethren whereby a Tribe was almost lost to Israel yet euen out of the remainder of Beniamin doth God choose the man that shall command Israel out of the rubbish of Beniamin doth God raise the Throne That is not euer the best and fattest which God chooseth but that which God chooseth is euer the fittest the strength or weaknesse of meanes is neither spur nor bridle to the determinate choices of God yea rather he holds it the greatest proofe of his freedome and omnipotency to aduance the vnlikeliest It was no hollow and fained excuse that Saul makes to put off that which he would faine enioy and to cause honour to follow him the more eagerly It was the sincere truth of his humilitie that so deiected him vnder the hand of Gods Prophet Faire beginnings are no sound proofe of our proceedings and ending well How often hath a bashfull childhood ended in an impudency of youth a strict entrance in licentiousnesse early forwardnesse in Atheisme There might be a ciuill meeknesse in Saul true grace there was not in him they that be good beare more fruit in their age Saul had but fiue pence in his purse to giue the Prophet The Prophet after much good cheere giues him the Kingdome he bestowes the oyle of royall consecration on his head the kisses of homage vpon his face and sends him away rich in thoughts and expectation and now lest his astonishment should end in distrust he setles his assurance by forewarnings of those euents which he should find in his way Hee tels him whom he shall meet what they shall say how himselfe shall bee affected that all these and himselfe might be so many witnesses of his following coronation euery word confirmed him For well might he thinke He that can foretell me the motions and words of others cannot faile in mine especially when as Samuel had prophecied to him he found himselfe to prophesie His prophesying did enough foretell his Kingdome No sooner did Samuel turne his backe from Saul but God gaue him another heart lifting vp his thoughts and disposition to the pitch of a King The calling of God neuer leaues a man vnchanged neither did God euer employ any man in his seruice whom he did not enable to the worke he set him especially those whom hee raiseth vp to the supply of his owne place and the representation of himselfe It is no maruell if Princes excell the vulgar in gifts no lesse then in dignity Their Crownes and their hearts are both in one and the same hand If God did not adde to their powers as well as their honours there would be no equality The Jnauguration of SAVL GOD hath secretly destined Saul to the Kingdome it could not content Israel that Samuel knew this the lots must so decide the choice as if it had not beene predetermined That God which is euer constant to his owne decrees makes the lots to find him out whom Samuel had anointed If once we haue notice of the will of God we may be confident of the issue There is no chance to the Almighty euen casuall things are no lesse necessary in their first cause then the naturall So farre did Saul trust the prediction and oyle of Samuel that he hides him among the stuffe Hee knew where the lots would light before they were cast This was but a modest declination of that honour which he saw must come His very withdrawing shewed some expectation why else should he haue hid himselfe rather then the other Israelites yet could hee not hope his subducing himselfe could disappoint the purpose of God He well knew that hee which found out and designed his name amongst the thousands of Israel would easily find out his person in a Tent When once we know Gods decree in vaine shall we striue against it Before we know it it is indifferent for vs to worke to the likeliest I cannot blame Saul for hiding himselfe from a Kingdome especially of Israel Honour is heauy when it comes vpon the best tearmes How should it be otherwise when all mens cares are cast vpon one but most of all in a troubled estate No man can put to Sea without danger but he that lancheth out in a tempest can expect nothing but the hardest euent such was the condition of Israel Their old enemie the Philistims were stilled with that fearfull thunder of God as finding what it was to warre against the Almighty There were aduersaries enow besides in their borders It was but an hollow truce that was betwixt Israel and their heathenish neighbours and Nahash was now at their gates Well did Saul know the difference betweene a peacefull gouernment and the perilous and wearisome tumults of warre The quietest Throne is full of cares but the perplexed of dangers Cares and dangers droue Saul into this corner to hide his head from a Crowne These made him chuse rather to lye obscurely among the baggage of his Tent then to sit gloriously in the Throne of State This hiding could doe nothing but shew that both he suspected lest hee should be chosen and desired he should not be chosen That God from whom the hils and the rockes could not conceale him brings him forth to the light so much more longed for as he was more vnwilling to be seene and more applauded as he was more longed for Now then when Saul is drawne forth in the middest of the eager expectation of Israel modesty and godlinesse shewed themselues in his face The prease cannot hide him whom the stuffe had hid As if hee had beene
our spirituall combats when we haue not a Prophet to leade vs It is all one sauing that it sauours of more contempt not to haue Gods Seers and not to vse them He can be no true Israelite that is not distressed with the want of a Samuel As one that had learned to beginne his rule in obedience Saul stayes seuen dayes in Gilgal according to the Prophets direction and still he lookes long for Samuel which had promised his presence sixe daies he expects and part of the seuenth yet Samuel is not come The Philistims draw neere the Israelites runne away Samuel comes not they must fight God must be supplicated what should Saul doe rather then God should want a sacrifice and the people satisfaction Saul will command that which he knew Samuel would if he were present both command and execute It is not possible thinkes he that God should be displeased with a sacrifice he cannot but bee displeased with indeuotion Why doe the people runne from me but for want of meanes to make God sure What would Samuel rather wish then that we should bee godly The act shall be the same the onely difference shall be in the person If Samuel be wanting to vs we will not be wanting to God it is but an holy preuention to be deuout vnbidden Vpon this conceit he commands a sacrifice Sauls sins make no great shew yet are they still hainously taken the impietie of them was more hidden and inward from all eyes but Gods If Saul were among the Prophets before will he now be among the Priests Can there be any deuotion in disobedience O vaine man What can it auaile thee to sacrifice to God against God Hypocrites rest onely in formalities If the outward act be done it sufficeth them though the ground be distrust the manner vnreuerence the cariage presumption What then should Saul haue done Vpon the trust of God and Samuel hee should haue stayed out the last houre and haue secretly sacrificed himselfe and his prayers vnto that God which loues Obedience aboue Sacrifice Our faith is most commendable in the last act It is no praise to hold out vntill wee be hard driuen Then when we are forsaken of meanes to liue by faith in our God is worthy of a Crowne God will haue no worship of our deuising we may onely doe what he bids vs not bid what he commands not Neuer did any true pietie arise out of the corrupt puddle of mans braine If it flow not from Heauen it is odious to Heauen What was it that did thus taint the valour of Saul with this weaknesse but distrust He saw some Israelites goe he thought all would goe he saw the Philistims come he saw Samuel came not his diffidence was guilty of his misdeuotion There is no sinne that hath not his ground from vnbeleefe This as it was the first infection of our pure nature so is the true source of all corruption man could not sinne if he distrusted not The Sacrifice is no sooner ended then Samuel is come and why came he no sooner He could not be a Seer and not know how much hee was lookt for how troublesome and dangerous his absence must needs be He that could tell Saul that hee should prophesie could tell that hee would sacrifice yet hee purposely forbeares to come for the triall of him that must be the Champion of God Samuel durst not haue done thus but by direction from his Master It is the ordinary course of God to proue vs by delayes and to driue to exigents that we may shew what we are He that anointed Saul might lawfully from God controll him There must bee discretion there may not be partialitie in our censures of the greatest God makes difference of sinnes none of persons if we make difference of sinnes according to persons we are vnfaithfull both to God and man Scarce is Saul warme in his kingdome when hee hath euen lost it Samuels first words after the Inauguration are of Sauls reiection and the choice and establishment of his Successor It was euer Gods purpose to settle the Kingdome in Iuda He that tooke occasion by the peoples sinne to raise vp Saul in Beniamin takes occasion by Sauls sinne to establish the Crowne vpon Dauid In humane probability the Kingdome was fixed vpon Saul and his more worthy Sonne In Gods Decree it did but passe through the hands of Beniamin to Iudah Besides trouble how fickle are these earthly glories Saul doubtlesse lookt vpon Ionathan as the Inheritor of his Crowne and behold ere his peaceable Possession hee hath lost it from himselfe Our sinnes strip vs not of our hopes in heauen onely but of our earthly blessings The way to entaile a comfortable prosperitie vpon our Seed after vs is our conscionable obedience vnto God IONATHANSVictory and SAVLS Oath IT is no wonder if Sauls courage were much cooled with the heauie newes of his reiection After this he stayes vnder the Pomgranate tree in Gibeah He stirs not towards the Garison of the Philistims As Hope is the mother of Fortitude so nothing doth more breed cowardlinesse then despaire Euery thing dismayes that heart which God hath put out of protection Worthy Ionathan which spring from Saul as some sweet Impe growes out of a Crabstocke is therefore full of valour because full of faith He well knew that he should haue nothing but discouragements from his fathers feare as rather choosing therefore to auoid all the blockes that might lie in the way then to leape ouer them he departs secretly without the dismission of his Father or notice of the people onely God leads him and his Armour bearer followes him O admirable faith of Ionathan whom neither the steepnesse of Rockes not the multitude of Enemies can disswade from so vnlikely an assault Is it possible that two men whereof one was weaponlesse should dare to thinke of incountring so many thousands O Diuine Power of Faith that in all difficulties and attempts makes a man more then men and regards no more armies of men then swarmes of flyes There is no restraint to the Lord saith he to saue with many or by few It was not so great newes that Saul should bee amongst the Prophets as that such a word should come from the Sonne of Saul If his Father had had but so much Diuinity he had not sacrificed The strength of his God is the ground of his strength in God The question is not what Ionathan can doe but what God can doe whose power is not in the meanes but in himselfe That mans faith is well vnderlayed that vpholds it selfe by the Omnipotency of God thus the Father of the faithfull built his assurance vpon the power of the Almighty But many things God can doe which he will not doe How knowest thou Ionathan that God will be as forward as he is able to giue thee victory For this saith he I haue a watch-word from God out of the mouthes of the Philistims If they
fore-seeing that which hee should not bee able to auoid Foolish men giue away their soules for nothing The itch of impertinent and vnprofitable knowledge hath beene the hereditary disease of the sonnes of Adam Eue How many haue perished to know that which hath procured their perishing How ambitious should wee bee to know those things the knowledge whereof is eternall Life Many a lewd Office are they put to which serue wicked Masters one while Sauls seruants are set to kill innocent Dauid another while to shed the bloud of Gods Priests and now they must goe seeke for a Witch It is no small happinesse to attend them from whom we may receiue precepts and examples of vertue Had Saul beene good hee had needed no disguise Honest actions neuer shame the doers Now that hee goeth about a sinfull businesse hee changeth himselfe hee seekes the shelter of the night hee takes but two followers with him It is true that if Saul had come in the port of a King the Witch had as much dissembled her condition as now hee dissembleth his yet it was not onely desire to speed but guiltinesse that thus altered his habit such is the power of conscience that euen those who are most affected to euill yet are ashamed to be thought such as they desire to be Saul needed another face to fit that tongue which should say Coniecture to me by the familiar spirit and bring me vp whom I shall name vnto thee An obdurate heart can giue way to any thing NOTVVITHSTANDING the peremptory edict of Saul there are still Witches in Israel Neither good Lawes nor carefull executions can purge the Church from Malefactors There will still bee some that will ieopard their heads vpon the grossest sinnes No Garden can be so curiously tended that there should not bee one Weed left in it Yet so farre can good Statutes and due inflictions of punishment vpon offenders preuaile that mischieuous persons are glad to pull in their heads and dare not doe ill but in disguise and darknesse It is no small aduantage of Iustice that it affrights sinne if it cannot be expelled As contrarily wofull is the condition of that place where is a publike profession of wickednesse This Witch was no lesse crafty than wicked shee had before as is like bribed Officers to escape inditement lurke in secrecy and now shee will not worke her feares without securitie her suspition proiects the worst Wherefore seekest thou to take wee in a snare to cause mee to dye Oh vaine Sorceresse that could bee wary us auoid the punishment of Saul carelesse to auoid the iudgment of God Could wee fore-thinke what our sinne would cost vs wee durst not but be innocent This is a good and seasonable answer for vs to make vnto Satan when hee sollicites vs to euill wherefore seekest thou to take mee in a snare to cause mee to dye Nothing is more sure than this intention in the tempter than this euent in the issue Oh that wee could but so much feare the eternall paines as wee doe the temporary and bee but so carefull to saue our soules from torment as our bodies No sooner hath Saul sworne her safetie than shee addresseth her to her Sorcery Hope of impunitie drawes on sinne with boldnesse were it not for the delusions of false promises Satan should haue no Clients Could Saul be so ignorant as to thinke that Magick had power ouer Gods deceased Saints to rayse them vp yea to call them downe from their rest Time was when Saul was among the Prophets And yet now that he is in the impure lodge of Deuils how senselesse hee is to say Bring me vp Samuel It is no rare thing to lose euen our wit and iudgement together with graces How iustly are they giuen ouer to fottishnesse that haue giuen themselue ouer to sinne The Sorceresse it seemes exercising her coniurations in a roome apart is informed by her Familiar who it was that set her on worke shee can therefore finde time in the midst of her Exorcismes to binde the assurance of her owne safetie by expostulation She cryed with a loud voyce why hast thou deceiued mee for thou art Saul The very name of Saul was an accusation Yet is he so farre from striking his brest that doubting lest this feare of the Witch should interrupt the desired worke hee encourages her whom hee should haue condemned Be not afraid Hee that had more cause to feare for his owne sake in an expectation of iust iudgment cheeres vp her that feared nothing but himselfe How ill doth it become vs to giue that counsell to others whereof wee haue more neede and vse in our owne persons As one that had more care to satisfie his curiositie than her suspicion hee askes what sawest thou Who would not haue looked that Sauls haire should haue stared on his head to heare of a spirit raised His sinne hath so hardened him that hee rather pleases himselfe in it which hath nothing in it but horror So farre is Satan content to descend to the seruice of his seruants that hee will approue his fained obedience to their very outward sences What forme is so glorious that hee either cannot or dare not vndertake Here Gods ascend out of the Earth Else-where Satan transformes him into an Angell of light What wonder is it that his wicked Instruments appeare like Saints in their hypocriticall dissimulation if wee will bee iudging by the appearance wee shall bee sure to erre No eye could distinguish betwixt the true Samuell and a false spirit Saul who was well worthy to bee deceiued seeing those gray haires and that Mantle inclines himselfe to the ground and bowes himselfe He that would not worship God in Samuel aliue now worships Samuel in Satan and no maruell Satan was now become his refuge in steed of God his vrim was darknesse his Prophet a Ghost Euery one that consults with Satan worships him though hee bow not neither doth that euill spirit desire any other reuerence than to be sought to How cunningly doth Satan resemble not onely the habit and gesture but the language of Samuel Wherefore hast thou disquieted me and wherefore dost thou aske of mee seeing the Lord is gone from thee and is thine enemy Nothing 〈…〉 pleasing to that euill one than to be solicited yet in the person of Samuel hee can say Why hast thou disquitted wâ—â—e Had not the Lord beene gone from Saul hee had neuer coâ—ne to the Deuillish Oracle of Endor and yet the counterfetting spirit can say Why dost thou arke of 〈◊〉 seeing the Lord is gone from thee Satan cares not how little hee is knowne to bee himselfe he loues to passe vnder any sonne rather than his owne The more holy the person is the more carefully doth Satan act him that by his stale hee may ensnare vs. In euery motion it is good to try the spirits whether they be of God Good words are no meanes to distinguish a Prophet from a Deuill
how much they were victors then finding the dead corps of Saul and his sonnes they begin their triumphs The head of King Saul is cut off in lieu of Goliahs and now all their Idoll temples ring of their successe Foolish Philistims if they had not beene more beholden to Sauls sins than their gods they had neuer carried away the honour of those Trophees In stead of magnifying the iustice of the true God who punished Saul with deserued death they magnifie the power of the false Superstition is extremely iniurious to God It is no better than Theft to ascribe vnto the second causes that honor which is due vnto the first but to giue Gods glory to those things which neither act nor are it is the highest degree of spirituall robbery Saul was none of the best Kings yet so impatient are his subiects of the indignity offred to his dead corps that they will rather leaue their owne bones amongst the Philistims than the carcasse of Saul Such a close relation there is betwixt a Prince and Subiect that the dishonour of either is inseparable from both How willing should wee bee to hazard our bodies or substance for the vindication either of the person or name of a good King whiles hee liues to the benefit of our protection It is an vniust ingratitude in those men which can endure the disgrace of them vnder whose shelter they liue but how vnnaturall is the villany of those Miscreants that can bee content to bee actors in the capitall wrongs offered to soueraigne authoritie It were a wonder if after the death of a Prince there should want some Picke-thanke to insinuate himselfe into his Successor An Amalekite young man rides post to Ziklag to finde out Dauid whom euen common rumour â—ad notified for the annointed Heire to the Kingdome of Israel to bee the first Messenger of that newes which he thought could be no other than acceptable the death of Saul and that the tidings might be so much more meritorious hee addes to the report what hee thinkes might carrie the greatest retribution In hope of reward or honour the man is content to bely himselfe to Dauid It was not the Speare but the Sword of Saul that was the instrument of his death neither could this stranger finde Saul but dying since the Armour bearer of Saul saw him dead ere hee offered that violence to himselfe The hand of this Amalekite therefore was not guilty his tongue was Had not this Messenger measured Dauids foote by his owne Last hee had forborne this peece of the newes and not hoped to aduantage himselfe by this falshood Now he thinkes The tidings of a Kingdome cannot but please None but Saul and Ionathan stood in Dauids way Hee cannot chuse but like to heare of their remouall Especially since Saul did so tyrannously persecute his innocence If I shall onely report the fact done by another I shall goe away but with the recompence of a â—â—ckie Post whereas if I take vpon mee the action I am the man to whome Dauid is beholden for the Kingdome hee cannot but honour and require mee as the Authour of his deliuerance and happinesse Worldly mindes thinke no man can be of any other than their owne dyet and because they finde the respects of selfe-loue and priuate profit so strongly preuailing with themselues they cannot conceiue how these should be capable of a repulse from others How much was this Amalekite mocked of his hopes whiles he imagined that Dauid would now triumph and feast in the assured expectation of the Kingdome and Possession of the Crowne of Israel he findes him renting his clothes and wringing his handes and weeping and mourning as if all his comfort had bin dead with Saul and Ionathan and yet perhaps hee thought This sorrow of Dauid is but fashionable such as greate heires make shew of in the fatall day they haue longed for These teares will soone be dry the sight of a Crowne will soone breed a succession of other passions But this errour is soone corrected For when Dauid had entertayned this Bearer with a sadfast all the day hee cals him forth in the euening to execution How wast thou not afraid saith he to put forth thy hand to destroy the Annoynted of the Lord Doubtlesse the Amalekite made many faire pleas for himselfe out of the grounds of his owne report Alas Saul was before falne vpon his owne Speare It was but mercie to kill him that was halfe dead that hee might die the shorter Besides his entreaty and importunate prayers mooued mee to hasten him through those painefull gates of death had I striken him as an enemy I had deserued the blow I had giuen now I lent him the hand of a friend why am I punished for obeying the voyce of a King and for perfiting what himselfe begun and could not finish And if neither his owne wound nor mine had dispatched him the Philistims were at his heeles ready to doe this same act with insultation which I did in fauour and if my hand had not preuented them where had beene the Crowne of Israel which I now haue here presented to thee I could haue deliuered that to King Achish and haue beene rewarded with honour let me not dye for an act well meant to thee how euer construed by thee But no pretence can make his owne tale not deadly Thy bloud be vpon thine owne head for thine owne mouth hath testified aganst thee saying I haue slaine the Lords Annoynted It is a iust supposition that euery man is so great a Fauourer of himselfe that hee will not mis-report his owne actions nor say the worst of himselfe In matter of confession men may without iniury be taken at their words If hee did it his fact was capitall If hee did it not his lye It is pitty any other recompence should befall those false Flatterers that can be content to father a sinne to get thankes Euery drop of royall bloud is sacred For a man to say that hee hath shed it is mortall Of how farre different spirits from this of Dauid are those men which suborne the death of Princes and celebrate and canonize the Mutherers Into their secret let not my soule come my glory be thou not ioyned to their Assembly ABNER and IOAB HOw mercifull and seasonable are the prouisions of God Zildag was now nothing but ruines and ashes Dauid might returne to the soile where it stood to the roofes and wals he could not No sooner is he disappointed of that harbour than God prouides him Cities of Hebron Saul shall die to giue him elbow-roome Now doth Dauid finde the comfort that his extremity sought in the Lord his God Now are his clouds for a time passed ouer and the Sunne breakes gloriously forth Dauid shall reigne after his sufferings So shall we if we endure to the end finde a Crowne of Righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall giue vs at that day But though Dauid well knew
no leisure to sinne The idle hath neither leisure nor power to auoide sinne Exercise is not more wholsome for the bodie than for the Soule the remission whereof breeds matter of disease in bothe The water that hath beene heated soonest freezeth the most actilie spirit soonest tyreth with slackning The Earth stande still and is all dregges the Heauens euer moue and are pure We haue no reason to complaine of the assiduitie of worke the toyle of action is answered by the benefit If wee did lesse we should suffer more Satan like an idle companion if hee finde vs busie flyes backe and sees it no time to entertayne vaine purposes with vs We cannot please him better than by casting away our worke to hold that with him wee cannot yeeld so farre and be guiltlesse Euen Dauids eyes haue no sooner the sleepe rubbed â—ut of them than they roue to wanton prospects Hee walkes vpon his roofe and sees Bathsheba washing her selfe inquires after her sends for her sollicits her to vncleanenesse The same spirit that shut vp his eyes in on vnseasonable sleepe opens them vpon an intising obiect whiles sinne hath such a Solliciter it cannot want either meanes or opportunitie I cannot thinke Bathsheba could bee so immodest as to wash her selfe openly especially from her naturall vncleannesse Lust is quick-sighted Dauid hath espied her where shee could espye no beholder His eyes recoyle vpon his heart and haue smitten him with sinfull desire There can be no safetie to that Soule where the senses are let loose Hee can neuer keepe his couenant with God that makes not a couenant with his eyes It is an idle presumption to thinke the outward man may bee free whiles the inward is safe He is more than a man whose heart is not led by his eyes hee is no regenerate man whose eyes are not restrained by his heart Oh Bathsheba how wert thou washed from thine vncleannesse when thou yeeldedst to goe into an adulterous bed neuer wert thou so foule as now when thou wert new washed The worst of Nature is cleanlinesse to the best of sinne thou hadst beene cleane if thou hadst not washed yet for thee I know how to plead infirmitie of sexe and the importunitie of a King But what shall I say for thee O thou royall Prophet and Propheticall King of Israel where shall I finde ought to extenuate that crime for which God himselfe hath noted thee Did not thine holy Profession teach thee to abhorre such a sinne more than death Was not thy Iustice woont to punish this sinne with no lesse than death Did not thy very calling call thee to a protection and preseruation of Iustice of Chastitie in thy subiects Didst thou want store of Wiues of thine owne wert thou restrayned from taking more Was there no beautie in Israel but in a Subiects Marriage-bed Wert thou ouercome by the vehement sollicitations of an Adulteresse Wert thou not the Tempter the Prosecutor of this vncleanenesse I should accuse thee deeply if thou hadst not accused thy selfe Nothing wanted to greaten thy sinne or our wonder and feare O God whither doe wee goe if thou stay vs not Who euer amongst the millions of thy Seruants could finde himselfe furnished with stronger preseruatiues against sinne Against whom could such a sinne finde lesse pretence of preuayling Oh keepe thou vs that presumptuous sinnes preuayle not ouer vs So only shall wee bee free from great offences The Suites of Kings are Imperatiue Ambition did now proue a Bawd to Lust Bathsheba yeeldeth to offend God to dishonour her Husband to clog and wound her owne Soule to abuse her bodie Dishonestie growes bold when it is countenanced with greatnesse Eminent persons had need be carefull of their demaunds they sinne by authoritie that are solicited by the mightie Had Bathsheba beene mindfull of her Matrimoniall fidelitie perhaps Dauid had beene soone checked in his inordinate desire her facilitie furthers the sinne The first motioner of euill is most faultie but as in quarrels so in offences the second blow which is the consent makes the fray Good Ioseph was moued to folly by his great and beautifull Mistris this fire fell vpon wet Tinder and therefore soone went out Sinne is not acted alone if but one partie be wise both escape It is no excuse to say I was tempted though by the great though by the holy and learned Almost all sinners are misse-led by that transformed Angell of light The action is that wee must regard not the person Let the mouer bee neuer so glorious if he stirre vs to euill he must be entertained with defiance The God that knowes how to rayse good out of euill blesses an adulterous copulation with that increase which he denyes to the chast imbracements of honest Wedlocke Bathsheba hath conceiued by Dauid and now at once conceiues a sorrow and care how to smother the shame of her Conception He that did the fact must hide it Oh Dauid where is thy Repentance Where is thy tendernesse and compunction of heart Where are those holy Meditations which had woont to take vp thy Soule Alas in steed of clearing thy sinne thou labourest to cloke it and spendest those thoughts in the concealing of thy wickednesse which thou shouldest rather haue bestowed in preuenting it The best of Gods Children may not onely bee drenched in the waues of sinne but lye in them for the time and perhaps sinke twice to the bottome what Hypocrite could haue done worse than studie how to couer the face of his sinne from the eyes of men whiles hee regarded not the sting of sinne in his Soule As there are some Acts wherein the Hypocrite is a Saint so there are some wherein the greatest Saint vpon Earth may bee an Hypocrite Saul did thus goe about to colour his sinne and is cursed The Vessels of Mercie and Wrath are not euer distinguishable by their actions Hee makes the difference that will haue mercie on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth It is rare and hard to commit a single sinne Dauid hath abused the Wife of Vriah now hee would abuse his person in causing him to father a false seede That worthy Hittite is sent for from the Wars and now after some cunning and farre fetcht Questions is dismissed to his house not without a present of fauour Dauid could not but imagine that the beautie of his Bathsheba must needs bee attractiue enough to an Husband whom long absence in Warres had with-held all that while from so pleasing a Bed neyther could hee thinke that since that face and those brests had power to allure himselfe to an vnlawfull lust it could be possible that Vriah should not bee inuited by them to an allowed and warrantable fruition That Dauids heart might now the rather strike him in comparing the chaste resolutions of his Seruant with his owne light incontinence good Vriah sleepes at the doore of the Kings Palace making choice of a stonie Pillow vnder the Canopie of Heauen rather
cannot haue the heart or the face to stand out against the message of God but now as a man confounded and condemned in himselfe he cryes out in the bitternesse of a wounded Soule I haue sinned against the Lord. It was a short word but passionate and such as came from the bottome of a contrite heart The greatest griefes are not most verball Saul confessed his sinne more largely lesse effectually God cares not for phrases but for affections The first piece of our amends to God for sinning is the acknowledgement of sinne He can doe little that in a iust offence cannot accuse himselfe If wee cannot bee so good as we would it is reason wee should doe God so much right as to say how euill we are And why was not this done sooner It is strange to see how easily sin gets into the heart how hardly it gets out of the mouth Is it because sinne like vnto Satan where it hath got possession is desirous to hold it and knowes that it is fully eiected by a free confession or because in a guiltinesse of deformitie it hides it selfe in the brest where it is once entertayned and hates the light or because the tongue is so fee'd with selfe-loue that it is loath to be drawne vnto any verdict against the heart or hands or is it out of an idle misprision of shame which whiles it should be placed in offending is misplaced in disclosing of our offence Howeuer sure I am that God hath need euen of rackes to draw out confessions and scarce in death it selfe are we wrought to a discouery of our errors There is no one thing wherein our folly shewes it selfe more than in these hurtfull concealements Contrary to the proceedings of humane Iustice it is with God Confesse and liue no sooner can Dauid say I haue sinned than Nathan inferres The Lord also hath put away thy sinne He that hides his sins shall not prosper but hee that confesseth and forsaketh them shall finde mercie Who would not accuse himselfe to bee aquittted of God O God who would not tell his wickednesse to thee that knowest it better than his owne heart that his heart may be eased of that wicednesse which being not told killeth Since we haue sinned why should wee bee niggardly of that action wherein we may at once giue glory to thee and reliefe to our soules Dauid had sworne in a zeale of Iustice that the rich Oppressor for but taking his poore Neighbours Lambe should dye the death God by Nathan is more fauourable to Dauid than to take him at his word Thou shalt not dye O the maruellous power of repentance Besides adultery Dauid had shed the bloud of innocent Vriah The strict Law was Eye for Eye Tooth for Tooth Hee that smiteth with the Sword shall perish with the Sword Yet as if a penitent confession had dispensed with the rigour of Iustice now God sayes Thou shalt not dye Dauid was the voyce of the Law awarding death vnto sinne Nathan was the voyce of the Gospell awarding life vnto the repentance for sinne Whatsoeuer the sore be neuer any soule applyed this remedie and dyed neuer any soule escaped death that applyed it not Dauid himselfe shall not dye for this fact but his mis-begotten childe shall dye for him Hee that said The Lord hath put away thy sinne yet said also The Sword shall not depart from thine house The same mouth with one breath pronounces the sentence both of absolution and death Absolution to the Person Death to the Issue Pardon may well stand with temporall afflictions Where God hath forgiuen though hee doth not punish yet he may chastize and that vnto bloud neither doth hee alwayes forbeare correction where hee remits reuenge So long as hee smites vs not as an angry Iudge wee may indure to smart from him as a louing Father Yet euen this Rod did Dauid deprecate with teares How faine would hee shake off so easie a lode The Childe is striken the Father fasts and prayes and weepes and lyes all night vpon the Earth and abhorres the noyse of comfort That Childe which was the fruit and monument of his odious adultery whom hee could neuer haue looked vpon without recognition of his sinne in whose face hee could not but haue still read the records of his owne shame is thus mourned for thus sued for It is easie to obserue that good man ouer-passionately affected to his Children Who would not haue thought that Dauid might haue held himselfe well appayd that his soule escaped an eternall death his bodie a violent though God should punish his sinne in that Childe in whome hee sinned Yet euen against this crosse he bends his Prayers as if nothing had beene forgiuen him There is no Childe that would be scourged if hee might escape for crying No affliction is for for the time other than grieuous neither is therefore yeelded vnto without some kinde of reluctation Farre yet was it from the heart of Dauid to make any opposition to the will of God hee sued he struggled not There is no impatience in entreaties Hee well knew that the threats of temporall euils ranne commonly with a secret condition and therefore might perhaps bee auoyded by humble importunitie if any meanes vnder Heauen can auert iudgments it is our Prayers God could not chuse but like well the boldnesse of Dauids saith who after the apprehension of so heauie a displeasure is so far from doubting of the forgiuenesse of his sinne that hee dares become a Sutor vnto God for his sicke child Sinne doth not make vs more strange than Faith confident But it is not in the power of the strongest Faith to preserue vs from all afflictions After all Dauids prayers and teares the Childe must dye The carefull seruants dare but whisper this sad newes They who had found their Master so auerse from the motion of comfort in the sicknesse of the Childe feared him vncapable of comfort in his death Suspition is quick-witted Euery occasion makes vs misdoubt that euent which wee feare This secrecie proclaymes that which they were so loath to vtter Dauid perceiues his Childe dead and now hee rises vp from the Earth whereon hee lay and washes himselfe and changeth his apparell and goes first into Gods House to worship and into his owne to eate now hee refuses no comfort who before would take none The issue of things doth more fully shew the will of God than the prediction God neuer did any thing but what hee would hee hath sometimes foretold that for tryall which his secret will intended not hee would foretell it hee would not effect it because hee would therefore fore-tell it that hee might not effect it His predictions of outward euils are not alwayes absolute his actions are Dauid well sees by the euent what the Decree of God was concerning his Childe which now hee could not striue against without a vaine impatience Till wee know the determinations of the Almightie it is free
draw blood of that backe which is yet blew from the hand of the Almighty If Shimei had not presumed vpon Dauids deiection he durst not haue beene thus bold now he that perhaps durst not haue lookt at one of those Worthies single defies them all at once and doth both cast and speak stones against Dauid and all his army The malice of base spirits sometimes caries them further then the courage of the valiant In all the time of Dauids prosperity we heard no newes of Shimei his silence and colourable obedience made him passe for a good subiect yet all that while was his heart vnsound and trayterous Peace and good successe hides many a false heart like as a Snow-drift couers an heap of dung which once melting away descries the rottennesse that lay within Honour and welfare are but flattering glasses of mens affections aduersity will not deceiue vs but will make a true report as of our owne powers so of the disposition of others He that smiled on Dauid in his throne curseth him in his flight if there be any quarrels any exceptions to be taken against a man let him look to haue them laid in his dish when he fares the hardest This practice haue wicked men learnt of their master to take the vtmost aduantages of our afflictions Hee that suffers had need to bee double armed both against paine and censure Euery word of Shimei was a slaunder He that tooke Sauls speare from his head and repented to haue but cut the lap of his garment is reproched as a man of blood The man after Gods owne heart is branded for a man of Belial Hee that was sent for out of the fields to be anointed is taxed for an vsurper If Dauids hands were stained with blood yet not of Sauls House It was his seruant not his master that bled by him yet is the blood of the Lords anointed cast in Dauids teeth by the spight of a false tongue Did we not see Dauid after all the proofes of his humble loyalty shedding the blood of that Amalakite who did but say he shed Sauls Did wee not heare him lament passionately for the death of so ill a master chiding the mountaines of Gilboa on which he fell and angerly wishing that no dew might fall where that blood was poured out and charged the daughters of Israel to weepe ouer Saul who had clothed them in scarlet Did we not heare and see him inquiring for any remainder of the House of Saul that he might shew him the kindnesse of God Did wee not see him honouring lame Mephibosheth with a princely seat at his owne table Did we not see him reuenging the blood of his riuall Ishbosheth vpon the heads of Rechab and Baanah What could any liuing man haue done more to wipe off these bloody aspersions Yet is not a Shimei ashamed to charge innocent Dauid with all the blood of the House of Saul How is it likely this clamorous wretch had secretly traduced the name of Dauid all the time of his gouernment that dares thus accuse him to his face before all the mighty men of Israel who were witnesses of the contrary The greater the person is the more open doe his actions lie to mis-interpretation and censure Euery tongue speakes partially according to the interest he hath in the cause or the patient It is not possible that eminent persons should be free from imputations Innocence can no more protect them then power If the patience of Dauid can digest this indignity his traine cannot their fingers could not but itch to returne iron for stones If Shimei raile on Dauid Abishai ralies on Shimei Shimei is of Sauls Family Abishai of Dauids each speakes for his owne Abishai most iustly bends his tongue against Shimei as Shimei against Dauid most vniustly Had Shimei beene any other then a dog he had neuer so rudely barked at an harmlesse passenger neither could he deserue lesse then the losse of that head which had vttered such blasphemies against Gods anointed The zeale of Abishai doth but plead for iustice and is checked What haue I to doe with you ye sonnes of Zeruiah Dauid said not so much to his reuiler as to his abettor Hee well saw that a reuenge was iust but not seasonable he found the present a fit time to suffer wrongs not to right them he therefore giues way rather meekly to his owne humiliation then to the punishment of another There are seasons wherein lawfull motions are not fit to bee cherished Anger doth not become a mourner One passion at once is enough for the soule Vnaduised zeale may be more preiudiciall then a cold remisnesse What if the Lord for the correction of his seruant haue said vnto Shimei Curse Dauid yet is Shimeies curse no lesse worthy of Abishaies sword the sinne of Shimeies curse was his owne the smart of the curse was Gods God wils that as Dauids chastisement which hee hates as Shimeies wickednesse That lewd tongue moued from God it moued lewdly from Satan Wicked men are neuer the freer from guilt or punishment for that hand which the holy God hath in their offensiue actions Yet Dauid can say Let him alone and let him curse for the Lord hath bidden him as meaning to giue a reason of his owne patience rather then Shimeies impunity the issue shewed how well Dauid could distinguish betwixt the act of God and of a traytor how hee could both kisse the rod and burne it There can be none so strong motiue of our meek submission to euils as the acknowledgement of their originall Hee that can see the hand of God striking him by the hand or tongue of an enemy shall more awe the first mouer of his harm then maligne the instrument Euen whiles Dauid laments the rebellion of his sonne he gaines by it and makes that the argument of his patience which was the exercise of it Behold my son which came forth of my bowels seeketh my life how much more now may this Beniamite doe it The wickednesse of an Absalom may rob his father of comfort but shall helpe to adde to his fathers goodness It is the aduantage of great crosses that they swallow vp the lesse One mans sin cannot be excused by anothers the lesser by the greater If Absalom be a traytor Shimei may not curse and rebell But the passion conceiued from the indignitie of a stranger may be abated by the harder measure of our owne If we can therefore suffer because we haue suffered we haue profited by our affliction A weake heart faints with euery addition of succeeding trouble the strong recollects it selfe and is growne so skilfull that it beares off one mischiefe with another It is not either the vnnaturall insurrection of Absalom nor the vniust curses of Shimei that can put Dauid quite out of heart It may be that the Lord will looke on mine affliction and will requite good for his cursing this day So well was Dauid acquainted with the proceedings of
God that hee knew cherishing was euer went to follow stripes after vehement euacuation cordials after a darke night the cleare light of the morning Hope therfore doth not only vphold but cheare vp his heart in the midst of his sorrow If we can looke beyond the cloud of our affliction and see the Sun-shine of comfort on the other side of it we cannot bee so discouraged with the presence of euill as heartned with the issue As on the contrary let a man be neuer so mery within and see paine and miserie waiting for him at the doore his expectation of euill shall easily daunt all the sense of his pleasure the retributions of temporall fauours goe but by peraduentures It may be the Lord will looke on mine affliction of eternall are certaine and infallible If we suffer we shall reigne why should not the assurance of raigning make vs triumph in suffering Dauids patience drawes on the insolence of Shimei Euill natures grow presumptuous vpon forbearance In good dispositions iniury vnanswered growes weary of it selfe and dies in a voluntary remorse but in those dogged stomackes which are onely capable of the restraints of feare the silent digestion of a former wrong prouokes a second Mercy had need to be guided with wisedome left it proue cruell to it selfe Oh the base minds of inconstant Time-seruers Stay but a while till the wheele be a little turned you shall see humble Shimei fall downe on his face before Dauid in his returne ouer Iordan now his submission shall equall his former rudenesse his praiers shall requite his curfes his teares make amends for his stones Let not my Lord impute iniquitie vnto me neither doe thou remember that which thy seruant did peruersly the day that my Lord the King went out of Ierusalem that the King should take it to heart for thy seruant doth know that I haue sinned False-hearted Shimei had Absalom prospered thou hadst not sinned thou hadst not repented then hadst thou bragged of thine insultation ouer his miseries whose pardon thou now beggest with teares The changes of worldly minds are thanklesse since they are neither wrought out of conscience nor loue but onely by a slauish feare of a iust punishment Dauid could say no more to testifie his sorrow for his hainous sinnes against God to Nathan then Shimei sayes of himselfe to Dauid whereto may be added the aduantage of a voluntary confession in this offender which in Dauid was extorted by the reproofe of a Prophet yet is Dauids confession seriously penitent Shemies craftily hypocriticall Those alterations are iustly suspected which are shaped according to the times and outward occasions the true penitent lookes onely at God and his sinne and is changed when all other things are themselues Great offences had need of answerable satisfactions As Shimei was the onely man of the House of Beniamin that came forth and cursed Dauid in his flight so is hee the first man euen before those of the House of Ioseph though nearer in situation that comes to meet Dauid in his returne with prayers and gratulation Notorious offenders may not thinke to sit downe with the taske of ordinary seruices The retributions of their obedience must be proportiable to their crimes ACHITOPHEL SO soone as Dauid heard of Achitophels hand in that conspiracy hee fals to his prayers O Lord I pray thee turne the counsell of Achitophel into foolishnesse The knowne wisedome of his reuolted counsellor made him a dangerous and dreadfull aduersary Great parts mis-imployed cannot but proue most mischieuous when wickednesse is armed with wit and power none but a God can defeat it when we are matched with a strong and subtile enmity it is high time if euer to bee deuout If the bounty of God haue thought good to furnish his creatures with powers to warre against himselfe his wisedome knowes how to turne the abuse of those powers to the shame of the owners and the glory of the giuer Oh the policy of this Machiauell of Israel no lesse deepe then hell it selfe Goe in to thy fathers concubines which he hath left to keepe the house and when all Israel shall heare that thou art abhorred of thy father the hands of all that are with thee shall be strong The first care must be to secure the faction There can be no safety in siding with a doubtfull rebell if Absalom be a traytor yet he is a Sonne Nature may returne to it selfe Absalom may relent Dauid may remit where then are we that haue helpt to promote the conspiracy the danger is ours whiles this breach may bee peeced There is no way but to ingage Absalom in some further act vncapable of forgiuenesse Besides the throne let him violate the bed of his Father vnto his treason let him adde an incest no lesse vnnaturall now shall the world see that Absalom neither hopes nor cares for the reconciliation of a father Our quarrell can neuer haue any safe end but victory the hope whereof depends vpon the resolution of our followers they cannot bee resolute but vpon the vnpardonable wickednesse of their Leader Neither can this villany be shamefull enough if it be secret The closenesse of euill argues feare or modesty neither of which can beseeme him that would be a successefull traytor Set vp a Tent on the top of the house and let all Israel be witnesses of thy sinne and thy Fathers shame Ordinary crimes are for vulgar offenders Let Absalom sinne eminently and doe that which may make the world at once to blush and wonder Who would euer haue thought that Achitophel had liued at Court at the Councell-table of a Dauid Who would thinke that mouth had euer spoken well Yet had hee been no other then as the Oracle of God to the religious Court of Israel euen whiles he was not wise enough to be good Policy and grace are not alwayes lodged vnder one roofe This man whiles he was one of Dauids deepe Counsellors was one of Dauids fooles that said in their hearts There is no God else hee could not haue hoped to make good an euill with worse to build the successe of treason vpon incest Prophane hearts doe so contriue the plots of their wickednesse as if there were no ouer-ruling power to crosse their designes or to reuenge them He that sits in heauen laughs them to scorne and so farre giues way to their sinnes as their sinnes may proue plagues vnto themselues These two Sonnes of Dauid met with pestilent counsell Amnon is aduised to incest with his sister Absalom is aduised to incest with his fathers Concubines That by Ionadab this by Achitophel Both preuaile It is as easie at least to take ill counsell as to giue it Pronenesse to villany in the great cannot want either proiectors to deuise or parasites to execute the most odious and vnreasonable sinnes The Tent is spred lest it should not bee conspicuous enough on the top of the house The act is done in the fight of all Israel The
filthinesse of the sinne was not so great as the impudency of the manner When the Prophet Nathan came with that heauy message of reproofe and menace to Dauid after his sinne with Bathsheba hee could say from God Behold I will raise vp euill against thee out of thine owne house and will take thy wiues before thine eyes and giue them vnto thy neighbour and he shall lie with thy wiues in the sight of this Sunne For thou didst it secretly but I will doe this thing before all Israel and before this Sunne The counsell of Achitophel and the lust of Absalom haue fulfilled the iudgement of God Oh the wisedome of the Almighty that can vse the worst of euils well and most iustly make the sins of men his executioners It was the sinne of Reuben that he defiled his fathers bed yet not in the same height of lewdnes what Reuben did in a youthfull wantonnesse Absalom did in a malicious despight Reuben sinned with one Absalom with ten Reuben secretly Absalom in the open eyes of heauen and earth yet old Iacob could say of Reuben Thou shalt not excell thy dignitie is gone whiles Achitophel sayes to Absalom Thy dignitie shall arise from incest Climbe vp to thy fathers bed if thou wilt sit in his throne If Achitophel were a politician Iacob was a Prophet if the one spake from carnall sense the other from diuine reuelation Certainly to sin is not the way to prosper what euer vaine fooles promise to themselues there is no wisdome nor vnderstanding nor counsell against the Lord. After the rebellion is secured for continuance the next care is that it may end in victory this also hath the working head of Achitophel proiected Wit experience told him that in these cases of assault celeritie vses to bring forth the happiest dispatch whereas protraction is no small aduantage to the defendant Let me saith he choose out now twelue thousand men and I will vp and follow after Dauid this night and I will come vpon him while he is weary and weak-handed No aduice could be more pernicious For besides the wearinesse and vnreadinesse of Dauid and his army the spirits of that worthy leader were daunted and deiected with sorrow and offered way to the violence of a sudden assault The field had beene halfe won ere any blow stricken Achitophel could not haue beene reputed so wise if he had not learned the due proportion betwixt actions and times He that obserueth euery winde shall neuer sow but he that obserues no winde at all shall neuer reape The likeliest deuices doe not alwayes succeed The God that had appointed to establish Dauids throne and determined Salomon to his succession findes meanes to crosse the plot of Achitophel by a lesse-probable aduice Hushai was not sent backe for nothing where God hath in his secret will decreed any euent hee inclines the wills of men to approue that which may promote his owne purposes Neither had Hushai so deepe an head neither was his counsell so sure as that of Achitophel yet his tongue shall refell Achitophel and diuert Absalom The pretences were fairer though the grounds were vnfound First to sweeten his opposition hee yeelds the praise of wisdome to his aduersary in all other counsels that hee may haue leaue to deny it in this His very contradiction in the present insinuates a generall allowance Then he suggests certaine apparent truths concerning Dauids valour and skill to giue countenance to the inferēces of his improbabilities Lastly he cunningly feeds the proud humor of Absaloza in magnifying the power and extent of his commands and ends in the glorious boasts of his fore-promised victory As it is with faces so with counsell that is faire that pleaseth He that giues the vttrance to words giues also their speed Fauour both of speech and men is not euer according to desert but according to fore-ordination The tongue of Hushai the heart of Absalom is guided by a power aboue their owne Hushai shall therefore preuaile with Absalom that the treason of Absalom may not preuaile Hee that worketh all in all things so disposeth of wicked men and spirits that whiles they doe most oppose his reuealed will they execute his secret and whiles they thinke most to please they ouerthrow themselues When Absalom first met Hushai returned to Hierusalem hee vpbraided him pleasantly with the scoffe of his professed friendship to Dauid Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend Sometimes there is more truth in the mouth then in the heart more in iest then in earnest Hushai was a friend his stay was his kindnes and now he hath done that for which he was left at Hierusalem disappointed Achitophel preserued Dauid Neither did his kindnesse to his friend rest here but as one that was iustly iealous of him with whom he was allowed to temporize he mistrusts the approbation of Absalom and not daring to put the life of his master vpon such an hazard he giues charge to Zadok and Abiathar of this intelligence vnto Dauid we cannot be too suspicious when we haue to doe with those that are faithlesse We cannot be too curious of the safety of good Princes Hushai feares not to descry the secrets of Absaloms counsell to betray a traytor is no other then a commendable worke Zadok and Abiathar are fast within the gates of Hierusalem their sonnes lay purposely abroad in the fields this message that concerned no lesse then the life of Dauid and the whole kingdome of Israel must bee trusted with a Maid Sometimes it pleaseth the wisedome of God who hath the variety of heauen and earth before him to single out weake instruments for great seruices and they shall serue his turne as well as the best No councellor of State could haue made this dispatch more effectually Ionathan and Ahimaaz are sent descried pursued preserued The fidelity of a maid instructed them in their message the suttlety of a woman saued their liues At the Well of Rogel they receiued their message in the Well of Bahurim was their life saued The sudden wit of a woman hath choked the mouth of her Well with dried corne that it might not bewray the messengers and now Dauid heares safely of his danger and preuents it and though weary with trauell and laden with sorrow he must spend the night in his remoue Gods promises of his deliuerance and the confirmation of his kingdome may not make him neglect the means of his safety If he be faithfull we may not be carelesse since our diligence and care are appointed for the factors of that diuine prouidence The acts of God must abate nothing of ours rather must we labour by doing that which he requireth to further that which he decreeth There are those that haue great wits for the publique none for themselues Such was Achitophel who whiles he had powers to gouerne a State could not tell how to rule his owne passions Neuer till now doe we find his counsell balked neither was it now
reiected as ill onely Hushaies was allowed for better he can liue no longer now that he is beaten at his owne weapon this alone is cause enough to saddle his Asse and to goe home and put the halter about his owne necke Pride causes men both to misinterpret disgraces and to ouer-rate them Now is Dauids prayer heard Achitophels counsell is turned into foolishnesse Desperate Achitophel what if thou be not the wisest man of all Israel Euen those that haue not attained to the hiest pitch of wisedome haue found contentment in a mediocrity what if thy counsell were despised A wise man knowes to liue happily in spight of an vniust contempt what madnesse is this to reuenge another mans reputation vpon thy selfe And whiles thou striuest for the highest roome of wisedome to runne into the grossest extremitie of folly Worldly wisedome is no protection from shame and ruine How easily may a man though naturally wise be made weary of life A little paine a little shame a little losse a small affront can soone rob a man of all comfort and cause his owne hands to rob him of himselfe If there were not higher respects then the world can yeeld to maintaine vs in being it should be a miracle if indignation did not kill more then disease now that God by whose appointment we liue here for his most wise and holy purposes hath found meanes to make life sweet and death terrible What a mixture doe we find here of wisedome and madnesse Achitophel will needs hang himselfe there is madnesse He will yet set his house in order there is an act of wisedome And could it be possible that hee who was so wise as to set his house in order should be so mad as to hang himselfe That he should bee carefull to order his house who regarded not to order his impotent passions That hee should care for his house who cared not for either body or soule How vaine it is for a man to be wise if he be not wise in God How preposterous are the cares of idle worldlings that preferre all other things to themselues and whiles they looke at what they haue in their cofers forget what they haue in their breasts The Death of ABSALOM THE same God that raised enmity to Dauid from his owne loynes procured him fauour from forainers Strangers shall releiue him whom his owne sonne persecutes Here is not a losse but an exchange of loue Had Absalom beene a sonne of Ammon and Shobi a sonne of Dauid Dauid had found no cause of complaint If God take with one hand he giues with another whiles that diuine bounty serues vs in good meat though not in our owne dishes we haue good reason to be thankfull No sooner is Dauid come to Mahanaim then Barzillai Machir and Shobi refresh him with prouisions Who euer saw any child of God left vtterly destitute Whosoeuer be the messenger of our aide we know whence he comes Heauen shall want power and earth meanes before any of the houshold of faith shall want maintenance He that formerly was forced to imploy his armes for his defence against a tyrannous father in law must now buckle them on against an vnnaturall sonne Now therefore he musters his men and ordaines his Commanders and marshalls his troupes and since their loyall importunity will not allow the hazard of his person he at once incourages them by his eye and restraines them with his tongue Deale gently with the yong man Absalom for my sake How vnreasonably fauourable are the warres of a father O holy Dauid what meanes this ill placed loue this vniust mercy Deale gently with a Traitor but of all traitors with a Sonne of all sonnes with an Absalom the gracelesse dareling of so good a father and all this for thy sake whose Crowne whose blood he hunts after For whose sake should Absalom be pursued if he must be forborne for thine He was still courteous to thy followers affable to sutors plausible to all Israel onely to thee he is cruell Wherefore are those armes if the cause of the quarrell must be a motiue of mercy Yet thou saist Deale gently with the yong man Absalom for my sake Euen in the holiest Parents nature may bee guilty of an iniurious tendernesse of a bloody indulgence Or whether shall we not rather thinke this was done in type of that vnmeasurable mercy of the true King and redeemer of Israel who prayed for his persecutors for his murderers and euen whiles they were at once scorning and killing him could say Father forgiue them for they know not what they doe If wee bee sonnes we are vngracious wee are rebellious yet still is our heauenly Father thus compassionately regardfull of vs Dauid was not sure of the successe there was great inequality in the number Absaloms forces were more then double to his It might haue come to the contrary issue that Dauid should haue beene forced to say Deale gently with the Father of Absalom but in a supposition of that victory which only the goodnesse of his cause bade him hope for hee saith Deale gently with the yong man Absalom As for vs we are neuer but vnder mercy our God needes no aduantages to sweepes vs from the earth any moment yet hee continues that life and those powers to vs whereby wee prouoke him and bids his Angels deale kindly with vs and beare vs in their armes whiles wee lift vp our hands and bend our tongues against heauen O mercie past the comprehension of all finite spirits and onely to be conceiued by him whose it is Neuer more resembled by any earthly affection then by this of his Deputy and Type Deale gently with the young man Absalom for my sake The battell is ioyned Dauids followers are but an handfull to Absaloms How easily may the fickle multitude bee transported to the wrong side What they wanted in abettors is supplied in the cause Vnnaturall ambition drawes the sword of Absalom Dauids a necessary and iust defence They that in simplicity of heart followed Absalom cannot in malice of heart persecute the father of Absalom with what courage could any Israelite draw his sword against a Dauid or on the other side who can want courage to fight for a righteous Soueraigne and father against the conspiracie of a wicked son The God of Hosts with whom it is all one to saue with many or with few takes part with iustice and lets Israel feele what it is to beare armes for a traiterous vsurper The sword deuours twenty thousand of them and the wood deuoures more then the sword It must needs be a very vniuersall rebellion wherein so many perished What vertue or merits can assure the hearts of the vulgar when so gracious a Prince finds so many reuolters Let no man looke to prosper by rebellion the very thickets and stakes and pits and wild beasts of the wood shall conspire to the punishment of traitors Amongst the rest see how a fatall Oke hath singled
them not to his feast with the Kings sonnes and seruants Sometimes a very omission is an affront and a menace They well knew that since they were not called as guests they were counted as enemies Ceremonies of courtesie though they be in themselues slieght and arbitrarie yet the neglect of them in some cases may vndergoe a dangerous construction Nathan was the man by whom God had sent that errand of grace to Dauid concerning Salomon assuring him both to raigne and prosper yet now when Adonijahs plot was thus on foot he doth not fit still and depend vpon the issue of Gods decree but he bestirres him in the businesse and consults with Bathsheba how at once to saue their liues and to aduance Salomon and defeat Adonijah Gods pre-determination includes the meanes as well as the end the same prouidence that had ordained a Crowne to Salomon a repulse to Adonijah preseruation to Bathsheba and Nathan had fore-appointed the wise and industrious endeuours of the Prophet to bring about his iust and holy purposes If we would not haue God wanting to vs wee must not bee wanting to our selues Euen when wee know what God hath meant to vs wee may not bee negligent The Prophets of God did not look for reuelation in all their affaires in some things they were left to the counsell of their owne hearts the policy of Nathan was of vse as well as his prophecy that alone hath turned the streame into the right channell Nothing could be more wisely contriued then the sending in of Bathsheba to Dauid with so seasonable forceable an expostulation and the seconding of hers with his owne Though lust were dead in Dauid yet the respects of his old matrimoniall loue liued still the very presence of Bathsheba pleaded strongly but her speech more the time was when his affection offended in excesse towards her being then anothers he cannot now neglect her being his owne and if either his age or the remorse of his old offence should haue set him off yet shee knew his oath was sure My Lord thou swarest by the Lord thy God vnto thine handmaid saying Assuredly Salomon thy sonne shall raigne after me and he shall sit vpon my throne His word had beene firme but his oath was inuiolable wee are ingaged if wee haue promised but if wee haue sworne we are bound Neither heauen nor earth hath any gieues for that man that can shake off the feâ—ters of an oath for he cares not for that God whom he dares inuoke to a falshood and he that cares not for God will not care for man Ere Bathsheba can bee ouer the threshold Nathan vpon compact is knocking at the doore Gods Prophet was neuer but welcome to the bed-chamber of King Dauid In a seeming strangenesse hee fals vpon the same suit vpon the same complaint with Bathsheba Honest policies doe not mis-become the holiest Prophets Shee might seeme to speake as a woman as a mother out of passion the word of a Prophet could not bee misdoubted Hee therefore that had formerly brought to Dauid that chiding and bloody message concerning Bathsheba comes now to Dauid to sue for the life and honour of Bathsheba and he that was sent from God to Dauid to bring the newes of a gracious promise of fauour vnto Salomon comes now to challenge the execution of it from the hands of a father and hee whose place freed him from suspition of a faction complaines of the insolent demeanure and proclamation of Adonijah what he began with an humble obeysance shutting vp in a lowly and louing expostulation Is this thing done by my Lord the King and thou hast not shewed thy seruant who should sit on the Throne of my Lord the King after him As Nathan was of Gods Counsell vnto Dauid so was he of Dauids Counsell both to God and the State As God therefore vpon all occasions told Nathan what he meant to doe with Dauid so had Dauid wont to tell Nathan what he meant to doe in his holy and most important ciuill affaires There are cases wherein it is not vnfit for Gods Prophets to meddle with matters of State It is no disparagement to religious Princes to impart their counsels vnto them who can requite them with the counsels of God That wood which a single yron could not riue is soone splitted with a double wedge The seasonable importunity of Bathsheba and Nathan thus seconding each other hath so wrought vpon Dauid that now his loue to Adonijah giues place to indignation nature to an holy fidelity and now he renewes his ancient oath to Bathsheba with a passionate solemnity As the Lord liueth who hath redeemed my soule out of all aduersity euen as I sware vnto thee by the Lord God of Israel saying Assuredly Salomon thy sonne shall reigne after me and he shall sit vpon my throne in my stead so will I certainly doe this day In the decay of Dauids body I find not his intellectiue powers any whit impaired As one therefore that from his bed could with a perfect if weake hand stere the gouernment of Israel hee giues wise and full directions for the inauguration of Salomon Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet and Benaiah the Captaine receiue his graue and Princely charge for the cariage of that so weightie a businesse They are commanded to take with them the royall guard to set Salomon vpon his fathers Mule to care him downe in state to Gihon to anoint him with the holy oyle of the Tabernacle to sound the trumpets and proclaime him in the streets to bring him backe with triumph and magnificence to the Court and to set him in the royall Throne with all the due ceremonies of Coronation How pleasing was this command to them who in Salomons glory saw their owne safety Benaiah applauds it and not fearing a fathers enuie in Dauids presence wisheth Salomons throne exalted aboue his The people are rauished with the ioy of so hopefull a succession and breake the earth and fill the heauen with the noise of their Musicke and shoutings Salomons guests had now at last better cheare then Adonijahs whose feast as all wicked-mens ended in horror no sooner are their bellies full of meat then their eares are full of the sound of those trumpets which at once proclaime Salomons triumph and their confusion Euer after the meale is ended comes the reckoning God could as easily haue preuented this iollity as marred it But hee willingly suffers vaine men to please themselues for the time in the conceited successe of their own proiects that afterwards their disappointment may be so much the more grieuous No doubt at this feast there was many an health drunken to Adonijah many a confident boast of their prospering designe many a scorne of the despised faction of Salomon now for their last dish is serued vp astonishment and fearfull expectation of a iust reuenge Ionathan the sonne of Abiathar the Priest brings the newes of Salomons solemne and ioyfull enthronization
It was fourescore yeeres agoe since the sentence of iudgement was denounced against the house of Eli now doth it come to execution This iust quarrell against Abiathar the last of that line shall make good the threatned iudgement The wickednesse of Elies house was neither purged by sacrifice nor obliterated by time If God pay slowly yet he payes sure Delay of most certaine punishment is neither any hindrance to his iustice nor any comfort to our miseries The Execution of IOAB and SHIMEI ABiathar shall liue though he serue not It is in the power of Princes to remit at least those punishments which attend the breach of humane Lawes good reason they should haue power to dispence with the wrongs done to their owne persons The newes of Adonijahs death and Abiathars remouall cannot but affright Ioab who now runnes to Gibeon and takes sanctuary in the Tabernacle of God all his hope of defence is in the hornes of the Altar Fond Ioab hadst thou formerly sought for counsell from the Tabernacle thou hadst not now needed to seeke to it for refuge if thy deuotions had not beene wanting to that Altar thou hadst not needed it for a shelter It is the fashion of our foolish presumption to looke for protection where wee haue not cared to yeeld obedience Euen a Ioab clings fast to Gods Altar in his extremity which in his ruffe and welfare he regarded not The worst men would be glad to make vse of Gods ordinances for their aduantage Necessity will driue the most profane and lawlesse man to God But what doe these bloody hands touching the holy Altar of God Miserable Ioab what helpe canst thou expect from that sacred pile Those hornes that were besprinkled with the blood of beasts abhorre to be touched by the blood of men that Altar was for the expiation of sin by blood not for the protection of the sin of blood If Adonijah fled thither and escaped it is murder that pursues thee more then conspiracie God hath no sanctuary for a wilfull Homicide Yet such respect doth Benaiah giue to that holy place that his sword is vnwilling to touch him that touches the Altar Those hornes shall put off death for the time and giue protraction of the execution though not preseruation of life How sweet is life euen to those who haue been prodigall of the blood of others that Ioab shifts thus to hold it but some few houres Benaiah returnes with Ioabs answer in stead of his head Nay but I will dy here as not daring to vnsheath his sword against a man sheltered in Gods tabernacle without a new commission Yong Salomon is so wel acquainted with the Law of God in such a case that he sticks not at the sentence he knew that God had enacted If a man come presumptuously vpon his neighbour to slay him with guile thou shalt take him from mine Altar that he may die He knew Ioabs murders had not been more presumptuous then guilefull and therefore he sends Benaiah to take away the offender both from God and men from the Altar and the world No subiect had merited more then Ioab When proclamation was made in Israel that who euer should smite the Iebusites first he should be the Chiefe and Captaine Ioab was the man When Dauid built some part of Ierusalem Ioab built the rest so as Ierusalem owes it selfe to Ioab both for recouery and reparation No man held so close to Dauid no man was more intent to the weale of Israel none so successefull in victories yet now is he cald to reckon for his old sinnes and must repay blood to Amasa and Abner It is not in the power of all our deserts to buy off one sinne either with God or man where life is so deeply forfaited it admits of no redemption The honest simplicity of those times knew not of any infamy in the execution of iustice Benaiah who was the great Marshall vnder Salomon thinkes not his fingers defiled with that fatall stroke It is a foolish nicenesse to put more shame in the doing of iustice then in the violating of it In one act Salomon hath approued himselfe both a good Magistrate and a good sonne fulfilling at once the will of a father and the charge of God concluding vpon this iust execution that vpon Dauid and vpon his seed and vpon his house and vpon his Throne there shall bee peace for euer from the Lord and inferring that without this there could haue beene no peace Blood is a restlesse suitor and will not leaue clamoring for iudgement till the mouth bee stopped with reuenge In this case fauour to the offender is cruelty to the fauourer Now hath Ioab paid all his arerages by the sword of Benaiah there is no suit against his corps that hath the honor of a buriall fit for a Peere of Israel for the neere cozen to the King Death puts an end to all quarrells Salomon strikes off the skore when God is satisfied The reuenge that suruiues death and will not be shut vp in the Coffin is barbarous and vnbeseeming true Israelites Onely Shimei remaines vpon the file his course is next yet so as that it shall be in his owne liberty to hasten his end Vpon Dauids remission Shimei dwels securely in Bahurim a town of the Tribe of Beniamin Doubtlesse when he saw so round iustice done vpon Adonijah and Ioab his guilty heart could not think Salomons message portended ought but his execution and now he cannot but be well pleased with so easie conditions of dwelling at Ierusalem and not passing ouer the brooke Kidron What more delightful place could he choose to liue in thē that city which was the glory of the whole earth What more pleasing bounds could he wish then the sweet bankes of Kidron Ierusalem could be no prison to him whiles it was a Paradise to his betters and if he had a desire to take fresh aire hee had the space of sixe furlongs to walke from the city to the brooke Hee could not complaine to bee so delectably confined And besides thrice euery yeere he might be sure to see all his friends without stirring his foot Wise Salomon whiles hee cared to seeme not too seuere an exactor of that which his father had remitted prudently laies insensible twigs for so foule an offender Besides the old grudge no doubt Salomon saw cause to suspect the fidelity of Shimei as a man who was euer knowne to be hollow to the house of Dauid The obscurity of a Country life would easily afford him more safe opportunities of secret mischiefe Many eies shall watch him in the citie he cannot looke out vnseene hee cannot whisper vnheard Vpon no other termes shall hee inioy his life which the least straying shall forfait Shimei feeles no paine in this restraint How many Nobles of Israel doe that for pleasure which he doth vpon command Three yeers hath he liued within compasse limited both by Salomons charge and his owne oath It was still in
God and interrupts that glorious seruice with a loud inclamation of iudgement Doubtlesse the man wanted not wit to know what displeasure what danger must needs follow so vnwelcome a message yet dares hee vpon the commission of God doe this affront to an Idolatrous King in the midst of all his awfull magnificence The Prophets of God goe vpon many a thanklesse errand Hee is no messenger for God that either knowes or feares the faces of men It was the Altar not the person of Ieroboam which the Prophet thus threatens Yet not the stones are stricken but the founder in both their apprehensions So deare as the deuices of our owne braine to vs as if they were incorporated into our selues There is no opposition whereof we are so sensible as that of religion That the royall Altar should be thus polluted by dead mens bones and the blood of the Priests was not more vnpleasing then that all this should be done by a childe of the house of Dauid for Ieroboam well saw that the throne and the altar must gand or fall together that a sonne of Dauid could not haue such power ouer the Altar without an vtter subuersion of the gouernment of the succession therefore is he thus galled with this comminatory prediction The rebellious people who had said What portion haue we in Dauid heare now that Dauid will perforce haue a portion in them and might well see what beasts they had made themselues in worshipping the image of a beast and sacrificing to such a God as could not preserue his owne Altar from violation and ruine All this while I doe not see this zealous Prophet laying his hand to the demolition of this Idolatrous Altar or threatning a knife to the Author of this deprauation of religion Onely his tongue smites both not with foule but sharpe words of menace not of reproach It was for Iosias a King to shed the blood of those sacrificers to deface those Altars Prophets are for the tongue Princes for the hand Prophets must onely denounce iudgement Princes execute Future things are present to the Eternall It was some two hundred and sixty years ere this prophecy should be fulfilled yet the man of God speaks of it as now in acting What are some Centuries of yeares to the Ancient of dayes How slow and yet how sure is the pace of Gods reuenge It is not in the power of time to frustrate Gods determinations There is no lesse iustice nor seueritie in a delayed punishment What a perfect Record there is of all names in the roll of Heauen before they be after they are past what euer seeming contingency there is in their imposition yet they fall vnder the certainty of a decree and are better knowne in heauen ere they be then on earth whiles they are He that knowes what names wee shall haue before we or the world haue a being doth not oft reueale this peece of his knowledge to his creature here he doth naming the man that should be two hundred yeeres after for more assurance of the euent that Israel may say this man speakes from a God who knowes what shall be There cannot bee a more sure euidence of a true Godhead then the foreknowledge of those things whose causes haue yet no hope of being But because the proofe of this prediction was not more certaine then remote a present demonstration shall conuince the future The Altar shall rend in peeces the ashes shall be scattered How amazedly must the seduced Israelites needes looke vpon this miracle and why doe they not thinke with themselues whiles these stones rend why are our hearts whole Of what an ouer-ruling power is the God whom wee haue forsaken that can thus teare the Altars of his corriuals How shall wee stand before his vengeance when the very stones breake at the word of his Prophet Perhaps some beholders were thus affected but Ieroboam whom it most concerned in stead of bowing his knees for humiliation stretcheth forth his hand for reuenge and cryes Lay hold on him Resolute wickednesse is impatient of a reproofe and in stead of yeelding to the voice of God rebelleth Iust and discreet reprehension doth not more reforme some sinners then exasperate others How easie is it for God to coole the courage of proud Ieroboam the hand which his rage stretches out dries vp and cannot bee pulled backe againe and now stands the King of Israel like some anticke statue in a posture of impotent indeuour so disabled to the hurt of the Prophet that hee cannot command that peece of himselfe What are the great Potentates of the world in the powerfull hand of the Almighty Tyrants cannot be so harmefull as they are malicious The strongest heart may be brought downe with affliction Now the stout stomach of Ieroboam is fallen to an humble deprecation Intreat now the face of the Lord thy thy God and pray for me that my hand may bee restored mee againe It must needs bee a great streight that could driue a proud heart to begge mercy where he bent his persecution so doth Ieroboam holding it no scorne to be beholden to an enemy In extremities the worst men can bee content to sue for fauour where they haue spent their malice It well becomes the Prophets of God to be mercifull I doe not see this Seer to stand vpon termes of exprobration and ouerly contestations with Ieroboam to say Thine intentions to me were cruell Had thine hand preuailed I should haue sued to thee in vaine Continue euer a spectacle of the fearfull iustice of thy Maker whom thou hast prouoked by thine Idolatry whom thou wouldest haue smitten in my perfection but hee meekely sues for Ieroboams release and that God might abundantly magnifie both his power and mercy is heard and answered with successe We doe no whit sauour of heauen if we haue not learned to doe good for euill When both winde and Sunne the blasts of iudgement and the beames of fauour met together to worke vpon Ieroboam who would not looke that hee should haue cast off this cumbrous and mis-beseeming cloake of his Idolatry and haue said Lord thou hast striken mee in iustice thou hast healed mee in mercy I will prouoke thee no more This hand which thou hast restored shall bee consecrated to thee in pulling downe these bold abominations Yet now behold hee goes on in his old courses and as if God had neither done him good nor euill liues and dies idolatrous No stone is more hard or insensate then a sinfull heart The changes of iudgement and mercy doe but obdure it in stead of melting The seduced Prophet IEroboams hand is amended his soule is not that continues still dry and inflexible Yet whiles hee is vnthankfull to the Author of his recouery he is thankfull to the instrument he kindely inuites the Prophet whom he had threatned and will remunerate him whom hee endeuoured to punish The worst men may be sensible of bodily fauours Ciuill respects
Samuel himselfe whiles hee was aliue could not haue spoken more grauely more seuerely more diuinely than this euill ghost For the Lord will rent thy Kingdome out of thy hand and giue it to thy neighbour Dauid because thou obeyedst not the voyce of the Lord not executedst his fierce wrath vpon the Amalekites therefore hath the Lord done this vnto thee this day When the Deuill himselfe puts on grauity and religion who can maruell at the hypocrisie of men Well may lewd men bee good Preachers when Satan himselfe can play the Prophet Where are those Ignorants that thinke charitably of charmes and spells because they finde nothing in them but good words What Prophet could speake better words than this Deuill in Samuels Mantle Neither is there at any time so much danger of that euill spirit as when hee speakes best I could wonder to heare Satan preach thus prophetically if I did not know that as hee was once a good Angell so hee can still act what hee was Whiles Saul was in consultation of sparing Agag wee shall neuer finde that Satan would lay any blocke in his way Yea then hee was a prompt Orator to induce him into that sinne now that it is past and gone hee can lade Saul with fearefull denunciations of iudgement Till wee haue sinned Satan is a parasite when wee haue sinned hee is a Tyrant What cares hee to flatter any more when hee hath what hee would Now his onely worke is to terrifie and confound that hee may enioy what he hath wonne How much better is it seruing that Master who when wee are most deiected with the conscience of euill heartens vs with inward comfort and speakes peace to the soule in the midst of tumult Ziklag spoyled and reuenged HAd not the King of the Philistims sent Dauid away early his Wiues and his people and substance which hee left at Ziklag had beene vtterly lost Now Achish did not more pleasure Dauid in his entertainment than in his dismission Saul was not Dauids enemy more in the persecution of his person than in the forbearance of Gods enemies Behold thus late doth Dauid feele the smart of Sauls sinne in sparing the Amalekites who if Gods sentence had beene duly executed had not now suruiued to annoy this parcell of Israel As in spirituall respects our sinnes are alwayes hurtfull to our selues so in temporall oft-times preiudiciall to posteritie A wicked man deserues ill of those hee neuer liued to see I cannot maruell at the Amalekites assault made vpon the Israelites of Ziklag I cannot but maruell at their clemencie how iust it was that while Dauid would giue aid to the enemies of the Church against Israel the enemies of the Church should rise against Dauid in his peculiar charge of Israel But whilst Dauid rouing against the Amalekites not many dayes before left neither man nor woman aliue how strange is it that the Amalekites inuading and surprizing Ziklag in reuenge kill neither man nor woman Shall wee say that mercy is fled from the brests of Israelites and rests in Heathens Or shall wee rather ascribe this to the gracious restraint of God who hauing designed Amalek to the slaughter of Israel and not Israel to the slaughter of Amalek moued the hand of Israel and held the hands of Amalek This was that alone that made the Heathens take vp with an vn-bloudy reuenge burning only the wâ—â—es and leading away the persons Israel crossed the reuealed will of God insparing Amalek Amalek fulfils the secret will of God in sparing Israel It was still the lot of Amalek to take Israel at all aduantages vpon their first comming out of Egypt when they were weary weake and vnarmed then did Amalek assault them And now when one part of Israel was in the field against the Philistians another was gone with the Philistims against Israel the Amalekites set vpon the Coasts of both and goes away laded with the spoile No other is to bee exspected of our spirituall Aduersaries who are euer readiest to assayle when wee are the vnreadiest to defend It was a wofull spectacle for Dauid and his Souldiers vpon their returne to find mines and ashes in stood of houses and in steed of their Families solitude Their Citie was vanished into smoke their housholds into captiuitie neither could they know whom to accuse or where to enquire for redresse whiles they made account that their home should recompence their tedious iourney with comfort the miserable desolation of their home doubles the discomfort of their iourney what remained there but teares and lamentations They lifted vp their voyces and wept till they could weepe no more Heere was plentie of nothing but misery and sorrow The heart of euery Israelite was brim full of griefe Dauids ranne ouer for besides that his crosse was the same with theirs all theirs was his alone each man looke on his fellow as a partner of affliction but euery one lookt vpon Dauid as the cause of all their affliction and as common displeasure is neuer but fruitfull of reuenge they all agree to stone him as the Author of their vndoing whom they followed all this while as the hopefull meanes of their aduacements Now Dauids losse is his least griefe neither as if euery thing had conspired to torment him can hee looke besides the aggrauation of his sorrow and danger Saul and his Souldiers had hunted him out of Israel the Philistim Courtiers had hunted him from the fauour of Achish the Amalekites spoyled him in Ziklag yet all these are easie aduersaries in comparison of his owne his owne followers are so far from pittying his participation of the losse that they are ready to kill him because they are miserable with him Oh the many and grieuous perplexities of the man after Gods owne heart If all his traine had ioyned their best helpes for the mitigation of his griefe their Cordials had beene too weake but now the vexation that arises from their fury and malice drowneth the sence of their losse and were enough to distract the most resolute heart why should it bee strange to vs that wee meete with hard tryalls when wee see the deare Annoynted of God thus plunged into euils What should the distressed sonne of Ishai now doe Whither should hee thinke to turne him to goe backe to Israel hee durst not to goe to Achish hee might not to abide amonst those waste heapes hee could not or if there might haue beene harbor in those burnt wals yet there could bee no safety to remayne with those mutinous spirits But Dauid comforted himselfe in the Lord his God oh happie and sure refuge of a faithfull soule The earth yeelded him nothing but matter of disconsolation and heauinesse hee lifts his eyes aboue the hils whence commeth his saluation It is no maruell that God remembreth Dauid in all his troubles since Dauid in all his troubles did thus remember his God hee knew that though no mortall eye of reason or sence could discerne any euasion
from these intricate euils yet that the eye of diuine Prouidence had discryed it long before and that though no humane power could make way for his safetie yet that the ouer-ruling hand of his God could doe it with ease His experience had assured him of the fidelity of his Guardian in Heauen and therefore he comforted himselfe in the Lord his God In vaine is comfort expected from God if we consult not with him Abiethâ—r the Priest is called for Dauid was not in the Court of Achish without the Priest by his side nor the Priest without the Ephod Had these beene left behind in Ziklag they had beene miscaried with the rest and Dauid had now beene hopelesse How well it succeeds to the Great when they take God with them in his Ministers in his Ordinances As contrarily when these are laid by as superfluous there can bee nothing but vncertainety of successe or certainety of mischeife The presence of the Priest and Ephod would haue little auailed him without their vse by them hee askes counsell of the Lord in these straits The mouth and eares of God which were shut vnto Saul are open vnto Dauid no sooner can hee aske than hee receiues answere and the answere that hee receiues is full of courage and comfort Follow for thou shalt surely ouertake them and recouer all That God of truth neuer disappointed any mans trust Dauid now finds that the eye which waited vpon God was not sent away weeping Dauid therefore and his men are now vpon their march after the Amalekites It is no lingring when God bids vs goe They which had promised rest to their weary limbes after their returne from Achish in their harbour of Ziâ—lag are glad to forget their hopes and to put their stiffe ioynts vnto a new taske of motion It is no maruell if two hundred of them were so ouer-tired with their former toile that they were not able to passe ouer the Riuer Besor Dauid was a true Type of Christ We follow him in these holy Warres against the spirituall Amalekites All of vs are not of an equall strength Some are carryed by the vigour of their faith through all difficulties Others after long pressure are ready to languish in the way Our Leader is not more strong than pittifull neither doth hee scornfully casheere those whose desires are heartie whiles their abilities are vnanswerable How much more should our charitie pardon the Infirmities of our brethren and allow them to fit by the stuffe who cannot endure the march The same Prouidence which appointed Dauid to follow the Amalekites had also ordered an Egyptian to bee cast behind them This cast Seruant whome his cruell Master had left to faintnesse and famine shall bee vsed as the meanes of the recouery of the Israelites losse and of the reuenge of the Amalekites Had not his Master neglected him all these Rouers of Amalek had gone away with their life and booty It is not safe to dispise the meanest vassall vpon earth There is a mercy and care due to the most despicable peece of all humanity wherein wee cannot bee wanting without the offence without the punishment of God Charitie distinguisheth an Israelite from an Amalekite Dauids followers are strangers to this Egyptian an Amalekite was his Master His Master leaues him to dye in the field of sicknesse and hunger these strangers releeued him and ere they know whether they might by him receiue any light in their pursuit they refresh his dying spirits with Bread and Water with Figges and Raisins Neither can the hast of their way bee any hinderance to their compassion Hee hath no Israelitish bloud in him that is vtterly mercilesse Perhaps yet Dauids followers might also in the hope of some intelligence shew kindnesse to this forlorne Egyptian Worldly wisdome teacheth vs to sowe small courtesies where wee may reape large Haruests of recompence No sooner are his spirits recalled than hee requites his food with information I cannot blame the Egyptian that hee was so easily induced to discry these vnkinde Amalekites to mercifull Israelites those that gaue him ouer vnto death to the restorers of his life much lesse that ere hee would descry them he requires an oath of security from so bad a Master Well doth he match death with such a seruitude Wonderfull is the prouidence of God euen ouer those which are not in the neerest bonds his owne Three dayes and three nights had this poore Egyptian Slaue lyen sicke and hunger-starued in the fields and lookes for nothing but death when God sends him succour from the hands of those Israelites whom hee had helped to spoyle though not so much for his sake as for Israels is this heathenish Straglet 〈◊〉 It pleases God to extend his common fauours to all his creatures but in miraculous preseruations hee hath still wont to haue respect to his owne By this meanes therefore are the Israelites brought to the sight of their late spoylers whom they find scattered abroad vpon all the earth eating and drinking and dancing in triumph for the great prey they had taken It was three dayes at least since this gainfull forraging of Amalek and now seeing no feare of any pursuer and promising themselues safetie in so great and vpâ—â—aded a distance they make themselues merry with so rich and easie a victory and now suddenly when they began to thinke of enioying the beautie and wealth they had gotten the sword of Dauid was vpon their throates Destruction is neuer neerer than when securitie hath chased away feare With how sad faces and hearts had the Wiues of Dauid and the other Captiues of Israel looked vpon the triumphall Reuels of Amalek and what a change doe wee thinke appeared in them when they saw their happie and valiant Rescuers flying in vpon their insolent Victors and making the death of the Amalekites the ransome of their captiuitie They mourned euen now at the dances of Amalek now in the shriekes and death of Amalek they shout and reioyce The mercy of our God forgets not to enterchange our sorrowes with ioy and the ioy of the wicked with sorrow The Amalekites haue paid a deare lone for the goods of Israel which they now restore with their owne liues and now their spoyle hath made Dauid richer than hee expected that booty which they had swept from al other parts accrewed to him Those Israelites that could not goe on to fight for their share are comne to meet their brethren with gratulation How partiall are wee wont to bee vnto our owne causes Euen very Israelites will bee ready to fall out for matter of profit where selfe-loue hath bred a quarrell euery man is subiect to flatter his owne case It seemed plausible and but iust to the actors in this rescue that those which had taken no part in the paine and hazard of the iourney should receiue no part of the commoditie It was fauour enough for them to recouer their wiues and children though they shared not in