Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	david_n	king_n	saul_n	2,575	5	9.7545	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78023	Meditations upon 1 Sam. 26. 19. Humbly presented to the Common-Councel of London, for their serious rumination. / By their servant for their good, Henry Burton.	Burton, Henry, 1578-1648.	1647 (1647)	Wing B6167; Thomason E399_24; ESTC R201725	10,672	16

MEDITATIONS Upon 1 Sam. 26.19 Humbly presented to the COMMON-COUNCEL OF LONDON For their serious rumination By their servant for their good HENRY BURTON ROM 15.4 Whatsoever things were written afore-time were written for our learning ISAI 9.16 The leaders of this people cause them to erre and they that are led of them are destroyed If ye know these things happie are ye if ye do them LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert 1647. To the Right Honourable the Lord Maior with the Right Worshipful the Aldermen and the rest of the Common Councel of the City of London Grace Mercy and Wisdom be multiplied SIRS THat I of so small acquaintance with you yet to you all not altogether unknown should present you with any such service as this though it may seem to some too much presumption yet not to any I hope either arrogancy or importunate impertinency at this time as being not unseasonable for Truth at least to the wise no not in this so idolized adulatory Age which as a mel dew hath so much blasted both our blossoms with blacknesse and our fruit with barrennesse And though for some respects I may worst do it yet having by the good Providence of Heaven spent the best part of my life in this famous City and that also as an unworthy Watch-man therein and not having at any time been negligent within my narrow Sphere to give warning when apparent danger approached I should judge my self very unfaithful if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 last being neer the time of giving up my account to my righteous Judge I should be silent especially when I see a storm hanging over this City from an angry heaven and while there is yet some hope left of preventing of it For if the Egyptians at Moses his warning of the next morrows hideous storm of hail did many of them forthwith withdraw themselves and cattle into their houses for preservation then much more should Christians be wise in this point and especially when not a Moses yet the meanest Messenger is sent with a Message from God no lesse true and certain then that of Moses was because Gods Word it self And for the truth of what is here brought unto you and how far or how neer or how truely it concerneth you all in the application I leave to your maturest and most Christian wisdom to judge And when this comes to be applied either as a Preservative or a Corrosive if it be with patience endured it is a hopeful signe of cure if otherwise yet in endeavouring the good I wish you I have herein * Ezek. 3.17 to 21. freed mine own soul Nor durst I forbear this duty at this time in a matter of so high importance if well weighed as wherein the weal or we of this Body in reference to the righteous Judge of all is so much concerned Consider what is said and the Lord give you understanding in all things Which is the humble and earnest Prayer of Your faithful servant in the Lord HENRY BURTON Meditations upon 1 Sam. 26.19 in these words Now therefore I pray thee let my Lord the King hear the words of his servant If the Lord hath stirred thee up against me let him accept an offering but if they be the children of men cursed be they before the Lord for they have driven me this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord saying Go serve other gods THese words spake David at a good distance of ground to King Saul when he was pursuing him and newly after he had now again saved Sauls life as he had done but a little before in the cave 1 Sam. 24. And they are a part of his answer to Saul who awaking from his dead sleep while David took him napping with all his guard about him so as Abishai at Davids command took onely Sauls spear and pot of water at his head having as good a will to have taken his life and hearing Davids voice said unto him Is this thy voice my son David Who said It is my voice my Lord O King Wherefore doth my Lord thus pursue after his servant For what have I done or what evil is in my hand Now therefore I pray thee let my Lord the King hear the words of his servant c. So as vers 18. David pleads his innocency towards Saul also his humility also his fidelity and integrity though the Lord had now the second time closed this persecuting tyrant into his hand so as it was in his power to be revenged on him for all his murderous hatred and insatiable malice in seeking and pursuing his life And whereas David asks him here What evil have I done he might as well have said What good have I not done that thou shouldst thus requite me I could but now have smitten thee with thine own spear where with formerl● thou * 1 Sam. 19. attemptedst to smite me to the wall when thou hadst bound thy self with an oath not to slay me yea ●nd then also when I had again made a great slaughter of the Philistines thine enemies whereby both thou and thy people were delivered Thou callest me thy son but hast from the beginning used this relation as a snare to destroy me and that by those very enemies the Philistines from wh●m through my God I have so often delivered both thee and all Israel Now therefore * 1 Sam. 24.12 the Lord judge between me and thee and the Lord avenge me of thee but my band shall not be upon thee And besides all this thou mayst remember how thou didst confesse unto me with tears when before I spared thy life * 1 San. 14.17 19. 1 Sam. 18.28 that I had rewarded thee good for evil and that thou knewest well that the Lord was with me and that I should surely be king wherefore then fightest thou against God in thus hunting after a flea in the wildernesse But come we to Davids words here He prays his pursuer and persecutor saying Let my Lord the King hear the words of his servant His preface for attention imports weight in his words being also spoken to a King and as his speech came from an humble heart so it was full of charity earnestly seeking if possible Sauls sound repentance at length after so many backslidings from his solemn promises and hypocritical protestations Nor did David thus speak for Saul onely to deter him but for all those who either counselled or instigated or assisted him either with their power or with their * As the Z●phites chap. 26.1 23.19 20. officiousnesse in carrying tales to Saul where David hid himself from his fury or through ungratefulnesse would betray him into S●uls hand whofe City he had but a few days before * As the men of Keilah cha 23 12. delivered from the Philistines And now ye noble Citizens let a better spirit move you to hearken to Davids words here then was in Saul at least in case you shall finde your selves no

they differ from you though they have hazarded their lives for you which as it is a high breach of charity and an unsampled ingratitude so it is most odious and abominable before God whose Justice and Wrath if not appeased by faith in Christ accompanied with syncere Repentance and publike Humiliation will undoubtedly if Gods Word be true concerning Saul and other in the like case break forth upon you and your Councellours yea upon City and Kingdom For * Gal. 6. God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap In King Davids time 2 Sam. 21. a famine of three ●●●rs was in the Land For what cause David enquires of the Lord and the Lord answered It is for Saul and for his bloody house because be slew the Gibeonites Why Saul was now dead and doth the Lord now under Davids Raign punish Israel for Sauls sin Yes Gods forbearance is no forgivenesse his patience is no payment And though Saul was dead yet Israel being accessory to Sauls sin God punisheth them And because Saul slew the Posterity of the Gibeonites God now requires it at the hands of Sauls Posterity The Gibeonites demand of David seven of Sauls sons to be hanged which is granted But why should all this ado be for the Gibeonites for these Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel but a remnant of the Amorites I but the children of Israel had sworn unto them Now observe it well As Saul in his zeal for the children of Israel slew the Gibeonites so the Lord now in his zeal both punisheth the children of Israel with three yeers famine and slayeth seven of Sauls sons for satisfaction to the Gibeonites Now if the Lord were so zealous and exact in his Justice in so punishing Sauls sinful zeal and avenging the slaughter of the Gibeonites though aliens in Israel what impunity can they look for at the hands of the righteous God who out of what zeal soever be it for those new lords to be set over them as the peoples zeal was to have Saul for their King rather then the Lord 1 Sam. 8.7 are so extremely injurious and oppressive and that to their brethren their own natural Country-men yea perhaps kindsmen too and that which is above all other relations their preservers and deliverers from utter ruine and destruction of them and theirs and that with the extreme hazard of their own lives interposing their bodies between the City and utmost imminent mortal destructive danger and that in a juncture of time when the enemy was in the top of his strength and in the ruff of his jollity fully resolving the day was his before it dawned and on the other side our Army consisting of raw Souldiers and no lesse raw Offices was at the lowest ebbe and given for lost as men that durst not engage and whom the enemy supposed would rather flee then fight so injurious I say as to go about in stead of putting at least Lawrel Crowns upon their heads to make them level with the Gibeonites to purchase their lives with being hewers of wood and drawers of water to the whole Nation as glad that they may but breathe in the common air and live of a morsel of bread to lengthen their miserable lives so much worse then death by how much these are men of a more noble and heroick spirit then so dearly to prize a most ignominious life after so many large proffers of their dearest blood to purchase a most glorious death No greater injury nor indignity can be done to well-deserving Vertue then to recompence it with impious Scorn David would not suffer those Worthies of his to be sent back with disgrace 1 Sam. 10. with their beards half shaven and their garments cut off to their huttocks by Hanun the Ammonite to whom he had sent to congratulate his new Crown 2 Sam. 12 26-31 but to revenge such an indignity gathered an Army wherewith he brought under the proud Ammonite so as he took his Royal City and the Crown from his head and put the people under sawes and under harrows of iron and made them passe thorow the brick-kiln and thus did he to all the Cities of the children of Ammon and all this I say for one disgrace put upon Davids servants though new garments and their new grown beards might seem to heal all again And will not our David Jesus Christ trow you avenge such horrible indignities as your Remonstrances and Representations have cast upon his Worthies and such as have done more for you then a complement and so much the more when the disgraces put upon them reflect upon himself whose power and goodnesse hath by them as his servants and instruments atchieved so great things for you the City Kingdom Parliament Could any thing have been invented more dishonourable to Christ and more darkening the bright beams of his glory shining forth in those famous acts of his wrought by this Army then thu● not onely to bury such glory under an infamous act of eternal oblivion but to brand those servants of his with the Thracian notes of perpetual villainage Nor do I but the thing it self speak and proclaim this Your Remonstrance and Repreientation are extant to all the world But what might be the cause of all this calamity A monstrous conception sure that brings forth such a monstrous birth Why the reason is were there any reason at all in it that those Worthies of the Army do not in all things concur in their judgements with you I would say with your Teachers whose judgement is yours about the things controverted at this day touching Christs Spiritual Kingdom while they would rack mens Consciences to conform to such a Church-Government as they are never able for all their titular Jus divinum to make out from Scripture-evidence So as such forcing of the Conscience otherwise informed and perswaded by the Word of God as it is a horrible violation of our late Solemn Covenant for a Reformation in all things according to the Word of God so it is no lesse Antichristian Tyranny over mens souls then that which the Pope and Prelates have exercised over us if not worse Jer. 28.13 when the woodden yokes of the Prelates being broken seem now to be turned and multiplied into many thousand yokes of iren Consider therefore ye worthy Citizens whether it was not the very spirit of Antichrist breathed upon you by those who have changed the name but not the nature of Prelatical Usurpation that hath thus imposed upon your facile Credulity begotten of your high opinion of them to undertake such a horrid attempt for the perpetual enthralling and vassalizing of both souls and bodies of those who have been your Deliverers and who have abundantly proved themselves to be next under God the best and faithfullest friends that either you or the City or our native Country of England have in all the world at this day Therefore most dear Citizens and Country-men Acts 3.13 14 15 17. let me use the Apostle's words to you which he did to those that had through the subornation of their Synedrion the Priests and Pharisees by their lond Vote Crucifigs Crucifige killed the Prince of life saying Now brethren I wot that through ignorance ye did it as did also your Rulers And certainly I affirm it again and again never could your own genius being ingenuous men and of a generous breeding and education ever have led you into such a miserable Maze had not your over-credulous hearkning to some other's Counsel ensnared your over-confident presuming on some supposed good in it as Eve through the Serpents subtilty supposed to be in the eating of the forbidden tree so leading your harmlesse intentions captive at their will to be the instruments of serving their ungodly unnatural designe Let me therefore adde and apply to you as the most soveraign and onely remedy to cure the wound of your conscience before God and of your honour with men that exhortation of the Apostle Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sin may be blotted out when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Make your peace with God and so with your own conscience as well as with men and for that end petition the Parliament for a Solemn and Publike Fast-day wherein your humble and syncere confession before all may stop the mouth of so crying a sin that God may have his glory and you his mercy and both Parliament City and Country impunity especially whose spirits shall sympa●hize and bear a part with you and chiefly those who have had the prime share with you in the sin either in counselling you to it or not deterring you from it for either of these ways the sin is theirs Ezek. 3.18 19. Matth. 5.19 that so they may be the first to share in the shame and your selves not the last FINIS