and Moses and Aaron And this he did also truely and speedily as soone as he saw the Angell of Gods wrath had drawen forth his sworde against him his people as David did when he saw the angell of God plaguing the people in this point he well resembled that wary bird which seeing the fowlers bow bent and himselfe in danger makes haste to flye away before that the arrow bee sent foorth against him remembring what his father had modulated If when that men offend the Lord they will not turn againe He furbisheth his percing sword in iustice them to paine He bends his bow it prepares with dreadfull darts of death And lethall instrumentes to take from them their vitall breath But alas there be in the world too many cōparable to that foolish bird which maketh no hast to escape frō the snare before he be taken therin Therfore I now remēber not only what he coūsailed Be not slow to turne to the Lord for sodainly shall his wrath burne like fier but what his father aduised psal 95.8 To day if ye his voice will heare Then harden not your faithles heart As ye with grudging many a yeare Provokte me in the wild desert It is meet that men attend him whē he calleth If men offer gold which is yet but transitory there bee which come with speede and the tree being shaken they will gather vp the fruit without long tarrying But when the Lorde proffereth peace to mans soule they come slackly regarde it little which is the cause they often misse the kings thousand But as for our Soueraign L. albeit we had been neither eare-witnesses nor eye-witnesses yet besides the K. gesture and present constitution of body the very words which wee haue heard from him and yet daily heare him to vtter That is his Ecclesiastes and the which being taken and collected into a register may bee called the booke of his repentance shall for euer witnesse and manifest the same thing For therein it doth and may appeare that our L. King Solomon not onely after his full and perfect experience of all the delights of the sonnes of men and the affaires of this life but also after all those his transgressions wherein he had so much vexed and disquietted both his minde and body angred the L. offended the holy ones distained his honor and endangered his soule is neverthelesse by the admirable operation of the diuine spirite brought to the true sense and knowledge of his sinnes and so of the danger of himselfe and his people the which is alwaies the first grade to true repentance from whence hee hath orderly proceeded to the full perfection thereof as hereafter yee shall vnderstand In the meane time my good L let vs think right honourably of the K. and beleeue that Iehovah his God hath not barred him out from the contrition and repentance of the blessed and so neither from the diuine mercy Ye haue well spoken most reuerēd father said the Princes which we haue gladly heard and will both concurre and conclude with you for the King to the honour of our God And truely in this that hee hath acknowledged and confessed his offences hee may not bee either condemned or disliked albeit hee bee the King of Israel no more then such a thing was blamed in David his father but rather to be commended as it was in him as first in regard of the good example wherby others might be instructed next for the more ease of his own heart oppressed with sorrow in the consideration of his sin with the danger ensewing it Thirdly for the better pacifying of the diuine wrath which is vehemēt against obstinat sinners and fouthly for the good of his people who vpon his repentance and remission might hope for peace there be some who when they haue sinned will not easily acknowledge themselues faultie either to God or to man and therfore are hardly perswaded to amend Wherin they bee like those which holden of desperate diseases not feeling themselues sick are hardly recouered for this is a great hinderāce to amēdment of life when men which are offenders will not acknowledge their offences But there bee some though not many of them which offending do by times feele and know their offences and seek to escape the diuine wrath by a faithful recōciliatiō and so are recouered in good time And these be like not only to those wise birds which as ye said eschew the arrowes comming towards them but also to those which being distempered in their bodies soone espy it and seek to preuent inconueniences by the aduise and help of the cunning phisician For as the sense of the sicknes is the commencement of the cure so the acknowledging of a fault is the first step to pardon and so to the amēdment of him that hath faulted But proceed most reuerend father we pray you and desist not vntill ye haue fully declared the order and manner of the K. true repentance for truly howsoeuer it hath beene a griefe and sorow vnto our hearts to hear of those his great transgressions and sins it is and shal be now a ioy and comfort vnto vs to heare of his happy Repentance by the which it may be the L. will also repent him of that euill which he had purposed to doe vnto him and vs and will turne iustice into mercy that we perrish not in this his high displeasure which is as a fearfull fyer to consume thē that wil neither repent them of their sinnes nor seeke him whiles hee may bee found in the singlenesse of heart CAP. XXX Zadok declareth the order and manner of Solomons Repentance THe Princes hauing heard Zadok thus farre acknowledged the equitie of his dealing and withall hauing praysed and commended the King in this point that although he were a King yet he disdained not both is acknowledge himselfe an offendor after the example of his father David they requested Zadoke to proceede who continuing the former argument spake againe to this effect Surely my Lordes as the K. is most wise and his wisedome euer remained with him so perceiuing that he had sinned against God who thereby was prouoked to anger hee did not onely acknowledge the same in his heart but also considered that the iudgements diuine were now ready to be executed against him and his people Yea Solomons Contrition as in Eccl. ca. 1. 2. hee felt the arrowes of God to stick fast in him whereby he was moved to such great contrition of heart and sorrw of minde for his sins that there was no health in his flesh nor rest in his bones he was brought into such an extreame trouble and heauines that hee went mourning all the day long as sometimes I saw his father David to do when his heart was contrite after the knowledge of his sinnes and sense of Gods wrath Secondly Solomons confession of his sinnes the king hath not omitted to vtter foorth the fearefull
promises before made doe pointe and belong properly to the most holy Messiah 2. Sam. 7.12 and not to any man besides him as they doe indeede yet to declare that David the Kinges Father did not wholy exclude Solomon his Sonne borne of Bethsabe but did so vnderstand the wordes spoken in this case as that literally the same Solomon was the persō especially chosē and appointed to build that materiall house therefore he said I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the Arke of the covenant of the Lorde for the footestoole of our God 1. Chro. 28.2 had made ready for the building But god said to mee thou shalt not build an house for my name because thou hast beene a man of warre and hast shedde bloud Againe And he said vnto mee Solomon thy Sonne Verse 6. he shall build me an house courtes for I have chosen him to bee my Sonne I wil be his father Then turning himselfe to Solomon Verse 9. hee saide And thou Solomon my Sonne know thou the Lorde of thy fathers serve him with a pure heart with a willing minde Againe Take heede now for the Lord hath chosen thee to build him an house of a Sanctuary be strong therefore shew thy selfe a man Verse 10. And in this sense did K. Solomon also take the wordes of the Lord which Nathan the prophet brought him as himselfe testified when sending to Hyram the Tyrian king for further provision he said 1. King 5.2 Thou knowest that David my father could not build an house vnto the name of Iehovah his God for the warres which were about him on every side vntill the Lorde put them vnder the soales of his feete But not Iehovah my God hath given me rest on every side so that their is neither adversary nor evil to resist And behold I am determined to build an house vnto the name of Iehovah my God as Iehovah spake vnto David my father saying Thy sonne whome I will set vpon thy seate for thee he shall build an house vnto my name 2 Chro. 6.10 And that Solomon did this performe accordingly himselfe testified againe saying I am risen vp in the roome of David my father am set on the seat of Israel as Iehovah promised have built an house for the name of Iehovah the God of Israel For indeed 1. Kings 6.1 2. Chro. 3.1 in the fower hundreth and fower-score yeer after that our fathers came out of the land of Aegipt and in the fowrth yeere of the raigne of King Solomon vpon Israel Aprill 1. Kings 6 38. October in the moneth * Ziff which is the second in our accoūt he began to build this house and in the eleuenth yeere in the moneth * Bul which is the eight was the same house finished throughout all the partes thereof according to the fashion of it and so was hee seuen yeeres in the building of it that in the mount Moriah in the place where first Cain and Abel and afterward Noah offered their sacrifices yea and in the Alley of Arnon there wherein David when hee saw the Angell with his drawne Sworde was commaunded to reare his altar Neuerthelesse to signifie that both this person and his worke had a further and higher aime then either wee coulde see with the eye or comprehend in thought much lesse vtter with the tongue as the thinges of God are such as passe all mens vnderstanding wee hearde what the King himselfe saide when hee dedicated the house vnto God And will God in very deede said hee dwell with men on earth Beholde heaven 2 Chro. 6.18 and the heaven above all heavens may not containe him How much lesse the house which I have built For the King as hee had the wisedome of the holy Spirite knew right well that this shoulde prefigurate the Church of the holy Messiah and that not onely the same which is or shal bee militant on earth but that spirituall Temple of God in the soule and minde of man yea and also shoulde expresse as by a liuely Simbole the societie triumphant and glorious in heauen Gen. 6.15 Exod. 25 26 Therefore as hee alluded therein to Noah in the building of the Arke and to Moses in the framing of the Tabernacle 2. Sam. 5.8.9 1. Chro. 28.11.19 and to David in the institution and disposing of the Tower of Zion and followed the proportion which his Father David had plotted and prescribed so hee expressed not onely his earnest loue and heartie zeale that hee had to his God but his desire to display and set foorth the wonderful perfection and excellent glory of that Church Neither yet did hee shewe himselfe either too curious or too costly or ouer glorious or superstitious or superfluous in any one ornament or in the least title or thing whatsoeuer in and about the same house albeit both the worke was magnificent of great charge and labour and the ornamentes in and about the same rare pretious and many in number For truely as this materiall Temple signifieth that Temple of Messiah whether misticall in the Congregation or spirituall in the faithfull soule or glorious in heaven so the ornamentes and diuers and sundry functions and garnishings and glory of the same expresse and declare vnto vs the noble personages functions orders ministeries vertues of and in the same For there bee godly Kinges and Princes Prophets Priestes Ministers Iudges Magistrates and many wise and holy persons both men and women there is the wisedome the iudgement the iustifications the sanctifications the perfections and in a word all the graces of the Saincts and there are the angels heauenly spirites Abraham Isaak Iacob Moses Iosuah and other with the glory of the children of God But ye happily desire that some certaine particulars might be produced in this comparison To speake of all it wold both weary me cōfound your hearing they are so many wonderful yea beyond the knowledge of man as yet neither is it meete that wee should * inuestigate ouer curiously Deut 29 29. and sift out too precisely that which is laid vp in the diuine counsail vntil the happy time of the Messiah who then and not before shall tell vs al thinges yea things hidden from the beginning In the meane time it is enough that we belieue this that the law shall go foorth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem The Church is like an house And first as ye haue heard and doe perceiue the Church of the Messiah is prefigured and expressed wholy by an house and that conueniently in regarde of the partes orders and vse thereof But this house hath two generall partes whereof the one is that in the which aswell the people as the priestes do enter wherein they pray they teach they heare they offer sacrifice they praise God they talke and declare their holy deuotion and obedience to God
before him in whose sight the very Angels be vncleane nor that he might thinke himselfe righteous in his owne power before the throne of that King in whose presence no flesh liuing can be iustified but that rather in the consideration of his imperfections and the bitter sense of the diuine displeasure he should acknowledge and confesse his infirmities and by a godly repentance striue to resurge vnto that from whence he was fallen as his father did * But here I call to minde Why Solomon vsed not the holy name Tetragrammaton in his Booke of Eccles that Abiather obiected further against the king and his wordes namely in this that hee had not of late vsed nor remembred in his common talke the glorious Name Iehovah whereof he would conclude as it appeareth a note of prophanitie in the King as one that either should denie or forget the liuing God who is to be remembred praised for euer Wherefore lest any aduantage might be either giuen or taken in passing such a thing ouer in silence which might indéed argue a consent to that which is obiected ye shal vnderstand that in any wise we may not gather of this omission of that sacred Name either a deniall or a forgetfulnes of the Lord God by the king nor may we thereby the sooner derogate authoritie from him and his words no more then wee may iustly condemne the poore sinner and his prayer which in the consideration of his owne vilenesse dareth not to lift vp his eyes to the heauens For as this Name is wonderfull and most dreadfull to the sinfull so who knoweth not but that we esteeme it Ineffable not to bee pronounced or vsed except in waightie matters and in the causes of the highest importance But the omission of this Name by the king may be imputed partly to the great honor he yéelded the same partly to the singular humilitie of his contrite spirit who now déeply weighing the heauy burthen of his sinne and all those vanities wherein hee had béene long wearied with the terror of the diuine iudgements threatned on him and his posteritie by the Lords Prophet he thinketh himselfe most vnworthy to take in his mouth or to vse that dreadfull name being not forgetfull of that which he heard his Maister Asaph after the Prophesie that David had giuen him often times to sing and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But God vnto the sinner said And why psal 50.16 presumest thou to preach mine holy heasts and in thy mouth to take my Testament For the King is now so far humbled An argument of the kings repentance that notwithstanding his wisedome place and glory he estéemeth himselfe of no reputation and therein too vile not onely to name Iehovah but also to be as a doore-kéeper within that holy house which himselfe hath built and dedicated in the time of grace to that most glorious Name And this is so farre off from all iust suspicion of prophanitie or forgetfulnesse or deniall of God in the King that the omission of this Name doth rather mightily argue his faithfull feare and humbled heart in true Repentance and with the like spirite in the remebrance of his sinnes committed and the punishments thereon threatned and felt in part and in this regard hee also refused to be called the King of Israel as before it hath béene sayd Would to God the like consideration dread and reuerence of this most holy Name did in the same spirit hold and possesse the hearts of all others that not onely mean and priuate persons but also princes and great personages would rather either tremble with David to heare thereof or feare with Solomon to take the same rashly and commonly in their mouthes then should not that commandement bee so presumptuously and dayly broken Exod. 20. Thou shalt not take the Name of Iehovah thy God in vaine Neither should this vengeance bee so often iustly inflicted Iehovah will not holde him guiltlesse that taketh his Name in vaine Therefore hath the King worthily omitted the common vse of this Name in those his wordes and late writings Howbeit he hath neuerthelesse in all humilitie reuerence and grauitie vsed and yet doth daily vse those other Titles or Attributes of God whereby he is sufficiently knowne in the Law and in the Prophtes as namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is God Creatour King Supreme or highest And hee thus resolueth with holy Iob Iob. 27.3 that now so long as his breath is in him and the spirit of God in his nostrels his lips shall speake no wickednes and his tongue shall vtter no deceit But howsoeuer it bee that men haue their imperfections and slidings as wée may not tie the authoritie of holy Scriptures diuine Sermons and the truth of the Almightie to the credite or estimation of any mortall man The way to try all writings words and works of men so neither shall those Wordes and Sermons of our Lorde King Solomon bee esteemed onely after the person and authoritie of Solomon though he so far excelled all other men liuing in wisedom knowledge many other right excellent and rare induments and vertues but also according to the consent it hath with the propheticall and legall veritie and doctrine indited by the finger of Gods Spirit by whose motion Noah Abraham Isaack Iacob Samuel Moses David and other holy men haue spoken And it is most certaine howsoeuer some would gather thereof as Spiders which gather poison of the sweetest flowers and as the purest streames may bee polluted by the trampling of soule feete and the best Scriptures may be abused as Satan himselfe and the deceiuers of all times haue therein presumed to credite and authorize their owne that yet these present words of King Solomon as also his Proverbs Solomons words are approoued collected and reserued by his princes and servants Parables and divine songs the which he hath in the fullnesse of the Spirite of wisedome vttred spoken and modulated are sound veritie good Scripture and words agreable to the words and writings of Moses and the Prophets in all things Therefore let vs proceed with diligent carefulnesse to call to minde those the kings wordes which in this time and vpon this occasion hee vseth to vtter and speake before vs with great grauitie and to collect them into a Booke in the Name of God not forgetting to expresse our gratefull minde towardes his Grace in this our care to preserue his Wordes to commend them to the holy Church for the better instruction of the same acknowledging and testifying withall the diligence wisedome godly desire and excellencie of him who studied to be yet more wise and to teach the people knowledge that thereby abandoning the deceiuable vanities of this wicked world they might with him walke the right and perfite way towardes the best Good and highest felicitie These words beeing said Zadok pauzed again wherat
cureth euery patient seeing against the strength of death there is no phisicke auaileable the king coulde not as himselfe confessed cure all thinges for many thinges remaine imperfect defectiue and incureable in vanities kingdome All thinges cannot be cured in this world neither howsoeuer the medicines are compounded and applied may any man imagin that they can be salued and recured But this fault is not long of the phisician and his medicines but of the euill constitution and nature of the patient and his griefes * In the second generall parte the King proposeth the chiefe end of mans life in this worlde The chiefe good to be pursued which is The feare of God the keeping of his commandementes and is indeede the dutie of every man and that which by the law of Gods is required of all men as I saide before And as in the former hee shewed what things most encrease mans vanity and miscry so here he teacheth what they are which further him towardes his felicitie And they are certain vertues which he opposeth to those former vices Certain vertues commended which further men towards happines As namely the wisdome of God spirit prudence whereby a common wealth is gouerned Iustice obedience to laws and magistrates modesty temperance industry diligēce charity patience in troubles sobriety humilitie fidelitie truth praier liberalitie iudgement and to bee short pietie and the right seruice of God And because all those thinges are required of a man in the opportune time at the least within the compasse of his humane life The benefit of time therefore he is carefull to counsel and aduise him to take the benefit of the time and not to defer or put off from day to day to do perform that which is required of him lest he bee sodainely taken away and perish nor can at any time thencefoorth finde the like opportunitie to worke and effect that which hee shoulde haue done and now at length though all too late hee is most willing to doe if hee might haue a graunt of that libertie and time againe Therefore hee hath saide and saith it often to them that stand before him to heare his wisedome Whatsoever thou takest in hand Cap. 9 9. do it with all thy power For in the grave wherevnto thou goest there is neither worke counsell knowledge nor wisedome As if hee said there is no time allotted for men to worke and do the workes of their vocations after this life They therefore that bee willing to serue GOD in their seuerall functions as they ought must bee right diligent therein and obserue their times in this life at the least and not deferre it to the life to com Againe hee saith Remember now thy maker in the daies of thy youth whiles the evill daies come not nor the yeeres approach Cap. 2.1 wherein thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them And to the end he might not onely teach the great vanitie of mans life in this worlde but also take away from him all delaies which commonly followe the hope of long life hee setteth foorth mans Olde age and from thence defineth his death and lastly teacheth the immortality of mans Soule the consideration whereof beeing set before mans eies doth often containe him within the boundes of his duty as wise to God wary of the world and carefull for himselfe And this the King hauing said and strongly proued his former generall proposition he concludeth with the same thus The conclusion of the book Vanity of vanities all is meere vanity Lo thus hath the king spoken such is his purpose in those his words which some would so perversly constre against him and his good meaning crowne and dignity And of this sort is euen his ordinary talke and such are his sentences sayings and words which he dayly vttereth In the which as they are right consonant and agreable in all thinges to the sacred veritie and holy scriptures whosoeuer heareth and considereth aright shall find here and there applied such and so many excellent doctrins resolutions sentences The excellencie of Solomons wordes contayned in the Ecclesiastes proverbes parables examples counsels consolations exhortatiōs admonitions comminations reasons arguments and conclusions with such change and varietie of times though as yet on one instrument and on one ground to draw from vices and to perswade to vertues that they which read heare or vnderstand the same if they be not enchanted with some erronious spirite shall therein and thereof very easily finde out the heauenly wisdom with no small comfort of heart reape no little cōtentation of Soule when thereby the sooner the holy spirit assisting them they shal be enabled to contemne the deceiueable vanities and lusts of the world they shal be encouraged to vse the creatures of God thankfully to walke in their vocations wisely to liue in this world honestly to behaue themselues worthily to beare afflictions patiently and to passe in the same victoriously through the bottomlesse profundity of the horrible confusions of this wretched life towardes that Best Good and highest felicitie CAP. XLII The Princes having examined and approved Solomons wordes for veritie agree to collect the same into a booke to the which they prefixe a fit title and declare the reasons thereof ZAdoke hauing thus answered to all the former exceptions and obiections taken and opposed to the king and his wordes the Princes Lordes which were thus assembled in counsell and hitherto listned to the disputatiō and conference between Zadok Abiather answered said to Zadok Ye haue both learnedly and right godly answered and resolued all those doubts most reuerend Father whereby the sooner as both we al others are and shal be moved to esteeme worthily of the K. as of a Sainct of the L. no lesse of those his Sermons and wordes so consonant to Gods truth and profitable to instruct and teach all men so now let vs consent in one mind to collect those Sermons and wordes as wee may best call them into memory Ye haue wel said my L. saide Zadok it shal be good and profitable both for our selues and for many others that we do as ye haue saide But first it may please you that we agree on some fit Title to be prefixed and the Helioreph Ahiah the kings scribes or one of them woulde write the same With a very good-will saide the Scribes and what shall wee write Write thus said Zadok Eccl. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The words of that Koheleth or the preacher the son of David K. in Ierusalem The title of Solomons last wordes And thus haue we written said the scribes But my L. said zadok how like ye this title we like it very wel answered the Princes May it please you also it be examined that the reasons thereof being declared all others may likewise bee satisfied with vs Yea said zadok it pleaseth me right well howbeit with conuenient
rebell against the Lord as Samuel told him in the height of his wealth Yea thus Dauid the father of K. Solomon being a whiles permitted to try himselfe and his might transgressed and confessed his folly Lo such is mans nature prave inclinatiō semblant to the ponderous lead or Iron which declineth to the bottom of the water whereon it is cast when as it is not by some arte or meanes staid from sinking or as the vine which groweth proud and out of course without timely pruning yea they be not vnlike touching their misfortunes those little Chickens which runne forth to the Vultures and the sily Lambes which offer themselues a pray to the Foxes without regard of their proper dās to kéepe or draw them away Men therefore yea the best and most strong men should feare and not desire to bee left vnto their owne wils wisedome power and habilitie but pray and desier to be continually protected governed and directed by the diuine counsayles and providence knowing that God beeing their Father doth euermore care and prouide for them which being humbled in his feare depend on his will direction Next that we sée that the Lord neither blesseth nor graceth thē which leaue him and his service how mighty wise rich or glorious soeuer they be but in this he estéemeth the king as a Caytiffe the Emperour as a wretch the rich as a beggar the wise as a foole nor will he vouchsafe them honour who dishonour him Nor indeede hath he freed his own from the touch of miserie in measure when they transgressed Adam and Hevah were exiled Paradise Noah was wade ashamed David mas floysed with many afflictions So neyther will the Lord that any person of whatsoeuer estate or condition should assure himselfe of peace and prosperity longer then whiles hee liueth in peace with his maker King Solomon began now to know his transgression and to returne dependeth on him by faith in Messiah and serueth him in singlenesse of heart All this the King at length wisely considering by the blessed motion of the diuine Spirite which now began to reclaime and call him home againe sodainely altred the constitution of minde and changed his behauiour as Dauid did after that the Lord created a new heart and renewed the right spirite within him And thereupon he became euen as another man For now knowing both his heynous transgression and the danger of his own poore soule foreséeing the imminent alteration of his high estate and the great perill of his people and féeling the heauy singer of that iust God and his dreadfull wrath already burning as a consuming fier in his conscience he was as a man stricken with a deadly arrow he waxed both pale and wan in the fearefull agonies of his most sorry soule that face which shined sometimes as a bright Angel was deformed with the aboundance of his watry teares and whereas he vsed to sit royally on his stately Throne he did now choose to lye all alone on the cold earth he wayled all the day and watched euery night rent his kingly cloathes cast ashes on his head mingled his drinke with his teares and watred hid cowch with the same sighed sorily and lamented wofully abandoned as donge all his former pleasures and contemned as vanitie the delights of men Moreouer all his words which were before so pleasant and hony sweete to the hearing now sauoured of mortification and sorrow expressing the vnmeasurable torment of his wofull soule Alas The fraile cōdition of mans nature who would haue thought that such a noble person could haue beene so sodainely turned about and altred Who could beleeue that such passing great pleasures should be determined in paines such comfortatiues conuerted into corasiues such gladnesse into griefes such prosperitie into aduersitie such felicitie into misery in so short a time in so noble a personage But yet we may marvaile the lesse if we duely consider not onely that the King though so Wise Rich and Glorious is yet but a Man to whom are incident both sinnes slydings falles but also that such are the miseries infirmities afflictions and conditions of this life And that whensoeuer the Lord God in his iust iudgements either openly or secretly beateth and punisheth a man for his faults that man is all vnable either to withstand those scourges or to abide in his honour or prosperous estate to retaine his health or welfare either of body or minde being worthyly constrained to cowch and giue place to him which is much stronger then he and to yeelde to him with whom no man can pleade nor answere one for a thousand as Iob said in the like consideration With this I call to minde that which the Kings Father was wont to modulate singing vnto the Lord his God When thou for sinne a mortall man doest beate He waues away and waxeth woe and wan Psal 39.12 Much like the garment which the moath doth freate So vaine a thing indeede is mortall man Lo here may we see the fickle condition of man the nature of his prosperitie in this life Well may he be compared therein to the flower of the fielde as both Iob A similitude which setteth forth mans condition Iob. 14.1 and Dauid faith for like as the flower is not onely sed and refreshed with the pleasant showers of raine the comfortable beames of the Sunne and groweth and shineth in the beauty of diuers colours but also within a very short time is annoyed altred and deformed now with the pearching heate of the Canicular Starre then with the pinching frosts of Boreas windes Euen so is man for he commeth vp he florisheth he shineth he is glorious in his place so long as it pleaseth God to giue him the sweete beames of prosperitie and honor in this world but this is not permanent for as man will not abide in honor so neither is it meete he should be still fostred and lulled here in the cradle of felicitie for by this he forgets himselfe and his estate yea he forgetteth God that made him and forsaketh the same which redeemed him Therefore the Lord is best pleased that he should be exercised with those afflictions which commonly follow after worldly pleasure and prosperitie being indeede as a common pronostication of sorrow and aduersitie Neither is there any thing to be looked for in this life as both the sayings of the wise the ancient histories the proper similitudes of things and the present examples of such euents doe plainely teach and instruct vs. In the sense and experience therefore of these things what is there found of any constancie or of any stability or of any continuance in mans life As man himselfe is fraile so are all those accidents appertenant to his humane nature transitory Therefore not onely the poore man but also the rich man yea not onely the beggers but the most Royall Princes are subiect to this alterations and vanities In the due consideration
variable dispositions in all ages the which to meete with in all points it is for any prince or magistrate impossible the which therefore may be lamented but neuer throughly corrected or amended Howbeit hee thought as he saith that the cure of this malady being beyond mans power and wisedome God would in the due time take on himselfe and separate the righteous from the vngodly and then shall be the time and iudgement of all counsels and workes Hee also much museth how God though he had chosen of the children of men shoulde neuer the lesse permitte them to appeare God suffereth men to appear as the beasts as though they were but Beastes and as somewhat doubtfull of the eternall beeing of mans soule which is that spirituall substance which God hath made afer his owne likenesse and powred into the humane body and ioyned to the body doeth animate guide it but being separated frō the body dieth not The fleshly mans iudgement of the soule but liueth immortall for euer he saith Who is he which knoweth the spirit of man that goeth vpwarde and the breath of a beast that goeth downe to the earth And is not this the iudgement of worldely and carnall men which perceiue not the thinges which are of the holy spirit Indeed being as the beasts in their nature they consider nothing more And albeit the King hath said that it is best for a man to be ioyfull in his labour No man knoweth what will com on him or his posteritie after him which is his portion in this life yet to daunt him againe who saith he will bring him to behold what shal come on him or his posterity after him And truely this may easily discourage any man to prouide for his wife his children his familie and for the times to come when as without hope of future prosperities hee shall trauaile for them in the wind * These and such like passions of minde I haue perceiued in the king The great oppression in the world But yet beyond many others hee complayned of all the wrong that is done vnder the Sunne the which as appeareth by his wordes and lamentation is both vnmesurable and vnspeakable and the more for that the poore oppressed persons haue wept and shed aboundance of teares and yet haue not founde any in place ready to comfort them or to deliuer them from the violence of their oppressors And here as in regard thereof He much commended the dead before the living The dead cōmēded before the living because they are fréed from those miseries yea He commendeth him which is not yet borne to be happier then any of those because he séeth not nor hath had experience of those wretched toyles of men vnder the Sunne * Here he likewise complaineth of the Envy Idlenesse Envy idlenes couetousnes solitarines and covetous minds of men in this world he disliketh singularitie and solitarinesse of life in the which hauing too much presumed he hath béene wonderfully deceiued much annoyed in his life wherein hee soroweth for the abuse of his owne estate to the which inlieu thereof he preferreth the condition of A poore child that is wise A foolish king a poore child * Further in his wisedome he prognosticateth the foolishnes future misery of Rhehoboam his Sonne and heyre apparante and yet he hath both well nurtoured him Rhehoboam vnderstandeth that most men haue their eies fixed on him with great delight and hope of his happy successe and prosperity in time to come and some what the more hee is troubled because that men in regard of his young prince and his succession do somewhat neglect the present care and reuerence they should haue of his maiestie For they looke after the second man And indeede such is mans folly hee looketh alwaies further and affecteth the times persons and thinges either past or future before those which be present Some say the times and persons which haue beene of yore haue beene better then these which be present others say the best are not yet come but we hope for them to be hereafter the whiles they esteeme not yea they loath and contemne the good thinges which they haue and may vse at their pleasure and so in regard thereof do often losse both the commodity of th' one and comfort of th' other to their remedilesse miserie and continuall griefe And this saith he is a vaine thing and vexation of the minde Cap. 4.17 Moreouer the king hath highly reprehended and blamed many of them which enter into the holy house which he hath made for the seruice of God saying that their offerings are the offerings of fooles and they know not what euill they doe therein The which wordes being not well vnderstood will occasion the ignorant eyther to contemne the said house and the seruice of God therein or to forbeare to come into the same to shew their deuotion and religion to God as they are bound to doe CHAP. IV. Zabud speaketh againe reporting some other emphatical speeches of King Solomon SOlomons Lordes hauing thus farre proceeded in order to report what wordes they remembred vttered by the King in his affliction Zabud the Kinges familiar spake againe and said Well remembred my Lords And now besides the former I call to mind what the king hath saide concerning those Rich men of the world The Rich men of the world whome the most part of all men do estéeme happy in this life He saith that there is no man rich vnder the sunne for where much riches appeareth to be there be also many ready to spend and consume the same He that hath much riches cannot rest or sléepe in the night he that hath riches is oftentimes hurt and annoyed therewith and at length those which haue riches depart hence with sore anguish and sorrow of mind for there is no man but at length he must yeeld to death and shall carry away none of these thinges but are constrained to leaue all behind them that so they depart hence One man getteth another spendeth the riches of the world Cap. 6.1 as naked and bare as they came into this worlde notwithstanding their great trauels and long labours for their riches in all their life And this he esteemeth as a mighty misery which is so often seene vnder the Sunne that God giueth a man riches and goodes and honor so that he wanteth nothing of all that his heart can desire Cap. 6.1 and yet God giueth him not leave to enioy them but another man spendeth them The which as it seemeth he applieth to himselfe whome it chiefly concerneth In conclusion he seeth that many thinges encrease vanity and that a man vnder the Sunne findeth nothing else as long as he liueth Cap. 7. Furthermore the king though so wise did complaine that he could not yet get wisedome but that the more hee sought after it Solomon acknowledged his owne imperfection the
if it were possible the very causes of the kinges sorrowe And seeing withall that euery one of them had in their turnes spoken and now againe expected his graue sentence hee stood vp and after a long pause he spake vnto them in these wordes My Lordes all I haue heard you one by one and considered well of all your sayings howbeit I haue not yet heard that any man hath founde out much lesse declared the causes of the kings affliction For I am well assured that there be diuers other reasons and occasions which might iustly moue him as being a mortall man Subiects may not bee quicke censorers of their princes though so wise a man to be sory in his heart But I know well as it hath been said that it becommeth not subiects but in dutifull modesty to sifte or examine much lesse to censure the actions dealings of their princes the which is also a matter no lesse dangerous then presumptious Neuertheles in regard of your present opportunitie so willing and earnest to vrge on mine answere to satisfie your desires but chiefly that thereby the sooner as we be here assembled in councell we may consider consult thereof determine and endeuour not onely to ease the kings grace of his trouble if it may be but to satisfy all others work to preserue the common-wealth which through the kings displeasure may vnhappily be annoyed and brought into danger Therefore I will no longer holde you in suspence There be 7. causes of Solomons trouble but reueile the whole matter to your content I haue found seauen causes of the kings troubled mind The first whereof riseth of the deepe consideration of his owne Supremacie and the present high glory of the kingdome of Israel The second springeth of Hyram the king of Tyrus vpon the view dislike of those citties which the king hath granted him The third groweth of certaine letters of intelligence which the Arabian Queene sent him after that she departed from the court The fourth is from his Mother the Prophet Nathan which are now both departed this life The fifth is of Rhehoboā the kings sonne heire apparant not so well pleasing his fathers heart The sixth commeth from the kings adversaries as namely Hadad Rhesō and Ieroboā which haue lift vp their hands against him The seventh and the greatest of all is the sense of Gods high displeasure and fearful iudgements conceived bent against him and the people for some hamous sinnes and transgressions At this worde The princes the Princes and Lordes were fully astonished all abashed and not able to speake for anguish of mind stoode looking one on another Notwithstanding after a whiles they desired reuerend Zadok to explane that which he had as yet but briefly and obscurely touched and first how it could be that the kings sorrow might rise from the consideration of his most excellent Supremacie and the high glory of the kingdome of Israel wherof both the king and they all with his people had so good an occasion to be glad and to reioice with praises to the Lord God zadoke The great glory of Solomon and his kingdome was a pronostication of a future declination To this replied Zadoke Although that men for the most part neither foresee nor foreshew their owne dangers imminent like as the Sun the Moone the starres the seas the trees the hearbes the beastes the birdes the wormes the Fishes the elementes naturally pretend and foreshew the times the tides the tempests the alteratiō of terrene bodies yet who doubteth of this that the king being wise and prudent foreknoweth things yet to come not onely as such as haue a propheticall spirit but as those which are able and accustomed to gather the effects and euents by the causes and occasions in naturall things which is not the meanest king of Philosophy but a science right excellent no lesse profitable for many purposes in mans life and that which appertaineth to a reasonable creature By this he seeth that those thinges which florish most beautifully often wither most speedily when yet others endure This is first found in the life and constitution of mans body wherein that which is most florishing and glorious is soonest and that lightly altered and turned al about as health into sickenes strength into weakenes beautie into deformitie prosperity into misery life into death And hereof the cunning phisiciās pronosticate the future sickenes and danger of that person whom they see to stand in the highest grade of prosperity and health as when the Sea is at the very highest then it beginneth sodainly to fall againe by the Ebbe when the Moone is at the fullest by and by she waneth Therefore the wise ship-maister knowing how stormes and tempests succéede calmes and tranquillities hee fearing thereof prepareth himselfe to eschew the danger Now the king knowing all this and seeing himselfe placed in the highest grade of his honour and that the kingdome of Israel is no lesse aduanced to the highest grade of worldly felicitie therein farre preferred before all the kings and kingdomes of the earth he also knoweth that now of necessity must ensew and follow an alteration yea a declination of that resplendent glory and that the sooner by the meanes of mans inconstancy wherein he is like a bird in a Cage which will not bee quiet though by his excessiue flittering and striuing he kill himselfe Of this inconuenience feared Iob Iob. 1. in his prosperitie as hee testifieth therefore seeing his children wonderfull merry and in their mirth giuen to al kind of ryot pleasures to delight thēselues he vsed to pray for them euery day howbeit their fulnes was sodenly emptied himselfe though so good a man cast into great aduersitie Moreouer as it is the nature of worldly thinges to be subiect to alterations so man can neither conteyne himselfe in any cōdition be it neuer so excellēt without some desire of change yea in how better place and estate he is set furnished with all thinges so much the sooner will hee abuse the honour grace of the same to his own destruction verifying that saying of the kings father psal 49.12.20 Man being in honour plac'd declares his want of wit And in that honour cannot stay as one for it vnfit Wherefore vnto the beasts that in their death decay Compared he is for in this life this is his common way Therfore the king feareth greatly that these pleasāt things shal not continue and abide long in this sort and that shortly after these pleasures wil ensew paines after peace trouble after ioies sorrowes and after prosperity infelicity at the least then whē it shal please the high God to take him away from raigning over vs. In the time of prosperity thinke on the dayes of aduersitie in this life This shold teach all men liuing in this world not to trust in the great glory of this time nor in the wealth nor in the
wiues Ada and Zella And to let passe others David the kings father a man so well beloued of God had diuers wiues of whome he begate sonnes and daughters Therefore why might not the king do the like zadok answereth to the pluralitie of wiues To this answered Zadok It is true howbeit wee should not liue by examples of men but according to the Lawe of the Lorde All men be sinners and offend in many things therefore what they doe we may not respect nor presume to follow but regard what the Lorde hath instituted and commanded And surely this pluralitie of wiues hath beene a fault euen in those fathers Gen. 3.15 16.3 howsoeuer they aymed thereby to the multiplying of their séede whereof they hoped the Messiah should be borne according to the promise Neither should they haue staggered in faith touching the Messiah to imagine that Gods promise could not haue beene performed without their owne wisedome and meanes Abraham seeing his wife aged thought that the promise of God should haue holden on the venter of Hagar howbeit God being faithfull effected his promise in Sarah though beyond the course of nature and mans expectation And this to prooue we reade that at the beginning when God created man he made them Male and Female and therein not three or foure or more but only two in one flesh namely one man and one woman Gen. 2.24 And there-vpon this Law was ordained that for this cause a man should leave his father and mother and should cleave to his wife not Wiues This was the first Institution of Matrimonie and thus it was obserued by Adam by Seth by Enos by Kenan by Mehalaleel by Jared by Henoch by Methusalah by Lamech and Noah and his three sonnes who as we read brought into the Arke with them euery of them one wife for they were but eight persons in all that is to say foure men and so many women being their wiues gen 4.19 The breach of this Institution was first found in that other Lamech which descended from Cayn and afterward as it is deliuered to vs killed Cayn with a dart From whom it was drawen to others continued for a custome in the posteritie though so contrary to the Law and ordinance of the Lord. But leauing the errors of those we are to obserue that first ordinance with those holy fathers of that first Age if we will be free from blame in that respect and not presume the transgression thereof howsoeuer some others bee they kings or potentates of the earth haue followed or faulted and beene tollerated in the abuse of the same But after this there is a speciall Law prouided by the Lord and giuen by Moses Deut. 17. vnto kings and princes before all others that none of them should multiply wiues to himselfe And this the kings mother doubtlesse considered when schooling him she thus charged him saying Pro. 31.2 O my deerely beloved sonne Laemuel give not over thy strength and wayes vnto Women which are the destruction even of kings It may bee shee called to minde Homer II. Vliss A tragicall History written before this time gen 6. what is written in that Heathen Storie of the destruction that fellon so many Kings and Princes in and about Troy touching the rauishing of Helena It may be she remembred what betyded the olde world for the euill coniunction of the sonnes of God with the daughters of men And the king himselfe sometimes in the remembrance of this Lesson could aduise others from this destruction Saying Pro. 5.18.19 Let thy wel be blessed and be glad with the wife of thy youth let her be as the louing Hynde and pleasant Roe let her breasts alwayes satisfie thee and hold thee ever content with her love Hee speaketh of a wife not wiues neuertheles howsoeuer it hath beene occasioned the king hath offended yea he hath wonderfully exceeded therein for he hath not contented his lust with one wife according to the Law nor with a fewe wiues after the example of those godly Fathers Abraham and Iacob but he hath taken vnto himself 700. wiues which were Quéens 300. Concubines in the whole a 1000. as the like was neuer heard off before this time And by these women hee hath béene drawen into an inordinate lust and bin ouercome in affection to the stayning of his honor blemishing of his holy profession the which is in him an heynous fault For although the heathē which know not God and are as brute beastes without vnderstanding doe neigh as the stoned horses after euery woman that hath a faire face and séeke to satisfie their fleshly lusts in these kinds of pleasure yet should not king Solomon endowed with so excellent a spirit and wisedome haue sought to satisfie his desire therein and that the rather because as the constancie of the chaste helpeth to the prolonging of life The inconveniences of fleshly lust as appeareth in the Vultures which being chaste and sober that way liue as it is said by nature an hundred yeeres so they which delight in fleshly lust and be so ordinarily inflamed and ouercome with the same are of a very short life as wée may see in those Sparrowes which of other birdes are full of Lecherie And it is a sure axiome that they which engender much liue the lesse while The king therefore in this hath abreuiated empared wounded and endangered his life His naturall life is shortened his ciuill life is distained his spirituall life is perced and his life eternall is endangered For in the first there is an euacuation of that naturall heate and moistnesse by the which mans life is conserued and the strength of body sustained Yea Luxurie is such an immoderate wantonnesse of the flesh which as a sweete poison an importunate plague and a pernitious potion doth both weaken mans naturall body and effeminateth his minde O extréeme filthinesse of lust all other sinnes are without the body but hee that giueth himselfe ouer to this sin offendeth against his owne body Before this goeth euer heate and petulancy with it in company is stinch and vncleannesse and after it followeth sorrowe and repentance These bee the leaders the fellowes and the followers of luxurious persons Secondly this sinne taketh from a man all his credite good name and glory and bringeth to him distrust an euill fame and ignomy What vice is more dishonest what more damnable what more hurtfull to mans ciuill life and estimation for behold how vertues are decayed how victories languish how glory is swallowed vp of infamie how the vertues of minde and body are infringed Surely a man can scarcely discerne whether it be better or worse to be captiued either of this vice or of his mortall foes * Thirdly the spirituall life is in them wounded for all such as giue themselues ouer to the lust of bodie doe grieue the spirite of God in themselues and suppresse all the good motions of mind
the aduersary hath beset them and battered their faith with sinne and thereby occasioned them to be beaten with the rod of men which is yet so necessary in them that fall that therefore they should not be ashamed to repent but ashamed to sinne Neither doth the king despaire of mercie * Lorde God sayd Benaiah and could it be that so wise a person should so fall May it bee lawfull for vs to inuestigate the causes of this thing Benaiah * It hath beene already sayd answered Zadok that the king was yet but a man zadok telleth the causes of the kings fall If hee had been God as hee is not he would not haue fallen in this sort Other causes of this declination in the king are knowne onely to the Lorde who wil◠hereafter I doubt not also reueale the same in the due time And yet it may be howsoeuer wee haue cleared ourselues of all heynous crimes and offences Sometimes the sinnes of the people are the cause of the trouble and plague of their princes both against God the king in those our owne conceits that the cause of the kings fall hath risen partly from some of vs partly by some thing committed in and among the people in whom are oftentimes found that which prouoketh the Lorde in displeasure to take away those blessings which in his louing mercies he had bestowed on them and so such kings and Princes by and vnder whose gouernment they haue and might haue inioyed long peace and prosperitie But for this time let vs in all sobrietie cease to search after those hidden things too curiously remembring that the king himselfe lately aduised Search not out the things which are aboue thy reach and capacitie And let vs commit this with the successe therof vnto God wha hath appointed these and all things else to succeed and come to passe by his Providence after his owne will for his glorie and the good of his chosen howsouer it appeareth vnto vs that the King hath therein offended and in whatsoeuer sorte they appeare vnto men And let vs haue a chiefe care that our Willes bee made and conformed here in earth to his will in heauen in all things Praye for the king and speake well of him * Furthermore as we be bound both by the law of God and a good conscience let vs neither forget nor omit to pray and make intercession vnto God for the King both daily and hourely and therewith both commaund excite the Congregation people to doe the like It may be the Lorde our God will heare vs and be mercifull Let vs also speake well and the best of the King euen in our priuy chambers and with him good in our hearts and so much the sooner because hee is the Lordes annointed and at this present setteth not himselfe in wickednesse nor maketh a mocke of Religion and good admonition as did Pharaoh when hee saide Who is the Lord or as those vngodly which iest and contemne correction and haue a delight in their sinnes But rather he is contented to heare to bee ruled to be reclaymed and to be directed by the wisedome of that divine Spirite as himselfe hath sayd the wise-man is wont to doe pro. 10.23 Solomon hath declared many arguments of his repētance And therein as vnto vs it appeareth hee hath expressed many arguments of a true repentant heart both in his gesture and manner of life Neither are his Sermons words and speaches to be neglected or forgotten being right worthy the noting obseruation and memorie of all men For as they sauour of the holy spirit so are they vttered with such wisedom discretion grauitie and deepe affects of the soule vpon this occasion that they doe not onely argue and declare the Kings true repentance but shall also teach instruct admonish and mooue the heartes of all Gods people to feare God and serue him with reuerence and therfore shall be right profitable for the holy Congregation and worthy preseruation for all posterities Solomons wordes and sermons are meete to bee collected and preserued Let vs therefore call those his Wordes and sermons into remembrance let vs collect and write them in a Booke and let vs after our power conserue them or some part of them in the sacred Register among other the kings wise parables Prouerbs graue sentences Prophesies and holy songs Let vs neither defraude the King of that he hath deserued nor withhold from the holy Congregation that which to the same belongeth nor appeare negligent in our dutie to bee performed to either of them And as in this wee shall serue the Lorde honour our King and benefite the Church so by those his words and sermons being thus exemplified he shall be more commended and praysed of the Saints then by the worldly glory of his Throne no lesse wise then those wise Princes Patriarks Sages Seers which are much more esteemed for their graue sayings words writings Elioreph the Notary then exalted for their great conquests and worldly riches * Then said Elioreph the kings Notarie right worthily spoken reuerend father for indeed the words of the king are such as are in all things consonant to the veritie and shall witnesse for euer the kings cōtrition and true conuersion vnto Iehovah his God after his sinne committed Moreouer they shall be preached as fruitefull and godly sermons in the Church to teach admonish exhort reforme conforme comfort instruct them that come after vs in the feare of God and the obseruation of his Lawes Eccles. 12. the which is as the King hath often and yet dayly teacheth that which chiefly appertaineth to euery man and is required of all men that liue in this world Therefore my selfe with the conuenient help of Ahia my fellow Notary and with the aduise of my Lord the kings Recorder will gladly endeuour this thing to effect In the Name of God whom we beséech to looke vpon the King and vpon his people in the aboundance of his louing mercies CAP. XXIIII Obiections and exceptions against Solomon and his words and deedes the which the Princes endeuour to defend AFter that the whole assembly of king Solomons Lords were thus disposed and agreed in counsaile that the kings Words which hee in this time of his troubled spirits and thencefoorth did vtter and speake before them should be called into remembrance considered of and kept in the holy Register among other the diuine monuments of the Church ad it in before declared Abiather Abiather the priest which sometimes had ministred before the king in the steede of Zadok stood foorth and obiected to the decree Obiections against Solomon and his words after this manner But my Lords all said hee I am much afraid of this that many in the posteritie will the lesse esteeme or at the least doubt of some other things which are noted in the holy Register when vnto the same wee shall adde and combine as of
the princes with one accord expressed by signes both their gratefull minde and ready will to yeeld to the performance of this dutie knowing so well not only that the reasons alleaged were of sufficient probabilitie merited allowances but also that those the Kings Wordes were perfite veritie profitable for the Church in posteritie and therefore would that they should bee committed to writing and preserued accordingly CAP. XXXII Zadok answereth to certaine Obiections and expoundeth those wordes Vanitie of Vanities Abiather THen Abiather the Priest who had before obiected against the king and his wordes rose vp againe and saide But yet my Lords before we collect and record those the kings words that our labour therein may not be in vaine beseech you let vs further heare what my Lorde Zadok will answere to those particular Exceptions which are taken and may be vrged hereafter for some presumption against the Kings Words especially against this his ordinary talke towards the ratification of diuers erronious opinions that so all things being made plaine by vs by whom those the Kings Words must be gathered recorded commended to the church there may hereafter no iust aduantages bee taken nor any exceptions be admitted against any thing in the same The princes And we are well pleased said the Princes if it shall please my Lorde Zadok to vouchsafe vs his learned iudgement patience therein zadok And I also said Zadok shall not be vnwilling to answere Abiather in these things as the Lord shall enable me for the better setting foorth of his glorie and the truth of the Kings wisedome vttered in those his words What is the first Exception The first exception Eccles. 1.2 tell me Abiather The first Exception said Abiather is taken against those words of the king where hee saide and yet dayly saith Vanitie of vanities and all is most plaine vanitie There is not any of you all but haue heard him vtter these words aswell as myselfe wherein howsoeuer the king entendeth it there be which thinke that the king therein condemneth all the Creatures of God in the worlde with all those functions which in the law of God we are commanded to vse and to exercise our selues in to his high glorie the good of his Church and the benefite of the common-wealth And this he would prooue by many Arguments and in the ende so concludeth againe Vanitie of vanities Ye haue said quod zadok Eccles. 12.9 The answere but by your leaue Abiather and by your patience my Lordes all Séeing it is your good pleasure I shall answere I am the more willing as I said and ready to speake for my Lord the Kings Wordes It is true that the King hath saide and dayly ruminateth this proposition Vanitie of vanities Vanitie of vanities and all is but vanitie as the ground or conclusion of those his Words But doth that conclude a contempt of the Creatures and of the holy functions and gifts of God which in their natures are good Nothing lesse Nor indéed hath the king spoken therein of those Creatures or of the true vse of them in their kinde nor of those lawfull functions either in the Church or in the Common wealth But the wordes hauing a large scope doe neuerthelesse include in them all those things which are placed vnder the Sunne onely that is to say within the kingdome of vanitie Vanities kingdome Wherein is found to reigne much malice and little wisedome wherin all things be vicious all things be loathsome al things are full of obscuritie and snares wherein soules bee endangered bodyes be afflicted wherein all things be vanitie and affliction of the spirite and within the which are not comprehended any of those workes or wayes of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The labour of man vnder the sunne And this the king hath sometime noted by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or labour of man vnder the Sun which word as ye well know noteth rather the affliction of the minde then a worke of the body or any other labor But to make this yet more plaine let vs consider first what the King meaneth by this word Vanitie and then what the things are which he comprehendeth vnder the same For why should men contende about that whereof they knowe neither the meaning nor the reason Therefore yee shall vnderstand that this worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vanitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vanitie which the king vseth singularly and absolutely signifieth a very light thing that which soone vanisheth away as the smoke or as a bubble of the water and as touching any profite is worth nothing psal 144 The vanitie of Adams sonnes as saide the Psalmist Thus Adam and Hevah reposing all their hope of the promised seede in Cain their first borne whom they called a man of the Lord they thought of the next Sonne but as of a meere trifle or transitorie thing in respect of him and therefore they named him Habel Gen. 4.1.2 vanitie But the King here speaketh of an exceeding great vanitie the which to declare hee duplicateth the worde and saith Vanitie of vanities that is beholde a notable and wonderfull great vanitie what things he comprehendeth vnder vanitie Secondly What things are comprehended by him within this vanitie the next worde plainely sheweth vs for in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haccol where it is to bee noted I will speake it rather to teach others then any of you to whom the Phrases of our tongue are so well knowne that this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col put absolutely without He 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a signe vniuersall whereby the totall summe of things is signified and is so much to say as All or Altogether Haccol but hauing He prefixed as Haccol the same is abridged and restrained to some speciall or particular summe of things as not All generally or vniuersally but All that that whole that all which is either spoken of before or comprehended within such a predicament place or time Neither may any man thinke but that the particle in this place is referred to some particular or speciall summe of things or to some notable person as when pointing to such persons or such matters wee vse to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That singuler or speciciall Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That worde or that singuler or notable worde Ille sermo That word or matter So saide the Gréekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So by this wee may not say that the King hath included all things vnder vanitie but onely a particular summe of things Séeing therfore that all things are not drawne vnder this vanity but some things what things are excluded from vanitie and what not we may consider first what the things are which are excluded and stand without the compasse of this All then what those things are which are comprehended within the same both the which are to be gathered and
Obiection 7 of women Ca. 7.29 that the King was thought to condemne womens Sexe May I also heare from whence this surmise is taken from that said Abiather where he said This have I found seeking one by one to finde the count and yet my soule seeketh but I finde it not I haue found one man of a thousand but a woman among them all have I not found Answere And will they heereof conclude said Zadok that a woman therefore is not found among the Saintes He condemneth not womans sexe or that womans Sexe is prophane an euill thing I deny the consequence for yee wander farre from the kings meaning therin It is very plaine that howsoeuer the K. knoweth that he hath bin deceiued and polluted with wicked women and himselfe hath spoken against the vngodly and strange women and their vices yet did he neuer condemne the sexe or kinde of women He speaketh by comparison nor the godly woman and her vertues But he hath spoken by way of comparison as thus If of men there be found as fewe as one man of a thousand which vnderstandeth and considereth of the course of mans affayres and of his vanities vnder the Sunne and of the cariage of things in this world according to the will and prouidence of God surely of women there is not found one within that number for if men haue not that wisedō how should those weaker vessels I mean womē Howbeit we may not for all that think that by this number certain which he taketh for a number vncertaine by this hyperbolicall speach hee vtterly excludeth all women from the life of the saints number of the wise Thē might he bee found indeed to condemne Sarah the wife of Abraham and Rebecca the wife of Isaack and Hanna the mother of Samuel and the wife of Manoah the mother of Sāpson Ruth the Moabitesse and Rahab of Ierico and Abigael and Bethsabee the kings mother others of the generation of the iust which are so much commended in the holy write But the King in his wisedome knowing the excellencie of such women hath worthily praysed them and their vertues saying Pro. 31. The woman that feareth the Lord shal be cōmended give her of the fruit of her hands and let her owne works praise her openly And he said againe that such a woman shall be given by the Lord for a good portion to such a man as feareth him * 8. Obiection 8 of the doubtfulnes of Gods loue mercie Chap. 9.1 Answere Ye haue said said that the King hath taught a doubtfulnes of the Love mercy of God But let me heare of what words ye haue taken that The king hath oftē said quod Abiather that No man knoweth either love or hatred of all that is before them And both this sayde zadoke teach vs a doubtfulnes of the loue and mercy of God towardes his children in this life No truely for by this he speaketh of an other thing as first that considering the manifold confusions of mans affayres in this world no man in the view thereof or of any other external thing can take censure of matters diuine nor truely discerne No man can iudge of divine things by these externall things what things he ought either to choose or refuse in this world For the Lord sendeth both prosperitie and aduersitie aswell to the wicked as to the godly Next the King knoweth that albeit the soules of the righteous bee in the hand of GOD so that none euill may touch them yet such is the corrupt iudgement of flesh and blood ignorant of GOD and of his wayes Men consider not whō God either loueth or hateth that he neuer somuch as considereth what kinde of men the yare which God loueth and what kinde of men they are which God hateth and therefore are they no more louing nor thankfull vnto the godly whom the Lorde loueth howsoeuer they haue well deserued then they are vnto the vngodly 9. Oiection of the soule Cha. 3.21 which neither feare God nor endeuor to benefite his Church * Yee further obiected that the King hath cast into doubt the being of the Soule I pray what hath he sayde to occasion this conceite of him he hath sayd quod Abiather Who knoweth whether the soule of man ascendeth vpward and the spirite of the beast descendeth downward to the earth As who should vehemētly affirme that no man knoweth the life or being of the soule Ergo he doubteth thereof Mans iudgement of the soule of a man I deny that said Zadoke for albeit the naturall man neither knoweth nor vnderstandeth this by his reason yet the godly man by his faith beleeueth and comprehendeth it The purpose of the King therefore in these words is to set foorth the imagination of the children of men which cannot conceiue by any wisedome or reason of man that the soule of man is immortall and ascendeth vp into heauen after his dissolution no more then doth the breath of a beast Ye haue said also that the K. doubteth of the life sense of the humane soule 10. Obeiction of the sense of the soule Chap. 9 5.9.10 Yea said Abiather for he saith Whosoever is ioyned to the living there is hope for it is better to a living dog thē to a dead Lyon for the living know that they shal die but the dead know nothing at all Neither have they any more a reward for their remēbrance is forgottē Also their love their hatred and their envy is now perished they have no more portiō for ever in al that is done vnder the sun Answere To this answered Zadok I meruaile what should moue any man to think by these words that the king doubteth of the life and sense of the soule after his departure as therein to giue aime to the opinion of them that thinke the soules doe either die or sléepe vntill the iudgement which is to come so contrary to the holy Scriptures and beliefe of our Fathers for Solomon hath no such aime nor meaning All men are admonished to vse the time of their life in the works of their vocation But hee speaketh of the dead and not of the soules which liue for euer and wisheth all men to vse the time of their life and present opportunitie for the exercising and performing of the woorkes of their vocation for the benefite of the Church the good of the Common-wealth the discharge of duties and the glorie of GOD. For that by death which dayly draweth on them all men are depriued of all sense worke and labour of this life to doe thencefoorth therein either good or euill For they haue finished their course played their partes and cannot returne either to perfect their defectes or to supply their wants in the performāce of that dutie wherunto they were both created and called but must from hence-foorth let all alone for euer that so the tree might lie wheras
soule and never eateth with pleasure Neverthelesse they sleepe both a like in the earth and the wormes cover them Thus are they both confounded and worthily combined together Yea here Thersites the deformed Nircus the most beautifull as the very Gréeke Poets say are worthily compared as touching their bodies Next to this such are also the confusions and euents of this life and humaine affairs in this words that in the iudgement of the carnall man there is not discerned any difference at all between the good the euil the iust man and the sinner to either of the which the temporall good thinges of nature fortune and life are often alike Abraham our Father was rich so was Pharao Abimelech and the king of Sodom Againe Cain was an exile from his Fathers house so was Abraham and Iacob and Ioseph Moreouer Sarah was faire and beautifull so were the daughters of Cain Shem was preserued in the Arke with his Father Noah so was Cham also within the same But it may be so that the Lord would therin teach that his children should serue him not inregard of those temporall and worldly things and again that the vngodly which also haue and do abuse the same might be left without all excuse of their vnthankefulnes that the iustice of God might bee acknowledged and his word beleeued which commendeth and promiseth the future iudgement and full retribution of all mens wordes and workes and that the worthines of faith might bee encreased Moreouer it is so that the true vertues of the spirit diuine which are so well knowne of the king do not externally appeare to the carnall minded man Therefore the men of this world esteeme no more of the iust and godly then of the wicked and impious yea they persecute the godly and most vertuous and constraine them by their cruel tyrannies and oppressions to suffer and endure those bitter tormentes and paines which are only one as well deserued to malefactor and transgressours of the law This thing was noted in the death of Habel whom Cain slew in the persecution of our father Iacob by Esau by Laban others wherof he could say to Pharao that his dayes had beene few and euill in the accusation the selling away the imprisonment and afflictiōs of Ioseph in the afflictions of our fathers in Egypt in the contempt of Lot in Sodom in th'xtremity of poore Naomi and Ruth and in the sorrow of Hanna with others Such is the entertainement of the godly and their common estimation in the world and this is the nature of vanities kingdome Now what is that which ye disliked in these the kings words No man hath power over the spirit to keepe still the spirite nor hath any power in the time of death Is it not a true saying Obiection 16 mans power of life Cap. 8.8 For hath any man power either to liue as long as he listeth or to put away his soule from his body at his pleasure Surely it is true as Iob said to this purpose The dayes of man are determined and as the King said The dayes of a man are numbred that is sby the Lord who onely hath power either to giue or to take away mans life at his will and pleasure at all times and that neither this nor that lieth in the will or power of man therefore as he may not cast himselfe rashly into danger so neither should he promise himself long life Though Saul slew himselfe he had not therein power of his life for his dayes were determined and now expired he was shewed the day before 1. Sam. 28.19 that hee should die and in the manner of his death he was by the iustice of God made his owne executioner As he could retaine his life no longer so neither could he forbeare to performe that on himselfe which he was in this iudgement constrayned to performe If worldly men had this power either to retaine life or to put it off when they lifted they would then often renew themselues and old age would not be much dislike yea death which is so bitter to the wealthy men of this life would not be so much feared as it is But now it falleth out otherwise for why neither can the courage and strength of body preserue the strong warrier nor the industry of arte nor the deuises and counsailer of man withstand death when the Lord taketh away life nor can force death on them whom the Lord is willing so preserue in life Thus when Saul in his trouble was slaine of his owne handes for want of another executioner David on the other part was preserued Obiection 17 the yong mans lesson nor could he be slaine by them which were his mortall enemies because the Lord did keepe his life * Finally ye haue said that it is obiected against the King that hee shoulde in his wordes counsaile young men to take their delights of youth and to swmime in their lustes Let mee heare the Kings owne wordes as he spake them and vpon what occasion Hee said quod Abiather Though a man live many yeeres in them all reioice Cap. 11.8.9 yet he should remember the dayes of darkenes because they are many all that commeth is vanitie Then thereupon he said againe Reioyce O yong man in thy youth walke in the waies of thine heart in the sight of thine eyes Then he added indéed But know that for all these thinges God will bring thee to iudgement therefore take away griefe out of thine heart cause evill to depart from thy flesh for childhood youth are vanitie Then answered Zadok how haue they here considered one word with another Answere the beginning with the end the exordium with the conclusion Yong-men are counsailed to beware For they also haue their Iudgment appointed and how is the māner of the kings speech marked When the king had aduised men in the highest grade of their proserity to thinke vpon affliction trouble and aduersitie and to endeuor to eschew it he commeth to behold the guise and condition of yong men yea of such as did sway in wordly and fleshly lustes and wantonnes without regarde of the iudgementes of God which is wont to ouertake such persons in the time appointed and he derideth their folly speaking by the figure Ironia in the which the contrary is euer intended as who should say Go too go too thou yong man if thou wilt not bee aduised nor restrained nor reclaimed by these instructions and lessons take thine own mind follow thine own will walk in thine own waies if thou thinke it good But he leaueth him not without a commination or threatning And thinkest thou that there is none account to be made for these thinges and will not God bring thee into iudgement thou art deceiued thou foolish yong man for there is a iudgement which a waiteth but the time appointed wherein thou must enter not onely at the last when al men shal
whereby being like to the beasts they runne into many mischiefes and sinne more and more against God and their owne soules Gen. 6.5 Thus those olde sinners were alienated from the Lord for as their thoughts were by nature euill they were the sooner by this furthered and blinded in their malice for why the spirit of God which sanctifieth and garnisheth men with graces did not onely depart from them but also repented that euer they were in respect of their filthy abhominations Neither is it possible that hee can liue spiritually to God which is dedicated to the flesh for between the spirit and the flesh there is euer contrarietie Lastly as this withstandeth the graces of the diuine spirit heere by the which men should passe to the life of glory as by vertues men attaine to honor so indeede it shutteth vp vnto them the gate of the kingdom of God into the which neither fornicators Gen. 3.24 nor leachers nor vncleane persons shalenter no more then Adam could enter Paradize after that he had polluted himself with sin Lo what an enemy is the luxurious man to his owne life whether natural political spirituall or eternall And by this we see the dangerous condition of our L.K. Solomon yea by this we may behold consider what is the fraile nature of mā in this life A man being in honor and puffed vp in prosperitie hath none vnderstanding as king David sayde and therefore may bee compared to the beasts which perish for he forgetteth himself he remembreth not the Lord hee waxeth proude insolent hautie high minded prone to pleasures and ingratefull to God In this hee well resembleth the Siphny stone which though of it owne nature soft yet boyled in oyle waxeth wonderfull hard But after this their follow on him an hell of mischiefes huge torments for who can prosper in his deuises or endeuors which forgetting God walketh his owne wayes in the lewdnes of carnall lust Gen. 19. Exod. 32. Numb 25. Iudg. 19. Homer To passe ouer these examples of the Sodomites of the Israelites offending with the women of the Moabites Madianites of those men of Beliall that rauished the poore Levites wife in the time of our Iudges of Paris the Troiane of whō we haue heared let vs not forget the example of David the kings father 2. Sam. 11. After that God had both aduanced him and giuen him rest and prosperitie in his honor hee too soone forgate himselfe and burned in lust in whome the loue of the flesh was so naturall to the flesh that albeit reason as reason would put the desire to flight in him yet the flesh yéelded herselfe a captiue thrall to those desires by the which he was more fiercely assaulted then with the greatest enemies that euer he had For there be no foes so deadly and importunate as those which a man findeth and fostereth against himselfe within himselfe 2. Sam. 12.14 David had fought with the huge Goliah and cast him to the ground hee had killed a Lyon and a Beare which came to deuour his shéepe he vexed and spoyled the Philistines and other the enemies of Israel and euer returned home a victor and triumpher in the name of his God whereof they could sing to his praise David hath slayne his tenne thousand Howbeit this noble Prince in his rest and prosperitie as I said suffered lust in him to subdue reason gaue the raynes at large to carnall appetite and therein inflamed and agonized he vnlawfully desired abused Vriahs wife and yet not so contented he caused Vriah to bee vniustly murthered whereby he distained his honor he quenched out the spirituall graces and endangered his soule to the high displeasure of God who doth neither loue nor permit such delights in the children of men much lesse in his owne the seruants of grace And thus be it here spoken in counsayle hath our Lorde the king forgotten himselfe and both abused and dishonoured his honor Thus men set in honour are soone ouertaken therein for temporall felicitie is a most vnquiet thing neither can mans nature bee contained whithin his bounds and dutie of life in worldly prosperitie Worthily therefore David thanked the Lord for that he had beaten him with aduersitie which as he confessed hee found to be best for him It is good for mee sayd he that I have beene troubled But if wise men and godly men can scarcely and very seldome measure themselues in the vse of this flattring enemie how then should the ignorant and sinners doe when the Lorde sulleth them in this easie cradle Besides this here wee see What man is when he is given ouer to his owne will how foolishly the wisest of all men behaueth and demeaneth himselfe and into what inconveniences he runneth when it pleaseth God for his tryall to loose vnto him the raines of youthfull libertie and to commit him to the guide of his owne counsailes Surely hee may well be compared to the pondrous yron that of it owne nature sinketh to the bottome of the streame except it bee sustained or holden vp by some other thing This should mooue vs to pray vnto God that as hee would vouchsafe to succour and defend vs so he would not giue vs to our owne willes but that his will might be fulfilled in vs. For if we should but haue the guide of our selues and not be susteined and defended by the power and will of God it cannot bee otherwise but that we shall not only fall but fall away and perish from him and from our owne saluation euery houre in euery day of this our life Therefore that I may be briefe howsoeuer this euill custome of the pluralitie of Wiues came in or howseuer this kinde of pleasure hath beene vsed and delighted in among worldly men yea howsoeuer many wise men haue beene séene to solace themselues therein it is doubtlesse in the king a great fault and the more because hee is the king and should be a guide of holinesse and good example of life vnto others especially because the Lorde hath so blessed him with wisedome and diuine graces before all the kings of the earth Thus haue I explained the first of those thrée faultes which prouoked the Lord to displeasure the consideration whereof now moueth the king to this heauines of minde But yet the second fault excéedeth this in degree to aggrauate the sorrow and paine him to the heart These words being spoken and in such sort as Zadok could deliuer them prouoked the Princes to wéep with him wéeping to condole together the kings hard lot Howbeit they requested him to say somewhat more of that second sin which was as he said more heynouse and dangerous and so pauzed and expected what Zadok would say CHAP. XXI Of Solomons second sinne and third sinne viz. of his strange wiues and his turning away with the diuine Commination for the same THe second sinne of Solomon as I before sayd quod Zadok is