God discharged him saying How long wilt thou mourn for Saul So that notwithstanding God did afterwards prohibit Samuel to mourn for Saul yet wee may safely conclude that till then hee did well to mourn for him Therefore in my discourse I shall look upon Samuel as performing a duty in so doing and shall propound him as a pattern for us that wee may go and do likewise Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul 1 Let us consider the Agent Samuel And wee may consider him under these notions 1 Samuel an holy gracious man a man full of the Spirit of God mourned Some new lights men pretending to a great Gospel-Spirit preach nothing but priviledges practise nothing but joy and spiritual rejoycing saying It is for low spirits weak puny Christians to lye mourning and weeping and filling their souls with heaviness But holy Samuel here was either yet below their spirits which I cannot think he was or beside their mind And so indeed hee was for hee mourned for Saul Hee was beside their mind and I doubt they besides themselves For I am sure our Saviour pronounces a blessing upon Gospel-mourners Mat. 5. 4. And I also know that the most gracious spirits have been ever the most tender and sympathizing and most mournful over the sins and sufferings of others Moses the familiar friend of God who was faithful in all his house though of a great and gracious spirit mourned over the stiff-necked hard-hearted and rebellious Israelites Josiah was a man of singular piety and yet of singular tenderness Elijah was a man full of the Spirit of the Lord and yet full of complaints for the Idolatry and backslidings of the people 1 King 19. 10. David was a man after Gods own heart and yet much in tears Psal 119. 28. 136 c. Jeremiah was a man that found grace in the eyes of God a man much of Gods mind and hee was one of a mournful spirit Hee wrings his hands and fqueezes his eyes nay and drains his very soul too for tears all up and down his Prophecie especially chap. 4. 19. 9. 1 2. 13. 17. Nay hee mourns bitterly for the desolation of Moab a rebellious uncircumcised people Jer. 48. 31 32. Paul a man of a Gospel-spirit and otherwise of a great and undaunted spirit thinks that mourning for the sinful and impenitent was a duty suitable enough to his spirit 2 Cor. 12. ult Wee may learn from the example of holy Samuel mourning for Saul that mourning is not an exercise unbecoming the most gracious spirits 2 Samuel a man mighty in prayer mourned for Saul Hee was so mighty in prayer with God that when God would express a man prevalent in prayer hee uses Samuels name to signifie him by Jer. 15. 1. Though Moses and Samuel stood before mee yet could not my mind bee towards this people Yet Samuel did not improve his interest at the Throne of grace against Saul did not implore God for his ruine but betook himself to his tears Samuel mourned for Saul Note It is observable That the servants of God who have been most strong in prayer have rarely improv'd their interest at the Throne of grace against any no not their enemies Moses when hee was sleighted and set at nought by the people and threatned also yet did not pray for their ruine but for their relief rather Exod. 17. 4. Such a spirit was holy David of as you may see in his behaviour upon occasion of Shimei's cursing 2 Sam. 16. 10. This was the spirit of holy Stephen who was so full of the Holy Ghost Act. 7. 60. Instead of putting up imprecations of wrath against them hee deprecates the wrath that might justly have fallen upon them saying Lord lay not this sin to their charge This spirit was in our blessed Saviour Mat. 26. 53 54. Luk. 23. 34. and 9. 54 55. And this spirit hee commends to all his Mat. 5. 44. True indeed sometimes wee finde the servants of God ready to pray against their enemies in Scripture But then it was either out of weakness as the two Disciples Luk. 9. 54. or being acted by an extraordinary prophetical spirit as Elijah 2 King 1. and David oft-times in the Psalms or in passion as Jer. 20. 15 16. But you shall never hear any such thing from them unless they were besides themselves in passion and so they must not bee imitated or above themselves extraordinarily acted and so wee cannot imitate them But alas how few such spirits how little such moderation is to be found amongst us If many hot spirits had as much strength with God and interest in the Throne of grace as Samuel had wee should quickly have fire upon our heads whereas Samuel who was greater in power and might improved not his might against Saul but mourned for him Nay it is most sad of all to hear Gods people groaning in prayer one against another Insomuch that if the wise God were not merciful to them in denying their prayers sometimes they would set the world on fire whereas they ought rather to mourn for one another as Samuel here who was otherwise strong in prayer even to a Proverb 3 Samuel a man as much hating Saul's manners as any man yet mourned for his condition It is a hard thing to bee displeased at a mans manners and yet nor to hate his person nor to rejoyce in the evil that befalls him Commonly when wee are displeased with a mans actings wee are proportionably pleased with his sufferings To distinguish between a mans conditions and his condition so as to abbor the one and yet to commiserate the other is a great art and such a one as David may seem sometimes not to have very well learnt when hee rejoyced in the death of churlish Nabal 1 Sam. 25. 39. Unless wee chuse rather to say that David rejoyced not that Nabal was dead but that hee did not kill him which yet doth not seem to bee all However at any other time hee shews himself an artist in this art to the life as may appear to him that reads Psal 35. 11 12 13 14. Oh admirable soul oh wonderful self-denying frame of spirit ready to dye for thine enemy that is sick go in sack-cloth for the affliction of an unkinde adversary Oh blessed soul every one will admire thee but who can imitate thee oh labour wee all to bee ashamed of our selves that one and the same hatred is so apt to comprehend the man with the manners and for the future to imitate holy David who although hee was offended at a persecuting Saul yet lamented a dying Saul and good Samuel who although hee rejected 2 Sam. 1. 17. a sinning Saul vers 26. yet mourned for a rejected Saul vers 35. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul So much for the Agent Samuel and what may be gathered from him 2 The Action Mourned Samuel mourned for Saul 1 Wee may observe that hee did not rejoyce in Sauls rejection much less in his sin
Samuel in Sackcloth OR A SERMON Assaying to restrain Our Bitter Animosities And commending a Spirit of MODERATION and a Right Constitution of SOVL and Behaviour towards Our BRETHREN Upon 1 SAMUEL 15. 35. By S. S. If yee will not hear my soul shall weep in secret places for your Pride Jeremiah 13. 17. Hearken unto mee you men of England that God may hearken unto you Judges 9. 7. LONDON Printed by R. I. for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Pauls Church-yard near the Little North-door 1660. HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE TO THE WORSHIPFULL AND HIS Honoured Friend John Swynfen of Swynfen in the COUNTY of STAFFORD Esq The Author wisheth all Grace and Peace SIR WHen I had long seen and sighed for that bitter and violent spirit which hath acted the body of our Nation and the several Members thereof according as their interest was advanced it pleased God to direct mee to the sight of gracious Samuel whose holy and sober spirit acting upon the greatest disadvantages did much affect mee And I could not but expresse to my Congregation how much And when I saw the whole Nation as much need healing as my own poor flock I did command my more timorous disposition to adventure my conceptions to the view of all that shall have leisure to peruse them knowing that the healing of one Ulcer in the heart of any man would abundantly recompence the wounds that I may probably have procured to my own Name not caring my self to undergo any censure if I might possibly cure the distemper of censoriousnesse in any Standing upon this bold resolution to offer this unworthy mite to the world your undeserved love to and care of mee your known worth shining out to all in the rayes of piety prudence and learning and above all that singular sobriety moderation and good composednesse of soul which I have alwaies admired in you challenged the Patronage of it I professe without the least mixture of flattery or falshood that I know not any man whose name might more justly bee prefixed to a Sermon of this nature And as I pray you to accept of this poor oblation so I heartily pray God to give us more such spirits as yours who may bee able not to comprize men and manners persons and opinions in one and the same detestation Sir I humbly beg your pardon not daring further save to professe my self Your most affectionate and obliged Servant S. S. Jan. 9. 1659. TO THE Christian Reader Reader I Have oft and sadly observed the strange fires and extravagant heats which have raged in this our Nation to the mutual incensing I had almost said consuming of one another Men are become Men-eaters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 5. 15. if I may bee allowed to speak after the Apostles rate Is there any man of so few eyes any eyes of so little sight that have not observed that our many strange changes have been attended with as strange behaviours Hee that is above thinking it the just prerogative of his place to trample upon him that is under and the other when hee gets up thinking it but a peece of justice to do the like by him For my own part I do not wonder that God keeps our affairs from settling long to the contentment of any one interest when a man nay any man much more then hee that sees much more than all men sees the barbarous insultings unbounded animosities and unchristian behaviours which those that lay as great claim to civility manners moderation sobriety as any have been found guilty of Even those that pretend highly to an healing spirit themselves appear to have much of distempered affections in them and instead of mollifying have inflamed the wounds of their brethren Those that preach and pray for moderation when their interest begins to smart will not stick to revile them that have lanc'd it and when it begins to bee their turn will not boggle to magnifie their mouths as wide as Edom Obad. v. 12. Now if the most upright be thus sharp thus censorious supercilious bitter immoderate insolent actum est de spiritu verè Evangelico where shall wee hope to finde Christian Moderation If these heats proceed from the green Trees what fires may wee expect from the dry Can God no sooner have set us on horse back but wee must ride over all that is in our way no sooner have raised us out of the dirt but wee must throw our brethren into it and make stepping-stones of our fellow-creatures O Barbarism which there is not in the nature of a Lion to parallel Is it enough to make a man Corpora magnanimo satis est prostrasse leoni guilty that nature hath stopt his mouth so that hee cannot prove the contrary Enough to prove a tenent erronious because hee that holds it hath lost his best Argument Is that come to pass which Bathsheba feared that not to bee great must bee interpreted to bee an Offender 1 King 1. 21. I know wee have almost undone our selves by mutual wars and that those wars have been fomented if not created by mutual heats and burnings And I fear wee shall never soder together kindly unless the conqueror and the conquered agree mutually the one to lay aside his pride and petulancy and the other his malice and malignity which I wish they may do before fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and from the men of Shechem and devour Abimelech Whilst I meditated to my great grief of these extravagancies providence put into my hands the Chronicle I might say the Miracle of Samuels Moderation which finding it to contain an excellent president I preached to them amongst whom I earnestly desire to propagate such a spirit And being prest with the sense of the great want of it elsewhere every where I have emboldened my self to adventure what I preach'd to publick view assuring my self to meet with that censoriousness about it which in it I have laboured to meet with Whether it may please any that read it or bee put in practice by any that are pleased with it I know not The former I am not solicitous about not much caring though that do displease some which was not studied to please any and wherein I have not alluded to any one interest which I sought to humour above other The latter I humbly commit to God whose honour I humbly desire mainly to design praying him to work a spirit like unto that which was in Christ Jesus in thee and mee and to give us fewer Sauls that shall need to bee mourned for and more Samuels to mourn for those that wee have in this our Israel Jan. 9. 1659. Samuel in Sackcloth OR A Sermon assaying to restrain our bitter Animosities and commending a spirit of Moderation and a right constitution of soul and behaviour towards our Brethren 1 SAMUEL 15. 35. And Samuel came no more to see Saul till the day
of his death nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul and the Lord repented that he had made Saul King over Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul THis Chapter presents us with the lively draught of a good Subject and a faithful Minister appearing both with an excellent lustre in one Samuel concerning whom I cannot but note and commend one thing by the way And that is his remarkable and indeed admirable humility in letting go the Scepter out of his hands and standing still whilst God stript him of the Political Government and afterwards hee behaved himself with as much quietness and faithfulness as though hee had lost nothing or did not at all resent his loss It appears that hee sate not in the Throne of Israel to keep himself warm to please his own ambitious spirit but to do the work of God and serve the necessities of the people for when God had provided himself otherwaies he willingly resigned and became as though hee had never sitten there In the Chapter wee have this Samuel the Prophet and Servant of the Lord sending Saul his anointed King of an Errand 2 Saul going upon this Errand but failing in the execution of it in sparing what God had determined to the sword 3 Samuel reproving and threatning Saul for his disobedience 4 Saul repenting and worshipping God 5 Samuel executing what Saul had left undone 6 Samuel and Saul parting in the two last verses Then Samuel went to Ramah and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul And the Lord repented that hee had made Saul King over Israel Samuel went no more to visit Saul until the day of his death i. e. hee went no more on purpose to instruct him counsel him or advise him for hee afterwards saw him accidentally at Naioth in Ramah chap. 19. 24. whilst hee lived Until the day of his death i e. never the day of his death being reckoned into the number of his daies Note I might here observe by the way That Gods Ministers may prudentially absent themselves from the houses of wicked and disobedient persons discountenance them and shew strangeness towards them that they may bee ashamed of their evil waies and repent and return to God Thus the Apostle exhorts the godly Thessalenians to estrange themselves from the disobedient that they might bee ashamed 2 Thes 3. 14. And Samuel here would not be familiar with him from whom God had estranged himself hee refused to turn again with him to worship vers 26. he visited him no more vers ult Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul In which words observe 1 An Action Mourned 2 The Agent Samuel 3 The Object Saul 4 The Modification of the Action exprest in the word Nevertheless Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul Before I discourse particularly of the parts of the Text I must necessarily answer a Question upon the Answer to which the whole following discourse must depend viz. Quest Whether Samuel did well or ill in mourning for Saul Answ To which I answer Hee did well in it Argum. But then will some say Why did God forbid him to do it as wee finde hee did chap. 16. 1. And the Lord said to Samuel how long wilt thou mourn for Saul Will God forbid the doing of that which is well done Answ 1 It is unquestionably lawful to mourn for others Nay it is a duty so to do Rom. 12. 15. Weep with them that weep God would not have his people walk by the Rule of the Stoicks who condemned all kind of affection and sympathy Hee who is a God of bowels would not have his people to bee without all bowels of compassion Nay it is lawful to mourn over the wicked the enemies of God as appears in the example of holy David Psal 35. 13 14. As for mee when they were sick meaning the wicked as appears by the 11 and 12 verses My cloathing was sack-cloth I humbled my soul with fasting I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his Mother And the Learned Ravanellus in voce Luctus saying that wee ought to mourn for the miseries of others commends this of Samuel for an example who mourned for Saul as it is in my Text Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul Answ 2 God doth not absolutely forbid Samuel's mourning for Saul but his immoderation his excess Hee doth not say why dost thou mourn for Saul but how long wilt thou mourn for him It appears by this that God had long suffered Samuel to mourn but now hee thought hee had mourned enough therefore hee takes him off How long wilt thou mourn for Saul God would not indeed have us exceed in our mourning so as thereby to make our spirits unfit for the duties of our callings Especially Samuel must take heed of this excess who was the Priest and Prophet of the Lord and a publick person upon the right frame of whose spirit much did depend And therefore if wee observe it God seems to take him off from mourning that hee might be fit to go about his work chap. 16. 1. Fill thine horn with Oyl go I will send thee c. And happily this might be one reason why God forbade the Priests especially the High Priests to make any mourning for the dead as some Annotators do hint upon Levit. 21. 1 2 3. Samuel is not forbidden here to mourn but to mourn long Hee went to his house and mourned But hee must not make his house an house of mourning hee must not dwell in sorrow How long wilt thou mourn for Saul Answ 3 God doth in some particular cases forbid the doing of things that are otherwise lawful the performance of things that are in themselves duties Hee doth not only forbid many things which are in themselves indifferent as 1 King 13. 17. Act. 15. 29. But it is also his prerogative to dispence with his own commands and to forbid upon occasion the performance of Moral duties As for example prayer is a duty nay the Apostle exhorts that prayer and intercession bee made for all men 1 Tim. 2. 1. And yet in a particular case God forbids the Prophet to pray for the people Jer. 7. 16. 11. 14. 14. 11. The like prohibition hee gives Moses Exod. 32. 10. To repay what is borrowed is a moral duty Rom. 13. 8. Owe no man any thing c. And yet upon occasion God dispenses with this duty and commands the Israelites to borrow Jewels of the Egyptians and not to restore them Exod. 3. 22. Not that wee may dispense with our duties at our own pleasure but God hath the prerogative to give dispensations And therefore Jeremiah did pray for the people till God forbade him The Israelites durst not to have spoiled the Egyptians but that God bade them And Samuel here mourned for Saul till
men are the best for any purpose the best in every relation the best Kings the best subjects the best Masters the best servants the best every thing Note It is worth observing that as God hath been ever careful to give commands concerning his Magistrates and Vicegerents so the best men have been alwaies most careful to observe those commands have carried it most tenderly reverently and obsequiously towards them Samuel here had still a secret respect for Gods annointed Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul Consider what was said under the last particular 2 Saul an enemy In probability Saul was by this time become Samuels enemy There is a passage in the fourth verse of the 26th chapter that may seem to strengthen this conjecture When Samuel came to Bethlehem it is said that the Elders of the Town trembled at his coming and said comest thou peaceably whereupon the Dutch Annotations suppose that the Bethlehemites heard that Saul was provoked against Samuel because hee had pronounced him a man rejected of God and therefore thought that Samuel had fled from Saul It seems to appear also that Samuel suspected him that hee had no great confidence in his friendship by the second verse of the same chapter And indeed if wee consider the carnal ambitious revengeful frame of Saul's spirit wee may justly conclude that it was almost impossible that he should bee any other than an enemy to Samuel Yet Samuel mourned for this Saul this enemy And so did David for them that persecuted and spoiled him Psa 35. Our blessed Saviour who wept over persecuting Jerusalem and bewailed it with ingeminations doth set us a copy to write after that wee also should pray for them that persecute us bewail the sins and sufferings of them that hate us Their sins wee must bewail because they intrench upon the honour of God and endanger their own souls which ought to bee dear unto us Their sufferings wee must bewail out of Christian and brotherly compassion as Samuel did here Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul 3 Saul a wicked man a disobedient man Samuel mourned for this Saul nay because Saul was this therefore hee mourned for him Do yee see a wicked prophane and sinful wretch some will be ready to laugh at him others to neglect him some perhaps in an over-hot zeal to curse him Oh but do you admonish him labour to reform him pray for him If all this prove ineffectual yet pity him mourn over him Is the Name of the great God dishonoured his commandements broken his waies despised is the precious soul of thy brother indangered and hee ready to go to Hell headlong Oh who can chuse but mourn who would not bee a Samuel here A wicked man is the greatest the fittest object of pity in the world and that upon the account of his wickedness The prophaneness of beggars had more need of pity than their wants their Ignorance and Atheism cries louder for our prayers and tears than their poverty for our alms When Jeremiah thought of the afflictions of the Jews hee calls to his eyes Jer. 9. 1. But when hee thought of their obstinacy and perverseness hee calls to his soul for tears Jer. 13. 17. When hee speaks of their captivity his eye ran down with tears But when hee thought of their impiety his soul wept in secret as you may see him as it were purposely varying the phrase in that place But when sin and misery meet together in a man then let the eyes and the soul conspire together to bewail him When Saul hath rejected the Commandements of God and God hath rejected Saul too then Samuel goes home and mews up himself in mourning Samuel mourned for Saul To this I might add also that Samuel mourned for Saul who succeeded him in the Government of the Nation even his own eyes looking on Men are usually apt to bee glad of the rejection of a competitor of one that stands between them and preferment of one whose election was their exclusion But so did not Samuel here which also commends in him and commends to us a self-denying humble gracious disposition of mind Thus much for the Object Saul and what may bee considered in him Lastly Let us consider the Modification of the Action exprest in the word Nevertheless which doth necessarily suppose something For being a Conjunction Redditive it must have one Adversative or more 1 Although Samuel and his Counsel was rejected of Saul Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul Samuel had been at much pains with Saul to instruct him in his duty to counsel him in his affairs to reprove him for his faults and behaved himself in all things as though hee had been his guardian And yet found no success of his pains his instructions were not followed his counsel was disobeyed his reproofs despised and all his indeavours made unsuccesseful And yet this Samuel thus rejected mourned for Saul which doth commend in him an excellent spirit of patience and lenity and reproves the impatience and spleenishness of the most in the world who think if they bee at pains to fore-warn counsel or reprove their brother and hee do not hearken to them they have sufficiently discharged their duty they need do no more Of this mind was not holy Samuel hee though that after hee had done this and more than this it was his duty to mourn for Saul The good example of this good man may exhort us all to do the like especially it may teach Gods Ministers their duty after all discouragements and contempts that they meet with in the world from obstinate and unthankful persons Are their people froward dull careless ignorant idle Is their counsel scorned their reproofs sleighted their words made wind of all their importunate pains and incessant prayers unsuccesseful why yet something remains to bee done and that is all they can do even to mourn for them See the resolution of the tender-hearted Prophet Jeremiah Jer. 13. 17. If yee will not hear what then will hee curse them revenge himself upon them No. But will hee not at least desist leave them cast off all further care of them No. What then why My soul shall weep in secret places for your pride Oh that men had betaken themselves to their eyes to their preces and lachrymae to the wringing of their hands when they betook themselves to the arming of their hands to revenge themselves upon their brethren our intestine confusions had yet been to begin whereas now they are not at an end and God knows when they will bee If wee had shed as much tears as wee have done blood wee had not had so much guilt abiding upon us nor so much misery amongst us and it had been a Sacrifice the more pleasing to God of the two And as for Ministers if they preach well pray well exhort well reprove well yet if they do not mourn well too they have not discharged their duty well not so well as Samuel did here Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul 2 Although Saul and his authority was rejected of God yet Samuel mourned for Saul Many men when they see God hath cast a man down are ready to cast him off too and all care of him all thoughts of him persecute and take him for God hath forsaken him If a Viper do but stick upon a mans hand if God shall banish him impoverish him or any way afflict him they conclude him to bee a murderer with the Barbarians Act. 28. 4. or an hypocrite with Job's friends Job 4. 7. and 8. 6. they pass sentence upon him presently and never look more after him But bee it so that God hath indeed rejected and cast off a person or a people yet the gracious soul cannot chuse but bee affected afflicted with it and pity them A good man a right Samuel is so much a friend to Gods justice that hee cannot but approve Gods sentence passing upon man and yet hee is so full of bowels that hee cannot but lament the execution of it upon his brother as Samuel did here Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul 3 Although Samuel went not to see Saul yet Samuel mourned for Saul Samuel out of prudence absented himself from Saul But yet out of piety and pity he mourned for Saul Discretion may sometimes perswade us to some discouraging strangeness towards wicked men yet compassion will not suffer the godly man to estrange his bowels from them Samuel mourned for Saul Samuel would not bestow his eyes to see Saul but hee would employ them to weep over him The like sweet mixture of these two eminent graces discretion and compassion wee may see in David not suffering Absolom to see him 2 Sam. 13. and yet full of bowels towards him as wee see here in Samuel not going to see Saul but yet lamenting him the one seeming to imitate the other oh that wee could imitate either All love doth not consist in frequent visits For as I may bee visited and yet hated so I may bee neglected and yet pitied And they are better friends that stay at home and mourn for you than they that visit you to corrupt and ensnare you Every man will bee prone enough to bee a stranger to a man in anger even malice it self will take the first part of the verse will bee a Samuel there but withall hee mourned for him whom hee had no more any reason to visit Oh that wee were all Samuels here Thus you see the Modification of the action Although God had rejected Saul and Samuel had rejected Saul and Saul had rejected both God and Samuel Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul Having all along mixed doctrine and application I pray God it may prove more successefully than it is methodically nothing remains further but that which I commit to God to work wee all go and do likewise FINIS