eternall father for a signe that should be spoken against How did the Gentiles rage and the people imagine vaine things The Kings of the earth assembled and the Rulers came together against thee Yea how doe the subiects of thine owne kingdome daily conspire against thee Euen now whiles thou inioyest peace and glorie at thy Fathers right hand as soone shalt thou want friends as enemies vpon earth No eye of any traitor could espie a iust quarrell in the gouernment of Dauid yet Sheba blowes the trumpet of rebellion and whiles Israel and Iudah are striuing who should haue the greatest part in their re-established Soueraigne he sticks not to say We haue no part in Dauid neither haue we inheritance in the sonne of Ishai and whiles he saies Euery man to his tents O Israel he calls euery man to his owne So in proclaiming a libertie from a iust and loyall subiection he inuites Israel to the bondage of an vsurper That a lewd conspirator should breath treason it is no wonder but is it not wonder and shame that vpon euery mutinous blast Israel should turne traitor to Gods anointed It was their late expostulation with Dauid why their brethren the men of Iudah should haue stollen him from them now might Dauid more iustly expostulate why a rebell of their brethren should haue stolne them from him As nothing is more vnstable then the multitude so nothing is more subiect to distastes then Soueraigntie for as weake mindes seeke pleasure in change so euery light conceit of irritation seems sufficient colour of change Such as the false dispositions of the vulgar are loue cannot be securitie enough for Princes without the awfulnesse of power What hold can there be of popularitie when the same hands that euen now fought for Dauid to be all theirs now fight against him vnder the son of Bichri as none of theirs As Bees when they are once vp in a swarme are ready to light vpon euery bow so the Israelites being stirred by the late commotion of Absalom are apt to follow euery Sheba It is vnsafe for any State that the multitude should once know the way to an insurrection the least track in this kinde is easily made a path Yet if Israel rebell Iudah continues faithfull Neither shall the sonne of Dauid euer be left destitute of some true subiects in the worst of Apostasies He that could command all hearts will euer be followed by some God had rather glorifie himselfe by a remnant Great commanders must haue actiue thoughts Dauid is not so taken vp with the embroiled affaires of his state as not to intend domesticke iustice His ten concubines which were shamelesly defiled by his incestuous sonne are condemned to ward and widow-hood Had not that constupration beene partly violent their punishment had not beene so easie had it not also beene partly voluntarie they had not beene so much punished But how much so euer the act did partake of either force or will iustly are they sequestred from Dauids bed Absalom was not more vnnaturall in his rebellion then in his lust If now Dauid should haue returned to his owne bed he had seconded the incest How much more worthy of separation are they who haue stained the mariage bed with their wilfull sinne Amasa was one of the witnesses and abettors of Absaloms filthinesse yet is he out of policie receiued to fauour and imployment whiles the concubines suffer Great men yeeld many times to those things out of reasons of state which if they were priuate persons could not be easily put ouer It is no small wisdome to ingage a new reconciled friend that he may be confirmed by his owne act Therefore is Amasa commanded to leuie the forces of Iudah Ioab after many great merits and atchieuements lies rusting in neglect he that was so intire with Dauid as to be of his counsell for Vriahs bloud and so firme to Dauid as to lead all his battels against the house of Saul the Ammonites the Aramites Absalom is now cashiered and must yeeld his place to a stranger late an enemie Who knowes not that this sonne of Zeruiah had shed the bloud of warre in peace But if the bloud of Absalom had not beene louder then the bloud of Abner I feare this change had not been Now Ioab smarteth for a loyall disobedience How slippery are the stations of earthly honours and subiect to continuall mutability Happy are they who are in fauour with him in whom there is no shadow of change Where men are commonly most ambitious to please with their first imployments Amaza slackens his pace The least delay in matters of rebellion is perilous may be irrecouerable The sonnes of Zeruiah are not sullen Abishai is sent Ioab goes vnsent to the pursuit of Sheba Amasa was in their way whom no quarrell but their enuy had made of a brother an enemy Had the heart of Amasa beene priuy to any cause of grudge hee had suspected the kisse of Ioab now his innocent eyes looke to the lips not to the hand of his secret enemy The lips were smooth Art thou in health my brother the hand was bloudie which smote him vnder the fift ribbe That vnhappie hand knew wel this way vnto death which with one wound hath let out the Soules of two great Captaines Abner and Amasa Both they were smitten by Ioab both vnder the fift ribbe both vnder a pretence of friendship There is no enmity so dangerous as that which comes masked with loue Open hostility cals vs to our guard but there is no fence against a trusted trecherie wee neede not be bidden to auoid an enemy but who would runne away from a friend Thus spiritually deales the world with our soules it kisses vs and stabs vs at once If it did not embrace vs with one hand it could not murther vs with the other Onely God deliuer vs from the danger of our trust and we shall be safe Ioab is gone and leaues Amasa wallowing in bloud That spectacle cannot but stay all passengers The death of great persons drawes euer many eyes Each man sayes Is not this my Lord Amasa Wherefore doe we goe to fight whiles our Generall lyes in the dust What a sad presage is this of our owne miscarriage The wit of Ioabs followers hath therefore soone both remoued Amasa out of the way and couered him not regarding so much the losse as the eye-sore of Israel Thus wicked Politicks care not so much for the commission of villany as for the notice Smothered euils are as not done If oppressions if murders if treasons may be hid from view the obdured heart of the offender complaines not of remorse Bloudy Ioab with what face with what heart canst thou pursue a traitor to thy King whiles thy selfe art so foule a traytor to thy friend to thy cozen-german and in so vnseasonable a slaughter to thy Soueraigne whose cause thou professest to reuenge If Amasa were now in an act of loyalty iustly on Gods part payd
for the arerages of his late rebellion yet that it should be done by thy hand then and thus it was flagitiously cruell Yet behold Ioab runnes away securely with the fact hasting to plague that in another whereof himselfe was no lesse guilty So vast are the gorges of some consciences that they can swallow the greatest crimes and finde no straine in the passage It is possible for a man to be faithful to some one person and perfidious to all others I doe not finde Ioab other then firme and loyall to Dauid in the middest of all his priuate falshoods whose iust quarrell he pursues against Sheba through all the Tribes of Israel None of all the strong Forts of reuolted Israel can hide the Rebell from the zeale of his reuenge The Citie of Abel lends harbour to that conspirator whom all Israel would and cannot protect Ioab casts vp a Mount against it and hauing inuironed it with a siege begins to worke vpon the wall and now after long chase is in hand to digge out that Vermin which had earth'd himself in this borough of Beth-maachah Had not the Citie been strong and populous Sheba had not cast himselfe for succor within those wals yet of all the inhabitants I see not any one man moue for the preseruation of their whole body Onely a woman vndertakes to treat with Ioab for their safety Those men whose spirits were great enough to maintaine a traytor against a mighty King scorne not to giue way to the wisdome of a matrone There is no reason that Sex should disparage where the vertue and merit is no lesse then masculine Surely the soule acknowledgeth no Sexe neither is varied according to the outward frame How oft haue wee knowne female hearts in the brests of Men and contrarily manly powers in the weaker vessels It is iniurious to measure the act by the person and not rather to esteeme the person for the act Shee with no lesse prudence then courage challengeth Ioab for the violence of his assault and laies to him that law which he could not be an Israelite and disauow the Law of the God of peace whose charge it was that when they should come neere to a Citie to fight against it they should offer it peace and if this tender must be made to forrainers how much more to brethren So as they must inquire of Abel ere they batter'd it Warre is the extreme act of vindicatiue iustice neither doth God euer approue it for any other then a desperate remedy and if it haue any other end then peace it turnes into publique murder It is therefore an inhumane crueltie to shed bloud where wee haue not profered faire conditions of peace the refusall whereof is iustly punished with the Sword of reuenge Ioab was a man of bloud yet when the wise woman of Abel charged him with going about to destroy a mother in Israel and swallowing vp the inheritance of the Lord with what vehemencie doth he deprecate that challenge God forbid God forbid it me that I should deuoure or destroy it Although that citie with the rest had ingaged it selfe in Shebaes sedition yet how zealously doth Ioab remoue from himselfe the suspicion of an intended vastation How fearfull shall their answer be who vpon the quarrell of their owne ambition haue not spared to waste whole tribes of the Israel of God It was not the fashion of Dauids Captaines to assault any citie ere they summond it here they did There be some things that in the very fact carrie their owne conuiction So did Abel in the entertaining and abetting a knowne conspirator Ioab challenges them for the offence and requires no other satisfaction then the head of Sheba This Matrone had not deserued the name of Wife and faithfull in Israel if she had not both apprehended the iustice of the condition and commended it to her Citizens whom she hath easily perswaded to spare their owne heads in not sparing a Traitors It had beene pittie those walls should haue stood if they had beene too hie to throw a Traitors head ouer Spiritually the case is ours Euery mans brest is as a citie inclosed Euery sinne is a traitor that lurkes within those walls God calls to vs for Shebaes head neither hath he any quarrell to our person but for our sinne If we loue the head of our Traitor aboue the life of our soule we shall iustly perish in the vengeance we cannot be more willing to part with our sin then our mercifull God is to withdraw his iudgements Now is Ioab returned with successe and hopes by Shebaes head to paie the price of Amasaes bloud Dauid hates the murder entertaines the man defers the reuenge Ioab had made himselfe so great so necessarie that Dauid may neither misse nor punish him Policie led the King to conniue at that which his heart abhorred I dare not commend that wisdome which holds the hands of Princes from doing iustice Great men haue euer held it a point of worldly state not alwaies to pay where they haue beene conscious to a debt of either fauour or punishment but to make Time their seruant for both Salomon shall once defraie the arerages of his father In the meane time Ioab commands and prospers and Dauid is faine to smile on that face whereon he hath in his secret destination written the characters of Death The Gibeonites reuenged THE raigne of Dauid was most troublesome towards the shutting vp wherein both warre and famine conspire to afflict him Almost fortie yeeres had he sate in the throne of Israel with competencie if not abundance of all things now at last are his people visited with a long dearth we are not at first sensible of common euils Three yeeres drought and scarcitie are gone ouer ere Dauid consults with God concerning the occasion of the iudgement now he found it hie time to seeke the face of the Lord The continuance of an affliction sends vs to God and calls vpon vs to aske for a reckoning Whereas like men strucken in their sleep a sudden blow cannot make vs to finde our selues but rather astonisheth then teacheth vs. Dauid was himselfe a Prophet of God yet had not the Lord all this while acquainted him with the grounds of his proceedings against Israel this secret was hid from him till he consulted with the Vrim Ordinarie meanes shall reueale that to him which no vision had discryed And if God will haue Prophets to haue recourse vnto the Priests for the notice of his will how much more must the people Euen those that are the inwardest with God must haue vse of the Ephod Iustly is it presupposed by Dauid that there was neuer iudgement from God where hath not beene a prouocation from men therefore when he sees the plague he inquires for the sinne Neuer man smarted causelesly from the hand of diuine iustice Oh that when we suffer we could aske what we haue done and could guide our repentance to the root of our euils
pray thee be against me and against my fathers house The better any man is the more sensible hee is of his owne wretchednesse Many of those Sheepe were Wolues to Dauid What had they done They had done that which was the occasion of Dauids sinne and the cause of their owne punishment But that gracious penitent knew his owne sinne he knew not theirs and therefore can say I haue sinned What haue they done It is safe accusing where we may be boldest and are best acquainted our selues Oh the admirable charitie of Dauid that would haue ingrossed the plague to himselfe and his house from the rest of Israel and sues to interpose himselfe betwixt his people and the vengeance Hee that had put himselfe vpon the pawes of the Beare and Lion for the rescue of his Sheepe will now cast himselfe vpon the sword of the Angell for the preseruation of Israel There was hope in those conflicts in this yeeldance there could be nothing but death Thus didst thou O sonne of Dauid the true and great Shepheard of thy Church offer thy selfe to death for them who had their hands in thy bloud who both procured thy death and deserued their owne Here hee offred himselfe that had sinned for those whom hee professeth to haue not done euill thou that didst no sinne vouchsauedst to offer thy selfe for vs that were all sinne He offered and escaped thou offeredst and diedst and by thy death wee liue and are freed from euerlasting destruction But O Father of all mercies how little pleasure doest thou take in the bloud of sinners it was thine owne pitty that inhibited the destroyer Ere Dauid could see the Angell thou hadst restrayned him It is sufficient hold now thine hand If thy compassion did not both withhold and abridge thy iudgements what place were there for vs out of hell How easie and iust had it been for God to haue made the shutting vp of that third euening red with bloud His goodnesse repents of the slaughter and cals for that Sacrifice wherwith he will be appeased An Altar must bee built in the threshing-floore of Araunah the Iebusite Lo in that very Hill where the Angel held the sword of Abraham from killing his Sonne doth God now hold the Sword of the Angell from killing his people Vpon this very ground shall the Temple after stand heere shall be the holy Altar which shall send vp the acceptable oblations of Gods people in succeeding generations O God what was the threshing-floore of a Iebusite to thee aboue all other soyles What vertue what merit was in this earth As in places so in persons it is not to be heeded what they are but what thou wilt That is worthiest which thou pleasest to accept Rich and bountifull Araunah is ready to meete Dauid in so holy a motion and munificently offers his Sion for the place his Oxen for the Sacrifice his Carts and Ploughes and other Vtensils of his Husbandry for the wood Two franke hearts are well met Dauid would buy Araunah would giue The Iebusite would not sell Dauid will not take Since it was for God and to Dauid Araunah is loth to bargaine Since it was for God Dauid wisheth to pay deare I will not offer burnt Offering to the Lord my God of that which doth cost mee nothing Heroicall spirits doe well become eminent persons Hee that knew it was better to giue then receiue would not receiue but giue There can be no deuotion in a niggardly heart As vnto dainty palates so to the godly soule that tastes sweetest that costs most Nothing is deare enough for the Creator of all things It is an heartlesse piety of those base-minded Christians that care onely to serue God good cheape Contemplations THE SEVENTEENTH BOOKE Adonijah defeated Dauids end and Salomons beginning The execution of Ioab and Shimei Salomons choice with his iudgement vpon the two Harlots The Temple Salomon with the Queene of Sheba Salomons Defection TO MY WORTHILY MVCH HONOVRED FRIEND Sr HENRY MILDMAY Knight Master of the Iewell-house all grace and peace SIR Besides all priuate obligations your very name challengeth from me all due seruices of loue and honour If I haue receiued mercy to beare any fruit next vnder heauen I may thanke the stocke wherein I was ymped which was set by no other then the happie hand of your right Honorable Grandfather How haue I so long forborne the publique Testimonie of my iust gratulations and thankfull respects to so true an heire of his noble vertues Pardon me that I pay this debt so late and accept of this parcell of my well-meant labours Wherein you shall see SALOMON both in his rising and setting his rising hopefull and glorious his declination fearefull You shall see the proofes of his early graces of mercie in sparing ADONIIAH and ABIATHAR of iustice in punishing that riuall of his with IOAB and SHIMEI of wisdome in his award betwixt the two harlots and the administration of his Court and state of pietie in building and hallowing the Temple all dashed in his fall repaired in his repentance I haue no cause to misdoubt either the acceptation or vse of these mine hie pitched thoughts which together with your selfe and your worthy and vertuous Lady I humbly commend to the care and blessing of the hiest who am bound by your worth and merits to be euer Your syncerely and thankfully deuoted in all obseruance IOS HALL Contemplations ADONIJAH Defeated DAVID had not so carefully husbanded his yeeres as to maintaine a vigorous age he was therefore what through warres what with sorrowes what with sicknesse decrepit betimes By that time he was seuentie yeeres old his naturall heate was so wasted that his clothes could not warme him how many haue we knowne of more strength at more age The holiest soule dwells not in an inpregnable fort If the reuenging Angell spared Dauid yet age and Death will not spare him Neither his new altar nor his costly sacrifice can be of force against decay of nature Nothing but death can preuent the weaknesses of age None can blame a people if when they haue a good King they are desirous to hold him Dauids seruants and subiects haue commended vnto his bed a faire young virgin not for the heat of lust but of life that by this meanes they might make an outward supplie of fuell for that vitall fire which was well-neere extinguished with age As it is in the market or the stage so it is in our life One goes in another comes out when Dauid was withering Adonijah was in his blossome That sonne as he was next to Absalom both in the beautie of his body and the time of his birth so was he too like him in practise He also taking aduantage of his fathers infirmitie will be caruing himselfe of the kingdome of Israel That he might no whit vary from his patterne he gets him also Charets and horse-men and fiftie men to run before him These two Absalom and Adonijah were
will defray it by the hand of Salomon The slaughter was of Abner and Amasa Dauid appropriates it Thou knowest what Ioab did to mee The Soueraigne is smitten in the Subject Neither is it other then iust that the arraignement of meane malefactors runnes in the stilâ— of wrong to the Kings Crowne and dignitie How much more doest thou O sonne of Dauid take to thy selfe those insolencies which are done to thy poorest subiects seruants sonnes members here vpon earth No Saul can touch a Christian here below but thou feelest it in heauen and complainest But what shall we thinke of this Dauid was a man of war Salomon a King of peace yet Dauid referres this reuenge to Salomon How iust it was that he who shed the bloud of warre in peace and put the bloud of war vpon his girdle that was about his loynes should haue his bloud shed in peace by a Prince of peace Peace is fittest to rectifie the out-rages of Warre Or whether is not this done in type of that diuine administration wherein thou O Father of heauen hast committed all iudgement vnto thine eternall sonne Thou who couldst immediately either plague or absolue sinners wilt doe neither but by the hand of a Mediator Salomon learned betimes what his ripenesse taught afterwards Take away the wicked from the King and his Throne shall be established in righteousnesse Cruell Ioab and malicious Shimei must be therefore vpon the first opportunity remoued The one lay open to present iustice for abetting the conspiracy of Adonijah neither needes the helpe of time for a new aduantage The other went vnder the protection of an oath from Dauid and therefore must be fetcht in vpon a new challenge The hoare head of both must be brought to the graue with bloud else Dauids head could not be brought to his graue in peace Due punishment of malefactors is the debt of authoritie If that holy King haue run into arerages yet as one that hates and feares to breake the banke he giues order to his pay-master It shall be defraid if not by him yet for him Generous natures cannot be vnthankfull Barzillai had shewed Dauid some kindnesse in his extremitie and now the good man will haue posteritie to inherit the thankes How much more bountifull is the Father of mercies in the remuneration of our poore vnworthy seruices Euen successions of generations shall fare the better for one good parent The dying words and thoughts of the man after Gods owne heart did not confine themselues to the straites of these particular charges but inlarged themselues to the care of Gods publique seruice As good men are best at last Dauid did neuer so busily and carefully marshall the affaires of God as when he was fixed to the bed of his age and death Then did he lode his sonne Salomon with the charge of building the house of God then did he lay before the eies of his sonne the modell and patterne of that whole sacred worke whereof if Salomon beare the name yet Dauid no lesse merits it He now giues the platforme of the Courts and buildings He giues the gold and siluer for that holy vse an hundred thousand talents of Gold a thousand thousand talents of Siluer besides brasse and yron passing weight He weighes out those precious mettalls for their seuerall designements Euery future vessell is laid out already in his poise if not in his forme He excites the Princes of Israel to their assistance in so high a worke He takes notice of their bountifull offerings He numbers vp the Leuites for the publique seruice and sets them their taskes He appoints the Singers and other Musitians to their stations the Porters to the Gates that should be And now when he hath set all things in a desired order and forwardnesse he shuts vp with a zealous blessing of his Salomon and his people and sleepe with his fathers Oh blessed soule how quiet a possession hast thou now taken after so many tumults of a better Crowne Thou that hast prepared all things for the house of thy God how happily art thou now welcomed to that house of his not made with hands eternall in the heauens Who now shall enuie vnto good Princes the honour of ouerseeing the businesses of God and his Church when Dauid was thus punctuall in these diuine prouisions What feare can be of vsurpation where they haue so glorious a precedent Now is Salomon the second time crowned King of Israel and now in his owne right as formerly in his fathers sits peaceably vpon the Throne of the Lord His awe and power come on faster then his yeeres Enuie and ambition where it is once kindled may sooner be hid in the ashes then quite put out Adonijah yet hangs after his old hopes He remembers how sweet he found the name of a King and now hath laid a new plot for the setting vp of his crackt title He would make the bed a step to the throne His old complices are sure enough His part would gather much strength if he might inioy Abishag the relict of his father to wife If it were not the Iewish fashion as is pretended that a Kings widow should mary none but a King yet certainly the power both of the alliance and friendship of a Queene must needs not a little aduance his purpose The craftie riuall dare not either moue the suit to Salomon or effect the mariage without him but would cunningly vndermine the sonne by the suit of that mother whose suit had vndermined him The weaker vessells are commonly vsed in the most dangerous suggestions of euill Bathsheba was so wise a woman that some of her counsels are canonized for diuine yet she saw not the depth of this drift of Adonijah therefore she both entertaines the suit and moues it But what euer were the intent of the suitor could she choose but see the vnlawfulnesse of so incestuous a match It is not long since she saw her late husband Dauid abominating the bed of those his Concubines that had beene touched by his sonne Absalom and can she hold it lawfull that his son Adonijah should climbe vp to the bed of his fathers wife Sometimes euen the best eies are dimme and discerne not those things which are obuious to weaker sights Or whether did not Bathsheba well see the foulenesse of the suit and yet in compassion of Adonijahs late repulse wherein she was the chiefe agent and in a desire to make him amends for the losse of the kingdome she yeelds euen thus to gratifie him It is an iniurious weaknesse to be drawne vpon any by-respects to the furtherance of faultie suits of vnlawfull actions No sooner doth Bathsheba come in place then Salomon her sonne rises from his chaire of State and meets her and bowes to her and sets her on his right hand as not so remembring himselfe to be a King that he should forget he was a sonne No outward dignitie can take away the rights and obligations of nature