death The dowry is set An hundred foreskins of the Philistims not their heads but their fore-skins that this victory might bee more ignominious still thinking why may not one Dauid miscarry as well as an hundred Philistims And what doth Sauls enuie all this while but enhance Dauids zeale and valour and glory That good Captaine litle imagining that himselfe was the Philistim whom Saul maligned supererogates of his master and brings two hundred for one and returnes home safe and renowmed Neither can Saul now flie off for shame There is no remedy but Dauid must bee a sonne where he was a riuall and Saul must feed vpon his owne heart since he cannot see Dauids Gods blessing graces equally together with mens malice neither can they deuise which way to make vs more happy then by wishing vs euill Michals wile THIS aduantage can Saul yet make of Dauids promotion that as his aduersarie is raised hyer so he is drawne neerer to the opportunitie of death Now hath his enuie cast off all shame and since those crafty plots succeede not he directly subornes murtherers of his riuall There is none in all the Court that is not set on to be an executioner Ionathan himselfe is sollicited to imbrue his hand in the blood of his frend of his brother Saul could not but see Ionathans clothes on Dauids backe hee could not but know the league of their loue yet because hee knew withall how much the prosperitie of Dauid would preiudice Ionathan hee hoped to haue found him his sonne in malice Those that haue the Iaundis see all things yellow those which are ouer-growne with malicious passions thinke all men like themselues I do not heare of any reply that Ionathan made to his father when he gaue him that bloody charge but he waites for a fit time to disswade him from so cruell an iniustice Wisdome had taught him to giue way vnto rage and in so hard an aduenture to craue aide of opportunitie If wee be not carefull to obserue good moods when we deale with the passionate we may exasperate in steed of reforming Thus did Ionathan who knowing how much better it is to be a good frend then an ill sonne had not onely disclosed that ill counsell but when hee found his father in the fields in a calmer temper laboured to diuert it And so farre doth the seasonable and pithy Oratory of Ionathan preuaile that Saul is convinced of his wrong and sweares As God liues Dauid shall not dye Indeed how could it be otherwise vpon the plea of Dauids innocence and well deseruings How could Saul say he should dye whom he could accuse of nothing but faithfulnes Why should hee designe him to death which had giuen life to all Israel Oft-times wicked mens iudgments are forced to yeeld vnto that truth against which their affections maintaine a rebellion Euen the foulest hearts do sometimes intertaine good motions like as on the contrary the holiest soules giue way sometimes to the suggestions of euill The flashes of lightning may be discerned in the darkest prisons But if good thoughts look into a wicked heart they stay not there as those that like not their lodging they are soone gone Hardly any thing distinguishes betwixt good and euill but continuance The light that shines into an holy heart is constant like that of the sunne which keeps due times and varies not his course for any of these sublunary occasions THE Philistims warres renue Dauids victories and Dauids victory renues Sauls enuie and Sauls enuie renues the plots of Dauids death Vowes oathes are forgotten That euill spirit which vexes Saul hath found so much fauor with him as to win him to these bloody machinations against an innocent His owne hands shall first bee imployed in this execution The speare which hath twise before threatned death to Dauid shall now once againe goe vpon that message Wise Dauid that knew the danger of an hollow frend and reconciled enemy and that found more cause to mind Sauls earnest then his own play giues way by his nimblenesse to that deadly weapon and resigning that stroke vnto the wall flees for his life No man knowes how to be sure of an vnconscionable man If either goodnes or merit or affinitie or reasons or oathes could secure a man Dauid had bin safe now if his heeles do not more befrend him then all these he is a dead man No sooner is he gone then messengers are sped after him It hath bin seldome seene that wickednesse wanted executioners Dauids house is beset with murderers which watch at all his dores for the opportunitie of blood Who can but wonder to see how God hath fetcht from the loynes of Saul a remedy for the malice of Sauls heart His owne children are the only meanes to crosse him in the sin and to preserue his guiltlesse aduersary Michal hath more then notice of the plot and with her subtle wit countermines her father for the rescue of an husband Shee taking the benefit of the night lets Dauid downe through a window He is gone and disappoints the ambushes of Saul The messengers begin to be impatient of this delay and now thinke it time to inquire after their prisoner Shee whiles them off with the excuse of Dauids sicknes so as now her husband had good leasure for his escape and layes a statue in his bed Saul likes the newes of any euill befalne to Dauid but fearing hee is not sicke enough sends to aide his disease The messengers returne and rushing into the house with their swords drawne after some harsh words to their imagined charge surprize a sicke statue lying with a pillow vnder his head and now blush to see they haue spent all their threats vpon a senselesse stocke and made themselues ridiculous whiles they would be seruiceable BVT how shall Michal answer this mockage vnto her furious father Hitherto she hath done like Dauids wife now she begins to be Sauls daughter He said to me Let me go or else I will kill thee Shee whose wit had deliuered her husband from the sword of her father now turnes the edge of her fathers wrath from herselfe to her husband His absence made her presume of his safety If Michal had not bin of Sauls plot he had neuer expostulated with her in those termes Why hast thou let mine enemy escape neither had shee framed that answer He said Let me goe I doe not finde any great store of religion in Michal for both shee had an image in the house and afterwards mocked Dauid for his deuotion yet nature hath taught her to preferre an husband to a father to elude a father from whom shee could not flee to saue an husband which durst not but flee from her The bonds of matrimoniall loue are and should bee stronger then those of nature Those respects are mutuall which God appointed in the first institution of wedlocke That husband and wife should leaue father and mother for ech others sake Treason is
yee not beene more senselesse then that stone how could you choose but thinke How shall hee raise vs aboue our enemies that cannot rise alone how shall he establish vs in the station of our peace that cannot hold his own foot If Dagon did giue the foyle vnto the God of Israel what power is it that hath cast him vpon his face in his owne Temple It is iust with God that those which want grace shall want wit too it is the power of superstition to turne men into those stocks and stones which they worship They that make them are like vnto them Doubtlesse this first fall of Dagon was kept as secret and excused as well as it might and serued rather for astonishment then conviction there was more strangenes then horror in that accident that whereas Dagon had wont to stand and the Philistims fall downe now Dagon fell downe and the Philistims stood and must become the patrons of their owne god their god worships them vpon his face and craues more helpe from them then euer he could giue But if their sottishnes can digest this all is well Dagon is set in his place and now those hands are lift vp to him which helped to lift him vp and those faces are prostrate vnto him before whom he lay prostrate Idolatry and superstition are not easily put out of countenance But will the ielosie of the true God put it vp thus Shall Dagon escape with an harmelesse fall Surely if they had let him lye still vpon the pâ—â—ement perhaps that insensible statue had found no other reuenge but now they will be aduancing it to the rood-loft againe and affront Gods Arke with it the euent will shame them and let them know how much God scornes a partner either of his owne making or theirs THE morning is fittest for deuotion then do the Philistims flocke to the temple of their god What a shame is it for vs to come late to ours Although not so much piety as curiositie did now hasten their speed to see what rest their Dagon was allowed to get in his owne roofe and now behold their kinde god is come to meete them in the way some peeces of him salute their eyes vpon the threshold Dagons head and hands are ouer-runne their fellowes to tell the Philistims how much they were mistaken in a god THIS second fall breaks the Idoll in peeces and threats the same confusion to the worshippers of it Easie warnings neglected end euer in destruction The head is for deuising the hand for execution In these two powers of their god did the Philistims cheifly trust these are therfore laid vnder their feet vpon the threshold that they might a farre of see their vanitie and that if they would they might set their foote on that best peece of their god whereon their heart was set THERE was nothing wherein that Idoll resembled a man but in his head and hands the rest was but a scalie portraiture of a fish God would therefore separate from this stone that part which had mocked man with the counterfeit of himselfe that man might see what an vnworthy lumpe he had matched with himselfe and set vp aboue himselfe The iust quarrell of God is bent vpon those meanes and that parcell which haue dared to rob him of his glory How can the Philistims now misse the sight of their owne folly how can they bee but enough convicted of their mad idolatry to see their god lye broken to morsells vnder their feete euery peece whereof proclaimes the power of him that brake it and the stupiditie of those that adored it Who would expect any other issue of this act but to heare the Philistims say we now see how superstition hath blinded vs Dagon is no god for vs our hearts shall neuer more rest vpon a broken statue That onely true God which hath beaten ours shall challenge vs by the right of conquest But here was none of this rather a further degree of their dotage followes vpon this palpable conviction They cannot yet suspect that god whose head they may trample vpon but in steed of hating their Dagon that lay broken vpon their threshold they honor the threshold on which Dagon lay and dare not set their foote on that place which was hallowed by the broken head and hands of their Deity Oh the obstinacie of Idolatry which where it hath got hold of the heart knowes neither to blush nor yeeld but rather gathers strength from that which might iustly confound it The hand of the Almighty which moued them not in falling vpon their god falls now neerer them vpon their persons and strikes them in their bodies which would not feele themselues stricken in their Idoll Paine shall humble them whom shame cannot Those which had entertained the secret thoughts of abhominable Idolatry within them are now plagued in the inwardest and most secret part of their bodies with a loathsome disease and now grow weary of themselues in stead of their idolatry I doe not heare them acknowledge it was Gods hand which had stricken Dagon their god till now they finde themselues stricken Gods iudgements are the racke of godlesse men If one straine make them not confesse let them be stretched but one wrench hyer and they cannot be silent The iust auenger of sinne will not loose the glory of his executions but will haue men know from whom they smart THE emerods were not a disease beyond the compasse of naturall causes neither was it hard for the wiser sort to giue a reason of their complaint yet they ascribe it to the hand of God The knowledge and operation of secondary causes should be no preiudice to the first They are worse then the Philistims who when they see the meanes doe not acknowledge the first mouer whose actiue and iust power is no lesse seene in imploying ordinarie agents then in raising vp extraordinary neither doth hee lesse smite by a common fever then a reuenging Angell THEY iudge right of the cause what doe they resolue for the cure Let not the Arke of the God of Israel abide with vs where they should haue said let vs cast out Dagon that we may pacifie and retaine the God of Israel they determine to thrust out the Arke of God that they might peaceably inioy themselues and Dagon Wicked men are vpon all occasions glad to be rid of God but they can with no patience indure to part with their sins and whiles they are weary of the hand that punishes them they hold fast the cause of their punishment THEIR first and onely care is to put away him who as hee hath corrected so can ease them Folly is neuer separated from wickednes THEIR heart told them that they had no right to the Arke A counsell is called of their Princes and Priests If they had resolued to send it home they had done wisely Now they doe not carry it away but they carry it about from Ebenezer to Ashdod from Ashdod
righteous yet his sonnes were corrupt To cut of all excuses therefore Samuel appeales to God the highest Iudge for his sentence of their sin and dares trust to a miraculous conviction It was now their wheat haruest The hot and dry ayre of that climate did not wont to afford in that season so much moist vapour as might raise a cloud either for raine or thunder He that knew God could and would do both these without the helpe of second causes puts the tryall vpon this issue Had not Samuel before consulted with his Maker and receiued warrant for his act it had bin presumption and tempting of God which was now a noble improuement of faith Rather then Israel shall go cleare away with a sinne God will accuse and arraigne them from heauen No sooner hath Samuels voice ceased then Gods voice begins Euery cracke of thunder spake iudgment against the rebellious Israelites and euery drop of raine was a witnesse of their sin and now they found they had displeased him which ruleth in the heauen by rejecting the man that ruled for him on earth The thundring voice of God that had lately in their sight confounded the Philistims they now vnderstood to speake fearefull things against them No maruell if now they fell vpon their knees not to Saul whom they had chosen but to Samuel who being thus cast off by them is thus countenanced in heauen Sauls sacrifice GOD neuer ment the kingdom should either stay long in the tribe of Beniamin or remoue suddenly from the person of Saul Many yeres did Saul reigne ouer Israel yet God computes him but two yeeres a King That is not accounted of God to bee done which is not lawfully done when God which chose Saul rejected him he was no more a King but a Tyrant Israel obeyed him still but God makes no reckoning of him as his deputy but as an vsurper SAVL was of good yeeres when hee was aduanced to the kingdom His sonne Ionathan the first yeere of his fathers raigne could lead a thousand Israelites into the field and giue a foyle to the Philistims And now Israel could not thinke themselues lesse happy in theâ—â—r Prince then in their King Ionathan is the heyre of his fathers victory as well as of his valour and his estate The Philistims were quiet after those first thunder-claps all the time of Samuels gouernment now they begin to stirre vnder Saul How vtterly is Israel disappointed in their hopes That securitie and protection which they promised themselues in the name of a King they found in a Prophet failed of in a warriour They were more safe vnder the mantle then vnder armes both enmity and sauegard are from heauen goodnes hath bin euer a stronger guard then valour It is the surest policie alwaies to haue peace with God WE finde by the spoiles that the Philistims had some battels with Israel which are not recorded After the thunder had skared them into a peace and restitution of all the bordring Cities from Ekron to Gath they had taken new heart and so beslaued Israel that they had neither weapon nor Smith left amongst them yet euen in this miserable nakednes of Israel haue they both fought and ouercome Now might you haue seene the vnarmed Israelites marching with their slings and ploughstaues and hookes and forkes and other instruments of their husbandry against a mighty well furnished enemie and returning laded both with armes and victory No armour is of proofe against the Almighty neither is he vnweapned that caries the reuenge of God There is the same disaduantage in our spirituall conflicts we are turned naked to principalities and powers whilst wee goe vnder the conduct of the Prince of our peace we cannot but be bold victorious VAINE men thinke to ouer-power God with munition and multitude The Philistims are not any way more strong then in conceit Thirty thousand chariots six thousand horsemen footmen like the sand for number makes them scorne Israel no lesse then Israel feares them When I see the miraculous successe which had blessed the Israelites in all their late conflicts with these very Philistims with the Ammonites I cannot but wonder how they could feare They which in the time of their sinne found God to raise such trophees ouer their enemies run now into caues and rocks and pits to hide them from the faces of men when they found God reconciled and themselues penitent No Israelite but hath some cowardly blood in him If we had no feare faith would haue no maistery yet these fearefull Israelites shall cut the throats of those confident Philistims Doubt and resolution are not meet measures of our successe A presumptuous confidence goes coÌ„monly bleeding â—â—ome when an humble feare retuâ—â—nes in triumph Feare driues those Israelites which dare show their heads out of the caues vnto Saul and makes them cling vnto their new King How troublesome were the beginnings of Sauls honor Surely if that man had not exceeded Israel no lesse in courage then in stature he had now hid himselfe in a caue which before hid himself among the stuffe But now though the Israelites ran away from him yet he ran not away from them It was not any doubt of Sauls valour that put his people to their heeles it was the absence of Samuel If the Prophet had come vp Israel would neuer haue run away from their King Whiles they had a Samuel alone they were neuer well till they had a Saul now they haue a Saul they are as farre from contentment because they want a Samuel vnlesse both ioyne together they thinke there can be no safetie Where the temporall and spirituall state combine not together there can follow nothing but distraction in the people The Prophets receiue and deliuer the will of God Kings execute it The Prophets are directed by God the people are directed by their Kings Where men doe not see God before them in his ordinances their hearts cannot but faile them both in their respects to their superiors and their courage in themselues Piety is the mother of perfect subiection As all authoritie is deriued from heauen so is it thence established Those gouernors that would command the hearts of men must shew them God in their faces No Israelite can thinke himselfe safe without a Prophet Saul had giuen them good proofe of his fortitude in his late victory ouer the Ammonites but then proclamation was made before the fight through all the country that euery man should come vp after Saul and Samuel If Samuel had not bin with Saul they would rather haue ventured the losse of their oxen then the hazard of themselues How much lesse should we presume of any safety in our spirituall combats when we haue not a Prophet to lead vs It is all one sauing that it fauours of more contempt not to haue Gods Seers and not to vse them He can be no true Israelite that is not distressed with the want of a Samuel As one
himselfe Our eyes can be led by nothing but signes and appearances and those haue commonly in them either a true falshood or vncertaine truth THAT which should haue fore-warned Samuel deceiued him he had seene the proofe of a goodly stature vnanswerable to their hopes and yet his eye errs in the shape He that iudges by the inside both of our hearts and actions checks Samuel in this mis-conceit Looke not on his countenance nor on the height of his stature because I haue refused him for God seeth not as man seeth The King with whom God meant to satisfie the vntimely desires of Israel was chosen by his stature but the King with whom God ment to please himselfe is chosen by the heart All the seuen sonnes of Ishai are presented to the Prophet no one is omitted whom their father thought capable of any respect If either Samuel or Ishai should haue chosen Dauid should neuer haue bin King His father thought him fit to keep sheep his brethren fit to rule men yet euen Dauid the yongest sonne is fetcht from the folde and by the choice of God destined to the throne Nature which is commonly partiall to her own could not suggest ought to Ishai to make him thinke Dauid worthy to bee remembred in any competition of honor yet him hath God singled out to the rule GOD will haue his wisdom magnified in the vnlikelihoods of his election Dauids countenance was ingenuous and beautifull but if it had promised so much as Eliabs or Abinadabs he had not bin in the fields whiles his brethren were at the sacrifice If we doe altogether follow our eye and suffer our selues to be guided by outward respects in our choice for God or our selues we cannot but goe amisse What do we thinke the brethren of Dauid thought when they saw the oyle powred vpon his head surely as they were enuious enough they had too much repined if they had either fully apprehended the purpose of the Prophet or else had not thought of some improbabilitie in the successe Either they vnderstood not or beleeued not what God would doe with their brother They saw him graced with Gods spirit aboue his wont but perhaps foresaw not whither it tended Dauid as no whit changed in his condition returnes to his sheep againe and with an humble admiration of Gods gracious respect to him casts himself vpon the wise and holy decree of the Almighty resigning himselfe to the disposition of those hands which had chosen him when suddenly a messenger is sent from Saul to call him in all haste to that Court whereof he shall once be master The occasion is no lesse from God then the euent Dauid call'd to the COVRT THAT the kingdome is in the appointment of God departed from Saul it is his least losse Now the spirit of God is also departed from him One spirit is no sooner gone but another is come both are from God Euen the worst spirits haue not onely permission but commission from heauen for the infliction of iudgment He that at first could hide himselfe among the stuffe that he might not be King is now so transported with this glory that he growes passionate with the thought of forgoing it Sathan takes vantage of his melancholike dejection and turns this passion into frenzy God will haue euen euill spirits worke by meanes A distempred body and an vnquiet minde are fit grounds for Sathans vexation Sauls courtiers as men that were more witty then religious aduise him to musicke They knew the strength of that skill in allaying the fury of passions in cheering vp the dejected spirits of their master This was done like some fond Chirurgian that when the bone is out of ioynt laies some soupling pultesses to the part for the asswaging of the ach in the meane time not caring to remedie the luxation IF they had said Sr you know this euill comes from that God whom you haue offended there can be no help but in reconcilement how easie is it for the God of spirits to take off Sathan labour your peace with him by a serious humiliation make meanes to Samuel to further the attonement they had bin wise counsellors diuine Physicians whereas now they doe but skin ouer the sore and leaue it rankled at the bottome The câ—â—muâ—â— must euer proceed in the same steps with the disease else in vaine shall wee seeme to heale There is no safety in the redresse of euills but to strike at the root Yet since it is no better with Saul and his courtiers it is well it is no worse I doe not heare either the master or seruants say This is an ill spirit send for some Magitian that may countermand him There are forcible enchantments for these spirituall vexations If Samuel will not there are witches that may giue ease But as one that would rather be ill then do worse hee contents himselfe to doe that which was lawfull if vnsufficient It is a shame to say that he whom God had reiected for his sin was yet a Saint to some that should be Christians who care not how much they are beholden to the Diuell in their distresses affecting to cast out Diuels by Beelzebub In cases of losse or sicknes they make Hell their refuge and seeke for no patronage but of an enemy Here is a fearefull agreement Sathan seeks to them in his temptations they in their consultations seeke to him and now they haue mutually found ech other if they euer part it is a miracle DAVID had liued obscurely in his fathers house his onely care and ambition was the wellfare of the flocke he tended and now whiles his father and his brothers neglected him as fit for nothing but the field he is talked of at Court Some of Sauls followers had beene at Ishai's house and taken notice of Dauids skill and now that harpe which he practised for his priuat recreation shall make him of a shepherd a Courtier The musicke that hee meant onely to himselfe and his sheep brings him before Kings The wisdom of God thought fit to take this occasion of acquainting Dauid with that Court which he shall once gouerne It is good that our education should perfect our children in all those commendable qualities wherto they are disposed Litle do we know what vse God meanes to make of those faculties which wee know not how to imploy Where the Almighty purposes an aduancement obscuritie can be no preiudice small meanes shall set forward that which God hath decreed DOVBTLES old Ishai noted not without admiration the wonderfull accordance of Gods proceedings that he which was sent for out of the field to be annointed should now be sent for out of the country into the Court and now he perceiued God was making way for the execution of that which he purposed hee attends the issue in silence neither shall his hand faile to giue furtherance to the proiect of God He therefore sends his sonne laden with a present to Saul The
same God which call'd Dauid to the Court wellcoms him thither His comelinesse valour and skill haue soone wonne him fauour in the eyes of Saul The giuer of all graces hath so placed his fauours that the greatest enemies of goodnes shall see somewhat in the holiest men which they shall affect and for which they shall honor the persons of them whose vertues they dislike as contrarily the Saints on earth see somewhat to loue in the worst creatures No doubt Dauid sung to his Harpe His Harpe was not more sweet then his song was holy Those Psalmes alone had bin more powerfull to chase the euill spirit then the musicke was to calme passions both together gaue ease to Saul and God gaue this effect to both because hee would haue Saul traine vp his successor This sacred musicke did not more dispell Sathan then wanton musicke invites him and more cheeres him then vs He plaies and danceth at a filthy song he sings at an obscure dance Our sinne is his best pastime whereas Psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs are torment vnto the tempter and musicke to the Angels in heauen whose trade is to sing Alleluiahs in the Chore of glory Dauid and Goliah AFTER the newes of the Philistims army I heare no more mention of Sauls frenzy Whether the noise of warr diuerted those thoughtfull passions or whether God for his peoples sake tooke off that euill spirit least Israel might miscarry vnder a frantick gouernor Now Dauid hath leisure to returne to Bethleem The glory of the Court cannot transport him to ambitious vanitie He had rather be his fathers shepheard then Sauls armour-bearer All the magnificence and state which he saw could not put his mouth out of the taste of a retired simplicitie yea rather he loues his hook the better since he saw the Court and now his brethren serue Saul in his steed A good heart hath learnt to frame it selfe vnto all conditions can change estates without change of disposition rising and falling according to occasion The worldly minde can rise easily but when it is once vp knowes not how to descend either with patience or safety FORTY dayes together had the Philistims Israelites faced each other they pitched on two hills one in the sight of the other nothing but a valley was betwixt them Both stand vpon defence and aduantage If they had not ment to fight they had neuer drawne so neere and if they had bin eager of fight a valley could not haue parted them Actions of hazard require deliberation not furie but discretion must bee the guide of warre So had Ioshua destroyed the giantly Anakims out of the land of Israel that yet some were left in Azzah Gath and Ashdod both to shew Israel what aduersaries their forefathers found in Canaan whom they mastred as also that God might winne glory to himselfe by these subsequent executions Of that race was Goliah whose heart was as high as his head his strength was answerable to his stature his weapons answerable to his strength his pride exceeded all Because he saw his head higher his armes stronger his sword and speare bigger his shield heauier then any Israelite he defies the whole host and walking between the two armies braues all Israel with a challenge Why are yee come out to set your battaile in aray Am not I a Philistim and you seruants to Saul Choose you a man for you and let him come downe to me giue me a man that we may fight together Carnall hearts are carried away with presumption of their owne abilities and not finding matches to themselues in outward appearance insult ouer the impotencie of inferiors and as those that can see no invisible opposition promise themselues certainty of successe Insolence and selfe-confidence argues the heart to be nothing but a lumpe of proud flesh THE first challenge of Duell that euer we finde came out of the mouth of an vncircumcised Philistim yet was that in open warre and tended to the sauing of many liues by aduenturing one or two and whosoeuer imitateth nay surpasseth him in challenge to priuate Duell in the attempt partaketh of his vncircumcision though he should ouercome and of his manner of punishment if in such priuat combats hee cast away his life For of all such desperate prodigalls wee may say that their heads are cut off by their owne sword if not by their owne hand Wee cannot challenge men and not challenge God who iustly challengeth to himselfe both to take vengeance and to giue successe The more Goliah challenges and is vnanswered the more is he puft vp in the pride of his owne power And is there none of all Israel that will answer this champion otherwise then with his heeles Where is the courage of him that was higher then all Israel from the shoulders vpward The time was when Nahash the Ammonite had made that tyrannous demand of the right eyes of the Gileadites that Saul could aske vnasked What aileth the people to weep and could hew his oxen in peeces to raise the spirits of Israel and now he stands still and sees the host turne their backe and neuer so much as asks what aileth the people to flee The time was when Saul slew forty thousand Philistims in one day and perhaps Goliah was in that discomfiture and now one Philistim is suffred by him to braue all Israel forty dayes whence is this difference The spirit of God the spirit of fortitude was now departed from him Saul was not more aboue himselfe when God was with him then he is below others now that he is left of God Valour is not meerely of nature Nature is euer like it selfe by this rule hee that is once valiant should neuer turne coward But now we see the greatest spirits inconstant and those which haue giuen good proofes of magnanimitie at other times haue bewrayed white liuers vnto their owne reproch Hee that is the God of hostes giues and takes away mens hearts at his pleasure Neither is it otherwise in our spirituall combats sometimes the same soule dare challenge all the powers of darknes which other-whiles giues ground to a temptation Wee haue no strength but what is giuen vs and if the author of all good gifts remit his hand for our humiliation either we fight not or are foyled DAVID hath now lien long enough close amongst his flock in the fields of Bethleem God sees a time to send him to the pitcht field of Israel Good old Ishai that was doubtles ioyfull to thinke that he had afforded three sonnes to the warres of his King is no lesse carefull of their wellfare and prouision and who amongst all the rest of his seuen sonnes shall be pickt out for this seruice but his yongest sonne Dauid whose former almost worne-out acquaintance in the Court and imployment vnder Saul seemed to fit him best for his errand Early in the morning is Dauid vpon his way yet not so early as to leaue his flock
strength from faith Dauids greatest conflict is with his freinds The ouercomming of their disswasions that he might fight was more worke then to ouercome his enemy in fighting He must first iustifie his strength to Saul ere he may proue it vpon Goliah Valor is neuer made good but by tryall He pleads the tryall of his puissance vpon the Beare and the Lyon that he may haue leaue to proue it vpon a worse beast then they Thy seruant slew both the Lyon and the Beare therefore this vncircumcised Philistim shall be as one of them Experience of good successe is no small comfort to the heart this giues possibilitie and hope but no certainty Two things there were on which Dauid built his confidence on Goliahs sin and Gods deliuerance seeing he hath railed on the host of the liuing God The Lord that deliuered mee out of the pawes of the Lion and the Beare he will deliuer me out of the hand of this Philistim Well did Dauid know that if this Philistims skin had bin as hard as the brasse of his shield his sinne would make it penetrable by euery stroke After all brags of manhood he is impotent that hath prouoked God Whiles other labour for outward fortifications happy and safe were we if wee could labour for innocence He that hath found God present in one extremitie may trust him in the next Euery sensible fauour of the Almighty invites both his gifts and our trust RESOLVTION thus grounded makes euen Saul himselfe confident Dauid shall haue both his leaue and his blessing If Dauid came to Saul as a shepherd he shall go toward Goliah as a warriour The attire of the King is not too rich for him that shall fight for his King and country Litle did Saul thinke that his helmet was now on that head which should once weare his crowne Now that Dauid was arrayed in the warlike habit of a King and girded with his sword he lookt vpon himselfe and thought this outside glorious but when hee offred to walke and found that the attire was not so strong as vnweeldy and that it might be more for show then vse he laies downe these accoustrements of honor and as caring rather to bee an homely victor then a glorious spoile he craues pardon to go in no clothes but his owne he takes his staffe in steed of the speare his shepherds scrip in steed of his brigandine and in steed of his sword he takes his sling and in steed of darts and iauelins hee takes fiue smooth stones out of the brooke Let Sauls coat be neuer so rich and his armour neuer so strong what is Dauid the better if they fit him not It is not to be inquired how excellent any thing is but how proper Those things which are helps to some may be encombrances to others An vnmeet good may be as inconuenient as an accustomed euill If we could wish another mans honor when we feele the weight of his cares we should be glad to be in our owne cote THOSE that depend vpon the strength of faith though they neglect not meanes yet they are not curious in the proportion of outward meanes to the effect desired Where the heart is armed with an assured confidence a sling and a stone are weapons enow To the vnbeleeuing no helps are sufficient Goliah though he were presumptuous enough yet had one shield caried before him another he caried on his shoulder neither will his sword alone content him but he takes his speare too Dauids armour is his plaine shepherds russet and the brooke yeelds him his artillery and he knowes there is more safety in his cloth then in the others brasse and more danger in his peebles then the others speare Faith giues both heart armes The inward munition is so much more noble because it is of proofe for both soule and body If wee be furnished with this how boldly shall we meete with the powers of darknes and goe away more then conquerors NEITHER did the qualitie of Dauids weapons bewray more confidence then the number If he will put his life and victory vpon the stones of the brooke why doth he not fill his scrip full of them why will he content himselfe with fiue Had he bin furnished with store the aduantage of his nimblenesse might haue giuen him hope If one faile that yet another might speed But now this paucity puts the dispatch to a sudden hazard and he hath but fiue stones cast either to death or victory still the fewer helps the stronger faith Dauid had an instinct from God that he should ouercome hee had not a particular direction how he should ouercome For had he bin at first resolued vpon the sling and stone he had saued the labour of girding his sword It seems whiles they were addressing him to the combat hee made account of hand-blowes now he is purposed rather to send then bring death to his aduersarie In either or both he durst trust God with the successe and before hand through the conflict saw the victory It is sufficient that we know the issue of our fight If our weapons and wardes vary according to the occasion giuen by God that is nothing to the euent sure we are that if wee resist wee shall ouercome and if wee ouercome wee shall be crowned WHEN Dauid appeared in the lists to so vnequall an aduersarie as many eyes were vpon him so in those eyes diuers affections The Israelites lookt vpon him with pity and feare and each man thought Alas why is this comely stripling suffred to cast away himselfe vpon such a monster why will they let him go vnarmed to such an affray why will Saul hazard the honor of Israel on so vnlikely an head The Philistims especially their great Champion lookt vpon him with scorne disdaining so base a combatant Am I a dog that thou com'st to mee with staues What could be said more fitly Hadst thou bin any other then a dog ô Goliah thou hadst neuer opened thy fowle mouth to barke against the host of God and the God of hosts If Dauid had thought thee any other then a very dog he had neuer come to thee with a staffe and a stone THE last words that euer the Philistim shall speake are curses and brags Come to me and I will giue thy flesh vnto the fowles of the heauen and the beasts of the field Seldome euer was there a good end of ostentation Presumption is at once the presage and cause of ruine He is a weake aduersarie that can be killd with words That man which could not feare the gyants hand cannot feare his tongue If words shall first encounter the Philistim receiues the first foile and shall first let in death into his eare ere it enter into his forehead Thou com'st to mee with a sword and a speare and a shield but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts the God of the host of Israel whom thou hast railed vpon This day
shall the Lord close thee in my hand and I shall smite thee and take thine head from thee Here is another stile not of a boaster but of a Prophet Now shall Goliah know whence to expect his bane euen from the hands of a reuenging God that shall smite him by Dauid and now shall learne too late what it is to meddle with an enemie that goes vnder the invisible protection of the Almighty No sooner hath Dauid spoken then his foot hand second his tongue He runs to fight with the Philistim It is a cold courage that stands onely vpon defence As a man that saw no cause of feare and was full of the ambition of victory he flies vpon that monster and with a stone out of his bagg smites him in the forehead There was no part of Goliah that was capable of that danger but the face and that peece of the face the rest was defenced with a brasen wall which a weake sling would haue tried to batter in vaine What could Goliah feare to see an aduersarie come to him without edge or point And behold that one part hath God found out for the entrance of death He that could haue caused the stone to passe through the sheild and brestplate of Goliah rather directs the stone to that part whose nakednes gaue aduantage Where there is power or possibilitie of nature God vses not to worke miracles but chooses the way that lies most open to his purposes THE vaste forehead was a faire marke but how easily might the sling haue missed it if there had not bin another hand in this cast besides Dauids Hee that guided Dauid into this field and raised his courage to this combat guides the stone to his end and lodges it in that seat of impudence There now lies the great defier of Israel groueling and grinning in death and is not suffred to deale one blow for his life and bites the vnwelcome earth for indignation that he dies by the hand of a shepherd earth and Hell share him betwixt them such is the end of insolence and presumption O God what is flesh and blood to thee which canst make a litle peeble-stone stronger then a Gyant and when thou wilt by the weakest meanes canst straw thine enemies in the dust Where now are the two sheilds of Goliah that they did not beare off this stroke of death or wherefore serues that weauers beame but to strike the earth in falling or that sword but to behead his Master What needed Dauid load himself w th an vnnecessary weapon one sword can serue both Goliah and him If Goliah had a man to beare his sheild Dauid had Goliah to beare his sword wherewith that proud blasphemous head is seuered from his shoulders Nothing more honors God then the turning of wicked mens forces against themselues There is none of his enemies but caries with them their owne destruction Thus didst thou O son of Dauid foile Sathan with his owne weapon that whereby he ment destruction to thee and vs vanquished him through thy mighty power and raised thee to that glorious triumph and super-exaltation wherein thou art wherein we shall be with thee JONATHANS loue and SAVLS enuie BESIDES the discomfiture of the Philistims Dauids victory had a double issue Ionathans loue and Sauls enuie which God so mixed that the one was a remedy of the other A good sonne makes amends for a wayward father How precious was that stone that kill'd such an enemy as Goliah and purchased such a frend as Ionathan All Sauls Courtiers lookt vpon Dauid none so affected him none did match him but Ionathan That true correspondence that was both in their faith and valour hath knit their hearts If Dauid did set vpon a Beare a Lion a Gyant Ionathan had set vpon a whole host and preuailed The same spirit animated both the same faith incited both the same hand prospered both All Israel was not worth this paire of frends so zealously confident so happily victorious Similitude of dispositions and estates ties the fastest knots of affection A wise soule hath piercing eyes and hath quickly discerned the likenes of it selfe in another as we do no sooner looke into the glasse or water but face answers to face and where it sees a perfect resemblance of it selfe cannot chuse but loue it with the same affection that it reflects vpon it selfe No man saw Dauid that day which had so much cause to disaffect him none in all Israel should be a looser by Dauids successe but Ionathan Saul was sure enough setled for his time only his successor should forgo all that which Dauid should gaine so as none but Dauid stands in Ionathans light and yet all this cannot abate one iot or dram of his loue Where God vniteth hearts carnall respects are too weake to disseuer them since that which breaks off affection must needs be stronger then that which conioyneth it IONATHAN doth not desire to smother his loue by concealment but professes it in his cariage and actions He puts off the robe that was vpon him and all his garments euen to his sword and bow and girdle and giues them vnto his new frend It was not perhaps without a mysterie that Sauls clothes fitted not Dauid but Ionathans fitted him and these he is as glad to weare as he was to be disburthened of the other That there might be a perfect resemblance their bodies are suited as well as their hearts Now the beholders can say there goes Ionathans other selfe If there bee another body vnder those clothes there is the same soule Now Dauid hath cast off his russet coat and his scrip and is a shepherd no more he is suddenly become both a Courtier and a Captaine and a companion to the Prince yet himselfe is not changed with his habit with his condition yea rather as if his wisdome had reserued it selfe for his exaltation he so manageth a sudden greatnes as that he winneth all hearts Honour showes the man and if there be any blemishes of imperfection they will be seene in the man that is inexpectedly lifted aboue his fellowes He is out of the danger of folly whom a speedy aduancement leaueth wife IONATHAN loued Dauid the souldiers honored him the Court fauord him the people applauded him onely Saul stomackt him and therefore hated him because he was so happy in all besides himselfe It had bin a shame for all Israel if they had not magnified their champion Sauls owne heart could not but tell him that they did owe the glory of that day and the safety of himselfe and Israel vnto the sling of Dauid who in one man slew all those thousands at a blow It was enough for the puissant King of Israel to follow the chase and to kill them whom Dauid had put to flight yet he that could lend his clothes and his armour to this exploit cannot abide to part with the honor of it to him that hath erned it so deerly The holy
euer odious but so much more in the mariage-bed by how much the obligations are deeper As shee lou'd her husband better then her father so shee lou'd her selfe better then her husband she saued her husband by a wile and now shee saues her selfe by a lye and looses halfe the thanke of her deliuerance by an officious slander Her act was good but shee wants courage to maintaine it and therefore seeks to the weake shelter of vntruth Those that do good offices not out of conscience but good nature or ciuilitie if they meet an affront of danger seldome comes off cleanly but are ready to catch at all excuses though base though iniurious because their grounds are not strong enough to beare them out in suffring for that which they haue well done WHITHER doth Dauid flee but to the Sanctuary of Samuel He doth not though he knew himselfe gracious with the soldiers raise forces or take some strong fort and there stand vpon his owne defence and at defiance with his King but hee gets him to the Colledge of the Prophets as a man that would seeke the peaceable protection of the King of heauen against the vniust furie of a King on earth Onely the wing of God shall hide him from that violence GOD intended to make Dauid not a warriour and a King only but a Prophet too As the field fitted him for the first and the Court for the second so Naioth shall fit him for the third Doublesse such was Dauids delight in holy meditations he neuer spent his time so contentedly as when he was retyred to that diuine Academie and had so full freedom to inioy God and to satiate himself with heauenly exercises The onely doubt is how Samuel can giue harbour to a man fled from the anger of his Prince wherein the very persons of both giue abundant satisfaction for both Samuel knew the counsell of God and durst doe nothing without it and Dauid was by Samuel anointed from God This vnction was a mutuall bond Good reason had Dauid to sue to him which had powred the oyle on his head for the hiding of that head which hee had anointed and good reason had Samuel to hide him whom God by his meanes had chosen from him whom God had by his sentence reiected Besides that the cause deserued commiseration Here was not a malefactor running away from iustice but an innocent auoyding murder not a traytor countenanc'd against his Souerayne but the deliuerer of Israel harbored in a Sanctuary of Prophets till his peace might be made EVEN thither doth Saul send to apprehend Dauid All his rage did not incense him against Samuel as the abettor of his aduersarie Such an impression of reuerence had the person and calling of the Prophet left in the minde of Saul that hee cannot thinke of lifting vp his hand against him The same God which did at the first put an awe of man in the fiercest creatures hath stamped in the cruellest hearts a reuerent respect to his owne image in his Ministers so as euen they that hate them do yet honor them SAVLS messengers came to lay hold on Dauid God layes hold on them No sooner doe they see a company of Prophets busie in those diuine exercises vnder the moderation of Samuel then they are turned from executioners to Prophets It is good going vp to Naioth into the holy assemblies who knowes how wee may bee changed beside our intention Many a one hath come into Gods house to carpe or scoffe or sleepe or gaze that hath returned a conuert THE same heart that was thus disquieted with Dauids happy successe is now vexed with the holinesse of his other seruants It angers him that Gods spirit could find no other time to seize vpon his agents then when he had sent them to kill And now out of an indignation at this disappointment himselfe will go and be his own seruant His guilty soule findes it selfe out of the danger of being thus surprized And behold Saul is no sooner come within the smell of the smoke of Naioth then hee also prophesies The same spirit that when hee went first from Samuel inabled him to prophesie returnes in the same effect now that he was going his last vnto Samuel This was such a grace as might well stand with reiection an extraordinary gift of the spirit but not sanctifying Many men haue had their mouthes opened to prophesie vnto others whose hearts haue bin deafe to God But this such as it was was far from Sauls purpose who in steed of expostulating with Samuel falls downe before him and laying aside his weapons and his robes of a Tyran proues for the time a disciple All hearts are in the hand of their maker how easie is it for him that gaue them their being to frame them to his owne bent Who can bee afraid of malice that knowes what hooks God hath in the nosthrills of men and Diuels what charmes he hath for the most serpentine hearts DAVID AHIMELEC WHo can euer iudge of the children by the Parents that knowes Ionathan was the sonne of Saul There was neuer a falser heart then Sauls there was neuer a truer frend then Ionathan Neither the hope of a kingdome nor the frownes of a father nor the feare of death can remoue him from his vowed amitie No sonne could be more officious and dutifull to a good father yet he layes downe nature at the foot of grace and for the preseruation of his innocent riuall for the kingdom crosses the bloody designes of his owne parent Dauid needs no other counsellor no other aduocate no other intelligencer then he It is not in the power of Sauls vnnaturall reproches or of his speare to make Ionathan any other then a frend and patron of innocence Euen after all these difficulties doth Ionathan shoot beyond Dauid that Saul may shoot short of him In vaine are those professions of loue which are not answered with action Hee is no true frend that besides talke is not ready both to do and suffer SAVL is no whit the better for his prophesying he no sooner rises vp from before Samuel then he pursues Dauid Wicked men are rather the worse for those transitorie good motions they haue receiued If the swine be neuer so cleane washed shee will wallow againe That we haue good thoughts it is no thanke to vs that we answer them not it is both our sin and iudgment DAVID hath learned not to trust these fits of deuotion but flyes from Samuel to Ionathan from Ionathan to Ahimelech when hee was hunted from the Prophet he flees to the Priest as one that knew iustice and compassion should dwell in those brests which are consecrated vnto God THE Arke and the Tabernacle were then separated The Arke was at Kiriath-iearim the Tabernacle at Nob God was present with both Whither should Dauid flee for succour but to the house of that God which had annointed him AHIMELECH was wont to see Dauid attended with the
Troopes of Israel or with the Gallants of the Court it seems strange therefore to him to see so great a Peere and Champion of Israel come alone These are the alterations to which earthly greatnes is subiect Not many dayes are past since no man was honored at Court but Ionathan and Dauid now they are both for the time in disgrace Now dare not the Kings sonne in law brother to the Prince both in loue and mariage show his head at the Court nor any of those that bowed to him dare stirre a foote with him Princes are as the Sunne and great subiects are like to Dialls if the Sun shine not on the Diall no man will looke at it EVEN hee that ouercame the Beare the Lyon the Gyant is ouercome with feare Hee that had cut off two hundred foreskins of the Philistims had not circumcis'd his own heart of the weake passions that follow distrust Now that he is hard driuen hee practises to helpe himselfe with an vnwarrantable shift Who can looke to passe this pilgrimage without infirmities when Dauid dissembleth to Ahimelec A weake mans rules may be better then the best mans actions God lets vs see some blemishes in his holiest seruants that we may neither be too highly conceited of flesh and blood nor too much deiected when we haue bin miscarried into sinne Hitherto hath Dauid gone vpright now he begins to halt with the Preist of God and vnder pretence of Sauls imployment drawes that fauour from Ahimelech which shall afterwards cost him his head WHAT could Ahimelech haue thought too deare for Gods annointed for Gods Champion It is not like but that if Dauid had sincerely opened himselfe to the Preist as he had done to the Prophet Ahimelech would haue seconded Samuel in some secret and safe succour of so vniust a distresse whereas hee is now by a false colour led to that kindnesse which shall be preiudiciall to his life Extremities of euill are commonly inconsiderate either for that wee haue not leasure to our thoughts or perhaps so as we may be perplexed not thoughts to our leasure What would Dauid haue giuen afterwards to haue redeemed this ouer-sight VNDER this pretence hee craues a double fauour of Ahimelech The one of bread for his sustenance the other of a sword for his defence There was no bread vnder the hands of the Preist but that which was consecrated to God and whereof none might taste but the deuoted seruants of the Altar Euen that which was with solemne dedication set vpon the holy Tables before the face of God a sacramentall bread presented to God with incense figuring that true bread that came downe from heauen Yet euen this bread might in case of necessitie become common and be giuen by Ahimelech and receiued by Dauid and his followers Our Sauiour himselfe iustifies the act of both Ceremonies must giue place to substance God will haue mercy and not sacrifice Charity is the summe and the end of the law That must be aymed at in all our actions wherin it may fall out that the way to keepe the law may be to breake it the intention may be kept and the letter violated and it may be a dangerous transgression of the law to obserue the words and neglect the scope of God That which would haue dispensed with Dauid for the substance of the act would haue much more dispensed with him for the circumstance The touch of their lawfull wiues had contracted a legall impuritie not a morall That could haue bin no sufficient reason why in an vrgent necessitie they might not haue partaked of the holy bread Ahimelech was no perfect Casuist these men might not famish if they were ceremonially impure But this question bewrayed the care of Ahimelech in distributing the holy bread There might be in these men a double incapacitie the one as they were seculars the other as vncleane he saw the one must be he feared least the other should be as one that wished as litle indisposition as possibly might be in those which should be fed from Gods table IT is strange that Dauid should come to the Preist of God for a sword Who in all Israel was so vnlikely to furnish him with weapons as a man of peace whose armour was onely spirituall Doubtlesse Dauid knew well where Goliahs sword lay as the noble relique of Gods victorious deliuerance dedicated to the same God which wonne it at this did that suite ayme None could be so fit for Dauid none could be so fit for it as Dauid Who could haue so much right to that sword as he against whom it was drawn and by whom it was taken There was more in that sword then mettall and forme Dauid could neuer cast his eye vpon it but he saw an vndoubted monument of the mercifull protection of the Almighty there was therefore more strength in that sword then sharpnes neither was Dauids arme so much strengthned by it as his faith nothing can ouercome him whiles he carries with him that assured signe of victory It is good to take all occasions of renuing the remembrance of Gods mercies to vs and our obligations to him DOEG the master of Sauls herdmen for hee that went to seeke his fathers asses before hee was King hath herdes droues now that he is a King was now in the court of the Tabernacle vpon some occasion of deuotion Though an Israelite in profession he was an Edomite no lesse in heart then in blood yet hee hath some vow vpon him and not onely comes vp to Gods house but abides before the Lord Hypocrites haue equall accesse to the publique places and meanes of Gods seruice Euen he that knowes the heart yet shuts his dores vpon none how much lesse should we dare to exclude any which can onely iudge of the heart by the face DOEG may set his foote as farre within the Tabernacle as Dauid he sees the passages betwixt him and Ahimelech and layes them vp for an aduantage Whiles hee should haue edified himselfe by those holy seruices he carps at the Preist of God after a lewd misinterpretation of his actions of an attendant proues an accuser To incurre fauour with an vniust master he informes against innocent Ahimelech and makes that his act which was drawne from him by a cunning circumuention When wee see our auditors before vs litle do we know with what hearts they are there nor what vse they will make of their pretended deuotion If many come in simplicitie of heart to serue their God some others may perhaps come to obserue their teachers and to pick quarrels where none are Only God and the issue can distinguish betwixt a Dauid and a Doeg when they are both in the Tabernacle Honest Ahimelech could litle suspect that he now offered a sacrifice for his executioner yea for the murtherer of all his family Oh the wise and deepe iudgements of the Almighty God owed a reueng to the house of Eli and now by the delation
giues them the reason of his commanded flight For Herod will seeke the yong childe to destroy him What wicked men will doe what they would do is knowne vnto God before hand He that is so infinitely wise to know the designes of his enemies before they are could as easily preuent them that they might not be but he lets them runne on in their own courses that he may fetch glory to himselfe out of their wickednesse Good IOSEPH hauing this charge in the night staies not till the morning no sooner had God said Arise then he starts vp and sets forward It was not diffidence but obedience that did so hasten his departure The charge was direct the businesse important He dares not linger for the light but breaks his rest for the iourney and taking vantage of the darke departs toward Aegypt How knew he this occasion would abide any delay We cannot be too speedy in the execution of Gods commands we may be too late Here was no treasure to hide no hangings to take down no lands to secure The poore Carpenter needs doe no more but lock the dores and away Hee goes lightly that wants a lode If there bee more pleasure in abundance there is more securitie in a meane estate The Bustard or the Ostridge when he is pursued can hardly get vpon his wings whereas the Larke mounts with ease The rich hath not so much aduantage of the poore in the enioying as the poore hath of the rich in leauing Now is Ioseph come downe into Aegypt Aegypt was beholden to the name as that whereto it did owe no lesse then their vniuersall preseruation Well might it repay this act of hospitalitie to that name and blood The going downe into Aegypt had not so much difficultie as the staying there Their absence from their country was litle better then a banishment but what was this other then to serue a prentiship in the house of bondage To be any where saue at home was irkesome but to be in Aegypt so many yeeres amongst idolatrous pagans must needs be painfull to religious hearts The command of their God the presence of Christ makes amends for all How long should they haue thought it to see the Temple of God if they had not had the God of the Temple with them How long to present their sacrifices at the Altar of God if they had not had him with them which made all sacrifices accepted and which did accept the sacrifice of their hearts HEROD was subtle in mocking the wise-men whiles he promised to worship him whom he ment to kill now God makes the wise-men to mock him in disappointing his expectation It is iust with God to punish those which would beguile others with illusion Great spirits are so much more impatient of disgrace How did Herod now rage and fret and vainly wish to haue met with those false spies and tells with what torments he would reuenge their trechery curses himself for trusting strangers in so important a busines The tyrants suspition would not let him rest long Ere many daies hee sends to inquire of them whom he sent to inquire of Christ. The notice of their secret departure increaseth his ielousie and now his anger runs mad and his feare proues desperate All the infants of Bethleem shal bleed for this one And that he may make sure worke he cuts out to himself large measures both of time and place It was but very lately that the star appeared that the wise-men re-appeared not They asked for him that was borne they did not name when he was borne Herod for more securitie ouer-reaches their time and fetches into the slaughter all the children of two yeeres age The Preists Scribes had told him the towne of Bethleem must bee the place of the Messia's natiuity He fetches in all the children of the coasts adioyning yea his own shall for the time be a Bethleemite A tyrannous guiltinesse neuer thinks it selfe safe but euer seeks to assure it selfe in the excesse of cruelty Doubtlesse he which so priuily inquired for Christ did as secretly brew this massacre The mothers were set with their children on their laps feeding them with the brest or talking to them in the familiar language of their loue when suddenly the executioner rushes in and snatches them from their armes and at once pulling forth his cōmission his knife without regard to shrikes or teares murthers the innocent babe and leaues the passionate mother in a meane betweene madnes and death What cursing of Herod what wringing of hands what condoling what exclaiming was now in the streets of Bethleem O bloody Herod that couldst sacrifice so many harmlesse liues to thine ambition What could those infants haue done If it were thy person whereof thou wert affraid what liklyhood was it thou couldst liue till those sucklings might endanger thee This newes might affect thy successors it could not concerne thee if the heat of an impotent and furious enuie had not made thee thirsty of blood It is not long that thou shalt enioy this cruelty After a few hatefull yeeres thy soule shall feele the weight of so many innocents of so many iust curses He for whose sake thou killdst so many shall thee strike with death and then what wouldst thou haue giuen to haue bin as one of those infants whom thou murtherest In the meane time when thine executioners returned and told thee of their vnpartiall dispatch thou smiledst to thinke how thou hadst defeated thy riuall and beguiled the starre and deluded the prophesies whiles God in heauen and his Sonne on earth laugh thee to scorne and make thy rage an occasion of further glory to him whom thou mentest to suppress He that could take away the liues of others cannot protract his owne Herod is now sent home The coast is cleare for the return of that holy family Now God calls them from their exile Christ and his mother had not stayed so long out of the confines of the reputed visible Church but to teach vs continuance vnder the crosse Sometimes God sees it good for vs not to sip of the cup of affliction but to make a diet-drinke of it for constant and common vse If he allow vs no other liquor for many yeeres we must take it off cheerfully and know that it is but the measure of our betters IOSEPH and MARY stirre not without a command their departure stay remoouall is ordred by the voice of God If Aegypt had beene more tedious vnto them they durst not moue their foote till they were bidden It is good in our owne businesse to follow reason or custom but in Gods businesse if we haue any other guide but himselfe we presume cannot expect a blessing O the wonderfull dispensation of God in concealing of himselfe from men Christ was now some fiue yeere old hee beares himselfe as an infant and knowing all things neither takes nor giues notice of ought concerning his remoouall and disposing but appoints
now those hands are lift vp to him which helped to lift him vp and those faces are prostrate vnto him before whom he lay prostrate Idolatry and superstition are not easily put out of countenance But will the ielosie of the true God put it vp thus Shall Dagon escape with an harmelesse fall Surely if they had let him lye still vpon the pauement perhaps that insensible statue had found no other reuenge but now they will be aduancing it to the roodlost againe and affront Gods Arke with it the euent will shame them and let them know how much God scornes a partner either of his owne making or theirs THE morning is fittest for deuotion then do the Philistims flocke to the temple of their god What a shame is it for vs to come late to ours Although not so much piety as curiositie did now hasten their speed to see what rest their Dagon was allowed to get in his owne roofe and now behold their kinde god is come to meete them in the way some peeces of him salute their eyes vpon the threshold Dagons head and hands are ouer-runne their fellowes to tell the Philistims how much they were mistaken in a god THIS second fall breaks the Idoll in peeces and threats the same confusion to the worshippers of it Easie warnings neglected end euer in destruction The head is for deuising the hand for execution In these two powers of their god did the Philistims cheifly trust these are therfore laid vnder their feet vpon the threshold that they might a farre of see their vanitie and that if they would they might set their foote on that best peece of their god whereon their heart was set THERE was nothing wherein that Idoll resembled a man but in his head and hands the rest was but a scalie portraiture of a fish God would therefore separate from this stone that part which had mocked man with the counterfeit of himselfe that man might see what an vnworthy lumpe he had matched with himselfe and set vp aboue himselfe The iust quarrell of God is bent vpon those meanes and that parcell which haue dared to rob him of his glory How can the Philistims now misse the sight of their owne folly how can they bee but enough convicted of their mad idolatry to see their god lye broken to morsells vnder their feete euery peece whereof proclaimes the power of him that brake it and the stupiditie of those that adored it Who would expect any other issue of this act but to heare the Philistims say we now see how superstition hath blinded vs Dagon is no god for vs our hearts shall neuer more rest vpon a broken statue That onely true God which hath beaten ours shall challenge vs by the right of conquest But here was none of this rather a further degree of their dotage followes vpon this palpable conviction They cannot yet suspect that god whose head they may trample vpon but in steed of hating their Dagon that lay broken vpon their threshold they honor the threshold on which Dagon lay and dare not set their foote on that place which was hallowed by the broken head and hands of their Deity Oh the obstinacie of Idolatry which where it hath got hold of the heart knowes neither to blush nor yeeld but rather gathers strength from that which might iustly confound it The hand of the Almighty which moued them not in falling vpon their god falls now neerer them vpon their persons and strikes them in their bodies which would not feele themselues stricken in their Idoll Paine shall humble them whom shame cannot Those which had entertained the secret thoughts of abhominable Idolatry within them are now plagued in the inwardest and most secret part of their bodies with a loathsome disease and now grow weary of themselues in stead of their idolatry I doe not heare them acknowledge it was Gods hand which had stricken Dagon their god till now they finde themselues stricken Gods iudgements are the racke of godlesse men If one straine make them not confesse let them be stretched but one wrench hyer and they cannot be silent The iust auenger of sinne will not loose the glory of his executions but will haue men know from whom they smart THE emerods were not a disease beyond the compasse of naturall causes neither was it hard for the wiser sort to giue a reason of their complaint yet they ascribe it to the hand of God The knowledge and operation of secondary causes should be no preiudice to the first They are worse then the Philistims who when they see the meanes doe not acknowledge the first mouer whose actiue and iust power is no lesse seene in imploying ordinarie agents then in raising vp extraordinary neither doth hee lesse smite by a common fever then a reuenging Angell THEY iudge right of the cause what doe they resolue for the cure Let not the Arke of the God of Israel abide with vs where they should haue said let vs cast out Dagon that we may pacifie and retaine the God of Israel they determine to thrust out the Arke of God that they might peaceably inioy themselues and Dagon Wicked men are vpon all occasions glad to be rid of God but they can with no patience indure to part with their sins and whiles they are weary of the hand that punishes them they hold fast the cause of their punishment THEIR first and onely care is to put away him who as hee hath corrected so can ease them Folly is neuer separated from wickednes THEIR heart told them that they had no right to the Arke A counsell is called of their Princes and Priests If they had resolued to send it home they had done wisely Now they doe not carry it away but they carry it about from Ebenezer to Ashdod from Ashdod to Gath from Gath to Ekron Their stomacke was greater then their conscience The Arke was too sore for them yet it was too good for Israel and they will rather dye then make Israel happy Their conceit that the change of ayre could appease the Arke God vseth to his own aduantage for by this meanes his power is knowne and his iudgements spred ouer all the country of the Philistims What doe these men now but send the plague of God to their fellowes The iustice of God can make the sinnes of men their mutuall executioners It is the fashion of wicked men to draw their neighbours into the partnership of their condemnation Wheresoeuer the Arke goes there is destruction the best of Gods ordinances if they be not proper to vs are deadly The Israelites did not more shout for ioy when they saw the Arke come to them then the Ekronites cry out for greefe to see it brought amongst them Spiritual things are either soueraigne or hurtfull according to the disposition of the receiuers The Arke doth either saue or kill as it is entertained AT last when the Philistims are well weary of paine death they are glad to be quit of their sinne The voice of the Princes and people is changed to the better Send away the Arke of the God of Israel and let it returne to his owne place God knowes how to bring the stubbornnest enemie vpon his knees and makes him doe that