there would be no tides and ebbes in the world but hee that was once the greatest should alwayes so continue seeing hee could not be overcome by a lesser The Politicians would alleage Disdaine to be the cause hee that despiseth his enemie doth not strive with all his might but employing some part only and that with no great heed is often overcome by one who being weaker than hee opposeth him with the utmost of his strength and cunning One of the greatest errours that I have observed in great Potentates hath beene to see how applying their forces on an enterprise they have rather taken measure of the enemie than themselves opposing against him only so much of their strength as they conjectured to bee answerable to the present affaires and whereas with a greater power they might have beene sure of victory with an equall one they have either lost it or at least prolonged the warres with more expence of men and money It is very difficult to measure the proportion of things by their Beginnings Childrens garments must be allowed to be somewhat larger than themselves lest they growing greater the garments become too little It is enough for a meaner man if at the beginning hee bee enabled to resist a greater that so he may but get him reputation and by the meanes thereof hee can procure himselfe adherents and protectors The Giant was no sooner slaine but the Army of the Philistims being discomfited betakes it selfe to flight and the Israelites pursue and slay them THat Armie whose trust is in the straightnesse of some passage in the height of any situation in the strength of their Trenches in the valour of a man or in any one speciall thing of good defence is easily overcome by him who shall be assuredly perswaded that if he can but overthrow such a part or slay such a man or passe through the difficulties of such a hill or such fortifications he shall find no other resistance and therefore shall hee set forward very stoutly and couragiously Because men having once lost that by which they were confident they should overcome being dejected thinke there is nothing left that can defend them against the valour of their enemies But that Armie which relies upon it intire selfe equally throughout is in a manner invincible It may peradventure bee routed utterly discomfited it cannot Every one will fight to the Death because every one trusting in himselfe will not distrust of the victory untill he hath lost his life The slaughter being ended David returnes with the Giants head Saul enquires of Abner who he is Abner not knowing him goes to meet him and brings him unto Saul He askes him whose sonne hee is hee answers he is the Sonne of Ishai SEe how fading or how displeasing the memory of benefits is in Princes either Saul did not remember David or else hee was not willing to remember him Hee that but a little before had found so much favour in his sight hath now lost it both in his sight and memorie The memory of a benefit lasts well if it lasts as long as the benefit and the respect that is begotten thereby often dies before its Father If Reasons may bee rendered for the affection of a Prince towards a Courtier bee they drawne of Profit or out of Pleasure or whether accompanied with Honestie yet is it a thing but of small continuance If it follow Reason it formes a habit of which commeth satietie and if it be not grounded on Reason the ground of such affection faileth It is a vanity to thinke our selves able to yeeld a reason of the affectionate favours of Princes Those are great and slowly will they end for which there can no reason be given how they came to begin There are starres which incline them thereunto by their influences neither are those loves alwayes happie for neither are the aspects of these alwayes favourable In this manner haply that great scholler meant it though hee was not so understood when hee seemed to doubt whether any reason could be given of the Inclinations of Princes or whether they depended on the Course of their Nativitie And whereas in all other occurrents hee had shewed himselfe a friend unto reason hee never spake of this Argument or matter but made a present recourse unto Destinie which having once coupled and conjoyned with the course of the Nativity there is no doubt but he meant it by the operation of the starres Politicians may cease to teach the waies to obtaine the favour of Princes men must be borne to it not taught it A man may by his valour and wisedome make himselfe well esteemed but yet not beloved When hee had made an end of speaking the soule of Ionathan was knit with the soule of David in a knot of Amitie WOnderfull things are Friendship and Love whence they proceed with all respect and far from all presumption be it spoken men have not yet well declared for all their Philosophie Some have thought them to bee the daughters of Abundance and of Want but this were a taxing of Love and Amitie with imperfection and to deny the prime and chiefe love which wee call the holy spirit for in the three divine Persons there can bee no defect The rest of the Philosophers have deduced the originall from the similitude of the parties loving some from the Heaven some from the starres some from the temper some from the Manners some finally from the features yet peradventure they have all mistaken for if love came from the resemblance a man should rather love the male than the female and whereas Love is but seldome reciprocall it should be alwayes answered with like affection seeing one thing cannot be said to bee like another but that the other must also be like to it I beleeve that there are some Constellations conducing to Friendship and others to Love which produce in their subject a kind of lovely Character which commeth not of the Temper but rather of some I know not what celestiall impressions which the Heavens and starres with their operations have left imprinted in that tender body and that hee is most beloved that hath most thereof and that hee who hath lesse cannot be the object of Love but onely of good will or respect The reason whereof is because Beautie is the object of Love Yet not Beauty which is like unto ours but that which is greater otherwise there would not no not in Patria be any love towards God And if sometimes here we love our equall it is either because then wee see none more worthy or because wee doe not reflect thereon But onely that excellence which is in God is the adequate object of Love because that onely which is in God is the adequated object of our will and if wee could see him as hee is hee should infallibly make us love with him But because wee are here as but in Via he is not so represented to us we turne our
ordinary middle siz'd Courtiers may sometimes fall and sometimes rise The Angell fell and so did man but the man returned into grace and not the Angell because the nature of man was not so great a favorit as was that of the angell If a prince be but simply angry with his favorite so that his anger doth not end in discharging and turning him away it is a signe of love We are very angry with them whom we love entirely It is a security of being a favorite because the anger which may bee vented when it is not kept in by feare is entertained by love and is finally a confirmation of the inward affection being as one may say a certaine venting of matters which being kept in the Princes breast would ruine the Courtier and uttered with choler they call backe the love to his beginning which according to the property of all humane things receiveth satiety and corruption in time David saith in his heart I shall one day fall into the hands of Saul It is better for mee to goe into the land of the Philistims HE that hath need of fortune for his preservation let him be well assured that she is not alwayes helpfull let him withdraw himselfe out of danger because he had her on his side let him looke to have her against him and conclude that the longer she hath lasted the soner his end will come This is a precept which one shall rather finde written than observed perhaps because the nature of men which is in their disasters to complaine of fortune in their good successe to boast of their owne worth doth not permit them to bee afraid of being abaÌ„doned of those helps which they know not how or whence they obtained so that the vowes which are hanged up in the Temple of Fortune are more to pacifie her than to bee thankfull to her He therefore that of necessity to maintaine himselfe in state is driven either to the helpe of Fortune or his best skill and cunning let him live alwaies in feare for in the end the instability of the one and the deceitfulnes of the other will let him fall into the hands of Saul That Monarchy or Common weale is not stable which is not founded on forces lawes and ordinances of their owne That clocke which hath no Gnomon and which receiveth its motion either from springs or counterpoises cannot long endure without erring David with his men goe to Achish the King of Seth which when Saul understood he left off pursuing him IT seemes lawfull to flie among the pagans when there is no other way to save himselfe so that he live not like a Pagan and hee is not alwayes to bee blamed that hath recourse to their helpe for the recovery or defence of his owne estate It hath beene sometimes also permitted to helpe them against other pagans so the helpe wee yeeld them be in favour of reason and right But it shall bee alwayes recorded for a great fault to succour to encourage to move or to counsell the idolaters to an invasion of the states of true beleevers for that were not to goe against men but against God to lessen his kingdome and to enlarge the confines of the Devill David saith unto Achish I am not worthy to dwell in the head City with thee Appoint me I beseech thee some other place then Achish assigned him Ziklag DAvid withdrawes himselfe from the Court of King Achish not because Courts are to be forsaken but hee retires himselfe because his different religion and great valour would have made him suspected and feared I am not of their mind that blame and condemne the Court it is the true Paragon of vertuous men there is no place where vice is soner discovered and vertue more rewarded It is a light by which mens hearts are seene and discerned yea it is a most cleare test to distinguish naturall gold from that of Alchimie He that hath great talents let him hasten thither for there they are gloriously spent and employed Let him not regard the complaints of those whose talents how great soever they have beene have not advâ—nced them It may perhaps be found if they were examined that they were not printed with the stampe of prudence and so of no value because he that had them could not utter them or because hee would have them goe for more than they were worth He that excels in any art or science if hee have not withall some eminent place in Court hee complaines that vertues are not regarded Princes for the most part both esteeme and reward all men according to the greatnesse of their quality not of their ambition and â—f any one complaine it is thought he hath more of that than of the other A great part of the errors in the world ariseth hence not because every one doth not give place to his better but because every one doth not know his better and indeed it is a difficult thing to know him because hee goes not alwayes clad in the same cloth Men deceive themselves in equivocating from a greatnesse with an addition to an absolute greatnesse beleeving oftentimes because they are esteemed the best in some one thing that therefore they should bee the best esteemed He onely in regard hee is the greatest in his profession shall be in great repute above others whose profession shall be in estimation above others David with his men goes forth of the Citie to spoyle and destroy certaine idolatrous countries and returning to Achish makes him beleeve that hee hath beene to endamage the Israâ—lites and the King thereupon is perswaded that he might assure himselfe of David beleeved that he had so farre provoked the Israelites that he could no more be reconciled MAny Princes when they were growne jealous of the fidelity of a subiect have used the like meanes to be secured of him and the chiefest among rebels doe commonly ground their hopes in putting those that follow them in despaire Yet all such rampiers are very weake and easily overthrowne as soone as assaulted with the engine of reason and state It facilitateth pardons makes offences to bee forgotten and overcomes all desires because the desire of dominion is the first begotten and eldest of all the affections The Princes that are wary and circumspect doe thinke themselves onely assured of that faith which is either enforced or interessed The Philistimes prepare a great army to goe against Saul Achish inviteth David to goe with him and he accepts of his invitation I Would not that this place should serve for any example to any Christian Princes to accompany any Infidels in oppressing the faithfull Hee had no thought of bringing the Philistims into the Land of Israel but he was brought into the posession of that kingdome by Achish unto which God had elected him The Philistims went not to fight against the kingdome but against the King as was cleerely seene when after the overthrow given to Saul they returned to their
eyes to admire that celestiall Beautie where we finde it best imprinted among us and is often termed Gratia divisata which consisteth neither in the symmetrie of the Humours nor the Proportion of the Lineaments albeit it oftentimes accordeth and agreeth well with them both when it is not hindered by any defect in the matter and so sometimes but not alwaies the fairest bee the best beloved Hence we may learne the reason of the little correspondence and the much mutability in Love It is not alwayes counterchanged for if the greater Beauty be beloved that which is beloved will not love that which loveth it It is changed as oft as there is represented to us greater beauty than which wee love Yet it is not sufficient that it be represented unto us if wee doe not reflect upon with a desire and therefore many leave not their first love because they permit not any new object of love to enter into their mind Saul suffereth not David to returne home but setteth him over his Armie hee is very gracious in the eyes of the people and particularly of the servants of the King THe subject that is growne great diminisheth the glory of his Master 〈…〉 shall a Prince take then 〈◊〉 but of slender worth If hee take not worthy men to 〈◊〉 how will he governe his Kingdome If hee take such how will hee be a King Hee is not King over others that hath in his Palace a greater man than himselfe If his stare be unsettled he loseth his state if the state be safe his reputation With great reason men might complaine of Nature if they were not for the most part commanded by the better He that holds the Scepter is not the King hee is but the servant of his Minister who obeyeth him Crownes come by Inheritance t is true but not the faculties of ruling If fortune give those to whom shee pleaseth Nature disposeth the other to him that deserves That Proposition of the Philosophers is most true that some are bound to Command and others to obey This is confirmed by him that divided the signes of the Zodiack into commanding and obeying signes This truth is not overthrowne by seeing him to hold a Scepter that was borne fitter for the mattock though hee play the King he is not a King David commeth to Ierusalem with the Head of the Giant the women meet him rejoycing and ascribe more to him in their singing than to Saul who is displeased thereat SHort and unhappie are the favours of the People short for like the floating of the sea it is tost with every winde a Sea that in the same haven wherein one time it hath secured ships another sinkes them Unhappie are they because it is as a violent starre whose radiall beames may be good but not lucky it never raiseth any but to make their down-falls the greater unhappie love because it hath for a Correlative the Princes hatred The Prince is not Lord of that people that loveth another better than him If he be Master of their bodies and meanes the other is Master over their Hearts and minds But good God! how shall a man behave himselfe must a mans valour needs become his infelicitie A wise man may indeed not desire applause but hee cannot hinder it except he leave those qualities for which he is applauded or depart from them that applaud him Ought hee then to forgoe the Talents which God hath bestowed on him or employ them only among wild beasts in the horrid wildernesses or in solitary places The eminent vertue of men if it be not the cause of their Death is so of their Banishment At the first they are sought to out of necessitie and then againe they are expelled under colour of necessitie The Tree that was esteemed for its shadow to shelter us from the heat of the summer is afterwards cut downe to defend us from the cold of the winter The same man whom Princes embraced in the heat of their necessity is he whom they cut downe in the cold of their jelousie Saul since that never looked aright on David NAture teacheth when wee looke on our enemie to give a violent Metum to our aspect whether by staring fiercely or looking askew upon him to strike him with our very spirits and with the greatest quantity and worst quality that may be He that thinks them not to issue out of the eyes and that they proceed not to touch the object when it is neere them is deceived and hee that beleeves it will not deny that they have their operation on that subject If the only diversitie of the aspect make the selfe same radiation of the starre to be sometimes gratious and sometimes deadly why should not the eyes being the starres of this little world have power to diversifie their effects according to the diversitie of their aspects It was not long ere the Devill assaulted Saul againe and when David plaied and sung to deliver him from the oppression of the spirits hee with a speare in his hand would have slaine him but David avoided the blow and departed THat Tyrant is put to a shrewd pinch that is growne jelous of a subject of worth and reputation If hee kill him hee feares the rising of the people If he suffer him hee doubts his raysing of them Now hee accounts himselfe happy if in his oppressing him hee could make the faults of his will to be laid upon the ignorance of his understanding and with the imputation of a mad-man smother that of an ungratefull A most wicked peece of Policie to make our greatest defects the best instruments of our Government There hath beene one that made use of drunkennesse to secure himselfe of the most valorous man of his Armie and Saul doth the like by his vexation with spirits to make David away Such colourable carriages doe move the ignorant rout to compassion rather than to rebellion whiles they give place to Princes to bewaile the death of those whom themselves have slaine and to make them beleeve that their teares of joy are teares of lamentation Saul perceived that God was with David when hee could not slay him with the casting of his speare from which his valour could not defend him because hee did not expect it neither his wisedome because hee did not foresee it HEe that will know when God is with his enemie and this is a morall and not a naturall knowledge let him not consider the conquests made by his valour and by that which wee call Prudence but the helpes he receiveth from naturall inanimate things as Clouds winds fires snow ice raine and tempests for they as it is written fulfill the will of God What availeth our valour if God be not with us and what is our Prudence if God doe not governe it It is nothing I speake of politick Prudence for it is a good connexion of present things with the future and those that are past but of that which is past and which
demand some reliefe of provision and victuals But Nabal not onely denieth him but with ill words provoking him declaring his avarice to bee accompanied with malice IT is an ordinary thing in denying of benefits to accompany the deniall with injuries I know not whether it bee to cloake their avarice with hate or because such men loving their goods as deerely as their lives when one demāds to have any of them are incensed with anger as if he sought so much of their blood or els that it comes to passe because men in denying what is demanded thinke they have made him their enemy that demanded it and framing him such in their imaginations speake of him not as one that is become such but as of one that is so already Peradventure also Nabal denies with arrogancy to accomplish Davids desire doubting his guiltinesse might seeme to bee some signe that hee stood in feare of violence and to shew that hee doth not feare it himselfe in termes begins to use it David is incensed by the answer of Nabal and sets forward to destroy him and all his house But Abigail Nabals wife being a prudent and a beautifull woman hearing of Davids request and her husbands deniall goes with many beasts laden with victuals to meet David and beginneth with excuse of her husbands ignorance and foolishnesse Shee entreats him to accept of the present shee brought and pardon her husband And so David is appeased WOmen are of so great force in perswading that it hath beene held all one to hearken to them and to grant their requests He that forbade them to bee brought up in learning had an eye perhaps not onely to their difficulty of understanding but also to their facility in perswading He that was judged by the Lord God to be the wisest made use of such an instrument and that tyrant who was written among the most circumspect was afraid of this force Women have alwayes delight joined with their words and where delight is there is also perswasion If the understanding doth not agree to it the will consents so that when that which they say cannot be believed yet they which have said it must not be displeased Their teares are their Enthymems their beauty is their sword where they doe not procure love there they move compassion yea and sometimes they perswade the better because they have no skill in perswading There is no cunning suspected where there is no science yet there is more thereof in their countenance than in all Rhetoricke It is lawfull to forgoe all fiercenesse in favour of a sex that is so amorous The weaknesse of it makes us not ashamed to lay downe all our wrath to it yea rather makes him ashamed that doth not lay it downe David doth blesse God and Abigail for having by her prudence diverted him from revenging himselfe of Nabal IT is a great good hap to bee taken off from a necessity of revenging himselfe Hee that can divert it and doth not deserveth great blame hee that hindreth it great commendation and hee meriteth more that desireth to be so diverted But there are many now a dayes desirous of such necessities which if they be but small they seeke to augment them and faine some when they finde none They account it a glory to revenge and the name of revengefull glorious This is a proper art for those who having no talents by which they make themselves knowne to be men will make themselves knowne to be beasts they know not how to make themselves honoured therefore they will make themselves feared as if reputation and feare were all one The vulgar rout breede such kinde of people by applauding them but such applauses turne to their ruines seeing the quarrels which beginne among the greater sort are for the most part quenched with the blood of the meaner Cities will never be rid of these blood-thirsty companions till they cease from commending their bloody proceedings neither will the way to such false praise ever bee stopped up till the way to the true shall be laid open which then onely will be effected when Princes and States give place and occasion to their Subjects to make knowne their true valour and reward them according to their due deservings Abigail returnes to Nabal and because she findes him drunken she forbeares till the morning to speake unto him and then tells him what had passed which when hee had heard his heart was dead within him as a stone and within few dayes he dies WHy should Nabals heart become dead seeing his offence was pardoned or rather why should not his heart be dead seeing hee had offended David doth not cast him downe it is only his owne conscience Hee that offends his neighbour unjustly offends his owne reason and although his neighbour hath pardoned him she never pardons him the revenge taken of him is the rememberance of his offences Nabal cannot beleeve that revenge to be abolished whose characters being blotted out the memory of men are written in heaven for then are they written there when they are strucke out here He doth not perfectly pardon who doth not pray God to pardon which if he doe he doth not thereby diminish the offēces but in some sort increaseth them If the Judges whom the Holy Ghost calleth gods did resemble God in punishing of sinnes as they desire to bee like God in superiority above others there would not be so much offending and there would be more pardoning A man hath no sooner forgiven an offence but the Judge also pardons it yea sometimes also the Judge hath absolved before the party hath pardoned That savage fiercenesse of never pardoning an enemy would soone be abolished if their pardoning did augment the offences in the judiciary seats of men as it doth in a sort before the Tribunall or high Justice of God But when the offended pardoneth the offences are written above though here being remitted they are cancelled David taketh Abigail being a woman of singular beauty and prudence to wife and Saul gives his daughter who was first the wife of David unto Phalti WHo desires to marry to Beauty may happe to meete with a Devill for the Devill also hath some beauty But he that desires to be joyned with Prudence if he marry not an Angell yet he is surely married to an angelicall vertue Prudence is a fire which converts all Antimony into medicine makes her pleasing that 's deform'd makes her tolerated that is poore and her quietly enjoyed that is faire for it is a Bezar that corrects the venome of beauty It makes it majesticall and not lascivious and being majestical it is the daughter of the radiant beames of Iupiter not of Venus rather enforcing reverence than enflaming desire He that sees her conceits her a thing impossible to obtaine and the will never fixeth upon impossibilities if it be not fixed it reflects on the object if it doe not reflect it loves not for the often reflections are the producers of
Lord more than he and not that his Lord loves another more than himselfe This would bee a desire to tyrannize over the affections of Princes which men ought to reverence He that could make his love more fervent than that of the favorite might peradventure make himselfe the greater favorite but commonly men strive to unhorse him by malice and not by vertue because it is more easie to envy than to love Give me leave also further to affirme if without offence I may that it cannot be any blame to have a favorite unlesse men will say that Christ our Lord was to be blamed whose favorite was Saint Iohn One passing by chance neere unto Saul who longed to die and asked him whence he was and the other answering that hee was an Amalekite Saul prayeth him to kill him which hee excuseth O The unspeakable providence of God! he peradventure permitted not Saul to kill himselfe he consented that his sin should kill him One of the Amalekites whom against the will of God hee had saved alive God will have to put him to death That sinner spoke for al sinners spake divinely that said My sin is alwayes against me We have no enemies but we make some nor is Saul alone slaine by his sinne for there be but few men that are not also killed by theirs And it is very particular that one particular should kill them seeing it was the same that brought death into all the world O how pleasant and how profitable are the precepts of God! He is a Physitian under favour be it spoken not onely for the soule but for the body also He hath left us better rules in a few leaves to preserve our health than are contained in the great volumes of the bookes of the Gentiles King Saul dieth after he had reigned many yeeres and with the King dieth a great part of the people which had demanded a King FAvours are not therefore demanded of God that he may doe them but because he will doe them hee doth them by meanes of our prayers they are obtained with the Optative not with the Imperative mood Hee that will command them deserves then only to bee heard when it is to his harme to have beene heard to teach him that is God neither to bee taught nor to be commanded Wherefore then it was that Saul did lose his life and wherefore the Kingdome of Israel went out of his Progeny is easily resolved by them who omitting the manifold other causes have recourse to that alone which is the first and chiefe and prime cause from whose well all the rest proceed But why God willeth the destruction of Kings and Kingdomes would bee easie also to shew were it not the will of God is not alwayes effective but sometimes also permissive Hee wills that such as forsake him lose their kingdomes and that they that follow him obtaine them Moreover how and when it comes to passe that hee permitteth sometimes those that follow him to be abased and those that abandon him to bee exalted I doe not know and others peradventure know as little Those Princes then that are not in Gods favour let them alwayes feare how prosperous soever they are Being not able to alledge any cause of their happinesse they must needs be afraid if they be great they know not why they are so and it is to be doubted that such greatnesse cannot long endure whereof no cause can bee given for which it began He who hapning to come into the house of a fortunate man did suddenly depart thence certainly hee meant it not of them that God maketh happy and successefull but of those whom God permitteth so to be The ruine of Saul came peradventure of his owne great prosperity his being from a base estate exalted to a kingdome confirmed and setled therein with happy successe in stead of making him the more devout made him more confident yea more rash and unadvised Let us not make it lawfull to serve him the lesse who hath prospered us to the end wee should serve him the more as if the gifts or graces which God vouchsafeth us were but for our pleasure and not for his glory A great sort of men offend their God in their prosperity and pray unto him in their adversity yet is hee still the same God when he delivereth us out of misery and distresse and when he overturneth our fortunate courses and proceedings It may seeme peradventure that to deliver out of disasters doth more manifest the Divinity than to abase prosperous fortunes whence it is that men are more confident in his mercies than fearfull of his vengeance There is no man how wicked soever but doth some good thing whereunto he afterward ascribes the cause of his good successe and equivocating betweene the reward and the grace given him hath no feare of losing what he pretends to have deserved On the contrary there is no man so good but he committeth some evill whereunto for the most part he attributeth the cause of his misfortune and equivocating betweene Gods chastising and his exercising of him sends up sometimes his supplications to God when he should rather have sent thanksgivings as if the world which is the place of meriting and demeriting were the place also of rewarding and punishing To conclude let us pray his divine Majestie that he will be alwayes pleased to end the persecutions of the Davids with the death of the Sauls And all to the glory and honour of his great Name in which I end this Booke as I desire also to end my life FINIS Vid. Daâ—
love The Ziphims go to Saul and advertise him that David is in their desarts and hee goes to seeke him with 3000. chosen souldiers SEe how the pride of Saul is not mitigated with the humility of David perhaps because the pride was joyned with interest and the humility with reputation The proud man becomes meeke not when his enemy hath humbled himselfe but when hee himselfe hath humbled him That humility that is begotten by feare doth ever mitigate the pride that is not brutish hee that beleeved otherwise might haply have beene deceiued by confounding the one with interest and the other with greatnesse of minde The proud man will have his enemy bow unto him but if then when hee boweth downe his deeds lift him up he doth not mitigate but rather exasperate him because insteed of magnifying him he doth afflict and confound him All the wise yea and wily men doe humble themselves to him that persecutes them when their humility encreaseth their reputation which it alwayes doth when seperated from dobilitie The greatest pride that may be found goes clad in the habit of humility and oftentimes is not discerned by others but him onely against whom it is imployed and because by the rest it is not discovered they cannot oppose against it without being blamed David being enformed of Sauls arrivall and having gotten some knowledge of his strength calls unto him Achimelech and Abishai askes them who will goe with mee into the army of Saul and Abishai answers I will goe WHen Princes conferre a degree of honour on a subject they will make choice themselves but in a matter of danger they use to leave him to his owne choice and whereas the subject thinkes to make his merit the greater by how much it is the more voluntary the Prince on the coÌ„trary sometimes holds himselfe lesse obliged to him whom he hath least obliged I blame not this proceeding so it bee not of purpose to avoid to bee beholding but to bee assured of the sufficiency and love of the subject To expose him to danger and to love him doe not very well agree To make one to offer himselfe in a voluntary manner is not sufficient argument of such affection if without much entreatie his offer bee accepted David and Abishai goe to the campe of Saul where they finde the Guard the King himselfe and all his souldiers asleepe THe Lord God ordinarily in the effects of the world suffers his hand to bee seene of them only that are very sharpe sighted because hee workes by naturall instruments yet sometimes also he will be seene even of those that are blinde because he workes by the supernaturall aâ—me of his Omnipotency When there are operations perceived to be contrary to the ordinary course that the watchfull are found sleeping that the prudent are overseene that the valiant are faint hearted there they that are well sighted may discerne the hidden finger of God who when hee intendeth the ruine of some house or kingdome or any other place takes from it those that might save it or otherwise alters them in such sort that they oppose not his designes sometimes also taking away the marke of naturall things hee sends an Angell to burne Cities to destroy Armies and raiseth up Captaines that with the light of a torch or a lampe make Cities fall downe and then there is no eye so blinde but seeth therein the Almighty hand of God Abishai would have slaine Saul David would not permit him but takes away his speare and his pot of water WHo will wonder at David that having beene as a Lion when hee slew the Giant Goliah he now shewes himselfe a lambe in suffering Saul to live if he were a figure of that God who to the sinner was a Lambe and a Lion to the Devill He that aimeth at a dignity in shewing himselfe faint-hearted in obtaining it will not prove couragious when he hath obtained it David did not forbeare to slay Saul for any reason of State but abstained from it for the reverence and feare of God Where hath that man beene found that knew this peece of policy at any time It is too finely wrought to be disdiscerned by the eyes of those that are blinded with the passions of desire to rule or revenge untill having obtained the dominion or the revenge they desired their eyes happily are cleered then they begin to consider that which they should have considered before they are afraid of the example which themselves have begotten whence it came to passe that many have revenged the death of those Princes of which themselves have beene the procurers They are terrified in their seat of State they hate their Scepter as if it threatned violent death to him that treads on it or hold it They stand in feare of the stars that rule over that kingdome as if the vanity of those were true as it is most false who have beleeved that the violent constellations of kingdomes with a very little helpe of the Kings Horoscope had the power to kill them David calleth out to Abner and reprooves him for not having kept the King duly I Know not whether this were good policy to provoke the Generall of the army but I know that Abner after the death of Saul was he that made all the warre against David He complaines againe to Saul of his being persecuted saying if God hath stirred thee up against me let him bee appeased with sacrifice if men have done it accursed bee they of God HE speakes not of appeasing men he knowes that malignity may be extinguished but never appealed and that no other sacrifice doth extinguish it but the suffering of himselfe to be extinct He that practiseth malignity is base he that gives eare to it is weake 't is not the part of a prudent or a wary man It is a sword that is sharpe on every side one cannot strike with it but is wounded himselfe hee is irkesome to those that heare him among whom while he seekes to endamage another hee loseth his owne reputation but yet he is hearkned to and why they hearken to him and how this is wrought I know not neither will I teach nor learne it For I hold the profession so infamous that if I did contemplate the means of the practice thereof I should accuse my selfe to bee guilty in the tribunall of detraction To teach others how to bee malicious is a great malignity and would bee a great madnesse in me I should sharpen that sword that hath wounded mee so oft and should make my selfe master of a profession which I never practised but passively Saul confesseth againe that he hath sinned and prayeth David to returne who answers Let one come to fetch the Kings speare but speakes not of his returning THe great favorites of Princes if they once fall they fall headlong they are gone they caÌ„not up againe The cause that shall separate them from their Lord must needs be great there is no returning The
they would not goe with lesse danger if they were separated from whence may bee taken an instruction for them that wil fortifie themselves in a place that they have regard to accommodate in such manner that the fortification it selfe may be able to withstand the incursion of a multitude or otherwise not thinke their strength sufficient to maintaine it with neither fire nor shot David askes counsell of the Lord thereupon what shall bee done and suddenly turnes to follow the steps of the Amalekites THis is the best way to withdraw himselfe out of danger to divert an angry multitude to the true object of their anger that thereby they may forsake the false They finally finde out the Amalekites fight with them and overcome them recovering the prey with the prisoners and the spoile which they had taken David will have divided with those that kept the baggage and were not at the fight THe Captaine of a male-contented company had need bee both valorous and circumspect That heat that stirres up a multitude whether for love to their leader or anger against their Prince groweth soone cold and then gives place to a comparison to which succeedeth repentance the consequence whereof is either the killing of their Captaine or the abandoning of him Neither is it sufficient for the eschewing of such a danger to have once gotten a great reputation time consumeth it and how great soever it be reduceth it to nothing It is necessary to linke it into a chaine not suffering the report of a great action to cease without renewing it with another as great or greater David because his flying from Saul might take from him the reputation hee had gotten in subduing the Giant no sooner begins to flie but hee fights and overcomes the Philistimes that had sacked â—eilah and because that flight is an argument of feare and that feare brings a losse of reputation he makes it knowne that he could twice have killed the King to give his flight the title of reverence and to take away the imputation of feare Afterward being returned to Ziklag that the malecontented might not have leisure to make any reflections on him to his harme and desirous to maintaine his reputation hee oftentimes with honour and profit to himselfe assaulteth the infidels and finally vanquisheth the Amalekites and recovereth that reputation the diminution whereof had brought him into the perill of being stoned The Philistimes fight with the Israelites and have broken the body of their army and slaine three of the Kings sonnes the strength of the whole charged Saul when he turning to his Armour-bearer prayes him to kill him that he might not be a derision to the uncircumcised which when he refused Saul sets his owne sword against his breast and falling on it kills himselfe I Know not how the description of death to bee the utmost of all terrible things should bee understood If in this life the utmost of all delectable things be not to be had why should the utmost of the terrible One of the contraries cannot bee admitted but the other must also bee granted Now to live not being the utmost of delectable things teacheth that to dye is not the utmost of the terrible The not finding in this our world any object that is the last of delectable and of terrible things if we will not suppose the powers without an object makes us beleeve that it is in the other world and in that other world is God seene and not seene But he that described death the last of all terrible things meant it of things in this world which would be true if spoken of the last in number and not in weight for otherwise if it be such in it selfe it must then be alway such unto all And yet we read of many men that have imbraced it to eschew some other thing which wee must needs beleeve was more terrible to them He that wonders at a resolution so extravagant as makes a man kill himselfe may marvell at nature also which being sometimes terrified at death doth prevent it The Armour-bearer of Saul seeing what his Lord had done drawes out likewise his sword and kils himselfe Some Writers are of opinion that this was Doeg the Edomite Sauls favourite who lest hee should bee punished by his successor killed himselfe THe favorites of a Prince that hath a successour if they die not before Saul yet they die often with Saul I know not how to steere them from this rocke there hath beene one that seeing no other remedy made at the soveraignty it selfe and was just there destroyed There hath beene also that turned his backe to the West and sate his eyes toward the East and towards those rayes that would have beene deadly to him had not that Sun beene then under the line of the Horizon As the sons of Princes cannot endure any companion in domination no more will Princes in their love He that thinkes there is no envie betwixt the father and the son is deceived The honours done to the sonne if they increase that of the father doe rejoyce him but if they diminish his they make him sorrowfull which because it falls out but seldome men suppose there is no such thing When the favorite hath hope that by course of nature hee shall survive the Prince it is a hard matter for him not to have an eye to the future toward which if he cast a look he loseth that which is present but hee deserves no favour that desires or thinkes to out-live his Lord The greatest felicity that may befall the former it being not lawfull for any violently to charge upon death would be to end his life just when the latter dieth It is hard to die before him because it is no easie thing to leave one that is his Patron and his Love He that blames Princes for having favorites would have them inhumane and vile What thing is a man that hath no love or wherein may a Prince shew gracious unto others or see himselfe his owne greatnes but in advancing of others and how or why should he advance them if he doth not love them Would they have him alwayes masked would they not allow him any to whom he may unstrip himselfe and discover the secrets of his heart He that will give to Princes that which surely they ought to have leave to descend sometimes from their throne of Majestie and to conferre their inward cogitations with any one hee must allow a favorite If the Prince lay aside his Majestie withall he would grow contemptible if his secrets should bee imparted unto many they could not bee secrets but if he be familiar but to one open but to one hee is then the favorite It is wished by them that are not beloved above the rest that the Prince would love all alike but why should he love all alike since he is not beloved himselfe of all alike A well devoted subject ought to bee grieved that any one loveth his