pray thee be against me and against my fathers house The better any man is the more sensible hee is of his owne wretchednesse Many of those Sheepe were Wolues to Dauid What had they done They had done that which was the occasion of Dauids sinne and the cause of their owne punishment But that gracious penitent knew his owne sinne he knew not theirs and therefore can say I haue sinned What haue they done It is safe accusing where we may be boldest and are best acquainted our selues Oh the admirable charitie of Dauid that would haue ingrossed the plague to himselfe and his house from the rest of Israel and sues to interpose himselfe betwixt his people and the vengeance Hee that had put himselfe vpon the pawes of the Beare and Lion for the rescue of his Sheepe will now cast himselfe vpon the sword of the Angell for the preseruation of Israel There was hope in those conflicts in this yeeldance there could be nothing but death Thus didst thou O sonne of Dauid the true and great Shepheard of thy Church offer thy selfe to death for them who had their hands in thy bloud who both procured thy death and deserued their owne Here hee offred himselfe that had sinned for those whom hee professeth to haue not done euill thou that didst no sinne vouchsauedst to offer thy selfe for vs that were all sinne He offered and escaped thou offeredst and diedst and by thy death wee liue and are freed from euerlasting destruction But O Father of all mercies how little pleasure doest thou take in the bloud of sinners it was thine owne pitty that inhibited the destroyer Ere Dauid could see the Angell thou hadst restrayned him It is sufficient hold now thine hand If thy compassion did not both withhold and abridge thy iudgements what place were there for vs out of hell How easie and iust had it been for God to haue made the shutting vp of that third euening red with bloud His goodnesse repents of the slaughter and cals for that Sacrifice wherwith he will be appeased An Altar must bee built in the threshing-floore of Araunah the Iebusite Lo in that very Hill where the Angel held the sword of Abraham from killing his Sonne doth God now hold the Sword of the Angell from killing his people Vpon this very ground shall the Temple after stand heere shall be the holy Altar which shall send vp the acceptable oblations of Gods people in succeeding generations O God what was the threshing-floore of a Iebusite to thee aboue all other soyles What vertue what merit was in this earth As in places so in persons it is not to be heeded what they are but what thou wilt That is worthiest which thou pleasest to accept Rich and bountifull Araunah is ready to meete Dauid in so holy a motion and munificently offers his Sion for the place his Oxen for the Sacrifice his Carts and Ploughes and other Vtensils of his Husbandry for the wood Two franke hearts are well met Dauid would buy Araunah would giue The Iebusite would not sell Dauid will not take Since it was for God and to Dauid Araunah is loth to bargaine Since it was for God Dauid wisheth to pay deare I will not offer burnt Offering to the Lord my God of that which doth cost mee nothing Heroicall spirits doe well become eminent persons Hee that knew it was better to giue then receiue would not receiue but giue There can be no deuotion in a niggardly heart As vnto dainty palates so to the godly soule that tastes sweetest that costs most Nothing is deare enough for the Creator of all things It is an heartlesse piety of those base-minded Christians that care onely to serue God good cheape Contemplations THE SEVENTEENTH BOOKE Adonijah defeated Dauids end and Salomons beginning The execution of Ioab and Shimei Salomons choice with his iudgement vpon the two Harlots The Temple Salomon with the Queene of Sheba Salomons Defection TO MY WORTHILY MVCH HONOVRED FRIEND Sr HENRY MILDMAY Knight Master of the Iewell-house all grace and peace SIR Besides all priuate obligations your very name challengeth from me all due seruices of loue and honour If I haue receiued mercy to beare any fruit next vnder heauen I may thanke the stocke wherein I was ymped which was set by no other then the happie hand of your right Honorable Grandfather How haue I so long forborne the publique Testimonie of my iust gratulations and thankfull respects to so true an heire of his noble vertues Pardon me that I pay this debt so late and accept of this parcell of my well-meant labours Wherein you shall see SALOMON both in his rising and setting his rising hopefull and glorious his declination fearefull You shall see the proofes of his early graces of mercie in sparing ADONIIAH and ABIATHAR of iustice in punishing that riuall of his with IOAB and SHIMEI of wisdome in his award betwixt the two harlots and the administration of his Court and state of pietie in building and hallowing the Temple all dashed in his fall repaired in his repentance I haue no cause to misdoubt either the acceptation or vse of these mine hie pitched thoughts which together with your selfe and your worthy and vertuous Lady I humbly commend to the care and blessing of the hiest who am bound by your worth and merits to be euer Your syncerely and thankfully deuoted in all obseruance IOS HALL Contemplations ADONIJAH Defeated DAVID had not so carefully husbanded his yeeres as to maintaine a vigorous age he was therefore what through warres what with sorrowes what with sicknesse decrepit betimes By that time he was seuentie yeeres old his naturall heate was so wasted that his clothes could not warme him how many haue we knowne of more strength at more age The holiest soule dwells not in an inpregnable fort If the reuenging Angell spared Dauid yet age and Death will not spare him Neither his new altar nor his costly sacrifice can be of force against decay of nature Nothing but death can preuent the weaknesses of age None can blame a people if when they haue a good King they are desirous to hold him Dauids seruants and subiects haue commended vnto his bed a faire young virgin not for the heat of lust but of life that by this meanes they might make an outward supplie of fuell for that vitall fire which was well-neere extinguished with age As it is in the market or the stage so it is in our life One goes in another comes out when Dauid was withering Adonijah was in his blossome That sonne as he was next to Absalom both in the beautie of his body and the time of his birth so was he too like him in practise He also taking aduantage of his fathers infirmitie will be caruing himselfe of the kingdome of Israel That he might no whit vary from his patterne he gets him also Charets and horse-men and fiftie men to run before him These two Absalom and Adonijah were
heart of Absalom is guided by a power aboue their owne Hushai shall therefore preuaile with Absalom that the treason of Absalom may not preuaile He that worketh all in all things so disposeth of wicked men and spirits that whiles they doe most oppose his reuealed will they execute his secret and whiles they think most to please they ouerthrow themselues When Absalom first met Hushai returned to Hierusalem he vpbraided him pleasantly with the scoffe of his professed friendship to Dauid Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend Sometimes there is more truth in the mouth then in the heart more in iest then in earnest Hushai was a friend his stay was his kindnesse and now he hath done that for which he was left at Hierusalem disappointed Achitophel preserued Dauid Neither did his kindnesse to his friend rest here but as one that was iustly iealous of him with whom he was allowed to temporize he mistrusts the approbation of Absalom and not daring to put the life of his master vpon such an hazard he giues charge to Zadok and Abiathar of this intelligence vnto Dauid we cannot be too suspicious when we haue to doe with those that are faithlesse We cannot be too curious of the safetie of good Princes Hushai feares not to descry the secrets of Absaloms counsell To betray a traitor is no other then a commendable worke Zadok and Abiathar are fast within the gates of Hierusalem their sonnes lay purposely abroad in the fields this message that concerned no lesse then the life of Dauid and the whole kingdome of Israel must be trusted with a maid Sometimes it pleaseth the wisdome of God who hath the varietie of heauen and earth before him to single out weake instruments for great seruices and they shall serue his turne as well as the best No counsailour of state could haue made this dispatch more effectually Ionathan and Ahimaaz are sent descried pursued preserued The fidelitie of a maid instructed them in their message the suttletie of a woman saued their liues At the well of Rogel they receiued their message in the Well of Bahurim was their life saued The sudden wit of a woman hath choked the mouth of her Well with dried corne that it might not bewray the messengers and now Dauid heares safely of his danger and preuents it and though weary with trauell and laden with sorrow he must spend the night in his remoue Gods promises of his deliuerance and the confirmation of his kingdome may not make him neglect the meanes of his safetie If he be faithfull we may not be carelesse since our diligence and care are appointed for the factors of that diuine prouidence The acts of God must abate nothing of ours rather must we â—abour by doing that which he requireth to further that which he decreeth There are those that haue great wits for the publique none for themselues Such was Achitophel who whiles he had powers to gouerne a state could not tell how to rule his owne passions Neuer till now doe we finde his counsell balked neither was it now reiected as â—ll only Hushaies was allowed for better he can liue no longer now that he is beaten at his owne weapon this alone iâ— cause enough to saddle his Asseâ— and to goe home and put thâ— halter about his owne necke Pride causes men both to misinterpret disgraces and to ouerrate them Now is Dauids praieâ— heard Achitophels counsell is turned into foolishnesse Desperatâ— Achitophel what if thou be noâ— the wisest man of all Israelâ— Euen those that haue not attained to the hiest pitch of wisdome haue found contentment in a mediocritie what 〈◊〉 thy counsell were despised 〈◊〉 wise man knowes to liue happily in spight of an vniust contempt what madnesse is this 〈◊〉 reuenge another mans reputation vpon thy selfe And whiles thou striuest for the hiest roome of wisdome to run into the grossest extremitie of folly Worldly wisdome is no protection from shame and ruine How easily may a man though naturally wise be made wearie of life A little paine a little shame a little losse a small affront can soone rob a man of all comfort and cause his owne hands to rob him of himselfe If there were not hier respects then the world can yeeld to maintaine vs in being it should be a miracle if indignation did not kill more then disease now that God by whose appointment we liue here for his most wise and holy purposes hath found meanes to make life sweet and death terrible What a mixture doe we finde here of wisdome and madnesse Achitophel will needs hang himselfe there is madnesse He will yet set his house in order there is an act of wisdome And could it be possible that he who was so wise as to set his house in order should be so mad as to hang himselfe That he should be carefull to order his house who regarded not to order his impotent passions That he should care for his house who cared not for either body or soule How vaine it is for a man to be wise if he be not wise in God How preposterous are the cares of idle worldlings that prefer all other things to themselues and whiles they looke at what they haue in their cofers forget what they haue in their breasts The Death of Absalom THE same God that raised enmitie to Dauid from his own loines procured him fauour from forrainers Strangers shall releeue him whom his owne sonne persecutes Here is not a losse but an exchange of loue Had Absalom beene a sonne of Ammon and Shobi a sonne of Dauid Dauid had found no cause of complaint If God take with one hand he giues with another whiles that diuine bountie serues vs in good meat though not in our owne dishes we haue good reason to be thankfull No sooner is Dauid come to Mahanaim then Barzillai Machir and Shobi refresh him with prouisions Who euer saw any childe of God left vtterly destitute Whosoeuer be the messenger of our aide we know whence he comes Heauen shall want power and earth meanes before any of the houshold of faith shall want maintenance He that formerly was forced to imploy his armes for his defence against a tyrannous father in law must now buckle them on against an vnnaturall sonne Now therefore he musters his men and ordaines his commanders and marshalls his troupes and since their loyall importunitie will not allow the hazard of his person he at once incourages them by his eye and restraines them with his tongue Deale gently with the yong man Absalom for my sake How vnreasonably fauourable are the warres of a father O holy Dauid what meanes this ill-placed loue this vniust mercy Deale gently with a traytor but of all traytors with a sonne of all sonnes with an Absalom the gracelesse dareling of so good a father and all this for thy sake whose crowne whose bloud he hunts after For whose sake should Absalom be pursued if hee must be forborne for thine He
was still courteous to thy followers affable to sutors plausible to all Israel only to thee he is cruell Wherefore are those armes if the cause of the quarrell must be a motiue of mercy Yet thou saist Deale gently with the young man Absalom for my sake Euen in the holiest Parents nature may be guilty of an iniurious tendernesse of a bloudy indulgence Or whether shall we not rather thinke this was done in type of that vnmeasurable mercy of the true king and redeemer of Israel who prayed for his persecutors for his murderers and euen whiles they were at once scorning and killing him could say Father forgiue them for they know not what they do If we be sonnes we are vngratious we are rebellious yet still is our heauenly Father thus compassionately regardfull of vs Dauid was not sure of the successe there was great inequalitie in the number Absaloms forces were more then double to his It might haue come to the contrary issue that Dauid should haue beene forced to say Deale gently with the father of Absalom but in a supposition of that victorie which only the goodnesse of his cause bade him hope for he saith Deale gently with the young man Absalom as for vs we are neuer but vnder mercy our God needs no aduantages to sweepe vs from the earth any moment yet he continues that life and those powers to vs whereby we prouoke him and bids his Angels deale kindly with vs and beare vs in their armes whiles we lift vp our hands and bend our tongues against heauen O mercie past the comprehension of all finite spirits and only to be conceiued by him whose it is Neuer more resembled by any earthly affection then by this of his Deputie and Type Deale gently with the young man Absalom for my sake The battell is ioyned Dauids followers are but an handfull to Absaloms How easily may the fickle multitude be transported to the wrong side What they wanted in abettors is supplied in the cause Vnnaturall ambition drawes the sword of Absalom Dauids a necessarie and iust defence They that in simplicitie of heart followed Absalom cannot in malice of heart persecute the father of Absalom with what courage could any Israelite draw his sword against a Dauid or on the other side who can want courage to fight for a righteous Soueraigne and father against the conspiracie of a wicked sonne The God of hosts with whom it is all one to saue with many or with few takes part with iustice and lets Israel feele what it is to beare armes for a traiterous vsurper The sword deuoures twentie thousand of them and the wood deuoures more then the sword It must needs be a very vniuersall rebellion wherein so many perished What vertue or merits can assure the hearts of the vulgar when so gracious a Prince findes so many reuolters Let no man looke to prosper by rebellion the very thickets and stakes and pits and wild beasts of the wood shall conspire to the punishment of traitors Amongst the rest see how a fatall oke hath singled out the ring-leader of this hatefull insurrection and will at once serue for his hangman and gallowes by one of those spreading armes snatching him away to speedy execution Absalom was comely and he knew it well enough His haire was no small peece of his beautie nor matter of his pride It was his wont to cut it once a yeere not for that it was too long but too heauie his heart could haue borne it longer if his necke had not complained And now the iustice of God hath platted an halter of those lockes Those tresses had formerly hangd loosely disheueld on his shoulders now he hangs by them He had wont to weigh his haire and was proud to finde it so heauie now his haire poyseth the weight of his bodie and makes his burden his torment It is no maruell if his owne haire turnd traitor to him who durst rise vp against his father That part which is misused by man to sinne is commonly imployed by God to reuenge The reuenge that it worketh for God makes amends for the offence whereto it is drawne against God The very beast wheron Absalom sat as wearie to beare so vnnaturall a burden resignes ouer his lode to the tree of Iustice There hangs Absalom betweene heauen and earth as one that was hated and abandoned both of earth and heauen As if God meant to prescribe this punishment for traitors Absalom Achitophel and Iudas die all one death So let them perish that dare lift vp their hand against Gods anointed The honest souldier sees Absalom hanging in the Oke and dares not touch him his hands were held with the charge of Dauid Beware that none touch the young man Absalom Ioab vpon that intelligence sees him and smites him with no lesse then three darts What the souldier forbore in obedience the Captaine doth in zeale not fearing to preferre his Soueraignes safetie to his command and more tendering the life of a King and peace of his Countrie then the weake affection of a father I dare not sit Iudge betwixt this zeale and that obedience betwixt the captaine and the Souldier the one was a good subiect the other a good Patriot the one loued the King the other loued Dauid and out of loue disobeyed the one meant as well as the other sped As if God meant to fulfill the charge of his Anointed without any blame of his subiects it pleased him to execute that immediate reuenge vpon the rebell which would haue dispatcht him without hand or dart only the Mule and the Oke conspired to this execution but that death would haue required more leasure then it was safe for Israel to giue and still life would giue hope of rescue to cut off all feares Ioab lends the Oke three darts to helpe forward so needfull a worke of iustice All Israel did not afford so firme a friend to Absalom as Ioab had beene who but Ioab had suborned the wittie widow of Tekoah to sue for the recalling of Absalom from his three yeeres exile Who but he went to fetch him from Geshur to Ierusalem Who but he fetcht him from his house at Ierusalem whereto he had beene two yeeres confined to the face to the lips of Dauid Yet now he that was his solicitour for the Kings fauour is his executioner against the Kings charge With honest hearts all respects either of bloud or friendship cease in the case of treason well hath Ioab forgotten himselfe to be friend to him who had forgotten himselfe to be a sonne Euen ciuilly the King is our common father our countrie our common mother nature hath no priuate relations which should not gladly giue place to these He is neither father nor sonne nor brother nor friend that conspires against the common parent Well doth he who spake parables for his masters sonne now speake darts to his Kings enemie and pierces that heart which was false to so good a father
That God whose counsells are secret euen where his actions are open will not be close to his Prophet to his Priest without inquirie we shall know nothing vpon inquirie nothing shall be concealed from vs that is fit for vs to know Who can choose but wonder at once both at Dauids slacknesse in consulting with God and Gods speed in answering so slow a demand He that so well knew the way to Gods Oracle suffers Israel to be three yeeres pinched with famine ere he askes why they suffer Euen the best hearts may be ouertaken with dulnesse in holy duties But oh the maruellous mercy of our God that takes not the aduantage of our weaknesses Dauids question is not more slow then his answer is speedie It is for Saul and for his bloudie house because he slew the Gibeonites Israel was full of sinnes besides those of Sauls house Sauls house was full of sinnes besides those of bloud Much bloud was shed by them besides that of the Gibeonites yet the iustice of God singles out this one sinne of violence offered to the Gibeonites contrary to the league made by Ioshua some foure hundred yeeres before for the occasion of this late vengeance Where the causes of offence are infinite it is iust with God to pitch vpon some it is mercifull not to punish for all Welneere fortie yeeres are past betwixt the commission of the sinne and the reckoning for it It is a vaine hope that is raised from the delay of iudgement No time can be any preiudice to the ancient of daies When we haue forgotten our sinnes when the world hath forgotten vs he sues vs afresh for our arerages The slaughter of the Gibeonites was the sinne not of the present but rather the former generation and now posteritie paies for their forefathers Euen we men hold it not vniust to sue the heires and executors of our debters Eternall paiments God vses only to require of the person temporarie oft-times of succession As Saul was higher by the head and shoulders then the rest of Israel both in stature and dignitie so were his sinnes more conspicuous then those of the vulgar The eminence of the person makes the offence more remarkable to the eies both of God and men Neither Saul nor Israel were faultlesse in other kindes yet God fixes the eie of his reuenge vpon the massacre of the Gibeonites Euery sin hath a tongue but that of bloud ouer cries and drownes the rest He who is mercy it selfe abhorres crueltie in his creature aboue all other inordinatenesse That holy soule which was heauie pressed with the weight of an hainous adulterie yet cries out Deliuer me from bloud O God the God of my saluation and my tongue shall sing ioyfully of thy righteousnesse If God would take account of bloud he might haue entred the action vpon the bloud of Vriah spilt by Dauid or if he would rather insist in Sauls house vpon the bloud of Ahimelech the Priest and fourescore and fiue persons that did weare a linnen Ephod but it pleased the wisdome and iustice of the Almightie rather to call for the bloud of the Gibeonites though drudges of Israel and a remnant of Amorites Why this There was a periurie attending vpon this slaughter It was an ancient oath wherein the Princes of the Congregation had bound themselues vpon Iosuaâ—s league to the Gibeonites that they would suffer them to liue an oath extorted by fraud but solemne by no lesse name then the Lord God of Israel Saul will now thus late either not acknowledge it or not keepe it out of his zeale therefore to the children of Israel and Iudah he roots out some of the Gibeonites whether in a zeale of reuenge of their first imposture or in a zeale of inlarging the possessions of Israel or in a zeale of executing Gods charge vpon the brood of Canaanites he that spared Agag whom he should haue smitten smites the Gibeonites whom he should haue spared Zeale and good intention is no excuse much lesse a warrant for euill God holds it an hie indignitie that his name should be sworne by and violated Length of time cannot dispense with our oathes with our vowes The vowes and oathes of others may binde vs how much more our owne There was a famine in Israel a naturall man would haue ascribed it vnto the drought and that drought perhaps to some constellations Dauid knowes 〈◊〉 looke higher and sees a diuine hand scourging Israel for some great offence and ouer-ruling those second causes to his most iust executions Euen the most quick-sighted worldling is pore-blinde to spirituall obiects and the weakest eyes of the regenerate pierce the Heauens and espy God in all earthly occurrences So well was Dauid acquainted with Gods proceedings that hee knew the remouall of the iudgement must begin at the satisfaction of the wronged At once therefore doth he pray vnto God and treat with the Gibeonites What shall I doe for you and wherewith shall I make the attonement that I may blesse the inheritance of the Lord In vaine should Dauid though a Prophet blesse Israel if the Gibeonites did not blesse them Iniuries done vs on earth giue vs power in heauen The oppressor is in no mans mercy but his whom he hath trampled vpon Little did the Gibeonites thinke that God had so taken to heart their wrongs that for their sakes all Israel should suffer Euen when we thinke not of it is the righteous Iudge auenging our vnrighteous vexations Our hard measures cannot be hid from him his returns are hid from vs It is sufficient for vs that God can be no more neglectiue then ignorant of our sufferings It is now in the power of these despised Hiuites to make their own termes with Israel Neither Siluer nor Gold will sauour with them towards their satisfaction Nothing can expiate the bloud of their fathers but the bloud of seauen sonnes of their deceased persecutor Here was no other then a iust retaliation Saul had punished in them the offence of their predecessours they will now reuenge Sauls sinne in his children The measure we mete vnto others is with much equitie re-measured vnto our selues Euery death would not content them of Sauls sonnes but a cursed and ignominious hanging on the Tree Neither would that death content them vnlesse their owne hands might be the executioners Neither would any place serue for the execution but Gibeah the Court of Saul neither would they doe any of this for the wreaking of their owne fury but for the appeasing of Gods wrath We will hang them vp vnto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul Dauid might not refuse the condition Hee must deliuer they must execute Hee chooses out seuen of the sonnes and grand-children of Saul That House had raysed long an vniust persecution against Dauid now God payes it vpon anothers score Dauids loue and oath to Ionathan preserues lame Mephibosheth How much more shall the Father of all mercies doe good vnto the children of the
wont to tell Nathan what he meant to doe in his holy and most important ciuill affaires There are cases wherein it is not vnfit for Gods Prophets to meddle with matters of State It is no disparagement to religious Princes to impart their counsels vnto them who can requite them with the counsels of God That wood which a single yron could not riue is soone splitted with a double wedge The seasonable importunitie of Bathsheba and Nathan thus seconding each other hath so wrought vpon Dauid that now his loue to Adonijah giues place to indignation nature to an holy fidelitie and now he renewes his ancient oath to Bathsheba with a passionate solemnitie As the Lord liueth who hath redeemed my soule out of all aduersitie euen as I sware vnto thee by the Lord God of Israel saying Assuredly Salomon thy sonne shall reigne after me and he shall sit vpon my throne in my stead so will I certainly doe this day In the decay of Dauids body I finde not his intellectiue powers any whit impaired As one therefore that from his bed could with a perfect if weake hand stere the gouernment of Israel he giues wise and full directions for the inauguration of Salomon Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet and Benaiah the Captaine receiue his graue and Princely charge for the carriage of that so weightie a businesse They are commanded to take with them the royall gard to set Salomon vpon his fathers Mule to carry him downe in state to Gihon to anoint him with the holy oile of the Tabernacle to sound the trumpets and proclaime him in the streets to bring him backe with triumph and magnificence to the Court and to set him in the royall Throne with all the due ceremonies of Coronation How pleasing was this command to them who in Salomons glorie saw their owne safetie Benaiah applauds it and not fearing a fathers enuie in Dauids presence wisheth Salomons throne exalted aboue his The people are rauished with the ioy of so hopefull a succession and breake the earth and fill the heauen with the noise of their Musicke and shoutings Salomons guests had now at last better cheere then Adonijahs whose feast as all wicked mens ended in horror No sooner are their bellies full of meat then their eares are full of the sound of those trumpets which at once proclaime Salomons triumph and their confusion Euer after the meale is ended comes the reckoning God could as easily haue preuented this iollitie as marred it But he willingly suffers vaine men to please themselues for the time in the conceited successe of their owne proiects that afterwards their disappointment may be so much more grieuous No doubt at this feast there was many an health drunke to Adonijah many a confident boast of their prospering designe many a scorne of the despised faction of Salomon and now for their last dish is serued vp astonishment and fearefull expectation of a iust reuenge Ionathan the sonne of Abiathar the Priest brings the newes of Salomons solemne and ioyfull enthronization now all hearts are cold all faces pale and euery man hath but life enough to run away How suddenly is this brauing troupe dispersed Adonijah their new Prince flies to the hornes of the Altar as distrusting all hopes of life saue the Sanctitie of the place and the mercie of his riuall So doth the wise and iust God befoole proud and insolent sinners in those secret plots wherein they hope to vndermine the true sonne of Dauid the Prince of peace he suffers them to lay their heads together and to feast themselues in a iocund securitie and promise of successe at last when they are at the height of their ioyes and hopes he confounds all their deuices and laies them open to the scorne of the world and to the anguish of their owne guiltie hearts Dauids end and Salomons beginning IT well became Salomon to begin his raigne in peace Adonijah receiues pardon vpon his good behauiour and finds the throne of Salomon as safe as the Altar Dauid liues to see a wise sonne warme in his seat and now hee that had yeelded to succession yeelds to nature Many good counsels had Dauid giuen his heire now hee summes them vp in his end Dying words are wont to be weightiest The Soule when it is entring into glory breathes nothing but diuine I goe the way of all the earth How well is that princely heart content to subscribe to the conditions of humane mortalitie as one that knew Soueraigntie doth not reach to the affaires of nature Though a King he neither expects nor desires an immunity from dissolution making not account to goe in any other then the common tracke to the vniuersall home of mankinde the house of age Whither should earth but to earth and why should wee grudge to doe that which all doe Be thou strong therefore and shew thy selfe a man Euen when his spirit was going out he puts spirit into his Sonne Age puts life into youth and the dying animates the vigorous He had well found that strength was requisite to gouernment that he had need to be no lesse then a man that should rule ouer men If greatnesse should neuer receiue any opposition yet those worlds of cares and businesses that attend the chayre of State are able to ouer-lay any meane powers A weake man may obey none but the strong can gouerne Gracelesse courage were but the whet-stone of tyranny Take heed therefore to the charge of the Lord thy God to walke in his wayes and to keepe his Statutes The best legacy that Dauid bequeathes to his heire is the care of piety himselfe had found the sweetnesse of a good conscience and now hee commends it to his successor If there be any thing that in our desires of the prosperous condition of our children takes place of goodnesse our hearts are not vpright Here was the father a King charging the King his sonne to keepe the Statutes of the King of Kings as one that knew greatnesse could neither exempt from obedience nor priuiledge sinne as one that knew the least deuiation in the greatest and hiest Orbe is both most sensible and most dangerous Neither would he haue his sonne to looke for any prosperity saue onely from well-doing That happinesse is built vpon sands or Ice which is raised vpon any foundation besides vertue If Salomon were wise Dauid was good and if old Salomon had well remembred the counsell of old Dauid hee had not so foulely mis-carried After the precepts of pietie follow those of iustice distributing in a due recompence as reuenge to Ioab and Shimei so fauour to the house of Barzillai The bloudinesse of Ioab had lien long vpon Dauids heart the hideous noyse of those treacherous murders as it had pierced heauen so it still filled the eares of Dauid He could abhorre that villanie though hee could not reuenge it What hee cannot pay he will owe and approue himselfe at last a faithfull debtor Now he
will defray it by the hand of Salomon The slaughter was of Abner and Amasa Dauid appropriates it Thou knowest what Ioab did to mee The Soueraigne is smitten in the Subject Neither is it other then iust that the arraignement of meane malefactors runnes in the stilâ— of wrong to the Kings Crowne and dignitie How much more doest thou O sonne of Dauid take to thy selfe those insolencies which are done to thy poorest subiects seruants sonnes members here vpon earth No Saul can touch a Christian here below but thou feelest it in heauen and complainest But what shall we thinke of this Dauid was a man of war Salomon a King of peace yet Dauid referres this reuenge to Salomon How iust it was that he who shed the bloud of warre in peace and put the bloud of war vpon his girdle that was about his loynes should haue his bloud shed in peace by a Prince of peace Peace is fittest to rectifie the out-rages of Warre Or whether is not this done in type of that diuine administration wherein thou O Father of heauen hast committed all iudgement vnto thine eternall sonne Thou who couldst immediately either plague or absolue sinners wilt doe neither but by the hand of a Mediator Salomon learned betimes what his ripenesse taught afterwards Take away the wicked from the King and his Throne shall be established in righteousnesse Cruell Ioab and malicious Shimei must be therefore vpon the first opportunity remoued The one lay open to present iustice for abetting the conspiracy of Adonijah neither needes the helpe of time for a new aduantage The other went vnder the protection of an oath from Dauid and therefore must be fetcht in vpon a new challenge The hoare head of both must be brought to the graue with bloud else Dauids head could not be brought to his graue in peace Due punishment of malefactors is the debt of authoritie If that holy King haue run into arerages yet as one that hates and feares to breake the banke he giues order to his pay-master It shall be defraid if not by him yet for him Generous natures cannot be vnthankfull Barzillai had shewed Dauid some kindnesse in his extremitie and now the good man will haue posteritie to inherit the thankes How much more bountifull is the Father of mercies in the remuneration of our poore vnworthy seruices Euen successions of generations shall fare the better for one good parent The dying words and thoughts of the man after Gods owne heart did not confine themselues to the straites of these particular charges but inlarged themselues to the care of Gods publique seruice As good men are best at last Dauid did neuer so busily and carefully marshall the affaires of God as when he was fixed to the bed of his age and death Then did he lode his sonne Salomon with the charge of building the house of God then did he lay before the eies of his sonne the modell and patterne of that whole sacred worke whereof if Salomon beare the name yet Dauid no lesse merits it He now giues the platforme of the Courts and buildings He giues the gold and siluer for that holy vse an hundred thousand talents of Gold a thousand thousand talents of Siluer besides brasse and yron passing weight He weighes out those precious mettalls for their seuerall designements Euery future vessell is laid out already in his poise if not in his forme He excites the Princes of Israel to their assistance in so high a worke He takes notice of their bountifull offerings He numbers vp the Leuites for the publique seruice and sets them their taskes He appoints the Singers and other Musitians to their stations the Porters to the Gates that should be And now when he hath set all things in a desired order and forwardnesse he shuts vp with a zealous blessing of his Salomon and his people and sleepe with his fathers Oh blessed soule how quiet a possession hast thou now taken after so many tumults of a better Crowne Thou that hast prepared all things for the house of thy God how happily art thou now welcomed to that house of his not made with hands eternall in the heauens Who now shall enuie vnto good Princes the honour of ouerseeing the businesses of God and his Church when Dauid was thus punctuall in these diuine prouisions What feare can be of vsurpation where they haue so glorious a precedent Now is Salomon the second time crowned King of Israel and now in his owne right as formerly in his fathers sits peaceably vpon the Throne of the Lord His awe and power come on faster then his yeeres Enuie and ambition where it is once kindled may sooner be hid in the ashes then quite put out Adonijah yet hangs after his old hopes He remembers how sweet he found the name of a King and now hath laid a new plot for the setting vp of his crackt title He would make the bed a step to the throne His old complices are sure enough His part would gather much strength if he might inioy Abishag the relict of his father to wife If it were not the Iewish fashion as is pretended that a Kings widow should mary none but a King yet certainly the power both of the alliance and friendship of a Queene must needs not a little aduance his purpose The craftie riuall dare not either moue the suit to Salomon or effect the mariage without him but would cunningly vndermine the sonne by the suit of that mother whose suit had vndermined him The weaker vessells are commonly vsed in the most dangerous suggestions of euill Bathsheba was so wise a woman that some of her counsels are canonized for diuine yet she saw not the depth of this drift of Adonijah therefore she both entertaines the suit and moues it But what euer were the intent of the suitor could she choose but see the vnlawfulnesse of so incestuous a match It is not long since she saw her late husband Dauid abominating the bed of those his Concubines that had beene touched by his sonne Absalom and can she hold it lawfull that his son Adonijah should climbe vp to the bed of his fathers wife Sometimes euen the best eies are dimme and discerne not those things which are obuious to weaker sights Or whether did not Bathsheba well see the foulenesse of the suit and yet in compassion of Adonijahs late repulse wherein she was the chiefe agent and in a desire to make him amends for the losse of the kingdome she yeelds euen thus to gratifie him It is an iniurious weaknesse to be drawne vpon any by-respects to the furtherance of faultie suits of vnlawfull actions No sooner doth Bathsheba come in place then Salomon her sonne rises from his chaire of State and meets her and bowes to her and sets her on his right hand as not so remembring himselfe to be a King that he should forget he was a sonne No outward dignitie can take away the rights and obligations of nature
lyer The wise Princesse found cause to distrust so vncertaine an informer whose reports are still either doubtfull or fabulous and like windes or streames increase in passing If very great things were not spoken of Salomon fame should haue wrongd him and if but iust rumors were spread of his wisdome there needed much credulitie to beleeue them This great Queene would not suffer her selfe to be lead by the eares but comes in person to examine the truth of forraine relations How much more vnsafe is it in the most important businesses of our soules to trust the opinions and reports of others Those eares and eies are ill bestowed that doe not serue to choose and iudge for their owners When we come to a rich treasure we need not be bidden to carrie away what we are able This wise Lady as she came far for knowledge so finding the plentie of this veine she would not depart without her full lode There was nothing wherein she would leaue her selfe vnsatisfied she knew that she could not euery day meet with a Salomon and therefore shee makes her best vse of so learned a master Now she empties her heart of all her doubts and fils it with instruction It is not good neglecting the oportunities of furnishing our soules with profitable with sauing knowledge There is much wisdome in mouing a question well though there be more in assoyling it What vse doe we make of Salomons teacher if sitting at the feet of Christ we leaue our hearts either ignorant or perplexed As if the errand of this wealthie Queene had beene to buy wisdome she came with her Camels laden with Gold and precious stones and rich odors Though to a mightie King she will not come to schoole emptie-handed If she came to fetch an inualuable treasure she findes it reason to giue thankes vnto him that kept it As he is a foole that hath a price in his hand to get wisdome and wants an heart So is he vnthankfull that hath an heart to get wisdome and hath no price in his hand A price not counteruailable to what he seekes but retributorie to him of whom he seekes How shamefull is it to come alwaies with close hands to them that teach vs the great mysteries of saluation Expectation is no better then a kinde enemy to good deserts Wee leese those obiects which we ouer-looke Many had been admired if they had not beene ouer-much befriended by fame who now in our iudgement are cast as much below their ranke as they were fore-imagined aboue it This disaduantage had wife Salomon with this stranger whom rumour had bid to look for incredible excellencies yet so wonderfull were the graces of Salomon that they ouercame the hiest expectation and the liberallest beleefe So as when shee saw the architecture of his buildings the prouisions of his tables the order of his attendants the religion of his sacrifices shee confessed both her iniust incredulity in not beleeuing the report of his wisdome and the iniury of report in vnderrating it I beleeued not the words till I came and mine eyes had seene it and loe the one halfe was not told mee Her eyes were more sure informers then her eares She did not so much heare as see Salomons wisdome in these reall effects His answers did not so much demonstrate it as his prudent gouernment There are some whose speeches are witty whiles their carriage is weake whose deeds are incongruities whiles their words are Apothegmes It is not worth the name of wisdome that may be heard onely and not seene Good discourse is but the froth of wisdome the pure and solid substance of it is in well-framed actions if wee know these things happy are we if we doe them And if this great person admired the wisdome the buildings the domesticke order of Salomon and chiefly his stately ascent into the House of the Lord how should our soules be taken vp with wonder at thee O thou true sonne of Dauid and Prince of euer-lasting peace who receiuedst the spirit not by measure who hast built this glorious house not made with hands euen the heauen of heauens whose infinite prouidence hath sweetly disposed of all the family of thy creatures both in heauen and earth and who lastly didst ascend vp on hie and ledst captiuity captiue and gauest gifts to men So well had this studious Lady profited by the Lectures of that exquisite Master that now shee enuies shee magnifies none but them who may liue within the ayre of Salomons wisdome Happy are thy men and happy are thy seruants which stand continually before thee and that heare thy wisdome As if she could haue beene content to haue changed her Throne for the foot-stoole of Salomon It is not easie to conceiue how great a blessing it is to liue vnder those lips which doe both preserue knowledge and vtter it If wee were not glutted with good counsell we should finde no relish in any worldly contentment in comparison hereof But hee that is full despiseth an hony-combe Shee whom her owne experience had taught how happy a thing it is to haue a skilfull Pilote sitting at the sterne of the State blesseth Israel for Salomon blesseth God for Israel blesseth Salomon and Israel mutually in each-other Blessed be the Lord thy God which delighted in thee to set thee on the Throne of Israel Because the Lord loued Israel for euer therefore made hee the King to doe judgement and justice It was not more Salomons aduancement to be King of Israel then it was the aduancement of Israel to be gouerned by a Salomon There is no earthly proofe of Gods loue to any Nation comparable to the substitution of a wise and pious gouernour to him wee owe our peace our life and which is deseruedly dearer the life of our soules the Gospell But oh God how much hast thou loued thine Israel for euer in that thou hast set ouer it that righteous Branch of Iesse whose name is Wonderfull Counsellor the mightie God the euerlasting Father the Prince of peace in whose dayes Iudah shall be saued and Israel shall dwell safely Sing O heauen and reioyce O earth and breake forth into singing O mountaines for God hath comforted his people and will haue euerlasting mercie vpon his afflicted The Queene of Sheba did not bring her gold and precious stones to looke on or to re-carry but to giue to a wealthier then her selfe Shee giues therefore to Salomon an hundred and twenty talents of Gold besides costly stones and odors He that made siluer in Hierusalem as stones is yet richly presented on all hands The riuers still runne into the Sea To him that hath shall be giuen How should wee bring vnto thee O thou King of Heauen the purest gold of thine owne graces the sweetest odors of our obediences Was not this withall a type of that homage which should be done vnto thee O Sauiour by the heads of the Nations The Kings of Tarshish and the Iles bring presents the
farre was the vxorious King blinded with affection that he gaue not passage only to the Idolatrie of his heathenish wiues but furtherance So did he dote vpon their persons that he humord them in their sins Their act is therefore his because his eies winkt at it his hand aduanced it He that built a Temple to the liuing God for himselfe and Israel in Sion built a Temple to Chemosh in the mount of Scandall for his mistresses of Moab in the very face of Gods house No hill about Ierusalem was free from a Chappell of Deuils Each of his dames had their Puppets their altars their incense Because Salomon feedes them in their superstition he drawes the sinne home to himselfe and is branded for what he should haue forbidden Euen our very permission appropriates crimes to vs We need no more guiltinesse of any sinne then our willing toleration Who can but yearne and feare to see the wofull wracke of so rich and goodly a vessell O Salomon wert not thou he whose younger yeeres God honoured with a message and stile of loue To whom God twice appeared and in a gracious vision renewed the couenant of his fauour Whom he singled out from all the generation of men to be the founder of that glorious Temple which was no lesse cleerely the Type of heauen then thou wert of Christ the Sonne of the euerliuing God Wert not thou that deepe Sea of wisdome which God ordained to send forth riuers and fountaines of all diuine and humane knowledge to all nations to all ages Wert not thou one of those select Secretaries whose hand it pleased the Almightie to employ in three peeces of the diuine monuments of sacred Scriptures Which of vs dares euer hope to aspire vnto thy graces Which of vs can promise to secure our selues from thy ruines We fall ô God we fall to the lowest hell if thou preuent vs not if thou sustaine vs not Vphold thou me according to thy word that I may liue and let me not be ashamed of my hope Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquitie haue dominion ouer me All our weaknesse is in our selues all our strength is in thee O God be thou strong in our weaknesse that our weake knees may be euer steddie in thy strength But in the midst of the horror of this spectacle able to affright all the sonnes of men behold some glimpse of comfort was it of Salomon that Dauid his father prophesied Though he fall he shall not be vtterly cast downe for the Lord vpholdeth him with his hand If sensible grace yet finall mercy was not taken from that beloued of God In the hardest of this winter the sappe was gone downe to the root though it shewed not in the branches Euen whiles Salomon remoued that word stood fast He shall be my Sonne and I will be his Father He that foresaw his sinne threatned and limited his correction If he breake my statutes and keepe not my commandements then will I visit his transgression with a rodde and his iniquitie with stripes Neuerthelesse my louing kindnesse will I not vtterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile My Couenant will I not breake nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth Behold the fauour of God doth not depend vpon Salomons obedience If Salomon shall suffer his faithfulnesse to faile towards his God God will not requite him with the failing of his faithfulnesse to Salomon If Salomon breake his couenant with God God will not breake his Couenant with the father of Salomon with the Sonne of Dauid He shall smart he shall not perish Oh gracious word of the God of all mercies able to giue strength to the languishing comfort to the despairing to the dying life Whatsoeuer wee are thou wilt be still thy selfe O holy one of Israel true to thy Couenant constant to thy Decree The sinnes of thy chosen can neither frustrate thy counsell nor out-strip thy mercies Now I see Salomon of a wanton louer a graue Preacher of mortification I see him quenching those inordinate flames with the teares of his repentance Me thinkes I heare him sighing deeply betwixt euery word of that his solemne penance which he would needs inioyne himselfe before all the world I haue applied my heart to know the wickednesse of folly euen the foolishnesse of madnesse and I finde more bitter then death the woman whose heart is as nets and snares and her hands as bands Who so pleaseth God shall be deliuered from her but the sinner shall be taken by her Salomon was taken as a sinner deliuered as a penitent His soule escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare was broken and he deliuered It is good for vs that he was both taken and deliuered Taken that wee might not presume and that we might not despaire deliuered He sinned that we might not sinne he recouered that we may not sinke vnder our sinne But oh the iustice of God inseparable from his mercie Salomons sinne shall not escape the rod of men Rather then so wise an offender shall want enemies God shall raise vp three aduersaries vnto Salomon Hadad the Edomite Rezon the King of Aram Ieroboam the son of Nebat whereof two were forraine one domesticall Nothing but loue and peace sounded in the name of Salomon nothing else was found in his raigne whiles he held in good termes with his God But when once he fell foule with his maker all things began to be troubled There are whips laid vp against the time of Salomons fore-seene offence which are now brought forth for his correction On purpose was Hadad the sonne of the King of Edom hid in a corner of Egypt from the sword of Dauid and Ioab that he might be reserued for a scourge to the exorbitant sonne of Dauid God would haue vs make account that our peace ends with our innocence The same sinne that sets debate betwixt God and vs armes the creatures against vs It were pittie we should be at any quiet whiles we are falne out with the God of peace Contemplations VPON THE PRINCIPALL HISTORIES OF THE NEVV TESTAMENT The third Booke Containing The Widowes sonne raised The Rulers sonne healed The dumbe Deuill eiected Matthew called Christ among the Gergesens or Legion and the Gadarene heard TO MY RIGHT WORTHY AND WORSHIPFVLL FRIEND Master IOHN GIFFORD of Lancrasse in Deuon Esquire All Grace and Peace SIR I hold it as I ought one of the rich mercies of GOD that he hath giuen me fauour in some eies which haue not seene me but none that I know hath so much demerited me vnknowne as your worthy Familie Ere therefore you see my face see my hand willingly professing my thankfull Obligations Wherewith may it please you to accept of this parcell of thoughts not vnlike those fellowes of theirs whom you haue entertained aboue their desert These shall present vnto you our bountifull Sauiour magnifying his mercies to men in a
sweet varietie healing the diseased raising the dead casting out the Deuill calling in the Publican and shall raise your heart to adore that infinite goodnesse Euery helpe to our deuotion deserues to be precious So much more as the decrepit age of the world declines to an heartlesse coldnesse of pietie That GOD to whose honour these poore labours are meant blesse them in your hands and from them to all Readers To his protection I heartily commend you and the right vertuous Gentlewoman your worthy wife with all the pledges of your happie affection as whom you haue deserued to be Your truly thankfull and officious friend IOS HALL The Widowes Sonne raised THE fauours of our beneficent Sauiour were at the least contiguous No sooner hath he raised the Centurions seruant from his bed then he raises the Widowes sonne from his Beere The fruitfull clouds are not ordained to fall all in one field Nain must partake of the bountie of Christ as well as Cana or Capernaum And if this Sunne were fixed in one Orbe yet it diffuseth heat and light to all the world It is not for any place to ingrosse the messengers of the Gospell whose errand is vniuersall This immortall seed may not fall all in one furrow The little citie of Nain stood vnder the hill of Hermon neere vnto Tabor but now it is watered with better dewes from aboue the doctrine and miracles of a Sauiour Not for state but for the more euidence of the worke is our Sauiour attended with a large traine So entring into the gate of that walled Citie as if he meant to besiege their faith by his power and to take it His prouidence hath so contriued his iourney that he meets with the sad pompe of a funerall A wofull widow attended with her weeping neighbours is following her only sonne to the graue There was nothing in this spectacle that did not command compassion A young man in the flowre in the strength of his age swallowed vp by death Our decrepit age both expects death and solicites it but vigorous youth lookes strangely vpon that grim sergeant of God Those mellow apples that fall alone from the tree we gather vp with contentment we chide to haue the vnripe vnseasonably beaten downe with cudgells But more a young man the only sonne the only childe of his mother No condition can make it other then grieuous for a well-natu'rd mother to part with her owne bowells yet surely store is some mitigation of losse Amongst many children one may be more easily missed for still we hope the suruiuing may supplie the comforts of the dead but when all our hopes and ioyes must either liue or die in one the losse of that one admits of no consolation When God would describe the most passionate expression of sorrow that can fall into the miserable he can but say Oh daughter of my people gird thee with sack-cloth and wallow thy selfe in the ashes make lamentation and bitter mourning as for thine onely sonne Such was the losse such was the sorrow of this disconsolate mother neither words nor teares can suffice to discouer it Yet more had she beene aided by the counsell and supportation of a louing yoke-fellow this burden might haue seemed lesse intolerable A good husband may make amends for the losse of a sonne had the root beene left to her intire she might better haue spared the branch now both are cut vp all the stay of her life is gone and she seemes abandoned to a perfect miserie And now when she gaue her selfe vp for a forlorne mourner past all capacitie of redresse the God of comfort meets her pitties her relieues her Here was no solicitor but his owne compassion In other occasions he was sought and sued to The Centurion comes to him for a seruant the Ruler for a sonne Iairus for a daughter the neighbours for the Paralyticke here he seekes vp the patient and offers the cure vnrequested Whiles we haue to doe with the Father of mercies our afflictions are the most powerfull suitors No teares no praiers can moue him so much as his owne commiseration Oh God none of our secret sorrowes can be either hid from thine eies or kept from thine heart and when we are past all our hopes all possibilities of helpe then art thou neerest to vs for deliuerance Here was a conspiration of all parts to mercie The heart had compassion the mouth said Weepe not the feet went to the Beere the hand touched the coffin the power of the Deitie raised the dead What the heart felt was secret to it selfe the tongue therefore expresses it in words of comfort Weepe not Alas what are words to so strong and iust passions To bid her not to weepe that had lost her only sonne was to perswade her to be miserable and not feele it to feele and not regard it to regard and yet to smother it Concealement doth not remedie but aggrauate sorrow That with the counsell of not weeping therefore she might see cause of not weeping his hand seconds his tongue He arrests the coffin and frees the Prisoner Young man I say vnto thee arise The Lord of life and death speakes with command No finite power could haue said so without presumption or with successe That is the voice that shall one day call vp our vanished bodies from those elements into which they are resolued and raise them out of their dust Neither sea nor death nor hell can offer to detaine their dead when he charges them to be deliuered Incredulous nature what dost thou shrinke at the possibilitie of a resurrection when the God of nature vndertakes it It is no more hard for that almightie Word which gaue being vnto all things to say Let them be repaired then Let them be made I doe not see our Sauiour stretching himselfe vpon the dead corps as Elias and Elisha vpon the sonnes of the Sunamite and Sareptan nor kneeling downe and praying by the Beere as Peter did to Dorcas but I heare him so speaking to the dead as if he were aliue and so speaking to the dead that by the word he makes him aliue I say vnto thee arise Death hath no power to bid that man lie still whom the Sonne of God bids Arise Immediatly he that was dead sate vp So at the sound of the last trumpet by the power of the same voice we shall arise out of the dust and stand vp glorious this mortall shall put on immortalitie this corruptible incorruption This bodie shall not be buried but sowne and at our day shall therefore spring vp with a plentifull increase of glorie How comfortlesse how desperate should be our lying downe if it were not for this assurance of rising And now behold lest our weake faith should stagger at the assent to so great a difficultie he hath alreadie by what he hath done giuen vs tastes of what he will doe The power that can raise one man can raise a thousand a million a world no
Sauiour before the world was thou sawst that man sitting there thou sawst thine owne passage thou sawst his call in thy passage and now thou goest purposely that way that thou mightst see and call Nothing can be hid from that piercing eie one glance whereof hath discerned a Disciple in the clothes of a Publican That habit that shop of extortion cannot conceale from thee a vessell of election In all formes thou knowest thine owne and in thine owne time shalt fetch them out of the disguises of their foule sins or vnfit conditions What sawst thou ô Sauiour in that Publican that might either allure thine eie or not offend it What but an hatefull trade an euill eie a griple hand bloudie tables heapes of spoile yet now thou saidst Follow mee Thou that saidst once to Ierusalem Thy birth and natiuitie is of the land of Canaan Thy father was an Amorite thy mother an Hittite Thy nauell was not cut neither wert thou washed in water to supple thee thou wast not salted at all thou wast not swadled at all None eie pittied thee but thou wast cast out in the open fields to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast borne And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine owne bloud I said vnto thee Liue yea I said vnto thee when thou wast in thy bloud Liue Now also when thou passedst by and sawst Matthew sitting at the receit of custome saidest to him Follow mee The life of this Publican was so much worse then the birth of that forlorne Amorite as Follow mee was more then Liue What canst thou see in vs ô God but vglie deformities horrible sins despicable miseries yet doth it please thy mercie to say vnto vs both Liue and Follow mee The iust man is the first accuser of himselfe whom doe we heare to blazon the shame of Matthew but his owne mouth Matthew the Euangelist tells vs of Matthew the Publican His fellowes call him Leui as willing to lay their finger vpon the spot of his vnpleasing profession himselfe will not smother nor blanche it a whit but publishes it to all the world in a thankfull recognition of the mercie that called him as liking well that his basenesse should serue for a fit foile to set off the glorious lustre of his grace by whom he was elected What matters it how vile we are ô God so thy glorie may rise in our abasement That word was enough Follow mee spoken by the same tongue that said to the corps at Nain Young man I say to thee Arise He that said at first Let there be light saies now Follow me That power sweetly inclines which could forceably command the force is not more vnresistible then the inclination When the Sun shines vpon the Isicles can they choose but melt and fall When it lookes into a dungeon can the place choose but be inlightened Doe we see the Iet drawing vp strawes to it the Load-stone yron and doe we maruell if the omnipotent Sauiour by the influence of his grace attract the heart of a Publican He arose and followed him We are all naturally auerse from thee ô God doe thou but bid vs Follow thee draw vs by thy powerfull word and we shall run after thee Alas thou speakest and we sit still thou speakest by thine outward word to our eare and we stir not speake thou by the secret and effectuall word of thy spirit to our heart The world cannot hold vs downe Satan cannot stop our way we shall arise and follow thee It was not a more busie then gainfull trade that Matthew abandoned to follow Christ into pouertie and now he cast away his counters and strucke his tallies and crossed his books and contemned his heapes of cash in comparison of that better treasure which he fore-saw lie open in that happie attendance If any commoditie be valued of vs too deare to be parted with for Christ we are more fit to be Publicans then Disciples Our Sauiour inuites Matthew to a Disciple-ship Matthew inuites him to a feast The ioy of his call makes him to begin his abdication of the world in a banquet Here was not a more cheerefull thankfulnesse in the inuiter then a gracious humilitie in the guest The new seruant bids his master the Publican his Sauiour and is honoured with so blessed a presence I doe not finde where Iesus was euer bidden to any table and refused If a Pharisee if a Publican inuited him he made not daintie to goe Not for the pleasure of the dishes what was that to him who began his worke in a whole Lent of daies But as it was his meat and drinke to doe the will of his Father for the benefit of so winning a conuersation If he sate with sinners he conuerted them If with conuerts he confirmed and instructed them If with the poore he sed them If with the rich in substance he made them richer in grace At whose board did he euer sit and left not his host a gainer The poore Bridegroome entertaines him and hath his water-pots filled with wine Simon the Pharisee entertaines him and hath his table honoured with the publique remission of a penitent sinner with the heauenly doctrine of remission Zacheus entertaines him saluation came that day to his house with the author of it that presence made the Publican a sonne of Abraham Matthew is recompenced for his feast with an Apostle-ship Martha and Mary entertaine him and besides diuine instruction receiue their brother from the dead O Sauiour whether thou feast vs or we feast thee in both of them is blessednesse Where a Publican is the Feast-master it is no maruell if the guests be Publicans and sinners whether they came alone out of an hope of that mercie which they saw their fellow had found or whether Matthew inuited them to be partners of that plentifull grace whereof he had tasted I inquire not Publicans and sinners will flocke together the one hatefull for their trade the other for their vicious life Common contempt hath wrought them to an vnanimitie and sends them to seeke mutuall comfort in that societie which all others held loathsome and contagious Moderate correction humbleth and shameth the offender whereas a cruell seueritie makes men desperate and driues them to those courses whereby they are more dangerously infected How many haue gone into the prison faultie and returned flagitious If Publicans were not sinners they were no whit beholden to their neighbours What a table full was here The Sonne of God beset with Publicans and sinners O happie Publicans and sinners that had found out their Sauiour Oh mercifull Sauiour that disdained not Publicans and sinners What sinner can feare to kneele before thee when he sees Publicans and sinners sit with thee Who can feare to be despised of thy meeknesse and mercy which didst not abhorre to conuerse with the out-casts of men Thou didst not despise the theefe confessing vpon the crosse nor the sinner weeping
vpon thy feet nor the Cananite crying to thee in the way not the blushing adulteresse nor the odious Publican nor the forswearing Disciple nor the persecutor of Disciples nor thine owne executioners how can we be vnwelcome to thee if we come with teares in our eies faith in our hearts restitution in our hands Oh Sauiour our brests are too oft shut vpon thee thy bosome is euer open to vs we are as great sinners as the consorts of these Publicans why should we despaire of a roome at thy Table The squint-eid Pharisees look a-crosse at all the actions of Christ where they should haue admired his mercie they cauill at his holinesse They said to his Disciples why eateth your master with Publicans and sinners They durst not say thus to the Master whose answer they knew would soone haue conuinced them This winde they hoped might shake the weake faith of the Disciples They speake where they may be most likely to hurt All the crue of Satanicall instruments haue learnt this craft of their old Tutor in Paradise Wee cannot reuerence that man whom we thinke vnholy Christ had lost the hearts of his followers if they had entertained the least suspicion of his impuritie which the murmur of these enuious Pharisees would faine insinuate He cannot be worthy to be followed that is vncleane He cannot but be vncleane that eateth with Publicans and sinners Proud and foolish Pharisees ye fast whiles Christ eateth ye fast in your houses whiles Christ eateth in other mens ye fast with your owne whiles Christ feasts with sinners but if ye fast in pride whiles Christ eats in humilitie if ye fast at home for merit or popularitie whiles Christ feasts with sinners for compassion for edification for conuersion your fast is vncleane his feast is holy ye shall haue your portion with hypocrites when those Publicans and sinners shall be glorious When these censurers thought the Disciples had offended they speake not to them but to their Master Why doe thy Disciples that which is not lawfull now when they thought Christ offended they speake not to him but to the Disciples Thus like true make-bates they goe about to make a breach in the familie of Christ by setting off the one from the other The quicke cie of our Sauiour hath soone espied the packe of their fraud and therefore he takes the words out of the mouthes of his Disciples into his owne They had spoke of Christ to the Disciples Christ answers for the Disciples concerning himselfe The whole need not the Physitian but the sicke According to the two qualities of pride scorne and ouer-weening these insolent Pharisees ouer-rated their owne holinesse contemned the noted vnholinesse of others As if themselues were not tainted with secret sinnes as if others could not be cleansed by repentance The searcher of hearts meets with their arrogance and findes those iusticiaries sinfull those sinners iust The spirituall Physitian findes the sicknesse of those sinners wholsome the health of those Pharisees desperate that wholsome because it calls for the helpe of the Physitian this desperate because it needs not Euery soule is sicke those most that feele it not Those that feele it complaine those that complaine haue cure those that feele it not shall finde themselues dying ere they can wish to recouer Oh blessed Physitian by whose stripes we are healed by whose death we liue happie are they that are vnder thy hands sicke as of sin so of sorrow for sin it is as vnpossible they should die as it is vnpossible for thee to want either skill or power or mercy Sin hath made vs sicke vnto death make thou vs but as sicke of our sinnes we are as safe as thou art gracious Christ among the Gergesens or Legion and the Gadarene heard I Doe not any where finde so furious a Demoniacke as amongst the Gergesens Satan is most tyrannous where he is obeyed most Christ no sooner sailed ouer the lake then he was met with two possessed Gadarenes The extreme rage of the one hath drowned the mention of the other Yet in the midst of all that crueltie of the euill spirit there was sometimes a remission if not an intermission of vexation If Oft-times Satan caught him then sometimes in the same violence he caught him not It was no thanke to that malignant one who as he was indefatigable in his executions so vnmeasurable in his malice but to the mercifull ouer-ruling of God who in a gratious respect to the weaknesse of his poore creatures limits the spightfull attempts of that immortall enemie and takes off this Mastiue whiles we may take breath Hee who in his iustice giues way to some onsets of Satan in his mercie restraines them so regarding our deseruings that withall he regards our strength If way should be giuen to that malicious spirit we could not subsist no violent thing can indure and if Satan might haue his will we should no moment be free He can be no more weary of doing euill to vs then God is of doing good Are we therefore preserued from the malignitie of these powers of darknesse Blessed be our strong helper that hath not giuen vs ouer to be a prey vnto their teeth Or if some scope haue beene giuen to that enuious one to afflict vs hath it beene with fauourable limitations it is thine only mercy ô God that hath chained and muzzled vp this band-dog so as that he may scratch vs with his pawes but cannot pierce vs with his fangs Farre far is this from our deserts who had too well merited a iust abdication from thy fauour and protection and an interminable seisure by Satan both in soule and bodie Neither doe I here see more matter of thankes to our God for our immunitie from the externall iniuries of Satan then occasion of serious inquirie into his power ouer vs for the spirituall I see some that thinke themselues safe from this ghostly tyrannie because they sometimes finde themselues in good moods free from the suggestions of grosse sins much more from the commission Vaine men that feed themselues with so false and friuolous comforts will they not see Satan through the iust permission of God the same to the soule in mentall possessions that he is to the body in corporall The worst demoniack hath his lightsome respites not euer tortured not euer furious betwixt whiles he might looke soberly talke sensibly moue regularly It is a wofull comfort that we sinne not alwaies There is no master so barbarous as to require of his slaue a perpetuall vnintermitted toyle yet though he sometimes eate sleepe rest he is a vassall still If that wicked one haue drawne vs to a customarie perpetration of euill and haue wrought vs to a frequent iteration of the same sinne this is gage enough for our seruitude matter enough for his tyrannie and insultation He that would be our tormentor alwaies cares only to be sometimes our Tempter The possessed is bound as with the inuisible fetters