turnes Rehoboams brasse into gold Some of these vessels it seemes Abijam Asaes father had dedicated to God but after his vow inquired yea with-held them Asa like a good son payes his fathers debts his owne It is a good signe of a well-meant deuotion when we can abide it chargeable as contrarily in the affaires of God a niggardly hand argues a cold and hollow heart All these were noble and excellent acts the extirpation of Sodomy the demolition of Idols the remouall of Maachah the bountious contribution to the Temple but that which giues true life vnto all these is a sound root Asaes heart was perfect with the Lord all his daies No lesse laudable workes than these haue proceeded from Hypocrisie which whiles they haue carried away applause from men haue lost their thankes with God All Asaes gold was but drosse to his pure intentions But oh what great and many infirmities may consist with vprightnesse What allayes of imperfection will there be found in the most refined soule Foure no small faults are found in true-hearted Asa First the high-places stood still vnremoued What high places There were some dedicated to the worship of false gods these Asa took away There were some mis-deuoted to the worship of the true God these he lets stand There was grosse Idolatry in the former there was a weake will-worship in the latter whiles he opposes impietie hee winkes at mistakings yet euen the varietie of altars was forbidden by an expresse charge from God who had confined his seruice to the Temple With one breath doth God report both these The high-places were not remoued yet neuerthelesse Asaes heart was persit God will not see weaknesses where he sees truth How pleasing a thing is sinceritie that in fauour thereof the mercy of our iust God digests many an error Oh God let our hearts goe vpright though our feet slide the fall cannot through thy grace be deadly how euer it may shame or paine vs. Besides to confront his riuall of Israel Baasha this religious King of Iudah fetches in Benhadad the King of Syria into Gods inheritance vpon too deare a rate the breach of his league the expilation of the Temple All the wealth wherewith Asa had endowed the house of the Lord was little enough to hire an Edomite to betray his fidelitie and to inuade Israel Leagues may be made with Infidels not at such a price vpon such termes There can bee no warrant for a wilfull subornation of perfidiousnesse In these cases of outward things the mercy of God dispenseth with our true necessities not with the affected O Asa where was thy pietie whiles thou robbest God to corrupt an Infidell for the slaughter of Israelites O Princes where is your pietie whiles yee hire Turkes to the slaughter of Christians to the spoile of Gods Church Yet which was worse Asa doth not onely imploy the Syrian but relies on him relies not on God A confidence lesse sinfull cost his Grandfather Dauid deare And when Hanani Gods Seer the Herald of heauen came to denounce war against him for these sinnes Asa in stead of penitence breakes into choler Fury sparkles in those eyes which should haue gushed out with water Those lips that should haue call'd for mercy command reuenge How ill doe these two agree The heart of Dauid the tongue of Ieroboam That holy Grandfather of his would not haue done so when Gods messenger reproued him for sin he condemned it and himselfe for it I see his teares I doe not heare his threats It ill becomes a faithfull heart to rage where it should sorrow and in stead of submission to persecute Sometimes no difference appeares betwixt a sonne of Dauid and the sonne of Nebat Any man may doe ill but to defend it to out-face it is for rebels yet euen vpright Asa imprisons the Prophet and crusheth his gainsayers It were pittie that the best man should be iudged by euery of his actions and not by all The course of our life must either allow or condemne vs not these sudden eruptions As the life so the Death-bed of Asa wanted not infirmities Long and prosperous had his reigne beene now after fortie yeares health and happinesse he that imprisoned the Prophet is imprisoned in his bed There is more paine in those fetters which God put vpon Asa than those which Asa puts vpon Hanani And now behold he that in his warre seekes to Benhadad not to God in his sicknesse seekes not to God but to Physitians We cannot easily put vpon God a greater wrong than the alienation of our trust Earthly meanes are for vse not for confidence We may we must imploy them we may not relye vpon them Well may God challenge our trust as his peculiar which if we cast vpon any creature wee deifie it Whence haue herbs and drugs and Physitians their being and efficacy but from that diuine hand No maruell then if Asaes gout strucke to his heart and his feet carried him to his graue since his heart was miscarried carried for the cure of his feet to an iniurious mis-confidence in the meanes with neglect of his Maker ELIjAH with the SAREPTAN WHo should be match't with Moses in the hill of Tabor but Elijah Surely next after Moses there was neuer any Prophet of the old Testament more glorious than hee None more glorious none more obscure The other Prophets are not mentioned without the name of their parent for the mutuall honour both of the father and the sonne Elijah as if he had beene a sonne of the earth comes forth with the bare mention of the place of his birth Meanenesse of descent is no blocke in Gods way to the most honourable vocations It matters not whose sonne hee be whom God will grace with his seruice In the greatest honours that humane nature is capable of God forgets our parents As when we shall be raised vp to a glorious life there shall be no respect had to the loines whence we came so it is proportionally in these spirituall aduancements These times were fit for an Elijah an Elijah was fit for them The eminentest Prophet is reserued for the corruptest age Israel had neuer such a King as Ahab for impiety neuer so miraculous a Prophet as Elijah This Elijah is addressed to this Ahab The God of Spirits knowes how to proportion men to the occasions and to raise vp to himselfe such witnesses as may be most able to conuince the world A milde Moses was for the low estate of afflicted Israel milde of spirit but mighty in wonders milde of spirit because he had to doe with a persecuted and yet a techy and peruerse people mighty in wonders because he had to doe with a Pharaoh A graue and holy Samuel was for the quiet consistence of Israel A fierie-spirited Elijah was for the desperatest declination of Israel And if in the late times of the depraued condition of his Church God haue raised vp some spirits that haue beene more warme and
politicians and when they thinke themselues most sure shames them with a detection with a defeat What an idlenesse it is for foolish Hypocrites to hope they can dance in a net vnseene of heauen Neuer before was this Queene troubled to heare of her selfe now she is her very name struck her with astonishment and prepares her for the assured horror of following iudgements I am sent to thee with heauie tidings Goe tell Ieroboam Thus saith the Lord God of Israel Could this Lady lesse wonder at the mercy of this stile of God than tremble at the sequell of his iustice Loe Israel had forsaken God yet God still ownes Israel Israel had gone a whoring yet God hath not diuorced her Oh the infinite goodnesse of our long-suffering God whom our foulest sinnes cannot robbe of his compassions By how much dearer Israel was to God so much more odious is Ieroboam that hath marred Israel Terrible is that vengeance which God thunders against him by his Prophet whose passionate message vpbraids him with his promotions chargeth him with his sinnes and lastly denounceth his iudgements No mouth was fitter to cast this royalty in the teeth of Ieroboam than that by which it was first foretold fore-promised Euery circumstance of the aduancement aggrauates the sinne I exalted thee Thou couldst not rise to honour alone I exalted thee from among the people not from the Peeres thy ranke was but common before this rise I exalted thee from among the people to be a Prince subordinate height was not enough for thee no seat would serue thee but a throne Yea to be a Prince of my people Israel No Nation was for thee but my chosen one none but my royall inheritance Neither did I raise thee into a vacant throne a forlorne and forsaken principality might be thanklesse but I rent the kingdome away from another for thy sake yea from what other but the grand childe of Dauid out of his hands did I wrest the Scepter to giue it into thine Oh what high fauours doth God sometimes cast away vpon vnworthy subiects How doe his abused bounties double both their sinne and iudgement The sinnes of this Prince were no lesse eminent than his obligations therefore his iudgements shall be no lesse eminent than his sinnes How bitterly doth God expresse that which shall be more bitter in the execution Behold I will bring euill vpon the house of Ieroboam and will cut off from Ieroboam him that pisseth against the wall and him that is shut vp and left in Israel and will take away the remnant of the house of Ieroboam as a man taketh away dung till it be all gone Him that dieth of Ieroboam in the city shall the dogs eat and him that dieth in the field shall the fowles of the aire eat Oh heauy load that this disguised Princesse must carry to her Husband but because these euills though grieuous yet might be remote therefore for a present hansell of vengeance she is dismissed with the sad tidings of the death of her sonne When thy feet enter into the citie the childe shall die It is heauy newes for a mother that shee must leese her sonne but worse yet that she may not see him In these cases of our finall departures our presence giues some mitigation to our griefe might she but haue closed the eies and haue receiued the last breath of her dying sonne the losse had beene more tolerable I know not how our personall farewell eases our heart euen whiles it increases our passion but now she shall no more see nor beseene of her Abijah She shall no sooner be in the city than he shall be out of the world Yet more to perfect her sorrow shee heares that in him alone there is found some good the rest of her issue are gracelesse shee must leese the good and hold the gracelesse he shall die to afflict her they shall liue to afflict her Yet what a mixture is here of seuerity and fauour in one act fauour to the sonne seuerity to the father Seuerity to the father that he must leese such a sonne fauor to the sonne that he shall be taken from such a father Ieroboam is wicked and therefore he shall not enioy an Abijah Abijah hath some good things therefore he shall be remoued from the danger of the deprauation of Ieroboam Sometimes God strikes in fauour but more often forbeares out of seuerity The best are fittest for heauen the earth is fittest for the worst this is the region of sinne and misery that of immortality It is no argument of dis-fauour to be taken early from a well led life as not of approbation to age in sinne As the soule of Abijah is fauored in the remouall so is his body with a buriall he shall haue alone both teares and tombe all the rest of his brethren shall haue no graue but dogs and fowles no sorrow but for their life Tho the carkasse bee insensible of any position yet honest Sepulture is a blessing It is fit the body should be duely respected on earth whose soule is glorious in heauen Asa THe two houses of Iuda and Israel grow vp now together in an ambitious riuality this splitted plant branches out so seuerally as if it had forgotten that euer it was ioyned in the root The throne of Dauid oft changeth the possessors and more complaineth of their iniquity than their remoue Abijam inherits the sins of his father Rehoboam no lesse than his Crowne and so spends his three yeares as if he had beene no whit of kinne to his grandfathers vertues It is no newes that Grace is not traduced whiles vice is Therefore is his reigne short because it was wicked It was a sad case when both the Kings of Iudah and Israel though enemies yet conspired in sinne Rehoboam like his father Salomon began graciously but fell to Idolatry as he followed his father so his sonne so his people followed him Oh what a face of a Church was heere when Israel worshipped Ieroboams calues when Iudah built them high places and Images and groues on euery high hill and vnder euery greene tree On both hands God is forsaken his Temple neglected his worship adulterate and this not for some short brunt but during the succession of two Kings For after the first three yeeres Rehoboam changed his fathers religion as his sheilds from gold to brasse the rest of his seuenteene yeeres were led in impiety His Sonne Abijam trod in the same mirie steps and Iudah with them both If there were any doubtlesse there were some faithfull hearts yet remaining in both kingdomes during these heauy times what a corasiue it must needs haue beene to them to see so deplored and miserable a deprauation There was no visible Church vpon earth but heere and this what a one Oh God how low dost thou sometimes suffer thine owne flocke to be driuen What wofull wanes and eclipses hast thou ordaind for this heauenly body Yet at last an Asa
God is more tender than in approuing the veracity of himselfe in his ministers Leud Ahab hath an holy Steward As his name was so was he a seruant of God whiles his Master was a slaue to Baal Hee that referued seuen thousand in the kingdome of Israel hath reserued an Obadiah in the Court of Israel and by him hath reserued them Neither is it likely there had beene so many free hearts in the countrey if Religion had not beene secretly backed in the Court It is a great happinesse when God giues fauour and honour to the Vertuous Elijah did not lie more close in Sarepta than Obadiah did in the Court He could not haue done so much seruice to the Church if he had not beene as secret as good Policy and religion doe as well together as they doe ill asunder The Doue without the Serpent is easily caught the Serpent without the Doue stings deadly Religion without policy is too simple to be safe Policy without religion is too subtile to be good Their match makes themselues secure and many happy Oh degenerated estate of Israel any thing was now lawfull there sauing piety It is well if Gods Prophets can finde an hole to hide their heads in They must needs be hard driuen when fifty of them are faine to croud together into one caue There they had both shade and repast Good Obadiah hazards his owne life to preserue theirs and spends himselfe in that extreme dearth vpon their necessary diet Bread and water was more now than other whiles wine and delicates Whether shall we wonder more at the mercy of God in reseruing an hundred Prophets or in thus sustaining them being reserued When did God euer leaue his Israel vnfurnished of some Prophets When did he leaue his Prophets vnprouided of some Obadiah How worthy art thou ô Lord to be trusted with thine own charge Whiles there are men vpon earth or birds in the aire or Angels in heauen thy messengers cannot want prouision Goodnesse carries away trust where it cannot haue imitation Ahab diuides with Obadiah the surucy of the whole land They two set their owne eyes on worke for the search of water of pasture to preserue the horses and mules aliue Oh the poore and vaine cares of Ahab He casts to kill the Prophet to saue the cattle he neuer seeks to saue his owne soule to destroy Idolatry he takes thought for grasse none for mercy Carnall hearts are euer either groueling on the earth or deluing into it no more regarding God or their soules than if they either were not or were worthlesse Elijah heares of the progresse and offers himselfe to the view of them both Here was wisdome in this courage First he presents himselfe to Obadiah ere he will be seene of Ahab that Ahab might vpon the report of so discreet an informer digest the expectation of his meeting Then he takes the oportunitie of Ahabs presence when he might be sure Iezebel was away Obadiah meets the Prophet knowes him and as if hee had seene God in him falls on his face to him whom he knew his master persecuted Though a great Peere he had learned to honour a Prophet No respect was too much for the president of that sacred colledge To the poore boarder of the Sareptan here was no lesse than a prostration and My Lord Elijah from the great High Steward of Israel Those that are truly gratious cannot be niggardly of their obseruances to the messengers of God Elijah receiues the reuerence returnes a charge Goe tell thy Lord Behold Elijah is here Obadiah finds this lode too heauy neither is he more striken with the boldnesse than with the vnkindnesse of this command boldnesse in respect of Elijah vnkindnesse in respect of himselfe For thus he thinks If Elijah doe come to Ahab he dies If he doe not come I die If it be knowne that I met him and brought him not it is death If I say that he will come voluntarily and God shall alter his intentions it is death How vnhappy a man am I that must be either Elijahs executioner or my owne Were Ahabs displeasure but smoking I might hope to quench it but now that the flame of it hath broken forth to the notice to the search of all the kingdomes and nations round about it may consume me I cannot extinguish it This message were for an enemie of Elijah for a client of Baal As for me I haue well approued my true deuotion to God my loue to his Prophets What haue I done that I should be singled out either to kill Elijah or to be killed for him Many an hard plunge must that man needs be driuen to who would hold his conscience together with the seruice and fauour of a Tyrant It is an happy thing to serue a iust master there is no danger no straine in such obedience But when the Prophet bindes his resolution with an oath and cleares the heart of Obadiah from all feares from all suspicions the good man dares be the messenger of that which hee saw was decreed in heauen Doubtlesse Ahab startled to heare of Elijah comming to meet him as one that did not more hate than feare the Prophet Well might hee thinke thus long thus farre haue I sought Elijah Elijah would not come to seeke mee but vnder a sure gard and with some strange commission His course mantle hath the aduantage of my robe and Scepter If I can command a peece of the earth I see hee can command heauen The edge of his reuenge is taken off with a doubtfull expectation of the issue and now when Elijah offers himselfe to the eies of Ahab He who durst not strike yet durst challenge the Prophet Art thou he that troubleth Israel Ieroboams hand was still in Ahabs thoughts hee holds it not so safe to smite as to expostulate Hee that was the head of Israel speakes out that which was in the heart of all his people that Elijah was the cause of all their sorrow Alas what hath the righteous Prophet done He taxed their sinne he foretold the iudgement hee deserued it not he inflicted it not yet he smarts and they are guilty As if some fond people should accuse the herald or the Trumpet as the cause of their warre or as if some ignorant peasant when he sees his fowls bathing in his pond should cry out of them as the causes of foule weather Oh the heroicall Spirit of Elijah he stands alone a mids all the traine of Ahab and dares not only repell this charge but retort it I haue not troubled Israel but thou and thy fathers house in that yee haue forsaken the commandements of the Lord and thou hast followed Baalim No earthly glory can daunt him who hath the cleere and heartning visions of God This holy Seer discernes the true cause of our sufferings to be our sinnes Foolish men are plagued for their offences and it is no small part of their plague that they see it not
quiet possession How still doth God sit in heauen and looke vpon the complots of treachery and villanies as if they did not concerne him The successe so answers their desires as if both heauen and earth were their friends It is the plague which seemes the felicitie of sinners to speed well in their lewd enterprises No reckoning is brought in the midst of the meale the end payes for all Whiles Ahab is reioycing in his new garden-plot and promising himselfe contentment in this commodious enlargement in comes Elijah sent from God with an errand of vengeance Me thinkes I see how the Kings countenance changed with what agast eyes and pale cheekes he lookt vpon that vnwelcome Prophet Little pleasure tooke he in his prospect whiles it was clogged with such a guest yet his tongue begins first Hast thou found me O mine enemy Great is the power of conscience vpon the last meeting for ought wee know Ahab and Elijah parted friends The Prophet had lacquaied his coach and tooke a peaceable leaue at this Townes end now Ahabs heart told him neither needed any other messenger that God and his Prophet were falne out with him His continuing Idolatry now seconded with bloud bids him looke for nothing but frownes from heauen A guiltie heart can neuer be at peace Had not Ahab knowne how ill he had deserued of God he had neuer saluted his Prophet by the name of an enemy Hee had neuer beene troubled to bee found by Elijah if his owne breast had not found him out for an enemy to God Much good may thy vineyard doe thee O thou King of Israel many faire flowers and sauoury herbes may thy new Garden yeeld thee please thy selfe with thy Iezebel in the triumph ouer the carkasse of a scrupulous subiect let me rather die with Naboth than reioyce with thee His turne is ouer thine is to come The stones that ouerwhelmed innocent Naboth were nothing to those that smite thee Host thou killed and also taken possession Thus saith the Lord In the place where dogs licked the bloud of Naboth shall dogs licke thy bloud euen thine What meanest thou O Elijah to charge this murther vpon Ahab He kept his Chamber Iezebel wrote the Elders condemned the people stoned yet thou saiest Hast thou killed Well did Ahab know that Iezebel could not giue this vineyard with dry hands yet was he content to winke at what she would doe He but sits still whiles Iezebel workes Onely his Signet is suffered to walke for the sealing of this vnknowne purchase Those that are trusted with authoritie may offend no lesse in conniuencie or neglect than others in act in participation Not onely command consent countenance but verie permission feoffes publike persons in those sinnes which they might and will not preuent God loues to punish by retaliation Naboth and Ahab shall both bleed Naboth by the stones of the Iezreelites Ahab by the shafts of the Aramites The dogs shall taste of the bloud of both What Ahab hath done in crueltie he shall suffer in iustice The cause and the end make the difference happy on Naboths side on Ahabs wofull Naboth bleeds as a Martyr Ahab as a murtherer What euer is Ahabs condition Naboth changes a vineyard on earth for a Kingdome in heauen Neuer any wicked man gained by the persecution of an innocent Neuer any innocent man was a loser by suffering from the wicked Neither was this iudgement personall but hereditarie I will take away thy posteritie and will make thine house like the house of Ieroboam Him that dieth of Ahab in the Citie the Dogs shalleat and him that dieth in the field shall the Fowles of the ayre eat Ahab shall not need to take thought for the traducing of this ill gotten inheritance God hath taken order for his heires whom his sinne hath made no lesse the heires of his curse than of his body Their fathers cruelty to Naboth hath made them together with their mother Iezebel dogs-meat The reuenge of God doth at last make amends for the delay Whether now is Naboths vineyard paid for The man that had sold himselfe to worke wickednesse yet rues the bargaine I doe not heare Ahab as bad as he was reuile or threaten the Prophet but he rends his clothes and weares and lyes in sack-cloth and fasts and walkes softly Who that had seene Ahab would not haue deemed him a true penitent All this was the visor of sorrow not the face or if the face not the heart or if the sorrow of the heart yet not the repentance A sorrow for the iudgement not a repentance for the sin The very deuils howle to be tormented Griefe is not euer a signe of grace Ahab rends his clothes he did not rend his heart he puts on sack-cloth not amendment he lies in sack-cloth but he lies in his Idolatry he walkes softly he walkes not sincerely Worldly sorrow causeth death Happy is that griefe for which the soule is the holier Yet what is this I see This very shadow of penitence carries away mercy It is no small mercy to deferre an euill Euen Ahabs humiliation shal prorogue the iudgement such as the penitence was such shal bee the reward a temporary reward of a temporary penitence As Ahab might be thus sorrowfull and neuer the better so he may be thus fauoured and neuer the happier Oh God how graciously art thou ready to reward a sound and holy repentance who art thus indulgent to a carnall and seruile deiection AHAB and MICAIAH OR The Death of AHAB WHo would haue look't to haue heard any more of the warres of the Syrians with Israel after so great a slaughter after so firme a league a league not of peace onely but of Brotherhood The haltars the sack-cloth of Benhadads followers were worne out as of vse so of memory and now they are changed for Iron and steele It is but three yeares that this peace lasts and now that warre begins which shall make an end of Ahab The King of Israel rues his vniust mercie according to the word of the Prophet that gift of a life was but an exchange Because Ahab gaue Benhadad his life Benhadad shall take Ahabs He must forfeit in himselfe what he hath giuen to another There can be no better fruit of too much kindnesse to Infidels It was one Article of the league betwixt Ahab his brother Benhadad that there should be a speedy restitution of all the Israelitish Cities The rest are yeelded onely Ramoth Gilead is held backe vnthankfully iniuriously He that beg'd but his life receiues his Kingdome and now rests not content with his owne bounds Iustly doth Ahab challenge his owne iustly doth he moue a war to recouer his owne from a perfidious tributary the lawfulnesse of actions may not be iudged by the euents but by the grounds the wise and holy arbiter of the world knowes why many times the better cause hath the worse successe Many a iust businesse is crossed for a punishment to
taken her part of so prodigious a banquet with-drawes her childe and hides him from the knife Hunger and enuy make the Plaintiffe importunate and now she craues the benefit of royall iustice She that made the first motion with-holds her part of the bargaine and flies from that promise whose trust had made this mother childlesse Oh the direfull effects of famine that turnes off all respects of nature and giues no place to horror causing the tender mother to lay her hands yea her teeth vpon the fruit of her owne body and to receiue that into her stomacke which she hath brought forth of her wombe What should Iehoram doe The match was monstrous The challenge was iust yet vnnaturall This complainant had purchased one halfe of the liuing childe by the one halfe of hers dead The mother of the furuiuing Infant is pressed by couenant by hunger restrained by nature To force a mother to deliuer vp her childe to voluntarie slaughter had beene cruell To force a Debtor to pay a confessed arerage seemed but equall If the remaining childe be not dressed for food this mother of the deuoured childe is both robbed and affamished If he bee innocent bloud is shed by authoritie It is no maruell if the question astonished the Iudge not so much for the difficultie of the demand as the horror of the occasion To what lamentable distresse did Iehoram finde his people driuen Not without cause did the King of Israel rend his garments and shew his sack-cloth well might he see his people branded with that ancient curse which God had denounced against the rebellious The Lord shall bring a Nation against thee of a fierce countenance which shall not regard the person of the old nor shew fauour to the young And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine owne body the flesh of thy sonnes and of thy daughters The tender and delicate woman her eies shall be euill towards her young one that commeth out from betweene her feet and towards the children which she shall beare for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitnesse Hee mournes for the plague hee mournes not for the cause of this plague his sin and theirs I finde his sorrow I finde not his repentance The worst man may grieue for his smart onely the good heart grieues for his offence In stead of being penitent Iehoram is furious and turnes his rage from his sins against the Prophet God doe so to me and more also if the head of Elisha the sonne of Shaphat shall stand on him this day Alas what hath the righteous done Perhaps Elisha that wee may imagine some colours of this displeasure fore-threatned this iudgement but they deserued it perhaps he might haue auerted it by his prayers their vnrepentance disabled him Perhaps hee perswaded Iehoram to hold out the siege though through much hardnesse he foresaw the deliuerance In all this how hath Elisha forfeited his head All Israel did not afford an head so guiltlesse as this that was destin'd to slaughter This is the fashion of the world the lewd blames the innocent and will reuenge their owne sinnes vpon others vprightnesse In the midst of all this sad estate of Samaria and these stormes of Iehoram the Prophet sits quietly in his owne house amongst his holy Consorts bewailing no doubt both the sinnes and misery of their people and prophetically conferring of the issue when suddenly God reueales to him the bloudy intent and message of Iehoram and he at once reueales it to his fellowes See yee how this sonne of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head Oh the vnimitable libertie of a Prophet The same God that shew'd him his danger suggested his words He may bee bold where we must bee awfull Still is Naboths bloud laid in Iehorams dish The foule fact of Ahab blemisheth his posteritie and now when the sonne threats violence to the innocent murder is obiected to him as hereditary He that foresaw his owne perill prouides for his safetie Shut the doore and hold him fast at the doore No man is bound to tender his throat to an vniust stroke This bloudie commission was preuented by a propheticall fore-sight The same eye that saw the executioner comming to smite him saw also the King hasting after him to stay the blow The Prophet had beene no other than guiltie of his owne bloud if he had not reserued himselfe a while for the rescue of authoritie Oh the inconstancie of carnall hearts It was not long since Iehoram could say to Elisha My father shall I smite them now he is readie to smite him as an enemie whom hee honoured as a father Yet againe his lips had no sooner giuen sentence of death against the Prophet than his feet stirre to recall it It should seeme that Elisha vpon the challenges and expostulations of Iehorams messenger had sent a perswasiue message to the King of Israel yet a while to wait patiently vpon God for his deliuerance The discontented Prince flies off in an impotent anger Behold this euill is of the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer Oh the desperate resolutions of impatient mindes They haue stinted God both for his time and his measure if he exceed either they either turne their backs vpon him or flie in his face The position was true the inference deadly All that euill was of the Lord they deserued it he sent it What then It should haue beene therefore argued Hee that sent it can remoue it I will wait vpon his mercie vnder whose iustice I suffer Impatience and distrust shal but aggrauate my iudgement It is the Lord let him doe what he will But now to despaire because God is iust to defie mercy because it lingers to reiect God for correction it is a presumptuous madnesse an impious pettishnesse Yet in spight of all these prouocations both of King and people Elisha hath good newes for Iehoram Thus saith the Lord To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flowre bee sold for a Shekell and two measures of Barley for a Shekell in the gate of Samaria Miserable Israel now sees an end of this hard triall One daies patience shall free them both of siege and famine Gods deliuerances may ouer-stay our expectation not the due period of his owne counsels Oh infinite mercy when man saies No longer God sayes To morrow As if hee would condescend where hee might iudge and would please them who deserued nothing but punishment The word seemed not more comfortable than incredible A Lord on whose hand the King leaned answered the man of God and said Behold if the Lord would make windowes in heauen might this thing be Prophesies before they be fulfilled are riddles no spirit can areed them but that by which they are deliuered It is a foolish and iniurious infidelity to question a possibilitie where wee know the message is Gods How
Contemplations VPON THE HISTORIE of the old TESTAMENT THE SEVENTH VOLVME In two Bookes By IOS HALL D. D. LONDON Printed by J. Hâ—â—land for Nath. Butter 1623. Contemplations VPON THE OLD TESTAMENT The 18th Booke Wherein are Rehoboam Ieroboam The seduced Prophet Ieroboams Wife Asa Elijah with the Sareptan Elijah with the Baalites Elijah running before Ahab flying from Iezebel TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE IAMES LORD HAYE Baron of Saley Viscount Doncaster Earle of Carlile one of the Lords of his Maiesties most Honourable Priuie COVNSELL Right Honourable I Cannot but thus gratulate to you your happy returne from your many and noble imployments which haue made you some yeeres a stranger at home and so renowned abroad that all the better parts of Europe know and honour your name no lesse than if you had beene borne theirs Neither is any of them so sauage as not to say when they heare mention of your worth that Vertue is a thousand Escuchions If now your short breathing-time may allow your Lordship the freedome of quiet holy thoughts cast your eyes vpon Israel and Iudah vpon the Kings and Prophets of both in such beneficiall varietie as prophane historie shall promise in vaine Your Lordship shall see Rehoboam following Salomon in nothing but his seat and his fall as much more wilfull than his father as lesse wise all head no heart losing those ten Tribes with a churlish breath whom he would and might not recouer with bloud Ieroboam as crafty as wicked plotting a reuolt creating a Religion to his state marring Israelites to make subiects branded in his name smitten in his hand in his loynes You shall see a faithfull messenger of God after miraculous proofe of his courage fidelity power good nature paying deare for a little circumstance of credulous disobedience The lion is sent to call for his bloud as the price of his forbidden harbour You shall see the blinde Prophet descrying the disguise of a Queene the iudgement of the King the remouall of a Prince too good for Ieroboams heire You shall see the right stock of Royall succession flourishing in Asa whiles that true heire of Dauid though not without some blemishes of infirmity inherits a perfect heart purges his kingdome of Sodomy of Idolatry not balking sinne euen where he honoured nature You shall see the wonder of Prophets Elijah opening and shutting heauen as his priuate chest catored-for by the Rauens nor lesse miraculously catoring for the Sareptan contesting with Ahab confronting the Baalites speaking both fire and water from heauen in one euening meekely lacquaying his Soueraigne weakely flying from Iezabel fed supernaturally by Angels hid in the rocke of Horeb confirmed by those dreadfull apparitions that had confounded some other casting his mantle vpon his homely successor and by the touch of that garment turning him from a plough-man to a Prophet But what doe I withhold your Lordship in the bare heads of this insuing discourse In all these your piercing eies shall easily see beyond mine make my thoughts but a station for a further discouery Your Lordships obseruation hath studied men more than bookes heere it shall study God more than men That of bookes hath made you full that of men iudicious this of God shall make you holy and happy Hitherto shall euer tend the wishes and indeuours of Your Lordships humbly deuoted in all faithfull obseruance IOS HALL Contemplations REHOBOAM WHo would not but haue looked that seuen hundred wiues and three hundred concubines should haue furnished Salomons Palace with choise of heires and haue peopled Israel with royall issue and now behold Salomon hath by all these but one Sonne and him by an Ammonitesse Many a poore man hath an house-full of children by one wife whiles this great King hath but one sonne by many house-fulls of wiues Fertility is not from the meanes but from the author It was for Salomon that Dauid sung of old Lo children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the wombe is his reward How oft doth God deny this heritage of heires where he giues the largest heritage of lands and giues most of these liuing possessions where he giues least of the dead that his blessings may bee acknowledged free vnto both entayled vpon neither As the greatest persons cannot giue themselues children so the wisest cannot giue their children wisdome Was it not of Rehoboam that Salomon said I hated all my labour which I had taken vnder the Sunne because I should leaue it vnto the man that shall bee after mee and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a foole Yet shall he rule ouer all my labour wherein I haue laboured and shewed my selfe wise vnder the Sunne All Israel found that Salomons wit was not propagated Many a foole hath had a wiser sonne than this wisest father Amongst many sonnes it is no newes to finde some one defectiue Salomon hath but one sonne and he no miracle of wisdome God giues purposely so eminent an instance to teach men to looke vp to heauen both for heires and graces Salomon was both the King of Israel and the father of Rehoboam when hee was scarce out of his childhood Rehoboam enters into the kingdome at a ripe age yet Salomon was the man and Rehoboam the childe Age is no iust measure of wisdome There are beardlesse sages and gray-headed children Not the ancient are wise but the wise is ancient Israel wanted not many thousands that were wiser than Rehoboam Yet because they knew him to be the sonne of Salomon no man makes question of his gouernment In the case of succession into Kingdomes we may not looke into the qualities of the person but into the right So secure is Salomon of the peoples fidelity to Dauids seed that he followes not his fathers example in setting his sonne by him in his owne throne here was no danger of a riuality to inforce it no eminency in the sonne to merit it It sufficeth him to know that no bond can bee surer than the naturall allegeance of subiects I doe not finde that the following Kings stood vpon the confirmation of their people but as those that knew the way to their throne ascended those steps without aid As yet the soueraignty of Dauids house was greene and vnsetled Israel therefore doth not now come to attend Rehoboam but Rehoboam goes vp to meet Israel They come not to his Ierusalem but he goes to their Shechem To Shechem were all Israel come to make him King If loyalty drew them together why not rather to Ierusalem there the maiestie of his fathers Temple the magnificence of his palace the verie stones in those walles besides the strength of his guard had pleaded strongly for their subiection Shechem had beene many waies fatall was euery way incommodious It is an infinite helpe or disaduantage that arises from circumstances The very place puts Israel in minde of a rebellion There Abimelech had raised vp his treacherous vsurpation ouer and against
shall arise from the loines from the graue of Abijam he shall reuiue Dauid and reforme Iudah The gloomy times of corruption shall not last alwaies The light of truth and peace shall at length breake out and blesse the sad hearts of the righteous It is a wonder how Asa should be good of the seed of Abijam of the soyle of Maachah both wicked both Idolatrous God would haue vs see that grace is from heauen neither needs the helpes of these earthly conueyances Should not the children of good parents sometimes be euill and the children of euill parents good vertue would seeme naturall and the giuer would leese his thankes Thus we haue seene a faire flower spring out of dung and a well-fruited tree rise out of a sowre stocke Education hath no lesse power to corrupt than nature It is therefore the iust praise of Asa that being trained vp vnder an Idolatrous Maachah he maintained his piety As contrarily it is a shame for those that haue beene bred vp in the precepts and examples of vertue and godlinesse to fall off to lewdnesse or superstition There are foure principall monuments of Asaes vertue as so many rich stones in his Diadem Hee tooke away Sodomie and Idols out of Iudah Who cannot wonder more that he found them there than that he remoued them What a strange incongruitie is this Sodome in Ierusalem Idols in Iudah Surely debauched profession proues desperate Admit the Idols ye cannot doubt of the Sodomy If they haue changed the glory of the vncorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and foure-footed beasts and creeping things it is no maruell if God giue them vp to vncleannesse through the lusts of their owne hearts to dishonour their owne bodies betweene themselues If they changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and serued the creature more than the Creator who is blessed for euer no maruell if God giue them to vile affections to change the naturall vse into that which is against nature burning in lust one towards another men with men working that which is vnseemely Contrarily admit the Sodomy ye cannot doubt of the Idols vnnaturall beastlinesse in manners is iustly punished with a sottish dotage in religion bodily pollution with spirituall How should the soule care to be chaste that keeps a stewes in the body Asa begins with the banishment of both scouring Iudah of this double vncleannesse In vaine should hee haue hoped to restore God to his Kingdome whiles these abominations inhabited it It is iustly the maine care of worthy and religious Princes to cleare their Coasts of the foulest sinnes Oh the vnpartiall zeale of Asa There were Idols that challenged a prerogatiue of fauour the Idols that his father had made all these he defaces the name of a father cannot protect an Idoll The dutie to his Parent cannot win him to a liking to a forbearance of his mis-deuotion Yea so much the more doth the heart of Asa rise against these puppets for that they were the sinne the shame of his father Did there want thinke we some Courtier of his Fathers retinue to say Sir fauour the memorie of him that begot you you cannot demolish these statues without the dishonour of their Erector Hide your dislike at the least It will be your glorie to lay your finger vpon this blot of your fathers reputation If you list not to allow his act yet winke at it The godly zeale of Asa turnes the deafe eare to these monitors and lets them see that he doth not more honor a father than hate an Idoll No dearenesse of person should take off the edge of our detestation of the sinne Nature is worthy of forgetfulnesse and contempt in opposition to the God of Nature Vpon the same ground as he remoued the Idols of his father Abijam so for Idols he remoued his Grand-mother Maachah shee would not be remoued from her obscene Idols she is therefore remoued from the station of her honor That Princesse had aged both in her regency and superstition Vnder her rod was Asa brought vp and schooled in the rudiments of her Idolatry whom she could not infect she hoped to ouer-awe so as if Asa will not follow her gods yet she presumes that she may reteine her owne Doubtlesse no meanes were neglected for her reclamation none would preuaile Religious Asa gathers vp himselfe and begins to remember that hee is a King though a sonne that she though a mother yet is a subiect that her eminence could not but countenance Idolatry that her greatnesse suppressed religion which he should in vaine hope to reforme whiles her superstition swayed forgetting therefore the challenges of nature the awe of infancie the custome of reuerence he strips her of that command which he saw preiudiciall to his Maker All respects of flesh and blood must be trampled on for God Could that long-setled Idolatry want abettors Questionlesse some or other would say This was the religion of your father Abijam this of your grandfather Rehoboam this of the latter daies of your wise and great grand-father Salomon this of your grand-mother Maachah this of your great grand-mother Naamah why should it not be yours Why should you suspect either the wisdome or pietie or saluation of so many Predecessors Good Asa had learned to contemne prescription against a direct law He had the grace to know it was no measuring truth by so moderne antiquitie his eyes scorning to looke so low raise vp themselues to the vncorrupt times of Salomon to Dauid to Samuel to the Iudges to Ioshua to Moses to the Patriarks to Noah to the religious founders of the first world to the first father of mankinde to Paradise to heauen In comparison of these Maachahs God cannot ouerlooke yesterday the ancientest error is but a nouice to Truth And if neuer any example could be pleaded for puritie of religion it is enough that the precept is expresse He knew what God said in Sinai and wrote in the Tables Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen image nor any similitude Thou shalt not bow downe to them nor worship them If all the world had beene an Idolater euer since that word was giuen he knew how little that precedent could auaile for disobedience Practise must be corrected by law and not the law yeeld to practise Maachah therefore goes downe from her seat her Idols from their groue shee to retirednesse they to the fire and from thence to the water Wofull deities that could both burne and drowne Neither did the zeale of Asa more magnifie it selfe in these priuatiue acts of weeding out the corruptions of Religion than in the positiue acts of an holy plantation In the falling of those Idolatrous shrines the Temple of God flourishes That doth he furnish with those sacred treasures which were dedicated by himselfe by his Progenitors Like the true sonne of Dauid hee would not serue God cost-free Rehoboam turnd Salomons gold into brasse Asa
the Sauiour of men to second their earthly fire with his heauenly He came indeed to send fire vpon earth but to warme not to burne and if to burne not the persons of men but their corruptions How much more safe is it for vs to follow the meeke Prophet of the New Testament than that feruent Prophet of the Old Let the matter of our prayers be the sweet dewes of mercy not the fires of vengeance Would not any man haue thought Ahaziah sufficiently warned by so terrible a iudgement Could he chuse but say It is no medling with a man that can speak lightning and death What he hath said concerning me is too well approued by what he hath done to my messengers Gods hand is with him mine shall not be against him Yet now behold the rage of Ahaziah is so much the more kindled by this fire from heauen and a more resolute Captaine with a second band is sent to fetch Elijah to death This man is in haste and commands not onely his descent but his speed Come downe quickly The charge implyes a threat Elijah must looke for force if hee yeeld not There needs no other weapon for defence for offence than the same tongue the same breath God hath fire enough for all the troupes of Ahaziah Immediatly doth a sudden flame breake out of heauen and consume this forward Leader and his bold followers It is a iust presage and desert of ruine not to bee warned Worthily are they made examples that will not take them What Marble or Flint is harder than a wicked heart As if Ahaziah would despightfully spit in the face of heauen and wrestle a fall with the Almightie he will needs yet againe set a third Captaine vpon so desperate an imployment How hot a seruice must this Commander needs thinke himselfe put vpon Who can but pittie his straits There is death before him death behinde him If he goe not the Kings wrath is the messenger of death if he goe the Prophets tongue is the executioner of death Many an hard taske will follow the seruice of a Prince wedded to his passion diuorced from God Vnwillingly doubtlesse and fearefully doth this Captaine climbe vp the hill to scale that impregnable Fort but now when he comes neere to the assault the batterie that he laies to it is his prayers his surest fight is vpon his knees He went vp and came and fell vpon his knees before Elijah and besought him and said vnto him O man of God I pray thee let my life and the life of these fiftie thy seruants be pretious in thy sight hee confesses the iudgement that befell his Predecessors the monuments of their destruction were in his eye and the terror of it in his heart of an enemy therefore he is become a suppliant and sues not so much for the Prophets yeeldance as for his owne life This was the way to offer violence to the Prophet of God to the God of that Prophet euen humble supplications Wee must deprecate that euill which wee would auoid if wee would force blessings we must intreat them There is nothing to be gotten from God by strong hand any thing by suit The life of the Captaine is preserued Elijah is by the Angell commanded to goe downe with him speedily fearelesly The Prophet casts not with himselfe What safetie can there bee in this iourney I shall put my selfe into the hands of rude Souldiers and by them into the hands of an enraged King if hee did not eagerly thirst after my bloud he had neuer sought it with so much losse But so soone as he had a charge from the Angell hee walkes downe resolutely and as it were dares the dangers of so great an hostilitie Hee knew that the same God who had fought for him vpon the hill would not leaue him in the Valley hee knew that the Angell which bade him goe was guard enough against a world of enemies Faith knowes not how to feare and can as easily contemne the suggestion of perils as infidelitie can raise them The Prophet lookes boldly vpon the Court which doubtlesse was not a little dis-affected to him and comes confidently into the bed-chamber of Ahaziah and sticks not to speake ouer the same words to his head which hee had sent him not long since by his first messengers Not one syllable will the Prophet abate of his errand It is not for an Herald of heauen to be out of countenance or to mince ought of the most killing messages of his God Whether the inexpected confidence both of the man and of the speech amazed the sicke King of Israel or whether the feare of some present iudgement wherewith hee might suspect Elijah to come armed vpon any act of violence that should bee offered ouer-awed him or whether now at the last vpon the sight and hearing of this man of God the Kings heart began to relent and checke it selfe for that sinne for which hee was iustly reproued I know not but sure I am the Prophet goes away vntouched neither the furious purposes of Ahaziah nor the exasperations of a Iezebel can hurt that Prophet whom God hath intended to a fiery Chariot The hearts of Kings are not their owne Subiects are not so much in their hands as they are in their Makers How easily can God tame the fiercenesse of any creature and in the midst of their most heady careere stop them on the sudden fetcht them vpon the knees of their humble submission It is good trusting God with the euents of his owne commands who can at pleasure either auert euils or improue them to good According to the word of the Prophet Ahaziah dies not two whole yeeres doth he sit in the throne of Israel which he now must yeeld in the want of children to his brother Wickednesse shortens his reigne he had too much of Ahab Iezebel to expect the blessing either of length or prosperitie of gouernment As alwaies in the other so oft-times in this world doth God testifie his anger to wicked men Some liue long that they may aggrauate their iudgement others die soone that they may hasten it THE RAPTVRE of ELIjAH LOng and happily hath Elijah fought the wars of his God and now after his noble and glorious victories God will send him a Chariot of Triumph Not suddenly would God snatch away his Prophet without warning without expectation but acquaints him before hand with the determination of his glory How full of heauenly ioy was the soule of Elijah whiles he foreknew and lookt for this instant happinesse With what contempt did hee cast his eies vpon that earth which hee was now presently to leaue with what rauishments of inward pleasure did he looke vpon that heauen which he was to inioy For a meet fare-well to the earth Elijah will goe visit the schooles of the Prophets before his departure These were in his way Of any part of the earth they were neerest vnto heauen In an holy progresse