go to heaven that had all his time served the Devil on earth and therefore of the two he thought his own case best and that he was most fit to die and so if God had so pleased chose to die I would God I had died for thee From whence we learn Obs That death which to the ungodly is the King of terrors Job 18. 14. to the righteous is a welcom guest at all times Absalom may be afraid to die because the wages of his wickedness are alwayes ready to be paid him which is eternal death of body and soul for ever Rom. 6. 23. When good David shall willingly resign up his soul into the hands of his Creator for he knows his end will be peace Psal 37. 37. Oecolampadius being ready to depart as old Simeons Phrase is comforted his friends that stood howling about him with these words Non mori timeo quia bonum habeo Dominum I am not afraid to die because I have served a good God He that fears God shall never need to fear death for Christ hath pulled out the sting thereof that he may tryumphantly singwith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin but thanks be unto God which hath given me victory through our Lord Jesus Christ The Reasons why death is welcome to the godly at all times are Reas 1. Because it is an end of their sorrows and the beginning and entrance into the joy of their Lord Matth. 25. 23. It is the Exodus of their miseries and Genesis of their comforts It is as a Bridge over which they must passe into life as the Israelites must go thorow the red Sea before they can get into Canaan a Land flowing with milk and hony and all good things wherefore they rejoice to see that day as old Simeon did when he embraced Christ in his arms Luke 2. â—8 Reas 2. Because they are a people ready prepared for the Lord Luk. 1. 17. they are not fool-hardy like others who put far away from them the evil dayes that they may boldly approach unto the seat of iniquity Amos 6. 3. but they are still thinking of death and looking for death and providing for death that whensoever it comes early or late at the Cock crowing at midnight or the dawning of the day they may enter into the rest remaines for the people of God Heb. 4. 9. Reas 3 Because they have Jachin and Boaz faith and a good conscience to support them from sinking under the pains of death And this made the thief on the Crosse to die joyfully believing Christs words that he should that day be with him in Paradise Luk. 23. 43. this made St. Steven to laugh in death beholding the heavens opened and Christ standing at the right hand of the Father ready to receive his spirit Acts 7. 55 56. and this made David so willing to die for Absalom because he believed that his sinnes were covered Psal 32. 1. Obj. Did David well to wish for death or to die for his sonne Answ 1. Mortem optare malum formidare pejus It is not good to wish for death but worse to fear it It is an argument of great weakness to dispute with God much more to quarrel with God and most of all to seem to be wiser than God We pray and David prayed Thy will O Father be done and yet here he seems to prefer his own will before Gods Would God I had died for thee Absalom So that as the Apostle speaks James 3. 10. This thing ought not to be 2ly David did savour much more in this wish of flesh and blood than of spirit for that altogether submits with patience to suffer and bear what the good pleasure of the Lord is to bring to passe when the other grumbles and murmurs and repines at every thing contraries their humours This was Davids case and was his failing as the best want not theirs Vse Speaks the true happy state of a godly man He will not be afraid of evil tidings for his heart is fixed and he believeth in the Lord Psal 112. 7. when the wicked trepidant ad arundinis umbram tremble at the shaking of a leaf and flee when none pursueth then the righteous are as bold as a Lion Prov. 28. 1. The very thought of death strikes the ungodly as dead when they that fear the Lord like the Swan sing the sweetest song in death and the song of the Saints Rev. 22. 20. Come Lord Jesus come quickly The wicked when they are visited with sickness which is deaths Paratour to summon them into the Court for to give up their great accompt like the unjust Steward Luk. 16. 2. they roar and howl and crie like the hog which thinks he is never taken but to have his throat cut when the upright and just look up and lift up their heads with joy and comfort for their redemption draweth near Luke 21. 28. When the wicked call to the mountaines to fall upon them and to the hills to cover them and hide them from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6. 16. The righteous shout for joy like those that divide the spoyl and rejoyce according to joy in harvest Isa 9. 3. for they shall be gathered like wheat into the Lords Garner when the chaff shall be burned with unquenchable fire Mat. 3. 12. And as Balaam said Numb 23. 10. O that my latter end might be like his And so thus much of the first person spoken of in the text David with his passion and compassion 2ly The next person is Absalom And in him let us consider 1. His Name 2ly His Person 3ly His Life 4ly His Death Of these in order 1. His Name and that was Abishalom which signifies his fathers peace He was so sweet a Babe that his father promised himself great matters and hope in him but he proved the greatest crosse that ever he did bear So that we cannot say Vt nomen sic natura as Abigail did of Nabal As his name was so was he For he was a moth a canker a thorn in his fathers eye and the greatest disturber of his quiet and rest and ease and peace that ever he was acquainted with that he is constrained to flee and shift for his life lest he be devoured by his Sonnes sword 2 Sam. 13. 14. 2ly His person And so he was the fairest of ten thousand for from the sole of the foot to the top of his head there was no blemish in him 2 Sam. 14. 25. He had a fair body but a foul soul and heart like the Swan which hath a white feather but a black skin Or like Mausolus his tombe or the painted Sepulchres in the Gospel glorious and beautiful without but full of rottenness and stinking bones within Or like a white glove over a scabby hand Or like the Pharisees
as I have done saith Adonibezek Judg. 1. 7. so God hath rewarded me Even so us our Abnor our great man in the Text falls by the hâ—nd of Joab so Joab must look to have his fall too although it be many years after by Benaiah 1 Kings 2. 31 32 33 34. and the curse of Jehoiakim King of Judah shall follow him to his grave Jer. 22. 18. There shall be none to lament him saying Ah my Brother or ah Lord or ah his glory And let all true hearted Israelites speak as Cushi did to David of Absolom 2 Sam. 18. 32. So let all the Enemies of the Lord their King perish and be as Joab is The Text is a vindication of Davids innocencie in and a lively description of Abners death wherein let us consider these five particulars 1. His qualities and so he was no mean man sprung from the dunghil or Ale-tap no broken Citizen or bankerout Gentleman no Mechanick or Artificer none of the base condition of Davids followers when he fled from Saul 1 Sam. 22. 2. but he was Ishbosheths staff the supporter of Sauls house and the glory of that Diadem and so the Pen-man sets him out two waies 1. As a Prince 2. As a great man 1. As a Prince unto which the Latine word hath a near relation Princeps the which signifies a chief head or ruler secretly inssinuating that as of a head he ought to be defended and made much of because life consists so well in the head as in the heart then as a Ruler he ought to be obeyed and feared according to Saint Paul's rule Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers but Joab had learned instead of Obsta principiis Obsta Principibus withstand the beginnings of sin stifling the first conception of murther in his heart to promote it and give life unto it by the fall of a Prince and so hath received to himself condemnation ver 2. 2ly The Hebrews use many words signifying a Prince but I shall make use but of one and that is Naghidh carrying this sence Dux Princeps a Captain and chief Commander ordering disposing and giving rules to Souldiers to go out and come in to draw and to sheath their swords and such a Prince was Abner and a valiant Prince but whom Ajax cannot conquer Vlysses will undermine by treason For know ye not that a Prince and a great man is fallen And so I passe to the second Branch 2. As a great man As when Ephraim spake there was trembling Hos 13. 1. As when the Lion roars who will not be afraid Amos 3. 8. even so when this great man speaks not onely the inferiour beasts of the Forest but even the Lion himself coucheth as is clear in the 11 verse before the Text and if a bare hand upon the wall did so starcle Belshazzar in his cups when men are most Pot-valiant and in the Guard of his Princes and making metry with his wives and concubines that his countenance changed the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another Dan. 5. 6. How will Joab look How will Joab stand How will he shift when the great God shall make inquisition for this great mans blood Psal 9. 12. Davids heart smote him for cutting off but the Lap of Saul's garment 1 Sam. 24. 5 6. How then deeply may they be touched that had a hand in cutting off the head of the Lords anointed for the greater the person the greater is the sin in them that conspire his death Kings and Princes and great man in authority are termed gods by Gods own mouth Psal 82. 6 and to act Treason against such is to be treacherous to God himself for which cause God spared not the Angels that had finned but cast them down into hell and delivered them into chains of darknesse to be kept unto damnation 2 Pet. 2. 4. What Christ spake in another kind holds true in this Matth. 25. 40. In as much as ye have done it unto them ye have done it unto me Another particular is the manner of this great Princes death so he is not threatned a fall as God told Adam that if he should eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in that day he should die the death Gen. 2. 17. for then he would have looked about him either to prevent his fall or to make a good preparation for his soul against his fall as the wise Steward did for his body Duke 26. 4. but in the present tense occidit is fallen noting the suddennesse of his death and his unprovidenesse for his grave Joab not onely labouring to kill his body but so far as he could his soul too like as the Italian I read of endevoured to serve his enemy overcome in duel wherein we may observe 1. Prov. 12. 10. The mercies of the wicked are truel 2ly The uncertainty of our death we have one way into the world but many out Ferro peste fame vinclis algore calore Mille modis miseros mors rapit una viros as sometimes by fire famine plague water sword like Abner and Joab And this consideration should move us to look for that in every place which every where looks for us Pharaoh tasted of deaths Cup in the deep Sea Herod upon his throne Eglon sunning himself in his Summer Parlour Amnon when his heart was merry with wine Ahab in the battel Zenecharib in the house of his God And who amongst us can coast of to morrow for we know not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27. 1. Let it be our wisedom then 1. So to live as if we were alwaies dying and giving up our accounts to the great judge of Heaven and Earth of our several stewardships 2ly With Joseph in the time of famine with Solomons Pismire in the harvest time and with the wise Virgins in the acceptable time to provide oyl for our Lamps that we may be found a people ready prepared for our God when he shall knock at our door and call us 3ly To pray alwaies as the Church hath taught us From sudden death Good Lord deliver us 3ly The next particular is the time of Abners fall and that is said to be hoc die this day Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great man this day fallen in Israel This was a day of darknesse and of blacknesse a day of clouds and obscuritie Joel 2. 2. a day of heavinesse and mourning a stormy and watery day and in a word such a sad day to David and all Israel as if as one man they had combined to revive their Abner with their tears as Christ did Lazarus John 11. or if they could not do that for him yet they would witnesse to the world their love to him and how wonderfully they lamented his losse To love a rich man and a great man living is no news the living dog being better than the dead Lion Eccles 9.
harvest Death thrusts in his sickle and the fairest corn falls to the ground Wise men die and also the ignorant and foolish perish together Psal 49. 10. I said ye are gods but ye shall die like men and fall like others 82. ver 7. All flesh is grasse and all the glory of man like the flower of the field the grasse withereth the flower fadeth away because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it Surely all flesh is grasse omnis Caro all flesh the flesh of Princes and great men so well as of the Peasant and begger Paul saith Heb. 9. 27. Decretum est omnibus mori There is an appointed time for all men to die All the seed of Adam have had their day Noah Abraham Isaac Iacob Solemon Sampson with our Abner Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel Ob. If God bounds mans life to an appointed time to a day then Ioab seems to fulfill the good pleasure of God in giving a full period to Abners life he was but as the Atropos to cut the threed of his mortality asunder and so how could this be said to be sin in him Ans Cain might plead the same Argument in murthering of his brother Abel but how displeasing it was to the most high let his punishment let his yellings and roarings witnesse to the world 2ly Although mans appointed time be known to God yet it is unknown to man so he is called Palmoni which signifies a secret number because he knoweth the number of our dayes which is secret and hidden to us for as Christ spake of the end of the world Mat. 24. 36. so may I speak in this kind Of that day and hour knoweth no man And so it must needs follow that Ioab's wickednesse was Monstrum horrendum most hainous and detestable Vse 1. All men have their falling day Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be learned ye Iudges of the earth serve the Lord in fear Feriunt ceisos fulmina montes the higher ye are the more ticklish ye stand and the more ready ye are to fall ye stand upon slippery places and are suddenly cast down consumed and perished Psal 73. 18 19. Quem dies videt veniens superbum hunc dies fugiens videt jacentem Whom the morning behold swelling and strutting like the proud Peacock the Evening beheld wallowing in his own blood and gore Know ye not that a Prince is fallen this day The day of great men is no longer than the poor mans day and therefore it will be their greatest honour and wisdome to work out their salvation whilst it is day Phil. 2. 12. Heb. 3. 13. For the night cometh when no man can work John 9. 4. Vse 2. Here is instruction for inferiours to pray with Moses Psal 90. 12. Lord teach us so to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome and there is no wisdom like to that of looking well to the better part with Mary and gaining of heaven It is written of Alexander the great that a little pit held him after his death whom the whole world could scarcely contain living and so he was still crowding for more elbow room according to that of the Poet. Vnus Pellaeo juveni vix sufficit orbis And of Franciscus Borgia seeing a little Tomb and Coffin to contain all the Princely glory power and magnificence of that great Empresse Augusta that he departed from her Funeral saying Mortem Augustae sibi vitam attulisse that her death should give him life Even so let the consideration of the mortality of our bodies quicken us and put life into us to labour for the immortality of our souls in blisse Let the meditation of sic transit gloria mundi all earthly glory vanisheth immediately like flax that is set on fire as the Master of the Ceremonies was wont to speak to the Pope the first day of his inauguration mind us to seek after the things above Col. 3. 1. which fade not nor fail not Luke 22. 33. It was the saying of Augustine nescis qua hora veniet vigila ut quod nescis quando veniet paratum te inveniat quum venerit ad hoc forte nescis quando veniet ut semper paratus sis the which I may interpret by our Saviours own words Matth. 25. 13. Ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man will come watch therefore that when he cometh he may find you well-doing And for this cause of that day and hour knoweth no man that every man should watch and be found a people ready prepared for the Lord Luke 1. 17. and so enter into the Kingdome prepared for them from the beginning of the wotld Matth. 25. 34. When Pharaoh Abimelech Sisera Herod Abner least dreamed of their fall then their day was at an end Let then Abolibah learn to be wise by the punishment laid upon her sister Abolah for what is spoke of Abner here will be verified of all in the same sence although not words Know ye not that a Prince and a great man is this day fallen in Israel Obs 4. In Israel Gods Church is not free from spots In Paradise there was a deadly stinging Serpent in Christs bosome a Judaâ— In the fairest garden Later anguis sub herba will be some venemous creature Israel was a nursery of Religion and Prophets It was the Lords peculiar treasure Exod. 19. 5. and Vine and yet lo this treasure hath a canker this Vine a deadly Viper couching under her branches to sting Abner unto death Know ye not that a Prince and a great man is fallen this day How By Treason Where In Israel whom By Joab I might enlarge my self farther but I will conclude all in a few words The Allusion 1. Abner died when he least thought of death even so our Prince and great man is pulled down to his grave in the flower and strength of his years when he least thought of the turning of the Sun â—â— Cesar being asked what death he would choose answered no lingring but a sudden death and this our Prince enjoyes being alive and dead in a moment the breath of man can scarce pronounce so fast Est but the Eccho answereth as fast Non est he is fallen 2ly Abner died a violent death even so our Prince by unmercifull hands on every side is bereaved of his life Gebal Ammon and Amalech Edom and Ishmael Moab and the Agarims Jesuites and Zamzummims Deut. 2. â—0 that is a people who called themselves Rephaims preservers or Physicians to heal and reform vices but played the Devils to open a gap to let in all heresie and abomination and wickedness and profanesse and covetousness which is idolatry These all of them have taken crafty counsel against him Psal 83. 3. and worried him and dethroned him and like Cannihals have devoured him 3ly Abner was evil spoken of by Joab and his innocency tainted and spotted by him and
had stood in his place Would God I had died for thee Absolom my son my son 3ly He had repenting tears being assured that his own sinne so well as his sons hastened him to the grave 4ly He had whining murmuring tears as may be gathered by his excessive impatience and immoderate weeping And the king was moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept and as he went thus he said O my son Absolom c. And so I passe to the next particular in the first general point 3ly The effect of his passion and as he went thus he said wherein let us consider these two particulars 1. Quod dixit that he said 2ly Quid dixit what he said 1. The vessel of his body was so overcharged with grief that if he had not given it vent his heart would have burst But his own words best speak it Ps 39. 3. Mine heart was hot within me and while I was missing the fire kindled and I spake with my tongue David was an expert and skilful Musician and here he sheweth it For first he begins with still Musick And the king was moved Then he strikes a note higher And he went up to the chamber over the gate and wept 3ly Then he played upon loud Musick and loud Cymbals and as he went thus he said O Absalom my son my son Absalom and so I am fallen upon the next particular 2ly What he said A man would have thought that David had more cause to blesse God for his great deliverance from the hands of his enemy than to whine and murmur and weep and hang down his head like a bull-rush I but thinks David if he were mine enemy yet he was filius meus my childe my son But if he were thy son yet he was cast into a wretched mould like one of those that the Apostle speaks of 2 Tim. 3. 2 3 4 5. A Lover of himself proud unthankful disobedient to parent without natural affection intemperate fierce no lover at all of them which are good a traitor heady high-minded having a shew of godliness but denying the power thereof I But saith David love covereth a multitude of faults for he was filius meus dilectus in quo mihi complacui my beloved son in whom I was well pleased But if he were thy son and thy beloved son yet why should'st thou cast such a pearl to such a swine and be more prodigal of thy love to him than to Solomon Adonijah and the rest of thy children better deserving I but saith David he was filius iste meus the prettiest man that ever eye beheld there was none in all Israel like him and therefore I cannot but sigh and sobb and eccho forth this sad lamentation for him O Absalom my son my son Absalom From whence we learn Obs 1. That love is blinde according to that of the Poet Quisquis amot ranam ranam putat esse Dianam Quisquis amat servam servam putat esse Minervam Quisquis amat luscam luscam putat esse venustam David beheld his son with the eye of flesh and blood but was blind to look into the deformities of his soul his body was not so lovely as his soul was filthy and therefore it was a wonder how good David should so much forget himself who was a man after Gods own heart and knew what God affected most Prov. 23. 26. to be transported with love to the outward man not regarding how leprous and diseased the inward man was Surely David for the present was not David and as the Philosopher told his old Concubine so he might have said of himself Ego non sum ego the which I may interpret by that which is said of the Prodigal in his ranting and ruffling fit and humour he was not himself Luk. 15. he was as blind as Bartimeus the Begger neither was this his case alone but Adams for he and his wife Hevab rejoiced exceedingly in their first-born child but as for their second they called him Habel which signifies vanity as if he were lightly esteemed of by them in competition to Cain but whom they accepted God rejected and whom they rejected God accepted For God seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh on the heart 1 Sam. 16. 7. And after the pattern of God himself Parents should love their children for their vertue and godlinesse more than for their painted outside Samuel was a good man and a Prophet and he was enamoured with Eliabs feature and stature and goodly proportion of body and said surely the Lords anointed is before him v. 6. but how blind he was in judgement and affection the Sequel sheweth For a father not to love his child is unnatural for a father to love his body more than his soul is unchristian-like for a father to over-love him is not to love him nor himself for God commonly crosseth him in his inordinate love David render a reason why thou delightedst in Absalom more than in the rest wert thou taken with his goodly head of hair Alas that is a sorrie excrement Wert thou captivated with his fair face Alas that the Pox or age quickly defaceth Wert thou ravished with his straight body Alas every wrinch decrepits it Wert thou overcome with the lustre and splendor of his eyes as Christ was wounded with one of the eyes of his Spouse Cant. 4. 9 Alas they are haughty and will soon wax dim and cease to look out at their Windows Eccles 12. 3. Wert thou delighted in his legs Alas as God Psal 117. 10. So shouldest not thou take pleasure in the legs of a man Speak David speak what was the object of thy love and if thou canst give no better reasons than these surely thy love to Absalom was blind Beware lest any of you with the Aramites be smitten with this blindness Obs 2. Carnal Passion breaks all bounds of reason and true Religion If God question Jonah chap. 4. 4. Dost thou well to be angry he will justifie himself and stand it out I do well to be angry to the death v. 9. Jonah had pity on a Gourd and yet he quarrels with God for having pity on Niniveh and shewing mercy to that City Wherein were six score thousand persons that could not discern between the right hand and the left Jonah What was thy Gourd to a great stately and eminent City What was thy Gourd to the treasures in that City What was thy Gourd to much cattel in that City What was thy Gourd to the men women and children in that City truly but as a straw to the Gold in Ophir Here then passion makes thee to break the bounds of reason ut to take one step and measure more What was thy Gourd to all the souls in that City and in having more compassion on that than on them thou breakest the bounds of true Religion Job was a good man an upright and just man and as a lillie
in sheeps clothing but inwardly were greedy wolves His garment was made of Linsey-woolsey which was forbidden in the old Law Deut. 22. 11. by woollen is signified simplicity by linnen subtilty and under this weed he had almost couzened his father of his life and Kingdome as Jacob did Esau of the blessing From whence we learn Obs All is not gold that glisters as all are not Israel which are of Israel Rom. 9. 10. All is not current coin that hath the Parliament stamp nor all good men that look demurely and speak fairly and religiously able to deceive if it were possible the very elect as Christ speaks Mark 13. 22. and therefore our Saviours counsell is John 7. 24. Not to judge according to the outward appearance What a Saint was Absalom in shew yet what a devil in practice and this age is full of these Absaloms 3ly His Life and thus his fair face was daubed and soiled with many a black spot His whole life was tainted with innumerable blemishes one drawing on another As to instance in some 1. He was a murtherer and this aggravates it self by these circumstances 1. A murtherer of his brother Amnon 2 Sam. 13. 29. who the nearer he was the dearer he ought to have been For no man hateth his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it Eph. 5. 29. We say that it is an ill bird defiles his own nest but we may conclude that is the worst bird in the nest that picketh out his brothers eyes and sucks his blood 2ly In that he masked his foul intention with the veil of love and kindeness Absalom had a sheep-shearing vers 24. and a great feast towards and he could not would not eat his meat alone and therefore he invites all his brethren to the banquet but as the children spake to their mother 2 Kings 4. 40 there was Mors in olla death in the pot and Amnon must pay the reckoning with his life 3ly That he murthered him when his heart was merry with wine not only labouring to kill his body but his soul too and how doth this cursed act hang like a leprosie upon the skirts of his garments to make him odious to all ages 2ly He was ambitious 1. Of popular applause 2 Sam. 15. 4. O that I were made judge in the land that every man that hath any controversie might come to me that I might do him justice O brave Mountebank that sets forth golden wares and promiseth mountaines but hides the poison as the Fisherman doth his deadly hook under a fair bait which he intended to give them when he had accomplished his design 2ly He not only gives the people bona verba good words to delude them but courteous deeds vers 5. And when any came near him and did him obeisance he puts forth his hand and took him and kissed him And by this means he stole the hearts of the men of Israel vers 6. and so makes way 2ly By his ambition to reach the Crown v. 10. he acts the Devils part to beguile to seduce and to drive on his self-ends for he transporteth himself into an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11. 14. and this must needs help to make up the measure of his wickednesse and so bring upon himself a corresponding punishment His sin is the greater because by his example he hath taught others to look up to heaven to smite upon their breasts to pray long prayers to preach to use Scripture-Sentences when they are acting the most devilish mischief or aspiring to the Throne 3ly He was a grand hypocrite and Simulata sanctitas duplex iniquitas counterfeit godlinesse is double wickednesse The beast tells his Father a fair Tale v. 8. Thy servant vowed a vow when I remained exile in Geshur in Aram saying If the Lord shall bring me again indeed to Hierusalem I will serve the Lord. Oh brave what a religious wretch and Caitiffe What to make godlinesse a Cloak for his Villanie What to make Piety serve for a shooing horn to draw on his interest to the Kingdome What to make the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to be evil spoken of through him and his juggling Surely It were better a miâ—stone were banged about his neck and he were cast into the bottome of the sea Matth. 18. 6. but from hence we learn Obs In nomine Domini incipit omne malum Religion is made a stalking horse to palliate all evil If Ahab cannot get Naboths vineyard by fair play he will have it by foul he will proclaim a Fast 1 Kings 21. 9. and two sons of Belial shall be hired to bear false witnesse against him and he shall be stoned and then he will be merry and take possession v 16. If Absalom can no other way supplant his Father he insooth hath a Vow to pay unto the Lord in Hebron and there he will take advantage of the place to mutinie and rebell and raise Forces to drive his Father out of house and home 2 Sam. 15. 16. And this ever was is and will be the practice of ambitious spirits to strain their consciences and to make use of Religion to stirrop them into the Saddle but my prayer for them shall be that their end may be like Absaloms and as Cushi said in the context So let all the enemies of the Lord my King perish 4ly He was a traytor 1. To his brother in taking away his life but here he seemed to be a pettie traitor because he fell alone 2ly To the people of Israel for he decoyed Israel into a net get they out as well as they could Fall back fall edge So it is said 2 Sam. 15. 11. And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem and followed him in their simplicity knowing nothing like many of our Zelots who were at first blindly led but when they had wel smarted for their folly cried peccavimus with the Prodigal they were misinformed and gulled and cheated of their expectation by the Grandees who sought themselves and not the Lord Jesus Christ and as the Apostle speaks in one kind so it may be said on the contrary They sought yours not you 2 Cor. 12. 14. Ours not us 3ly He was a traitor in Folio to his own Father seeking vi armis to depose him I and to quench his thirst with his blood But hold Absalom for he is thy father Hold Absalom he is thy fond and most indulgent Father Hold Absalem he is thy old Father full of gray hairs the which are blossomes of the grave Hold Absalom and give a check-mate to thy ambition for a while and then ride on and do thy will Look upon thy brethren and sisters his Wives and Concubines thy companions with him Look upon the Virgins in Jerusalem the Priests of God the hazard of War the sad effects of the sword as Rapine Famine Blood Desolation c. and if thou hast not sold thy self to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord like Ahab or
all the works of darknesse and of the Devil and with the day to walk honestly as children of the light and of the day Teach us by our walking and wandring up and down from one place to another ever to remember that we are but Pilgrims and Sojourners here on earth and so to fix our hearts and eyes homeward and heaven-ward and upon that rest remains to the people of God Teach us by every thing we take in hand to do all to the glory of God by whom we live move and have our being To this end guide our eyes that they behold no more vanity Guide our ears that they let in no more folly Guide our tongues that the name of God be no more blasphemed amongst us Guide our hearts that they suggest and act such things as are pleasing to the Lord. Guide our hands that they may be more quick and lively in doing Gods businesse than our own Guide our feet that we may run in the wayes of thy commandments even unto the death Lord so guide us in our hearts bodies minds and affections that above all things we may apply our selves to glorifie thee on earth that at last we may be glorified by thee in the Kingdom of glory And seeing thou hast made man for thy glory give us of thy grace that we may serve thee to thy glory Give us instead of hearts of stone hearts of flesh and hearts of wax that they may be alwayies pliable to serve thee our Maker and Redeemer Give us a true sight and light into all our sins and a true Repentance for our sins yea even a loathing of our selves for all the evils which we have committed in all our abominations against our kind God that our sins may be put away when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power Give us a true taste of the joyes above that we may with Davids hunted hart pant after the Rivers of living water and long to be with Christ our Love our Head and Captain of our salvation Quicken us in the wayes of godlinesse that we may serve thee with alacrious and chearfull spirits Enflame our hearts with an holy zeal towards thy Law thy word and thy worship that it may be as meat and drink unto us alwaies to do thy will And as we have given up formerly our Members as weapons of unrighteousnesse unto sin so henceforward strengthen us with thy holy Spirit that we may give up our Members as weapons of righteousnesse to serve the everliving God not labouring so eagerly so earnestly so heartilie so greedilie after that bread and meat which perisheth together with us as after that bread which endures unto everlasting life For what will it profit a man to gain the whole world and at last lose his own soul Our souls they were and are dear unto thee and they cost the son of thy love thy onelie begotten son and thy best beloved son thy son in whom alone thou art well pleased the dearest price of his dearest blood how then ought they to be dear unto us and how can we better shew that they are dear and precious unto us than by seeking the good of them more ferventlie than after anie thing else whatsoever O Lord grant that we may not onlie know what is good but that we may do that which is good For they that know their Masters will do it not shall be beaten with many stripes Except the Lord saith David builds the house they labour in vain that build it Except the Lord keepeth the City the watchman waketh but in vain Paul may plant and Apollo may water but all is in vain without thy blessing let therefore thy good blessing accompany all our spiritual bodilie labors that all things may work together for thy glorie and for the best unto them that love thee and desire to fear thy name Lord be with us this day quicken us unto every good work stand by us restrain the corruptions of our own natures quench the fierie darts of that wicked one that they may not prevail against us in this world and so be never able to witnesse against us in the world to come And all this we beg of thee for the Lord Jesus Christs sake in whose name we conclude our Prayers in that absolute manner and form which he hath taught us Our Father which art in heaven c. A Prayer for Noon day IT was Davids practice Evening and Morning and at Noon to pray and that we may be followers of him having him for an ensample to walk according to his rule that we may obtain peace and mercie as the true Israel of God we thy poor servants Blessed Lord God do humblie cast our selves down at thy feet and footstool begging of thee that as thou art the shepherd of Israel which leadest thy people in and out like a flock of sheep so thou wouldest be pleased to lead us into the green pastures there to feed us with spiritual and corporal food whereby bodie and soul may be fed fullie comfortablie and with comforts everlasting O thou shepherd of Israel among the manifold chances and changes of this uncertain life defend us from Gog and Magog that neither inward nor outward enemies hurt us not but above all that sin nor Satan prevail not against us Direct us in the narrow way of repentance and amendment of life that when our day shall end we may enter in at the straight gate and so enjoy the Ancient of daies Rowz up our dull spirits that we may run in the waies of thy Commandements and so obtain that Crown of righteousnesse which the Lord our righteousnesse shall give unto those that love him and call upon his name The night is past and the bright day come Grant us therefore grace to walk as children of light holilie unblameablie unspottedlie and without fault in thy sight Grant that with the Morning we may look fresh in grace and with the Noon grow to a fulnesse of grace and with the Evening lie down in grace that the God of grace may receive us into his tuition and favour We have enjoied a comfortable morning O thrice blessed be thy name for it but we might and all that we have might have been consumed into dust and ashes hadst not thou of thy goodnesse preserved us so that who can think who can say it is in vain to serve the Lord But now who can promise himself one hour more much lesse an Evening if thou shalt hide thy face and withdraw the light of thy countenance from us and therefore we crave of thee to succour us to guard us to continue thy loving kindnesse towards us and to guide us to our rest Our enemies are many in this our vallie of tears that it is of the Lords mercie that we have not long since been consumed our strength to withstand them very weak like a reed to the
great Leviathan Our friends to help us are like Jobs miserable comforters our footing on this sea of glasse very slipperie but when all our other trust is but as a spiders web this is our comfort in our afflictions that although our father and mother and all the world forsake us yet the Lord will then gather us up and will not leave us comfortless Wherefore in all humble acknowledgement of all thankfulness due unto thee vve offer up unto thee our selves our souls and bodies a quick and living sacrifice that the God in whom we live move have our being may be glorified in and by our being This is our day therfore it is our duty whilst it is called to day to seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him whilst he is near This is our day wherein we are to work and so let it be our sole wisdome to work out our salvation lest the night come and overtake us when no man can work This is our day and how ill doth it become us to trewant and loiter it away like those that stood idle in the market place or to riot it and revelling it eating and drinking and cursing Abimelech lest we be in hell to morrow yelling and howling and roring with Dives Devils and damned ones Let the Sun which cometh as a Bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoiceth to run his race Ever teach us to be active in spiritual duties and heavenlie exercises Let the Sun which encreaseth from glorie to glorie teach us to encrease in vertue goodnesse and godlinesse adding to vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience brotherlie kindnesse and so one grace to another that we may be complete Christians like unto our head and Lord and Master Let the morning instruct us to remember our Creator in the daies of our youth Let the Noon tutour us to be strong in the faith Let the Evening admonish us to think of the end of our life and shutting in of our daies Let all teach us so to number our daies that we may applie our hearts unto wisdome Let a waterie daie ever mind us of the sorrows afflictions and troubles attend us in this life Let a pleasant day mind us of the pleasures to come when these are faded and forgotten Let a short daie mind us of the shortnesse of this life which is but as a span long and swifter than a Weavers Shuttle Let a long daie mind us of Eternitie of life either in blisse or bane and so read us a continual Lecture to labour for that meat which endures unto everlasting life and not after that bread which perisheth with us the which that we may do the Lord grant unto us for the Lord Jesus Christs sake our blessed Saviour and redeemer Amen A Prayer for the Evening I Will lay me down and also sleep in peace for thou Lord makest me dwell in safety saith David Now good God grant that as we lie down in thy love so we may rise by thy power and glorifie thee for thy mercy O most gracious God and in thy son Jesus Christ our loving Father we miserable sinners dust and ashes worms and not men do prostrate our selves before the footstool of thy Throne of grace beseeching thee that seeing thou hast made the night for man to rest so well as the day for him to labour so that thou wouldest be pleased to blesse us this night and keep us from fire sword sicknesse death and those manifold evils may befall us and overtake us by reason of our manifold sins and wickednesses Thou art about their beds and givest thy Angels charge over them that seek unto thee for succour thou knowest their down-lying and uprising and art near unto those that call upon thee in truth and syncerity of heart wherefore graciously good God spread thou the wings of thy loving kendnesse and favour over us this night and let not this house be as a tomb and Sepulchre erected over our heads let not our beds be as our graves our blankets as the mold of the earth and our sheefs as our winding-sheets but let them all serve to minister comfort and refreshment to our wearied bodies and senses that the day following we may be the better enabled to set forth thy praise and thy glorie Let not our sleep be insatiable according to the desires of the flesh but onely so as that it may revive our dull and heavy drooping spirits and make them active in thy service and in the works of our calling Teach us by our unclothing and uncovering of our selves and casting away our garments from us continually to think of casting away every weight and casting off that old man which is corrupt through his deceivable works Teach us by our nakednesse when our garments are from us continually to think of harmlesnesse and innocency of life endevouring our selves daily to live void of offence towards God and towards man Teach us by going out of our warm clothes into our cold beds continually to think on a change of life how that we shall one day leave this sinfull world and passe into another there to receive according to our several works Teach us by our sleep continuallie to think on death and by our waking from sleep again continually to think of resurrection of life how that we shall one day wake and rise out of the dust of the earth and behold our God not with other but with these same eyes O let everie thing be our instruction to shew us the right way to heaven and everlasting blisse Father blesse us bodily yea and blesse us spiritually give unto our bodies a happie rest in Christ Jesus whensoever as we know not how soon thou maiest call them out of this sinful world and say unto our souls that he was the redemption thereof and paid the ransom of them with his dearest blood that under the shadow of his wings we may flie to thy heavenly Sanctuary Father bless us inwardlie and blesse us outwardly blesse us inwardly with all these graces which are fit and needfull for our several places conditions and callings and blesse us outwardlie with all those things we want and stand in need of as health strength ease wealth blesse us likewise in everie thing belongs unto us that they yielding forth their strength and encrease unto us we may yield forth unto thee our God the strength of our obedience praise and thanksgiving O father thou art great and therefore to be feared thou art good and therefore to be praised according therefore to thy greatnesse and according to thy goodnesse be thy praise and we entreat thee to continue this thy loving kindnesse to us unto our lives end and to life eternal And that we may obtain this mercy we beseech thee to give us grace to walk worthie of thy mercies that we may find and feel the fruits of thy favour budding in our souls O give us grace that
4. 18. Vse 3. Is for instruction 1. Are we so dear so tender to our heavenly Father as the very apple of his eye Zech 2. 8. Doth he take all the wrongs and appropriate all the injuries done to his sons as done to himself Acts 9. 4. and shall we not bestir us when his name is blasphemed his son reviled and his word is had in derision or trodden under foot I read of the dumb Son of Cresus seeing one ready to stab his Father cries out What villain stab my Father What wilt thon murther my Father Even so although we be silent at our own harms yet we should be grieved and mourn and breath out indignation against those that highly dishonour and trample the blood of his dear son under foot Heb. 10. 2. If we be not bastards but the true Legitimate Sons of God nothing should affect us so much as when his glory suffers like Moses and Phinehas who will spare neither head nor tail in the Lords quarrel 2ly This may teach all parents after the pattern of David to be like minded and tender-hearted towards their Children But many of you may seem to give me a stop and a Ne plus ultra to treat of this every one thinking his own bird fairest and cherishing of it but then do you not over-love them for that is as bad a sin as not to love them and see how David was whipped for that And moreover let me tell you that I have known some Fathers as salvage as cruel as unkind as unnatural to their Chickens of their own hatching and more too than the Dragons and fierce Tigers to their seed Suppose they have offended so did Absolom Suppose they are riotous so was the Prodigal Luke 15. Suppose they are unkind so art thou to thy Father in Heaven And if thou wilt not forgive them there trespasses neither will thy Heavenly Father forgive thee thy trespasses Mat. 6. 15. Vse 4. Is for reproof unto those that wax wanton under mercies because God is good they will be bad because he is mercifull like the Kings of Israel therefore they will be vitious because he is flow to anger therefore they will provoke him every day And this was Jesuruns case Deut. 32. 15. He that should have been upright when he waxed fat spurned with his heel thou art fat thou art grosse thou art laden with fatnesse therefore he forsook God that made him and regarded not the strong rock of his salvation And this is too many of our cases but as Moses to the people vers 6. Do ye thus requite the Lord surely insteed of favour ye shall have frowns and blastings and sicknesse and want and curses upon curses as ye may read at large 28. 15 c. The father was sick of this disease but by Gods mercy recovered 2 Sam. 12. 7 8. the Son falls into it and dies without mercy and for him David weeps saying O Absalom my son my son Absalom And so much of this point Davids Passion II. The next General to be spoken of is Davids compassion Would God I had died for thee Oh Absalom my son my son wherein let us consider the tendernesse of his love to his son and that discovers it self by three eminent signals 1. By preferring his safety and life before his own 1. His care for his safety is discovered 1. By the Charge he gave the Captains in chief and the Souldiers under their command to intreat the young man gently for his sake verse 5. When Absalom was plotting and devising mischief in his bed and out of it to bring his father to ruine then he good old man is taking care for his welfare He was of Themistocles mind who had rather forget and forgive an injury than remember and requite it Now as Christ said Go ye and do likewise To render evil for evil is Bestial to render good for good is carnal to render evil for good is Satanical and Absalom-like but to render good for evil is Spiritual and David-like 2ly By his listening and inquiring after his sons welfare Is the young man Absalom safe verse 29. He deals not with the messenger concerning the event of the battel or the condition of his friends that hazarded their lives to save his or his standing or falling from the Crown but the first question is about his Absalom his tongue betraying his heart that as Joab tells him chap. 19. 6. that he was dearer to him than all the rest 3ly By his immoderate weeping and inundation of tears he shed for his son Lachrymae non habent modum weeping keeps no mean where tears make the musick Water is good to wash and bath and cleanse but not to drown our selves in it seven so tears are good to cleanse away our inward filth of sin but not plunge or drown our selves in them by despair or excessive mourning all the time the Army was out Absalom lay close to his heart 2ly He not only cared for his safety but preferred it before his own Would God I had died for thee that is O that I had stood in Absaloms place to have born the brunt of the battel and that the same darts thrust him thorow had entred into my body and fallen upon my self 2ly Another eminent signal of the tenderness of his love to his son is taken from the person for whom he would have died expressed with an Emphasis thee thee Absalom For a man to die for a wicked man a table-enemie a bosome traitour a son traytor who but David would do it 3ly The greatnesse of his compassion and tendernesse of his affection to his son is discovered by the ingemination and trebling and quatrebling over the words as if he were not in joco in sport but serio in good earnest and if God had so pleased he would have made his word good O Absalom my son my son Absalom would God I had died for thee Absalom my son my son And thus Christ wept over Jerusalem and to shew the bitterness of his grief he suffered for the destruction of that City he doubleth his words and vents them with a passionate O Luke 13. 34. O Hierusalem Hierusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered you together as a hen doth her brood under her wings and ye would not This repetition of words in holy Scripture implyes 1. Either truth as Verrily Verily or 2ly Passion as My father my Father 2 Kings 13. 14. or 3ly Compassiion as my son Absalom my son Absalom would God I had died for thee Davids love was either natural and so he saith my son or carnal and so he calls him his Absalem or spiritual and so he wisheth that he had died for him He was so well acquainted with the will of God by his revealed Word that he knew so bad a life could not have a good end and that it would be a hard matter for his soul to