History of the Old Testament Volume 5, Part 6

History of the Old Testament Volume 5 · Part 6

p. 116The death of Saul.

THe Witch of Endor, had halfe ſlaine Saul before the battell: It is iuſt, that they who conſult with deuils, ſhould goe away with diſcomfort: He hath eaten his laſt bread, at the hand of a Sorcereſſe: and now neceſſitie drawes him into that field, where he ſees nothing but deſpaire. Had not Saul beleeued the ill newes of the counterfait Samuel, he had not beene ſtrook downe on the ground with p. 117words: Now his beleefe made him deſperate; Thoſe actions which are not ſuſtained by hope; muſt needs languiſh: and are only promoted by outward compulſion: Whiles the minde is vncertaine of ſucceſſe, it relieues it ſelfe with the poſſibilities of good: in doubts there is a comfortable mixture: but when it is aſſured of the worſt euent, it is vtterly diſcouraged, and deiected. It hath therefore pleaſed the wiſdome of God to hide from wicked men, his determination of their finall eſtate, that their remainders of hope, may harten them to good;

In all likelyhood on ſelfe-ſame p. 118day, ſaw Dauid a victor ouer the Amalakites, and Saul diſcomfited by the Philiſtims; How ſhould it bee otherwiſe? Dauid conſulted with God, and preuailed; Saul with the Witch of Endor and periſheth; The end is commonly anſwerable to the way; It is an idle iniuſtice when we do ill to look to ſpeed well. The ſlaughter of Saul and his ſonnes, was not in the firſt ſcene of this Tragicall field, that was rather reſerued by God, for the laſt act, that Saules meaſure might be full: God is long ere he ſtrikes, but when he doth, it is to purpoſe; Firſt, Iſrael flees and falls downe wounded in mount Gilboa; p. 119They had their part in Sauls ſinne: they were actors in Dauids perſecution: Iuſtly therfore doe they ſuffer with him, whom they had ſeconded in offence. As it is hard to be good vnderunder an euill Prince, ſo it is as rare, not to be enwrapped in his iudgements: It was no ſmall addition to the anguiſh of Sauls death, to ſee his ſonnes dead, to ſee his people fleeing, and ſlaine before him; They had ſinned in their King, and in them▪ is their King puniſhed. The reſt were not ſo worthy of pittie; but whoſe heart would it not touch to ſee Ionathan, the good Sonne of a wicked Father, inuolued in the common deſtruction. p. 120Death is not partiall: All diſpoſitions, all merits are alike to it: If valour, if holines, if ſyncerity of heart could hauehave beene any defence againſt mortality, Ionathan had ſuruiued: Now by their wounds and death, no man can diſcerne which is Ionathan; The ſoule only findes the difference, which the body admitteth not; Death is the cōmon gate both to heauen and hell; we all paſſe that, ere our turning to either hand: The ſword of the Philiſtims, fetcheth Ionathan through it with his fellowes: no ſooner is his foot ouer that threſhold, then God conducteth him to glory: The beſt cannot bee p. 121happy but through their diſſolution; Now therefore hath Ionathan no cauſe of complaint, he is by the rude and cruel hand of a Philiſtim, but remoued to a better Kingdome, then hee leaues to his brother: and at once is his death both a temporall affliction to the Sonne of Saul, and an entrance of glory to the frend of Dauid.

The Philiſtim-archers ſhot at random: God directs their arrowes into the body of Saul; Leaſt the diſcomfiture of his people, and the ſlaughter of his ſonnes ſhould not bee griefe enough to him, hee feeles himſelfe wounded, and ſees nothing before him but horror p. 122and death; and now as a man forſaken of all hopes, hee begs of his armor-bearer that deaths-blow, which els he muſt (to the doubling of his indignation) receiue from a Philiſtim. Hee begs this bloody fauour of his ſeruant, and is denyed: Such an awefulnes hath God placed in ſoueraigntie, that no intreaty, no extremity, can moue the hand againſt it: What mettall are thoſe men made of, that can ſuggeſt or reſolue, and attempt the violation of maieſty? Wicked men care more for the ſhame of the world, then the danger of their ſoule: Deſperate Saul will now ſupply his armor-bearer; and as a man that bore p. 123armes againſt himſelfe, hee falls vponupon his owne ſword. What if he had dyed by the weapon of a Philiſtim? So did his Son Ionathan, and loſt no glory: Theſe conceites of diſreputation preuaile with carnall hearts aboue all ſpirituall reſpects: There is no greater murderer then vainglory: Nothing more argues an heart voyd of grace, then to be tranſported by ydle popularity into actions preiudiciall to the Soule.

Euill examples, eſpecially of the great neuer eſcaped imitation; the armour-bearer of Saul followes his maſter: and dares do that to himſelfe, which to his King he durſt not: as if p. 124their owne ſwords had beene more familiar executioners, they yelded vntounto them, what they grudged to their purſuers. From the beginning was Saul euer his owne enemy, neither did any hands hurt him but his owne: and now his death is ſutable to his life: his owne hand payes him the reward of all his wickedneſſe, The end of hypocrites, and enuious men is commonly fearefull: Now is the blood of Gods Prieſts, which Saul ſhed, and of Dauid, which he would hauehave ſhed, required, & requited. The euil ſpirit had ſaid the euening before, To morrow thou ſhalt be with mee: and now Saul haſteth to make p. 125the diuell no lyer: rather then fayle, he giues himſelfe his own mittimus: Oh the wofull extremities of a diſpayring Soule, plundging him euer into a greater miſchiefe, to auoyd the leſſe. Hee might hauehave beene a patient in anothers violence, and faultleſſe; now whiles hee will needs act the Philiſtims part vponupon himſelfe, hee liued and dyed a murderer; The caſe is deadly, when the priſoner breakes the Iayle, and will not ſtay for his deliuery: & though wee may not paſſe ſentence vponupon ſuch a Soule, yet vponupon the fact we may: the Soule may poſſibly repent in the parting, the act is haynous, and ſuch as p. 126without repentance, kills the Soule.

It was the next day, ere the Philiſtims knew how much they were victors; then finding the dead corpes of Saul and his Sonnes, they begin their triumphs: The head of King Saul is cut off in lieu of Goliahs, and now all their Idoll temples ring of their ſucceſſe; Fooliſh Philiſtims, If they had not beene more beholden to Sauls ſinnes, then their Gods, they had neuer carryed away the honor of thoſe trophees: In ſteed of magnifying the iuſtice of the true God, who puniſhed Saul with deſerued death, they magnifie the power of the falſe: Superſtition p. 127is extemely iniurious to God: It is no better then theft, to aſcribe vntounto the ſecond cauſes that honor which is due vntounto the firſt: but to giuegive Gods glory to thoſe things which neither act, nor are, it is the higheſt degree of ſpirituall robbery.

Saul was none of the beſt Kings: yet ſo impatient are his ſubiects of the indignity offered to his dead corps, that they will rather leaue their owne bones amongſt the Philiſtims, then the carcaſſe of Saul. Such a cloſe relation there is betwixt a Prince and ſubiect, that the diſhonor of either is inſeparable from both: How willing p. 128ſhould wee bee to hazard our bodyes or ſubſtance fo the vindication either of the perſon, or name of a good King, whiles he liues to the benefit of our protection: It is an vniuſt ingratitude in thoſe men, which can endure the diſgrace of them, vnderunder whoſe ſhelter they liue; but how vnnaturall is the villany of thoſe miſcreants, that can be content to bee actors in the capitall wrongs offred to ſoueraigne authority:

It were a wonder, if after the death of a Prince, there ſhould want ſome Pick-thanke, to inſinuate himſelfe into his Succeſſour: An Amalekite young manrides poſt to Ziklag, to find p. 129out Dauid, whom euen common rumor had notified for the anoynted heyre to the Kingdome of Iſrael; to bee the firſt meſſenger of that newes, which hee thought could bee no other then acceptable; the death of Saul: and that the tydings might be ſo much more meritorious, he addes to the report, what he thinkes might carry the greateſt retribution: In hope of reward, or honour, the man is content to bely himſelfe to Dauid: It was not the ſpeare, but the ſword of Saul, that was the inſtrument of his death: neither could this ſtranger finde Saul, but dying, ſince the Armour-bearer of Saul ſaw him dead, ere p. 130he offred that violence to himſelfe: The hand of this Amalekite therfore was not guilty, his tongue was: Had not this meſſenger meaſur'd Dauids foot, by his owne laſt, hee had forborne this peece of the newes; and not hoped to aduantage himſelfe by this falſhood: Now he thinks; The tydings of a Kingdome cannot but pleaſe: None but Saul and Ionathan ſtood in Dauids way: Hee cannot chuſe, but like to heare of their remouall: Eſpecially, ſince Saul did ſo tyrannouſly perſecute his innocence. If I ſhall onelyonly report the fact done by another, I ſhall goe away but with the recompence of a lucky Poſt; wheras, p. 131if I take vponupon mee the action, I am the man, to whom Dauid is beholden for the Kingdome: he cannot but honour and requite me, as the author of his deliuerance and happineſſe. Worldly mindes thinke no man can be of any other, then their owne diet; and becauſe they finde the reſpects of ſelfe-louelove, and priuate profit, ſo ſtrongly preuailing with themſelues, they cannot conceiue, how theſe ſhould bee capable of a repulſe from others.

How much was this Amalekite mocked of his hopes: whiles he imagined, that Dauid would now triumph, and feaſt in the aſſured expectation of the p. 132Kingdome, and poſſeſſion of the Crowne of Iſrael, hee findes him renting his clothes, and wringing his hands, and weeping, and mourning: as if all his comfort had been dead with Saul and Ionathan: and yet perhaps he thought: This ſorrow of Dauid is but faſhionable, ſuch as great heyres make ſhew of in the fatall day they hauehave longed for; Theſe teares will ſoone be dry; the ſight of a Crowne will ſoon breed a ſucceſſion of other paſſions: But this error is ſoon corrected: For when Dauid had entertained this Bearer, with a ſad faſt all the day: he cals him forth in the euening to executiō: (How waſt thou not afrayd (ſaith p. 133he) to put forth thy hand, to deſtroy the Anoynted of the Lord:) Doubtleſſe, the Amalekite made many faire pleas for himſelfe, out of the grounds of his owne report: Alas, Saul was before falne vponupon his owne ſpeare. It was but mercy to kill him, that was halfe dead, that he might die the ſhorter: Beſides, his entreaty and importunate prayers, moued mee to haſten him, through thoſe painfull gates of death: had I ſtriken him as an enemy, I had deſerued the blow I had giuen; now I ſent him the hand of a frend: why am I puniſhed for obeying the voyce of a King? and for perfiting what himſelfe begun, and could not finiſh: p. 134And if neither his own wound, nor mine, had diſpatched him, the Philiſtims were at his heeles, ready to doe this ſame act with inſultation, which I did in fauour: and if my hand had not preuented them, wherehad been the Crowne of Iſrael, which I now hauehave here preſented to thee: I could hauehave deliuered that to King Achiſh, and hauehave beene rewarded with honour: let mee not dye for an act well meant to thee, how euer conſtrued by thee: But no pretence can make his owne tale not deadly. (Thy bloud bee vponupon thine owne head, for thine owne mouth hath teſtified againſt thee ſaying, I hauehave ſlaine the Lords Anoynted.) It is a p. 135iuſt ſuppoſition, that eueryevery man is ſo great a Fauourer of himſelfe, that he will not miſ-report his owne actions, nor ſay the worſt of himſelfe: In matter of confeſſion, men may without iniury be taken at their words: If he did it, his fact was capitall, If he did it not, his lye: It is pittyany other recompence ſhould befall thoſe falſe flatterers, that can be content to father a ſinne, to get thankes. EueryEvery drop of royall bloud is ſacred: For a man to ſay that he hath ſhed it, is mortall. Of how farre different ſpirits from this of Dauid, are thoſe men, which ſuborne the death of Princes, and celebrate and canonize the murtherers. p. 136Into their ſecret, let not my ſoule come, my glory, be thou not joyned to their aſſembly.