King Solomons Solace, Book · Chapter 10
CAP. X.
Of Solomons perſon and eſtate, forme, beauty, education, wiſedome. &c. wherof the cauſe of his griefe could not riſe.
THen ſtoode foorth Ahiſhar and ſaide. Truely (my Lordes) whatſoeuer hath beene here produced and ſpoken in the premiſſes, maketh very much eueryevery way for the kings honour and eſtimation,Ahiſhar. and therfore I perceiue not, what ſhoulde thereof be gathered to offende him Neither can I finde any thing worthie diſlike in any other points which concerne either his perſon, or his eſtate: for his forme and beautie, his education, his wiſdome, his iudgements, his words, his riches, his works his peace, his orders of houſe, his pleaſures, his power, his marriage, his bleſſinges, his fame, his glory, &c. the king is moſt excellēt,Solomon his beautie. Homer. & ſingularly renowned, as al men wil confes. I remē ber that looking on a certaine Booke of the Poet Meleſigenes (who liued and wrote in the time of our iudges among the Greekes) I found where he had giuen an exceeding high praiſe to the forme and beautie of Priamus the Troyan, Priamus.the which in him (as he ſaide) was wel worthy a kingdome: ſo faire was he. The ſame Poet hath alſo ſpoken largely of one Nireus, Nireus.being the faireſt of all them which came to Priamus his Pallace: though hee had ſcarcely any worthy quality either of body or mind. And in our own Records, we hauehave the praiſe of the form and beauty of Saul the ſonne of Cis, whom Samuel annointed King ouer Iſrael, Saul. 1. Sam, 9.2.that he was a goodly youngman and faire. So that among the chidren of Iſrael, there was none goodlier then he, from the ſhoulders vpward he was higher then all the other people. And we here preſent (for the moſt part) can ſay much of Abſolon the kinges brother: namely that in his time there was none in all Iſrael ſo much to bee praiſed for beautie:Abſolon. 2. Sam. 14.25. from the ſeale of his foote to the top of his head there was no blemiſh in him. And had his qualities beene to the ſame correſpondent, oh God how glorious might he hauehave beene! And further we finde, that Ioſeph and Moſes, and Aaron and David hauehave beene praiſed in this reſpect: But yet beyond them all, looking with iudgement on our Lord the King, and ſeeing howbewty is diſplayed in his royal perſon, we cannot but acknowledge that for truth which the kings father ſaid to him when he beheld him in his beautye. Farre fairer then the ſonnes of men, art thou.Cant. 5.9. Although all theſe things did properly belōg & ſo were to be referred to the holy Meſſiah. yet were they firſt ſpoken as of Solomon who in his perſon prefigured him, as it is more fully declared hereafter And this the noble Princeſſe conſidered and ſung of him,
He is both white & ruddy, the chiefeſt of thouſands ten:
His head is as fine gold: his locks are curled blacke:
His eyes are like the Doues, vponupon the water ſtreames:
Which are all waſte with milke, & byde full veſſels by:
His cheekes be like ſpice bedds: & as the ſweeteſt flowers:
His lippes are Lillies like that drop the pureſt mirrhe:
His hands, as ringes of gold with Chriſolite beſet:
His belly yuory white with Saphires garniſht brave:
His legges as marble pillers, on golden ſockets ſet:
His looke as Libanon, as Cedars excellent:
His mouth as ſweetned thinges: & lovely all is hee.
Howſoeuer this was ſpoken, as aiming miſtically far beyond the Kings perſon: It hath doubtles been applied to our Soueraign without adulation, in whom their appeareth ſome eſpecial grace, yea the very image of the diuine nature, beyond that hath been perceiued in any other man. But were it, that he had felt or vnderſtood ſome defects in theſe external things yet ſee I not how he might be offended, knowing well that he is but a mortall man, & yt whatſoeuer is wanting in the body may bee ſupplied & that to the vttermoſt by the graces of the minde, the which the Lorde more reſpecteth then the beautie of the body (as he ſaid to Samuel, when he ſent him to annoint David for king): moreouer he hath well tryed it, and therof hath ſaid it in iudgement: that fauour is deceitfull and that beauty is a thing vaine & therfore hath not béene of the mind to ſet his felicitie therein. * To this alſo aſſented the Princes, extolling and praiſing to the cloudes the moſt angelicall forme and beautie of the King.Benaiah. And forth with Benaiah beckning with his and, proffered his ſpeach and ſaide: Neither indeed may the kinges education,Solomon his eductaion or the manner thereof offend him, as Ahiſhar hath ſaide: for neuer any in this world hath beene better taught and brought vp, as towching the feare of God, and all princely and heroicall vertues. For to this end king David had prouided him moſt wiſe and godlie teachers: as namelie, Nathan, Gad, Aſaph, and ſuch other the Lordes prophets and wiſe men, whom he had diuinelie inſpired and ſent forth, yea king David himſelfe being a man after Gods owne mind for his heauenlie ſonges and melody called the ſweete Singer of Iſrael, and the Lordes annointed, and alſo his mother Quéene Beth-ſaba, a moſt prudent and virtuous Ladie, (as it is before ſaid) and either of them hauehave very carefully taught and ſcholed him in the feare of the Lord, and the right princelie virtues. At whoſe knees he ſtood, and was glad and ready to receaue both inſtruction and correction. And thus himſelfe acknowledgeth ſaying: When I was my fathers deare ſonne, and tenderlie beloued of my mother, he taught me alſo, and ſaide vntounto me:pro. 4.3. let thine eare receiue my words, kepe my commaundements and thou ſhalt liue: Get thee wiſdome, and get thee vnderstanding, forget not the wordes of my mouth, and ſhrinke not from them, &c. Againe in his latter time ready to depart he left with him this direction:1 king. 2.2. Be thou ſtrong and ſhew thy ſelfe a man, kepe thou the watch of the Lord thy God that thou walke in his waies, & kepe his ſtatuts & his precepts, his iudgements and his teſtimonies, as it is written in the law of Moſes, that thou maiſt proſper in all that thou doeſt, and in every thing that thou medleſt withall, &c. And this was his mothers leſſon, when ſhee taught and nourtured him:pro. 31.1. What my ſonne? what the ſonne af my body? and what O my dearely beloued ſonne? GiueGive not over thy ſtrength & thy waies vntounto womē, which are the deſtructiō of kings. O Laemuel it is not for kinges, it is not (I ſay) for kinges to drinke wine, nor princes ſtrong drinke, lest they by drinking forget the law, and pervert the iudgement of all poore mens children. Againe be thou an advocate for the dumbe, to ſpeake in the cauſe of all ſuch as be ſuccourleſſe in this tranſitorie world, open thy mouth, defend the thing that is lawfull and right, and the cauſe of the poore and helpeleſſe. Lo! ſuch leſſons hath his mother taught him ſo well beſeeming (I ſay not a child) but a prince, and excellent well fitting ſo beautifull a body, from the which, virtues are wont to ſhine, as thoſe pretious ſtoanes which are placed in goodlie Kinges of Gould. But beyond all this the Lord his God which loued him, and vouchſafed to call him his Sonne, did extend vntounto him the effect of a fathers office, aboue that which earthly fathers are able to do or performe towards their children: for he nurtured him by his ſpirit not onelie in the day time, but by the nightes alſo. And in this he acknowledged the great louelove and merciemercy of God towards him, as in his wiſe Prouerbs it is to be learned. Lo, thus was king Solomon educated and inſtructed in his tender yeares, of the which he yet ſauoureth euen in theſe his elder dayes to his double honour and the conſolation of Iſrael. * Therefore I ſee not, that the king ſhould be hereof offended, except onelyonly in this that he hath not (in his owne cōceit) anſwered in ſome pointes to this his education and inſtruction, but let that alone to be conſidered of hereafter: To this the Princes did alſo accord, and then roſe vp Adomiram, and ſpake as followeth.Adoniram.
Neither wanteth the king the excellencie of wiſedome,Solomon his wiſedome. by the which he goeth out and in before the people, to iudge and gouerne this great multitude, to teach all others the true wiſdome. This is that, which being prized, no man can tell the worthineſſe thereof, as Iob hath ſaid thereof: neither is it found in the land of the liuing, it cannot be bought for gould, nor may the price thereof be obtained with ſiluer. No gold of Ophir, no pretious Onyx ſtoans, nor Saphyres may be valued with it, for this is the higheſt Treaſure of a king, yea and the ſame without the which a king is vnfurniſhed of that he ought to hauehave, and ſo, méere vnfit for the place of gouernmēt, but hauing this one iewell, in poſſeſſion, he is ſufficientlie armed not onelyonly to do iuſtice, and to defend them which are at home: but alſo to withſtand and ſubdue the enemies which,Eccleſ 7.9. are abroad: for Wiſdome is much better then weapons of warre and giueth courage vntounto thē that imbrace hir. This the king (by Gods good grace) conſidered in his yong yeares,1 King. 3.9. & 4.29. and therefore this was that only thing which he deſired of the Lord, whē he was willed to aſke whatſoeuer hee would hauehave, & hee ſhould hauehave it, and therefore, the Lord being well pleaſed with his deſire, gaue him wiſdome and a large heart, even as the ſand that is by the ſea ſhoare without number or meaſure. By the which the king was moſt wiſe, and therein is preferred before all thoſe famouſe men of the Eaſt Country, which hauehave ſo farre excelled other men, both in that foreign or Aſtronomy, and alſo in that foreign or Science, which by the voyce of birds prognoſticateth the euents and thinges that enſue: he alſo goeth beyond all the wiſe men, not onelyonly of the Egyptians, but of our owne Nation, as namely, Ethan the Eſrahite, ond Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the ſonnes of Mahol: to be briefe, the king is wiſer then all men liuing, for he hath that pure influence of the diuine Spirit, the wiſedome of the higheſt, and that not ſo much by his owne ſtudie, and induſtrie, (albeit he hath béen wonderfully exerciſed in all laudable Artes and Sciences from his youth) as by an eſpeciall inſpiration and diuine grace from the Lord his God, who hath béene willing to enlarge and bleſſe him moſt aboundantlie. By this he hath knowne to reſolue and declare all hard riddles and queſtions: By this he hath learned who hath laide the foundations of the earth, who hath meaſured it, and ſpread the line vponupon it, who hath ſhut vp the Sea with doores when it brake forth as out of the wombe, who hath made the cloudes a couering for it, and darkenes as his ſwadling bande, who hath giuen the morning his charge, and ſhewed the day-ſpring his place, who hath bound the ſeauen-ſtarres together, and loſed the bandes of Orion, who hath brought forth the morning-ſtar in his time, and guided the euening-ſtarre with his Sunne, who hath ordayned the courſe of the heauens, the Sea, the windes, the hailes, the thunders, the lightninges, the ſhowers of raine, the deawes, the light, the darkenes, and all that are both in heauen and earth: yea, he knoweth the purpoſe of the Creator therein. And by this (for the glory of God and the good of his people) he hath ſpoken three thouſand Proverbs, he hath compoſed a thouſand and fiue ſonges, he hath told alſo of trees, euen from the Cedar trée that groweth in Libanus, vntounto the Hyſope that ſpringeth out of the wall: he hath ſpoken of Beaſtes, of fowles, of wormes, of fiſhes, and of all the creatures of God: for their is nothing hidden from him, his wiſedom and knowledge is ſo admirable. * By this his ſingular and ſwéet eloquence alſo is powred forth as the dropping of an hony combe,Solomons Eloquence. pſal. 45. vntounto them that ſtand before him to heare his wiſedome, his lipes are full of grace (as the Kinges father ſaide) and dilectable to the hearers of his words eueryevery where, for his diligence was to find out and vtter pleaſing wordes, right ſcripture, and the recordes of truth.Cant. 5.14. This the noble Princes conſidering well, ſemblably commended in him, ſaying: His lipes are like the Lillies that droppe ſweete ſmelling mirhhe. Doubtleſie as I ſaide of the former: ſo may I ſay of this, that the king herein farre paſſed all men on the earth without compariſon, which hath cauſed that many noble Kinges, renowned Princes, and wiſe and learned men of diuers ſtrange & far Countries, were not only aſtonied when they heard thereof: but the more to ſatiſfie their eagre minds, vndertooke great perilous and painefull iornies, to come neare him, to viſit him, to behold, to heare, to conſider, & to take experience of that whreof they had heard reported concerning him and his wiſedome.Solomons iudgementes. foreign * With this alſo (my Lordes) we may both remember and admire the excellencie of his Miſchpatiim or iudgements, in the which the very wiſedom of the diuine power wonderfully appeared, as in him, whom the Lord his God had brought to this kingdome of Iſrael, to do therein iudgement and equitie, as the noble Quéene of Sheba perceiued and ſaide vntounto him.1. King. 10. For into how many partes ſoeuer Iudgement is deuided or any way conſidered, the King expreſſed in euerie of them a right ſingular dexteritie.
For firſt according to the certaine and preſcript rules of the law, he wiſelie diſcerned, iudged, and tried all matters of controuerſie before him brought, and therein as the parties were deuided one againſt an other, after the manner of contenders in the Law, their cauſes being eitheir contrary, or doubtfull, he worthily defended the good, and condemned the euill, extending to either, iuſtice according to their ſundry cauſes and contrary deſerts. Next▪ as this title reſpected his place, office ordinance, function, adminiſtration, and miniſtery, he was therein not ignorant, but right prudent, neither negligent, but moſt carefull and diligent, and gaue good heede & attended that which was to him cōmitted in al reuerēce & diuine feare: knowing well, that the iudgement was the Lords, howſoeuer it pleaſed him to appoint him the miniſter, who (he was ſure) would riſe vp for him in the iudgement that hee had commanded, that the congregation of the people might flock round about him. Thirdly as touching the iuſt, lawfull, and ordinary knowledge of the cauſes which is rightly regarded in ſuch kind of adminiſtrations who ſawe not,pro. 12. but that the very thoughts of the King (as thoſe of the righteous) were very iudgement (as hee ſaide in the Prouerbs) the which were deciphered to vsus and others in many ſingular effects and ſounde arguments. Fourthly: as touching the cauſes iudiciall, wherein iudgement was to be reduced into righteouſnes, whereby the poore, & fatherleſſe, oppreſſed and wronged were to bee relieued and comforted with godly equitie ſhining forth of a iuſt and mercifull heart,pſal, That is; he will acquit and defend the poore the King did wonderfully declare himſelfe before all his people ruminating to that purpoſe the ſaying of his father.
And ſure am I the Lord will* iudge the poore, and eke maintaine,
The cauſe of him that hath no friend, his ſafety to ſuſtaine.
Fifthly as concerning queſtions and doubts in matters of our holy religion, or hard riddles or parables, or the lawes and ordinances by which wee do and muſt liue and bee iudged: or the cauſes and caſes in controuerſy that expect moderation and iudgement, or the patterns and examples left to bee followed and receiued for performance in things of moment or manners of life, or the gouernment and rule of the Church and common-wealth, or whatſoeuer els which appertaineth or is incident to this noble virtue ſo worthy the royall Scepter, the king (I ſay) hath before all others in the worlde, declared himſelfe a principall and chiefe perſonage. To paſſe ouer ſo many examples as might bee produced in eueryevery pointe: for breuitie let vsus bee contented with that particular example of the two Women, which came before the king,The kinges iudgement in the caſe of the two women. 1. King 3. pleading for the living childe. I hope yee hauehave not forgotten it: the thing was done within our time, and the matter being ſo rare and worthie memory, could not ſo ſoone be forgotten, although a wonder (as men ſay) laſteth not aboue nine dayes. The King hauing heard the pleading and contention of thoſe two women about the childe, at length (as a wiſe Iudge, though yet but a child in yeares) repeated briefly the cauſe: The one ſaith (qoud he) this childe which is alive is my ſonne, and the dead is thine: And the other ſaith, Nay, but thy ſonne is the dead and the living child is mine. Then ſéeing the caſe doubtfull, & the more, becauſe there were no witneſſes for eyther part, hee ſaid againe to them that ſtoode about him: Bring me hether a ſword, and they brought it: after that he ſaid againe: Divide the living child into two partes, and give th'one part to the one, and th'other part to the other. For hee well knew what he would doe, neither was his mind ſo cruell and bloody, as to ſlay the young innocent for the mothers offence: howbeit ſome being preſent, not conſidering his purpoſe, beganne to deride and diſlike this ſentence: But by and by, his intent was diſplaied: for the woman whoſe the liuing child was, féeling her vowels to yerne within her vponupon her ſonne, whom ſhee thought was ordained for death, cried out and ſayde vntounto the king: I beſeech thee my Lord giuegive her the liuing child, and let it not be ſlaine: but the other woman ſaid: Let the child be neither thine nor mine, but let it be diuided as the king hath ſaid. Then the king gaue the ſentence in iudgement and ſaide vntounto the Miniſters that ſtood by: Geve her the living child (whoſe bowels yerneth thereon) and ſlay it not, for doubtles ſhe is the right mother thereof. This being done, all they of Iſrael hearing of this iudgement of the king, feared his Maieſtie, the godly for louelove, the wicked for dread: for they ſaw that the wiſedome of God was in him to doe iuſtice. Of this the kinges vertue, ſpake the kings father in the ſpirit; Thou haſt loved righteouſnes and hated iniquitie. This being well weighed (my Lordes) I ſee not what ſhould thereof be conceited to offend his Graces mind.The princes Subſcription. To al this the Princes gladly ſubſcribed, commending in all thinges the iudgementes of the king: And ſurely (ſaide they) they are happy in iudgemēt, which hauehave (as the king hath) wel learned the right natures of thinges: for they ſoundly conſider of th'effectes, and diſcerne and trie them well, if they be ſuch as are wiſe, prudent godly, and not led by affections, but by ſure knowledge, good counſaile, and the guide of the diuine ſpirite. But we ſee that none of thoſe can this perform, which eyther are themſelues, vnlearned, ignorant, obſtinate, ſelfe willed, prowde, vngodly, or contemne the good counſel and godly and graue aduiſe of the learned, wiſe and vertuous. Surely, wee cannot denie it: for it is moſt apparent, that our Lord the king hath by this his diſcrete iudgement, purchaſed to himſelfe authority, to his kingdome peace and trā quillitie, and to the high God, condigne glorie. Now the better ſorte of all men gratifie his honour, and gladly ſubmit themſelues and their cauſes to his determination, knowing that hee will do iuſtice: The wicked tranſgreſſors and hypocriticall perſons are fearefull to ſtand before his preſence in the defence of their faults, or triall of their liues. So aſwell of th'one, as of th'other is the king feared, in reſpect of thoſe his vpright and iuſt iugementes, which (as ye ſaid) hath indéed appeared ſo admirable before all men.