King Solomons Solace, Book · Chapter 34
CAP. XXXIIII.
Zadok anſwereth to ſome other obiections and ſpeaketh 1. of the generations and Elements.
THen ſpake the Princes, and ſaid vntounto Zadok: yee hauehave right well explaned the Kings words: and wee verily beleeue, that his meaning is,The princes approbation of zadoks words. as ye hauehave ſayd therin. Neither think we yt he hath, or doth cō demne all the works of God, which are done either by himſelfe, or by man, after his commandements: but only all thoſe labours, whereof himſelfe is now ſorie and aſhamed, namely, ſuch as hee hath done and wrought vnderunder the Sunne, as a carnall or naturall man without the wiſedome of Gods ſpirite, or the warrant of his Law. Therefore, wee may not either reiect or diſlike the Kings words in this parte. But hath Abiather the Prieſt any thing els to obiect againſt the Kings doctrine and words?Another obiection ca. 1.4. yea, that I hauehave (anſwered Abiather) for I hauehave heard the king to ſpeake of the Generations, as if he comprehended all generations within the ſame predicament, as vaine: and thus hee ſaide: One Generation paſſeth away, another commeth: the Earth ſtandeth for euer. Yea hee combineth with them the foure principall Elementes, as the Sunne which riſeth and falleth: the winde which bloweth and compaſſeth the earth:zadok anſwereth to the obiection and expoundeth the place. the waters & riuers which come and go from and to the ſea: and the Earth which remaineth euer the ſame. * Indeed (ſaide zadok) the King here ſpeaketh of the Creatures and things themſelues: howbeit, although they bee made ſubiect to mans vanitie, in that they muſt ſtand for the vſe of ſinfull men, according to the will of him that hath ſo ſubdued them vnderunder hope, and expectation of a deliuery from this intollerable thraldom, which wilbe in the end of this world yet are they not in themſelues vaine, but good and profitable, both to the glory of God, and to the benefit of men: Neither hath the King ment to place them in his catalogue of vanities. But from the conſideration of them, beeing compared with the labours and affaires of men vnderunder the Sunne, he taketh Arguments to proue the vanity, not of the things, but of ſinfull man who is ſo inconſtant and variable from his dutie, and conſequētly vnhappy. But if it pleaſe you (my L.) for the better ſatiſfying not only of Abiather, but of al them that ſhal hence gather a conceit of the vanitie of theſe generations and elementes, I will (by the diuine grace) ſpeake firſt of theſe generations, and what the Kings purpoſe is therein,foreign a generation what it ſignifieth. and afterwardes of thoſe elements. * The word foreign Dor ſignifieth (as ye know) the conſtituted and ordinary order and courſe either of times, or of perſons, or of actions, or things. A certaine ſucceſſion or reuolution: an order of degrées of the natural propagatiō of things, as one thing is engendred or riſeth vp of another thing. An age,A generation for one of the ages of the worlde. a generatiō, the which as a ſphere or globe hath his reuolutions, courſes, ſtéedes and turnes. * Sometimes this word is ſet and vſed for one of the ages of the world, which wee hauehave reckoned as from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham: from Abraham to Moſes: from Moſes to David the King &c.
* Somtimes an age is reſtrained to the time of a hundred yeares, as where the Lord ſaid to Abraham:The time of an 100 yeeres gen. 15.13.16. Thy ſeede ſhalbe a ſtranger in a land which is not theirs foure hundred yeeres. And afterward he expoundeth it, ſaying: In the fourth age they ſhall come hither againe: the which fell out about the time yt the Lord deliuered our fathers from the thraldome of Egypt by the hand of Moſes. * Somtimes it is taken for the time that a man liveth in this world: whoſe life is called an age or a generation:The time of a mans age in this worlde. and ſo hauehave our fathers vnderſtoode it.* But it is certaine that the King in this his manner of ſpeaking, vnderſtandeth not only the time and age of a mans life, or of yeeres: but the very ages of the world, with the ordinary and common ſucceſſion and generation of the perſons and thinges in the ſame. Wherein it is euident, how one thing is corrupted, and another thing is engendred: how one man dyeth, and another is borne: how one thing paſſeth and another followeth. And this courſe is ſo eſtabliſhed in the world as it cannot be altered, like that, wherof the Lorde ſaide to Noah, yet ſhall not ſowing time and harvest, colde and heate, Gen. 8.22. The condition of worldly things.ſommer and winter, day and night ceaſe all the daies of the earth. * By this, wee may ſée and conſider the courſe of this worlde, the ſhortnes of a mans life, and the alteration and ſucceſſion of things in the ſame. A man may not expect to liue here ſtill, nor thinke to hauehave the face of thinges alwayes alike: for a man is no ſooner borne and taketh the place of him that went before him, but by and by he poſteth hence againe, to giuegive place to another. This world is but his place of peregrination and trauaile, wherein his voyage ended, hee muſt yeeld to him that commeth after him. Therefore let vsus not builde high houſes as to dwell in them for euer, nor lay vp treaſures in this life, from the which we ſhall ſoone bee ſhaken: but rather let vsus play our parts well while wee ſtand on the ſtage of our time in the feare and ſeruice of God, therein to prepare our ſelues for the time we muſt departhence, and for the life to come, and then yéelding our ſelues vp vntounto the Lorde, wee may willingly reſigne ouer our places vntounto them that ſhal ſuccéede and come after vsus according to the will and purpoſe of God. Loe this is the lot of this life wherein one generation paſſeth and another foreign commeth. And this cannot but condemn mans inconſtancie and vanity,Mans inconſtancie. which contrarie to the due courſe of the Creatures and the conſtant ſucceſſion of the ages, times and perſons of the worlde breaketh order and is wearied in many intricate and wicked imaginations, counſels, deviſes and actions, as therein ſtriuing with him that is mightier, and ſeeking to withſtand the will, power and prouidence of the moſt high. Howbeit,The continuance of mans vanitie. in this, man accordeth to the courſe and ſuceſſion of thoſe determinat ages: that as man (ſince his fall through our firſt Parentes) is ſinfull and vaine: ſo is he ſinfull and vaine as yet, and ſo hee will bee vntounto the ende: for as Adam begate Seth in his owne likeneſſe: So one ſinfull and vaine man begetteth another in his likeneſſe, one vayne deuiſe bringeth foorth another, one vaine action another, one vayne thing another, in and among the children of men: that, looke as were the Fathers precéeding, the like are the children ſucceeding, in whome the Prouerbe hits true: That Nature, though ſpee bee ſupprest, doth riſe again: which is a continuall argument not of mans conſtancy and perſeuerance in vertues (as the creatures which retaine their kinde) but of his apoſtaſye, and wicked pertinacy in vices, as degenerating from kinde, and continuing a monſter without cure or recouerie, as long as hee liueth. Loe, yee hauehave ſeene both what is ment by theſe Dorim or generations and alſo what is the Kinges purpoſe therein.
The like may not vnhapily bee ſaide and gathered of thoſe other fower thinges following,The courſe & order of the 4. Elementes. which it pleaſed Abiather to call the fower principall Elementes: as namely the Earth, the Sunne, the Winde, and the Water. For as it was the Nature of the ages and generations to come and go, and to ſucceede one another in their due courſes and turnes,The Earth. as ſo by the Lorde appointed not to bee altered: ſo is it the Nature of thoſe Elementes: For firſt the Earth, although it hath the circumference of all the other Elementes in their turnes rounde about it, and thereof is called foreign Eretz of the word foreign Rotz (which ſignifieth to runne or to hauehave recourſe vntounto anything, and importeth inclination, promptneſſe, or proaneſſe) yet it ſtandeth, abideth, and remaineth the ſame, and in the ſame eſtate wherein, and to the vſes wherevnto it was ordained and appointed from the beginning. According to that teſtimony of the ſweete Pſalmiſt. Thou Lorde, Pſal. 119.90.haſte laid the foundation of the Earth, and it abideth. This is the loweſt of all the fower Elements, to the which all ponderous thinges fall and encline, as to their certaine centre. This is the Mother of all earthly creatures, the receptacle of all inferior bodies, the Sepulchre of all corruptions, the graue of all deade carkaſſes, and the Element which is mightily oppreſſed: howbeit ſhee ſuſteineth it, ſhee endureth it and ſtandeth in her place vnmoueable, becauſe the Lord God hath ſo appointed it, and therein ſhe ſerued the Lorde, and is profitable to men. *The other three Elements alſo, hauehave their due courſes and vſes wherein they abide and ſerue God, according to that teſtimonie of the ſame Pſalmiſt. They doe continue to this day by thy divine decree. (In that eſtate wherin they were created). The Sunne ariſeth, and knoweth his going downe: The Winde bloweth, breatheth, and knoweth her circuites and turnes: The Sea ebbeth and floweth in her tydes,119 91. The Sunne. The winde or ayre. The Sea. pſal. 147. The creatures condemne mans inconſtancie. powreth foorth in venes to fill the ſprings and receiueth it againe from the Riuers; And therein, as they follow and keepe their proper vſes, they praiſe the Lorde: as ſayd the Pſalmiſt, all this the king oppoſeth to man, thereby to condemne him of inconſtancie and rebellion againſt his maker. Beſides this who ſeeth not, how excellently this depaignteth and ſetteth foorth mans mortalitie and vanitie? for howſoeuer one age paſſeth, and another commeth, yet both the one and the other come to the Earth, and there it abideth: and howſoeuer a man hath béene glorious in his dayes, in concluſion he returneth thither from whence hee came according to that decree: Thou art taken from the earth, and to the earth thou ſhalt returne. Mans mortalitie and tranſitorines. Gen. 3.For this is the ende of his courſe, wherein hee is compared not onelyonly to the Flower of the field (as Iob ſayd) that commeth vp from the ground, and after a little time withereth, and falleth into the ground againe: but alſo to the Milſtone, which hauing runne about all the day with great wearineſſe and heate, reſteth at night there where hée began in the morning, without profite or ioy of his labours. Behold therefore the great vanitie of the men of this life! By this time (I hope) ye well vnderſtand thoſe the Kings Wordes. For ſurely, he condemneth not the Creatures in their kinde: but by the due conſideration of the ſame, with their right vſes, as in an excellent compariſon, he depaignteth and ſetteth foorth the inconſtancie, the miſerie & the vanitie of man in this world, wherein (as the Kings father hath ſaid) he walketh in a vaine ſhadow, he is a lyer, and lighter then vanitie it ſelfe, vnderunder the Sunne.
Wee vnderſtand well your wordes (ſaid the Princes) and wiſh that all the Kings people, yea, and all others, aſwell they that come after vsus, as they which nowe liue and ſhall heare the ſame, might ſo conceiue and conſider thereof. Surely, this interpretation ſhall be both profitable and neceſſarie for the children of the holy Congregation: for thereof they ſhall take wholeſome inſtruction, and no meane comfort of ſpirit, in the true vſe of the Creatures. And nowe (Abiather) wée pray you, if yée hauehave heard any thing elſe obicted againſt the kings Words, that ye bring it forth, for we know not when we ſhall finde the like opportunite to hauehave the ſame anſwered, Wee are ouer bold with you; and very troubleſome to this moſt reuerend Father. But his former affabilitie and willingneſſe hath giuen vsus the more boldneſſe, to requeſt his reuerence in this behalfe. At this word, ſaide Zadok; (My Lordes) indéed, as ye ſay, I am moſt willing to ſpeake in thoſe neceſſarie points, ſo farre foorth, as I may bring light to things obſcure, withſtand erronious interpretations, abandon euill conſtructions, and ſatiſfie your godly deſires: for as it belongeth to my dutie ſo to doe: ſo my mine heartie deſire is to execute and performe it with all diligence, for the glorie of GOD, the defence of the trueth, the comfort of my Soueraigne, and the benefite of the Saints.