Works of Joseph Hall, Part 18
The death of SAVL.
THe Witch of Endor had halfe ſlaine Saul before the Battell it is juſt that they who conſult with Deuils, ſhould goe away with diſcomfort: Hee hath eaten his laſt bread, at the hand of a Sorcereſſe: and now neceſſitie drawes him into that field, where hee ſees nothing but deſpaire. Had not Saul beleeued the ill newes of the counterfeite Samuel, hee had not beene ſtrooke downe on the ground with words: Now his beliefe made him deſperate; Thoſe actions which are not ſuſtayned by hope, muſt needes languiſh: and are only promoted by outward compulſion: Whiles the mind 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 likelihood one ſelfe-ſame day, ſaw Dauid a victor ouer the Amalekites, 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 wee doe ill to looke to ſpeede 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 Sauls meaſure might bee full: God is long ere hee ſtrikes, but when hee doth, it is to purpoſe; Firſt, Iſrael flees and fals downe wounded in Mount Gilboa; They had their part in Sauls ſinne: they were actors in Dauids perſecution: Iuſtly therefore doe they ſuffer with him, whom they had ſeconded in offence. As it is hard to bee good vnderunder an euill Prince, ſo it is as rare, not to bee enwrapped in his iudgments: 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? Death is not partiall: All diſpoſitions, all merits are alike to it: if valour, if holineſſe, if ſinceritie of heart could hauehave beene any defence againſt mortalitie, Ionathan had ſuruiued: Now by their wounds and death, no man can deſcerne which is Ionathan; The ſoule onelyonly findes the difference, which the body admitteth not; Death is the common gate both to Heauen and Hell; wee 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, than God conducteth him to glory: The beſt cannot bee happy but through their diſſolution; Now therefore hath Ionathan no cauſe of complaint, hee is by the rude and cruell 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 glorie to the friend of Dauid.
The Philiſtim-archers ſhot at randome: God directs their arrowes into the bodie of Saul: Leſt 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 and death; and now as a man forſaken of all hopes, he begs of his Armour-bearer that deaths-blow, which elſe hee muſt (to the doubling of his indignation) receiue from a Philiſtim. Hee begges this bloudie fauour of his ſeruant, and is denyed: Such an awefulneſſe hath God placed in ſouereigntie, that no intreatie, no extreamitie, can moue the hand againſt it: What metall are thoſe men made of that can ſuggeſt or reſolue; and attempt the violation of Maieſtie? Wicked men care more for the ſ…e of the World, than the danger of their ſoule: Deſp… Saul will now ſupply his Armor-bearer; and as a man that … armes againſt himſelfe, he falls vponupon his ow… Sword. What if he had died by the … of a Philiſtin? So did his ſinne Ionathan, and loſt no glory: Theſe conceits of diſreputation preuaile with carnall hearts aboue all ſpirituall reſpects: There is no greater murderer … glory: Nothing more argues an heart voide of grace, than to bee tranſporte on… idle popularity into actions preiudicia… to the Soule!
Euill examples, eſpecially of the great, neuer eſcaped imitation; the A…or-beate… of Saul followes his Maſter: and came doe that to himſelfe, which to his King hee durſt not as if their owne Swords had beeing more familiar executions … they yeelded vntounto them, what they grudged to their purſuers. From the beginning was Sauls euer his owne enemy, neither did any hands hurt him but his owne to and now his death is ſutable … his life: his owne hand paies his …ard of all his wickedneſſe. The end of Hypocrites, and enuious men is commonly fearefull. Now is the bloud of Gods Prieſts, which Saul ſhed, and of Dauid, which hee would hauehave ſhed, required, and requited. The euill ſpirit had ſaid the euening before, To …rrow thou ſhalt bee with mee: and now Saul haſteth to make the Deuill no Liem… …er than faile, he giues himſelfe his owne Mittimus: Oh the wofull extremities of a deſpairing ſoule, plunging him euer into a greater miſchiefe to auoide the leſſe: He might ha… beene a patient in anothers violence, and faultineſſe; now whiles hee will needs act the Philiſtins part vponupon himſelfe, he liued and died a Murderer; The caſe is deadly, when the Priſoner breakes the Iayle, and will not ſtay for his deliuery: and though we 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 hainous, and ſuch as without repentance, kils the ſoule.
It was the next day, ere the Philiſtims knew how much they were victors; then finding the dead corps 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 ſins, than their gods, they had neuer carried away the honour of thoſe Trophees: In ſtead of magnifying the iuſtice of the true God, who puniſhed Saul with deſerued death, they magnifie the power of the falſe: Superſtition is extremely iniurious to God: It is no better than 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 offred to his dead corps, that they will rather leaue their owne bones amongſt the Philiſtims, than the carcaſſe of Saul: Such a cloſe relation there is betwixt a Prince and Subiect, that the diſhonour of either is inſeparable from both: How willing ſhould wee bee to hazard our bodies or ſubſtance for the vindication either of the perſon, or name of a good King, whiles hee 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 bee content to bee actors in the capitall wrongs offered to ſoueraigne authoritie?
It were a wonder, if after the death of a Prince, there ſhould want ſome Picke-thanke, to inſinuate himſelfe into his Succeſſor: An Amalekite young man rides poſt to Ziklag, to finde out Dauid, whom euen common rumour …ad notified for the annointed Heire to the Kingdome of Iſrael; to bee the firſt Meſſenger of that newes, which he thought could be no other than acceptable; the death of Saul: and that the tidings might be ſo much more meritorious, hee addes to the report, what hee thinkes might carrie 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 hee offered that violence to himſelfe: The hand of this Amalekite therefore was not guilty, his tongue was: Had not this Meſſenger meaſured Dauids foote, by his owne Laſt, hee had forborne this peece of the newes; and not hoped to aduantage himſelfe by this falſhood: Now he thinkes; The tidings 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 …ckie Poſt; whereas, if I take vponupon mee the action, I am the man, to whome Dauid is beholden for the Kingdome: hee cannot but honour and require mee, as the Authour of his deliuerance and happineſſe. Worldly mindes thinke no man can be of any other, than their owne dyet; and becauſe they finde the reſpects of ſelfe-louelove, and priuate profit, ſo ſtrongly preuailing with themſelues, they cannot conceiue, how theſe ſhould be 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 Kingdome, and Poſſeſſion of the Crowne of Iſrael, he findes him renting his clothes, and wringing his handes, and weeping, and mourning: as if all his comfort had bin dead with Saul and Ionathan: and yet perhaps hee thought: This ſorrow of Dauid is but faſhionable, ſuch as greate heires make ſhew of in the fatall day they hauehave longed for; Theſe teares will ſoone be dry; the ſight of a Crowne will ſoone breed a ſucceſſion of other paſſions: But this errour is ſoone corrected: For when Dauid had entertayned this Bearer, with a ſadfaſt all the day, hee cals him forth in the euening to execution: (How waſt thou not afraid (ſaith he) to put forth thy hand, to deſtroy the Annoynted 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 merciemercy to kill him; that was halfe dead, that hee might die the ſhorter: Beſides, his entreaty and importunate prayers, mooued mee to haſten him, through thoſe painefull gates of death: had I ſtriken him as an enemy, I had deſerued the blow I had giuen; now I lent him the hand of a friend: why am I puniſhed for obeying the voyce of a King? and for perfiting what himſelfe begun, and could not finiſh: And if neither his owne 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, where had beene 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 me 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 be vponupon thine owne head, for thine owne mouth hath teſtified aganſt thee, ſaying, I hauehave ſlaine the Lords Annoynted.) It is a iuſt ſuppoſition, that eueryevery man is ſo great a Fauourer of himſelfe, that hee 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 hee did it, his fact was capitall; If hee did it not, his lye: It is pitty any 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 hee 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 Mutherers! Into their ſecret, let not my ſoule come, my glory, be thou not ioyned to their Aſſembly.