never rot in the sky, but shall fall, if late, yet surely, yet seasonably. There is small comfort in the delay of vengeance, while we are sure it shall lose nothing in the way by length of protraction. The Kenites were the offspring of Hobab or Jethro, father-in-law to Moses: the affinity of him, to whom Israel owed their deliverance and being, was worthy of respect; but it was the mercy of that good and wise Midianite showed unto Israel in the wilderness, by his grave advice, cheerful gratulation and aid, which won this grateful forbearance of his posterity. He that is not less in mercy than in justice, as he challenged Amalek's sin of their succeeding generations, so he derives the recompense of Jethro's kindness unto his far descended issue. Those that were unborn many ages after Jethro's death, receive life | from his dust, and favour from his hospitality: the name of their dead grandfather saves them from the common destruction of their neighbours. The services of our love to God's children are never thankless. When we are dead and rotten, they shall live, and procure blessings to those which never knew, perhaps, nor heard of their progenitors. If we sow good works, succession shall reap them, and we shall be happy in making them so. The Kenites dwelt in the borders of Amalek, but in tents, as did their issue the Rechabites, so as they might remove with ease. They are warned to shift their habitation, lest they should perish with ill neighbours. It is the manner of God, first to separate before he judge, as a good husbandman weeds his corn ere it be ripe for the sickle, and goes to the fan ere he go to the fire. When the Kenites pack up their fardels, it is time to expect judgment. Why should not we imitate God, and separate ourselves, that we may not be judged; separate not one Kenite from another, but every Kenite from among the Amalekites; else, if we will needs live with Amalek, we cannot think much to die with him. The Kenites are no sooner removed, than Saul falls upon the Amalekites. he destroys all the people, but spares their king. The charge of God was universal, for man and beast. In the corruption of partiality, lightly the greatest escape. Covetousness or misaffection are commonly guilty of the impunity of those which are at once more eminent in dignity and in offence. It is a shameful hypocrisy, to make our commodity the measure and rule of our execution of God's command, and, under pretence of godliness, to intend gain. The unprofitable vulgar must die: Agag may yield a rich ransom. The lean and feeble cattle, that would but spend stover, and die, alone shall perish by the sword of Israel; the best may stock the grounds, and furnish the markets. O hypocrites! did God send you for gain, or for revenge? Went you to be purveyors, or execution. ers? If you plead that all those wealthy herds had been but lost in a speedy death, think ye that he knew not this which commanded it? Can that be lost, which is devoted to the will of the Owner and Creator? or can ye think to gain anything by disobedience? That man can never either do well, or fare well, which thinks there can be more profit in anything than in his obedience to his Maker. Because Saul spared the best of the men, the people spared the best of the cattle: each is willing to favour the other in the sin. The sins of the great command imitation, and do as seldom go without attendants as their persons. Saul knew well how much he had done amiss, and yet dare meet Samuel, and can say, "Blessed be thou of the Lord! I have fulfilled the commandment of the Lord." His heart knew that his tongue was as false as his hands had been; and if his heart had not been more false than either of them, neither of them had been so gross in their falsehood. If hypocrisy were not either foolish or impudent, she durst not show her head to a seer of God. Could Saul think that Samuel knew of the asses that were lost, and did not know of the oxen and sheep that were spared? could he foretell his thoughts, when it was, and now not know of his open actions? Much less, when we have to do with God himself, should dissimulation presume either of safety or secrecy. Can the God, that made the heart, not know it? can He, that comprehends all things, be shut out of our close corners? Saul was otherwise crafty enough, yet herein his simplicity is palpable. Sin can besot even the wisest man; and there was never but folly in wickedness. No man brags so much of holiness as he that wants it. True obedience is joined ever with humility, and fear of unknown errors. Falsehood is bold, and can say, "I have fulfilled the commandment of the Lord." If Saul had been truly obsequious and holy, he had made no noise of it. A gracious heart is not a blab of his tongue, but rests and rejoiceth silently in the con science of a secret goodness. Those vessels yield most sound, that have the least liquor. Samuel had reason to believe the in it a presage of his judgment: yet so it did. This very rending of the coat was a real prophecy, and did bode no less than the rending of the kingdom from him and his posterity. Wicked men, while they think by carnal means to make their peace, plunge themselves deeper into misery. Any stander-by would have said, What a good king is this! how dear is God's prophet unto him! how happy is Israel in such a prince, as thus loves the messengers of God! Samuel, that saw the bottom of his hollow affection, rejects him whom God hath rejected. He was taught to look upon Saul, not as a king, but as an offender, and therefore refuses with no less vehemency than Saul entreated. It was one thing, what he might do as a subject; another, what he must do as a prophet. Now, he knows not Saul any otherwise, than as so much the greater trespasser as his place was higher; and therefore he doth no more spare his greatness, than the God against whom he sinned; neither doth he countenance that man with his presence, on whom he sees God to frown. sheep and ozen above Saul; their bleating | this act of kind importunity should carry and lowing was a sufficient conviction of a denied and outfaced disobedience. God opened their mouths to accuse Saul of their life, and his falsehood: but as sin is crafty, and never wanted a cloak wherewith both to hide and deck itself, even this very rebellion is holy. First, the act, if it were evil, was not mine, but the people's. And, secondly, their intention makes it good; for these flocks and herds were preserved, not for gain, but for devotion. What needs this quarrel? If any gain by this act, it is the Lord thy God: his altars shall smoke with these sacrifices; ye, that serve at them, shall fare so much the better. This godly thriftiness looks for thanks rather than censure. If Saul had been in Samuel's clothes, perhaps this answer would have satisfied him; surely himself stands out in it, as that whereto he dares trust; and after he hears of God's angry reproof, he avows, and doubles his hold of his innocency as if the commanders should not answer for the known sins of the people; as if our intentions could justify us to God, against God. How much ado is it to bring sinners upon their knees, and to make their tongues accuse their hands! But there is no halting with the Maker of the heart he knew it was covetousness, and not piety, which was accessory to this forbearance; and if it had been as was pretended, he knew it was an odious impiety to raise devotion out of disobedience. Saul shall hear and find, that he hath dealt no less wickedly in sparing an Agag, than in killing an innocent Israelite; in sparing these beasts for sacrifice, than in sacrificing beasts that had been unclean. Why was sacrifice itself good, but because it was commanded? What difference was there betwixt slaughter and sacrifice, but obedience? To sacrifice disobediently, is wilfully to mock God in honouring him. There needs no other character of hypocrisy, than Saul, in the carriage of this one business with Agag and Samuel: first he obeys God, where there is no gain in disobedience; then he serves God by halves, and disobeys where the obedience might be loss. He gives God of the worst; he doth that in a colour, which might seem answerable to the charge of God; he respects persons in the execution; he gives good words when his deeds were evil; he protests his obedience against his conscience; he faces out his protestation against a reproof: when he sees no remedy, he acknowledges the fact, denies the sin; yea, he justifies the act by a profitable intention. when he can no longer maintain his innocence, he casts the blame from himself, upon the people. He confesseth not, till the sin be wrung from his mouth: he seeks his peace out of himself, and relies more upon another's virtue than his own penitency; he would cloak his guiltiness with the holiness of another's presence: he is more tormented with the danger and damage of his sin, than with the offence : he cares to hold in with men, in what terms soever he stands with God he fashionably serves that God whom he hath not cared to reconcile by his repentance. No marvel if God cast him off, whose best was dissimulation. Old Samuel is forced to do a double execution, and that upon no less than two kings: the one upon Saul, in dividing the kingdom from him, who had divided himself from God; the other upon Agag, in dividing him in pieces, whom Saul should have divided. Those holy hands were not ased to such sacrifices; yet did he never spill blood more acceptably. If Saul had been truly penitent, he had, in a desire of satisfaction, prevented the hand of Samuel in this slaughter: now, he coldly stands still, and suffers the weak hands of an aged prophet to be imbrued with that blood, which he was commanded to shed. If Saul might not sacrifice in the absence of Samuel, yet Samuel might kill in the presence of Saul. He was yet a judge of Israel, although he suspended the execution in Saul's neglect, this charge reverted to him. God loves just executions so well, that he will hardly take them ill at any hand. I do not find that the slaughter of Agag troubled Samuel: that other act of his severity upon Saul, though it drew no blood, yet struck him in the striking, and fetched tears from his eyes. Good Samuel mourned for him, that had not grace to mourn for himself. No man in all Israel might seem to have so much reason to rejoice in Saul's ruin as Samuel, since that he knew him raised up in despite of his government; yet he mourns more for him than he did for his sons, for himself. It grieved him to see the plant, which he had set in the garden of Israel, thus soon withered. It is an unnatural senselessness not to be affected with the dangers, with the sins, of our governors. God did not blame this sorrow, but moderated it: "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul?" It was not the affection he forbade, but the measure. In this is the difference betwixt good men and evil; that evil men mourn not for their own sins; good men do so mourn for the sins of others, that they will hardly be taken off. If Samuel mourn because Saul hath cast away God by his sin, he must cease to mourn, because God hath cast away Saul from reigning over Israel in his just punishment. A good heart hath learned to rest itself upon the justice of God's decree, and forgets all earthly respects when it looks up to heaven. So did God mean to show his displeasure against the person of Saul, that he would show favour to Israel; he will not therefore bereave them of a king, but change him for a better. Either Saul had slandered his people, or else they were partners with him in disobedience; yet, because it was their ruler's fault that they were not overruled, we do not hear of their smarting any otherwise than in the subjection to such a king as was not loyal to God. The loss of Saul is their gain: the government of their first king was abortive; no marvel if it held not. Now was the maturity of that state; and therefore God will bring them forth a kindly monarchy, settled where it should. Kings are of God's providing. It is good reason he should make choice of his own deputies; but where goodness meets with sovereignty, both his right and his gift are doubled. If kings were merely from the earth, what needs a prophet to be seen in the choice, or inauguration? The hand of Samuel doth not now bear the sceptre to rule Israel, but it bears the horn for the anointing of him that must rule. Saul was sent to him, when the time was, to be anointed; but now he is sent to anoint David; then Israel sought a king for themselves; now God seeks a king for Israel. The prophet is therefore directed to the house of Jesse the Bethlehemite, the grandchild of Ruth: now is the faithful love of that good Moabitess crowned with the honour of a kingdom in the succeeding generation. God fetched her out of Moab, to bring a king unto Israel. While Orpah wants bread in her own country, Ruth is grown a great lady in Bethlehem, and is advanced to be great grandmother to the king of Israel. The retributions of God are bountiful: never any man forsook aught for his sake, and complained of a hard bargain. Even the best of God's saints want not their infirmities. He, that never replied when he was sent to reprove the king, moveth doubts, when he is bidden to go and anoint his successor: "How can I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill me." Perhaps desire of full direction drew from him this question, but not without a mixture of diffidence; for the manner of doing it doth not so much trouble him, as the success. It is not to be expected that the most faithful hearts should be always in an equal height of resolution: God doth not chide Samuel, but instruct him. He, which is wisdom itself, teacheth him to hide his counsels in an honest policy: "Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to do sacrifice to the Lord." This was to say true, not to say all. Truth may not be crossed by denial or equivocations: it may be concealed in a discreet silence. Except in the case of an oath, no man is bound to speak all he knows : we are not only allowed, but cominanded, to be innocently serpentine. There were, doubtless, heifers enough in Bethlehem : truth. Jesse had both wealth and devotion enough | them either a true falsehood, or uncertain to have bestowed a sacrifice upon God and his prophet. But, to give a more perfect colour to his intention, Samuel must take a heifer with him: the act itself was serious and necessary. There was no place, no time, wherein it was not fit for Samuel to offer peace-offerings unto God; but when a king should be anointed, there was no less than necessity in this service. Those which must represent God to the world, ought to be consecrated to that Majesty whom they resemble, by public devotions. Every important action requires a sacrifice to bless it, much more that act which imports the whole church or commonwealth. : It was great news to see Samuel at Bethlehem he was no gadder abroad; none but necessary occasions could make him stir from Ramalı. The elders of the city therefore welcome him with trembling; not for that they were afraid of him, but of themselves: they knew that guest would not come to them for familiarity: straight do they suspect it was the purpose of some judgment that drew him thither: "Comest thou peaceably?" It is a good thing to stand in awe of God's messengers, and to hold good terms with them upon all occasions. The Bethlehemites are glad to hear of no other errand but a sacrifice; and now must they sanctify themselves for so sacred a business. We may not presume to sacrifice unto God unsanctified; this were to mar an holy act, and make ourselves more profane, by profaning that which should be holy. All the citizens sanctify themselves; but Jesse and his sons were, in a special fashion, sanctified by Samuel. This business was most theirs, and all Israel in them. The more God hath to do with us, the more holy should we be. With what desire did Samuel look upon the sons of Jesse, that he might see the face of the man whom God had chosen! And now, when Eliab, the eldest son, came forth, a man of a goodly presence, whose person seemed fit to succeed Saul, he thinks with himself, This choice is soon made; I have already espied the head on which I must spend this holy oil; this is the man which nath both the privilege of nature in his primogeniture, and of outward goodliness in proportion: surely the Lord's anointed is before me. Even the holiest prophet, when he goes without God, runs into error; the best judgment is subject to deceit: it is no trusting to any mortal man, when he speaks of himself. Our eyes can be led by nothing but signs and appearances, and those have commonly in That which would have forewarned Samuel, deceived him; he had seen the proof of a goodly stature unanswerable to their hopes, and yet his eye errs in the shape. He that judgeth by the inside, both of our hearts and actions, checks Samuel in his misconceit: "Look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature, because I have refused him; for God seeth not as man seeth." The king with whom God meant to satisfy the untimely desires of Israel was chosen by his stature; but the king with whom God meant to please himself, is chosen by the heart. All the seven sons of Jesse are presented to the prophet; no one is omitted whom their father thought capable of any respect. If either Samuel or Jesse should have chosen, David should never have been king. His father thought him fit to keep sheep; his brethren fit to rule men yet even David, the youngest son, is fetched from the fold, and, by the choice of God, destined to the throne. Nature, which is commonly partial to her own, could not suggest ought to Jesse, to make him think David worthy to be remembered in any competition of honour; yet him hath God singled out to rule. God will have his wisdom magnified in the unlikelihoods of his election. David's countenance was ingenuous and beautiful; but if it had promised so much as Eliab's or Aminadab's, he had not been in the fields while his brethren were at the sacrifice. If we do altogether follow our eye, and suffer ourselves to be guided by outward respects in our choice for God or ourselves, we cannot but go amiss. What do we think the brethren of David thought, when they saw the oil poured upon his head? Surely, as they were envious enough, they had too much repined, if they had either fully apprehended the purpose of the prophet, or else had not thought of some improbability in the success; either they understood not, or believed not, what God would do with their brother; they saw him graced with God's spirit above his wont, but perhaps foresaw not whither it tended. David, as no whit changed in his condition, returns to his sheep again, and, with an humble admiration of God's gracious respect to him, casts himself upon the wise and holy decree of the Almighty, resigning himself to the disposition of those hands which had chosen him; when suddenly a messenger is sent from Saul, to call him in all haste to that court whereof he shall once be master. The occasion is no less from God | be Christians, who care not how much they than the event CONTEMPLATION III.—DAVID CALLED TO THE COURT. THAT the kingdom is, in the appointment of God, departed from Saul, it is his least loss; now the Spirit of God is also departed from him: one spirit is no sooner gone, but another is come; both are from God. Even the worst spirits have not only permission, but commission from heaven for the infliction of judgment. He that at first could hide himself among the stuff, that he might not be king, is now so transported with this glory, that he grows passionate with the thought of foregoing it. Satan takes advantage of his melancholic dejection, and turns this passion into frenzy. God will have even evil spirits work by means: a distempered body, and an unquiet mind, are fit grounds for Satan's vexation. Saul's courtiers, as men that were more witty than religious, advise him to music: they knew the strength of that skill in allay. ing the fury of passions, in cheering up the dejected spirits of their master. This was done like some fond chirurgeon, that, when the bone is out of joint, lays some suppling poultices to the part, for the assuaging of the ache, in the meantime not caring to remedy the luxation. If they had said, Sir, you know this evil comes from that God whom you have of fended; there can be no hope but in reconcilement : how easy is it for the God of spirits to take off Satan! labour your peace with him by a serious humiliation; make means to Samuel to further the atonement! they had been wise counsellors, divine physicians: whereas now, they do but skin over the sore, and leave it rankled at the bottom. The cure must ever proceed in the same steps with the disease, else in vain shall we seem to heal: there is no safety in the redress of evils, but to strike at the root. Yet, since it is no better with Saul and his courtiers, it is well it is no worse: I do not hear either the master or servants say, This is an ill spirit; send for some magician that may countermand him: there are forcible enchantments for these spiritual vexations; if Samuel will not, there are witches that may give ease. But as one that would rather be ill than do worse, he contents himself to do that which was lawful, if unsufficient. It is a shame to say, that he, whom God had rejected for his sin, was yet a saint to some that should are beholden to the devil in their distresses, affecting to cast out devils by Beelzebub. In cases of loss, or sickness, they make hell their refuge, and seek for patronage from an enemy. Here is a fearful agreement: Satan seeks to them in his temptations; they, in their consultations, seek to him: and now that they have mutually found each other, if ever they part it is a miracle. David had lived obscurely in his father's house: his only care and ambition was the welfare of the flock he tended; and now, while his father and his brothers neglected him, as fit for nothing but the field, he is talked of at the court. Some of Saul's followers had been at Jesse's house, and taken notice of David's skill; and now that harp, which he practised for his private recreation, shall make him of a shepherd a courtier. The music that he meant only to himself and his sheep, brings him before kings. The wisdom of God thought fit to take this occasion of acquainting David with that court which he shall once govern. It is good that education should perfect our children in all those commendable qualities whereto they are disposed. Little do we know what use God means to make of those faculties which we know not how to employ! Where the Almighty purposes an advancement, obscurity can be no prejudice: small means shall set forward that which God hath decreed. Doubtless, old Jesse noted, not without admiration, the wonderful accordance of God's proceedings, that he, which was sent for out of the field to be anointed, should now be sent for out of the country into the court; and now he perceived God was making way for the execution of that which he purposed: he attends the issue in silence, neither shall his hand fail to give furtherance to the project of God; he therefore sends his son laden with a present to Saul. The same God which called David to the court, welcomes him thither: his comeliness, valour, and skill, have soon won him favour in the eyes of Saul. The Giver of all graces hath so placed his favours, that the greatest enemies of goodness shall see somewhat in the holiest men, which they shall affect, and for which they shall honour the persons of them whose virtues they dislike; as, contrarily, the saints on earth see somewhat to love even in the worst creatures. No doubt David sung to his harp: his harp was not more sweet than his song was holy. Those Psalms alone had been more powerful to chase the evil spirit, than the |