I. SERM. and not to "redeem time,” to that end? Judge of Religion's case by the reverence of the Ephod. A daughter of his own Eph. 5. 16. bringing up, Michal, saw David for honour of the ark wear it, 2Sam.6.16. and "despised him in her heart." Judge of it by the regard of the Priest, the keeper of the ark: for very love to it, that calling was kept so low and bare that they were tied to the 1Sam. 21.4. allowance of their shew-bread; the High-Priest had not a loaf in his house besides. This was the first root of his kingdom: the ark not sought to, the Ephod in contempt, the priestActs 18.17. hood impoverished; et Saulo nihil horum cure, and Saul regarded not any of these things.' 1 Kings 14. 15. Such another indifferency for Church matters we find in Hos. 13. 2. Jeroboam. 66 Tush," said he, jestingly, "let them kiss the calves and spare not." Let it go which way it will. But therefore God sends him word by Ahijah, "that Israel should be as a reed in the water," bowing to and fro, at the devotion of every wave and every wind, without any steadiness. And was it not so? Search the Chronicles. So, God saw this mind in Saul to His ark and was wroth; withdrew from him His religious and good Spirit, and sent upon him a profane and furious spirit, which carried him on first to a sinful life, and never left him till it had brought him to a shameful death. Deu.33.27. And God was even saying His disperdas to the kingdom, but David here entreated for a ne perdas, and promised a better care of celebrabimus Jehovam. Now, where Religion thrives not, the other of Justice will Zach.11.4. not hold long; when one staff is broken, the other holdeth not whole long after. And surely his justice was suitable to the former, to his weak regard of religion; that also was weak too. 22. 1 Sam. 13. 1. Weak towards the enemy. It is said, there was want of necessary furniture of armour and munition in his days. 2 Sam.1.18. And there had been defect in teaching them to shoot, which David supplied at his entrance. 2. Weak at home too, where he did not justitias, but injurias judicare. The parts of Justice are two, as we find in the tenth verse. 1. To exalt the horns of the righteous, 2. and to break the horns of the wicked. 1. For the first. 1 Sam. 18. that David should 17. 19. Reason was, and so was promise too, have been rewarded with Merab his eldest daughter's marriage. I know not how, one Adriel, an obscure fellow, never to have been named but to shew such an one put David by, had his horn exalted above him. This for reward. 2. And his punishment was no better. Merciful to Agag, 18am.15.9. whose horns should have been broken, and in Ahimelech's 1 Sam. 22. case too rigorous, putting him, and eighty-four more, to the sword for a dozen of bread. 17. 11. And whereas, in kindly justice, the rigour of frangam cornua cometh not at first, but clemency giveth gracious warning, with Dicam imprudentibus. So, without regard thereof, Ps. 75. 4. as upon any displeasure, without any word at all, his javelin 1 Sam. 18. went straight to nail men to the wall, they knew not wherefore. Thus did justice decay after religion, and one pillar fall upon another, whereof ensued his overthrow, and the land dan- 33. gerously sick of the palsy. Whereof David complaineth, and Ps. 60. 2. prayeth, "Heal the sores thereof, for it shaketh." 1 Sam. 19. 10. 1 Sam. 20. 2 Sam. 11. 21. Now David, as, when he read Abimelech's mishap in the [Jud. 9. 53.] Book of Judges, he made his use of it, as appeareth 2 Sam. 11. 21; so here when he saw what had turned Saul to damage, took warning by it (ruina præcedentium, admonitio sequentium), and, to make the land strong, falleth to underset the pillars. 1 Chron.26. And first, of the first, that is, the stone which Saul and his builders cast aside. For, coming to the kingdom, he consecrates all his laws with his act de Arcá reducenda; whereat he 1 Chron. would needs be present in his own person, because it touched 13. 2, 3. Celebrabimus Jehovam, and that with some disgrace, as Michal imagined; but he was resolute in that point, he could receive no dishonour by doing honour to God's ark. And, when it was brought back, set such an order for the service of it by the Levites, for maintenance so bountiful, so reverend for regard, passim. so decent for order, so every way sufficient, as the care of the Temple might seem to reign in his heart. As indeed it did, and as he professeth, "he could not sleep" till he had set Ps. 132. 3. a full order for God's matters, and brought this pillar to perfection. Which his care was secundum cor Dei, and God would signify so much by the ceremony in the Coronation of the kings of Judah. Wherein, putting not only the diadem imperial, but the Book of the Law also, upon the king's head, 2Kings 11. 1. SERM. it was intended that Book should be as dear to them as their crown, and they equally study to advance it. And in putting Isa. 22. 22. the sceptre of justice in their hands, and in laying the key of the House of David on their shoulders, what else was required, but as they executed the one with their hand, so they should put to the other, arm and shoulder and all? that is, as David here expresseth it, two celebrabimuses to one judicabo. Thus was strengthened the first pillar, and for the second the Holy Ghost giveth him an honourable testimony; I speak not of his military justice, I need not—therein he was trained 2.Sam.815. up, but that in peace, "he executed judgment and justice to Ps. 99. 4. all his people." "The king's power," saith he, "loveth judgment," not power in injury, but power in judgment, saith 2Cor.13.10. David; "power to edification," saith St. Paul, "not to destruction;" that is, to build up, not to decay the building. Therefore, virtue and valour wanted not their reward in his 10, &c. Ps. 75. 6. time. He professeth after in this Psalm, the wind should blow no man to preferment, out of what quarter soever it came, but God by His graces should point them to it. And 1 Chr. 11. sure, the diligent description the Holy Ghost useth of his worthies and men of place, sheweth him to have been most exact in this point: first, his three; and then after, his thirty 2 Sam. 23. in their order; and that those "thirty attained not unto the 8, &c. first three," but every one esteemed and regarded, in his worthiness. And for depressing the wicked, it was his morning work, Ps. 101. 8. as he testifieth, and that, as himself here sets down, in a most heavenly order, with dicam first, as being set over men, and Hos. 11. 4. therefore willing to "lead them with the cords of men," that is, fair and gentle, yet effectual persuasions. And never did Pro. 19.12. the dew of Heaven more sweetly refresh the grass, than doth a favourable saying pierce the inferior from the mouth of a prince. Therefore, there was no estate in the land, but in this book, I will not say he mildly said, but he even sweetly, Ps. 101.1-8. sung their several duties unto them. To his court, his Ps. 45. pas. Church, his Judges; his commons, all in one. I will add this, that if David offended in ought, herein it was, in that he used dicam too much, and frangam not oft enough. Absalom 2Sam. 15.3. could object it, when it served his turn; and when David was to leave the world, it lay on his conscience, his clemency Ps. 82.1-8. Ps. 144. passim. 5, &c. used in Joab's and Shimei's case. "A dear and precious 1 Kings 2. thing is the meanest blood in the eyes of David”—so he saith. Ps. 72. 14. And that made his people more afraid for him than of him, and to value his life at "ten thousand" of their own; and that, 2Sam. 18.3. so many subjects, so many of his guard; not, so many subjects, so many conspirators, as Saul complained. 1 Sam.22.8. Yet, because clemency is but one foot of the throne, and Pro. 20.28. severity at some other time (for, cum accepero tempus, time Ps. 75. 2. must be kept in this music) doth no less support it; therefore, where saying will not serve, nor singing, frangam must sometimes be used; where the rod contemned, let the sword be Ez.21.9,10. drawn. It is God's own course. If he, for all dicam, lift up his horn against God or good orders, saw off his horn; if he do still mutila fronte minitari, caput ejus mittetur ad te, was 2 Sam. 20. David's justice ;-Take off his head. For dicam is the charm he speaketh of, which, if the viper stop not his ear, will do him Ps. 58. 5. good; if it do not, contunde in theriacam, he must be bruised and made into mithridate', that others may be amended by [1" One of him, seeing he would not be amended by others. 21. the capital medicines of the shops,con steps, shops, conskilful sisting of a give great num ber of in gredients, from its Thus did David repair Saul's ruins; these are his thus did he shew himself as good as his promise here, a upholder of these two main pillars, which bear up and strength to every land. And by this means he changed both and has the nature and name of his country; finding it Jebus, that is, its name conculcata, and so indeed it was, a city contemned and trodden inventor down with every foot; and leaving it a new name, Jerusalem, dates, King of and so it was, Salem Jeru, a city to be feared and envied of all round about it. So the land grew strong, and the pillars Quincy, fast; and David, for his fastening, in favour with God and man. Todd's Johnson.] God, Whom he praised, graciously assisting him; and men, whom he preserved, willingly serving him. The Lord Who hath sent forth the like strength for our land, stablish the good things which He hath wrought in us! The Lord so fasten the pillars of our earth, that they never be shaken! The Lord mightily uphold the upholder of them long, and many years; that we may go forth rejoicing in His strength, and make our boast of His praise, all our life long! Which our gracious God, &c. Mithri Pontus.' cited in A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE QUEEN ELIZABETH, AT GREENWICH, ON THE TWENTY-FOURTH OF FEBRUARY, A.D. MDXC. BEING SERM. PSALM lxxvii. 20. Thou didst lead Thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. [Deduxisti sicut oves populum Tuum, in manu Moysis et Aaron. Latin Vulg.] [Thou leddest Thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Engl. Trans.] SOME, either present or imminent danger, and that no small one, had more than usually distressed the Prophet at the writing of this Psalm; wherewith his spirit, for a while, being tossed to and fro in great anguish, as may appear by those Ps.77.7—9. three great billows in the seventh, eighth, and ninth verses, yet at last he cometh to an anchor in the tenth verse, "upon the remembrance of the right hand of the Most High." Which right hand, in one even tenor throughout all ages, not only to that of David's, but even to this of ours, hath ever shewed itself a right hand of pre-eminence and power, in the two points in the latter part of the Psalm specified, the especial matter of his and all our comfort. 1. The final confusion of his enemies, though for a while exalted until this verse. 2. The final deliverance of His people, though for a while distressed in this verse. Which twain, of many Psalms are the substance, and of this now before us; and indeed, all the whole story in a manner is nothing else but a calendar of these two. That the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, is El Nekamoth, "a God of vengeance" against His enemies; and but a letter changed, is El Nechamoth, "a God |