There is no safety in protraction: with men, delay causeth forgetfulness, or abates the force of anger, as all violent motions are weakest at the furthest; but with Him, to whom all times are present, what can be gained by prorogation? Alas! what can it avail any of the cursed seed of Canaan, that they have made a truce with heaven, and a league with hell? Their day is coming, and is not the further off, because they expect it not.

Miserable were the straits of David, while he was driven not only to maintain his army by spoil, but to colour his spoil by a sinful dissimulation: he tells Achish, that he had been roving against the south of Judah, and the south of the Jeralimeelites, and the south of the Kenites, either falsely or doubtfully, so as he meant to deceive him under whom he lived, and by whom he was trusted. If Achish were a Philistine, yet he was David's friend, yea his patron; and if he had been neither, it had not become David to be false. The infirmities of God's children never appear but in their extremities. It is hard for the best man to say how far he will be tempted. If a man will put himself among Philistines, he cannot promise to come forth innocent.

How easily do we believe that which we wish! The more credit Achish gives unto David, the more sin it was to deceive him. And now the conceit of this, engagement procures him a further service. The Philistines are assembled to fight with Israel; Achish dares trust David on his side, yea, to keep his head for ever; neither can David do any less than promise his aid against his own flesh. Never was David, in all his life, driven to so hard an exigent; never was he so extremely perplexed: for what should he do now? To fight with Achish, he was tied by promise, by merit; not to 6ght against Israel, he was tied by his call

ing, by his unction: not to fight for Achish were to be unthankful; to fight against Israel, were to be unnatural. O what an inward battle must David needs have in his breast, when he thinks of this battle of Israel and the Philistines! How doth he wish now, that he had rather stood to the hazard of Saul's persecution, than to have put himself upon the favour of Achish: he must fight on one side, and on whether side soever he should fight, he could not avoid to be treacherous; a condition worse than death to an honest heart. Which way he would have resolved, if it had come to the execution, who can know, since himself was doubtful? Either course had been no better than desperate. How could the Israelites ever have received him for their king, who, in the open field, had fought against them? And, contrarily, if he would have fought against his friend for his enemy, against Achish for Saul, he was now environed with jealous Philistines, and might rather look for the punishment of his treason, than the glory of a victory.

His heart had led him into these straits; the Lord finds a way to lead him out: the suggestions of his enemies do herein befriend him; the princes of the Philistines, whether of envy or suspicion, plead for David's dismission: "Send this fellow back, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him; and let him not go down to the battle, lest he be an adversary to us." No advocate could have said more; himself durst not have said so much. O the wisdom and goodness of our God, that can raise up an adversary to deliver out of those evils, which our friends cannot! that, by the sword of an enemy, can let out that apostume, which no physician could tell how to cure! It would be wide with us sometimes, if it were not for others' malice.

There could not be a more just question, than this of the Philistine princes: "What do these Hebrews here ?” An Israelite is out of his element, when he is in an army of Philistines. The true servants of God are in their due places, when they are in opposition to his enemies. Profession of hostility becomes them better than leagues of amity.

Yet Achish likes David's conversation and presence so well, that he professeth himself pleased with him, as with an angel of God. How strange it is to hear, that a Philistine should delight in that holy man whom an Israelite abhors, and should be loath to be quit of David whom Saul hath expelled! Terms of civility are equally open

tious should we be to know these things, the knowledge whereof is eternal life!

me to die?" Nothing is more sure than this intention in the tempter, than this event in the issue. O that we could but so much fear the eternal pains, as we do the tem

souls from torment, as our bodies!

Had Saul been good, he had needed no disguise: honest actions never shame the doers. Now that he goeth about a sinful business, he changeth himself; he seeks the shelter of the night; he takes but two followers with him: it is true, that if Saul had come in the port of a king, the witch had as much dissembled her condition, as now he dissembleth his ; yet it was not only desire to speed, but guiltiness. that thus altered his habit. Such is the power of conscience, that even those who are most affected to evil, yet are ashamed to be thought such as they desire to be.

Saul needed another face to fit that tongue, which should say, "Conjure to me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whom I shall name unto thee." An obdurate heart can give way to any thing.

Notwithstanding the peremptory edict of Saul, there are still witches in Israel. Neither good laws, nor careful executions, can purge the church from malefactors; there will still be some that will jeopard their heads upon the grossest sins. No garden can be so curiously tended, that there should not be one weed left in it. Yet so far can good statutes, and due inflictions of punishment upon offenders, prevail, that mischievous persons are glad to pull in their heads, and dare not do ill, but in disguise and darkness. It is no small advantage of justice that it affrights sin, if it cannot be expelled; as, contrarily, woful is the condition of that place, where is a public profession of wickedness.

The witch was no less crafty than wicked: she had before, as is like, bribed officers to escape indictment, to lurk in secrecy; and now she will not work her feats without security. Her suspicion projects the worst: "Wherefore seekest thou to take me in a snare, to cause me to die?" O vain sorceress, that could be wary to avoid the punishment of Saul, careless to avoid the judgment of God! Could we forethink what our sin would cost us, we durst not but be innocent. This is a good and seasonable answer for us to make unto Satan when he solicits us to evil: "Wherefore seekest thou to take me in a snare, to cause

No sooner hath Saul sworn her safety, than she addresseth herself to her sorcery: hope of impunity draws on sin with boldness. Were it not for the delusions of false promises, Satan should have no clients. Could Saul be so ignorant as to think that magic had power over God's deceased saints. to raise them up, yea, to call them down from their rest? Time was, when Saul was among the prophets. And yet now, that he is the impure lodge of devils, how senseless he is to say, Bring me up Samuel!" It is no rare thing to lose even our wit and judgment, together with graces: how justly are they given to sottishness, that have given themselves over to sin!

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The sorceress, it seems, exercising her conjurations in a room apart, is informed by her familiar, who it was that set her on work; she can therefore find time, in the midst of her exorcisms, to bind the assurance of her own safety by expostulation: "She cried with a loud voice, why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul." The very name of Saul was an accusation: yet is he so far from striking his breast, that, doubting lest this fear of the witch should interrupt the desired work, he encourages her whom he should have condemned: "Be not afraid;" he that had more cause to fear, for his own sake, in an expectation of just judgment, cheers up her that feared nothing but himself. How ill doth it become us to give that counsel to others, whereof we have more need and use in our own persons!

As one that had more care to satisfy his own curiosity, than her suspicion, he asks, "What sawest thou?" Who would not have looked, that Saul's hair should have started on his head, to hear of a spirit raised? His sin hath so hardened him, that he rather pleases himself in that which hath nothing in it but horror: so far is Satan content to descend to the service of his servants, that he will approve his feigned obedience to their very outward senses: what form is so glorious, that he either cannot or dare not undertake? Here gods ascend out of the earth; elsewhere Satan transforms him into an angel of light: what wonder is it, that his wicked instruments appear like saints in their hypocritical dissimulation! If we will be judging by the appearance, we shall be sure to err. No eye could distinguish betwixt the true Sa

muel and a false spirit. Saul, who was well worthy to be deceived, seeing those grey hairs, and that mantle, inclines himself to the ground, and bows himself. He that would not worship God in Samuel alive, now worships Samuel in Satan; and no marvel: Satan was now become his refuge instead of God; his Urim was darkness, his prophet a ghost. Every one that consults with Satan worships him, though he bow not, neither doth that evil spirit desire any other reverence, than to be sought unto.

How cunningly doth Satan resemble not only the habit and gesture, but the language of Samuel! "Wherefore hast thou disquieted me, and wherefore dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is gone from thee, and is thine enemy?" Nothing is more pleasing to that evil one, than to be solicited; yet, in the person of Samuel, he "Why hast thou disquieted me?" | Had not the Lord been gone from Saul, he had never come to the devilish oracle of Endor; and yet the counterfeiting spirit can say, Why dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is gone from thee?" Satan cares not how little he is known to be himself: he loves to pass under any form, rather than his own.

can say,

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The more holy the person is, the more carefully doth Satan act him, that by his stale he may ensnare us. In every motion, it is good to try the spirits, whether they be of God. Good words are no means to distinguish a prophet from a devil. Samuel himself, while he was alive, could not have spoken more gravely, more severely, more divinely, than this evil ghost: "For the Lord will rend thy kingdom out of thy hand, and give it to thy neighbour David, because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon the Amalekites, therefore hath the Lord done this unto thee this day." When the devil himself puts on gravity and religion, who can marvel at the hypocrisy of men? Well may lewd men be good preachers, when Satan himself can play the prophet. Where are those ignorants, that think charitably of charms and spells, because they find nothing in them but good words? What prophet could speak better words than this devil in Samuel's mantle? Neither is there at any time so much danger of that evil spirit, as when he speaks best.

I could wonder to hear Satan preach thus prophetically, if I did not know, that as he was once a good angel, so he can still act what he was. While Saul was in consultation of sparing Agag, we shall never find that Satan would lay any block in his way:

yea, then he was a prompt orator to induce him into that sin; now that it is past and gone, he can lade Saul with fearful denunciations of judgment. Till we have sinned, Satan is a parasite; when we have sinned, he is a tyrant. What cares he to flatter any more, when he hath what he would? Now, his only work is to terrify and confound, that he may enjoy what he hath won how much better it is serving that master, who, when we are most dejected with the conscience of evil, heartens us with inward comfort, and speaks peace to the soul in the midst of tumult!

CONTEMPLATION V. ZIKLAG SPOILED AND

REVENGED.

HAD not the king of the Philistines sent David away early, his wives and his people and substance, which he left at Ziklag, had been utterly lost: now Achish did not more pleasure David in his entertainment, than in his dismission. Saul was not David's enemy more in the persecution of his person, than in the forbearance of God's enemies: behold, thus late doth David feel the smart of Saul's sin in sparing the Amalekites, who, if God's sentence had been duly executed, had not now survived, to annoy this parcel of Israel.

As in spiritual respects our sins are always hurtful to ourselves, so in temporal, ofttimes prejudicial to posterity. A wicked man deserves ill of those he never lived to see.

I cannot marvel at the Amalekites' assault made upon the Israelites of Ziklag; I cannot but marvel at their clemency: how just was it, that while David would give aid to the enemies of the church against Israel, the enemies of the church should rise against David, in his peculiar charge of Israel? But while David's roving against the Amalekites, not many days before, left neither man nor woman alive, how strange is it, that the Amalekites, invading and surprising Ziklag, in revenge, kill neither man nor woman! Shall we say that mercy is fled from the breasts of Israelites, and rests in heathens? Or shall we rather ascribe this to the gracious restraint of God, who, having designed Amalek to the slaughter of Israel, and not Israel to the slaughter of Amalek, moved the hands of I-rael, and held the hands of Amalek? This was that alone which made the heathens take up with an unbloody revenge, burning only the walls, and leading away the persons. Israel crossed the revealed will of God in sparing

It was still the lot of Amalek to take Israel at all advantages. Upon their first coming out of Egypt, when they were weary, weak, and unarmed, then did Amalek assault them: and now, when one part of Israel was in the field against the Philistines, another was gone with the Philistines against Israel, the Amalekites set upon the coasts of both, and go away loaded with the spoil. No other is to be expected of our spiritual adversaries, who are ever readiest to assail, when we are the unreadiest to defend.

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It was a woful spectacle for David and his soldiers, upon their return, to find ruins and ashes instead of houses; and instead of their families, solitude: their city was vanished into smoke, their households into captivity; neither could they know whom to accuse, or where to inquire for redress. While they made account that their home should recompense their tedious journey with comfort, the miserable desolation of their home doubles the discomfort of their journey what remained there but tears and lamentations? They lifted up their voices, and wept till they could weep no more. Here was plenty of nothing but misery and sorrow. The heart of every Israelite was brimful of grief: David's ran over; for besides that his cross was the same with theirs, all theirs was his alone: each man looked on his fellow as a partner of affliction; but every one looked upon David as the cause of all their affliction; and, as common displeasure is never but fruitful of revenge, they all agree to stone him as the author of their undoing, whom they followed all this while as the hopeful means of their advancement.

Now David's loss is his least grief; neither, as if every thing had conspired to torment him, can he look besides the aggravation of his sorrow and danger. Saul and his soldiers had hunted him out of Israel; the Philistine courtiers had hunted him from the favour of Achish; the Amalekites spoiled him in Ziklag: yet all these are easy adversaries in comparison of his own; his own followers are so far from pitying his participation of the loss, that they are ready to kill him, because they are miserable with him. O the many and grievous perplexities of the man after God's own heart! If all his train had joined their best helps for the mitigation of his grief, their cordials had been too weak: but now the vexation that arises from their fury and malice, drowneth the sense of their loss, and were enough

should it be strange to us that we meet with hard trials, when we see the dear anointed of God thus plunged in evils?

What should the distressed son of Jesse now do? whither should he think to turn him? To go back to Israel he durst not; to go to Achish he might not; to abide among those waste heaps he could not; or, if there might have been harbour in those burnt walls, yet there could have been no safety to remain with those. mutinous spirits. But David comforted himself in the Lord his God. O happy and sure refuge of a faithful soul! The earth yielded him nothing but matter of disconsolation and heaviness; he lifts his eyes above the hills, whence cometh his salvation. It is no marvel that God remembereth David in all his troubles, since David in all his troubles did thus remember his God: he knew, that though no mortal eye of reason or sense could discern any evasion from these intricate evils, yet that the eye of Divine Providence had descried it long before; and that, though no human power could make way for his safety, yet that the over-ruling hand of his God could do it with ease. His experience had assured him of the fidelity of his guardian in heaven; and therefore he comforted himself in the Lord his God.

In vain is comfort expected from God, if we consult not with him. Abiathar the priest is called for: David was not in the court of Achish, without the priest by his side; nor the priest without the ephod: had these been left behind in Ziklag, they had been miscarried with the rest, and David had now been hopeless. How well it succeeds to the great, when they take God with them in his ministers, in his ordinances! As, contrarily, when these are laid by, as superfluous, there can be nothing but uncertainty of success, or certainty of mischief. The presence of the priest and ephod would have little availed him, without their use: by them he asks counsel of the Lord in these straits. The mouth and ears of God, which were shut unto Saul, are open unto David: no sooner can he a., than he receives answer; and the answer that he receives is full of courage and comfort: "Follow, for thou shalt surely overtake them, and recover all." That God of truth never disappointed any man's trust. David now finds, that the eye, which waited upon God, was not sent away weeping.

David, therefore, and his men, are now upon their march after the Amalekites. It