756 / 772
7I
o
O1'ieaions.vaini
perfeuerance
taken
from
examples
,4nf,
Scripture, and therefore
hee was an
holy
man
of
God,
who
was
infpired immediately by the
holy Ghofl,
as`
the
Apo$le
3.Pet
1.1s.
Peterafhrmeth
:
z.Pet
i.zi.
Laf
+lie,
he
repented
ofhis
finne
in his
old
age,and wrote
the booke
of
Ecclefiafles
for
a
teflünonie
of
his vnfained
re-
pentance,
and conuerfion
vnto
God,
as
the
Hebrewes who
write
of
him
gen
erally
affirme.
It
is
true,
will fome
fay,
that
Salomon
was
a iufl
and
faith-
full
man,but yet
he fell
away from
grace,
and
loll
his
faith,
if
not
finally,yet
at
leaf+
for
a time
:
for he
doted
vpon
his'
wí.ues
and concubines, and
,liued
in
filthie
whoredome
and
horrible
vncleanneffe,.
he worfhipptAthe
faik
gods
of
the''
Heathens,and
fo
committed
fhamefull
idolatrie,andhis
hart
w
as
not
vpright
before the
Lord
his God,as.was
the
heart
of
t.King,
it.
;.4.
Dagid
his
father,
as
it
is
plainelie
affirmed
:
t.King.i
1.34.
5.6.
I
anfwere,
that
thefe indeede
are
fearefuil finnes
into..
which_Salomon
fel,which(for the
time he
lined
in
there)
did:
no
doubt
flupifie his
faith,' and
Cooke
away
,from
him
that.
liuely
fen
fe
and
feeling,which
he
formerly
h'ad,ofGodsloue
and fauour,and
together
with
it
the
peace
of
confcience,and
ioy
in
the
holy
Ghofi.
But yet the
feeds
of
faith
did
all
this
while
lie
vnder,
as
it
were, the heauie
clods
of
his finne,
doubting,
and
"infidelitie,
till
God
caufed
it
to fprout
out
a-
gaine, being watred with
the dew
of
his
grace, and
with
the
teares
ofhis
vnfained repentance.
And howfoeuer
the
flame
of
his faith
appeared not in
his
workes
of
pietie and
righte-
oufneffe, yet
the
fparkes
thereof
remained, which againe
(hewed
thetnfelues when
God
.blowed vpon him
with
his
holy
fpirit.
Ina
word,
though
the
ac`+
offaith,
which
gaue
him
aflúrance
of
Gods fauour, and
brought foorth
the
fruits
of
vnfai
ncd
repentance,
was for
a
time
interrupted
and
kin-
dredwith
his fearefull finnes
committed
againf+ his
know
-
ledge
and
coufcience,yet the
habite
of
faith remained with
him, for the
gifts and
:oiling
`of
God
are
without
repen-
Romi
1.E9.
tance;
and
Chrif+
prayed for
him that
his
faith
might
not vt-
i.usaa. j1.
terly
fade,
though
it
were fhreudly
fhaken.
Laf+ly,
whereas
it
is
raid
that
his heart
was
not vpright
before
God,
as
was
his
father
David:;
we
are
not
fiinpiie
and abfolutely
to
vn-
derfiand