' [o11templations. L1a.XIII. nu~ber: Ifhewill put his life and victory upon the ftones ofthe brook, why dorh A he r\?t fill his fcrip full of them~why will he content hi~ elfwitb five~ Had hebeen I furrufhe~ w1th ftore,the advan:age oflusmmbleneffe _m1glu ~ave g1ven him hope; • Ifonefa1le,that yet another m•ght fpeed :But nowth1s paucuy puts the difpatch ro a fudden hazard,and he bath but fi,•e fronescaft eitherro death or viClory; (\ill the fewer helps, the ftronger faith: David had an mftmct from God, that he fl1ould overcome;he had nor a patticulardireClion, how he fhould overcome. For had he beenat firll: refolved upon the fling and ftone, he had Caved the labour ofgirdino his fword: It feemes,whiles they were addrefling him to the combat, he made ac~ count ofhand-blowes,now he is purpofed rather to fend,then bring death to his adverfary: In either, or both, he durft trufl God with the fucceffe, and before-hand (throughthe conflict) l:1wrhe victory: It is fufficienr, that we know the iffue ofour B fight: !four weaponsand wards vary according to the occafion given by God, that is nothing to the event; Cure we are, that ifwe refift, we !ball overcome, and ifwe overcome we flJall be crowned. When David appeared in the lifls to fo unequall an adverfary,as many_eyes were upon him, fo in thofeeyes, divers aftections: The Ifraelitrs lookt upon him with pitty and feare,and each man thought,Alas,why is this comely flripling fuffered to caftaway himfelfupon fuch a monfter~why will they let him goe unarmed to fuch an affray~ Why will Saul hazard the honourof!frael on founlikely an head! The Philiftims,efpeciallytheir great Champion,lookt upon him with fcorn, difdaining fo bafe a combatant; (Ami adog,that thoucom<ft to mewithJlavts?) What could be faid more fitly~ Hadll thou been any other then a dog (0 G•liah) thou hadfl never C opened thy fouk mouth to barkeagainft the hoflofGod, and the God ofholls: If Davidhad thought thee any otherrhena very dog,he had never co!Ue to thee with a llaffeandallone. The !all words,that ever the Philifiim!hall fpeak, are curfes andbrags; (emu t• me.ndI willgive thy ftefo tmmhe F•wls ofthe he•ven, andthe hcafls ofthefield.) Seldome.ever was there a good end C)follentation:Prefumption i• at once the prefagc, and caufeof ruine :He is a weak adver(ary tharcan be killed lvith words: That man whleh could nor feare the Gyants hand,cannot feare his tongue: Ifwords flJallfirft encouncer,the Philiflim receives the firft foil,andfhall firfr let indeath inro his eare, ere it enter into his forehead:('Thoucorn<ftto me withaJrvord,and af}eare ,andafoield, hut I come ID thee in the nmne ofthe LordofHojls,theGot/ofthe hof}of/fad, wh•"' thou D haftrailtd•pon: Thild•y jball the Lordclofe thee in my hand, anih(hallJmite thee, and I takethin~hed tr•m thee.) Here is another llile, not ofa boafter, but of a Prophet: Now {hall Geli4h know, whence to expect his bane, even from the hands ofa revenging God,that £hall fmire him by David, and now !hall learn too late, what it is to meddle with an enemy,thatgoes under the invifible protection oftheAlmighty. -No fooner hath Davidfpoken, then his foo~and hand fecond his tonaue: He runs to fight with the Philiftim:It is acold courage that /lands onely upon ~efence:As.a ,man,t/lat faw no caufe offear,and was full ofthe ambition ofviClory,he f!yes upon thatmonller,and with a /lone our ofbis bag fmites him in the forehead:There was no part ofGoliah,that was capable ofthat danger,but the face, and that pieceofthe 'fa~e;the reil was defenced with a brazenwall,which a weak fling would have tryed E so batter in vaine:what could Goliah feareto fee an adverfa1y come to him witho~: edge or point'~ And behold that one parr bath God found out fortheentranceo. death : He that could have caufed the lloAe to palfe through the fl1ield and breaftplate of Goliah, rather directs the !lone to that part, whofe nakednelfe gaveadvantagc:Where there is power or poflibility ofnature,God ufes not to work m1racles, butchufesrhe way t~atlyesmoftopen ro his purpofes. . . . The vaft forehead was a faire marke,but how eafily m1ght the flmg have m1ffi:d it ifthere had not been another hand in this caft befides Davids ? He that guided Davtd imo this field, and raifed his courage to tlus combat, guid" the /lone to his end,and lodoes it in that feat ofimpudence: There now lyeth the great defier_ofifrael,groveli.;'g & grinnina in death, and is not fuffered to deal one blowfor h" hfe, 0 ~
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