L I n.XIII. M I c !i A L s rPile. A arrHusb,nd: She taking the benditofthe night lets David downe througha window; He is gone, and d1fappoims the ambulhes of 5au/. The me!fcngers begin to be impatient ofthis deby, and now think it rime to enqmre after their Prifoner; She whiles them off, with the excufe of Davidi fickneffc, ( fo as now hc.'r Husband had good lcifure for his efcape) and laiesa Statue in his bed ; Sau/l,kesrhe newes ofany evill bC:faln to D•vtd, bur fearing he is nor fick enough, fends ro oide hisdif. eafe: The rndfengers return, and rufhing inro the houfc With their [words drawn, afrer fame harfl1 words to their imagined ch::trge, furprize a fick Statue lymg with a Pillow under his head; and now blufl1 to fee they have fpem all rhdr rhrears upon a fenfle!fe flock; and made themfdves ridiculous,wbiles they would be ferviceable. B Jlurhow !hell c.Michal anrwerthis mockage unto her furious fl<her ~ Hitherto fhc hath done like Davids wife; now fhe begins to be Sauls Daughter; ( He faid to me, Let megoe,or elfll will kt!lthee. ) She whofe wit had delivered her Husband trom the Sword ofher Farher, now rurnesrhe edge ofhis Fathers wrath from her ftlf ro her Hu, band. His abfence made herprefume of his fafery: If Ulttchal had nor b1n of ~Auii plor,he had neverexpoClulared with her in rhofe termes, wby haft th011 letmine enemy tji:Apt? neither had fhe framed chat anfwer, He {~4,:dJ Let nugoe.l doe not finde any great Clore of religion in Micbat,for both the had an Image in rhe houfe,and Jfterward mocked David for his devotion: yer Nature hltb raughr her to preferre a H · sband to a FJther; to elude a Farher from whom £he could nor fiy, to fave an Husband, which durfl not but fly from her: The bonds of marrimoC niallloveare, and lhould be flronger then thofe of nature; Thofe refpeeh ore muruall which God appointed in the fir(\ inflitutiQn of Wedlock; That Husband and Wife fl10uld leave Father and Mother for each others fake. Treafon is ever odious; but fo much more in the Marriage-bed, by how much theobligations •re deeper. As £he loved her Husband better then her Farher, fo £he loved her felf better then her husband; £he faved her husband by a wile, and now fhe favesherfelfby a lye; and lofes hllf the thank of her deliverance, by an officious flander: Het aawasgood, butfhewantscourage tomainrain it; and therefore feektS tO the weak tbelrer of untruth : Thbfethar doe good offices, not out of confcierice, bur good nature or civility,ifthey meet ail affront ofdanger,feldome come offcleanly, D but are ready to catch at all excufes, though bafe, though injurious ; becaufe their grounds arenor llrong enough ro beare them our in fuffering for that, which they have well done. Whirher dorhDavtd By,but to rh~ Sanccuary of Sam11tl? Hedoth not'though he knew himfdfgracions w1th the Souldiers) raife forces, or rake fome flrong Fort, and there (\and upon his owne defence; and at defiance with his King : bur he gets him to the Coliedge ofrhe Prophets, as a mln that would ftek the peaceable protellionof the King of Heaven again(\ the unjuCl furyofa Kincron earth: Only the. wing ofGod fl1all hide him from that violence. " God intended to make Davidnora Warriour, and a King onely, bura Prophet too; Asrhe field fitted him for the firfl, and the Court for t he fecond, fo NaE jot/; fi1all fir him for the third. DGubrle!fe (fuch wasDavtds delight in holy meditations) he never fpenr his time fo comemcdly, as when he was retired to that divine Academy, and had fo full freedomero enjoy God, and to fariare himfelf with heavenly exercifes: The onely doubt is how Sam11el can give harbour to aman Aed from the ~nger ofh~s Prince; wherein,the very perfons ofboth give abundant farisfadion: for both Sam11el knew the counfell of God,and durCl doe nothing without it ; and David was by Samml anointed from God : This Untl•on was a mutual! Bond: Good reafon had David to fue him, which had powred the Oyleon his head, for rhe hiding ofrhat head which he had anointed; andgood reafon had Samutl ro hide him, whom God by his meanes bad chofcn, from him whom God had by his fenrence rejelled; befides: that, the caufe de. ferved <ommiferarion : Here w•s not a Malefa12or rncning,away from JuClice, but Vuuu l ail 1059
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