.Amno!l and T amar. L1B.xv. --~----------------~~----~--------- A thcr then grievou!; neither is therefore yeelded unto, without fome kind'ofrcl"Cla· tion. FJr yet was ir from the heart of Da..,id, to make any oppoficion to the will ofGod; he fued, he !huggled not; There is no impatience in intreaties; He well kn,w, that the threats oftemporall evils,ran cc;>mmonly with a fecret condition, and therdore might perhaps be avoided by humble importunity: if any means under Heaven can avert judgtmeots, ic is our Prayers. God could not chu(e but like well the boldneffe of Davids faith, who after the apprehenfion offo heavy a difplea!ure,is fo far from .doubtin~ ofth.e forgivene!fe of his fin, that he dares become a Sutor umo God fur h!Sfick ch!lde.SlDdoth not make m more !lrange, then Fallh confident. Bur, it is nor in the power of the !honge.ll Faith,to preferve us from all afllidions; B After •ll navids prayers and tears,the Chtlde muft dye. The carefull fervanrs dare butwhifpenhis fad news: They who had found rheirMafler fo averfe from the motion of comfort,in the fickne!feofthe Childe, fear<dhim uncapable ofcomfort • in his death. Sufpition isquick-witced; Every occafion makes us mifdoubt that event, which we fear; This fecrecy proclaims, that which they were fo to loath utter; David perceives his Childedead,and now he rifes up from the earth whcreon he lay, and wafl1es himfdf,and changech his apparcll, and goes firll into Gods houfe to worlhip, and inro his own to ear; now he refufes no comfort, who before would take none; The iffue ofrhings dorh more fully fl1ew the will of God, then the prediC!ion; God never did any thing, but what he would; he harh fometimes for<told C rhat fottryall,which hisfecret will intended not;he would foretell it, he would not dfedir, becaufe he would therefore foretell it,that he might not dfed it; His prc. didions ofoutward evils are not.always abfolute, his acrions are ; David wdl fees by the even!,what the Decree of God was,concerning his Childe; which now he could not flrive again!l:,without a vain i(llpatience; Till we know the determ.inations ofche Almighty, it isfree for us to !l:rive in our prayers, to llrive with him, not again!l:him; when once we knowtbem, icisourducyco lit downinalilemcontentarion. , (Whiles the childe "'"' 1et alive ,I fojled A•dwtpt,f~r I [aid, wh• can uO whtther the Lerd ,.;a bt graciDU<" me, that the chi/demaJ live; but now ht u dead,Whertfmjhould If.[/? C•n I bring ~im back •gain?) D The grief thatgoes before anevill for remedy, conhatdlvbe coo much; but that \vhich lollowes anevill,pafl remedy, cannot be too little : Even in the faddefl acci. dem,Doarh,'"' may yeeld fomething to nature, nothing to impatience : immoderation of farrow, for loffcs pall: hope ofrecovery,is more fullen; then ufefull; our fl:o. mackmay be bewrayed by it, notour wifdome. !---------------------------~--------------- Amnon andT amar. • T is not po!Iible that any word of God !hould fall to thegrmiod: E David is not more fure offorgiveneffc, rhen fmart: Three main finspaffed him in this bufine!fe of Yriah; Adultery, Murd~r, Di!Iimulation: for all which he receives prefent payment; for Adulrery,intheddlowringofhisDaughtor Tamar 1 for Murder in thekilling ofhis Son .AmnDn;for Di!Iimulation,in the con. triving of both. Yet all this was but the begiMing ofevils. Whe1erhe Father of the Family brings fin home to the boufe, it is noc eafily fwept our: Unlawfull Lull propagates it fdfc by example; How jullly is DAvidfcourged by the linofhis Sons,whom his ACl taught to offend~ . <M•4Cb• was the Dauglmr ofan Heatheoilh King ; By her, had David that beJutifull, but unhappy lffue, .Abfal•m, and his no leffe fair Si!l:er, Tamar: Perhaps,thus late doth D•vid feel the pnnilhment of chat unfit cboyce: I !houlp have Aaaaa 3 mar. 1
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