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 eft 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 ask, 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 on God was not sent away weeping.

David therefore, and his men, are now on their march after the Amalekites. It is no lingering, when God bids us go. They, which had promised rest to their weary limbs, after their return from Achish, in their harbor of Ziklag, are glad to forget their hopes, and to put their stiff joints unto a new task of motion. It is no marvel, if two hundred of them were so over-tired with their former toil, that they were not able to pass over the river Besor.

David was a true type of Christ. We follow him in these holy wars, against the spiritual Amalekites. All of us are not of an equal strength: some are carried by the vigor of their faith, through all difficulties; others, after long pressure, are ready to languish in the way. Our leader is not more strong than pitiful; neither doth he scornfully cashier those, whose desires are hearty, while their abilities are unanswerable. How much more should our charity pardon the infirmities of our brethren; and

allow them to sit by the stuff, who cannot endure the march!

The same Providence, which appointed David to follow the Amalekites, had also ordered an Egyptian to be cast behind them. This cast servant, whom his cruel master had left to faintness and famine, shall be used as the means of the recovery of the Israelites' loss, and of the revenge of the Amalekites. Had not his master neglected him, all these rovers of Amalek had gone away with their life and booty. It is not safe, to despise the meanest vassal on earth. There is a mercy and care due to the most despicable piece of all humanity; wherein we cannot be wanting without the offence, without the punishment of God.

Charity distinguisheth an Israelite from an Amalekite. David's followers are strangers to this Egyptian. An Amalekite was his master. His master leaves him to die (in the field) of sickness and hunger; these strangers relieved him and, ere they know whether they might by him receive any light in their pursuit, they refresh his dying spirits with bread and water, with figs and raisins ; neither can the haste of their way be any hindrance to their compassion. He hath no Israelitish blood in him, that is utterly merciless.

Perhaps yet David's followers might also, in the hope of some intelligence, show kindness to this forlorn Egyptian. Worldly wisdom teacheth us, to sow small courtesies, where we may reap large harvests of recompense.

No sooner are his spirits recalled, than he requites his food with information. I cannot blame the Egyptian, that he was so easily induced, to descry these unkind Amalekites to merciful Israelites; those that gave him over unto death, to the restorers of his life: much less, that, ere he would descry them, he requires an oath of security from so bad a master. Well doth he match death with such a servitude.

Wonderful is the providence of God, even over those that are not, in the nearest bonds, his own. Three days and three nights, had this poor Egyptian slave lain sick and hunger-starved in the fields, and looks for nothing but death, when God sends him succor from the hands of those Israelites, whom he had helped to spoil: though Div. No. XXXI.

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not so much for his sake, as for Israel's, is this heathenish straggler preserved.

It pleases God, to extend his common favors to all his creatures; but in miraculous preservations, he hath still wont to have respect to his own. By this means, therefore, are the Israelites brought to the sight of their late spoilers; whom they find scattered abroad, on all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing in triumph, for the great prey they had taken.

It was three days, at least, since this gainful foraging of Amalek; and now, seeing no fear of any pursuer, and promising themselves safety, in so great and untraced a distance, they make themselves merry with so rich and easy a victory; and now suddenly, when they began to think of enjoying the beauty and wealth they had gotten, the sword of David was on their throats. Destruction is never nearer, than when security hath chased away fear. With how sad faces and hearts had the wives of David, and the other captives of Israel, looked on the triumphal revels of Amalek; and what a change, do we think, appeared in them, when they saw their happy and valiant rescuers, flying in on their insolent victors, and making the death of the Amalekites the ransom of their captivity! They mourned even now at the dances of Amalek: now, in the shrieks and death of Amalek, they shout and rejoice. The mercy of our God forgets not to interchange our sorrows with joy, and the joy of the wicked with sorrow.

The Amalekites have paid a dear loan for the goods of Israel, which they now restore with their own lives. And now their spoil hath made David richer than he expected: that booty, which they had swept from all other parts, accrued to him.

Those Israelites, that could not go on to fight for their share, are come to meet their brethren with gratulation. How partial are we wont to be to our own causes! Even very Israelites will be ready to fall out for matter of profit. Where self-love hath bred a quarrel, every man is subject to flatter his own case. It seemed plausible and but just to the actors in this rescue, that those, which had taken no part in the pain and hazard of the journey,

should receive no part of the commodity. It was favor enough for them to recover their wives and children, though they shared not in the goods. Wise and holy David, whose praise was no less to overcome his own in time of peace than his enemies in war, calls his contending followers from law to equity; and so orders the matter, that, since the plaintiff's were detained not by will but by necessity, and since their forced stay was useful in guarding the stuff, they should partake equally of the prey with their fellows: a sentence well beseeming the justice of God's anointed. Those, that represent God on earth, should resemble him in their proceedings. It is the just mercy of our God, to measure us by our wills, not by our abilities; to recompense us graciously, according to the truth of our desires and endeavors; and to account that performed by us, which he only letteth us from performing. It were wide with us, if sometimes purpose did not supply actions. While our heart faulteth not, we, that through spiritual sickness are fain to abide by the stuff, shall share both in grace and glory with the victors.-1 Sam. xxx.

THE DEATH OF SAUL.

THE Witch of Endor had half slain Saul before the battle: it is just, that they, who consult with devils, should go away with discomfort. He hath eaten his last bread at the hand of a sorceress: and now necessity draws him into that field, where he sees nothing but despair. Had not Saul believed the ill news of the counterfeit Samuel, he had not been struck down on the ground with words: now his belief made him desperate. Those actions, which are not sustained by hope, must needs languish; and are only promoted by outward compulsion. While the mind is uncertain of success, it relieves itself with the possibilities of good in doubts, there is a comfortable mixture; but when it is assured of the worst event, it is utterly discouraged and dejected. It hath therefore pleased the wisdom of God, to hide from wicked men his determination of their final estate, that their remainders of hope may hearten them to good.

In all likelihood, one self-same day saw David a victor over the Amalekites, and Saul discomfited by the Philistines. How should it be otherwise? David consulted with God, and prevailed; Saul with the Witch of Endor, and perisheth. The end is commonly answerable to the way. It is an idle injustice, when we do ill, to look to speed well.

The slaughter of Saul and his sons was not in the first scene of this tragical field: that was rather reserved by God for the last act, that Saul's measure might be full. God is long, ere he strikes; but when he doth, it is to purpose.

First, Israel flees and falls down wounded in Mount Gilboa. They had their part in Saul's sin; they were actors in David's persecution: justly therefore do they suffer with him, whom they had seconded in offence. As it is hard to be good under an evil prince, so it is as rare not to be enwrapped in his judgments. It was no small addition to the anguish of Saul's death; to see his sons dead; to see his people fleeing, and slain before him. They had sinned in their king, and in them is their king punished.

The rest were not so worthy of pity; but whose heart would it not touch to see Jonathan, the good son of a wicked father, involved in the common destruction? Death is not partial. All dispositions, all merits, are alike to it; if valor, if holiness, if sincerity of heart, could have been any defence against mortality, Jonathan had survived: now by their wounds and death, no man can discern which is Jonathan. The soul only finds the difference, which the body admitteth not. Death is the common gate both to heaven and hell; we all pass that, ere our turning to either hand. The sword of the Philistines fetcheth Jonathan through it, with his fellows. No sooner is his foot over that threshold, than God conducteth him to glory. The best cannot be happy, but through their dissolution. Now therefore hath Jonathan no cause of complaint. He is, by the rude and cruel hand of a Philistine, but removed to a better kingdom, than he leaves to his brother; and, at once, is his death both a temporal