therefore inwardly weary of so long displeasure, at last he receives Absalom to his sight, to his favour; and seals his pardon with a kiss. Natural parents know not how to retain an everlasting anger towards the fruit of their loins; how much less shall the God of mercies be unreconcileably displeased with his own, and suffer his wrath to burn like fire that cannot be quenched! He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever. His wrath endureth but a moment. In his favour is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Absalom is now as great as fair. Beauty and greatness make him proud; pride works his ruin. Great spirits will not rest content with a moderate prosperity, Ere two years be run out, Absalom runs out into a desperate plot of rebellion; none but his own father was above him in Israel. None was so likely, in human expectation, to succeed his father, If his ambition could but have contained itself for a few years, as David was now near his period, dutiful carriage might have procured that by succession, which now he sought by force. An aspiring mind is ever impatient, and holds time itself an enemy, if it thrust itself importunately betwixt the hopes and fruition. Ambition is never but in travail; and can find no intermission of painful throes, till she have brought forth her abortive desires. How happy were we, if our affectation could be so eager of spiritual and heavenly promotions! Oh that my soul could find itself so restless, till it feel the weight of that crown of glory!

Outward pomp and unwonted shews of magnificence, are wont much to affect the light minds of the vulgar. Absalom therefore, to the incomparable comeliness of his person, adds the unusual state of a more than princely equipage. His chariots rattle, and his horses trample proudly in the streets. Fifty footmen run before their glittering master. Jerusalem rings of their glorious prince; and is ready to adore these continual triumphs of peace.

Excess and novelty of expensive bravery and ostentation in public persons, give just cause to suspect either vanity or a plot. True-hearted David can misdoubt nothing in him, to whom he had both given life, and forgiven this. Love construed all this, as meant to the honour of a father's court, to the expression of joy and thankfulness for his reconcilement.

The eyes and tongues of men are thus taken up: now hath Absalom laid snares for their hearts also. He rises early, and stands beside the way of the gate: Ambition is no niggard of her pains; seldom ever is good meaning so industrious: the more he shined in beauty and royal attendance, so much more glory it was to neglect himself, and to prefer the care of justice to his own case. Neither is Absalom more painful than plausible. His ear is open to all plaintives, all petitioners. There is no cause which he flatters not; See, thy matters are good and right. His hand flatters every comer with a salutation, his lips with a kiss. All men, all matters are soothed, saving the state and government: the censure of that is no less deep, than the applause of all others; There is none de

The good king hath so smarted with mercy, that now he is resolved upon austerity; and will relent but by degrees. It is enough for Absalom, that he lives, and may now breathe in his native air: David's face is no object for the eyes of murderers. What a darling this son was to his father appears, in that, after an unnatural and barbarous rebellion, passionate David wishes to have changed lives with him; yet now, while his bowels yearned, his brow frowned. The face may not be seen, where the heart is set.

The best of God's saints may be blinded with affection; but when they shall once see their errors, they are careful to correct them. Wherefore serves the power of grace, but to subdue the insolencies of nature? It is the wisdom of parents, as to hide their hearts from their best children, so to hide their countenances from the ungracious. Fleshly respects may not abate their rigour to the ill-deserving. For the child to see all his father's love, it is enough to make him wanton; and of wanton, wicked: for a wicked child, to see any of his father's love, it emboldens him in evil, and draws on others.

Absalom's house is made his prison. Justly is he confined to the place, which he had stained with blood. Two years doth he live in Jerusalem, without the happiness of his father's sight. It was enough for David and him, to see the smoke of each other's chimnies. In the mean time, how impatient is Absalom of this absence! He sends for Joab, the solicitor of his return, So hard a hand doth wise and holy David carry over his reduced son, that his friendly intercessor, Joab, dares not visit him.

He, that afterwards kindled that seditious fire over all Israel, sets fire now on the field of Joab. Whom love cannot draw to him, fear and anger shall.

Continued displeasure hath made Absalom desperate. Five years are passed, since he saw the face of his father; and now he is no less weary of his life, than of this delay; Wherefore am I come down from Geshur? It had been better for me, to have been there still now therefore let me see the king's face, and if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me. Either banishment or death seemed as tolerable to him, as the debarring of his father's sight.

What a torment shall it be to the wicked, to be shut out for ever, from the presence of a God, without all possible hopes of recovery! This was but a father of the flesh, by whom, if Absalom lived at first, yet in him he lived not; yea, not without him only, but against him, that son found he could live: God is the Father of Spirits, in whom we so, live, that without him can be no life, no being. To be ever excluded from him, in whom we live and are, what can it be but an eternal dying, an eternal perishing? If in thy presence, O God, be the fulness of joy, in thine absence, must needs be the fulness of horror and torment. Hide not thy face from us, O Lord, but shew us the light of thy countenance, that we may live, and praise thee.

Even the fire of Joab's field warmed the heart, of David, while it gave him proof of the heat of Absalom's filial affection. As a man

therefore inwardly weary of so long displeasure, at last he receives Absalom to his sight, to his favour; and seals his pardon with a kiss. Natural parents know not how to retain an everlasting anger towards the fruit of their loins; how much less shall the God of mercies be unreconcileably displeased with his own, and suffer his wrath to burn like fire that cannot be quenched! He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever. His wrath endureth but a moment. In his favour is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Absalom is now as great as fair. Beauty and greatness make him proud; pride works his ruin. Great spirits will not rest content with a moderate prosperity, Ere two years be run out, Absalom runs out into a desperate plot of rebellion; none but his own father was above him in Israel. None was so likely, in human expectation, to succeed his father, If his ambition could but have contained itself for a few years, as David was now near his period, dutiful carriage might have procured that by succession, which now he sought by force. An aspiring mind is ever impatient, and holds time itself an enemy, if it thrust itself importunately betwixt the hopes and fruition. Ambition is never but in travail; and can find no intermission of painful throes, till she have brought forth her abortive desires. How happy were we, if our affectation could be so eager of spiritual and heavenly promotions! Oh that my soul could find itself so restless, till it feel the weight of that erown of glory!

W

Outward pomp and unwonted shews of magnificence, are wont much to affect the light minds of the vulgar. Absalom therefore, to the incomparable comeliness of his person, adds the unusual state of a more than princely equipage. His chariots rattle, and his horses trample proudly in the streets. Fifty footmen run before their glittering master. Jerusalem rings of their glorious prince; and is ready to adore these continual triumphs of peace.

Excess and novelty of expensive bravery and ostentation_in public persons, give just cause to suspect either vanity or a plot. True-hearted David can misdoubt nothing in him, to whom he had both given life, and forgiven this. Love construed all this, as meant to the honour of a father's court, to the expression of joy and thankfulness for his reconcilement.

The eyes and tongues of men are thus taken up: now hath Absalom laid snares for their hearts also. He rises early, and stands beside the way of the gate: Ambition is no niggard of her pains; seldom ever is good meaning so industrious: the more he shined in beauty and royal attendance, so much more glory it was to neglect himself, and to prefer the care of justice to his own case. Neither is Absalom more painful than plausible. His car is open to all plaintives, all petitioners. There is no cause which he flatters not; See, thy matters are good and right. His hand flatters every comer with a salutation, his lips with a kiss. All men, all matters are soothed, saving the state and government: the censure of that is no less deep, than the applause of all others; There is none de

390

CONTEMPLATIONS.

The good king hath so smarted with mercy, that now he is resolved upon austerity; and will relent but by degrees. It is enough for Absalom, that he lives, and may now breathe in his native air: David's face is no object for the eyes of murderers. What a dar ling this son was to his father appears, in that, after an unnatural and barbarous rebellion, passionate David wishes to have changed lives with him; yet now, while his bowels yearned, his brow frowned. The face may not be seen, where the heart is set.

The best of God's saints may be blinded with affection; but when they shall once see their errors, they are careful to correct them. Wherefore serves the power of grace, but to subdue the insolencies of nature? It is the wisdom of parents, as to hide their hearts from their best children, so to hide their countenances from the ungracious. Fleshly respects may not abate their rigour to the ill-deserving. For the child to see all his father's love, it is enough to make him wanton; and of wanton, wicked: for a wicked child, to see any of his father's love, it emboldens him in evil, and draws on others.

Absalom's house is made his prison. Justly is he confined to the place, which he had stained with blood. Two years doth he live in Jerusalem, without the happiness of his father's sight. It was enough for David and him, to see the smoke of each other's chimnies. In the mean time, how impatient is Absalom of this absence! He sends for Joab, the solicitor of his return, So hard a hand doth wise and holy David carry over his reduced son, that his friendly intercessor, Joab, dares not visit him.

He, that afterwards kindled that seditious fire over all Israel, sets fire now on the field of Joab. Whom love cannot draw to him, fear and anger shall.

Continued displeasure hath made Absalom desperate. Five years are passed, since he saw the face of his father; and now he is no less weary of his life, than of this delay; Wherefore um I come down from Geshur? It had been better for me, to have been there still now therefore let me see the king's face, and if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me. Either banishment or death seemed as tolerable to him, as the debarring of his father's sight.

What a torment shall it be to the wicked, to be shut out for ever, from the presence of a God, without all possible hopes of recovery! This was but a father of the flesh, by whom, if Absalom lived at first, yet in him he lived not; yea, not without him only, but against him, that son found he could live: God is the Father of Spirits, in whom we so, live, that without him can be no life, no being. To be ever excluded from him, in whom we live and are, what can it be but an eternal dying, an eternal perishing? If in thy presence, O God, be the fulness of joy, in thine absence, must needs be the fulness of horror and torment. Hide not thy face from us, () Lord, but shew us the light of thy countenance, that we may live, and praise thee.

Even the fire of Joab's field warmed the heart, of David, while it gave him proof of the heat of Absalom's filial affection. As a man

therefore inwardly weary of so long displeasure, at last he receives Absalom to his sight, to his favour; and seals his pardon with a kiss. Natural parents know not how to retain an everlasting anger towards the fruit of their loins; how much less shall the God of mercies be unreconcileably displeased with his own, and suffer his wrath to burn like fire that cannot be quenched! He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever. His wrath endureth but a moment. In his favour is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Absalom is now as great as fair. Beauty and greatness make him proud; pride works his ruin. Great spirits will not rest content with a moderate prosperity, Ere two years be run out, Absalom runs out into a desperate plot of rebellion; none but his own father was above him in Israel. None was so likely, in human expectation, to succeed his father, If his ambition could but have contained itself for a few years, as David was now near his period, dutiful carriage might have procured that by succession, which now he sought by force. An aspiring mind is ever impatient, and holds time itself an enemy, if it thrust itself importunately betwixt the hopes and fruition. Ambition is never but in travail; and can find no intermission of painful throes, till she have brought forth her abortive desires. How happy were we, if our affectation could be so eager of spiritual and heavenly promotions! Oh that my soul could find itself so restless, till it feel the weight of that crown of glory!

Outward pomp and unwonted shews of magnificence, are wont much to affect the light minds of the vulgar. Absalom therefore, to the incomparable comeliness of his person, adds the unusual state of a more than princely equipage. His chariots rattle, and his horses trample proudly in the streets. Fifty footmen run before their glittering master. Jerusalem rings of their glorious prince; and is ready to adore these continual triumphs of peace.

Excess and novelty of expensive bravery and ostentation in public persons, give just cause to suspect either vanity or a plot. True-hearted David can misdoubt nothing in him, to whom he had both given life, and forgiven this. Love construed all this, as meant to the honour of a father's court, to the expression of joy and thankfulness for his reconcilement.

The eyes and tongues of men are thus taken up: now hath Absalom laid snares for their hearts also. He rises early, and stands beside the way of the gate: Ambition is no niggard of her pains; seldom ever is good meaning so industrious: the more he shined in beauty and royal attendance, so much more glory it was to neglect himself, and to prefer the care of justice to his own case. Neither is Absalom more painful than plausible. His ear is open to all plaintives, all petitioners. There is no cause which he flatters not; See, thy matters are good and right. His hand flatters every comer with a salutation, his lips with a kiss. All men, all matters are soothed, saving the state and government: the censure of that is no less deep, than the applause of all others; There is none de