catum in quo est iniquitas et simulatio; "Feigned inno66 cence and feigned equity are neither the one nor the other; "but the fault or offence is there doubled, in which there is "both iniquity and dissimulation." Such in effect is their disputation, who think this place to contain the description of a tyrant. But the arguments on the contrary side, as they are many and forcible, so are they well known to all; being excellently handled in that princely discourse of the true Law of free Monarchies, which treatise I may not presume to abridge, much less here to insert. Only thus much I will say, that if practice do shew the greatness of authority, even the best kings of Juda and Israel were not so tied by any laws, but that they did whatsoever they pleased in the greatest things; and commanded some of their own princes, and of their own brethren, to be slain without any trial of law, being sometime by prophets reprehended, sometime not. For though David confessed his offence for the death of Uriah, yet Salomon killing his elder brother, and others, the same was not imputed unto him as any offence.

e

That the state of Israel should receive this change of government, it was not only foretold by Moses in Deuteronomy, but prophesied of by Jacob in this scripture: The sceptre shall not depart from Juda, &c. It was also promised by God to Abraham for a blessing. For it was not only assured that his issues should in number equal the stars in heaven, but that kings should proceed of him. Which state, seeing it is framed from the pattern of his sole rule who is Lord of the universal; and the excellency thereof, in respect of all other governments, hath been by many judicious men handled and proved, I shall not need to overpaint that which is garnished with better colours already than I can lay on.

In the time of the judges every man hath observed what civil war Israel had; what outrageous slaughters they committed upon each other; in what miserable servitude they lived for many years; and when it fared best with them,

they did but defend their own territories, or recover some parts thereof formerly lost. The Canaanites dwelt in the best valleys of the country. The Ammonites held much of Gilead over Jordan; the Philistines the sea-coasts; and the Jebusites Jerusalem itself, till David's time: all which that king did not only conquer and establish, but he mastered and subjected all the neighbour nations and kings, and made them his tributaries and vassals. But whether it were for that the Israelites were moved by those reasons, which allure the most of all nations to live under a monarch, or whether by this means they sought to be cleared from the sons of f Samuel, they became deaf to all the persuasions and threats which Samuel used, insisting upon this point, that they would have a king, both to judge them and defend them; whereunto when Samuel had warrant from God to consent, he sent every man to his own city and abiding.

SECT. II.

Of the election of Saul.

AFTER that Samuel had dismissed the assembly at Mizpah, he forbare the election of a king, till such time as he was therein directed by God; who foretold him the day before, that he would present unto him a man of the land of Benjamin, whom he commanded Samuel to anoint. So Samuel went unto Ramath Sophim, to make a feast for the entertainment of Saul, (whom yet he knew not, but knew the truth of God's promises,) and Saul also having wandered divers days to seek his father's asses, at length, by the advice of his servant, travelled towards Ramath, to find out a seer or prophet, hoping from him to be told what way to take to find his beasts. In which journey it pleased God (who doth many times order the greatest things by the simplest passages and persons) to elect Saul, who sought an ass, and not a kingdom: like as formerly it had pleased him to call Moses, while he fed the sheep of Jethro; and after to make choice of 8 David, the youngest of eight sons, and by the scriptures called a little one, who was then keep

ing of beasts, and changed his sheephook into a sceptre, making him of all other the most victorious king of Juda and Israel. So John and Jacob were taken from casting their nets, to become fishers of men, and honoured with the titles of apostles, a dignity that died not in the grave, as all worldly honours do; but permanent and everlasting in God's endless kingdom.

When Samuel was entered into Ramath, he prepared a banquet for the king, whom he expected, and staid his arrival at the gate. Not long after came Saul, whom God shewed to Samuel, and made him know that it was the same whom he had foretold him of, that he should rule the people of God. Saul finding Samuel in the gate, but knowing him not, though a prophet and judge of Israel, much less knowing the honour which attended him, asked Samuel in what part of the city the seer dwelt; Samuel answered, that himself was the man he sought, and prayed Saul to go before him to the high place, where Samuel setting him according to his degree, above all that were invited, conferred with him afterwards of the affairs of the kingdom, and of God's graces to be bestowed on him, and the morning following anointed him king of Israel.

After this, he told him all that should happen him in the way homeward; that two men should encounter him by Rahel's sepulchre, who should tell him that his asses were found; and that his father's cares were changed from the fear of losing his beasts, to doubt the loss of his son : that he should then meet three other men in the plain of Tabor; then a company of prophets; and that he should be partaker of God's spirit, and prophesy with them; and that thereby his condition and disposition should be changed from the vulgar, into that which became a king elected and favoured by God.

But the prophets here spoken of, men indued with spiritual gifts, were not of the first and most reverenced number, who by divine revelation foretold things to come, reprehended without fear the errors of their kings, and wrought miracles; of which number were Moses, Joshua,

Samuel, and after them Gad, Nathan, Ahias, Elias, Elisæas, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the rest; for these prophets, saith h St. Chrysostome, omnia tempora percurrunt, præterita, præsentia et futura: but they were of those of whom St. Paul speaketh, 1 Cor. xiv. 15. who, enriched with spiritual gifts, expounded the scriptures and the law.

At Mispeth Samuel assembled the people, that he might present Saul to them, who as yet knew nothing of his election; neither did Saul acquaint his own uncle therewith, when he asked him what had passed between him and Samuel: for either he thought his estate not yet assured, or else that it might be dangerous for him to reveal it, till he were confirmed by general consent. When the tribes were assembled at Mispeth, the general opinion is, that he was chosen by lot. Chimhi thinks by the answer of ¡Urim and Thummim; that is, by the answer of the priest, wearing that mystery upon his breast when he asked counsel of the Lord. But the casting of lots was not only much used among the Jews, but by many others, if not by all nations. The land of promise was divided by lot; God commanded lots to be cast on the two goats, which should be sacrificed, and which turned off; a figure of Christ's suffering, and our deliverance, for whose garments the Jews also cast lots. k Cicero, Plautus, Pausanias, and others, have remembered divers sorts of lots used by the Romans, Grecians, and other nations; as in the division of grounds or honours, and in things to be undertaken: the two first kinds were called diversory, the third divinatory; and into one of these three all may be reduced: all which kinds, howsoever they may seem chanceful, are yet ordered and directed by God: as in the Proverbs; The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposition is of the Lord. And in like sort fell the kingdom of Israel on Saul, not by chance, but by God's

h Chrys. in Psal. xliii.

i The Urim and Thummim in the ornaments of the high priest were inserted within the pectoral, which therefore was duplicatum, they were placed in the pectoral over against

the heart of the high priest. It is plain that they were not the precious stones, nor any thing made by the artificers. See Exod. xxxviii.

k Cic. de Divin.
1 Paus. in Mes.

ordinance, who gave Samuel former knowledge of his election: from which election Saul withdrew himself in modesty, as both Josephus consters it, and as it may be gathered by his former answers to Samuel, when he acknowledged himself the least of the least tribe. But Samuel, enlightened by God, found where Saul was hidden, and brought him among the people, and he was taller than all the rest by the shoulders. And Samuel made them know that he was the chosen king of Israel, whereupon all the multitude saluted him king, and prayed for him; yet some there were that envied his glory (as in all estates there are such) who did not acknowledge him by offering him m presents, as the manner was; of whom Saul, to avoid sedition, took no notice.

SECT. III.

Of the establishing of Saul by his first victories.

NO sooner was Saul placed in the kingdom, but that he received knowledge that Nahas, king of the Ammonites, prepared to besiege Jabes Gilead; which nation, since the great overthrow given them by Jephta, never durst attempt any thing upon the Israelites, till the beginning of Saul's rule. And although the Ammonites did always attend upon the advantage of time, to recover those territories which first the Amorite and then Israel dispossessed them of, which they made the ground of their invasion in Jephta's time; yet they never persuaded themselves of more advantage than at this present. For first, they knew that there were many of the Israelites that did not willingly submit themselves to this new king; secondly, they were remembered that the Philistines had not long before slain 34,000 of their men of war; and besides had used great care and policy that they should have no smiths to make them swords or spears: neither was it long before that of the Bethshemesites, and places adjoining, there perished by the hand of God more than 50,000, and therefore in these respects, even occasion itself invited them to enlarge their dominions

m 1 Sam. x.