20. In the last battle of Saul with the Philistines* near Gilboa, Saul being sorely wounded, requested his armour-bearer to draw his sword, and run him through, but his armour-bearer would not; therefore Saul took a sword and fell upon it; and when his armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.** David was at this time returned from the pursuit of the Amalekites, when, on the third day after Saul's death, a young man came out of the camp from Saul, with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head. He brought the news of Saul's death, the circumstances of which, upon David's enquiry, he reported to be, that coming by chance upon Mount Gilboa, he beheld that Saul leaned on his spear, and that the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. Saul looking behind him, called the young man, and requested him to slay him: so I stood upon him, said the young man, and slew him, because I was sure he could not live after he was fallen; and I took the crown that was on his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord. David rewarded the mistaken compassion of this young man, by commanding him to be put to death.
* 1 Sam. xxxi.
** 2 Sam. i.
How do our adversaries, the infidels, exclaim against the barbarity of David, when they read this melancholy history! What! say they, is this the mild, the merciful David? Is this the man after God's own heart? Is he not rather the tyrant—the inhuman despot? What effort of holy zeal could stimulate him to murder the young man, who had performed the last offices of humanity to Saul; who, in the agonies of death, had himself besought him to put an end to his lingering miseries? Why should this idol of the Christians, this man after God's own heart, embrue his hands in the blood of the youth, who supposed he had done a charitable office to the deserted and expiring monarch, whom this David pretended to lament, and who, at the same time, gave such endearing proofs of loyalty to him himself, by presenting him with the regal ornaments? But we, the faithful, who can easily explain all scripture mysteries, say, that though David was really one of the greatest of sinners, yet he truly repented him before he died. Our enemies, the unbelievers, say no; that it is false, and they quote the very Book of Books* against us for their authority.
* 1 Kings ii. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
They say if David ever repented, or was ever truly pious, we shall certainly perceive it, in his behaviour during his last moments, on his death bed. There, say they, it is to be hoped, we shall find him forgiving his enemies, and dying in charity with all mankind. This is what all mankind in general make a point of doing, from the saint to the malefactor. David, therefore, must certainly give us an extraordinary instance of his attention to this important evidence of contrition.
But what shall we think, say these enemies of our holy religion, when we see this Nero of the Hebrews, this man after God's own heart, this idol of the Christians, die in a manner uniform and consistent with the whole course of his life? What will be our reflections, when we find him, with his last accents, delivering two cruel and inhuman murders in charge to his son Solomon? Murders still farther aggravated by the included crimes of ingratitude and perjury! One of them to be executed on his old and faithful general, Joab, who powerfully assisted him on all occasions, and who adhered to him in all his extremities; till at the last, when he had justifiable cause of chagrin, but who, notwithstanding, had not appeared in actual hostility against him, but only drank a glass of wine with the malcontents. His other charge was against Shimea, who reviled David at his retreat from Jerusalem, during his son Absalom's rebellion; but who made his submission to him when he returned victorious, and whose pardon David had sealed with a solemn oath. All these commands, say the infidels, were executed in a manner truly worthy the son of such a father! These, Christians, say our enemies, are the outlines of the life of a Jew, whom, according to the Book of Books, or, more properly speaking, priestcraft, you are not ashamed' to continue extolling as a man after God's own heart! What an impiety, say the infidels, to the Majesty of Heaven!
Wherefore we, the true believers, pray that your Lordships will satisfactorily answer and explain all those doubts and objections brought forward against us by infidel philosophers and writers; and if unanswerable, that your Lordships will, with true Christian zeal, procure an act of parliament to be passed, in order to prevent any more doubts whatever being entertained by the enemies of our holy faith and religion, as by law established.
None but infidels, it is true, would utter impieties like the above; but, alas, 'the infidels of our days have become formidable to the true believers, by an attention to morality, and the mild and gentle offices of pity, and by warning their fellow-citizens to avoid and detest the cruelties of religious persecution: how egregiously they mistake! Your Lordships will rectify their notions, it is to be hoped, in these as well as in other respects.
They have an argument still more formidable against the truth of the foregoing accounts, concerning the death of Saul, which is, that they are so very different, that one of them must be false. To this we can only answer, as it becomes the faithful in all such cases of seeming contradiction; namely, that they were both written by the pen of inspiration, consequently must both be true, however contradictory or absurd they may seem to mere human reason.
21. David commanded that the children of Judah should be taught the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the Book of Jasher.* Many difficulties arise here about the Book of Jasher. It was extant previous to the writing the Book of Joshua,** the author of that book quoting it, and by the foregoing text it appears, it was not finished till after the accession of David to the throne of Israel. Now, if Joshua wrote the account of his own transactions, as is generally believed, the author of Jasher must have lived upwards of four hundred years; and if the Book of Joshua was not written till after the time of David, and by an unknown author, the infidels will affirm, that it comes under the description which is at the beginning of the second of these questions. And the misfortune is, we do not know how to confute them, but we hope your Lordships will easily remove this, among many Other very great difficulties, now your long dormant seal is at length awakened. Our enemies have reproached us with the examples of the primitive church; they observe, that the priests were poor and indefatigable, but are now pampered and lazy. Fat benefices and lordly bishoprics, they say, cause a total eclipse of the light of religion, by obtruding, their opake substances between the eye of the priest and the kingdom of Heaven. But, alas, how palpably they mistake!