A10944:53
Samuel's encounter with Saul. I Sam. chap. 15 from ver. 13 to ver. 30.…Samuels encounter with Saul. I Sam. chap. 15 from ver. 13 to ver. 30.…
Samuel's encounter with Saul. I Sam. chap. 15 from ver. 13 to ver. 30. Preached and penned, by that worthy servant of God, Mr. Richard Rogers, late preacher of Wetherfield, in Essex. And published word for word, according to this own copy, finished before his deathSamuels encounter with Saul. I Sam. chap. 15 from ver. 13 to ver. 30. Preached and penned, by that worthy seruant of God, Mr. Richard Rogers, late preacher of Wetherfield, in Essex. And published word for word, according to this owne coppy, finished before his death
London: printed by Edw. Griffin for Samuel Man, 1620London: printed by Edw. Grifin for Samuel Man, 1620
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
IT followeth; Though Samuel came to tell Saul, how God was displeased with him for his sin before mentioned, yet when he saw how he justified himself, affirming that he had obeyed him, he stayed for a better opportunity afterwards, and now answered his untrue, bold, and unseasonable commending of his act done to the Amalekites: and therefore as he offered him fit occasion, so he took it, and convicted him, and ⟨p. 35⟩proved by clear evidence against him, that he grossly deceived himself. Thus: If thou hast obeyed the commandment of the Lord, saying, Why hast thou not then destroyed all, both men and cattle? But hast reserved some of them: For I hear the lowing of the oxen and the bleating of the sheep, which thou hast brought away with thee from thence for a pray. Therefore thou hast not obeyed the commandment of the Lord. Thus he proved, that he was guilty, wherein he boasted of his great obedience. Now this wise kind of dealing, and careful, the ministers of God must use, for the discovering and bewraying of the peoples ⟨p. 35⟩[…] ⟨p. 36⟩faults and sins unto them, that they may have no excuse for their lying still in them.1 For the people being blind, and full of self-love, do readily flatter themselves in their sins, and are slow to come to the examination of them: and therefore if they be not roused up and made to see them as far as they have given cause, by proving to their consciences, and convincing them that they are guilty, they accuse not themselves, but go forward in their sins. And therefore Saint Paul, among all his grave and weighty exhortations to Timothy about preaching, chargeth him to convince the offenders,2 that they be not able to gainsay him: as being privy ⟨p. 37⟩in themselves, that they are justly found fault with. And that is most likely, if any outward means will do good, namely to control the conscience, and to cause those who are guilty, to see and acknowledge their sins: The which effect every reproof is not like to work. Therefore our Saviour hearing many reproofs by the Pharisees, but all of them unjust, asketh them which of them is able to convince him of sin?