An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eleventh, twelfth, & thirteenth chapters of…

Thirteenthly, When men are greedy of things, and never ¹consider the inconvenients; when they would have their desires satisfied in a foolish way, never minding what inconveniences may follow in this thing more than in the other thing, merely looking upon that which is for the present suitable to them, but never think what inconveniences may follow. Thus it was here; they would have a King; but Samuel came and told them all the inconveniences that would follow upon it, how that they ²should have this affliction and the other; You that are so desirous of him, if he comes among you, he will bring you into slavery, your Estates and your Children shall be under his power, you will be in slavery to every Courtier. Nay but we will have a King for all this, they would needs change the way of Government, O that we might have a king! And they would be brought more under ⟨p. 551⟩Law than before; for indeed in the time of the Judges, if you read that story, you shall find that the People of Israel were in a great deal of Liberty then, and they obeyed the Judges in a great measure in a voluntary way; if you read the story you shall find but Two Tribes that followed Barak and Deborah, and so of Jephthah, and Sampson, those that were willing freely to offer themselves they followed them; and those of Ephraim they did chide with the other, and asked them, Why did you not call us to it? as noting that there was a great deal of freedom in the time of the Judges. Yea, but we will have a King, and we will all then be tied to the same thing, and be under the same power, and so there will be a great deal of union that way: when this man shall not be in this way, and the other shall not be in another way, and men to have their freedom thus & thus, but all shall come in and join under the same Law, and so we shall go on in one: Certainly this was their reasoning in their desire of having a King. Now this kind of union (no question) was very good among the People; but to have it in this way, That whereas the People were governed in such a way before as stood with a great deal of Liberty; It's true, they shall have a kind of union, but they do not consider what inconveniences there will be in their being thus chained together. Prisoners that are chained at a Post, they are altogether all the day long: But would ³