A history of the work of redemption. Containing the outlines of a body of…

It is observable, that God anointed David after Saul to reign in his room. He took away the crown from him and his family, who was higher in stature then any of his people, and was in their eyes fittest to bear rule, to give it to David, who was low of stature, and in comparison, of despicable appearance: so God was pleased to show how Christ, who appeared despicable, without form or comeliness, and was despised and rejected of men, should take the kingdom from the great ones of the earth. And also it is observable, that David was the youngest of Jesse's sons, as Jacob the younger brother supplanted Esau, and got the birthright and blessing from him: and as Pharez, another of Christ's ancestors, supplanted Zarah in the birth; and as Isaac, another of the ancestors of Christ, cast out his elder brother Ishmael; thus was that frequent saying of Christ fulfilled, "The last shall be first, and the first last."

II. The next thing I would observe, is God's so preserving David's life, by a series of wonderful providences, till Saul's death. I before took notice of the wonderful preservation of other particular persons that were the ancestors of Christ; as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; and have observed how, in that Christ the great Redeemer was to proceed from them, that in their preservation, the work of redemption itself may be looked upon as preserved from ⟨p. 76⟩being defeated, and the whole church, which is redeemed through […] from being overthrown. But the preservation of David was no […] remarkable than that of any others that have been already taken notice of. How often was it so, that there was but a step between •im and death. The first instance of it we have in his encountering a lion and a bear, when they had caught a lamb out of his flock, which, without miraculous assistance, could at once have •ent this young stripling in pieces, as they could the lamb that he delivered from them: so afterwards the root and offspring of David was preserved from the roaring lion that goes about seeking whom he may devour, and conquered him, and rescued the poor souls of men, that were as lambs in the mouth of this lion. Another remarkable instance was, in preserving him from that mighty giant Goliath, who was strong enough to have taken him, and picked him to pieces with his fingers, and given his flesh to the beasts of the field, and to the owl of the air, as he threatened him: but God preserved him from him, and gave him the victory over him, so that he cut off his head with his own sword, and made him therein the deliverer of his people; as Christ slew the spiritual Goliath with his own weapon, the cross, and so delivered his people. And how remarkably did God preserve him from being slain by Saul, when he first sought his life, by giving him his daughter to be a snare to him, that the hand of the Philistines might be upon him, requiring him to pay for her by an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that so his life might be exposed to them; and in preserving him afterwards, when Saul spake to Jonathan, and to all his servants, to kill David; and in inclining Jonathan, instead of his killing him, as his father bade him, to love him as his own soul, and to be a great instrument of his preservation, even so as to expose his own life to preserve David;