1 Kings 12

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XII.—Sin is but a bad way of building families. By all his wives Solomon seems to have had but one son, and he a fool. Neither wisdom nor grace run in the blood. And often the best instructions are thrown away upon children; especially if the parent has practically disregarded them himself. Some factious spirits are always ready to blow up the coals of sedition; and often their vile designs lurk under the most specious appearances. It is astonishing that we hear no complaint of Solomon’s idolatry, when we hear so much of his oppressive servitude. But most men seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. They are more concerned to save their money than their souls. That government is but in a tottering condition which subsists by severity, and where the king does not reign in the hearts of his subjects. They are our best friends who dissuade us from our rash designs, and they our worst enemies who soothe our folly and flatter our pride. It is mad to give true causes of provocation to those who are already provoked without cause. But it is common at courts to study the pleasure of the king more than the profit of the kingdom. And God fulfils his purposes, promises, and threatenings, by the follies as well as by the crimes of mankind. When people once become unreasonable they will not stick to contemn and calumniate the best of kings, and the best of governments. And they, who by oppression drive men into rebellion, must blame themselves for the mischiefs which they incur. Princes, once infatuated in their counsels, readily add one blunder to another, running to the various extremes of haughtiness, silly compliance, and open violence. We often see the miseries which our follies occasion when it is too late to remedy them. Hasty words often produce endless mischiefs. But love to our brethren should make us put up with many injuries, rather than seek to redress them in a manner which may be ruinous to both: and, when God’s will contradicts our designs, we must submit without delay. If we fight against him there can be no hope of success. Wicked princes soon forget the express conditions on which God granted them their power. And with infinite infamy, guilt, and danger, to themselves and their subjects, they model the worship of God after patterns of human invention which they have seen, or as they hope will best answer their carnal purposes; or which, by contrariety to what God has appointed, most gratifies their enmity against him. But to secure our safety by sin is only to hasten our ruin. Great men’s examples are grievously infectious: and most subjects are ready to comply with any form of religion which their rulers please to appoint. AD