VII. GAD, BEHOLD A TROOP COMETH.

THE Amalekite who brought the tidings to David began with truth, rightly reporting the overthrow of the Israelites; [2 Sam. i.] cheaters must get some credit before they can cozen, and all falsehood, if not founded in some truth, would not be fixed in any belief.

But proceeding, he told six lies successively:—

1. That Saul called him.

2. That he came at his call.

3. That Saul demanded who he was.

4. That he returned his answer.

5. That Saul commanded him to kill him.

6. That he killed him accordingly.

A wilful falsehood told is a cripple not able to stand by itself, without some to support it; it is easy to tell a lie, hard to tell but a lie.

Lord, if I be so unhappy to relate a falsehood, give me to recall it, or repent of it. It is said of the pismires, that to prevent the growing (and so the corrupting) of that corn which they hoard up for their winter provision, they bite off both the ends thereof, wherein the generating power of the grain doth consist. When I have committed a sin, O let me so order it that I may destroy the procreation thereof, and, by a true sorrow, condemn it to a blessed barrenness.