some are loath to feele it I haue both knowne and felt what to read a lecture is For if to read alecture be not onely to read as the name soundeth or onely to speake by an houre glasse and to spend the time if more than to talke and conferre vvith some single commentary and not onely to search translations as the brookes but to examine the original as the wel-spring both to peruse and compare the expositions of the learned for the spirites of prophets are subiect to prophets and wee all prophecie one by one in severall ages that we all may haue comfort one by anothers labours and not as drones to liue by the hony which Bees haue gathered but our selues to make hony and to adde to the travaile of others for the building and perfecting of Gods church for as they haue found out many thinges so they haue left many to be sought by vs and to plaie the partes of thrifty and good husbandes in making our patrimonie lardger which we haue received from our fathers togither with studious meditation discreete application to the time persons and place endlesse succession of paines after paines then I am sure that to read a lecture is a greater labour than some in opinion wil conceiue others demonstrate and make proofe of by practise There be that run awaie with a lecture as horses with an empty cart I cannot do it It is but a moate with them to read thrise in a weeke and twise in a day sometimes I will not dissemble my wantes It was a beame to my backe to make it my weekely exercise For if ever my handes were manicled and my feete bounde vp before I say not from taking pleasure which I little regarde but from follovving the course of my necessarie and gravest studies then did I purchase that bondage vnto my selfe vvhen I offered my necke to this yoke How often haue I said within my selfe Beatus ille qui procul negotijs Paterna rura bobus exercet suis as Horace commended a country life howe happy is that man in comparison if to liue in ease be any part of happines who hath a rural chardge That I leaue no man to succeed me as Moses left Iosuah Elias Elizaeus and such like though it be my griefe yet I cannot remedie it It is threatned for a curse in Ieremy there shall bee none to saie leaue thy fatherlesse children vnto me Mihi non minori curae est qualis Respublica post mortem meam futura sit quà m qualis bodie My care is as great for your church when I am departed as whilst I am present For I hate the improvident and importunate nature of Heliogabalus who wished to bee heire to himselfe and to see an ending and dying of all things with his owne person But your benevolence is your owne and I cannot commende it as inheritaunce to any otherman Onely my comfort is that which Abraham gaue to Isaac when hee savv not the sacrifice Deus providebit God will provide for you if you bee not wanting to your selues For let me say with your favourable construction there are many vvithin these walles that know not their right handes from the left children in vnderstanding and much cattle take them in that sense that Peter and Iude meane them beastes vvithout reason men vvithout humanity as bad as the horse and the mule in whome is none vnderstanding For these there are not preachers enough or rather to saie the truth authority hath not edge and vigour enough to compell them to come in that the house of God may bee filled They walke in the fieldes in the streetes at their pleasure they lie at their dores vpon their beddes they sit downe to eate drinke and to be drunken and rise vp to play They may doe worse than all this in chambering in wantonnes in vntolerable filthines even vpon the best daies and in the best houres of the day and who suth vnto them what do yee They haue lived a part by themselues a long time and sung with their own muses whome I would haue besought now lastly even in the bowels of Christ and for conscience towardes God to haue redressed this blot to their cittie But so they haue lived and dwelt as if Iordan had lien betweene them and vs that they could not come at vs. I mislike not their absence for they are provided of their owne and as the women said in Esay we will eate our owne bread and vveare our owne garmentes so may they iustly excuse themselues we haue a peculiar vineyard and a labourer of our owne to see it kept and manured I say so but if there were more than this forgiue my Christan iealousie that some of purpose would not and others might not come because of offence God forgiue it I never offended thē vnlesse I committed that fault which the Apostle speaketh of 2. Cor. 12. that I was not chardgeable or burthensome vnto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee desired them to forgiue him that wrong and if mine be the same trespasse I aske the same pardon I preached not Christ of envy I preached not Christ for glory I preached not Christ for gaine and neither to please nor iustly to offende any man I preached Christ in vprightnes and simplicity of heart and walked with the evenest foote that I could by all meanes labouringe if it were possible to saue some Which if I haue obtained though it be my great ioy and a crowne vnto me yet I glory in him that hath enabled me therevnto and cast my crowne at his feet by whom I had grace to performe it Lastlie it is my comforte and ever may it be to see such an happie and friendlie aspect of so manie principall planets togither in one place I hope they shall ever bee founde in that mutuall correspondence vvherein I now leaue them For whilest I liue I shall pray for the peace of our Ierusalem Which peace of our Ierusalem if either praiers to God or petitions to men if travaile of body or contention of minde if sheading of teares or spending of bloude may purchase to our Church or common-wealth it is not dearely bought Division had well-nigh broken of late the heart-strings of religiō amongst vs. O let the head and the heart with other the soveraigne parts evermore accord that the inferiour members may bee the better governed Finallie my brethren fare yee well It is the Apostles farewell to the Corinthians be perfite sticke not alwaies in the rudimentes and first beginnings Bee of good comforte you know who hath overcome the world Be of one minde and liue in peace and the God of loue and peace shall bee with you And so I leaue you to the mercy of God neither greater nor lesse than this prophecie doth record beseeching the God both of Israell and Niniveh and al the endes of the earth that his blessings may bee
Put and Lubim were her helpers yet was shee carried awaie and vvent into captivitie her young children were broken in pieces at the heade of all the streetes and they cast lots for her noble men and all her mightie men were bounde in chaines The reason holdeth by equality the strength and puissance of No was abased and thy mighte shal be cast downe It was afterward accomplished vpon Niniveh because shee was full of bloud full of lies and robbery a maistres of witchcraftes her multitude vvas slaine and the deade bodies were manie there was no ende of her carkases and they euen stumbled as they went vpon her corpses Mercurius Trismegistus sometime spake to Asclepius of Aegypt after this sort Art thou ignorant O Asclepius that Aegypt is the image of heaven c. And if vvee shall speake more truely our land is the temple of the whole vvorlde and yet the time shall come when Aegypt shall be forsaken and that land which was the seate of the Godhead shal be deprived of religion and left destitute of the presence of the Gods It is written of Tyrus in the three and twentith of Esay that shee was rich with the seede of Nilus that brought her abundance the harvest of the river were her revenewes and shee was a mart of the nations c. Yet the Lord triumpheth and maketh disport at her overthrowe Is this that glorious citie of yours vvhose antiquitie is of auncient daies c who hath decreede this against Tyrus shee that crowned men whose marchants are princes and her chapmen the nobles of the worlde the Lord of hostes hath decreede it to staine the pride of all glory and to bring to contempte all the honorable in the earth It is fallen it is fallen saith the Angell in the Revelation Babilon the great citie having the same title of greatnes that Niniveh hath in this place and is become the habitation of divelles and the hole of all fowle spirites and a cage of every vncleane and hatefull birde though shee had saide in her heart I sit as a Queene I am no widovv and shall see no mourning That everlasting citie of Rome as Ammianus Marcellinus called her shall see the day vvhen the eternity of her name and the immortalitie of her soule vvherewith shee is quickned I meane the supremacie of her prelates aboue Emperours and princes shal be taken from her and as Babilon before mencioned hath left her the inheritaunce of her name so it shall leaue her the inheritaunce of her destruction also and she shal become as other presumptuous cities a dwelling for hedghogs an habitation for owles and vultures thornes shall growe in her palaces and nettles in her strong holdes The lamentations of Ieremie touching the ruine of Ierusalem sometimes the perfection of beauty and the ioy of the whole earth as neare vnto God as the signet vpon his right hand yet afterwardes destroyed as a lodge in a garden that is made but for one night if they can passe by the eares of any man and leaue not lamentation and passion behinde them I will say that his harte is harder then the nether milstone How were her gates sunck to the ground her barres broken the stones of her sanctuary scattered in the corners of every streete her mountaine of Syon so desolate that the very foxes runne vpon it whose strength was such before that the Kinges of the earth and all the inhabitants of the worlde woulde never haue beleeved that the enemy shoulde haue entered into the gates of Ierusalem I now conclude Greatenesse of sinnes will shake the foundations of the greatest cities vpon the earth if their heades stoode amongst the stars iniquitie woulde bring them downe into dust and rubble Multitude of offences vvill minish and consume multitudes of men that although the streets were sowen with the seede of man yet they shal be so scarse that a child may tel them yea the desolation shal be so great that none shall remaine to say to his friend leaue thy fatherlesse children behind thee and I will preserue them aliue and let thy widdowes trust in me The daies can speake and the multitude of yeares can teach vvisdome aske your fathers and they can reporte vnto you that grasse hath growen in the streetes of your cities for want of passengers and a man hath beene as precious as the gold of Ophir as rare almost to bee found as if the grounde of your city had beene the moores and wasts where no man dwelleth One would haue wished a friend more then the treasures of the East to haue kept him company releeved his necessity to haue taken some paines with his vviddowe and Orphanes to haue closed his eies at the time of his death to haue seene him laide forth for buriall and his bones but brought to the graue in peace The arme of the Lorde is not shortned hee that smote you once can smite you the second time hee can visit the sonnes as well as the fathers he is a God both in the mountaines and in the vallies in the former later ages he is able againe to measure the grouÌ„d of your citie with a line of vanity pull downe your houses into the dust of the earth and turne the glory of your dwellings into ploughed feilds onely the feare of his name is your safest refuge righteousnes shal be a stroÌ„ger bulwarke vnto you then if you were walled with bras mercy and iudgment and truth and sobriety and sanctimony of life shall stand with your enemies in the gate repell the vengaÌ„ce of God in the highest streÌ„gth therof And so I come to the 2 generall part wherein we are to consider what Ionas was to doe at Niniveh it is manifested in the wordes following Crâ—e against it Laye not thine hande vpon thy mouth neither drawe in thy breath to thy selfe vvhen the cause of thy maister must bee dealt in Silence can never breake the dead sleepe of Niniveh Softnesse of voice cannot pearce her heavy eares Ordinary speaking hath no proportion with extraordinary transgression Speake and speake to bee heard that when shee heareth of her fall shee may bee wounded with it It was not nowe convenient that Ionas should goe to Niniveh as God came to Elias in a still and softe voyce but rather as a mightie strong winde rending the mountaines and breaking the rockes abasing the highest lookes in Niniveh and tearing the hardest hearte in peeces as an earthquake and fire consuming all her drosse and making her quake with the feare of the iudgementes of God as the trees of the forrest Iericho must bee overthrowne with trumpets and a shout and Niniveh will not yeeld but to a vehement outcry A prophet must arme himselfe I say not with the speare but with the zeale of Phinees when sinne is impudent and cannot blush God cannot endure dallying and trifling in weighty matters The gentle spirit of Eli is not
sufficient to amend children past grace a prophet like Mitio doth but bolster a sinner in his froward waies Hee chargeth his messenger otherwise in the prohecie of Esay Cry aloude spare not lifte vp thy voice like a trumpet shew my people their transgressions and to the house of Iacob their sinnes Much lesse can hee abide flattery and guilefullnes in his busines for cursed be he that doth the worke of the Lorde negligently or rather as the word importeth with deceit Woe vnto them that sowe pillowes vnder mens arme-holes when it is more time to pricke them vp with goades that sell the cause of the Lorde for handfulles of barley and peeces of bread for favour for feare for lucre or any the like worldly respects and vvhen the people committed vnto them shall say vnto their seers see not and to their prophets prophecie not right things loquimini placentia speake pleasinges and leasinges vnto vs prophecie errours are easilie drawen to betray the will of their Lord and to satisfie their humours God hath disclosed his mind in this trechery Behold I wil come against the prophets that steale my word from their neighbours beholde I will come against the prophets that haue sweete tongues that cause my people to erre by their lies and flatteries For then is the word of the Lord stollen and purloined from our brethren when we iustifie the wicked and giue life to the soules that shoulde not liue when we heale the hurtes of Israell with sweete wordes when wee annoint the heads of sinners with precious baulmes vvhose harts we should rather breake with sharpe corrosiues when wee put hony into the sacrifice in steede of salte when vve should frame our song of iudgment and we turne it into a song of mercy when we should mourne to make men lament and vve pipe to make them daunce putting the evill day farre from them and hunting for their praise and acceptation of vs vvith pleasing discourses affected eloquence histrionicall iests rather then graue and divine sentences Hierome gaue an other exhortation to Nepotian Let the teares of thy auditours bee thy prayses And Augustine had a stranger opinion of these applauses and acclamations of men These praises of yours saith he to his hearers do rather offend and endaunger me we suffer them indeed but we tremble when we heare them We cannot promise you such deceitfull handling and battering of the word of God for whether you heare or heare not the prophecie that is brought vnto you yet you shall know that there haue beene prophets amongst you we will not suffer your sinnes to sleepe quietly in your bosomes as Ionas slept in the sides of the shippe but we will rouse them vp if we see your pride your vsury your adulteries your oppressions we wil not only cry them but cry against them lest they cry against vs we will set vp a banner in the name of the Lorde of Hostes and proclaime them in your hearing and if our cry will not helpe we wil leaue you to that cry at midnight vvhen your bodies that sleepe in the dust of the earth and your sinnes that sleepe with your bodies both shall be awaked and receiue their meede at Gods hands we will charme your deafenes vvith the greatest cunning we haue if our charming cannot mooue you wee will sende you to the iudgement seate of God with this writing vpoÌ„ your foreheads Noluerunt incantari They would not be charmed The reason of his crying against Niniveh is this For their wickednes is come vp before me They that are skilfull in the originall obserue that the name of vvickednesse heere vsed importeth the greatest extremity that can be and is not restrained to this or that sinne one of a thousande but is a most absolute and all-sufficient tearme for three transgressions and for fowre as it is in Amos thaâ— is for seuen that is for infinite corruption Whatsoeuer exceedeth modesty and is most contrary to the will of God beyonde all right or reason setled into dregges frozen like yâ—e given over solde to the will of Satan is heere meant vvhere every person in the common wealth is degenerated There is none good no not one and every part in the body soule of man doth his part to lift vp the head of sinne the throate an open sepulchre the tongue vsed to deceit the poison of Aspes vnder the lips the mouth full of cursing and bitternes the feete swift to shed bloud destructioÌ„ calamity in all their waies no knowledge of the way of peace no feare of God before their eies And whether the word hath that power yea or no it skilleth not much to dispute for the words adioined in the text make it plaine without further amplification First it is wickedmesse Secondly it ascendeth Thirdly into the presence of God himselfe Whereby you may perceiue that the wickednesse of Niniveh was not base and shamefast fearefull to advance it selfe but an high kinde of vvickednesse swelling like Iordan aboue his banckes It lay not close in the bottome of the sea nor in the holes of rockes nor in the covert and secrecie of private chambers it had an whorish forhead and could not bee ashamed they declared their sinnes as Sodom they hid them not and as a fountaine casteth out waters so they their malice 1 The phrase heere vsed noteth a greate aggravation of the thing intended So in the sixt of Genesis it is saide that the earth was corrupt before the Lorde and in the tenth of that booke Nimrod was a mightie hunter before the Lord that is the corruptions of the world and the violence of Nimrod vvere so grosse that the Lord coulde not choose but take knowledge of them So it is here said Their vvickednesse is come vp before me It knoweth no end it climbeth like the sun in the morning and passeth the boundes of all moderation it is not enough that the bruite and fame thereof is blowen into the eares of men but it hath filled the earth possesseth the aire lifteth it selfe aboue the stars amongst the angelles of God offereth her filthines and impurity before the throne of his maiesty and if there vvere farther to go such is her boldnesse and shamelesnesse shee would forbeare no place What are there seasons and times when the Lord beholdeth sinne and wickednesse and when hee beholdeth it not hee that made the eie doth hee not see doth Hee slumber or sleepe that keepeth Israell or hath he not torches and cresset light at all times to descrie the deedes of Babylon or is he subiect to that scoffe which Elias gaue Baal It maie bee he sleepeth and must bee awaked or what els is the meaning of that phrase Their vvickednesse is come vp before mee As if there vvere some vvickednesse vvhich came not to his notice Surely besides the increase and propagation of their wickednesse for there is difference betwixt creeping and climbing
him 4. He heareth of a great city of a wearisome peraÌ„bulation asking the travell of 3. whole daies but he saveth the labor of his feete goeth into a litle vessel travelleth by sea a far easier iourney 5. He is bidden to cry but he is so far from making any noise that al the clamour and noise of the marriners could not awake him stir him vp 6. He heareth that the wickednesse of Niniveh is come vp before the presence of the Lorde notwithstanding hee feareth not to mocke and abuse the presence of the same Lord neither despaireth he to avoide it There is nothing in all these but stubbornes and rebellion which is as kindly to man as the flesh and bones that he beareth about him Amongst the other plants in the garden of EdeÌ„ not far froÌ„ the goodliest trees of life knowledge grew the bitter roote of disobedience which our forfathers no sooner had tasted but it infected their bloud and the corrupt nutriment thereof converted it selfe into the whole body of their succeding linage The breasts of Eue gaue no other milke then perversnesse to her children and Adam left it for a patrimony and inheritance vnto all his posterity Though God had precisely said Of the tree of knowledge of good and evill thou shalt not eate for in the daye that tâ—ou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death though there were no comparison betweene their maker and a murtherer froÌ„ the beginning the father of truth and the father of lies a God and a divell and the one had forbidden but one tree and fenced it as it were with a double hedge of a two-fold death yet when the serpeÌ„t came to the woman with a meere contradiction to the voice of God yee shall not die the death how credulous and forwarde was shee to entertaine his suggestion Moses proved to the children of Israel in the 9. of Deuteronomy by a perfect induction that there was nothing but rebellion in them Remember and forget not saith he how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to anger in the wildernesse also in Horeb afterwardes in Taberah and in Massah and at the graues of lust likewise when the Lord sent you from Cadesh Barnea c. At length hee concludeth yee yaue beene rebellious vnto the Lorde since the day that I knevve you And God pronounceth of the same people in the fourth of Num. that though they had seene his glory and the miracles which he did in Aegypt and in the wildernesse yet they had tempted him ten times and had not obeyed his voice In the 17. of the same booke the Lord gaue commaÌ„demeÌ„t vnto Moses that Aarons rod which budded for the house of Levi when the other rods budded not should be kept in the arke for a monumeÌ„t of their murmurings rebellions forepassed To forbeare infinite other testimonies the whole world may bee the arke to keepe the monumentes of their and our disobedience it is so common to vs both when we are willed to aske for the old way which is the good way to answere wee will not walke therein when the watchmen cry vnto vs take heede to the sounde of the trumpet to answere wee will not take heede when wisedome crieth abroade and vttereth her voice in the streetes O yee foolish how long will yee learne foolishnesse c. to despise her counsell and to make a Skorne of her correction What worke of our handes bewrayeth not this malice vvhat word of our mouthes speaketh not perverse thinges almost what thought of our heartes kicketh not against the prickes of Gods sacred commaundementes and desperatelye adventureth her selfe vpon the point of his sharpe curse O that our waies were made so direct that wee might keepe his statutes then shoulde wee never bee confounded whilst wee had respect vnto all his commaundementes It is a question made by some though I make no question of it vvhether this detraction and refusall of Ionas vvere a faulte yea or no Dionysius Carthusianus vpon this place doeth partly excuse it I thinke it farre from excuse fot doubtlesse the voice of GOD is the first ruâ—e and rudimentes of all Christian instruction the first stone to bee laide in the whole building that cloud by day that piller of fire by night vvhereby all our actions are to bee guided Paule in his marveilous conversion desired no other lighte and load-starre to bee governed by but the vvill and vvorde of his Saviour Lorde what wilt thou haue mee doe The verie Prophet of Moab vvoulde not departe from this standarde for vvhen Balaac by his messengers sent him worde that hee woulde promote him and God did but keepe him backe from honour hee made this answere vnto him If Balaac woulde giue mee this house full of silver and golde I cannot passe the commaundement of the LORD to doe either good or badde of mine owne minde what the Lorde shall commaunde that same will I speake Hee had saide before to the king in person Loe i am come vnto thee and can I nowe saye anye thinge at all the worde that GOD putteth in my mouth that shall I speake The vvordes of Samuel to Saule determine the doubt and make it as plaine as the light at noone day that the fact of Ionas here committed was an vnexcusable offence Beholde saith hee to obey is better then sacrifice and to harken is better then the fat of rammes For rebellion is as the sinne of witchcraft and transgression is wickednes and idolatrie It followeth in the next wordes Because thou hast cast away the worde of the Lord therefore he hath cast away thee from being King You heare the nature of these two contraries Obedience and Disobedience kindly disciphered the one to be better then sacrifice for he that offereth a sacrifice offereth the flesh of a beast but he that obeyeth offereth his owne will as a quicke and a reasonable sacrifice which is all in all the other to be as witchcraft and idolatrie for what is disobedience but when the Lord hath imposed some duety vpon vs wee conferre with our owne hearts as Saul consulted with the woman of Endor or Ahaziah Kinge of Samaria with the God of Eckron Belzebub whether the word of the Lord shal be harkened to yea or no Thus we set vp an idol within our own breasts against the God of heaveÌ„ forsaking his testimonies we follow the voice and perswasion of our owne devises Bernard alluding to this place before recited writeth thus The children of disobedience make their will their Idoll Hee addeth for further explication that it is one thing not to obey an other thing to purpose and prepense disobedience Neither is it the simple transgression of Gods commandement but the proud wilfull contempt of his will which is reputed the sin of idolatry And surely I see no reason they haue to conceale the infirmity of Ionas herein when Ionas himselfe if I mistake not the meaning
a wicked man to be ruler over him I haue hitherto commended the person of the shipmaster vnder this patterne or sampler shewed the duety of all magistrates who in the proportion and extent of their governement bee it more or lesse must care for the whole body of their subiectes and shew a part of their diligence herein that none of their company neglect the duties which to them appertaine Now for the nature and vse of government both by land and sea in houses and citties in regions in all mankinde vvhole nature and the vniversall world as the oratour writeth how necessary and requisite it is I also obserue in this that the Maister of the shippe hauing authority in his handes rather then any of the inferiours commeth vnto him to raise him vp what meanest thou sleeper Others might haue asked him Quid tibi est what meanest thou and he haue made aunswere againe Quid vobis est what meane you to trouble me as they asked Moses who made thee a man of authority and a Iudge over vs There must be a maistery and dominion in every order of men specially designed besides private perswasion or reproofe to say vnto sleepers why sleepe you and to other offensiue and disordered persons either in Church or in common wealth why do ye thus Hoc puto non iustum est illud male rectius istud This is not right that is evill and the other is better This is the band wherby the common wealth hangeth togither the life-breath which these many thousande creatures draw likely of themselues to prooue nothing saue a burthen to themselues and a booty to their enemies if the spirite and soule of gouernment bee taken from them For to rule and to be ruled is not onely in number of thinges necessary but convenient and commodious also I will invert it besides the commodiousnes it bringeth it is of necessity and cannot be missed In the beginning when heaven and earth were first made God established a superiority and rule both in other creatures before after their kindes and afterwardes in man Genesis 1. He made two greate lightes the greater light to rule the daie and the lesser light to rule the night Not long after when he had created man he invested him presently into imperiall authority to subdue the earth and to rule over the fishes of the sea and over the fowles of heaven and over everie beast that mooveth vpon the earth and vvhy is it called the hoast of heaven in the 2. of Genesis but because there are orders and degrees therein which being withdrawne from an army it hath no good coÌ„position And howsoever it may be true that the government of man over man came from sinne for God gaue soveraignty to Adam over fishes and birdes c. not over reasonable creatures made to his owne likenesse and the first righteous men we reade of were rather shepheardes and heard-men over beastes then kings over nations and the name of servant was never imposed in scripture till Noah bestowed it vpon his accursed sonne Cursed be Canaan servant of servants shall he be vnto his brethren wherevpon Augustine gathereth Nomen itaque illud culpa meruit non natura That name was purchased by transgression not by nature yet the nature of mandind standing as it doth corrupted so farre that without the head of authority we could not liue and converse togither God hath devised the meanes for the repressing of our mutuall violencies and iniuries which before we were subiect vnto Irenee in his fift booke against Heresies giveth the reason why God apointed kingdomes Because man forsaking God was waxen so fierce that he thought those of his kinde and bloud to be his enimies and in all restlesnesse murther and covetousnesse bare himselfe without feare God put vpon him the feare of man for he knew not the feare of the Lord that fearing humane Lawes they should not devoure and consume one the other as the manner of fishes is He addeth by whose commandement men are created by his commandement kings also are ordeined some for the profit and amendment of their subiects and the preservation of iustice some for feare and punishmeÌ„t reprofe some for illusion contumely insolency as those that rather disgrace authority despight their people and shame themselues then otherwise By this that hath beene alleadged we may easily confute the maisterles and lawles Anabaptist who striketh at the head of government in generall and would frame a body of men like the body of Polyphemus without his eie or like the confused Chaos of old time when height and depth light and darkenes were mingled togither As also those turbulent either people or states who â—evell at magistrates in particular allowing authority I grant but such as pleaseth themselues whose nice distinctions like so many paring-kniues if we shall admit that the king hath his institution from God constitution from the people and that his kingdome is given him from God delivered from the people that he reigneth from God through and for the people is elected of God but his election confirmed by the people by this liberty which they take vnto theÌ„selues in the instalment of princes into their states you shall see them oftentimes not only pruning away the superfluous boughes of misgovernmeÌ„t tyraÌ„nie in their superiors but cutting vp the very roote of lawfull and profitable government Let them be coupled with the Anabaptists rebelles before named who taking the power of two swordes vnto them before it be giuen and bearing more crownes by three vpon their heades then they ought to doe crie in the church of Rome against the Gods and Christes of the earth as they did sometimes amongst the heathen against Gods anointed sonne Let vs breake their bandes a sunder and cast their cordes from vs. For assuming this to themselues that Schismatical and erroneous princes may bee deposed by the Church they will interprete eares to be hornes departure from a church extremely corrupted and corrupting others schisme the service of the true God and in a true manner heresie lawfull and lineall suceession in the throne both by bloud and assent without authorizement and confirmation from them vniustifiable intrusion Of all these we may say that as they are very loose luxate and palsey-shaking members in the bodye that vvill not mooue by the apointment and direction of the head so the vnruliest and disorderliest people that will not submit their neckes and soules to the yoke of their naturall soveraignes whome I vvill not â—ende to learne obedience and subiection of the souldiers of Scipâ—o who had neuer a man in his army by his owne reporte that woulde not for a worde of his mouth haue gone vp vnto a tower and cast himselefe headlong into the sea but to the children of Israell tendring their seruice to Iosuah vvith more moderation All that thou hast commaunded vs vvee will doe and
immortality of their soules others disputing doubting knowing nothing to purpose til their knowledge commeth to late others obiecting themselues to death rather in a vaineglorious ostentation then vpon sound reason I say compare with them one the other side christian consciences neither loving their liues more than a good cause and yet without good cause not leaving them and aske them what they thinke of this temporall life they will answere both by speech and action that they regard not how long or how short it is but how well conditioned I borrow his words of whome I may say concerning his precepts and iudgements for morall life that he was a Gentile-christian or as Paul to Agrippa almost a christian as in the acting of a comedy it skilleth not what length it had but how well it was plaide Consider their magnanimous but withall wise resolutions such I meane as should turne them to greater advantage Esther knew that her service in hand was honourable before God and man and her hope not vaine therefore maketh her rekoning of the cost before the worke begun If I perish I perish her meaning assuredly was If I perish I perish not though I loose my life yet I shall saue it If there were not hope after death Iob would never haue said lo though he kill me yet will I trust in him And what availeth it him to know that his redeemer lived but that hee consequently knewe the meanes wherby his life should be redeemed If the presence of God did not illighten darknes and his life quicken death it selfe David woulde never haue taken such hart vnto him Though I shoulde walke through the valley of the shadowe of death I woulde feare no evill for thou art with mee and thy rodde and thy staffe comforte mee If his shepheardes staffe had fayled him against the Lyon and the Beare which hee slevve at the sheepe-foulde or his sling against Golias that he had fallen into their handes yet this staffe and strength of the Lord could haue restored his losses The sentence that all these bare in their mouthes and harts and kept as their watch-worde was this Death is mine advantage The Apostle taketh their persons vpon him and speaketh for them all Therefore we faint not because we know that if our outward man perish yet the inward man is renued daily God buildeth as fast as nature and violence can destroy Wee know againe that if our earthly house of this tabernacle bee destroyed wee haue a building given of God that is an house not made with handes but eternall in the heavens Vpon the assurance of this house not made of lime and sande nor yet of flesh and bloude but of glorie and immortalitie hee desireth to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ and by his reioycing that hee hath bee dyeth dayly though not in the passion of his body yet in the forwardnesse and propension of his minde and and he received the sentence of death in himselfe as a man that cast the worst before the iudge pronounced it I may say for conclusion in some sort as Socrates did Non vivit cui nihil est in mente nisi vt vivat He liveth not who mindeth nothing but this life or as the Romane orator well interpreteth it cui nihil est in vitâ iucundius vitâ who holdeth nothing in his life dearer then life it selfe For is this a life where the house is but clay the breath a vapour or smoake the body a body of death our garment corruption the moth and the worme our portion that as the wombe of the earth bred vs so the wombe of the earth must againe receiue vs and as the Lorde of our spirites said vnto vs receiue the breath of life for a time so he will say hereafter returne yee sonnes of Adam and go to destruction By this time you may make the connexion of my text The master of the shippe and his company 1. worshippe and pray vnto false Gods that is builde the house of the spider for their refuge 2. Because they are false they haue them in ielousie and suspicion call vpon thy God 3. because in suspicion they make question of their assistaunce if so bee 4. because question of better thinges to come they are content to holde that which already they haue in possession and therefore say that wee perish not With vs it fareth othervvise Because our faith is stedfast and cannot deceiue vs in the corruption of our bodies vexation of our spirites orbity of our vviues and children casualty of goods wracke of ships and liues wee are not removed from our patience we leaue it to the wisedome of God to amend all our mishappes we conclude with Ioab to Abishai The Lorde doe that which is good in his eies honour and dishonour good reporte and evill reporte in one sense are alike vnto vs and though wee bee vnknowne yet wee are knowne though sorrowing yet wee reioyce though having nothing yet wee possesse all thinges though wee bee chastened yet are we not killed nay though we die yet we liue and are not dead we gather by scattering we win by losing we liue by dying we perish not by that which men call perishing In this heauenly meditation let me leaue you for this time of that blessed inheritance in your fathers house the peny nay the poundes the invaluable weight and masse of golde nay of glory after your labours ended in the vineyard meate drinke at the table of the Lord sight of his excellēt goodnes face to face pleasures at his right hand and fulnes of ioy in his presence for euermore Let vs then say with the Psalmist my soule is a thirst for the living God oh whē shall I come to appeare in the presence of our God For what is a prison to a pallace tents boothes to an abiding citty the region of death to the land of the living the life of men to the life of angels a bodie of humility to a body of glory the valley of teares to that holy and heauenly mounte Sion whereon the lambe standeth gathering his saints about him to the participation of those ioies which himselfe enioieth and by his holy intescession purchaseth for his members THE NINTH LECTVRE Cap. 1. ver 7. And they saide euery one to his fellowe Come and let vs cast lottes c. AS the māner of sick men is in an hote ague or the like disease to pant within themselues and by groning to testifie their pangs to others to throw of their clothes and to tosse from side to side in the bed for mitigation of their paines which whether they doe or do not their sicknes still remaineth till the nature thereof bee more neerely examined and albeit they chaunge their place they change not their weaknes so do these Marriners sicke of the anger of God as the other of a feuer disquieted in al their affectiōs
they had no answere they cried lowde nay they cut themselues with kniues and launcers till the bloude flowed out so they prayed not only in teares but in bloud that they might be heard I would the children of the lighte vvere as zealous in their generations But rather let them receiue their lighte and directions for the framing of this holie exercise from the sunne of righteousnesse of vvhome the Apostle vvitnesseth that in the daies of his flesh hee offered vp praiers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that vvas able to helpe him And the gospel further declareth not only that he kneeled at the naming of whose name all knees haue bowed both in heauen and earth and vnder the earth but that hee fell vpon the grounde the foote-stoole of his owne maiesty and laie vpon his face which never Angell behelde without reverence and when he had praied before he praied more earnestly as the scripture recordeth hee once praied and departed and a second time departed and yet a third time and departed evermore vsing the same petition his praier ascended by degrees like incense and perfume and not only his lips went but his agony and contention within was so vehement that an angell was sent from heaven to comfort him and whereas the Priestes of Baal vsed art to make them bleede cutting their flesh with launcers and kniues to that purpose he with the trouble of his soule swet a naturall or rather vnnaturall sweat like dâ—oppes of bloude trickling downe to the earth Wee when wee goe to praier as if our soules and tongues were straungers the one not weeting what the other doth the lippes babbling without and the hearte not pricked with any inwarde compunction honouring GOD with our mouthes and our spirites farre from him deserue to bee answered as hee answered the Iewes Esay 1. When you stretch foorth your handes I will hide mine eies from you and though you make many praiers I will not heare you The reason is there your hâ—ndes are full of bloud the reason to vs may be your heartes bleede not you call me Lord Lord but meane it not the alter is without fire praier without heate wordes without intention gesture of the body without the consent of the inwarde man They cried vnto the Lord. It is not lesse then a miracle that men so newely endued with the knowledge of God can so presently renounce their ancient idolles which they had ever served and within but few minutes of time most religiously adored they call vpon Iehovah that hidden and fearefull name which earst they had not knowne and neither the accustomed maner of their countries nor colour of antiquity nor want of experience in another Lorde nor the simple narration of one singular prophet nor any the like motions can holde them in awe of their former imaginary GODS and keepe them from invocation of the Lorde of hostes No reason can bee yeelded but this The winde bloweth where it lifteth and the spirite breatheth where it will and the mercy of God softneth vvhere his pleasure is It is a gifte from him alone who giveth the new hart and putteth the new spirit within a man who taketh the stony hart from him and giveth him an hearte of flesh in steede thereof who of the stones by the bankes of Iordan saith Iohn Baptist is able to raise vp children to Abraham daily doth raise vp children to himselfe to do him worship and service of those that were hardned in idolatry before like flintes in the streetes Turne vs O Lord and we shall be turned wash vs with cleane water and we shall be cleansed renue vs as the eagle her daies and we shall be renued gather thy chosen flocke from the mountaines and desertes wheâ—n they stray to fulfill thy fold and we shall be gathered say thou wilt sweepe thy house and finde thy groat and we shall be found Nature cannot make a newe birth entring into our mothers wombe againe is vnable to worke it the gold of Sheba and Seba cannot purchase it No man commeth to the sonne vnlesse the father drawe him and if the father haue once given him into his handes all the devils in hell cannot pull him out againe I make it the wisedome of him that praieth to levell his heart and affections at the very right center and marke of praier which is God alone hee is the sanctuary to whome we must flie the periode and scope in whome our requestes must end Praier and faith if the Apostle deceiue vs not must kisse each other howe shall they call on him in whome they haue not beleeved faith is the ground of praier First we beleeue and then speake so was the order of David Doe wee my brethren beleeue in Angels for that is the Apostles phrase howe shall they call on him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whome or vpon whome they haue not beleeved We beleeue that there are Angels which the Sadduces denied And if an Angell should come from heaven vnto vs with a message from God as he came to Mary and others we would beleeue Angels that is giue credence vnto them as they did But if we beleeue in Angels we forget their place of ministration which they are apointed vnto and make them our Gods Much lesse beleeue we in the sonnes of men which are lesse than Angels Therefore the gleaning of these Marriners is more worth than the whole vintage of Rome who in a moment of time haue gathered more knowledge howe to informe their praiers aright than they in the decourse of many continued generations These pray to Iehovah the true subsisting God they not only to God but to Angels and men and stockes and stones and metalles and papers and I knowe not what It may be a challenge sufficient vnto them all to say no more that in so many praiers of both auncient and righteous patriarkes prophets Iudges kings registred in the booke of GOD and in an hundreth and fiftie Psalmes an hundreth whereof at least are praiers and supplications and in all the devout requestes that the Apostles of Christ and other his disciples sent into heaven if they take the pen of a writer and note from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelation they cannot finde one directed to Cherub or Seraphin Gabriel or Raphael Abraham or Moses or Iohn Baptist after his death or any other creature in heaven or earth saue only to the Lord and his annointed Haue these all erred Even so will we and more sweete shall our errour be vnto vs with these of whome we make no question but that they are bounde vp in the bundell of life with the congregation of first-borne than a newe and recent devise of praier obtruded vnto vs by those who falsly suppose themselues to bee the pillers and staies of Gods militant church The 86. Psal. to giue you a little portion of foode to ruminate vpon as some
wherewith Pharaoh was smitten all the waters of Aegypt in their rivers their streames their pondes their pooles their vessels of woode and their vessels of stone were changed into blood so in the minde and conscience of a murtherer there shall alwaies remaine a plague of bloud his eies shall behold no other colour but sanguine as if the aire were died into it the visions of his head in the night time shal cast a boule of bloud in his face all the cogitations and thoughtes of his heart shall overflow with the remembrance of that bloud which hee hath effused Againe if he that hath killed a man dieth in his bed or otherwise by the handes of God without the irrogation of this iudgement vpon him to be killed or executed by the hands of men yet let him know that he is dead by the law already the sworde of the spirit of God hath fallen vpon him the word and sentence of the law hath condemned him and that hee is reserved to the iudgemente of the greate daie where the sworde of eternall damnation the double and triple edge whereof can neuer be rebated shall feede vpon his flesh and be drunken with his bloude without ceasing Or lastly if he escape the dint of all these swordes temporall in this life internal in the conscience eternall in the worlde to come let him thanke his crucified redeemer whose stripes haue healed him the wounding and bleeding of whose precious body hath made intercession with his father in heauen that the wounds and bloudshed which he was worker of are not thought vpon Secondly we enquired how the bloud of Ionas might be tearmed innocente a man that fled from the face of God whom the winds and the sea hated with a perfite hatred euen vnto death an an vvhome the Marriners themselues rebuked and novve by the instant voice of God are ready to cast forth how is he innocent I answere In part not wholy with respect not absolutely innocent towards these men whome hee neuer iniuried not vvith relation to God whom he had hainouslye offended The Pelagians of our time magnifying the arme of flesh and the nature of mankinde more than reason admitteth by a sophisticall and deceitfull conclusion haue sought to obscure the trueth and to overâ—reach the world in this pointe For because they finde in the scriptures often mention of the innocencie iustice perfection of the children of God they dissembling or not wiselie weighing the drifte of the place simplie inferre thereupon that the law of GOD may be kept and fulfilled in this life Their paralogisme is easily discovered and disprooued by the rule of Augustine When the perfection of any man is named vvee must consider wherein it is named A man may bee a perfite hearer of vvisedome not a perfite teacher Thus is hee perfite and vnperfite a perfite knovver of righteousnesse not a perfite doer perfite in this that hee loueth all men and yet vnperfite in the loue it selfe It were absurdly concluded Ionas was innocent towards the Marriners therefore innocent towardes the Israelites innocent towardes man therefore innocent towards God innocent in this present behaviour therfore innocent in the whole conversation of his life As it hath no iust consecution David was innocent towardes Saul therefore innocent towardes Vrias A man may be righteous both in comparison of others for hee is the best which hath the fewest faultes and in comparison of himselfe for wee must iudge of a man by that whereto the greater part of his life and disposition hath beene inclined And because there was no father in the church who had greater reason to ventilate this argument vnto the bottome than Augustine had himselfe in that ambitious age being sifted and proued by so many adversaries to the grace and righteousnes of God I will giue you a short taste of his aunswers and satisfactions to the question as I finde them in his writings Touching perfection hee vvriteth thus by occasion of the Apostles wordes Philippians the thirde Let vs as manye as bee perfiâ—â—e bee thus minded Yet in the twelfth verse before it is contraried Not as though I had alreadie attained it or that I were alreadie perfite How may these stande togither Perfite and vnperfite If vve take perfection in intention and purpose not in pervention and obtaining the purpose in contention endevour inchoation that is in imperfection and not otherwise thou canst not otherwise bee perfite in this life vnlesse thou knovve that in this life thou canst not bee perfite There is a certaine perfection according to the measure and proportion of this life and to that perfection this is also deputed If a man knowe that yet hee is not perfite So as it is not the least parte of our perfection to knovve and confesse our imperfections Bernarde vpon the former wordes to the Philippians that I may inserte his iudgement also by the way beateth downe the arrogancie of all high minded flesh Magnum electionis vas profectum abnuit perfectum fatetur The greate vessell of election denyeth perfection to himselfe confesseth his profection and goinge forwarde I endevour my selfe to that vvhich is before I proceede vvith Augustine VVee maye be perfite travellers in righteousnesse before heereafter vvee shall â—ee perfite owners and possessours of righteousnesse vvee may bee perfite by anticipation carrying the name of the thinge before vvee haue attayned vnto it as vvee are saide alreadie to bee glorified though our glorification shall bee consummate in time to come We are the sonnes of God saith the Apostle and yet it appeareth not what wee shall bee What meaneth this vvee are and vvee shall bee but that vvee are in hope and shall be indeede Finally hee alloweth a certaine perfection sufficient to converse and holde societie vvith mankinde a perfection for the modell and capacitie of this life for the state of passengers and way faring men and whatsoeuer hee allovveth more in this kinde I am sure he concludeth that the perfection of all righteous men vvhile they are in the flesh is imperfect This of perfection Of righteousnesse and iustice thus hee affirmeth in other places The Evangelist Sainte Luke reporteth of Zacharie and Elizabeth his vvife that they vvere both righteous before God that is without hypocrisie vvalking in the commaundementes of God Now because they vvalked it is an argument that they were not yet come to the marke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all the commauddementes and iustifications of the Lorde The testimonie is alreadie verye large but yet hee addeth more They vvalked in them all vvithout reproofe Howe without reproofe Augustine interpreteth it to Innocentius Sine querelâ non sine peccato Not vvithout sinne but vvithout grievance quarrell iust complainte or exception to bee made against them Nay hee proveth out of the same scripture that because Zacharie was a Priest therefore a sinner for hee was bounde to offer for sinnes aswell for his own parte as for
presence of God to seeke his assistance And Ionas praied vnto the Lord. I handled also this point before more largely then at this present I intende I noted therein their wisdome and choice who take their marke aright and direct their petions to their true and proper periode I will briefly saie Non minus est Deum fingere quam negare It is as greate an offence to make a newe as to denye the true GOD. in the Lorde put I my trust bovve then say yee vnto my soule yee seducers of soules that shee shoulde flie vnto the mountaines as a birde to seeke vnnecessary and forraine helpes as if the LORDE alone were not sufficient The LORDE is my rocke and my fortresse and he that delivereth mee my GOD and my strengh in him will I trust my shielde the horne also of my salvation and my refuge I vvill call vpon the Lorde vvhich is vvorthie to bee praised so shall I bee safe from mine enemies vvhome have I in heaven but thee amongst those thousands of angels and Saintes vvhat Michaell or Gabriell what Moses or Samuell what Peter what Paule and there is none in earth that I desire in comparison of thee Put not your trust in Princes which are the ablest vpon the earth nor in the sonne of man for there is no helpe in him His breath departeth and hee returneth to his earth and then all his thoughts perish But blessed is the man that hath the GOD of Iacob for his helpe vvhose hope is in the LORDE his GOD. In that lamentable siege and famine of Samaria a woman cryâ—d to the king as he passed by helpe my Lorde O king The king aunswered seeing the Lorde doeth not succour thee howe shoulde I helpe thee vvith the barne or the wine-presse The king concluded soundly that if the LORDE withdraw his helping hande it lyeth not in any prince of the earth to afforde it GOD hath spoken once and I have hearde it twise that povver belongeth vnto GOD and thine O LORDE is salvation even thine alone As much as to say God is very constant in the asseveration of this doctrine To driue it into our conceiptes he hath spoken it once and twise that is not once but many times he hath spoken it eternally vnmoueably effectually vvithout retractation Once in the lawe and a seconde time in the gospell Both the breastes of the church giue this milke Moses and Christ prophets and Evangelistes runne vpon this point Surely they forsake their first better husbande and goe after lovers whose company they will dearely repente for they will see an alteration and bee driven to confesse It was better with mee at that time then nowe which thinke that their breade and water woole and flaxe and oile and drinke are not the blessiâ—gs of God much more the giftes and vertues of the soule inward and spirituall graces that cry for deliveraunce where there is none that lay out their silver and not for breade bestow their labour and are not satisfied spende and consume their praiers and are not heard Or as Irenee maketh the comparison they are not vnlike Aesopes dogge who having meate in his mouth caught at the shaddowe vvhich hee saw in the waters and lost the substaunce Is not the gleaning of Ephraim of more worth then all the vintage of Abiathar Is not the staffe of the Lord of more strength whereof David spake thy staffe and thy rodde comforted mee then all the staues of Assur and Egypt staues of reedes staues of flesh and bloud is not the least finger of his right hand of more puissance then the whole arme either of flesh or any spirite besides yea then the whole loynes whole bodies whole substances of angels men silver golde silke purple al other creatures Olympias the mother of Alexander the great wrote to her sonne when he called himselfe the sonne of Iupiter not to do it for seare of procuring vnto her the envie and displeasure of Iuno The angels and Saintes in heaven are much displeased I dare affirme to haue such daungerous honour thrust vpon them that bringeth them into emulation with their fearful Lorde whose presence they tremble at and if it were possible for them to heare such vnlawfull praiers of men they woulde I doubte not with a contrary sound of words labor to purge themselues before the Lord of hoasts Not vnto vs Lord not vnto vs it belongeth not to thy servants to receiue such sacrifice They that refused a far smaller offer vpon the earth the only bowing of the knee vnto them See thou doe it not when the knees of the heart shal stoupe and praiers be powred vnto them they will much more be discontented I conclude out of Saint Bernard Sperent in alijs alij Let others put their trust in other things Some in the knowledge of letters some in the wilines of this world Some in nobility some in preferment or in any the like vanity and let him that listeth trust in vncertaine riches But it is good for me to holde mee fast by the Lord and to put my hope in God Who ever hoped in the Lorde and was confounded The Lions lacke and suffer hurger but they that feare the Lorde shall wante no manner of thing that good is The specialtie wherevpon he tooke encouragement to pray vnto the Lord he had a particuler feeling of the loue of God towards him and knew him to be his God He had not onely heard and seene in others but tasted in himselfe hovve sweete the LORDE was some litle experience of deliveraunce he had already made because the waters chokte him not and albeit he were swallowed into the belly of the fish yet his life remained in him and there is no other likelyhoode but he lived in hope of a farre greater salvation The former circumstaunce is as the alablaster boxe of spikenarde that contayned precious ointmente in it but kept it close and vncommunicated this latter breaketh the boxe and povvreth out the ointmente that the savour of the perfume may fil the whole house and comforte both the body and soule of him that vvill vse it The former at large delivereth the arguments of the might and mercie of God telleth vs there is a Lord aboue whom al the ends of the worlde haue a portion in whose name is Iehovah and his aide most requisite to be sought vnto This latter bringeth him home as it were vnder the roofe of our private houses and giveth him entertainemente in our particular consciences The former giveth counsaile and sheweth the vvaie the latter putteth in execution the one teacheth knowledge the other application the one what to beleeue the other what to hope the one to pray vnto the Lorde the other to pray vnto the Lorde our God Dicit fides parata sunt bona c. faith saith there are good thinges which cannot bee tolde prepared for beleevers hope saith they are kept
circle to the centre of it is the absolutest patterne of misery that ever sanke into humane invention For as nothing is more direfull and vnsufferable then hell so nothing more fit in the nature of things wherevnto the hugest tribulation may be compared The word in the Hebrew carryeth it selfe indifferently either for hell or the graue for they are both alvvaies craving Bring in and thence they haue their name the graue is never satisfied with the corpses of the dead nor hell with the soules of the damned that descende into it I rather take it to signifie hell in this place one saith because of the horrour an other for the darkenesse some for the depth some for the hugenesse of the belly of the fish· Venter inferni alvus caeti tanti magnitudiniâ— vt instar obtineat inferni The belly of hell is the belly of the fish so large and capable that it may goe insteeede of hell The belly of the fish saith an other alter mihi infernus erat vvas an other hell vnto mee David vseth the same phrase with Ionas the paines of hel compassed mee aboute and the snares of death over-tooke mee But in an other Psalme more distinctly Thou hast delivered my soule from the â—â—thermost hell What did Ionas or David ever descende into that fâ—ery lake to know the torments thereof Or as Pythagoras ghest at the stature and pitch of Hercules by the length of his foote which was but one part of his body so by a taste of bitternesse incident to this present life haue these conceived what sorrow and vexation is reserved to the wicked for times to come Vndoubtedly the griefe of heart hath beene infinite and as much as mortality coulde ever admitte The mournings of Hannah Iob David Ieremy Ierusalem such as his hart must needes bee harder then the stithy which the smith beateth vpon that readeth the catalogues of their woes and is not moved at them But if all those foresaide agonies and as many besides as ever wrunge and wrested the spirite of man since the breath of life was breathed into him were put togither to parte the tormentes of hell among them parte after parte as if they woulde empty the store-houses and breake the streame of it yet hath the hand of hell an vnmeasurable portion behinde to distribute to her children an endelesse patrimony of howling wringing and gnashing which all the forepassed mischiefes and maimes in this life haue skarse beene shadowes and counterfeites of The belly of hell you heare but in a type or figure where the worde is mistaken and abused and broughte from his proper sense though it be fearefull enough and the extremity of paine hath so beguiled and besotted some I speake it with sobriety in the iudgementes of their mindes that they haue thought it very hell indeede yet woe bee to them ten thousande times more and more then can be imagined by any heart as deepe as a floude whome the belly of very hell hath swallowed and closed vp It is not possible to be spoken it is more vnpossible to be endured yet it must bee endured what the terrours and tortures of hell are Take him saith the gospell binde him hande and foote is it no more but so I â—ictor liga manus goe seargeant binde his hands yes cast him into vtter darkenesse outwarde to those inwarde wherein they delighted before blindnesse of minde and vnderstanding outward because the whole man body and soule shal be folded and comprehended therein outward because in extremitie without the limites and borders of any favour of God to bee extended Where neither the lighte of the sunne moone and starres and much lesse the sight of Gods glorious face shal ever shine There shall bee vveeping and gnashing of teeth there is there shal bee no time set It standeth for all aeternity no myriade of yeares shall ever determine it There the eies shall destill like fountaines and the teeth clatter like armed men and all the partes of the body relinquish their natural vses and spend their cursed time in wretchednesse and confusion These are the straightes indeede not like to those vvhich before I mentioned when handes and feete are so bounde body and soule so hampered and snared not with cordes and withes as Sampsons were but vvith the vnexplicable bandes of longe nighte that not a part of either of the two shal haue any power or activity left to gratifie their owner with neither the minde to contemplate more then endlesse infelicity nor the memory to recounte more then auncient and thrice most hatefull sinnes nor the phantasie to present more then fearefull visions nor the eies to behold more then legions of vncleane spirites nor the eares to heare more then the roarings of findes nor the nostrelles to smell more then the smoake of brimstone nor the handes to catch hold of more then flames of fire nor the feete to walke further then their giues and chaines wil giue them leaue Tormentes invented and inflicted by tyrants haue been most hideous the teeth of vvilde beastes hote glowing ovens and fornaces caldrons of boyling oyle fiery brason bulles powning to death in motters rowling in barrels of nailes rosting vpon spittes boaring with angers parting the nailes and fingers-endes with needles nipping the flesh with pinsers racking and rending a sunder the iointes with wilde horses no pittye no remorse taken whilest there was either flesh or bloud or sinew or bone or I say not member but wound in the body to worke vpon But the torments of hell are in greater variety Had I an hundred tongues and mouthes to hold them A voice of iron yet could I not vnfould them and in an other kinde or rather indeede without kind Ibi ordo nullus horror sempiternus where there is no order but everlasting horrour For who can define either by speech or vnderstanding a thing so infinite so monstrously compact of natures most disparate and repugnant an ende not ending a death not dying vnquenchable fire yet a darkenesse withall to accompanie it more palpable then the fogges of AEgypt and blacker then blacknesse it selfe everlastingly burning yet not consuming So much more vnsufferable then any torments of tortours vpon earth as the inventions of devilles can better devise then man and the malice of devilles better put in execution This this is the cup of the deadliest wine that ever was tasted of these these are those deepe graves in the Psalme from whence there is no rising againe This is the fire that goeth not out the worme that never leaveth gnawing in the last of Esaie These are those waters of gall in Ieremy those fearefull thinges wherewith the Lorde shall pleade against the vnrighteous of the earth as he pleaded sometimes against Gog and Magog in Ezechiell pestilence and bloud and sore raine and huge hailestones and fire and brimstone not such as fell vpon the sisters Sodome and Gomorrhe the witnesses wherof for many succeeding
generation than the children of lighte First there is nothinge that winneth the common people marke it when you vvill more than superstition Adde the iudgmeÌ„t of the Romane Oratour in the second place A man that is wonne to superstition can never bee quiet in minde Which whither it bee our pride that wee are all in loue as Pygmaleon with his picture so we vvith the vvorkes of our handes devises of our heads and therefore the true service of God we are not so soone allured with because it commeth by precept as vvith the inventions of our owne braine because wee are the authours of them our selves Philo implieth so much writing of religions that everie man a part seemeth best vnto him because they iudge not by reason but by affection or whither it be the care and vigilancy of the devill whome he hath gotten prisoners those to loade with the more irons and to keepe them in safe custodie and if it be possible to make theÌ„ love their captivity or whatsoever the cause else be this I knowe to begin at the head that Sathan will spare no paines in compassing the whole earth to gaine a soule a Scribe or Pharisee will travaile sea and land to winne a proselyte an idolatrous â—ewe will freely bestowe his iewelles and earinges to make a golden calfe an Ammonite will not spare his sonne or daughter from the fire to sacrifice to Moloch a Priest of Baall will cut and launce his owne flesh to demerite his idoll a false prophet will vveare a garment of haire nexte his skinne to deceive with a frier will whippe himselfe till the bloude run downe his shoulders the fathers and children of Babylon will rise early and late to keepe Canonicall howers observe fastes walke pilgrimages runne over their beades and rather loose a limme of their bodies than a ceremonie of their churâ—h and in every acte of their councelles and thirde line of their writings Anathema to men and angels that hold otherwise Let it be their commendation that they take such paines to doe wickedly A thiefe is more watchfull to breake through the house than the goodman to garde it The traitours that Cesar feared in Rome were not those that were fat well in proofe but macilenti pallidi Cassius Brutus that were leane and pale spending the sap of their flesh with travailinge watching plotting devises What is it they loue and labour vpon so much Vanities Is it not of the Lorde of hostes that men shall labour in the fiâ—e to burne and consume themselues and the people shall even weary themselues for verie vanitie They that plough wickednesse a toilesome occupation doe they not reape iniquitie and eate the fruit of lies because they trust in their owne vvaies A man may aske them vvith the prophete vvherefore bestovve you your labour and are not satisfied Or with the Apostle vvhen hee seeth their labour lost what profit had yee in those thinges whereof you are now ashamed The vanities hee nameth are not onely the idolles of the heathen vvhich haue neither sighte in their eies nor hearing in their eares nor breath in their nostreiles nor helpe in their hands to wipe away the dust froÌ„ their owne faces but whatsoever the world hath visible or invisible outwarde or inwarde besiâ—es displacing God of his right and bearing our hart and hope after it it is our idoll in some sort and one of those lying vanities that is heere mentioned Ionas committed idolatry in leaving the mandate of God and bending his iourney after the lustes of his owne heart That vnprobable cogitation which hee fansied to himselfe of escaping the presence of God by taking a contrary way was the idoll hee served and waited vpon and the lying vanity wherewith hee was beguiled The God of heaven called vnto him Arise goe to Niniveh the God of his owne making the devise of his braine commanded otherwise Arise flie to Tharsus The covetous maÌ„ is called an idolatour in plaine tearmes Ephes. 5. Iob expresseth the right forme of their canonization whereby they make gold a God They saie to there wedge thou are my confidence As treason and rebellion putteth vp a nevve king Absolon for David so covetuousnesse a newe God Mammon for Iehovah You cannot serue God and Mammon Dispute not superfluously and idly that you can doe it for God hath pronounced the contrary God cryeth lende giue scatter cast vpon the waters feede cloath visite harbour and is not obeyed Mammon cryeth on the other side take gather extort strippe sterue spoile and is harkened vnto Whether of these two is now the God An other idolatry as mentioned by Abbacuk in the first of his Prophecie of those that sacrifice to their nettes and burne incense to their flewes vvho because their portion is encreased and their meate plenteous by these instrumentes and helpes vvhich they vse in their trades of fishing or the like they forgette the righte author of their thrifte and arrogate all to themselues and their serviceable meanes Some make an idoll of their owne braine as the king of Tyre did who thoughte that by his vvisedome and vnderstanding hee had gotten riches into his treasury and his hearte was so highly exalted vvith that conceite that hee coulde not forbeare that most blasphemous and Luciferian presumption I am a GOD. Such are the states-men as they loue to bee helde the Politicians and Machiavellistes of our sinnefull age plotters of kingdomes and common-vveales vvho thinke themselues vviser than Daniell as the king of Tyre did and that Moises and the prophetes are not so able to instructe them as they themselues Some make an idoll of the strength of their armes as Zenacharib did By the multitude of my chariots have I done thus and thus but touching the true Lorde of hostes as if hee were lesse than nothing and had lost the strength of his mightie arme hee vaunteth to the king of Iudah let not thy GOD deceive thee The end of all is this Idolum nihil est An idoll is so farre from being more than vanitie that it is mere nothing I know in an idoll of silver or gold or brasse there is both matter and fashion Golde is golde and the thoughtes of our heartes thoughtes our wisedome beauty and strength are qualities that have their being And if we make either belly or backe our God they are both creatures that God hath made but they are nothing of that whâ—ch we suppose them to be Wee make them our honour our hope our confidence such they are not For yet a little while and the moth the worme rottennes rust and consumption shall inherite them all The righteous shall beholde it and feare and laugh them to scorne that haue beene so madde after vanitieis ecce homo beholde the man which hath not made God his helper but trusted in riches or other like transitorie things Wherefore I exhort you al as Paul his auditours
committed vnto it but all kindes of deathes shal be swallowed vp into a general victory and in his name that hath wonne the field for vs we shall ioifully sing thankes be vnto God that hath given vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. And as Ionas was cast vp vpon the drie ground the land of the living where he might walke and breath and repose himselfe without danger of miscarying and Christ restored to life and immortality and exalted to a glorious estate at his fathers right hand so the Lord shall also shew vs the pathes of life fill vs with the ioy of his countenaunce for evermore Our corruptible shall put on incorruption our mortall immortality we shal liue with the lambe that was slaine in eternal glory Other shal rise to shame perpetual coÌ„tempt Dan. 12. And to the resurrectioÌ„ of coÌ„demnatioÌ„ Ioh. 5. Sadduâ—es Saturnians Basilidians Epicures Atheists which haue trodden this precious pearle of doctrine vnder their swinish feet haue not beleeved that they might be saved but we to the leÌ„gth of daies in the hands of God to the sight of his holy face which is most blessed blessednes Other particulars of stature age the like we cease to enquire of because God hath forborn to deliver them We will not loose that by our curiosity which Christ hath bought with his bloud and is gone to possesse in the body of his flesh that we may also possesse it I am sure there shal be al wel for else it shoulde not bee There shall bee a drie grounde for this valley of teares and sea of miseries A lande of the living for this desert of the dead A commodious and setled habitation for this tossing to and fro There shall be no monsters of land or sea to make vs afraid any more no sorrow to disquiet no sicknesse to distemper no death to dissolve vs no sin to obiect vs to the wrath of God and to bring vs in danger of loosing his grace THE XXXI LECTVRE Chap. 3. ver 2. And the worde of the Lorde came vnto Ionas the seconde time saying Arise goe vnto Niniveh that great citie c. THe summe of the whole prophecie and of every part therein I have often told you is in variety of examples the mercy of God towards his poore creatures The boundes whereof if any desire to learne how large they are let him coÌ„sider that in this present history it is exhibited both to Iewes GeÌ„tiles an example of the former was Ionas of the later the Mariners the Ninivites both to prophets and others of meaner and mechanicall callings both to Prince and people aged and infantes men and beastes that no man may thinke either himselfe or his seed or any the silliest worme that moveth vpon the earth excluded therehence Paul in his first to Timothy glorieth in the mercie of Iesus Christ which he had shewed vpon him to the ensample of such as shoulde beleeve in time to come But heere are fowre examples at once and as it were fowre gospels preaching to every countrey and language age and condition and sexe the hope of better thinges Blessed be the Lord God which hath written a whole booke of remembrances and filled it with argumentes to so good a purpose This third chapter which by the wil of God we are entred vpon treateth in generall of the mercy of God towards Niniveh and sheadeth it selfe orderly into foure parts 1. The calling or commission of Ionas renued 2. The perfourmance of his message 3. The repentance of Niniveh 4. Their delivery Ionas is called and put in charge againe in the two former verses Wherein besides the authour and other particulars heretofore extracted from the same words we will rest our selues especially vpon these three points 1. The repitition of his warraÌ„t The word of the Lord came the second time 2. Whither he is vvilled to goe To Niniveh 3. What he is to doe there 1. touching the matter he must preach the preaching that God shall bid them 2. touching the manner he must doe it by proclamation And the word of the Lord came vnto Ionas the second time saying Arise go vnto Niniveh that great cittie Ionas being become a new man after his baptisme regeneration in the water of the sea receiveth a new commission his former being forfeited by disobedience First it is not lawfull we know for any man to take that honour vnto him without calling nor to set himselfe vpon a candlesticke who hath no power to burne vnlesse God kindle him I haue not thrust in my selfe for a pastour after thee neither haue I desired the day of miserie Then because Ionas had disanulled his first commission it stood as voide vnto him and of none effect till it was repeated the second time Peter denying his maister three times and not lesse then loosing thereby his legatine Apostolicke authority repaireth his broken credit by three confessions and is newly invested into his former office If I fall now and then into the same points which I haue already handled in the first chapter you may easily pardoÌ„ me For first the words are the same or not much altered happily as the first commission of Ionas took shipwracke in the Syriacke sea so the first notes I gaue are perished in your memories and therefore there may be neede or repetition of such doctrines no lesse than of his charge There is no materiall difference betvveene the tvvo verses vvherein the mandate is given vnto him but in the addition of one particle The second time Which carrieth a double force first of propension in the nature of a man to fall away from God vnlesse it be daily and continually renued The Apostle was faine to travaile in birth and to doe it againe with his little children the Galathians till Christ were formed in them for as the ripening and perfiting of a childe in his mothers wombe asketh the time of nine moneths at least so the breeding of Christ in the consciences of men and begetting or preserving of children to God cannot be done without often and carefull endevour bestowed therein Secondly of the mercifull clememcie of God towardes Ionas in restoring him to his former dignity For he not onely gaue him his life vvhich vvas despaired but the honour and place of a prophet He might haue lived still and seene long life and many daies a straunger to his owne home an alien to his mothers sonnes an exile from the Israelites a by-worde of reproach for leesing his wonted preheminence and as they wondered when they heard that Saul prophecied What is Saul become one of the prophets so it might have given as iust a cause of admiration that Ionas was become none of the prophetes But Ionas abideth a prophet still and is as highly credited as if hee had not broken his former faith I knovve the patience of GOD is verie abundante Hee is mercifull and
sustenance sake Wherein they noted a great indignity that those hands should be vsed at the mill wherewith hee wrote of the sunne and starres It grieveth mee to speake vvhat shiftes they are driven vnto who are able to labour in the word to doe the worke of righte good evangelistes idque vitae sustentandae causa not to grow rich thereby but to put meate into their mouthes and the mouthes of their families I conclude with the exhortation of the Apostle 1. Thes. 5. Now wee beseech you brethren that you know them which labour amongst you and are over you in the Lorde and admonish you that yee haue them in singular or abundant or more then abundant loue for their workes sake From an abundant spirit hee craveth abūdant abūdance of loue empting his soule of words that if it vvere possible hee might stirre their heartes In this sparingly sparing generation of ours what wordes might serue to warme their frozen devotion vvhome neither painefulnesse in labouring nor preeminence in overseeing nor vigilancy in admonishing can cause to knowe and discerne no nor keepe from contemning or so exceedingly to loue no nor vvithdraw from exceedingly hating these labourers rulers vvatchmen of theirs but even for their workes sake because they are ministers most debase and despight them They knew Christ among the Iewes to bee the carpenters sonne and such to bee his brethren and sisters So these they are content to know not in the worthinesse of their calling givinge countenance to their place and maintenaace to their service but in the basenesse of their birth and kindred poorenesse of their liuinges pensions and whatsoever may make to adde vnto them further disgrace And proclaimed a fast and put on sackloth Fasting and sackeclothe saith Ierome are the armour of repentaunce Shee commeth not to God with a full belly and meate betweene the teeth nor in gorgeous attire of silver and golde or of needle worke but with the thinnest face and coursest apparrell that shee can provide Shee is so much the apter to apply her suite and to entreat GOD. Not that the emptinesse of the stomake or roughnesse of the garment doe so much content him which are but outwarde signes of an inwarde cause from whence they proceede For when the soule is touched indeede and feeleth the smarte of her sinnes because it hungreth and thirsteth after the righteousnesse of God therefore it cannot thinke on feeding the outward man but commaundeth it abstinence for a time even from necssary eating and because it longeth to bee clothed with the salvation of God therefore it chargeth her flesh and bloud not to take care for wonted attiring but to change their accustomed ornamentes into sackcloth and ashes Meanetime the pleasure that God hath is in the sorrow of the heart and in the humility of the minde which the humiliation of the body giveth him assurance of The practise of David Psalm 35 is mee thinketh a very good paterne both to shewe the order of repentance to assigne the place that fasting sackcloth haue therein When they were sicke I clothed my self with sackcloth humbled my soule vvith fasting and my praier vvas turned vpon my bosome I behaved my selfe as to my friend or brother and made lamentation as one that bewaileth his mother 1. There must be some misery as the sickenes of friends maladies of our own soules or the publicke sores of the whole land 2. Vpon that misery ensueth an inward harty compassion as in a case that dearely affecteth vs. 3. vpon that cōpassion griefe which mercy is never sundred frō 4. vpon that griefe a neglect of bodily duties neither leasure to fill it with meates drinkes nor care to trim it with ornamēts 5. vpon the neglect of the body doe the exercises of the soule praier the like offer thēselues 6. praier with her other cōpanions at length come laden home with the sheaues of comfort blisse frō the plentifullest fields So that sackecloath and sasting as they are the witnesses of sorrow or some like passion so are they helps also occasions to more acceptable workes then they are themselues neither lye they next to the favor of God but they thrust praier faith between them and home to begge remission I meane not to prevent my text by shewing the nature originall kindes and vse of fasting amongest both heathens Christians which some later verses of this chapter doe challendge to themselues Only I obserue for this present that both those sinnes wherwith the people of Asia did most especially abound and these in Niniveh perhaps more especially then the rest they laboured forthwith to reforme that is the delicacy of meates drinkes intemperancy in cloathing The rich man in the gospell is noted for both these as handmaides that waited vpon his riches And Niniveh the richest lady vnder heaven was not cleare from them To rid themselues of these baites allurements 1. they fast from meate drinke sleepe ointments delightes recreations of all sorts For that is truly to fast not only to forsake forget ordinary food but to emprison shut vp the body from all the pleasures of life to pul downe the strength and pride thereof for neighbour-hoods sake to afflict the soule with it in effect to giue it straight commandement touch not taste not handle not any thing wherein thy wonted ioies consisted 2. They proclame a fast they leaue it not indifferent and arbitrary to the will of every private cittizen to doe what hee best fansied They binde them by a law and decree to do as the rest did least there might have bin some in the city carrying their Epicurisme and loosenesse of life to their graue Let vs eate and drinke for within forty daies vvee shall die 3. They put on sacke-cloath Perhappes not sacke-cloth in kinde which all the shoppes in Niniveh coulde not supply them with but the vilest and simplest vveedes that they might devise Their purple and prince-like furniture wherein they esteemed not warmth but the colour and die and ware them for their price more then necessity their wanton disdainefull superfluous sailes of pride and vaine-glory they lay aside and but for open vncivilitie they would strippe themselues to the bare skinne and repente naked 4. from the greatest to the least They spare no calling Prince nor peere noble nor vulgar person They spare no age old nor yong The aged that went with his staffe and the suckling that drew the breast are all chardged alike even those who for bodily infirmities were vnable enough to beare it The two daughters of the horse-leach which sucke the bloude of our land wasting the substance and commodity thereof in vaine in some the effects of their wealth in others the efficientes of their beggery are the vices of these Assyrians which directly and purposedly they crosse in this worke of repentaunce For what hath
mee recompence but to the poore and if ever I defrauded much more if ever I defeated by mighte any man straunger or home-borne I say not of his maine estate but of anie his smallest portion nor by open detected wronge but by secret concealed cavillation I restore it principall and damage for I restore it foure-folde VVhat follovved but that hee emptyed his house of the transitorie treasures of this vvoorlde and insteede thereof let in salvation vnto it This day is salvation come to this house not onely to the private soule but to the house of Zacheus thorough his meanes I scarsely thinke that these ravenous and greedy times can yeelde a man so innocent as to say vvith Samuell vvhose oxe or asse haue I taken or vvhome haue I vvronged At the least let him say vvith Zacheus I say not in the former parte of his speech halfe of my goodes I giue to the poore for that vvere heresie to bee helde and false doctrine to bee preached in this illiberall age but in the latter clause if I haue iniuried anâ—e man though I restore not foure-folde yet I restore him his owne Otherwise our houses and consciences vvill bee so full of houses fieldes vineyardes oliues silver golde vnrighteous pledges that there wil bee no roume for the peace and consolation of GOD to dwell vvith them Therefore washe your handes and heartes from this leprosie my brethren that you may bee receaved into the hoste of the Lorde and dwel with his first-borne and either forsake your violence or convert it an other way Let the kingdomes commodities of the earth alone and learne that the kingdome of heaven suffereth violence and must bee wonne by force See if you can extorte this spoyle from him that keepeth it Spare no invention of witte intention of will contention of sinewes strength of handes to get this kingdome Begge it buy it steale it assault it vse any meanes This this is the onely oppression and violence that we can allow you and in this onely thing Bee not modest and curteous towardes any man in this heavenly price Hither if you bring not tooth and naile and resisting vnto bloud and hating your liues vnto the death you are not worthy of it It suffereth violence it selfe it is so proposed conditioned and they are men of violence that by violence must attaine vnto it Therefore wrastle for this blessing though you lame your bodies and striue for this kingdome though you loose your liues THE XXXVIII LECTVRE Chap. 3. vers 9. Who can tell if God vvill turne and repent c. THE last thinge in the repentaunce of the Ninivites by the order of the wordes though in purpose and intention first and that which presently giveth place to the repentaunce of God their expected deliverance in the nexte sentence is the foundation wherevpon they grounde a knowledge and apprehension such as it is of the goodnesse of God and some likely hope to escape his vengance intended There may be some part of repentance without faith contrition anguish vexation for sinne till not onely the heart aketh but the conscience also is quite swallowed drowned in the gulfe of it As there is no question after that horrible fact of Iudas but his spirite was as full of griefe as before of trechery and covetousnes Let the world witnesse with him how deepely he rued his malice vvhen hee pledged body and soule for it and gaue over the one to the tree the other to hell fire For it there had beene a penaltie to haue taken of himselfe worse than death and damnation hee woulde not I thinke haue shunned it Caine was also as sory for his bloudy fact as ever greedy before to commit it He felt even a talent of lead vpon his soule never to be remooved and therefore vttered a blasphemy against the grace of GOD never to be pardoned My sinne is greater than can bee forgiven This is the reason that he had a marke set vpon him that no man shoulde kill Caine who with a thousand daily woundes killed himselfe and that â—ee ranne from place to place not so much in his bodie as in his minde tossed like a waue of the sea and finding no place for rest because the mercy of God shone not vnto him Beholde thou haste cast mee this daie from the face of the earth is that all And I shall bee hidde from thy face driven from thy presence banished from the light and favour of thy gracious countenance This is the dart that woundeth him to death For this received into the minde that we are hidde from the face of GOD that wee are so farre in contempte and hatred with his maiestie that hee vvill not vouchsafe to giue vs the looking on if all the clowdes in the aire rained loue and compassion we could not bee perswaded that any of the least droppes thereof should fall vpon our grounde VVherefore there must be a beleefe to conceiue and an hope to expect our reconciliation and and attonement with God and GODS with vs or it will bee an vnprofitable and vnpossible attempte to endevour a true repentance For either it will followe that wee become desperate and giue over care of our selues it is in vaine to serue GOD and vvhat profit shall we reape to humble our selves before him seeing his mercy is cleane gone from vs for ever and hee hath bent his soule to doe vs mischiefe And as it is written of Iulius the Pope that having received an overthrow by the French at Ravenna which he looked not for he set his face and mouth against the God of heaven and thus spake vnto him So hence-forth become French in the name of all the divels of hell holy Switzer pray for vs so wee betake vs to new Saintes or rather to newe divelles flying to hardnesse of heart carelesnesse of salvation contempt of God or else vve repent but after the manner of hypocrites wee make some proffer and likelyhoode of returning to God but cannot do it Such I thinke was the repentance of the Philistines the first of Samuell the fift and sixt when they had taken the arke of the Lorde and placed it first in Ashdod and there were punished with Emerodes and with death afterwardes in Gath and Eckron and there they could not endure it It is said of them not only that they were troubled and conferred of carrying home the arke againe but that they cried and their crie vvente vp to heaven and they sent it backe with a present vnto the Lorde and with sinne offerings nay their priestes and sooth-sayers saide vnto them wherefore shoulde you harden your harts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs Such the repentance of Saul 1. Sam. 15. who having received a message by the prophet that as he had cast of the word of the Lorde so the Lord had cast him of from being a king and that his kingdome was given to his neighbour better than
iudge to pronounce sentence against them hee knewe besides the knowledge of their owne consciences that for envie they had delivered him Do we looke that envy should favour the honour and well-fare when it favoureth not the life or the life of man when the Lord of life himselfe is vile before it Poyson they say is life to a serpent death to a man and that which is life to a man his spittle and naturall humidity is death to a serpent I haue found it thus applyed vertue and felicity which is life to a good man is death to the envious and that which the envious liveth by is the misery and death of a good man For envie endevoureth either that hee may not liue at all as all the former examples declare for even the prodigall sonne vvas also deade and it grieved his brother that he was brought backe to life or that he may liue such a life as for the discomfortes thereof he may cal it happines to haue ended Therefore amongst other the fruites of a reprobate minde Rom. 1. those two are ioyned togither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 envie and murther and likewise amongst the workes of the flesh Galathians the fifte vvith the same combination as if they vvere twinnes growing in one body and could not be put asunder It is not namely expressed in the former member of the verse what perturbation it was wherewith Ionas was so overborne But by the effectes it shewed in him in seeking so heartily the overthrow of Niniveh and wishing to die himselfe because the Ninivites lived besides the bidding of open battaile to charity one of whose properties is that shee envieth not setting pitty at naught which hath ever a miserable heart when it seeth the wretched we may reasonably suppose it to haue bin envy The nature whereof is this that God in his iustice hath apointed it to be a plague to it selfe and amongst many mischiefes it hath furnished it with one onely profitable quality that the owner thereof taketh most hurt He biteth is bitten againe becoÌ„meth his own punishment And as Aetna consumed it selfe so the malicious man is burnt with the fire of his own hart And therefore the Poet did notably describe her to haue a pale face without bloud a leane body without any iuice in it squint eies blacke teeth an heart full of gall a tongue tipt with poison never laughing but wheÌ„ others weepe never sleeping because shee studieth and thinketh on mischiefe It displeaseth Ionas exceedingly But the vexation which he tooke hurt himselfe more than Niniveh And Ionas was angrie We haue not ended the affections of Ionas Wee haue an other companion to adde to envie which for the most part is coupled with it For so we read Genes 4. Caine vvas exceedingly vvrath And 1. Sam. 18. Saul was wrath at the song of the vvomen And Luke 15. the elder brother was angry either with the father or the yonger son Angeâ— in a fit place is the gift of God and there is great cunning in being angry with advised speach and in a seasonable time But of that hereafter Meane-while the time and cause and measure of this anger in Ionas I thinke are worthy to be blamed For with whom is he angry It seemeth with himselfe Take away my life from me Or rather with God who if he had taken him at his worde the sun had gone downe vpon his anger I meane his life had ended in a froward and furious passion If God bee angry with vs there may be some remedy because God is mercifull But if we be angry with him there is no helpe for it Quis populo Romano irasci sapienter potest What man of wisedome can be angry with the people of Rome much lesse with God And that you may know howe righteous the Lord is in this affection of anger as before of envie vvhen we are vnruly and lawlesse therein Valerius Maximus comparing anger and hatred togither the one at the first setting forth the quicker the other in desire of reveÌ„ge the more obstinate saith that both those passions are full of consternation and amasement and never vse violence without torment to themselues for where their purpose is to offer wrong they rather suffer it as shall better appeare vnto vs hereâ—fter in the behaviour of Ionas I haue in parte described vnto you the nature and enormitye of these perturbations from the mouth of naturall worldly wisdome VVhat iudgement belongeth vnto them when they breake their bounds I learne in a better schoole Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shal be culpable of iudgement And they are numbred amongst the works of the flesh Gal. 5. whereof the Apostle gaue them double warning that they which did such things should not inherit the kingdome of God Notwithstanding the viciousnes hereof hath beene both opened and condemned by those who though they had not the law of God by peculiar assignement as the Iewes had written in books or in tables of stone yet the effect of that law was written in their harts they were a law to themselues their thoughts accusing or excusing them in most of their doings Precepts of moral conversatioÌ„ they haue as soundly delivered some as strictly observed as if Moses had taught and lived among theÌ„ The Apostles precept is Rom. 12. Giue place to wrath Ephes 4. Be angry and sin not Let not the sun goe downe vpon your wrath They had the same precepts in Gentility who sawe no lesse herein by their light of nature therefore devised lawes to represse anger That an angry man should not set hand or hart to any thing til he had recited the Greeke alphabet for by that time the heart of choller woulde be alaide and that he should sing to his passion as nurses to their babes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hast not cry not anone I will content thee And the practise of Plato was according to these rules for his servant offending him he said he could haue killed him but that he was moved therefore desired a friend to punish him in his steede Likewise reprehensions of all sortes of vices and commendations of their contrarye vertues they haue both wisely conceaved faithfully penned earnestly perswaded And although they were ignorant of the ioyes of heaven and hell fire yet in their Gentile learning the saw reason sufficient that the embracers of these contrary qualities should be contrariwise recompensed Therfore I am not of opinion with those men who thinke that all secular and prophane learning should be abandoned from the lips of the preacher and whither he teach or exhort he is of necessity to tie himselfe to the sentence and phrase of onely scripture Good is good wheresoever I finde it Vpon a vvithered and fruitlesse stalke saith Augustine a grape sometimes may hange Shall I refuse the grape because the stalke is fruitlesse and vvhithered
sonnes of men there is no helpe in them that is not so for Eue was made an helper to the man but there is no salvation in them or salvation there may bee such as it is for a moment of time not finall as Iosuah was a Saviour vnto Israell and salvation of the body but not of the soule whereas the salvation of the Lorde is never but salvation for he is the same God and his yeares faile not and it reacheth to all partes for his arme is not shortened Plinie observeth in his naturall historie that nature hath given armour and covering to all other living thinges shelles crustes hides prickles haires feathers fleeces skales Chrysostome addeth talents tuskes hornes onely man vpon his birth day shee doth cast forth naked and vpon the naked grounde to weeping and howling Chrysostome giveth the reason God hath so disposed of man that himselfe might bee his onelie protection He confessed in the person of all mankinde who sawe it experienced in his owne naked I came from my mothers wombe and naked I shall returne thither againe VVe heare their beginning and their ending But say that in the course of his life man shall haue girded himselfe with strength and decked him with maiesty vvhat is hee then more than a vaine man For what did it helpe the children of Canaan that the sonnes of Anak Gyants of the earth dwelt amongst them of whome the children of Israell saide vvee haue seene the sonnes of Anak there They were all destroyed by Iosuah they and their citties and not one Anakim left in the mountaines of Israell and Iudah VVee reade of Og the King of Basan the onely remnaunt of those Gyants that his bed was a bed of yron the length of it 9. cubits the breadth 4. after the cubite of a man yet how often doth the Psalmist sing hee hath slaine mightie kings Sehon king of the Amorites and Og the king of Basan VVhat did it profit the Philistines that the monster Golias was amongst thē or the monster himselfe that his stature was so huge his helmet his greues his corslet his shield all of brasse the staffe of his speare like a weavers beame hee vvas smitten by a childe in comparison who came with a sheepheards staffe and sling in his hand a few smooth stones in his skrippe but that which was the safest munition of all others in the name of the Lorde of hostes the God of Israell whom he had rayled vpon These and the like experimentes made him so bolde afterwardes that hee defied all men I will not feare what man can doe vnto mee I will not feare for tenne thousandes of people that shall beset mee round about though an host were pitched against mee my heart shoulde not bee afraide all nations compassed mee about but in the name of the Lorde will I destroy them They haue compassed mee about I say they haue compassed mee about but in the name of the Lorde shall I destroy them They came aebout mee like Bees and are extinct even as a fire of thornes for in the name of the Lorde shall I destroy them The reason is for thou Lorde hast holpen mee thou art my strength and my song thou haste beene my deliverance The Lord is a man of warre his name is Iehovah the eternall God is thy refuge and vnder his armes thou art for ever hee shall cast out the enemie before thee and vvill say destroy them The one was the songe of Moses after the drowning of Pharaoh and his host the other a part of his blessing given to the tribes of Israell not long before his death It was not the sword of Gedeon that overthrew the Madianites Iudg. 7. but the sword of the Lorde and Gedeon and therefore hee chose rather to giue that overthrow by few than by many least Israell might make their vaunt against him and saie my hande hath saved mee Afterwardes when they saide to Gedeon raigne thou over vs both thou and thy sonne and thy sonnes sonne for thou haste delivered vs out the hande of Madian he answered them I will not raigne over you neither shall my childe raigne over you but the Lorde shall raigne over you You heare what our strength is And for other helpes seeke them farre and neare they are so weake that they are not able to chandge the colour of one haire to our bodies nor adde one cubite to our stature nor one minute of time to those daies which God hath assigned vs. Why then doe we flatter our selues that wee shall multiplie our daies as the sand or vvhat triacle is there at Gilead vvhat Physitian there that can cure the gowte in Asa his legges or lay a right plaister to the boyle of Ezechias or ease the king of the head which the Shunamites child complained of or heale a fever a dropsie an issue of bloud or anie one of a thousande diseases more wherewith the body of man is oppugned if the Lorde instruct and assist him not I reade that Socrates never needed physitian in his life time that Pompey a poet and a noble man borne was so sound that he never belched Anthonia the wife of Drusus never spit vt perhibent qui de magnis maior a loquuntur as they say who of greate matters vse greater wordes their times belike were more temperate and therefore lesse rheumatike than ours We desire to haue strong bodies able to doe vs service in our olde age sed prohibent grandes patinae but wee eate and drinke so much that it cannot be Asclepiades a Physitian indented with fortune that if ever hee should happen to fall sicke hee would no longer bee a Physitian E◠quid opus Cratero magnos promittere montes vvhat neede Asclepiades vvho with a sodaine fall of a ladder prevented sickenesse and ended his dayes or Craterus or any other Physitian promise such mountaines to himselfe or others A Physitian is to be honoured with that honour that is due vnto him but of the most High commeth healing his knowledge lifteth vp the head hee receaveth giftes of the king and in the sight of great men hee shall bee had in admiration but the Lord hath created the medicines of the earth the Apothecarie maketh a confection and yet hee cannot finish his owne worke Let the Physitian do his part with an vpright and faithfull minde in the sighte of God who hath created him let him not lie to his patient and thrall nor draw him into errour as Abraham did Abemelech in saying that Sara was but his sister when shee was his wife hee had well-nigh caused him to sinne by that false suggestion so these may deceaue their patientes and make them the more carelesse by telling them that their disease is further of in degree when it is incorporate into them and lyeth so neare to their body even like a wife that it may not bee severed when the sicke man and his sickenesse
take him into her possession Let the covetous also remember this Nature shal as narrowly examine them at their going out as at their first entring They brought nothing with them into this world but skin over their teeth and over the other partes of their bodie and it is as certaine they shall carry avvay nothing They ioine house to house field to field by disioyning the companies and societies of men they vvill dwell alone vpon the earth leaue the inheritance of the worlde to their babes after them And as they vvere happy common-weales heretofore wherein these speaches Mine Thine were least heard so are we falleÌ„ into these vnhappy and vnrighteous daies wherein there is small care taken what communities bee overthrowne and dispersed so all may acrue to a fewe Lordes Socrates carried Alcibiades bragging of his landes to a map of the world and bade him demonstrate where his land lay He could not espie it for Athens it selfe was but a smal thing I will not deale so sparinglie with you ye rich men of this world for the Apostle distinguisheth you to shew that there are both riches and a worlde to come I will tell you where your lande lieth and vvhat is truely mine and thine and belonging to every man So much measure of ground to the length and breadth of your bodies as maie serue to burie them in or so manie handfulles of dust as your bodies goe into after their consumption This is terra mea terra sua terra vestra my earth and his earth and your earth more than this we connot claime Therefore as the son of Sirach asked the prowd Quid superbis terra câ—â—is so I the covetous quid concupiscis terra cinis VVhy doest thou covet earth and ashes vvhen if it vvere possible for thee to possesse as much grounde as ever the devill shewed vnto the sonne of GOD from that high mountaine yet in the ende thou shalt be driven from all this as the people of Canaan vvere driven from that lande vvhich they thought their everlasting inheritance and thou must betake thy selfe to thine ovvne earth to that little quantitie and rod of grouÌ„d which nature hath proportioned unto thee Ecce vix totam Hercules Implevit vruam Behold great and victorious Hercules the subduer of the monsters of the world when he was dead and his bodie resolved into ashes scarselie filled an earthen pitcher Amongst other thy purchases forget not to buy a field as AbrahaÌ„ did to bury thy dead in a potters field such as they had at Ierusalem bought with the price of bloude vvherein thy bones and the bones of thy sonnes and nephewes may be bestowed· Now the thoughtes of man are endlesse Aboue all things man hath an vnfaithfull hearte saieth the Prophet as deepe as the sea vvho can finde it out I leaue it to the searcher of all hartes to examine The ambitious hath his thoughtes as lardge as hell such as Pyrrhus had from Macedon to Greece from Greece to Italy c. The voluptuous his thoughtes let vs eate and drinke Better is a living dogge than a dead lion The malicious his thoughtes vvho vvill giue mee of his flesh to eate The covetous his thoughtes soule take thy rest to daie or to morrovve wee will goe into such a cittie and there continue a yeare and buy and sel and gaine Such are the purposes and supposals of men minding earthlie things But the Lord knoweth the thoughts of meÌ„ that they are but vanity I would they were not grosse impiety And they imagine such counsailes as they are not able to bring to passe for their thoughts perish Plus proficitur cum in rem praesentem venitur there is more good done by one example than by manie preceptes Perhaps I haue told you a tale as to men a sleepe and novve I haue done you aske me vvhat is the matter This is the matter if there vvere none other explication the present spectacle before your eies is the example of this precept the life of this letter this precept the sentence or moral of this spectacle For if you will aske me of the person proposed to your view what he was surely he was a Prince a great state of the land and I maie saie of him as David said of Abner hoaâ—e princeps cecidit in Israele this daie is there a chiefe man fallen in England If you demauÌ„d further what he was by generatioÌ„ I auÌ„swer one of the sonnes of men If what by impotencie and imperfection vnable to helpe either himselfe or others there is no salvatioÌ„ in him If whither he were mortall or no yea for his spirit is departed from him If what becommeth of his body you see we haue brought it to the earth and thither 〈◊〉 must returne If what of his minde his thoughtes are also gone Lastly if you wil know the vse take an advise and counsaile out of all these put not your trust in him nor in anie the like fraile mutable creatures Blessed is the man whose helpe is in the Lord Non â—lle homo aut ille homo non ille angelus aut ille angeâ—u not this man or that man not this Angell nor that Angell but the God of Iacob the Lorde of hostes vvhich made heaven earth the sea and all that therein is and keepeth his promise for ever He that not long since was a glorious tree amongst vs like the Cedar of Libanus his boughes were a shadow to these North partes hath had the message of the Lord by his angell accomplished vpon him hew downe the tree and there is but a stumpe left a remnant of that substance now to be hid and buried in the earth till the daie-spring froÌ„ an high the light of Gods couÌ„tenance shal againe visite it Do you doubt of the fal of Princes handle see his body that here lieth examine his nostrels if there be any breath in them his eies if they haue any sight his cheeks if any colour his veines if any warme bloud and then beleeue as the Samaritans did not because of my word but because your selues are witnesses vnto it And as his body in life hath giveÌ„ you many an instructioÌ„ so let his dead breathlesse corpse adde one more vnto you of coÌ„moÌ„ vnevitable mortalitie It hath bin the maÌ„ner of auÌ„cient times to coÌ„meÌ„d their dead rather to testifie their good affection bemoane their losse to hold out the lampe of their vertuous liues to others left aliue than to gratifie the deceased Thus David commended Saul and Abner Elizaeus Elias the Apostles those Sainctes whome the worlde was not worthy of Nazianzen Basil making his followers in comparison with him for his excellent parts no more than an Eccho to the true voice Thus Bernard lamented Malachy complayning that his very bovvells were pulled from him and he could not but feele the wounde Our